Onward And Upward Podcast

In today's episode Kyle invites his father, Duane Martin, to talk about his recent retirement and how he has prepared for it. Duane had a successful career in sales, including leading sales teams for IBM in their Quantum Computing business, but as approached retirement, he knew that idleness wouldn't be the solution for a happy and healthy life after work.

A man of many hobbies and pursuits, Duane spent time reflecting on what life would look like when he no longer had to clock in for work. Retirement is about much more than the number in your portfolio, or your annual draw from that portfolio, or really any one number. It's about what you want to do, what roles in your family and community you want to take on, how you can leave a legacy. Duane's journey is just beginning, but his preparation

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Kyle Martin works with a number of clients who are blessed with extra financial resources, and wish to give them away to others in need, including other family members, their church, and charities. There are actually several different ways to give away money, each with certain limits, tax and legal implications. In today's episode Kyle reviews the basic methods for charitable giving and some of the reasons you may choose each method.

A few ways to give away your money:

• Cash -- the simplest way to give is simply sending cash to kids, family, and friends. You can give up to $19,000 per year to individuals without paying tax on the giving, or a married couple may give up to $38,000 per year. You can give up $30 million in your lifetime before paying inheritance tax.
• Give to Charities or Non-Profit (501c3) -- Gifts given to these organizations are not subject to limits or tax
• Gift Securities -- securities such as stocks and bonds held in a non-retirement account (i.e. not a 401k or IRA) can be given to other individuals. When you give securities away, you do not pay capital gains on any gains in the stock. You also get to deduct the full market value of the security when you make the gift. This can be a powerful way to give away wealth if you hold stocks or other securities that have appreciated a lot.
• Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) -- instead of giving cash or securities to a person or organization immediately, you can instead setup a donor-advised fund and transfer your gifts to the fund. You still take the deduction for the full amount of the gift transfered to the DAF, but that gift does not have to be given right away. The gift could be given later in the next year, or dripped out over a period of years. This creates a sort of charitable bank that you can use to direct where and how your giving goes.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Today Kyle tackles the ever-popular four percent "rule," which states that if you withdraw up to 4% of the value of your retirement portfolio each year, your portfolio will last for at least 30 years (assuming the portfolio is invested in a mix of stocks and bonds). Originally proposed by William Bengen in 1994, the four percent rule as it has come to be known is still repeated ad naseum in financial planning and retirement circles -- it seems to be a bedrock piece of advice and the benchmark for deciding whether you have saved enough to stop working. Kyle points out a number of problems with taking the four percent rule at face value, however, and making it the cornerstone of your financial plan.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Kyle chats with a friend and mentor Dr. Don McNeeley, former CEO and now chairman of Chicago Tube & Iron, a manufacturer of steel products and fabrication services that has been in business for over 100 years. Don grew up on a farm in Illinois, the son of an Irish immigrant and a Korean war veteran. A gifted athlete, Don had a brief in stint in minor league baseball before enlisting in the police academy, where he met a man named Bob Haigh. Bob's father, John, ran Chicago Tube & Iron, and ended up getting Don a job at the company. Don quickly proved his aptitude for math and cutting pipe, and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming CEO at the age of 28 and serving in that role for over two decades.

One thing Don learned and continued in his term as CEO is the value of committed, long-term leadership. CT&I has only had five CEOs in it's 112 years of operation, each serving for decades. During his tenure, he looked forward to the next generation of leadership, and sought to give the employees and future leaders as much education and mentorship as possible. He continues that work today in his other role as a professor at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, where he teaches. He also serves as chairman of the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), where he launced a scholarship program which has provided over $13 million of financial assistance for higher education to the children of industrial metal workers.

In this episode, Don shares some of his life story including his passion for learning and his journey to find purpose in not creating wealth for himself but creating jobs and opportunites for other people. As he likes to say, success is best when shared.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Kyle invites insurance expert Max Schmitz to break down disability insurance and long term care (LTC) insurance, two insurance products which are not well understood and, in the case of LTC, carry negative connotations from a couple decades ago. Kyle and Max discuss what constitues a disability for insurance purposes, and why disability insurance can be an important part of a financial plan for working professionals heavily reliant on their income for both their current needs and saving for the future. About 1 in 4 people will suffer from a disability that affects their ability to work during their lifetime, yet disability insurance is not on most people's radars, like life insurance for instance.

Long term care insurance is more well known, especially as costs for retirement homes and elderly medical care have skyrocketed, but it carries negative connotations from those who purchased policies in previous decades only to see their premiums increase to unsustainable levels. Max explains how LTC insurance is a relatively new insurance product, and why insurance companies severely underpriced it in the 80s based on the unique high-interest rate environment of the time. Nowadays, however, many of the kinks have been worked out and pricing is much more stable, so LTC insurance is easier to understand and incorporate into a financial plan. It's perhaps more important than ever, with the costs of elder care rising steadily.

Max Schmitz is the president of a family-owned insurance brokerage called Yetworth Insurance Specialists. If you're interested in insurance products, you can contact them here:

https://www.yetworth.com

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Charis Ellis, Director of Financial Planning at Murphy Financial Group, returns to the podcast to talk with Kyle about the array of investment accounts or financial "buckets" available for retirement and which ones are right for you. There are many vehicles available to save for retirement nowadays, but they all have different tax implications both now and in the future. One of the common mistakes people make is thinking about taxes as only a current year issue -- how do I pay the least amount of taxes this year? -- instead of looking at the taxes they will pay over their lifetime. Kyle and Charis break down the accounts you need to understand and illustrate the "middle way" between the most optimal way to plan for taxes and the way that best suits your unique psychology and life goals.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Kyle explores the common investment accounts available to your kids. to help them get started in life: 529's, Uniform Transfers to Minor Accounts or UTMA's, and the new Trump accounts that are rolling out in the summer of 2026. More imporatntly, Kyle addresses the importance of maintaining open communication with your kids about money, the family's financial status, and building good budgeting and financial management skills throughout childhood. Reaching legal adulthood with a solid sense of how to manage money, how the family is setup to help with education and early adult expenses, and how the family wishes to help is a huge step up in life. It just requires some planning and lots of open communication along the way.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Most people come to Kyle and Murphy Financial Group with financial questions about their retirement. Do I have enough money saved? Will the money last? Have we planned appropriately for taxes? While financial concerns are an important part of retirement planning, they aren't everything, and not even the primary question to deal with. After working through financial concerns, Kyle seeks to understand what it is that his clients wish to do in their retirement -- what their goals and dreams are, what roles they want to step into after their working life -- and this often proves to be a difficult question for them. Many people spend so much time thinking about money in retirement, that they forget to reflect on what they actually want to do in retirement.

As Kyle likes to phrase the question: are you retiring from something, or retiring to something? Retirement can be a difficult transition for people, especially if they derive a lot of fulfillment and a sense of identity in work. Without a clear vision of what retirement will look like, it's difficult to pull the trigger on actually retiring. To that end, Kyle recommends thinking about three aspects of retirement to help make your retirement vision more concrete:

• Financial: these questions can be answered fairly concretely, especially with the help of an advisor like Kyle
• Psychological/Social: how do you want to feel in retirement? How do you see your identity and role in society changing when you retire?
• Physical: what activities do you want to do in retirement? Do you see yourself traveling, playing sports, being more active in general? Does your retirement plan allow you enough time to pursue these things while you have the ability to?

Whether you a few years away or a few decades away from retirement, working toward a clear picture of what your retirement looks like financially, psychologically, and physically is the most important part of your retirement plan.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

Contact Axel R. Cerny

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.dupageattorneys.org/lawyers/axel-r-cerny/

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.

As AI technology continues to make rapid advancements, everyone is wondering what jobs and roles it will displace in the future. Kyle weighs in with his thoughts about how AI is reshaping the financial advisory industry, and why he has optimism that the workforce will be resilient in the face of major technological innovation.

Connect with Kyle

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.murphyfingroup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-martin-cfp®-aams®-05033352

Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member www.FINRA.org/www.SIPC.com, a Registered Investment Adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth. The financial advisor(s) associated with this material may only discuss or transact business with residents of states in which they are properly registered. Please check FINRA's BrokerCheck for a list of current registrations. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state requirements and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. The information discussed on this program is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. All investments involve risk, including the loss or principal. No strategy can assure a profit, protect against loss in declining markets, or guarantee that any objective or goal will be achieved. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation. Murphy Financial Group 310 S Hale Street Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 523-0410 Review our Terms of Use: www.commonwealth.com/termsofuse.html

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Murphy Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice.