CalCPA Financial Empowerment Podcast

Baby expenses aren’t tiny. One study found the average hospital delivery costs about $3,500 and can soar to more than $8,000 with post-partum healthcare and associated costs. Then there’re such costs as furnishing a nursery, diapers and clothing. You’ll need a car seat for the child and maybe even a new car. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the average cost of rearing a child born in 2015 to a middle-class family through his or her 17th year is more than $230,000, and we haven’t even included college costs. Children cost a lot of money, not to mention time. And many of those costs new parents often don’t anticipate as we learn from CalCPA member Dan Morris, CPA.

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The average lifespan of an American male is about 79 years while an American woman has a lifespan of about 81 years. And that’s average. Many people will live until they’re 90 years of age or more. While some of the elderly will be in good health during those years; some will not. Regardless, there likely will come a time when their adult children, if they are alive, will confront the issue of taking care of their parents. That can be a difficult assignment, so it is a good idea for adult children and their parents to talk about such things as power of attorney and funeral wishes as early as possible. Rob Seltzer, a CPA and personal financial specialist, knows firsthand about the subject.

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College expenses, like everything else, continue to rise. A 2018 survey by the College Board found that the average cost of tuition, fees, room and board for a year at a public university is about $21,370 while it’s $48,510 at a private nonprofit school. Students also incur additional costs, such as transportation, clothing and books. Yet, students and parents can find ways to either reduce costs or acquire more funds to cover expenditures, as CPA and personal financial specialist Larry Pon advises.

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According to the AARP, about 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day. A Vanguard report indicates that the median 401(k) balance for those in the 55-64 age group is a little less than $188,000. That means that if they use the 4 percent rule for withdrawals from their investments during retirement, they will only realize an income of just over $7,000 annually. And baby boomers by no means are the only generation ill-prepared for retirement. Millennials should be socking away money for their retirement years. But research done by the National Institute on Retirement Security indicates that most millennials aren’t even participating in their employer-sponsored retirement plan. We spoke with tax expert and CPA Mary Kay Foss about the mistakes people make regarding preparing for—or rather not preparing for—retirement.

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If your house is destroyed in an earthquake, would you be able to recover your insurance documents? In the event of a flood, could you salvage such things as your passport and children’s birth certificates? Would you be able to safeguard cherished letters and other sentimental treasurers should a wildfire ravage your property? Whether it’s a federally declared disaster or the destruction of your property by an arson fire, you will need to recover important documents that will help reconstruct your life. We talked with CPA and personal financial specialist Mitch Freedman about what documents should be safeguarded.

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According to a recent Bankrate dot com survey, about 37 percent of Americans have a side hustle—a job they do outside their full-time work so as to get extra income. Some have more than just one side hustle. And millennials—Americans born between 1981 and 1996—are more likely to have at least one side hustle than older generations. We talked with Larry Pon, a Redwood City CPA, about some of the financial issues—including taxes and saving for retirement—that those workers with side hustles should consider.

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If you have retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, you will one day have to start withdrawing the money from your investments. But when do you absolutely have to and how much must you withdraw? These decisions will affect how much money you have to live off of during retirement. To provide some guidance, we consulted with Lynette Atchley, a CPA and personal financial specialist in Redlands, California.

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Many Americans dream of becoming a millionaire. And it isn’t that difficult to turn that dream into a reality—providing you save and invest wisely. We asked Los Angeles CPA Gregg Wind for some tips on how to become a member of the millionaire’s club.

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When do you need a CPA? If you need a CPA, how do you find one? What services does a CPA offer? How can you be sure that a CPA is qualified to advise you? If you have those questions, you've come to the right podcast. And who best to answer such questions than an experienced and well-qualified CPA like Michael Velazquez of Glendale, California.

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The most available statistics indicate that almost 122 million Americans are married while about 18 million Americans are cohabitating—that is living together without benefit of marriage. Just like married couples, unmarried, cohabitating couples have to figure out how they are going to handle their expenses. Who pays the grocery bills, especially if one partner wants caviar but the other one can’t stand the eggs? Should they buy a house together? Because an unmarried couple doesn’t have a marriage contract, things can get a bit dicey when it comes to making monetary decisions. So we asked Janet Krochman, a Costa Mesa CPA to provide some financial guidance for cohabitors.

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