Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald
  • 4.5 (813)
  • Investing
  • Updated Daily

Financial talk radio veteran, Don McDonald and former host of Serious Money on PBS, Tom C**k, join forces to talk about real money issues. In each episode, they solve real money problems, dole out real investing (not speculating) advice, and really explain the financial issues that effect all of us. Plus, it's actually fun! Talking Real Money is a podcast designed to provide the real help we all need to enjoy a really great future. Call in with your questions anytime at 855-935-TALK (8255).

  1. Three Ways to Wealth

    20h ago

    Three Ways to Wealth

    Money Monday has arrived, and Don kicks off a new weekly series based on his book Financial Fysics. The first “law” may surprise you: according to Don, every dollar ever earned comes from just three sources—luck, theft, or work. He and Tom debate where investing belongs, why entrepreneurship remains one of the best paths to wealth, and how much luck really contributes to financial success. Then they answer a listener’s retirement planning question about whether to finance a Florida townhouse or withdraw money from a Roth IRA. Along the way they discuss Roth conversion strategy, Florida HOA reserve funds, special assessments, and why building a retirement plan should always come before deciding where the money comes from. 00:00 Welcome to Money Monday 00:12 A new weekly Financial Fysics series begins 01:35 Why anonymous two-star book reviews are so frustrating 02:40 Free Financial Fysics book giveaway 03:50 Rule #1: There are only three ways to make money 04:45 Luck—including investing, lotteries, and inheritance 06:35 Theft, fraud, and unethical financial products 07:55 Why successful investing combines work and luck 10:30 How most great fortunes are actually built 12:10 Entrepreneurship, risk, and creating wealth 13:35 Understanding just how large a trillion dollars really is 15:50 The biggest takeaway from Rule #1 17:15 Preview of next week’s rule: Supply and Demand 18:15 Why listener questions slow down during the summer 19:15 Listener Question: Should a retiree finance a Florida townhouse or withdraw money from a Roth IRA? 21:10 Florida HOA reserves and avoiding expensive surprises 24:30 Why retirement planning comes before choosing an account 26:00 Why the Roth IRA is probably the last account to tap Questions? Comments? Click!

    30 min
  2. Question Onslaught

    3d ago

    Question Onslaught

    Tom’s on vacation, but the listener questions are not. In this packed Q&A episode, Don tackles one of the most common retirement dilemmas: if your Social Security and annuity income already cover your expenses, do you still need a traditional emergency fund? From there, the questions keep coming. Don weighs in on what to do with “lazy money” earning only 3%, whether a MYGA is really a better deal than a CD ladder, how to structure a taxable brokerage account for long-term growth, and where to keep nearly $300,000 set aside for a home purchase in the next two to three years. He also takes on a thoughtful question about managing a taxable portfolio for elderly in-laws who need additional income for memory care, and wraps up with a step-by-step explanation of how inherited IRA money can potentially be used to fund backdoor Roth contributions. Along the way, you’ll hear why “guaranteed” doesn’t always mean what insurance companies want you to think it means, why simplicity often beats ETF overengineering, and why liquidity still matters—even in retirement. 0:05 – Intro and why Tom is getting buried in listener questions while on vacation 1:14 – Don thanks listeners and mentions Apple featuring Litreading 1:58 – How to send recorded questions at TalkingRealMoney.com 2:16 – Question 1: Do retired investors still need a six-month emergency fund if Social Security and annuities cover expenses? 3:14 – Why Don still favors stable, liquid emergency money even in retirement 4:30 – Question 2: What should retirees do with “lazy money” that’s earning only about 3%? 5:28 – Don’s preference for CD ladders over MYGAs and why “guaranteed” doesn’t mean risk-free 7:33 – Question 3: How should a high-income investor build a long-term taxable portfolio at Vanguard? 10:03 – Don’s case for simplifying with AVGE or DFAW instead of mixing multiple ETFs 11:24 – Question 4: Is a five-year MYGA better than a five-year CD ladder? 12:01 – Why Don still leans toward CDs despite the higher MYGA yield and tax deferral pitch 14:16 – Question 5: Best place to keep $291,000 earmarked for a home purchase in two to three years 14:46 – Money market vs. high-yield savings vs. CDs vs. BND for short-term house money 17:04 – Question 6: How to structure a $300,000 taxable portfolio for elderly in-laws who need extra monthly income for memory care 18:37 – Why Don would keep lots of liquidity, use only a little equity, and skip muni bonds in a 22% bracket 20:50 – Question 7: Can inherited IRA proceeds be used to fund a backdoor Roth for both spouses? 22:40 – Don’s step-by-step answer, including opening new IRAs and watching out for the pro-rata rule 25:07 – Don plugs The Line Uncrossed and offers a free one-hour advisor meeting 25:42 – Reminder to send questions and be patient while Tom is on vacation Questions? Comments? Click!

    28 min
  3. Tom Tests Don

    4d ago

    Tom Tests Don

    In what may be our last quiz, ever, Tom turns the tables and puts Don in the hot seat with a Wall Street Journal high-school personal finance quiz—covering the Magnificent Seven, Roth IRAs, TIPS, efficient markets, yield curves, market risk, and dollar-cost averaging. Don does reasonably well, but not without protesting a dubious “debt avalanche” question and getting tangled up in a couple of accounting and risk terms. After the quiz-show nonsense, the guys tackle a listener question from Joseph in Pennsylvania: should your stock/bond allocation be based on a fixed percentage of your portfolio, or should it be driven by how many years of spending you want buffered in safer assets? Tom and Don explain why the answer depends on more than just income needs—it also depends on your emotional tolerance for volatility, your need for growth, and the role fixed income plays in helping you stay invested when markets get ugly. 0:22 Tom becomes quizmaster and introduces the Wall Street Journal high-school personal finance quiz 2:12 Question 1: Which stock is not part of the Magnificent Seven? 3:47 Question 2: Which retirement account does not require withdrawals at a certain age? 5:09 Question 3: TIPS, STRIPS, Series I bonds, and inflation-adjusted principal 6:58 Question 4: Debt payoff strategies and the disputed “debt avalanche” answer 9:13 Question 5: Efficient market hypothesis 10:12 Question 6: What an inverted/downward-sloping yield curve says about future rates 11:25 Question 7: Return on equity math and a heavily leveraged company 12:56 Question 8: What it means when net present value equals zero 14:44 Question 9: Why putting your emergency fund in stocks creates market risk 16:52 Question 10: Unsystematic risk versus broad market risk 18:57 Question 11: Dollar-cost averaging 20:06 Tom and Don wrap up the quiz and revisit the “debt avalanche” controversy 21:11 Listener question from Joseph in State College, Pennsylvania 21:34 Should bond allocation be based on a fixed percentage or on years of spending? 22:07 Risk tolerance vs. risk profile: why income needs are only part of the equation 23:26 Why a 5-year spending buffer in safer assets can make sense in retirement 24:13 The emotional role of bonds and fixed income during market declines Questions? Comments? Click!

    29 min
  4. The Right Withdrawal Rate?

    5d ago

    The Right Withdrawal Rate?

    Tom and Don tackle one of retirement’s hardest questions: how much can you safely spend from your portfolio without blowing up the rest of your life? They walk through the familiar 4% rule, flexible withdrawal strategies, why a flat 10% withdrawal is usually fantasyland, and why the “right” spending rate depends heavily on your age, timeline, and tolerance for adjusting in bad markets. They also answer a listener question about a 22-year-old’s investment allocation and close with a timely discussion of the latest Social Security trust fund warning, what it actually means, and the only real ways Congress can fix it. 00:12 — How much can you safely spend in retirement? Tom and Don tee up the big question: 4% rule, 5% flexible rule, or something more personalized. 02:08 — Survey shocker: many people think they need 30 years of income saved before retiring comfortably. 03:03 — Longevity math: how long retirement might actually last, and why that matters for withdrawal rates. 04:40 — Can you really withdraw 10% a year? Tom and Don push back on overly aggressive retirement spending assumptions. 05:59 — Why generic withdrawal rules fall apart in real-life retirement planning. 06:25 — Every retiree needs a personalized withdrawal strategy based on their own timeline and circumstances. 07:17 — Retiring at 60 vs. 70: why earlier retirement makes even “safe” withdrawal rates riskier. 09:04 — Why it’s worth having a professional review your retirement withdrawal plan, even if you’ve used calculators. 09:58 — The case for flexible withdrawals: spending more in strong markets and less in weak ones. 10:20 — Three common retirement planning mistakes: not saving enough, not knowing your needed return, and taking the wrong amount of risk. 12:16 — Listener question: a 22-year-old with $28,500 invested wants to know if his allocation makes sense. 13:28 — Breaking down DFAW, VT, and VTI: overlap, diversification, and whether the portfolio is too complicated. 16:21 — The bigger story: a 22-year-old already has a terrific head start on retirement savings. 17:56 — Social Security update: the trust fund could run short in 2032 if nothing changes. 18:37 — The only real ways to fix Social Security: raise taxes, cut benefits, or some combination of both. 19:52 — Why scary Social Security headlines should not automatically push people to file early. 21:22 — One possible fix: raising or removing the payroll tax cap. 23:27 — The demographic problem under Social Security: too few workers supporting too many retirees. Questions? Comments? Click!

    28 min
  5. Mom (Dad) and Money

    6d ago

    Mom (Dad) and Money

    As parents age, money can get more complicated—bill paying, account access, healthcare decisions, investment management, and eventually the possibility that someone else may need to step in. In this episode, Don and Tom walk through how families can start that conversation before a crisis hits. They cover when to begin talking, what adult children should know about accounts and spending, why durable powers of attorney need to be checked with custodians in advance, and the importance of reviewing wills, beneficiaries, and backup decision-makers. They also talk about the emotional side of these transitions, including independence, trust, and the danger of children projecting their own investing preferences—or financial self-interest—onto aging parents. Then they answer two listener questions: one about whether it’s time to fire an evasive advisor charging 1% plus expensive funds, and another about alternative career paths in financial planning beyond the traditional CFP route. 0:05 – Intro: the hard conversation families need to have about aging and money 1:00 – When parents—or you—reach the point where financial help may be needed 1:56 – Tom’s family experience and the challenge of stepping in gracefully 3:17 – Why families should talk early about money, spending, and where accounts are held 5:24 – Account access, passwords, and why digital organization matters more than ever 7:38 – Durable power of attorney: why you need one and why custodians should review it in advance 9:01 – Backups for everything: POAs, wills, beneficiaries, and successor decision-makers 10:02 – Why adult children should meet their parents’ financial advisor before a crisis 11:07 – When a trusted advisor can help if parents don’t want children directly involved 11:28 – How to approach the conversation as an adult child without expecting instant control 12:28 – Don’t project your own investing style onto your parents’ retirement portfolio 13:28 – The uncomfortable reality of greed and inheritance influencing family decisions 13:40 – Why this belongs at the top of the planning checklist for older families 14:07 – How to send your own questions to Talking Real Money 14:58 – Listener question: Is it time to fire a wealth manager who won’t answer basic questions? 17:15 – Don and Tom’s verdict on an advisor charging 1% while dodging accountability 18:48 – Listener question: Are there good financial-planning career paths besides becoming a CFP? 20:41 – The regulatory reality of giving investment advice for a fee 22:32 – Relationship roles, planning roles, and the growing specialization inside advisory firms Questions? Comments? Click!

    28 min
  6. It's Very Volatile!

    Jul 6

    It's Very Volatile!

    Don and Tom take on the latest crypto hype cycle, arguing that Bitcoin remains speculation—not a reliable store of wealth—and that putting crypto inside retirement accounts is especially dangerous. They discuss a new self-directed IRA crypto platform, the risks of private equity and alternative assets in retirement plans, and why “get rich quickly” pitches should set off alarm bells. Then they answer two listener questions. First, Mark from Ohio asks how to prepare a retirement portfolio for a likely market downturn and how withdrawals and rebalancing should work once retirement begins. Later, Doug from Utah asks whether market-linked CDs make sense compared with Treasuries and whether the “no downside” promise is worth the tradeoffs. Don and Tom explain why they dislike market-linked CDs, how bank brokers get paid to sell them, and why simpler fixed-income tools often make more sense. They wrap up with a warning about growing bank-related scam tactics and a publishing scam Don has been seeing aimed at authors. 0:05 – Intro: one-star Bitcoin review and why crypto losses are hard to ignore 1:16 – Bitcoin’s drop, crypto volatility, and retirement-account crypto pitches 2:42 – Self-directed IRAs, IRA Financial, and the “get rich quick” problem 5:27 – Why crypto, private equity, and alternative assets can be dangerous in retirement plans 6:58 – Why most people bought Bitcoin: speculation, not currency utility 10:29 – Hot money shifts: crypto, gold, semiconductors, and chasing momentum 12:20 – Don’s bottom line on crypto as speculation vs. wealth storage 13:16 – Listener question from Mark: preparing for a market downturn before retirement 15:32 – Is an 80/20-ish portfolio too aggressive with retirement four years away? 17:13 – Bonds vs. cash/CDs: what fixed income should do near retirement 18:56 – Withdrawal strategy during a downturn and how rebalancing fits in 20:46 – Listener question from Doug: market-linked CDs vs. Treasuries 23:47 – Why Don and Tom dislike market-linked CDs 26:42 – The danger of taking investment advice from a bank salesperson 29:18 – Building Treasury and CD ladders through a brokerage instead 31:23 – Banks training tellers to spot scam victims before money is lost 34:04 – Don’s author scam warning: fake book clubs and fake promotional offers Questions? Comments? Click!

    39 min
  7. Clickbait Investing

    Jul 2

    Clickbait Investing

    Don and Tom take apart a clickbait Kiplinger piece touting the “five top buy-and-hold investments to manage market volatility,” arguing that the list is a random grab-bag of recent winners rather than a coherent portfolio. They explain why the suggested mix—VOO, VXUS, a healthcare sector ETF, Apple stock, and gold—does little to reduce volatility and instead layers on concentration risk, sector bets, and performance chasing. From there, they broaden the discussion into a more useful question: where should investors actually go for trustworthy information, how should listeners think about evaluating a financial advisor, and what really matters when judging portfolio design. The back half of the episode features a thoughtful call about investing a spendthrift trust for two sons over a 12-year horizon, plus a warning that advisor performance can’t be measured by returns alone without understanding risk, asset allocation, and the planning services being delivered. 0:05 Cold open, podcast intros, and Tom’s ever-growing aircraft museum 1:40 Don tees up a Kiplinger clickbait article on the “five top buy-and-hold investments” for market volatility 2:14 Why the article’s opening about political uncertainty and inflation could apply to almost any year 3:36 The one part they agree with: long-term wealth is built by disciplined exposure to quality assets, not reacting to headlines 4:53 The rise of numbered clickbait headlines and whether numbers in titles actually matter 5:53 Why “stability” and “stock picks” don’t belong in the same sentence 6:27 Kiplinger pick #1: VOO — fine as a broad U.S. stock fund, but hardly a volatility solution 7:06 Kiplinger pick #2: VXUS — the one recommendation they think mostly holds up 8:21 Kiplinger pick #3: XLV healthcare ETF — a sector bet masquerading as a defensive holding 9:33 Why a healthcare sector fund lags a total-world approach while adding unnecessary concentration 10:28 Kiplinger pick #4: Apple stock — and why adding a single stock you already own inside the S&P 500 makes little sense 10:59 The problem with betting on one company instead of owning the economy through broad diversification 12:20 Kiplinger pick #5: gold — and why recent gains don’t make it a volatility manager 12:48 Gold’s long-term history, lack of fundamentals, and why its recent performance actually illustrates volatility rather than reducing it 14:12 The bigger issue: how do you decide which financial publications or sources are worth trusting? 15:26 Why Vanguard and Dimensional research tend to be more reliable than headline-driven finance content 16:35 The real reason people click these articles: fear, underperformance anxiety, and the urge to “improve” a portfolio 17:23 Why the Kiplinger portfolio is missing the one thing you’d expect in a true volatility-management portfolio: bonds 18:51 Don and Tom’s plea to listeners: follow evidence-based advice rather than clickbait lists 19:30 Listener call from Brian in Bremerton about investing spendthrift trusts for his sons over a 12-year horizon 20:55 The challenge: balancing growth with the possibility of distributions for education, cars, weddings, or a house 23:08 Don’s suggested framework: keep a cash/fixed-income reserve for near-term needs and invest the rest aggressively for growth 24:48 Why a target-date fund may not be the best fit for this kind of trust structure 25:37 A practical allocation idea: roughly 80/20 with a global equity fund plus a broad bond fund 26:51 Brian explains that Roth IRA funding is already part of the family’s gifting and estate strategy 27:32 A listener from Seoul praises the show and begs them not to turn into a “humblebrag retirement call-in show” 29:49 Listener question: how do you measure whether your financial advisor is performing well? 30:42 Why advisor performance should not be judged by returns alone 32:11 The importance of understanding what services you’re actually paying for: planning, rebalancing, tax guidance, income strategy, and more 33:11 What to examine in a portfolio besides returns: risk level, asset allocation, and whether key asset classes are missing 34:11 Why even benchmark comparisons can be misleading if the portfolio isn’t properly diversified 35:18 The better question: is your advisor delivering the services and portfolio design you actually need? Questions? Comments? Click!

    38 min
  8. Another Money Quiz

    Jul 1

    Another Money Quiz

    Can Tom beat the average American on a personal finance quiz? Don puts Tom in the hot seat with eight questions drawn from a financial literacy quiz developed by researchers at Stanford University and TIAA. The topics range from earning, budgeting, inflation, investing, debt, insurance, and risk to evaluating investment advice. Along the way, there’s plenty of good-natured ribbing, a debate over compounding, and a reminder that even financial professionals can stumble on carefully worded questions. Later, the guys answer listener questions about whether the small-cap value premium still exists despite the rise of private equity, and whether exotic portfolios like the “Golden Butterfly” really deserve their impressive back-tested reputations. Plus, Tom gives an enthusiastic endorsement of Don’s Civil War novel, The Line Uncrossed. 00:18 – Tom faces an eight-question financial literacy quiz 03:49 – Inflation versus savings: the trickiest question 05:53 – Why diversification beats owning a single stock 07:11 – The power—and danger—of compound interest 08:50 – Insurance coverage young adults actually need 09:52 – Expected value and lottery math 11:10 – Appropriate investments for different ages 12:40 – Why compounding may be the most important concept in investing 13:39 – Which asset classes have historically produced the highest returns? 16:03 – Does the small-cap value premium still exist? 23:01 – Should investors trust the Golden Butterfly portfolio? 26:45 – Tom’s review of The Line Uncrossed 29:17 – Free meetings with Appella advisors 31:11 – Blue shirts, blue eyes, and wrapping up Questions? Comments? Click!

    34 min
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4.5
out of 5
813 Ratings

About

Financial talk radio veteran, Don McDonald and former host of Serious Money on PBS, Tom C**k, join forces to talk about real money issues. In each episode, they solve real money problems, dole out real investing (not speculating) advice, and really explain the financial issues that effect all of us. Plus, it's actually fun! Talking Real Money is a podcast designed to provide the real help we all need to enjoy a really great future. Call in with your questions anytime at 855-935-TALK (8255).

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