{"podcast":{"title":"The Stacking Benjamins Show","slug":"the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268","podcast_index_feed_id":745268,"rss_url":"https://rss.art19.com/stacking-benjamins","website_url":"https://art19.com/shows/stacking-benjamins","image_url":"https://content.production.cdn.art19.com/images/87/54/4a/99/87544a99-93b0-43d7-ab5a-85740bd3c717/71bf0e7a9549bbb1bd6387061e4babe7de5f5f69871c51df6cacfb170f26c893bd355e9bb2fdd3aa95cab86caf5780843b407fb86f6bfd21137c7217811f3de5.jpeg","author":"Joe Saul-Sehy and Josh ‘OG’ Bannerman, CFP","episode_count":1501,"summary":"Named Best Personal Finance Podcast by Bankrate.com and Kiplinger — and the only podcast the Plutus Awards retired from competition after winning twice — The Stacking Benjamins Show is personal finance that doesn’t put you to sleep. Hosts Joe Saul-Sehy (former 16-year financial advisor, ex-WXYZ-TV “Money Man”) and Josh “OG” Bannerman, CFP (Certified Financial Planner, Bannerman Wealth) sit around the card table in Joe’s mom’s half-finished basement in Texarkana and talk money with the smartest guests in personal finance, investing, and behavioral economics. As Fast Company wrote, the show “strikes a great balance of fun and functional.” Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: expert guests, real headlines, listener questions, and Doug’s trivia. Topics include investing, retirement planning, budgeting, real estate, behavioral finance, taxes, and financial independence — for anyone who wants to be smarter about money without being talked down to. Subscribe to The 201 — the free newsletter that goes deeper than the show — at stackingbenjamins.com/201","last_synced_at":"2026-07-20T16:21:40.778249+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268"},"episode":{"title":"Index Investing 101: Stop Picking Funds and Start Building the Mix That Actually Works (SB1834)","slug":"index-investing-101-stop-picking-funds-and-start-building-the-mix-that-actually-works-sb1834","published_at":"2026-04-27T07:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268/index-investing-101-stop-picking-funds-and-start-building-the-mix-that-actually-works-sb1834","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268","url":"https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/how-to-master-indexing-1834/","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/345/rss.art19.com/episodes/d279c1c1-adfb-4ead-91bc-dd48fce5c93c.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0","summary":"Most investors spend their energy asking the wrong question. It's not which fund is best -- it's which combination of funds gets you to your actual goal at a cost and complexity level you'll actually maintain. Joe and OG break down the full index investing playbook: where to start, when to add complexity, what Wall Street calls indexing that really isn't, and the one number that should change how you think about your entire portfolio. What You'll Walk Away With Why the real argument for index investing isn't that nobody beats the market -- it's that you can't predict who will do it next The crockpot principle of index investing -- and why the self-cleaning oven analogy might be even better Why the S&P 500 and the total stock market index are closer than most people think -- and which one Joe is increasingly favoring for the long run The $100,000 turning point: what changes about your investment strategy when the portfolio gets big enough to get scientific The first two additions most Stackers should consider beyond their core index -- and why OG would actually add more than two Why mixing index funds from different companies can quietly undermine your diversification without you ever knowing it How to replace the word \"index\" with \"list\" to instantly identify whether a product is actually doing what you think it is The buffered ETFs, factor ETFs, and active ETFs that call themselves indexes -- and why most Stackers should walk right past them Why you're not racing against the index -- you're on a road trip -- and what that shift in framing changes about every investing decision The season one recap from OG and Anna's financial planning basics series -- plus the free workbook that ties all seven episodes together Why This Matters Now In your 40s, the portfolio is fi…","meta_description":"Most investors spend their energy asking the wrong question. It's not which fund is best -- it's which combination of funds gets you to your actual goal a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3438,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268/episodes/index-investing-101-stop-picking-funds-and-start-building-the-mix-that-actually-works-sb1834/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-stacking-benjamins-show-745268/index-investing-101-stop-picking-funds-and-start-building-the-mix-that-actually-works-sb1834.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}