In our previous episode, we answered 5 of your most common questions about The Bucket Strategy®. Those covered some of the more "basic" elements of the strategy, but they're important to know in order to understand the deeper meaning of Buckets.

This week we're answering a few more, but these questions are what we might call the "next level up" from basic, including: what's a good time horizon for each bucket? When should you refill the buckets? And are there any potential risks that could jeopardize the strategy?

Great questions, and we answer them all with podcast host Johnny Dean and "Professor" Rick Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!  

We've been talking about The Bucket Strategy® for decades, and over that period of time, we've received thousands of questions about how the strategy works: what it does, when the buckets should be refilled, and how it works when interest rates rise or fall, among others.

People's questions about The Bucket Strategy® generally range from the very basic to the extremely sophisticated, but most fall somewhere in the middle.  Today, we decided to take 5 of the more basic questions we've gotten and answer them.

Find out what others are asking us about the strategy with podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick "The Professor" Plum, CFP® on today's episode of Managing Your Financial Future! 

How is it possible that two individuals could retire with the exact same portfolio allocation and use the exact same withdrawal strategy, and yet one is still going strong after 40 years while the other is completely destroyed before year 10?

The problem comes with the uncontrollable element of investing: the stock market itself.  What happens with the markets in the first few years after retirement can determine the success or failure of a financial strategy.

This is why your strategy needs to anticipate what may happen before it actually does happen. Learn more about how to potentially protect yourself from the uncontrollable market swings with 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 "Gift Tax?"  Many people are at least familiar with the term, but relatively few know how, when, or where it might be applied.  Generosity certainly has its benefits, but is there also a tax that someone should be paying?

The answer is both yes and no.  And it all depends on a few important factors.  Knowing how the gift tax works can be especially helpful when it comes time to pass your assets down to your heirs, and if you're worth a lot of money, it's even more vital that you understand how it works.  

Find out who should worry about a gift tax and who should not with podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick "the Professor" Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

For many people, the 401(k) is their largest source of retirement savings. Because of that, it may be tempting to tap into some of that money in the form of a loan if you need some quick cash.

But is that smart?  Maybe - but only if you're aware of the rules and the potential pitfalls of borrowing from your plan.  While it can provide you with a certain amount of temporary money, if you don't know what the downsides are, you could find yourself in a big financial mess.

So what are the pros and cons?  Find out what you need to know about 401(k) loans from podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick "The Professor" Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

After years of building your savings, there are a number of scenarios that threaten to deplete it. But what happens if you retire just when the stock market takes a big downturn? If you're selling stocks to provide yourself with an income, you're courting disaster.

Of course, you have to have an income, and maybe a portion of that income has to come from your savings and investments. And yet, those investment may be shrinking in value. What can you do about this scenario?  The answer may be as easy as choosing the right withdrawal strategy.

Learn more from "Professor" Rick Plum, CFP® and podcast host Johnny Dean on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

The first trading two weeks of March, 2025 were brutal for stocks. Nearly $4 trillion of value was lost in less than a month.  All of this negative volatility, with suspicions that more is to come, has created a great deal of fear and panic among savers who don't want to see their gains wiped out.

What many people don't understand, though, is that volatility by itself is not risk. The risk only comes along when an investor makes the wrong moves at the wrong times based on strictly emotional responses. So what can you do about it?

Learn the truth about market volatility and how you may be able to emerge unscathed with podcast host Johnny Dean and Rick "The Professor" Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future.

In the middle of 2024, the rules changed for people who become beneficiaries of an IRA.  We devoted an entire episode to those changes at that time, but there's a lot more you need to know if you're planning on inheriting a tax-deferred account like a traditional IRA.

While it's always nice to inherit assets of any kind,  there are rules you need to be aware of.  Depending on when the person died and how old you are when you received the asset, among other things, if you're not careful with how you treat it, you could be looking at a much bigger tax bill than you'd expected.

Learn more from podcast host Johnny Dean and his guest, "Professor" Rick Plum, CFP® on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!

Several weeks back, we talked about how different types of retirement income are taxed. This topic created a follow-up question from several listeners who wanted to know: Will I be in a lower - or higher - tax bracket in retirement?

You might think that once you begin retirement, your tax bill will tend to go up at first, since people normally have much (if not most) of their retirement funds in a company retirement plan (401k, 403b, etc.) - all of which are taxable upon withdrawal at ordinary income rates.

But this may not necessarily be the case. It all comes down to proper planning. In this week’s episode of Managing Your Financial Future, podcast host Johnny Dean and “Professor” Rick Plum, CFP® talk about what you might expect to see from your taxes once you hang it all up for good!

The US tax system is by design a complicated beast, and trying to understand it all is a daunting challenge.  And yet, unless you understand how the tax brackets work, you may be paying a LOT more in taxes than you actually owe.

Most taxpayers assume that the amount of tax they pay is determined by which tax bracket they're currently in.  This is both a true and untrue statement.  If you're in the 24 percent bracket, does that mean every dollar you earn is taxed at that rate?  Going forward, yes; looking backward, no.

Confused?  Tune in to this week's podcast with host Johnny Dean and Rick "The Professor" Plum, CFP® to perhaps gain some clarity on this week's episode of Managing Your Financial Future!