The Recovering Investment Banker

Chris explains the Federal Reserve and how it impacts the entire US economy. Eric asks questions to simplify what Chris is saying, because sometimes the massive dollar amounts get blurred together. In short, there could be good news on the horizon because the Federal Reserve is shrinking its balance sheet and reducing the amount of money in circulation.

Chris explains how Elon Musk acquired Twitter, based only on public information and his insight (guided by experience). It will be interesting to see what happens with it.

Chris and Eric talk to Kimberly Spencer, a professional life coach with an amazing talent for understanding human psychology. Her perspective hits home when talking about very high-performing people playing high-stakes games, and the consequences of being unaligned with your own values.

Chris makes the case that giant corporations in bed with Government snuff out free market capitalism, and dominate their markets as a result. It's crony capitalism, not free market capitalism. And it's destroying our freedom, our economic future, and our health.

Chris and Eric talk about a recent NY Times article, advising readers to invest in bonds as a way to help you sleep at night. But in an inflationary economy like ours today, Chris says the writer's advice is total garbage. What do YOU think?

Readers of Crisis Deluxe have asked Chris for clarification on the financial crisis the book is written about. So in this episode, Chris explains the liquidity crisis in the fictional bond trading operation, TransPac.

Chris explains inflation, and what causes it. In short, inflation is an increase of money relative to the amount of goods/services produced, and the increase is entirely from governments creating more money. In other words, inflation is a government-caused problem. And eventually, the tab needs to be paid, and total economic collapse is likely.

How are the mutual funds (and other funds) we invest in actually get created? Investment bankers like Chris put them together. In this episode, we have a special guest, Justin Simpson. Justin is an international investment banker that has known Chris since 1990, and he helps explain how the [investment fund] sausage gets made. Along the way, we touch on the $GME GameStop incident, and Justin explains what happened and why.

Chris and Eric discuss how investment bankers create new capital products others can invest in, using a process called 'underwriting'. Basically, an investment bank cuts a check for your asset, then they try to immediately diversify their risk by spreading it around to other institutional investment banks and investors. If they're right, they can buy your asset for less than it's actually worth, and pocket the profit because you no longer own it. If they're wrong, they still owe you what was promised, and they're on the hook for the losses.

Chris defines the roles of traditional bankers and investment bankers.

Capital is not always financial. It could be skills, reputation, knowledge, and more. Investing in yourself in small increments over time can develop tremendous personal capital. It is then up to you to find a monetization path to be rewarded for that capital. Investment bankers convert non-financial forms of capital into financial capital, then they value that capital at their true market price, then buy or sell them as lucratively as possible.

What is the difference between money and capital? Chris Coffman explains both concepts with real world examples, as well as a clever analogy. Capital is the farm, and money what you can harvest from it. If you don't harvest from capital, you have to work to earn every dollar. If you never build capital (by investing), you will forever live in the world of money.

Most of us think we know what a market is, but do we really? Chris Coffman, the recovering investment banker defines a market as a bastion of equality and freedom of choice. Unfortunately, market manipulation fueled by greed gives many people a sour taste of free market capitalism. But that's not the market's fault.

Curious about the secluded world of international investment banking? This podcast is an unscripted, unfiltered perspective from a real insider, Chris Coffman. Chris is a recovering international investment banker, and now an author (Crisis Deluxe). Eric knows almost nothing about the global financial system, so he gets to pick Chris's brain. And sometimes the truth hurts.