The Retire Happy Podcast

Let's review the 8 steps you can take right now to help get through a down market. From budgeting to rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and Roth conversions there are several opportunities right now to make smart financial decisions that will help set you up for a prosperous retirement. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

The Coronavirus stimulus bill now makes it easier for Americans to withdraw money from their 401(k)s and other types of retirement accounts. Is this a wise choice to help ease the burden of the crisis? Important Info: Check Out John's Videos: https://www.gosecurus.com/our-videos Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210  

We've covered the SECURE Act before on this podcast, but on this episode we'll take a deep dive into the true implications of losing access to the Stretch IRA strategy that many investors have used in the past to pass generational wealth. Important Info: SECURE Act Beneficiary PDF Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

How far out from retirement are you? 15 years? 10? 5? Is it on the doorstep? No matter which stage you’re in, there are some really important things you should be thinking about as you inch closer to that day you call it quits at work. On this episode, we’ll walk through these different stages to see exactly the kinds of things you should be doing from a planning perspective and how your focus cha...

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having a dramatic impact on our daily lives and many people are taking a huge financial hit from lost wages, a volatile stock market, and general economic uncertainty. John will analyze it all on today's show as we break down the situation and give you some important things to think about when it comes to your investments, retirement and actions you should (and should...

Most people like to think that they always make decisions based on logic and facts, but the truth is that emotions usually play a role for all of us in the decision-making process… Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

This is part 2 of our discussion from a few weeks ago about the roadmap to retirement success. We previously discussed how income planning forms the foundation of a retirement plan, but we'll turn our attention on this episode to investing. What is the typical investing ideology of today's retiree? Why might we want to approach investing differently as we get closer to retirement? What is Sequence...

John gives us an overview of some of the changes the SECURE Act is bringing to the retirement planning landscape. We'll also talk about the role cash plays in our financial plans. Can you ever have too much cash sitting around? And Lisa in Carmel Valley wants to know if her family will be OK taking the DIY approach to retirement planning. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecu...

We debut a new format for the podcast on today's show. We'll do a deep dive into the first part of what it takes to develop the roadmap for reitrement success and happiness. Today's conversation centers around income planning, the foundation of a fundamentally sound retirement plan. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

Trustworthy. Likeable. Problem-solving. Good listener. We should be describing your financial advisor or a potential advisor if you’re in the process of finding one. On today’s show, we’ll talk about why it’s so important for your advisor to embrace these kinds of characteristics. That’s the easy part. But we’ll also tackle the harder part and discuss some tangible ways how you can determine if an...

Did you know that the new tax rules have caused a decline in charitable giving? With so many people taking the standard deduction now there's less incentive to donate as much money to charity. Since this is the season of giving, John will walk through several strategies you can utilize to increase your charitable giving in the years ahead and still reap tax benefits along the way. We guarantee you...

This week focuses on Roth IRA conversions. What are they? What are the benefits? What are the determining factors to know if they are suitable for you? John will answer all of these questions in detail on today's show. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

On today's show, John describes how he was able to move a couple of his clients into a more tax efficient plan. He also answers a question from Lucy who is wondering how often she should be meeting with her advisor. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

Some people think we’re on the cusp of the next stock market crash. Others predict that we’re just due for a minor correction. And another camp thinks we’ll continue an upward trend. We don’t know who is right or when any of those options will occur. But let’s talk about what the next market crash might look like, even if we don’t know when it will come. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  ht...

There are some important lessons that flying can teach us about retirement planning. There are surprisingly more common points than you may think. Important Info: Securus Financial Site:  https://www.gosecurus.com/ Call John: (858) 935-6210

We'll continue our conversation about why we make excuses for sticking with the wrong advisor. Alex will have a question for us whether he should take some money and risk off the table given recent 401(k) growth. And John Iammarino will give us an a little checklist of items we should be thinking about as we go through the second half of 2019, specifically if you're recently retired or nearing ret...

Very often we see a broker or advisor who’s doing a less than stellar job, but folks continue to work with him or her simply because they feel that he or she is a nice guy/gal. Let’s talk about the ridiculousness of actual statements we’ve heard from clients and why it’s important for people to get help and advice that they really need, instead of just maintaining a relationship for strictly perso...

Between wildfires, hurricanes, tornados and floods, there’s always a natural disaster making news headlines. And while life and limb aren’t at stake when it comes to your portfolio, experiencing a financial disaster can still have a catastrophic effect on your life in retirement. Let’s discuss some portfolio disasters that we’ve seen and how to avoid them...

"Financial Security” might mean different things to different people, but for nearly everyone, making sure that they achieve their own definition of security is the most important part of their retirement plan. So, how do you define financial security? On today’s show, we’ll cover some of the popular responses we hear from clients during the planning process.

We'll continue our conversation about what we can learn from some popular proverbs while also diving into some recent news headlines to see if we can determine what is and isn't "fake news". Martin also has a great question on the mailbag segment about moving from one annuity product to another. Is it a good idea?

There are plenty of proverbs and axioms that aren’t meant to be about money, but we can easily learn a financial lesson from them anyway. We’ll show you the hidden money meanings behind some of these popular sayings. We'll also answer an email question about whether you should take Social Security while working.

Some of retirement planning’s most important questions seem so simple at first. They can be asked in just 4-5 words and give the impression the answers are a simple “yes” or “no”. But it’s tricky because many of these questions can become overwhelming to answer. Let’s cover some of the important retirement questions that are harder to answer than you might think.

If you’re heading out on a road trip this summer, there’s a long checklist of items that you want to be sure you haven’t forgotten. And in retirement planning, some of those exact same items need to be addressed. Let’s look at some of the items that should appear on both your road trip checklist and your retirement planning checklist… We'll also answer a listener question about retiring early.

In many areas of our culture, the do-it-yourself mentality is really popular. There’s even a DIY Network where you can watch shows about home renovation, landscaping, or interior design…and how to do those things without professional help. Let’s talk about what the DIY mentality looks like in retirement planning.

Continuing our conversation about pain points. Those pain points are different for each person, but everyone has something that bothers them. We'll talk about three additional pain points and how John helps people find solutions to these problems.