Last week we talked about the Essentials of Asset Location; basically, what investments we should put in different account types. In today’s episode, we go through a real life example of how very poor asset location ended up costing investors thousands (and in one case hundreds of thousands) on their tax bill.
Tune in to learn from their mistake and not end up with a nasty tax surprise.
Benjamin Franklin was right on the money (pun intended) when he said the only guarantees in life are death and taxes. As frustrating as taxes are, especially after you retire, there is a way to make them lighter using asset location. If you don’t know much about asset location, it is probably because it is so esoteric many financial advisors don’t even bother with it. Instead, they focus on asset allocation. While that is important, a large part of your…
I recently completed a “bucket list” item of mine by getting quoted in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal (my favorite paper). Here’s how it happened: A reporter emailed asking “What would you tell people they should avoid doing (financially) in the new year?”
As a financial planner for over 6 years, one of the things that really frustrates me is poor explanations, as well as implications, of certain financial terms. The confusion it stirs up causes well-meaning investors to make poor decisions that cost them in retirement, and in some cases, cause them to end their retirement and go back to work. One of the most dangerous misunderstandings is that risk is the same thing as volatility. As well as not fully understanding…
I recently came across an article from a personal finance site that I typically really like. However, this particular article didn’t make a lot of sense to me. In it, the author comes up with 3 reasons why you might NOT want to retire in 2022. I disagreed with every one of those points, and I don’t want you to fall for the same line of thinking as the author, hence this episode discussing the article and why I disagree…
If you’re looking for ways to give money to charity in a tax efficient way, this episode is for you. It’s based on a great article I read by Christine Benz over at Morningstar, and it highlights three ways you can give to charity this year, including one really easy one that anyone can take advantage of.
While Roth Conversions can be a great financial planning tool, they are not suitable for everyone. And there may be times when you should avoid them altogether. In today’s episode, I discuss 5 reasons why you should not do a Roth Conversion. Make sure to tune in so that you can be as smart with your taxes as possible, and set yourself up for the best retirement possible.
One of the most common retirement rules of thumb is the 4% rule, which helps guide you on how much you can take in retirement distributions without running out of money. It essentially suggests that if you have $1M in investments, you can safely withdraw $40K per year, adjusted for inflation. New research by Morningstar suggests that instead of using 4% as a guide, you should use 3.3% instead.
In this episode, I’ll go into why I don’t like using either percentage as a rule in your retirement and I’ll tell you what to do instead.
I received a great question from someone recently: Should he do a giant (and I mean giant) Roth Conversion in light of potential tax increases as well as future legislation potentially ending Roth Conversions?
Tune in to listen to my answer as well as 5 things to think about if you want to make a big Roth Conversion.
Today we are going to be sharing something really sad and frankly troubling for your finances. We’re going to be talking about why people have poor returns on their investments. And no, it’s not because the market is doing poorly. Instead, it’s because of investor behavior, or in other terms, human error. Human behaviors that cause investors to walk away with much lower returns than they could. Why? It comes down to behavior mistakes. Not low IQ! Call it fear,…