EP: 169 - September Investment Insights

Advisors and co-hosts Zachary Bouck, CIMA®, CFP®, and Austyn Garcia, recap our September 2025 portfolio meeting, discussing what happened in the markets over the last month, our approach to traditional asset allocation (cash, fixed-income, equities, and alternatives), and our general outlook for the next 6-12 months in the markets.

0:00 - Introduction to Investment Insights & Action Items 6:34 - Investment Market Overview & Economic Insights 12:44 - Stock Selection & Investment Strategies 19:51 - Valuations & Market Trends 28:36 - Interest Rates & Bond Strategies 37:41 - Final Thoughts

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How to Use Non-Financial Leverage

I had a few days last month where my blog had 10x the readers it usually does, so I must be getting better at blogging, promoting, and sharing ideas. I think my writing falls into three main categories:

1. How to Create Wealth — one of my biggest passions. I love talking about, learning about, and educating others on the topic.

2. Investing

3. Wealth Is Good — the idea that when you become wealthy (which you will if you make as much money as possible and invest intelligently), the next challenge is figuring out what to do with it. That’s what the Wealth Is Good blog is about.

Today’s post is categorized as ‘How to Create Wealth’. It’s about using leverage to create wealth in a world that is rapidly changing.

When I first explored the Ladders of Wealth Creation, the fourth ladder was the one I struggled with most. Other than building social networks, I couldn’t think of many ways to use leverage. Sure, you can record a song or start a blog, but the whole leverage concept felt somewhat abstract to me.

Over time, as I’ve thought more about it, using my favorite framework, which is history, I’ve started to see how leverage has evolved throughout time.

For most of human history, leverage meant getting more people to do what you wanted. Economies were built on labor. The more people you had building pyramids or plowing fields for you, the more power you held. That system persisted until the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution transformed cheap labor into massive output. Human labor was no longer the dominant source of leverage.

From there, capital became the main multiplier. Banking and fundraising allowed people to pool money at scale to build railways, canals, factories, and cities. Selling stock in a company became another powerful way to create leverage.

Then came media—from the printing press to newspapers, magazines, TV, podcasts, and the internet. Media allowed a single message or idea to reach millions.

Now, in the 21st century, code is the newest and most scalable form of leverage. You can create one piece of software and distribute it to billions of users at essentially zero marginal cost. The end user even pays for the infrastructure through their own devices. There are no gatekeepers, and distribution is instant and global.

The next phase of AI—robotics, data centers, and physical replication—will push leverage even further. One invention could reach not just countless phones, but also countless robots, 3D printers, and physical tools operating worldwide.

If you want to make as much money as possible—or simply survive in this new kind of economy—you need to understand leverage. Selling your time for money is the hardest way to build wealth. Getting paid on output lets you share in the success of your work. Building a business that earns on the output of others multiplies your specific knowledge through labor.

But ultimately, learning how to apply leverage—especially in scalable, modern forms—is the number one way to create wealth. We’re entering an era where the best idea in the world can scale instantly, and everyone else is left behind.

The next 25 years will move fast. Think deeply about leverage. Work hard to apply it. The future belongs to those who do.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

The Bull Market That Just Keeps Going

It’s that part of the cycle again where markets keep climbing despite headlines that should have easily slowed them down. I open the Wall Street Journal and read about slowing job growth, sticky inflation, geopolitical uncertainty and yet the S&P 500 is still marching higher like it didn’t get the memo.

Even Nick Maggiulli, the guy who literally wrote Just Keep Buying, recently published a blog suggesting we might be at a market top. He even said he was moving 20% of his portfolio into bonds. That’s like seeing your most optimistic friend leave the party early, it makes you wonder if he knows something you don’t.

So, the question is: why does optimism persist?

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Reasons for Relentless Optimism

There are a handful of very real reasons investors keep pushing this bull market forward:

1. Corporate profits remain strong. Tech giants are still reporting earnings that are unprecedented in multi-trillion-dollar companies.

2. The U.S. has avoided recession. Despite two years of “any day now” recession predictions, the economy has been surprisingly resilient. Consumers are still spending, jobs are still being added, and growth is hanging in there.

3. Interest rate optimism. The market is pricing in multiple rate cuts starting in September. Even the hint of easier money gets investors excited, because lower rates make stocks more attractive relative to bonds.

4. Cash on the sidelines. Investors still have dry powder, and when you combine that with a crypto boom and a classic fear of missing out, it creates rocket fuel for prices.

I went golfing recently with a guy who told me he put his entire net worth into an ETF that triples the daily moves of the Nasdaq. He said he was determined to ride it through the ups and downs. I don’t recommend that strategy, but it’s a great example of what kind of mindset spreads in this environment. Enough people believe the ride will never end, and the market can float higher on that belief alone.

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The Risk Everyone Ignores

If I had to guess, I’d say we’re stretched. Valuations are high, price-to-sales ratios are at levels we don’t usually see outside of bubbles. Economic data is starting to weaken at the edges. Housing affordability is a mess. But here’s the truth: none of that matters in the short run.

Markets don’t move based on economic textbooks; they move on buyers and sellers. If buyers are still willing to pay more, stocks keep going up. That’s how you get companies with no profits trading at sky-high valuations. Investors aren’t buying cash flows; they’re buying a story about the future.

We’ve seen this movie before. In the 1990s, investors piled into dot-com companies with no earnings but endless potential. And the market kept going up and up… until it didn’t.

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The Lesson from the 1990s

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: this bull market could keep running longer than anyone expects. Or it could stumble tomorrow and turn into a multi-year bear market. Both outcomes are possible, and neither would surprise me.

That’s why trying to call the top is usually a waste of time. Nick Maggiulli might be right. He might be early. He might even move his money back into stocks next month. The point is, tops are only clear in hindsight.

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What You Should Do

My action item for you isn’t about predicting where the S&P will be next quarter. It’s about knowing yourself.

• Know your risk tolerance. If the market dropped 30% tomorrow, would you sell? If so, you probably have too much risk in your portfolio.

• Stay invested. The cost of missing the next 20% move higher is usually bigger than the benefit of dodging a downturn.

• Stay rational. Don’t chase an ETF that triples the daily moves of Nasdaq just because your golf buddy bragged about it. Don’t sell everything just because someone with a chart says a crash is imminent.

• Remember cycles. Bull markets feel like they’ll never end, and bear markets feel like they’ll never recover. Both are wrong.

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The bull market that just won’t stop may very well keep climbing. Or it may not. Either way, your job isn’t to predict the future—it’s to prepare for it. Build a portfolio that can weather both sunshine and storms. Enjoy the good times, protect yourself against the bad times, and remember that in investing, as in life, perspective is everything.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

Stock investing includes risks, including fluctuating prices and loss of principal.​

The economic forecasts set forth in this material may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.