It IS Gambling
Don goes solo this week and covers the wild state of “investing” in 2025 — including single-stock ETFs, leveraged funds, and zero-day options that look more like gambling than investing. He answers listener questions about Roth strategies for kids, aggressive long-term allocations, finding fiduciary advisors, dealing with inherited stock portfolios, and the ethics and fees of big Wall Street firms. Plus, he fields questions about new tax-focused ETFs and whether complicated multi-fund factor strategies are really worth the trouble.
0:04 Don jokes about ChatGPT replacing him, welcomes listeners
1:53 Today’s topic: 30% of new ETFs are tied to single stocks — “this is gambling”
4:27 Zero-day options and high-frequency trading likened to sports betting
5:23 Congressman Ro Khanna’s 2,800 trades this year — four per market day
6:12 Don’s call to stop pretending this is investing
8:16 Caller Mike: 3 kids with $100k+ Roths each — aggressive allocation recommendations (AVUV, AVGE, DFAW, 100% equity)
12:24 International weighting debate — Don likes 60/40 global tilt
15:34 Caller Dan from Israel: How to confirm if an advisor is a fiduciary; why inheriting stocks isn’t a reason to keep them
18:08 Transitioning from stocks to ETFs while minimizing capital gains
22:23 Caller Laura: Ethical concerns with J.P. Morgan, fees near 1%, annuities in portfolio — Don urges finding a true fiduciary and offers local resources
27:07 Caller Jim: New ETF (TOT) promising tax efficiency — Don warns against chasing “magic tricks” for small benefits
31:44 Question about swapping gains between mother/son’s VTI shares — IRS won’t allow
33:47 Kath reads listener question: Three-bucket retirement system, comparing iShares GLOF vs AVGE — Don says it’s fine, but may be overcomplicating
35:34 Rebalancing frequency discussion — annual is enough for most
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