Money Decisions
Video
How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Really Be?
Forget 'three to six months of expenses.' Size your emergency fund on your fixed costs, not total spending — times how fragile your income is. Here's your number.
Series
Money Decisions
One decision. One framework. No noise. Eight episodes on the questions that actually change the outcome — cash or invested, debt or invest, rent or buy, how much risk.
6 episodes
Episodes
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5:53 Episode 1
How to Build an Emergency Fund That Actually Fits Your Life
"Three to six months of expenses" sounds clean and is too vague to use. Size the buffer on your fixed costs — not your total spending — then multiply by how fragile your income actually is. And know the ceiling: above it, cash has no job.
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7:04 Episode 2
Pay Off Debt or Invest? Ask This One Question First (Explained by a Banker)
Profitable companies sit on cash and still borrow. They are not asking whether debt is good or bad — they are asking what it costs against what the money can earn. Here is that spread applied to your own debt, and the one place where copying a corporation is a mistake.
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7:35 Episode 3
Rent or Buy? It's the Most Leveraged Bet You'll Ever Make (Explained by a Banker)
Renting versus buying is treated as one question. It is two. The money half everyone answers — and the half a bank checks first: leverage, liquidity, concentration, time. A 20% deposit is five-to-one, and a 10% fall takes half your equity.
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6:10 Episode 4
Lump Sum or Spread It Out? The Question Almost Everyone Gets Wrong (Explained by a Banker)
A lump sum lands — do you invest it all at once, or spread it out with dollar-cost averaging? What Vanguard's data actually says, when the question truly matters, and the one good reason to spread it out anyway.
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6:03 Episode 5
How Much of Your Money Belongs in Stocks? Stop Guessing (Explained by a Banker)
How much of your money belongs in stocks? Most people answer with a gut feeling. A banker separates two things the feeling confuses: how much risk you can handle, and how much you can afford — and only one of them should be setting your allocation.
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7:35 Episode 6
How Many ETFs Do You Need? Why 5 Can Be Less Diversified Than 1 (Explained by a Banker)
How many ETFs do you actually need? Fewer than most people hold. An S&P 500 fund and a world fund sound like different things, yet nine of their ten largest positions are the same company. A banker walks through the test that decides whether a fund earns its place — and the honest limit on the other side.
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Written companions
Money Decisions
Video
Should You Pay Off Debt or Invest First?
Paying a debt down is a guaranteed return: its interest rate. Compare that with what investing might earn — and note the answer has just flipped in the US.
Money Decisions
Video
Should You Rent or Buy a Home? The Half Nobody Checks
The money question is only half of it. A bank checks four things before it checks the return — leverage, liquidity, concentration, time. Run both halves here.
Money Decisions
Video
Lump Sum vs Dollar-Cost Averaging: Which Actually Wins?
Lump sum vs dollar-cost averaging: Vanguard's 2023 data shows investing all at once won 68% of the time — but for most people the debate doesn't matter at all.
Money Decisions
Video
How Much of Your Money Should Be in Stocks?
How much of your money should be in stocks? Your risk capacity — time horizon, income stability and cash buffer — sets the ceiling. Nerve can only lower it.
Money Decisions
Video
How Many ETFs Do You Actually Need?
How many ETFs do you need? Fewer than most people hold. Diversification comes from what your funds own, not how many you own — and five can hold the same companies.