035: Properly Vetting Investment Experts and Smart Investing in a Post-COVID World + How Couples Can Effectively Talk About Money Without Conflict with Patrick Geddes and Emily Blain

In this episode of Saving With Steve, host Steve Sexton is joined by Patrick Geddes, an author and the co-founder and former CEO of the Aperio Group, and Emily Blain, a financial coach who helps engaged couples effectively talk about money.

My first guest, Patrick Geddes, is the co-founder and former CEO of the Aperio Group, a $44 billion investment manager that works primarily with ultra-high-net-worth and institutional investors, and is the author of the upcoming book, Transparent Investing. He joins us today to share advice that can help consumers vet investment experts and talks about the biases and motivations of investment professionals, the perils of hidden investment costs, and smart investing in any environment, including a post-COVID world.

Money is often one of those things that’s hard to talk about with anyone. Most engaged couples know that they should discuss finances, but many don’t feel overly comfortable turning to each other while watching Netflix and saying, "Hey honey! Can you tell me all of your debt, how you or we are going to deal with it, and what your comfort level is with future debt as we build our life together?" Once couples can start having these conversations, they can begin to acknowledge and understand where their partner is coming from and how they can move forward together.

My second guest, Emily Blain, is a financial coach who helps engaged couples effectively talk about money without fighting so that they are equipped to handle those tricky money conversations in the future, walk away with less financial stress, and build more confidence in themselves and their relationship. She joins us today to discuss how our parents’ relationship with each other and with money can affect our relationship, how open communication around money strengthens a relationship, and how looking forward and setting goals can help a couple build a plan and get financial direction for their life together.

Patrick Geddes is the co-founder and former CEO of the Aperio Group, a $44 billion investment manager that works primarily with ultra-high-net-worth and institutional investors.

Aperio designs and manages customized portfolios that deliver pre-tax performance of indexing with client-specific customizations, including active tax management and active risk reduction.

Prior to co-founding Aperio, he was the Research Director and CFO at the financial services firm, Morningstar, and also taught graduate-level portfolio theory at UC Berkeley Extension.

Patrick is also the author of the upcoming book, Transparent Investing. This book teaches you how to rewire your brain and unlearn what you know about investing to help you to create a brighter financial future.

Transparent Investing gives investors an inside view as to how the game of investing is actually played and serves as a wake-up call to become more savvy consumers. The investment industry offers some great services and advice, but it also frequently tries to sell a lot of unhealthy fares that enriches them rather than you.

Patrick's book shows you how your brain is wired as an investor, and how pursuing what we all crave - sexy and market-beating returns - actually leads us to have less wealth, like our cravings for junk food that make our bodies less healthy. It also serves as a practical guide to investing the right way, and helps readers choose whether they should manage their own portfolios or hire professionals, but grounded in what’s best for you as an investor, not what’s best for investment firms.

Emily Blain is a financial coach who helps engaged couples effectively talk about money without fighting so that they are equipped to handle those tricky money conversations in the future, walk away with less financial stress, and build more confidence in themselves and their relationship.

She is a founding member of the Financial Coaches Network and is passionate about individualized teaching. Emily has been teaching private, one-on-one viola lessons for over 10 years and doing one-on-one financial coaching since 2019.

She loves being able to meet her students and clients where they are rather than trying to cover “most” situations and knowing that some are falling through the cracks.

Whenever you get two people combining their lives together, there are going to be mismatched expectations and assumptions - especially around money. Emily helps clients talk through some common sticking points and helps them discuss what options will satisfy both partners.

She helps equip couples to continue those tricky money conversations in the future, and walk away with less financial stress and more confidence in themselves and their relationship.