Crazy Money With Paul Ollinger

If you’re in the upper middle class or above, today’s conversation might make you uncomfortable. In fact, my guest says that discussing his research ruins dinner parties with his affluent friends. Why? Because his studies conclude that the upper middle class keep all the societal goodies to themselves, and worst of all, he may just be right.  Named by Politico magazine as one of the top 50 thinkers in the U.S., Richard V. Reeves is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Future of the Middle Class Initiative and co-directs the Center on Children and Families.  His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, National Affairs, The Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal, among other fine publications. He is the author of Dream Hoarders, which was named a Book of the Year by The Economist, and a Political Book of the Year by The Observer. It is both eye-opening and scary.  A British-American, Richard was director of strategy to the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2012.

When it comes to delivering hilarious, non-obvious wisdom through a microphone, Adam Carolla is the very best. Yes, Stern is amazing and Terry Gross is the patron saint of the modern interview, but for the improvisational spoken-word, Adam Carolla is the unique genius of our time. In addition to a decades-long radio career, he is also a comedian, actor, film director, auto racing enthusiast and one of the pioneers of the podcasting industry.  Adam entered the national consciousness as co-host of Loveline in 1995, then went on to co-create and co-host The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel. Since then, he has produced, created or guest-starred in a plethora of other TV projects, including Crank Yankers, To Catch a Contractor,Celebrity Apprentice, The Car Show, and Dancing with the Stars.  As if that’s not enough, he also has written multiple NYT best-selling books, two of which I recently read recently, both causing me to laugh until snot came out of my nose.   To see Adam’s comedy special, Not Taco Bell Material, cl

Gianni Le Nguyen fled Vietnam at the age of 5. Late one night in the early 1980s, her father wrapped his two young daughters in a fishing net, then rowed a basket boat out to meet a more seaworthy vessel a quarter mile offshore. They spent five days battling storms, illness and pirates who took everything Gianni’s dad possessed, including his official papers. Thus began a beauracratic mess that left her family in refugee camps for over two years before they finally made their way to Beaverton, Oregon. Almost 40 years later, Gianni is a successful entrepreneur, mother of four, and wife to an American dude named Brian. Her journey fits a pattern of Asian immigration that has strengthen the USA. According to Pew Research, "Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, h

Allison Schrager is the author of the new book, An Economist Walks into a Brothel in which she explores risk through the lens of prostitution, big-wave surfing and war. If you liked Freakanomics, you’ll dig this book too.   Allison is an economist, journalist at Quartz, and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners, LLC, a risk advisory firm. She has been a regular contributor to the Economist, Reuters, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her writing has also appeared in Playboy, Wired, National Review and Foreign Affairs. She earned her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and has consulted to international organizations, including the OECD and IMF. Paul and Allison met in the offices of her publisher, Portfolio, in New York City. Among many topics, they discussed how being purposeful about our goals is the first step in determining how much risk we should take in life, careers and investing strategies.  Learn more about Allison here:  https://www.allisonschrager.com. Acknowledge Paul's existence here: http://pa

In my mind, Darrah Brustein is the ultimate Millennial. Not because she writes, travels the world and has a weekly video series with Deepak Chopra called weekly "Diving Deep with Deepak & Darrah." While she does all of the above, she’s the ultimate millennial because she uses money as a tool to live a good life then uses that life to make more money! She is living the life she designed. And damnit, she’s succeeding at it. In addition to her work with Deepak, Darrah writes a Forbes Women column for which she has interviewed Bill Belichick, Guy Kawasaki, Shaquille On’Neal, Bobbi Brown, and many more. She has produced a 20+ hour digital summit on how to live a curated life. Her paper, "55 Questions to Break the Ice” has been downloaded over a million times. Find your copy here: https://darrah.co/55-questions-ebook-download  Find out where you can see Paul live here: https://paulollinger.com/events/

Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, the largest foreign investment fund in Russia until 2005. He grew an initial investment of $25mm to over $4 billion while challenging violent oligarchs. Bill eventually ran afoul of Vladimir Putin, kicked out of the country, and declared a “threat to national security." That was just the beginning. Russian police officials took over his companies, used them to steal $230 million from the Russian treasury, framed Bill, and eventually arrested and killed his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. Today Bill lives under threat of retaliation and spends his time fighting to honor Sergei’s memory. He tells the story in his book, Red Notice, which was an New York Times best-seller and a MUST READ.  Buy Red Notice here: https://amzn.to/2JTb2FS Read more about Sergei Magnitsky: http://www.billbrowder.com/sergei-magnitsky  Find Paul at http://paulollinger.com

Brian Portnoy, Ph.D., CFA, is an expert at simplifying the complex world of money. In his two books, The Investor's Paradox and The Geometry of Wealth, he tackles the challenges of not only making better investment decisions but also how money figures in to a joyful life. He is currently the Head of Education at Magnetar Capital and has spent the last 25 years as educator, investor, and strategist. He holds a doctorate from the University of Chicago and currently lives on the north side of Chicago with his wife and three children. finEDge financial literacy: https://finedge.uchicago.edu/  Paul isn't as smart as Brian, but his website is super-interesting: http://PaulOllinger.com

A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. He is also editor at large at Esquire magazine, a commentator on NPR and a columnist for Mental Floss magazine. Learn more about A.J. on his website. **Please rate and review Crazy Money here. Follow Crazy Money on Facebook here and join the Crazy Money Listeners Group here. Get your official Crazy Money t-shirts here.  Produced and edited by Mike Carano About Crazy Money: Unlike traditional personal finance shows like Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, Crazy Money is not about how to make a million bucks, how to beat the market, or how to save money by switching cable providers. It is about deciding what role we want money to play in our lives and how we can use it to be our best selves. Topics covered include: Philosophy, Happiness, Contentment, Meaning, dreams, purpose, Success, Rat Race, Society, mental health, Buddhism, Stoicism, the hedo

This week we continue to discuss “straddlers,” i.e. individuals who grew up working class but worked their way into white collar careers. Yancey Spruill grew up in a rough neighborhood in west Buffalo, NY where food stamps and eviction were part of his reality. He attended Georgia Tech and earned his MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School. Yancey worked on Wall Street for seven years then took two separate private companies public as their Chief Financial Officer. Susan Nicholas was raised in an unstable, single-parent home in Morgantown, WV. She earned her MD from University of Iowa Medical School, completed a general surgery residency at University of San Francisco and a cardiothoracic fellowship at Stanford. Not to mention and MBA from Emory University. Yet none of these degrees brought her the validation she was looking for. Listen for the whole story. For more about Paul, go to http://paulollinger.com

Alfred Lubrano is the Philadelphia Inquirer’s poverty reporter and the author of Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams. The book explores the conflicts within individuals who grow up working class but graduate into a white collar career. These “straddlers” are often torn between the culture that raised them and the professional world to which they aspired. Limbo has been quoted in Harvard Business Review, the American Bar Association Journal, The Atlantic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.  To see where Paul will be telling jokes next, go to http://paulollinger.com

Jean Chatzky, financial editor of NBC’s TODAY show, award-winning personal finance journalist, and host of the HerMoney podcast. She has written several personal finance books. Her latest, Women With Money has just hit shelves in bookstores, real and virtual. Go see Paul tell jokes this week at the North Carolina Comedy Festival. Show details and more dates available on http://paulollinger.com/events.

Chanel Reynolds' journey to helping others began with a brutal accident that killed her husband, leaving her to not only grieve and raise their son alone, but to negotiate the bureaucratic thicket of living wills, life insurance, computer passwords and much more. She is the author of the What Matters Most: The Get You Sh*t Together Guide to Wills, Money, Insurance, and Life’s ‘What Ifs’. Listen and learn how you might not have your sh*t together, and check out http://GYST.com for in-depth resources to help you shape the hell up.  Visit http://paulollinger.com or email PaulOllinger@gmail.com with comments, questions, and grammar pointers.  

William Ollinger is a retired nuclear engineer, a genius of frugality, and my father. (Today, April 9, is his 92nd birthday!) Along with my late mother, Dad raised six children on a reliable but modest salary from the local utility. In an attempt to understand better where my attitudes toward money come from, I ask him to tell me about the financial goals and stresses when he was a younger father. His secrets for wealth accumulation are simple but rarely followed today: spend less than you make, when you do spend, don’t buy a bunch of crap. Bored out of your mind? Check out my website on http://paulollinger.com

Brendan O’Connell is an American painter who chronicles our contemporary way of living. Called the “Warhol of Walmart” for his series capturing scenes within the retail giant’s stores, Brendan's work hangs in the homes of A-list celebrities, and has been reviewed in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, Time and almost everywhere else art is discussed. Today we cover how he got his start on the streets of Paris, the hustle required to make it as a painter, and why he has a beef against the Dutch.  Go to Brendan’s website to find links to his interview with Alec Baldwin and his appearance on the Colbert Report. My website is http://paulollinger.com

Mike Carano is a 52 year-old photographer, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has worked in comedy for 30 years and knows everyone in the business. He is also dead broke, thanks to years of compulsive spending, IRS debt and underlying mental health issues. He is working hard to get his financial act together, and is making a documentary about death and money, which I’m executive producing. He is my friend and the producer/editor of this podcast. See more about Mike on his website and find his podcast here. My website: http://paulollinger.com. Email me with your thoughts about this podcast or the weather on paulollinger@gmail.com

Ed Roland, lead singer and founder of deca-platinum+ rock band Collective Soul, joins us today to discuss how he got started in a music career and what has kept the band together for over 25 years. With seven #1 rock hits, over ten million albums sold, and a busy touring schedule, Collective Soul is not just a band, but a business that requires drive, grit, and a lot of work to maintain. Ed talks about some very wise early choices that have sustained the band and some of the financial pitfalls that almost took them off course. Listen to learn what you shouldn’t do when you finally get a studio to yourself, why you should own your master recordings, and why the clarinet is cool. Collective Soul's new album comes out in June. To find out more, go to http://www.collectivesoul.com/. To share feedback with me on how to make Crazy Money the best podcast in history, visit my website or e-mail me at paulollinger@gmail.com. 

New York Times best-selling author, Anna David always wanted to be a writer and never worried about how she’d make a living. This may have been because her family had a lot of money… until they didn’t. But she survived… through the ups and downs of family fortunes. Through addiction and recovery. Through horrific publishing nightmares. And, most remarkably, through Jeff Bezos’ wedding. Today — a handful of books and a prolific stint in journalism — Anna has found her way to a lucrative career as an entrepreneur in the arts.  For more on this week’s hilarious guest, visit Anna’s website, get the newly-released audio version of her novel, Party Girl here, or check out the Light Hustler podcast. To share feedback with me on how to make Crazy Money the best podcast ever, visit my website or E-mail me at paulollinger@gmail.com.  

Ron Lieber is the "Your Money" columnist for The New York Times and the author of The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous and Smart About Money.  Find out more about Paul Ollinger on his website and/or follow him on the socials: • Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Paul_Ollinger Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_ollinger/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulOllinger/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulollinger/

Turney Duff was making millions on Wall Street until cocaine addiction brought him to his knees. His book The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader’s Tale of Spectacular Excess is a funny, horrifying, then hopeful read and a New York Times best-seller (you should buy it here).  Paul and the esteemed author share a lot of laughs as they discuss what money meant to Turney as he got rich, got lost, got sober, then got published. This darn funny conversation covers everything Turney's middle school science fair fiasco to insider trading. Also, prostitutes.  Find out more about Turney and hear the Galleon rap here.   Find out more about Paul Ollinger on his website and/or follow him on the socials: • Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Paul_Ollinger • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_ollinger/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulOllinger/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulollinger/

Dr. Drew offers candid insight into the ups and downs of a career in broadcasting and medicine. From Loveline to Celebrity Rehab, Dr. Drew has been a staple on radio and cable television for over 30 years, but that doesn’t mean he’s rich — he’s got triplets to get through graduate school, after all. But he is definitely conversant on almost any topic you throw at him, including opera, coffee and Ulysses S. Grant. Oh, and doctor stuff. He knows about that too. Find out more about Dr. Drew on his website. Find Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses S. Grant here. One more thing - here’s a link to the espresso machine Dr. Drew will buy himself when he gets the ball into the end zone.  Find out more about Paul Ollinger on his website and/or follow him on the socials: • Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Paul_Ollinger • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_ollinger/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulOllinger/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulollinger/