Welcome to this episode of Kitchen Table Finance where we’re joined by our energetic and insightful spring 2024 intern, Cole Williams. With a few weeks under his belt, Cole shares his experience and lessons learned while working with our very own David. And surprise, Cole – today’s chat is doubling as your extended interview for the rest of the spring season! Watch on YouTube HERE In This Episode Cole’s Journey : Discover how a political science background led Cole to a passion for financial pla...
Apr 10, 2024•22 min•Season 3Ep. 13
In today’s episode, we dissect the often-debated topic of whether you need an annuity for retirement. With a straightforward approach, we explore annuities with both a small “a” and a capital “A”, debunking common misconceptions and laying bare the good, the bad, and the frequently misunderstood facets of these financial products. Watch on YouTube HERE Main Topics Discussed Annuities and Retirement : Discussing the need and implications of annuities as part of a retirement plan. The Good and Bad...
Apr 09, 2024•Season 3Ep. 12
Episode Overview In this pivotal episode of the “Kitchen Table Finance” podcast, Dave and Nick explore the concept of a “Strategic Reliable Blueprint” and how to effectively identify and tackle obstacles in planning. The episode uncovers the importance of recognizing unseen solutions, re-envisioning goals to surmount challenges, and the crucial steps taken behind the scenes to prepare for strategic meetings. Watch on YouTube HERE Key Takeaways The Power of Possibility: At [21:04], the conversati...
Apr 02, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Welcome back to our much-anticipated March 2024 edition of “Retirement Planning Headlines,” where we save you the hassle of combing through endless financial articles. This month, we’ve even had listeners chime in with topics for our deep-dive discussions. Watch on YouTube HERE Key Takeaways from this episode: The financial terrain is constantly shifting, and this episode explores the provocative outlook of Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” He warns listeners about potential downtu...
Apr 01, 2024•Season 3Ep. 10
Today we’re braving the waters of politics and markets—a conversation that’s becoming more pressing as we advance into March. Watch on YouTube HERE Main Points of Discussion: The Premature Arrival of Election Talks : It feels like we just talked about elections, but here we are, already in the thick of it, even in client meetings since last fall. A Non-Political Look at a Political Event : Steering clear of political biases, this episode focuses on the impact the presidential elections may have ...
Mar 18, 2024•Season 3Ep. 9
The podcast episode focuses on practical strategies for retirees to protect their credit from fraud and identity theft. Watch on YouTube HERE Episode Highlights: Dave and Nic kick off the episode by emphasizing the significance of credit protection, especially during retirement. It is common for retirees to neglect their credit standing which can increase their vulnerability to credit fraud. There’s a clear need for ongoing conversations about the necessity of credit in retirement and how it can...
Mar 13, 2024•Season 3Ep. 8
Hey there! Curious about the latest buzz in retirement, planning, and news? Let’s dive in and break it down for you. Watch it on YouTube HERE As we kick off the year, we’re seeing a flood of self-help articles on fixing your life. It’s a good time to check them out, especially when it comes to health and finances – two big topics for January, right? One interesting piece from The New York Times caught our eye. It delves into longevity and financial planning, shedding light on how to live well fo...
Feb 26, 2024•23 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss an article at DFA Dimensional Fund Advisors about some ETFs , some exchange-traded funds that were created and didn’t fare very well. When a fund company creates a new exchange-traded fund or mutual fund, they’re responding to what they expect the market is going to do. They’re trying to be creative and find things that they think are going to attract attention. So they tend to be thematic, having to do with things people are excited about right now. There were...
Feb 26, 2024•19 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss the important question of when should you make changes to your retirement portfolio. Or should you? Do you need to? How do you think about your retirement portfolio? Watch on YouTube HERE On this podcast, we’ve talked a lot about our investment philosophy of being long-term investors, not market timing, but are there times or reasons that you should be changing your portfolio? This is timely for us too. Just this week with the help of Mario and Eric at East Bay...
Feb 19, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 5
We’ve talked about this topic before, but it keeps rearing its head. It’s Bitcoin and it’s back in the news. The SEC has now decided that Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies are going to be saved. There are a handful of them that took them up on that offer. Watch on YouTube HERE . Previously, to buy Bitcoin, you had to go to an exchange and open an account that handled cryptocurrencies. Now, what’s changed in January is any investment account where you can hold stocks. bonds, mutual funds, and ...
Feb 05, 2024•22 min•Season 3Ep. 4
This episode is part of our series of retirement planning headlines and what they may or may not mean for your upcoming retirement. Our little roundup of things we’ve read over the last couple of weeks that are out there in the media. Watch it on YouTube HERE Today we are reviewing some of the headlines from December and January highlighting some of the better things we’ve seen out there for consumer financial planning. If you listen here, you don’t have to read all of these articles, we do it f...
Jan 29, 2024•Season 3Ep. 3
Join Dave and Nick as they review 2023’s fourth-quarter economy and give a current market update. We do this once a quarter to go through and see what happened last quarter and talk about what that potentially means for the future. Watch on YouTube HERE How Did We Do the 4th Quarter? The fourth quarter was pretty darn good. The Wall Street Journal called it The Everything Rally in late December. Every subclass of stocks was positive, and every bond category in the U.S. was positive. It was quite...
Jan 22, 2024•Season 3Ep. 2
Join Dave and Nick as they close out Season 2 of Kitchen Table Finance. They discuss setting realistic market expectations, especially in retirement. What is a realistic market expectation? Well, there’s a lot of research out there that shows that particularly in bull markets, a general investor has an inflated expectation of what the markets should do for them and how much money they should be making. And there’s that old cliche we’ve all heard – “the formula for happiness is happiness equals r...
Jan 08, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 150
Congratulations! You made it to retirement. You’ve worked hard, planned hard, saved, and are now enjoying your time. And then, the market dives. What do you do? Watch on YouTube HERE How do you deal with your first market downturn in retirement? Common advice is to invest for the long term and stay put in the short term. The markets are volatile in the long term and the averages typically work out. Well, how does that work when you’re in that transition mode? When you’re in your 20s and 30s it’s...
Dec 22, 2023•32 min•Season 2Ep. 149
A lot of people might think it is the Christmas season, but as investors for the past twenty or so years, it also means that there are some different opinions on the market during this time of year. Watch on YouTube HERE We’re talking about market patterns and our pre-programmed human need to look for patterns. An example of this is the stars in the night sky. When anybody looks at them they search for common shapes. Whether it’s the Big Dipper, Orion, or you make up your own, that’s as old as h...
Dec 18, 2023•18 min•Season 2Ep. 148
This is episode two in our series of retirement planning headlines and what they may or may not mean for your upcoming retirement. Our little round roundup of things we’ve read over the last couple of weeks that are out there in the media. Watch on YouTube HERE Charlie Munger Our lead story is an interview with Mr. Charlie Munger, who sadly passed away just a few days ago on November 28. He was 99. Charlie Munger is best known as Warren Buffett’s right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway. He was cons...
Dec 11, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 147
When it comes to retirement planning, what are your key numbers? How often should you review them? Watch on YouTube HERE In today’s world, there’s a lot of different numbers out there. There are a lot of different things that you can stress about. So we are going to talk today about what numbers are actually important to think about when it comes to retirement. It might surprise you. It is probably not what you think. We are also going to discuss how often you should look at your numbers. Do you...
Dec 04, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 146
Join Dave and Nick for a special Thanksgiving Episode where they talk about what they are thankful for, the Markets, what’s good for retirees, and financial planning. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for as investors and financial planners this year despite the fact that it often seems like there’s a lot more bad news going on this year than there was last year. However, it’s kind of the reverse when you look at the numbers. As of this recording the day before Thanksgiving, the Standard and Poor’s...
Nov 27, 2023•16 min•Season 2Ep. 145
Join Dave and Nick as they try something new today on the show. Watch on YouTube HERE We hope this catches on and we can continue to do this on a regular basis. Both of us do a fair amount of reading when it comes to retirement planning and personal finance information. However, if you are in the habit of digesting news by just reading the headlines, this can be dangerous when it comes to controversial topics or topics that require a much deeper dive. We are the weirdos who actually click on the...
Nov 13, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 144
Join Dave and Nick as they chat with Dr. Darla Bishop, the author of the upcoming book, How to Afford Everything. Watch on YouTube HERE Her book is available for pre-order until December 12, 2023, and then it will be available to the public. You can use the code KTF on her website for 20% off her book for a limited time. Order here: https://darlabishop.com/ Check out her Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@my_finansis You can also find her on most social media channels under @my_finanSIS. Abo...
Nov 06, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 143
Join Nick and Dave as they discuss how the all-encompassing world of artificial intelligence may affect your investment portfolio. Watch on YouTube HERE This definitely isn’t a podcast about how it’s going to change our industry but we think of it in terms of how will it make us more efficient so we can help more people. It doesn’t seem like, in our lifetime, there has ever been a type of technology that set people on edge quite so much. When the internet was new you could type something in and ...
Nov 06, 2023•18 min•Season 2Ep. 142
Join Nick and Dave as they address some questions they have received recently about interest rates and CDs. Interest rates are looking pretty good, especially when you start driving around town and seeing billboards for 6 % twelve-month CDs. So part of the questions have been, “Why don’t we just put everything in CDs and earn 6% and be happy and go on our merry way?” When you look at the stock market this year the S&P500 is up over 10 percent so far year to date. It can be in the eye of the ...
Oct 19, 2023•17 min•Season 2Ep. 140
Join Nick and Dave for their 3rd Quarter 2023 Economic and Market Update. Watch this episode on YouTube HERE You can read the in-depth blog article HERE Our portfolio managers at East Bay Investment Solutions provide us every quarter with what they consider the positives and negatives of our current economic situation, as well as in-depth commentary on the past quarter’s markets. You can download their full report her e, as well as watch the video of their recorded presentation. As Mario notes i...
Oct 19, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 140
Join Dave and Nick as they discuss a few of their favorite movies about money. Do you have any to add to the list? Drop them in the comments. Watch on YouTube Here Here is a list of the movies discussed in this episode Wallstreet – this is what everybody in our generation thought being a stockbroker was all about. Glengarry Glen Ross – the story about four days in the lives of these guys who are working for a real estate investment firm doing developments The Big Short – this movie does a really...
Oct 09, 2023•24 min•Season 2Ep. 139
Join Dave and Nick for another helpful MSU Case study. This time they review retirement options for a retired couple with more than enough for retirement. Watch on YouTube HERE Check out our past case studies and you might find one that fits your situation, or close to it. Ep 114: Retirement Planning Case Study for an MSU Employee Ep 120: New MSU Professor Retirement Planning Ep 128 – MSU Case Study – Couple Near Retirement Many of our clients are current or former MSU employees, and this case s...
Oct 02, 2023•31 min•Season 2Ep. 138
Join Dave and Nick as they walk you through how to decipher and decode all the information that comes at us in the media regarding finances. Watch on YouTube HERE This is something we both talk about with our clients on a regular basis. Sometimes this is good stuff to remind ourselves as well, It’s all kinds of stuff that get you and me riled up in the market and the financial media about the markets. It’s natural. We are here to help you take the emotions out of it in order to see what is reall...
Oct 02, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 137
Join Dave and Nick on today’s topic, which is an extension of an earlier podcast they did on the book review of The Soul of Money . An underlying topic is how to make yourself heard with the voice of money. What we mean by that is we all make conscious or unconscious decisions on how we spend our money. Put another way, where we purchase things from and what we do with our excess discretionary money. Watch on YouTube HERE If your goal is to make sure that your money is going to things that you s...
Sep 18, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 136
Join Nick and Dave as they discuss the interesting topic of what to do when your “Too Hard” pile gets too big. This is inspired by the article My ‘Too Hard’ Pile Is Pretty Big by Christine Benz in the Morningstar publication about personal finances. What is a “Too Hard Pile?” The term “Too Hard Pile” was coined by Charlie Munger to describe investments that just aren’t worth the effort because they fall outside of the Berkshire Hathaway team’s circle of competence. What he was getting at is when...
Sep 08, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 135
Join Nick and Dave as they talk about money scripts and how they might be affecting your financial plan. They also cover things that you can do to kind of recognize and move forward. Watch on YouTube HERE The guys also reminisce about their first memories of money. Dave’s first memories involve the tooth fairy and separately, his grandfather. “I remember when I’d see my grandfather when I was young. He would always, no matter what was going on, he would hand us a dollar or $2 out of his wallet. ...
Aug 28, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 134
Join Nick and Dave as they discuss MiAble Accounts. You may have seen the billboards around town and wondered what they are all about. What are they? Who are they for? Should you get one? Watch on YouTube HERE A MiAble account can be established for an individual with disabilities where they can actually create some savings for themselves without it interfering with government benefits from social security or Medicaid. One of the big planning issues for someone who falls into this category and i...
Aug 22, 2023•20 min•Season 2Ep. 133
