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Category: Podcast

Ep. 46 – Should I “Die with Zero?”

In this episode, Kevin Lao discusses the key takeaways from the book ‘Die with Zero’ by Bill Perkins.

He emphasizes the importance of using money as a resource and not hoarding it. He also talks about the concept of return on experiences and the different life phases for different experiences.

Kevin highlights the significance of investing in one’s health and giving with a warm hand instead of a cold one.

He also mentions the Life Cycle Hypothesis and the importance of insurance products in mitigating financial risks.

Lastly, he discusses the potential drawbacks of enabling children and the importance of open communication when giving money.

Takeaways

  • Money should be used as a resource and not hoarded.
  • Invest in experiences and prioritize return on experiences.
  • Consider the different life phases for different experiences.
  • Invest in your health to enjoy retirement fully.
  • Give with a warm hand instead of a cold one and consider the impact of timing.
  • Evaluate insurance products to mitigate financial risks.
  • Be cautious about enabling children and have open communication about money.
  • Customize your financial plan based on your unique circumstances and objectives.

Chapters

  • 00:00 Introduction and Mission of the Podcast
  • 02:26 Recommendation of the Book ‘Die with Zero’
  • 04:29 Using Money as a Resource
  • 07:43 Prioritizing Return on Experiences
  • 11:10 Different Life Phases for Different Experiences
  • 14:01 Investing in Your Health
  • 16:14 Giving with a Warm Hand
  • 26:49 The Role of Insurance Products in Retirement Planning

Links

Social Media 

Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/KevinLaoCFP/ 

LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-lao-cfp%C2%AE-ricp%C2%AE-4181a29/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/imaginefinancialsecurity/

Retirement Readiness Survey 

Living to 100:  https://www.livingto100.com/

Die With Zero book:  https://www.diewithzerobook.com/welcome

Ep. 45 – Should I Invest in my Company Stock?

You can invest in your company stock in several ways, whether you are working for a publicly traded corporation or even a privately owned company.  

And who wouldn’t want to have ownership in the company you have your sweat equity with?  

However, there are tax implications and investment risks you must weigh before moving forward with doing so.  And even if/when you decide to invest in your company’s stock, you must have a plan and process to ensure you are not taking on unnecessary risk.  

In this episode, we’ll cover:

  • the different ways you can invest in your company stock
  • the tax implications of each strategy 
  • we’ll cover why investors are often so concentrated in their own company’s stock
  • and we’ll talk about some planning strategies along the way to help reduce unnecessary risk

Connect:

Links referenced throughout this episode:

Ways to invest in your company stock

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/invest-own-company-stock-160142745.html

RSU vs. ESOP

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/mc-explains-how-is-an-esop-different-from-rsu-and-espp-9779721.html

The risk and underperformance of concentrated stock positions

https://www.fa-mag.com/news/the-risk-and-underperformance-of-concentrated-stock-positions-78253.html?section=68&utm_source=FA+Magazine&utm_campaign=3dd4479fde-FAN_AM_John+Hancock_060324&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4b692acec9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Excessive Extrapolation and the Allocation of 401(k) Accounts to Company Stock

https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/shlomo.benartzi/excessive.pdf

If you are interested in working with me 1×1, start by filling out our Retirement Readiness Survey below.  I’ll follow up with feedback on how you are tracking towards your goals, as well as how we can help you in your journey to financial independence.  

Take The Retirement Readiness Survey

Thanks for tuning in and hope you enjoyed this episode.  

-Kevin Lao

Ep. 44 – How Much Will I Spend in Retirement?

Thanks everyone for tuning in! 

As we continue our review season with clients, it’s a friendly reminder of how important a retirement spending budget is!  This is a key input your financial advisor must know to run accurate projections for you.  Remember, the outputs are only as good as the inputs.  

In our last episode, we talked about how important an assumed retirement age is.  This week, we will focus on projecting how much you’ll spend in retirement.    

This is a very personal question that is tough to fit into a “rule of thumb.”  However, I’ll focus on discussing a few rules of thumb and ways you can project an accurate spending number.  From there, we’ll talk a bit about some research in retirement spending phases and how that will impact your projections.  

And finally, I’ll talk about some of my observations on retiree spending patterns based on my years of practice.      

I hope you enjoy today’s episode.  Make sure to give us a follow if you’re interested in how to plan for retirement.    

Connect:

Articles:

Exploring the Retirement Consumption Puzzle

How much does the average 65+-year-old retiree spend?

https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/how-much-the-average-65-year-old-retiree-spends-monthly/?utm_term=incontent_link_8&utm_campaign=1264931&utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_content=11&utm_medium=rss

Are you interested in working with us?
Fill out our “Retirement Readiness Survey” and we’ll follow up with some feedback on how you’re tracking for your goals and how we could help.

Ep. 43 – Stop Planning for a “Normal” Retirement Age

Two of our recent client meetings were with folks who retired much earlier than they had anticipated.

So, I started to go down a rabbit hole of research and thought this would be a great episode to encourage you all to STOP planning for a “normal” retirement age in your assumptions!

Even if you do end up working until 65 or 70, you should not build that into your calculations when planning for retirement.  Instead, whatever you think your expected retirement date is, push it forward 5 years.  So if you want to work until 60, push it to 55.  If you want to work until 70, push it to 65.  

The point is, that you cannot control what you cannot control.  

It then got me thinking about assumptions for retirement planning. And how the inputs/assumptions we, as financial planners, put into the calculations make a huge difference.

So, what I thought I would do for the next several episodes is go through each of those inputs (retirement age, retirement spending, inflation, longevity, investment returns, and taxes) to coach you through some of those important considerations before making certain assumptions.  Also, to point out mistakes that I’ve seen in my career practicing retirement planning.  

I hope you enjoy this episode, the FIRST-ever time we are publishing a video recording! (*Welcome to 2024 😁)

Thanks for tuning in.

-Kevin Lao

Sources:

USA Today Article – Most Americans Retire Earlier Than Expected

Connect:

Are you interested in working with us? Fill out our “Retirement Readiness Survey” and we’ll follow up with some feedback on how you’re tracking for your goals and how we could help.

Ep. 42 – Wealth Protection and Transfer in a Blended Family (with Tim & Alexis Woodward)

Here is part 2 of 2 in the “blended wealth” series! I hope you enjoy it! 

In this episode we shed light on the unique financial planning and estate planning considerations for blended families, emphasizing the importance of tailored advice and open family communication to navigate these complexities successfully.

Today’s guests are Tim and Alexis Woodward, co-founders of Blend Wealth, a firm specializing in financial planning for blended families and business owners.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you listen to episode 41: Blending and Building Wealth in a Blended Family before listening to this episode.

Thank you!

– Kevin

Connect with Tim and Alexis: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendcouple/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/theblendcouple

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blendwealth/

Blend Wealth: https://blendwealth.com/

Key Points:

3:56 – Retirement Distribution and Wealth Preservation: Complexities of retirement distribution, wealth preservation, and estate planning for blended families. Managing different account types for tax diversification and creating a retirement income strategy that supports both parents and children in blended families.

8:14 – Estate Planning and Beneficiary Designations: The critical role of updating estate plans and beneficiary designations to reflect current family dynamics and intentions.

15:10 – Family Meetings for Estate Planning: The value of holding family meetings to discuss and clarify estate plans to prevent misunderstandings and ensure fairness.

21:40 – Long-Term Care Planning: The necessity of planning for long-term care, particularly in blended families, and the options available, including insurance.

27:48 – Life Insurance as a Tool for Estate Planning: How life insurance, especially permanent policies, can be strategically used in estate planning for blended families.

31:36 – Investing in Relationships and the Future: The importance of investing time and resources in family relationships and future generations.

Resources:

Blend Wealth https://blendwealth.com/

Blended Kingdom Families https://blendedkingdomfamilies.com/

Ron Deal’s Smart Stepfamily https://smartstepfamilies.com/

FamilyLife Blended https://www.familylife.com/familylifeblended/blended-families/

Ep. 41 – Blending & Building Wealth in a Blended Family (w/ Tim and Alexis Woodward @ Blend Wealth)

40% of marriages today create a blended family, which involve children from previous relationships or marriages. I’m very excited for these next two episodes with Tim and Alexis Woodward from the Blend Wealth team!

Financial issues are a hot topic within families. And when you add additional parties, it can create added complexity.

We are breaking down this topic of blended family financial planning considerations into two parts:

  • Episode 41: Blending and Building Wealth in a Blended Family

  • Episode 42: Wealth Protection and Transfer in a Blended Family

Tim and Alexis Woodward are co-founders of Blend Wealth, a firm specializing in financial planning for blended families and business owners. We hope you enjoy this episode! If you do, make sure to share this with a “blended family” you care about!! Thank you!

Connect with Tim and Alexis:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendcouple/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/theblendcouple

Blend Wealth: https://blendwealth.com/

Key Points

6:51 – Financial Planning Complexities in Blended Families:

  • Blended families face unique challenges in both family dynamics and financial planning, often dealing with children from previous marriages.

9:36 – Starting the Financial Planning Journey:

  • Importance of transparency and communication about finances between partners.

  • Different approaches to managing finances: joint, separate, or a combination.

14:55 – Prenuptial Agreements:

  • Discussed as a tool for addressing financial anxieties and ensuring security for both partners.

18:29 – Setting Financial Goals:

  • Shared goals might include retirement planning, travel, and charitable giving.

  • Individual goals often relate to obligations towards biological children from previous relationships.

26:33 – Blended Family Dynamics:

  • Emphasizes the importance of prioritizing the marital relationship and intentional parenting in blended families.

33:46 – Retirement Specifics:

  • Social security strategies for blended families.

  • Tax-efficient withdrawal strategies from retirement accounts.

Resources:

  • Blended Family Breakthrough Podcast “Blended Family Breakthrough” Podcast with Mike and Kim Anderson

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode! Stay tuned for Part 2!

– Kevin

Ep. 40 – What this election year means for your investment portfolio

The financial markets are well known to cause some stress and anxiety, but this escalates even more during a Presidential election. Especially this one which is likely to bring out emotions from both sides. As a result, I felt called to do this episode to provide some facts about how Presidential elections impact the stock market.

I hope you enjoy this episode! Make sure to share it with a friend or family member who might find it helpful! I want to impact as many people as possible with this message!

Thank you!

– Kevin

***Just a footnote here. I mentioned I was recording on video, which I did…However, I do not have time to edit this video in time for the next episode. I am currently working on hiring an editor, and will hopefully be adding video as a feature to tune into the show soon enough!

If you’re interested in becoming a client, fill out our Retirement Readiness Survey Here

Links from the show:

https://www.usbank.com/investing/financial-perspectives/market-news/how-presidential-elections-affect-the-stock-market.html

https://www.eatonvance.com/advisory-blog.php?post=election-cycle-is-very-likely-to-impact-stocks-

https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/election-market-impact

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/capital_markets/Prob_Rec.pdf

https://www.ustreasuryyieldcurve.com/

https://www.blackrock.com/us/financial-professionals/insights/investing-in-election-years

Ep. 39 – Are you getting too conservative too early before retirement?

The issue with getting too conservative too quickly is that you bring inflation, longevity, and interest rate risk into the picture! This is NOT an ideal situation for retirees in 2024!

In this episode, I discuss the three reasons I believe most investors get too conservative too early, my issue with “Risk Tolerance” as the primary driver of asset allocation, and the concept of “Risk Capacity.”

Instead of selecting your asset allocation based on how you feel, or overly simplistic rules of thumb, reverse engineer your asset allocation based on your personalized financial goals and “required rates of return!” Meaning, don’t invest based on how someone ELSE tells you to invest but invest based on your priorities and values.

A few links I referenced:

Jack Bogle’s Asset Allocation Rule of Thumb

The 15/50 Rule of Thumb

Ep. 36 – ⁠Asset Location to Improve Tax Efficiency in Retirement

If you are interested in working with me 1 on 1, please fill out our Retirement Readiness Survey here, and we will provide personalized feedback on how and what we would address your financial situation.

Feel free to send me an email with your support, feedback, or questions for me! [email protected]

Thank you!

– Kevin

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Ep. 38 – Leveraging legislative changes to maximize your company retirement plans (w/ Alex Jenkins from NestEggs)

The SECURE Act of 2019 was the first major overhaul of retirement plans, specifically 401ks. However, many people are still curious about what the changes are and how they impact these group 401k plans. I had the pleasure of being joined by Alex Jenkins, the Chief Revenue Officer @ Nest Eggs, to unpack all of this for us. You’ll be sure to learn a lot whether you are a small business owner, an executive at a privately held company, or you’re just interested in the evolution of 401k plans and how to maximize them for retirement.

Interested in learning more about Nest Eggs?

Contact Alex Jenkins

[email protected]

904 252 6780 (cell)

Check out their website here: https://www.nesteggs401k.com/

Links from the show:

The SECURE Act 2019 details and how they impacted 401ks

Information on Pooled Employer Plans (“PEPS”)

Are you interested in working 1×1 with me? Fill out our “Retirement Readiness Survey” and we’ll follow up with some initial feedback on your progress to financial independence and whether or not we would be a good fit to work together.

You can also check out my website at https://imaginefinancialsecurity.com/

I love to hear from YOU, the listener! Email me directly at [email protected]

-Kevin

Ep. 37 – 3 flexible retirement withdrawal strategies to maximize spending during your lifetime

Have you heard of the 4% rule?! It’s the most recognized benchmark for safe withdrawal rates in retirement. However, it lacks flexibility and often leaves retirees “under-spending,” particularly in their prime retirement years.

Think Advisor put out this article (link below) that touched on three alternatives to the 4% rule and how they can potentially increase your spending capacity over time, while also protecting downside risk (outliving your assets).

I hope you enjoy this episode!

If you are interested in learning what it would be like to work with me, fill out my complimentary “Retirement Readiness Survey.” We’ll ask you to answer a few basic questions to determine the key areas of opportunity for you.

Make sure to check “Podcast” at the end when we ask how you heard of us!

Here are some other sources I referenced in the show:

Think Advisor article – Pros and cons of 3 retirement spending plans

Bill Bengen’s SAFEMAX, 4% Rule Study

Guyton and Klinger Decision Rules

Ep. 14 – “Retirees, Stop Underspending in your Go-Go Years”

My blog article on using Guardrails to boost retirement spending!

IRS Life Expectancy Tables

Make sure to share this with a friend or family member who needs to learn about how retirement works! I appreciate all of you!

[email protected]

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