Money Stuff: The Podcast

Katie and Matt discuss Satoshi Nakamoto, spotting liars, Katie being a witch, Bill Ackman doing stuff, Universal Music Group, SPARCs, asymmetric derivatives trades, Matt’s dream money management career, doomsday funds, Elon Musk’s big thing, the SpaceX IPO, Grok for bankers, humiliating IPO pitches and some ETF stuff for the ETF fans.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss conferences, baby names, private credit redemption requests, liquidity confusion, private credit inflows, Larry Fink’s annual letter, AI taking all the jobs, universal basic index funds, podcasters and fund managers being displaced by AI, shorting the consumer economy, owning everything, the coming SpaceX IPO, lockups, index fast-tracking, a SpaceX treasury company and Elon Musk no longer being amused by 420.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie talk to Boaz Weinstein of Saba Capital Management about his tenders for OBDC II and SREIT, semi-liquid fund liquidity, reflexivity, the lure of permanent capital, private credit NAVs, public vs. private BDC discounts, preserving brand value, volatility laundering, howling at the moon, bowling and, why not, DATs. You can also watch this episode on YouTubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss high school quiz bowl, Bill Ackman’s closed-end fund again, the rich history of CEFs trading at a discount, economically attractive places to work, preferred performance fees, private credit vibes, accepting illiquidity for high returns, marking private credit to market, NAV arbitrage, assassination markets, fine print and resistance to innovation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss a legendary lost Money Stuff podcast episode, Paramount buying Warner Bros., rights offerings, LBO risks, deal discipline, breakup fees, BCRED, OBDC II, twisting arms at Blackstone, Credit Suisse toxic asset bonuses, liquidity premiums, short memories, XOVR and SpaceX liquidity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie are on vacation! There will be a new episode of Money Stuff in your feeds on March 6th.  In this episode from June 2025, Matt and Katie talk with their guest, Cliff Asness of AQR, about momentum, meme stocks, value, market timing, publishing, academics, explaining factors, how much to charge for alpha, private assets and machine learning. You can also watch this episode on YouTube. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss the SpaceX/xAI merger, the Kardashev scale, Twitter debt, index fast-tracking, people not being worried about SpaceX liquidity, closed-end fund activism, DAT discounts, the Bitcoin crash, Strategy, the week that software died, SaaS private equity, AI disruption and private credit funding stability.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Morgan’s Pub, SpaceX/xAI merger talks, a $1.5 trillion valuation for Twitter, astrology, numerology, the Year of the Horse, Tether’s mountain lair, gold vault tourism, how to make a few more billion dollars, LMEs, law-firm conflicts and investment banking pep talks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss the weather, Jamie Dimon’s whereabouts, Guinness latte art at the JPMorgan pub, debanking, memecoin logic, Gas Town, horses as a unit of money, memecoin IP, moonshot pay incentives, 24ish/7ish trading, blockchain blockchain blockchain, and supervising the computers on the cozy night shift.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Beast Industries, immersion in cool liquids, crypto treasury pivots, credit card rate caps, PowerPoint tips and drug trial insider trading.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Wyclef Jean, the backlash against proxy advisers, AI proxy voting, writing proxies for LLMs, things that annoy Jamie Dimon, private equity recruiting, banking loyalty oaths, the long path to private equity, home ownership, housing affordability, brownstones in Hoboken and stock buybacks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt answer listener questions about performative earnings calls, hedge funds as a calling, favorite quotes, proxy advisers, ETF mechanics, sports betting market structure, 10b5-1 plans and the thrill of horse dancing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt do not discuss themes for 2026 but do discuss closing certainty in merger agreements, revocable trusts, personal guarantees, doing deals over the holidays, double-pledging, amortization of past-due subprime auto loans, angling for cooperation agreements, Enron as a role model, nuclear fusion, access to significant capital and leveraged ETF training videos.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss the Warner Bros. bidding war, negotiating against yourself, having your dad buy companies for you, Bleenberg, breakup fees, trillion-dollar IPOs, getting in on the third floor, orbiting data centers, tech capex, rocket explosion securities fraud lawsuits, alternative consumer lending and private credit regulation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss corporate holiday parties, shareholder meetings, the Strategy narrative arc, Strategy's dollar reserve, an ouroboros of newsletters, digital asset treasury companies in indexes, the brief beautiful life of Katie's bird, Bill Ackman's closed-end fund plans, CEFs vs. ETFs, Howard Hughes, buffer ETFs and the ETFization of structured notes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an episode from July, Katie and Matt talk with Gappy Paleologo of Balyasny Asset Management about gardening leave, what makes a good quant researcher, factor models, the social function of hedge funds, AI and journalists as portfolio managers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Batman, Labubu binary options, sneaker manipulation, publicly traded private credit, OBDC, OBDC II, private credit marks, Frank's email list, indemnification and cellulite butter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss ASMR, 50-year mortgages, Fannie and Freddie, housing as a positional good, indentured servitude, assumable and/or portable mortgages, Matt’s mortgage rate, optimal exercise of prepayment options, proxy adviser competition, shareholder proposals, good governance, index fund voting, hedge fund talent constraints, gardening leave, the Black Death and the AI Ph.D. pipeline.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss tariffs, skeptical questions, nondelegation, major questions, reimbursement, the Metsera deal, amylin targeting, Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal, alleged fraud at First Brands, factoring due diligence, the blockchain and short memories in the credit market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Halloween costumes, AI capital spending, hybrid financing, K-cup JVs, investment grade private credit, the metaverse (?!?), the OpenAI reorganization, OpenAI capital needs and governance, Elon Musk’s pay package, Tesla succession and getting cut off at the JPMorgan office pub.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss JPMorgan’s new headquarters, in-office pubs, in-office gyms, the JPMorgan District, specialist fine-tuning of AI models, pls fix memes, crushing investment banking analysts’ hopes and dreams, the craft of building LBO models, credit cockroaches and indirect lending.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss late-cycle credit accidents, dancing while the music plays, banks vs. private credit, the Nobel Peace Prize, institutional-grade prediction markets, 23-hour-a-day stock trading, picking off drunks at 3 a.m., digesting news outside of market hours, windows of liquidity and the rhythm of being a human.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss finance book parties, the ICE/Polymarket deal, understanding and pricing the future, the Grossman-Stiglitz paradox, prediction-market spillovers, sports quants, tokenization, the OpenAI/AMD deal, discounting the AI future, AI pricing power, Cathie Wood’s emotional maturity, the ETF ecosystem and the Midnight Madness puzzle hunt.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss multistrategy hedge funds, talent sieves, agents vs. headhunters, hedge fund managers' sense of their market value, agents for AI researchers, same-game parlays, sportsbook market structure and football betting ETFs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss reader mail about tungsten cubes, monthly financial reporting, long-term levered ETFs, the shrinking public markets, betting on onion prices, betting on stock prices, limiting sharp bets, missing expectations and bonds being stupid.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss ARK heartbeat (?) trades, IPO allocations, ETFs as widgets, quarterly earnings, barriers to going public, structured notes, installment index puts and Katie’s vacation plans.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss the career advantages of losing a billion dollars, wounded lions, hedge fund comp structures and stock prices, Elon Musk’s comp structure, reasons for Tesla to invest in xAI, the New York City mayoral race, insider trading on prediction markets and Polymarket coming home.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss the taxation power, IEEPA, tariff refunds, government revenue sharing, voluntary tariffs, alternative/traditional asset manager partnerships, Goldman buying a little bit of T. Rowe, private assets in target-date funds, deal-contingent hedges, private equity becoming the main clients of investment banks (and hedge funds).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Taylor Swift, dating podcasters, the betting markets/financial markets convergence, commodity insider trading, a magical money printing machine, weird preferred stocks, the crypto treasury boom, Money Stuff’s effect on academic tenure, IPO pops, private company pops and security-based swaps.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss reader questions about Blooming Onion futures, IPO pops, alternative treasury companies, sports bar hedging, no-penalty CDs, spirit securities, “internet personality” as a career and news anchor vocal training. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Matt's vacation plans, Elon Musk's propensity to ruin them, Musk's new good-faith payment from Tesla, his work schedule, Tesla as a car company vs. Tesla as the future of life, Regulation FD, tone and body language, hedge funds vs. long-only investors, retail corporate access, on-cycle recruiting and the heat death of the universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss retail private assets, offsetting unicorn closed-end funds, Matt’s infrequent trading in his personal account, FX derivatives, unsophisticated clients, limited upside with unlimited downside, hurricanes, never-pay insurance policies and a call for mailbag questions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss bird gender reveal parties, meme stocks, short squeezes, AI as a distillation of human wisdom, dispersion trades, ETF tax efficiency, heartbeats, everything will be a tokenized ETF, the Qs, ETF marketing budgets and the rule against perpetuities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss search funds, post-MBA career paths, Katie’s future in horse barn ownership, search-fund flips, the Windsurf quasi-acqui-hire deal, Vanguard and Strategy, the function of index funds, owning the global financial portfolio and Perching Square Capital Management’s closed-end fund.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt talk about dreams, Jane Street's Indian options trade, XAI, Tesla governance, sports gambling and prediction markets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt talk with Gappy Paleologo of Balyasny Asset Management about gardening leave, what makes a good quant researcher, factor models, the social function of hedge funds, AI and journalists as portfolio managers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss Boomer-candy ETFs, autocallables, private-credit trading, volatility laundering and Mark Zuckerberg's hiring spree.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie talk with their guest, Cliff Asness of AQR, about momentum, meme stocks, value, market timing, publishing, academics, explaining factors, how much to charge for alpha, private assets and machine learning. You can also watch this episode on YouTube. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss the Michael Saylor vs. Jim Chanos debate, financial gibberish, the mid-2000s federal clerkship hiring plan, private equity recruiting and mid-frequency trading.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Wells Fargo’s asset cap, credit ratings conflicts of interest, private credit controversies in the insurance business, why BBB- is the best rating, Main Line real estate prices, Marshall Wace, hiring cheaters at hedge funds and signals from the sell side.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Katie’s new bird, the legality of tariffs, the TACO trade, rooting for the nondelegation doctrine, implicit guarantees, the money to be made if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are re-privatized, stuffing Bitcoins into public companies and owning the global financial asset portfolio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt talk with Ryan Patch and Jon Seale of Great Gotham Challenge about building puzzle hunts for the hedge fund manager who has everything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie discuss leveraging up your 401(k), everyone's love for putting private credit into retirement accounts, mortgages versus margin loans, college finance clubs, travel sports and how to get Elon Musk paid.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie and Matt discuss Warren Buffett's retirement, his successor at Berkshire Hathaway, his other successor (Bill Ackman), OpenAI's restructuring, Sam Altman's incentives and Medicaid provider taxes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt and Katie talk about what Tesla is, splitting the roles of CEO and Technoking, the Musk attention auction, the benefits of not paying attention to X debt prices, and why everyone likes private assets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.