Episode 531: Expressing Our Heartfelt Gratitude, Working With Asset Choice Constraints, And Portfolio Reviews As Of August 7, 2026

In this episode we respond to emails from Thirsty Horse, Joanne, Matt and Alan.  We share our gratitude for our listeners and reflect on how a listener community can become one of the most meaningful outcomes of a long-term investing project. We also provide an update on the Top of the T-Shirt fundraising campaign for the Father McKenna Center.  Next we answer two portfolio design questions about retirement drawdown constraints and how to fit them into the framework for portfolios with higher safe withdrawal rates.And THEN we our go through our weekly portfolio reviews of the eight sample portfolios you can find at Portfolios | Risk Parity Radio.Links:Father McKenna Center Donation Page (please mention Risk Parity Radio in the comment section with your donation):  Donate - Father McKenna CenterCharity Navigator Rating for The Father McKenna Center:  Charity Navigator - Rating for Father McKenna Center Inc.Bengen "Richer Retirement" Sample Portfolio at Portfolio Charts:  Richer Retirement Portfolio – Portfolio ChartsBill Bengen's "Richer Retirement" Content:  Bill Bengen’s New Book | Charts & Tools for YouGolden Ratio Compared with Version w/o Alternative Investments:  Portfolio Backtester for ETFs and Asset Allocation | testfolioAfford Anything Risk Parity Portfolio Blueprint:  Afford Anything frank-vasquez-risk-parity-portfolio-BluePrint.pdf - Google DriveBreathless Unedited AI-Bot Summary:A week where stocks jump 3% to 5% and gold pops more than 7% can feel like the market is daring you to change your plan. We don’t take the bait. We walk through what actually happened across major asset classes, why we still refuse to time markets, and how a diversified risk parity approach is designed to keep you steady when headlines and price moves get loud.We also start with something more important than portfolio math: the notes we received after my mom passed away, and what it means to build an audience that shows up for each other. From there, we share a progress update on our Father McKenna Center “top of the t-shirt” campaign, including matching funds, a Charity Navigator 100% rating, and a practical tip for tax-smart giving: donating appreciated shares can reduce capital gains while supporting a mission you care about.Then we get into two listener questions that hit the real world. First: if you’re in the retirement drawdown phase and you can only use stock and bond ETFs or index funds, what would we actually hold and why? We talk safe withdrawal rate research, the role alternatives play, and what you might use as imperfect substitutes (value tilt, REITs, utilities, even gold miners) when gold and managed futures aren’t on the table. Second: what if you’re investing from New Zealand with limited fund access and a tax drag on US ETFs? We lay out a decision process for finding value-tilted funds locally, evaluating managed futures costs, and avoiding expensive “solutions” that quietly erase the benefit you’re chasing.Support the show