Andy discusses the main ways in which investment custodians like Scwhab, Vanguard and Fidelity make money (even when you often don't outright directly pay them anything...) Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified) Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEduca...
Jul 03, 2025•58 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: A short explanation of bonds and "the bond market" ( 2:48 ) Are actively managed bond funds better than passive bond funds ( 21:53 ) What are the pros and cons of making all of the year's estimated tax payments in the first quarter ( 30:30 ) Why insurers don't offer a long term care product with a 2-3 years elimination period or deductible to cover just LTC needs beyond a few years ( 34:07 ) His thoughts on getting retirement income from dividends, Treasu...
Jun 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Andy chats with three different "real" people to discuss how they handled the non-financial/emotional transition from working to retirement, and what they do now to provide a sense of fulfillment, meaning and purpose and in retirement Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified) Retir...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Andy and Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: The pending "Big Beautiful Bill" tax bill that recently was approved by the House; what's in it, what's not in it, practical planning considerations around it, etc. ( 8:12 ) Potential concerns about US debt US government bond defaults ( 34:50 ) Talking to kids and heirs about your estate planning and wishes f...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 49 min
Andy discusses what financial firms do for their fee, using his own firm, Tenon Financial, as an example Links in this episode: Tenon Financial's website - https://tenonfinancial.com/ Tenon Financial's June 2025 newsletter - here Andy's article explaining how it's impossible to quantify the value of advisory services in - How Much Are Your Services Worth? Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retireme...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this special guest host episode, Mike Powers and Kirsten Ashbaugh from Manuka Financial talk cybersecurity best practices. Links in this episode: Manuka Financial's website - https://www.manukafinancial.com/ Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified) Retirement Planning Education website - www.Retireme...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 18 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: Why more fund managers don't offer mutual fund-to-ETF conversions ( 5:02 ) How my firm helps clients prepare for severe market declines, and how we communicate bad markets to them ( 8:48 ) Who's the voice of the intro and outro to this podcast ( 16:06 ) For spouses claiming Social Security, what's a good claiming strategy when one spouse doesn't have enough work history to get their own benefit and can only get spousal benefits ( 17:19 ) Could a person co...
May 22, 2025•54 min
Andy chats with real people (not advisors) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Rob Berger, the creator of the Rob Berger YouTube channel, the founder of the former DoughRoller website, published author and more!. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about retirement planning and a variety of financial topics such as Social Security, investing, how he plans to address any potential long term care scena...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Andy and Brian Tegtmeyer share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: Should someone delay their planned retirement if the markets are bad ( 6:50 ) Should someone cancel or delay taking a big trip in retirement if the markets are bad ( 13:48 ) Should someone start Social Security earlier than they were otherwise planning to since there appears to be increased uncertainty about the future strength of the syste...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Andy provides some tips and best practices to help keep your ID and financial information secure. Specifically: Check your credit report regularly Freeze your credit Get a tax return filing PIN from the IRS Use strong and unique passwords for all websites and online accounts Use a password manager Use two-factor (if not multi-factor) authentication wherever possible Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) whenever on public Wi-Fi Use separate e-mails for different types of accounts Put a "Self-Lock"...
May 01, 2025•57 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: Buffer ETFs and whether they can be used as replacements for CDs in building a ladder for upcoming years' expenses ( 4:29 ) His thoughts on direct indexing and whether it's worth doing to try to make non-qualified accounts for tax-efficient ( 14:11 ) Whether or not it's practical to implement a bucketing strategy ( 23:38 ) Considerations to put into a will when there is a beneficiary who may be contentious or difficult to deal with ( 34:18 ) Estate size e...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this special edition "real" person chat, Andy talks with four different people who went through "gray" divorce (i.e. divorcing later in life; typically over the age of 50), to learn what they wish they would have known or done differently as they were going through the divorce process. Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retire...
Apr 17, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Mark Rosinski, CFP®, CPA from Dunes Financial. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more! Links in this episode: Mark's advisory company website - Dunes Financial https://www.kitces.com/ Wade Pfau - Retirement Planni...
Apr 10, 2025•58 min
Andy discusses the ins and outs of mutual fund capital gain distributions, particularly in normal taxable brokerage accounts. Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified) Retirement Planning Ed...
Apr 03, 2025•44 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: Whether the rule of thumb saying in retirement you'll need about 80% of what you were making in wages is on a gross or net of taxes basis ( 6:49 ) Understanding why some dividends are "qualified" and some are not, why they're taxed differently, and why dividends from bond funds aren't qualified ( 14:15 ) Whether the decision to start Social Security sooner vs later would change if Social Security were to no longer be federally taxable ( 22:09 ) Whether sp...
Mar 27, 2025•41 min
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jim Jones. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as transitioning from owning a dental practice into retirement, investing, Social Security, when they got serious about retirement planning, and more! Links in this episode: Jim's podcast - The JimJam Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Ed...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr
Andy and Mike Powers share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: Tariffs: what they are, who pays them, do they cause inflation, etc. ( 9:42 ) Pros and cons of Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS ( 21:32 ) Whether or not to hold international stocks ( 37:07 ) Considerations about whether to de-risk your portfolio and hold more cash a as result of expecting market uncertainty going forward ( 48:2...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Andy discussed how to determine how much Roth conversion to do in a particular year (assuming you've decided Roth conversions make sense for you). He walks through how to do a current year income & tax projection, and what tax "targets" or "goals" are commonly used in determining how much conversion to do. Links in this episode: DinkyTown 1040 online tax return projection tool - here Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights To send Andy questions to be addressed on...
Mar 06, 2025•52 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: Can Donor Advised Funds ("DAFs") be funded with pre-tax IRA money ( 2:22 ) How to do a backdoor Roth IRA contribution and avoid the pro rata rule if you have pre-tax funds in other IRAs ( 5:46 ) What are the must have important things to address and get right in retirement planning, vs what are nice to have optimization things ( 10:51 ) How come most flat fee advisors don't work with clients with net worth in excess of $10 million ( 19:50 ) How to invest ...
Feb 27, 2025•53 min
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with John McLaurin. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as planning for special needs and the "generational" planning involved, investing, Social Security, when they got serious about retirement planning, and more! Links in this episode: The book John mentioned - The Special Needs Planning Guide: How to Prepare for Every Stage of Your Child's Life Tenon Fina...
Feb 20, 2025•58 min
Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Liz Yoder, CFP®, ChSNC® from Dependent Financial Planning. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics with a particular emphasis on special needs planning and the unique considerations and areas to consider when you or your child has or is likely to have a disability Links in this episode: Liz's advisory company website - Dependent Financial Planning Liz's LinkedIn profile - Elizabeth (Wolleben) Yoder To send Andy question...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Andy discussed seven common scenarios where it might be beneficial to do Roth conversions: You know your income now is much lower than it will be in the future You're married (and may eventually be single) You have large pre-tax accounts Your eventual heirs are likely to be in higher tax situations than you currently are Your plan on moving to a state that will have higher income taxes than your current state You're convinced tax rates will increase markedly in the future You want greater tax "d...
Feb 06, 2025•53 min
Special guest host, Mike Powers, CPA, PFS, CFP®, from Manuka Financial sits behind the microphone to walk through his 22-point retirement planning checklist, which includes financial, insurance and lifestyle considerations. Links in this episode: Mike's blog post about the retirement planning checklist - here George Kinder's life planning three questions - here Mike's company's website - Manuka Financial Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirem...
Jan 30, 2025•33 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: What it means between an advisor who calls themself a financial planner vs wealth manager vs any other label they choose to use ( 10:24 ) My thoughts on the recently repealed Windfall Elimination Provision ("WEP") and Government Pension Offset ("GPO") parts of Social Security ( 20:35 ) A follow up to a previously discussed Q&A topic about how much umbrella insurance to purchase ( 31:18 ) How income is taxed to a recently deceased person vs their heirs...
Jan 23, 2025•57 min
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Brian Alexander. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as investing, Social Security, when they got serious about retirement planning, funding potential long term care needs and more! Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement) YouT...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Eric Niergarth, CFP®, RICP® from Retirement Roadmap Financial Planning. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more! Links in this episode: Eric's advisory company website - Retirement Roadmap Financial Planning To sen...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Andy explains how there is definitely value in good financial advisory services, but how it's impossible to quantify that value and is often disingenuous for advisors to claim they can, or for studies to try to put a number on it Links in this episode: Vanguard's research paper - Putting a value on your value: Quantifying Vanguard Advisor's Alpha My article - How Much are Your Services Worth? My article - Advisors Fees are Broken Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insight...
Jan 02, 2025•57 min
Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: What's the difference between index mutual funds and index ETFs, and why choose one over the other ( 6:32 ) Is a three-fund index fund portfolio reasonable for someone in the decumulation phase of life ( 17:04 ) What's the difference between a "rollover" and "traditional" IRA ( 20:54 ) How much of your net worth should you cover with umbrella insurance ( 24:32 ) What should someone do about a pre-tax employer plan they don't really need if they're only in...
Dec 26, 2024•57 min
Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Peter Townsend. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as becoming self-educated in the details of retirement planning AFTER already retiring, Social Security, funding potential long term care needs and more! Links in this episode: Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly T...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 56 min
Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Andrew Gray, CFP® from Gray Wealth Strategies. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more! Links in this episode: Andrew's advisory company website - Gray Wealth Strategies To send Andy questions to be addressed on fu...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 35 min
