The Fiscal Physical Retirement Podcast

A handful of people quietly shaped the money system we all use today. In this episode, Ryan tells the stories of three of them: Alexander Hamilton, who built America's financial credibility and credit; Franklin Roosevelt, whose New Deal gave us Social Security, FDIC insurance, and the SEC; and Jack Bogle, who put low-cost index investing within reach of ordinary people. Ryan and Aaron connect each figure to something you use or rely on right now, from the safety of your bank deposits to the ...

A Monte Carlo simulation runs thousands of hypothetical market scenarios against your retirement plan to calculate a probability of success. Ryan explains what that probability actually means: the percentage of simulated scenarios in which you do not run out of money before the end of your plan. The tool accounts for sequence-of-returns risk, meaning whether a bad market comes early or late in retirement matters a lot. Ryan also tackles the counterintuitive point that a 100% probability scor...

Bankruptcy is a legal process that can wipe out certain debts, restructure others, and stop collection activity while you get back on solid ground. Ryan explains the two types most people encounter: Chapter 7, which moves faster and can eliminate unsecured debts like credit cards and medical bills, and Chapter 13, which takes longer but helps restructure debt into a manageable payment plan for people who have income. Ryan also covers what bankruptcy cannot touch, including most student loans...

Some of the financial rules Americans live by today were shaped by decisions made decades ago. Ryan covers three of the most consequential: the creation of FDIC deposit insurance in 1933 after the Great Depression, the US leaving the gold standard in 1971, and the rise of the 401k system in the 1970s and 80s as pensions faded away. Ryan walks through the pros and cons of each shift without declaring winners. The gold standard move gave the Fed more flexibility but removed a hard constraint o...

FDIC and NCUA insurance protect the money you keep in banks and credit unions up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution, per ownership category. Ryan explains what is covered, checking accounts, savings accounts, and CDs, and what is not, including stocks, ETFs, annuities, and crypto. The FDIC covers banks; the NCUA covers credit unions. Both work similarly. Ryan walks through the ownership category rules, which is how you can legitimately insure more than $250,000 at a single institutio...

Cost of living is what it costs to pay for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and everything else you need day to day. Ryan explains how it differs from person to person, why the government's Consumer Price Index is a standardized basket that may not reflect your actual expenses, and how cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) at work are typically tied to that CPI number. Ryan and Aaron work through some good examples of how two people with different lifestyles, one driving long distances...

A mortgage is the loan you use to buy a home, and the home itself is the collateral. Ryan breaks down the four components of a mortgage payment, principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI), and explains the difference between 15-year and 30-year terms, fixed and adjustable rates, and why adjustable-rate mortgages carry real risk when rates move. Ryan also covers amortization schedules, which show how much of each payment goes to interest versus principal, especially in the early years. ...