The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo: Working with Planners, Fiduciary Duty, and Advice

In Episode 104 of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down tax-loss harvesting — what it is, when it works, and when it backfires. Using a concrete example of two investors in mid-2026, they walk through how a disciplined harvesting strategy can add 0.5 to 1 percent to after-tax returns per year, but only if you avoid the wash-sale rule and don't let tax considerations drive bad in...

In episode 103 of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the Social Security spousal benefit — a provision that many couples overlook when planning retirement. They walk through the math: how a lower-earning spouse can claim up to 50 percent of the higher-earning spouse's full retirement age benefit, the impact of early claiming on that spousal amount, and why the file-and-suspen...

Episode 102 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna dive into Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities ladders as a retirement income strategy. They walk through a concrete example: a 65-year-old retiree building a 20-year TIPS ladder with $500,000 to lock in real income of roughly $25,000 per year. Lucas explains how TIPS work, how laddering solves reinvestment risk and infla...

Episode 101 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna dive into a specific tool every investor should know: stress-testing your financial plan against inflation. They walk through a real example using a hypothetical retiree with a $1.2 million portfolio, a 4% withdrawal rate, and a 30-year horizon. The hosts explain how even a modest 1% increase in inflation assumptions can shi...

In episode 100, Lucas and Luna explore Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) — a powerful yet underused giving strategy for IRA owners 70½ and older. They walk through the mechanics: how QCDs satisfy Required Minimum Distributions tax-free, the $108,000 annual limit (indexed for 2026), and why donors should never take the RMD in cash and then donate it. They also cover pitfalls like the prohib...

In Episode 99, Lucas and Luna dive deep into sequence-of-returns risk — the single biggest threat to a retirement portfolio in the first decade of withdrawals. Lucas explains why a 2008 retiree with a 60/40 portfolio would have run out of money by 2025, while the same portfolio starting in 2013 would have tripled. They examine how a fee-only fiduciary uses bucketing strategies, dynamic spending ru...

Episode 98 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna walk listeners through a real-world fee analysis of a variable annuity. Many advisors sell these products without fully disclosing the layers of costs: mortality and expense risk charges, administrative fees, subaccount expense ratios, and optional living benefit riders that can add 100-plus basis points. The hosts use a conc...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs)—a powerful but little-used planning tool that lets donors sell highly appreciated assets tax-free, reinvest the proceeds, and receive an income stream for life, with the remainder going to charity. Using a concrete example of a donor with $2 million in low-basis Apple stock, they walk through how a CRT works, the mechani...

Most investors don't read their advisor's fee agreement beyond the percentage. But buried in that contract is often a clause that lets you fire the advisor without penalty—and take your assets to a fiduciary. Lucas and Luna walk through a real case from a listener in Cleveland whose advisor charged a 2% wrap fee, had no fiduciary duty, and levied a 3% back-end load on the way out. They explain exa...

Episode 95 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna break down the five questions most people never ask when vetting a financial advisor — but should. Starting with how to spot a true fiduciary versus someone who merely claims the title, they walk through the difference between an advisor who is ‘registered’ versus one who is ‘bound.’ Lucas shares a specific due-diligence tact...

Episode 94 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into a widely misunderstood retirement tool: the Health Savings Account after age 65. Most people think an HSA is just for medical expenses, but Lucas and Luna unpack the triple tax advantage, the penalty-free withdrawal rules after 65, and why treating an HSA as a stealth retirement account can supercharge your nest egg. They walk thr...

Episode 93 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into cash value life insurance—specifically, why permanent policies often underperform for most clients. Lucas and Luna use a concrete example: a 45-year-old client quoted $1,200/month for a $1 million whole life policy. They break down the policy mechanics, projected growth versus actual returns (often 2-3% annualized in early years),...

Episode 92 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo explores donor-advised funds—a giving vehicle that lets you donate appreciated assets, take the charitable deduction now, and distribute the money to charities later. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a client with $100,000 in long-term Apple stock who wants to support charities but doesn't want to trigger capital gains taxes....

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast, hosts Lucas and Luna explore Treasury I Bonds as a tool for inflation protection in a diversified portfolio. They discuss the current composite rate as of May 2026, the fixed versus variable rate structure, the $10,000 annual purchase limit per Social Security number, and the three-month interest penalty for early redemption before five years. Luca...

Episode 90 of The Financial Advisor Podcast tackles a planning blind spot: long-term care expenses. Lucas and Luna walk through a specific case—a 62-year-old couple with $1.2 million in assets—and show how a 3-year skilled nursing stay changes the math on retirement income, sequence of returns, and portfolio survival. They break down the cost data from Genworth's 2025 Cost of Care Survey: the nati...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the most dangerous yet overlooked threats in retirement planning: sequence of returns risk. They explain why a retiree who experiences poor market returns in the first few years of withdrawals can run out of money even if average annual returns look fine. Lucas walks through a concrete example using a hypothetical $1 mi...

Variable annuities often come with steep surrender charges that lock you in for years. In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world case: a client 18 months into a 7-year surrender period with a 7% charge on an 83-year-old variable annuity inside a rollover IRA. They explain how to evaluate the contract, calculate the break-even timeline, and when it actually makes sense to exit early...

Today, July 2, 2026, Lucas and Luna break down the backdoor Roth IRA — a strategy that lets high earners contribute to a Roth IRA despite income limits. They explain the pro-rata rule, the five-year holding period for conversions, and how the SECURE 2.0 Act changed inherited Roth IRA rules. Using a concrete example of a couple earning $250,000 with an existing rollover IRA, they walk through the t...

Episode 86 of The Financial Advisor Podcast: Lucas and Luna explore the strategic use of Roth IRA conversions for clients over age 70. They dissect a real-world case: a 72-year-old retired teacher with a $1.2 million traditional IRA, $45,000 in annual pension and Social Security income, and significant future required minimum distributions that could push her into a higher tax bracket. The hosts w...

Episode 85 of The Financial Advisor Podcast explores the new IRA inheritance landscape after the SECURE 2.0 Act, which took full effect in 2025. Lucas and Luna break down the 10-year rule for non-eligible designated beneficiaries, the nuances for spouses and minor children, and the tax implications of stretch vs. lump-sum distributions. They use a concrete example: a $500,000 inherited IRA for a 4...

Episode 84 of The Financial Advisor Podcast explores irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs)—a powerful estate planning tool that removes life insurance proceeds from your taxable estate. Lucas and Luna walk through how an ILIT works, why it matters for high-net-worth families, and a concrete example: a $2 million policy held inside an ILIT saves roughly $800,000 in estate taxes at the current 4...

Lucas and Luna unpack the mechanics of borrowing against a permanent life insurance policy. They walk through how policy loans work, the typical interest rates versus bank loans, and the hidden risk of policy lapse if loans aren't managed. Using a concrete example of a $500,000 policy with a $100,000 cash value, they show how a loan can be tax-efficient but also dangerous. They discuss the non-rec...

Why writing a check to charity costs you more than donating shares. In episode 82 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna walk through the mechanics of gifting appreciated stock held over one year. They explain how the double tax benefit works — you avoid capital gains tax and still get a full fair-market-value deduction — and why most donors still default to cash. The hosts...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down direct indexing—a strategy that lets investors own the individual stocks in an index rather than buying an ETF. They explore how direct indexing enables tax-loss harvesting at the stock level, potentially generating significant tax savings that compound over time. Lucas walks through a concrete example: how harvesting loss...

Episode 80 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into the most underused Social Security claiming strategy for married couples: file-and-suspend versus restricted application. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example of a couple — Alex, age 68, and Jordan, age 64 — to show how delaying the higher earner's benefit while the lower earner claims a spousal benefit can add over $100...