Episode Details

#744: With about $200 and a crypto exchange, historian Joseph Moore turned himself into a legitimate billionaire — a stunt that says more about how money actually works than most financial advice does. It's also a preview of the 300-year argument he makes in this episode: that almost everything we're told about money is newer, and far less permanent, than we think.

Joseph Moore, PhD, is a historian and the national bestselling author of How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't). His own self-experiments with historical money strategies helped him become financially independent in his mid-40s.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How "never save your money" used to be completely reasonable financial advice
• Why bonds quietly beat stocks for nearly all of the 1800s
• How to spot when today's "obvious" financial rules are about to expire
• Why real estate booms always show up right alongside inflation spikes
• Why young people's unemployment is outpacing everyone else's — and what history says to do about it
• Why economic optimism and economic data have stopped matching up
• Why building more housing is the only housing-crisis fix that's ever actually worked

This one's for anyone who feels like the rules of money keep changing under them — because they do, and always have. Understanding that pattern is the first step to building wealth in whatever era you happen to be living in.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(05:18) How a runaway slave built his own legal currency

(06:52) How he legally declared himself a crypto billionaire

(13:22) Why a fifth of the Smithsonian's money collection is fake

(15:52) The bestselling book that told readers to commit fraud

(20:10) The decades when bonds quietly beat stocks

(26:04) How his grandfather secretly became a bond millionaire

(31:09) Why that "$10K in 1929" chart is misleading

(48:02) Why wages are up 50% and nobody believes it

(1:06:39) Why most Americans once owned one shirt

(1:23:48) The rent control law that backfired for renters

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Build a Life of Financial Freedom with our free workbook: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 Joseph Moore's site — his book, essays, and more: https://www.josephmoorebooks.com

👉 Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez: https://vickirobin.com/your-money-or-your-life/

👉 The Latte Factor by David Bach: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Latte-Factor/David-Bach/9781982120245

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