The Retirement Trainer

As you transition into retirement, you’re likely looking to understand how to reduce mortgage debt and downsize without burning through your savings. There are lots of ways to do it, and lots of important questions to ask along the way.

This is more true right now than ever before. With housing markets as hot as they are, it’s become very easy to downsize and end up spending more each month.

It’s critical that you do your homework, meet with your advisor and CPA, and determine exactly which tools are best suited to your situation. Today, we walk through some of the most common downsizing tools and strategies, with a focus on the HECM loan (also known as the reverse mortgage). You’ll discover how these loans work, why they aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and how they can provide you, under the right circumstances, with a sustainable source of money in retirement.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s so easy to lose money by downsizing.
• Why money received through a reverse mortgage is not taxable, does not affect your Social Security, and can’t impact means-testing for medicare.
• What happens to a reverse mortgaged home - and what beneficiaries will receive - when you pass away.
• How adult children living with you can impact your amount of available equity.
• Why the HECM loan is both key to a comfortable retirement for so many - and a bad fit for many people who ask about it.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/28

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

If you have kids, no matter what financial shape you and your family are in, you’re probably wondering how you’re going to pay for college. You’re probably wondering what your options are. You may need to know what the FAFSA is, what scholarships are available, and if they’re needs or merit-based.

You’re also probably astounded by the cost of college. It has risen eight times more than wages have over the last several decades. Furthermore, with colleges and universities in many parts of the world not able to reopen, many students are trying to figure out what their college experience will look like - and how to get the most out of it given the circumstances.

Today, we dig into the costs and benefits of college during this uncertain time, how and when to start your scholarship search, and ways to save for college. All of these things can help you achieve your family’s ultimate goal: your kids embarking on a joyful four years of learning and life experience come September.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why four-year colleges often fail students by leaving them with massive debt, unsustainable monthly payments, and inadequate job opportunities upon graduation.
• The reason so many people don’t think they qualify for aid based on FAFSA - and how to start finding additional scholarships to take care of tuition costs.
• Why the scholarship search needs to start when students are sophomores in high school.
• The most effective ways to start college funds when you have children.
• How to have blunt conversations with your kids to make sure they’re not disappointed.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/27

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Over the years, people have been able to take hardship withdrawals and loans against retirement plans to cover emergency medical expenses, tuition, rent, mortgage payments, repairs, funerals, and other sudden and unexpected costs.

However, the rules regarding these withdrawals and loans, the amount of money available to you, and the penalties for taking this money are extraordinarily complicated - and the CARES Act has changed many of these terms. You need to be able to take advantage of them the right way to avoid negatively impacting your retirement.

Today, we dig into changing rules and regulations when it comes to who qualifies for hardships, what you can do, and how to navigate this extraordinarily tricky situation to come out ahead on the other side.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s so important to work with your CPA, tax attorney, or advisor if you plan to take out a hardship loan.
• Reasons to put the RMDs you already took out in 2020 back into your retirement account - and why you can do this tax-free.
• Conditions that may qualify you for hardship loans and withdrawals - and why so few employers know whether their retirement plan allows them.
• The difference between taking a hardship loan or a hardship withdrawal.
• Why taking loans for investments is a high risk activity.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/26

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Market volatility is real, and we’ve seen it in full force this year. On multiple occasions, we’ve seen markets swing over 6 percent in just one day of trading. Things are changing minute by minute, and the COVID-19 crisis has created a pattern of ongoing economic and political unrest that we’re unlikely to emerge from in the near future.

If you have decades left to build wealth and plan your retirement, this may not bother you. However, if you’re in retirement, or about to retire, it’s another story. You’re probably asking, “How can I protect myself and my life savings against these fluctuations?”

Today, we’re here to help you answer that question. You’ll learn what makes this moment in economic history so unique, the common traps that investors fall into as they react to bad news, and how to make a plan that will protect you and allow you to live the life you want to live in spite of volatility - even in turbulent times.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why the COVID-19 crisis is an economic disaster in three phases as opposed to the housing crash of 2008 or the tech crash of 2000 - and how political unrest will continue to negatively impact our markets.
• Why the media constantly tries to shock us with bad news - and how a good plan can prevent your emotions from getting the best of you.
• How to build a portfolio and financial plan that ensures that you will always have emergency money in retirement in the event of an economic downturn.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/25

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

If you and your spouse have worked multiple jobs over the course of your life, you may have old 401(k) plans with former employers scattered all over the place. In fact, we’ve worked with clients with over a dozen plans sitting around that haven’t been seen, updated, or touched at all in years - or even decades.

These zombie 401(k)s can turn into substantial tax bills and IRS penalties if you’re not careful, and there are lots of ways to do serious harm to your retirement fund if you make a wrong move.

If you have old 401(k) plans that you need to address, today’s episode is for you. You’ll learn about the five main plans of action you can take, the pros and cons of each, and what to be on the lookout for. More than anything, though, we highly recommend you work with your financial advisor as you navigate this potentially overwhelming situation.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• What can happen if you choose to leave a 401(k) with a former employer - and why it’s so easy to forget about old 401(k) plans.
• How to move an old 401(k) to your current employer - and what you need to ask your HR department before you do so.
• Why cashing out your old 401(k) may do irreparable harm to your retirement plan.
• What you need to know about completing an indirect rollover into your IRA - and how to avoid preventable penalties.
• Why a direct rollover into your IRA is the simplest and most effective way to move an old 401(k) - and why this is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/24

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Our country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis seems to be changing not just day-by-day, but minute-by-minute. Between the CARES Act, the stimulus package, PPP loans, the HEROES Act recently passed in the House, and other forms of financial relief, it’s never been harder to make sense of what’s available - or how to take advantage of it.

Helping me navigate the COVID-19 stimulus is Doug Mayr. Doug is a Managing Partner at BHM, a regional CPA firm here in Columbus. We have a number of mutual clients, and I often rely on him as a great resource to better understand what’s going on in the financial world.

Whether you’re preparing for retirement, managing investments for your business, or wondering how to give the best advice to your friends, employees, or clients at this time, today’s episode will help you understand what’s been made available and how to make the most of it.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Whether your stimulus check was based on your 2018 or 2019 income - and what to do if you didn’t qualify.
• Forms of financial relief available to individuals who have been laid off or furloughed over the last several months - and how self-employed individuals can apply for CARES Act relief money provided in addition to conventional unemployment.
• Who the Payroll Protection Program is for, what you may be eligible for, and how business owners claim it.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/23

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues all across the world, we’ve seen some of the most discouraging jobs and unemployment reports in recent history. A lot of investors are worried right now, and it’s easy to jump to the worst possible conclusions.

While this is certainly a crisis, for many people, it’s also a navigable one - and there are definitely things you should and shouldn’t do over the next few months, no matter how the markets react to news, both good and bad.

In today’s episode of the podcast, we discuss what technically defines a recession and the factors that determine if we’re in one. From there, we dive deep into what you can do to survive (and even thrive) in this moment, how to hold on to your plans, and how to deal with risk in a time when no one’s comfortable losing anything.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• The difference between a recession and a depression - and why we are likely in a recession right now.
• Why pundits and TV news should be seen as entertainment first and shouldn’t inform your investment strategy.
• The reasons that now is a great time to talk to your advisor, avoid emotional investing, and hold to the plans you created before this market downturn.
• Why the markets have been going up despite terrible job reports.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/22

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

After an 11 year bull run, the crisis caused by the COVID-19 has proven to be the real deal from both a health and economic perspective. After over a month of binge watching our favorite TV shows and reading and watching the news, everyone is concerned.

There is a lot of weight on our shoulders right now as Americans, and as we oversee financial plans for people transitioning into retirement at this moment, it’s go time. You need a plan to keep you safe, provide you with income, and grow on your terms, and we’re here to help.

In today’s podcast, we discuss how this pandemic served as a triggering event to cause a major recession, how not to accidentally become an emotional investor, and what you can do to make sure your financial plan is meeting your unique needs as you prepare for retirement at this tumultuous time.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s so easy to fall prey to the traps of emotional investing - and how to take emotion out of your financial decisions right now.
• The factors responsible for market volatility - and why the pandemic was a triggering event that ended a long bull run and drastically affected an overpriced market.
• How to deal with the many unknowns, politically and economically, we’re facing on a daily basis.
• What you can do to create a plan focused on cash flow and sustainable growth in times of economic downturns.

Show Notes

To get access to today's show notes, including links to all the resources mentioned, visit TheRetirementTrainer.com/21

How Fit Is Your Retirement Plan?  We can help you manage your finances so you can pursue your goals. To learn more, visit EGSIFinancial.com

Today we're digging in a bit deeper and talking more about The SECURE Act with estate planning attorney, Logan Phillips. 

The thing that the SECURE Act did was really change retirement planning for people. Logan says it benefits individuals who are saving for retirement, while it kind of hurts the individuals who they plan to leave their retirement to. Those saving for retirement, get to save for longer before they have to start taking those required minimum distributions. 

Learn more about what this all means and how it impacts you during today's conversation!

The SECURE Act, also known as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, came into effect on January 1st, 2020. Designed to make it easier for Americans to access tax-advantaged accounts and stop people from outliving their assets, it made another round of sweeping, monumental changes to the tax code.

This means that even if you’ve just created what you think is a robust, thoughtful retirement plan, it’s time to review everything again and make sure that you’re taking advantage of all of the available opportunities.

Today, we dig into the good, bad, and the ugly of the SECURE Act from a tax and planning perspective to help you make sense of what’s changed and how it can affect you. If you want to play by your game plan and not the federal government’s, tune in and find out how to make the most of our changing tax policies.

In this podcast interview, you’ll learn:

• Why the magic ages in tax planning are now 59 ½ and 72 - and why this is the sweet spot where the most vital tax planning should happen.
• How the change in the standard deduction has affected charitable organizations.
• How to use qualified charitable distributions to avoid being taxed on ordinary income.
• Why pre-tax investments are the most expensive money you can buy.
• Why generation-skipping stretch IRAs have been eliminated.