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

• Their thoughts on the takeaways from 2025 annual Social Security Trustees report ( 7:17 )
• Some of provisions in the pending One Big Beautiful Bill Act that are likely to impact most people's tax returns ( 16:12 )
• Whether or not to get a loan or pay cash for a new car or house. Or, similarly, to pay down or pay off an existing loan ( 32:27 )
• Whether buying a 30 year Treasury bond is a replacement for a traditional income annuity in retirement ( 38:19 )
• When to consider getting a living/revocable trust ( 46:43 )
• Why the stock market keeps chugging ever-upward, even with so much seemingly uncertain in the world and the economy ( 54:38 )
• What longevity assumptions we use, and why, when doing financial planning and projections for client ( 1:07:45 )

Links in this episode:

• Lauren's firm - Daybreak Wealth
• Lauren's prior appearance on the Retirement Planning Education podcast - Episode #098
• The 2025 Annual Social Security Trustees Report - here

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

• My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

In the SPECIAL EDITION episode, Andy summarizes the key provision of the recently signed into law One Big Beautiful Act that are most likely to impact you and your tax return. The topics summarized are:

• Permanency of the current federal tax rates
• Permanency, and a slight increase, to the current standard deduction amounts
• A new temporary personal exemption up to $6,000 per person 65 or older
• Permanency, and a slight increase, to the lifetime gift and estate size exemption
• Permanency of the current Alternative Minimum Tax exclusion amount, but reduction/reversion of its income phase out levels
• Permanency of the $750,000 limit on residential mortgage principal against which interest can be deducted
• Permanency of the elimination of miscellaneous itemized deductions
• Temporary increase to $40,000 for State and Local Tax ("SALT") deductions
• A new permanent charitable deduction for people who use the standard deduction
• A new minimum AGI-based floor on charitable donations before donations can be itemized deductions
• A temporary exclusion from income tax of up to $25,000 tip income
• A temporary exclusion from income tax of up to $25,000 of overtime income
• A temporary deduction of up to $10,000 of interest loans to buy cars whose final assembly was in the U.S.
• Recissions of multiple "Green New Deal" tax credits such as electric vehicle credits and residential clean energy credits
• Creation of new "Trump" savings accounts for children under 18
• And the bill having NO changes with regards to how Social Security is taxed (i.e. the bill did NOT make Social Security not taxable)

Links in this episode:

• Final text of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act - here
• My written summary of the key individual income tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill - here

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

• My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy discusses the main ways in which investment custodians like Scwhab, Vanguard and Fidelity make money (even when you often don't outright directly pay them anything...)

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• 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]

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• A short explanation of bonds and "the bond market" ( 2:48 )
• Are actively managed bond funds better than passive bond funds ( 21:53 )
• What are the pros and cons of making all of the year's estimated tax payments in the first quarter ( 30:30 )
• Why insurers don't offer a long term care product with a 2-3 years elimination period or deductible to cover just LTC needs beyond a few years ( 34:07 )
• His thoughts on getting retirement income from dividends, Treasury interest and municipal bond interest ( 37:20 )
• Are there any advisors who specialize in working with couples where only one couple is involved in the household finances ( 42:47 )
• Are there any disadvantages to converting ALL pre-tax account balances to Roth ( 46:20 )
• Is disability income considered "earned income" and eligible to make IRA or Roth IRA contributions ( 55:30 )

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

• My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy chats with three different "real" people to discuss how they handled the non-financial/emotional transition from working to retirement, and what they do now to provide a sense of fulfillment, meaning and purpose and in retirement

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• 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 and Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• The pending "Big Beautiful Bill" tax bill that recently was approved by the House; what's in it, what's not in it, practical planning considerations around it, etc. ( 8:12 )
• Potential concerns about US debt US government bond defaults ( 34:50 )
• Talking to kids and heirs about your estate planning and wishes for after you're gone ( 50:02 )
• Estimated tax payments for people who recently retire ( 59:40 )
• Sources and tools to consider using to do tax return and estimated tax estimates ( 1:02:27 )
• The level of the S&P 500's concentration to the top few companies and the technology sector ( 1:06:04 )
• Whether 1.75% of assets is a reasonable fee for a financial advisor to charge ( 1:19:07 )
• What to know and consider when keeping money behind in a 401(k) vs rolling it over to an IRA ( 1:26:01 )

Links in this episode:

• Larry's firm - Optimum Retirement Planning
• Larry's previous appearance on the Retirement Planning Education Podcast - #081 – Retirement planner chat, with Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning
• Tax Foundation's summary of the Big Beautiful Bill
• Stephanie Kelton's book - The Deficit Myth
• The DinkyTown 1040 estimator
• The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator
• Tenon Financial's August 2024 newsletter about - Employer plan-to-IRA rollover pros and cons

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

• My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy discusses what financial firms do for their fee, using his own firm, Tenon Financial, as an example

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial's website - https://tenonfinancial.com/
• Tenon Financial's June 2025 newsletter - here
• Andy's article explaining how it's impossible to quantify the value of advisory services in - How Much Are Your Services Worth?

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• 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]

In this special guest host episode, Mike Powers and Kirsten Ashbaugh from Manuka Financial talk cybersecurity best practices.

Links in this episode:

• Manuka Financial's website - https://www.manukafinancial.com/

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• 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]

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Why more fund managers don't offer mutual fund-to-ETF conversions ( 5:02 )
• How my firm helps clients prepare for severe market declines, and how we communicate bad markets to them ( 8:48 )
• Who's the voice of the intro and outro to this podcast ( 16:06 )
• For spouses claiming Social Security, what's a good claiming strategy when one spouse doesn't have enough work history to get their own benefit and can only get spousal benefits ( 17:19 )
• Could a person continue to fund a 529 for their children and later transfer the beneficiary to eventual grandchildren ( 21:37 )
• What constitutes a gift of digital assets; is it the transfer of the key to the wallet? ( 24:01 )
• What date/time is used for the date of death valuation of assets, like crypto, that trade 24/7 ( 25:52 )
• How will the sale of a vacation property impact IRMAA ( 26:55 )
• How will the sale of a vacation property impact Roth conversion analysis and trying to fill up a certain tax bracket ( 28:46 )
• Why were the recent 3 and 5-year returns of total bond market funds so poor ( 32:48 )
• Making estimated payments or withholdings to cover the tax obligations from a Roth conversion done late in the year ( 41:39 )
• Thoughts on a listener's proposed basic retirement plan, investment allocation and bucketing strategy ( 47:20 )

• The Smart Money, Fresh Minds podcast - here
• My YouTube video on Estimated Taxes, Tax Withholdings and Underpayment Penalties - here

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

• My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
• Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy chats with real people (not advisors) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Rob Berger, the creator of the Rob Berger YouTube channel, the founder of the former DoughRoller website, published author and more!. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about retirement planning and a variety of financial topics such as Social Security, investing, how he plans to address any potential long term care scenarios and more!

Links in this episode:

• Rob's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@rob_berger
• Rob's website - https://robberger.com/

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• 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]