Fundrise CEO & “How to Lead a Meaningful Life” 3/27/26

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1:05On today's episode, a late-night DHS funding deal in the Senate. The bill that was passed last night also does not include reforms for ICE or immigration enforcement tactics that the Democrats had been seeking. The bill has more road to travel, though, which means no relief quite yet for TSA agents, Coast Guard and others who have not gotten paid through the shutdown. And the stock that surged over 1500 percent in its first week of trading before sliding a bit back down. Fundrise CEO Ben Miller is using his innovation fund to give investors access to private companies like OpenAI. The idea of like democratization, like when I first started it, people told me this was crazy.

1:50It was a now, it's novel. And I think the reception from the public market has shown it validates the strategy of democratizing access, bridging this gap between public and private, and doing it in a low-cost regulated wrapper. Plus, how to live a meaningful life. Dave Evans of the Stanford Life Design Lab on designing a life we'll be proud to have lived. All of us, both of you, contain far more aliveness than one lifetime permits you to live out. All that and much more this Friday, March 27th, 2026. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in three, two, one. Cue it, please. All right. Good Friday morning, everybody.

2:32Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan. Andrew is off today. Breaking overnight, the Senate passing legislation to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security. It does not include the billions of dollars in funding Republicans were seeking for ICE and Border Patrol, which is already funded because of the big, beautiful bill and funds that were available there. Republicans do plan to try and add that money through a separate budget reconciliation process. The bill that was passed last night also does not include reforms for ICE or immigration enforcement tactics that the Democrats had been seeking.

3:10Minority leader Chuck Schumer pledged that there would be more opportunities and that Democrats would fight hard for reforms. In other words, everything we've done for the last 30 plus days where nobody was getting paid, where the line's been building up. Yeah, you're not going to see much that came out of that. Last night's agreement must still pass the House, and it has to be signed by President Trump. So even if this gets done very quickly, we've heard that it could take several days before you see things get back to normal at the airports. The deal came after President Trump said that he would bypass Congress and pay TSA agents through an executive order yesterday, finding money somewhere within DHS probably, to make those payments.

3:51I mean, if I had been in one of those lines and this was the end result, I'd be furious, because this was all about them. It had nothing to do with the people, with the TSA agents or the... I think the TSA agents are where... We lost more than 500 of them who quit, who can't handle this anymore. DHS, ICE was always funded. That was always part of it. And this deal, don't fund ICE, but do everything else, has been on the table for weeks. But they were insisting on, you know, just the masks and some other reforms reforms that they you just said we're going to keep you know schumer said we're going to keep trying we're going to keep doing but they got it was all just a an exercise and the biggest part of this as senator fetterman told us yesterday here um this got resolved because they want to go on their brains i know that too so the idea that the house going to vote for this we have our principles until unless and until it's going to interfere with our plans just more of the rules for thee, but not for...

4:53If the House didn't do it, it would just be to make the point that we're not going to allow you to carve out anything, because it doesn't... I hope it passes the House. But it's a moot point. ICE is already funded through 2029. It should pass the House. There should be a rule that then comes through Congress, a law that Congress then passes, that nobody, no party and minority can hold things up by taking it out on the backs of the TSA agents, which is what happens again and again and again. By the way, the Coast Guard's not getting paid either. It's a ridiculous situation. Right. No. Yeah, it was.

5:26It's a tool that not should not ever be allowed. But the calculation with with the I think Schumer made is that Trump is so hated by most of the Democratic Party that this probably will not stick to them during the midterm. So they were able to do this. They were able to do this with impunity. Do you think it's going to stick? I think there are a lot of people it's going to stick in a row. It's three that we've been through from the last year. The longest that we've ever seen that was just the end of last year. You had the pandemic era. They had absolutely nothing for closing it down. Now you've got this.

6:00All this. These workers who are coming in trying to do their best, protect the country and protect us, should not be the ones who are bearing the brunt of this ever. There are all kinds of political fights. Elections have consequences. But it should not be carried out on these people. The whole rationale. Remember defund the police? I mean, defund ICE is not a worthy goal. I mean, maybe you need, you know, I'm sorry, what happened? It was a tragedy what happened in Minnesota. And look, you should absolutely have negotiated negotiations. They have T-shirts for those people. They don't even know what Sheridan Gorman, they don't even know her name.

6:35They don't mention Lake and Riley. They don't mention any. I'm not even going to go down that path. The idea that this should be used as a political cult, Jill, There should be ways to negotiate and work this out in Washington. This should not be the way it happens. The last one. So. Have we talked about the pandemic subsidies is the world did the world end after that? Is the world going to end now because they didn't. What was it really about other than saying no to Trump? I don't know. Look, you can you can come into this and say that they have valid reasons for what they would like to see accomplished.

7:11changes that they would like to see. Got no problem with that. But you can't do it this way. Do you have a problem with it? I mean, we'll get into the masks and everything else. Because it's been so ginned up by certain elements, the entire trying to enforce federal immigration laws, which weren't enforced for four years, because it's been ginned up to the point where this kind of stuff happens, I wouldn't be an ICE agent, especially if I didn't have a mask. They're going to show up at their house. But I think you should have a there's a very logical conversation to have about whether you should be allowed to wear masks as an agent, about whether you should have to go through the court system to come up with any of the logical arguments and discussions.

7:52This isn't the way you do it. This is not the way to do it. I don't know what you do with me. I don't know what you do with masks. I don't I really don't. Then stop vilifying these people that are trying to do their job. And that were, you know, someone was elected president to try to do to do something about the 10 million, you know. And isn't it a little strange that the two things, ICE and the SAVE Act, are both the most important things? What is it? And it's not about getting votes? That's not why they're doing it? How come it all seems to be trending towards that's what the end result? Is there any other reason to not want to have IDs for voting?

8:31That's not good. It's an 80 % issue. Even 70 % of Democrats. Most common sense people will say, yes, I show my ID when I show up to vote. Senator Elizabeth Warren sending a blistering letter to Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh yesterday, predicting that he will serve, in her words, as a rubber stamp for President Trump's Wall Street first agenda. She accuses Warsh of having learned nothing from what she called his failures during his prior stint at the Fed. That letter, first reported by CNBC, said that Warsh's time as Fed governor includes 2008 to 2009 financial crisis and the Great Recession, which she should should disqualify him from a promotion.

9:13Warren is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which will hold Warsh's confirmation hearing, although he does not need to win support of Democrats if Republicans all back his nomination. Republican Senator Tom Tillis supports Warsh, but is blocking his confirmation hearing until a criminal investigation of Fed Chair Powell is resolved. Warsh did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the letter from CNBC. Go figure. This is going to continue to play out. We'll see what happens. But that criminal investigation seems to be the one thing that is really tying things up, not just from Tom Tillis' perspective, but from Powell's perspective, too, where he has said he won't leave when his term is up.

9:55He will stay on the FOMC, at least until that criminal investigation is resolved as well. New York City will be the latest battleground in the fight to raise taxes on the wealthy. Robert Frank joins us now. Let's go. What's going on, Robert? Good morning, Joe. Good to see you. Well, the battle over taxing the wealthy has come to a head right here in New York State. Legislators and the governor are squaring off over plans to raise taxes on high earners before the budget deadline of April 1st. So that's coming up fast. Senator Bernie Sanders will headline a rally to tax the rich in the Bronx on Sunday.

10:28That's going to attract a lot of people. Legislators in Albany joining New York Mayor Momdani in a call to hike taxes on high earners to close the city's budget gap. The legislature wants more than$5 billion in tax hikes. They would include the following. So that's a 0.5 % statewide surcharge on the top tax brackets. The rate for those making more than$5 million would go to 10.8%. Those making more than$25 million, that would go to 11.4%. So the top combined city, state and federal rate for New York City would be over 52 percent. They're also calling for a hike in the corporate tax rate, a special New York City tax hike for financial center firms because we haven't lost enough jobs to Texas, a higher city business tax and a higher tax on the sale of properties valued at more than five million dollars.

11:16That's called a mansion tax. Now, Governor Hochul is saying she doesn't want more taxes on the wealthy since the tax base has already been eroded by wealthy New Yorkers moving to Florida. Take a listen. I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals. And I would say remote work changed everything. Now, for more on the states proposing tax hikes on the wealthy and how it affects high earners, You can sign up for the Inside Wealth newsletter at CNBC.com slash Inside Wealth. OK, what Governor Hochul said there, I saw a longer play out of that.

11:56And you and I have been talking about this for over a week at this point, I think. A longer playback from that conversation where it sounded like she was saying New Yorkers should do their patriotic duty and come back and pay taxes. In fact, why don't you go find some of the ones who moved to Florida and Texas and bring them back here? And it sounded crazy. You gave me a little broader context for what she was saying. referring there to a group called the patriotic millionaires. They're a group of progressive, largely inherited wealthy who have long said, tax us more, the wealthy should pay more.

12:26What she said is, okay, write me the checks. You can always send more to the government. Joe, as you often point out, you can always send more to the government. I know one of those guys, Bradley, what's in there, Tilson, Tilson Whitney. If you want to pay more, you can. And she said, Abigail Disney, insufferable. They don't ever fill out that bottom line ever, as far as I know. You can voluntarily pay more if you want to. Or she said, go to Palm Beach and bring back the people that have left. That's beautiful. So she said patriotic duty. What she was referring to there is the patriotic millionaire.

12:57That changes the context. At least she's recognizing the problem. But this rally, and Mamdani's not going to be there, but he's there in spirit, is putting a lot of pressure on this governor. And it reminds me of when Andrew Cuomo in 2021 kept saying, we can't lose more wealthy to Florida. I'm not going to raise taxes. and then he came under pressure and he raised taxes. And so, I mean, so far she's holding the line. New York doesn't have a revenue problem. Revenues are coming in$2 billion more than expected. And with the Wall Street bonuses just coming out higher than expected, that's$200 million more in state income that they didn't expect, $90 million more in New York City income than we didn't.

13:37We don't have a revenue problem. It's a spending issue. I guess he's not talking about Judge Lerner at hand. I guess the most patriotic thing that every American needs to do is pay exactly what you owe and not a penny more. And if you look at Minnesota or look at California, so you shouldn't, you should just give the government everything it wants and let them go crazy. We know what happens when they go crazy. Now that California wants a wealth tax. And so it's very standard. It's your patriotic duty to pay as little, pay exactly what you owe. Pay what you owe. But exactly, but as little as you can, use every mechanism you can to try to starve the behemoth.

14:19But this is the unifying theme for the Democrats at the state level. Why is Montgomery not going to be there? He doesn't want to antagonize the governor, but he kind of already is. Yeah, so it'll be interesting. But he said he'll be there in spirit. Because a lot of his people will be there and his proposals are there. Of course, Bernie Sanders will talk about his new wealth tax with Joe's friend Ro Khanna that they proposed. I think we've had a falling out. Ro, we miss you. Come back if you're out there. He's, I don't know, he's joined the loonies on the far left. 5 % wealth tax. I think when he comes on here, he reigns it in a little bit because he knows.

15:01But I see other stuff. We haven't seen him in a while. Ro, I hardly know ye. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, guys. The cheese will be next. Coming up on SquawkPod, Fundrise Innovation Fund is democratizing access to private companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks. And after it went public last week, the stock surged well over 1 ,500 percent until a short seller report raised valuation concerns. CEO Ben Miller responds to those concerns and shares his goal for the fund. Here's my hope, right, that Anthropic, OpenAI, Andrel, all the best tech companies say, oh, this makes sense that we should have an allocation for the little guy, you know, in a low-cost wrapper.

15:47It could be us, it could be somebody else, but it should be in a low-cost, regulated wrapper. And they need to address this problem, which is that most people are being excluded from this wealth creation and the creation of AI. We'll be right back.

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17:35Welcome back to Squawk Pod with Joe Kernan and Becky Quick. Stand by Joe. Here's Mike. Q. Wildness. The Fundrise Innovation Fund has had a volatile first week of trading, soaring more than 1 ,500 % above its net asset value at one point. But the shares slid yesterday after research firm Citron announced it was shorting the stock. And that's this morning that you're looking at right there down another 17. Sorry, Ben. Join us now. Fundrise co-founder and CEO. Ben, I don't know if you had seen it yet, but that's how you look over at the. Where did it come public, though? The first trade was 31. But a week ago, what was the first trade was 31, I guess.

18:15Right. OK. Now it's 2017. It went to 314. Right. At one point. It went to 550. We didn't have that. It went to 550. Yeah. Wow. So this is a fund that allows people to invest in things like Anthropic and OpenAI and Databricks and Anduril. So the first public trade was last week, but the fund was initiated or started back in 2022. And then it finally came public. And is it a REIT now? Because it has some real estate. It has other things. It's not. It's not, it's just a VCX is a symbol and it's a way for investors to play things they normally couldn't play. That's hence the excitement, right? Yeah.

19:05So when we conceived of democratizing private technology, we went to the SEC in 2021. They never heard of it. You know, we worked with them for a couple of years. is we launched the first public venture capital fund back in 2022. The minimum investment was$10. Over the course of the last three to four years, we have deployed about$700 million. We have 100 ,000 investors across the United States. So the average investment's been about$5 ,000. So before we listed, we must have been the most broadly held venture fund in history. And so the idea of like democratization, like when I first started it, people told me this was crazy.

19:53It was, and now it's novel. And I think the reception from the public market has shown it validates the strategy of democratizing access, bridging this gap between public and private, and doing it in a low cost regulated wrapper. But looking at the, and we know about, I don't know, I think of ETFs, other things like that, where the net asset value, a lot of times, the share price is below the net asset value. It is true, and I think Citron has looked at this, the net asset value of the fund, of the right now is what,$19 or so? Yeah, I mean, I... And it's trading at 200, and it went as high as 500.

20:33So there's a lot of excitement about what, being able to be in this, above what just is actually in the fund itself, right? Yeah, it's funny because when we propose taking the fund public, we put it to a shareholder vote. You know, we have 100 ,000 shareholders. Yeah. And I got a lot of grief. A lot of people are saying, don't do it. It might trade at a discount. You know, we don't know. We're happy with this. The performance has been really good. Our average client return has been 40 % a year on the fund. So it's funny to me to have gotten all this grief like eight days ago, right? Like really, really recently that it was going to trade at a discount.

21:12And now I'm seven days later and everybody say, oh, it's trading too much at a premium. And so it's sort of like, you know, my job is to execute on deploying the capital into the best tech companies. I don't know where it's going to trade. That's not my. That's what I would say is you're focused on what you're supposed to be doing. What Citron wrote that kind of caught my attention, though, is that we've seen this exact movie before. That's their words. Destiny Tech 100 is an identical product. a publicly listed closed-in fund giving retail investors access to private AI and tech companies, including SpaceX and OpenAI.

21:48When it launched in March of 2024, retail mania drove it above$75 a share against a net asset value of about$5. That's a premium exceeding 1 ,400%. Then he said it collapsed. The premium collapsed. It now trades at$27. while the net asset value actually grew to$20 a share. Just saying that that retail mania collapsed, you don't control the retail mania. You don't know what happens with that. Could the same thing happen here? I mean, the whole challenge as a regulated entity is talking about how it's going to trade. Like, I have no idea. Like, I know what my job is, my job. And it's not really about just us.

22:32Like, there's a problem, right? The problem is that private companies are staying private longer. I don't think there's been a world-class company built in the public markets in decades. But we are expecting SpaceX and OpenAI to go potentially this year. But it may be in the trillions, right? So you're talking about trillions of dollars that accrue to the top 1 % to the wealthiest people. There's going to be the next wave behind it of great tech companies. So we need to build a bridge. That bridge is structural. Everybody's focused on today, who goes public today. But over the next 10 years, like if VCX performs the way I hope it does, everyone should hold venture capital in their portfolio the way they hold real estate or they hold QQQ.

23:15It should just be normal. I guess that Citron, Becky, is saying that N did control the mania. Because of the influencer. Because of 200. Is that to 200? 500, five years, 200 plus content creators paid$8 million to hype the fund? No, no, that's half a decade ago. It's before the innovation fund existed.

23:41Shorting stock is totally normal in the public markets. Lots of people are shorting our stock. Lots of people are going long the stock. But there's nothing to that, that it wasn't disclosed? Yeah, the difference is that, and this is, I think, one of the reasons why people don't want to go public is that some companies short stock and then do PR smear. Hold on. I'm going to answer. Okay. There's a PR smear campaign to drive the stock down, right? Making up nonsense, throwing mud against the wall. That is literally totally irrelevant, but you try to talk the stock down to hurt our investors. But is this true?

24:15The SEC found willful. No. No. This is the first thing. It's five years ago. Okay. Five years ago, Gary Gensler was running around, attacking all fintechs. He was harassing everybody. We were just like, it's easier to just, we both agreed that we'll move on. There was no admission of any guilt. It was simply, it was like, if you look how much money it was, it was a really small amount. We just moved on because at that time, Gary Gensler was very anti-tech, very anti-innovation, and we just didn't want to deal with it. And so we didn't. and I mean, again, like half a decade ago, I mean, that's what he's using to talk the stock down.

24:52I mean, that's what's happening these days. This is like the problem with public markets is this is exactly why companies don't wanna go public. They wanna focus on building their business, not volatility, not people trying to take advantage of them by, you know, the stocks trading has nothing to do with me. Do you regret going public because of this? I mean, it's just a whole new level of stress of pressure, of public, you know. Where do you think it should trade if the net asset value is 19? Oh, man. I'm definitely not allowed to say where I think it should trade. I mean, that's... But I mean, I...