Episode 440: Looking At Some Charts, Inheritance Headaches, Bonds And Gold, And Celebrating Ozzy

Jul 23, 2025

The hosts celebrate Ozzy Osbourne, diving into the legacy of nonconformity. They explore investment strategies using insightful charts, emphasizing portfolio resilience and withdrawal rates. Complexities of estate planning lead to tips on simplifying inheritance issues. The discussion highlights balancing bonds, gold, and equities to create sturdy portfolios. Listeners are encouraged to consider charitable giving and creative legacies that go beyond financial wealth. Email interactions add humor and community engagement, enriching the conversation.

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ADVICE

Use Portfolio Charts to Evaluate Safety

Use the withdrawal rates chart and drawdowns chart from Portfolio Charts to evaluate portfolios for retirement safety.
These charts reveal how portfolios behave in market stress, highlighting those with higher safe withdrawal rates and lower drawdowns.

INSIGHT

Minimax Portfolios Excel in Retirement

In retirement, the best portfolios maximize the minimax objective, performing best in the worst scenarios.
Risk parity portfolios act like a reliable SUV compared to all-stock race cars, offering better safety and resilience.

ADVICE

Simplify Estate Planning with Gifts

Avoid overly complex trusts as they often cause tax inefficiencies, legal fees, and family conflicts.
Consider giving money away during your lifetime to heirs and charities to simplify estate planning and create meaningful legacy.

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In this episode we celebrate Ozzy Osbourne and answer emails from Iron Tony, Ben and Robbin. We discuss some of the charts at Portfolio Charts and some related research, the unexpected problems of complex trusts and the value of simplifying estate planning by giving money away while you are alive and balancing treasury bonds, gold, and equity allocations to create resilient portfolios.

If you'd like to move to the front of the email line, please consider donating to the Father McKenna Center at fathermckennacenter.org or through the support page at riskparityradio.com.

Links:

Portfolio Charts Page O' Charts: Charts – Portfolio Charts

Portfolio Charts Golden Ratio Article: Beautiful Constants and the Golden Ratio Portfolio – Portfolio Charts

Jim Sandidge Chaos Paper: RMJ081-ChaosAndRetirementSecurity.pdf

Dana Anspach Presentation (watch minutes 17 - 59): How to Turn Investments into a Retirement Paycheck in 2023

Testfolio Comparison of TLT and VGLT: https://testfol.io/analysis?s=dGUGRbj009N

Breathless Unedited AI-Bot Summary:

Season 6 kicks off with a deep dive into the powerful analytical tools at Portfolio Charts that can transform how you evaluate investment strategies. Frank unpacks essential charts like Withdrawal Rates and Drawdowns, revealing why understanding a portfolio's behavior during market stress matters more than chasing maximum returns. Through clear explanations and vivid analogies, he demonstrates how risk parity approaches function as the Toyota 4Runners of investment strategies—reliable, versatile, and designed for challenging conditions.

The conversation shifts to a listener's complex trust situation, sparking a thoughtful examination of estate planning pitfalls. Frank offers a compelling perspective on legacy planning: rather than creating elaborate structures meant to preserve wealth indefinitely, consider simpler approaches that benefit heirs during your lifetime and avoid unintended family conflicts. His personal approach of allocating roughly 1% of his annual portfolio withdrawals to giving provides a practical model for balancing financial security with meaningful impact.

Finally, Frank addresses portfolio construction fundamentals, explaining why Treasury bonds serve as essential "recession insurance" and how to balance them with other assets like gold and equities. He emphasizes that even historically strong performers like gold can experience decade-long drawdowns, reinforcing the need for true diversification across asset classes that respond differently to varying economic conditions.

Whether you're new to risk parity investing or refining your existing strategy, this episode delivers valuable insights for creating a resilient portfolio designed to weather market uncertainty while supporting your long-term financial goals. Have questions about your own investment approach? Send them to frank@riskparityradio.com or use the contact form at riskparityradio.com.

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