Podcasts

Podcasts

How the Pandemic Affected Your Finances- Season 4: Episode 9

January 19, 2021

If it seems to you like 2020 was an unusual year, you’re right – in more ways than one!  Of particular concern to many people was their financial situation.  Whether it was dealing with a job loss or change of employment, working from home, unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, or something else entirely, there’s little question… View Article

Podcasts

The Triple Tax Benefits of an HSA- Season 4: Episode 8

January 5, 2021

If there’s one thing most people can agree on when it comes to money, it’s probably this: we don’t like to pay taxes. If there’s a permissible way to avoid a higher tax bill, common sense would tell us that it’s wise to consider it. A Roth IRA, for example, gives us the potential for… View Article

Podcasts

A Better Way to Take Your RMDs?- Season 4: Episode 7

December 22, 2020

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are just a fact of life for most owners of an IRA or retirement plan account.  While RMDs are suspended for 2020, under normal circumstances, you typically must begin taking minimum withdrawals from those accounts (in most cases) at age 72. Given these circumstances, if you’re charitably inclined, you may be able to take advantage of a little-known strategy known as a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA, and perhaps get some tax advantages that you otherwise would not have had. How does it work, and who can potentially use it? 

Podcasts

Let’s Strategize With Your IRA- Season 4: Episode 6

December 15, 2020

IRA’s, whether Traditional or Roth, have unique characteristics. Depending on the type of IRA you have, you may be able to manage your taxes or your income from your IRA by managing the taxes on the withdrawals. Roth IRA distributions are tax-free when the rules for taking withdrawals are all met. So sometimes the tricky part is getting the money into the Roth IRA in the first place. Do you make a regular contribution to your Roth? Should you convert your Traditional to a Roth?  When is it a good idea to do either of these, and when is it not?

Podcasts

Dealing With Taxes on Your Social Security Benefits- Season 4: Episode 5

December 8, 2020

Taxes are a fact of life for most people.  Even your Social Security benefits – for which you had the pleasure of paying taxes to receive – are subject to taxation under certain circumstances. And this can hit you unexpectedly, putting a sizable dent in your benefit income. What to do about this?  First thing is to recognize when and how your Social Security benefits may become taxable to you.  This is where planning can play a key role, especially before you begin to take required minimum distributions at age 72.

Podcasts

Don’t Make the Mistake of “Chasing Yield”- Season 4: Episode 4

December 1, 2020

If there’s one “rule of thumb” that every investor should know, it’s that there is a distinct correlation between risk and reward.  The greater the potential reward for an investment, the higher the risk.   Conversely, lower-risk investments tend to produce lower rates of return. This is something that many investors often forget — especially those who are new to the game.  If you pay attention only to a particular investment’s prior performance without looking at the potential risks involved, you may be in for a really unpleasant surprise down the road. Purchasing investments based solely on their rate of return is what’s known as “chasing yield,” and it’s a mistake that can and should be avoided. 

Podcasts

Are Cash Value Life Policies Really as Good (or as Bad) as You’ve Heard?- Season 4: Episode 3

November 17, 2020

Life insurance appears to be a fairly easy topic to understand.  You pay your premiums to the insurance company, and if you die within the specified period of time, your beneficiaries receive the death benefit proceeds of the policy.  If you outlive the policy, no death benefit is paid. But that’s just one element of life insurance.  Another type is the often-misunderstood (and sometimes mis-sold) cash value policy — and here’s where things can get complicated.  And here’s where “Professor” Rick Plum, CFP® may be able to help you understand. Cash value life insurance isn’t for everyone, but for some individuals, it may indeed be exactly what they need to reach their goals.  Who should consider cash-value life insurance, and who should stay away?  And how do these policies work? 

Podcasts

What Are Your Options with a Roth IRA?- Season 4: Episode 2

November 10, 2020

Back in 1998, Congress created one of its most popular tax-incentives in recent history – the Roth IRA. Since then, we’ve seen various changes to Roths, including who may contribute, how much they may contribute, and who is allowed to convert pre-tax IRA money into the Roth world. Because of its popularity, though, the Roth is sometimes improperly used by both investors and by those who give financial advice. While the tax-free withdrawals of a Roth are often attractive, those same tax benefits may also cause someone to put their money into a Roth when there are potentially better options for them. So how does a Roth IRA work? Who should consider contributing, or maybe converting?

Podcasts

Is There a Solution to the Pension Dilemma?- Season 4: Episode 1

November 3, 2020

If you happen to be one of those people with a traditional pension plan, there’s one important piece of information you should know about: unless your spouse elects to sign a waiver that allows otherwise, your pension benefits will be paid out to the both of you in the form of what’s called a “qualified joint and survivor annuity.” In other words, you’ll receive a reduced amount during your lifetime, so that your spouse will continue to get at least 50% of that amount if you happen to die first. But if you both elect instead to receive the higher single-life annuity payment, the payments (while significantly higher) would stop at your death and not continue for the surviving spouse.  This can be something of a dilemma for people who would want the higher payments, but are reluctant to lose that income if the pension owner doesn’t outlive the spouse. There is a potential solution to this problem, though.  Could you perhaps have both the larger payments AND provide an income for your surviving spouse?

Past Episodes

Never Say Never, and Always Avoid Always!- Season 3: Episode 8

August 18, 2020

If you’ve ever read an article about finance or listened to a financial podcast (other than this one), you probably heard someone say that you should “never” buy a certain financial product. Or, conversely, you’ve heard that “everyone should buy XYZ financial product, no matter who they are!” These are both plainly wrong, on so many levels. The real truth is that everyone’s needs and goals are different; where one financial tool may work very well for a certain individual, it’s likely that exact same product is completely wrong for another person.  That’s why it’s important to be financially knowledgeable about what someone is recommending you should have – or shouldn’t have – in your portfolio.

Past Episodes

Paying Off your Mortgage: Good idea, or Bad? – Season 3: Episode 7

August 11, 2020

A few weeks back, we offered a strategy for people who want to pay off their mortgage in, say, 15 years, but don’t like the idea of making the higher principal payments that are required of a 15-year loan.  Following up on that topic, we received an email asking about whether paying off the mortgage is really nothing more than a cash-flow issue.  Is it?  Or are there other things to consider?

Past Episodes

What’s My Stock Allocation in Retirement? – Season 3: Episode 6

August 5, 2020

Retirement income calculators are everywhere online.  What’s more, they’re fairly simple in nature: plug in some current income and savings, expected rate of return, an inflation factor, and eventually it’ll spit back a number that you should aim to have in your portfolio that’s supposed to give you the income you need.  The trouble is – they’re often way off the mark. They may tell you that if you need, say, $100,000 of income to retire at age 65, then that number will rise to perhaps $230,000 or more by the time you’re age 95 because of the inflation factor. But from our experience, this just isn’t practical in the real world.  As retirement goes on, spending (and income needs) tend to go down over those years – not up.