The Timeless Investor Show
The Timeless Investor Show explores how serious thinkers build wealth, resilience, and lasting success across generations.
Hosted by Arie van Gemeren, CFA - The Timeless Investor Show connects history, philosophy, and real-world investing lessons into practical frameworks for today's investors, with a core focus on real estate investing.
We study empires, cycles, currencies, and capital stewardship - and translate timeless principles into real-world action.
Think well. Act wisely. Build something timeless.
Episodes
34 episodes
When Tokyo Was Worth More Than America: The Japanese Real Estate Bubble & What It Means for Today
In 1989, the land under Tokyo's Imperial Palace was worth more than all of California. Tokyo's real estate exceeded the entire United States in value. The Nikkei hit 38,957 — and didn't reach that level again until February 2024.This isn't ...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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15:35
The Lloyd’s Disaster: How 34,000 Investors Lost Everything
In 1993, thousands of investors around the world opened letters from Lloyd’s of London demanding sums that didn’t seem real. £300,000. £1 million. £3 million. Not money they invested — money they owed.Doctors, farmers, aristocra...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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22:35
Pattern Recognition, Humility, and the YouTube Deal That Changed Everything — Sean Dempsey
In 2005, Sean Dempsey tried to buy a tiny video startup on behalf of Google. The founders laughed him off.Eighteen months later, Google paid $1.65 billion for that same company… and the entire industry mocked the decision...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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58:23
When Paper Money Destroys Nations: France’s Assignat Collapse
In 1790, revolutionary France thought it had solved its financial crisis by printing a new kind of paper money — the Assignat — backed by confiscated church land.Within five years, it destroyed the French economy, vaporized the mi...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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13:18
The Panic That Birthed the Fed: JP Morgan, Jekyll Island, and the Secret Origins of the Federal Reserve
In October 1907, the U.S. banking system imploded overnight. Knickerbocker Trust collapsed, panic spread through New York, and the entire American economy teetered on the edge of destruction.Only one man could stop it—J.P. Mo...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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18:30
The Match King: How Ivar Kruger’s $6 Billion Fraud Brought Europe to Its Knees
In 1932, the world’s richest man pulled the trigger that ended an empire. Ivar Kruger, known as The Match King, controlled ¾ of the world’s match production, financed governments across Europe, and was hailed as the “sa...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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23:06
Venice: How a Blind 97-Year-Old Built a 1,000-Year Empire | The Timeless Investor
April 12th, 1204 AD. A 97-year-old blind man led the assault on Constantinople—the richest city on earth—and walked away with three-eighths of an empire. His name was Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice. And what happened next changed the course of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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24:56
From Slave to Supreme Admiral: Zheng He's Treasure Fleet & 6 Investing Lessons
What if China had a 100-year head start on European colonial dominance—and threw it away?In 1405, nearly a century before Columbus, Chinese Admiral Zheng He commanded 317 ships and 27,800 men. His fleet was the largest in human history. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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28:46
The Shadow Banking Collapse of 1772 (And Why Wall Street Is Selling It To You Again)
December 27, 1772. Clifford & Co.—one of Europe's most prestigious banking houses—shuts its doors with nearly $1 billion in liabilities (in today's money). Within weeks, the contagion spreads: 20 banks collapse across Amsterdam, London, Ham...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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34:18
The Potosí Silver Scandal: How Fraud Destroyed the Spanish Empire
What happens when the world's most trusted currency becomes worthless overnight? Not through war or conquest, but fraud so massive it brings down an empire.This is the story of the Potosí mines scandal - how Spanish officials debased sil...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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19:06
Black Friday 1866: The Banking Collapse That Changed Finance Forever | Shadow Banking Crisis History
In May 1866, the world's largest financial institution collapsed in a single day, triggering the first global banking crisis and reshaping modern finance forever. Overend, Gurney & Company wasn't just any bank - they were THREE TIMES larger...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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20:51
From $500M in Called Loans to Self-Storage Empire: Brad Minsley's Vertical Integration Playbook
In 2008, Brad Minsley faced every real estate developer's nightmare: $500 million in loans called across 27 banks. Most operators would have been wiped out. Instead, Brad fought back, survived the crisis, and used those hard-won lessons to buil...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:14:18
The Sassoon Dynasty: From Baghdad to Bombay - How Refugees Built Asia's Real Estate Empire
They called him the Rothschild of the East. But while the Rothschilds moved paper, David Sassoon built infrastructure.In 1829, he fled Baghdad with nothing but two saddlebags of gold. By 1860, his family controlled the largest trading ho...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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21:24
The Kipper & Wipper Crisis: History's Forgotten Financial Catastrophe
1621. The Thirty Years War is bleeding German treasuries dry, and desperate princes discover what seems like the perfect solution: improve their coins by making them cheaper to produce. What could go wrong?Everything.
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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25:44
Andrew Jackson's War on the Money Monopoly
The president had a bullet lodged in his chest and gold coins in his pocket. His enemy controlled America's entire money supply. What happened next changed American finance for 200 years.In 1833, President Andrew Jackson did somet...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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28:30
Ray Kroc - The Real Estate Empire Hidden Behind Golden Arches
Most people think Ray Kroc built a hamburger empire. They're wrong.Ray Kroc built the world's largest real estate company, and he just happened to serve hamburgers on top of it. By the time of his death, McDonald's owned more retail real...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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30:47
John Law: The Gambler Who Destroyed France
The year is 1720. A Scottish murderer who escaped death row has just become the richest man in history. He controls France's entire money supply, tax collection, and colonial trade. In six months, he'll flee Paris dressed as a woman, leaving be...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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29:28
Real Estate Operations: 8 Years, 550+ Units, Lessons Learned
After 8+ years and $150M+ in real estate acquisitions, here's what actually drives returns: operations, not deals.In this special episode, I break down the operational lessons that separate winning real estate investors from the rest. Fr...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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33:06
The Man Who Built Florida: Henry Flagler's $3 Billion Railroad to Paradise
In 1885, Florida was nothing but swamps and mosquitoes. By 1915, it was America's winter playground. One man made that transformation happen: Henry Flagler.This is the story of the most audacious real estate development project in Americ...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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24:40
53 Years. 2,000 Units. 0 Blowups. Ron Danz on Real Estate That Lasts
Ron Danz never set out to be a podcast guest. He just quietly built one of the most resilient real estate portfolios in the Pacific Northwest.Starting with $500 down on a beat-up house near the University of Washington, Ron spent ...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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49:49
Andrew Carnegie: From $1.20 a Week to $15 Billion - The Steel Baron's Blueprint for Operational Excellence
$1.20 a week → $480 million exit. How did a 13-year-old Scottish immigrant become one of the richest men in history?In this deep dive into Andrew Carnegie's life, we uncover the four timeless principles that built the largest stee...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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36:09
The Hidden Wealth Transfer: How Insurance Captives Control the Game
Most real estate investors think insurance is just a cost of doing business. They're wrong.Insurance is the ultimate wealth transfer mechanism—and most of us are on the losing side.In this episode, I sit down with Tony DeFede from...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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41:07
Blood, Marble & Rent Rolls: How the Medici Built History's First Real Estate Empire
Picture this: April 26th, 1478. Florence Cathedral. Lorenzo de' Medici is attending Easter Mass when assassins strike. Knives flash. Blood splatters across marble floors. His brother falls dead. Lorenzo barely escapes with his life.But h...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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30:52
America's Monetary Dictator: How Paul Volcker Saved an Empire
When empires face their greatest test, they need leaders willing to be hated for doing what's right.In 1979, America stood at the crossroads every dying empire faces: destroy the economy to save the currency, or destroy the curren...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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22:40
Marcus Crassus: From Bankruptcy to Billions Through Ancient Real Estate
The year is 53 BC. In a Parthian tent, molten gold burns down the throat of Rome's richest man. Marcus Crassus - worth $2+ billion in today's money - dies choking on the very metal that made him famous.But how did a man who los...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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34:11
