Money Matters With Wes Moss

AI IPOs may often dominate the news, but what matters for your retirement? On the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Connor Miller connect market headlines with the financial questions that hit home: from household wealth and investing to retirement readiness.

· Explore AI IPO discussions and consider the risks and uncertainties surrounding proposed technology company valuations.

· Scrutinize the assumptions and limitations behind total addressable market projections, including estimates exceeding the size of the U.S. economy.

· Assess corporate earnings results and stock price movements without treating individual company performance as representative of the broader market.

· Trace artificial intelligence’s role in financial market narratives, political discussions, and infrastructure spending.

· Examine the investment trends, local opposition, and political uncertainties surrounding AI data center construction.

· Compare three AI-related IPO valuation scenarios with historical technology IPO data while considering differences in timing, scale, and valuation methods.

· Evaluate historical post-midterm election returns while recognizing that past performance does not guarantee future results.

· Compare historical investment-growth examples across presidential administrations without assuming political leadership alone determines market performance.

· Unpack Federal Reserve household wealth data and explore associations, not necessarily causal relationships, among education, homeownership, age, and net worth.

· Review U.S. net worth by age, percentile, and homeownership status while recognizing that national benchmarks do not determine individual financial readiness.

· Examine wealth differences associated with equity ownership while acknowledging market risk, possible investment losses, and other factors affecting household wealth.

· Clarify the top 25%, top 10%, and top 1% net worth benchmarks alongside the hosts’ retirement-readiness “green zone.”

· Assess how retirement timing, Social Security, mortgage obligations, and spending needs may help influence retirement scenarios for households with modest nest eggs, with feasibility dependent on individual circumstances and planning assumptions.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for educational conversations with Wes Moss and Connor Miller about financial markets, household wealth, and retirement planning.

Would you hand an AI bot the keys to your bank account? What’s keeping the U.S. economy moving? Wes Moss and Connor Miller tackle both questions on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, exploring financial account security, artificial intelligence, and economic trends that may be relevant to retirement planning.

· Discover what may concern investors about AI bots and automated financial transactions.

· Hear a discussion of restrictions on foreign bots and financial account access.

· Weigh the convenience of AI agents against the potential risks of granting access to your money.

· See why human oversight and two-factor authentication remain part of the account security conversation.

· Decode brokerage account transfers: how they work and what security measures may be deployed.

· Examine how technology and hands-on monitoring may contribute to layered account security, though not eliminating every risk.

· Analyze the “Clydesdale economy,” a description of U.S. economic resilience, business investment, and global challenges.

· Explore consumer spending’s role in economic growth, with related reading in Wes’s Forbes article,“Mini-Millionaires Rising: Insights From Fed’s Consumer Finance Survey.”

· Follow the connection between gig work, part-time jobs, and household income.

· Investigate how productivity and AI may influence future growth, with another perspective in Wes’s Forbes article,“AI Isn’t Killing Jobs—It May Be Intensifying Work Instead.”

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for a lively, educational look at financial headlines, personal finance, and retirement planning.

Saving for retirement is one thing; feeling comfortable spending that money is another. Wes Moss welcomes New York Times best-selling author Jean Chatzky to the Money Matters Podcast to talk about her book, The Forever Paycheck, retirement income, and why old saving habits may be hard to shake.

· Discover the idea behind The Forever Paycheck and what it means to turn savings into income.

· Hear Jean Chatzky share her perspective on why some Americans fear running out of money in retirement more than death.

· Unpack why some retirees may struggle to spend after a lifetime of saving.

· Compare how pensions, Social Security, and investment balances may influence your willingness to spend.

· Hear Chatzky’s story about her mother and the potential emotions behind some retirement money decisions.

· Examine research on converting assets into income, along with some assumptions and limitations behind the findings.

· Take a fresh look at the 4% rule of thumb and why withdrawal guidelines may leave some retirees scratching their heads.

· Look beyond the labels on annuities and insurance products to consider their potential uses, costs, and restrictions.

· Follow the money to understand how industry compensation may sometimes influence financial recommendations.

· Reconsider home equity and paid-up life insurance as possible retirement and long-term care resources, with costs and conditions to weigh.

· Explore dividends, interest, and multi-asset-class income investing without overlooking market risk or fluctuating payments.

· Connect investment growth, fixed income, and your comfort with spending to your retirement goals and risk tolerance.

Listen to Wes Moss and Jean Chatzky explore the human side of retirement income planning on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast. Subscribe for more conversations about retirement, investing, and the life your money is meant to support.

Market updates make headlines, mortgage costs help influence household budgets, and AI may be changing the customer service experience. On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd sort through the noise to explore how these topics connect to personal finance and retirement planning.

· Explore why some businesses keep people at the center of customer service while others hand more of the conversation to artificial intelligence.

· Examine customer traffic and sales figures, weigh the trade-offs of choosing people over automation, and consider Wes’s related perspective onAI’s broader role in the workplace.

· Peek beneath the stock market highs discussed in the episode to see why some companies and sectors don’t seem to be sharing the spotlight.

· Follow the connections among oil prices, inflation expectations, interest rates, and the Federal Reserve’s outlook.

· Unpack the tariff debate with research exploring how consumer goods prices might have changed without them.

· Face the math behind higher mortgage payments, tighter housing budgets, and the hurdles younger generations may encounter on the road to homeownership.

· Inspect the appeal of unusually high investment yields as Wes’s “yield ladder” puts income potential alongside risk and the possibility of loss.

· Compare how utilities, small-cap stocks, and financials may respond differently as interest rates change and market leadership shifts.

· Weigh how higher government bond yields may help influence investment decisions, and explore Wes’s related discussion ofstock dividends, bond interest, and retirement investing.

· Explore how Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) may fit into retirement healthcare planning, with potential tax benefits subject to eligibility, contribution limits, and qualified medical expense requirements.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for a lively look at the financial headlines behind everyday money questions and for educational conversations about markets, personal finance, and retirement planning.

Unpredictable markets may make even experienced investors question what matters most. In this Money Matters Podcast episode, Wes Moss and Connor Miller seek to put market volatility, interest rates, stock market history, bonds, inflation, and diversified investing into perspective.

· Reconsider what the "market average" means by exploring how University of Chicago researchers in the 1960s helped establish a widely used measure of the long-term performance of the overall U.S. stock market, and how that history may influence how investors assess portfolio performance. 00:00:09

· Examine how higher interest rates may affect mortgage payments, 401(k) accounts, consumer borrowing, business activity, and the wider U.S. economy. 00:00:26

· Recognize how investment-account high-water marks may affect investor behavior, expectations, and reactions during periods of stock market volatility. 00:01:16

· Trace the development of stock market benchmarks, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, and consider why they may remain associated with long-term market performance. 00:05:05

· Explore educational aspects of broad market participation as a contrast to a narrower set of individual stocks. 00:07:27

· Assess what approximately a century of U.S. stock market returns might illustrate about long-term investing and financial planning. 00:09:13

· Examine how the more than $50 trillion U.S. fixed-income market may have responded to shifting interest rates, and why bond yields, bond prices, and diversification may matter to investors. 00:11:45

· Consider how investment returns may vary from year to year, and examine the historical difference between short-term market results and longer-term return patterns. 00:12:55

· Connect inflation, economic growth, government debt, and interest rates to the forces that may influence market conditions, household budgets, and purchasing power. 00:14:22

· Assess why higher bond yields may have increased interest in fixed income, and how bonds may be associated with income potential and diversification within certain balanced-portfolio approaches. 00:21:08

· Compare how longer holding periods have historically influenced the frequency of positive returns among stocks, bonds, and balanced portfolios, while recognizing that past performance does not guarantee future results. 00:26:06

· Understand the relationship between bond prices, yields, and duration, and consider why higher starting yields may be associated with income potential and a degree of resilience during some periods of price volatility. 00:29:41

Market conditions, interest rates, and investment returns can change quickly, but a thoughtful framework may help you evaluate the information behind the headlines. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for conversations with Wes Moss and Connor Miller on investing, retirement planning, bonds, inflation, and long-term financial decision-making.

Fall is here, but interest rates aren't falling. On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd look at why the 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 5% and what higher rates may mean for investors, savers, and retirees.

· Analyze the jump in the 10-year Treasury yield and why stocks don't always like a strong economy.

· Explore the latest manufacturing PMI and GDPNow data, and how market expectations for Federal Reserve policy have shifted since the start of 2026.

· Track CPI and PCE inflation, and why the Fed may be watching one measure more closely than the other.

· Consider how the competition for capital between stocks and bonds may influence markets when yields reach new levels.

· Examine why bond yields are near their highest point in about 20 years and how mortgage rates back above 7% may affect the housing market.

· Unpack how the Treasury, major banks, and the Federal Reserve work together to expand the money supply, and how pandemic-era stimulus contributed to inflation.

· Discover research from Jean Chatzky's new book, The Forever Paycheck, suggesting many retirees may underspend in retirement.

· Learn why income may feel easier for retirees to spend than assets, and how the growth plus incomeequation may factor into total return.

· Climb the Yield Ladder to see the range of dividend, interest, and distribution income available in today's market.

· Review how the S&P 500 has historically performed in the 12 months following midterm elections, remembering that past performance does not guarantee future results.

From rising rates and inflation to retiree spending and income investing, Wes and Jeff unpack what a shifting market may mean for your portfolio. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for more educational conversations about the economy, investing, and retirement.

What do everyday millionaires, Coast FI, pension decisions, and Roth conversions have to do with your financial future? On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Christa DiBiase tackle a wide-ranging mix of money questions about building wealth, planning for retirement, and understanding the potential financial trade-offs along the way.

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Meet the “everywhere millionaires” building wealth through hands-on businesses far from the Silicon Valley spotlight.

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Explore Coast FI and how early saving may factor into the path toward financial independence.

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Consider how stock exposure, bond funds, and portfolio risk may factor into investment decisions as retirement approaches.

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Examine the financial considerations facing young high earners managing student loans, taxes, and retirement contributions.

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Compare pension lump-sum and monthly-payment options, including considerations involving inflation, longevity, and cost-of-living adjustments.

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Unpack how securities-backed lines of credit may be used for real estate financing, along with borrowing costs, market risk, and potential margin calls.

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Learn how capital gains and investment withdrawals may affect eligibility for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance subsidies.

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Review how Roth conversions for inherited or custodial retirement accounts may interact with taxes, withdrawal rules, and long-term retirement planning.

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Explore Wes’s new book, The Retire Sooner Method, and the research behind his approach to the financial and lifestyle characteristics associated with a happier retirement.

From everyday millionaires and Coast FI to pensions, taxes, and Roth conversions, this episode puts some of retirement planning’s biggest questions on the table. Listen to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Christa DiBiase, and subscribe for more conversations about investing, wealth building, retirement planning, and financial independence.

What are oil prices, interest rates, AI, and American entrepreneurs telling us about today’s economy? On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Connor Miller analyze the latest economic and market headlines and provide context to investing, technology, and U.S. household wealth.

· Explore how oil, diesel, and inflation trends may affect consumers, financial markets, and the U.S. economy.

· Unpack how bond market activity may influence interest rates alongside Federal Reserve policy.

· Examine why Fed rate changes and long-term Treasury yields don’t always move together.

· Consider AI concerns involving jobs, regulation, cybersecurity, defense, and existential risk.

· Explore the potential role of AI in productivity, innovation, digital security, and economic growth.

· Compare the latest foldable phone technology, device prices, and consumer demand.

· Meet “everywhere millionaires” who built wealth through food, HVAC, gutters, and other traditional businesses.

· Discover what pass-through income data may tell us about entrepreneurship, job creation, and wealth across America.

· Review recent U.S. household net worth trends and the factors that may be influencing American wealth.

· Examine historical stock market trends around midterm elections, remembering that past performance does not guarantee future results.

Connect the dots between the economy, markets, AI, entrepreneurship, and investing, and explore Wes’s new book, The Retire Sooner Method. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Connor Miller for more educational conversations about financial markets, retirement planning, and the U.S. economy.

What does Labor Day have to do with the economy? On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd connect the American worker to today’s markets, economic trends, and retirement planning.

· Celebrate Labor Day with a look at how American workers, productivity, and quality of life may have evolved.

· Discover how David Booth and the rise of index investing may have helped change the investing landscape.

· Explore The Retire Sooner Method and Wes’s latest research on what happy retirees may have in common.

· Rethink the K-shaped economy as Wes and Jeff introduce an “E-shaped” way to view today’s economic landscape.

· Examine trends in U.S. household wealth, home equity, and consumer spending.

· Consider where side hustles and multiple jobs may fit into the modern American workforce.

· Check the pulse of the U.S. job market, unemployment, and workforce flexibility.

· Compare consumer sentiment and consumer spending to see where perceptions and economic data may differ.

· See how remote work and youth unemployment may be changing the landscape for young workers and employers.

· Learn how interest rates and bond duration might relate to fixed-income investments, including bonds held in a 401(k).

· Follow trends in capital spending, corporate profitability, and productivity growth across the U.S. economy.

· Explore how American workers may help drive innovation across technology, healthcare, and other industries.

Celebrate Labor Day with a fresh perspective on the U.S. economy, investing, and retirement planning. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for more educational conversations with Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd.

Football is back, fall is around the corner, and there’s plenty happening with the economy and markets. On this episode of the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Connor Miller sort through some of the current financial stories and explore what they may mean for investors and retirees.

· Analyze the U.S. economy, inflation, and S&P 500 earnings as summer winds down.

· ExploreThe Retire Sooner Method and Wes’s latest research on the characteristics associated with happier retirees.

· Consider the challenges the sandwich generation may face while juggling kids, aging parents, and retirement goals.

· Compare recent trends in large-cap stocks, dividend growers, small caps, and diversified portfolios.

· Follow how oil prices, federal debt, interest rates, and housing costs may influence the economy.

· Track CPI and PCE inflation and potential changes to how these closely watched measures are calculated.

· Examine why fewer Americans 55+ seem to be participating in the labor force and the factors that may influence retirement decisions.

· Consider how growing investment inartificial intelligence may influence jobs, productivity, and economic growth.

· See how changing immigration trends may affect employment and unemployment data.

· Review thehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/wesmoss/2024/11/21/10-habits-happy-retirees-have-in-common/financial and lifestyle characteristics associated with retirement happiness in Wes’s research.

· Reflect on Dolly Parton’s legacy and her apparent attention to purpose and giving.

From inflation and the stock market to AI and retirement planning, Wes and Connor attempt to make sense of a busy financial landscape. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for more educational conversations about the economy, investing, and retirement.

From $40 trillion in U.S. debt to an everyday employee who quietly built seven-figure wealth, this episode of the Money Matters Podcast covers a lot of ground. Join Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd as they seek to help make sense of the markets, retirement planning, and a few fascinating detours along the way.

· Celebrate college football season and the start of fall.

· Unpack how U.S. debt, federal deficits, and interest rates may affect investors and the economy.

· See how the bond market and Federal Reserve may influence interest rates.

· Explore cancer treatment advances and the growing potential of AI in healthcare.

· Consider what demand for U.S. Treasury bonds and higher yields may mean for investors.

· Hear what Wes shared on The Money Guy Show about the habits associated with happier retirees.

· Learn why sequence of returns risk may matter when taking portfolio withdrawals in retirement.

· Discover how a longtime employee reportedly accumulated seven-figure wealth through decades of consistent saving and investing.

· Consider how workplace benefits, retirement contributions, and staying invested may support long-term wealth accumulation.

· Explore the Retire Sooner Method and its approach to retirement planning.

· Laugh along with a golf analogy that shows why personal finance may be as unique as your swing.

Bring some personality to the serious business of planning for retirement. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd for more conversations about investing, retirement planning, and personal finance.

What exactly is “boomer candy,” and why is Wall Street talking about it? On the Money Matters Podcast, Wes Moss and Connor Miller break down specialty ETFs, retirement income, diversification, inflation, and what history may teach us about staying invested.

· Explore why high-income specialty ETFs seem to be catching the attention of investors looking for income and potential downside protection.

· See how ETFs may have evolved from simple, low-cost funds into increasingly complex products with new strategies, costs, and risks.

· Follow the trend in derivative ETFs, which have grown from under $100 billion to roughly $600 billion in assets.

· Unpack how high-income S&P 500 ETFs may use options to pursue monthly income and manage volatility.

· Compare specialty ETFs with buffered and barrier notes, including a noticeable difference: potential counterparty risk.

· Visualize specialty ETFs as financial burritos—layers of investment strategies wrapped together in one package.

· Consider where specialty ETFs may fit as a supplement to a diversified portfolio rather than the main course.

· Revisit the supposed “death of the 60/40 portfolio” after 2022 and see what history may add to the debate.

· Discover what decades of market data may suggest about stocks, bonds, and balanced portfolios across different holding periods.

· Check the latest inflation, CPI, and interest rate trends and what they may mean for the Federal Reserve and financial markets.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for a lively, educational look at investing, retirement planning, ETFs, and the markets.

What's driving record stock market highs? Find out on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast as Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd connect the dots between artificial intelligence (AI), investing, Social Security, and retirement planning in a fast-moving, educational conversation that helps put the current financial headlines into perspective.

· Find out what may be fueling record stock market highs, from AI to strong corporate earnings.

· Explore one of the market's biggest five-day rallies since 1950 and see how markets have historically performed following comparable rallies.

· Follow the wild story of a leveraged hedge fund and what it may reveal about investing risk.

· Examine how money has shifted from AI stocks toward value investing and dividend-paying companies.

· Consider why demographic changes may help reshape the future of higher education.

· Compare practical ways to balance college savings with retirement planning.

· Weigh Social Security claiming considerations based on income, longevity, and retirement goals.

· Explore listener questions on pensions, mortgage payoff, cash reserves, and core pursuits.

· Review financial habits that may support long-term retirement planning.

· Claim your preorder bonus for The Retire Sooner Method, whether you buy from a major retailer or your favorite local bookstore.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd for more educational conversations about retirement planning, investing, Social Security, AI, stock market trends, and personal finance.

Big market swings, artificial intelligence, and the Federal Reserve are dominating the conversation—but what do they really mean? Join Wes Moss and Connor Miller on the Money Matters Podcast as they separate attention-grabbing headlines from the broader trends that may be shaping investing, retirement planning, and the economy.

• See why a large tech company’s historic $500 billion single-day market move may not be the whole investing story.

• Discover how algorithmic trading may help fuel market volatility and why it often differs from long-term investing.

• Rethink the difference between stock prices and the value of the businesses behind them.

• Explore new research on how artificial intelligence may be changing hiring, management, and workplace productivity.

• Follow the latest Federal Reserve decision and the economic conversation surrounding interest rates.

• Consider the "play the ball, not the referee" mindset when evaluating markets and economic news.

• Follow encouraging progress in Alzheimer's research and discuss potentially positive hiring trends from companies investing in innovation.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Connor Miller for engaging and educational conversations about retirement planning, investing, AI, personal finance, and today's economy.

Retirement planning doesn't happen in a vacuum, and artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an important part of today's conversation. Join Wes Moss and Connor Miller on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast as they connect the dots between retirement savings, inflation, AI investing, and the economic trends that may help influence the years ahead.

• Compare new retirement savings research with what Americans think they'll need and how today's savings levels measure up.

• See why credit card debt, investing habits, and portfolio allocation continue to make headlines in retirement planning.

• Explore the 4% rule of thumb, retirement income planning, and why risk tolerance may matter when building a long-term strategy.

• Follow how artificial intelligence is driving significant investment and how those trends may influence inflation and the broader economy.

• Consider what productivity gains, market changes, and diversified investing may mean for long-term investors.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast with Wes Moss and Connor Miller for engaging conversations about retirement planning, retirement investing, personal finance, inflation, artificial intelligence, and today's economy.

Markets never stop moving, and neither do the conversations that matter most to investors and future retirees. Join Wes Moss and Connor Miller on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast as they break down the latest retirement planning, investing, financial planning, and personal finance headlines with historical perspective and practical context.

• Find out how the latest inflation data may influence Federal Reserve policy and interest rate expectations.

• See what early projections for the 2027 Social Security COLA—and rising Medicare Part B premiums—may mean for retirement income planning.

• Compare wage growth and inflation to better understand what's happening with purchasing power.

• Explore the buzz around IPOs while examining what history suggests about IPO investing versus long-term index investing.

• Discover how stocks, bonds, and cash have historically performed after inflation across different investment time horizons.

• Consider how oil prices, global events, and corporate earnings may influence market volatility and investor sentiment.

• Follow the broadening earnings story across the S&P 500, including the growing impact of artificial intelligence spending and wider sector participation.

• Learn about the retirement planning tools and bonus resources available with The Retire Sooner Method.

Listen to the Money Matters Podcast for more conversations connecting today's headlines with retirement planning, investing, financial planning, and personal finance. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a new episode.

Markets are full of mixed signals, but what do they actually mean for investors and future retirees? Join Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd on this episode of the Money Matters Podcastas they connect the latest market headlines, economic data, and historical perspectives to explore the factors that may be shaping today's financial landscape.

• Explore how Middle East tensions may influence oil prices, inflation, and the stock market.

• Examine what 55 years of consumer sentiment data may reveal about market performance through different economic cycles.

• Analyze the latest jobs report, labor force participation, and trends reshaping the U.S. workforce.

• Understand how caregiving, demographics, and early retirement continue changing the labor market.

• Revisit Alan Greenspan's famous "irrational exuberance" speech and the historical perspective it may offer on market timing.

• Compare today's broad-based corporate earnings growth with the concentrated market leadership of the late 1990s.

• Evaluate forward earnings, price-to-earnings ratios, and the growing role of dividend-paying and value stocks.

• Learn how Trump Accounts and custodial Roth IRAs compare as long-term savings options for children.

• Discover the five core pursuits from The Retire Sooner Method and the research associated with greater retirement satisfaction.

Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for thoughtful conversations on investing, retirement planning, personal finance, and the economy. Join Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd each week as they bring context to today's financial headlines and the trends shaping tomorrow.

What if retirement planning isn't just about saving more, but making the most of the years ahead? Join Wes Moss for a special episode exploring the research behind The Retire Sooner Method and what decades of studying happy retirees may reveal about living well in retirement.

• Explore why we may be wired to "beat the clock" and how that instinct may shape retirement planning.

• Hear the story behind the "Happiest Retiree on the Block" and the research that inspired The Retire Sooner Method.

• Discover five habits that have been associated with higher reported retirement satisfaction.

• Learn how purpose, core pursuits, close friendships, and a written financial plan fit into the retirement conversation.

• Examine the Money Green Zones and findings from the 2025 Money and Happiness in America study.

• See how financial and lifestyle factors come together in research on retirement happiness and well-being.

• Preview the key ideas Wes explores throughout The Retire Sooner Method.

Whether retirement is around the corner or still years away, this episode offers a fresh look at the research shaping today's retirement planning conversations. Listen to the Money Matters Podcast and subscribe for more educational discussions on investing, personal finance, retirement planning, and financial well-being.

Wall Street, Washington, and Silicon Valley are all making headlines—and Wes Moss and Jeff Lloyd break down the stories shaping today’s financial landscape on this episode of the Money Matters Podcast. Join the conversation as they explore the stock market, inflation, artificial intelligence, IPOs, and retirement planning through an educational lens.

• Explore the market swings that have helped define 2026 thus far, and the economic forces often associated with driving the volatility.

• Follow the latest on inflation, oil prices, the Federal Reserve, and potential interest rate expectations.

• Discover how artificial intelligence may be influencing business investment, technology costs, and economic change.

• Hear Philippe Laffont's perspective on long-term investing as certain tech companies have become increasingly influential within major market indexes.

• Consider the excitement surrounding potential IPOs, then enjoy Wes and Jeff's feel-good "Initial Puppy Offering" story.

• Review the role broad, low-cost index funds and ETFs may play in diversified, long-term investing.

• Discover highlights from Wes Moss's new book, The Retire Sooner Method, and learn how pre-ordering unlocks exclusive bonus resources.

Whether you're following the markets, curious about AI, or thinking ahead to retirement, this episode brings today's biggest financial conversations together in one place. Listen to and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast, and pre-order The Retire Sooner Method to unlock exclusive bonus content while it's still available.

Retirement planning has its challenges, which is why this special listener Q&A episode of the Money Matters Podcast tackles a wide range of financial topics. Join Wes Moss and Christa DiBiase, the COO of Clark Howard, Inc., as they explore retirement, investing, taxes, and wealth management considerations raised by listeners from across the country.

• Consider how Roth 401(k) and Roth IRA decisionsmay fit into a broader retirement and tax-planning framework.

• Explore diversification, asset allocation, and portfolio rebalancing concepts, including the potential roles of real estate, commodities, and risk management.

• Learn how net worth calculations, pension income, and retirement account consolidation may help provide a more complete view of household finances.

• Compare investment management approaches, from target-date funds and managed portfolios to the potential role of a fiduciary, fee-only financial advisor.

• Examine buffered investment products, fixed annuities, and principal-preservation considerations for investors evaluating alternatives to traditional stock market exposure.

Whether you're approaching retirement or refining an existing financial plan, this episode offers educational perspectives on some of today's most common investor questions. Listen and subscribe to the Money Matters Podcast for ongoing discussions about retirement planning, investing, tax considerations, and the financial factors that may influence long-term outcomes.