Broadcast from RetireMeet 2026 in Bellevue, Don and Tom reflect on the evolution of retirement planning—from a narrow focus on investments to a broader conversation about purpose, relationships, and life after work. They inte...
Broadcast live from RetireMeet in Bellevue, Don announces that after nearly four decades of Saturday radio shows, Talking Real Money will end its live radio run on March 28 and continue exclusively as a podcast. The episode f...
Don and Tom start with the classic “jelly beans in a jar” experiment to explain the wisdom of crowds and why large groups often produce surprisingly accurate predictions. That idea leads to a discussion of modern prediction m...
AI hype is colliding with financial reality. Don and Tom examine Elon Musk’s suggestion that artificial intelligence could create such abundance that retirement savings might become unnecessary. They unpack the economics behi...
Financial education is expanding nationwide—but much of it is still teaching speculation instead of investing. Don and Tom critique stock-picking contests, flawed risk frameworks, and misleading “active vs. passive” framing, ...
Don and Tom revisit the eternal temptation to beat the market, dismantling the appeal of equal-weight indexes and active management claims by highlighting implementation costs, tax drag, and decades of underperformance data. ...
This episode dives into the surprisingly emotional world of fixed income investing, exploring whether traditional bond funds like BND still make sense or if newer laddered bond ETFs offer a psychological edge by returning pri...
On this Friday Q&A episode, Don answers listener questions on international stock overweighting inside a Seattle city retirement plan, whether a Vanguard target-date fund might be a smarter emotional guardrail than self-manag...
Vanguard slashes fees again, pushing its average expense ratio down to six basis points. Don and Tom contrast that with outrageously expensive ETFs charging 2% to 14% annually, walk through why evidence-based factor funds cos...
This episode focuses on smart portfolio construction across multiple accounts, using AVGV to complement limited 401(k) options, and why allocation should be viewed holistically. A caller debates stretching into a later target...
This episode moves from the origin of “rule of thumb” to why most investing rules of thumb don’t work for real people. Tom and Don explore a Yale professor’s personalized allocation model, walk through tax-smart strategies fo...
Don and Tom examine Kiplinger’s list of top retirement side gigs and separate practical ideas from pipe dreams, questioning whether executive coaching, IT consulting, online reselling, and landlord life truly offer “passive” ...
After a bump in crypto-fueled listener calls, Don tackles a mix of practical and philosophical money questions: why Fidelity’s new “stablecoin” isn’t an investment at all, whether a heavily conditioned city 401k match is wort...
Vanguard lowers fees yet again, pushing its average expense ratio down to just six basis points — a move that underscores how dramatically fund costs have fallen over time. Don and Tom contrast this with shockingly expensive ...
Don and Tom tackle S&P 500 concentration risk and the dominance of the Magnificent Seven, explaining why diversification still matters despite compelling active management narratives. They clarify the difference between curre...
Don and Tom dissect a Morningstar article naming the “best core stock funds” for 2026, noting the sharp decline in recommended actively managed funds and the dominance of low-cost index funds. While they applaud the shift awa...
In this Friday Q&A episode, Don introduces a new AI audio enhancement tool that dramatically improves the sound quality of listener questions, then dives into a series of practical retirement issues. He tackles whether conver...
Markets may feel calm despite geopolitical noise, but uncertainty is the permanent condition of investing—and the price of admission for higher returns. Don and Tom unpack Jason Zweig’s reminder that investors hate uncertaint...
Talking Real Money opens with a stark illustration of why Bitcoin fails as a usable currency, showing how volatility can destroy real-life budgets overnight. Don and Tom compare crypto to historic speculative bubbles, argue t...
0:04 Dow hits 50,000 while most stocks lag—why it’s a meaningless headline 0:59 Robinhood and Palantir slide—speculators start getting nervous 1:39 Jason Zweig on low-volatility funds—and why timing them is a trap 1:55 Why the Dow is a terrible “index” built on 1890s math 3:22 Diversified portfolio…
Don and Tom step away from pure investing talk to explore how AI, layoffs, and stagnant wages are reshaping career paths—especially for young people and midlife career changers. Drawing on a Wall Street Journal article, they ...
In this Friday Q&A episode of Talking Real Money, Don tackles five thoughtful listener questions ranging from confusing 401(k) collective investment trusts and investment club withdrawals to Roth conversion strategies, inflat...
Don and Tom take on Elon Musk’s claim that AI will make retirement saving obsolete, pushing back hard on the idea that technology or billionaires will somehow fund everyone’s future. They examine why universal basic income is...
Tom and Don break down why gold, silver, and individual stocks remain speculative distractions rather than reliable investments, using recent volatility in precious metals and Microsoft as cautionary examples. They explain ho...
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