Investing can feel like a battle between two polar opposites within us, the rational and the emotional, just like the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This week, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are our model investors, and we’re talking you through the spooky story of the risks, emotions, and rational strategies involved in long-term investing.

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Outline of This Episode

• [03:06] Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde's wildly different investment strategies
• [06:00]Strategies that help mitigate emotional reactions during elections and global crises
• [07:38] Balancing short-term market volatility with a long-term investment perspective
• [10:37] How to stay aligned with long-term goals in the face of market downturns
• [13:28] Diversification to manage risk in an investment portfolio
• [14:17] Psychological factors that cause investors to feel more confident during market upswings
• [15:35] Automating your investment and savings strategy to prevent emotional decision-making

Reaching your financial goals builds confidence and peace of mind, which are essential for making informed decisions that benefit your entire family.

In this episode, we’re following a fictional pop culture couple from newlywed to pre-retirement, to demonstrate how their thought process around an emergency fund could evolve with their changing circumstances.

Join us as we lay out a case study of planning that helps them balance their accessible wealth with a healthy emergency fund.

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Retirement, a phase many of us anticipate for a long time, comes with its own set of financial intricacies. Specifically, how do you effectively withdraw funds from your savings to ensure a comfortable, sustainable, and tax-efficient lifestyle?

A well-crafted retirement blueprint is essential. This plan should outline your long-term goals and the steps needed to achieve them. More importantly, your financial plan should be flexible enough to accommodate life's unexpected expenses, such as healthcare costs or home repairs. Revisiting and updating your blueprint annually—or when significant life changes occur—can help ensure you stay on track.

In this episode, we’re sharing the essential steps to develop a retirement withdrawal plan that caters to your needs. We dig into which accounts to draw from, how to minimize taxes, and how to manage unexpected expenses. You'll also learn about advanced strategies like Roth conversions, tax-loss harvesting, and the benefits of Qualified Charitable Distributions and Donor-Advised Funds.

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📰 See the full show notes here

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• [5:06] Your options for retirement tax strategies
• [8:32] Utilize early years to make strategic financial moves
• [11:30] Plan your retirement for peace of mind
• [17:12] Lower RMDs with Roth conversions and reduce the tax impact
• [19:42] Consider tax loss harvesting, capital gains, heirs' basis
• [21:30] Use a QCD to reduce taxable income
• [26:12] Exploring blind spots in retirement withdrawal strategies

Retirement planning is a delicate process, and you need to carefully consider your various income streams, including Social Security benefits. For those of us who plan to continue working while claiming Social Security, it’s important to understand how this decision can impact the monthly benefits you receive.

In this episode, we’re sharing how to avoid financial shocks in retirement. We discuss the essentials of earned income, the reduction in benefits due to excess earnings, and specific scenarios such as spousal and ex-spouse benefits.

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📰 See the full show notes here

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• [1:08] Social Security benefits may be impacted if you work while claiming
• [04:27] How retirement financial planning strategies vary by individual circumstances
• [07:17] Earnings affect Social Security benefits before retirement
• [11:51] Your spouse's income doesn't affect your Social Security
• [15:18] SSA withholds payments until excess income is accounted for
• [18:44] Social Security timing advice
• [20:04] Seek financial advisor help to make an educated decision about retirement

We all have visions of our ideal retirement. However, our financial plans can quickly veer off course if we haven't appropriately managed our risks.

On this episode of Financial Symmetry, Greg Suggs from Greg Suggs Insurance joins me to discuss how to manage common risks that could negatively affect your wealth. You won’t want to miss out on these easy-to-implement pieces to your insurance puzzle that could save your assets.

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📰 See the full show notes here

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• [1:23] A bit about Greg
• [2:09] Biggest changes in insurance over the past 30 years
• [5:12] The biggest risks for homeowners
• [11:11] Common mistakes homeowners make
• [14:33] What to think about if you are considering a second home
• [17:21] What to consider if you own a rental property
• [19:00] Automobile insurance for young drivers
• [23:22] What about insurance for gig work?
• [25:37] How to lower your insurance needs

How do you begin to save for your children to go to college? With the rising costs of college education, is it worth the monetary commitment?

Including tuition & fees, room & board, books & supplies, etc. the average cost of college is anywhere from $27,000 for an in-state public school up to $80,000–$90,000 a year for an Ivy League School.

How you pay for your student’s college is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make. In this episode, we cover the three phases of saving for college and what you need to pay attention to in each phase.

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📰 See the full show notes here

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• [1:53] Why college? Is it necessary?
• [2:41] Average cost of college
• [4:42] Phase #1: The Saving Phase
• [10:02] Phase #2: Preparing for college
• [20:44] Phase #3: In-college strategies
• [22:57] Summarizing the big points

Some problems are easily solved with a bit of reasoning, logic, or by using a bit of math. Other problems go beyond quantitative thinking.

The most thought-provoking issues aren’t numbers-based. Many decisions surrounding retirement require much deeper consideration and often cause you to reevaluate your thinking of what you had originally imagined retirement to be.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to identify “wild problems” people face when retiring and develop a framework for working through them.

• Show Notes
• The Retirement Podcast Network
• BOOK - Wild Problems by Russ Roberts
• BOOK - The New Retirementality by Mitch Anthony
• BOOK - Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

One of the retirement questions that persists through the ages is whether to take a pension or a lump sum payment. On this episode, we flesh out an example from baseball: Did Bobby Bonilla Day make the right decision back in 1999 to take $1.2 million per year instead of a $5.9 million lump sum payment?

Seeing this example play out over time can help you make your own pension vs. lump sum choice. Listen to find out whether Bobby hit a home run with his financial decision.

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• Show Notes
• The Retirement Podcast Network