Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Three famous companies in three different industries can still add up to a total loss. Don and Tom revisit Rule 17 from Financial Physics: diversification means much more than owning a handful of familiar stocks. From Enron and WorldCom to hometown favorites, they explain why confidence in a company is no substitute for spreading your investment risk. They also distinguish investments from the firms that hold them, then tackle listener questions about micro-cap funds, building an emergency r...

Five listener questions take Don from retirement income to a young investor’s first $100 a month. When does an immediate annuity make sense? What changes—and what doesn’t—when eligible Vanguard mutual funds become ETFs? And how can a 20-year-old get started with a simple, diversified retirement portfolio? Don also explains where interest from brokered CDs goes and weighs the appeal of a promotional 6% account against the hassle of moving your banking. First, a listener has a paper-saving sug...

Harvard, Yale, and other elite endowments hire armies of experts and pour billions into private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, and real estate—yet simple public-market investing often leaves them behind. Don and Tom unpack the numbers, the fees, and the small college that took a much simpler route. Then Darcy calls with a retirement portfolio that gets an enthusiastic A+: globally diversified stocks, a bond ladder, smart asset location, and a flexible spending plan. Her biggest challe...

Your grocery bill, insurance premium, and home maintenance costs can tell a very different story from the headline inflation rate. Don and Tom explore why rising prices hit households differently, how lifestyle creep quietly absorbs pay raises, and why a diversified investment portfolio matters when protecting long-term purchasing power. A listener nearing retirement asks whether an annuity or a change to her target-date portfolio makes more sense. Plus, why a fixed bond payment can fall beh...

A $50 sports bet can cost more than the money you lose today. Don and Tom explore why treating gambling as an investment can put decades of potential growth at risk—and why patient, low-cost, diversified investing offers a very different proposition. They discuss the pull of betting apps, the power of compounding, and the habits that make saving automatic. Listener questions bring the conversation back to flexibility: How firmly should a retiree follow an investment policy statement during a...