October 12, 2025 • 7 mins
Hey Mike, what are some safe places to put money that can still grow other than cash? Learn about the benefits and detriments of accounts that have growth potential with principal protection, so that you don’t have to endure the market roller coaster.
Text your questions to 913-363-1234.
Request Your Wealth Analysis by going to www.retireontime.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike (00:05):
Welcome to How to Retire On Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. We'rehere to move
past that oversimplified advice you've heard hundreds of
times. Instead, we want to diveinto the nitty gritty because,
well, frankly, there there's nosuch thing as a perfect
investment product or strategy.There are certain things you
just need to know, so we wannadive into that. As always, text
your questions to (913)363-1234. And remember, this is
(00:25):
not financial advice.
This is just a show, so doresearch. David, what do we got
today?
David (00:31):
Hey, Mike. What are some safe places to put money that
can still grow other than cash?
Mike (00:37):
It's a great question.
David (00:39):
Is this where the mattress comes in? What if I
throw under a mattress? Yeah. Isthat what happens if
Mike (00:44):
I do that? The worst.
David (00:45):
Okay. So the worst option, we got that out of the
way.
Mike (00:48):
If I had to guess, a reason why this question's here
is because the United Statesdollar is depreciating. It's not
going the right way. Okay. It'slosing its value.
David (00:58):
Losing so that means if I went on vacation somewhere, it
doesn't spend as far?
Mike (01:02):
Yep. Europe just got more expensive. Mexico just got more
expensive. I should gone sooner.Yeah.
So there's a lot of talk aboutgold, silver, precious metals as
a cash alternative, and there'sa good argument for that. If you
look at turbulent times, goldtypically does really, really
(01:22):
well. When you look atprosperous times, gold doesn't
do very, very well. So it's itis somewhat cyclical, so be
careful of that.
David (01:29):
Is that all, like, psychological? Why does gold not
do well in in prosperous times?
Mike (01:34):
Where's the best place for your money? That's where the
money goes.
David (01:38):
Oh, okay. So depending on what's happening out there,
where's the best place for it togo? Yeah. And if everybody's
having a good time and all iswell.
Mike (01:47):
Well, yeah. And there's a big push right now. It's
interesting in the push. Ifyou're a conservative, there's
some very politically chargedlanguage on why you should buy
gold right now. And if you'releft leaning, you're more
liberal, there's some verypolitically charged language for
you to buy gold.
Either way, people are beingscared into buying gold. Now
(02:10):
gold has done extremely wellover the past couple of years.
I'm not knocking it, but it'snot protected. It can go up and
down in value, and the intrinsicvalue isn't like a business.
It's the perceived value of arock that has a finite amount on
(02:31):
this planet.
David (02:32):
So do you actually have to get the gold bars in your
home, or are you just who'sholding on
Mike (02:36):
People do, and they get conned in all sorts of things
like, oh, well, this is gold, soyou could melt it down and do
it. But this one was stamped ina weird way, so it's worth more.
Oh. Yeah. And beanie babies wereworth more at some point.
Right. My opinion is if you'rebuying gold, I have no problem
with that, but don't get caughtup into the collector's version
(02:57):
of gold. Buy gold for the valueof gold. You can do it through
an ETF if you want, or you canbuy gold bullion and put it in
your safe, or if you're like RonSwanson from Parks and Rec, you
know, bury it in obscure placesaround your property or
whatever. But you need tounderstand that gold is not
principal protected.
So usually cash is intended tohave protection with growth
(03:17):
potential. When I say growthpotential, to hedge against
inflation. Yes. That's it.
David (03:23):
Yeah. So under the mattress, it's losing money
because of inflation.
Mike (03:26):
Yep.
David (03:27):
But if you put it somewhere else, well, tell me
where
Mike (03:30):
I should put it. There's there's really two groups when I
consider protection with growthpotential, which is a lot of
what people would want when itcomes to cash. There's three
things we all want withinvestment, growth, protection,
and liquidity. If you wantgrowth and protection, you have
to give up liquidity for acertain period of time. Mhmm.
Now do you need access to all ofyour money at any given point?
(03:50):
No. Because this year you needto live, and next year you need
to live, and the year after thatyou need to live. So you can
kind of ladder out liquidity,but still protect parts of your
portfolio so that you know it'sthere in the future.
David (04:02):
So if you had like your emergency fund, I gotta have
that now. That is somewhere youcan grab it. It's very liquid,
but the rate's lower. Exactly.But the money that I need to
live off of in five years Yeah.
If if I have it tagged as such,it can be earning more, but it's
just not liquid.
Mike (04:18):
Yeah. So Okay. Here are some options. You've got really
two camps. You've got fixed, andyou've got indexed.
Okay. So in the fixed camp, youcan get a fixed rate from a CD.
You can get a fixed rate from atreasury or a bond. Just be
careful. The better the rate,the more risky it is.
So I mean, if you bought, let'ssay, a treasury, you're getting
(04:40):
4% or so. Maybe you buy acorporate bond, you're getting
5%. I'm making up numbers justto prove a point. If you buy a
corporate bond at 10%, thatwould be called a high yield
bond, aka a junk bond that's atrisk of defaulting to where you
don't get your money back. So becareful of how much risk you're
actually taking for that.
K? But a bond is as good as thecreditor that backs it. So a
(05:03):
treasury is as good as theUnited States government's
ability to pay. A corporate bondis as good as the entity that
pays, you know, the bond, thedebt. Mhmm.
Private credit is a privateversion of a bond. You have to
meet certain accreditationrequirements, but that's a
possibility. So you've got thatand then you got fixed
annuities, which is basically aCD from an insurance company.
Mhmm. Then you've got indexproducts.
(05:24):
You've got buffered ETFs, whichanyone can buy it on their own.
You don't need a licensedfinancial adviser to buy
buffered ETF. There's a coupleof companies that are really,
really good. Kalamos, FirstTrust, couple of them out there.
I have no allegiance to any ofthem.
Just do your research. You'vegot fixed index annuities, which
are more appropriate for thosethat are 60 plus, because you
can't take the funds out unlessyou're older than 59 years old,
(05:47):
or else you get penalized. Mhmm.Structured notes, as long as the
principal's protected, there aresome triggered notes that could
blow up in your face, so becareful of that. But those are
some options where you've gotprotection built in.
It's illiquid for a certainperiod of time, but you've got
maybe more growth potential thana cash account. Build your plan
first, then you need to go intothe efficiencies, tax efficiency
(06:10):
specifically, and so on, andthen you can start to build out
your portfolio. How much needsto be protected? What's right
for you? What's gonna help yousleep better at night?
What's the liquidity you need indifferent seasons of your
retirement plan? What's thegrowth look like? Can you
outgrow inflation and have moreflexibility in the future? I
mean, what if in ten years weall wanna buy a very expensive
robot that follows us around allday long? Yeah.
(06:31):
That's a reality. Twenty yearsago, we didn't think we'd have
personal computers in our pocketthat we live off of.
David (06:37):
Right.
Mike (06:38):
So we don't know what's gonna happen in the future. I
believe in growth andflexibility, not locking up
assets for lifetime income.Though you may want some of
that. I recognize some peoplewant some guaranteed income.
That's fine as long as we definethings as they are, but there
needs to be some sort offlexibility and growth overall.
That's all the time we've gotfor the show today. If you
(06:58):
enjoyed the show, considersubscribing to it wherever you
get your podcast. Just searchfor How to Retire On Time.
Discover if your portfolio isbuilt to weather flat market
cycles or if you're missing taxminimization opportunities that
you may not even know exist.Explore strategies that may be
able to help you lower youroverall risk while potentially
increasing your overall growthand lifestyle flexibility.
(07:22):
Is not your ordinary financialanalysis. Learn more about Your
Wealth Analysis and what itcould do for you regardless of
your age, asset, or targetretirement date, go to
www.yourwealthanalysis.com todayto learn more and get started.
Welcome to How to Retire On Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. We'rehere to move
past that oversimplified advice you've heard hundreds of
times. Instead, we want to diveinto the nitty gritty because,
well, frankly, there there's nosuch thing as a perfect
investment product or strategy.There are certain things you
just need to know, so we wannadive into that. As always, text
your questions to (913)363-1234. And remember, this is
(00:25):
not financial advice.
This is just a show, so doresearch. David, what do we got
today?
David (00:31):
Hey, Mike. What are some safe places to put money that
can still grow other than cash?
Mike (00:37):
It's a great question.
David (00:39):
Is this where the mattress comes in? What if I
throw under a mattress? Yeah. Isthat what happens if
Mike (00:44):
I do that? The worst.
David (00:45):
Okay. So the worst option, we got that out of the
way.
Mike (00:48):
If I had to guess, a reason why this question's here
is because the United Statesdollar is depreciating. It's not
going the right way. Okay. It'slosing its value.
David (00:58):
Losing so that means if I went on vacation somewhere, it
doesn't spend as far?
Mike (01:02):
Yep. Europe just got more expensive. Mexico just got more
expensive. I should gone sooner.Yeah.
So there's a lot of talk aboutgold, silver, precious metals as
a cash alternative, and there'sa good argument for that. If you
look at turbulent times, goldtypically does really, really
(01:22):
well. When you look atprosperous times, gold doesn't
do very, very well. So it's itis somewhat cyclical, so be
careful of that.
David (01:29):
Is that all, like, psychological? Why does gold not
do well in in prosperous times?
Mike (01:34):
Where's the best place for your money? That's where the
money goes.
David (01:38):
Oh, okay. So depending on what's happening out there,
where's the best place for it togo? Yeah. And if everybody's
having a good time and all iswell.
Mike (01:47):
Well, yeah. And there's a big push right now. It's
interesting in the push. Ifyou're a conservative, there's
some very politically chargedlanguage on why you should buy
gold right now. And if you'releft leaning, you're more
liberal, there's some verypolitically charged language for
you to buy gold.
Either way, people are beingscared into buying gold. Now
(02:10):
gold has done extremely wellover the past couple of years.
I'm not knocking it, but it'snot protected. It can go up and
down in value, and the intrinsicvalue isn't like a business.
It's the perceived value of arock that has a finite amount on
(02:31):
this planet.
David (02:32):
So do you actually have to get the gold bars in your
home, or are you just who'sholding on
Mike (02:36):
People do, and they get conned in all sorts of things
like, oh, well, this is gold, soyou could melt it down and do
it. But this one was stamped ina weird way, so it's worth more.
Oh. Yeah. And beanie babies wereworth more at some point.
Right. My opinion is if you'rebuying gold, I have no problem
with that, but don't get caughtup into the collector's version
(02:57):
of gold. Buy gold for the valueof gold. You can do it through
an ETF if you want, or you canbuy gold bullion and put it in
your safe, or if you're like RonSwanson from Parks and Rec, you
know, bury it in obscure placesaround your property or
whatever. But you need tounderstand that gold is not
principal protected.
So usually cash is intended tohave protection with growth
(03:17):
potential. When I say growthpotential, to hedge against
inflation. Yes. That's it.
David (03:23):
Yeah. So under the mattress, it's losing money
because of inflation.
Mike (03:26):
Yep.
David (03:27):
But if you put it somewhere else, well, tell me
where
Mike (03:30):
I should put it. There's there's really two groups when I
consider protection with growthpotential, which is a lot of
what people would want when itcomes to cash. There's three
things we all want withinvestment, growth, protection,
and liquidity. If you wantgrowth and protection, you have
to give up liquidity for acertain period of time. Mhmm.
Now do you need access to all ofyour money at any given point?
(03:50):
No. Because this year you needto live, and next year you need
to live, and the year after thatyou need to live. So you can
kind of ladder out liquidity,but still protect parts of your
portfolio so that you know it'sthere in the future.
David (04:02):
So if you had like your emergency fund, I gotta have
that now. That is somewhere youcan grab it. It's very liquid,
but the rate's lower. Exactly.But the money that I need to
live off of in five years Yeah.
If if I have it tagged as such,it can be earning more, but it's
just not liquid.
Mike (04:18):
Yeah. So Okay. Here are some options. You've got really
two camps. You've got fixed, andyou've got indexed.
Okay. So in the fixed camp, youcan get a fixed rate from a CD.
You can get a fixed rate from atreasury or a bond. Just be
careful. The better the rate,the more risky it is.
So I mean, if you bought, let'ssay, a treasury, you're getting
(04:40):
4% or so. Maybe you buy acorporate bond, you're getting
5%. I'm making up numbers justto prove a point. If you buy a
corporate bond at 10%, thatwould be called a high yield
bond, aka a junk bond that's atrisk of defaulting to where you
don't get your money back. So becareful of how much risk you're
actually taking for that.
K? But a bond is as good as thecreditor that backs it. So a
(05:03):
treasury is as good as theUnited States government's
ability to pay. A corporate bondis as good as the entity that
pays, you know, the bond, thedebt. Mhmm.
Private credit is a privateversion of a bond. You have to
meet certain accreditationrequirements, but that's a
possibility. So you've got thatand then you got fixed
annuities, which is basically aCD from an insurance company.
Mhmm. Then you've got indexproducts.
(05:24):
You've got buffered ETFs, whichanyone can buy it on their own.
You don't need a licensedfinancial adviser to buy
buffered ETF. There's a coupleof companies that are really,
really good. Kalamos, FirstTrust, couple of them out there.
I have no allegiance to any ofthem.
Just do your research. You'vegot fixed index annuities, which
are more appropriate for thosethat are 60 plus, because you
can't take the funds out unlessyou're older than 59 years old,
(05:47):
or else you get penalized. Mhmm.Structured notes, as long as the
principal's protected, there aresome triggered notes that could
blow up in your face, so becareful of that. But those are
some options where you've gotprotection built in.
It's illiquid for a certainperiod of time, but you've got
maybe more growth potential thana cash account. Build your plan
first, then you need to go intothe efficiencies, tax efficiency
(06:10):
specifically, and so on, andthen you can start to build out
your portfolio. How much needsto be protected? What's right
for you? What's gonna help yousleep better at night?
What's the liquidity you need indifferent seasons of your
retirement plan? What's thegrowth look like? Can you
outgrow inflation and have moreflexibility in the future? I
mean, what if in ten years weall wanna buy a very expensive
robot that follows us around allday long? Yeah.
(06:31):
That's a reality. Twenty yearsago, we didn't think we'd have
personal computers in our pocketthat we live off of.
David (06:37):
Right.
Mike (06:38):
So we don't know what's gonna happen in the future. I
believe in growth andflexibility, not locking up
assets for lifetime income.Though you may want some of
that. I recognize some peoplewant some guaranteed income.
That's fine as long as we definethings as they are, but there
needs to be some sort offlexibility and growth overall.
That's all the time we've gotfor the show today. If you
(06:58):
enjoyed the show, considersubscribing to it wherever you
get your podcast. Just searchfor How to Retire On Time.
Discover if your portfolio isbuilt to weather flat market
cycles or if you're missing taxminimization opportunities that
you may not even know exist.Explore strategies that may be
able to help you lower youroverall risk while potentially
increasing your overall growthand lifestyle flexibility.
(07:22):
Is not your ordinary financialanalysis. Learn more about Your
Wealth Analysis and what itcould do for you regardless of
your age, asset, or targetretirement date, go to
www.yourwealthanalysis.com todayto learn more and get started.
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