This Historian Says We're Living in the Best Era Ever, with Joseph Moore

#744: With about $200 and a crypto exchange, historian Joseph Moore turned himself into a legitimate billionaire — a stunt that says more about how money actually works than most financial advice does. It's also a preview of the 300-year argument he makes in this episode: that almost everything we're told about money is newer, and far less permanent, than we think.Joseph Moore, PhD, is a historian and the national bestselling author of How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't). His own self-experiments with historical money strategies helped him become financially independent in his mid-40s.

In this episode, we discuss:

How "never save your money" used to be completely reasonable financial advice

Why bonds quietly beat stocks for nearly all of the 1800s

How to spot when today's "obvious" financial rules are about to expire

Why real estate booms always show up right alongside inflation spikes

Why young people's unemployment is outpacing everyone else's — and what history says to do about it

Why economic optimism and economic data have stopped matching up

Why building more housing is the only housing-crisis fix that's ever actually worked

This one's for anyone who feels like the rules of money keep changing under them — because they do, and always have. Understanding that pattern is the first step to building wealth in whatever era you happen to be living in.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

Note: Timestamps may vary slightly depending on dynamic ad placements.

(05:18) How a runaway slave built his own legal currency

(06:52) How he legally declared himself a crypto billionaire

(13:22) Why a fifth of the Smithsonian's money collection is fake

(15:52) The bestselling book that told readers to commit fraud

(20:10) The decades when bonds quietly beat stocks

(26:04) How his grandfather secretly became a bond millionaire

(31:09) Why that "$10K in 1929" chart is misleading

(48:02) Why wages are up 50% and nobody believes it

(1:06:39) Why most Americans once owned one shirt

(1:23:48) The rent control law that backfired for renters

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED

👉 Build a Life of Financial Freedom with our free workbook: https://affordanything.com/fiire

👉 Joseph Moore's site — his book, essays, and more: https://www.josephmoorebooks.com

👉 Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez: https://vickirobin.com/your-money-or-your-life/

👉 The Latte Factor by David Bach: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Latte-Factor/David-Bach/9781982120245 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices