SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO INVESTING Podcast By Steve Davenport Clement Miller cover art

SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO INVESTING

SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO INVESTING

By: Steve Davenport Clement Miller
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Straight Talk for All, Nonsense for None

About - Our podcast looks to help improve investing IQ. We share 15-30 minutes on finance, market and investment ideas. We bring experience and empathy to the complex process of financial wellness. Every journey is unique, so we look for ways our insights can help listeners. Also, we want to have fun😎

Your Hosts - Meet Steve Davenport, CFA and Clem Miller, CFA as they discus the latest in news, markets and investments. They each bring over 25 years in the investment industry to their discussions. Steve brings a domestic stock and quantitative emphasis, Clem has a more fundamental and international perspective. They hope to bring experience, honesty and humility to these podcasts. There are a lot of acronyms and financial terms which confuse more than they help. There are many entertainers versus analysts promoting get rich quick ideas. Let’s cut through the nonsense with straight talk!

Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.

© 2026 SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO INVESTING
Economics Personal Development Personal Finance Personal Success Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Money Stories And Solutions: Don Jay Rice
    Apr 3 2026

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    Money advice sounds simple until real life shows up. We sat down with Don Jay Rice of Drumbeat of Wealth to talk about the part of personal finance most spreadsheets ignore: the emotions, beliefs, and old memories that steer our money decisions when no one is watching. If you’ve ever felt anxious opening a bill, oddly angry during a budget talk, or certain you “should” feel secure but don’t, Don Jay’s lens on behavioral finance and money mindset will feel uncomfortably accurate in the best way.

    We get into the idea of a money story, the patterns we pick up early in life (often before age 26) that shape everything from credit card habits to investing behavior. We also talk about why financial literacy alone doesn’t fix financial wellness: most people can recite rules like “3–6 months emergency fund,” yet behavior still falls apart under stress, scarcity, or overconfidence. Don Jay shares practical tools he uses with clients, including a money memory timeline, a daily money journal, and personality frameworks like the Enneagram to help people notice what activates them and rewire reactions into healthier habits.

    We also go deeper on grief, trauma, and major transitions, especially the reality of widow anxiety and “widow fog.” Don Jay explains why regular money dates and shared confidence-building inside a marriage can matter as much as any portfolio allocation. We wrap with a simple challenge for a loud, fast news cycle: slow down, create quiet, and give yourself ten minutes a day to hear your own thoughts. If you want calmer choices and better conversations about money, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the money habit you’re trying to change.

    For more information:

    https://www.drumbeatofwealth.com/


    Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None

    Please check out our other podcasts:

    https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com

    Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.

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    48 mins
  • Tariffs Vs. Small Business: Mike Musheinish
    Mar 31 2026

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    A tariff isn’t a headline. It’s a line item that can turn a $100 auto part into $172.50 before you even add shipping, labor, boxes, marketplace fees, insurance, or a modest profit. We sit down with Mike Musheinish of Detroit Axle to translate trade policy into the day-to-day reality of running a U.S. small business in the auto parts industry, where margins are thin and pricing errors get punished fast.

    From there, we go deeper than sticker shock. We talk through how import tariffs actually land on American companies and consumers, why the “other country pays” claim falls apart, and how constant changes create planning chaos across supply chains. We also unpack the legal and constitutional questions around tariff authority, including the power of the purse, the Court of International Trade, and the different frameworks policymakers reach for such as IEEPA emergency tariffs, Section 301, and Section 232. Along the way, we debate trade deficits, de minimis shipments, and how exemptions and workarounds can turn policy into a game rigged for insiders.

    The conversation ends by connecting tariffs to bigger macro risks: war-driven energy prices, disruptions in oil, LNG, and fertilizer, and the possibility of a wider inflation shock that feels worse than recent supply chain crises. If you care about investing, inflation, small business economics, U.S. manufacturing, and the future of free trade, this one brings receipts and hard questions. Subscribe, share this with a friend who argues about tariffs, and leave a review with your take: what should the U.S. do next?

    https://themetrodetroitnews.com/dearborn-man-once-a-palestinian-refugee-now-owns-600-million-company-featured-in-ny-times/

    Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None

    Please check out our other podcasts:

    https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com

    Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.

    Show more Show less
    53 mins
  • How The Strait Of Hormuz Threatens Oil Prices And Portfolios
    Mar 17 2026

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    A six-mile shipping corridor can do more to your cost of living than a dozen earnings calls. We zoom in on the Strait of Hormuz and unpack why a disruption there can quickly push oil prices, gasoline costs, and LNG markets higher, even when energy stocks only make up a small percentage of major indexes. The real question isn’t whether you “own energy” today, it’s whether your portfolio can handle an energy shock that feeds straight into inflation.

    We walk through the investing implications from a skeptical, practical angle: what’s different about this moment, why there’s no clean precedent for markets to follow, and how to think in near-term versus long-term windows. We also break down why escort fleets and “security corridors” are harder than they sound, how shipping schedules create friction, and how shadow fleets and signal disruption complicate the picture behind the scenes.

    From there, we get concrete about positioning. We discuss holding more cash for flexibility, being selective with energy stocks (including integrated oil companies with meaningful production outside the Gulf), and why cybersecurity investing might rise as conflict-driven chaos spills into networks. We also cover defense stocks as a potential volatility hedge, plus the uncomfortable ESG reality that “defense” often includes offensive capability. To close, we connect the Strait of Hormuz to drone economics, weapons stockpiles, and why inflation risk may linger longer than the headlines.

    Subscribe for more grounded market skepticism, share this with a friend who’s watching oil, and leave a review if it helps. What’s the biggest risk you think investors are underpricing right now?

    Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None

    Please check out our other podcasts:

    https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com

    Disclaimer - These podcasts are not intended as investment advice. Individuals please consult your own investment, tax and legal advisors. They provide these insights for educational purposes only.

    Show more Show less
    53 mins
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