3 Awesome Finance Podcasts

If you’re going to be in finance, you’re going to have to read. A lot. As a student, I am inundated in fundamental texts on a daily basis, but textbooks set aside, there is just a lot of reading that goes into the job—pouring over reports, staring at data to identify trends, drafting up proposals and strategies—the works. That’s why I appreciate being able to approach learning from a different tac. The tac of podcasts. Here are four of my current favorite finance podcasts. If you have recommendations others than the one’s I’ve listed, I’d love to hear your thoughts below!

Planet Money

If you’re going to write a blog about finance podcasts to listen to, you would be remiss to not include Planet Money. It’s an NPR production, so you can bet that it dives in deep, while also still being approachable.

For the full blog, go to NicholasFainlight.net

Black Friday Mirror: 5 Investing Nightmares for the 21st Century

It’s Halloween, which means its the time of the year where (people dressed as) ghouls and goblins emerge from their creepy, crawly places to spook us out. Depending, on what information you have access to, that isn’t the only spooky thing happening. Tensions are high for individuals aligned with both political parties in the US. The polar icecaps are getting smaller and smaller. And at any given moment there are a handful of financial nightmares that threaten to keep people up at night. Here’s a look at five:

Hyper-Connectivity

More people have more access to more information than ever before. Every day more and more devices are connected via the CLOUD. According to an interview Gordon Dee Smith, manager of the private intelligence agency Strategic Insight, there are more cellphones in the world than toothbrushes and that is pretty concerning. As opposed to being structured vertically, individuals can now organize around an idea vertically across the world. This may be great for finding something in common with a number of people across the world, but it also means that the authority of legitimate “vertical” leaders is undermined. As Smith puts it: “You can’t tell who’s who and what’s what anymore.”

For the full blog, go to NicholasFainlight.net

How Presidents Affect Stocks: From the Whole to the Particular

Over this past election season, the press has been riddled with headlines proclaiming “6 Stocks to Buy If Donald Trump Is Elected“, “Trump-friendly stocks fall as candidate comes unshackled“, “Best Stocks for a Hillary Clinton Presidency“. When it comes to the stock market, candidates have an ostensible sway over how the chips will fall. But the nuances of particular candidates set aside, it’s an observable pattern that election cycles have an effect on the stock market.

General Trends

Looking toward the Stock Trader’s Almanac, Kiplinger reports that the first two years of a new president’s term are often marked by bearish markets and recession, whereas the last two years of a presidents term are marked by bullish markets and general prosperity. Along those same lines, it seems that the Down Jones Industrial has a history of increasing around 10% points in the year before a presidential election and 6% the year of an election.

For the full blog, go to NicholasFainlight.net.