Talking Billions with Bogumil Baranowski

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Aug 2026

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EVERY MONDAY A NEW EPISODE. I READ ALL MY EMAILS - contact form on my website - www.bogumilbaranowski.com. TELL ME YOUR STORY. I’m Bogumil Baranowski, an author, a TEDx speaker, an investor, and an investment advisor to families and individuals. Intimate conversations about money, wealth, and living a rich and fulfilling life. We talk about big ideas, big inspirations, big topics. We take on the hardest subject of all – money: how to make it, save it, keep it, but our conversations lead us to an even bigger question — what it means to live a rich life beyond money. NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE.

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August 17, 2026Episode 2171 hr 4 min

Thomas Chua: The Lunch Break Investor, How Busy People Can Build Wealth in One Hour a Day

Thomas Chua is a friend, an investor, an investing educator, and the founder of Steady Compounding, where he shares lessons from great businesses and great investors with a global audience. He’s also the author of a brand-new book, The Lunch Break Investor , about how busy people can build wealth thoughtfully in roughly an hour a day. (03:00) Title story: his father pawned his mother’s wedding jewelry; Thomas vows “the lights will never go off again.” (06:00) Library autobiographies over role models; “failure in itself is nothing to be embarrassed about.” (08:00) Singapore’s 4-year bond funded university — career freedom traded for $30K to compound. (11:00) Trader-to-owner shift: prices checked every 15 min, until Buffett’s line on tickers landed. (15:00) “Forgotten money”: Guy Spier’s dislike of trading; Adam Mead forgetting his own login. (17:00) Core thesis: “invest to live and not the other way around” — one hour a day. (20:00) Lynch’s line: “nobody ever wished on their deathbed that they wish they spent more time in the office.” (24:00) Ronald Reid (janitor, $8M) and Anne Scheiber (IRS auditor, left $22M). (28:00) A moat as treasure inside a castle worth defending. (31:00) ROIC and Munger’s “gravity” — a moat’s trajectory beats its size. (33:00) AI capex wave: Meta’s ad growth vs. debt-heavy new cloud entrants. (38:00) Red flag: Peloton’s CFO denied a capital raise days before doing one. (41:00) The “wallet test” for management; Bezos’s “Ouch” letter. (43:00) Buying in three tranches, letting the business prove itself. (44:00) Selling as “an admission that I was wrong” — the Lululemon case. (48:00) One-hour checklist: “why does this business deserve to be bigger five years from now,” plus scanning your card statement for moat clues. (50:00) Writing Steady Compounding publicly sharpened his thinking, built his audience. (53:00) The Malacca trip with his grandmother that never happened; Munger’s tuna regret. (56:00) After 200+ episodes: permission to take the walk, take the trip — you’re safe now. Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

August 14, 202639 min

The Things We Have to Do: Bogumil on Just Press Record with Matt Zeigler

I’m reposting today an interview that Matt Zeigler kindly conducted with me recently. It just so happens that today is my birthday, which makes it feel like the right moment to share this deeply personal conversation about a chapter in my life and career when uncertainty was at its peak and the road ahead felt anything but clear. In this impromptu conversation, recorded one summer morning, I reflect on what happened during that time, what I learned from it, and how those experiences continue to shape me today. Along the way, you’ll hear stories and moments I’ve never shared publicly before. I also encourage you to read the thoughtful profile Matt wrote about me on his wonderful Cultish Creative blog, linked here . While you’re there, take some time to explore—and follow—his beautifully written, thoughtfully curated work. I’m grateful for the care and generosity he brings to every conversation and every story he tells. Bogumil Baranowski joins Matt Zeigler to explore why failure is feedback and how persistence can turn rejection, uncertainty, and personal obstacles into life-changing opportunities. Bogumil shares his journey from Poland to a career in New York investing, the green card rejection that nearly ended it, and the unlikely path that eventually led him to ask Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger a question at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Topics covered: Why failure should be treated as feedback rather than defeat What Joseph Moore’s struggle to publish How to Get Rich in American History teaches about resilience How personal conviction helps people continue when success appears statistically unlikely Why creating a podcast can preserve valuable conversations and connect overlooked ideas How podcast hosts cross-pollinate insights between investors, authors, and thinkers Bogumil’s decision to leave Europe and build an investing career in New York City The visa challenges and green card rejection that almost forced him to leave America How hope and persistence helped him restart the immigration process The unlikely story of asking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger a question at Berkshire Hathaway Why obstacles can help people develop strengths that others do not possess How an outsider’s perspective can create an advantage in investing and creative work Why people should embrace the experiences that make them different Timestamps: 00:00 Why some goals become things you have to do 03:00 Joseph Moore and the history of getting rich 06:04 Why location matters when building and preserving wealth 08:20 Failure is feedback 09:30 Why important ideas often face rejection 13:03 Turning private conversations into a public podcast 16:40 Learning through other people’s experiences 18:08 Cross-pollinating ideas between great investors 20:24 Bogumil’s decision to pursue investing in New York 21:42 Visa problems and a rejected green card application 24:00 Starting the immigration process again 26:14 Why persistence matters more than the size of the goal 27:46 Asking Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger a question 31:42 Why failing is part of trying 33:53 The unexpected connection to The King’s Speech 35:29 Turning perceived weaknesses into strengths 37:29 Where to find Bogumil’s writing and podcasts Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

August 10, 2026Episode 2161 hr 8 min

Lee Freeman-Shor: Why Being Right Less Than Half the Time Can Still Make You Rich, The Five Behavioral Tribes — and Why Stock Picking Matters Less Than What You Do Next

Lee Freeman‑Shor is a former multi‑award‑winning fund manager turned bestselling author and researcher who has spent years inside the decision‑making of the world’s best investors to uncover how they get it wrong most of the time and still make millions in the markets. He gave 45 elite investors real money and studied 30,000 trades to decode execution. He shares what he learned in the process. Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/ Episode Notes 03:00 — Lee's working-class Nottinghamshire upbringing; didn't know what a stock was until university. 04:11 — Stumbled into fund management after a law degree, then built the "Best Ideas" fund range at Scander Investment Group. 07:07 — The spark: a manager with a 30% hit rate who still made a fortune for the fund. 09:51 — Analyzing 30,000 trades: hit rates cluster near 50% — "it's definitely not about the stock idea." 19:30 — Lee unveils his five investor tribes: rabbits, assassins, hunters, raiders, connoisseurs. 20:30 — Why investors freeze: "you don't want to be a rabbit." 22:42 — The biases behind it: "endowment bias, sunk cost bias... regret aversion bias." 24:15 — His gut-check question for holding a losing name: would you buy it today with fresh money? 25:43 — Averaging down done right — hunters start small so they can "lean into the name." 38:16 — Stock Market Maestros research: the "lumberjack" archetype (John Barr), tiny starting positions, decades-long 100-baggers. 44:54 — "Incrementalists" like Andrew Hall and James Hambro trim and add in small steps instead of exiting outright. 48:34 — Behavioral alpha score and payoff ratio — metrics that predict future manager skill. 53:15 — Takeaway: "when you're losing, do something... try and be an assassin." 58:43 — Lee's personal lesson: "expect to be wrong." 1:00:41 — Closing reflection on what success really means after stepping back from money management in 2018. Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

August 7, 20261 hr 7 min

100 Year Thinkers: Warren Buffett Published His Whole Playbook | Robert Hagstrom on Why Only One Tenth of 1% Uses It

Robert Hagstrom joins Matt Zeigler and Bogumil Baranowski to revisit the 25th anniversary edition of The Warren Buffett Portfolio and explain why volatility is not the same as investment risk. They discuss concentrated portfolios, active share, business valuation, behavioral finance, complex adaptive systems, and Warren Buffett’s warning that the market’s casino can overwhelm its cathedral. Matt Zeigler and I had the privilege of hosting Robert Hagstrom for a special 100-Year Thinkers Edition of the Excess Returns Podcast. Available now on Excess Returns Podcast and Talking Billions. 🎧 I’m excited to share this episode with you—it’s reposted here with permission and blessing from the Excess Returns team. Don’t miss it! And follow their work, links below. The Warren Buffett Portfolio - 25th Anniversary Edition Robert Hagstrom on X Equity Compass Topics covered Why Markowitz’s definition of risk as variance shaped modern portfolio theory Why Buffett views permanent capital loss, not volatility, as the real investing risk What Hagstrom’s study of 3,000 portfolios revealed about concentration and market outperformance The difference between know-something investors and investors better served by indexing How benchmark awareness creates closet indexers and weakens active management What loss aversion and prospect theory explain about investor behavior Why Darwin, William James, and complex adaptive systems offer better models for markets Buffett’s cathedral and casino metaphor for business ownership versus speculation The El Farol problem, Jim Simons, and why successful market models stop working Why options trading, leveraged ETFs, and record single-stock dispersion may be strengthening the casino How to evaluate portfolios using cash flow, return on invested capital, and look-through earnings Why permanent capital and System 2 thinking are essential for focused investing Timestamps 00:00 Intro 04:00 Why Markowitz defined risk as variance 11:47 What 3,000 portfolios revealed about concentration 17:17 Know-something versus know-nothing investors 22:23 Kahneman, loss aversion, and modern portfolio theory 26:58 Darwin, pragmatism, and adaptive markets 32:28 Buffett’s cathedral and casino metaphor 37:37 The El Farol problem and why markets resist prediction 42:08 Why investors crave market forecasts 46:16 Why investing is most intelligent when businesslike 51:38 Record stock dispersion, options, and leveraged ETFs 56:00 Measuring portfolio progress through business economics 01:00:43 Why permanent capital enables focused investing 01:04:43 How markets survive widespread investor mistakes Learn more about the Excess Returns podcast network: https://www.excessreturns.co/ Podcast Program – Disclosure StatementBlue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives, and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for any individual. Listeners are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified tax, legal, or investment adviser to determine whether any information presented may be suitable for their specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

August 3, 2026Episode 2151 hr 12 min

Alexander von der Vellen: Money Is Not Freedom — It's Pressure

Alexander von der Vellen is a Cambridge-educated former British Army officer who left private banking at Barings and JPMorgan Chase to become an independent fiduciary advising over 100 entrepreneurial families, and author of a trilogy on trusteeship and stewardship. Spend more time with Alexander here , his own recorded podcast series of lectures with some precious advice for inheritors and their families. Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/ 3:00 — Alexander explains banking is the rare industry where age is a perceived advantage; he once asked his London barber to add gray hair for private banking credibility. 8:52 — Childhood: born in Spain to an Austrian father and English mother, raised in the Canary Islands speaking four languages, boarding school at age 7. 16:04 — The old Barings model: clients paid double the nearest competitor, and money itself was the one taboo topic at client events — “the money was the byproduct of the relationship.” 20:11 — The Lord Darby anecdote: a JP Morgan banker meets Fleming’s Lord Darby, learns he rides alone with the Queen in her carriage, and asks, verbatim, “why is she not a client?” — Alexander’s illustration of the shift from relationship-driven to transactional banking. 31:19 — Trusteeship as a human skill set: diligence, duty, loyalty, discretion — qualities that must be consciously developed, not assumed. 43:16 — The JP Morgan $30 million marker: past that point wealth “will outlast you,” triggering a different family conversation entirely — stewardship, not spending. 49:44 — Key quote: “money is not freedom, it’s pressure” — the more you buy, the more pressure it adds to your life. 58:33 — A boy-band client years later: “you do realize this is all because of you... you saved me from myself.” 1:01:02 — Quoting Patton: “good plan delivered with energy today is far better than an excellent plan delivered next week.” 1:04:30 — Success, defined: “it’s about continuity with meaning every time.” Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

July 27, 202656 min

On Consistency, Ownership, and Unconditional Giving: Unfiltered Coffee Q&A, July 2026

This month on Unfiltered Coffee, I share more about the machinery behind both the podcast and the investing practice — the 200-some episodes, the 2 decades of client relationships, the daily habits, and the things that simply take time and can't be rebuilt in a day, even if you wanted to. I share the idea of decision and choice fatigue: how templating the small stuff (the shoes, the shirt, the quarterly letter format) frees up mental capacity for the decisions that actually matter, and how consistency is the quiet, unglamorous compounding force behind almost everything worth building. I also talk about cultivating an ownership mindset with clients — wanting them to see their portfolio not as a list of tickers, but as part ownership in a handful of businesses worth understanding and holding. I also revisit a few books with fresh eyes: Scott Stillman's I Don't Want to Grow Up on the nonlinear relationship between money and lifestyle, David Schwartz's Thinking Big on belief as the foundation of getting help from the world, and John Kay's Obliquity on why profit, happiness, and most worthwhile goals are only ever reached indirectly. A paper from Steve Shaw and Gideon Nave on AI and "cognitive surrender" gets me thinking about the difference between reciting knowledge and actually understanding it — a distinction I trace back to a classmate from high school who could quote a textbook verbatim but didn't understand it. On the market side, I push back gently on the all-time-high headlines — you'll see why. I close with a personal story about an early client, and a round-up of recent conversations worth revisiting: Paul Johnson on Roger Murray and fundamental investing, Marion Fogli on the triple taboo of money, Robert Miles on 25 years of Berkshire CEO character studies, and a rebroadcast recommendation of the Jay Hughes episode on courage over knowledge. I end on an open question I'm still sitting with: can a gift ever really be unconditional? Listen, why the answer matters. Tune in to hear more. Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

July 20, 202656 min

James E. Hughes, Jr.: Great Advisors Offer Courage, Not Just Knowledge, The Five Capitals, 100-Year Thinking, and What It Takes to Help a Family Flourish

Find me on Substack, search for my name. This is a summer classic — a re-release of an enhanced, longer audio episode that originally aired in late 2022, with my added intro and commentary. It’s among my most cherished Talking Billions episodes of all time. If you missed it, this is your moment. If you’ve heard it before, welcome back. It’s a heart-to-heart conversation with a dear friend, a mentor, who has shaped me and my career in so many wonderful ways. James E. “Jay” Hughes, Jr. is a widely respected voice in family wealth, governance, and legacy planning, known for helping families think beyond financial assets to the human and relational side of multigenerational success. He is the author and co-author of several influential books, including Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family and Family: The Compact Among Generations , and his work has shaped how family offices and advisors approach long-term stewardship. Jay traces his own path to this work back to childhood: overhearing his parents argue about money, and learning that his mother’s family had lost everything overnight when her grandfather’s bank failed. That experience is the root of the proverb he’s spent his career trying to help families escape — “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations.” Jay lays out the five capitals of family wealth — human, intellectual, social, spiritual, and financial — and argues the profession’s obsession with the last one, in isolation, is precisely what causes families to fall apart. He illustrates this with a simple hand gesture: thumb up alone is, in his words, “the death of a family.” Turn the hand over, and purpose, joint decision-making, lifelong learning, and thriving people all emerge, with financial capital finally in service of something. He explains why 70 to 85 percent of wealthy families lose their cohesion by the third generation — not usually from conflict, but from inertia, from never building a working system for making decisions together. That system, he says, is what separates families that endure from those that quietly disperse. Jay also unpacks what elders actually do in successful, long-lived tribes: they think in 100-year increments and mediate rather than decide, citing the Haudenosaunee’s tradition of honoring seven generations back and seven generations forward. He connects this to a piece of advice from his own father — that clients don’t come to an advisor seeking knowledge, since knowledge is fungible, but seeking courage to do something difficult. The conversation closes on money and parenting, with Jay offering a simple reframe for any parent standing in a toy store: never say “we can’t afford it” — say “we’re choosing not to have that today.” It’s a fitting note for an episode built around Jay’s foundation’s larger mission — helping families flourish so they can, in turn, build a flourishing society. Find out more about James E. Hughes here: The Foundation , Jay’s website . Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

July 13, 2026Episode 2141 hr 19 min

Robert P. Miles: What 20 Berkshire CEOs Taught Him About Character, Inside the Temperament, the Moat, and the Culture that Keep Compounding

Find me on Substack, search for my name. Robert P. Miles is an author, educator, and the world's foremost authority on Berkshire Hathaway's management culture. Robert has written three bestselling books on Warren Buffett, created the only graduate MBA course dedicated to Buffett's philosophies, and founded the Value Investor Conference in Omaha. His journey from an entrepreneur to a globally recognized Buffett scholar began with a single Berkshire annual meeting in 1996 — and Warren Buffett himself has been paying attention ever since. Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/ Notes: 3:00 – Bob Miles is introduced as the world's foremost Berkshire Hathaway culture scholar, author of three (now four) bestselling Buffett books and creator of the only graduate MBA course on Buffett's philosophies. 5:30 – His path began with Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and a failed high school "movie day" venture. The lesson that stuck: "you got to understand what business you're in." 7:23 – His first 1996 annual meeting: Buffett tells a small shareholder, "between you and I we own half the company," and calls Wall Street "the legal pickpocket of the average investor." 14:24 – The Dairy Queen story: a self-published "101 Reasons to Own Berkshire Hathaway," a line around the block, and Buffett walking through the door — leading to a two-book deal with Wiley. 31:18 – On concentration: Buffett put 65% of his $20,000 net worth into Geico at 19, tied to his "star player" basketball analogy for conviction investing. 36:41 – The three unchanging lessons of The Intelligent Investor — stocks are businesses, your partner is a manic-depressive Mr. Market, and margin of safety — because "principles are principles because they don't change." 42:59 – A contrarian aside: private equity "has done more harm than good," with the Berkshire system as its inversion. 53:43 – On Berkshire's real edge: "I see the moat as cash," the roughly $400 billion war chest that lets Ajit Jain write insurance the day after disasters strike. 1:08:58 – On character over credentials: concentrating on admirable traits "there's no cost," regardless of background. 1:10:34 – Miles' definition of success: stay humble enough to be taught, and "go to bed a little bit smarter" every day. Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

July 6, 2026Episode 21354 min

Marion Fogli, Finance Made Human: Money a Triple Taboo, Three Money Questions, and Talking Early About Inheritance

Find me on Substack, search for Bogumil Baranowski. Marion Fogli, a Swiss digital banking pioneer who co-founded Switzerland’s first digital private bank, now teaches what she calls Finance Made Human, translating money into a language that real people can actually understand, use, and feel at peace with. Episode Sponsor: Fiscal AI is a modern data terminal that gives investors instant access to twenty years of financials, earnings transcripts, and extensive segment and KPI data—use my link for a two-week free trial plus 15% off: https://fiscal.ai/talkingbillions/ 3:02 – Growing up “rich in love, not money” — Marion’s father’s story shapes her definition of wealth. 5:29 – Building Switzerland’s first digital private bank taught her: “The math is visible, but the behavior is where everything actually happens.” 8:07 – The human touch problem: digital banks see anxiety in login patterns hours before a client ever picks up the phone. 13:03 – On AI and investing: technology can hand you 30 stock picks, but not the conviction to hold them. 15:18 – Money scripts, explained: childhood beliefs about money live in the body, not the words — “a shallow breath, tight shoulders, a nervous laugh.” 17:21 – Three questions to surface your own money script: your body’s reaction, the sentence you heard most as a child, and the gap between what you say and what you do about money. 20:38 – The surgeon who earned over half a million and had no idea where it went: “You have income, and you have financial peace, and they’re not the same currency.” 23:07 – The cash experiment: Marion paid her kids in physical cash for a month instead of transfers — they ended up saving more. 27:48 – Why money is the last taboo: “It actually reveals your vulnerability.” It exposes worth, achievement, and security all at once. 32:06 – Unequal help given quietly to one child can destroy a family once it surfaces after a parent’s death. 36:16 – The three-bucket system: Oops Fund, Projects Fund, Freedom Fund — “I called it the Oops Fund.” 39:41 – “It’s about giving each Franc a job so the person can finally rest.” 45:41 – Financial education starts with one question: what do you want your money to do, short, medium, and long term? 52:48 – Marion’s definition of success: “It’s not what you accumulate. It’s what you can give without losing yourself.” Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.

July 3, 202645 min

Unfiltered Coffee Q&A, June 2026: On Trying, Waiting, and Learning to Receive

Find me on Substack, search for Bogumil Baranowski. See you there! This month's Unfiltered Coffee finds me recording thoughts from the road after a few weeks of travel that pulled me away from daily news and toward ideas with a longer shelf life. I share reflections from Nir Eyal's book Belief , including the idea that successful people accumulate more losses simply because they try more things, and from Ray Madoff’s book Immortality and the Law , which traces how trusts extend the wishes of the dead into the lives of the living — a theme I see playing out more and more with clients and listeners alike. I also revisit familiar ideas from new angles: why rules matter more than exceptions (even when someone's great uncle smoked and lived to 102), why liquidity makes stock ownership fundamentally different from owning a car or a private business, and why AI hasn't sped up the one thing that still can't be rushed in investing — waiting for conviction to pay off. I reflect on value as something constantly exchanged in daily life, not just in markets, and on how removing time constraints and billing pressure can free both investors and professionals to do their best work. I close the episode with a round-up of recent standout conversations — Mike Nicoletti, Jack Schwager and George Coyle, Eric Pachman, and a rebroadcast of the Byron Tully episode on old money rules — plus a personal note on practicing receiving, not just giving, after a month of leaning on friends for help on a few occasions. Podcast Program – Disclosure Statement Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC is a registered investment adviser and the opinions expressed by the Firm’s employees and podcast guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Blue Infinitas Capital, LLC . All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.