Reality Radio for a really great future.

We're talking real money.

Hello again and welcome to the show, to the podcast, to the place you go to learn more about how to manage your dough, particularly the investing part.

Hello, everyone. I am Don McDonald.

That is Tom Cock.

We are on two separate sides of the country, and yet we are together for you to help guide you through the really confusing world of money, particularly investing.

And by the way, if you want to ask a question, it's easy to do, right this very moment if you're listening to us in Seattle or streaming online on a Saturday.

855-935-3-5-tall. That's 855-935-8-255. Now, I'm going to set today up for a long time.

Like going on 40 years now, I've done a financial talk show.

That's a really long time to do financial talk. And many years ago, there were a couple of publications out there that often came up on my old radio show.

One was called Investors Business Daily.

The other was called the value line survey.

And both of these claimed that their amazing stock picking techniques, their massive amounts of

research and skill generated superior returns. And yet, the reality of the mutual funds that were created

using the exact same strategies failed to do well. They didn't do any better. They did worse in

many cases than just owning the S&P 500,

which was the market back in the old days. So can you beat the market is the big question.

It always is the question. It's always what people want to do, whether they say it or not,

by the way, when I meet with, they're like, I kind of want to beat the market. And I tell them, look, I've learned to accept the market, along with my

shortcomings. And it just life is better that way, right? I mean, so, but let's unpack this a little

bit because it's pretty interesting, the idea that you can either take what the S&P 500 gives you,

or you can find some sort of alternative

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