In this episode of Money & Meaning, host Jeff Bernier speaks with Harrison Miller, Charitable Planning Consultant at Fidelity Charitable—the nation's largest grant maker. They explore how donor-advised funds offer families, business owners, and advisors strategic, tax-efficient ways to approach charitable giving. Harrison shares how these vehicles help donors align generosity with their values, optimize tax timing, and even involve future generations in giving.

Topics covered:

● Harrison’s career path and role at Fidelity Charitable

● What donor-advised funds are and how they work

● Tax benefits of contributing appreciated assets

● Strategic giving through bunching and timing deductions

● Differences between national donor-advised funds and community foundations

● Managing investments within donor-advised funds

● How grants are made to charities from the fund

● Contributing privately held assets and the planning required

● Using donor-advised funds to engage the next generation

● Options for fund succession and estate planning

● Current trends in charitable giving and legislative considerations

● Why donor-advised funds are gaining popularity over private foundations

Useful Links:

• Jeff Bernier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffberniercfp_the-money-and-meaning-show-activity-7202103509700227072-h0Qn/
• TandemGrowth Financial Advisors: https://www.tandemgrowth.com/
• Harrison Miller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisonmiller

In this solo episode of Money & Meaning, Jeff Bernier explores how markets have a built-in ability to self-correct, a concept informed by his conversations with longtime colleague Larry Swedroe. Jeff ties together research from Joe Wiggins and Jason Zweig to explain how behavior, concentration risk, and market history reveal important lessons for investors. He also revisits the importance of broad diversification and TandemGrowth’s behavioral “bucket approach” for supporting client confidence in uncertain times.

Topics covered:

• Behavioral traps investors face in fast-paced market environments
• Joe Wiggins’ perspective on making slow, consistent, and infrequent decisions
• Larry Swedroe’s concept of the self-healing mechanism of markets
• How falling valuations increase expected future returns
• Historical periods when stocks underperformed and rebounded strongly
• Examples of self-healing in asset classes like value stocks, credit, private credit, and reinsurance
• Jason Zweig’s analysis of AI-driven capital spending by big tech firms
• The dangers of concentration risk—including going to all cash
• Benefits of broad diversification across public and private markets
• How the “bucket approach” helps reduce panic and support long-term strategy

Useful Links:

• Jeff Bernier on LinkedIn
• TandemGrowth Financial Advisors

Disclosures: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax advisor for personalized guidance.

In this episode of Money & Meaning, host Jeff Bernier speaks with Kacie Walsh, Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors. They explore Dimensional’s evolving toolkit of tax-focused investment solutions designed to help clients keep more of what they earn. The conversation spans mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs, exchange funds, and 351 ETFs, explaining how each tool fits into a broader tax management strategy. Kacie also outlines how Dimensional’s daily, data-driven approach supports personalized portfolios and long-term efficiency for investors.

Topics covered:

• Kacie Walsh’s professional background and current role at Dimensional Fund Advisors
• Why Dimensional’s evidence-based, data-driven approach matters in tax-focused investing
• Overview of tax loss harvesting and why fund and ETF lineup depth supports it
• Differences in tax efficiency between ETFs and mutual funds—and how Dimensional narrows the gap
• Update on Dimensional’s ETF share class application and what it means for investors
• SMA (separately managed account) use cases, especially for high net worth individuals
• How Dimensional’s SMAs differ from traditional direct indexing solutions
• Behavioral and operational considerations of owning hundreds of individual securities
• Understanding portfolio lock-up and how to plan for long-term SMA use
• Exchange funds as tools for diversifying out of concentrated stock positions
• 351 ETFs as a strategy to consolidate appreciated securities tax efficiently
• Overview of long/short SMAs and how they attempt to generate more tax alpha
• How advisors and clients can assess the trade-offs in these advanced strategies

Useful Links:

• Jeff Bernier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffberniercfp_the-money-and-meaning-show-activity-7202103509700227072-h0Qn/
• TandemGrowth Financial Advisors: https://www.tandemgrowth.com/
• Kacie Walsh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kacie-walsh-5787a297