

The Phil Bak Podcast
Phil Bak
The Phil Bak Podcast takes you deep into the worlds of economics, investing and entrepreneurship as Phil talks to the innovators who challenge conventional thinking and exploring the narratives that are driving market moves.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 2, 2025 • 37min
Dan Joseph - building a “Berkshire” model for Real Estate investing
Dan Joseph explains his Berkshire-style model combining private housing investing with public REIT bets to exploit wrapper-driven mispricings, and how supply drives Real Estate pricing.

Aug 18, 2025 • 34min
Jared Dillian - Truth, Trading, and Rule 62
Jared Dillian opens up about meritocracy, authenticity, spirituality, and trading with stoicism.

Aug 12, 2025 • 36min
Leyla Kunimoto - LP Masterclass
Leyla Kunimoto from Accredited Investor Insight gives a masterclass on LP investing. She explains how LPs evaluate venture capital pitch decks, explains how Private Equity Real Estate differs from NAV REITs and Private REITs, whether PE managers are better investment than their funds, the market’s lukewarm response to the PRIV ETF, and ends with an explanation to the persistent gap between public and private real estate prices.

Aug 4, 2025 • 25min
Nick Maggiulli - Ladder Up the Wealth Ladder
Nick Maggiulli joins Phil Bak to talk through The Wealth Ladder — a thoughtful framework for building wealth and using money as a tool for freedom, rather than ego. Nick explains the psychology of spending, lifestyle creep, risk management, and the difference between grocery freedom and yacht regret.

Jul 28, 2025 • 30min
Adrian Jones - Near-Death, Total Clarity, and an Authentic Mission
After a near-death experience on a mountain trail, Adrian Jones rethinks everything and emerges with a clear mission to help others live more authentic lives.

Jul 21, 2025 • 31min
Charles Frischer - REIT Activism and Zombie REITs
Charles Frischer runs a family office and is the largest shareholder of Regional Health Properties. He explains his battle to unlock value in the micro‑cap “zombie” REIT. He exposes ignored $4‑plus offers, skewers management’s merger ploy, and invites real operators to seize an easy eight‑figure upside.

Jul 14, 2025 • 50min
Eric Balchunas - Bitcoin ETFs and shark-jumping
Eric Balchunas is the author of The Bogle Effect and The Institutional ETF Toolbox. He is the host of ETF IQ on Bloomberg and the Trillions podcast. On this episode we talk about the bitcoin ETF approval saga, whether independent issuers were treated fairly by the SEC, and why mutual fund ETF share class filings are the bigger story.

Jun 30, 2025 • 47min
Hunter Hopcroft - REITs and Realism
Hunter Hopcroft dissects why passive indexing fails in real estate, builds a case for economic realism in “a world the Keynesians built”, and shares reflections on writing and the role of AI in modern finance in a smart, sharp and soulful podcast episode.

Jun 23, 2025 • 34min
Bob Pisani - Modern Financial Media
Bob Pisani has covered markets for CNBC for 35 years. He is the author of “Shut Up and Keep Talking: Lessons on Life and Investing from the Floor of the New York Stock Exchange”. On this podcast we talk about how financial media is changing, the creator economy, AI, the NYSE trading floor, and reflections on Bob’s legendary CNBC career.

Jun 16, 2025 • 38min
Elliott White - Affordable Housing's Fee Machine
How fraud and waste turned affordable housing initiatives into a fee machine Elliott White writes on Substack and Twitter/X under the handle ResetBasis. At Hayden Glade, Elliott oversees the company's strategic direction through acquisitions, financing, and investor relations. Under Elliott’s leadership, Hayden Glade has acquired more than 3,000 units through relationships with public/private for-profit owners, nonprofit partnerships, and the trust of various public entities in different municipalities. Before founding Hayden Glade, Elliott was the head of acquisitions for Weston Associates, a regional affordable housing developer in Boston. At Weston Associates, Mr. White worked on various acquisition-rehab projects in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, and Mississippi. These projects utilized many different programs, including Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (federal and state), 1602 exchange programs, Section 8 rental assistance, Section 13A, Section 202, Section 236, HOME funds, CDBG funds, NHTF, and other subordinate debt.