Are You Really Broke?

This episode explores Americans’ financial well-being in 2025, using a Yahoo Finance/Marist survey as the springboard. Don and Tom discuss how their audience differs from the average American listener, how perceptions of financial health can be misleading, and what to actually do if your finances—or your feelings about them—are getting worse. They debate the usefulness of net worth tracking, stress the importance of financial literacy, and suggest automating savings. Listener questions cover indexed annuities, bond substitutes, tax implications, and long-term care sales pitches. They also read a letter defending Rick Edelman and challenging their dismissal of crypto, which leads to a lively discussion about evidence-based investing, Eugene Fama’s critique of Bitcoin, and the dangers of sensationalized advice. They end with a reflection on public criticism and the value of having one’s views challenged. 0:29 Comparing TRM listeners to Ramsey and Kiyosaki audiences 1:37 Median savings for over-65 Americans and why $200k still isn’t enough 2:42 Yahoo/Marist survey results: affordability, debt, emergency savings 3:50 One in three say finances worsened; generational breakdown 4:51 Explaining net worth, what to include and exclude 7:01 Tracking net worth annually as a financial benchmark 8:00 Divorce, net worth, and the joke about “kill them off” 9:50 Income gap, gender differences, and perception vs. reality 10:34 How uncertainty and fear shape financial outlooks 11:41 Producer note joke about being “sexist but not leftist” 11:50 Dissatisfaction with savings and personal spending habits 13:06 Fixing bad finances: literacy, automation, benchmarking 17:20 Don argues perception matters more than reality for many 18:20 Listener question: fixed index annuity as bond substitute 19:46 Caps, participation rates, and underperformance vs. markets 21:10 Tax treatment of annuities vs. ETFs 22:55 Importance of advice near retirement (decumulation phase) 23:44 Listener shares bad LTC/annuity sales pitch experience 24:54 Fixed annuity guarantees vs. CDs and government bonds 25:39 Listener defends Rick Edelman, suggests an open dialogue 26:52 Don’s critique of Edelman’s shift toward sensationalism 29:29 Eugene Fama’s comments on Bitcoin, clash with Edelman’s stance 31:23 Public criticism is fair game—reading recent Apple Podcast reviews 32:48 Bitcoin adoption debate and institutional incentives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices