Episode 23: Why Cash Is Trash In 2025

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When it comes to investing in private markets, not all sponsors are created equal—and understanding the differences can dramatically impact your wealth strategy. In this solo episode of Wealth Strategy Secrets: Deep Dives, Dave Wolcott breaks down the three tiers of private market sponsors—emerging, mid-market, and institutional—and what each means for your portfolio. From entrepreneurial sponsors offering higher projected returns but higher execution risk, to mid-market players delivering strong risk-adjusted performance, to global institutions prioritizing stability over upside, Dave shares how to evaluate the trade-offs at every level.

You’ll discover why mid-market sponsors often represent the “sweet spot” for sophisticated investors, how institutional alignment brings safety but compresses yields, and the hidden risks of chasing pro forma numbers that look too good to be true. Whether you’re diversifying into real estate, energy, private credit, or other alternative assets, this episode equips you with the framework to analyze where your capital is working—and how to strike the right balance between risk, return, and predictability in building legacy wealth.

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How’s it going, everyone, and welcome to a special solo series of Wealth Strategy Secrets of the Ultra Wealthy. I’m your host, Dave Wolcott.

We get a lot of the same questions from our investors about infinite banking, tax efficiency, asset protection, strategy stacking, and how to actually build wealth outside of Wall Street. And we get it. We know you’re busy. So in this series, I’m breaking down complex wealth strategy topics into short tactical episodes that you can actually use to build legacy wealth.

Whether you’re just starting your journey or fine tuning your portfolio, these episodes are designed to give you high impact insights in just a few minutes.

So let’s dive in. Let me ask you something. What happens when the dollar in your wallet quietly loses 10% of its value in a matter of months? That’s not a hypothetical question. It’s happening right now in 2025. The U.S. dollar has fallen roughly 10% against other major currencies this year.

It’s worth starting over 50 years. And while Wall Street wants to distract you with short-term market headlines, The bigger story is this.

Your purchasing power, the real value of your money, is being eroded every single day. And this isn about foreign exchange charts or trading desks in New York This is about the silent tax that every American pays Devaluation When the government keeps printing money running trillion deficits and piling on national debt it eventually weakens the currency That means your cash, your savings, even your retirement accounts all lose real value. It’s like trying to fill up a bucket with water when there’s a hole at the bottom.

No matter how much you pour in, you’re slowly losing purchasing power. We’ve seen this story before. In the 70s, after massive spending and money creation, the dollar collapsed, inflation soared, and investors who held only paper assets got crushed. Here’s why this matters for investors today. If you’re sitting in cash or traditional stock and bond portfolios, you’re really just playing defense with the wrong tools. When the dollar drops, imported goods become more expensive, inflation rises, and the value of your future dollar declines.

You might see your portfolio balance stay the same, but it’s buying less and less in real terms. And that’s why I always say, you can’t out-earn a broken monetary system. The ultra-wealthy, of course, understand this. They don’t just work harder or chase higher returns. They own assets that hold real intrinsic value regardless of what happens to the dollar. So what can you do to protect your wealth? Well, first, the first step would be to shift your mindset from chasing paper gains to building real wealth Secondly diversify out of dollar assets and into real assets Real assets are things you can touch you can feel and control Things like income real estate, energy and natural resource projects, infrastructure, and even farmland and productive land. These assets don’t just keep up with inflation, they often benefit from it.

When the cost of goods, materials, and rents rise, the income and intrinsic value of these assets rise too. And unlike paper assets that can lose 20% overnight when the market corrects, real assets tend to have stability, cash flow, and tax advantages built right in. Think about this. The wealthiest families in America, from the Rockefellers to modern family offices, have always had a large portion of their portfolio in real assets. They know fiat currencies come and go.

Markets rise and fall, but scarcity and utility never go out of style.

When you own real assets, you’re not just hedging against devaluation, you’re participating in the creation of real value in the economy. You’re owning the apartment building people live in, the energy infrastructure that powers communities, and the land that feeds families.

And that’s why I always teach the path to true financial freedom is paved with real assets that create passive income, tax efficiency, and upside potential So here the bottom line The dollar weakening and it not going to stop anytime soon You can either let inflation erode your wealth or you can take proactive control by investing in assets that stand outside the fiat system At Pantheon Investments, we help investors do exactly that by building portfolios that combine passive income, tax efficiency, and upside potential through private real asset investments.

And because wealth isn’t about what you earn, it’s about what you keep. If this message resonated with you, make sure to hit like, subscribe, and please share this with someone who still thinks saving cash in the bank is a wealth strategy.

It’s time to stop reacting and start owning real wealth. educational content, new opportunities, and resources designed to help you accelerate your path to freedom.

And if you want to take it even further, book a call with our team to learn about our virtual family office services or join our mastermind group where we go deep into building true generational wealth.

I’ll see you on the next episode. Thank you.