543: Avoiding Misinformation in the Era of Fake News

One of the biggest risks people face when trying to understand the economy, investing, or personal finance isn’t a lack of information. It’s the illusion of being informed—while quietly limiting the sources that shape your thinking.

We live in a world where information is everywhere. Podcasts, X threads, YouTube clips, newsletters, reels. But abundance doesn’t equal diversity. In fact, the algorithms behind social media are designed to do the opposite: they show you more of what you already agree with.

Over time, your worldview narrows—not because you chose it to, but because it was curated for you.

I noticed this years ago when I started listening to alternative asset podcasts. 

At first, it felt refreshing—new ideas, new language, new opportunities outside the mainstream. But after a while, something became obvious. Many of these shows were operating inside an echo chamber. Different hosts. Same conclusions. Same narratives. Same villains. Same heroes.

It was as if they were all listening to one another and simply regurgitating the same ideas, reinforcing them in a closed loop until they felt like truth.

And to be fair—knowing many of these hosts personally—that’s often the business model. Audience reinforcement is rewarded. Dissent is not. 

Ever since then, I’ve made a conscious effort to study people I don’t naturally agree with. Not because I want to adopt their views—but because I want to stress-test my own.

This matters more now than ever because social media accelerates groupthink at scale. When an idea gains traction online, disagreement quickly becomes social friction.

It’s easier to conform, retweet, and nod along than to pause and ask, “What if this is wrong?”

I once had a conversation with Robert Kiyosaki where he told me he actually gets worried when everyone in the room agrees about the economy. When viewpoints converge too neatly, it’s usually a sign that critical thinking has been replaced by consensus comfort—and that’s exactly where blindsides are born.

If your goal is to get closer to the truth, you must seek out opinions that challenge your own. That includes people you disagree with—especially people you disagree with. Truth doesn’t emerge from unanimity. It emerges from tension.

And that applies to me as well. Daon’t let me—or anyone else—be your sole source of information. No matter how much you trust someone, outsourcing your thinking is always a risk.

I can tell you from personal experience that in economics and personal finance, narrow perspectives lead to surprises you only recognize in hindsight. Those are the moments people regret most—not because they lacked intelligence, but because they lacked perspective.

Financial education is critical. But a real curriculum doesn’t just confirm what you already believe. It exposes you to competing frameworks, conflicting data, and uncomfortable questions—and forces you to think for yourself. That’s how you build conviction that actually holds up when the world changes.

This week’s episode of Wealth Formula Podcast examines this groupthink problem on a broader scale throughout society with an author who wrote a bestseller on our inherent appetite for misinformation. 

It’s a fascinating conversation that will surely get you thinking about the way you view the world.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you notice any errors or corrections, please email us at [email protected].

 You can imagine people who are conflict avoidant, probably not so likely to post online, as opposed to people who are conflict approaching who love a fight, right? If that’s, if those are the folks who are more likely to post, that’s gonna shape our information space in really, really important ways.

Welcome everybody. This is Buck Joffrey with the Wealth Formula Podcast. Coming to you from Montecito, California today. Uh, wanna remind y