Author: JR Robinson

The Myth: “Too Much in a Few Giant Stocks” Over the past couple of years much has been made about how the S&P 500 Index has become over-concentrated in just a handful of large cap technology companies. Specifically, the “Elite Eight” NVIDIA, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom, and Tesla each sport total market capitalizations defined as number of shares outstanding times current market price per share of more than $1 trillion. Combined, these companies account for 35-40% of the total market value of the entire S&P 500 Index. This has led to much handwringing and fretting in the financial…

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 was an omnibus-style reconciliation bill that folded 28 related bills and dozens of proposals into one massive law. Included was a small but striking provision: a federal $1,000 seed contribution for children born between 2025 and 2028, invested in index funds and inaccessible until age 18. I might have overlooked this among OBBBA’s many moving parts, except that it sounded familiar. I realized it mirrored an idea I heard explained on an Acquired Podcast interview with hedge fund manager Brad Gerstner in March 2022, where he described “Invest America Accounts.” More…

There are three primary ways in which consumers pay for financial planning advice – asset-based fees, flat fees (which include one-time payments, ongoing retainer arrangements, and subscriptions), and hourly-fees. Determining which among these best serves consumer interests is a hotly debated, often polarizing topic within the financial planning community. Most often, planners in the fee-only and hourly billing camp strive to sieze the moral high ground by painting the asset-based fee model as hopelessly conflicted and self-serving. The reality is far more nuanced. The purpose of this article is to raise reader awareness of advisor incentives and conflicts of interest…

I know many people love business and investing podcasts. I am not one of them. I tried a bunch, especially during COVID, but none held my attention for more than a week or two. If you told me two years ago that I would be hooked on a podcast that features the complete history of a single company with episodes that typically run 3-4 hours, I would not have believed you. As it turns out, I find the stories so captivating that I often replay an episode three or four times! I began listening to the Acquired Podcast in May…

In the interest of full disclosure, I have been a subscriber to personalized primary care experience provider, MDVIP, for the past eight years. I am obviously a satisfied user, and frequently recommend the service to others. When I mention that I am a subscriber, the question posed in the title of this article is usually the first reaction. My patented response is, “The question you should be asking is, “Is your regular health insurance worth the money?” As a beginning point of reference, my MDVIP subscription costs $2,250 per year. There is a $30 co pay for each office visit.…

Last September (2025), I sat down for an interview with local Hawaii journalist Rob Kay who writes the Tech View column for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The theme of the interview was to get my take on the impact of AI on DIY investors. It was a fun and engaging conversation, and the article appeared in the October 15th edition of the paper. This article repurposes some of the questions that were outside the narrow scope of the article, but are worth sharing in a broader context. What is your perception of the societal impact of AI? I am not sure…