Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Epizode

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  Who Calls the Financial Plays? 19.08.2026 27min

  Could a nation of steadier 401(k) investors make markets calmer—or will algorithms, options, and meme-stock behavior keep the ride bumpy? Tom and Roxy weigh the forces pulling volatility in both directions. Next, an almost-80-year-old with a $4 million portfolio asks who should coordinate the inheritance plan. The answer is a team effort, with the financial advisor calling the plays and the CPA and estate attorney handling their specialties. They also decode RIA versus IAR, flag the conflic...
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  Bond. Very Long Bond. 18.08.2026 32min

  AI’s appetite for data centers is sending tech giants to the bond market—and some of that debt will still be around in 2075. Don and Tom look at the scale of the borrowing and why a tempting yield deserves a closer look. They separate coupon rate from yield to maturity, explain senior unsecured debt, and show how brutally interest-rate-sensitive a 50-year bond can be. The verdict: these bonds may belong in a broad index, but they don’t belong on your personal shopping list. Listener questio...
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  Nobody Knows Nothing 17.08.2026 33min

  Why is financial forecasting so persuasive when its track record is so poor? Don and Tom open the Book of Financial Physics to Law No. 6—“Nobody Knows Nothing”—and explain why stock pickers, market timers, and highly paid pundits cannot reliably tell you what comes next. Then they answer listener questions about permanent life insurance and deferred income annuities, trusted contacts and two-factor authentication, and whether a wealthy client can copy an advisor’s portfolio while paying for ...
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  RMDs Without the Fire Sale 14.08.2026 20min

  Required minimum distributions don’t have to trigger a fire sale. Don explains how an in-kind transfer can move an investment from an IRA to a brokerage account while preserving the holding and resetting its cost basis. Then it’s back to school: a cut-off Coverdell question, the unusual strength of the TSP G Fund, and a surprisingly useful 4% money market account that can behave a lot like checking. The finale sorts out UTMA 529 rules, beneficiary control, and why a low-cost age-based portf...
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  The House Takes a Cut 13.08.2026 28min

  Wall Street can promise dazzling returns, but private equity’s fees, illiquidity, and tax drag may leave investors with far less than the headline number. Don and Tom unpack research showing how ordinary index funds and municipal bonds can deliver comparable after-tax results with much less risk. Then a startling poll claims many Americans believe stocks only help the richest—and that gambling may beat investing. The hosts push back with the math, then tackle when taxable brokerage accounts ...
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  The $315K Fork 12.08.2026 26min

  Fresh from passing the CFP exam, Roxy Butner joins Tom to work through a classic retirement fork: take the richer lifetime teacher pension, or accept a $315,000 lump sum and invest it. The math matters, but so do longevity, survivor benefits, liquidity, investing temperament, and the temptation to spend the pile. Next comes a clever tax-payment question: can IRA withholding replace quarterly estimated payments during Roth-conversion years? They explain why paying conversion taxes from taxabl...
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  Retirement Radish? 11.08.2026 28min

  Just when you thought America had invented every possible retirement account, along comes the Radish. Don and Tom dig into the proposed employer-funded savings plan, the man who helped create the 401(k), and whether workers really need another tax-advantaged vegetable in an already crowded garden. The practical answer is simpler: start saving now. A Roth IRA and one broad global stock ETF can do more good than waiting for the perfect account—or learning every acronym in the retirement alphab...
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  Worst Case, Ready 10.08.2026 31min

  Financial Physics rule five asks the uncomfortable question every investor should answer: what is the worst that could happen? Don and Tom revisit leverage in 1929, the crashes of 2000, 2008, and 2020, and the practical defenses that keep a bad market from becoming a ruined plan. Then the questions turn to retirement planning: managing IRMAA while considering Roth conversions, weighing long-term-care insurance against self-insuring, and judging whether a $1.6 million portfolio can support a ...
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  Five Questions, No Magic 07.08.2026 23min

  Don opens with a spirited defense of AI as a creative tool—especially when it makes ideas possible that would otherwise be too expensive or time-consuming. Technology changes the jobs around us, but learning to direct it responsibly can expand what one person can make. Then it’s on to listener questions: how charitable giving from a retirement account might work better through an IRA and qualified charitable distributions, whether dividends and bond interest should be reinvested, and why mon...
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  Chargeback to the Future 06.08.2026 32min

  Chargebacks were built to protect consumers from stolen cards and crooked merchants. Now they’re increasingly used when a subscription surprises someone, a restaurant disappoints, or buyer’s remorse sets in. Don and Tom sort real fraud from “friendly fraud”—and explain why the first call should usually go to the merchant, not the bank. They also look at confusing statement names, recurring subscriptions, the cost merchants absorb when a dispute lands, and why credit cards generally provide s...
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  Three Funds, One Risk Dial 05.08.2026 37min

  VT, DFAW, and AVGE all promise global diversification—but they take different roads to get there. Don and Tom compare cost, holdings, factor tilts, and the extra risk behind higher expected returns, then explain why the “best” one-fund solution depends on how much risk you actually need. Then a listener asks why advisors build portfolios with many funds when one might do. The answer runs through tax-loss harvesting, rebalancing, personalization, and the fine line between thoughtful design an...
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  Money by the Decades 04.08.2026 38min

  From your 20s to your 60s, the priorities change—but the basic job doesn’t. Don and Tom walk through emergency savings, Roth IRAs, 401(k) matches, rebalancing, retirement planning, Social Security, Medicare, and estate planning, decade by decade. Then Mary calls with a smart Roth-conversion puzzle. They weigh whose IRA to convert, how much to move without wasting a low tax bracket, the age-59½ penalty, and why a household’s accounts should be managed as one portfolio—even when the spouses ha...
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  Gravity Loses, Eventually 03.08.2026 33min

  Rule Four of Financial Fysics says everything eventually rises—not every stock, not every year, but human productivity and global economic output over time. Don and Tom explain why buying the broad market is ownership in thousands of businesses, not a trip to the casino, and why international diversification matters when nobody knows which country will lead the next century. Then Kenneth asks whether a tiny slice of his emergency fund belongs in stocks. The answer is still no: emergencies te...
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  Another Day of Q and A 31.07.2026 23min

  Can 21 funds deliver useful global diversification—or mostly camouflage overlap, cost, and complexity? Don opens the Friday Q&A by giving one listener a sharper set of questions to take back to an advisor, including what each fund actually contributes and what would be lost by owning fewer. The questions then move from portfolio architecture to retirement reality. A listener learns why RMDs and Roth conversions should not wag the retirement dog, and another faces a sudden $15,000-a-month...
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  The Index Ate Their Homework 30.07.2026 30min

  Active fund managers have a new explanation for years of underperformance: index funds have made their old job harder. Don and Tom examine that award-winning excuse, revisit how indexing reshaped the business, and return to the stubborn arithmetic—when active management charges more, matching the market still means losing to it after fees. Listener questions widen the lens. A UK investor wants to move from 60/40 to 50/50 without taking needless currency risk, while a family needs a sensible ...
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  The Big Question Pile 29.07.2026 38min

  Listener questions take over the studio as Don and Tom work through a very big pile without sacrificing any more forests than necessary. The quick tour runs from life insurance in retirement to the seductive yield on floating-rate bank-loan ETFs—and why extra income usually comes with extra risk. Then a live call turns asset allocation into an actual retirement plan: how a couple can move from 90/10 to 70/30, use Roth space intelligently, and rebalance without guessing what the market will d...
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  Bubble Trouble? 28.07.2026 31min

  AI stocks are booming, valuations are stretched, and capital spending is surging. Does that add up to a bubble—or just another story investors cannot reliably time? Tom and Don walk through Fidelity’s warning signs without pretending anyone can ring a bell at the top. The practical conclusion is less exciting and more useful: stay diversified, keep realistic expectations, include the fixed income your plan needs, and do not mistake a recent gain for money the market owes you forever. Then a...
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  Fluctuation Is the Feature 27.07.2026 31min

  Markets fluctuate. That sounds obvious—until a favorite stock climbs for years and investors start treating gravity as optional. Tom and Don revisit Financial Physics and the essential difference between a temporary market decline and permanent single-company damage. The cure is not predicting the next dip. It is connecting the return you need with the volatility you can tolerate, then owning thousands of companies and rebalancing instead of reacting. Questions range from IRA eligibility fo...
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  Brakes, Balance & $5 Million 24.07.2026 34min

  Bonds are supposed to be the brakes in a portfolio—but should those brakes be BND, a shorter-term fund, CDs, or a Treasury ladder? Don explains why duration, yield stability, and personal comfort make the answer more nuanced than one ticker. The Friday questions keep coming: pairing AVGE with VT, moving $5 million from real estate into a retirement portfolio, understanding an emerging-markets fund that became legally non-diversified, and building 529s for grandchildren. The final stretch is...
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  Robot Advisor, Human Judgment 23.07.2026 31min

  AI can crunch a portfolio, harvest losses, and explain an investment concept in seconds. But can it stop a nervous investor from selling at exactly the wrong moment—or understand the life behind the spreadsheet? Tom and Don test the robot-advisor promise, even asking ChatGPT to weigh in. The verdict is a useful division of labor: let technology handle repeatable mechanics, while human judgment, fiduciary responsibility, and behavior coaching remain hard to automate. Then the questions get w...