Nick Maggiulli
As seen in:
CNBC,
Yahoo Finance,
MarketWatch,
Substack,
CoinDesk,
Flipboard,
Rediff.com,
Audible Blog,
Benzinga,
WNBC-TV (New York, NY)
and
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Nick Maggiulli
Who Got Richer Since 2022?
Last Friday, the Federal Reserve released the results of its 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), which takes a detailed snapshot of American households’ finances every three years. And the big takeaway from this year’s release is clear—older Americans got richer while younger Americans got poorer.
Playing the Wrong Game
A few months ago, I saw this tweet about the World Sauna Championships and how men will literally push themselves to the brink of death to win them, despite there being no tangible rewards. As the author of the tweet noted: It was interesting to me because it’s another piece of evidence that as soon as you create a ruleset…no matter how ridiculous it is, no matter how small the group of participants, no matter the extreme chance of death, and no matter a total lack of prizes.
Who Is Really Rich in America? (Hint: Main Street Millionaires)
If you want to understand the wealth of the typical American household, the resources are excellent. Not only are there free public data sources, but there are also many great books that detail how people live across The Wealth Ladder. For example: But the further you go up the wealth spectrum, the worse the data gets. Rich households are rare, hard to survey, and typically have their wealth tied up in illiquid, private businesses.
Is Startup Equity a Bad Deal?
Imagine joining a startup as employee number 10. Your salary is a bit below what the market pays for your role, but, in exchange, you get equity. How much? 0.25% of the company to be exact. You do the math in your head—if the company sells for $100M in a few years, you’ll make $250,000. Not bad, right? Wrong, and for quite a few reasons. Once you take into account how startup equity typically works, that initial equity grant is worth $97,500, not $250,000.
What Was the Best Portfolio Over the Last 50 Years?
A few months ago, I analyzed U.S. stock returns over the last century. Today, I’m going to determine the best portfolio over the last 50 years among the following asset classes: U.S. Stocks International Stocks Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) U.S. Corporate Bonds 10-Year Treasury Notes 3-month Treasury Bills Gold Commodities U.S. Homes To do this, I examined the BullionVault annual return data from 1972-2025 (54 years) to determine the optimal/best portfolio over this time period.
Living Poor to Die Rich
I recently joined a professional organization to discuss various topics in wealth management. On our first Zoom call there was a debate around the use of levered long/short strategies. For the uninitiated, a levered long/short strategy is a way of taking market risk (like buying an index fund) while generating tax losses to offset capital gains (now or in the future). The leverage is what’s important here.
Which Graduate Degrees Are the Best Investment? (Why I Skipped My MBA)
When I was 27 years old I was at a crossroads. I was five years into my career, yet I was stagnating. Though I was making six figures, which was great for my 20s, I knew I couldn’t make much more at my job. Without an advanced degree, my future compensation would be an endless chain of 3% annual “cost of living” adjustments and nothing more. At that moment, I knew I had to make a change. So I considered getting an MBA.
Why I Was Wrong to Be Bearish on U.S. Stocks
A year ago I wrote the blog post Why I’m Bearish on U.S. Stocks (for the Second Time Since 2017). Since then U.S. stocks are up 16% (total return) and my bearish prediction turned out to be misguided. So where did I go wrong? And how can you prevent yourself from making the same kind of error in the future?
The Myth of Owning Your Time
You’ve probably heard it all before. Be your own boss. Control your schedule. Own your time. As attractive as it sounds, it’s a lie. Many people believe that working for yourself means unlimited flexibility. You can work where you want, when you want, and with whom you want for the rest of your life. What’s not to like? Unfortunately, things are rarely so simple. Going out on your own seldom creates the time freedom that you expect. Why?
The Best Way to Sell a Concentrated Position
Imagine being the typical SpaceX employee over the last few months. Your shares IPO at $135 and within a few days they peak at $225/share (up 67%) before they begin to decline. As of this morning they sit at around $139, or about 3% above the IPO price. Given this, what percentage of your shares would you sell once your lock-up ends? This question isn’t just relevant to SpaceX employees, but to anyone who’s ever held a concentrated position in an individual stock.
Why $100 in Your 20s is Worth $500 in Your 60s
What if I told you that $100 at 25 is worth $500 at 65, even after we adjust for inflation? Well…it is. There’s an unspoken belief in personal finance that a dollar is always worth a dollar (putting inflation aside). We assume that spending $100 today would bring the same amount of joy as spending $100 (inflation-adjusted) in the future. But it won’t. Why? Because of how we experience time as we age. And it took a French philosopher from the 1800s to help me understand why.
The Problem with Optionality
I’ve seen a lot of discussions this year around maximizing freedom and optionality. For example, consider this tweet: If you ever get up $1M in cash Buy a new modern apartment in the UAE for like $550k (you have zero property tax). Once you own it, it’s actually yours, and the only thing you pay is utilities and internet. No property tax, no municipality bs, no random fees like in other countries… You won’t necessarily live a mega-luxury life, but you’ll be FREE.
Money Talks: The Price of Status
A year ago, I published my second book The Wealth Ladder. It’s sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and hit the New York Times bestseller list in its third week of publication. At the time, I was thrilled that my work was finally getting some mainstream media attention. After nine years of writing online, it felt like I had finally made it to the big leagues. But since then, I’ve learned that many of these bestseller lists aren’t what they initially seem.
Are Stocks Going Up or Is the Dollar Going Down?
As stocks have hit new all-time highs in recent months, I’ve seen an increasing number of people argue that stocks aren’t becoming more valuable, the dollar is becoming less valuable. Investor Lee Roach articulated this “debasement theory” in a recent Twitter/X post: The federal government is running a 7% structural deficit with no political coalition in either party willing to address it.
A Century of U.S. Stock Returns: Expect the Unexpected
In honor of America’s 250th birthday, I decided to do a deep dive into U.S. stock returns over the past century. My goal was to answer the following question: If you had invested in U.S. stocks at a random point in the last 100 years (1926-2025), how would they perform over the next month, the next year, or the next decade? What could you actually expect to happen with your money?
Is $5M in Treasury Bills Enough to Be Set for Life?
A few months ago I saw this video of Kevin O’Leary (Mr. Wonderful) arguing that $5M was enough for a lifetime of financial security. On the surface it seems hard to argue with this, but it was how O’Leary recommended investing this money that gave me pause. As he said: I tell everybody this. You should strive very hard if you’re an entrepreneur to have $5M in T-Bills. Not in anything else, just T-Bills. Making 3.82% this morning.
Can Supply and Demand Predict the Stock Market?
Working in England in the 14th century was difficult to say the least. Between the harsh conditions and low wages, you also had to fight against the occasional disease outbreak and a repressive government. As the Black Death spread across England, killing anywhere from 30%-50% of the population, King Edward III issued a decree to freeze wages and prevent workers from asking for more.
How Much Will SpaceX Actually Cost Your Index Fund?
This week SpaceX is having its initial public offering (IPO) where it plans to raise $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation. Anthropic and OpenAI have their own IPO plans for later this year. With these highly valued companies coming to market, there’s been a lot of discussion around how index providers will include them in their funds. Index funds are governed by a set of inclusion criteria which determine which stocks can be added to a particular index and when.
The risk-wealth paradox: Why more money means you should take less risk
This article was provided by a third-party and the opinions expressed here are the author’s. Morningstar values diversity of thought and publishes a broad range of viewpoints. There’s a common belief that as your wealth increases, your capacity to take risk increases as well. After all, when you have more, you can afford to lose more, right? This might be correct in the extremes, but this argument doesn’t hold in more typical wealth ranges. Why? Because a dollar isn’t always a dollar.
Being Useful is More Attractive Than Being Rich
I recently saw this Reddit post about a man who retired early (FIRE) only to be called a “loser” by his wife go viral. In the man’s own words: 41m, $2mm liquid, $650k retirement and I get a $75k/yr royalty from a business I sold. Recently retired. Wife is a school teacher, good for healthcare. I make $125k/yr in income off my liquid assets.
Hacks vs. Artists
My wife and I recently started watching Hacks, the HBO TV series starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, about a legendary comedian trying to stay relevant in a changing world. It’s funny, the writing is fantastic, and there are lots of great plot twists. But I really love the show because it explores the tension between doing something for money versus doing it for the art itself.
Why Taxing the Wealthy is Harder Than it Looks
Over the last year, there have been a number of policies aimed at taxing the wealthy and ultra-wealthy. It started last November when the “2026 Billionaire Tax Act” ballot initiative was proposed in California to impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on its resident billionaires. In March 2026, the state of Washington passed a Millionaires Tax which would tax all incomes above $1 million at 9.9%.
Survival is the only success
This article was provided by a third-party and the opinions expressed here are the author’s. Morningstar values diversity of thought and publishes a broad range of viewpoints. In 2015, Tai Lopez started running his now famous “Here in my garage” ad on YouTube as a way to promote his 67 Steps self-help course. The ad featured Lopez standing in front of a brand-new Lamborghini before panning over to seven bookshelves he had installed to fit 2,000 books he had recently purchased.
The Risk-Wealth Paradox: Why More Money Means You Should Take Less Risk
There’s a common belief that as your wealth increases, your capacity to take risk increases as well. After all, when you have more you can afford to lose more, right? This might be correct in the extremes, but this argument doesn’t hold in more typical wealth ranges. Why? Because a dollar isn’t always a dollar. And once you understand this, you’ll never look at risk-taking the same again. A Dollar is Not a Dollar In the real world, people don’t treat every dollar the same.
The Great Filter
It’s 1:30 AM and my wife is in the middle of labor. We’re both trying to get some sleep while she dilates further from 3cm to the ultimate goal—10cm. That’s when I wake to one of the nurses telling my wife: We don’t want you to panic, but you’re about to hear a loud noise and then a lot of people are going to come into the room. Before I can turn my body to see what’s going on, an alarm rings out. Within seconds, half the hospital staff seem to have spawned into our delivery room.
What I’ve Learned Writing 500 Blog Posts
As of today, I’ve published 500 blog posts online since January 2017. That’s slightly more than 1 per week. Given this, I wanted to discuss the biggest lessons I’ve learned from this and how they can help you. Consistency Beats Everything If there were one idea that I could bestow upon anyone who wants success in life, it’s—consistency beats everything. This is true in investing, in fitness, in your career, with your relationships, and so much more. It’s been true everywhere I’ve ever looked.
Survival is the Only Success
In 2015, Tai Lopez started running his now famous “Here in my garage” ad on YouTube as a way to promote his 67 Steps self-help course. The ad featured Lopez standing in front of a brand new Lamborghini before panning over to seven bookshelves he had installed to fit 2,000 books he had recently purchased. Following the release of the ad, Lopez became an overnight sensation.
美国家庭财富调查揭示64%家庭在100万至1000万美元区间停滞20年
一、困住64%的无人之地 美国有一份数据集，叫做"消费者金融调查"（Survey of Consumer Finances）。联邦储备系统每三年做一次，抽样几千个家庭，问得非常细。你有几辆车、几套房、退休账户里有多少钱、信用卡还欠多少、年收入多少、持有什么股票基金。做完之后数据脱敏公开。 这份调查在研究美国家庭财富的人眼里，地位大概相当于普查。它的可信度不是来自某个机构的背书，而是来自方法本身：面对面访谈、交叉验证、追踪同一批家庭十几二十年。你可以说它不够新，但你没办法说它不准。 有个叫Nick Maggiulli的人，盯着这份数据看了很多年。 他的身份有点特殊，白天是Ritholtz Wealth Management的COO（首席运营官），这是一家在美国投资圈名气不小的财富管理公司。晚上的工作是写博客。他的博客叫"Of Dollars And Data"，翻译过来就是"关于美元和数据"，名字就暴露了他的癖好：用数据来谈钱。 他从2017年开始写，写了将近十年，几乎每周一篇，没断过。中间出过一本书叫《Just Keep...
Did AI Kill Coast FIRE?
Picture this: You’re in your mid-40s and you’ve just quit your stressful corporate job. You’ve set aside enough money to fund your future retirement and now can work a more enjoyable (but lower paying) job to cover your living expenses until then. This is the definition of Coast FIRE. You don’t have enough assets to never work again, but you have enough to never save again. You can “coast” until you get to retirement. Sounds pretty nice, right? This is why I love Coast FIRE.
There’s more to software than just code
Scott Pape, author of The Barefoot Investor: "I'm an avid reader of Cuffelinks. Thanks for the wonderful resource you have here, it really is first class." Reader: "Best innovation I have seen whilst an investor for 25 years. The writers are brilliant. A great publication which I look forward to." Eleanor Dartnall, AFA Adviser of the Year, 2014: "Our clients love your newsletter.
The Upper Middle Class Trap
Over the last year, I’ve come to an unsettling realization—the upper middle class is caught in a trap, and many of them don’t realize it. A few weeks ago I wrote about why private school isn’t worth the cost. My argument hinged on the fact that the upper middle class pays a lot for private education despite there being no significant impact on lifetime outcomes. In The Death of the Amex Lounge, I found the same thing—premium travel experiences had become crowded while remaining expensive.
Is U.S. Housing Starting to Crash?
There seems to have been a vibe shift in the U.S. housing market over the past six months. What started in places like Austin, Texas with falling rents and home prices, seems to have spread to other parts of the country. As you can see in the table below, it’s not just Austin that has experienced double-digit rent declines since 2022: And what has happened in the rental market seems to be occurring to home prices as well.
There Will Be No Permanent Underclass
For months now there’s been an online joke that anyone who doesn’t learn about AI will be a part of the “permanent underclass.” The permanent underclass represents the new have-nots of society—all of those who will be left behind in the coming AI wave. While a subset of the population will have all of their work done by LLM-powered agents, the permanent underclass will be left jobless and in perpetual destitution. It’s a nice theory, but it has no historical precedent.
Are Your Beliefs Assets or Liabilities?
I recently saw this video of Alex Hormozi where he talks about a speaking event he attended. At the event, the speaker wrote $1,000,000 on a large whiteboard. Then the speaker asked someone in the audience how much they make and they replied, “$50,000 per year.” So the speaker wrote $50,000 under the $1,000,000 and put a minus sign in front of it. Then the speaker said: Did you know that it’s costing you $950,000 a year to not know how to make $1,000,000 a year?
Are Your Beliefs Assets or Liabilities?
I recently saw this video of Alex Hormozi where he talks about a speaking event he attended. At the event, the speaker wrote $1,000,000 on a large whiteboard. Then the speaker asked someone in the audience how much they make and they replied, “$50,000 per year.” So the speaker wrote $50,000 under the $1,000,000 and put a minus sign in front of it. Then the speaker said: Did you know that it’s costing you $950,000 a year to not know how to make $1,000,000 a year?
Sixteen steps in a typical SMSF borrowing
Reader: "I can quickly sort the items that I am interested in, then research them more fully. It is also a regular reminder that I need to do this." John Egan, Egan Associates: "My heartiest congratulations. Your panel of contributors is very impressive and keep your readers fully informed." David Goldschmidt, Chartered Accountant: "I find this a really excellent newsletter. The best I get.
Signal Collapse and the New Proof of Work
For the past few decades, being in shape was the ultimate “proof of work.” You couldn’t buy it. You had to earn it. Unless you had top 5% genetics, you had to build your physique through diet and exercise. But then something incredible happened. GLP-1 agonists (like Ozempic) hit the market and, overnight, a better body was only a weekly injection away. As a result, the old signal (being fit) became less valuable as it could now be acquired without the physical exertion.
Signal Collapse and the New Proof of Work
For the past few decades, being in shape was the ultimate “proof of work.” You couldn’t buy it. You had to earn it. Unless you had top 5% genetics, you had to build your physique through diet and exercise. But then something incredible happened. GLP-1 agonists (like Ozempic) hit the market and, overnight, a better body was only a weekly injection away. As a result, the old signal (being fit) became less valuable as it could now be acquired without the physical exertion.
Wanna Get Rich? Marry a College Grad or Start a Business
What if I told you that getting a college degree provides no long-term financial benefits unless you get married? What if I told you that the typical single business owner is wealthier than most married couples who don’t own businesses? Though both of these statements might seem far-fetched, statistically, both are true. For the past few years I’ve been obsessed with understanding how wealth is built in the United States. I even published a book about it. Despite this, my quest hasn’t stopped.
Does the U.S. Actually Have a Housing Shortage?
Right now many people are debating why the U.S. housing market is broken. Some blame interest rates. Some blame prices. Some blame zoning laws. While the truth is a mix of all of these factors, there’s one thing that no one seems to agree on—supply. Does the U.S. actually have a housing shortage, or is something else going on? When Supply is Not Supply While many believe that the U.S. housing market has a supply problem, this view isn’t universally shared.
Does the U.S. Actually Have a Housing Shortage?
Right now many people are debating why the U.S. housing market is broken. Some blame interest rates. Some blame prices. Some blame zoning laws. While the truth is a mix of all of these factors, there’s one thing that no one seems to agree on—supply. Does the U.S. actually have a housing shortage, or is something else going on? When Supply is Not Supply While many believe that the U.S. housing market has a supply problem, this view isn’t universally shared.
Why Consensus Fails
Let’s turn the clocks back a little over a year. Going into 2025, the consensus view on markets was: U.S. Exceptionalism: The U.S. is the only equity game in town. Europe and the rest of the world had fallen behind on AI and tech innovation. Lower Rates: Investors expected rate cuts and, by extension, much lower interest rates in the near future. The End of Inflation: The battle against inflation had been won and price stability was a guarantee.
Why Consensus Fails
Let’s turn the clocks back a little over a year. Going into 2025, the consensus view on markets was: U.S. Exceptionalism: The U.S. is the only equity game in town. Europe and the rest of the world had fallen behind on AI and tech innovation. Lower Rates: Investors expected rate cuts and, by extension, much lower interest rates in the near future. The End of Inflation: The battle against inflation had been won and price stability was a guarantee.
Is Inflation Higher Than We Think? Original
I recently saw this tweet from Pieter Levels arguing that inflation is actually much higher than people think because of decreasing product quality (and not just increasing prices): I think we’re 100% in some kind of hyperinflationary state But the hyperinflation is hidden from prices and instead shows up in the extreme decrease in quality of almost every product and service We’re in an asset boom where stock prices look like they’re growing but they just show the underlying value or...
There's Always Room for Quality
One time I saw someone ask James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, “What’s the point of writing a book when there are already so many books out there? Isn’t the market oversaturated?” Clear agreed that this was true if your book wasn’t any good. But, if your book is good, it won’t matter. As he concluded, “There’s always room for quality.” Anytime someone asks me whether they should start a blog, write a book, or launch a business, I’m reminded of Clear’s idea. After all, he’s right.
There's Always Room for Quality
One time I saw someone ask James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, “What’s the point of writing a book when there are already so many books out there? Isn’t the market oversaturated?” Clear agreed that this was true if your book wasn’t any good. But, if your book is good, it won’t matter. As he concluded, “There’s always room for quality.” Anytime someone asks me whether they should start a blog, write a book, or launch a business, I’m reminded of Clear’s idea. After all, he’s right.
Why You Can't Time the Market (Even When You Know the Future)
Wouldn’t it be great if you knew the future before it happened? Imagine all the money you could make in the stock market. It seems like a dream scenario, right? But, what if I told you that it wasn’t true? What if “knowing the future” wasn’t as profitable as you think? It might be hard to believe, but I can prove it with a game. The Market Timing Game Imagine it’s February 28, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has just started to spread around the world and the S&P 500 is currently down around 12%.
Why You Can't Time the Market (Even When You Know the Future)
Wouldn’t it be great if you knew the future before it happened? Imagine all the money you could make in the stock market. It seems like a dream scenario, right? But, what if I told you that it wasn’t true? What if “knowing the future” wasn’t as profitable as you think? It might be hard to believe, but I can prove it with a game. The Market Timing Game Imagine it’s February 28, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has just started to spread around the world and the S&P 500 is currently down around 12%.
Is Home Equity Fake Wealth?
With the surge in U.S. home prices since 2020, Americans have more home equity than ever before. As Realtor.com reported in September 2025 (emphasis mine): In the second quarter of 2025, the Flow of Funds data from the Federal Reserve showed that the total value of owner-occupied real estate rebounded after last quarter’s retreat, reaching a record high of $49.3 trillion. Home equity mirrored this trend, also hitting an all-time peak of $35.8 trillion.
Is Home Equity Fake Wealth?
With the surge in U.S. home prices since 2020, Americans have more home equity than ever before. As Realtor.com reported in September 2025 (emphasis mine): In the second quarter of 2025, the Flow of Funds data from the Federal Reserve showed that the total value of owner-occupied real estate rebounded after last quarter’s retreat, reaching a record high of $49.3 trillion. Home equity mirrored this trend, also hitting an all-time peak of $35.8 trillion.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Nick
Contact Nick, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack