Big Picture Retirement®

CRUTS are Charitable Remainder Trusts.

Any time you are dealing with charitable planning, you must first have the charitable intent.

You can find some tax benefits that go along with that charitable intent, but you have to start with the charitable intention.

Ultimately, the charity is almost always going to benefit more than the donor.

For more information, visit the show notes at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/099

Part 2 of the conversation about active versus passive investing with guest Rick Ferri, author of Smart Money.

For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.bigpictureretirement.net/098

This week, Devin welcomes Rick Ferri to the show to talk about active versus passive investing.

But before the interview gets started, John and Devin have an entertaining conversation about the recently released 2019 Social Security and Medicare adjusted numbers, including:

• The increase in Social Security benefits
• Medicare premiums
• Adjusted Social Security earnings limit
• Higher limit on how much money you will pay Social Security benefits
• and more!

For more information, visit the show notes at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/097

In light of the recent market activity, Devin and John thought it would be useful to re-broadcast their original episode on the lessons they've learned from past market declines.

Lesson 1: Market declines are normal Lesson 2: No one can consistently predict market movements Lesson 3: The best days hang out with the bad days

...and more two more you can read about at https://www.bigpictureretirement.net/lessons-learned-from-market-declines

On the surface, Social Security survivor benefits seem pretty simple: at the death of the first spouse, the surviving spouse is eligible to receive his or her own benefit, or the benefit of the deceased, whichever is greatest.

In today's show, Devin and John go over:

• Who Is Eligible for Survivor's Benefits
• How Much Is The Spousal Survivor Benefit
• The RIB LIM, or "Widow's Limit"
• and Restricted Filings

For more information, visit the show notes at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/095

Important benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are changing.

Devin and John talk about:

• Improved Pension with Aid and Attendance
• Clearly Defined Assets Test
• Adding A Look-back Period

For more information, visit the show notes at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/094

Part 3 in the Big Picture Retirement series on Drawdown Strategies: Brandon Renfro talks about "setting a floor."

For more information, visit the show notes at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/093

Part 2 in our series. In this episode we answer the question "How are you going to take your money out so that it lasts?" Then, once you have a plan for which accounts you should access in which order, how are you going to figure out the amount of income to take out from your portfolio?

For more information, visit the show notes at https://www.bigpictureretirement.net/092

When you stop working, you've put aside some money into different types of accounts, and maybe you have a pension, or some rental property, or other investments. How do you start converting those assets into an income stream that will last for the rest of your life?

Brandon Renfro, Ph.D., joins Devin on a discussion about:

• The tax torpedo
• The Net Unrealized Appreciation Rule
• Provisional income and how much of your Social Security is taxable

For more details, visit the show notes at https://www.bigpictureretirement.net/091

There are a few areas within Social Security that you could mess up without even meaning to do things wrong.

One of my most trusted mentors has often told me, "Big doors swing on little hinges."

I've found that to be applicable to many things in life and it's certainly true in retirement planning. The small decisions you make, when stretched over long periods, can have big consequences.

Here are the 5 Social Security mistakes that can cost you dearly when you retire.

There's more to learn at http://www.bigpictureretirement.net/090