Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy and MarketWatch columnist Beth Pinsker, CFP®, discuss the most common questions she gets from her readers:

• Am I doing this (i.e. financial planning) right? ( 11:22 )
• Should I do a Roth conversion? ( 21:10 )
• Can I make this large purchase I'm considering? ( 30:13 )
• When should I claim Social Security? ( 47:40 )
• Various questions around estate planning and choosing a caregiver ( 52:57 )

Links in this episode:

• Beth's website, include info about her book - https://bethpinsker.com/
• Beth's MarketWatch site - https://www.marketwatch.com/author/beth-pinsker
• Ask Beth a question at MarketWatch - https://forms.gle/6mHDCWhD7RoHdCPg7
• Beth's previous appearance on the Retirement Planning Education podcast - here

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

• Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• A correction about the previously discussed topic of contributing to a child's Roth IRA if they have earnings but don't file a tax return and don't have the earnings reported on a W-2 ( 3:52 )
• A follow up on a previously discussed question of whether it's better to pay $27k of tax to do a $100k Roth conversion, or to contribute $27k to an employer Roth account via the mega backdoor Roth contribution approach ( 7:26 )
• A clarification about a previously discussed question regarding taking money out of a government 457 plan prior to age 59 1/2 ( 10:08 )
• How pro rata works when doing a Roth conversion out of an IRA that has a mix of after-tax contributions, aka "basis," and pre-tax money such as earnings, and whether the IRA with the basis should be fully converted away before rolling in pre-tax money from a 401(k) ( 14:20 )
• Whether to take money out of a Roth account or a pre-tax/tax-deferred account, and why ( 22:07 )
• How to apply the Alternative Minimum Tax ("AMT") credit, if you have any such credit from having had to pay the AMT in prior years ( 27:52 )
• How to address and fix Form 8606 if prior year's versions weren't correct ( 33:22 )
• How the withdrawals from a Fixed Indexed Annuity, purchased with pre-tax IRA money, with guaranteed withdrawal rider factor into calculating and meeting Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") across the rest of your non-annuity IRAs ( 38:50 )
• His thoughts on Transfer on Death, or TOD, beneficiary designations for real estate. And considerations when in a state that doesn't allow TOD on real estate but instead allows things such as Life Estate Deeds (such as in New Jersey) ( 48:46 )
• His views on using Collateralized Loan Obligation ("CLO") ETFs that are rated AAA and pay higher interest than savings accounts or Treasury Bills, as cash equivalents in lieu of using savings accounts or Treasury Bills ( 59:26 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Links in this episode:

• Andy's YouTube video - IRA After-Tax "Basis," the Pro Rata Rule and Form 8606
• Andy's YouTube video - What is a Fixed Indexed Annuity with Income Rider?

• Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Mike. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as how he learned important investing insights from Paul Merriman, how he adapted going from accumulation to decumulation mode, how he used a health sharing organization in lieu of traditional health insurance prior to starting Medicare, his thoughts on trying to downsize homes, and more!

 
 Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Andy and Dan VanDusen from Objective Wealth share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:

• How to decide between investing money for a child or grandchild in a 529 vs Trump account vs UTMA brokerage account ( 9:19 )
• What errors and missed items they commonly see in reviewing tax returns ( 18:28 )
• Their thoughts on the current state of affairs of the bond market ( 25:10 )
• What to do with appreciated mutual funds held in a normal brokerage account where the funds throw off variable and potentially large taxable capital gain distributions each year ( 33:36 ) 
• How to address concentrated appreciated stock positions in brokerage accounts, where selling the shares would lead to sizable tax impacts ( 42:00 )
• The areas of retirement planning that people unnecessarily give too much attention too ( 46:19 )
• Estate planning considerations, particularly at the state level (for states that have estate and/or inheritance taxes) ( 54:26 )
• How to help people give themselves "permission to spend" their retirement savings ( 1:03:50 )
• How to factor a potential inheritance to be received into a financial plan ( 1:11:03 )

Links in this episode:

• Objective Wealth's website - https://www.objectivewealthfp.com/

• Andy's company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

To follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Andy discusses the basics of bonds, including:

• Basic features and functions of bonds
• The risks in bonds
• Bond issuers and maturities
• How bonds can be used
• How and why bond prices changes, and how interest rates impact prices
• Bonds vs bond funds

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial's October 1 newseltter - The basics of bonds: what they are, how they work, and how to use them in retirement planning
• Andy's YouTube video - Bonds, bond prices, and bond yields

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

To follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Follow up thoughts on a previous question about whether it's better to use $27k of cash to make a mega backdoor Roth contribution, or to do a $100k in-plan Roth conversion and use the $27k to pay the taxes on it ( 4:01 )
• Why the 4% rule isn't called the 3% rule, when working with an advisor who charges 1% of assets under management ( 13:52 )
• His thoughts on how Artificial Intelligence might impact the advisory world with regards to service offerings and fee structures ( 17:25 )
• Similarities and differences between Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") and annuity income ( 22:56 )
• A few questions about Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS: how they might fit into a retiree's portfolio, how to choose the length of maturity, if there is a minimum yield one should target to justify it, and thoughts on deciding what allocation to use between TIPS and equities ( 26:24 )
• Social Security claiming thoughts for a married couple where one spouse doesn't have any earnings history or Social Security benefit of their own; should the other spouse not delay starting their benefit so the other spouse can start spousal benefits sooner? ( 39:56 )
• If investing money for your child, how to decide between funding a Trump account or a Roth IRA ( 45:38 )
• Whether Roth conversions would still make sense if you have to pay tax via distribution and withholding out of the conversion, instead of paying the tax out of "outside" funds such as cash from bank or brokerage accounts ( 50:15 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial's August 2026 newsletter - Trump accounts; what they are, how they work, and use cases
• Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

In this replay of Andy's recent guest appearance on the Catching up to FI podcast, Andy and hosts Bill Yount, MD, and Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP®, AFC®, talk all about traditional defined benefit pensions. What they are, how they work, how to decide between taking payments vs a lump sum and much more!

Links in this episode:

• The original audio version of the Catching up to FI podcast episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-pensions-really-dead-the-surprising-value-of/id1664430924?i=1000785277603
• The original YouTube version of the Catching up to FI podcast episode - https://youtu.be/vU_popXD2_A?si=QC3p1_gGvIRNjxFx
• Catching up to FI website - https://catchinguptofi.com/

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

To follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Ryan Langan, CFP®, from Your Path Fi. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more!

Links in this episode:

• Ryan's advisory company website - https://www.yourpathfi.com/

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

To follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Andy discusses what all is involved in moving to a new state, from a tax perspective...properly changing your "domicile" and "residence" to the new state. Spoiler alert: It's not necessarily as simple as buying a house and spending at least six months and a day in the new state!

Links in this episode:

• My in-depth write-up of changing state domicile and residence, examples and court cases of people who did and didn't properly change their domicile and residence, and more! - How to move to a new state...tax compliantly

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

To follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Whether to use money in a 457b to pay down a mortgage or to pay taxes on Roth conversions ( 7:56 )
• How Social Security survivor benefits work, and the optimal ages for spouses to each claim their own Social Security ( 18:54 )
• His thoughts on why the Social Security trust fund hasn't been allowed to invest in equities ( 25:36 )
• Creating spreadsheets to replace financial planning software, and using it to help your ongoing retirement planning and projections ( 30:40 )
• His thoughts on whether someone should try to convert ALL of their pre-tax money to Roth ( 36:56 )
• Transferring/rolling money from an IRA to an HSA (Health Savings Account) ( 46:05 )
• Whether you have to start Medicare Part A if you start Social Security but are still covered by a spouse's employer's health insurance ( 49:18 )
• Updating beneficiaries on investment accounts after one of the beneficiaries passes ( 53:17 )
• His thoughts on whether comparing a portfolio's investment returns to those of the S&P 500 is appropriate, and whether it's okay to hold bonds as investments ( 58:22 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial's March 2026 newsletter - Gifting, annual gift exclusions, gift taxes and gift tax returns (IRS Form 709)
• Tenon Financial's March 2024 newsletter - Don't compare your portfolio's returns to those of the S&P 500
• Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com