July 30, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode we answer emails from Thirsty Horse, Graham, Chris, Oberon, Ronald and Mark. We discuss their personal progress with finances and better relationships, books about that and thriving, treasury bond funds, choosing volunteering and charitable opportunities, and sample portfolio dividends and interest.
Campaign update: Top of the T-Shirt fundraiser for Father McKenna Center closing July 31!
Links:
Father McKenna Center Donation Page: Donate - Father McKenna Center
Testfolio Comparison of VGLT, TYA and GOVZ: testfol.io/analysis?s=4bAJZXAObDD
Breathless Unedited AI-Bot Summary:
The journey from wealth accumulation to meaningful spending is perhaps one of the most challenging psychological transitions in personal finance. In this thought-provoking episode, we explore the mental barriers that prevent even financially successful people from fully enjoying their hard-earned freedom.
Through several listener stories, we witness the transformative power of risk parity principles not just as investment strategies, but as confidence-building frameworks that empower life changes. One listener shares how implementing these concepts gave them the security to leave a high-paying career for more purposeful work. Another reveals their struggle with "optimization addiction" - postponing experiences like concerts and travel while continuing to accumulate unnecessary wealth.
This episode delivers practical wisdom on finding balance between financial security and life enjoyment. We discuss recommended books for navigating the retirement mindset transition, including Bronnie Ware's "Five Regrets of the Dying" and Arthur Brooks' work on finding purpose in life's second half. For those interested in the technical side, we examine treasury bond strategies during recessionary environments, comparing performance across different instruments.
Perhaps most valuably, we explore how to select meaningful charitable causes that align with your skills and passions. The Father McKenna Center campaign illustrates how financial independence can create opportunities for impact beyond personal wealth.
Ready to shift from obsessing over your portfolio to embracing life's experiences? This episode might just give you the perspective shift you need. Remember: winning the financial game is just the beginning – learning to actually play it is where true fulfillment begins.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Voices (00:01):
A foolish consistency, is the hobgoblin of little minds
, adored by little statesmen andphilosophers and divines.
If a man does not keep pacewith his companions, perhaps it
is because he hears a differentdrummer, a different drummer.
Mostly Mary (00:19):
And now, coming to you from dead center on your
dial, welcome to Risk ParityRadio, where we explore
alternatives and assetallocations for the
do-it-yourself investor,Broadcasting to you now from the
comfort of his easy chair.
Here is your host, FrankVasquez.
Mostly Uncle Frank (00:37):
Thank you, Mary, and welcome to Risk Parity
Radio.
If you are new here and wonderwhat we are talking about, you
may wish to go back and listento some of the foundational
episodes for this program.
Voices (00:50):
Yeah, baby, yeah.
Mostly Uncle Frank (00:52):
And the basic foundational episodes are
episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.
Some of our listeners,including Karen and Chris, have
identified additional episodesthat you may consider
foundational, and those areepisodes 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 56,
(01:13):
82, and 184.
Whoa, and you probably shouldcheck those out too, because we
have the finest podcast audienceavailable.
Mostly Mary (01:26):
Top drawer, really top drawer.
Mostly Uncle Frank (01:31):
Along with a host named after a hot dog.
Voices (01:34):
Lighten up Francis.
Mostly Uncle Frank (01:37):
But now onward, episode 442.
Today, on Risk Party Radio,we're just going to do what we
do best here, which is attend toyour emails.
I'm going to try and do a fewextra today, otherwise we're
going to get behind Not thatwe're not already quite far
behind Gosh, and so, withoutfurther ado, here I go once
(01:59):
again with the email.
And First off, first, first off, we have an email from Thirsty
Horse.
A horse is a horse of course,of course, and no one can talk
to a horse of course, andThirsty Horse writes.
Mostly Mary (02:15):
Dear Frank and Mary , long time listener, second
time emailer.
I just donated to the top ofthe t-shirt match through our
donor advised fund and attacheda screenshot for the treasurer
to tally.
Also a big thanks to the originof the t-shirt match through
our donor advised fund andattached a screenshot for the
treasurer to tally.
Also a big thanks to theoriginator of this match
initiative.
Voices (02:30):
Yeah, baby, yeah.
Mostly Mary (02:32):
I don't have a question for you today.
I just wanted to share yourimpact on our lives so far In
our household.
We haven't won the game yet,but are getting close.
I've transitioned half of ourportfolio to something close to
golden ratio, leaving the restin all stock 50-50,.
Large cap growth, small capvalue accumulation setup.
I'll glide the whole portfolioto the risk parity version over
(02:54):
the next couple of years.
I guess we are at coast FI.
Voices (02:58):
Well, you haven't got the knack of being idly rich.
You see, you should do like mejust snooze and dream, dream and
snooze.
The pleasures are unlimited.
Mostly Mary (03:07):
My wife enjoys her job and her pay will cover a lot
of our current expenses.
I am leaving the privilege of ahigh paying job in search of
something more challenging,without worrying as much about
the pay Stay in formation.
Voices (03:20):
Target's just ahead.
Target should be clear.
If you're going low enough,you'll have to decide.
You'll have to decide.
Mostly Mary (03:31):
There is no way I would have had the confidence to
do this without internalizingthe risk parity concepts from
you over the last few years.
Mostly Uncle Frank (03:39):
That's what I'm talking about.
Mostly Mary (03:41):
This podcast broke the doom spiral of safe
withdrawal rates 4%, 3.5%, 3%and on and on.
Voices (03:49):
Bad news Fog is getting thicker and Leon's getting
larger.
Mostly Mary (03:57):
As a bonus, my wife and I watched the YouTube video
of your appearance in theAfford Anything podcast, giving
me an opportunity to explain allof this in some detail to her.
Thanks, Keep tossing thosestarfish Thirsty Horse.
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:21):
Well, let me say you're pretty awesome,
Thirsty Horse.
Voices (04:24):
The best, Jerry the best .
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:26):
Hope you get some water In the desert.
Voices (04:31):
you can't remember your name Because there ain't no one
for, to give you no name.
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:38):
But first thank you for being a donator to
the Father McKenna Center.
As most of you know, we do nothave any sponsors on this
program.
We do have a charity we support.
It's called the Father McKennaCenter.
As most of you know, we do nothave any sponsors on this
program.
We do have a charity we support.
It's called the Father McKennaCenter.
It supports hungry and homelesspeople in Washington DC and we
are closing off a campaign, amatching campaign, that we began
two months ago.
(04:59):
It's called the Top of theT-Shirt Campaign.
We've been raising lots andlots of money for it and we do
appreciate all of your donations, particularly the creative ones
such as Thirsty Horse has madehere.
He's not only given a donation,it is $1,618.03.
And if you don't recognize that, it's a Golden Ratio donation.
Voices (05:25):
I'll get psyched.
Mostly Uncle Frank (05:27):
And for your creativity.
We have moved you to the frontof the front of the email line
today as we have a number ofdonors, which is the prize you
get besides my thanks fordonating to the Father McKenna
Center.
You get to go to the front ofthe email line and these days
that line is quite long.
It's about three months long atthis point.
(05:47):
There are two ways to donate.
You can go to the FatherMcKenna website on the donation
page and donate directly there,and I'll link to that in the
show notes again.
Or you can become a patron onPatreon and to do that go to the
Risk Priority Radio website,wwwriskpriorityradiocom, and go
to the support page and you cansign up for that there to be a
(06:08):
monthly donor.
Either way, we'll get you tothe front of the email line.
Just make sure you mention thatin your email.
Getting back to your emailthirsty, I see you first sent us
an email over two years ago andI'm glad you've been getting a
lot out of the podcast and havebeen able to implement some of
these ideas into your personalportfolio and situation.
Voices (06:30):
We can put that check in a money market mutual fund.
Then we'll reinvest theearnings into foreign currency
accounts with compoundinginterest and it's gone.
Mostly Uncle Frank (06:38):
Sounds like you have things well in hand and
I'm glad things are going wellfor you.
I'm glad you enjoyed my YouTubeappearance on Afford Anything.
Voices (06:48):
I got a lot of problems with you people.
Now you're going to hear aboutit.
Mostly Uncle Frank (06:53):
If you want to see more of me on YouTube,
look up the BiggerPocketsMoneypodcast.
I was just on two consecutiveones of those and two different
rooms in my house.
By the way, Shazmat and yourwife also might like that
(07:15):
blueprint that Paula Pant ofAfford Anything created that you
can download from her podcast.
I thought she did a nicesummary of some principles that
we tend to follow around hereand some guidelines.
So congratulations on beingCoastify, You're all right.
Thank you for your verycreative donation and thank you
(07:45):
for your email.
Second off.
Second off we have an emailfrom Graham.
Voices (08:11):
Polly want a cracker.
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:14):
And Graham writes.
Mostly Mary (08:15):
Hi Frank Donator, here.
You've recently been discussingmore about life balance over
just investing, the idea thatwhile investing style changes
are important for retirement, solife and attitude changes must
be made for retirement too.
I remember you recommended FiveRegrets of the Dying by Beware,
but I can't recall names of theother books you suggested.
(08:36):
Might I suggest that a readinglist be added to your website,
graham?
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:42):
Well, thank you also for being a donor to
the Father McKenna Center.
It has also got you up to thefront of the email line.
Voices (08:50):
Groovy baby.
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:52):
Now, as to your suggestion that I create a
resource page, you know what myanswer to that's going to be.
Voices (09:00):
I don't think I'd like another job.
Mostly Uncle Frank (09:04):
But the good news is we're actually working
on something like this whenwe're updating the website that
Luke has made some suggestionsfor improved searchability.
That will allow people, I think, to search not only the podcast
but also the show notes andalso even the transcripts of the
podcast, so it will have a lotmore functionality.
(09:25):
As far as that is concerned, wehave top men working on it
right now.
Voices (09:33):
Who?
Mostly Uncle Frank (09:35):
Top men and I did list all of those books in
the show notes for that podcast.
If you're looking for themspecifically, I will read them
to you right now, just for yourconvenience.
So the first book I recommendedthere was the Top Five Regrets
of the Dying by Bronnie Ware,and I'm actually going to
(09:57):
probably be doing a ChooseFIbook club episode about that in
the coming months for the ChooseFi podcast.
The next one is Falling Upwardby Richard Rohr, r-o-h-r.
The next two are Strength toStrength and Build the Life you
Want by Arthur Brooks.
The next one is the SecondMountain by David Brooks, who I
(10:21):
accidentally called James onthat podcast.
The next one after that is theSoul of Wealth by Daniel Crosby.
That is a book of 50 essays,short essays, and he's also got
a weekly podcast now where hekind of does a little bit on
each one of those.
If you want to check that out,these are like 10-minute
podcasts to listen to.
(10:42):
It's Daniel Crosby is his name.
You can search his name in thepodcast land and you'll find it.
The next one is the Art ofSpending Money by Morgan Housel.
That book is actually not outyet.
It will be out in October, I amtold, but I learned about it on
his podcast.
You go to the Morgan Houselpodcast and go back to the first
(11:02):
episode of that episode one.
You'll get a preview of whatthis book is going to be about,
and the final one was Die WithZero by Bill Perkins.
So those are all good books toread as you transition towards
retirement.
I do not view one asparticularly better than the
others.
I view them all as differentparts of a whole that you're
(11:26):
better off taking them as awhole and using the bits and
pieces from them, becausethey're all about various
different ideas in terms oftransitioning to retirement,
finding purpose there and alsosetting priorities and putting
money in its place in thosepriorities and I'll go ahead and
(11:46):
make sure you get another copyof that memo.
Okay, if you're looking forcheats around actually reading
the books, there are a lot ofpodcasts and YouTube videos
about each one of these books,or almost all of these books, by
their authors, and then thesedays you can also get lots of
summaries just on your favoriteartificial intelligence site.
(12:09):
Now, that's not a substitutefor reading the books, but it
will give you a good start onwhat you're looking at and what
you're looking for, and we'llalso see what my top men can do
in terms of searchability on thewebsite, whether it be possible
just to say list all the booksthat have been recommended on
(12:29):
the podcast or something likethat.
Mostly Mary (12:32):
Have you ever heard of?
Voices (12:32):
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:36):
Hopefully that helps and thank you for
your email.
Voices (12:40):
Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately.
I wouldn't say I've beenmissing a lot of work lately.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:45):
I wouldn't say I've been missing it.
Bob Good one.
Oh, that's terrific, peter.
Next off, we have an email fromChris.
Voices (12:56):
Chris in Indiana Ain't nothing wrong with that.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:59):
And Chris writes.
Mostly Mary (13:00):
Frank, I just want to thank you for your response
to John on yesterday's podcast.
Even though I have never sent aquestion in for the purpose of
what could be viewed as bragging, I do get caught up on trying
to optimize almost everything.
Voices (13:15):
You've gone over something again and again, and
again and again, Like I have.
Certain questions get answered,others spring up.
The mind plays tricks on you.
You play tricks back.
It's like you're unraveling abig cable knit sweater that
someone keeps knitting, knitting, knitting, knitting, knitting,
(13:40):
knitting knitting.
Mostly Mary (13:46):
It is difficult, after spending 40 years
economizing to set ourselves upfor a great retirement, to
suddenly turn the switch.
Voices (13:50):
Change the poles from plus to minus and from minus to
plus.
Mostly Mary (13:56):
However, to get a kick in the butt once in a while
is why I still listen to avariety of retirement podcasts.
And yes, I also listen to Joeand Big Al.
Lol, hey, rocky, watch me pulla rabbit out of my hat.
I don't need more money To hear.
Some of the dialogue that canhelp improve my life makes all
the listening worthwhile.
Mostly Uncle Frank (14:18):
Bow to your sensei.
Bow to your sensei.
Mostly Mary (14:21):
My wife has been talking about going to Vegas to
see a concert at the Sphere.
To optimize, I have beenpushing this off.
Last night I booked the concert, hotel and flight.
Cindy, thanks you, Chris.
In Indiana.
Voices (14:35):
Viva Las Vegas.
Viva Las Vegas.
Mostly Uncle Frank (14:43):
Well, thank you also for being a donor to
the Father McKenna Center.
Voices (14:50):
Sounds like we have a theme going on here today.
Show me the money, Jerry.
You better yell.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:00):
Show me the money.
I'm glad you liked that lastpodcast, number 441.
I've worked with a lot ofdifferent people over the past
30 years on financial mattersand legal matters and everybody
from people on public assistanceto people with eight figures to
show for it and I can tell you,although your problems may get
more complex when you have moremoney, they are certainly not
(15:22):
nearly as difficult to deal withthan for people who don't have
much money.
Voices (15:27):
The next morning you find it filled to the brim with
jack squat.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:34):
And the level of fear that is often
expressed by people in thosehigher levels 4, 5, and 6, that
Nick Maggiuli writes about inhis Wealth Ladder book are
really not that well justifiedin most cases.
Voices (15:47):
You can't handle the dogs and cats living together.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:51):
Especially when you compare it to the
people in levels one, two andthree, and I do think it's
healthy for us to poke fun atourselves so that maybe we can
put a few things in betterperspectives.
Voices (16:02):
Doctor gave me a relaxation cassette when my
blood pressure gets too high.
the man on the tape tells me tosay Serenity now.
Mostly Uncle Frank (16:10):
And I don't really have anything against
JoJo and Big Al.
They seem to have been quitesuccessful with their advisory
business.
Voices (16:20):
I drink your milkshake, I drink it up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (16:27):
And I'm sure that the clients they serve
appreciate their approach.
It was funny I listened to thatagain today and there was like
somebody on there who had like13 rental properties generating
$150,000 of income, plus another$5 million and some other
things, that they were wonderingif they could live on $200,000
(16:48):
a year and it was sort of like,well, that's 1% of the $5
million plus the rental money.
Voices (16:56):
Aw, you're such a good boy.
Yeah, you're so good.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:03):
And it really it just sounds silly
after a while.
Voices (17:07):
Aw, you're such a good boy.
Yeah, you're so good.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:13):
And you almost wonder does this person
really exist?
Did they really write in anddid they really choose to read
that on the air?
Voices (17:20):
Don't be saucy with me.
Mostly Mary (17:21):
Bernays.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:23):
But it just goes to show you what kind of
financial bubbles we can createfor ourselves if we're not
careful.
Voices (17:29):
Are you telling me there's not one condo available
in all of Del Boca Vista?
That's right.
They weren't like hotcakes.
How'd you get yours, got lucky?
Are you trying to keep us outof Del Boca Vista?
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:42):
But it just goes to show what kind of social
bubbles we can create forourselves if we're not careful.
Voices (17:48):
It's because of the Seinfelds.
Yeah, what do?
You mean they don't want usthere.
So we're going.
We're moving right into DelBoca Vista, so you're moving
there for spite.
Mostly Uncle Frank (18:01):
Absolutely no one tells Frank Costanza what
to do and I am very happy foryou and your wife that you are
going to see that concert at thesphere in las vegas.
It sounds like you're beginningto optimize the right things
now that is the straight stuff.
Oh funk master there's thiswell-worn phrase or observation
(18:25):
in business that whatever getsmeasured gets prioritized.
And I think that's one of theproblems we face as accumulators
that it's been easy to measureaccumulation, as it's just
numbers on a page, but it's muchharder to measure things like
relationships or health factorsor well-being factors.
(18:47):
But I really think after we'vereached some financial
independence, numbers, we reallyshould start thinking about
well, how do I measurecontributions to relationships
as in, what nice thing have Idone for my spouse or other
important relationships recently?
Have I done for my spouse orother important relationships
(19:07):
recently?
Fortunately, the health stuffis actually fairly easy to find
measurements for, since you canget your blood work done and
have other physical goals.
Voices (19:14):
I'm Hans, I'm Franz and we want to pump you up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (19:20):
Now, I have not been to the sphere myself I
actually haven't been to LasVegas in over 20 years but I do
understand they're going to do aWizard of Oz thing there in the
near future.
Voices (19:32):
Me.
She bit you, no her dog.
Oh, she bit her dog, eh no.
Mostly Mary (19:42):
That dog's a menace to the community.
I'm taking him to the sheriffand make sure he's destroyed so
I might be convinced to go outfor that do you presume to
criticize the great oz?
Mostly Uncle Frank (19:55):
you ungrateful creatures, think
yourselves lucky that I'm givingyou audience tomorrow instead
of 20 years from now anyway,it's probably a good idea if you
start making little lists ofthings that your wife wants to
do and start trying to checkthem off every month or two.
Voices (20:13):
I believe in the term happy wife, happy life.
These are words to live by.
There's never been a truersentence in the English language
than happy wife happy life,because I guarantee it will be
well worth the time and themoney.
Mostly Uncle Frank (20:31):
I'm glad you're doing well and thank you
for your email.
Voices (20:36):
It does surprise me, however, that there's no saying
that goes the other way.
If my wife had a saying, itwould be Happy husband.
We'll see about that, or happyhusband.
What's he been up to?
Mostly Uncle Frank (20:59):
Next off, we have an email from Oberon.
Voices (21:02):
No way.
Mostly Uncle Frank (21:05):
And Oberon writes.
Mostly Mary (21:07):
Hi Frank, thanks for all you do.
I donated $500 to the McKennaCenter through my donor advised
fund and will get my employer tomatch.
I've been working my waythrough your episodes with a
barbell strategy of the newestand oldest shows, and I finally
have a question that I didn'tfind answered when I searched
your RSS feed.
I recently transitioned to arisk parity style portfolio,
(21:30):
following your template, afterrealizing that I've likely
passed the peak of my usefulnessat my highly competitive job
and may retire early.
Zero to five years from now,voluntarily or not.
The plant called and said ifyou don't come in tomorrow,
don't bother coming in Monday,four day weekend.
Your excellent teachings haveshown me that I've already
reached my FI number and I canfeel confident moving forward
(21:54):
whatever happens.
My first world problem is thatmy tax advantaged accounts are
only 20% of my investable assets.
I transitioned them from atarget date fund to half each of
managed futures and GOVZfollowing the idea from episode
433 that a 10% allocation totreasury strips could act like
(22:15):
15% of VGLT.
Unfortunately, the total returnof GOVZ has been minus 4.5%
year to date, while VLGTreturned 1.6%.
Tya, another ETF mentioned herethat holds leveraged
intermediate term treasuries isup a whopping 8.5%.
In researching this phenomenon,I have learned about the yield
(22:38):
curve and how it has steepenedthis year.
I read that intermediate termbonds are sensitive to future
interest rates, but the longeryou go out in duration, the more
the size of government debt andits creditworthiness matter.
These are certainly nottrending well and hedge funds
are betting on even more curvesteepening.
Given these developments, is TYAa better capital-efficient
(22:58):
hedge against a future recessionthan GOVZ?
Do we need to be a little morespecific about where we land on
the yield curve?
Ps, you can refer to me asOberon on air.
As I've recommended yourpodcast to colleagues and they
may not know of my concerns atwork and, like some of your
other listeners, I am also anMIT alum, I'm not at all
(23:20):
surprised that your approachresonates with us math nerds.
Oberon.
Voices (23:25):
Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments.
He hath on.
Affect it with some care, so hemay prove more fond of her than
she is of her love.
Look thou, we meet before thefirst cockcrow, fear not my lord
, your servant, shall do so.
Mostly Uncle Frank (23:42):
I see we're getting a little Shakespearean
here now, and now we bring youanother page from the diary of
the world's greatest actor,Master.
Thespier, thank you for thatreference and thank you for
being a donor to the FatherMcKenna Center.
(24:03):
Both are most excellent.
But getting to your question,yes, we are doing some technical
questions this time.
I know that might frustratesome of you who come here for
the numbers.
So you're looking at threetreasury bond investments VGLT,
tya and GOVZ and the way TYAtends to perform, it performs as
(24:30):
if it has a duration.
That's kind of between VGLT andGOVZ.
It's not exact, but I will showyou a little test folio
analysis of the three of themtogether and you could basically
see that TYA performs inbetween of them.
Now, I don't think recentperformance or relative
performance is anything toreally go by, because TYA is on
(24:55):
a different part of the yieldcurve.
It will fluctuate in terms ofits relative performance over
time.
Sometimes it'll perform worseand sometimes it'll perform
better than the other ones, andthat's true of all three of them
.
But I would expect that if wehave a recession which is why
you're holding these things inthe first place that they are
all going to go up in value,essentially proportionally.
(25:18):
So you could hold any one ofthem or a combination of them.
It would just be a matter ofscaling your allocations,
knowing how they performrelative to each other, and
obviously, if you're in ataxable account, you might be
better off with the GOVZ justbecause you have to hold less of
it to get the same effect.
(25:39):
I honestly would not make anybets on trying to predict how
the yield curve will change overtime.
If someone can actually do that, they could probably become the
wealthiest person in the worldby trading options and futures
over some period of time.
But there are very few peoplewho can actually do that and
(25:59):
succeed on a regular basis, andthey probably spend all of their
time doing that as their job.
So I would just pick yourallocations and stick with them.
What you always have to rememberin the back of your head is
that these treasury bond fundsare really going to be there for
only about 15% of the time,because that's when you have the
recessions.
(26:20):
70% of the time the stockmarket's going to go up.
You're going to rely on that inyour portfolio and not worry
about the rest of it.
So it's the other 30 percent ofthe time you're really
concerned about and what theseother assets are really doing in
your portfolio about 15 percentof the time, the reason the
stock market is crashing orgoing down is because we're in
some kind of recessionaryenvironment, and then that other
(26:42):
15% of the time is when you'reseeing all these other weird
things going on, either withinflation or some other
macroeconomic phenomenon, inwhich case things like gold and
managed futures are going to beyour star performers.
So no, I wouldn't get too hungup on short-term performances of
these things relative to eachother, because they tend to even
out over time.
(27:03):
Now, as for your MIT reference,I almost did go to MIT as an
undergraduate, but decided to gothe other direction and went to
Caltech, and they've alwaysbeen nerd rivals, if you will
Revenge of the nerds.
Voices (27:19):
Nerds.
Mostly Uncle Frank (27:19):
Nerds, nerds , nerds.
I had a physics professor namedRicardo Gomez gomez, who used
to refer to mit as the factoryon the river.
He had this crazy wild hair anda thick Colombian accent, and
(27:51):
so he was teaching us physics inthe lecture hall.
He would run across the stageand say things like Suppose I am
a proton accelerated at threequarters the speed of light, and
he was fond of saying that massis mass is mass, no matter what
form it's in, and he would sayit like this mass it is mass, it
(28:11):
is mass.
It does not matter whether itis a you or a me or a box of
beasts, it's all the same.
And he meant a box of beessurely you can't be serious?
I am serious, and don't call meshirley anyway, every time
somebody says mit, that'sactually what I think of, which
(28:34):
really has nothing to do withmit, but you know how my mind
works you are talking about thenonsensical ravings of a lunatic
mind.
So thank you for yourinteresting questions, Thank you
for your support of the FatherMcKenna Center and thank you for
your email.
Next off we have an email fromRonald.
Voices (29:08):
All these shenanigans take place in a hilarious new
Hollywood movie called Bedtimefor Bonzo, starring Ronald Regan
, diana Lynn and Bonzo, thatamazing chimp.
Mostly Mary (29:19):
And Ronald writes Hi Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary.
I just joined your Patreon,hopefully in time for the top of
the t-shirt campaign.
Apologies, I must admit I havebeen procrastinating.
Thank you both for all you do.
I have learned a lot fromlistening to your podcast and
adopted risk parity principlesinto our own portfolios as we're
nearing the end of ouraccumulation phase.
(29:41):
I subscribe to many podcasts,but I always listen to yours
first when a new one appears.
Voices (29:46):
Always remember if you ain't first you're last.
Mostly Mary (29:51):
It took a while to get used to the audio clips, but
now it is jarring to hear youtalk on someone else's show
without hearing.
We don't know, you don't know,I don't know, nobody knows.
Spliced in.
Voices (30:02):
Walk away from the 97%, walk away from the 95%.
Don't go where they go, don'tdo what they do.
Don't talk like they talk.
Develop you a whole newlanguage.
Mostly Mary (30:13):
Hearing about Mary's work as a court-appointed
special advocate, as well asyour work with the Father
McKenna Center, was veryinspiring.
Do you mind sharing how youboth went about choosing what
causes or organizations you havedecided to dedicate your time
to, now and in the past?
I am in my 30s, live in DC andI'm looking to pursue more
meaningful and less financiallymotivated ways of spending my
(30:35):
productive energy.
Thank you again, if you ain'tfirst you're last.
Voices (30:42):
See you when you're grown up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (30:45):
Well, thank you for being a donor to the
Father McKenna Center and I'mglad you're enjoying our podcast
and our strange ways here.
Voices (30:56):
We have our ways.
One trick is to tell themstories that don't go anywhere,
like the time I caught the ferryover to Shelbyville.
I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to
Morganville, which is what theycall Shelbyville in those days.
Mostly Uncle Frank (31:16):
This is why almost all my reviews are either
five stars or one star.
It's all about the sound clips.
This is pretty much the worstvideo ever made.
And you asked an interestingquestion how does one choose
what kinds of organizations onemight be interested in being
involved with?
Well, part of it just comeswith age, because you begin to
(31:39):
figure out which ones do what,but you're essentially looking
for something that is going toplay to your interests or skills
or some combination thereof.
The Father McKenna Center waskind of a natural for me because
Mary and I had attended thatparish when it was a parish back
in the 1990s.
(32:00):
St Aloysius and all three ofour boys did go to Gonzaga and
volunteered at the FatherMcKenna Center.
While they were there, our twoyoungest did their Eagle Scout
projects with the Father McKennaCenter and raising food and
clothing and other things.
But it was interesting.
They periodically look for newboard members to come on the
(32:22):
board, because you don't stay onthe board forever.
You rotate off after a numberof years, and they actually
contacted Mary to see if shemight be interested in serving
on the board and this was stillduring COVID not at the
beginning of COVID, but I thinkin early 2021.
And she says no.
(32:43):
But I think there might besomebody who would be
appropriate for that position.
Voices (32:48):
It's all the same to you .
Mostly Uncle Frank (32:52):
I'll drive that tanker.
The work the center does doeshave special meaning to me as
well.
The work the center does doeshave special meaning to me as
well because a lot of homelesspeople, particularly homeless
men, are mentally ill or havesome mental illness struggles,
and I had a brother like thatwho was also homeless some of
(33:13):
the time.
So I probably place a highervalue on the work they're doing
there than most other peoplemight.
And once I got on the board andthey found out I had an
interest in finance, they wereall too happy to push me over to
the finance committee becauseit is actually not a popular
(33:33):
committee to be on but it suitsme quite well.
So I took that ball and ranwith it, as they say.
(33:56):
Now, as for Mary's work as acourt-appointed special advocate
, she had been looking at thatorganization for some time while
we were still in the midst ofraising our children.
But she knew she really didn'thave the time to devote to it
because it has been quite a jobunto itself.
But she had worked for the FBIprior to stepping down to care
(34:20):
for our children full-time.
Voices (34:23):
Why?
What have children ever donefor me?
Mostly Uncle Frank (34:26):
And so she really wanted to get back into
something that involved moreformal advocacy and use of her
lawyering skills.
What do you?
Voices (34:35):
fear my lady, a cage To stay behind bars until use and
old age accept them and allchance of valor has gone beyond
recall or desire.
You're a daughter of kings, ashield maiden of Rohan.
(34:59):
I do not think that will beyour fate.
Mostly Uncle Frank (35:10):
To really go in and fight some dragons and
advocate for the people whoneeded it.
Voices (35:18):
Are you not entertained?
Are you not entertained, neededit?
Mostly Uncle Frank (35:35):
So if you're looking for something, I would
definitely look to somethingthat would play to your skills
and or interests.
Depending on how much time youhave.
You may not be able to go fullbore with it right away, but you
might just keep it in mind forlater on, when you have more
time.
And since you're only in your30s, you do have plenty of time
(35:56):
to try a few things out.
Don't be afraid to startsomething and decide that it's
not for you, because a lot oftimes the only way you figure
that out is by going off anddoing some of it for a bit.
If you are in the DC area, I doinvite you to get involved with
the various Choose FI localgroups that are around here.
(36:17):
There's one that meets in DCproper.
There's one that meets in theLorton Library in Lorton,
virginia I'll be talking aboutthe soul of wealth there on
August 23rd Then there's one inMontgomery County and there's
one in Baltimore as well, butyou'll meet a lot of interesting
people there at various stagesof their financial independence
(36:38):
journeys.
So thank you for writing in.
Thank you for your donation.
So thank you for writing in.
Thank you for your donation andthank you for your email.
So thank you for yourinteresting question, thank you
for your donation and thank youfor your email.
Voices (36:56):
Well, you told me that day at school for career day.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:16):
You came in you said, if you ain't first,
you're last, Last off.
Last off.
An email from Mark.
Voices (37:23):
All hail the commander of his majesty's Roman legions,
the brave and noble MarcusVindictus.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:31):
And Mark writes.
Mostly Mary (37:33):
Hello, I am new here.
Voices (37:35):
A hundred quatlus on the newcomers.
Four hundred quatlus againstthe newcomers.
Two hundred quatlus against Fivehundred.
On the newcomers 400 quat loosagainst the newcomers 200 quat
loos against 500 for thenewcomers Contest by multiple
elimination.
Mostly Mary (37:46):
With your model portfolios for dividends and
capital gains.
Do you reinvest in the securityor deposit to the core account?
Thank you, mark.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:56):
And the answer is Mark.
We deposit the dividends andinterest into the money market
account that is associated witheach one of these portfolios.
There are no capital gains.
These are not mutual funds, sothey don't distribute capital
gains out of them per se.
There are capital gains when wesell them, and the reason we do
it that way is because we aredecumulating out of these
(38:19):
portfolios, and so you alwayswant to be taking that cash off
the top and using that first sothat you do not have to engage
in more unnecessary transactions.
When you do get to yourdecumulation phase, you do want
to turn off all dividendreinvesting because it's just
going to make everything easierto manage investing because it's
(38:41):
just going to make everythingeasier to manage, and the first
money you are going to spend isgoing to be from the dividends
and income from the portfolio.
It's interesting that actuallyaccounts for over 2% of the
distributions.
So if there's a 5% distribution, between 40% and 50% of it
comes straight out of dividendsand income from the portfolio,
and you'll see that reflected ifyou look at the distribution
(39:02):
records that are on the websiteIn the descriptions of the
portfolios.
It tells you, out of all thedistributions, where it came
from.
All the distributions that cameout of cash in the portfolios
have been from accumulateddividends and interest.
So hopefully that helps explainthings and thank you for your
email.
But now I see our signal isbeginning to fade.
(39:27):
As I've mentioned, we areclosing up the top of the
t-shirt campaign on Thursday, soif you want to get a donation
in to count for the campaign,we'd appreciate getting it in
the next day or so.
Show me the money, not that wewon't take your donations after
that, and you would still get togo to the front of the email
(39:49):
line.
Speaking of those emails, ifyou have comments or questions
for me, please send them tofrank at riskparityradarcom.
That email is frank atriskparityradarcom.
Frank at riskparityradiocom.
That email is frank atriskparityradiocom.
Or you can go to the websitewwwriskparityradiocom.
Put your message into thecontact form and I'll get it
that way.
If you haven't had a chance todo it, please go to your
(40:11):
favorite podcast provider andlike subscribe.
Give me some stars, a follow, areview.
That would be great, okay,thank you once again for tuning
in.
This is Frank Vasquez with RiskParty Radio Signing off.
Voices (40:28):
People of Las Vegas.
Turning day into night Time,turning night into day Time, if
you see it once.
You'll never be the same again.
I'm going to keep on the run.
I'm gonna keep on the run.
I'm gonna have me some fun Ifit costs me my very last dime.
If I wind up broke, well, I'llalways remember that I had a
(40:51):
swing in time.
I'm gonna give it everythingI've got.
Lady, look, please let the dicestay hot.
Let me shoot a seven with everyshot I've ever lost.
Eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,
(41:17):
eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,eva, eva, eva, eva.
Viva Las Vegas.
Mostly Mary (41:38):
The Risk Parody Radio Show is hosted by Frank
Vasquez.
The content provided is forentertainment and informational
purposes only and does notconstitute financial, investment
tax or legal advice.
Please consult with your ownadvisors before taking any
actions based on any informationyou have heard here, making
sure to take into account yourown personal circumstances.
A foolish consistency, is the hobgoblin of little minds
, adored by little statesmen andphilosophers and divines.
If a man does not keep pacewith his companions, perhaps it
is because he hears a differentdrummer, a different drummer.
Mostly Mary (00:19):
And now, coming to you from dead center on your
dial, welcome to Risk ParityRadio, where we explore
alternatives and assetallocations for the
do-it-yourself investor,Broadcasting to you now from the
comfort of his easy chair.
Here is your host, FrankVasquez.
Mostly Uncle Frank (00:37):
Thank you, Mary, and welcome to Risk Parity
Radio.
If you are new here and wonderwhat we are talking about, you
may wish to go back and listento some of the foundational
episodes for this program.
Voices (00:50):
Yeah, baby, yeah.
Mostly Uncle Frank (00:52):
And the basic foundational episodes are
episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.
Some of our listeners,including Karen and Chris, have
identified additional episodesthat you may consider
foundational, and those areepisodes 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 56,
(01:13):
82, and 184.
Whoa, and you probably shouldcheck those out too, because we
have the finest podcast audienceavailable.
Mostly Mary (01:26):
Top drawer, really top drawer.
Mostly Uncle Frank (01:31):
Along with a host named after a hot dog.
Voices (01:34):
Lighten up Francis.
Mostly Uncle Frank (01:37):
But now onward, episode 442.
Today, on Risk Party Radio,we're just going to do what we
do best here, which is attend toyour emails.
I'm going to try and do a fewextra today, otherwise we're
going to get behind Not thatwe're not already quite far
behind Gosh, and so, withoutfurther ado, here I go once
(01:59):
again with the email.
And First off, first, first off, we have an email from Thirsty
Horse.
A horse is a horse of course,of course, and no one can talk
to a horse of course, andThirsty Horse writes.
Mostly Mary (02:15):
Dear Frank and Mary , long time listener, second
time emailer.
I just donated to the top ofthe t-shirt match through our
donor advised fund and attacheda screenshot for the treasurer
to tally.
Also a big thanks to the originof the t-shirt match through
our donor advised fund andattached a screenshot for the
treasurer to tally.
Also a big thanks to theoriginator of this match
initiative.
Voices (02:30):
Yeah, baby, yeah.
Mostly Mary (02:32):
I don't have a question for you today.
I just wanted to share yourimpact on our lives so far In
our household.
We haven't won the game yet,but are getting close.
I've transitioned half of ourportfolio to something close to
golden ratio, leaving the restin all stock 50-50,.
Large cap growth, small capvalue accumulation setup.
I'll glide the whole portfolioto the risk parity version over
(02:54):
the next couple of years.
I guess we are at coast FI.
Voices (02:58):
Well, you haven't got the knack of being idly rich.
You see, you should do like mejust snooze and dream, dream and
snooze.
The pleasures are unlimited.
Mostly Mary (03:07):
My wife enjoys her job and her pay will cover a lot
of our current expenses.
I am leaving the privilege of ahigh paying job in search of
something more challenging,without worrying as much about
the pay Stay in formation.
Voices (03:20):
Target's just ahead.
Target should be clear.
If you're going low enough,you'll have to decide.
You'll have to decide.
Mostly Mary (03:31):
There is no way I would have had the confidence to
do this without internalizingthe risk parity concepts from
you over the last few years.
Mostly Uncle Frank (03:39):
That's what I'm talking about.
Mostly Mary (03:41):
This podcast broke the doom spiral of safe
withdrawal rates 4%, 3.5%, 3%and on and on.
Voices (03:49):
Bad news Fog is getting thicker and Leon's getting
larger.
Mostly Mary (03:57):
As a bonus, my wife and I watched the YouTube video
of your appearance in theAfford Anything podcast, giving
me an opportunity to explain allof this in some detail to her.
Thanks, Keep tossing thosestarfish Thirsty Horse.
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:21):
Well, let me say you're pretty awesome,
Thirsty Horse.
Voices (04:24):
The best, Jerry the best .
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:26):
Hope you get some water In the desert.
Voices (04:31):
you can't remember your name Because there ain't no one
for, to give you no name.
Mostly Uncle Frank (04:38):
But first thank you for being a donator to
the Father McKenna Center.
As most of you know, we do nothave any sponsors on this
program.
We do have a charity we support.
It's called the Father McKennaCenter.
As most of you know, we do nothave any sponsors on this
program.
We do have a charity we support.
It's called the Father McKennaCenter.
It supports hungry and homelesspeople in Washington DC and we
are closing off a campaign, amatching campaign, that we began
two months ago.
(04:59):
It's called the Top of theT-Shirt Campaign.
We've been raising lots andlots of money for it and we do
appreciate all of your donations, particularly the creative ones
such as Thirsty Horse has madehere.
He's not only given a donation,it is $1,618.03.
And if you don't recognize that, it's a Golden Ratio donation.
Voices (05:25):
I'll get psyched.
Mostly Uncle Frank (05:27):
And for your creativity.
We have moved you to the frontof the front of the email line
today as we have a number ofdonors, which is the prize you
get besides my thanks fordonating to the Father McKenna
Center.
You get to go to the front ofthe email line and these days
that line is quite long.
It's about three months long atthis point.
(05:47):
There are two ways to donate.
You can go to the FatherMcKenna website on the donation
page and donate directly there,and I'll link to that in the
show notes again.
Or you can become a patron onPatreon and to do that go to the
Risk Priority Radio website,wwwriskpriorityradiocom, and go
to the support page and you cansign up for that there to be a
(06:08):
monthly donor.
Either way, we'll get you tothe front of the email line.
Just make sure you mention thatin your email.
Getting back to your emailthirsty, I see you first sent us
an email over two years ago andI'm glad you've been getting a
lot out of the podcast and havebeen able to implement some of
these ideas into your personalportfolio and situation.
Voices (06:30):
We can put that check in a money market mutual fund.
Then we'll reinvest theearnings into foreign currency
accounts with compoundinginterest and it's gone.
Mostly Uncle Frank (06:38):
Sounds like you have things well in hand and
I'm glad things are going wellfor you.
I'm glad you enjoyed my YouTubeappearance on Afford Anything.
Voices (06:48):
I got a lot of problems with you people.
Now you're going to hear aboutit.
Mostly Uncle Frank (06:53):
If you want to see more of me on YouTube,
look up the BiggerPocketsMoneypodcast.
I was just on two consecutiveones of those and two different
rooms in my house.
By the way, Shazmat and yourwife also might like that
(07:15):
blueprint that Paula Pant ofAfford Anything created that you
can download from her podcast.
I thought she did a nicesummary of some principles that
we tend to follow around hereand some guidelines.
So congratulations on beingCoastify, You're all right.
Thank you for your verycreative donation and thank you
(07:45):
for your email.
Second off.
Second off we have an emailfrom Graham.
Voices (08:11):
Polly want a cracker.
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:14):
And Graham writes.
Mostly Mary (08:15):
Hi Frank Donator, here.
You've recently been discussingmore about life balance over
just investing, the idea thatwhile investing style changes
are important for retirement, solife and attitude changes must
be made for retirement too.
I remember you recommended FiveRegrets of the Dying by Beware,
but I can't recall names of theother books you suggested.
(08:36):
Might I suggest that a readinglist be added to your website,
graham?
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:42):
Well, thank you also for being a donor to
the Father McKenna Center.
It has also got you up to thefront of the email line.
Voices (08:50):
Groovy baby.
Mostly Uncle Frank (08:52):
Now, as to your suggestion that I create a
resource page, you know what myanswer to that's going to be.
Voices (09:00):
I don't think I'd like another job.
Mostly Uncle Frank (09:04):
But the good news is we're actually working
on something like this whenwe're updating the website that
Luke has made some suggestionsfor improved searchability.
That will allow people, I think, to search not only the podcast
but also the show notes andalso even the transcripts of the
podcast, so it will have a lotmore functionality.
(09:25):
As far as that is concerned, wehave top men working on it
right now.
Voices (09:33):
Who?
Mostly Uncle Frank (09:35):
Top men and I did list all of those books in
the show notes for that podcast.
If you're looking for themspecifically, I will read them
to you right now, just for yourconvenience.
So the first book I recommendedthere was the Top Five Regrets
of the Dying by Bronnie Ware,and I'm actually going to
(09:57):
probably be doing a ChooseFIbook club episode about that in
the coming months for the ChooseFi podcast.
The next one is Falling Upwardby Richard Rohr, r-o-h-r.
The next two are Strength toStrength and Build the Life you
Want by Arthur Brooks.
The next one is the SecondMountain by David Brooks, who I
(10:21):
accidentally called James onthat podcast.
The next one after that is theSoul of Wealth by Daniel Crosby.
That is a book of 50 essays,short essays, and he's also got
a weekly podcast now where hekind of does a little bit on
each one of those.
If you want to check that out,these are like 10-minute
podcasts to listen to.
(10:42):
It's Daniel Crosby is his name.
You can search his name in thepodcast land and you'll find it.
The next one is the Art ofSpending Money by Morgan Housel.
That book is actually not outyet.
It will be out in October, I amtold, but I learned about it on
his podcast.
You go to the Morgan Houselpodcast and go back to the first
(11:02):
episode of that episode one.
You'll get a preview of whatthis book is going to be about,
and the final one was Die WithZero by Bill Perkins.
So those are all good books toread as you transition towards
retirement.
I do not view one asparticularly better than the
others.
I view them all as differentparts of a whole that you're
(11:26):
better off taking them as awhole and using the bits and
pieces from them, becausethey're all about various
different ideas in terms oftransitioning to retirement,
finding purpose there and alsosetting priorities and putting
money in its place in thosepriorities and I'll go ahead and
(11:46):
make sure you get another copyof that memo.
Okay, if you're looking forcheats around actually reading
the books, there are a lot ofpodcasts and YouTube videos
about each one of these books,or almost all of these books, by
their authors, and then thesedays you can also get lots of
summaries just on your favoriteartificial intelligence site.
(12:09):
Now, that's not a substitutefor reading the books, but it
will give you a good start onwhat you're looking at and what
you're looking for, and we'llalso see what my top men can do
in terms of searchability on thewebsite, whether it be possible
just to say list all the booksthat have been recommended on
(12:29):
the podcast or something likethat.
Mostly Mary (12:32):
Have you ever heard of?
Voices (12:32):
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:36):
Hopefully that helps and thank you for
your email.
Voices (12:40):
Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately.
I wouldn't say I've beenmissing a lot of work lately.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:45):
I wouldn't say I've been missing it.
Bob Good one.
Oh, that's terrific, peter.
Next off, we have an email fromChris.
Voices (12:56):
Chris in Indiana Ain't nothing wrong with that.
Mostly Uncle Frank (12:59):
And Chris writes.
Mostly Mary (13:00):
Frank, I just want to thank you for your response
to John on yesterday's podcast.
Even though I have never sent aquestion in for the purpose of
what could be viewed as bragging, I do get caught up on trying
to optimize almost everything.
Voices (13:15):
You've gone over something again and again, and
again and again, Like I have.
Certain questions get answered,others spring up.
The mind plays tricks on you.
You play tricks back.
It's like you're unraveling abig cable knit sweater that
someone keeps knitting, knitting, knitting, knitting, knitting,
(13:40):
knitting knitting.
Mostly Mary (13:46):
It is difficult, after spending 40 years
economizing to set ourselves upfor a great retirement, to
suddenly turn the switch.
Voices (13:50):
Change the poles from plus to minus and from minus to
plus.
Mostly Mary (13:56):
However, to get a kick in the butt once in a while
is why I still listen to avariety of retirement podcasts.
And yes, I also listen to Joeand Big Al.
Lol, hey, rocky, watch me pulla rabbit out of my hat.
I don't need more money To hear.
Some of the dialogue that canhelp improve my life makes all
the listening worthwhile.
Mostly Uncle Frank (14:18):
Bow to your sensei.
Bow to your sensei.
Mostly Mary (14:21):
My wife has been talking about going to Vegas to
see a concert at the Sphere.
To optimize, I have beenpushing this off.
Last night I booked the concert, hotel and flight.
Cindy, thanks you, Chris.
In Indiana.
Voices (14:35):
Viva Las Vegas.
Viva Las Vegas.
Mostly Uncle Frank (14:43):
Well, thank you also for being a donor to
the Father McKenna Center.
Voices (14:50):
Sounds like we have a theme going on here today.
Show me the money, Jerry.
You better yell.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:00):
Show me the money.
I'm glad you liked that lastpodcast, number 441.
I've worked with a lot ofdifferent people over the past
30 years on financial mattersand legal matters and everybody
from people on public assistanceto people with eight figures to
show for it and I can tell you,although your problems may get
more complex when you have moremoney, they are certainly not
(15:22):
nearly as difficult to deal withthan for people who don't have
much money.
Voices (15:27):
The next morning you find it filled to the brim with
jack squat.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:34):
And the level of fear that is often
expressed by people in thosehigher levels 4, 5, and 6, that
Nick Maggiuli writes about inhis Wealth Ladder book are
really not that well justifiedin most cases.
Voices (15:47):
You can't handle the dogs and cats living together.
Mostly Uncle Frank (15:51):
Especially when you compare it to the
people in levels one, two andthree, and I do think it's
healthy for us to poke fun atourselves so that maybe we can
put a few things in betterperspectives.
Voices (16:02):
Doctor gave me a relaxation cassette when my
blood pressure gets too high.
the man on the tape tells me tosay Serenity now.
Mostly Uncle Frank (16:10):
And I don't really have anything against
JoJo and Big Al.
They seem to have been quitesuccessful with their advisory
business.
Voices (16:20):
I drink your milkshake, I drink it up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (16:27):
And I'm sure that the clients they serve
appreciate their approach.
It was funny I listened to thatagain today and there was like
somebody on there who had like13 rental properties generating
$150,000 of income, plus another$5 million and some other
things, that they were wonderingif they could live on $200,000
(16:48):
a year and it was sort of like,well, that's 1% of the $5
million plus the rental money.
Voices (16:56):
Aw, you're such a good boy.
Yeah, you're so good.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:03):
And it really it just sounds silly
after a while.
Voices (17:07):
Aw, you're such a good boy.
Yeah, you're so good.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:13):
And you almost wonder does this person
really exist?
Did they really write in anddid they really choose to read
that on the air?
Voices (17:20):
Don't be saucy with me.
Mostly Mary (17:21):
Bernays.
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:23):
But it just goes to show you what kind of
financial bubbles we can createfor ourselves if we're not
careful.
Voices (17:29):
Are you telling me there's not one condo available
in all of Del Boca Vista?
That's right.
They weren't like hotcakes.
How'd you get yours, got lucky?
Are you trying to keep us outof Del Boca Vista?
Mostly Uncle Frank (17:42):
But it just goes to show what kind of social
bubbles we can create forourselves if we're not careful.
Voices (17:48):
It's because of the Seinfelds.
Yeah, what do?
You mean they don't want usthere.
So we're going.
We're moving right into DelBoca Vista, so you're moving
there for spite.
Mostly Uncle Frank (18:01):
Absolutely no one tells Frank Costanza what
to do and I am very happy foryou and your wife that you are
going to see that concert at thesphere in las vegas.
It sounds like you're beginningto optimize the right things
now that is the straight stuff.
Oh funk master there's thiswell-worn phrase or observation
(18:25):
in business that whatever getsmeasured gets prioritized.
And I think that's one of theproblems we face as accumulators
that it's been easy to measureaccumulation, as it's just
numbers on a page, but it's muchharder to measure things like
relationships or health factorsor well-being factors.
(18:47):
But I really think after we'vereached some financial
independence, numbers, we reallyshould start thinking about
well, how do I measurecontributions to relationships
as in, what nice thing have Idone for my spouse or other
important relationships recently?
Have I done for my spouse orother important relationships
(19:07):
recently?
Fortunately, the health stuffis actually fairly easy to find
measurements for, since you canget your blood work done and
have other physical goals.
Voices (19:14):
I'm Hans, I'm Franz and we want to pump you up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (19:20):
Now, I have not been to the sphere myself I
actually haven't been to LasVegas in over 20 years but I do
understand they're going to do aWizard of Oz thing there in the
near future.
Voices (19:32):
Me.
She bit you, no her dog.
Oh, she bit her dog, eh no.
Mostly Mary (19:42):
That dog's a menace to the community.
I'm taking him to the sheriffand make sure he's destroyed so
I might be convinced to go outfor that do you presume to
criticize the great oz?
Mostly Uncle Frank (19:55):
you ungrateful creatures, think
yourselves lucky that I'm givingyou audience tomorrow instead
of 20 years from now anyway,it's probably a good idea if you
start making little lists ofthings that your wife wants to
do and start trying to checkthem off every month or two.
Voices (20:13):
I believe in the term happy wife, happy life.
These are words to live by.
There's never been a truersentence in the English language
than happy wife happy life,because I guarantee it will be
well worth the time and themoney.
Mostly Uncle Frank (20:31):
I'm glad you're doing well and thank you
for your email.
Voices (20:36):
It does surprise me, however, that there's no saying
that goes the other way.
If my wife had a saying, itwould be Happy husband.
We'll see about that, or happyhusband.
What's he been up to?
Mostly Uncle Frank (20:59):
Next off, we have an email from Oberon.
Voices (21:02):
No way.
Mostly Uncle Frank (21:05):
And Oberon writes.
Mostly Mary (21:07):
Hi Frank, thanks for all you do.
I donated $500 to the McKennaCenter through my donor advised
fund and will get my employer tomatch.
I've been working my waythrough your episodes with a
barbell strategy of the newestand oldest shows, and I finally
have a question that I didn'tfind answered when I searched
your RSS feed.
I recently transitioned to arisk parity style portfolio,
(21:30):
following your template, afterrealizing that I've likely
passed the peak of my usefulnessat my highly competitive job
and may retire early.
Zero to five years from now,voluntarily or not.
The plant called and said ifyou don't come in tomorrow,
don't bother coming in Monday,four day weekend.
Your excellent teachings haveshown me that I've already
reached my FI number and I canfeel confident moving forward
(21:54):
whatever happens.
My first world problem is thatmy tax advantaged accounts are
only 20% of my investable assets.
I transitioned them from atarget date fund to half each of
managed futures and GOVZfollowing the idea from episode
433 that a 10% allocation totreasury strips could act like
(22:15):
15% of VGLT.
Unfortunately, the total returnof GOVZ has been minus 4.5%
year to date, while VLGTreturned 1.6%.
Tya, another ETF mentioned herethat holds leveraged
intermediate term treasuries isup a whopping 8.5%.
In researching this phenomenon,I have learned about the yield
(22:38):
curve and how it has steepenedthis year.
I read that intermediate termbonds are sensitive to future
interest rates, but the longeryou go out in duration, the more
the size of government debt andits creditworthiness matter.
These are certainly nottrending well and hedge funds
are betting on even more curvesteepening.
Given these developments, is TYAa better capital-efficient
(22:58):
hedge against a future recessionthan GOVZ?
Do we need to be a little morespecific about where we land on
the yield curve?
Ps, you can refer to me asOberon on air.
As I've recommended yourpodcast to colleagues and they
may not know of my concerns atwork and, like some of your
other listeners, I am also anMIT alum, I'm not at all
(23:20):
surprised that your approachresonates with us math nerds.
Oberon.
Voices (23:25):
Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments.
He hath on.
Affect it with some care, so hemay prove more fond of her than
she is of her love.
Look thou, we meet before thefirst cockcrow, fear not my lord
, your servant, shall do so.
Mostly Uncle Frank (23:42):
I see we're getting a little Shakespearean
here now, and now we bring youanother page from the diary of
the world's greatest actor,Master.
Thespier, thank you for thatreference and thank you for
being a donor to the FatherMcKenna Center.
(24:03):
Both are most excellent.
But getting to your question,yes, we are doing some technical
questions this time.
I know that might frustratesome of you who come here for
the numbers.
So you're looking at threetreasury bond investments VGLT,
tya and GOVZ and the way TYAtends to perform, it performs as
(24:30):
if it has a duration.
That's kind of between VGLT andGOVZ.
It's not exact, but I will showyou a little test folio
analysis of the three of themtogether and you could basically
see that TYA performs inbetween of them.
Now, I don't think recentperformance or relative
performance is anything toreally go by, because TYA is on
(24:55):
a different part of the yieldcurve.
It will fluctuate in terms ofits relative performance over
time.
Sometimes it'll perform worseand sometimes it'll perform
better than the other ones, andthat's true of all three of them
.
But I would expect that if wehave a recession which is why
you're holding these things inthe first place that they are
all going to go up in value,essentially proportionally.
(25:18):
So you could hold any one ofthem or a combination of them.
It would just be a matter ofscaling your allocations,
knowing how they performrelative to each other, and
obviously, if you're in ataxable account, you might be
better off with the GOVZ justbecause you have to hold less of
it to get the same effect.
(25:39):
I honestly would not make anybets on trying to predict how
the yield curve will change overtime.
If someone can actually do that, they could probably become the
wealthiest person in the worldby trading options and futures
over some period of time.
But there are very few peoplewho can actually do that and
(25:59):
succeed on a regular basis, andthey probably spend all of their
time doing that as their job.
So I would just pick yourallocations and stick with them.
What you always have to rememberin the back of your head is
that these treasury bond fundsare really going to be there for
only about 15% of the time,because that's when you have the
recessions.
(26:20):
70% of the time the stockmarket's going to go up.
You're going to rely on that inyour portfolio and not worry
about the rest of it.
So it's the other 30 percent ofthe time you're really
concerned about and what theseother assets are really doing in
your portfolio about 15 percentof the time, the reason the
stock market is crashing orgoing down is because we're in
some kind of recessionaryenvironment, and then that other
(26:42):
15% of the time is when you'reseeing all these other weird
things going on, either withinflation or some other
macroeconomic phenomenon, inwhich case things like gold and
managed futures are going to beyour star performers.
So no, I wouldn't get too hungup on short-term performances of
these things relative to eachother, because they tend to even
out over time.
(27:03):
Now, as for your MIT reference,I almost did go to MIT as an
undergraduate, but decided to gothe other direction and went to
Caltech, and they've alwaysbeen nerd rivals, if you will
Revenge of the nerds.
Voices (27:19):
Nerds.
Mostly Uncle Frank (27:19):
Nerds, nerds , nerds.
I had a physics professor namedRicardo Gomez gomez, who used
to refer to mit as the factoryon the river.
He had this crazy wild hair anda thick Colombian accent, and
(27:51):
so he was teaching us physics inthe lecture hall.
He would run across the stageand say things like Suppose I am
a proton accelerated at threequarters the speed of light, and
he was fond of saying that massis mass is mass, no matter what
form it's in, and he would sayit like this mass it is mass, it
(28:11):
is mass.
It does not matter whether itis a you or a me or a box of
beasts, it's all the same.
And he meant a box of beessurely you can't be serious?
I am serious, and don't call meshirley anyway, every time
somebody says mit, that'sactually what I think of, which
(28:34):
really has nothing to do withmit, but you know how my mind
works you are talking about thenonsensical ravings of a lunatic
mind.
So thank you for yourinteresting questions, Thank you
for your support of the FatherMcKenna Center and thank you for
your email.
Next off we have an email fromRonald.
Voices (29:08):
All these shenanigans take place in a hilarious new
Hollywood movie called Bedtimefor Bonzo, starring Ronald Regan
, diana Lynn and Bonzo, thatamazing chimp.
Mostly Mary (29:19):
And Ronald writes Hi Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary.
I just joined your Patreon,hopefully in time for the top of
the t-shirt campaign.
Apologies, I must admit I havebeen procrastinating.
Thank you both for all you do.
I have learned a lot fromlistening to your podcast and
adopted risk parity principlesinto our own portfolios as we're
nearing the end of ouraccumulation phase.
(29:41):
I subscribe to many podcasts,but I always listen to yours
first when a new one appears.
Voices (29:46):
Always remember if you ain't first you're last.
Mostly Mary (29:51):
It took a while to get used to the audio clips, but
now it is jarring to hear youtalk on someone else's show
without hearing.
We don't know, you don't know,I don't know, nobody knows.
Spliced in.
Voices (30:02):
Walk away from the 97%, walk away from the 95%.
Don't go where they go, don'tdo what they do.
Don't talk like they talk.
Develop you a whole newlanguage.
Mostly Mary (30:13):
Hearing about Mary's work as a court-appointed
special advocate, as well asyour work with the Father
McKenna Center, was veryinspiring.
Do you mind sharing how youboth went about choosing what
causes or organizations you havedecided to dedicate your time
to, now and in the past?
I am in my 30s, live in DC andI'm looking to pursue more
meaningful and less financiallymotivated ways of spending my
(30:35):
productive energy.
Thank you again, if you ain'tfirst you're last.
Voices (30:42):
See you when you're grown up.
Mostly Uncle Frank (30:45):
Well, thank you for being a donor to the
Father McKenna Center and I'mglad you're enjoying our podcast
and our strange ways here.
Voices (30:56):
We have our ways.
One trick is to tell themstories that don't go anywhere,
like the time I caught the ferryover to Shelbyville.
I needed a new heel for my shoe, so I decided to go to
Morganville, which is what theycall Shelbyville in those days.
Mostly Uncle Frank (31:16):
This is why almost all my reviews are either
five stars or one star.
It's all about the sound clips.
This is pretty much the worstvideo ever made.
And you asked an interestingquestion how does one choose
what kinds of organizations onemight be interested in being
involved with?
Well, part of it just comeswith age, because you begin to
(31:39):
figure out which ones do what,but you're essentially looking
for something that is going toplay to your interests or skills
or some combination thereof.
The Father McKenna Center waskind of a natural for me because
Mary and I had attended thatparish when it was a parish back
in the 1990s.
(32:00):
St Aloysius and all three ofour boys did go to Gonzaga and
volunteered at the FatherMcKenna Center.
While they were there, our twoyoungest did their Eagle Scout
projects with the Father McKennaCenter and raising food and
clothing and other things.
But it was interesting.
They periodically look for newboard members to come on the
(32:22):
board, because you don't stay onthe board forever.
You rotate off after a numberof years, and they actually
contacted Mary to see if shemight be interested in serving
on the board and this was stillduring COVID not at the
beginning of COVID, but I thinkin early 2021.
And she says no.
(32:43):
But I think there might besomebody who would be
appropriate for that position.
Voices (32:48):
It's all the same to you .
Mostly Uncle Frank (32:52):
I'll drive that tanker.
The work the center does doeshave special meaning to me as
well.
The work the center does doeshave special meaning to me as
well because a lot of homelesspeople, particularly homeless
men, are mentally ill or havesome mental illness struggles,
and I had a brother like thatwho was also homeless some of
(33:13):
the time.
So I probably place a highervalue on the work they're doing
there than most other peoplemight.
And once I got on the board andthey found out I had an
interest in finance, they wereall too happy to push me over to
the finance committee becauseit is actually not a popular
(33:33):
committee to be on but it suitsme quite well.
So I took that ball and ranwith it, as they say.
(33:56):
Now, as for Mary's work as acourt-appointed special advocate
, she had been looking at thatorganization for some time while
we were still in the midst ofraising our children.
But she knew she really didn'thave the time to devote to it
because it has been quite a jobunto itself.
But she had worked for the FBIprior to stepping down to care
(34:20):
for our children full-time.
Voices (34:23):
Why?
What have children ever donefor me?
Mostly Uncle Frank (34:26):
And so she really wanted to get back into
something that involved moreformal advocacy and use of her
lawyering skills.
What do you?
Voices (34:35):
fear my lady, a cage To stay behind bars until use and
old age accept them and allchance of valor has gone beyond
recall or desire.
You're a daughter of kings, ashield maiden of Rohan.
(34:59):
I do not think that will beyour fate.
Mostly Uncle Frank (35:10):
To really go in and fight some dragons and
advocate for the people whoneeded it.
Voices (35:18):
Are you not entertained?
Are you not entertained, neededit?
Mostly Uncle Frank (35:35):
So if you're looking for something, I would
definitely look to somethingthat would play to your skills
and or interests.
Depending on how much time youhave.
You may not be able to go fullbore with it right away, but you
might just keep it in mind forlater on, when you have more
time.
And since you're only in your30s, you do have plenty of time
(35:56):
to try a few things out.
Don't be afraid to startsomething and decide that it's
not for you, because a lot oftimes the only way you figure
that out is by going off anddoing some of it for a bit.
If you are in the DC area, I doinvite you to get involved with
the various Choose FI localgroups that are around here.
(36:17):
There's one that meets in DCproper.
There's one that meets in theLorton Library in Lorton,
virginia I'll be talking aboutthe soul of wealth there on
August 23rd Then there's one inMontgomery County and there's
one in Baltimore as well, butyou'll meet a lot of interesting
people there at various stagesof their financial independence
(36:38):
journeys.
So thank you for writing in.
Thank you for your donation.
So thank you for writing in.
Thank you for your donation andthank you for your email.
So thank you for yourinteresting question, thank you
for your donation and thank youfor your email.
Voices (36:56):
Well, you told me that day at school for career day.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:16):
You came in you said, if you ain't first,
you're last, Last off.
Last off.
An email from Mark.
Voices (37:23):
All hail the commander of his majesty's Roman legions,
the brave and noble MarcusVindictus.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:31):
And Mark writes.
Mostly Mary (37:33):
Hello, I am new here.
Voices (37:35):
A hundred quatlus on the newcomers.
Four hundred quatlus againstthe newcomers.
Two hundred quatlus against Fivehundred.
On the newcomers 400 quat loosagainst the newcomers 200 quat
loos against 500 for thenewcomers Contest by multiple
elimination.
Mostly Mary (37:46):
With your model portfolios for dividends and
capital gains.
Do you reinvest in the securityor deposit to the core account?
Thank you, mark.
Mostly Uncle Frank (37:56):
And the answer is Mark.
We deposit the dividends andinterest into the money market
account that is associated witheach one of these portfolios.
There are no capital gains.
These are not mutual funds, sothey don't distribute capital
gains out of them per se.
There are capital gains when wesell them, and the reason we do
it that way is because we aredecumulating out of these
(38:19):
portfolios, and so you alwayswant to be taking that cash off
the top and using that first sothat you do not have to engage
in more unnecessary transactions.
When you do get to yourdecumulation phase, you do want
to turn off all dividendreinvesting because it's just
going to make everything easierto manage investing because it's
(38:41):
just going to make everythingeasier to manage, and the first
money you are going to spend isgoing to be from the dividends
and income from the portfolio.
It's interesting that actuallyaccounts for over 2% of the
distributions.
So if there's a 5% distribution, between 40% and 50% of it
comes straight out of dividendsand income from the portfolio,
and you'll see that reflected ifyou look at the distribution
(39:02):
records that are on the websiteIn the descriptions of the
portfolios.
It tells you, out of all thedistributions, where it came
from.
All the distributions that cameout of cash in the portfolios
have been from accumulateddividends and interest.
So hopefully that helps explainthings and thank you for your
email.
But now I see our signal isbeginning to fade.
(39:27):
As I've mentioned, we areclosing up the top of the
t-shirt campaign on Thursday, soif you want to get a donation
in to count for the campaign,we'd appreciate getting it in
the next day or so.
Show me the money, not that wewon't take your donations after
that, and you would still get togo to the front of the email
(39:49):
line.
Speaking of those emails, ifyou have comments or questions
for me, please send them tofrank at riskparityradarcom.
That email is frank atriskparityradarcom.
Frank at riskparityradiocom.
That email is frank atriskparityradiocom.
Or you can go to the websitewwwriskparityradiocom.
Put your message into thecontact form and I'll get it
that way.
If you haven't had a chance todo it, please go to your
(40:11):
favorite podcast provider andlike subscribe.
Give me some stars, a follow, areview.
That would be great, okay,thank you once again for tuning
in.
This is Frank Vasquez with RiskParty Radio Signing off.
Voices (40:28):
People of Las Vegas.
Turning day into night Time,turning night into day Time, if
you see it once.
You'll never be the same again.
I'm going to keep on the run.
I'm gonna keep on the run.
I'm gonna have me some fun Ifit costs me my very last dime.
If I wind up broke, well, I'llalways remember that I had a
(40:51):
swing in time.
I'm gonna give it everythingI've got.
Lady, look, please let the dicestay hot.
Let me shoot a seven with everyshot I've ever lost.
Eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,
(41:17):
eva, eva, eva, eva, eva, eva,eva, eva, eva, eva.
Viva Las Vegas.
Mostly Mary (41:38):
The Risk Parody Radio Show is hosted by Frank
Vasquez.
The content provided is forentertainment and informational
purposes only and does notconstitute financial, investment
tax or legal advice.
Please consult with your ownadvisors before taking any
actions based on any informationyou have heard here, making
sure to take into account yourown personal circumstances.
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