The last couple of years have motivated us to look closely at our personal health, finances and estate planning. What happens if we need more help should the worst happen? Who would act on your behalf if your partner can’t? Should it be one of your children? There are several different types of POAs (Powers of Attorney) to discuss – conventional, durable, springing and medical.
Lucky for you (and us) we have Cortney Danbrook LIVE with us today. She started her career in wealth management and crossed over into the legal world. Her combined experiences give a unique perspective that offers families a chance to approach estate and wealth succession planning, family cottage preservation and legacy asset planning holistically.
Don’t leave your family guessing … leave them with a plan.
It turns out that retirement isn’t as easy as “you retire one day and have a check in the mail the next.” Those days (if they ever existed) are long gone. Today, retiring requires thoughtful planning and consideration … things like when to claim Social Security, draw from the 401(k), take out a pension and, lest we forget, tapping in to the good ol’ IRA! And that’s just the beginning, which is why we love to talk about retirement income strategies on our show. To get the most out of your money, you must consider the best time to take money from different accounts for longevity and tax purposes.
This is a FUN show where we will present lots of options. Tune in and take control. Retirement could be right around the corner … if you plan it right!
Typically, it’s not the big things in life that we fail to plan for, but it’s the little things that get looked over. We have a natural and understandable apprehension to dying, which makes us hesitant to properly plan for our own death. We get it. However, there can be a major consequences if you fail to plan. Mr. Rogers said it best, “Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.”
Today, Dennis is going to talk about how assets transfer at death, the importance of naming a beneficiary and how to do tax planning for your portfolio.
’Tis the season for taking your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) for the year! That’s right, if you’re over 72 years old, you’ll need to take money out of your tax-deferred retirement accounts. If you don’t, there is a hefty penalty – you will be charged 50% of the amount you were supposed to withdraw. You might ask, “What if I don’t need the money?” In which case we would say, “Have you ever considered making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) to a non-profit of your choice?” This can be given directly from your IRA, satisfying your RMD, and is excluded from taxable income.
We don’t get to talk about GOOD NEWS very often, but this is definitely a silver lining in retirement planning. Tune in today with guest CPA, Jon Sluis as he talks about this and many other ways to give this season!
Do you need to withdraw money from your retirement accounts prior to age 59½? If so, there will be a penalty for doing so. But keep in mind that there are exceptions to every rule. In this case, they are referred to as “10% Early Distribution Penalty Exceptions.” Ed Slott’s recent workshop dedicated 38 pages of material to cover these rules! What does that tell you?
Age matters.
Join us today as we share multiple examples of how important it is to understand the rules and use the exceptions wisely. Tune in and take control!
The COVID-19 death rate has reached 5 million globally, supply chains are sluggish (at best), oil prices are soaring and inflation is at an all-time high since the early ’80s. Congress is currently targeting IRAs in their new proposals – especially Roth IRAs. Investors are beginning to ask more seriously, “Looking at the year ahead, should I worry?”
Maybe.
What we CAN DO is look at the facts, our personal finances and adjust accordingly. Over the last two years, nothing has been predictable. We believe that the opposite of anxiety is action.
Occasionally, we’ll get Bob Simpson from the Social Security Office to join us LIVE! It’s a real treat to hear directly from the man who has worked over 30 years doing what he loves … helping people make the most of their Social Security benefits. There is never a dull moment with Bob on the mic! We will be talking about six major Social Security changes in 2022, year-end planning and answering all our listeners’ questions.
Go beyond getting advice from friends, hear directly from the source today.
Meet our friend, Vaughn Housepian. He’s an unlikely retirement story. Vaugh spent the majority of his 20s bouncing from job to job hoping to land something permanent, only to find himself starting over again and again. It wasn’t until a member of his church suggested that he take a temp job at GM to help cover the bills that things started to find traction. The temp job turned into a successful 30-year career as an engineer at GM where he became known as the “numbers guy.” Upon retirement, he and his wife Sue decided to work together … at Disney!
Tune in and hear the rest of their story today. You’ll be surprised and challenged to stay the course when the going gets tough!
Last week, it was Year-End Checklist time … this week it’s Tax To-Do’s with guest CPA, Jon Sluis, of Intrust CPA. Jon is a regular on our program who offers unique insights for our listeners. Not only will he remind us of what we should be looking at right now, he will weigh in on a few government tax proposals we may need to consider. It’s also a good time to talk about the cost of converting to a Roth IRA and determining if that is the right choice for you.
As always, this will be a fast-paced, action-packed program. Be ready to take some notes and don’t forget to call in LIVE with your questions.
It may seem like it’s TOO SOON to start your year-end checklist but .... we have tax deadlines, charitable contributions and conversion deadlines too! Just when you thought retirement planning was boring, the season changes.
It’s also a great time to consider doing what you’ve thought about doing but haven’t. It’s time to consolidate your retirement accounts for simplicity and access.
With only three months left in the year, why not get ahead of the New Year and plan now!
In this Real Retirement Story, I (Shea) interview my good friend, Barb Mahan, about losing her daughter, Abby, to a decade-long battle with cancer. The harsh and unfair reality of parents grieving the loss of an adult child is a topic I have hesitated to share knowing how deeply personal and traumatizing it is. However, Barb is special and Abby was very special. Their story is unique and offers so much hope alongside the suffering. To use Barb’s words, “Time doesn’t heal the wound, but it leaves a scar, and I’m happy for the scar that reminds me of Abby.”
Tune in today to hear the real, raw reality of how Barb and her husband, Dave, rearranged their lives and retirement plans after Abby was gone.
At the end of the interview, I was lucky enough to have Abby’s husband, Brian Gartland, read the eulogy he read at her funeral. As a gifted writer, he has documented their story in his book, On a Blue Moon.
In 2020, 3.2 million Americans retired, which is a 56% increase over the average 2.05 million Americans who retired between 2012 and 2019 (source: Pew Research Center). This is a staggering stat! What most folks forget to consider in their retirement plan is healthcare. Believe it or not, there are professionals who specialize in this, and we know who they are!
Join Laverna Witkop and Dawn McConnell from Ford Insurance Agency who are LIVE with us today. They will talk about the annual election period (AEP) for Medicare Advantage plan (October 15 through December 7). It’s time to review and pay attention to changes. This also might be a good time to jump in! Open enrollment for individual health insurance plans is from November 1 to December 15, with a possible extension.
We get a lot of questions about trusts. Who should get one? Who shouldn’t? What are the long-term ramifications? Is it a bad idea to name a trust as the beneficiary of an IRA?
Excellent questions!
Today, we are going to discuss, specifically, naming a trust as the beneficiary of an IRA. This can be quite overwhelming for the trustee if they are not experienced. According to Ed Slott, “Saddling an inexperienced trustee with such a daunting task can lead to egregious mistakes – as a recent IRA private letter ruling states.”
We’ll cover the ins and outs of these mistakes along with an “inflation check-in” as we enter into an upcycle that is not transitory in nature. It will be led by these long-term factors: wages, rents and energy prices.
Twenty years later and we can all remember the exact moment the attacks on 9/11 happened. I (Shea) was standing at the Folgarelli’s deli counter watching the events unfold on their TV. I assumed at first that I was watching a movie, but sadly I soon realized it was a live news broadcast. The first building was attacked and, in horror, all of us there watched as the second building was taken down. My cell phone rang, and I was told to go home immediately – the board meeting lunch I was scheduled to attend had been canceled.
Today, we will commemorate this day and honor those whose lives were lost. It’s also a time to reflect on how this act of terrorism cost us emotionally and financially. The American spirit should be remembered as resilient even as we face this current pandemic.
Perhaps one of the best and most rewarding conversation topics we can have with clients is, “You should spend more.” This isn’t the advice they were expecting. In fact, for most clients, it’s a real mind shift to go from saving, saving, saving to spending! But it’s truly a rush!
Today, we’re going to call out the real fears people have with spending, along with reasons why you should spend more (we promise … there are some!). In Yahoo! News, Michael Finke, a professor of retirement at the American College of Financial Services, says research he conducted found that 80% of retirees are uncomfortable watching their nest egg get smaller. “To an economist, that’s a mystery,” he said. “Why did you save in the first place?”
As the economy rebounds, the question remains, “What about inflation?” According to Joel Naroff, Chief Economist at Naroff Economics, LLC, “We are transitioning to a higher period of inflation and interest rates than we’ve had over the last 20 years.” This transition is projected to last longer than expected with hiring challenges, supply-chain bottlenecks, and other disruptions caused by the pandemic. In fact, we could see about 2% in the coming months as the CPI (consumer price index) jumped 5% in May.
What do we do if inflation continues to go up and up?
That’s the question for Dennis Prout and Heidi Thompson today. Join us LIVE as we navigate the ever-changing economy – the first step in any recovery!
What better way to celebrate our new and improved studio than to have familiar guests join us! The Bill Marsh Brothers (Jamie, Bill Jr. and Mike) are LIVE and in person with us today. They are going to share some of the most difficult times they have faced in the last year-and-a-half, along with surprising victories. Their family-owned automobile business has been forced to change as people stayed home, drove less, and delayed making large purchases at the beginning of the pandemic (stats here). New vehicle production came to a halt and the demand for used cars began to skyrocket. It’s been a wild ride … and the year isn’t even over!
Join all of us in the studio today as we inspire you to keep pushing forward despite the unknown. There’s no going back to how it was before COVID-19, but that might be a good thing!
What makes someone more comfortable in retirement? Studies show four things: guaranteed income, little debt, a clear spend-down strategy and employer-provided assistance. All of this takes a little planning over time with trusted advisors. Lucky you, because we have two in the NEW studio today! Dennis and Heidi will guide you through the planning process and how to face money mindsets that could be holding you back. Dennis will speak specifically on IRA planning for special needs beneficiaries.
Teamwork makes the dream work, and we are here for it!
Perhaps we’ve been overemphasizing COVID-19 stats, but it’s difficult to look at the numbers without becoming concerned. So much has shifted over the last year and a half, and most of it is out of our control. Our intention is to hold out hope for you. We want you to feel empowered and adapt as needed.
That being said, today we are going to focus on the positive side of the pandemic. The downtime allowed for a lot of reflection and bought some folks time to make necessary changes. We are going to share what those are and give you a few tips for transition. As we all know, the only constant is change!
“It’s not the economy that’s going to determine your next six years, it’s your philosophy” said the late Jim Rohn, entrepreneur author and speaker. His words outlive him and are just as relevant today as they were decades ago. When it comes to investing – the act of putting our dollars where our values lie, is about philosophy. Before you can be disciplined about the small things, you must first determine what you believe to be true and in the power of your own action-making abilities.
Join Dennis today as he applies these principles to the relationship we have with money and the magic of compound interest! After all, life only asks one thing of us … to make measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time!
During the last year and a half, many charities that have relied on fundraising events and in-person relationship building have suffered. The financial insecurity many individuals faced also caused them to withdraw their monthly donations. Meanwhile, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, “The coronavirus has spurred roughly $13 billion in donations to relief funds and for medical and vaccine research – more than all donations to 12 other big disasters combined, including the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, and hurricanes Harvey and Sandy, according to an analysis by Candid, which tracks and analyzes global philanthropy.”
If you want to make charity a part of your financial plan, don’t wait until the holidays, start the process now. There are ways to leverage your portfolio to help the organizations you care about while also benefiting your tax strategies.
I’m not sure about you, but it seems nothing short of surreal to be shopping in stores without a mask and shield. Eating out at a restaurant is thrilling. Gathering with family, giving hugs freely and meeting strangers is almost euphoric. While the pandemic is mostly in the rear window, the effects of it are not.
Today, Shea and Heidi will be taking over the show one Shea Stat at a time to highlight the good, the bad and neutral numbers of COVID-19, which is quite fitting considering that women have been impacted by the pandemic more than men. According to McKinsey, 80% of the Americans who have stepped away from the workforce to take on the duties of childcare, education, shopping, cooking and cleaning during the nationwide shutdown were women.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve discussed the blind spots that investors can develop. The psychology of investing refers to these blind spots as “cognitive bias,” where our brains are hard-wired to take shortcuts, oversimplify complex concepts or be overconfident in our decision-making processes. The Magellan Group has outlined 10 of those biases, and on our show today we will give examples as we’ve experienced them either with clients or on a global scale.
While it’s important to have help with the numbers, it’s also very important to get perspective on the head game behind them. In fact, that’s why people tend to hire advisors … hint … hint!
Join us today as we dive deeper into the topic along with a brush-up lesson on income strategies in retirement. That in and of itself is a trip!
I (Dennis) was talking to my daughter about her investing options as she and her husband are gaining traction in their careers and financial choices. It’s a very exciting thing to witness, especially as a father who happens to be an investment advisor too! Ironically, as she started to verbally process their options, she also confessed to not knowing as much as she “should.” It triggered a conversation that led me to the topic of today’s show, because even something as simple as a 401(k) plan can feel foreign.
Today, Shea will be asking the tough questions like, “Is a 401(k) worth it? What about the fees? What if I need the money for emergencies? What about taxes in retirement? Does the employer really ‘match’ my money?”
This will be a lively conversation to help clear up any confusion about 401(k)s so that you can make an informed decision! After all, this investing stuff is supposed to be FUN!
Last week, we started the conversation around investor “blind spots,” or careless mistakes. One can argue that the premise of our entire show is about blind spots! Touché! This week, we will continue the discussion and delve more deeply into one area in particular: Changes in the market as you near retirement. The question is, “Can you handle it?” Or, better yet, “How should you handle it?”
The prevailing concern over a potential market correction and rising inflation lingers in investors’ minds. It’s understandable and probably unavoidable … but the good news is that it’s manageable!