Show Notes
Don and Tom unpack what financial advice should cost after a retired couple discovers they’re paying $31,000 a year. They compare fee-only, fee-based, and commission models, explain how hidden fund expenses compound the damage, and show why every advisor should disclose the full all-in cost. Listener questions cover the Avantis balanced fund, building retirement income from a total-return portfolio, and where bonds belong across taxable and retirement accounts. They also compare qualified c...
More from Talking Real Money - Investing Talk
0:43 Don and Tom turn up the heat on factor investing: why small, value, and profitable companies have historically earned higher returns, why tracking error can be brutal, and why a modest tilt may be easier to live with than a portfolio built entirely around factors. 12:20 A listener’s 457(b) includes a non-U.S. value fund holding roughly 45% cash. The hosts explain why that unusually high cash position, active management, and higher expenses make the simpler international index option mor...
Indexed annuities promise market-like gains without market losses—but Don and Tom explain how commissions, surrender charges, spreads, participation rates, and even changing contract terms can leave investors with disappointing returns and very little transparency. They also discuss how much cash belongs in a retirement “reservoir,” why falling bond prices do not make high-quality bonds riskier than stocks, and how MYGA tax deferral works through a 1035 exchange. 01:31 Musical royalties and...
Don and Tom dismantle the idea that investors need to choose one narrow “style.” Growth, value, small companies, momentum, and passive investing are ingredients—not competing identities—and the sensible answer is a globally diversified, low-cost portfolio built to work together. They also answer questions about arranging stocks and bonds across a Roth and rollover IRA, helping a late-starting saver use a 403(b) and Roth IRA, and whether a 30-year Treasury yielding more than 5% is really a sa...
The “Buggy Whip Theory” is a reminder that even when investors correctly see the future coming, they rarely know which company—or which part of a new industry—will actually win. Don and Tom trace the lesson from ice delivery and buggy whips to streaming, airlines, and artificial intelligence. They also explain why rebalancing is portfolio maintenance rather than market timing, what falling municipal-bond prices really mean, and how to calculate international exposure as a percentage of the s...
Episode 2001 begins a new millennium of money questions—with Don sorting out the numbering before tackling inherited IRAs, CD ladders, Roth conversions, workplace retirement plans, Warren Buffett’s famously simple portfolio advice, and capital-gains harvesting for children. The common thread is simplicity with enough diversification and tax planning to avoid expensive surprises. 01:07 Welcome to Episode 2001 04:27 Simplifying inherited IRAs 09:13 Building an automatic CD ladder 11:46 Roth c...