Articles and Videos

Capitalize

CAPitalize Your Debt Rate -Season 2: Episode 9

November 8, 2021

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.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Is It Time to Convert to a Roth IRA?

November 4, 2021

A few years ago, Congress passed a new tax law that created some generally lower tax rates.  These rates are set to expire after 2025. If no new changes are made between now and then, rates are set to return to where they were in 2017.  In other words, they’ll go back up.   For larger conversions,… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

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

November 2, 2021

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?

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Your 401k: Is the Roth Option Better Than the Traditional?

October 28, 2021

Traditional 401k plans are pretty common these days, but did you know that almost 70% of employers now offer a Roth 401k option?  So if you’ve got the choice, how do you decide which one may be better?  Let’s do a little comparison first. The 401k contribution limit applies to both the Roth and traditional: for 2021, that’s… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

What If You Live Longer Than You Expect? – Season 7: Episode 7

October 26, 2021

You’ve probably made plans to take care of those people who are close to you if you didn’t live as long as you’d expected: life insurance, trusts and wills, succession planning for your business, etc. But have you thought about you might do if you lived much longer than you thought you would? Are you… View Article

Capitalize

CAPitalize Good and Bad Debt -Season 2: Episode 8

October 25, 2021

For those who are accustomed to hearing that all debt is bad, when they’re told that there is actually such a thing as “good debt,” they’re often more than a little skeptical. This can be a hard concept for many people to understand. Believe it or not, there are strategic ways to utilize debt to your potential advantage. The key is to understand which debts are good, and which ones are bad. Knowing the difference between the two can make a big difference in your financial life.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

How Long Do You Expect to Live?

October 21, 2021

Have you thought about what might happen if the stock market dropped precipitously just as you began your retirement? What if your portfolio took a 10-, 20-, or 30-percent cut or more just when you needed the funds the most? This is what’s known as “Sequence of Returns” risk. And can be one of the biggest challenges a recent retiree can face.

Managing Your Financial Future

Answering Your Most Common Social Security Questions – Season 7: Episode 6

October 19, 2021

This episode covers some of your most common Social Security questions that we get every week: How can I avoid paying taxes on my benefits? Is there an ideal age to start taking benefits? Can I collect a benefit even if I’m still working? How do the spousal and survivor benefits work? Social Security provides a baseline for many people’s retirement plans, which is why it’s important to be as well-informed on the topic as you can be.

Managing Your Financial Future

How to Set Up Bucket One- Season 7: Episode 5

October 12, 2021

The basic idea of a Buckets strategy involves taking portfolio distributions from a non-volatile source: what we call Bucket #1.  You never want to be in a position where you have to sell volatile assets (like stocks) to fund your short-term monthly expenses. But does this mean that you need to have several years’ worth of cash sitting around to make sure it’s there when you need it?  The short answer is no – you just need to “bucketize” the bucket. But how do you do that?  It’s not as simple as it seems.

Capitalize

CAPitalize Your Debt -Season 2: Episode 7

October 11, 2021

For those who owe a lot of money to creditors, debt can seem like a really bad thing. And the bigger the debt, the worse the situation. And for those on the other side of the spectrum, those who are essentially debt-free, life can certainly seem a lot easier, at least financially speaking. There’s no shortage of financial pundits who tell you how much better your life will be if you eliminate all of your debts. But is this really sound advice? Perhaps not. There may be some instances where debt can actually work in your favor.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Sequence-of-Returns Risk: What If You Retire at the Wrong Time?

October 7, 2021

Have you thought about what might happen if the stock market dropped precipitously just as you began your retirement? What if your portfolio took a 10-, 20-, or 30-percent cut or more just when you needed the funds the most? This is what’s known as “Sequence of Returns” risk. And can be one of the biggest challenges a recent retiree can face.

Managing Your Financial Future

How To Manage Your Tax Bill, Now and in Retirement – Season 7: Episode 4

October 5, 2021

It’s been said that taxes are perhaps the biggest drag on your portfolio’s returns. So it would stand to reason that managing your taxes, with the goal of keeping them as low as possible over the course of many years, should be one of your biggest financial planning priorities. But “managing” your taxes is different from “minimizing” them. There may indeed be times where paying a little more in taxes now could save you much more down the road: maybe for the rest of your life.