A Fool and His Money...

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this classic swirl of candor, humor, and financial sense, Don and Tom tackle the human habit of financial foolishness—from betting big on speculative ETFs to ignoring global diversification. They call out the irony of investment products like ELON, roast the current state of the Motley Fool, and offer real-world perspective on international investing, market timing myths, and retirement portfolio design. They even sprinkle in a few thesaurus gems for good measure. 0:04 Welcome and warning: this episode is full of tangents, tomfoolery, and truth 0:48 Netflix documentary detour: why are people (and investors) so dumb? 2:01 International investing: why people ignore it and why that’s… dumb 3:49 U.S. vs international returns in early 2025—surprise! It’s not all about the S&P 5:16 Market irony and the value of global diversification 6:09 A disappointing turn from The Motley Fool (and a very public grudge) 6:59 Enter the ELON ETF—double Tesla, short Ford, and down 64% 9:41 What happens when leverage meets marketing in the worst way 11:10 A $750K fund that made… $675 in fees. Yep. 11:57 Foolish investor behaviors: feelings ≠ foresight 13:37 The (simple) path to real investing: low-cost, tax-efficient, diversified portfolios 14:28 Punchline investing: don’t be a dunce—be global, be patient 15:52 Listener Q: Is my mix of S&P 500, TDFs, and Roth diversification enough? 17:26 Portfolio allocation advice: stock/bond mix first, account strategy second 19:28 Suggestion: get a professional plan before retirement 20:00 Buffered ETFs: what they are, why they’re pricey, and why they disappoint 23:22 Returns reality check: buffered funds vs plain S&P 500 24:47 The big lie of hedged products—"all the upside, none of the risk" 25:19 Wrapping up with more Q&A, grandkids, and international call jokes 29:33 Tom’s latest investment: soccer team ownership (yes, really) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, that's my prime delivery.
0:01.6	What, already?
0:02.7	Only one thing can match the buzz of Prime's fast delivery.
0:06.2	And that's the buzz of Prime's entertainment.
0:09.0	What are we watching?
0:09.7	Heads of state, that new action comedy with Idris Elber as the Prime Minister,
0:13.3	John Sina as the president, and Prianka Chopra Jonas,
0:15.9	as their only hope.
0:17.0	It looks like a blast.
0:18.2	From fast delivery to explosive entertainment, it's on Prime. For only
0:23.0	$899 a month, join now. Content includes limited ads, subscription or to renews. For more information,
0:28.2	go to amazon.com.uk.U.K. slash prime.
0:35.0	Reality for a really great future.
0:38.0	We're talking real money.
0:40.7	Hello friends.
0:42.6	Welcome to the Talking Real Money podcast with me, Don McDonald, and your friend Tommy Tangent.
0:50.5	Yes, it's time to talk about money and anything that springs to mind here on the Talking Real Money podcast.
0:58.4	Today, let's talk a little bit about you and others like you who do some dumb things.
1:06.9	We all do those dumb things because we're by by definition, kind of dumb, being human.
1:13.8	We just do dumbness.
1:15.9	Speaking of tangential, I...
1:19.2	Oh, no, here we go.
	...

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