In this post-Christmas edition of Talking Real Money, Don McDonald and Tom Cock dismantle one of the most seductive myths in personal finance: the promise of high returns, no risk, and tax-free income. Using the lawsuit filed...
A year-end Boxing Day Q&A covering realistic downside expectations for global portfolios, the marginal value of adding international small-cap value, details for RetireMeet 2026, and a deeply skeptical look at Medicaid-compli...
It’s surprisingly hard to know what something is really worth until someone actually tries to buy it—and that problem is front and center in private funds. Don and Tom unpack why private equity, private real estate, and other...
A Wall Street Journal column argues that younger investors are turning to options, crypto, and betting as a rational response to a “rigged” economic system. Don and Tom aren’t buying it. While acknowledging real headwinds—stu...
Streaming was supposed to save us money. Instead, it quietly rebuilt cable… with better branding and worse self-control. Don and Tom trace the journey from rabbit-ear TV to today’s subscription sprawl, where “it’s only $14 a ...
In this holiday Friday Q&A, Don opens with a festive announcement about Season’s Readings—now Apple-featured and temporarily commercial-free—before diving into listener questions on fixed annuities versus CDs, a creative (and...
Market drops are a gift when you’re young and a potential gut-punch when you’re retired, and this episode walks through why that’s true—and what to do about it. Don and Tom break down sequence-of-returns risk in plain English...
This episode of Talking Real Money takes aim at the latest “easy money” illusion—house flipping—explaining why rising costs, higher interest rates, softer housing demand, and plain old competition have drained much of its app...
A classic TRM episode that starts with Tom’s ill-fated attempt to cross a flooded Snoqualmie River (spoiler: no walking on water) and turns into a timely lesson on market returns, diversification, and why comparing your portf...
If you’re nearing retirement and uneasy about the math, you’re not alone. Don and Tom tackle the uncomfortable reality that most near-retirees haven’t actually run the numbers—and many won’t like what they see when they do. D...
A holiday-flavored Friday Q&A that covers a lot of ground without selling a single candy cane. Don answers listener questions on Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage (and the IRMAA buzzsaw), how to safely reposition an elderly par...
Today’s show turns a national mood ring into a money lesson. Don and Tom walk through a new Wall Street Journal/NORC survey that sorts Americans into four emotional quadrants—comfortable optimists, comfortable pessimists, str...
Don and Tom take a sharp look at Vanguard’s surprising new direction, especially the decision to fold annuities into 401(k) target-date funds through lightly regulated collective trusts. They contrast Vanguard’s historical si...
In this special seasonal episode, you and Tom resurrect Ha or Duh, tearing through Investopedia readers’ “rules to live by” and dismantling the silliest ones with mock gravitas. Between the dad-joke arms race, a spirited defe...
In this episode, Don and Tom saddle up for a tour through Schwab’s “Good, Bad, and Ugly.” They applaud CEO Rick Wurster’s warning about the growing overlap between gambling and investing, take a hard look at Schwab’s retail-s...
This Friday Q&A episode tackles a wide range of listener questions: whether someone with full pension income still needs bonds, how to fix a cluttered 403(b) invested through Corebridge, what to make of Bill Bengen’s new comm...
This episode digs into the unwelcome December surprise of capital-gains distributions, especially from actively managed mutual funds. Don and Tom break down Morningstar’s latest list of high-distribution offenders, spotlighti...
A fast, funny Thanksgiving-weekend show where you and Tom unpack why a tiny handful of stocks drive the S&P’s returns, revisit forgotten winners like Hormel and McDonald’s, explain why “you can’t pick them in advance,” and ti...
Tom and Don spend this post-Thanksgiving episode dismantling the illusion that big insurance companies—Northwestern Mutual in particular—are “financial advisors” rather than high-pressure sales organizations built on whole-li...
A light Black Friday edition tackles four listener questions covering Vanguard’s Digital Advisor, the timing of Social Security versus IRA withdrawals, whether to swap target-date funds for a VT/BND mix, and the wisdom (or la...
Don and Tom run through a Wall Street Journal list of “subtle signs it might be time to retire,” reacting to each one with their usual mix of disbelief, personal anecdotes, and gentle ribbing. The episode wanders into tech re...
This episode opens with a warning to younger investors who take TikTok advice over historical perspective, especially around claiming Social Security early. Don and Tom walk through the guaranteed 8%+inflation benefit increas...
Don and Tom go deep on a shady “non-profit” financial education group that funnels retirees into high-commission indexed annuities, using a listener tip to unpack the advisor’s fake credentials, mismatched ADV filings, dubiou...
A lively Friday Q&A episode tackling listener questions about FSAs vs. 401(k) contributions, BND vs. BKAG bond funds, intermediate-term bonds vs. CD ladders, Avantis fund-of-funds fees and structure, and the financial implica...
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