Are you listening to this episode on the website? If so, hopefully you're seeing the new layout...it's slowly rolling out and will hopefully be complete by the time you're reading this.  

If you haven't checked it out, please do! It's so much cleaner and easier to navigate.  

Okay, on to the show.  We started hour one with Ari from NYC, a physician who has done a great job of saving for retirement but is a little concerned about his asset allocation.  Next up was Dianne in Portland who was wondering if she and her husband need to consult with a financial advisor.  Two great calls to start the show.  

This week is another example of how the radio and podcasting world really is like a small fraternity/sorority where hosts often appear on each other’s shows.

Today it’s Felix Salmon, host of the Slate Money podcast, joining us. If you’re not familiar with Felix, I think the best way to describe him is as a contrarian and/or curmudgeon…something he happily admits!

I’m a big Felix fan and have been reading (he did stints at Reuters, Portfolio Magazine and Euromoney) and listening to him for quite some time so I had a list of topics to cover, including:

• Corporate responsibility
• Active versus passive investing
• His ongoing relationship with Anthony Scaramucci
• The student loan crisis
• What’s next for the US economy

In addition to hosting Slate Money, Felix is currently the editor of Cause and Effect. 

If you want some good laughs and top notch commentary, follow Felix on Twitter.

Have a finance related question? Email us here or call 855-411-JILL.

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http://betteroffpodcast.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

Ask some Wall Street veterans where they were on October 19, 1987 and they will likely regale you with details of any crisis. My life changed that day in ways that often creep up on me. Indeed, Black Monday was the single worst day in Wall Street history, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging by more than 22 percent in one session--that’s the equivalent of the blue chip index diving by more than 5,000 points today.

It was a “First Class Catastrophe”, according to our first class guest and storyteller supreme, Diana Henriques, who dropped by the studio to help us retrace the events that led up to that day.

Diana joined us on the podcast earlier this year when her book, The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, was made into an HBO movie. This time around Diana is joining us to discuss her latest book, A First-Class Catastrophe: The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History. As Diana recounts, Black Monday was more than seven years in the making and threatened nearly every U.S. financial institution.

There were missed opportunities, market delusions, and destructive actions that stretched from the “silver crisis” of 1980 to turf battles in Washington and a rivalry between the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Here’s the crazy thing...you’d think that after Black Monday, lessons would be learned. But in her analysis, Henriques demonstrates how that Monday in the fall of 1987 was the predicate to the financial crisis of 2008. Sadly, investors, regulators, and bankers failed to heed the lessons of 1987, even as the same patterns resurfaced.

This was a fascinating interview for me because I lived through this period. I had just started my career on Wall Street, as the chaos was unfolding. I watched firsthand as my father nearly lost his business. This chat was like going down memory lane and it’ll give you guys a good glimpse of the life I used to live before I started hosting podcasts and radio shows!

“Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment.

Have a finance related question? Email us here or call 855-411-JILL.

We love feedback so please subscribe and leave us a rating or review in iTunes!

Connect with me at these places for all my content:

https://twitter.com/jillonmoney

https://www.facebook.com/JillonMoney

https://www.instagram.com/jillonmoney/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillonmoney/ 

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jill-... 

http://betteroffpodcast.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

"Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.

Yes, this is still here, and it will be for a while longer to serve as a reminder that there's a new place for Jill on Money content - YouTube!  Seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes it takes a little outside help (h/t to JOM friend, Joe A!) to recognize the obvious.  So don't freak out.  Going forward, we're going to put all our radio and podcast content on YouTube! It'll be easier for you to navigate and listen to past shows, because everything will be in one place.  Just click any of the links below and you'll be able to listen to this week's show as well as anything else you see that might interest you, including all the Better Off podcast content if you haven't been listening. Let us know what you think by emailing us at askjill@jillonmoney.com.

CLICK HERE FOR LATEST SHOW ON YOUTUBE

Sept 23 Download Hour One Here

How would you feel if you had a windfall of nearly a million dollars? Pretty darn good, right? That's what happened to Chris from Arizona.  But when you come into such a large chunk of change there are plenty of other things one must consider.  Namely taxes.  Uncle Sam always wants his cut, and more times than not, it's unavoidable.  But there are some ways in which the tax hit can be minimized and that's why Chris was calling.  He wants to keep as much of the windfall as possible for himself...can't say I blame him!

CLICK HERE FOR LATEST SHOW ON YOUTUBE

Sept 23 Download Hour Two Here

In light of the recent Equifax data breach we thought it was as good a time as ever to run a recent interview I did with identity theft expert Adam Levin, whose book Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves, recently came out in paperback. We conducted the interview BEFORE Equifax, which is why we don't discuss it.

Adam is a consumer advocate with more than 30 years of experience and is a nationally recognized expert on security, privacy, identity theft, fraud, and personal finance. A former Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Levin is Chairman and founder of IDT911 (IDentity Theft 911) and co-founder of Credit.com.

According to Adam, it’s best to assume the worst and learn how to protect your personal information, because creative and determined hackers are working hard to piece together snippets of information from a variety of sources in order to re-create your profile and use it to perpetrate fraud.

You need to guard your information, including Social Security Numbers, phone numbers, email and physical addresses, credit reports, medical records because thieves are trying to create a well-rounded dossier on who you are. But as you'll hear, there are steps that can be taken to minimize the damage.

This is scary stuff but I also think it's essential listening.  Like Adam says, it's when, not if, you will become a victim...a fact we have learned all too well with the Equifax data breach.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer/Music Curator in the World. Here's how to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

Have you ever tried to correct an error on your credit report? If so, there is good news: the credit reporting industry is about to change dramatically. Earlier this year, the three main credit reporting agencies -- Equifax, Experian and Transunion -- agreed to a multi-phase settlement with the New York Attorney General. This fall, the agencies begin phase one of being more proactive in resolving disputes and changing the way they report on unpaid medical bills. To help untangle the new reform measures, we asked nationally-recognized credit expert John Ulzheimer to come back on the show to tell us what's going on.

• Download the podcast on iTunes
• Download the podcast on feedburner
• Download this week's show (MP3)

Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. He has served as a credit expert witness in more than 230 cases and has been qualified to testify in both Federal and State court on the topic of consumer credit.

As a reminder, the three main agencies report your information to the scoring companies. According to FICO, the company behind the most widely used credit score, the most important factors are:

• 35% Payment History
• 30% Total debt outstanding, which takes into account how many accounts you have and how close you are to your credit limit
• 15% Credit history
• 10% Credit Mix
• 10% Number of inquiries—specifically those generated when you are seeking to increase your borrowing, perhaps because you’re shopping for a mortgage, car loan, or student loan.

John also reminds us that identity theft is the NUMBER ONE white collar crime. Criminals are looking for your name, address, date of birth and social security number. With that information, they can wreak havoc on your financial life. To help defend yourself, John recommends the following steps:

1. Minimize broadcasting your personal information online
2. Check your credit report monthly
3. Sign up for free credit monitoring

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer/Music Curator in the World. Here's how to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio