Hot to Not

In this episode of Talking Real Money, Don and Tom dig into the Washington State pension system’s heavy exposure to private equity, sparked by Jason Zweig’s Wall Street Journal reporting and a Seattle Times investigation. They explain why high fees, opaque valuations, and lack of liquidity make private equity especially dangerous for public retirement funds—and why Washington leads the nation in risk. The conversation expands to compare pension strategies across states, question governance and oversight, and warn retirees about the real-world consequences of excessive risk. Later, the hosts respond to a listener trapped in a high-fee, active...