Not Just Numbers: Honest Conversations with a Financial Advisor (and Lawyer!)

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike kick off series 2 of 5 of pre-retiree education. They discuss the role of social security as a retirement strategy, including its eligibility requirements and the benefits and drawbacks of claiming benefits at different ages. They also explore the impact of spousal and survivor benefits, and emphasized the importance of financial planning in optimizing social secu...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike introduce a new series involving pre-retiree preparation. In this episode they discuss retirement planning, focusing on income sources, longevity, inflation, healthcare expenses, investment returns, and tax implications. They emphasize the importance of a comprehensive and strategic approach to ensure financial sustainability throughout retirement. They also agree...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the shift towards fee-based and fee-only financial advisors and its impact on reducing conflicts of interest and improving clarity for clients. They also explore the potential conflicts of interest related to social security claiming behaviors and the trend of carrying mortgages into retirement. Lastly, they clarify the difference between a fee-based and a...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the historical and potential risks associated with investing in Bitcoin, comparing it to the decline in value of natural pearls due to technological advancements. They highlight the importance of diversification, risk management, and hedging against Bitcoin's uncertain future. Additionally, they discuss the potential vulnerability of Bitcoin's co...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the pros and cons of Dave Ramsey’s financial advice, and how even the better parts of it have been challenged by societal and economic changes. They critiqued Ramsey's advice on debt management, car buying, and credit scores, and discussed the importance of considering individual circumstances and seeking help from financial advisors. They also explor...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss entrepreneurship. They emphasize the importance of investigating whether a business idea or passion can be profitable and scalable to be worth the time and money invested. They highlight the challenges of translating a talent or passion into a profitable business, the need for market research, developing a comprehensive business plan, and understanding one...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike stress the significance and opportunity of financial planning for individuals and couples in their sixties who are in the sweet spot of being able to withdraw money without penalty from their IRAs, but don’t yet have to take Social Security or Required Minimum Distributions from their IRAs. Tax planning can make a crucial difference in how much people ultimately p...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the differences between education savings plans and prepaid tuition plans, and the benefits of 529 college savings plans. Later, they are joined by Heather Manley from Ninja Duds, a local consignment business. Heather explains that Ninja Duds operates by taking in clothing items from consigners, which are then posted on their website. Customers can browse...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the article "Beware the most crowded trade on Wall Street" by James Mackintosh of the Wall St. Journal and the widely held belief among investors in a forthcoming soft landing and lower interest rates. They also talk about the potential implications of the Federal Reserve's recent dovish forecast, as well as the potential impact of external...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss an article about the challenges faced by financial advisors competing with large brokerage firms. The article suggested a two-pronged approach of presenting an assigned fiduciary oath and utilizing the FINRA broker check website. Maddie and Mike emphasized the importance of finding a competent and experienced financial planner and the potential advantages...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the article Mike wrote about financial predictions, emphasizing the importance of long-term financial planning over short-term market predictions. They also discussed budgeting, financial planning, tax planning strategies, estate planning, and the importance of insurance. They stressed the need for individuals to understand their spending, income, investme...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the ongoing debate between investing in individual bonds or bond mutual funds and ETFs. Mike prefers funds for ongoing investment but says that individual issues around specific savings goals make a lot of sense. The conversation also emphasized the importance of diversification, professional management, and tax implications. Towards the end, they discusse...

Send us Fan Mail Mike and Maddie discuss an article about potential losses boomers fear during their retirement due to these funds' potentially risky investments. They also touch on the shift from defined benefit plans to 401K plans and the responsibility it places on employees to manage their own retirement savings. Mike is concerned by the fact that target date funds are in practically all...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss the factors investors should consider when deciding how much cash to hold in their portfolios, the risks of excessive cash holdings, the safety of money market funds, and the importance of diversification. They also explore the role of cash in an investment portfolio. Madison and Mike interview Anthony Tozzi, the owner of Regerts Ink, a tattoo removal comp...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Maddie discuss an article about whether Artificial Intelligence can replace your Financial Advisor. AI tools like ChatGPT have made impressive strides and can handle tasks like passing the bar exam for lawyers and assisting with medical diagnoses. The article explores whether AI is ready to replace financial advisers and assesses AI's performance aga...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss an article from the Wall Street Journal about the potential downsides of having too much information in investing. The article highlights the risks of making bad decisions due to over confidence from having so much information. Mike advises people to consider their overall financial plan instead of constantly checking their portfolios. He also mentions the...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss an article in the Trentonian based on a tweet by New York Times columnist David Brooks, which sparked a conversation about the current economic situation. Madison and Mike talk about the discrepancy between public perceptions of the economy and individual financial well-being, and the potential impact of social media on public perception. They also discuss...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike celebrated two anniversaries, one marking Mike's 25th year in the financial industry and the other commemorating his fifth year since completing an IRONMAN triathlon. Mike shared his journey from being a law school graduate struggling to establishing his career to moving to the financial industry. He also shared his experience of transitioning from being a wi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Maddie discuss the idea that you should diversify your stock holdings across countries and among many large and small companies. That doing so means your portfolio will go up and down in a more stable way, reducing a lot of risk. Buying stocks in only one country or a small number of companies is not a good strategy. Yes, the U.S. has been a great place t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Maddie discuss a Wall Street Journal article that suggests that Baby Boomers are investing like 30-year-olds and questions the wisdom of that. As he always does, Mike takes issue with some of the methodology in the reporting and the conclusions the paper drew from it. Mike thinks that most people should have somewhere between 50 and 100% of their portfoli...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss Certificates of Deposit (CD’s), what they are, and options that are available. He explains that since the Fed started raising interest rates, people are more interested in bonds and other fixed-income securities for the first time in 15 years. He advises Madison and our listeners to buy only individual securities if they are backed by insurance or a govern...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Maddie discuss advanced estate planning and its difference from basic estate planning. Michael explains that advanced estate planning uses the tax code to save taxes to effectively transfer more assets to other people or charities in your estate plan. Common advanced estate planning techniques include Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts and Annual Gifting,...

Send us Fan Mail Madison and Mike discuss Trusts and some of their more common uses. Mike explains that a Trust is a legal document that can stand on its own or be part of someone's Will. People with children and  grandchildren as beneficiaries of their Will often use them to manage money and property for the younger generation. Liz Young, the owner of Commonplace Reader bookstore on Main Str...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Maddie discuss why a Will, Power of Attorney, and Advance Health Directive are key components of an Estate Plan. Hiring a lawyer who specializes in estate planning is the best way to ensure a will is legally valid and effective. Later in the episode, Heather DiPrato joins us to share about her business. Heather is the publisher of Yardley Living and Newto...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode Mike and Maddie discuss how Yardley Wealth Management decides which asset allocations make sense for clients, which mutual funds or ETFs to use, when we change funds, and when we re-balance. While we use 3rd party software (Fi360 and Tamarac) to help with our decision-making, it is mature, rational financial advisors who make those decisions, not a computer algorit...