It’s the perfect storm: social security has one foot out the door and pension funds are all but dead. Regardless of what happens in Washington, how do you know you won’t become the victim of crumbling social security and a nonexistent retirement plan? Listen Now On iTunes Apple Podcasts Can I Depend On Social Security? All of us know social security is in trouble. We also know that no one in Congress wants to do anything about it. They don’t want to be the person who took away everyone’s social ...
Mar 14, 2018•19 min•Ep. 85
It’s that time of the year again! Everyone is getting tax refunds and every marketing campaign in the country is trying to convince people to spend their refund on something new. But what is actually the best use of your refund? It’s not what you think! Don’t Hope For a Refund This Year I want to start off by saying this: you should not hope for a HUGE tax refund every year. Tax refunds aren't a good thing. It’s just like going to the grocery store every week and paying an extra $5 for every gal...
Mar 10, 2018•14 min•Ep. 84
Bob Rodgers serves as President and CEO of Street Grace , bringing more than 30 years of corporate and nonprofit leadership and team development experience to this role. Street Grace is one of the pioneers in the human trafficking “space” — a $290 million illegal industry in Georgia, alone. In this podcast interview, you will hear: Statistics that make you cringe at their existence. How you can become a part of a solution in tangible ways. The realities of an unknown world. A perspective on dome...
Feb 16, 2018•58 min•Ep. 83
If you’re a new investor, in your 20s, 30s, 40s, how does the recent market drop affect you? Your portfolio can handle a larger drop, but maybe you can’t. What does that mean? I’m 20 Years Away from Retirement, How Do I Respond To The Market Drop? Mathematically, when you’re younger, you can handle a market drop. You have plenty of time before retirement to get your portfolio back up. In the past, people have even make the most money towards retirement during these drops. You can buy stocks for ...
Feb 14, 2018•19 min•Ep. 82
Over the last week we’ve experienced the largest market drop since 2008. It’s not the only correction we’ve had since then, but everyone is reacting. In fact, over the past week, $30 billion has been pulled out. I’m Within 5 Years of Retirement or Already Retired. HELP! We entered the year with a lot of hope and optimism, coming off a year of amazing growth in the market. Then, we had a quick, steep drop that has left everyone reeling. It’s a wake-up call to remind us we don’t know what to expec...
Feb 12, 2018•21 min•Ep. 81
Tonya asks "Our family has not taken a real vacation in years because my husband is a die-hard saver. Do you have any tips?" Typically a relationship feud over a vacation is split between two parties: **"the saver" and "the spender." ** While both parties have good reasons for how they approach finances, you don't have to be stuck fighting. Here is the trick to going on the vacation of your dreams: Use the Foundation First program. What is "Foundation First?" It is the essential first step to mo...
Feb 08, 2018•3 min•Ep. 80
Sharon asks "My husband and I just purchased a home and are considering purchasing a home warranty, what are your thoughts?" Please note: this answer is coming from A LOT of personal experience as well as general advice. Theoretically, a home warranty makes sense. Let's say it costs $50 per month and if something breaks your home warranty company will come out to fix it for you. Here are the Problems with home warranties: It's going to be a terrible experience to call them and talk to a human. (...
Feb 07, 2018•3 min•Ep. 79
Tim Asks "What is the last day you can contribute to an ira and reduce my 2017 taxes?" When you are funding your retirement plan you are not bound by the calendar year to see the tax benefits! Unlike your 401(k), your IRA and ROTH IRA can accept tax-deductible contributions until you file taxes for the year. It's easy to get them confused - but now is a great time to look at contributing to your retirement fund after the holiday and new year madness. Tim, you may also enjoy a recent show on " Ho...
Feb 07, 2018•2 min•Ep. 78
Everyday, I sit down with people from all financial situations and all walks of life to help them figure out their retirement plan. The question Is Always the same: When Can I Actually Retire? Most of the clients who come into our firm are in their 60’s. They’ve earned a good salary their whole lives. They’ve worked for decades. But they know that once they leave their jobs they would no longer have access to their salary. The idea of missing out on that steady paycheck gives people so much anxi...
Jan 24, 2018•17 min•Ep. 77
The DOW has been growing by leaps and bounds lately. This week, it jumped from 25,000 to 26,000 in 8 trading days. While normally, a jump of a thousand in that short of a time period would be a game-changer, it’s not and that holds a dangerous truth. The higher the DOW is, the easier it is for it to make large jumps. I recently talked to a friend of mine about this exact situation. We were talking about how much the DOW had jumped and I said I wondered how long it will be until we see a correcti...
Jan 23, 2018•14 min•Ep. 76
If you have an emergency tomorrow, how much liquid savings do you have available to help pay for it? This is not money in your 401K or money you would have to transfer from an account. This is liquid cash you have available immediately. How much do you have? Is it enough? I recently read a CNN Money article that said only 40% of American have enough money in their savings to cover a $1,000 emergency. Another 20% of Americans surveyed said they would only be able to pay for an emergency with a cr...
Jan 22, 2018•24 min•Ep. 75
Will inflation make a return in 2018? The rate of inflation has been way below expectations for the last couple of years. For most of us, this isn’t a problem, but you should be wary. While I don’t want to waste too much of your time going over what specifically causes inflation, I know we’re all familiar with the idea that our money loses its value over time. Typically, inflation each year is estimated at 3%, but for the last few years it’s been under 2%. Most of us would never complain about t...
Jan 19, 2018•23 min•Ep. 74
If you currently have a financial advisor, how much are you paying them and what are they doing to earn that money? I recently had a new client come in because he was nervous about the risky investments his advisor had set up for him. We looked over his portfolio and discovered he had paid his advisor over $8,250 in the last year. This is a serious problem. Most of the financial planning industry is run on a suitability standard. This means when you sell an investment product, your advisor gets ...
Jan 17, 2018•18 min•Ep. 72
Leeann: Our son will be a freshman in college next fall and will probably be going to school out of state, which we didn’t expect. We and his grandparents have put money into a 529 plan for him, but this will only cover a portion. Do you have any thoughts on paying for college and/or taking out loans? This is the season for people to think about paying for college. Student loan debt is going through the roof in this country. If you want to pay for your student’s college, I have a few suggestions...
Jan 12, 2018•8 min•Ep. 71
There is the potential that 401Ks can be positive for employees and employers both, but this study is saying: Wait a minute! I recently saw a fascinating study that concluded that having a 401K leads to higher debt . The main reason for this is the move towards automatic 401K enrollment by employers. It used to be that if you joined a new company, you had to sign up if you wanted to contribute to a 401K. If you have to take action to do something, the chances of you doing it are less than if it ...
Jan 11, 2018•19 min•Ep. 70
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall Make 2018 The Richest of Them All This time of the year the news is full of all kinds of: investment tips money tricks and hacks and bold predictions for the year. You’ll see articles predicting 2018, even books with people telling you what they think will happen in the next 12 months. if you’re a new client and you come into my office because you want me to tell you what is going to happen in the next year, you’re going to be Disappointed. Myself, my staff and any oth...
Jan 10, 2018•29 min•Ep. 69
I had a client call me this week and talk to me a problem his mother was having. She’s been paying $200 a month for over 25 years for a what she thought was a permanent life insurance policy, but she received a letter in the mail saying her premium was going to increase to $600 per month or she’d lose her coverage. She doesn't have much money and this was the only way she was able to leave something for children and grandchildren. Now she’s devastated. This is not an isolated incident and it’s s...
Dec 22, 2017•23 min•Ep. 68
It’s that time of the year where financial expects make fools of themselves. Yes, it’s time for the 2018 predictions. What you really need to understand about these predictions, regardless of whether they’re positive or negative, is that they are complete and utter nonsense. What you really need to understand about these predictions, regardless of whether they’re positive or negative, is that they are complete and utter nonsense. Take a look at last year’s prediction in retrospect. Everyone’s pr...
Dec 20, 2017•13 min•Ep. 67
Much to the surprise of many people, including myself, the GOP Tax Bill Passed and big changes are coming to our tax system in 2018. There’s lots of rumors and misinformation going around about what these changes will be, so let’s dig into it. This bill isn’t perfect, but there are some great benefits we can all enjoy. Much to the surprise of many people, including myself, the GOP Tax Bill Passed and big changes are coming to our tax system in 2018. The first most important element that will aff...
Dec 18, 2017•16 min•Ep. 66
I’m fairly consistent in my advice that you shouldn’t invest in Bitcoin. We’ve talked about Bitcoin before and you can read previous articles or listen to past podcasts. You’ll see that I’m fairly consistent in my advice that you shouldn’t invest in Bitcoin . This isn’t because Bitcoin is bad. It went grew to over 11,000 this week, which means one Bitcoin is work $11,000 American Dollars. It dropped soon after but is still hovering over $10,000. Overall this year the Bitcoin has grown by over 90...
Dec 09, 2017•10 min•Ep. 65
Overall, this has been a strange year in the stock market. We've set records for the amount of time gone without any drops in stocks. No one’s complaining, but it’s not normal and you shouldn’t expect it to continue. This week was a great reminder of that. In the last week the market has gone up and down in a way we haven’t seen in awhile. In the last week the market has gone up and down in a way we haven’t seen in awhile. Thursday, stocks shot up. This was mostly due to the expectation and opti...
Dec 07, 2017•7 min•Ep. 64
Although many people, myself included, doubted it would happen, the Senate passed the Tax Cut Bill. Big changes are coming to the tax system, although all the details still need to be hammered out. These changes will affect billions of Americans and it will affect all of us either positively or negatively. It’s impossible to walk through every possible scenario, but there are two main groups that will lose out the most from these proposed changes. Big changes are coming to the tax system, althou...
Dec 05, 2017•18 min•Ep. 63
Life insurance coverage has been a debate that’s gone on for decades. Need proof? Ask your parents their opinion. In this episode of our "Lightning Round," Kyle asks why it seems that his parents are being scammed by their “permanent” life insurance. How can something "permanent" suddenly disappear? Life insurance wrongly becomes oversimplified into two main categories: right and wrong. This just isn't the case. Don't allow yourself to oversimplify this tool as a black and white decision of what...
Dec 02, 2017•4 min•Ep. 62
In this Lightning Round, Amy asks the begging question: "If there is bad debt, does that mean there is good debt?" The answer is simple, yes. In the 5 minute clip above, I highlight a common mistake in regards to paying off personal debt. D ** on't assume all debt is bad.** Homeowners - pay attention, friends! Sure, we can all agree on the obvious bad debts like credit cards, high-interest personal loans, etc. The majority of people I meet with will agree that there are good debts, too. Do you r...
Nov 30, 2017•6 min•Ep. 61
Meet, Andy Cook. Well, actually meet Andy, Martha, and more kids than most kids can count! But, we're going to hear more about these beautiful people from Andy. Andy is the President and CEO of Promise686 , an organization that assists families and churches to care for vulnerable children by providing financial assistance, community support, and adoptive and foster care related education. (You probably know about our partnership with Promise686 .) Andy shares the story of receiving a daring text...
Nov 28, 2017•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 60
There are some abuses in the financial world that you, as the consumer, have no control over. For example, with the Equifax breach, consumers had no control over the company’s security. However, what you can do in those cases is take steps to protect yourself, like freezing your credit . RELATED: SHOULD YOU REALLY FREEZE YOUR CREDIT? The question is, how do you protect yourself from people using abusive practices? TIAA-CREF, which cares for close to a trillion dollars in assets, has been in the ...
Nov 24, 2017•14 min•Ep. 59
I’m about to share some controversial advice with you. So take a minute and hear me out. Some of you reading may need to stop investing in your 401k. Again, just wait a second and listen. It could be vital to your financial plan. The 401k is the sacred cow of American finance—and for good reason. 401k’s offer amazing benefits such as special tax treatment, forced/automated savings, and free money when your employer matches your contribution. Sounds great, right? Why in the world should anyone st...
Nov 22, 2017•12 min•Ep. 58
The short answer is: don't. The Tax Reform bill has passed the House, but it still must get through the Senate. You can depend on Congress as much as you can depend on my 2-year-old. I’ve had several clients come to my office either excited about the potential changes to the tax code or terrified of what it would mean for their finances. Regardless of where you fall on the issue, the fact remains that everything is up in the air. The best way you can prepare is to make sure you have your house i...
Nov 20, 2017•12 min•Ep. 57
This mini-episode comes directly from a question sent to our team and is part of the show's Lightning Round where we answer your questions. Do You Divide Inheritance Among Assets? First off, I'm sorry. I can only assume this question comes at a painful time in your life. A divorce is one of the hardest things you may walk through for many reasons, but certainly it is the case financially. How you split an inheritance depends on the state you live in to exactly how your assets will be divided. Th...
Nov 16, 2017•4 min•Ep. 55
This mini-episode comes directly from a question sent to our team and is part of the show's Lightning Round where we answer your questions. Does An IRA Still Work Even If You Don't Work? This question comes in from Lisa, who may have received bad advice from the bank. The truth is: anyone who is working can open an IRA - an individual retirement account, but there's more to it. If your spouse is working, and making at least $13,000 of taxable income annually, you should BOTH be able to open up t...
Nov 14, 2017•4 min•Ep. 54
