Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. This episode is a bit different from our normal real people chats though. Andy is joined by Kevin Lyles from the Rock Retirement Club. Kevin is a retired corporate lawyer who has since become a certified retirement coach, focusing on helping people with the non-financial aspects of retirement. In the episode, Andy...

Andy and Cody Garrett from Measure Twice Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:  Affordable Care Act ("ACA") tax credits and income "cliffs" in tax planning ( 08:13 ) Doing Roth conversions vs tax gain harvesting ( 22:30 ) Paying taxes in retirement; estimated payme...

Andy shares his thoughts and commentary about 2025 returns and events for: U.S. stocks International stocks U.S. bonds Gold & Silver Bitcoin Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystif...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Potential advantages or disadvantages of consolidating retirement accounts ( 4:28 ) Paying taxes through IRA withholdings vs making estimated payments ( 13:08 ) Whether a minister's housing allowance impacts Affordable Care Act subsidy eligibility ( 26:11 ) When Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts ("QLACs") might make sense to consider ( 3...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jill. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as leaving the workforce relatively early, keeping expenses moderate yet still doing and enjoying a lot in life, what she wishes she would have known and done sooner for her retirement planning, and more!    Links...

Andy and Kevin Thompson from 9i Capital Group share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:  Thoughts on how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act complicates 2025 tax planning. And in particular whether people 65 or older should try to keep their income low to get some or all of the extra $6k bonus deduction...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  A correction on something incorrect I said last week regarding deciding which spouse's pre-tax account to distribute or convert from ( 3:28 ) Pros and cons of using a single total global stock market fund vs multiple other funds such as just US and just international  ( 8:17 ) What's in the calculation for Modified Adjusted Gross Income ("MA...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  Starting Social Security benefits early so your minor children can claim dependent benefits, and how the earnings test can come into play if you're still working ( 5:53 ) Social Security spousal benefits, and what happens when the lower earning spouse starts their own benefit early at a reduced amount, then later switches to spousal benefits ( 10:35)...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor), Beth Pinsker, a columnist for MarketWatch, about her new book, My Mother's Money, A Guide to Financial Caregiving . In the book, Beth details her personal experience in becoming her mother's financial caregiver, both during her mother's end of life and health decline, and beyond her mother's death and through the estate administra...

Andy and Ben Brandt from Retirement Starts Today share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:  Thoughts on Monte Carlo analysis; the good, the bad, the ugly ( 9:10 ) Why all retirement plans are ultimately wrong as soon as they're made, and need to be agile and adaptable ( 13:30 ) How to try to h...

Andy shares some year-end tax planning tips, deadlines and things to consider around the following topics: contributions to qualified accounts Roth conversions distributions from qualified accounts Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") charitable donations Qualified Charitable Distributions ("QCDs") from IRAs gifting tax loss and tax gain harvesting doing a projected/pro form...

In this special guest host episode, Brian Tegtmeyer from Truly Prosper Financial  Planning talks about how to address and plan for the non-financial aspects of retirement such as intellectual engagement, purposeful activities, health and fitness, relationships and more. And he also shares a quick exercise to do to see how you can measure your satisfaction in these various areas, and how to help in...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  The CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings) Ratio as a measure of whether the US stock market is overvalued or undervalued, and drawbacks with the CAPE Ratio ( 4:32 ) The meaning of Benjamin Graham's quote "In the short run, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long run it's a weighing machine" ( 17:07 ) Helping clients...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jackie Cummings Koski. But Jackie isn't just the typical "real" person doing her own retirement planning. She went the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) route and left her corporate job in her late-40s. She's since expanded on the financial knowledge...

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Allen Mueller, CFA, CFP® from 7 Saturdays Financial. 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, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more! Links in this episod...

Andy shares his views on the few different ways in which people in the financial services/financial advisory industry can receive revenue: Commission-only Fee-only Hybrid or fee-based Links in this episode: My article in Rethinking65 - How Much Are Your Services Worth? Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  How to calculate how much money you can gift or donate in retirement without running out ( 8:47 ) Does the five-year rule met by a previous Roth IRA carry over to a new Roth IRA ( 17:03 ) Is it better to draw down an inherited IRA and delay starting Social Security, or vice versa ( 19:39 ) Can distributions from an annuity in a 403(b) be used to meet Requi...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Scott. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as leaving the workforce early than planned during COVID and later reengaging in part-time work to have social interaction, managing income for purposes of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, how life and fi...

Andy and Justin Pritchard from Approach Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:  The pros and cons of target date funds ( 11:05 ) Their thoughts on the recent presidential executive order allowing private and illiquid investments to be offered inside 401(k) plans ( 23:26 ) Can you make...

Andy summarizes some helpful IRS tools and interesting IRS and tax return-related information after his recent attendance at the annual IRS Tax Forum/conference Links in this episode: IRS Taxpayer Online Account - here ID.me - here IRS IP PINs - here IRS Document Upload Tool - here IRS Interactive Tax Assistant - here Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook gro...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:  How to account on your tax return for the basis in inherited IRAs ( 7:00 ) Is having large Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") really a bad thing ( 12:04 ) Is there any merit to using a break-even analysis to help decide when to start Social Security ( 15:59 ) When does it make sense for someone to consider working with a financial advisor (...

In this slight twist to the "real" person episode format, Andy doesn't interview a real person but instead addresses the most common retirement planning questions he gets from "real" people. The questions addressed are: Do I have enough to retire? When can I retire? How much cash should I have? When should I start my Social Security? How do I get money out of my portfolio?...

Andy and Mark Rosinski from Dunes Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:  Thoughts on common withdrawal strategies and what they use in each of their firms ( 12:04 ) The level of impact of some of the changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ( 30:51 ) Things to consider when doing rul...

Andy summarizes the recent 2025 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 2025 Social Security trustees report - here  My company's August 1 2025 newsletter summarizing the 2025 Social Security trustees report - he...

In this special guest host episode, Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning talks about how to reduce and manage concentrated holdings in your investment portfolio. Particular emphasis is given to the tax implications and tax management of trying to reduce highly appreciated positions in normal brokerage accounts Links in this episode: Optimum Retirement Planning's website - https://w...