Compound Growth

The Vibesession: Why the Economy Feels Broken Even When It Isn't with Seth Buks

There's a gap between what the data says and how people feel — and right now, that gap is enormous. Wheeler and Colin sit down with Seth Buks, a market strategist and thought leader who has spent nearly two decades translating complex financial ideas into clear, actionable guidance for advisors and their clients. The conversation covers a lot of ground: where the economy actually stands on growth, inflation, and interest rates; why real wage growth over the past five years tells a very different story than the one most people believe; and what behavioral finance reveals about the decisions investors make when fear and greed start running the show. Seth breaks down the "vibesession" — the phenomenon where people feel economically terrible despite data pointing in the opposite direction — and explains the behavioral biases behind it, including recency bias, herding, and representativeness. The conversation shifts to AI and what the productivity data actually shows, why the bakery analogy matters for understanding GDP, and how to separate what's real from what's noise when every headline feels urgent. They also get into the mechanics of why markets compress: the investor psychology cycle, the buy-the-dip conditioning of the past decade, and what's been missing from recent market downturns that makes this moment harder to read. And in a candid conversation about private credit, the three explore how an investment product can start well-intentioned and quietly become something clients don't fully understand they've bought into — and what advisors owe clients when complexity steps in. The episode closes with one of the better pieces of career advice the show has heard: the asset that compounds most reliably isn't a portfolio. It's the relationships you keep. Follow Us: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod [https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod]  * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast] * TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod]  * Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/]  * Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/] Credits: Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin Walker Production, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell

One Year In: What Compound Growth Actually Means

One year ago, Wheeler and Colin hit record on a podcast with no script, no audience, and no certainty it would go anywhere. This episode marks that anniversary — and uses it as a lens for the thing the show has always been about: what does it actually take to build something that compounds over time? The conversation opens with a riff on jargon — why professionals in every field lose the ability to explain themselves to the people they care about most, and what that says about the gap between expertise and genuine communication. From there, it moves into reflection. What consistency really looks like when no one is watching. Why early decisions that look small — staying independent, saying no to the wrong opportunities, betting on your own voice — tend to be the ones that matter most in hindsight. Wheeler and Colin discuss the moment they turned down a well-resourced firm that had everything except room for this, a podcast. They talk about the first year of advisors and what separates the ones who last. They revisit why growth, in any domain, is less about the headline moments and more about the accumulated weight of small, repeated choices. This anniversary episode is a honest conversation about where the show started, direct about where it's going, and grounded in the same belief that has run through every episode: that money, work, and the way people build things are all worth talking about clearly, without the jargon getting in the way. Follow Us: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod [https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod]  * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast] * TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod]  * Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/]  * Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/] Credits: Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin Walker Production, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell

April 2026 Market Recap: Relief Rally, Record Earnings, and the Intel Chart Nobody Can Explain

April was one of the more eventful market months in recent memory, and Wheeler and Colin are breaking it all down. The S&P finished the month up 12%, the Nasdaq up 18%, and semiconductors — led by an almost impossible 116% single-month run in Intel — stole the show. But the real story underneath the numbers is earnings: more than 85% of companies that reported beat expectations, with average earnings growth hovering around 15%. That's not a sentiment rally. Companies are actually making more money. Wheeler and Colin dig into what's driving the semiconductor surge, why Intel's chart looks like nothing either of them has seen before, and how to think about the AI infrastructure build-out without getting swept up in the hype. The conversation also covers tariff uncertainty, the resilience of the consumer despite the noise, and why the US economy continues to confound the skeptics. Then things get a little philosophical. A discussion about fractional ownership of luxury assets — partial stakes in Ferraris, art, and collectibles — turns into a broader conversation about what anything is actually worth, and whether the financialization of everything is slowly draining the fun out of life. Plus: the Survivor betting market that spoiled the office bracket and confirmed that yes, there is a prediction market for literally everything now. Follow Us: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod [https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod]  * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast] * TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod]  * Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/]  * Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/] Credits: Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin Walker Production, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell

What the Biggest IPO in History Means for Your Money

Most people think of an IPO as a news event. A company goes public, the ticker starts flashing, and you decide whether to buy in or not. But what's coming in the next 12 to 18 months isn't just a news event — it could be one of the most consequential reshufflings of capital in stock market history. Wheeler and Colin use the story of Uber's IPO as a starting point: a company that was visionary, polarizing, massively hyped, and still managed to underperform the S&P 500 by nearly 20 points over six years. From there, they build the case for why the pending IPOs of SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are categorically different in scale — and why the ripple effects will reach people who never buy a single share. The conversation covers how IPOs actually work, what history says about which ones survive and which collapse, why passive investors are going to own SpaceX whether they want to or not, and what happens to a market when three companies worth a combined $3 to $4 trillion try to enter it simultaneously. Colin also walks through the tax and strategy considerations for people sitting on locked-up private equity — and why borrowing against appreciated stock is often smarter than selling it. This is an episode about preparation over prediction. The IPO wave is coming. The question is whether you understand what it means before it arrives. Follow Us: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod [https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod]  * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast] * TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod]  * Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/]  * Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/] Credits: Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin Walker Production, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell

Community, Culture, and the Business of Bringing People Together with Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson didn't set out to build a community venue. He set out to buy a house near the seacoast and do more of the work he'd been doing his entire career — connecting people through music and live events. The Word Barn, located in Exeter, New Hampshire, happened almost by accident: a band needed a place to play, all the other venues were booked, and the energy that night made it clear something real was possible in a small, intimate space. Thirteen years later, The Word Barn hosts over 115 events a year — concerts, poetry readings, theater camp, owl encounters, farm-to-table dinners, and more. It's become one of the most beloved gathering spaces on the seacoast, and the way it got there is a story worth paying attention to. Ben joins Wheeler and Colin to talk about the organic, non-linear path from idea to full-time business, why slow growth often produces more durable results than a fast launch, what the difference between a scene and a community actually means in practice, and how a venue built around the arts quietly turned into a model for intentional entrepreneurship. Cofi Advisors is a proud sponsor of The Word Barn. Check out the Word Barn here: https://www.thewordbarn.com/ Follow Us: * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod [https://www.instagram.com/compoundgrowthpod]  * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@CompoundGrowthPodcast] * TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@compoundgrowthpod]  * Wheeler’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheeler-crowley-0a63933b/]  * Colin’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-walker-mba-6099a038/] Credits: Created By: Wheeler Crowley and Colin Walker Production, Editing and Post-Production: Tori Rothwell