Smart Money Questions

Matt shares a personal story about having to help his parents through a difficult time. He'll also tell us about some of the scenarios his clients have faced over the years and offer you some ideas on how to best prepare for tough situations you and your parents might face.

They say these days that there’s a holiday of every day of the year. It’s kind of true. In fact, the month of April, for example, is home to Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Fresh Florida Tomato Month, Fresh Celery Month, Multiple Birth Awareness Month and National Soft Pretzel Month (sorry hard pretzels, you guys have to wait until the overall National Pretzel Month in October). What does all this h...

Great questions on the podcast this week from Mark, Lynne and Carrie. Mark has questions about how to properly finance the decision to downsize to a smaller house. Lynne is wondering about working with big financial companies vs. independent advisors. And Carrie says an advisor is forcing her and her husband to live on a budget. It's a requirement for them to work together. She wants to know if th...

We'll answer your questions this week in our mailbag edition of Smart Money Questions. Stella has a question about how international conflicts might impact the markets. Steve needs help figuring out how to pay for his son's college. Should he stop contributing to retirement for a few years to cover the tuition payments? Aaron has a bunch of smaller 401ks sitting around and wants to know what to do...

If you’re married, then this will come as no surprise. It takes two to complete a successful retirement plan. On this podcast, we’ll look at how husbands and wives have different financial goals and how that creates conflict. We’ll, of course, also explore how to resolve that conflict to establish a solid financial plan.

The quarterback on a football team is often considered to the most important person on the field. But they can’t always get the job done by themselves. Sometimes, they need to hand the ball off or throw it to a teammate to make progress down the field and ultimately score a touchdown. Your financial advisor should serve in a similar capacity. They’re the most important person in your overall plann...

Let's answer your questions about being a good steward of an inheritance, using your home as a retirement plan and how to handle a spousal dispute when it comes to leaving money behind for the kids.

We'll answer listener questions about paying off a mortgage in the next two years and whether retirement planning is as easy as investing in target date funds. Plus, we'll see what Matt learned at his recent chocolate-tasting event and Walter will tell us what financial lessons you can learn from his (former) fear of thunderstorms.

You know it’s not a good thing to lie to yourself in any aspect of life. So, let’s “keep it real” and go over some of the common financial lies we tell ourselves and explore why it’s dangerous to approach retirement planning with these mindsets.

Carrie in Florida asks, "What’s going to happen with tax rates in the future? I’ve always assumed they’ll be going up for the rest of my life, but now I’m thinking maybe they’ll go down given recent decisions at the White House. What do you think?" We'll attempt to answer her question and give you some other things to think about when it comes to tax planning and retirement.

Many of the smart money questions that we feature on the show are from our very own listeners. On this episode, Matt will answer some listener questions about longevity planning, handling lump sums, and more.

Let’s look at some recent headlines to see how the news might impact you in the short and long term. We’ll cover news about big box retail struggles, bonuses getting handed out left and right, plus robots! Who doesn’t like talking about robots, right?

Psychologists have determined that retirement is the 10th most stressful event that you can experience in life. The events on the list that are considered more stressful include things like the death of a spouse, divorce, and going to jail. Let’s look at the ways to proactively deal with stress in retirement…

Very often, we hear people try to make excuses or explain away some of their questionable financial decisions. Let’s talk about why these excuses usually don’t hold water.

Let’s hear about a client who has lived to an advanced age, but they’re still in good shape financially, due in part to the great financial plan they have in place.

We'll ring in 2018 by answering your questions about age gaps, investing too conservatively, and what to do with an old rental property. Matt also has details about some upcoming events at the brand new office in Westchester. Plus, Walter reminisces on his days as a chocolate festival emcee. You won't want to miss the first episode of the year.

A lot of Americans have 401k accounts. Let’s cover some of the common questions we get from 401k owners. You probably have some of these questions on your mind anyway. Oh, and this advice generally applies if you have a 403b or similar type of account, too.

In the spirit of the holiday season, let’s pretend that Santa Claus is filling up the stockings of retirees and pre-retirees with useful financial resources. But you can only fit 6 items into the stocking. Which 6 would you choose?

What happens when you retire before Medicare eligibility? What do you do if your significant other is a tightwad when he doesn't really need to be? Is it OK to buy a brand new car on credit right at retirement? What should you do if you're getting an unexpected divorce right before retirement? We'll answer all those questions and more on this week's "Mailbag" edition of Smart Money Questions.

Part 2 of our discussion of the 7 tips for grandparents to consider as they help their grandchildren grow into financially savvy adults.

A common question we often get, that’s not even really related to investing, is from retirees wanting to know how they can help pass their financial wisdom on to the next generation. So, let’s touch on seven tips for grandparents to consider as they help their grandchildren grow into financially savvy adults.

Occasionally, someone meets with an advisor just in the nick of time. Let’s hear about a time a client was about to make a bad financial mistake, but it was averted because of meeting with Matt.

Let's answer your questions about nursing home planning strategies, Roth conversions, and what to do if you hate every financial advisor you meet.

Understand a new paradigm in today's retirement landscape - Debt. Learn why it's become a pervasive problem in retirement and how you can handle the different debt issues you might have to navigate.

Answering your questions about long term care, TSP accounts, working with an advisor for the first time and whether it'd be wise to dump all your money into precious metals.