Investing in low-cost index funds has risen sharply over the last 20 years – and for good reason. Studies have shown that the S&P 500 has historically outperformed the vast majority of active money managers. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be a “do it yourself” investor.

DIY investors can fall victim to some very common mistakes – the biggest of which is letting their emotions -- rather than logic and data -- dictate their decisions. In fact, the numbers show that when investors listen to their “gut,” they’re wrong two out of every three times!

On this episode of The Lange Money Hour, CPA and Attorney Jim Lange will welcome back his frequent guest and nationally recognized investment advisor, P.J. DiNuzzo, CEO of Pittsburgh-based DiNuzzo Index Advisors, Inc. P.J. and Jim will discuss the added value that a qualified, low-fee advisor who takes his or her fiduciary responsibility (acting in your best interest) seriously can bring to the investor/client relationship.

Examples include:

• Expertise on asset allocation.

• Recommendations for Social Security planning.

• Evaluating the options and the merits of Roth IRA conversions.

• Understanding and planning for your future—not some generic future.

• Offering reassurance in turbulent times to help you stick to a safe course of action.

• Developing a coordinated and comprehensive financial plan that addresses short-term, long-term, and estate planning needs, as well as dreams and wishes—you might be very surprised to learn that you do have the resources for that dream vacation or a vacation home.

KQV will rebroadcast the show this Sunday at 9:05 a.m. The audio will also be archived on our web site at www.paytaxeslater.com/radioshow.php, along with a written transcript.

The audio will also be archived on our web site at www.paytaxeslater.com/radioshow.php, along with a written transcript.

*All investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy or plan will be successful. Investment advisory services offered by Lange Financial Group, LLC.

Last month, Donald Trump proposed slashing taxes for both individual taxpayers and businesses. His plan, sketched out in a one-page statement given to reporters in late April, provided few details and didn’t explain how the tax cuts would be financed. The House – led by Speaker Paul Ryan – has its own ideas about tax reform, as does the Senate. There are a lot of unknowns.

Which cuts will prevail? How will Congress decide?

On this episode of The Lange Money Hour, CPA and Attorney Jim Lange welcomes back Laurence Kotlikoff. Kotlikoff is a renowned economics professor, columnist, and bestselling author. His recent WSJ op-ed piece indicates that he believes that the House plan is better for the economy than the Trump plan.

Jim and Larry will discuss the specifics of each proposal, how they might affect you as a taxpayer and investor – and how you can prepare for the future. They’ll cover topics like:

• The nuts and bolts of the House and White House plans, and why Larry thinks one is better than the other.

• Whether he believes Trump and members of Congress truly understand tax issues well enough to make wise decisions.

• What impact tax reform is likely to have on the deficit.

• What Larry would do differently if he could propose a tax plan of his own.

• If taxes fall under Trump, is it reasonable to assume they’ll go back up in the years ahead?

• Do these tax fluctuations make it a good time to do a Roth IRA conversion?

The audio will also be archived on our web site at www.paytaxeslater.com/radioshow.php, along with a written transcript.

*All investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy or plan will be successful. Investment advisory services offered by Lange Financial Group, LLC.

Should you choose a Roth or a Traditional IRA? Is a Roth IRA conversion right for you? What are the tax implications of your choices, both now and taking into account potential future tax law changes? There are so many questions it can seem impossible to develop a sound strategy, but you need to have one. Hoping for the best is not a plan.

On this episode of The Lange Money Hour, CPA/Attorney Jim Lange welcomes back Ed Slott, CPA, best-selling author and one of the top IRA experts in the country. The Wall Street Journal calls Ed’s website, irahelp.com, “The best source for IRA advice .” Listen to this show and learn from the best—your financial security depends upon it.

On this program, Jim and Ed discuss:

• The basics of Roth IRAs

• The benefits of the Roth 401K and who is eligible

• Common IRA mistakes Ed has come across in recent years

• Strategies to help baby boomers minimize the tax impact of required minimum distributions

• The importance of long-term planning over quick fixes

• What to do if your income is too high to contribute to a Roth IRA (Back Door Roth IRA)

• Whether taxes will go down, and if so, how members of the middle class can benefit

• How you and your heirs can plan for the pending “Death of the Stretch IRA”

• And… what Pittsburgh Pirate Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski has to do with your retirement planning!

The audio will also be archived on our web site at www.paytaxeslater.com/radioshow.php, along with a written transcript.

*All investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy or plan will be successful. Investment advisory services offered by Lange Financial Group, LLC.

New leadership in Washington always brings with it an element of uncertainty for Americans, as both citizens and investors. In 2017, that uncertainty has been heightened following the unprecedented election of Donald J. Trump – the first man ever elected to the nation’s highest office without political or military experience.If you’ve followed the headlines, you know that President Trump’s first 90 days in office have been a rollercoaster ride. And for investors, one of the biggest unanswered questions is what the President will do when it comes to taxes.Last week, the White House announced that the President is scrapping the tax reform plan that he touted during his campaign in favor of a new plan – one that likely won’t be ready by a previously announced August deadline. When the new plan does arrive, will it still resemble the campaign plan? Or will Trump offer an olive branch to Democrats to try to get a deal done?In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, CPA/Attorney Jim Lange will welcome back to the program Roberton Williams from the independent/nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Bob joined Jim last fall to discuss how Trump’s tax policy proposals compared to Hillary Clinton’s. Now he’ll take a fresh look at the President’s past promises – and what might lie ahead.Jim and Bob will cover topics like:• What a Trump tax reform plan might look like• Whether Trump’s recent tax talk resembles what he promised on the campaign trail • The current status of potential tax changes• If individual tax rates go down, will they likely go up in the future?• If so, would that make it a great time to do a Roth IRA conversion?KQV will rebroadcast the show this Sunday at 9:05 a.m. The audio will also be archived on our web site at www.paytaxeslater.com/radioshow.php, along with a written transcript.*All investing involves risk, including the potential for loss of principal. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy or plan will be successful. Investment advisory services offered by Lange Financial Group, LLC.

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, we welcome tax expert Sandy Botkin.

Taxes! We are all thinking about them this week—either congratulating ourselves for getting them done early or scrambling to beat the April 18th deadline. While revising the tax code may be on the government’s agenda, we are stuck with what we have for now. Avoiding costly mistakes, or better yet, taking advantage of tax breaks we are eligible for is everybody’s goal, but the IRS code is notoriously complex. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how you can keep more money in your hands by giving less of it to Uncle Sam. And for those of you who have completed your taxes, if you learn something new, there will still be time to revise.

Sandy has spent the past 20+ years teaching thousands of people how to save millions on their taxes. His expertise goes beyond simply saving money--he’ll also talk about the latest tax-related scams and how to avoid them.

On the program, Jim and Sandy will comment on topics like:

• Strategies to legally and ethically lower your taxes

• What to do (and what not to do) as we approach tax day

• Contributing to IRA and 401K plans before the deadline

• The top 10 mistakes that individuals and small businesses make when filing their taxes

• The tax pros and cons of getting Medicare with a supplement vs. Medicare Advantage

• Tax scams and frauds: how to avoid them, and how to minimize their impact if they strike

• What to do if you become the victim of identity theft

Making decisions about your financial future can be daunting. It’s hard to know which investment path to follow and how much risk you can tolerate. There’s a lot of noise to filter out -- from the talking heads on TV to advisors who aren’t necessarily looking out for your best interests, i.e., they are not fiduciary advisers who are legally bound to act in your best interest. You also need to evaluate whether you can navigate these choppy waters on your own, or if you would benefit from the help of an experienced, reputable advisor.

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, CPA/Attorney Jim Lange and Pittsburgh-based investment expert, P.J. DiNuzzo, discuss how to invest successfully for financial independence and how to avoid the retirement pitfalls that can undermine your success.

Jim and P.J. will cover:

1. Key personality traits of a successful DIY investor

2. The value of reputable advisor—both financially and in terms of peace-of-mind

3. What Gamma research and behavioral science can teach us about saving for retirement

4. How determining your optimal asset allocation depends on age, health and risk tolerance

5. The best techniques for diversifying your portfolio

6. Why you should try to BE the market, not BEAT the market

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, CPA/Attorney and retirement and estate planning expert Jim Lange will discuss his flexible estate planning techniques – focusing in particular on Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan.

We all face uncertainty when it comes to predicting who the ideal beneficiary for any given asset will be at the time of our death. We don’t know how much money there will be because we can’t know how the market will perform. There is uncertainty about which family members will have the greatest financial need at the time of our death. Will there be an expensive illness that will mean our surviving spouse needs all of the money? Or perhaps our spouse will have plenty of money, and our children or grandchildren could use the money more.

If you draft estate planning documents that don’t account for changing circumstances, your heirs likely won’t get the full benefits of your assets.

This strategy, which has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Kiplingers involves naming primary and contingent beneficiaries to your IRA or estate plan. What makes it so effective is the concept of “disclaiming” – the idea that each beneficiary can disclaim – or “pass” – on accepting an IRA or other assets. This allows the primary beneficiary to take the assets for themselves, or to say “I don’t need it,” and pass it to the next beneficiary in line.

This episode will lay out how flexible estate planning cannot only help get your money into the right hands after your death, but can actually save your heirs thousands – or even hundreds of thousands – of dollars. And Jim will discuss how these techniques are likely to be affected by the looming “Death of the Stretch IRA.”

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, we welcome Brian Boswell, a subject matter expert on 529 savings plans. He is responsible for all things 529, including contributing content to the Savingforcollege.com web site, quarterly performance rankings, and media relations. Brian has worked with 529's in multiple capacities since 2001. Prior to joining Savingforcollege.com, Brian served as Director of Advisor Distribution to Ascensus College Savings (formerly Upromise Investments, Inc.), the leading administrator of 529 savings and prepaid plans. There he oversaw the advisor-related business of ACS. At FRC (Financial Research Corporation) Brian served as Subject Matter Expert for educational savings research, responsible for developing and overseeing all FRC products and services related to college savings plans.

For most American parents, saving for a child’s higher education is a daunting task. Many of us don’t have the resources to begin saving early enough even if we know we should. One way to chip away at the problem is to enlist the support of family with contributions to a college saving plan. But what is the best way to do that? Are some plans more flexible than others? Do any offer tax advantages? With average tuition and fees at both private and public colleges and universities hitting unbelievable numbers, take time to learn the ABC’s of 529 plans.

TOPICS COVERED:

1. What will it cost to pay for college?

2. How much will I need to save?

3. What is a 529 Plan?

4. How does a 529 Plan impact financial aid eligibility?

5. What will it pay for?

6. Which plan is best?

7. Why not just use a Roth IRA to save for college?

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, we welcome Larry Swedroe, a noted researcher and nationally recognized investment expert. Larry is director of research for Buckingham Strategic Wealth. He has authored 15 books, including his latest, Your Complete Guide to Factor-Based Investing, as well as Think, Act & Invest Like Warren Buffett, among many others. Larry has made numerous appearances on TV, sharing his ideas with viewers of NBC, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg Personal Finance. As a researcher, Larry has earned a reputation for evidence-based investing and exposing misinformation coming out in the mainstream financial media. In this episode you’re going to learn what alpha is, why most investors don’t take Warren Buffett’s advice, why active money management is a loser’s game, and we'll review Larry’s list of some of the lessons we learned from the market in 2016.

TOPICS COVERED:

1. Introduction of Larry Swedroe

2. Investment Lessons from 2016

3. Active Money Management Is a Loser’s Game

4. Passively Managed Funds Outperform Index Funds

5. Better Value Justifies Higher Operational Costs

6. Best Returns Occur When the Unexpected Happens

7. Resist the Urge to Panic and Sell

8. Good and Bad Sides of Donald Trump Will Disrupt Markets

9. Emerging Markets Attractive to Investors Who Can Handle Volatility

10. Investors Would Be Smart to Ignore All Market Forecasts

11. Keep Your Political Views Out of Investment Decisions

12. Trump’s Opposition to Free Trade Is Dead Wrong

To read the show transcript or listen to the MP3 file, http://bit.ly/2ouiYDH

In this episode of The Lange Money Hour: Where Smart Money Talks, we welcome Dan Penning. Dan is the founding member of the Penning Group Advisors and Attorneys. Mr. Penning is a nationally recognized expert in cottage law and succession planning for family-legacy assets. The Penning Group maintains offices in Suttons Bay, Grand Rapids and Novi, Michigan. Jim and Dan will talk about cottages, second homes, and answer questions such as, is second home really worth it? and is it a consumer of wealth or a producer of wealth? They'll also talk about tax laws affecting second homes, renting out and maintaining those homes, and also planning to pass your property down to the next generation.

TOPICS COVERED:

1. Introduction of Dan Penning of Penning Group Advisors and Attorneys

2. Second Home Usually Is a Consumer of Wealth, Not a Producer of Wealth

3. Second Home That’s Far Away Is More Difficult to Enjoy

4. Renting Out Your Second Home Has Tax Advantages

5. Is It Smarter to Rent a Second Home Before Buying It?

6. Best Ways to Pass a Second Home to the Next Generation

7. LLC Is Good Way to Structure Ownership, Maintenance, Transfer of Interest

8. Planning to Avoid Conflicts Is Cheaper Than Going to Court

9. Penning Group Works With Clients, Attorneys in 33 States

10. Two Books Provide Basic Information on Protecting Second Home

To read the show transcript or listen to the MP3 file, http://bit.ly/2nEiuI0