Easing Financial Anxiety Around the Dollar, U.S. Debt, and Retirement

Are you feeling a little more anxious than usual about your money? Given everything that's happening in the world right now, that's perfectly understandable.  What concerns me is the rising number of Americans who say that their money worries are nudging them towards high-risk speculation in crypto, meme stocks, and prediction markets.  And what's even more concerning is that folks aren't taking massive money risks just because they want to get rich quick. They're afraid that their peers and some of the bedrock assumptions of our financial system are leaving them behind.  Unfortunately, substituting a disciplined financial plan with speculative gambling rarely helps anyone catch up, let alone build wealth to secure retirement.  On today's show, we try to ease some of this financial anxiety by answering three listener questions that touch on some very common money fears.