Episodes

The most common example of social trading is when individual investors follow successful traders on social trading platforms and copy their trades. This can help investors who lack the time, experience, or confidence to invest on their own to achieve similar returns to more experienced traders. But, if you’ve ever traded stocks or crypto on Robinhood, and immediately received a prompt letting you know which of your friends also bought that stock earlier that same day, then you’ve experienced soc...

Traditionally, we are taught from a young age that anyone who fails to pay their bills on time and in full is either irresponsible, lazy, or otherwise bad with money. By the time a person reaches young adulthood, they have essentially learned rule #1 of managing your personal finances: pay every bill on time, no matter what. The reality though is that the importance of paying yourself supersedes paying anyone else. As cliché as it sounds, paying yourself first is an important financial lesson t...

The promise and allure of passive income is undeniable. The idea of making money “while you sleep” has led to a proliferation of personalities and influencers telling us how to build income streams through dividends, real estate, online courses, e-books, and more. Unlike the day-to-day income most workers are accustomed to, passive income allows you to receive earnings, royalties, or sales in perpetuity, well after the initial investment. Passive income streams compliment one’s salary and provid...

The Fintech sector is responsible for the rapid transformation and digitalization of financial tools that help consumers intelligently manage and understand their money. Making an incredibly positive impact, financial services companies distance consumers from the legacy banking system and provide access to historically underrepresented communities. Despite this progress, it is a well known fact that a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs and decision makers within Fintech do not adequately ...

Equity is an important aspect of any tech worker’s overall compensation. This employee perk gives you a stake in the company and incentive to perform. Not only should it be negotiated upon hire, but also leveraged to its full-potential as your career progresses. When times are good, it’s comfortable to continue taking shares, but what happens when the market sours? The looming recession is forcing some workers to navigate falling stock prices for the first time. While it’s tempting to mitigate ...

The process of assets changing hands from one generation to the next within a family is what we mean when we use the term "generational wealth." But in actuality, the next generation may not be equipped to manage the money they inherit. However, it is also true that family wealth can be diluted as it is divided amongst children and other heirs, especially if each has a different stance on how to invest or manage their individual finances. And to make matters worse, if the proper legal documentat...

It’s widely believed that work is something that is supposed to happen between the hours of 9 to 5, 40 hours per week, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year, for 40 years, until age 65 or later. Then, and only then, are you allowed to think about and prioritize the people and things that matter to you the most. Or at least that’s how it seems. But in reality, you should also be spending your younger years enjoying time together with friends and family, exploring and traveling, and dedicating your t...

Long gone are the days of investing solely for the bottom line. A growing percentage of investors want to put their hard-earned money behind organizations that align with their personal values. Some want to move away from a one-size fits all basket of blue-chip stocks, for one that supports initiatives that actually matter to them. While some may strictly invest in this manner as an outward expression of their values, others believe this is a winning formula for people and the planet. Are the s...

In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with friend of the show, Chris Hill, to discuss ways to identify and develop your own investor personality. Chris reflects on some of his best and worst investing decisions over the years. And the pair share some of their own rules for determining which stocks to buy and when. Chris Hill discusses: The difference between being a value or growth investor How to determine when it’s time to buy or sell a stock The importance of dividends and whether y...

According to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate dot com, Americans’ biggest financial regret is not saving enough for emergencies. In fact, 20% of respondents gave this answer - even topping the reigning top response related to saving too little for retirement. And when broken down further, older millennials (36 percent) were more than twice as likely than baby boomers (14 percent) to say they regret not having a strong enough emergency fund. And when asked what they intend to do with their m...

As a founder, it can be challenging to know when to make the shift from pouring every dollar you have into getting your startup off the ground to taking a few chips off the table to eventually paying yourself first. However, every business owner should begin to separate their own personal finances from the business as soon as possible for a few different reasons. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down to discuss best financial practices for founders and how to know when it is time to begin...

For startups, investors often put a lot of emphasis on cap tables. They want to see a diluted picture of equity ownership among you as a founder, any co-founders or partners, early investors, and key employees before they’ll seriously consider handing over a check to invest themselves in your company. That’s because a healthy cap table illustrates not only your business’s potential for growth in the future, but also communicates to your investors just how solid your judgment is as a CEO. In thi...

Though it may seem like a very distant and high-class problem that only the super-wealthy among us will ever have to contend with, for many tech workers who have accumulated a significant sized stake in their employer, it is not unlikely that estate taxes are something they will have to consider as a part of their overall financial plan. In fact, with the number of bills currently floating around the halls of Congress with the intention to increase tax revenue by lowering the estate and gift tax...

As anyone who has ever bought and sold any sort of digital asset in the last couple years can attest, the rules and regulations around reporting those transactions to the IRS can be very fuzzy. Coupled with the lack of information made available by the IRS itself, and the lack of general knowledge and adoption of crypto by the accounting community, it can be very tough for investors to make heads or tails of it all. At best, you manage to stumble across a couple of really helpful twitter posts ...

A stock option is the right to buy a specific number of shares of either a stock or an index at a preset price. These options allow traders to speculate on the directional performance of a stock or index without owning the shares outright. For better or worse, options trading has now been democratized and made available to just about anyone, regardless of their individual risk tolerance, risk capacity, and overall understanding of the inner workings of options contracts. In this episode, Malcol...

In the simplest terms, a mentor is anyone who possesses more experience and knowledge than you in a given industry. They have skills you want to master in order to thrive. And you’d rather lean on their experience and expertise and learn from their mistakes, rather than having to go and make those same mistakes on your own. Entrepreneurs need mentors especially, and perhaps more than other professionals, simply because it is nearly impossible to formally teach entrepreneurship in any controlled...

We’ve all heard the popular saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” But when you hear the word “networking,” how many of the feelings that start to bubble up are negative ones, such as anxiety, discomfort, and maybe even fear? And that word can be especially triggering for those who consider themselves introverts. And while there have been several social media platforms and other tech tools built over the last couple decades designed to help make networking and building relationships...

Historically, gold and other precious metals have been how we trade with one another across borders and globally. Gold bars were the original store value before there was such a thing as the US dollar. The gold standard was so consistent in its ability to maintain its value through varying economic cycles that we backed up our dollars with it. Incorporating precious metals into a diversified portfolio as a hedge against the volatility in both the stock and bond markets sounds like a good idea. ...

One of the biggest problems that need to be solved almost immediately after launch is making some noise to let the public know you and your product or service exist. If not, no matter how good that product or service is, you likely won’t be in business for very long. And as daunting as it might sound, blitzscaling your content creation can be done; especially with the use of social media. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Mark Lachance, CEO of Maxy Media, and author of “The Lucky...

For those who have thought of an idea for a tech startup in a crowded space, it can be tempting to think that your idea must be completely brand new and inventive. Especially when you consider the seemingly ubiquitous announcements that so-and-so big name venture capital investor has chosen to back so-and-so startup looking to go where no one has gone before, which tend to dominate the headlines. However, if done right, there can also be room for those who have built a better mouse trap to enter...

The banking and payments industry is in a period of rapid change, with new technologies and services emerging all the time. It can be hard to keep up. In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge speaks with Aaron Wollner, the Chief Marketing Officer of Quontic. They discuss how Quontic is changing the narrative of traditional banking by … Continue reading 53. The Evolution Of Contactless Payments With Aaron Wollner → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area ...

While they may sound like the same thing to those outside of the financial services profession, there are several key differences between the terms tax planning, and tax preparation. In short, one takes place once per year and is more transactional in nature, while the other likely happens multiple times each year in stages and … Continue reading 52. Tax Planning vs Tax Preparation with Christina Lael → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax ...

Women in tech often face unique financial planning challenges that are not usually taken into account by traditional financial advice firms or FinTech solutions. For women working in tech, it can be hard to find a financial planner who understands the nuances of the gender pay gap and its limits on taking risks, the need … Continue reading 51. Managing Your Finances as a Woman Working in Tech with Danika Waddell → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capita...

If you are a person who is paid in restricted stock units each year, it’s important that you develop a plan for how and when you will convert those shares into actual dollars well before they actually vest. Doing so will help to ensure that no matter what direction the markets move over time, you … Continue reading 50. Creating A Plan For Your Restricted Stock Units → Mentioned in this episode: Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Capital Area Tax Consultants - www.capgllc.com Learn...