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Who are you when the thing you thought defined you is gone?Brad Fite joined the Marines with a clear sense of identity a...
03/11/2026

Who are you when the thing you thought defined you is gone?

Brad Fite joined the Marines with a clear sense of identity and purpose. Then, while serving in Afghanistan, his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb and his life changed in an instant.

What followed was a long road through physical recovery, loss, struggle, faith, and eventually a completely new understanding of purpose.

Ben Beshear talks with Brad about resilience, identity, the stories we tell ourselves, and what it looks like to rebuild a meaningful life when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Listen to the "Life, Money, & Living Well" episode on your favorite podcast player.

28/10/2026

What if we stopped defining people by their worst moment?

In this conversation, Tiffany Adams revisits an idea Ben calls “crown culture.”

It doesn’t mean ignoring mistakes or eliminating accountability. It means looking at the full arc of someone’s life and asking better questions:

What have they contributed?
When did they show up when it mattered?
What impact have they had over time?

Accountability matters. So does grace.

From “The Lost Art of Human Connection: Tiffany Adams” on Life, Money, and Living Well. Available on your favorite podcast platform.

This might be the most interesting investing story of the year…And the story isn’t over yet.In 2024, a 22-year-old forme...
26/10/2026

This might be the most interesting investing story of the year…

And the story isn’t over yet.

In 2024, a 22-year-old former OpenAI researcher named Leopold Aschenbrenner published a paper called Situational Awareness.

His thesis was extraordinary.

AI would advance much faster than most people understood, requiring a massive buildout of chips, data centers, and electricity. Eventually, AI could even help build better AI.

I’m a huge believer in AI…

And frankly, some of what he wrote has already come true. Other parts look increasingly possible.

He then started a hedge fund around that thesis… also called Situational Awareness.

And it worked.

Really, really well.

The fund reportedly grew to tens of billions in assets and made enormous leveraged bets on companies positioned to benefit from the AI buildout.

By June, it was reportedly up 439% in 2026 alone.

Then July happened.

AI stocks moved sharply against them. With a highly concentrated and leveraged portfolio, losses compounded quickly.

The fund fell 67% in a single month and eventually sold most of its public stocks to Citadel.

But here’s what makes this fascinating…

They weren’t necessarily wrong.

And they weren’t wiped out.

Even after losing 67% in July, the fund was reportedly still up roughly 80% for the year.

This isn’t a story about dumb people making dumb decisions.

Quite the opposite.

It’s about what can happen when some of the smartest people in the room keep being proven right.

You develop a thesis…

It works.

You bet bigger…

It works again.

People give you more money.

Banks lend you more.

Everyone around the table agrees with you.

At some point, success can quietly turn confidence into certainty.

And that’s where risk gets interesting.

Because you can be right about the future… and still lose a fortune getting there.

Leverage is especially unforgiving.

It doesn’t just magnify returns.

It can take away your most valuable asset as an investor…

time.

Without leverage, a great investment falling 30% might simply require patience.

With enough leverage, somebody else gets to decide when you sell.

There’s probably an AI lesson here too.

AI can help us find better answers.

Judgment still has to ask…

What if we’re wrong?

What if we’re right… but early?

How much should we bet?

What could force us to sell?

What happens if something happens that isn’t in the model?

Which brings us back to the great irony…

A fund named Situational Awareness nearly suffered permanent capital impairment because, for a moment, it may have lost situational awareness of the risks sitting right in front of it.

That’s not really a criticism of them.

It’s a reminder for the rest of us.

Being right matters.

But surviving the times when things don’t go according to plan might matter even more.

22/10/2026

Do we have a disagreement problem, or a listening problem?

Tiffany Adams believes we can disagree without being disagreeable, but that requires more than quietly waiting for the other person to finish talking.

Real listening means building on what someone said, showing them you actually heard them, and trying to understand before responding.

That’s where trust starts.

From Ben Beshear's conversation with Tiffany on Life, Money, and Living Well.

Listen to “The Lost Art of Human Connection: Tiffany Adams” on your favorite podcast player.

22/10/2026

Oil prices. Interest rates. The U.S. dollar. What happens when all three rise together?

In the debut episode of Market Perspectives, a new series within Life, Money, and Living Well, Ben Beshear sits down with LiveWell Capital Portfolio Manager Brian Hicks, CFA, PhD, to explore the forces shaping today's markets and economy.

They discuss what Brian calls the "dark triad," why higher interest rates aren't necessarily bad news for everyone, whether stock valuations can be justified by earnings growth, and how artificial intelligence could reshape businesses, jobs, and the economy.

They also tackle the growing national debt, international investing, and why Brian remains cautiously optimistic about the future.

It's a thoughtful conversation about understanding what's happening in the markets, looking beyond the headlines, and keeping the bigger picture in perspective.

Listen to the first episode of Market Perspectives on your favorite podcast player

I was mindlessly scrolling Instagram recently when I came across a creator who said something that stopped my scrolling…...
19/10/2026

I was mindlessly scrolling Instagram recently when I came across a creator who said something that stopped my scrolling…

His basic idea was this:

You have the body of your last 1,000 meals.
The mind of your last 1,000 conversations.
And the bank account of your last 1,000 financial decisions.

Then came the line I found most interesting:

Your current situation isn’t a mystery… it’s a receipt.

That’s an interesting and challenging thought.

Because it’s easy to look at our circumstances and assume they just… happened.

And certainly, some things do just happen.

Markets fall. Companies change. People get sick. Relationships are two-way streets. Bad things happen to good people.

But I wonder if we sometimes give randomness too much credit.

Because so much of where we end up is the compounding effect of thousands of small decisions.

One meal doesn’t determine your health.

One purchase doesn’t determine your financial future.

One conversation doesn’t determine your marriage.

One productive day doesn’t build a career.

But do each of those things 1,000 times?

Now you’ve built something.

We talk about compounding constantly in investing.

But money isn’t the only thing that compounds.

Habits compound.
Conversations compound.
Relationships compound.
Decisions compound.

And eventually, they leave receipts.

Which means we may have more control over our lives than we often realize.

That’s empowering.

If today’s circumstances are partially the receipt for yesterday’s decisions, then tomorrow’s are being created by the decisions we’re making today.

You don’t need the perfect investment.

The perfect diet.

The perfect career move.

Or the perfect relationship.

You just need to make the next decision a little better.

Then do it again.

And again.

And again.

If you don’t like the receipt you’re holding today, don’t just stare at it.

Start changing what will be on the next one.

Six years later, the message is still resonating.Congratulations to Bill Perkins, whose book Die With Zero recently reac...
16/10/2026

Six years later, the message is still resonating.

Congratulations to Bill Perkins, whose book Die With Zero recently reached the Top 10 on The New York Times Business Best Sellers list!

We had the pleasure of welcoming Bill to the Life, Money, and Living Well podcast for a conversation about thinking differently about wealth, money, and what really matters in life.

It's a conversation worth revisiting.

Listen to Bill's episode on your favorite podcast platform

14/10/2026

Three simple words can completely change a conversation:

“Tell me more.”

Instead of waiting for our turn to talk or preparing the argument we want to make, Tiffany Adams suggests getting curious about what the other person is actually saying.

Ask another question. Listen to the answer. Try to understand where they’re coming from.

It sounds simple. It’s also one of the best ways to build trust.

From our conversation with Tiffany Adams on Life, Money, and Living Well.

Listen to the full episode, “The Lost Art of Human Connection: Tiffany Adams” on your favorite podcast player.

Elon Musk explained a concept recently on a podcast that is brilliant.It’s incredibly simple:Ego ÷ AbilityHe said the mo...
12/10/2026

Elon Musk explained a concept recently on a podcast that is brilliant.

It’s incredibly simple:

Ego ÷ Ability

He said the most dangerous number in business might be anything greater than 1.

When your ego becomes bigger than your ability, you’ve entered the danger zone.

The irony is that this usually doesn’t happen when things are going badly.

It happens when things are going well.

You have a few wins.
People start listening.
Your company grows.
Your title gets bigger.
Your bank account gets bigger.
You start getting invited into rooms you weren’t before.

And somewhere along the way, confidence can quietly turn into certainty.

That’s when growth gets dangerous.

This is how smart leaders make foolish bets, ignore warning signs, and drive great companies off a cliff… because it never occurred to them that they could be wrong.

Success has an interesting side effect:

It can slowly remove the very humility that helped create it.

Early in our careers, we ask questions because we know we don’t know.

We seek mentors… study competitors… listen carefully… change our minds.

Then we become successful enough that people start asking us the questions.

And if we aren’t careful, we stop learning.

I’ve seen this in business, investing, and leadership… and I’ve certainly seen it in myself.

The goal isn’t to have less ability.

The goal is to keep increasing ability without allowing ego to increase alongside it.

That may be one of the greatest competitive advantages in business:

Rare ability + zero ego.

Imagine someone exceptionally talented but still genuinely curious.

Successful enough to have strong convictions, but humble enough to say:

“I might be wrong.”

Accomplished enough to teach others, but still walking into every room looking for something to learn.

That person is incredibly difficult to compete with.

Because while everyone else eventually begins protecting their reputation…

They keep improving.

And improvement compounds.

We talk a lot about economic moats… brand, technology, capital, distribution, intellectual property.

But maybe one of the greatest personal moats is much simpler:

Become exceptionally good at what you do…

and never become impressed with yourself.

That’s a formula for success in any environment.

More ways to communicate don’t mean we’re getting better at connecting.Ben sits down with Tiffany Adams, Founder and Pre...
09/10/2026

More ways to communicate don’t mean we’re getting better at connecting.

Ben sits down with Tiffany Adams, Founder and President of the Cincinnati Etiquette & Leadership Institute and author of Polished: The Guide to Excellence for the Modern Professional.

Going well beyond manners, Tiffany shares why people skills may be more valuable than ever in a world shaped by screens, remote work, social media, and AI.

They also talk about how to disagree without becoming disagreeable, the power of saying “tell me more,” what professionalism really looks like today, and why making people feel seen and valued will always matter.

Listen to “The Lost Art of Human Connection: Tiffany Adams” on your favorite podcast player.

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