Summertime is the magical season that erases almost all our desire to focus on finances. It's hard to think of the details when there's so many wonderful distractions. We are with you in this ... every day the sun keeps ours eyes wandering outside the office thinking of an excuse to run an errand or two. And just like the seasons in northern Michigan cause us to focus on different priorities, there are different seasons in life that force us to think about finances differently.
Listen to this episode as we look at the different decades of life as seasons. This will help you benchmark your progress and give you ideas to help you focus.
We’ve been doing something in the hopes of helping you. We’ve been talking about how to have “the money talk” with your adult children as beneficiaries. In doing this, however, we made a huge assumption: that your kids were ready for this discussion. If it turns out that your hard work to “button things up” has backfired by their resistance, tune in to this episode. There are both emotional and logistical reasons they aren’t ready. MarketWatch contributor Richard Watts sums it up perfectly: “Money is like a narcotic; a little more is always welcome, and the last amount never quite fills your present need. Give your children enough that they do something, but not so much that they do nothing.” There are many options available to create this balance. Tune in to find out more.
You may have a retirement account, but do you have a financial plan? The difference between the two is accumulation and deciding how to use what you have accumulated. At Prout Financial Design, we have incredibly sophisticated financial planning software that will help you navigate your financial future with a sense of control and purpose. Join Dennis and Jeannie Thaxton in this episode as they discuss why creating a financial plan could help relieve some of your anxiety moving forward.
Traverse City has made many lists this year, including “Best Place to Retire.” Statistics show that Northern Michigan is one of the fastest-aging areas in the nation. For the first time in our region’s history, there are more people dying than being born. It’s being called a “Silver Tsunami” as more than 10,000 people turn 65 every day until 2030. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “The 65 and over population will more than double, and the 85 and over population will more than triple by 2050.” In 2015, the median annual cost for nursing facility care was $91,250.
No one likes to talk about long-term care. Most of us are forced into the discussion by way of circumstance. In this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja try to bridge the gap between future possibilities and current options to plan for your care.
Retirement accounts have multiple investment vehicles that can look a lot like Jay Leno’s garage. You can choose from hybrids (mutual funds), or classics (fixed accounts), sports cars (stocks) or utility vehicles (bonds). However, the most common retirement transportation is the 401(k), which is more like an Amtrak train. There are a lot of passengers heading in the same direction until it’s time to get off and choose a personal vehicle (an IRA) to get you to your final destination (retirement). When you leave a job you can choose to leave the 401(k) and “roll it over” into that personal vehicle that will carry you into retirement. In this episode of New Retirement Radio, Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja focus on six rollover options for your 401(k).
In this week’s show Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja review items from Ed Slott’s recent newsletter which provided 14 great tips for non-spouse beneficiaries. The first tip is “touch nothing”! Before you make a move, talk to an advisor to avoid expensive tax mistakes. More than likely, you are splitting the inherited account and the mandated deadlines are important to be aware of. Also, you will need to name a beneficiary to these accounts as well. Who knew there was so much to know!
For more than 30 years you've been programmed to "save, save, save" and invest wisely so that you can retire. When you retire you then have to learn how to "spend, spend, spend" wisely. It's hard to make "The Switch" from one mentality to the next. You lose freedom with income, but you gain freedom with time. It's a series of trade-offs that we talk about in this episode. How can you change your strategy and make little pivots to ease the shock (or excitement) of transition?
More than 800,000 Americans lose their spouses each year, and 700,000 of them are women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Because women generally outlive men, they spend an average of 14 years without a spouse. There are now more than 14 million widows and widowers, accounting for about one-quarter of those over 65. And yet, it's the topic most clients avoid simply because, "we don't want to think about it." Twenty-five percent of the population has found themselves in a difficult situation. If you haven't started the planning process for your personal finances and estate, listen to this episode and Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja can get you started.
In this episode Dennis Prout weighs in on what some of the top economists are saying and gives practical tips on how to review your portfolio in light of our current political and economic climates.
Aging Baby Boomers (the wealthiest generation) are inheriting from their parents and preparing to pass more than $30 trillion in assets to their Gen X and millennial children (CNBC) in the next several decades. Do you know the rules when inheriting IRAs, non-qualified annuities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and even the kitchen sink? Do your children? Considering that most U.S. middle income households (81%) had flat or falling income between 2004 and 2014 (MarketWatch), every dollar counts. Secondly, we are going to briefly cover whether or not your IRA is protected from creditors and bankruptcy. Our guest expert, Shannon L. Evans, Esq. of Evans & Associates in Las Vegas, Nevada, contributed to the Ed Slott Newsletter with charts to help us navigate. The laws vary state and affect owners and beneficiaries. With 76.4 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964, 20% will be 65 or older by 2029. There will be a lot of funds passing from one generation to the next. Join us today as Dennis teaches you how to inherit.
Listen as Dennis Prout chats about the importance of estate planning with local attorney Timothy White from Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge of Traverse City, Michigan. Tim practices law in the areas of Business Law, Probate Litigation, Tax Law and Trusts & Estates.
Listen to this week's episode as Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja explain the Roth option of various retirement plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b). They also explain the TSP Distribution rules.
If you waited to do your taxes, be depressed no more! The odds might be in your favor. This show is about last minute tax tips. Waiting allows you to catch a few things you might have missed. It buys time for you to consult about what to do better next year too. You have until April 18 this year, which is another bonus. Also included in this episode is a fun Social Security quiz from Kiplinger.
Regardless of one's interest in technology, it’s here and we dependent on it every day. The same goes for retirement planning. While so far off in the future, it’s actually happening right now. You can Google how to retire and find fairly helpful information. But you and I both know that it’s not for lack of information that we don’t plan, it’s the psychology behind it. Listen to this week's episode to find out where you’re stuck when it comes to moving forward. The information is there, but how will you choose to use it?
In recent news, the conversations have been changing about Health Savings Accounts. Contributions are deductible and distributions are tax-free. Could it be a better option than investing in your IRA or 401(k)? Are there other opportunities you might be missing? For example, should you invest in life insurance or a Roth IRA? What about a trust vs a will? There are so many decisions to make in a week’s time that we often don’t have time to investigate opportunities like this. In this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja explore the different options available.
The definition of an “Outlier” is: “A person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.” Our definition of a “Retirement Outlier” is: “Someone who didn’t save using traditional retirement accounts and/or ability to save was thwarted by life events.”
Are you an Outlier? Did you invest your retirement savings in your business? Real estate? Inherited accounts? Government retirement plans? Education plans? Do you have a dependent adult child who will need your assistance indefinitely? Did you have to use your retirement accounts for a personal crisis, which forced you to “start over” later in life? In this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja discuss the Outlier concept and their ideas.
The Wall Street Journal just published a great article, "The Biggest Surprises in Retirement," that resonated so deeply with us because these are the real-life stories we hear every week. Listen to this week's show as Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja discuss the surprises in retirement as noted in this article.
Kiplinger keeps knocking it out of the park with its articles on preparing you for tax season. As you know, some forms of income are taxed going in and some while going out, and some get taxed on both ends. Oh, and that moving target called your "tax bracket", which more than likely changed once your retired? Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja talk about these subjects in this weeks podcast.
While some tax deductions are obvious, others aren't. Kiplinger just released its "23 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions" list, and in this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja go through them one by one. Also joining Dennis and Shea in this show is Prout team member, Shelly Osborne, who has experience in tax preparation and will answer many questions.
Using your retirement savings for something other than its specified purpose is possible, but it needs to be done with care. Dennis says, "Most of us don't plan on needing money early, but if we do, how do we draw the funds? How do we avoid penalties involved? What strategies do we employ if we've been let go from a company, have unexpected health issues or college costs? Or what if we need extra income on a monthly basis if one spouse retires early?" Listen as Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja discuss which accounts to draw from and how to draw money early. Whether it's an unexpected emergency or an early retirement, there is, in fact, a method to the madness.
Folks either survived or thrived in 2016. This year we have a new administration in the government, unusually low interest rates and a shocking rise in the stock market toward year-end. The pessimist in all of us says, "What goes up, must come down". The realist in us says, "Get the facts. Information is power." The optimist says, "Regardless of what's going on, I have control". In today's show Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja speak to the inner pessimist, realist and optimist by answering 10 Economic Forecast Questions.
For a business owner most of their investments may be in their business, which could be the single largest asset of their net worth. In today's show, Dennis Prout interviews Tim Cartwright, Partner at Fifth Avenue Advisors in Naples Florida. Tim manages Fifth Avenue's subsidiary business, Compass Advisory Group, which is a mergers and acquisitions consultancy that helps entrepreneurs and families sell their business to create liquidity. As a sell-side advocate, Tim will dispel the fear and mystery in mergers and acquisitions.
In this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja review the Five Year-End Mistakes You Won't Want to Make, along with financial goal setting.
According to MarketWatch, the No. 1 regret of older Americans is not saving early enough for retirement. Their second biggest regret is not saving enough for emergency expenses. In this episode Dennis Prout and Shea Petaja give you strategic tips to motivate you to save more regardless of what age you are.
This show highlights specific regulations that are for the military and Dennis Prout speaks to the immediate economic outlook considering our newly elected President.