Winning at Life with Gregory Ricks

Do you know all of your options on when and how you can turn on your Social Security benefit? Our next Gregory Ricks Live is coming up Tuesday, May 8, 6:30pm at Ruth's Chris in Metairie. It is for women only and pairs together great wine, wisdom, and food. If you think Gregory Ricks could help you with your money, RSVP at GregoryRicks.com or 504.832.9200. Gregory shares the story of how you can us...

Smoothie King announces they are moving their corporate headquarters from the New Orleans area to Dallas. An annual survey shows people are waiting longer to turn on Social Security. The number one age is still 62 (ASAP), but the second most often start date is 65. Jeff in Mobile asks Gregory about the costs of waiting to turn on Social Security. If you had the ability to invest the money you woul...

There's an international wine shortage! Gregory explains how this happened, and the business side of the wine industry. Our next Gregory Ricks Live is coming up Tuesday, May 8, 6:30pm at Ruth's Chris in Metairie. It is for women only and pairs together great wine, wisdom, and food. If you think Gregory Ricks could help you with your money, RSVP at GregoryRicks.com or 504.832.9200. Scott in Mobile...

If an employer offers a 12% match on your 401k, is there any down sides to that? Gregory answers this question from Ronda in the Facebook Live comments. She contributes the match, PLUS a little more. Gregory's concern is that if you have all of your retirement savings in a pre-tax status, you're setting yourself up for some tax consequences you may not like when you take income from those assets....

James recorded a phone scammer pretending to be the IRS. Gregory Ricks has the story of Amazon getting its cloud service hijacked for a few hours this morning. Quite a few people were redirected to dummy sites and phished. Some lost crypto currency. Not much damage was done though, so it looks like it may be a dry run for something bigger. Oil is climbing back to levels it hasn't seen since before...

Why do we have a women only event? Our next Gregory Ricks Live is coming up Tuesday, May 8, 6:30pm at Ruth's Chris in Metairie. It is for women only and pairs together great wine, wisdom, and food. If you think Gregory Ricks could help you with your money, RSVP at GregoryRicks.com or 504.832.9200. Mel in Slidell asks Gregory if his girlfriend's state pension from being a teacher will affect her So...

Gregory Ricks responds to reports of reforms to the fiduciary regulations. Since the Department of Labor's new fiduciary rule has been halted, some advocate a less-stringent reform. The SEC voted to tighten the rules on some stock brokers. Learn how to ask the right questions of the person who is handling your money. Mary from Belle Chases asks Gregory Ricks if Social Security automatically reeval...

North Korea says they will suspend their nuclear program to have talks. It's a historic move politically, but also means this battle of tariff proposals between the US and China is getting results. This could mean we avoid a trade war AND open up Chinese markets for US trade. The financial consequences of a NFL team's first round draft bust is worth about $10 million. The Saints recent draft succe...

Just because you retire doesn't mean your taxes go away. Find out from Gregory Ricks how the IRS hits your retirement income streams like Social Security, IRA distributions, income from your 401k, and investment gains. Gregory goes into more detail on how stock dividends can be taxed, and what factors can affect that amount. A couple in Gregory's office working out their retirement plan had the hu...

It's Tax Day, but the IRS website that takes direct payments crashed today, so Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says we have an extra day to file electronically. Gregory Ricks shares some additional thoughts on Bob Breck's advice from Saturday's show. Bob stressed the importance of considering taxes if all of your money is in a 401k or IRA. How is hush money taxed? If you get money from a non-disc...

Where is the market going from here? Is it time to get back in, or continue to get out? Gregory Ricks and James Parker discuss some audio clips from Stephanie Pomboy of Macro Mavens on how she's still leaning toward selling. Our next Gregory Ricks Live is coming up Tuesday, May 8, 6:30pm at Ruth's Chris in Metairie. It is for women only and pairs together great wine, wisdom, and food. If you think...

As Tesla continues to miss its production targets and burn through cash, Elon Musk goes to Twitter to claim Tesla will be profitable by the end of the year. What do you think will happen first: Elon Musk will have Tesla profitable or he will have a colony on Mars? Meanwhile, Netflix looks unstoppable, and is now worth more than Fox, CBS, Viacom, and some of the other big boys in broadcasting. As G...

If you've been looking for a way to grow your business, have you considered advertising with Winning at Life? Radio has been declared to be dying, but has the highest reach of any medium. It beats TV, print, online, and on-air radio shows dominate the ratings for the world of streams and podcasts. Rick Perry tells Stuart Varney that fracking and horizontal drilling has been helping America and slo...

Gregory Ricks and James Parker discuss reports of a lawsuit from Drew Brees against a jeweler in California. Are diamonds and jewelry useful investments? How do you keep from getting scammed? Mike calls in from New Orleans to get Gregory's thoughts on a variable annuity offer. Mike did some of his own research, and is not impressed with the fees and features. Gregory confirms Mike's research as ac...

James relays a useful tip he learned at the cell phone repair shop. Gregory Ricks gives you his take on the Chinese trade issues. Is there a damaging trade war between the world's two biggest economies on the way? Or, is this just what it looks like to have a tough stance on reforming some of our flawed trade deals? Should China play by the rules of a first world country? Sherri from Bay St Louis...

David Stockman, a former Reagan economic advisor, is saying the markets and the economy as a whole are going down the tubes, and this market downturn is just the beginning. Stockman focuses on the Fed, the stock bubble, and Trump's recent criticism of Amazon. Gregory recounts a story about a young widow who is trying to put together an retirement plan, and has about 15 years left until retirement....

We start the show by reviewing a great call from Saturday's show: Jim in Bush calls to ask Gregory how his IRA's Required Minimum Distribution is calculated. The Numbers covers the biggest trading day loss to start Q2 since the 1930s. Scott in Biloxi has fallen on hard times since he became unemployed. He calls Gregory to ask about dipping into his IRA to get by until he finds work. Which account...

Gregory explains how the rules for Required Minimum Distributions are calculated for a 401k after age 71 if you are still working at that job. Jim in Bush calls to ask Gregory how his IRA's Required Minimum Distribution is calculated. Dale calls in from the Northshore to ask Gregory how his IRA's Required Minimum Distribution is calculated. Charles calls in from Mobile to ask Gregory Ricks about t...

The show starts with the Numbers segment, because some big companies are taking a beating like Amazon, Facebook, and poor old GE. What happens when you inherit an annuity? Gregory Ricks explains how the taxes are figured, what your timeline looks like, and options on how to extract the money. What happens when you inherit an inherited IRA? Gregory Ricks and James Parker discuss the rules for IRA d...

Elon Musk's Boring Company plans to sell giant legos. Charles texts from the Winning at Life app asking about his girlfriend's $100k in student loan debt. Gregory Ricks spells out what it's going to take to get that resolved. Gregory recommends you live like a pauper through college, and continue to be frugal until you're out of debt. Be aware of the salary range of the student's major, the availa...

Gregory and James start out the show with the Numbers segment, because the Dow is down about 1,700 points for the week. Jackie in Houma is starting contributions to her first 401k at age 33. She wants Gregory's thoughts on how to choose which funds to use. Maggie in Long Beach calls in to update us on her journey to get out of debt that started with a call last year. Eddie in Thibodaux is also giv...

Gregory shares some of his experiences from the conference in Colorado Springs, and answers comment cards from the last Gregory Ricks Live. Ray from Gulfport is having some issues covering the costs on his property, what does Gregory think about Ray dipping into his TSP account to get his finances caught up? Gregory responds to a comment card's concern about estate planning, and walks through the...

Zach Strief retires from the Saints. James asks Gregory what it would take to retire at age 35 with around $5 million without running out of money. Most NFL players end up broke in retirement, and the main culprit is often overspending. Overbuying a house will make it significantly harder to invest properly for retirement, and many people find the added financial stress isn't worth it. Gregory res...

Blockchain may be a technology that's here to stay, but for now, cryptocurrencies are a mess. Japan suspends a couple of Bitcoin exchanges, and Gregory warns about the inherent risks in the crypto world. Gregory Ricks and James recall some of the questions from last night's Gregory Ricks Live. A Medicaid expansion in Louisiana adds to a waiting list for care. Luckily, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas,...

Choosing the day you start Social Security is most likely the biggest financial decision you will make in retirement. If you aren't paying into the Social Security system because of a state pension or tax avoidance, that could be a problem. Randy in Kenner asks Gregory to explain how his Social Security benefits can be affected as he continues to work after he's already started receiving checks. B...