#43 - The Power of Financial Language
Greetings!
On This Monday’s Episode of the new podcast, Your Money Guide on the Side:
When do I pay down debt?!? And when do I invest that $$$ instead?!?
In this week’s solo episode, I break down how to think clearly about debt—when to pay it off, when to invest instead, and how to stop letting the concept of debt live rent-free in your head. I provide some relatively clear benchmarks against which you can figure out what, as always, works for you.
Whether you’ve got credit cards, student loans, or a low-rate mortgage, this episode will prove helpful. I also explore the kind of debt the wealthy actually seek out and how to use it to build something bigger
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Dislike where the podcast is going? Write to me any time, any day, and I will always read the feedback and incorporate it into future episodes. This endeavor is for you, and I will work endlessly to add as much value to your lives as possible.
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The Power (Danger) of Financial Language (Jargon)
Today, I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for decades. This runs deeper than investment strategy or financial planning, and it’s one of the most commonly cited obstacles keeping you from managing your own money: Finance as a Foreign Language.
For centuries, language, specifically, has been used and manipulated to confuse, intimidate, and control especially when it comes to money and power.
If you have ever felt like the world of finance is designed to make you feel overwhelmed, you are not imagining it. It is. But the good news is, once you are able to appreciate that the language is in place to keep you dependent on the ever-so-wise “interpreters,” you will officially be one step closer to ignoring the nonsense and taking full control of your investments and financial decisions.
3 concepts I want you thinking about this week:
1. Complexity Is a Business Model, Not a Necessity
In medieval Europe, the Church kept power by keeping religious texts in Latin, a language ordinary people could not read. The financial world has done the same, building a wall of jargon, endless products, and manufactured urgency around basic money management. (Ever tried reading a fund prospectus cover to cover? Exactly.)
The message is clear: "You cannot possibly understand this without us."
The truth is simpler: You do not need an MBA, a Bloomberg terminal, or a Wall Street insider. You need a clear plan, a few good tools, and the discipline to stick with them.
2. Simplicity Is Not Ignorance — It Is Rebellious
The wealthy are not playing a secret game of complex strategies.
They are, however, automating their savings, buying broad index funds, ignoring the noise, and trusting time and compounding to do their work.
And they are ruthless about cutting out distractions, not layering on complexity for complexity’s sake. (Do we need yet another fund for central, eastern, micro-cap semi-private debt? No. You don’t.)
3. You Only Need One Honest Question
Before every financial decision, ask yourself: What is this money for?
If it is for your present self, protect it. If it is for your future self, invest it.
One question. Two answers. Everything else, the headlines, the hot tips, the political nonsense, it’s just that: nonsense designed to confuse and intimidate.
Bottom Line:
When Martin Luther translated the Bible into common language (German), he changed history by making the sacred accessible. You have the same power in your financial life. Strip away the jargon. Remove the gatekeepers. Keep asking good questions. And ultimately, post your plan in plain language, where only you need to read it.
One question. Two answers. No translation needed.
As always, hope this gives you all something to think about throughout the week.
Tyler
Your Money Guide on the Side
