Shotwell Rutter Baer

Michigan’s rules for taxing retirement income have changed over the past several years. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Nick Nauta welcomes Matt Cooper of Matthew Accounting to explain what Michigan retirees should know.

How much income will you have when you retire from the State of Michigan? Dave Shotwell and Nick Nauta discuss pensions, Social Security, 401(k) and 457 savings, withdrawal strategies, taxes, and the decisions that can shape your retirement paycheck.

For longtime Michigan State University employees , retirement savings can often be heavily weighted toward pre-tax accounts. Until recently, MSU employees primarily made retirement plan contributions through pre-tax options. Add years of contributions, MSU’s university match, and investment growth, and those balances can become substantial. That creates an important tax planning question as retire...

What do you want your money to accomplish? It sounds like a simple question, but it can be difficult to answer. Many people spend decades saving for retirement without spending much time thinking about what they want retirement to look like. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Nick Nauta is joined by Cole Williams for a listener Q&A about financial life planning. They discuss how the lif...

When do RMDs start, how are they calculated and which retirement accounts are affected? Dave and Nick explain required minimum distribution rules, taxes, Roth conversions, QCDs and planning considerations for State of Michigan retirees.

The second quarter of 2026 saw a return to new market highs with global stock market returns bouncing back after a mostly negative first quarter. But it has been a year of contradictions: as markets push to new highs, consumer sentiment has fallen to record lows. And while the focus of market conversation has been around the record size of the SpaceX IPO and the competition among large AI companie...

Retirement is the perfect time to start checking destinations off your bucket list, but planning memorable travel takes more than choosing a location. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Nick Nauta sits down with travel advisor Kim Barber of My Globetrotter Travel to discuss how retirees can make the most of their travel years. Kim shares practical advice on planning bucket-list vacations, b...

How do you know when you’re financially ready to retire? Should you delay Social Security? How much should you expect healthcare to cost? These are some of the most common questions we hear from clients and podcast listeners, and in this episode, we’re answering them around the kitchen table. David Shotwell and Nick Nauta walk through the retirement planning topics that matter most as you prepare...

Health insurance is one of the biggest retirement planning questions for State of Michigan employees. The rules can be complicated, especially when you are trying to understand retiree coverage, Medicare, premium subsidies, and how your decisions affect your spouse or dependents. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Dave Shotwell and Nick Nauta walk through the major health insurance decision...

Retirement planning is about more than investments, savings targets, and account balances. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Nick Nauta sits down with Cole Williams to discuss the Kinder Institute approach to financial life planning. Cole shares insights from his Registered Life Planner training and explains how financial planning can help people connect their money to the life they truly...

Retirement planning does not stop when you reach your savings goal. The next challenge is figuring out how to turn those savings into dependable retirement income. In this episode, David Shotwell and Nick Nauta discuss retirement income planning for Michigan State University employees, including how to estimate spending needs, structure withdrawals, evaluate Social Security timing, and think about...

Tax planning is not something that should only happen during tax season. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Dave and Nick discuss some of the most common retirement tax mistakes and why proactive planning can make a significant difference throughout retirement. The discussion focuses on how retirement income sources are taxed, how Roth conversions fit into a retirement strategy, and why und...

In this quarterly market update, we take a step back and look at what really happened during the first quarter of 2026 and what it means for your financial plan. We have been partnering with East Bay Investment Services since 2021 to help guide our investment models. Each quarter, they provide a balanced view of the economy, including both opportunities and risks. One consistent theme over the yea...

Welcome back to Kitchen Table Finance. Today’s conversation brings a fresh perspective from the next generation of financial planners. We sit down with Aditya “Adi” Chaturvedi, a Michigan State University junior and SRB intern, to talk about his journey from Mumbai to East Lansing and what led him into financial planning. Adi shares how his background in math, exposure to finance through family, a...

Required Minimum Distributions are one of the most important, and often misunderstood, parts of retirement planning. For Michigan State University employees , the rules can be even more complex due to the different types of retirement plans available. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Dave and Nick take a practical, straightforward approach to help you understand how RMDs actually work and...

In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Dave and Nick break down the difference between traditional financial planning and life planning, and why that distinction matters more than most people realize. Traditional financial planning focuses on numbers, projections, and optimization. It answers questions like: when you can retire how to minimize taxes how to allocate investments These are importa...

Health insurance is one of the most confusing parts of retirement planning, especially for Michigan State University employees approaching retirement. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, David Shotwell and Nick Nauta walk through the basics of how retiree health insurance works for MSU employees. They explain what happens if you retire before age 65, how Medicare fits into your plan, and the...

Understanding State of Michigan Retirement Benefits: Pension vs. Defined Contribution and Health Care Options If you work for the State of Michigan, your retirement benefits can feel like a maze. Hire dates matter. Plan elections matter. Even health care decisions from years ago still matter today. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Nick and Dave sit down at the table to break it all down i...

Roth Contributions, Tax Planning, and What to Do Now Michigan State University recently added Roth options to its retirement plans, and that change creates new opportunities and new decisions for MSU employees. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, David Shotwell and Nick Nauta break down what Roth contributions really are, how they differ from traditional pre tax contributions, and why the ri...

In this quarterly recap, David Shotwell and Nick Nauta look back at how markets finished 2025 and share what they are watching in 2026. They cover the spring volatility that tested investor patience, why diversification mattered again, and how a traditional 60/40 mix held up. They also share a balanced “glass half full, glass half empty” view of the economy, then close with the main risks and oppo...

Welcome back to Kitchen Table Finance. Season 5 kicks off with one of our favorite annual traditions, reviewing last year’s market predictions and locking in new ones for the year ahead. Hosts David Shotwell and Nick Nauta are joined by newly credentialed CFP Cole Williams, who jumps right into the fire with his first official prediction episode. Watch the Full Video HERE In this conversation, we...

In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, David Shotwell and Nick Nauta sit down at the kitchen table with intern Stephen Bowe to talk about his path into wealth management, lessons learned during his internship, and how young professionals can find their place in the financial planning world. Stephen shares how Michigan State University and the Wealth Management Association helped shape his caree...

Episode Summary The SECURE Act changed the game for inherited IRAs, especially for non-spouse beneficiaries. What used to be a “stretch IRA” strategy (spreading withdrawals over a lifetime) is now, for most people, a 10-year clock: the inherited IRA generally needs to be fully distributed by the end of the 10th year. David and Nick break down what changed, why IRS guidance took so long to clarify,...

The headlines are loud. AI stocks are wobbling. The market is jumpy. If you are retired or getting close, it is easy to wonder if this is the moment everything falls apart. In this episode of Kitchen Table Finance, Dave Shotwell and Nick Nauta talk through the recent AI stock jitters and what market volatility really means for long term investors, especially retirees. They explain why a three or f...

Life Planning, Retirement, and Why It Is “Never About the Money” In this episode, Dave flips the script and interviews Nick about how life planning has become a core part of the SRB client process. Nick shares how training with George Kinder and the EVOKE model shaped the way SRB helps clients think through retirement, not just from a numbers standpoint, but from the perspective of values, priorit...