Articles and Videos

Managing Your Financial Future

The Bucket Strategy Is Simple – Or Is It?- Episode 94

May 17, 2022

The Bucket Strategy is designed to give you cash flow from assets that are not affected by the whims of the stock market.  You don’t want your income to be cut simply because the markets aren’t doing well, and this is the basic premise of Buckets. Is it complicated?  Yes and no. How each person’s… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

What to Know About Inheriting Assets- Episode 93

May 10, 2022

If you’re an heir who’s a beneficiary of any kind of asset, then you may know that it can be both a good and a bad thing. For many people, an inheritance is like a gift from above, something that will improve their life in one form or another. For others, especially those who don’t… View Article

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Conquering Your Financial Fears

April 19, 2022

For a lot of people, finances are a scary thing. The complicated nature of saving, investing, and planning, along with the fear of not having enough money to survive, often causes people to make bad financial decisions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are a few of the most common financial fears along with a few suggestions on how to deal with them,

Managing Your Financial Future

How To Create Guaranteed Income In Retirement- Season 8: Episode 12

April 12, 2022

A steady income is one of the most valuable things you can have, both before and after you retire.  If that income is guaranteed by some entity — the federal government, the PBGC, or the claims-paying ability of an insurance company — then so much the better. Pensions and Social Security are two forms of guaranteed income that people receive usually after they’ve retired.  While many (if not most) people will have a Social Security benefit paid to them, pensions are less common today than they used to be. So in absence of a company pension, how might you create a form of guaranteed income? 

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Five Important Financial Moves to Make at Age 50

April 6, 2022

As you get older, time gets tighter, and your margin for error starts to go way down. With that in mind, if you’re over the age of 50, here are a five money moves that you should take care of in short order.

Managing Your Financial Future

Want To Retire Early? Here’s What You Need to Know- Season 8: Episode 11

April 5, 2022

In the financial planning world, a lot of focus is put (rightly) on those who want to retire around age 65, give or take a few years.  But what about people who are looking to hang it all up well before that age – maybe 55, 50, or even younger? It’s more common than you might think. Doing it successfully, though, is a much bigger challenge. After all, your nest egg needs to last at least as long as you do, and at that age you’re not yet eligible for Medicare or Social Security.  So how do you make it happen? There are ways to do it. 

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Four Things to Know About RMDs

March 30, 2022

Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from your retirement plans can be a really tricky thing to navigate. As you probably know, RMDs are withdrawals you have to make from most retirement plans when you reach the age of 72 (it was 70 ½ for those of you born before July 1, 1949). The amount you’re required… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

How To Allocate – And Withdraw – Your Assets- Season 8: Episode 10

March 29, 2022

There are at least three important pieces to the retirement portfolio puzzle: asset allocation, asset location, and asset withdrawal. The first two are related to the accumulation (or saving) phase, and the third has to do with the decumulation (or withdrawal) phase. Which assets should go where when saving for retirement? Tax-free, tax-deferred, or personal accounts? A combination of some or all? And when you’re taking the assets out of the portfolio, which one(s) should ideally come out first?

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Why We Don’t Panic When the Markets Are Down

March 23, 2022

In any crisis, “playing it safe” to avoid losing your money can seem like the only rational strategy. This is why many investors tend to bail out at the first sign of trouble, which of course sends the markets down even further. But over the past 60 years, we’ve seen repeating patterns of crises, and yet, the market has been resilient, and so far, has recovered every time. 

Managing Your Financial Future

The Benefits and Costs of a Roth IRA- Season 8: Episode 9

March 22, 2022

One thing that many people would agree on is that paying no taxes is better than paying any taxes at all. This makes the tax-free nature of Roth IRA withdrawals very attractive, as long as all of the specific rules are met. Of course, there’s a cost to getting money into a Roth IRA.  Whether… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

What If The Markets Crash Just As You Begin Retirement?- Season 8: Episode 8

March 15, 2022

What if you retire at the “wrong” time? There’s a genuine fear among many people that right around the time they need to access their nest egg, their portfolio will suffer a big decline because of an unanticipated market crash. There’s nothing we can do to predict or prevent a drop in the stock market. … View Article

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Ignoring Conventional Advice on Social Security

March 10, 2022

Conventional advice says it’s always best to wait as long as possible to take your Social Security benefits so that you can take advantage of the delayed retirement credits that will increase your benefits for each month you wait, up until age 70. Waiting longer means a larger check. And that advice does make sense – sometimes.