Estate planning tends to get treated like something you only worry about after you're gone. But the truth is that some of the most important parts of an estate plan are the documents and decisions that matter while you're still alive. 

Think about this: Would your family be able to act on your behalf if you became incapacitated? Do you know which of your assets would actually follow your will and which would pass by beneficiary designation or title instead? Could probate delay things, make your affairs public, or create unnecessary costs? And if you have a trust, have you actually funded it so it can do the job it was created to do?

Learn all about the top 5 things you didn't know about estate planning with podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

The idea that you should own fewer stocks as you get older is one of the most common rules of thumb in retirement planning. The logic says that stocks are supposedly "risky,” so as you age, you should reduce your exposure. But that simple rule may be asking the wrong question and leading to the wrong conclusion.

Think about this: Is stock exposure really the right place to start, or should the focus be on how much of your portfolio needs to be safe to support your income? Does owning fewer stocks actually reduce risk, or does it depend on when and why you might need to sell them? And if your safer assets are structured to cover your cash flow needs, does that change how much of your portfolio can remain invested for long-term growth?

Should you really own fewer stocks in retirement, or could the opposite be true under the right structure? Find out from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

Retirement income planning looks like a math problem: formulas, percentages, projections, etc. These are important, and they form what may be called the "scientific" portion of a financial strategy. But what often gets overlooked is the other half of the equation: the judgment, flexibility, and real-world decision-making required to make those numbers actually work for a person’s life.

Think about this: Once the math says you have enough to retire, how do you decide which assets belong in each bucket? Should part of the plan create guaranteed lifetime income? How do Social Security timing, pension options, Roth conversions, and tax considerations influence the structure of your retirement income? 

That's where the often-ignored side of planning comes in: the ART of the retirement income strategy. Find out how the Bucket Strategy® blends both science and art from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

Have you heard of the "RMD-style" retirement withdrawal strategy? It involves taking a percentage of your portfolio each year based on life expectancy tables, which, on paper, ensures you never fully deplete your account. But retirement is not lived on paper.

Think about this: If your income changes every year based on market performance, what happens after a down year? Would you be comfortable taking a pay cut because your portfolio value dropped? If a formula built to avoid running out of money doesn't also protect your monthly cash flow, that is a seriously flawed approach.

How do you structure your withdrawals so that market downturns do not translate into spending cuts? Podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® tell you how to potentially protect both the short- AND long-term on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

Estate planning deserves more attention than it usually gets in retirement conversations. You've spent a lifetime building assets, but what really determines whether your family benefits is how those assets are structured and transferred. 

Think about this: Have you checked whether your will actually controls everything you own? Are your beneficiary designations aligned with your trust and your current wishes? Could taxes, probate, or family dynamics reduce what your heirs ultimately receive? These are the kinds of questions that matter more than most people realize.

What can you do to make sure your assets go where you want them to go once you're no longer here? Find out from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

Losing a spouse is something no one likes to think about, but for virtually every married couple, it’s a reality that will eventually have to be faced. And beyond the emotional toll, there are financial changes that happen automatically, whether you’re prepared for them or not.

For example: What really happens to Social Security benefits when one spouse passes away? How does losing married filing jointly status affect your taxes? Why can Medicare premiums actually increase, even if household income drops? And what mistakes can be made with inherited retirement accounts that can’t be undone?

What should you know before you ever need to? Learn all about it as podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® walk through four critical financial shifts every surviving spouse should understand on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

When people look back on their retirement years, what do they wish they had done differently? It turns out the biggest regrets aren’t about picking the wrong stock or missing out on an investment. They’re much more fundamental, and much more common.

In this episode, podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP®, dig into the five regrets retirees consistently report in major national surveys. Why do certain themes show up again and again? Where do people feel they missed opportunities, or didn't understand the long-term consequences of their decisions?

You can't undo the past, but you can still shape what happens next. Hearing what others wished they'd done better may help you avoid the same frustrations. What can you learn from those who’ve already been there? Find out on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

When you leave a job, what you do with your 401(k) often feels like a formality. But the reality is that most people have no idea what to do with their retirement plan, and they don’t know what their options are. And making the wrong move can cost you flexibility, trigger unnecessary taxes, or limit your options later on. 

In this episode, podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP®, break down the seven key factors everyone should consider before rolling over a retirement account. How does your age affect access and penalties? When does leaving money in a 401(k) actually make sense? And why is “just roll it into an IRA” often incomplete advice? 

If you have an old 401(k), are changing jobs, or you’re unsure whether your retirement money is sitting in the right place, you need some answers. A rollover isn’t automatically right, and it isn’t automatically wrong. What do you need to know? Find out on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future! 

There are plenty of conversations about how your money should be invested: stocks or bonds; aggressive or conservative; growth or safety, etc. But there’s another part of the equation that rarely gets the attention it deserves, and it can potentially cost you far more than a bad market year. 

Did you know that you can have solid investments and a reasonable portfolio and still end up with higher taxes, less income, or fewer options in retirement simply because your money is sitting in the wrong types of accounts? Asset allocation tells you what you own. Asset location determines how efficiently it actually works for you. 

How much does it matter where your money lives? And how can getting it wrong turn taxes into a long-term problem instead of a short-term nuisance? Find out from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP®, on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future! 

It's true that most investing success happens over long periods of time. So it would stand to reason that you should stay focused on the long term.  But when you think about it, the "long term" is really just a bunch of short-term periods bunched together.  And those short-term stretches can sometimes be brutal.

With that in mind, what if the real key to long-term success isn’t patience at all, but short-term management? What if protecting the near-term (your cash flow, your flexibility, your psyche) is what actually allows the long term to work the way it’s supposed to? How do you design a plan that takes the short-term worry out of the equation? 

Learn all about it from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP® on this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future!