Compound Growth

Property tax bills keep climbing, a bill in Congress promises lower card fees while card companies warn that rewards could shrink, and everyone seems to be waiting for the AI bubble to burst. It’s hard to tell where the real costs and risks are coming from. After kicking off Movember, Wheeler and Colin take on property taxes. Colin shares that his own bill is up 120% in seven years after his town’s new high school ran over budget. Wheeler makes the case that property taxes work like membershi...

Homes cost about five times the typical household income, the average car payment has climbed by about a third in five years, and letters from the Treasury keep arriving with help that rarely adds up to much. It can feel like the basic markers of financial stability have moved out of reach. Wheeler opens with a Halloween urban legend about a call coming from inside the house, and argues that's where the housing problem sits too. The postwar version of the American dream was built around a sp...

In the race of technology, is AI truly the fastest adopted innovation in history, or is it just a case of mass distribution? If you’ve been questioning the impact of AI on the economy, your portfolio, or even just your daily life, this is a must-listen. Wheeler and Colin tackle a listener’s intriguing question about the economic ramifications of AI’s rapid integration into our lives. They explore critical distinctions between exposure, usage, and genuine adoption, challenging the...

Election ads everywhere, a new Apple product every few months, and maybe a stock in your portfolio that has done so well you're afraid to touch it. It's hard to tell which headlines matter for your money and which ones are noise. Wheeler starts with seasonality and the four-year presidential cycle. Midterm elections tend to bring anxiety, but historically the October through April stretch of a midterm year has been the strongest seven-month window of the entire cycle, averaging about 18% com...

Mortgage rates near 7%, a Social Security fund that has started shrinking, and a new account for kids that most parents still haven't heard of. It's a lot to keep straight, and the headlines rarely explain how any of it affects your own plan. It starts with an envelope from the US Department of the Treasury. Wheeler's family received a $1,500 refund tied to healthcare.gov marketplace fees, even though he estimates he paid only a few hundred dollars in fees over three years. The hosts explain...