Playbook of the Wealthy

It's taken Heather Townsend 60+ episodes to agree to talk about herself. Dave finally corners her. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, Dave Grant of Retirement Matters puts co-host Heather Townsend of Townsend Financial in the hot seat. Heather — a former Big Four tax accountant turned CPA, CFP, and Registered Life Planner — walks through why she left tax work to become an advisor, how he...

Your buddy at the gym swears an S Corp will save you a fortune. Your accountant says don't bother. Who's right? Both — and it comes down to one number most people get wrong: profit, not revenue. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave Grant of Retirement Matters and Heather Townsend of Townsend Financial untangle the LLC-vs-S-Corp confusion clogging your social fee...

So many people obsess over estate tax laws and the $15 million federal estate tax exemption, and quietly walk right into a state estate tax problem they never saw coming. In this episode, Dave and Heather dig into the tax that's already hitting their clients: the 12 states that tax estates at limits far below federal, where a single dollar over the line can make your ENTIRE estate taxable.▶ Listen...

Your financial advisor's favorite charts, read out loud. Every quarter Dave and Heather crack open J.P. Morgan's guide to the markets — and this episode is the two of them flipping through nine charts that explain what's actually happening in the economy right now. If you're a visual learner, this one's for you (and yes, they know that's a strange thing to say on a podcast).In this Playbook of the...

What if you could own the S&P 500 and never see a negative year? That's the pitch behind buffered ETFs — and like every pitch that sounds too good, the fine print is where it gets interesting. The protection is real. So are the caps, the costs, and the ways to pick the wrong one. ★ WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ★ ▸ What a buffered ETF really is — the "defined outcome ETF" that tracks an index, protects th...

Ever wonder what your financial advisor is actually reading over morning coffee — and how those headlines quietly reshape the advice you get? This episode is that reading list, cracked open. No 4.0 level finance nerd-out, just the stories Dave and Heather think you should know about, with opinions attached. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave Grant of Retirement Matter...

Four CPAs can take the same set of numbers and hand you four different tax returns. That's not a knock on accountants — it's how tangled the tax code has become. And this year, Dave and Heather caught a stack of expensive mistakes on returns that clients and other preparers had already called "finished."In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave Grant of Ret...

Two different advisors should differ in their financial advice - should they? One was broke living off a teacher's salary the day he got married. The other watched her Mom's country-club life evaporate after a divorce. Today they're in the virtual boxing ring — same questions, different answers, no script. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave Grant of Retire...

You should probably learn "How NOT to Invest" as well as learning the right things to doBoomers were supposed to be broke. The Apple Store was supposed to fail. The dollar was supposed to crash. The people making those calls had decades of experience and the cover of major magazines, and the market did the opposite anyway. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave...

The buy vs. lease debate is older than the cars themselves, and most people pick wrong because they never run the math. The right answer depends on the brand, the miles, and what you actually do with the car when the term ends. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Heather Townsend of Townsend Financial and Dave Grant of Retirement Matters break down when leasing wins, when b...

Retirement timing matters more than most people realize. The right month to retire can be worth six figures in bonus, RSU, pension, and tax savings. In this Playbook of the Wealthy episode, financial advisors Dave Grant of Retirement Matters and Heather Townsend of Townsend Financial break down 5 things you must lock in before you hand in your notice, using a case study of Jeffrey, a $400k-a-year...

Rapid-fire questions, real-world answers. In this mailbag episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend go straight into “What Would You Do?” and tackle a stack of listener and client questions, from charitable giving and Roth conversions to AI in financial planning, inheritance tax strategy, and whether you should change your investing plan based on what markets might do next year.   What you’ll learn...

A lot of people were taught one rule for retirement: never touch the principal. Just live off dividends and interest. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend explain why that “dividends and interest only” portfolio is outdated, often forces you into riskier investments, and can literally cut your spending in half. They break down what actually drives long-term returns, why dividend chasin...

Financial mistakes happen more often than you think. DIY financial planning is not just “hard.” It’s easy to build something that looks fine on paper, but is actually fragmented, outdated, and full of hidden risks. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend walk through the top five mistakes they see in DIY financial plans, from vague goals and messy portfolios to bad insurance coverage and...

Credit card points can feel like a gimmick... until you realize people are quietly turning everyday spending into free hotel nights, business-class upgrades, and $2,000 stays for $0.In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down the credit card points “game” in plain English: how to do it without spending more or going into debt, why travel points often beat cashback, how to avoid the...

High income and high net worth does not protect you from bad decisions. In fact, it can make the mistakes bigger. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down the 4 most common mistakes financial advisors see in wealthy clients, based on insights gathered from family offices and advisors across the country, and how to avoid them before they quietly drain your cash flow and long-term...

If you had a baby between 2025 and 2028, the government may be offering $1,000 into a new minor investment account. But there’s a catch: you have to open the account and file the form to get the money. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down what “Trump Accounts” are, who qualifies, when they launch, how contributions work (including employers), what the money will be invested...

If it feels like your Social Security check does not go as far each year (even after the cost-of-living adjustment), that’s not just a perception. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down how inflation actually works , why inflation hits some categories way harder than others (hello, healthcare), and why Medicare premiums can take an increasingly bigger bite out of Social Securi...

(We skipped a couple of episode numbers to keep it current with our YouTube channel!) Most people “diversify” by owning stocks and bonds, but then stop there. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down what bonds actually are, why bond diversification is a thing, and how the real pros think about bond strategy: active vs passive, bond duration, where bonds should live for tax effi...

Subpar investments can be bad luck, but most of the time they come down to concentration, complexity, and no exit plan . In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down how to avoid “good investments” turning into disasters, why single stocks and flashy alternatives can wreck real portfolios, and the simple rules they use to keep risk contained (without killing your upside).   What you...

For many wealthy people, the problem is not saving and investing. The problem is actually spending the money after you’ve built it. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend unpack the psychology behind “wealth guilt,” fear of going backward, and why so many retirees and high earners end up gripping their portfolio instead of enjoying the life it was meant to fund. Then they share a simple...

Stop Guessing Your Savings Rate High earner or not, you should never be guessing how much you “should” be saving. You need a plan that ties your savings target to your real goals, and the right accounts to fund them. In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down how to set the right savings target (without generic internet percentages), how to build SMART goals , and how to balance l...

You saved well. Now comes the part everyone underestimates: turning your portfolio into a reliable paycheck . In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend walk through how they design an optimal retirement income stream , starting with the question every retiree asks: “Do I have enough?” Then they break down how to build income buckets, choose the right withdrawal mix across accounts, and avoi...

In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend go rapid fire through a stack of real listener questions in a special “What Would You Do?” format. No deep dive, just straight answers, real-world trade-offs, and the money conversations high earners actually have behind closed doors. What you’ll learn... • The truth about the short-term rental “tax bill to $0” claim, and when depreciation can actua...

In this episode, Dave Grant and Heather Townsend break down The Retiree’s Wealthy Playbook for 2026 , including how to plan your spending, manage taxes, and actually enjoy the money you worked so hard to build.   What you’ll learn… • The real foundation of a “rich retiree” plan: priorities, monthly needs, and the bucket list • The hardest trade off in retirement: spending enough now vs preserving...