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

Episode 54 of The Financial Advisor Podcast tackles the SECURE Act's biggest legacy landmine: the 10-year rule on inherited IRAs. Lucas and Luna break down the IRS's 2024 final regulations, the difference between eligible and non-eligible designated beneficiaries, and why taking zero distributions for nine years then blowing out the account can trigger a massive tax bill. Using a concrete example...

Episode 53 of The Financial Advisor Podcast digs into a topic most retirees don't think about until penalties hit: Required Minimum Distributions. Lucas and Luna walk through the SECURE Act 2.0 changes that raised the starting age to 73, and explain why the RMD calculation isn't just a math problem—it's a tax strategy. They cover the Qualified Charitable Distribution strategy for donors, the risk...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the difference between fee-only and commission-based financial advisors - and why it matters for your wallet. They walk through a real scenario: a listener with a $500,000 portfolio who discovers their 'fee-only' advisor also collects commissions on insurance products. Lucas explains the three advisor compensation models (...

Episode 51 tackles the overlooked friction between portfolio rebalancing and the tax code. Lucas walks through a real example: a client with a 60/40 stock-bond split whose bond allocation drifted to 48 percent after the 2025 equity rally. The conventional advice is to sell stocks and buy bonds — but that triggers capital gains in a taxable account. Instead, Lucas explains a smarter approach: redir...

Episode 50 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna explore a strategy many advisors overlook: building a certificate of deposit ladder. They walk through a real example of a client with $100,000 in cash earning 0.5% at a big bank, and how a simple 1- to 5-year CD ladder could have earned over 4% annually in the current rising-rate environment. They explain how laddering works...

Starting in 2024, a little-known provision in SECURE 2.0 allows families to roll unused 529 college savings plan funds into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary, up to $35,000 over a lifetime. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down exactly how the rollover works, who it's best for, and the traps that can trip you up. They walk through a concrete example: a family with a 529 account that has $40,000...

Lucas and Luna dig into the mechanics of donor-advised funds — the charitable giving vehicle that lets you donate now, recommend grants later. They cover why a DAF can be smarter than writing a check directly to a charity, the tax advantages of donating appreciated stock instead of cash, and the one scenario where a DAF doesn't make sense. Lucas walks through a concrete example: a client with conc...

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) let you donate highly appreciated assets, get a partial tax deduction, and receive an income stream for life. In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a client with $500,000 of low-basis Apple stock who wants to diversify without a massive capital gains hit. They explain how a CRT works, the 10% remainder rule, the different payout options...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast, Lucas and Luna unpack sequence of returns risk—why the order of market gains and losses in early retirement can devastate a portfolio even if average returns look fine. They walk through a concrete example: a retiree who retired in 2000 versus 2003, both with the same initial portfolio and the same long-term average return, yet one ran out of money...

Episode 45 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into portfolio stress testing — a tool most advisors use but rarely explain to clients. Lucas and Luna break down how a 60/40 portfolio would have fared during the 1970s stagflation, the 2008 financial crisis, and the 2022 rate hike cycle. They walk through specific scenarios like a 3 percent sustained inflation shock and a 20 percent...

Episode 44 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo breaks down the real cost of assets-under-management (AUM) fees — and why your advisor may not be telling you the full story. Lucas and Luna examine a case study: a couple in their mid-40s with a $1.2 million portfolio paying a 1% AUM fee. Over 20 years, that fee could consume over $600,000 in potential growth — more than half a million doll...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the megabackdoor Roth IRA strategy — a powerful but often overlooked way to supercharge retirement savings. They walk through the mechanics: how after-tax 401(k) contributions, paired with an in-plan Roth rollover or in-service distribution, let high earners stash up to $70,000 (for 2026, under age 50) into a...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into tax-loss harvesting: what it is, how it works, and why most investors leave money on the table. They break down a real example from the 2022 bear market where an investor harvested $15,000 in losses, saving roughly $3,750 in taxes. They explain the wash-sale rule, the difference between automated robo-advisor harvesting and active advisor strategies, and w...

Episode 41 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo digs into the Roth IRA recharacterization — a move that lets you undo a Roth conversion and save on taxes. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world example: a client who converted $100,000 to a Roth in late 2025, only to see the account drop 15% by spring 2026. Recharacterizing could cut her tax bill by thousands. They explain the IRS rule (...

Episode 40 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into annuity income riders—specifically guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits, or GLWBs. Lucas and Luna break down how these riders work, using a concrete example of a $500,000 variable annuity purchased by a 65-year-old retiree. They compare the mechanics: the income base grows at 6% simple for ten years, while the actual account va...

Episode 39 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into 529 college savings plans and a little-known strategy: the 'superfunding' rule. Lucas explains how grandparents can contribute five years' worth of gifts at once—up to $90,000 per beneficiary in 2026—without triggering gift taxes. Luna questions the trade-offs, including control issues and the impact on financial aid. They also co...

Episode 38 of The Financial Advisor Podcast dives into asset location—the overlooked strategy that can save you thousands in taxes without changing your investments. Lucas and Luna explain why putting bonds in a taxable account and stocks in a retirement account can backfire, using the example of a $500,000 portfolio earning 6% annually. They break down the tax treatment of interest, dividends, an...

Episode 37 of The Financial Advisor Podcast explores the bond laddering strategy versus the barbell approach in fixed-income investing. Lucas and Luna discuss why laddering is often default advice but may not be optimal for all clients. They examine a real-world example from June 2026 where an advisor used a barbell strategy to capture higher yields while managing interest rate risk. The hosts exp...

Episode 36 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo dives into nontraded real estate investment trusts — the high-commission, illiquid products that often sit quietly in client portfolios. Lucas and Luna unpack a specific case: a retired teacher in Ohio who was sold a nontraded REIT that tied up 18 percent of her net worth for nearly a decade with zero liquidity and a 7 percent upfront commis...

Direct indexing has become one of the fastest-growing trends in wealth management, but most retail investors still don't understand what it actually does—or whether it's worth the complexity. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the mechanics of direct indexing: how owning the individual stocks in an index allows for tax-loss harvesting at the stock level, how it differs from an ETF wrapper,...

In this episode of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna unpack the often-misunderstood world of cash value life insurance — specifically whole life policies sold as investment vehicles. They walk through a real-world example: a 35-year-old engineer approached by an advisor pitching a policy with a $50,000 annual premium. Lucas explains how the cash value grows tax-deferred, b...

Episode 33 dives into the strategic timing of Roth IRA conversions—a topic many advisors mention but rarely optimize. Lucas and Luna break down why converting in a down market or lower-income year can slash long-term taxes, using a concrete example: a hypothetical client with $500,000 in a traditional IRA who converts during a 20% market dip. They discuss the 5-year rule for converted funds, the i...

Episode 32 of The Financial Advisor Podcast with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna unpack TIPS—Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities—and whether they belong in a diversified portfolio. They start with the real return math behind the May 2026 TIPS auction, where the 10-year real yield opened at 1.95 percent. Lucas explains the mechanics: the principal adjusts with CPI, which sounds great until you realize...

Episode 31 of The Financial Advisor Podcast dives into a powerful but underused tool: the Health Savings Account. Lucas and Luna explain why HSAs offer a unique triple tax advantage—tax-deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses—and how they can function as a stealth retirement account. They walk through the eligibility rules (you need a high...

Episode 30 dives into bond laddering — a fixed-income strategy that many advisors mention but rarely explain well. Lucas walks through a concrete example: building a five-year ladder with $100,000 using Treasuries, agency bonds, and investment-grade corporates. He explains how maturity staggering handles reinvestment risk and why the current inverted yield curve actually favors shorter rungs. Luna...