Why So Mean?

Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

Don McDonald

Education, Investing, Business, How To

4.5 • 811 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Don and Tom dig into the podcast rankings to explain why Talking Real Money isn’t at the top—and why Dave Ramsey still is, despite offering more shame than substance. They explore the concept of financial shaming vs. education, reflect on listener Judy’s brilliant retirement planning, and take aim at stock-trading politicians, especially California Rep. Ro Khanna with his 4,700+ trades in one year. Listener questions cover inheritance allocation, condos as investments, and 401(k) vs. Roth vs. brokerage savings. Bonus: Tom yells at his grandkids, Don hates condos, and Congress gets roasted. 0:04 Who’s #1 in investing podcasts? Spoiler: It’s not Don and Tom—it’s still Ramsey 1:18 Financial shaming, bullying, and the “toxic” tone of the Ramsey Show 2:22 The lost LinkedIn post that called out Ramsey culture 3:49 Should shame ever be part of financial advice? (They say no) 5:05 How Talking Real Money tries to educate—not humiliate 7:04 What should great financial advice sound like? A compassionate take 8:47 Caller Judy (age 72) seeks advice on a $200k inheritance—Tom and Don love her plan 11:51 Municipal bond ETFs (like VTEB) vs. international bonds vs. risk tolerance 13:53 Judy’s journey learning finance solo—Don gets emotional 14:38 Why are podcast rankings volatile? Don suspects cheating again 16:03 Listener question: Should you max both 401(k) and IRA? (Yes, and here’s why) 17:59 Roth > Traditional > Brokerage: A savings priority guide 18:45 Target-date funds vs. S&P 500 returns—why it’s not apples to apples 20:05 Caller Nathan: Getting married, no kids, and thinking of buying a condo 22:56 Warning: Condos are almost always terrible investments 25:44 Real estate reality check—condos lag, freestanding homes rebound better 27:52 Don’s definitive answer: “I would never own a condo” 28:33 Congress and stock trading: 86% of Americans say it should be banned 30:20 Ro Khanna made 3,000+ trades in 2023… and wants to ban stock trading? 31:52 Why Congress shouldn’t trade stocks—and how index funds are the solution 34:24 Ro Khanna’s $103 million in trades and 149 conflicts of interest 36:46 Wrapping up: Condos, curmudgeons, and Central Florida emptiness 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.
0:10.1	So what is the most popular investing podcast on Apple Podcasts?
0:18.0	No, it's not talking real money.
0:20.0	Thank you for thinking that, though. We appreciate it.
0:22.9	I'm sure nobody thought that, but I just wanted to, in case somebody did, I wanted to,
0:28.4	I know one listener did, burst their bubble. Your wife who just texted me, she's listening.
0:33.9	She would think that, because that's the way she thinks. Yeah. yeah as of today we're number 117 we're way down we were like 57 what'd you say i don't know i said something apparently no no no no no the number one podcast investing podcast now this makes no sense it's not investing he doesn't talk about it
0:56.2	well he kind of does it does it's the ramsie show and it's called that because dave's not on
1:01.0	it all the time and listen to their description of their own show the ramsie show believes you
1:05.8	can build wealth and take control of your life no matter what stupid mistakes you've made
1:09.8	isn't there a dumb they can throw in there too somehow? Stupid, you stupid people, you. So, oh, by the way, I want to give you our phone number for our stupid show. 855-935-t, 5-35-t, 935-8-255. What? Dumb answer answer if you want we'll give you a dumb answer if you
1:29.2	don't yeah we'll even call your names if you want it and that's kind of the that's
1:34.3	the topic of this hour because tom who's a big LinkedIn user uh I wouldn't call myself
1:40.3	I am a big reader I read it you write on it too rarely three times a year maybe four and
1:47.1	it's not like posting every day or something there are people maybe you should maybe our rating
1:51.7	would go up if you would post every day i do have with a plug 1500 followers or something with a plug to talking
1:58.8	real money all right okay you need to every day i want
2:01.9	to see a post for me god i hope somebody back east isn't hearing this and going that's a great
2:05.4	idea he's going to start doing that monday morning i'm going on lincoln to watch i don't go on
2:10.6	i don't go on social media i like lincoln i like business i find people interesting so i
2:15.9	it's a combo of the two he's the polar opposite Or maybe I just want to support Microsoft. I don't know. They own LinkedIn? Yeah, of course. They own flipping everything. Okay. They own Apple. Almost they did, but they did. Yeah, they almost did. Yes. during those dark days. Yeah, the dark, yes.
	...

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