I've been a big proponent of dividends since I first read Jeremy Siegal's book Stocks For The Long Run when it was first published in 1994. Dividends have represented about 40% of total US stock returns historically.

So, how excited was I to find my own notes from October 2002 in the back of my autographed copy of John Bogle's "Common Sense On Mutual Funds", in which I stated my thesis that for the markets to grow there needed to be tax reform of dividends.

Back then a 5 year CD was paying 4.5%. Bonds had just had a 3 year run averaging over 10%. We were in the midst of one of the greatest sell-offs of all time and yet prices still weren't cheap and companies still weren't hugely profitable.

My argument was the double taxation of dividends was depressing share prices and that if Congress didn't change it was going to be hard to justify stock growth over 6-7%. (2% dividends, 4-5% earnings growth.)

Take a step back in time with me and listen to what I wrote back then.

So many retirement planning presentations are premised by using previous U.S. market performance and extrapolating that into the future.  Even Monte Carlo analysis is guilty of this. 

Yes, the Monte Carlo has a random sequence of events. Meaning, 2008 could be followed by 1974 etc, and that potentially could be devastating to that unlucky person who retired into those back-to-back years.

But, that's just one scenario out of 10,000 using return numbers that were simply phenomenal in the history of the world.    In fact, the world has never seen investments returns like that of the US over the last 100 years...ever.  

So, to use that for future analysis seems to be quite a bit of cherry picking.  Doesn't mean it won't happen but let's think about this.  

How much different would your retirement projections look if we used an average investment return scenario over the last 100 years as opposed to the US? What would you do differently?

This is why I harp on paying down debt.

Medicare is a HUGE financial planning topic. But look around at the CFPs that are out there. How many are writing or even discussing Medicare? The answer is very few, which is quite unfortunate.

So, today it is my pleasure to bring on a true professional in all things health care, longevity planning and Medicare, Rob Klein.

Rob's been focusing on Medicare and longevity planning for over 10 years. He's just a wealth of information that you NEED to hear.

There is simply no escape from the rules of Medicare, like it or not. You need to understand how you will be affected now, and certainly when you retire.

Don't get caught off guard with higher fees, premiums, taxes etc.

Rob shares with us some strategies on how to deal with the alphabet soup that is Medicare. Ignorance is not bliss. Empower yourself with the education that Rob provides on this podcast.

Rob can be contacted here: 888-323-2724

Song of they day - Aaron Lewis Massachusetts

One of my biggest problems with retirement planning is that it's done backwards. The traditional method goes something like this..."Mrs. Smith, you have $400,000 in your portfolio, thus you can withdraw $16,000 a year and not worry about running out of money. Isn't that great!

To which Ms. Smith says "but, I need $50,000 a year."

The advisor then responds by suggesting other ways they could get to a closer amount of withdrawals from the portfolio.

All the while, it turns out Ms. Smith has significant waste in spending that, if she were to focus on, would reduce her income needs to $40,000 a year!

Remember this folks, it's the SPENDING that should drive your retirement planning. Not the income your portfolio can produce. The income you need is of utmost importance. So, we have to define what that is...and then find ways to reduce it.

In this podcast, I discuss 3 easy ways to reduce your spending.

1. Change to LED light bulbs

2. Insulate your house

3. reduce insurance cost

In this episode, it is my pleasure to chat with Joe Hurley. Some of you probably know Joe Hurley from his amazing work in the 529 field.

Joe literally wrote the book on 529 plans. His is an amazing story actually of how he found something of interest, researched it, found very little on it and decided to write a book about it.

In the process of researching the book, Joe became the pre-eminent expert of 529 plans and then went on to start the SavingForCollege.com website.

Joe's book "The Best Way to Save for College: A Complete Guide to 529 Plans" is STILL a must read for anyone interested in learning the rules of college savings plans.

Yet, Joe decided to leave all that behind and go into farming, full time. Here is an accountant by trade and later a successful entrepreneur. Well-known in the advisory space, certainly making decent money, leaving it all behind to farm maple syrup and honey on a 70 acre farm in Rochester, NY.

Tell me that's a story you don't want to hear!

In this episode, I'm going to take on my industry a bit. I absolutely despise when clients pay for investment advice, i.e., hire someone to "manage" their investments and yet they get nothing in return.

Maybe, at best, they'll get a "review" of their investments twice a year.

They'll get a different "advisor" each time too. The "advisor" will simply say, "you've done this. the benchmark has done that." And a lot of the time the client will simply say "ok" and move on. Yet, the client is paying BIG BUCKS for this kind of "advice", typically under-performing investments AND no financial guidance to go with it!

This makes me mad. If you are going to charge investment fees to manage money, then daggum, you better be offering more than simply putting your clients in a portfolio and re-balancing it once a year.

That is not investment advice. That is not investment management. And it is certainly not financial planning.

Increasing your Social Security benefit is one of the easiest ways you can make sure you are squared away in retirement.

Not only does Social Security grow each year with inflation, guaranteed. but because it's taxed more favorably than other accounts having more Social Security will reduce your taxes too.

Plus, if you strategically plan your Social Security benefits you will also leave your surviving spouse in a much better place financially.

So, given all these benefits, why, oh why, do MOST people take it at 62?

For some, it's because they have no choice. They need the cash.

For others though, well, I believe it's ignorance. Hopefully, this podcast and the webinar that you can find on my website at www.heritagewealthplanning.com/blog will help people. Watch the webinar for step by step on how to maximize your Social Security benefits.

In this episode I interview Tom Jordan. Tom is the guitarist and vocalist for a hard-rocking two-piece band 20 Watt Tombstone out of Wisconsin.

I was able to catch up with Tom after 20 Watt returned from a couple weeks on the road. It was a lot of fun chatting with Tom.

In this interview, you'll learn the history of the slide guitar sound which Tom says he uses almost exclusively.

You'll also learn the logistics a professional musician must go through in order to set up shows across the country...and how they get paid.

Finally, you'll learn why it's SO important to be different and have some fun when you're creating content.

So listen closely because you'll learn more in this episode than any class you took in high school, I assure you.

Also, don't hesitate to check out their tour schedule and if they're in your town, I encourage you to check 'em out.  Just because they seem to be nice guys, doesn't mean they can't play hard music.

John Bogle, founder of Vanguard, is one of the hero's in all the investment world.

If it were not for him, investors would be losing well more than the billions they already are due to management fees and trading costs.

Bogle has claimed for many years that the investment business EXTRACTS wealth. And it does nothing to add value.

That's a very threatening statement, of course. But it's no longer controversial.

And it's because of John Bogle we all know this now. Wasn't always like that. Bogle had many-an-arrow aimed at him. But he withstood and the world is a much better place for his persistence.

In this podcast I point out a few of the highlights from his interview. Should be informative for you.

Here is link to the video: https://youtu.be/

Bogles book you need to get: https://www.amazon.com/Common-Sense-Mutual-Funds-Anniversary/dp/0470138130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523988560&sr=8-1&keywords=common+sense+on+mutual+funds

I can not even begin to tell you how excited I was to conduct this interview with Larry Kotlikoff, economics expert extraordinaire.

Larry is an economics professor at Boston University and is probably most famous for warning anyone who will listen that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are doomed in their current state. We can only continue to rob from the future to pay for today for so long. At some point, there will be a reckoning and when that happens, what then?

Larry's work has been an integral part of my life, both as a consumer AND as a professional financial planner.

Whenever I am asked "What's a good book to read on financial planning", my recommendation is Larry's book with Scott Burns', "Spend Till The End", bar none.

Here are some of the links we discussed:

www.theinformact.com

www.modernwhig.org/

joinsam.org/

economicsecurityplanning.com/

kotlikoff.net/

seekingalpha.com/article/4162603-money-magic-finding-alpha-sidewalk