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The Political Life - from campaigns to capitols and everywhere in between. A show about the people whose lives are immersed in the political world, and how they got there. Politicians, lobbyists, pollsters, and business people. If they're on the show, they're living the political life.

Hosted by Jim O'Brien, The Political Life introduces you to the personalities and "day in the life" experiences of some of the most interesting and dynamic individuals in the field. 

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  2. Investing, Crypto, and the Debt Ceiling with Public COO Stephen Sikes

Investing, Crypto, and the Debt Ceiling with Public COO Stephen Sikes

Jun 5, 2023

Jim welcomes Stephen Sikes to the podcast to cover a wide variety of topics from investing to talking about the debt ceiling agreement that was made recently.Topics covered in this episode include:

  • A shout out to Rachel who helped in bringing Stephen onto the show!
  • Stephen talks about who he is and the company Public where he is the COO.
  • How Public makes money.
  • Where the 10% of not invested money goes and where does all the cash go?
  • The FDIC program and sweeping
  • The Treasury account that Public offers and what it is.
  • How Public is trying new and innovative ways in a regulatory environment
  • The founding of Public.
  • Why Public exists.
  • Where the idea of Public came from
  • What alternative type of investing includes.
  • Angel Investing
  • Crypto Investing
  • Culture Investing
  • Regulatory issues for crypto and investing
  • Watching closely to the courts to help give customers what they want/demand
  • The European model
  • Societal risks while creating regulations
  • How to track what is going on with regulatory issues
  • Stephen's thoughts on the debt ceiling deal that was made and how it impacts the investing business.
  • What the next 6 months look like.
  • What Public can offer
  • Just launched Investment Plans
  • Re-balancing is coming soon for the plan.
  • What part of the army Stephen was in and how it shaped him for future careers.

Stephen Sikes is currently the COO of Public, the multi-asset investing app, and he serves as the CEO of Public's broker-dealer and leads the brokerage, crypto, international, and alternatives business lines. He is also responsible for operations, customer, support, legal, compliance and risk functions. In addition to his work at Public, Stephen co-leads a fintech community and early stage investing fund called Socially Financed, where he focuses on supporting early stage consumer fintech businesses. Before joining Public, Stephen was on the founding team and became the Business Lead of SoFi Invest.

Previously, he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, and served as a Cavalry Officer in the U.S. Army, where he did one deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.