Podcast Episodes

ETF Showdown

Don and Tom tackle the “big three” global equity ETFs—Vanguard VT, Dimensional DFAW, and Avantis AVGE—breaking down their diversification, costs, risk/return assumptions, style tilts (small/value vs …

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago

Questions and Critiques

In this Friday Q&A edition of Talking Real Money, Don tackles listener questions ranging from the dangers of options trading and critiques of Dave Ramsey, to building a simple 60/40 portfolio, compar…

Published on 3 months ago

Gold vs. Reality

This episode tackles gold mania in its latest surge, debunking its “safe haven” myth with historical returns and practical comparisons to stocks. Don and Tom expose how Wall Street and fund providers…

Published on 3 months ago

Caller Danger

A candid hour on consumer self-defense. We open with iOS 26’s unknown-caller screening and a New York Times crime reporter nearly duped by a “Chase Bank” spoof—lesson: don’t trust caller ID, don’t tr…

Published on 3 months ago

Invest or Drink?

This episode of Talking Real Money tackles myths about the Federal Reserve and interest rates, explains why mortgage and Treasury rates don’t automatically follow Fed moves, and reminds listeners tha…

Published on 3 months ago

House=Home

0:04 Why your home isn’t part of your investment portfolio

0:26 The myth of the American Dream and why owning may not make sense

1:33 A buyer’s remorse story from Atlanta

2:35 $3,000/month to own vs.…

Published on 3 months ago

More Qs Needed

Don laments the shortage of voice-submitted questions for the Friday Q&A shows and urges listeners to speak their questions into their phones or computers instead of typing them. He answers four list…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

Are You Really Broke?

This episode explores Americans’ financial well-being in 2025, using a Yahoo Finance/Marist survey as the springboard. Don and Tom discuss how their audience differs from the average American listene…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

It IS Gambling

Don goes solo this week and covers the wild state of “investing” in 2025 — including single-stock ETFs, leveraged funds, and zero-day options that look more like gambling than investing. He answers l…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

AI Advice

This week Don hosts solo and brings in “Cath GPT” (ChatGPT) as a "live" guest to explore the rise of AI in personal finance. They cover what types of questions AI is best at answering, its limits for…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago