Planning for Retirement with Kevin Lao

PFR Nation, It’s the most wonderful time of the year… You guessed it…it’s ROTH CONVERSION time! 😊 In all seriousness, Happy Thanksgiving all of you! Wishing you a wonderful start to the holiday season. Roth Conversions are a hot topic in our business at the end of the year, so I thought I’d do a video about some common tax traps every day retirees run in to as they are converting assets to Roth....

Welcome to PART 4 of 100 Episodes, 100 Lessons (for retirees and pre-retirees). In this episode, we’ll walk through episodes 76-99 and bring home some key takeaways for you as you plan for and execute a successful retirement. I hope you enjoy this one! If you are over 50, you’ve saved north of $1million for retirement, and you want to maximize retirement income, minimize your lifetime tax bill, an...

PFR Nation,   Welcome to PART 3 of 100 Episodes, 100 Lessons (for retireesand pre-retirees). In this episode, we’ll walk through episodes 51-75 and bringhome some key takeaways for you as you plan for and execute a successfulretirement. I hope you enjoy this one!  If you are over 50, you’ve saved north of $1million forretirement, and you want to maximize retirement income, minimize your lifetimeta...

The journey continues. We are walking through 100 lessons from the first 100 episodes in this 4-part series. I hope you enjoy part 2! If you are over 50, you’ve saved north of $1million for retirement, and you want to maximize retirement income, minimize your lifetime tax bill, and worry less about money…hit the FOLLOW button so you don’t miss out on the next 100 episodes! ⁠Click this link to fill...

PFR Nation: Thank you all for supporting this show for the last few years. Especially for those of you who supported me in the early days when I thought nobody was listening. I even took a 4 month hiatus without announcing it because we were so in the trenches with our boys. All of a sudden I get an email out of the blue asking “Are you still doing the podcast?” That was the motivation I needed to...

PFR Nation,   As you know, we are well underway with our free giveawaysfrom a couple of weeks ago. And as I mentioned last week, we received a lot of great comments in that YouTube thread! So last week, I touched on three of the questions in a Q&A format.  Today, I’ll address three more!  Here they are: 1.       “So how do you actually build a retirement income plan that both people can sleep...

PFR Nation, We just announced our FREE GIVEAWAY winner and runner-up on the YouTube channel last Thursday. Thank you all for participating and making that process super enjoyable and engaging. One of the questions I asked for the giveaway was “What is one thing related to planning for retirement that keeps you up at night?” We received some amazing responses!! So, I thought I would dedicate this e...

PFR Nation, I recentlydiscovered a Ted Talk by Dr. Riley Moynes about the “ 4 phases of retirement .”  We talk a lotabout the financial side of retirement planning. -             Safe withdrawal rates -             Tax efficiency -             Investing to and through retirement -             Legacy -             Insurance   However, it’s equally important to understand and thinkabout the softer s...

PFR Nation, In this episode, I’m tackling America’s “headline culture,” how short clips and soundbites dominate not only politics, but also the way we think about retirement planning. With the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk as a starting point, I reflect on how social media algorithms amplify the loudest, most divisive voices, while thoughtful, nuanced conversations get drowned out. When I d...

PFR Nation, Welcome to another “Whiteboard Retirement Plan” breakdown! Scottie and Meredith had the perfect plan: retire at 65, sign up for Medicare, and start Social Security at 67. With nearly $1.9 million saved, everything looked like it was on track, until life threw them a curveball. After some friends their age got sick and passed away, they started asking: Why wait? Can we retire right now...

PFR Nation, As you approach retirement, or even when you are in the beginning phase of retirement, there is this natural feeling of concern about market uncertainty. After all, the market can turn south in a heartbeat, potentially even leading into a recession. Or worse, a prolonged recession. This term is also known as “Sequence of Returns Risk.” It’s not about your long-term average return, it’s...

PFR Nation, Many of you have adult children or loved ones you hope will benefit from your financial success. But how confident are you in their financial skills? Will they be good stewards of the wealth you leave behind? Even if you don’t plan to leave a fortune, your careful retirement planning might still create a sizable legacy. I just celebrated 17 years in financial services on 8/28! It’s bee...

PFR Nation, If you have been a podcast listener for a while, you know I have strong feelings about the “4% Rule.” Well, the father of the 4% Rule, Bill Bengen, just released a new book where he admits that 4% is probably too low. In this episode, we’ll briefly touch on the history of the 4% rule, as well as the findings in his new book. But more importantly, we’ll discuss the downsides of actually...

PFR Nation, Legendary actor Gene Hackman passed away earlier this year. Some of the details about his estate plan have been made public due to the probate process. While I don’t believe any of us have an $80 million estate, there are some important lessons we can all take away from this estate planning nightmare. Especially if you are part of a blended family (children from a previous relationship...

PFR Nation, I hope everyone has had a great summer! It’s been action-packed for us, especially coming off the heels of family visiting the last 8 days. Thus, thanks for your patience with this week’s episode! This is a good one! Many folks retire earlier than they had anticipated. In this case, Marilyn was forced to retire 5 years earlier than she had planned! She’s done well saving and investing,...

Welcome to another edition of Planning for Retirement (PFR) with Kevin Lao. And welcome to all the newbies here! If you are new, you might want to hit that “Follow” button if you are over 50 and have saved a minimum of 7 figures for retirement. You’re approaching the phase of life where you want to be able to fire your boss at any time, maximize your retirement impact, minimize your lifetime tax b...

PFR Nation, In this 88th episode of the Planning forRetirement podcast, I’ll touch on the importance of finding true fulfillmentbeyond financial success and that chasing a retirement goal is merely a toolfor freedom.  Freedom to pursue what YOUare built to pursue on this earth. First, I’ll start off by sharing someinsights on tax planning following the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA),including...

The internet is full of financial advice.  Some is good, some is great, and some downright dangerous.  After nearly 17 years as a financial advisor, I’ve heard it all. In this episode, I’m calling out the bad advice for retirees and pre-retirees that still gets passed around today in hopes that you will plan better for retirement! I hope you enjoy it. -Kevin Takeaways: The internet is full of fina...

PFR Nation, It’s official, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law on July 4th, 2025, making significant impacts on tax rates, deductions, and various credits.  This by no means is a summary of ALL the changes from OBBBA, but I attempted to summarize what I believed was most relevant to our listeners and clients (folks nearing or in retirement, saved over $1million, excluding pr...

I hope you all enjoyed the 4th of July weekend!  Happy Birthday, America! Fees are a big topic of conversation amongst financial advisors, but also from consumers.  It can be a spicy topic with lots of complexities, but I’ll try to simplify HOW and WHAT you are paying your financial advisor. I’ll be the first to admit, I am extremely biased being a fee-only financial advisor, which I’ll admit thro...

Hello, PFR Nation and Happy 4th of July, and Happy Birthday, America!  What a great country we live in, I’m so proud to be an American.  My Dad being a (legal) immigrant has given me great appreciation for the opportunities we have relative to the rest of the world.   I’m feeling extremely blessed for the clients we are serving in our financial planning firm, and I’m so grateful to serve all of yo...

  Many of the individuals and families we serve end up “Oversaving” for retirement.  If you are in that same situation (you overachieved 😊), you will want to listen to this episode to learn about 6 retirement planning opportunities to consider.   Basically, this is the exact  I hope you find this episode useful.    -Kevin  Takeaways: Many clients are overachievers who overfund their retirement. F...

In this week’s podcast, I break down 5 great questions we have either fielded directly in our practice, or have observed in the marketplace from retirees/near retirees.  Shoutout to Roberto for this concept, and if it goes well, we’ll be doing these every 4-5 episodes!   In this edition, the 5 questions we’ll tackle are: 💬 Question 1: Can I get a mortgage if I just retired and don’t have income?...

Is it time to take your adult children off your payroll? Nearly HALF of parents with adult children are providing them with MEANINGFUL financial support.  But 40% plan to CUT OFF those funds in the next 2 years. If you or someone you know is struggling with this, you are NOT alone! In this 81st edition of the PFR podcast, we’ll discuss Savings.com’s recent survey about this, and ultimately how thi...

Are you feeling a bit behind on your goals for retirement?   You’re not alone! More than half (57 percent) of Americans working full-time, part-time or who are temporarily unemployed feel behind on their retirement savings, according to Bankrate’s latest Retirement Savings Survey. In the 80th edition of the Planning for Retirement podcast, I’ll discuss 6 tactical moves to improve your retirement o...