WTF is PE? Decoding Private Equity and How Investors Make Money

You don't need a Bloomberg terminal, a private jet, or a research team to invest alongside the world's most famous hedge fund managers… you just need to know where to look. Today, Nicole breaks down five real ways everyday investors can piggyback on billionaire money managers like Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, and Warren Buffett, from closed-end funds and copycat ETFs to buying the "tollbooth" instead of the cars driving through it. Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Here's what Nicole covers today: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 00:15 Piggyback on a Billionaire's Portfolio 00:33 Option 1: Buy a Closed-End Fund Like Ackman's PSUS 01:33 Why PSUS Trades at a Discount to NAV0 2:25 Option 2: Buy the Manager, Not the Fund 03:04 Option 3: The Insurance Float Trick (Einhorn's GLRE) 03:45 Option 4: Buy Berkshire Hathaway 04:31 Option 5: Copycat ETFs Like GURU 05:12 Which Option Is Right for You? 05:31 Confusing a Great Investor With a Great Investment 05:54 Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. This episode is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Kwik has coached Fortune 500 companies, Oprah, Will Smith, and Richard Branson on how to think faster and remember more. Today, he joins Nicole to explain why your brain, not your bank account, is your greatest wealth building asset. Jim breaks down what he calls "digital dementia," the MIT study showing what AI is doing to our memory and critical thinking, and why he believes AI will not replace humans so much as reveal them. He also gets into the emotional side of wealth: why purpose beats motivation, how tiny "micro-commitments" trigger the dopamine that actually creates momentum, and why self-image, not goals, determines what we achieve. Then, Nicole puts Jim's favorite biohacks to the test, and he rates everything from walking and sauna to meditation and TikTok on a scale of 1 to 10. Jim also shares the real story behind a $50 million deal that fell apart because of a forgotten name, his 12-minute morning routine with his toddler, and the writing ritual he started in the hospital the day his daughter was born. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN Private Wealth Collective Nicole's boutique wealth management practice for people who want more than a robo-advisor and less than a hedge fund minimum. Real strategy, real relationship. https://privatewealthcollective.com The Money School Nicole's $149 investing course that actually breaks down stocks, ETFs, crypto, and building a real portfolio, no jargon, no judgment, lifetime access. https://themoneyschool.com ----------------------- Find other exclusive content at— Instagram: @moneynews TikTok: @moneynewsnetwork Website: https://moneynewsnetwork.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A listener named Lauren DMed Nicole with a simple question: what is she doing to make sure her daughter has more money than she did growing up? Today, Nicole answers in full, walking through the exact accounts, strategies, and tax moves she is using to build wealth for her toddler from day one. Nicole breaks down the three accounts she opened for her daughter (a 529, a custodial Roth IRA, and a custodial brokerage account), why she gifts directly into the 529 for every holiday, and how she is legally paying her daughter through her business to shift income into a lower tax bracket. Tax strategist Karlton Dennis joins with a clip explaining the rules around paying your kids: what counts as reasonable compensation, how the standard deduction plays into it, and why starting a custodial Roth IRA early can turn a few thousand dollars into over a million by retirement. Nicole also gets into the life insurance decision every parent needs to make. She explains the real difference between term and whole life insurance, why she chose term for her family, and when whole life actually does make sense. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN Private Wealth Collective Nicole's boutique wealth management practice for people who want more than a robo-advisor and less than a hedge fund minimum. Real strategy, real relationship. https://privatewealthcollective.com The Money School Nicole's $149 investing course that actually breaks down stocks, ETFs, crypto, and building a real portfolio, no jargon, no judgment, lifetime access. https://themoneyschool.com ----------------------- Find other exclusive content at— Instagram: @moneynews TikTok: @moneynewsnetwork Website: https://moneynewsnetwork.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know Codie Sanchez as the woman who made buying a laundromat sound cooler than launching a startup. Today, she's back to talk about her new book, Own or Be Owned, and why so many founders are secretly addicted to their own businesses. Codie explains why being "the hero" of your company is a trap (she compares it to heroin), the 12 owner archetypes she discovered after surveying 15,000 business owners, and why the goal isn't to work harder, it's to become unnecessary. She also gets real about the parts of founder life nobody talks about: the years she put her personal life on hold chasing a revenue number, the fear of telling her team she was pregnant, and why she now believes "later" almost never actually comes. Get Codie's book Own or Be Owned Find boring businesses to buy on BizScout.com What we cover 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 01:33 How to Buy a Laundromat: Cost, Margins, and Failure Rates 14:29 The Thesis Behind Own or Be Owned, and the 12 Owner Archetypes 20:40 Why Being "The Hero" Feels Like Heroin 25:03 Founder Mode vs. Owner Mode 31:03 Stepping Away From the Business She Built 39:12 Pregnancy, Business, and Life as a Founder 43:16 How Codie Invests and Manages Her Own Money 46:48 Boring Business Grades: A Through F, and What to Skip in 2026 All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN Private Wealth Collective Nicole's boutique wealth management practice for people who want more than a robo-advisor and less than a hedge fund minimum. Real strategy, real relationship. https://privatewealthcollective.com The Money School Nicole's $149 investing course that actually breaks down stocks, ETFs, crypto, and building a real portfolio, no jargon, no judgment, lifetime access. https://themoneyschool.com ----------------------- Find other exclusive content at— Instagram: @moneynews TikTok: @moneynewsnetwork Website: https://moneynewsnetwork.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kate has good money habits. She's saving, she's investing, she's automated her high-yield savings account. So why does she still feel like she's behind? Today, Nicole sits down with a Money Rehab listener for a real-life financial intervention, digging into the exact questions so many 20-somethings are quietly Googling at 1am. Kate walks Nicole through her real numbers: what she earns, what she spends, and how she's splitting money between a Roth IRA, a brokerage account, and student loan payments. Nicole breaks down the actual mechanics she never learned, like why you need cash in the account before you can buy anything, how to think about a Roth versus a brokerage account, and whether it's smart to max out one before touching the other. They also get into the emotional side of money: the guilt Kate feels every time she spends, why her financial goals always seem to move further away the more she achieves, and how giving herself a real number for guilt-free spending changes everything. Check out Nicole's financial literacy course The Money School Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company Private Wealth Collective Watch video clips from the pod on Money Rehab's Instagram and Nicole Lapin's Instagram Here's what Nicole covers with Kate: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 02:28 Meet Kate: Her Money Goals 03:53 From Ice Cream Shop Paychecks to a 9-5 04:39 Breaking Down Kate's Budget 05:54 The High-Yield Savings Account Strategy 07:11 Using a HYSA as a "Don't Touch This" Account 08:01 Roth vs. Brokerage: Kate's Investing Confusion 09:25 Why No One Teaches You How to Actually Buy 11:06 Roth vs. Brokerage, Explained 13:28 Should You Max Out Your Roth First? 15:09 Why Kate Sticks to Index Funds 17:15 The Tax Truth About Brokerage Accounts 20:07 What Financial Freedom Actually Means to Kate 21:19 The Guilt Spiral of Spending 22:28 Why Sticking to the Plan Is the Hard Part 22:52 How Kate's Childhood Shaped Her Money Mindset 23:52 The Moving Goalpost Problem 25:25 Building (and Sticking to) a Budget 28:30 Solving Spending Guilt With a "Fun Money" Number 29:51 Where Kate Keeps Her Savings 31:05 Kate's 5 and 10 Year Money Goals 32:36 Is Money a Never-Ending Game? 34:41 How Kate Started Investing With Just $20 36:45 Nicole's Game Plan for Kate 45:05 Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He's the guy behind "Betty (Get Money)" and a fur coat two-step that took over TikTok, but before Yung Gravy was flexing platinum plaques, he was studying finance and marketing in college. Today on Money Rehab, we sit down with the rapper who lives a double life: viral hitmaker by night, options trader by day. Gravy walks us through the trade that made him $400K, a bet on 1-800-Flowers stock at the start of COVID, built on a grim but accurate read that funeral orders were about to spike. It's the kind of call institutional investors make quietly all the time; Gravy just said the quiet part out loud, and the internet has been arguing about the ethics of it ever since. We get into how a music-industry paycheck, unpredictable, front-loaded, gone as fast as the trend that made it, pushed him to actually learn the market instead of just spending like a rapper. What it's like sitting in a room with a finance background while everyone assumes you can't do math because you rap about money instead of manage it. Where the rap flex ends and the real portfolio begins. And whether the same instincts that write a viral hook are the same instincts that spot an undervalued stock before anyone else does. Private Wealth Collective Nicole's boutique wealth management practice for people who want more than a robo-advisor and less than a hedge fund minimum. Real strategy, real relationship. The Money School Nicole's $149 investing course that actually breaks down stocks, ETFs, crypto, and building a real portfolio, no jargon, no judgment, lifetime access. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN ----------------------- Find other exclusive content at— Instagram: @moneynews TikTok: @moneynewsnetwork Website: https://moneynewsnetwork.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Selling Sunset isn't just a show about real estate, drama, and outfits... it's a show about money. Over the past few years, Nicole has had four cast members from the Selling Sunset universe on Money Rehab: Jason Oppenheim, Emma Hernan, Mary Bonnet, and Polly Brindle. Today, she's pulling out four moments from those conversations that she hasn't been able to stop thinking about. Jason, one of the most successful real estate brokers in LA, makes a confession you'd never expect from someone who sells homes for a living: renting often beats buying, financially speaking. Mary opens up about the ex-husband who secretly ran up six figures of debt in her name, and the exact tactic she used to rebuild her credit score from scratch. Emma explains why she's turned down millions in outside investment for her company and what she thinks is broken about "Shark Tank culture." And Polly gets brutally honest about maxing out three credit cards, borrowing from friends, and the mindset shift that turned her financial life around. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN  Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Here's what Nicole covers today: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 00:15 Four Money Moments From the Selling Sunset Universe 00:42 Jason Oppenheim's Take: Renting Beats Buying 04:48 Mary Bonnet's Secret Debt and Financial Abuse Story 09:07 Red Flags to Watch For Before You Share Finances 12:29 Emma Hernan on Turning Down Millions in Funding 16:47 Polly Brindle: From Maxed Credit Cards to $48M in Sales 21:46 Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Divorce attorney James Sexton is back for part two of his conversation with Nicole; in part one, he talked about advice for couples getting married. Today, he’s giving advice for people getting divorced. Nicole and James dig into the financial habits that sabotage marriages, the creative ways people hide money before filing, and the red flags that signal a spouse might be planning an exit. Plus, James gives simple advice on what might be the most complicated part of this process: how to tell your spouse you want a divorce. James also breaks down how alimony actually works, the best argument for keeping the house, and the negotiating tactics he uses to fight for a bigger settlement. Then things get spicy: the digital footprint mistakes blowing up divorces in real time, the unofficial "a-hole tax" judges impose on bad behavior in court, and the wild story of a $20 million divorce that almost collapsed over a toaster oven. Check out Part 1 of Nicole's conversation with James Sexton Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN  Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Follow James’ work and check out his latest book Here's what Nicole covers with James: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 02:31 The Financial Habit That Complicates Every Divorce 05:01 How People Hide Money Before a Divorce 09:21 Red Flags Your Partner Might Be Planning a Divorce 11:35 What To Do If You're Thinking About Divorce 12:11 How Much Does a Divorce Actually Cost? 17:13 Mediation vs. Litigation: Which Should You Choose? 19:37 The Best Way To Ask For a Divorce 21:18 How Alimony Really Works 25:00 When the Woman Is the Breadwinner 28:29 Is Alimony About Money or Power? 29:58 The Best Argument for Keeping the House 32:11 Bunnie XO, Jelly Roll, and Who's Entitled to What 34:56 Lightning Round 38:03 The $20 Million Toaster Oven Story 39:14 The Most Expensive Emotion in Divorce 39:20 What To Never (and Always) Put in Writing 40:00 How Social Media Can Blow Up Your Divorce 42:54 The "A-hole Tax" Explained 45:31 James Sexton's Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've been parked in SAVE plan limbo for the last two years, the waiting is over, and the letter that starts your 90-day clock is either already in your inbox or on its way. Today, Nicole breaks down what happened to SAVE, why doing nothing could send your payment from $0 to $900 overnight, and exactly what to do before that clock runs out. Nicole walks through RAP, the new Repayment Assistance Plan replacing SAVE, how it calculates your payment off your income, and the upside most people miss: your balance can't grow even if your payment doesn't cover the interest. She also covers why studentaid.gov is about to get slammed, whether you should let the government pull your income data from the IRS, and how to avoid accidentally landing in a plan that doesn't count toward forgiveness. Then, Nicole flags two things you don't want to miss: a quadrupled autopay discount worth locking in before September 30th, and a little-known Secure 2.0 rule that lets your employer match your student loan payments straight into your 401(k). If you're already in default, she also breaks down what's coming this fall as wage garnishment turns back on, and the two ways out. Finally, today's tip you can take straight to the bank: a tax-filing move married borrowers should run the numbers on before their next RAP payment is calculated. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN  Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Here's what Nicole covers today:  00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab?  00:16 SAVE Is Officially Dead  01:29 What Happens If You Do Nothing  02:12 Check Your Real Balance (Interest Never Stopped)  02:37 Meet RAP: The New Repayment Assistance Plan  03:24 Get Ahead of the Studentaid.gov Stampede  04:40 The 401(k) Match You Didn't Know You Had  05:21 If You're in Default: What's Coming This Fall  06:35 Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor or tax professional before making any financial decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mauricio Umansky is one of the most successful luxury real estate agents in the world, selling homes for A-listers and closing massive deals. Today, he joins Nicole to break down exactly where the real estate market stands right now: why we're finally shifting out of a three-and-a-half-year transaction low, why “rentvesting” might be a move to consider in some markets, and the 10-year rule that means almost no one who buys a home ever ends up losing money on it. Then Nicole and Mauricio dig into the parts of his world reality TV can't capture: the $124 trillion wealth transfer reshaping who owns real estate next, his "playvestment" strategy for buying property purely because it makes him happy, his take on the mansion tax killing development in LA, and whether he'll ever trade real estate for a run at Mayor of Los Angeles. Start investing investing at SoFi.com/MNN  Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠  Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠  Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Learn more about Mauricio’s work and The Agency Here's what Nicole covers with Mauricio: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 03:04 Is This a Buyer's or Seller's Market? 04:10 Comparing Today's Market to Past Cycles 08:17 The 10-Year Rule According to Mauricio 09:21 Rentvesting Explained 10:35 Real Estate Returns vs. the Stock Market 11:45 Where Mauricio Would Buy Right Now 14:35 His Investment Thesis: Hospitality, Flipping, and Branded Residences 15:43 The Real Odds of Getting a Deal Done 16:56 Inside His Portfolio: Real Estate vs. Equities 17:53 Will AI Replace Real Estate Agents? 19:01 The $124 Trillion Wealth Transfer and Family Compounds 22:15 Short-Term Rentals and the 2028 LA Olympics 23:12 Would He Run for Mayor of LA? 29:56 The Mansion Tax, Explained 32:16 Reality TV: Help, Hurt, and Are the Numbers Even Real? 39:01 The Passion Project That Makes Him Zero Dollars 40:16 The Truth Behind His "$6 Billion" in Sales 46:24 Mauricio's Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. This episode is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices