A podcast listener asks:
Location: Seattle, WA
Based on my current savings for a downpayment, $300,000, I am pre-approved for a $1.5 million home purchase, but was hoping to stay closer to $1.2 million. My wife and I looked at houses in our preferred budget, and everything went $200k to $300k over. I have a co-worker who has now put in 5 offers, some escalating $500k over, and has not won a house. It has been demoralizing...

What’s a First-Time Homebuyer To Do Right Now?

Today’s Talk Your Book is presented by BlockFi:

Go to BlockFi.com/animalspirits to check out their interest rates and new bitcoin credit card. You can learn how BlockFi&#8217;s rates work by listening to today’s show with CEO Zac Prince. Also BlockFi is hiring.
We discuss:

What the Coinbase IPO means
Everyone thinks bitcoin is in a bubble
What is it like to be the CEO of a fast-growing fintech firm?
When will trad...

Talk Your Book: Crypto Update with Zac Prince

This week’s Animal Spirits with Michael &amp; Ben is supported by YCharts:

Mention Animal Spirits and receive 20% off your subscription price when you initially sign up for the service. If you’re looking for a new job at a fast-growing investment research firm, YCharts is hiring.
We discuss:

Big inflows into stock funds
Why index funds are the biggest financial innovation of the past 40 years
What if GDP is bein...

Animal Spirits: A Shortage of Workers

It seems like there is always a good reason to worry about the stock market. When stocks are falling it feels like they can always fall further. And when stocks rise it feels like the peak is always right around the corner.
But what about when stocks rise by A LOT? That&#8217;s the situation we&#8217;re looking at right now with a massive rise from the bottom last March.
In a recent piece at Fortune I looked at the histor...

What Happens After the Stock Market is Up Big?

They say a meme is worth a thousand words.
Okay, not really but close enough.
The ability to explain complex topics or current events is one of the reasons these things go viral and each week it seems we have a new meme format to work with.
Then there are the classics. The guy with the girlfriend looking over his shoulder at another woman. The &#8216;this is fine&#8217; dog. Ben Affleck doing pretty much anything. The Dra...

Winnie the Pooh Translates Financial Jargon

Today’s listener mailbag is presented by Naviplan by Advicent:

Go to www.advicent.com/animalspirits to learn more about how their financial planning software. And check out The Planning Desk Podcast with Tony Stich who helped us answer some questions today.
We discuss:

At what point do you need to rebalance your portfolio?
How to plan ahead financially for kids
How do you get currency diversification?
Will rebalanci...

Animal Spirits: Listener Mailbag


There&#8217;s no question residential real estate in the United States is on fire. The latest Case-Shiller Index data showed an 11% year-over-year increase:

And this data is only through January. I would expect the numbers will be even higher in subsequent months.
We&#8217;ve all heard anecdotes of housing shortages and ridiculous all-cash offers.
The logical conclusion for many prognosticators is to call this yet anoth...

Why This is Not Another Housing Bubble

Today’s Animal Spirits is presented by Masterworks:

Go to Masterworks.io to learn more about investing in the art market.
We discuss:

Why the bottom from last year looks easier in hindsight
The rise of active investing for Gen Z
Why passive investing will always win in the end
Markets are always and forever cyclical
The massive concentration in the S&amp;P 500
Are foreign stocks cheap?
What kind of impact are Robinh...

Animal Spirits: Housing Bubble 2.0?

Last week I was talking to Sofia Pitt from CNBC about a piece she was writing on some personal finance rules of thumb.
She asked for my thoughts on how many months&#8217; worth of spending people should keep in their emergency fund. The general rule of thumb is 3-6 months but some personal finance experts believe it should be as high as 12 months.
My answer, as usual, is it depends.
This sounds like a cop-out but allow me...

How Many Months’ Worth of Spending Do You Need in Your Emergency Fund?

Since the advent of each index in 1979, the Russell 1000 Growth and Value Indexes have nearly identical annual returns through March 2021 &#8212; 12.1% for growth and 12.0% for value.1
But the path to get to those returns was completely different for each:

Both value and growth have taken turns outperforming and underperforming depending on the cycle.
In the first quarter of this year, the Russell 1000 value was up 11.3%...