Reviewing 2023: Retirement Podcast Resource List

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Every week, we have podcasts come out, and as new listeners find us, it can get very tedious to find all the resources we provide. This week we have prepared an End of 2023 wrap up to highlight some of the episodes from this year. 

Reviewing 2023’s Episode List 

Finding an episode on your respective listening platform will vary, so we’re going to provide: 

  • Title 
  • Episode number 
  • Date 

We’ll also link to the location on our website where you can listen to each podcast to make it a bit easier to find. 

Ep. 193 – Navigating The Decision to Retire Now or Work Longer – January 16, 2023 

If you’re wondering if you can retire or if you’re ready to retire, you’ll love this episode. It can be an overwhelming process, so we take some time to outline important considerations such as: 

  • Budgeting 
  • Health and Age 
  • Goal and Interests 

This episode helps you think through your financial readiness to secure your retirement. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 197 – 10 Reasons Everyone Needs a Power of Attorney in Retirement – February 13, 2023 

Anything can happen at any time. A Power of Attorney, particularly a Durable Power of Attorney, is one that we’ve seen come up a lot this year with clients. Disability or incapacitation can happen at any time. 

We outline 10 very important reasons to have your Power of Attorney documents in order, including: 

  • Protecting Privacy 
  • Dealing with Tax Matters 
  • Having Someone to Manage Your Finances 

A Power of Attorney is up there in importance with your will and HIPAA authorization. 

You’ll learn the ins and outs of Power of Attorney documents in this episode. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 201 – Do You Need a Trust in Retirement? – March 13, 2023 

We did quite a few episodes on trusts this year because they’re such an important part of retirement planning. We’ve partnered with professionals in this area so that our clients can easily have a trust put in place for them. 

In this episode, we interview Andres Mazabel at Trust & Will. He addresses the common question, “Do I Need a Trust?”, to really help you understand if a trust is right for you or not. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 204 – Social Security Spousal Benefit in Retirement – April 3, 2023 

Social Security has a lot of complications, which is why we brought Heather Schreiber on to explain how spousal benefits work. In our example scenario, one client has worked their entire life, and his spouse did not. 

His spouse assumed that without working, she wouldn’t have Social Security, but we explained how she would receive $1,700 a month in benefits. 

For many couples, an additional $1,700 in benefits is completely finance-altering. If you’re close to Social Security age, this is certainly a good episode to listen to. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 208 – Maximizing Tax Benefits by “Bunching” – May 1, 2023 

If you’re charitably inclined, you can leverage “bunching” and donor-advised funds to save money on your taxes. In the episode, we discuss how you can bunch multiple years of contributions into one so that you can take a larger deduction. 

Utilizing this strategy has saved some of our clients hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 217 – You Have Enough to Retire, but How Do You Create an Income – July 3, 2023 

Creating income is challenging when you’re in the accumulation phase of life transitioning into the retirement phase. In this episode, we discuss how to put assets into buckets and methods that you can follow to have a consistent income. 

We talk about sequence of return risks and how to really have fun in retirement. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 219 – Annuities or CDs – What You Should Consider – July 17, 2023 

Last year, interest rates rose. For annuities and CDs, interest rates were favorable and therefore quite attractive to many people. In this episode, we cover what you need to think about when deciding between an annuity and a CD. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 223 – Protecting Against Cybersecurity Threats – August 14, 2023 

Cybersecurity is something that you may not expect to see on this list, but it’s a crucial topic that demands attention. Around this time of year (the holiday season), threats increase dramatically. 

You may receive spam and phishing threats from many directions, including texts and emails. 

We outline 14 items for you to consider to help protect yourself from these threats going into 2024. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 224 – Long-Term Care Planning Options – August 21, 2023 

Long-term care planning is something no one wants to think about, but it’s something that you really must dive into before you need it. Our guest Jessica Iverson talks with us about how this form of planning has evolved, the breakdown of increasing costs, and alternative options that are available. 

You do have options where you’re not stuck in a “use it or lose it” scenario, which is what we cover in great detail in this episode. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 226 – Integrated Wealth Management Experience in Retirement – September 4, 2023 

In this episode, we look at what integrated wealth management means and how it works in our practice. You will be interested in this episode if you want to know how we address: 

  • Income and tax planning 
  • Estate planning 
  • Long-term care 
  • Social Security 
  • Medicare 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 231 – Social Security Taxation – How it Works in Retirement – October 9, 2023 

Many people are shocked to learn that they must pay taxes on their Social Security. We had our enrolled agent, Taylor Wolverton, CFP® walk us through: 

  • The factors and math behind Social Security Taxation 
  • How Social Security Taxation can impact your Retirement Planning 
  • How to know if you’ll be taxed on Social Security 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 234 – Roth IRA – 5-Year Rule – Your Retirement – Part 2 with Denise Appleby – October 30, 2023 

Denise Appleby was our special guest during this episode, and she discusses Roth IRAs in such great detail that it’s a must-listen. We go over the rules for Roth accounts and conversions from start to finish in a nice and easy manner. 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 235 – The Art of a Risk-Adjusted Portfolio in Retirement – November 6, 2023 

Risk in retirement exists, but you can use a risk-adjusted portfolio to hedge those risks. We explore determining risk tolerance and some of the strategy behind investment styles. We also take some time to define terms like: 

  • Core 
  • Tactical 
  • Structured notes 
  • Fixed income 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 236 – Rae Dawson – The Basics of a CCRC – November 13, 2023 

Note: Rae was also on for Episode 236 on November 27 (listen here) for Part 2. 

Rae teaches a class on Continuous Care Retirement Community (CCRCs) at Duke University, and joined us on the podcast to dive in on the basics, such as: 

  • When’s the best time to join a community? 
  • Should you do an upfront or rent-only scenario? 
  • What to think about when choosing a CCRC? 

Listen to the episode here. 

Ep. 239 – Anne Rhodes – Estate Planning– Simplified – December 4, 2023 

Anne Rhodes from wealth.com helped us simplify estate planning in retirement. She works closely with us and our clients to explain: 

  • Legal documents you need 
  • Reasons to have a trust vs a will 
  • What certain documents do  

Listen to the episode here. 

We look forward to our new schedule going into 2024 where we’ll continue to provide relevant insights every Monday with a more structured format. 

Click here to schedule a call with us to discuss any of the topics above in greater detail. 

May 1, 2023 Weekly Update

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We do love it when someone refers a family member or friend to us.  Sometimes the question is, “How can we introduce them to you?”   Well, there are multiple ways but a very easy way is to simply forward them a link to this webpage.

Here are this week’s items:

Portfolio Update:  Murs and I have recorded our portfolio update for May 1, 2023

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE UPDATE

This Week’s Podcast -Maximizing Tax Benefits by “Bunching” Charitable Contributions

Listen in to learn how to bunch your charitable contributions into one year using the donor-advised fund. You will also learn why the donor-advised fund is the most flexible version of giving through the bunching strategy.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE

This Week’s Blog – Maximizing Tax Benefits by “Bunching” Charitable Contributions

Taxes are something very few people are excited to talk about. We know that it’s far more exciting to talk about maximizing tax benefits when trying to secure your retirement. And that’s what this entire blog post is about: saving money by bunching your charitable contributions.?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE BLOG

Maximizing Tax Benefits by “Bunching” Charitable Contributions

Written by

Taxes are something very few people are excited to talk about. We know that it’s far more exciting to talk about maximizing tax benefits when trying to secure your retirement. And that’s what this entire blog post is about: saving money by bunching your charitable contributions.

Note: We have a podcast on this very topic, which you can find here.

Why Should I Consider Charitable Contribution Bunching?

If you’re charitably inclined, you can save a lot of money by bunching your charitable contributions together. In the current tax code, whether you’re single or married, you receive what is known as a “standard deduction.”

Before this deduction, people would itemize all of their deductions one item at a time. The IRS decided that instead of itemization, people should have a standard deduction that doesn’t require them to list all of their deductions and saves the IRS time, too.

In 2023, the standard deduction is:

  • Single person: $13,850
  • Married: $27,700

When you take this deduction, you cannot itemize. Anyone who is giving money to charity will not be able to deduct their donation unless it is itemized, which really only makes sense if the figure is higher than the two listed above.

Bunching charitable contributions is one way to use deductions to maximize tax benefits.

Examples of Standard Deduction vs Itemizing Your Deductions

Today, the standard deduction has changed so much from 2017. In 2017, a married couple filing jointly would have a standard deduction of $12,500. With the figure being $27,700 in 2023, it becomes much more difficult to reach the amount of itemized deductions to justify not taking a standard deduction.

For example, let’s assume someone is charitably inclined and gives $10,000 in a calendar year.  The person also has $13,000 in other deductions, bringing their total deduction to $23,000. Since this figure is lower than the standard deduction, it doesn’t make sense to itemize.

However, people like getting tax benefits from giving their money away, and this is where bunching comes into play. A donor-advised fund is the perfect way to leverage bunching, and we’ll be talking about this type of fund more in the next few paragraphs.

Let’s assume that every year, you give $10,000 to charity.

In 2022 and 2023, instead of giving $10,000 each year, why not “bunch” it into an account that allows you to deduct $20,000 in 2022? You don’t even need to give all of the money out in 2022.

When you do this, you can deduct:

  • $20,000 in contributions
  • $13,000 in the other deductions that you have

Adding up all of these figures, you can deduct $33,000 in expenses, which is much higher than the standard deduction. You’ll deduct more from your taxes in 2022 using this strategy and can still take the $27,700 deduction in 2023.

  • How can you bunch all of your charitable contributions into a single year?
  • Do you need to give the full $20,000 in a single year?

For many people giving money to charity, they make a commitment to give a certain amount of money each year. Your church may need $10,000 a year and a lump sum of $20,000 may not be beneficial for them.

Donor-advised Funds and Bunching Charitable Contributions

Donor-advised funds allow you to do a few things:

  • Group deductions in one year
  • Give the funds to the account and not the church (like in the example above)

Charles Schwab, Vanguard and similar custodians will have a donor-advised fund. You will write a check to one of these funds for $20,000 and it will sit in these accounts. If you don’t want to write a check, you can also put stock in the account. Any money in the account can also be invested, which is a nice way to give even more money to charity.

When you put money into the fund, it’s an irrevocable gift to the charitable fund, but you’re in complete control over how to use this fund.

If you want, you can gift $10,000 a year to your church as long as it’s an approved charitable organization. You can log into your fund and request a check sent to the church from your fund.

However, you can bunch your charitable donations every few years by putting the funds into an account that you can control.

You can even decide to:

  • Reduce contributions
  • Give money to other charities

You don’t need to decide who gets the money when you create the fund. Once the money is in the account, you can direct the money as you see fit. Perhaps you want to let the $20,000 sit in the account for a few years and then give $2,000 of it away for 10 years. You have this option.

The only thing that you cannot do is give the funds back to yourself. After all, you’ve been given a tax break and the IRS won’t allow you to take the funds back.

Bunching can be done for two, three or more years. There are strategies around bunching that can save you more money. Typically, two to three years of bunching is what we see with our clients because it helps with maximizing tax benefits.

When you use bunching, you:

  • Save money on taxes
  • Still maintain full control over who gets the money

Donor-advised funds are available from most custodians. We work with Schwab, and they allow us to create one of these funds right online for our clients. Different custodians may have different setup requirements, but they all make it rather easy to set up your donor-advised fund. The process of setting up a donor-advised fund is as easy as opening a checking account.

 You can transfer money or stock into the account, too.

Our clients who are focused on retirement planning save a few thousand dollars by bunching their charitable contributions. If you are committed to donating a certain amount to charity each year, it makes sense to give bunching a try for yourself.

Do you want to learn more about bunching and donor-advised funds?

Click here to schedule a call with us to discuss charitable bunching with a member of our team.