12:02 Is Gold a Good Investment? Central Banks' Reason Isn't Yours
Gold returned 1.3% a year after inflation since 1900, against 6.6% for US stocks. Central banks buy it to insure a reserve, and that is not your risk. Episode 3 of Ask a Banker.
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Around ten minutes each. One idea from the institutional side of the desk, explained so you can use it. New videos every Tuesday.
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Why Are Interest Rates So High in 2026? Debt, Inflation or the Fed
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Why Are Interest Rates So High in 2026? Debt, Inflation or the Fed
Why did US interest rates jump in 2026? Debt, inflation and the Fed checked against the data, and what it means for your mortgage, your cash and the bonds you own. Episode 1 of Everyone Says.
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12:07 The Worst Month for Stocks Isn't October (Data Since 1928)
October has the famous crashes, but since 1928 another month has been the weakest of the year, and nobody can explain why. Why autumn is loud rather than dangerous. Episode 2 of Ask a Banker.
12:30 Should You Buy a Rental Property? (Real Estate vs Stocks)
Housing and stocks both returned about 7% a year over 145 years, and housing was the calmer one. So why do most people still do better with stocks? The first episode of Ask a Banker.
6:38 Should You Buy That Stock? 4% of Companies Made All the Gains (Explained by a Banker)
The five questions a banker runs before buying any single stock — and why most buys never get past the first one, which is not about the stock at all. The finale of Money Decisions.
9:06 When to Sell Stocks: 3 Good Reasons, and the Price Isn't One
The three reasons a professional accepts for selling — a broken rebalancing band, a changed life, a broken thesis — and the one page that makes the decision before the bad evening arrives.
7:35 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.
6:03 Asset Allocation by Age Isn't Enough: What a Bank Checks Instead
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.
6:10 Lump Sum vs Dollar Cost Averaging: Which Wins? (Banker Explains)
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.
7:35 Renting vs Buying a Home: A Banker Explains the 5x Leverage Bet
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.
7:04 Pay Off Debt or Invest? Why Companies With Billions Still Borrow
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.
5:53 How Much Emergency Fund Do You Really Need? (Banker Explains)
"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.
11:18 How to Build Money That Actually Holds Up When Markets Fall
The finale of How Money Really Moves. The four-layer wealth cushion — Buffer, Floor, Engine and Free Hand — where each layer kills one specific fear, plus the build order that lets money stop being a source of panic.
11:07 Why Your Savings Shrink Even When Nothing Goes Wrong
How money is actually created, why the supply must keep growing, and why a savings account quietly loses ground every year — by design, not by accident.
10:49 Payment for Order Flow Explained: Why "Free" Trading Isn't Free
Payment for order flow, spreads, and best execution. Where the cost of a 'free' trade is actually hiding.
13:09 You Don't Own Your Stocks (And Here Is Why)
Street-name registration, custodians, and the chain between you and the share you think you hold. What beneficial ownership actually means.
12:39 How Banks Actually Make Money
Net interest margin, fees, and the float. Where a bank's profit really comes from — and why your deposit rate looks the way it does.
10:11 Credit Suisse AT1 Bonds Explained: How $17 Billion Was Wiped to Zero (By a Banker)
Swiss authorities wrote CHF 16bn of AT1 bonds to zero while shareholders were paid. The mechanical trigger never fired — a regulator's judgement did.
10:40 UK Gilt Crisis 2022: How £70 Billion Almost Broke Britain (Explained by a Banker)
A pension strategy designed to reduce risk nearly destroyed the UK bond market in 72 hours. How LDI turned safety into a margin call.
10:27 Synthetic ETFs: Why You Might Be Exposed to Counterparty Risk
A synthetic ETF does not own what it tracks. It owns a promise from a bank. Usually that is fine — here is when it is not.
12:03 Lehman Brothers vs FTX Collapse: How $58 Billion Vanished From Audited Balance Sheets
Same off-balance-sheet trick, same audit pass, fourteen years apart. Why 'audited' does not mean safe.
12:32 LTCM Explained: The Nobel Price Hedge Fund Collapse
Two Nobel laureates, a flawless model, and a fund that lost 90% in four months. What LTCM teaches about the tail risk no model can price.
8:12 No System? The Boring 3-Check Routine Professionals Run Before Every Trade
The boring three-check routine professionals run before every trade. Boring is the point.
9:24 When to Sell an Individual Stock: The 4 Kill Criteria a Fund Manager Uses
The three questions professionals ask before they sell. The price is not one of them.
9:01 Your Stop-Loss Has a Price Tag (And Liquidity Hunters Know Exactly Where)
Your stop-loss is visible. Liquidity hunters know exactly where it sits, and why that matters more than you think.
13:05 Rules Over Access: The Simple System Behind $50 Trillion in Institutional Money
The finale. Institutions do not win through access — they win through rules. The system behind $50 trillion, and how to copy it.
10:55 Why a $846 Trillion Market Isn't the Trap Everyone Thinks It Is
The derivatives market is quoted at $846 trillion, and the number is almost meaningless. What it really measures.
13:37 Bitcoin Is NOT Digital Gold (BlackRock's Institutional Proof)
Bitcoin is often sold as digital gold. Its actual correlation behaviour says otherwise — and BlackRock's own framing shows it.
10:31 Norway's Sovereign Fund Owns No Gold. Central Banks Keep Buying.
Central banks are buying gold at record levels while most institutional portfolios hold none. Both can be right — here is why.
7:48 REITs vs Buying Property: What $50 Trillion in Smart Money Knows
REITs or bricks? What institutional allocators actually own when they want property exposure — and why.
8:26 How $50 Trillion in Forced Selling Crashed the Market
Forced selling is what turns a correction into a crash. How margin calls cascade — and how not to be in the cascade.
7:09 Index Funds vs Mutual Funds: The 2% Reality That Banks Don't Tell You
Index funds versus mutual funds. The cost difference is small, certain, and compounds against you for decades.
10:17 Bonds: How $17 Billion Disappeared Overnight (Safe? Think Again)
Bonds are the 'safe' asset — until they are not. What actually happens when a bond goes to zero overnight.
9:49 Value Investing: Why Billionaires Ignore the P/E Ratio (Do This Instead)
Why the P/E ratio tells you far less than you think, and what professionals look at instead.
10:00 How to Pick the Best ETFs: The 4-Step Banker Audit That Filters 90% Out
The four-step audit a banker runs on any ETF — and why it filters out most of what is on the shelf.
7:32 My 2026 Investment Strategy: 3 Buckets a Banker Uses to Build Wealth
The three-bucket structure: how a banker separates money that must be safe from money that can grow.
9:25 Your Resolution Will Fail by February—Here's Why
Why financial resolutions collapse by February — and the structural fix professionals use instead of willpower.