Managing Your Financial Future with Lucia Capital Group

It’s just a fact of investing life that the stock market is unpredictable.  There will be months or years where the market exceeds expectations, and there will be other times when it underperforms and winds up below where you expected it to be – sometimes, way below.   If you don’t have a strong risk management approach to investing, as years like 2022 showed us, you might be leaving yourself open...

There aren't many people who make it through their working years without having at least a few things they wish they'd done differently.  And while most people can eventually come to terms with any "poor" choices they may have made, it can be very instructive to know what common regrets they have. Did they save enough?  Did they work too hard? Did they not do enough planning? W...

There’s a popular “rule of thumb” that’s been around for about 30 years known as the “4-percent Rule.” The main idea is that your portfolio has a better chance of surviving for 30 years if you withdraw no more than 4 percent of the total each year.  Some have said it should be even lower than that, depending on your investments. But is this so-called “rule” actually something you should follow? Th...

If you've ever gotten a letter from the IRS, even if you're sure you've done nothing wrong, you know how stressful that can be.  An even greater stress would be to see the word "audit" somewhere in the letter. Your best bet is to be thorough enough on your tax return so as to avoid any and all correspondence with the IRS when it comes to your taxes.  But how do you do that...

Do you care what happens to your money and your assets after you die?  Most people would probably answer that with an emphatic “yes,” even if they don’t have multiple millions saved up.   Whether you know exactly where you want your money to go, or you only know where you DON’T want your money to go, it’s crucial to have the legal documents in place to make sure your wishes are followed.  Today’s...

“Everyone’s situation is different.” If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you’ve heard that many times. Because of that, the Bucket Strategy can take many different forms, each one dependent on a person’s individual goals, risk tolerances, and temperaments. Have you ever wondered how an advisor might put together someone’s strategy, given certain particular circumstances?  What thought pr...

If you look at the tax tables, you’ll see that there are seven different tax brackets listed: 10%, 12%, 22%, and on up to the highest bracket at 37%.  But did you know that there’s also a certain amount of money you can earn that’s not taxed at all? While there’s not an official “0% tax bracket,” the truth is that the first $14,600 you earn as a single individual (or $29,200 if you’re married fili...

Today’s topic is a follow-up to a similar discussion we had on this podcast in late 2022.  Back then, interest rates had risen as bond values (and stock values) took a nosedive. The question at the time was: where should you go for your “non-volatile” asset class, if bonds don’t seem as attractive? Now that interest rates have somewhat stabilized, but remain higher than they were for the previous...

A few episodes ago we talked about how to keep your tax bill down when planning for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). After that show aired, we received a good question from a listener in Arizona who wanted to know what a good withdrawal plan would be for someone who is actually taking their RMDs. For example, would it be prudent for someone to sell stocks in their IRA to satisfy their RMD wh...

For most people, taxes are just a fact of life.   Even your Social Security benefits – for which you had to pay taxes to be eligible to receive – are subject to taxation under certain circumstances. And this tax bite can hit you unexpectedly and put a sizable dent in your benefit income.   Is there anything you can do about this?  First, you need to recognize when and how your Social Security bene...

What creates fear and anxiety when it comes to stock market investing?  Usually, it's when the markets are behaving erratically.  Put another way, it's when the markets are volatile.  Or to put it yet another way, it's during virtually every short-term measurable time period. Stocks are always volatile in the short run.  But stock market investing should never be a short-term play. ...

One of the most valuable things you can have, both before and after you retire, is a steady stream of income. What makes it more valuable to you is if that income is protected (meaning "guaranteed") by some entity, like the federal government, the PBGC, or the claims-paying ability of an insurance company. Two forms of protected income that people generally receive at retirement are Soci...

Converting your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA is not a decision that should be taken lightly.  While tax-free growth is always nice, sometimes the price you have to pay – mostly income taxes on the conversion – makes it not worth doing.    But for many people, right now may be the perfect time to convert their pre-tax funds into a Roth.  How do you know if and when you should make the move?  Are t...

Many people have a retirement savings goal in mind, a level of money that they believe is enough. Once they reach that goal, they feel they’re ready to retire.  And that’s a good plan.   But what happens if your nest egg takes a big hit from the stock market just after you hang it all up for good? Do you really have to either go back to work, or maybe take less of an income in order to make your s...

People tend to focus a lot of their attention on building their nest egg: which investment strategies to use in order to achieve a good rate of return.  But surprisingly little notice is given to how you should extract that money at retirement.  And this may be the more important aspect. No matter how much money you accumulate over your lifetime, if you're careless with how it's eventual...

Just a few years ago, the rules regarding Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) were fairly simple: you turned age 70 ½, you had an RMD.  But since the passage of the SECURE Acts, you may – or may not – be required to take an RMD this year.  How do you know?  That answer isn’t necessarily an easy one, for both IRA owners and for those who are the beneficiaries of an IRA.  Did you know that you can...

After years of building your savings, there are a number of scenarios that threaten to deplete it.  One of them is called Sequence of Returns Risk.  Simply put, this means that if you retire just when the stock market takes a downturn, and you're selling stocks to provide yourself with an income, you're courting disaster. What can you do about this?  The answer may be as easy as choosing...

Most people are aware that there are two phases of your financial life: building your life savings, and then distributing that money to you at retirement.  But there's a third phase that happens after you're gone, which many people pay less attention to than they should: distributing your life's assets to your heirs. Making sure your money and your possessions go where you want them...

The 401k is designed to be a “set it and forget it” type of retirement plan: Set your allocation based on your age and risk tolerance, then contribute money each pay period, and let compounding do its job from there.  And that’s a good thing.  But part of the potential success of your 401k plan has to do with how it’s structured to begin with.  You may have an overwhelming number of investment cho...

If you've been a diligent saver, chances are good that you have a variety of assets in your name: cash, CDs, bonds, stocks, funds, retirement accounts, insurance products, a home, etc. At some point, though, you'll no longer be around and those assets will wind up going to your designated heirs. And while everyone likes to receive money in any way they can, it would certainly be a lot be...

Building up a nest egg over a period of years does not have to be complicated, in spite of what many investment professionals might tell you. The real "secret" is to simply save money, and save it on a regular basis. When time is on your side, you have a certain amount of freedom to take an element of risk.  Doing so, investing even during market downturns, can potentially pay big reward...

The past 18 months or so have seen interest rates rise from near zero to levels we haven’t seen in more than a decade. This is great for savers, especially those who have become accustomed to earning little to nothing on their non-volatile assets. Of course, a key part of the Bucket Strategy® involves taking income (cash flow) from those non-volatile assets, regardless of what they may or may not...

One of the biggest fears that retirees have is that they'll run short of money.  A Bucket Strategy® aims to solve that problem by matching assets to liabilities, so that you're never in a situation where you need to sell a volatile asset in order to meet your spending needs. The key, though, is that the strategy must be set up properly.  How much safe (non-volatile) money should you have...

You may have heard that if you take no more than 4 percent of your portfolio's value every year, it will (statistically) last at least 30 years. But does following this "4-percent rule" actually guarantee that you won't run out of money? It does not. Too many factors can come into play over the course of a retirement that can interrupt - or completely disrupt - your ability to...

Rather than focus on a single topic this week, we thought we’d take some time to answer the many and varied questions we’ve been getting via email from our podcast subscribers and listeners. Just a few of the topics we’re covering this week: the sale of a primary residence, inheriting a home, annuity payments, taxes, Roth IRAs, and more. Tune in and get your most pressing questions answered from p...