The Rational Reminder Podcast

In this episode, Ben Felix, Dan Bortolotti, and Ben Wilson take a research-driven look at the finances of marriage, from spending personalities and prenuptial agreements to wedding costs, joint accounts, financial infidelity, and household decision-making. The conversation explores how the way couples think about and manage money can affect both financial outcomes and relationship satisfaction.
 
We unpack the difference between being frugal and being a "tightwad," why tightwads and spendthrifts may be drawn to each other despite having more conflict later, and how simply understanding your partner's spending tendencies can improve financial conversations. We also examine the case for prenups, the role of optimism bias in avoiding them, and how couples can use legal agreements to deliberately design their financial arrangements.
 
The discussion then turns to wedding spending, including the marketing forces behind engagement-ring conventions and research linking higher spending on rings and weddings with greater divorce risk in some samples. Finally, we look at the evidence for managing money jointly, the risks of financial infidelity, and why both partners should be involved in household financial decisions. The central theme throughout is simple: couples tend to be better served when they approach their finances as a team and communicate openly.
 
The Tightwad-Spendthrift Scale Quiz — https://umich.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_55xxAQrYK0WRlY2
Sources — https://zbib.org/e8fec478786b4176b5011418f27a3fa4 
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:01:00) Why who you marry can be one of the most consequential financial decisions of your life.
(0:04:24) Why marriage changes both the emotional and legal nature of a couple's financial relationship.
(0:07:53) Tightwads vs. spendthrifts: the psychology of the "anticipatory pain of paying."
(0:09:52) Why spending personality has little to do with how much money someone actually spends.
(0:11:34) How understanding your spending tendencies can be useful alongside traditional financial risk questionnaires.
(0:15:42) Why some people struggle to spend money even when they clearly have the financial capacity to do so.
(0:17:09) How upbringing, identity, and social comparison can influence attitudes toward spending.
(0:18:20) Why tightwads and spendthrifts are more likely to marry each other—and why those differences can create conflict later.
(0:21:14) How recognizing different spending tendencies can create healthier conversations and compromises.
(0:23:14) Prenups and marriage contracts: understanding the legal "default" before deciding whether to create your own arrangement.
(0:24:04) Why optimism bias and the negative signaling associated with prenups can make them difficult for couples to discuss.
(0:26:51) Why a prenup may be particularly relevant when partners enter a marriage with substantially different levels of wealth.
(0:29:54) How couples can use a prenuptial agreement to deliberately design financial arrangements around their circumstances and future needs.
(0:31:08) The origins of the "two months' salary" engagement-ring convention and the marketing of diamonds.
(0:32:54) Research on wedding spending, engagement rings, and divorce risk.
(0:35:55) Why wedding planning can become an early test of how couples handle financial differences.
(0:37:49) Why more wedding guests and having a honeymoon were associated with longer marriages in the study discussed.
(0:38:44) The evidence for managing finances together—and why joint accounts may not be the only way to do it.
(0:42:04) How different spending personalities might influence whether couples prefer joint or separate accounts.
(0:45:10) Why couples should establish clear expectations around significant purchases.
(0:45:31) Financial infidelity: what it means to hide financial behavior you expect your partner would disapprove of.
(0:47:46) Why financial decision-making should involve both partners rather than defaulting to one "financial spouse."
(0:52:19) Gender norms, financial confidence, and differences in how spouses participate in investment and planning decisions.
(0:54:57) Why involving the less financially engaged spouse can bring different—and valuable—perspectives to household planning.
(0:56:09) The importance of financial continuity if the spouse who manages the finances dies or experiences cognitive decline.
(0:58:21) The common thread across the research: approach household finances as a team and keep communication open.
(0:59:52) The return of the after show, including listener reviews and a discussion of feedback on a recent special episode.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this episode, we're joined by Philippa Hann and Dr. Moira Somers, co-authors of The Fault Lines of Finance: Understanding and Preventing Financial Misconduct, for a deep dive into why good people can do bad things with other people's money. Philippa brings two decades of experience suing financial advisors, wealth managers, and banks, while Moira brings her expertise as a clinical neuropsychologist working with financial professionals, families, and the human side of money.
 
We explore the psychology and systems that can allow financial misconduct to happen, from financial stress, incentives, and information asymmetry to workplace culture, poor training, exhaustion, and the pressure to please. Philippa and Moira explain why ethical behavior is not simply about knowing right from wrong, and why developing "ethical health" requires understanding your own vulnerabilities, building a moral operating system, and having people you can turn to when doing the right thing becomes difficult.
 
We also discuss how investors can evaluate financial professionals, why complexity and exciting financial products deserve extra scrutiny, the role of regulators and insurers, and why financial sophistication doesn't necessarily protect people from being exploited. Along the way, Philippa and Moira share case studies illustrating ethical drift, confirmation bias, and the ways seemingly small decisions can compound into serious misconduct. The conversation ultimately makes the case for moral humility, strong relationships, healthy organizational cultures, and the willingness to tolerate discomfort when something doesn't feel right.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:00) Introduction.
(0:02:02) What financial misconduct means and why "other people's money" matters.
(0:02:35) Philippa's 20 years in litigation and the core question: why do good people do bad things? 
(0:05:02) Moving beyond harm prevention toward promoting positive change in financial services. 
(0:07:36) Why financial services are especially vulnerable: access, incentives, and opportunity.
(0:09:40) Information inequality and extraordinary client trust in advisors.
(0:11:15) Even sophisticated investors can fail to ask critical questions.
(0:11:57) Misconduct isn't simply "good vs. bad people."
(0:12:45) How systems, incentives, and culture can draw well-intentioned people into misconduct.
(0:17:40) Ethical drift: how innocent mistakes can escalate into lying and misconduct.
(0:19:05) Building a personal "moral operating system" to prepare for dilemmas. 
(0:20:00) Identifying vulnerabilities: people-pleasing, exhaustion, dependence, conflict avoidance.
(0:21:00) Journaling, defining non-negotiables, and developing ethical self-awareness.
(0:25:22) Importance of trusted people who can challenge your thinking.
(0:27:13) Personal strengths (confidence, ambition) can become vulnerabilities.
(0:28:38) Systems and culture can enable misconduct or make ethics easier
(0:30:10) Organizations must make it safe to surface mistakes.
(0:34:43) Developing "ethical health" alongside physical and mental health.
(0:40:15) Ethics requires more than knowing the right answer—it requires character and motivation.
(0:44:29) Why traditional ethics training often fails in real-world dilemmas. 
(1:14:11) The moral operating system as an actionable framework for behavioral ethics.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this episode, we welcome back David Booth, Co-Founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors and author of Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life. David reflects on his remarkable career at the center of the evidence-based investing revolution, from studying under Eugene Fama at the University of Chicago to helping build investment strategies around decades of financial research.
 
We explore what the data revealed about markets and professional money management, why implementation matters as much as great ideas, and how investors can make better decisions without trying to predict the unpredictable. David also shares his views on trust, financial advice, public versus private markets, human ingenuity, and the meaning of true wealth. Along the way, he explains why staying calm, having a process, and staying invested can matter far more than finding the next winning forecast.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:04) Introducing David Booth and his new book, Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life.
(0:01:15) What David learned as a commission-based shoe salesman: Do the right thing and be upfront with people.
(0:03:35) The gift of being an outsider and how financial science changed the investing experience for ordinary investors.
(0:05:38) Why outsiders are often willing to challenge assumptions—and how data changed the debate.
(0:06:53) David's experience arriving at the University of Chicago and studying under Eugene Fama.
(0:07:49) Inside Chicago's rigorous research culture and the lessons David learned from presenting his work.
(0:10:03) The empirical challenge behind efficient markets and why data mattered more than beliefs.
(0:11:41) How Fama and French approach research by trying to prove their own conclusions wrong.
(0:12:05) The two-fish joke and the challenge of understanding the environment we are immersed in.
(0:12:45) How Jim Lorie and Lawrence Fisher helped provide the historical market data that transformed financial research.
(0:14:18) From early mutual fund research to the question that shaped David's career: What should investors do if managers cannot consistently outguess the market?
(0:20:59) Why Dimensional distinguishes between passive investing and indexing.
(0:23:21) The origins of Dimensional's approach to small-cap investing and the importance of execution.
(0:24:45) Why David would rather be an investor today than in 1971.
(0:26:21) Jensen's alpha, risk-adjusted returns, and what Michael Jensen's research revealed about professional money managers.
(0:28:30) Why implementation is everything—and why models are tools for making decisions under uncertainty.
(0:33:47) Why the most important thing about an investment philosophy is having one you can stick with.
(0:35:46) Why David sees education as an antidote to fear and wants investors to feel more optimistic about investing.
(0:36:18) Human ingenuity as the foundation of David's optimism about markets.
(0:37:53) Why trust is the ultimate product in the investment business.
(0:39:40) Why understanding the science alone is not enough—and how advisors can help investors stay invested.
(0:40:23) What David's art collection has taught him about non-monetary returns and true worth.
(0:43:07) Why a good financial plan is a process built around trade-offs, flexibility, and adaptation.
(0:45:22) The problem with fixed goals and why David thinks many goals are inherently fuzzy.
(0:46:34) How David distinguishes between forecasts, wishes, and worries.
(0:49:44) How investors can identify and tune out noise by focusing on how markets work over the long term.
(0:51:30) David's unfiltered perspective on private markets, transparency, price discovery, and liquidity.
(0:52:38) Why true wealth begins with values, family, and the things that matter beyond money.
(0:54:57) What winning means when wealth includes both monetary and non-monetary rewards.
(0:55:39) Why David describes optimism as science-based hope.
(0:57:33) What Stay Calm means to David: Make decisions aligned with your values, build a process, and trust that you can deal with whatever comes your way.
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this special episode, we are joined by Mike Sullivan, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at OneDigital, and Vinay Gidwaney, OneDigital's Chief Product Officer, to discuss their new book, Workforce Intelligence: The People-First Playbook for Leading Your Company Through AI Transformation. Together, they offer a practical, pro-human framework for navigating a future where artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in how organizations operate.
 
We explore why leaders should focus on tasks rather than headcount, how AI can amplify uniquely human capabilities, and why companies may need to rethink how they manage their workforce. Mike and Vinay explain their concepts of reducible and irreducible skills, AI coworkers, workforce intelligence, collaborative AI use, and the importance of building an organizational intelligence layer. They also share practical lessons from OneDigital's own AI transformation—including why leadership activation, trust, reskilling, and a partnership between technical and non-technical leaders are essential.
 
This conversation offers an alternative to the prevailing narrative of AI-driven job elimination. Instead, it asks a bigger question: if AI can take on more of the work we currently do, what might humans become capable of doing next?
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:00) Highlights.
(0:00:25) Introduction.
(0:01:23) Why AI adoption affects employers, employees, and financial markets—and why the conversation is relevant far beyond technology.
(0:02:27) Two possible paths for companies: replacing people with AI or using AI to amplify human capabilities.
(0:03:53) How PWL is already using AI to help financial planners and portfolio managers work more strategically and serve clients better.
(0:06:22) Mike and Vinay's five-year partnership around deploying AI inside OneDigital.
(0:09:07) The "radiating red dot": Why Mike's analysis suggested that up to 25% of OneDigital's workforce could be disrupted by AI.
(0:11:09) "See faces, not headcount": The decision to pursue transformation by amplifying people rather than simply reducing jobs.
(0:12:19) Why Mike and Vinay felt a responsibility to offer a more practical, human-first narrative about AI and work.
(0:13:40) Vinay's realization that widespread access to AI makes human differentiation even more important.
(0:17:22) Mike's first experience with an AI coworker—and the endless possibilities it unlocked for curiosity and exploration.
(0:18:22) Human intelligence versus artificial intelligence: Why AI's greatest value may be its ability to help people think differently.
(0:22:19) Why the future of work should be analyzed at the task level rather than through predictions about jobs disappearing.
(0:23:58) The coming reskilling challenge—and why the allocation of work between AI and humans needs to be more deliberate.
(0:25:12) Why Vinay believes companies that discard their human talent could lose their most important competitive differentiation.
(0:26:30) Why AI transformation should be viewed as a "movie, not a snapshot," with work continually being reshaped.
(0:28:10) What "workforce intelligence" means: Managing the combined intelligence of human talent and AI talent.
(0:30:07) Why Mike and Vinay believe HR—not just IT—must play a central role in leading the transition to a blended workforce.
(0:31:54) Reducible versus irreducible skills: Letting AI handle work that can be broken into processes while humans spend more time on judgment, experience, and other "squishy" capabilities.
(0:34:10) Applying the framework to financial planning: AI for modeling and information processing, humans for judgment, relationships, and helping clients navigate life decisions.
(0:37:00) How AI can reduce meeting preparation from hours to minutes while generating insights that would otherwise be missed.
(0:37:48) The importance of trust and communication as employees try to understand what AI means for their future.
(0:39:53) The Workforce Intelligence score: Treating AI as talent and measuring the evolving mix of human and AI work.
(0:42:09) Transactional versus collaborative AI use—and why collaboration can be more amplifying for both people and organizations.
(0:45:40) Why companies need agency over their AI systems and should think carefully about intelligence lock-in.
(0:48:47) Codifying organizational intelligence: Building systems where human expertise improves AI, which in turn helps humans become more capable.
(0:50:24) What it means to become "activated" by AI—and how using AI as a coach and teacher can expand human potential.
(0:52:44) Ambient AI: Systems that continuously observe information and surface patterns when human judgment is needed.
(0:54:11) The Charlotte-Denver redundancy and the challenge of making the best organizational intelligence available to everyone.
(0:57:26) OneDigital's five-tier fluency model for developing AI capabilities across employees, advanced users, managers, and builders.
(1:00:13) Why democratized software development creates a new governance challenge—and how AI may help manage it.
(1:00:54) Why OneDigital gives AI coworkers names, faces, profiles, skill sets, and human managers.
(1:04:01) Mike's belief in the dignity of work—and why employers need to approach the AI transition with humanity and care.
(1:06:53) Vinay's belief in human potential and why the goal should be to expand what people are capable of doing.
(1:08:56) Why organizations should avoid measuring AI success solely through cost cutting and instead consider human amplification.
(1:12:41) The four questions for Monday morning: Turning big ideas about AI transformation into practical actions leaders can take immediately.
(1:13:55) Why AI transformation needs leadership from the top and a partnership between someone who understands technology and someone who deeply understands the business.
(1:15:40) Leadership activation: Why organizations are unlikely to change until their leaders personally experience how AI can transform their own work.
(1:17:44) What we still don't know about AI—and why the guests believe we are still in the very early innings of this transformation.
(1:18:55) The three-minute-mile analogy: AI may optimize human minds in ways we cannot yet imagine.
(1:20:00) A final call for a pro-humanity, blended workforce—and the need to move faster in adapting to what AI makes possible.
 
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)

In this episode, Ben Felix and Dan Bortolotti take on 10 of the biggest myths in personal finance and investing. From the idea that young people should save every possible dollar to benefit from compounding, to assumptions about economic growth, dividends, index funds, valuation ratios, stock picking, bonds, gold, and homeownership, they examine the subtle details that can make  conventional wisdom misleading.
 
Ben and Dan explore why personal finance is often about balance rather than absolute rules, why spending decisions can be just as important as saving decisions, and how investors can confuse familiar stories with useful financial principles. Along the way, they discuss consumption smoothing, marginal utility, total returns, diversification, valuation, risk, inflation, and the trade-offs between renting and owning.
 
They also announce a new podcast initiative: future episodes featuring PWL clients discussing their experiences and the impact that financial planning has had on their lives.
 
Key Points From This Episode:
(0:00:00) Highlights.
(0:00:35) Ben and Dan return to the podcast and discuss recording from PWL's Montreal office.
(0:01:09) A new podcast initiative: PWL clients will join future episodes to discuss their experiences with financial planning.
(0:01:43) A new podcast initiative: PWL clients will join future episodes to discuss their experiences with financial planning.
(0:02:18) How greater clarity about their finances can affect clients' important life decisions.
(0:05:30) Introducing the main topic: 10 of the biggest myths in personal finance.
(0:06:24) Myth #1: You should save as much as possible when you're young to maximize the benefits of compounding.
(0:08:54) Why the marginal utility of consumption may be highest when income and living standards are comparatively low.
(0:11:26) How health, skills, and experiences can also compound over time.
(0:12:31) Why aggressive saving habits can sometimes lead to an inability to spend accumulated wealth.
(0:13:37) Helping retirees identify what they actually enjoy spending money on.
(0:15:35) Why spending and saving decisions can become emotionally charged and feel irreversible.
(0:17:30) Saving as deferred consumption—and why the answer for most people is some balance between spending now and saving for later.
(0:18:50) The life-cycle model and the idea of smoothing consumption across a lifetime.
(0:20:23) Building a saving habit while also learning to spend thoughtfully.
(0:21:09) Myth #2: Economic growth is good for stock returns.
(0:21:30) Why economic headlines can influence investor psychology and investment decisions.
(0:25:12) Why strong economic growth does not necessarily translate into strong stock returns.
(0:25:12) Myth #3: Dividends explain a large percentage of historical stock market returns.
(0:27:52) Why the source of a company's return does not make one component inherently more valuable than another.
(0:30:57) Myth #4: Index funds only give investors average returns.
(0:30:57) Why an index fund can outperform most active investors.
(0:33:14) The difference between average performance and the performance of the average investor.
(0:36:31) Myth #5: Future market returns are always low when the Shiller CAPE ratio is above 40.
(0:36:31) What the Shiller cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio measures.
(0:41:25) Why valuation can contain information about expected returns without providing certainty about what markets will do next.
(0:43:24) Myth #6: Warren Buffett proves that investors can beat the stock market by picking stocks.
(0:43:24) Buffett's extraordinary career, the importance of his early performance, and the difficulty of using exceptional outcomes as a general strategy.
(0:46:17) Myth #7: Bonds and cash are safe investments.
(0:46:17) Why reducing stock exposure does not eliminate investment risk.
(0:50:03) The distinction between short-term volatility and other risks, including inflation and purchasing-power risk.
(0:53:59) Myth #8: Gold is an inflation hedge.
(0:53:59) Why gold's long-term preservation of purchasing power does not necessarily make it a reliable hedge over intermediate periods.
(0:56:28) Myth #9: Gold is the one true currency.
(0:56:28) The long-running debate over what money is and who should control it.
(1:00:42) Myth #10: Renting a home is throwing money away.
(1:00:42) Why paying rent provides housing while allowing renters to retain capital for other purposes.
(1:08:04) Why simple rules of thumb can sometimes be useful even when they are not financially optimal in every situation.
(1:09:52) Wrapping up the 10 myths in personal finance.
 
Links From Today's Episode:

Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p
Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582.
Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/
Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/
Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/
Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix
Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/
 
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)