If you have been watching the news lately you may be wondering if your cash is safe. Watching the country’s 16th largest bank collapse causes people to question whether the banking system is set up to ensure that funds are accessible.
On this episode of Financial Symmetry, we’ll discuss what happened to Silicon Valley Bank, examine how much cash you really need, and explore options for managing your emergency fund. Listen in to learn how to safely manage your emergency fund.
As International Women’s Day approaches, we wanted to get together to explore ways to improve the financial outcome for women across the globe.
In this episode, Allison Berger, Grace Kvantas, Haley Modlin and Darian Billingsley, break down the four Cs of women’s personal finance.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Market Volatility Playbook.
📰 See the full show notes here
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
DOWNLOAD the Sudden Money Financial Transition Journal here
Retirement is one of the most significant changes that you will manage in your life. It takes not just careful financial planning, but also careful life planning as well.
🎥 See a video recap here
Our guest today, Susan Bradley, is the author of Sudden Money and the founder of the Sudden Money Institute. She is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Certified Financial Transitionist (CFT). We discuss how best to prepare for the retirement transition
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Market Volatility Playbook.
📰 See the full show notes here
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
DOWNLOAD the Sudden Money Financial Transition Journal here
In today’s video, we discuss several questions of what we can learn from last year’s investing experience and what we could expect for 2023.
Listen in to see how lessons from last year can help you move forward with confidence.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Market Volatility Playbook.
📰 See the full show notes here
🎥 See a video recap here
The Secure Act 2.0 was recently passed bringing in hundreds of new retirement and investment account changes.
In this episode, we detail some of the most impactful changes for you. We’ll break down these changes to explore planning opportunities for your retirement planning strategies.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Mega-backdoor Roth guide.
📰 See the full show notes here
🎥 See a video recap here
The beginning of a new year motivates many of us to make lists of things in our lives we may want to change. At the top of those lists typically are financially related items.
🎥 Watch a video of podcast recap here
So today, we’re going to share our list of items we’ve seen that can have lasting impact on your financial journey. We're going to share an actionable plan with 12 tips to double-check your financial vitals that could make a major difference for you and your family in the years to come.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Mega-backdoor Roth guide.
📰 See the full show notes here
As we come to the end of 2022, we reflect on some of our favorite reads and podcasts that we have highlighted in our monthly newsletter. If you’d like to check out what we’ve been reading or listening to on a more regular basis, sign up for our monthly newsletter to get the information delivered straight to your inbox.
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📬 Actionable tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe here are get a free copy of a Pre-Retirement Checklist ebook!
🎥 WATCH video recaps of the show here
📰 DOWNLOAD our Investing Principles Guide
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How often do you go back and question your retirement and investment decisions?
🎥 WATCH a video recap of the show here
When thinking through your personal financial decisions, it is common to be swayed by emotions rather than rational thoughts. However, your emotions could derail your wealth-building journey.
Today, we explore five of the most common behavioral financial biases and ways to combat them. If you are ready to get serious about making better financial decisions to build wealth, you won’t want to miss this episode.
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📬 Actionable tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe here are get a free copy of a Pre-Retirement Checklist ebook!
📰 DOWNLOAD our Investing Principles Guide
📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter and receive a free Mega-backdoor Roth guide.
What if one of these ten tax tools could be the tax opportunity that you’ve been missing?
If you are looking to increase your wealth over your lifetime, you’ll want to ensure that you have the best tax planning strategies in place for long-term success.
Paying more taxes now to lower your lifetime tax rate may seem unconventional, but if you are serious about building wealth, this episode could include steps to help you get there.
From donor-advised funds, QCDs to Roth conversions and more. See if any of these 10 could benefit you.
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📰 See the full show notes here
🎥 See latest video of podcast recap here
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
📬 Tips each month to help you reach Your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter & receive a free guide with 5 questions to ask your financial advisor!
So many conversations today are tied to the news. Hard to not find someone talking about the troubled economy, inflation, and the tumbling stock market.
How should you change your investments in light of all these issues? You may be wondering if you are invested too aggressively, or you might even be considering pulling out of the market and waiting out the storm.
Before you rush in to change your investment tactics, listen to this episode to compare our 10 investing principles to your investing blueprint.
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🎥 WATCH video recap of the show here
📰 DOWNLOAD the General Investing Principles Guide
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
None of us know how long we will live, so it is important to prepare for the inevitable. Unfortunately, all that we have earned in this life won’t transfer into the next, so it is important that we have our wishes laid out appropriately.
An estate plan is a critical component of the retirement planning journey.
Estate attorney, Adam Tarsitano joins the Financial Symmetry podcast again today to discuss spooky estate planning tales from the crypt that he has seen in his experience.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
📰 DOWNLOAD the ESTATE PLANNING CHECKLIST
Have scary markets made you second guess your retirement plan?
For those of you who are near, or already in retirement, you may feel like this year is a part of some retirement horror story.
🎥Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/bPmWBKTM-yg
Which reminded us of a common retirement tale from one of Halloween’s favorite fictitious characters, Michael Myers.
After 40+ years of scaring audiences, the Halloween movie franchise is coming to an end. Now that Michael has reached 65, we thought it fitting to envision that everyone’s favorite murderer is finally done chasing victims and is ready to settle down into retirement.
Has he prepared well enough or did he chase returns the way he chased his victims? Listen in to hear the retirement horror story of Micheal Myers.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
📰 DOWNLOAD the free EBOOK Your Game Plan for Market Volatility ebook
🎥 See other videos of podcast recaps here
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Have you ever been offered a non-qualified deferred compensation plan as part of your benefits package?
In this episode, you’ll learn who non-qualified deferred compensation plans were created for, what they are, the pros and cons, and their potential for helping you reduce your lifetime tax bill.
Find out if this additional savings tool could be a difference maker for your retirement withdrawal strategy.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
📰 DOWNLOAD the free EBOOK Your Game Plan for Market Volatility ebook
We all have visions of our ideal retirement, and none of them include a terminal illness. However, sometimes life has other plans.
Today, we discuss the top concerns that are often overlooked for those facing a terminal diagnosis.
This is a difficult, yet important, subject to address. Investment strategies, tax strategies, and estate planning may not be at the forefront of your mind during this challenging time period, however, doing the legwork now will set your loved ones up for success after your passing.
You won’t want to miss this episode if you or a loved one has recently experienced a terminal diagnosis.
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📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
📰 See the full show notes here [including a Terminal Illness Checklist]
🎥 See latest video of podcast recap here
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
Retirement rules of thumb can give you a false sense of security.
▶️ Watch a short recap on Youtube
Today you’ll learn why you should second guess these 4 commonly referenced retirement rules.
In this episode, we'll discuss:
Our expanded pre-retirement checklist is packed with common questions asked by our clients. Our new guide answers the 4 questions you should ask about Social Security, includes common tax planning tools used by retirees, and examines how your investing may change in retirement.
Download this newly revised and expanded checklist to help you best prepare for your retirement.
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📗 Download the expanded Retire On Purpose Guide
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
What if you could take action now so that you have significantly more tax-free savings to utilize in retirement?
On this episode of Financial Symmetry, we’ll take a look at an often misunderstood tax planning opportunity.
The Roth conversion is a tool that can benefit you throughout different stages of your retirement saving journey. Today you’ll learn how to take advantage of Roth conversions during various periods of life. Listen in to learn the opportunities and pitfalls of Roth conversions.
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📗 Download the expanded Retire On Purpose Guide
🎯 Subscribe to not miss future episodes here
📬 Tips each month to help you reach your Ideal Retirement. Subscribe to the Financial Symmetry newsletter!
Have you ever wondered how your retirement preparations compare with others?
Short video recap: https://youtu.be/mNYvWKgO3MM
This is a common question that we hear as financial advisors. On this episode, we’ll take a look at data from a recent study about the 4 types of retirement journeys that people take. You’ll also hear about the risks and opportunities that stem from these 4 retirement paths.
People’s circumstances, attitudes, and ambitions can greatly affect their retirement experience. So, if you are on the cusp of retirement you may be wondering what type of retirement you will have. You can think of retirement as a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Each path has its own opportunities and lessons to learn. Which retirement adventure will you choose?
Which retirement stage are you in? Spoiler alert: the stages begin before you are retired. You'll also be surprised by some of the stats we uncover as we dissect findings in the latest Age Wave study on retirement.
Video Recap: https://youtu.be/8YeA6nSCenY
We've had the pleasure of working with hundreds of families as they have planned and transitioned into retirement. Let’s dive in to this episode to explore how you can maximize these 4 phases of retirement through financial planning.
How do you deal with a major financial transitions?
Video recap: https://youtu.be/2tWrduVAS14
When this happens there can be many choices that you need to make. Without the right decision-making framework, navigating these choices can lead to analysis paralysis.
Allison Berger joins me today to share some of what she has learned while studying for the CFT designation (Certified Financial Transitionist). The coursework for this professional title combines financial planning with cutting-edge research in neurology, sociology, and psychology. With her newfound knowledge, Allison will help us learn how to navigate the technical and personal side of major life decisions.
Listen in to learn how to build a framework that can help you navigate major financial decisions.
In a bear market, it can be easy to panic and forget that investor behavior drives results more than choosing the right investments. People tend to be their own worst enemy during these trying times. That’s why it is important to learn from those that have gone before you.
Video Recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VePid5UlQ1Y
Your Playbook to Market Volatility: https://www.financialsymmetry.com/staying-the-course-even-during-volatile-markets/
Check out this episode to discover the 4 typical investors that we encounter during market declines. As you listen consider who you have been like in the past. Which one are you feeling like now? Which one do you want to be in the future?
Most of us believe we’ll always have more time with our spouse, but when that time is cut short, we’re often left with too many questions and not enough answers.
Video recap: https://youtu.be/2jFmLDB3Xks
On today’s show, we tackle the emotionally challenging subject of losing a spouse.
Between planning a funeral, notifying people, and taking calls, it’s hard to find time to grieve, much less think about the financial consequences and tax changes you have to deal with in the coming weeks. Part of our responsibility during this difficult time is to walk you through the steps of navigating the administrative part of handling a loved one’s resources.
Listen to this episode to learn about the tax changes to consider when dealing with the death of a spouse.
Read more in the show notes here: https://www.financialsymmetry.com/tax-changes-to-consider-after-the-death-of-a-spouse-ep-166/
Do you have an estate plan?
Is it up to date?
Was it prepared by an estate planning professional?
Video link: https://youtu.be/c7XO462BOcg
If you answered "no" to any of these questions, this episode is for you.
On the show this week, we welcome Adam Tarsitano, an estate planning attorney in Raleigh, NC, to discuss why it is so important to have a professionally prepared estate plan in place.
Listen in to hear the difference between a professional estate plan and a DIY estate plan and what could happen to your assets if the state decides what to do with them.
Stocks are now in a bear market. Rising interest rates mean bonds are having a horrible year. Inflation reached a 40-year high. Headlines like these makes it tough to have confidence in your investment strategy.
Youtube video: https://youtu.be/dNb2jmLW_OU
This is why today, we are reviewing how to create a retirement plan that provides peace of mind through an investment roller coaster. If you are worried about the future of your money, our goal this week is to provide you a game plan for volatile markets.
Press play to listen in or check out the video with the slideshow on our YouTube channel.
If you recently filed your tax return you may have noticed some unexpected surprises.
Video recap: https://youtu.be/G9q8k5fRNdQ
Since tax planning and preparation is an important part of what we do at Financial Symmetry, we wanted to make you all aware of the top 10 tax surprises that we see in our office. Listen in to hear if you are familiar with any of these tax prep surprises.
Deciding to retire is just the beginning of your retirement decision-making. From tax planning to Social Security decisions, finding the best strategies for you requires regular analysis.
Video recap: https://youtu.be/TleOZ8CwYXw
Today’s question comes from a client who recently read an article from Rethinking 65 titled Why Trying to Quantify Roth Conversions Is Futile. After reading the article the client wanted to know if they should take advantage of Roth conversions. As we explore this question today, you’ll learn how you can decide whether Roth conversions would be a good fit for your retirement situation.