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 cannot replace due diligence.

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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 favorite tests: simplicity, transparency, and liquidity.

Then the phones open for retirement-planning software, a 19-year spousal age gap, fears about Japan dumping Treasuries, an Irish financial jingle, and the difference between a mega backdoor Roth and an ordinary backdoor Roth.

1:05 — The structured note pitch: 11.15% with fine print
4:03 — Contingent coupons and the worst-of-three rule
6:50 — The 40% buffer cliff and five-year lockup
9:34 — Simplicity, transparency, and liquidity fail
11:50 — How big is the structured-note market?
13:20 — The Financial Fysics album makes its debut
15:35 — DIY retirement-planning tools and a big age gap
21:56 — Could Japan dump a trillion dollars of Treasuries?
25:16 — Compound interest meets an Irish pub
27:26 — 401(k), mega backdoor Roth, and contribution limits

Want more Money Music? Hear extended versions from Don’s fictional AI band, The Financial Fysicist, on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/let-the-boring-money-in/6805953759 or Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0G06JEvGsyw6SISfAOxLt6?si=ah2uVVWuQwmxTqjBeta8AQ

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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 sets before it belongs in a portfolio.

Click here to order David's Book "Stay Calm"

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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.

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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 oversized HSA, its inheritance rules and post-65 flexibility, plus the timing tradeoff for Social Security survivor benefits.

0:46 — Friday Q&A and the find-the-robot challenge
4:03 — Where should a $70,000 car fund live?
7:21 — Is an $11,000 Roth-conversion plan worth it?
9:39 — Roth IRAs for children—and newborns
11:13 — Bonds that move into a Roth conversion
13:54 — The $500,000 HSA problem
16:43 — When a surviving spouse should claim Social Security

Questions? Comments? Click!

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 beats a platform built to monetize trading excitement.

Then they answer questions about using bonds during a retirement downturn, combining CD ladders with target-date funds, the trap behind eye-popping mortgage REIT dividends, and better ways to give money to grandchildren.

1:03 — Robinhood and its merry band of revenue streams
3:00 — Vlad Tenev explains the financial supermarket
5:36 — A fiduciary office beside a casino door
8:28 — Monetizing speculation instead of investing
13:14 — Using bonds when retirement begins in a downturn
21:06 — CD ladders and target-date funds
23:36 — The truth behind 17% REIT dividends
27:28 — UTMA, UGMA, 529s, and gifts for grandchildren

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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, diversify broadly, and sit still.

Then it’s on to a near-retiree offered a portfolio stuffed with individual stocks, whether international bonds belong in a simple portfolio, why a professionally managed 20-fund portfolio is different from a DIY one, and how to rebalance when Roth and traditional accounts complicate the job.

3:33 — A historic market streak—and what might follow
4:31 — The lost decade diversification softened
7:08 — Why timing the best and worst days fails
9:22 — The boring answer: plan, diversify, be patient
14:04 — Individual stocks on the eve of retirement?
23:02 — A quick Celebration restaurant detour
24:28 — Do international bonds belong in your portfolio?
27:38 — When 20 funds are too many—or not
32:24 — Rebalancing across Roth and traditional accounts

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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, IRMAA, and keeping the portfolio’s overall risk level intact.

Finally, they tackle an all-U.S. Roth for a 20-year-old, a couple’s pre-retirement glide path, and a pricey Fidelity target-date fund that can be replaced inside a Roth without creating a tax bill. Stay through the end for a money-music bonus.

0:37 — The “year of the stock picker” returns
2:41 — Active funds trail their benchmarks again
8:30 — Why passive keeps winning
13:29 — Asset location for Roth conversions
22:09 — Should a 20-year-old invest only in the U.S.?
23:59 — Reducing risk before retirement
28:24 — Escaping an expensive target-date fund
31:53 — Reviews, inflation, and a money-music bonus

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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 untangle a Roth 401(k) rollover.

0:44 The shortest investing book
1:54 Rule Seven: No New News
3:27 Public information versus insider information
6:48 Why trading the headlines is futile
9:37 Efficient markets and accepting market returns
11:27 The trouble with miracle trading systems
14:13 Talking Real Money music online
17:17 JAAA versus BND for bonds
20:21 FAFSA, emergency savings, and a Roth IRA
22:28 Reaching for yield with riskier bonds
24:49 Rolling over a Roth 401(k)

Questions? Comments? Click!

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 well-funded couple who can afford to self-insure. The court may have advisors, but Don is still happy being its jester.

Topics
03:26 Is the TSP G Fund enough fixed income?
05:47 Raisin and The College Investor: useful and legitimate?
09:44 Retirement needs a purpose, not just an age
12:37 Twenty-one funds, advisor complexity, and honest disagreement
16:11 Single-life versus joint-survivor pension choices
18:57 Social Security timing, RMDs, and a very strong retirement plan

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