$8 Trillion Turnaround

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Don returns from a exhausting, comedy-of-errors flight to discuss how the markets pulled an equally wild round trip—plunging, then rebounding to the tune of $8 trillion. He and Tom break down the April stock and bond tantrum, laugh off predictions of recession, and offer practical guidance for scared investors, risk-takers, and those tempted by annuities. Listener questions cover mortgages vs. investing, the role of fixed annuities, and a touching thank-you from a longtime fan who retired well thanks to Don’s early radio shows. Oh, and Tom’s now YouTube famous. Just ask his grandkids. 0:04 Don’s cursed travel story: jet lag, delays, and onboard medical drama1:28 Welcome back—Tom’s model aircraft museum returns2:48 Market rewind: sharp drop and $8T rebound3:55 April 8 market bottom; temper tantrum or bear tease?4:40 CNN Fear & Greed Index: from panic to euphoria in weeks6:27 Fan mail: “Planes, Trains & Cryptocurrency” and Tesla hate from a Lyft driver7:43 Don’s Broadway singalong graduation trip to NYC9:01 Recession odds fall fast—tariffs rise faster11:27 Tom calls out the mayor’s interest rate prediction logic13:01 Check your 401(k)? Maybe don’t—unless you’re learning your risk tolerance14:10 Don’s “Tune Out the Noise” video hits 10+ million views16:43 Listener challenge: Why bash Fidelity annuities?18:47 Don’s CD ladder vs. annuities—why he prefers federal over contractual guarantees20:10 Even “no load” annuities can be slippery—careful with the fine print21:51 TRM hits 1,648 episodes (and counting)22:44 Listener Bruce: From broke in 1989 to comfortably retired, thanks to Don24:17 Remember load funds? Why no-loads and ETFs rule now25:59 American Funds' ETF pivot: lipstick on a mutual fund28:36 Listener question: Invest inheritance or pay off 6.6% mortgage?33:10 Roth IRA strategy, liquidity concerns, and investing at age 3536:17 Graduation singers belt Sinatra’s “New York, New York” at Radio City38:21 Reminder: Free portfolio help at TalkingRealMoney.com39:53 End-of-show degeneracy: full monty jokes, sensitivity training, and accidental innuendo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Rated T for Teen.
0:02.0	Each year, thousands of adults lose their shred.
0:05.0	It's an epidemic simply known as shred loss, but it doesn't have to be this way.
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0:19.0	we can put an end to shred loss everywhere.
0:22.2	Hit the new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 and show the world that the shred's not dead.
0:26.4	Pre-order Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 and play the foundry demo.
0:34.9	Reality Radio for a really great future.
0:37.9	We're talking real money.
0:40.0	Got a phone?
0:41.3	We got a number for you to call.
0:43.8	That number is 855-935-935-935-8-255.
0:49.6	What are we going to talk about if you call that number?
0:52.6	Money.
0:57.3	Money. All kinds of money stuff. I don mcdonald suffering from the first case of jet lag from new york to florida trust me this is
1:05.6	only a two-hour show so you can't actually go into all the twists and turns i'm sorry of it
1:10.7	i i really should have learned my lesson sometime over the show, so you can't actually go into all the twists and turns. I'm sorry of it.
1:17.2	I really should have learned my lesson sometime over the past 30 plus years that I've been married to Debbie,
1:25.9	because I know that about half, if I fly by myself, never a problem. If I fly with Debbie,
1:33.4	it's not just a problem. It's a cascading series of unfortunate events.
1:40.7	I mean, at some point, Debbie said, this is like a John Candy movie. Yeah, actually, it's closer to the Titanic when you think about it. No, no, we didn't have any titanic issues. You're like, you know, we did.
	...

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