The Big Question Pile

Listener questions take over the studio as Don and Tom work through a very big pile without sacrificing any more forests than necessary. The quick tour runs from life insurance in retirement to the seductive yield on floating-rate bank-loan ETFs—and why extra income usually comes with extra risk.

Then a live call turns asset allocation into an actual retirement plan: how a couple can move from 90/10 to 70/30, use Roth space intelligently, and rebalance without guessing what the market will do next. The hosts also weigh simplifying banking at Fidelity or Schwab, the Social Security shortfall, and the limits of retiring at 53 on a $2.8 million 401(k).

It’s a brisk, practical Q&A about making portfolios safer, simpler, and realistic—plus expensive vacations, old television, and the strange persistence of paper.

00:00 A special midweek Q&A
03:29 Life insurance after retirement
06:47 The risk behind high-yield bank-loan ETFs
11:12 Bonds inside Roth accounts
13:14 Moving a portfolio from 90/10 to 70/30
22:54 Spending more after years of saving
25:18 Consolidating banking at a brokerage
26:53 How to repair Social Security
31:10 Can $2.8 million fund retirement at 53?

Questions? Comments? Click!