

Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko
Andy Panko
Teaching you all about IRAs & Roth IRAs, employer retirement plans, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, portfolio withdrawal strategies, annuities, estate planning and much more!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 30, 2025 • 36min
#176 - Guest host Brian Tegtmeyer from Truly Prosper Financial Planning talks about the non-financial aspects of planning a great retirement
Brian Tegtmeyer, founder of Truly Prosper Financial Planning, explores the non-financial dimensions of a fulfilling retirement. He emphasizes the importance of intellectual engagement, purpose-driven activities, and maintaining deep relationships. Brian introduces the 'Wheel of Retirement' exercise, encouraging listeners to assess their satisfaction in various life aspects. He highlights how making intentional choices in health, leisure, and community can enhance overall life satisfaction, ultimately aligning financial plans with a meaningful retirement vision.

Oct 23, 2025 • 1h 2min
#175 - Q&A edition...The CAPE ratio and US stock market valuation, good enough vs optimization in retirement planning, tax on foreign stock dividends and MORE!
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: The CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings) Ratio as a measure of whether the US stock market is overvalued or undervalued, and drawbacks with the CAPE Ratio ( 4:32 )The meaning of Benjamin Graham's quote "In the short run, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long run it's a weighing machine" ( 17:07 )Helping clients overcome their frugality habits to enjoy more of their deferred spending from their nest eggs ( 19:18 )Understanding "duration" and what it means in bond funds ( 26:58 )How Annie Duke's concept of decision making and luck play into retirement planning ( 34:19 )Balancing between good enough and optimization in retirement planning ( 38:45 )Tax withholdings and credits on dividends from international stocks, and whether international stocks should be held only in normal brokerage accounts and not qualified accounts like IRAs and Roth IRAs ( 46:50 )Additional resources in understanding and calculating 72(t) Substantially Equal Period Payments ("SEPP") to avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty on accessing retirement accounts before 59 1/2 ( 52:20 )A listener public service announcement about itemizable deductions for casualty losses due to federally declared disasters, and how IRS staffing issues and shutdowns exacerbate the inconvenience of the mandatory 20% federal tax withholding on 401(k) contributions ( 55:19 )To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comLinks in this episode:Link to Tax Planning to and Through Early Retirement My company newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Oct 16, 2025 • 1h 58min
#174 – Retirement planning chat with a "real" person, Jackie Cummings Koski
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jackie Cummings Koski.But Jackie isn't just the typical "real" person doing her own retirement planning. She went the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) route and left her corporate job in her late-40s. She's since expanded on the financial knowledge she gained during her F.I.R.E. journey to get a masters degree in financial planning and coaching, obtain the CFP® designation, author the book F.I.R.E for Dummies and become the cohost of the Catching Up to FI podcast!She's making the most of her retirement by being a financial educator to millions of people. She's since become a valuable contributor and presence to the financial community.In this episode, Andy and Jackie talk about her F.I.R.E. journey and how she became so knowledgeable in personal finance after not having much prior knowledge or experience in the subject, what her "number" was to achieve financial independence, some of the technical planning aspects of her retirement (such as how she's accessing her retirement account without penalty before age 59 1/2 and what she's doing for health insurance before Medicare), and how she became a trusted source of financial knowledge and education for millions of people! Links in the episode:Bill Stecker's 72(t) calculation website - https://72tcalc.com/Jackie's book, Money Letters 2 my Daughter - https://a.co/d/9p3wwDdJackie's book, F.I.R.E. for Dummies - https://a.co/d/5m0u5zEThe Catching Up to FI Podcast - https://catchinguptofi.com/To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comTenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Oct 9, 2025 • 1h 17min
#173 – Retirement planner chat, with Allen Mueller from 7 Saturdays Financial
Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Allen Mueller, CFA, CFP® from 7 Saturdays Financial. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more!Links in this episode:Allen's advisory company website - 7 Saturdays FinancialAllen's blog - hereAllen's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenrmueller/To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comTenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Oct 2, 2025 • 1h 17min
#172 - The conflicts, pros, cons and use cases of the different advisory fee structures
Andy shares his views on the few different ways in which people in the financial services/financial advisory industry can receive revenue:Commission-onlyFee-onlyHybrid or fee-basedLinks in this episode:My article in Rethinking65 - How Much Are Your Services Worth?Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.comTo send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com

Sep 25, 2025 • 1h 6min
#171 - Q&A edition...how much you can spend in retirement, Roth IRA 5-year rule, RMDs, accounts for grandchildren and MORE!
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: How to calculate how much money you can gift or donate in retirement without running out ( 8:47 )Does the five-year rule met by a previous Roth IRA carry over to a new Roth IRA ( 17:03 )Is it better to draw down an inherited IRA and delay starting Social Security, or vice versa ( 19:39 )Can distributions from an annuity in a 403(b) be used to meet Required Minimum Distributions in IRAs ( 23:37 )How to get cash flow or income from illiquid assets - such as real estate investments - when more income is needed than what's otherwise produced by the asset ( 31:21 )What are the drawbacks of investing in a total world stock market fund or total world bond market fund vs instead using multiple funds for stock and bond exposure ( 37:14 )If concerned about leaving money to an heir who may not be responsible for receiving a large inheritance, is it possible to pre-arrange for the purchase of an annuity upon death so the heir gets annuity income instead ( 44:48 )Should target date funds be used in conjunction with other funds, or just used by themselves ( 48:24 )When in an assisted living facility, how much of the facility's fees are deductible as medical expenses ( 53:50 )What's the best way to save money for a grandchild: 529 account, Uniform Transfer to Minors account or an account in your own name (with the grandchild named as beneficiary) ( 57:29 )Link to Tax Planning to and Through Early Retirement To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comLinks in this episode:My company newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Sep 18, 2025 • 1h 2min
#170 – Retirement planning chat with a "real" person, Scott
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Scott. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as leaving the workforce early than planned during COVID and later reengaging in part-time work to have social interaction, managing income for purposes of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, how life and financial plans always change even in retirement, and more! Links in this episode:Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.comTo send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com

Sep 11, 2025 • 1h 9min
#169 - "Hot topics" edition...Andy and Justin Pritchard talk about target date funds, illiquid assets in 401(k) plans, firing an advisor and MORE!
Justin Pritchard, a financial planner from Approach Financial, joins Andy to explore hot topics in retirement planning. They dive into the pros and cons of target date funds and discuss a recent executive order allowing illiquid assets in 401(k) plans. The conversation also touches on strategies for making up for insufficient retirement savings and elements to consider when firing an advisor. Additionally, they discuss the importance of understanding an advisor's succession plan and examine the implications of holding cash in currencies outside the US.

Sep 4, 2025 • 49min
#168 - Helpful tools and interesting information from the recent IRS Tax Forum
Andy summarizes some helpful IRS tools and interesting IRS and tax return-related information after his recent attendance at the annual IRS Tax Forum/conferenceLinks in this episode:IRS Taxpayer Online Account - hereID.me - hereIRS IP PINs - hereIRS Document Upload Tool - hereIRS Interactive Tax Assistant - hereTenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning InsightsFacebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.comTo send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com

Aug 28, 2025 • 55min
#167 - Q&A edition...basis in inherited IRAs, Social Security break even analysis, coordinating RMDs and Roth conversions and MORE!
In this engaging Q&A session, listeners dive into the complexities of inherited IRAs and the tax implications involved. Discover the ins and outs of Required Minimum Distributions and whether they're truly problematic. A break-even analysis for Social Security is examined, along with guidance on when to consider a financial advisor. Confusion over Roth contribution rules across different retirement plans is cleared up, and unique scenarios like handling RSUs and Health Savings Account distributions are discussed. Tune in for practical insights and lively banter!


