Markets
Markets
+2
Jan 31, 2026
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12 min read
Inflation, Markets, and Precarity in America
For a brief window, you could earn 5% on Treasury bills and actually build wealth after taxes and inflation. That's over. Now people are back to saying "there is no alternative to stocks"—but history tells a different story. In this piece: TIPS as an inflation hedge, what really happened to stocks in the 1970s (spoiler: down 50%+ in real terms), and my conversation with Mike Green on passive investing's endgame and why the poverty line might actually be $140,000, not $40,000.
Markets
+1
Jan 17, 2026
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8 min read
Life Is Full of Hard Choices
People often say "there is no alternative" to stocks. But the US equity market is trading at its second-highest valuation in 145 years—only the Tech Bubble was pricier. History shows that starting from extreme valuations compresses future returns, sometimes for a decade. And T-bills? Barely breaking even after taxes and inflation. Both options present uneasy trade-offs. But here's the thing: there's always a choice to make. That's far more productive than pretending there isn't one. Plus: my conversation with Devin Shanthikumar on why sell-side analysts "speak in two tongues" and how AI is changing security analysis.
Markets
+1
Dec 20, 2025
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5 min read
The Future Is Unwritten
Looking back at 2025, I'm reminded that the strongest bull markets are built on diminishing bad news, not good news. But what about looking forward? I sat down with Paul Solman—50 years explaining economics to America, eight Emmys, five Peabodys—and he cut to the chase: "It's a stochastic universe. I have no idea what's gonna happen next. So you come up with strategies that protect you as best you can." Then he offered something deeper: be here now, small acts of kindness, there's more good in the world than bad. The future is unwritten. Grab a pen.
Markets
+2
Dec 6, 2025
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5 min read
On Doing the Right Thing
Against all odds, 2025 is almost history. And the lesson? It's always the right time to do the right thing—never a better or worse moment. That simple truth guided me through April's chaos, when Jason Zweig at The Wall Street Journal asked me what investors should do. The answer: prioritize doing no harm, manage regret risk, don't panic into something worse. Life must go on, even in uncertainty. That was the work this year. It will be again in 2026.
Markets
+2
Nov 8, 2025
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11 min read
“Up and to the Right” + Advanced Tax Strategies
People love to say "stocks go up and to the right over the long run" like it's a law of physics. It's not. The U.S. stock market's 150-year run required exceptional circumstances—no foreign occupation, no revolution, stable institutions, and relentless value creation. Eleven other markets literally disappeared in the 20th century. For prices to rise, "steady" isn't enough. Businesses must generate more value, more revenue, greater efficiency, more cash—every decade. A lot has to go right. We shouldn't take any of it for granted. Plus: my conversation with Brent Sullivan on tax alpha strategies and why tax comes after risk, return, and diversification—not before.
Markets
+2
Oct 11, 2025
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7 min read
Fear Moves Markets. Keep It From Moving You.
Risk is structured and manageable—we measure it, bear it, diversify it, or hedge it. Fear is a mess. It's psychological, contagious, and arational. Risk doesn't keep you up at night. Fear does. The good news: words and scenarios aren't dangerous, they're rehearsal. We can pre-think contingencies, set simple rules for stress, and keep fear from scheduling our actions. My conversation with Rob Arnott and Ed McQuarrie explores why fear—not risk—explains asset pricing, and how to put fear where it belongs.
Markets
+2
Sep 27, 2025
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6 min read
What Makes an Alternative Investment: My Conversation with Jane Buchan
An alternative investment diversifies beyond mainstream assets—simple enough. But some alts are mature (private equity), some are young adults (private credit), and some are adolescents (crypto). What people forget: volatility isn't the only risk. Jurisdiction and custody matter just as much. You could've bought Bitcoin at $1,000 and watched it hit $100,000—except if you stored it at Mt. Gox, which got hacked in 2014. That's a 100% loss, not a 9,900% gain. My conversation with Jane Buchan on what really matters when stepping into alt land.
Markets
+2
Sep 13, 2025
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7 min read
Fun Time is Over
For over a year, you could earn 5% on Treasury bills, pay your taxes, and still beat 3% inflation. You could move resources through time and grow wealth with little risk. T-Bill and Chill worked. Now? One-year Treasuries are at 3.7%. After taxes, you're at 2.3%. Inflation is 2.7%. Your wealth is a slow-melting iceberg. Fun time is over. But knee-jerk reactions can bite you just as hard as ignoring reality. Make sure your next move is strategic, not emotional. Plus: my conversation with Michael Imerman on the economics of FinTech.
Markets
+2
Aug 30, 2025
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5 min read
History, Markets, and Civility with David Kotok
David Kotok has studied hundreds of years of economic history, and here's his big takeaway: we're transitioning from pandemic economics to war finance. Historically, that regime shift raises baseline interest rates and makes inflation more persistent. Defense-driven innovation might help later, but it's uncertain. The world we're used to investing in might be radically different now. Plus: why Churchill was right about learning from the past, and why people like David—who make time for others out of pure generosity and commitment to civility—remind me I'm the luckiest person alive.
Markets
+2
Aug 2, 2025
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12 min read
Apres Nous, Le Deluge
The Europe-U.S. "trade deal" isn't really about trade. It's Europe being pragmatic—giving on trade terms to get military support against Russia. They're buying American weaponry with strong Euros and opening markets to U.S. goods in exchange for pressure on Putin. It's protection money, essentially. Europe is buying time against electoral cycles and a tired regime sending young men to die. Meanwhile, stock markets are hitting new highs, which shows you really don't know what happens next. This wealth-management thing is centrally about managing risk and minimizing regrets. Stress-testing your comfort with the disconnect between market strength and exposed fault lines doesn't seem like a bad idea right now.
Markets
+1
May 10, 2025
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6 min read
Marking the Passage of Time with Gratitude
April was a beast—Liberation Day on April 2, suspension by April 9. Markets recovered fast, but we're in the Great Suspension now, waiting to see what happens next. Not rushing to conclusions probably commands a premium right now. Meanwhile, May 5th marks TCM's two-year anniversary and the launch of TREUSSARD TALKS. First guest: Alec Crawford, my first boss during the 2008 crisis. His parting wisdom: "A lot of crazy stuff is gonna happen. Focus on the long term. Focus on what you can control. Do what you can and stay safe."
Markets
+2
Apr 26, 2025
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13 min read
A Little Perspective Goes a Long Way
April was brutal—stock swings, dollar falling, Treasury yields spiking. People worry American Exceptionalism is melting away. But look at the data: Treasury yields are elevated, sure, around the 75th percentile since 2000, not off the charts. The dollar weakened but it's not broken—Euro at 1.15 isn't crazy, Yen at 140 is a drop from 160 but still reasonable. The U.S. economy entered 2025 in exceptional shape. Yes, headlines suggest tectonic shifts. The numbers tell a more nuanced story—we're still within historical ranges. This is a time for extreme thinking, not extreme actions. Understand your exposures now.
Markets
+2
Apr 12, 2025
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12 min read
Good Grief
April 2, 2025 belongs to the list of days we'll remember—Berlin Wall, 9/11, Lehman, Brexit. Tariffs imposed, markets cratered, then the single best day since October 2008 (which tells you something). We're on watch for whether a tsunami follows the earthquake. Here's what helps: a regret pyramid—exhaust low-regret actions before high-regret ones. Don't be surprised if stocks swing up or down 10-15% over the next month. That's context so you don't overreact to every 3-5% day. Life must go on, even now. The main event is now U.S. versus China. Let's hope we can stick the landing.
Markets
+2
Mar 29, 2025
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11 min read
Hey Boss, Have We Tried Boiling the Frog Instead?
Tariffs make sense for small countries with weak armies—they internalize the defense cost of importing valuable stuff that makes you a target. But the US? We have the strongest military on Earth. We created global free trade by providing cheap military protection to the world. Globalization created winners and losers here, and instead of taxing the winners to help the losers, we decided tariffs were the answer. Economic policy uncertainty is now at 2008-crisis levels. But high yield spreads are 3%, not 20%. So far, this is a tremor, not an earthquake. The real question: how did the last few weeks feel to you?
Markets
+2
Feb 1, 2025
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4 min read
The Best of "Wealth, Empowered" Before It Had a Name
I moved my newsletter to Beehiiv and gave it a formal identity: WEALTH, EMPOWERED. My mission is to empower you when it comes to your wealth and understanding of markets. Before the platform change, I wrote every article on my website. Here are 2024's highlights: a framework for making decisions when the future is unknown (Seeing Around Corners), the three fundamentals of money management built over 20 years (An iOS), escaping the wealth management industrial complex (Is This What You Thought It Would Be), bare-minimum investment homework for beginners, being a liquidity provider when markets dry up (Be Like Water), and why governance might be the eighth wonder of the world.
Markets
+2
Jan 25, 2025
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9 min read
What Are We Going to Tell the Kids?
In 2008, I taught wealthy teenagers about risk management in a tent. They sobbed about their parents' struggles—the real estate crash, the fear, the angst. Joline Godfrey has spent decades helping families raise financially fit kids, and here's her insight: kids are ready to talk about money ten years before parents are. That's ten years of missed opportunities to talk about values, meaning, and how money is just part of the equation. Wealth makes some things easier and other things far more complex. Manage your affairs so you never have to say "What are we going to tell the kids?" Instead, aim for "the kids get it, we're good."
