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Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Take More Risk?

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Investing, Education, Business, How To

4.5 • 810 Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Don and Tom tackle the timeless question: why do you invest? They challenge the “TINA” mindset (“There Is No Alternative”) and dissect new research claiming retirement savers should own no bonds at all. They argue that while stocks outperform over long stretches, bonds remain essential for emotional stability and survival during market crashes. Listeners join in with sharp questions about CD ladder withdrawal strategies, crypto-based dividend schemes, securities lending, and international ETF allocation. The show wraps with a skeptical look at Vanguard’s growing tilt toward active management and new global funds from Avantis. 0:04 Why do you invest? Defining purpose versus chasing returns 1:29 The rise of “TINA investing” — there is no alternative to stocks? 2:30 Bonds as shock absorbers when markets collapse 3:57 Questioning global overweights in new stock research 5:01 The emotional toll of chasing maximum returns 6:12 Bonds’ true role: keeping investors calm and consistent 7:50 Zweig’s conclusion — even he still owns bonds 9:06 Retirement timing risk and the case for diversification 10:29 Caller Jay from Georgia — testing a five-year CD ladder withdrawal plan 12:34 Turning the CD ladder into part of a bond portfolio 13:46 What to do with the ladder during a market downturn 14:47 Caller Jason from Washington — Elon Musk, Bitcoin, and the “Strike/Strive” gimmick 15:49 The math behind high-yield crypto preferreds doesn’t add up 17:18 When hype meets hazard: Ponzi parallels in risky yields 18:57 Why “everyone’s doing it” isn’t a defense for bad strategy 20:04 Why MicroStrategy’s dividend promises defy logic 21:15 Listener question — securities lending in IRAs 23:09 How stock lending actually works (and why it barely pays) 24:18 Why most small investors shouldn’t bother 27:15 Vanguard’s new identity crisis: the push into active management 27:47 The profitability problem of index funds 28:53 Can Vanguard’s active funds really beat their benchmarks? 31:48 Why past performance still fails as a predictor 33:14 Vanguard’s crypto flirtation and industry pandering 35:43 Caller Craig from Seattle — expanding global exposure with AVNV 36:32 The case for adding Avantis International Value ETF 37:46 Early results and long-term expectations 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.

0:10.4

Why do you invest?

0:12.5

That is the question.

0:14.3

What are you investing for?

0:16.1

For many of us, the goal is to make as much money as humanly possible as fast as possible.

0:23.2

And if that's the case, well, we've got some strange advice for you. If that's not the case,

0:30.1

then maybe you need to understand why you're investing and what the problems are with some

0:36.9

of the ways we try to do this.

0:38.5

Hi, everybody.

0:39.0

I'm Don McDonald.

0:39.9

Welcome to Talking Real Money, the radio show that becomes a podcast.

0:43.6

And along with me in the mountainous region of Washington out there in the middle of nowhere somewhere, is Tom Cock.

0:53.1

Mountainous, windy, rainy, cold, miserable. But great day to talk about money. It really is. out there in the middle of nowhere somewhere is tom cock mountainous windy rainy cold miserable

0:56.1

but great day to talk about money really is 855 935 talk is our phone number that's 855 935

1:03.7

8255 we welcome in fact we encourage your calls every sat Saturday from noon to two when we do the live

1:13.1

show here on Northwest News Radio in the Seattle area. So give us a call. 855-935-935-8-5-9-35-8-25-8-25-2-5.

1:23.5

So, you ever heard of Tina investing? I hadn't.

1:29.8

It means there are no alternatives.

1:33.6

This comes from an article by our buddy Jason's,

1:36.8

why I get the Wall Street Journal, who basically says,

1:40.4

should you just stop trying to buy all this other stuff and just buy stocks?

...

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