The Timeless Investor Show

Arie van Gemeren
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8 snips
Mar 25, 2026 • 15min

The Weimar Inflation and Real Estate Owners

A forensic look at Weimar landlords and why owning buildings did not guarantee victory in hyperinflation. Shortcase failures like foreign-currency loans, forced mark-denominated sales, and a post-crisis stabilization tax get center stage. The episode explains how rent controls turned assets into liquidity traps. It ends with a narrow profile of who actually captured generational wealth.
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19 snips
Mar 13, 2026 • 21min

The Most Consequential Illness in Modern History

A look at how the 1918 pandemic reshaped geopolitics, from wartime information suppression to the naming myth. Discussion of the pandemic's deadly W-shaped mortality pattern and why many healthy young adults died. Examination of Woodrow Wilson's illness at Versailles and its ripple effects through reparations, Weimar hyperinflation, and the rise of extremism. Exploration of 1920s economic booms, bubbles, and the investing lesson about suppressed information.
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10 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 19min

How the Roman Grain Dole Explains Modern Economics

A historian traces how subsidized grain in ancient Rome created permanent dependency and collapsed markets. The Ratchet Effect is explained as entitlements expand and resist repeal. Modern parallels are drawn to rent control and housing supply issues in Portland. The conversation explores how supply-suppressing policies create durable investment moats for savvy real estate investors.
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19 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 29min

How the Richest Empire in History Went Bankrupt

A deep dive into how overflowing New World silver caused runaway prices and hollowed out Spain’s economy. The story tracks expelled merchant classes, Genoese loans, and a one-way flow of wealth that fueled rivals. It contrasts extraction-only systems with nations that build lasting institutions and draws sharp modern parallels for investors.
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13 snips
Feb 5, 2026 • 26min

The Golden Era of Money: How WWI Killed the Greatest Monetary System Ever Created

A concise tour of the classical gold standard and why it produced decades of near-zero inflation and booming global trade. A clear walkthrough of how convertibility and the price-specie-flow mechanism kept currencies disciplined. A dramatic account of how World War I forced convertibility closures and unraveled monetary stability. Practical investor principles for navigating the long aftermath of fiat money.
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Feb 1, 2026 • 35min

The Four Macro Regimes: Navigating Every Market Cycle

The same asset class returned +13% annually during 1970s stagflation—and lost 25% in 2022.Same country. Same interest rate risk. Same inflation dynamics. Completely opposite outcomes.Why? Because most investors optimize for one environment and get destroyed when the regime shifts.In this episode, I break down:→ The 4 macro regimes that actually drive investment returns→ How to identify which regime you're operating in→ What works (and what gets destroyed) in each environment→ Where I think we are right now—and what's coming nextTimestamps:0:00 - The 1970s vs 2022 Paradox2:18 - Why Investors Get Destroyed4:40 - The Four Regimes Framework5:25 - Regime 1: Goldilocks (2010-2019)8:00 - Regime 2: Stagflation (1973-1982, 2022-2024)14:00 - Regime 3: Deflationary Bust (2008-2011)20:00 - Regime 4: Financial Repression (1946-1951, 2020-2021?)27:30 - Where Are We Now?30:00 - How to Position Across Regimes📄 Full article with additional data: https://thetimelessinvestor.substack.com/p/the-2026-real-estate-macro-playbook?r=d424hThe second owners always win. The question is whether you're positioned to be one of them.—📩 Newsletter: https://thetimelessinvestor.substack.com💼 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/arievangemeren🐦 X/Twitter: https://x.com/TimelessArie
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Jan 28, 2026 • 26min

Two Bankers, One Crisis: The 1672 Default That Created Modern Finance

On January 2nd, 1672, two bankers woke up to the same news: the King of England had just frozen £1.3 million in debt payments. Sovereign default.Both men had lent to the Crown. Both had survived civil war, plague, and the Great Fire. One would build a dynasty lasting 250 years. The other would die bankrupt, in exile, in Holland.What was the difference?In this episode, I tell the story of Edward Backwell and Francis Child — two goldsmith-bankers operating on the same London streets, facing the same crisis, with completely opposite outcomes.Backwell was the giant. He was called "the principal founder of the banking system in England." The kingdom itself was said to depend on him. He had lent a quarter of England's annual income to one borrower: the King.Child was smaller. Quieter. His diversified approach looked like timidity — until the day it looked like survival.This episode covers:- How King Charles I's 1640 theft accidentally invented modern banking- Why goldsmith vaults weren't actually safer than the Royal Mint- The birth of fractional reserve banking as a security innovation- Edward Backwell's rise from yeoman's son to England's most powerful financier- The fatal bet: 22% of all sovereign lending concentrated in one man- The Stop of the Exchequer and the first major bank run in history- Francis Child's paranoid strategy — and why it built a 250-year dynasty- The surprising family connection that united the ruined and the survivors- Why I named my firm Lombard Equities after this storyThe pattern Backwell fell into — concentrating in what seemed like the safest possible borrower — has destroyed the greatest financiers in history, from the Bardi and Peruzzi in 1345 to operators in our own era.The lessons haven't changed. Neither has human nature.—📚 Read the full article on Substack: thetimelessinvestor.substack.com💼 Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/arievangemeren🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g_YTV3JbcxQ
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Jan 22, 2026 • 23min

The Bardi & Peruzzi Crisis: A 600-Year-Old Warning for Modern Funds

What can a 14th-century financial ruin teach a 21st-century fund manager?In this episode, we take a deep dive into the 1345 collapse of the Bardi and Peruzzi banking houses—the dominant financial titans of the medieval world. When King Edward III defaulted on a massive debt to fund the 100 Years' War, he triggered a contagion that reshaped the global economy.We explore why these sophisticated families fell into the "sunk cost" trap and why their failure to manage concentration risk is a pattern we see repeating in today's markets.In this episode, you’ll learn:The Mechanics of the Fall: How 1.5 million gold florins brought down an empire.Sovereign Risk: The danger of lending to "the ultimate power."The Medici Pivot: The structural legal innovation that allowed the next generation of bankers to survive systemic shocks.Modern Application: Why these 600-year-old lessons are vital for real estate and private equity firewalls in 2026.Building something timeless requires understanding the structural errors of the past. Join us as we break down the history of risk.
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Jan 14, 2026 • 60min

Gold, the Dollar, and the Monetary System That's Cracking | Mario Innecco

Warren Buffett once said he'd rather own farmland than gold.But gold has outperformed Berkshire Hathaway since 1998. And central banks around the world are quietly accumulating more of it than at any point in modern history.Why?In this episode, I sit down with Mario Innecco - host of Maneco64, one of YouTube's leading channels on precious metals with over 166,000 subscribers - to unpack what's really driving gold's historic rise.We cover:• The real inflation tax that central banks don't advertise• Gold's 10% annual returns since 2000 - and why it's accelerating• The Nixon shock of 1971 and its ongoing consequences• How World War I killed the classical gold standard• The petrodollar system: what it is, why it's cracking, and what Venezuela and Iran have to do with it• China's naval vulnerability and the geopolitics of oil• Bitcoin vs. gold: competitors or cousins?Whether you own gold, are skeptical of it, or just want to understand the monetary system we're living through, this episode will give you a framework most investors never consider.Books mentioned: The Bitcoin Standard, The Creature from Jekyll Island, The Prize, What Has Government Done to Our Money, Fiat Money Inflation in France, Tower of BaselFollow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTimelessInvestorFollow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arievangemeren/And on X: https://x.com/TimelessArieConnect with Mario: YouTube.com/Maneco64—Think well. Act wisely. Build something satisfying, impactful, and timeless.
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Jan 12, 2026 • 32min

Savings & Loan Crisis 2.0: Lessons from the RTC for Today’s Real Estate Market

In this episode of the Timeless Investor Show, host Ari van Gemeren breaks down the historical collapse of the Savings and Loan (S&L) industry and why it serves as a critical blueprint for the current real estate landscape.Discover how the "3-6-3 rule" failed, the massive impact of Paul Volcker’s interest rate hikes, and how the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) created the largest "forced liquidation" in U.S. history. We analyze how legendary investors like Sam Zell and Barry Sternlicht built empires from these distressed assets and explore the startling parallels to the $1.5 trillion in commercial debt maturing between 2025 and 2027. If you want to understand the "extend and pretend" cycle and how to position yourself for the next great wealth transfer, this deep dive is for you.

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