Master Class Videos

Master Class Videos

Watch our previous master classes as they come!

week 1: Where to keep your money & How interest rates are decided

Class Corrections & Clarifications:

1. Federal Reserve Inflation Target: A clarification on the inflation rate range I mentioned. I referred to the Fed's target as 2–4%. More precisely, the Federal Reserve's official inflation target is 2%. The 2–4% range reflects where inflation commonly fluctuates in practice, but the actual target the Fed is working toward is 2%.

2. Trickle-Down Economics: I mentioned that trickle-down economics started with Reagan. More accurately, Reagan popularized it — it became known as Reaganomics during his administration. The concept itself dates back much further, as far back as the 1890s, where it was referred to as the "horse and sparrow theory." Reagan brought it into mainstream political conversation, but he didn't originate it.

3. Santander: I hedged on this one in class and told you not to quote me. You can quote me now — Santander is indeed a Spanish bank, Banco Santander, with a significant retail presence here in the United States. I was right; I just wasn't confident enough in the moment.

Week 2: Deciphering your retirement accounts

1. Mutual Funds and the S&P 500: I said most mutual funds have never beaten the S&P 500. The more precise way to say it: the majority of actively managed mutual funds underperform the S&P 500 over long periods of time, particularly after fees are factored in. This is well documented in long-term market data. The point stands — I just want the wording to be accurate.

2. Prime Rate Spread: I described the prime rate as always being exactly 3 percentage points above the federal funds rate. That is the longstanding banking convention and has held consistently, but it's worth noting it's an industry convention rather than a legal requirement. "Typically" or "historically" is more precise than "always."

Week 3: Lies, Damn Lies and Ratios.

📝 Primary Assignment:

1. Debt-to-Equity Mortgage Analogy: A clarification on the mortgage analogy I used. I cited $50,000 income and a $40,000 mortgage to illustrate the concept, but D/E is calculated using assets and liabilities, not income. The correct framing: if someone owns a home worth $90,000 with a $40,000 mortgage still owed, their equity is $50,000. Debt ($40,000) ÷ equity ($50,000) = 0.8. Below 1 — manageable. The point of the analogy holds; the numbers just needed that correction.

2. Anthropic & SpaceX: I mentioned both as examples of confirmation bias — are you drawn to a company because of the founder, the name, or the buzz, rather than the analysis? That's emotion, not analysis. I also used them to illustrate a practical limitation: neither is publicly traded, so you cannot look them up on Yahoo Finance to run the ratios we covered. There are no numbers to look at. That's the point — you cannot make a ratio-based decision on a company whose financials you cannot see. You can't like numbers you can't see.

3. Sharpe Ratio Framing: I simplified Sharpe as "below 1 is bad, 1 or higher is good" as a beginner's baseline. More precisely: compare a fund's Sharpe Ratio against others in the same fund category. A conservative bond fund or low-volatility fund may have a Sharpe below 1 and still be appropriate for certain investors. The rule of thumb holds for most equity mutual funds and ETFs, but always compare apples to apples within the same category.

4. Mutual Funds vs. Index Funds: When I said mutual funds are "designed to beat the market," I was referring specifically to actively managed mutual funds — the majority of what you'll find in a 401(k). Index mutual funds (Vanguard, Fidelity, etc.) are designed to match the market, not beat it, and typically carry much lower fees as a result. The expense ratio benchmarks I gave apply to both, but the reason fees matter most applies to actively managed funds.

Investment Research Tutorials: Expand your technical analysis of financial products using the platforms discussed in class (Morningstar,

Week 4: The Insiders Toolkit – See Where Smart Money is Trading

The LTCM Collapse & Market Mechanics:

Squeezes & Margin Calls:

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