Misplaced Money

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Don and Tom dig into America’s $1.7 trillion in forgotten retirement accounts—29 million of them! They walk listeners through how to search for their own missing funds and share their own finds (or lack thereof). They answer questions about where to park $100K in short-term savings, when (or if) to convert to a Roth in your 70s, the pros and cons of ETFs versus mutual funds in taxable accounts, and the murky territory of backdoor Roth timing and the pro-rata rule. A listener also calls in with praise—and a gentle challenge—to donate or support the show, leading to reflections on how to really help Talking Real Money thrive. 0:05 Welcome back—same truth, new week: invest simply, diversify, and stop overthinking 1:24 Financial complexity is mostly unnecessary—simple portfolios work best 2:37 Listeners have lost $1.7 trillion in forgotten 401(k)s—here’s how to find yours 4:34 Don checks the retirement lost & found—comes up empty 6:33 Tom finds $29 from Starbucks—through a different database 7:36 Sites to check: National Registry, Lost & Found DB, MissingMoney.com 9:15 Caller Alan: What should I do with $100K in liquid, short-term funds? 11:30 Don’s “Three Easy Pieces” ladder strategy: savings + 1-year + 2-year CDs 14:13 Alan’s happy—Bread Savings gets a shout-out 15:43 Talking Real Money Friday Q&A is the listener favorite 17:00 Caller Joel: Should I switch my Vanguard mutual funds to ETFs? 19:14 Yes—especially in taxable accounts, for better tax efficiency 20:44 Caller Sue: At 77, is it too late to convert $100K from IRA to Roth? 27:05 Probably not worth it—tax impact likely the same or worse 29:51 Rethinking retirement tax math—it’s not “your” money until it’s taxed 33:19 Don checks reviews—guess who’s back with a grudge? 33:49 Caller Ray: Can I move IRA to 457 to avoid pro-rata on backdoor Roth? 36:40 Caller Jim: Mom’s advisor switched to LPL—should I worry? 38:59 Jim’s suggestion: listeners donate to a favorite charity in TRM’s name 40:04 Victory Capital funds: Don’s not a fan of their approach 42:41 Why broad diversification beats thematic ETFs with 100 holdings 44:12 Wrap-up: Where to listen, how to submit questions, and why reviews matter 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.
0:07.8	We're talking real money.
0:09.9	Hey there.
0:11.3	Hi there.
0:12.3	Welcome to the show there.
0:14.2	This is Talking Real Money.
0:15.8	It's a radio show that becomes a podcast.
0:18.7	And you're a part of it right now, where at least we hope you are.
0:22.4	If you're listening to the radio, you are, if you're listening to the podcast you are.
0:25.2	And we are here to, well, to enlighten you and to educate you. But we're also here to answer your
0:34.3	questions, to try to point you in the right direction. Our phone number is
0:42.1	855-935-935-8-5-935-8-2-85, and just about anything that's money-oriented is a topic we can cover on the show if you bring it up.
0:59.2	As long as it's not about stop-loss limit orders.
1:02.0	No, we can do stop-loss limit orders and things too.
1:05.2	But I can do those because I used to be one of those evil stockbrokers.
1:10.5	That's true. I did. I did. I was. Congratulations. I used to be one of those evil stockbrokers. That's true.
1:11.2	I did.
1:11.4	You went straight, didn't you?
1:13.1	Congratulations.
1:13.5	I took that ridiculous test, the Series 7, which was literally an all-day test.
1:19.1	Oh.
1:19.6	You had a lunch break.
	...

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