Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE! Political ads are everywhere this time of year, but the people paying for them are a lot harder to spot. Running for office in America can cost anywhere from $1,000 to over $1 billion, and a growing share of that money is legally designed to stay hidden until after the votes are counted. Vivian breaks down elections like an economist would, as a market for attention, trust, and power, so you can figure out who’s bankrolling the people asking for your vote before you head to the polls this midterm season. In this episode, Vivian covers:  1. Following the money: What it really costs to run for office from school board to the White House, the four ways money reaches a candidate, how much you can legally donate in 2026, and how super PACs got so super. 2. Where the money hides: Pop-up super PACs that dodge disclosure until after Election Day, dark money routed through nonprofits, the Supreme Court ruling that just lifted limits on party coordinated spending, and a speed-run of campaign finance history from George Washington’s punch and cider to today. 3. What you can actually do: How to look up any candidate’s donors for free, whether it’s still worth donating if the system feels rigged, first financial steps for running for local office, how other countries handle campaign cash, and whether all that campaign spending is actually good for the economy. Look up candidates financials at https://www.fec.gov/data/ or on https://www.opensecrets.org/ (formerly followthemoney.org) Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our president launched a memecoin, Congressional representatives pulled in over $635 million in stock gains last year, and political candidates are placing bets on their own races. In this episode, Vivian breaks down the not-so-secret ways public officials are cashing in on their positions, why it's a problem on both sides of the aisle, and what you can actually do about it. 1. Trump's $2.2 billion year: Crypto 101, how blockchain works, why memecoins are so volatile, how $TRUMP and World Liberty Financial made up about $1.5 billion of his income, and why he profits whether the coin goes up or down. 2. Congress and the stock market: Nancy Pelosi's portfolio outpacing the S&P 500, the 2025 top earners Richard Blumenthal and Michael McCaul, what the STOCK Act already bans, and the new Stop Insider Trading Act.  3. Prediction markets and politics: The Polymarket bet on the Venezuela raid, suspicious wagers on military operations, George Santos and Kalshi, the Senate's new ban, and what the K-shaped economy means for everyone not trading on inside info. Download Vivian’s financial companion app Ask Dolly HERE and let us know what you think! Learn more about the Nancy Pelosi stock tracker at https://pelositracker.app/portfolios/nancy-pelosi See which members of Congress traded the most in 2025 at https://www.commoncause.org/articles/congress-made-over-635-million-in-stock-trades-while-americans-struggled-see-who-traded-the-most/ Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

IPOs are having a major moment; SpaceX just had the biggest IPO in history, Anthropic and OpenAI are lining up next, and suddenly everyone's throwing this term around like they know what it means. Vivian breaks down what actually happens when a company goes public, whether the hype is ever worth it, and what SpaceX's rollercoaster can teach us about IPO investing. 1. What an IPO actually is: the process of a company going from private to public, why companies choose to do it (cashing out early investors, raising capital for growth, and the marketing splash), and what happens behind the scenes with underwriters, lock-up agreements, and IOIs before shares ever hit the market. 2. Why IPOs have been a losing bet since 2019: peak valuations from the 2020-2021 boom, the Fed's interest rate hikes squeezing growth stocks, and lower-quality companies going public and getting measured against mega-cap winners. 3. Should you actually buy one: how to think about risk (keep it to 2-5% of your portfolio), alternatives like IPO ETFs, and a look at other 2025 IPO stories — Bending Spoons, Shein's years-long path to going public, and the direct listing, SPAC, and reverse merger routes companies take instead. Download Vivian’s financial companion app, Ask Dolly, HERE ! Follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok! Got a financial question you want answered in a future episode? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices