Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy and MarketWatch columnist Beth Pinsker, CFP®, discuss the most common questions she gets from her readers: Am I doing this (i.e. financial planning) right? ( 11:22 ) Should I do a Roth conversion? ( 21:10 ) Can I make this large purchase I'm considering? ( 30:13 ) When should I claim Social Security? ( 47:40 ) Various questions around estate planning and choosing a caregiver ( 52:57 ) Li...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  A correction about the previously discussed topic of contributing to a child's Roth IRA if they have earnings but don't file a tax return and don't have the earnings reported on a W-2 ( 3:52 ) A follow up on a previously discussed question of whether it's better to pay $27k of tax to do a $100k Roth conversion, or to contribute $27k to...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Mike. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as how he learned important investing insights from Paul Merriman, how he adapted going from accumulation to decumulation mode, how he used a health sharing organization in lieu of traditional health insurance pri...

Andy and Dan VanDusen from Objective Wealth share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: How to decide between investing money for a child or grandchild in a 529 vs Trump account vs UTMA brokerage account ( 9:19 ) What errors and missed items they commonly see in reviewing tax returns ( 18:28 ) Their...

Andy discusses the basics of bonds, including: Basic features and functions of bonds The risks in bonds Bond issuers and maturities How bonds can be used How and why bond prices changes, and how interest rates impact prices Bonds vs bond funds Links in this episode: Tenon Financial's October 1 newseltter - The basics of bonds: what they are, how they work, and how to use them in retirement pl...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Follow up thoughts on a previous question about whether it's better to use $27k of cash to make a mega backdoor Roth contribution, or to do a $100k in-plan Roth conversion and use the $27k to pay the taxes on it ( 4:01 ) Why the 4% rule isn't called the 3% rule, when working with an advisor who charges 1% of assets under management ( 13:52 ) His...

In this replay of Andy's recent guest appearance on the Catching up to FI podcast, Andy and hosts Bill Yount, MD, and Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP®, AFC®, talk all about traditional defined benefit pensions. What they are, how they work, how to decide between taking payments vs a lump sum and much more! Links in this episode: The original audio version of the Catching up to FI podcast episode -...

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Ryan Langan, CFP®, from Your Path Fi. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more! Links in this episode: Ryan's advisory company website - https://www.yourpath...

Andy discusses what all is involved in moving to a new state, from a tax perspective...properly changing your "domicile" and "residence" to the new state. Spoiler alert: It's not necessarily as simple as buying a house and spending at least six months and a day in the new state! Links in this episode: My in-depth write-up of changing state domicile and residence, examples...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Whether to use money in a 457b to pay down a mortgage or to pay taxes on Roth conversions ( 7:56 ) How Social Security survivor benefits work, and the optimal ages for spouses to each claim their own Social Security ( 18:54 ) His thoughts on why the Social Security trust fund hasn't been allowed to invest in equities ( 25:36 ) Creating spreadsheets to...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Mark. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about planning for retirement, how he got comfortable going from accumulation to decumulation mode, how he and his wife are navigating health insurance prior to Medicare eligibil...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  How to sell and rebalance positions in a brokerage account when they have unrealized gains and you're trying to be tax-efficient about it ( 7:06 ) His thoughts on a few different variable portfolio withdrawal strategies, namely Amortization Based Withdrawals ("ABW"), Total Portfolio Allocation Withdrawals ("TPAW") and Big ERN'...

Andy discusses the ins and outs of Trump accounts: Legislative background How to open them How to fund them Investing inside them How to distribute from them Reporting around them Taxation of them The two potential worthwhile use cases I see for them Links in this episode: My in-depth write-up of Trump accounts, including all of the links I referenced in the show - Trump accounts: what they are, h...

Andy summarizes the recent 2026 annual Social Security trustees report, including what it would actually mean if the system's trust fund were to deplete, and what changes can be made to ensure that doesn't happen Links in this episode: The full 2026 Social Security trustees report - here Summary of the recently proposed PROMISE Act - here The recent episode of Inspired Money with me, Wad...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Should Roth conversion analysis look at marginal or effective tax rates ( 4:21 ) His thoughts on why qualified Roth account distributions might eventually be included in certain measures of Modified Adjusted Gross Income ("MAGI") ( 8:28 ) What other MAGIs are potentially impacted and should be watched out for with doing Roth conversions ( 12:38 )...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Tom. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about planning for retirement, why he went back to work as a consultant a year after retiring, why their plans of relocating to a different state have since changed, what his Roth...

Andy and Tanya Nichols from Retire Agile share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: How we help clients get over the hurdle of actually spending their savings ( 10:27 ) Their thoughts on having mortgages in retirement ( 22:27 ) What they think is likely to happen to the Social Security system, and w...

Andy discusses common tax planning mistakes often made in retirement. Additionally, he shares insight on how to attempt to prevent such mistakes, and/or fix them after they've happened The 8 common mistakes are: Not paying enough income tax timely throughout the year, and having underpayment penalties as a result Missing or not taking the correct amount of Required Minimum Distributions (“RMD...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Are tax return amendments needed if info from a 1099-R was left out but doesn't impact the return's gross or taxable income ( 4:08 ) What are the pros and cons of using average cost basis tracking for mutual funds ( 8:36 ) Tax implications of nonqualified annuities and surrendering vs annuitizing it ( 13:55 ) Is there a more optimized way to pay...

Andy and Mark Ross from the Rock Retirement Club talk about Mark's journey in retiring to become an "encorepreneur" by starting a coaching business, and spending more time creating art. They also address some of standard "real person" planning questions such healthcare before Medicare, Social Security claiming, the emotional transition to leaving the corporate world, and m...

Andy and Adam Grossman from Mayport Wealth Management share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: How to analyze an existing annuity and whether to keep it, exchange it to another annuity or surrender it ( 11:44 ) The different things to factor in when considering retiring to a different state ( 23:1...

Andy discusses the various areas of consideration and analysis that go into deciding whether Roth conversions might potentially be of value. Furthermore, he explains why it's impossible to actually quantify how much tax savings, if any, Roth conversions might potentially create. And what to consider when figuring out how much to convert in any given year Links in this episode: Vanguard's...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Claiming your own Social Security benefit at 62 and then later switching to collecting a spousal benefit after your spouse starts their benefit ( 5:45 ) It's said by comedians that there are just a small number of basic jokes and everything else is just a variation. The same could be said about financial planning, where there are just a few core topic...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Daryl. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about planning for retirement, how he's gotten comfortable spending from his nest egg, what he's doing for health insurance since he's not yet on Medicare and wha...

Andy and Brad Flood from Tenon Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: Portfolio withdrawal strategies for addressing sequence of returns risk ( 10:44 ) Using financial planning software and dealing with its limitations ( 26:25 ) Thoughts on Medicare surcharges known as IRMAA, and how m...