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Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Can't Have Everything

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Don tackles the dangerous myth of “safe” high-yield investments, calling out misleading financial advice around covered call funds and non-traded real estate deals. He takes calls on 529 plans vs. UTMA, long-term care insurance pitfalls, robo-advisors for special needs planning, and a shady pitch for a fixed-indexed annuity disguised as a fiduciary recommendation. He ends with a birthday shoutout and a reminder of why good advice matters. 0:04 Greed and the myth of “safe” investments 1:27 Human desire for more with less risk—prime for exploitation 3:02 The illusion of safety: high-yield savings vs. riskier “alternatives” 3:50 Covered call funds are not safe—Don’s own experience 4:42 Non-traded real estate and price illusion 5:22 Financial Flinch Reflex PSA 6:23 How to call the show and why listener questions matter 7:36 529 vs. UTMA for a newborn + Fidelity Zero Fund vs. FSKAX 10:44 529s can convert to Roth IRAs—huge benefit 11:15 Long-term care insurance: costs, limitations, and reality checks 13:57 Hybrid LTC policies: gimmicky, commission-driven 16:34 Premium examples: $5K to $10K/year for minimal coverage 17:53 Funding a disabled daughter’s future using Schwab Intelligent Portfolio 19:50 Dollar-cost averaging lump sums? Don says no—invest now 21:12 Don on vacation guilt and cheap travel habits 22:24 529s owned by a trust—yes, and Utah’s My529 gets Don’s stamp 24:25 More trust pros and Utah’s fee/vehicle advantages 25:42 Listener wary of FIA pitch for TSP rollover—Don smells fraud 27:48 The match, the cap, the “no annuity” claim—Don calls B.S. 29:24 How to verify if someone’s actually a fiduciary 32:43 Why fixed-indexed annuities dodged SEC regulation 34:05 The real reason they’re pushing 70% of your money into an FIA 36:00 Listener calls just to wish Don happy birthday 37:32 Don thanks his audience and reflects on why he keeps doing this Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Reality Radio for a really great future.

0:08.0

We're talking real money.

0:10.5

You know, people out there who sell financial products, who write about financial products,

0:16.5

who pontificate about financial products, know one thing about us.

0:21.4

And it's pretty easy to know.

0:24.1

We're greedy.

0:25.8

It's not one of our better traits,

0:28.9

but it's often exploited because we generally want more.

0:33.3

And the thing about human beings is we generally want more with less effort or less risk.

0:39.7

It's pretty human.

0:41.9

Hi, everybody.

0:42.9

I'm Don McDonald.

0:44.2

This is Talking Real Money, the show about Real Money and talking about it on the radio,

0:51.0

on Saturdays, on Northwest News Radio in Seattle, and then five days a week on the podcast,

0:57.7

the Talking Real Money podcast.

0:59.7

Tom is on vacation in Europe somewhere.

1:03.6

I'm thinking Leipzig, but I'm not 100% because I just don't pay that much attention.

1:09.4

So I don't know.

1:10.4

I can't remember what day he said what.

1:12.0

I know he's going to be in France soon because he's going to Normandy for the whole

1:15.9

D-Day thing.

1:17.0

You, on the other hand, are stuck with me for a little while anyway, for about an hour, and

...

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