Episodes

Target-date funds promise a simple glide path from growth to safety—but people with the same retirement date can have completely different needs. Don and Tom compare Vanguard, Fidelity, and BlackRock funds, examine costs and stock-bond mixes, and explain why simple does not mean specific. Then they revisit decades of failed crash predictions from Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki. Want more Money Music? Hear extended versions from Don’s fictional AI band, The Financial Fysicist, on Appl...

Should retirement spending pass through a Roth? Can a nonprofit offer a 401(k) with ETFs? Does active management really win overseas? Don works through a packed listener-question episode covering Roth conversions, retirement-plan rollovers, SPIVA versus Morningstar, Treasuries and CDs, dividend reinvestment in retirement, and whether a variable universal life policy still earns its keep. Want more Money Music? Hear extended versions from Don’s fictional AI band, The Financial Fysicist, on Apple...

A CFP mark reflects meaningful education, but it does not guarantee clean disciplinary history, fee-only advice, or an unwavering fiduciary relationship. Don and Tom examine the gap between reassuring credentials and the disclosures investors may find through FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC adviser records. They explain what investors should verify before hiring anyone: compensation, dual registration, product sales, disclosures, and a written fiduciary commitment. The designation can matter—but it c...

An 11.15% coupon sounds irresistible—until you read the trapdoors. Don and Tom unpack a listener’s BNP Paribas auto-callable structured note and ask the question Wall Street hopes nobody asks: what actually has to happen before you get paid? The answer includes contingent coupons, the worst-performing of three indexes, a five-year lockup, bank credit risk, and a cliff where a 41% market loss can become your 41% loss. Add a 1.5% advisory fee, and this complicated promise fails the show’s favorit...

Dimensional Fund Advisors founder David Booth joins Don and Tom to explain why better investing begins with accepting uncertainty instead of pretending to predict it. They discuss staying calm through frightening markets, controlling what investors can control, and why missing a rebound can permanently damage a plan. Booth also traces the evidence behind factor investing—market, size, value, and profitability—and explains why robust research must survive different countries, decades, and data s...

Risk and reward are inseparable, even when an investment pitch makes the danger hard to see. Don and Tom explain why higher expected returns require accepting uncertainty, why recent gains do not erase future losses, and why products promising market-like returns without market risk deserve skepticism. Then they answer listener questions about market odds, taxes, Chime, and finding truly fiduciary advice. Questions? Comments? Click!

It’s Friday Q&A—with a small experiment. Don slips one AI-generated voice among the listener questions and challenges you to identify the robot, with his complete two-book library hanging in the balance. The financial questions are thoroughly human: where to keep a future car fund, whether an $11,000 Roth-conversion program earns its fee, when children can fund Roth IRAs, and what happens when bond holdings move from a traditional IRA into a Roth. Don also tackles the enviable problem of an ov...

Robinhood says it wants to be everything to investors—but its fastest-growing attractions look a lot like a casino. Don and Tom examine prediction markets, options, crypto, payment for order flow, and the uneasy fit between fiduciary advice and a brightly lit door to speculation. They explain why gamification and enormous transfer bonuses can be especially dangerous for inexperienced investors. If the goal is long-term wealth rather than entertainment, a boring, diversified custodian still beat...

The market’s long winning streak has investors wondering whether a crash is waiting in the wings. Don and Tom look at the S&P 500’s run, the lost decade that followed the 1990s boom, and why international diversification changed that outcome dramatically. They also explain why market timing asks the impossible: missing the worst days sounds wonderful, but missing the best days can be devastating. The less theatrical answer is still the useful one—make a plan, understand your tolerance for risk,...

Wall Street has declared yet another “year of the stock picker.” Don and Tom examine Morningstar and SPIVA data showing how few active large-cap funds beat their benchmarks—and why high fees, trading costs, taxes, short horizons, and fierce competition keep the odds tilted toward low-cost diversification. Then Greg asks where stocks and bonds belong while he begins Roth conversions. The discussion covers asset location, small-cap value exposure, international diversification, tax brackets, IRMA...

Rule Seven of Financial Physics says there is no new news: by the time public information reaches you, the market has already reacted. Don and Tom explain why neither headlines nor illegal insider tips offer ordinary investors a durable edge, why fast trading and miracle systems disappoint, and why accepting market returns is the saner path. Then they compare JAAA with BND, help a student balance FAFSA concerns with emergency savings and a Roth IRA, warn against reaching for yield, and untangl...

Friday’s question pile ranges from the safest bond fund around to the harder question of what retirement is actually for. Don sorts through the choices with his usual preference for simple, sturdy answers. He weighs the TSP G Fund against BND, checks the bona fides of Raisin and The College Investor, and argues that leaving work makes sense only when something better is waiting on the other side. Then comes a candid disagreement over 21-fund portfolios, followed by a pension decision for a wel...

Being great at running a company does not make anyone a market oracle. Don and Tom unpack the money regrets of successful CEOs—and the costly confidence that often follows success. They draw the line between business skill and investment skill, explain why financial literacy matters, and make the case for diversification over hindsight, stock-picking games, and concentrated bets. Then they turn to listener questions on catching up at 43, investing a church endowment, an underperforming robo po...

Could a nation of steadier 401(k) investors make markets calmer—or will algorithms, options, and meme-stock behavior keep the ride bumpy? Tom and Roxy weigh the forces pulling volatility in both directions. Next, an almost-80-year-old with a $4 million portfolio asks who should coordinate the inheritance plan. The answer is a team effort, with the financial advisor calling the plays and the CPA and estate attorney handling their specialties. They also decode RIA versus IAR, flag the conflicts ...

AI’s appetite for data centers is sending tech giants to the bond market—and some of that debt will still be around in 2075. Don and Tom look at the scale of the borrowing and why a tempting yield deserves a closer look. They separate coupon rate from yield to maturity, explain senior unsecured debt, and show how brutally interest-rate-sensitive a 50-year bond can be. The verdict: these bonds may belong in a broad index, but they don’t belong on your personal shopping list. Listener questions ...

Why is financial forecasting so persuasive when its track record is so poor? Don and Tom open the Book of Financial Physics to Law No. 6—“Nobody Knows Nothing”—and explain why stock pickers, market timers, and highly paid pundits cannot reliably tell you what comes next. Then they answer listener questions about permanent life insurance and deferred income annuities, trusted contacts and two-factor authentication, and whether a wealthy client can copy an advisor’s portfolio while paying for adv...

Required minimum distributions don’t have to trigger a fire sale. Don explains how an in-kind transfer can move an investment from an IRA to a brokerage account while preserving the holding and resetting its cost basis. Then it’s back to school: a cut-off Coverdell question, the unusual strength of the TSP G Fund, and a surprisingly useful 4% money market account that can behave a lot like checking. The finale sorts out UTMA 529 rules, beneficiary control, and why a low-cost age-based portfoli...

Wall Street can promise dazzling returns, but private equity’s fees, illiquidity, and tax drag may leave investors with far less than the headline number. Don and Tom unpack research showing how ordinary index funds and municipal bonds can deliver comparable after-tax results with much less risk. Then a startling poll claims many Americans believe stocks only help the richest—and that gambling may beat investing. The hosts push back with the math, then tackle when taxable brokerage accounts bel...

Fresh from passing the CFP exam, Roxy Butner joins Tom to work through a classic retirement fork: take the richer lifetime teacher pension, or accept a $315,000 lump sum and invest it. The math matters, but so do longevity, survivor benefits, liquidity, investing temperament, and the temptation to spend the pile. Next comes a clever tax-payment question: can IRA withholding replace quarterly estimated payments during Roth-conversion years? They explain why paying conversion taxes from taxable m...

Just when you thought America had invented every possible retirement account, along comes the Radish. Don and Tom dig into the proposed employer-funded savings plan, the man who helped create the 401(k), and whether workers really need another tax-advantaged vegetable in an already crowded garden. The practical answer is simpler: start saving now. A Roth IRA and one broad global stock ETF can do more good than waiting for the perfect account—or learning every acronym in the retirement alphabet....

Financial Physics rule five asks the uncomfortable question every investor should answer: what is the worst that could happen? Don and Tom revisit leverage in 1929, the crashes of 2000, 2008, and 2020, and the practical defenses that keep a bad market from becoming a ruined plan. Then the questions turn to retirement planning: managing IRMAA while considering Roth conversions, weighing long-term-care insurance against self-insuring, and judging whether a $1.6 million portfolio can support a mod...

Don opens with a spirited defense of AI as a creative tool—especially when it makes ideas possible that would otherwise be too expensive or time-consuming. Technology changes the jobs around us, but learning to direct it responsibly can expand what one person can make. Then it’s on to listener questions: how charitable giving from a retirement account might work better through an IRA and qualified charitable distributions, whether dividends and bond interest should be reinvested, and why money ...

Chargebacks were built to protect consumers from stolen cards and crooked merchants. Now they’re increasingly used when a subscription surprises someone, a restaurant disappoints, or buyer’s remorse sets in. Don and Tom sort real fraud from “friendly fraud”—and explain why the first call should usually go to the merchant, not the bank. They also look at confusing statement names, recurring subscriptions, the cost merchants absorb when a dispute lands, and why credit cards generally provide stro...

VT, DFAW, and AVGE all promise global diversification—but they take different roads to get there. Don and Tom compare cost, holdings, factor tilts, and the extra risk behind higher expected returns, then explain why the “best” one-fund solution depends on how much risk you actually need. Then a listener asks why advisors build portfolios with many funds when one might do. The answer runs through tax-loss harvesting, rebalancing, personalization, and the fine line between thoughtful design and a...