The Prep is Done. The Money Scope is Ready.

I have been building a core financial curriculum on The Loonie Doctor since starting my blog’s post-Covid resuscitation. It is part of my dream of an online curriculum for Canadian high-income professionals to use to help them take control of their financial lives. And to use that power to reach much further than that.

Ideally, that curriculum is produced in different media formats to appeal to different learning styles and preferences. Ben Felix, Head of Research at PWL Capital, and I have teamed up to do just that. It is a collaborative production with PWL Capital, one of my carefully selected sponsors.

After months of preparation, I am thrilled to announce the release of The Money Scope Podcast. The prep work was definitely more fun than a jug of Go-Lytely.

The Back Story

Ben Felix and I share a passion for financial education. We have a similar approach to taking financial research and boiling that down into actionable information based on sound evidence-informed principles. With that, and our Canadian-specific lens, we found ourselves working on similar models to tackle pragmatic questions and curriculum to disseminate that. Around that time, Ben got a request for me to return to do a Rational Reminder episode on corporations with him. However, we quickly realized that we could do way better than that.

We named this ambitious project The Money Scope. Like a financial endoscope to shine a light deep inside personal finance for Canadian professionals. The name idea came to me while I was fishing something out of someone’s lungs, but this is no bronchoscope. Or gastroscope. Nope. It is a colonoscopically deep dive into personal finance.

That said, we want it to be much more of a pleasant experience. In addition to some midazolam for the induction, we are starting with the basics for each topic. However, we are also not shying away from the deep crevices. There will be something for everyone. From people new to personal finance and investing to veteran advisors.

With that type of comprehensive curriculum, there is also no way that you will get everything during the first pass of the scope. So, we have designed this to be easily searchable. Our main goal for your first listen is to get a sense of the topic as a whole and what is out there to learn. Then, when something becomes more relevant to you, or your brain has healed enough for more, you’ll think of us. And return for a second look or listen. We also repackage the information in some different ways.


Further Reading & Listening

The episodes will be accompanied by indexed transcripts. There will be footnotes and links to original references for those who want to dig into them. There will also be links to associated Rational Reminder episodes. Often interviews with the authors of seminal papers. For those looking for more flowcharts, narratives, and funny memes – some relevant Loonie Doctor posts for each topic are highlighted.


Case Conferences

As we get into some of the heavier financial topics, we also want to help you see their relevance to your situation. So, we’ve created case conference supplemental episodes. These will be paired with the main episode, but have some cases or discussion to illustrate some of the most common questions or dilemmas.

We cannot give specific advice, but we sometimes unpack cases with real numbers. The idea is that you may find features or things to consider that apply to your situation. That way, you can be better equipped to dig into that deeper. Either on your own if DIY, or with your advisor. Educated and engaged clients are more likely to get better outcomes.

Ben and I recorded the first eleven episodes and a few case conferences before launching. We needed that runway because of the amount of time it takes to research, write, and produce an episode. We didn’t want to rush or cut corners. The best curricula require very deliberate planning and execution.

However, that came at the expense of us putting out what we think you need to know, want to hear, and how you want to hear about it. Ultimately, that is what matters for us to be effective is what you think. So, we are definitely open to feedback and adjustment. As we finish getting out the core material that was bursting for escape from our mouths, where The Money Scope heads next will depend on your engagement and input. After all, you are on the business end of the scope for delving into your own finances.

14 comments

  1. I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been a big fan of your work LD and of course Ben and Cameron from the Rational Reminder. You all provide very high quality content in terms of financial literacy education.

    I’m assuming this will be available on most podcast platforms? When is the initial release?

    1. Thanks Neil. It will be on the usual podcast platforms, a youtube channel, and each episode will have a page with links to those plus other material. The pages will be on http://www.moneyscope.ca and I will also build links to them on Loonie Doctor too. We really want as many entry points for people to find the content as possible.
      -LD

  2. Congrats Mark. I have been following your blog since 2017 and it’s been a wonderful ride.

    I have forwarded this to all my Doctors and Pharmacists. Hopefully, they will be as enlightened as I am.

    Excited to see more content. If you ever plan to attend any finance or business conferences, please let me know. It would be a delight to say hi.

    1. Thanks Peter for sticking with me 🙂 It has been quite a ride. Things feel like they are starting to come together with my post-Covid reboot and having the time to refocus on it. The content will be coming fast and furious over the next few months. I do plan to start attending some more in-person conferences when the dust settles – I love chatting with people in real life.
      Mark

  3. Congratulations, Mark! This is an amazing project and I’m sure will be of enormous benefit to many people. I’m really looking forward to the first episode.

  4. This is very exciting Looney Doc, thanks so much for doing this! Yourself, Ben and Cameron have provided lots of valuable learning for me over the years, which I very much appreciate. I am super stoked for your combined content!

    1. Thanks! Me too! Stoked. And a bit nervous. We put a tonne of time into it building what we think people will want and should know about based on our previous experiences. Hopefully we got it right! I think there will be something in it for everyone from beginner to professional advisor. Ben and I learned a few nuances and clarified our thinking from writing each episode too.
      -LD

      1. Just listened to your short intro today on Rational Reminder. Sounds great!
        It’s exciting for you to have something totally different and fulfilling aside from medicine that is still of such valuable service. When we’re totipotent stem cells in medical school we think reaching our attending status is going to be the pinnacle and that we’ve ‘arrived’. LOL.

        Hopefully I can convince my physician spouse to have a listen too…

  5. Congratulations LD! This will be such a pleasure to listen to. I’ve learned so much from you and Ben & Cameron over the years, and I’m very excited to hear you guys are taking the collaborative work to the next level. Keep up with the awesome work!

  6. This is fantastic! Really looking forward to The Money Scope. Combined content from you and Ben Felix is so exciting. I’m going to direct colleagues and residents there as soon as it comes out. Will probably make some topic requests too 🙂 And case studies is a great idea. Will the podcast show notes run through the same numbers, for the more visually minded folks?

    1. Great to hear from you Dr. FIREfly. I hope that early attending life is treating you well. We are definitely looking for ideas and cases as we roll out. We have core content and where the scope goes next is undetermined. The numbers will be in the show notes. I will also be making more visual posts of the big concepts on Loonie Doctor and link them to the relevant episodes. We want this to be a multi-modal living resource that people come back to repeatedly.
      -LD

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