Advice on Building Wealth & Retirement Planning - A/B Conversations: CFP® Your Way Out Of It

What’s the point of having money if we are unhappy and unfulfilled? While earning money and saving is a necessary part of building wealth, there are times where the earning comes at a significant cost. Jobs can be stressful, cause anxiety, or take physical or emotional tolls on us. When you find yourself dreading work you might ask yourself, “Can I afford to leave or make a change?” What situation...

Market volatility is always hard to go through. Expected or not, emotions run high, and the best thing we can do is stay in good communication with our clients. In this raw and (minimally prepared) podcast, listen in as Ben and Adam peel back the curtain a bit by sharing all the reasons why THEY hate volatility. You’ll learn a lot about what they focus on during times like these and how they appro...

Business owners are usually a special combination of good planners and good executers. You have to be able to survive the rigors of business ownership! But what happens once you decide to sell your business and retire? It’s almost like surrendering control of your business AND your finances, and that can be really uncomfortable. What are the planning discussions that need to happen, and how do Ada...

We’ve recently heard from clients that saving and having a “set it and forget it” investment strategy was the easy part of planning for retirement. As soon as they start to think about how they will turn savings into income, it starts to feel complicated. How will they pay themselves? From what account? What investments should be sold and by when? How do these decisions domino into taxes and healt...

Adam and Ben made five “bold” predictions on the future of the advising industry back in Episode 43. Four years later, it turns out those predictions were not so bold! Listen in as they reflect on what has changed and is continuing to change for the consumer, how the importance of CFP designation and behavioral finance continue to grow, the state of advisor commissions and the role of technology i...

So you received a bump in pay at work, a promotion, or some lump sum bonus. Maybe now you’re asking,  “How do I handle this newfound money/income?” Listen in as Adam and Ben discuss this situation as an opportunity to involve your financial planner! Whether you’re creating a plan for the first time or reviewing an old plan to confirm it, these discussions on allocating savings are often far more i...

Being well-informed is a good thing. No one wants to make costly mistakes because they weren’t paying attention to important things or got bad intel along the way. But is it possible to have too much information? Listen to Adam and Ben discuss the fallacy of overreacting to the news media and headlines. Opinions and predictions aren’t important inputs into one’s financial plan. More often than not...

We all know that New Year’s Resolutions often fail. But studies always show how important goal setting can be. How can we set big goals and focus on big things when life feels hard and there are so many other fires in our lives that need to be put out? Ben tapped Best Selling Author, Speaker, and Life Coach Katie McKenna on the shoulder to come share some tools and resources for how to adjust one’...

There’s a common question asked pre and post-election; “How will this affect investments?” It’s also that time of the year when we naturally reflect back on how the market’s performed this past year and what that may mean for next year. Put those two things together and “voila!” – you have a podcast! Tune in as Adam and Ben provide some historical context for post-election market movements and sha...

When it comes to something as important as financial advice, choosing who to hire (or retain) is a huge decision. As life evolves, our needs and viewpoints can change repeatedly, and there is no shortage of financial advisors and financial planners ready to throw their hat in the ring to have your business. So, how do you know if you found the right one for you? Listen in as Adam and Ben share the...

Old habits die hard. Did you sacrifice and save to get to retirement only to find you remain frugal, reluctant, or fearful to spend more freely in a new phase of life? Adam and Ben aren’t jedis and can’t wave their hand to simply make their clients believe that they can spend more in retirement. But they do share some tips and tricks around mental accounting and labeling of accounts to help their...

Money is an emotionally charged topic and it can sometimes ruin relationships. Savers vs. spenders. Planners vs. non-planners. How can a couple keep the money side of their relationship healthy? It starts by simply building the space and time to talk about it! Whether your relationship is new or mature we encourage you to listen in as Adam and Ben discuss why it’s so important to communicate about...

Demand for senior living communities is growing due to an aging population, longer life expectancies, and increased awareness of the benefits of community living. But there are a lot of financial implications to making such a move. Whether “downsizing” “upgrading” or adding the benefits of having skilled care for potential needs later in life – retirement communities aren’t cheap. Listen in as Ada...

We’re a very polarized nation right now so for many, the stakes of the upcoming election season feel super high. Do your politics impact your planning though? In this podcast Adam and Ben discuss to what degree the election results could impact financial planning topics like taxes and estate planning and how investment strategies may (or may not) change too. Listen in as they share their perspecti...

In its simplest form, financial success stems from having adequate income to cover expenses. The trouble is that even if income exceeds expenses now, that doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way. Retirement, job change, health event, premature death - life often throws us curveballs, many of them emotionally and financially stressful. As planners, we can often see the writing on the wall because cer...

While no one can know what the future brings, we know that certain things in life are inevitable like taxes and death. When a loved one passes and you’re in charge of settling the estate, the process and emotions can be overwhelming. Even the most organized and “simplest” of estates can feel cumbersome and complex. Listen in as Adam and Ben share stories and best practices to help you, the executo...

Most people build their wealth inside tax-deferred retirement accounts. Deferring taxes sounds great – but at a certain age, the IRS comes calling and you can’t defer paying income taxes any longer on those accounts! Listen as Adam and Ben discuss the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules, how they have recently changed, and what strategies you might proactively consider so your future tax bil...

Here we are in June 2024, and the market is at all-time highs yet again! For some, it begs the question “Is now still an OK time to invest new money?” Oddly enough, Ben and Adam addressed this very question back in June of 2021. With the benefit of hindsight and what was a very bad year for markets in 2022, they again weigh in. Will they answer the question differently this time around? Or hit rep...

Sometimes when someone close to us passes away, we end up inheriting their retirement savings. “What’s an RMD? When do I need to take them? Over what period of time? Who is tracking that? You mean I have to pay income taxes?!” There are so many rules and nuances that can make the decision-making and management of this gift confusing and perhaps even frustrating at times. Listen in as Adam and Ben...

Stepping into retirement comes with a host of challenges! Beyond all the financial STUFF that needs to be well-planned out, there’s the daunting task of figuring out how to spend your time, find purpose, engage others, and continue to challenge oneself. All that can be downright scary! Listen as Ben interviews author Patrice Jenkins on how her books and workshops help others gain the wisdom to get...

Life ebbs and flows. If you look back on the last 10 or 20 years of your life, surely there were many events that had the potential to disrupt your financial life! When a curveball comes our way, we may need access to money and the question then becomes, where do I get it? Listen to Adam and Ben discuss the dos and don’ts of accessing certain types of accounts and taking certain kinds of loans. Tr...

Our clients going through different phases of planning requiring different advisor focuses over time. There are times when we need to help “fix” problems and other times when we work behind the scenes to make sure the plan is intact while you’re feeling “fine.” There’s a third, less discussed phase though. Listen to Adam and Ben discuss the milestone “flourish” meeting – a special time when client...

While there’s no perfect way to go about investing, Adam and Ben believe that investing before going through a financial planning process is like firing before taking aim. Listen as they share insights on how the tenants of financial planning inform what investment choices make sense for each client. From cash flow, to taxes, to managing fears and managing expectations – they lay out why planning...

It’s far too often that investment and financial planning jargon get in the way of clearly articulating what someone’s investment plan looks like. And we aren’t talking about using terms like alpha or sharpe ratios either. Something as simple as saying “short-term bucket” and “long-term bucket” is still fairly met with “but what does that REALLY mean to me?!” Listen to Adam and Ben break down thei...

Aging is a part of life. While we enter this world under the care of parents, we often times need to return the loving favor by caring for them as they enter their twilight years.  Needing care can have many financial repercussions for your parents, and for you. Listen to Ben and Adam dive into 5 important topics that need to be reviewed if you want to help your aging parents be efficient with the...