This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Maximizing Net After Tax Returns In Your Investment Portfolio

Today, I’m talking about why you should always consider the net after tax return, not just the gross returns of your portfolio. 

The main reason why you should always consider taxes is that “tax drag” as its commonly known - the impact on taxes on your actual, net returns - is one of the biggest haircuts you’ll take on your investments. 

And generally, the higher your income and tax bracket, the more you need to consider the tax drag on your portfolio. 

And the more time you have where that money will be invested, the more taxes will matter as well, since that money that went to Uncle Sam in taxes would have stayed invested otherwise, or at least more of it would have been invested. So you lose the accumulated value when the money that was taxed away would have otherwise stayed invested over time, which really adds up. 

I’m not talking hundreds or thousands, but for an affluent investor - someone with $500,000 to $2 million in investments - the difference in a portfolio return over your lifetime between someone who reduced the tax drag to the extent they could, and the investor who paid no mind to taxes - the difference in portfolio value over a 25-30 year saving and investment lifetime can easily add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

How Taxes Eat Into Your Returns - Case Study Example

Tax rate = 24% 

Annual return = 6%

Even if you liquidated both portfolios after 30 years, you’ll still owe capital gains taxes on the taxable account, and income taxed on the IRA - you’ll still be ahead by a good size margin. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

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>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

Welcome to a new week here on the Retirement Quick Tips podcast! I’m your host Ashley Micciche, co-owner of True North Retirement Advisors, an independent financial advisory practice managing $340 million in client assets. I’m a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and I’m using my 15 years of experience as a financial advisor to help you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.

On this podcast, I cover everything from investing, to retirement spending, to taxes in retirement in just a few minutes each day, so if you’re 5-10 years on either side of retirement, and looking for some daily doses of retirement planning wisdom, stick around this week as I talk about Maximizing Net After Tax Returns In Your Investment Portfolio

The genius Albert Einstein once said "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." If he doesn’t understand taxes, it should make you and I feel a bit better. 

When it comes to taxes on your investments, taxes should never be the primary driver behind investment decisions. In other words, as I tell clients frequently, you should never let the tax tail wag the dog. 

Yet, taxes are still a very important consideration with where and how you invest, and how you prioritize savings among different types of accounts like your 401k, Roth, and taxable accounts, all of which are taxed in very different ways. 

If you fail to consider taxes, it’s easy to leave 2% or more a year in returns on the table, which over a lifetime of investing can easily add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars that you could have otherwise have saved for retirement, had you been more tax savvy. 

So this week, I’ll talk about 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Come on back tomorrow…where I’ll talk about…

My name is Ashley Micciche...and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

It’s Sunday, which means...it’s recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast

This week the theme was: The Downside of Being Wealthy

I really enjoyed talking about this topic, and I want to revisit this theme at some point in the near future, because I didn’t even touch on some of the bigger downsides of being wealthy, especially when it comes to passing along wealth to your heirs. Wealth can destroy people’s lives if not handled well, yet it’s not something that is talked about much in our culture today. 

In case you missed any episodes, here’s what we discussed this week…

• Pursuing Wealth Is A Good Way To Waste Your Life

• How Money Distorts Your Reality & Relationships

• Does Being Wealthy Lead To A Boring Life?

• The Overly Complicated Lives of Rich People

• Fixing The Problem Of Wealth

The most important takeaway from this week is having a higher net worth doesn’t necessarily lead to higher levels of contentment and happiness, and if you’re not careful and thoughtful with how you go about acquiring, investing, and spending wealth, having more has some significant downsides and it can make you miserable. 

Tomorrow, I’m starting a brand new theme: Maximizing Net After Tax Returns In Your Investment Portfolio

Few investors consider the tax implications of their investment decisions, and leave a lot of money on the table as a result. So next week, I’ll talk about specific and important ways you can maximize the net, after tax returns of your portfolio. 

Thank you so much for listening this week! If you’re enjoying the podcast, chances are someone else you know who is getting close to retirement could also benefit from checking it out, so please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your sister, or your boss. Just go to your favorite podcasting app, hit the share icon, then text or email the show link to someone you know who is eyeing retirement. 

Thanks for sharing the love and spreading the word. I hope you have a blessed Sunday. My name is Ashley Micciche, this is the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast.

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: The Downside of Being Wealthy

I’ve talked about a few of the downsides of being wealthy this week and the unexpected problems it can create in life. So I want to turn today on how you can keep a higher net worth from disappointing you and making you unhappier as a result. 

The answer to being satisfied and fulfilled is not to be poor instead, but to not let money or the comfort, power, and recognition that comes with it become the center of your life. Many people make the mistake of pursuing more to the detriment of their relationships with others, and sacrifice their own happiness, because they’re chasing the lie that having more money and more of the things that money can buy will bring happiness and lasting joy. 

In short, they’ve made wealth and the pursuit of it the center of their life. It’s the God in their lives, and family and friends, hobbies, their health, etc. gets pushed to the outside. So the solution is to first recognize that wealth can never bring fulfillment or lasting joy. It makes life easier in many ways, but it doesn’t satisfy. Having the right priorities in life and keeping money where it belongs (not at the center) is what will lead to lasting satisfaction and fulfillment. 

Another important way to avoid some of the downsides of wealth that I’ve already touched on this week are to live below your means and continue saying no to yourself, even when you can afford the bigger house, the better car, the first class plane ticket. This has many benefits - you don’t blow your assets on stupid stuff, and you don’t fall into the trap of trying to keep up with the Joneses. Some of the wealthiest people I know are guarded with their wealth - they don’t flaunt it. They don’t use it to impress their friends and it doesn’t fuel their pride. It’s the millionaire next door mindset. 

A third way to prevent a higher net worth from leading to unhappiness is to be generous. Research shows that being generous makes you happier. Focusing on others and their needs and using our resources to bless them is very rewarding and will prevent hoarding, and a toxic focus on just ourselves and our needs. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: The Downside of Being Wealthy

Today, I’m talking about another big downside of being wealthy - the overly complicated life. When you’re wealthy and you have a lot of assets, many people fall into the trap of overcomplicating their lives. They might have a vacation home, multiple rental properties, a boat, more cars than drivers in the household, and while real estate and acquiring certain assets can enrich your life, it’s also more stuff to clean, fix when it breaks, replace when it wears out, etc. 

If you’ve ever been to central Oregon, it’s absolutely beautiful. When most people think of Oregon, they think of rain. But central Oregon is the high desert, and Bend, OR boasts that they have 300 days a year of sunshine. That plus mountains, rivers, and lakes, and all four seasons make central Oregon a beautiful place that is definitely worth a visit if you like the outdoors. 

Bend is about a 3 hour drive from our home, so we usually make it there once a year. It’s fun to visit in the winter when there’s snow, and in the summer when it’s warm and sunny. My husband and I have talked about maybe buying a vacation rental there someday, but the more I think about it, the less appealing it becomes. 

As much as I would love to have our own place there to take our family, and daydream about snowshoeing in the winter, playing outside in the pool and golfing in the summer, and just having a relaxing place to make memories together, I think I’ve talked myself out of buying a place there. 

We can rent there a couple weeks a year, save a lot of money, and still get maybe 75% of the benefit of owning a place without the added expense and hassle of mortgage, taxes, repairs, renting it out to try to make some income on it, etc. 

So even if you have a lot of assets and can afford the rental property, the vacation home, or the boat, or just more stuff in general, it doesn't mean that it’s something you should do. Or that it’s even a good thing. It might make you unhappier as a result because you’ve unnecessarily complicated your life and created more headaches for yourself. 

That’s why I prefer owning good quality stocks, because they make you a lot of money over time, and there’s nothing to fix and no problem tenants that require months and thousands of dollars to evict. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: The Downside of Being Wealthy

Today, I’m talking about a surprising downside of being wealthy that very few people realize until they reach a certain net worth: that life can be boring

From the outside, most people look at wealthy people or celebrities and think that their lives are amazing. They live in beautiful mansions, drive fast and luxurious cars, go on the most amazing vacations, exclusive restaurants, and parties, etc.

But we’ve all had the experience of something great losing its luster over time. The toy we had to have for Christmas that we never really played with. The new car that we pined for that just became not so special anymore after driving it for 6 months. The forever dream home that becomes too familiar day after day of living in it. The first class airline ticket that is just meh.

We all become accustomed to certain things. With 4 kids in our house under 8 years old, my husband and I rarely eat out at a sit down restaurant. Like I can probably count on 1 hand the number of times in the last year my husband and I went out to a restaurant just the 2 of us. So when we do, it’s special and it’s a memorable, and it’s usually a lot of fun. But if you go out to eat all the time, even the 5 star restaurant become ordinary and there’s nothing special about it anymore because it’s so familiar.  

Many wealthy people are bored, because they’ve indulged themselves in the best of what they can afford without reservation, so nothing is special anymore. They’ve become accustomed to specialness, and so they need bigger and better and more extravagant just to have the same feeling I have when my husband and I go to the so-so Mexican restaurant down the street. I’m all giddy about free tortilla chips and my cadillac margarita, and didn’t even feel that way when they stayed at the Ritz on Maui. 

If you find yourself in this situation - where nothing makes your heart flutter anymore - one solution is to fast - intentionally deprive yourself of luxuries so the special remains special. As some of you long time listeners know, I’m a devout Catholic, and now during Lent is a time of fasting. It’s a beautiful opportunity to say no to something for a season, get rid of excesses. The purpose of this season is to repent and focus on God, but even if you’re not religious, the same principle still applies. There is tremendous wisdom in the call to fasting, because we need to balance fasting and feasting. When we just feast all the time, we begin to rot, and life loses it’s specialness. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

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>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: The Downside of Being Wealthy

Today, I’m talking about how money can distort your reality and the relationships of those around you. 

You don’t have to look far and wide to see how money and the power and status that come with it completely warp one’s reality. If you’ve read the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the bible, you know what can happen when our reality becomes warped because of wealth and success. 

The rich man enjoyed all the comforts of the world. Fine clothes, food, and drink. It wasn’t his money that made him a bad person. It was his concern with his self and focusing only on his own needs that he spent eternity in agony in hell. 

Money can do this to people. Especially those who acquire power and status along with their wealth. People treat them differently. They get used to getting everything they want, never being critizced, and affirmed in how they are because of their outward signs of success. This is dangerous not just the rich man in the bible, or the powerful dictator, or the out of touch celebrity, but even for successful millionaires. I see it in everyday life. 

Wealth can damage our own sense of reality and it can also damage relationships. People will schmooze you, treat you differently, because they want something from you or because they want to be careful not to upset you so it doens’t harm them or their status. Even your own children can see you as not much more than a bank. Friends and colleagues are impressed and want to be around you because of what you have or can do for them, not for who you are.

So be careful when it comes to money, because being on a pedestal isn’t often a great place to be. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: httpstr://apple.co/2DI2LSP

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>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

This week’s theme on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: The Downside of Being Wealthy

Today, I’m talking about how pursuing wealth leads many down the path of a wasted life. 

[story about how I almost didn’t have kids]

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

The 2nd biggest regret: , from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'...She said: "This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

And if you read between the lines, it wasn’t work for the sake of work that they were pursuing. It was the income, the money…the result of working more. Now I understand that some of us don’t have a choice. A nurse who misses dinner and putting her kids to bed each night because she works the night shift, or the traveling businessman who misses his kids' games, sometimes, we can’t do anything about our circumstances, but it’s worth noting what we can do and be present with our kids as much as possible. 

The lesson here is that pursuing more income and promotions at work in order to increase wealth is a good way to waste your life. Money will buy you certain great things but it will not satisfy or make you happy, and it comes with sacrifices and very real trade offs that you may deeply regret later in life. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.    

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

Welcome to a new week here on the Retirement Quick Tips podcast! I’m your host Ashley Micciche, co-owner of True North Retirement Advisors, an independent financial advisory practice managing $340 million in client assets. I’m a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor and I’m using my 15 years of experience as a financial advisor to help you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.

On this podcast, I cover everything from investing, to retirement spending, to taxes in retirement in just a few minutes each day, so if you’re 5-10 years on either side of retirement, and looking for some daily doses of retirement planning wisdom, stick around this week as I talk about The Downside of Being Wealthy.

I know someone who sold his business for several million dollars a couple of years ago. After working hard his entire life, building a successful business from scratch, this business owner had reached an idyllic end to his working life - a financially secure retirement, free from ever worrying about money again.

But then something unfortunate but not uncommon happened…he realized that his identity and sense of who he was was handcuffed to his identity as an owner of a successful business. He didn't know how to be retired, enjoy his comfortable income and assets. 

He felt like a purposeless rudderless ship, and the discontent spilled over into his marriage as well. Less than 2 years after selling his business, he was divorced and lost half of his wealth. 

The lesson here is twofold. First of all, many people fall into the temptation of letting the source of their wealth - in this case his identity as a business owner - define who they are, and it's like building a house on sand. He built his entire life on the wrong foundation and the wrong identity and as soon as he got what he thought he wanted (selling his business and attaining comfortable wealth and financial security) everything else fell apart. 

The other lesson is that a higher net worth doesn’t mean you’ll be happier or have a better life. There are, in fact, real downsides of being wealthy. And it’s important that each of us understands those downsides, so we don’t blindly pursue more with the misguided idea that it will lead to happiness and fulfillment.  

So this week, I’ll talk about how the pursuit of money can cause you to waste your life, how it can distort your relationships, overcomplicate your life, and lead to unhappiness if you’re not careful and learn to develop a rightly ordered relationship with money. I’ll also give you some practical tips on how to avoid some of the pitfalls of being wealthy. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Come on back tomorrow…where I’ll talk about 

My name is Ashley Micciche...and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

It’s Sunday, which means...it’s recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast

This week the theme was: Why Banks Are Going Bust & What To Do About It

Tomorrow, I’m starting a brand new theme: The downside of being wealthy

Many people pursue more wealth, without really thinking about the downside of having more and growing your net worth. But it’s important to be grounded in reality when it comes to building wealth - because there are pros and cons to having more. So next week, we’ll explore the downside of being wealthy to keep you grounded in reality when it comes to how having more will actually benefit you

Thank you so much for listening this week! If you’re enjoying the podcast, chances are someone else you know who is getting close to retirement could also benefit from checking it out, so please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your sister, or your boss. Just go to your favorite podcasting app, hit the share icon, then text or email the show link to someone you know who is eyeing retirement. 

Thanks for sharing the love and spreading the word. I hope you have a blessed Sunday. My name is Ashley Micciche, this is the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast.

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance