Your Money, Your Wealth

Original publish date: March 26, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. Episode 13 of the YMYW podcast is about retirement myths that can ruin retirees' plans. Find out why Baby Boomers won't be able to have a retirement like their parents. 00:00 - Intro 02:07 "40% of unmarried women have saved less than $1,000 [for retirement], according to a 2016 Retirement Confidence survey by Employee Benefits Research Institute" 05:55 "The opportunity is that we are living a lot longer and we get to enjoy our golden years longer which is great, but we also have to have a plan to cover it because it's not just Social Security anymore" 12:58 "Al and I have seen people who have millions of dollars and they blow through their money very, very quickly. Then we see people who have less than $100,000 and live a very comfortable retirement. It's about figuring out what retirement looks like to you" 18:09 "The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that more than a fifth of boomers 65 and older will be holding on to a job in 2024. When their parents were the same age in 1994, only a tenth were still employed" 27:12 "A lot of people are shocked when they find out how different types of retirement income are taxed, and I want to go through the six most common types of retirement income and how they're taxed" 32:12 "For those who have been listening to our show and have been doing Roth IRA contributions and Roth conversions, you'll be very happy to know that as you take money out of those accounts, it's all tax-free—100% tax-free"

Original publish date March 19, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 12 of the YMYW podcast, Joe and Al talk retirement risk. While risk can come in all shapes and forms, it's important to avoid making these risks when planning to maintain your lifestyle in retirement. Al closes off the discussion by discussing a fun personality quiz by Mashable you can take to figure out what your retirement passion project will consist of. 00:00 - Intro 01:01 "When you're in your 20's and 30's, you've got a long run in front of you and can afford to take on risk, but if you're retired or close to retiring, risk is enemy number one. Taking on too much risk at that stage of the game can be devastating because you may not be able to recover" 06:56 "You better make sure that you have a plan to make your money last into your 90's" 13:21 "If you're saving 4% this year, save 5% next year, 6% the year after and get yourself to the point where you're saving between 10% and 15%, and if you're older and getting closer to retirement and you're behind, there's no time to waste—you have to save as much as possible right now" 13:42 "Forbes had thirteen financial risks you can avoid; here are some examples" 18:04 "Unfortunately, taxes are likely going up in the future" 22:36 "One of the biggest misconceptions in retirement planning today is that you will be in a lower tax bracket in retirement" 29:10 "One in three Americans have zero dollars saved for retirement" (Source: Bankrate.com)

Original publish date March 19, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 11 of the YMYW podcast, Joe and Al discuss how retirement planning can help you avoid risks and keep you out of a retirement savings crisis. Find out if you should take advantage of these soon-to-disappear Social Security claiming strategies. 03:56 "Waiting for triggers in the overall market for you to make decisions financially is not the right move; you have to get your strategy in place now" 08:37 "Things have got to change and you really need to put things in perspective and start planning as soon as you possibly can" 10:32 "When it comes to these new [Social Security] rules, you have to act now. Let me explain what they are—there are two benefits that are going away" 13:14 "If you turned 62 years of age by 12/31/15, you still qualify to take that restricted application. You can take it on an ex-spouse as long as you were married to that ex-spouse for ten years, or if you are currently married" 18:06 "File and suspend is going away and you've got until April 28 to do this" 22:41 ""If you're married, it's a really good idea for the spouse who has the highest benefit to wait as long as they can, hopefully to age 70. Why is that? First of all, while you're both living, you'll enjoy that higher benefit, and when one of you passes (let's say the higher wage earner passes), then the spouse will get the survivor benefit which is equal to the same as the spouse that passed away" 34:18 "Tapping your retirement nest egg comes with all sorts of new rules and opportunities. Instead of contributing to tax-deferred accounts that reduce your taxes, you'll start tapping those savings for income and paying taxes at your regular rate—unless you're tapping into a Roth IRA, which we want you to be thinking about right now"

In episode 10 of the YMYW podcast, Big Al tests your retirement planning smarts by asking Joe and the listeners important retirement questions. How do you stack up? Original publish date March 12, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. 2:08 "The government must systematically devalue our currency so they can pay it back on cheaper dollars" 8:14 "Index funds tend to have very low expense ratios" 11:51 "Which of these pose a big threat to your retirement security? Inflation, investment ups and downs, outliving your financial resources or all of the above?" 16:02 "You want to stay liquid in your strategy because things will change in your life, in the stock market and in the tax code" 20:30 "You don't have to pay taxes on money you take out of a Roth IRA if you qualify" 25:18 "You have more control over how much you pay in taxes in retirement than any other time in your life if you just understand the strategies"

Original publish date March 12, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 9 of YMYW podcast, Joe and Big Al talk Social Security! Big changes are coming up fast, listen to find out what you need to do right now to take advantage before it's too late. 02:03 "Sanders would take tax capital gains rates at ordinary income and eliminate opportunities under current law for avoiding the tax through gifts and requests for appreciated property" 08:01 "We did a Social Security Webinar; if you want to check that out, go to our website" 11:44 "In just a matter of weeks, those little known [Social Security] claiming strategies are coming to a screeching halt. The government is changing the rules on how you can claim your benefits, and the deadline is just around the corner. For those who are eligible, you have a very short window to take action" 17:09 "April 28th [2016] is the deadline for you to file for your benefit and suspend them" 24:16 "If you're married, it's a really good idea for the spouse who has the highest benefit to wait as long as they can, hopefully to age 70. Why is that? First of all, while you're both living, you'll enjoy that higher benefit, and when one of you passes (let's say the higher wage earner passes), then the spouse will get the survivor benefit which is equal to the same as the spouse that passed away" 27:52 "If you do the appropriate planning, if you understand how this works, you could save significant dollars on your taxes" 34:03 "What is not included in provisional income is your Roth IRA distributions" 35:49 "Taxes don't stop when your paycheck does…as you near retirement, tax planning becomes more important than ever"

Original publish date March 5, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 8 of YMYW podcast, the retirement account show continues with strategies for self-employed individuals, horror stories of working with non-fiduciary advisors, and the top IRS scams you absolutely must know about.

Original publish date March 5, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. Episode 7 of YMYW is dedicated to retirement accounts and everyone who has one! Joe and Big Al share the biggest myths, misconceptions, and mistakes people make. Plus, new laws and proposals that could have a big impact on your retirement.

Original publish date February 27, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 6 of YMYW, Larry Swedroe joins the show to discuss what recency bias is and why you should avoid it. Joe and Al ask Larry what the key to successful investing is, and Larry talks about his books The Incredible Shrinking Alpha and Think, Act and Invest like Warren Buffett. 2:12 "The conventional wisdom goes like this: take distributions first from taxable accounts such as your brokerage accounts, then from tax-deferred accounts like your IRAs and 401(k)s…that is the rule of thumb for most advisory firms" 8:05 Interview with Larry Swedroe 9:14 "What investors tend to do, as we know, is they tend to buy after periods of strong performance which means they're buying when prices are high and then they tend to sell after periods of poor performance, which means valuations are relatively low and expected returns are not high" 10:01 "Research shows, shockingly, that individual investors on average are such poor investors that they actually underperform the very mutual funds they actually invest" 13:21 "The key to successful investing is to understand what Napoleon advised about military strategies: He said battles are never won on the field, they're won in the preparation stage" 15:26 "You have to just accept that markets are unpredictable and you must have discipline, you want to be a buyer when everyone is panic selling and you want to be a seller when everyone else is getting greedy. There is a simple although not easy way of doing that and it's called rebalancing your portfolio" 16:14 "What people don't understand is really how stocks are priced" 20:01 "People have this notion that if they can get in and out of certain asset classes or get in and out of certain markets, that's going to enhance their overall investment experience, but actually the opposite is true" 21:04 "The key is to understand how markets have changed over the last 70 years" 23:59 "It's not necessarily the mutual fund, it's the allocation and how you're actually positioning the overall accounts towards different areas of the markets" 24:55 "Here's the key: what investors need to focus on is not trying to choose a money manager or stock that they think will outperform…what you do want to focus on is putting your money in the asset classes that you believe are appropriate for you to hold" 28:43 "Investing is really simple; you need to have a well-thought-out plan to make sure you don't take more risk than you have the ability, willingness and need to take" 35:25 "When you have a fund that's outside of a retirement account and the manager is buying and selling, that's causing short-term gains which are the most expensive of gains. Now all of sudden you're paying more in taxes"

Original publish date February 27, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 5 of YMYW, Joe and Big Al discuss the financial planning landscape and why they chose to start Pure Financial. Big Al breaks down a few of the presidential candidates' tax plans. Plus, why women are better savers and investors than men. 00:00 - Intro 02:23 "Everyone needs a financial plan. Everyone absolutely needs a financial strategy to make sure they know what they need to be doing" 04:33 "We don't sell any products, there are no commissions generated to our firm" 08:17 "Our firm thinks it [the fiduciary rule] is a phenomenal thing, because we act as a fiduciary 100% of the time" 12:22 "We want to protect you against unscrupulous sales practices and things like that because we know the industry; we're in the business and we see the good, bad, ugly all day every day" 13:50 "In the tax realm, there are a lot of strategies he [Obama] wants to get rid of…right now I think it's important to realize what some of those strategies are so if they do apply to you, that you make sure you take advantage of them while they're still here" 14:28 "You can still do Roth IRA contributions for 2015 all the way up until April 15th of this year (2016)" 22:03 "Ted Cruz wants to do a flat tax; he wants to do a 10% flat tax across the board…who is that going to impact? It's going to impact the lower and middle class, while the wealthy will end up with a lot more money in their pockets" 27:10 "When you are married to a spouse who is making a lot of income, your self-employment income is pretty highly taxed, because you're already in the highest bracket and you've got self-employment tax to boot" 31:24 "Vanguard shows that women are the ones signing up for 401(k) plans and saving a larger piece of their salaries compared with their male counterparts"

Original publish date February 20, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. In episode 4 of YMYW: are you doing your retirement all wrong? Joe and Al discuss recent Social Security changes and which claiming strategies you shouldn't miss out on if you qualify (restricted application and file & suspend). Find out how you can make more informed decisions when incorporating Social Security into your overall financial strategies. The two finish off the hour explaining why working even one extra year can have a huge impact on your retirement. 1:59 "Money will have to last retirees a lot longer, so that's longevity risk" 7:29 "More older adults are retiring with outstanding debt" 11:32 "If you're 62 and older before the end of last year, you could still file a restricted application... Also, you have another deadline: April 30th: file for your benefits and then suspend them; these are the two things that are changing" 12:49 "The spousal benefit is half of the spouse's benefit" 16:43 "No Social Security benefits are taxable in California—zero" 17:34 "Congress just got rid of a few Social Security claiming strategies this year, so the new rules make it more important than ever to make informed decisions when incorporating Social Security into your overall financial strategies" 18:44"Those final few years that you actually work make a big, big difference in the success or failure of retirement." 23:40 "A lot of you, when you really sit down and look at your situation, it's a little bit tighter than you might want it to be" 34:55 "There's a lot of new things with the new tax bill that can benefit you from a permanent basis"