This review is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
The Most Rigorous Investing Podcast Available
Ben Felix opened the August 27, 2026 episode, number 424, by welcoming David Booth, who co-founded Dimensional Fund Advisors in 1981 in his Brooklyn apartment and built it into a firm managing roughly $1 trillion in global assets. The conversation covered decades of academic research on market efficiency, factor investing, and the evidence behind passive strategies. That is the level of guest the Rational Reminder Podcast regularly attracts, and it is why the show has a 4.9 Apple Podcasts rating, the highest in this category.
The show is hosted by Benjamin Felix, Chief Investment Officer at PWL Capital, and Dan Bortolotti, Portfolio Manager at PWL Capital. Cameron Passmore, CEO at PWL Capital, and Ben Wilson, Head of M&A, also appear regularly. All four are practicing investment professionals at a Canadian wealth management firm. The show publishes weekly and has over 420 episodes. July 2026 was its biggest month ever, with 385,000 combined audio downloads and YouTube views.
If you want evidence-based investing from people who manage real money and engage with primary research, this is the best show in the category. If you want individual stock picks or market predictions, look elsewhere.
What the Show Does Well
The intellectual rigor is the differentiator. The August 27, 2026 episode with David Booth is representative. Felix and Booth discussed the academic foundations of index fund investing, the efficient market hypothesis, and why Dimensional built its business around capturing market returns efficiently. That kind of conversation requires a host who understands the research deeply enough to push back and ask follow-up questions that matter.
The August 21, 2026 episode, "Barry Ritholtz: 90% of financial products are crap," brought back a guest from episode 57 in 2019. Ritholtz discussed the biggest mistakes investors make, why forecasting consistently fails, and how to distinguish good advice from noise. The conversation covered decades of experience in markets, wealth management, and financial media. That kind of long-arc relationship with guests produces deeper conversations than a single promotional interview.
The August 13, 2026 episode, "The Biggest Myths in Personal Finance," took on 10 myths, from the idea that young people should save every possible dollar to assumptions about dividends, index funds, valuation ratios, stock picking, bonds, gold, and homeownership. Felix and Bortolotti examined the subtle details that make conventional wisdom misleading. They discussed consumption smoothing, marginal utility, total returns, diversification, and the tradeoffs between renting and owning. That kind of nuance is what separates this show from opinion-driven alternatives.
The Evidence-Based Approach
The show advocates for evidence-based investing, which means building portfolios around academic research rather than intuition or prediction. The hosts favor low-cost index funds, broad diversification, and a long horizon. They engage with research on factor investing, sequence of returns risk, retirement decumulation, and tax efficiency. The June 18, 2026 episode, number 414, covered portfolio construction, home-country bias, currency exposure, ETF selection, and retirement decumulation, revisiting the Rational Reminder model portfolios.
This approach is the academic consensus in finance. The hosts do not pretend it is the only way to invest, but they are clear that the evidence favors it. For listeners who want to understand why, the show provides the research. For listeners who want to act on it, our guide to your first investment portfolio in your 20s translates the principles into a concrete portfolio.
The Canadian perspective is a feature, not a bug. PWL Capital is a Canadian firm, and the hosts discuss Canadian tax accounts like RRSPs and TFSAs alongside US accounts. The principles apply globally, but listeners should understand that some specifics are Canada-focused. The show notes when a topic is Canada-specific, and the investing theory is universal.
Where the Show Has Limits
The show is dense. The hosts assume familiarity with academic finance, portfolio theory, and investing terminology. A listener who does not know what a factor premium is or why sequence of returns risk matters will need to do background reading. The show is not designed for beginners, and the hosts are honest about that. For a beginner-friendly introduction to investing, the Investing for Beginners Podcast is a better starting point.
The episodes run long, often over an hour, and the AMA episodes can run longer. The hosts go deep on each question, which is valuable for listeners who want the detail but slow for listeners who want a quick answer. The YouTube videos are well-produced, but the audio-only experience requires sustained attention.
The hosts work at PWL Capital and occasionally discuss the firm's approach. The advice is fiduciary and transparent, but listeners should understand the business context. The show does not sell courses or tools, which keeps the content clean, but the hosts do reference PWL's planning work and investment committee.
Who Should Listen
The show targets listeners in their 30s through 50s who want the academic and empirical side of investing. It suits people who are comfortable with research, want to understand why a strategy works, and are willing to engage with primary sources. A listener on the August 13, 2026 episode heard Felix and Bortolotti explain why the assumption that young people should save every possible dollar can be misleading, using consumption smoothing and marginal utility as the framework. That kind of precision is the show's core value.
It fits less well for beginners, anyone who wants individual stock recommendations, or listeners who prefer short episodes. For a more accessible entry point, pair this with our guide to how to invest your first $10,000.
Getting Started
Begin with "The Biggest Myths in Personal Finance" episode for a broad overview, then the David Booth episode for the academic foundation. The AMA episodes are useful if you have specific questions, because the hosts cover a wide range. Track your portfolio and retirement progress as you apply the principles, because evidence-based investing only works if you can see the long-term results.
The Rational Reminder Podcast will not give you a stock pick or a market forecast. It will give you the evidence and the framework to make rational investing decisions, which is the only thing that reliably works over decades.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
