Episode 443: Treasuring Our Guests And Listeners In The Arena, Bond Allocations, Transitions And Portfolio Reviews As Of August 1, 2025

In this episode we break rules and have guests!  Dennis and Ben from the Father McKenna Center.  We review the fabulous results of the Top of the T-Shirt Campaign and reflect on the generosity engagement of our listeners. Then we answer emails from Jamie, Camille and Jon.  We discuss Jamie's portfolio experiments, bond allocations in a 403b, musing about changes in the reserve currency status of the US Dollar and transitioning issues.And THEN we our go through our weekly and monthly portfolio reviews of the eight sample portfolios you can find at Portfolios | Risk Parity Radio.Additional Links:Jamie's Portfolio Analyses:  https://testfol.io/?s=jusQGGadC9PBreathless Unedited AI-Bot Summary:What happens when a finance podcast community rallies around a worthy cause? Something extraordinary. In this special episode, we break our "no guests" rule to welcome Dennis D and Ben Hoffschneider from the Father McKenna Center, where they share the remarkable story behind our recent fundraising campaign.Dennis's journey will stop you in your tracks – from arriving at the center homeless after a 24-hour bus ride from Florida to eventually becoming its Executive Director. His powerful testimony shows how organizations like the McKenna Center transform lives daily. When our listener "Matthew63" stepped forward with a $15,000 matching challenge, none of us expected what would follow.The results left everyone speechless: $60,969.83 raised (yes, down to the penny) from approximately 100 donors across the country. This campaign now represents 4% of the center's annual budget and has become their leading donor source for the fiscal year. As we reflect on Theodore Roosevelt's famous "Man in the Arena" speech, it becomes clear who the true warriors are – those doing the daily work with limited resources to address homelessness and food insecurity.After our interview, we tackle several listener questions about portfolio construction. Jamie wonders about using VXX and SCO as bond replacements, Camille seeks guidance on holding treasury bonds in retirement accounts, and John asks about transitioning from target date funds to a more diversified approach. We close with our weekly portfolio review, noting gold's continued strong performance up 27.83% year-to-date.Want to support the Father McKenna Center's work? Register for their Walk for McKenna on September 27th or follow them on social media to see your donations in action. The t-shirts featuring our logo will be available mid-September – a small reminder of what we can accomplish together.Support the show