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Weekly Market Commentary

How To Set Up Your 401k Distributions As You Approach Retirement- Season 7: Episode 12

If you’ve been saving for a long time in your 401k, you may have decided as you approach retirement that you’d like to reallocate some of those investments into something less volatile than, say, an aggressive growth fund. So maybe you change your allocation to include something with relative safety.  This can be a great idea: after all, you don’t want a big market downturn to take a huge chunk out of your savings right when you need it. But as you reallocate, you may also want to consider changing how you contribute your new money. 

What If You Forget To Take Your RMD? – Season 7: Episode 11

Whether you need the money to live on or not, it’s a fact that once you reach age 72, you’re generally required to take a certain amount of money each year out of your tax-deferred retirement accounts. These are your Required Minimum Distributions, or RMDs. The penalty for missing an RMD is severe: 50 percent of the amount you missed! That’s not fun, and it certainly is costly. So what happens if you accidentally miss the RMD for a given year? Are you simply out of luck? Maybe not. Learn more about what remedies you may have available to you

CAPitalize Tomorrow’s Finances – Season 2: Episode 10

One of the more exciting aspects of financial planning is setting yourself up for the future. While making and sticking to monthly budgets may be a bit boring (although necessary), learning to invest your money for the future, and knowing there is potential for it to grow (maybe a LOT!), can make things really interesting and exciting. Today’s podcast talks about how you can CAPitalize tomorrow’s finances, and, with luck, set yourself up for a comfortable and fulfilling retirement. Today we start the journey toward tomorrow!  Have a listen and find out what the next steps will be!

Taxes: The More You Know, The Less You May Owe! – Season 7: Episode 10

Financial knowledge is crucial for retirement planning. This is especially true when it comes to taxes, because knowing too little may wind up costing you a whole lot. The problem, of course, is that taxes can be extremely complicated. Sometimes when you make one financial move, that move can trigger an extra tax bill that you never anticipated.

What You Need to Know About Inheriting an IRA – Season 7: Episode 9

It’s always nice to receive a big chunk of money outside of our normal expected income. Whether it’s a bonus check from work, a lottery windfall, or an inheritance of some kind, any extra cash is generally a good thing. If you’ve inherited an IRA, though, whether it’s from a deceased spouse or someone else entirely, there are some rules you need to be aware of. Depending on when the person died and how old you are when you received the asset, among other things, if you’re not careful with how you treat it, you could be looking at a bigger tax bill than you’d expected.

CAPitalize Your Debt Rate -Season 2: Episode 9

On the last episode, I talked about the differences between “good” and “bad” debt. And yes, there are differences: major ones! To follow up on that, this week’s podcast is devoted to CAPitalizing your debt RATE. This is because there’s a big difference between what you owe, and how much interest you have to pay on what you owe. Finance is all about the little things, and this is why we strategize and plan together.

Is Now A Good Time to Convert to a Roth IRA? – Season 7: Episode 8

Congress passed a law a few years ago that temporarily lowered tax rates across the board for most individuals. With these laws set to expire after 2025, you might be wondering: is now a good time to convert my traditional IRA to a Roth IRA? It might be, but you should be aware of the consequences of adding extra income to your tax return. While tax rates might be favorable right now, if you decide you want to convert a large sum — that is, extend yourself up another bracket or two — you may be subjecting yourself to more than just extra taxation on that conversion. What should you be aware of if you decide to convert to a Roth?