2025: The Year of Donor Advised Funds?
Retirement Starts Today
Major charitable-giving changes are set to take effect next year under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As a result, 2025 may be the best—and possibly last—great year to make a big charitable gift and get the full tax benefit in the same year. Listen in to hear the changes that take place in 2026 that could make 2025 the best year to use donor advised funds. In our listener question segment, Christie inquires about buying a home in retirement: "Should we withdraw from investments, or use a mortgage?" Resource: Article by Ben Mattlin in Financial Advisor Magazine: "" Connect with...
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This Social Security Strategy Gives Retirees More to Spend
Retirement Starts Today
A new report says retirees who use a so-called “bridge strategy” can actually spend more and need fewer assets to retire securely. That’s right. By delaying Social Security and using other savings to “bridge the gap,” you could improve your lifetime income, reduce longevity risk, and build more peace of mind into your plan. We will break down the research and find ways to make Social Security work harder for you. After that, I’ll answer a listener question: What’s the difference between a 5 year MYGA and a 5 year SPIA? Resource: Article by John Manganaro on...
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"One free lunch, please." Why Buffered ETFs might not fit the bill.
Retirement Starts Today
If something promises higher returns, it comes with higher risk — even if that risk isn’t easy to see. And if something promises to protect your downside, it’s usually charging you for it through fees, limited upside, or long-term lockups. Today’s headline from Ben Henry-Moreland fits that idea perfectly. “Why ‘Downside Protection’ ETFs Don’t Protect Portfolios As Well As A Stock-Bond Mix (In The Long Term)”. After that, I’ll answer a listener question about taxes & avoiding underpayment penalties from a surprise inheritance. Should they make an extra quarterly...
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Why Advisors Should Never Recommend Social Security Claiming at 62
Retirement Starts Today
A few episodes ago, we covered Derek Tharp’s research suggesting that not everyone should delay until 70 — especially those with shorter life expectancies or limited assets. This week’s headline brings the opposite perspective: Michael Finke argues that for higher-income retirees who expect to live longer, claiming early is almost always a mistake — and that fear-based decisions about Social Security’s solvency can cost retirees hundreds of thousands in lifetime income. Plus, a listener asks about giving with warm hands vs cold hands - which is a euphemism for giving during...
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It’s so Simple…
Retirement Starts Today
Do lower-cost funds tend to outperform pricier ones over time? Jeffrey Ptak analyzed fifteen years of performance data covering virtually every U.S. mutual fund and ETF. He divided them into five “cost buckets,” from the cheapest 10% all the way up to the most expensive 10%. He then compared each group’s average monthly return against its peers within the same category. The result? A clean, almost perfect staircase of performance. The cheapest funds outperformed the second-cheapest, which outperformed the middle, which beat the expensive ones — and so on — all the way up the...
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Cut Your Retirement Stress in Half (New Vanguard Study)
Retirement Starts Today
Vanguard Research put out a paper called "The Emotional and Time Value of Advice” (June 2025). It claims that there are "emotional benefits and time-saving value that paid professional financial advice provides to clients." In other words: The benefit isn't the portfolio or financial advice, but the emotional and time-saving value getting paid professional advice can provide. Then for our listener question: Gary wants to know how his Health Savings Account (HSA) interacts with Medicare. Can you pay Medicare premiums from an HSA at a later date like you can with qualified...
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Delay to 70? Not So Fast - The New Case for Claiming Early
Retirement Starts Today
Only about 4% of retirees actually wait until age 70 to claim Social Security, despite the financial benefits of delaying them. This comes from an article by Derek Tharp at Kitces.com titled “The Flaws In Using A 0% Discount Rate To Justify Delaying Social Security”. It takes a hard look at why the common advice to “wait until 70” might not always hold up in the real world. Tharp argues that the assumptions baked into much of the research—especially the idea that a future Social Security dollar is worth the same as a dollar today—can tilt the math toward delay, while ignoring...
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Roth Conversions after One Big Beautiful Bill
Retirement Starts Today
Our retirement headline is from a ThinkAdvisor article titled "Ed Slott: Roth Conversions Are Trickier Under New Tax Law" by Melanie Waddell. “With the extended tax cuts under President Trump’s recently passed tax and spending law, ‘Roth conversions should be accelerated to take advantage of more years of low tax rates,’ according to Ed Slott of Ed Slott & Co. ‘You never want to leave a low tax bracket unfilled,’ he said. ‘Low tax brackets need to be maximized each year, but how much to convert each year can be trickier now since many of the new tax breaks have income...
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Collect Social Security Early & Invest in the Market?
Retirement Starts Today
Should I collect Social Security early & invest the proceeds into the stock market? This is the age-old question I see on a nearly daily basis in retirement forums. An article from Morningstar - written by Christine Benz and features a conversation with Social Security expert Mary Beth Franklin - gives me the basis for sharing six obstacles for claiming instead of waiting. Also, we share a listener question about whether retirees should stick with the traditional 60/40 stock-and-bond portfolio or branch out into alternatives like gold, REITs, or managed futures to help with risk...
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Insert Clickbait Title [Here]
Retirement Starts Today
Inflammatory headlines are "Clickbait", and I am not immune to falling for them. "Social Security recipients set to face an $18,000 benefit cut in just seven years" is the most recent culprit in my Google feed - with an image of a Social Security check with a wrecking ball smashing straight through it. The good news is the headline is pretty far from reality for most people, and I explain why. Listen in to understand who might actually be impacted, and why most people actually won't. Source: Article by Emily Peck on Axios: "" Connect with Benjamin Brandt Get the Retire-Ready Toolkit: ...
info_outlineDo lower-cost funds tend to outperform pricier ones over time?
Jeffrey Ptak analyzed fifteen years of performance data covering virtually every U.S. mutual fund and ETF. He divided them into five “cost buckets,” from the cheapest 10% all the way up to the most expensive 10%. He then compared each group’s average monthly return against its peers within the same category.
The result? A clean, almost perfect staircase of performance.
The cheapest funds outperformed the second-cheapest, which outperformed the middle, which beat the expensive ones — and so on — all the way up the ladder. The longer the time horizon, the wider the gap became.
That's from Jeffrey's Peak Substack piece “It’s So Simple: Fees Predict Performance", which we go through in this episode.
We also answer a listener question from Ray about a 5-year SPIA, continuing the listener question from the previous episode.
Resource:
Jeffrey Ptak article from Substack: It’s So Simple: Fees Predict Performance
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