One Minute Retirement Tip with Ashley

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: How to earn more on your cash Today, I'm talking about earning more on your cash with a high yield savings account.  Compared to parking your cash in checking or savings at your bank and earning virtually no interest right now, a high yield savings account is paying a much better rate - many of the ones I checked online were paying slightly over ½% - and most were in the .60% range.  The problem with high yield savings accounts is that you may have to shop around for the best rates, and it's not easy or practical often to open a new account, move your funds over, and keep it there, unless those high yielding rates stay competitive.  One of the things I do like about high yield savings accounts from these online banks is that they're FDIC insured, and it's usually very  easy to access funds when you need them.  A drawback as I mentioned earlier is that if you open one of these high yield savings accounts and the rates don't stay competitive, you could be looking at the hassle of moving your funds to a new financial institution, which is a real pain and probably not worth the trouble.  Another drawback of these accounts is that some require a certain number of transactions a month or additional deposits to get the higher rate, so just make sure you read the fine print. And of course, always do the math. If you keep $10,000 or less in your savings and bank A is offering .5%, while bank B is offering .75%, that's a difference of $25 a year in interest, so is it really worth it to shop around, transfer the money and close the old account?  For me, it would never be worth the hassle, time and effort, for $25. On the other hand, if I have $100,000 in savings and the difference in rates in 1%, then that difference in $1,000 per year might now be worth the time and hassle of switching.  Yesterday, I talked about money market funds. I prefer money markets to high yield savings accounts, because even though the rate is a bit lower, it does tend to adjust more quickly and could provide a higher interest rate compared to high yield savings accounts if rates continue to rise. Plus, since they're mutual funds, you can easily switch to a different money market without opening and closing the account if you find a better money market alternative.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: How to earn more on your cash Today, I'm talking about one of the easiest ways to earn more on your cash, and that is by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds are mutual funds that invest in very short term bonds and have minimal credit risk. They're so low risk, that even during volatile time periods, including the financial crisis in 2008, these investments historically have not lost any value. The drawback of these investments compared to savings accounts is that they lack the FDIC insurance you get with a bank account, but given the historic stability of these funds and what you can earn in interest, I think it's a fair trade off.  We use money market funds frequently with clients, and have 10s of millions of client assets invested in money market funds at any one time.  You can buy a variety of different money market funds. Some even provide tax-exempt interest, if you're in a high tax bracket and you're looking to minimize taxes on your investment income. So what about the rates?   Compared to most savings accounts which are paying .01% of interest right now, money market funds are paying about .5% right now, which is astronomically higher than savings accounts but with nearly as much security and virtually the same liquidity.  For this reason it's my favorite place to park cash for clients that might be needed in the next few months to a year, and they deserve serious consideration for your cash holdings.  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: How to earn more on your cash Despite interest rates ticking up significantly so far in 2022, I'm getting a whopping .01% on my savings account at my bank account. That means for every $10,000 I have in my savings account, I will earn $1 of interest per year.  My guess is you're probably a similar boat and I'm not alone here. Many of the big banks - BofA, Wells Fargo, and Chase - are all paying .01% on their savings accounts. Seems a little unfair, but these big banks have no incentive to raise the money they're paying out on deposits, since they have much higher deposits then they need or even know what to do with at the moment. In previous periods of rising interest rates, it's always a slow trickle down to deposits, so don't expect your .01% APY on your savings account to go up by much anytime soon.  What's even more frustrating is that I'm actually losing money in real terms because inflation is currently running around 8%. That means I'll actually lose $799 on that $10,000 in savings in real terms. Yikes!  So how do you find an investment that won't put your cash at risk, still provide liquidity and access to funds when you need it, while earning more than $1 a year in interest? That's what we'll be covering this week on the podcast.  I'll share with you the best ways to earn more on your cash, while still maintaining that safety and liquidity dual mandate that is so important for your cash holdings.  I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation. 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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: Analyze Your Tax Return: Marginal Tax Rates Analyze Your Tax Return: Capital Gains & Losses Analyze Your Tax Return: Tax Deductions Analyze Your Tax Return: Tax Loss Carryforward Analyze Your Tax Return: Charitable Giving The most important takeaway from this week is: Don't just file away your tax return, never to look at it again. There are hidden opportunities in your tax return that can help you make smarter and better decisions with your investments and retirement.  Tomorrow, come on back because we're starting a brand new theme: How To Earn More On Your Cash. Interest rates are heading higher, which means rates are also going higher on the money market and cash-like alternatives to park your funds that can earn you more in interest than your checking account can offer.  So next week, I'll share with you some of the best places to invest your cash to maximize your returns without tying up your money for too long or sacrificing access to your funds when you need it.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA. Today, I'm talking about using your tax return to be more strategic and potentially save a lot in taxes with your charitable giving strategy. If you are currently donating cash to charities, but you have significantly appreciated assets with large gains, there may be a better way.  If you claim the standard deduction but you still gave $1,000 a month to charities last year, you're not even getting a tax benefit for that.  A few of solutions to this come to mind: Look at your appreciated assets. Those can be gifted and the charity can sell it without paying the tax on the gain. You won't pay the tax on the gain either. A win-win! Consider contributing directly out of your IRA to charities, in what's known as a qualified charitable distribution. This works best when you're 72 and subject to required minimum distributions from your IRA, and it's my preferred way for clients to give to their charity or church of choice once they're taking RMDs. The third strategy involves charitable bunching, where you cram 2 or 3 years of giving into 1 year which could allow you to itemize in that year where you give more.  There are other strategies, too, like using a donor-advised fund and funneling your gifting through that, and then there are more advanced giving strategies that an estate planning attorney can help you set up, but the key here is that your tax return, the way in which you give to charity, and how those gifts are benefitting you and your tax situation could help you identify better ways to give that could also reduce the taxes you pay.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA. Today, I'm talking about reviewing tax loss carryforwards, and the wealth of information that can be uncovered in just this one line item.  Over the last decade, most investment portfolios have had large gains, and it's less likely that I'll see a loss carry forward. When you sell an investment in a taxable account at a loss and you don't have any gains to offset that with or the gains don't exceed the amount of the loss, you get to carry that loss forward to future years. But with a decade+ of gains now, I don't see this much any more and when I do, there's a story behind it that needs to be uncovered to learn more about my client. And you can use this to learn more about your own temperament as well.  Tax losses can come from selling an investment at a large loss, or maybe a business that went belly up. Sometimes it can indicate a client's appetite for risk and their tendencies to panic when the market turns south. If you sold your entire stock portfolio when the stock market was in freefall during the early days of Covid in March of 2020, you might still have a significant tax loss carry forward.  So you can learn a lot about your temperament, investment philosophy, and investing behavior all of which are good indicators of future behavior. When working with clients, this is especially useful if they're a newer client and I wasn't around in those years where they had large losses. If I see that a client panicked and sold in the spring of 2020, then I am likely to put them into a more conservative portfolio that has less in stocks and is less likely to experience the gyrations of the market.  In the gospel of Matthew in the new testament, there is a verse that says “You will know them by their fruits”. In the behavioral finance bible, if such a thing existed, it would say something like: “You will know them by their tax loss carryforward.” 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA. Today, I'm talking about tax deductions. The place to start better understanding your tax deductions is by looking at your tax return to see if you claimed the standard deduction in 2021 or if you itemized your deductions instead. Whether you itemize or claim the standard deduction can change from year to year, so it's helpful to understand whether or not you're likely going to keep claiming the standard deduction or if you will itemize in 2022. For this I recommend better understanding some of the biggest types of deductions you can itemize, and also looking back a few years to see the history of what you did over multiple years.  More people will choose to claim the standard deduction, which will be $25,900 this year if you're married, or $12,950 if you're single.  Itemizing vs. taking the standard deduction has several implications for your investment and retirement planning decisions. The most common itemized deductions are those for state and local taxes (aka SALT), mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and medical and dental expenses. If you're claiming the standard deduction, then these tax deductions won't benefit you, unless you itemize instead and the itemized deduction amounts to a higher amount that you would have claimed on the standard deduction.  I know this is getting a little technical, but here's why it matters: Knowing whether or not you itemize or if you claim the standard deduction will help inform your strategy on important financial planning decisions like charitable giving and paying off your house early.  Many people believe that they're still benefiting somewhere on their taxes from their mortgage interest deduction, and other itemized deductions, so they don't mind having a mortgage payment because someone at some point told them they were getting a tax break for keeping that mortgage payment. But all of that goes out the window when you claim the standard deduction and don't itemize. No more SALT deduction, no more mortgage interest deduction, and no tax benefit on certain charitable contributions.  I'll actually talk more about charitable giving later this week, but for now, check out your tax return to see if you itemized last year or claimed the standard deduction, and know that if it's better for you to claim the standard deduction, you may want to be more strategic with your charitable giving and mortgage payoff decisions.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA. Today, I'm talking about reviewing your tax return to understand your capital gains and losses. Ideally, you would have an investment portfolio that is as tax-efficient as possible. That's not always the case, but having a tax efficient asset location strategy (in other words having the right types of investments in the right accounts) can add up to .75% of additional annual returns. Over time, this adds up big time!  Take a look at your schedule B and schedule D on your tax return. There you'll find taxable interest, qualified dividends, ordinary dividends, and capital gains and losses.  I want to keep it simple here and focus on capital gains, because I think it's the biggest opportunity for most people, at least in my experience, to be more tax efficient.  We want to avoid paying more tax than is necessary, and with capital gains, it tends to be something we have a bit more control over from year to year. First of all, wherever possible, you want to avoid having mutual funds (especially stock mutual funds) in taxable accounts. These can generate large and unpredictable capital gains that you don't have much control over. So if you're going to own mutual funds, in many cases, but not always it makes more sense to hold mutual funds in IRA or Roth IRA accounts.  Another red flag when it comes to capital gains is a lot of trading and portfolio turnover. This is especially true when I see short-term gains and losses, meaning that the person held the investment for less than a year. Short-term gains are taxed at higher rates, and having any of these at all is problematic. If you are a DIY investor, you'll need to be careful about and closely monitor your accumulated or realized gains as the year goes on. You should also be reviewing your portfolio right now and again near the end of the year for losses that can offset gains.  The great news about downturns in the stock market that we're experiencing right now is that it allows you the opportunity to reset some of the tax efficiencies that might exist in your portfolio and move around some of your holdings to improve your asset location efficiency that I mentioned earlier is so important for your long-term portfolio returns.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA Today, I'm talking about the place you'll want to start analyzing your tax return, and that is your marginal tax rate. By reviewing your tax return and finding your taxable income and your marginal tax rate - both of these figures can be found on your tax return. For example, let's say you're married and your taxable income in 2021 was $250,000, and you expect your income to remain the same in 2022.  This income puts you in the 24% marginal tax bracket for both 2021 and 2022, and knowing both your taxable income and your marginal rate is helpful for future planning and determining what types of investments are appropriate for you.  Your taxable income will indicate whether or not you'll owe capital gains tax on investments you sell this year, and whether or not the additional Net Investment Income Tax of 3.8% on top of state and federal capital gains taxes will apply to interest, dividends, capital gains, rental and royalty income, and non-qualified annuities. Understanding the general impact of  interest, dividends, capital gains, and the like can help you make more informed decisions about your investment portfolio, but knowing your marginal tax rate is essential for determining the impact of financial planning decisions like Roth conversions, and whether or not you should own taxable bonds or municipal bonds in taxable accounts.  I find that many people in lower tax brackets, especially retirees like owning municipal bonds simply because they don't pay tax on the interest they earn. But municipal bonds really only make sense for investors in higher tax brackets.  For example, if I'm in the 24% tax bracket and I live in a state like Oregon (which I do) with an additional state tax of almost 9% and I buy a tax-free Oregon municipal bond that yields 3%, because of my income, that's like buying a corporate bond that pays 4.5%. Not a bad yield and in many cases, it might make more sense to buy tax-free municipal bonds.  If my income is a lot higher than that, that same 3% bond for an Oregonian in the 35% tax bracket would be like buying a taxable corporate bond with about a 5.5% yield.  The higher your marginal tax bracket, the more tax you'll pay on dividends and bond interest, and the more careful you'll want to be about your trading activity in your taxable accounts and the types of bonds you own.  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: Analyze Your Tax Return Like A CPA If you haven't heard me mention it on the podcast before, my husband is a CPA. This is very helpful, because whenever I have a complicated tax question, I have free and unrestricted access to an experienced expert. So I did a little research, talked to my husband and together, we came up with a few crucial line items on your tax return that you'll want to review before you just file it away.  I'll share with you how things like your marginal tax rate, tax deductions, and tax loss carryforward can help you uncover important investment and planning opportunities right under your nose, that can save you lots of money, and help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement. So this week, dig up your tax return from 2021, because I'm going to pick one item each day to review from your tax return, that can actually provide some value to you for investment and planning decisions you'll make going forward.  And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: Ain't Nothing Cheesecake and Conversation Can't Fix - discussing the importance of solid friendships Thinking Outside The Box To Live The Lifestyle You Desire in retirement Living The Single Life Is Likely b/c of death or divorce  Hobbies Are Important For Happiness In Retirement Don't Get Paralyzed By Life The most important takeaway from this week is:  Tomorrow, come on back because we're starting a brand new theme: Analyzing Your Tax Return Like A CPA. Now that tax season is behind us, most people just file away their tax return and move on. But if you do that, you could be missing some important opportunities to make better planning and investment decisions for your retirement. So dig up a copy of your tax return from 2021, because next week, I'll share with you a few key highlights from your tax return to pay attention to. Your tax return could point to tax-inefficient investing and missed opportunities, and we'll cover those next week.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Today's lesson from the golden girls is: Don't Get Paralyzed By Life In real life, Estelle Getty, who played my favorite and funniest character on the show, Sophia Patrillo, suffered from terrible stage fright. During the days they would tape the episodes, Estelle would often freeze on camera and mess up her lines. She even had some of her dialogue written down and taped to chairs and tables on the set. She was the least experienced actress of the four, and it intimidated her. In a 1988 interview she stated that working every week with talent like Arthur and White scared her out of her wits. She felt like a fraud and worried that the fans would “find out” that she wasn't as good as her co-stars. Irreversible decisions in retirement can be paralyzing. A decision to do nothing is still a decision. Estelle Getty pressed on despite her fears and no one watching knew what was really going on behind the scenes.   Having a plan removes some of the scariness of the decision. Estelle Getty's plan included taping lines to the backs of furniture on the set. It's what allowed her to survive and not quit the show.  Your plan might include deciding when you'll retire, making sure your investment portfolio along with your other income sources can sustain you in retirement, calculating your retirement annual budget in advance, planning for other expenses like travel and the periodic car purchase or new roof.  Deciding when you'll take social security, updating your will, and researching and following through with other decisions that are relevant for you, like whether or not you'll do Roth conversions in retirement.  The point is a decision to do nothing is still a decision.Like Estelle Getty, doing something about it and making a plan will help you make the right decision more often and have more options and more control over the variety of decisions you'll face as you approach and transition into retirement.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Today's lesson from the golden girls is: Hobbies are important for happiness in retirement. The Golden Girls led very active retirements, and maintained fulfilling hobbies.  They were always involved in charity events, especially Rose (Betty White's character), who according to Golden Girls Wiki “Rose was arguably the most involved in charity work. She drove a bookmobile, was a candy striper at a hospital, and helped organize a charity talent show, among other things. She listed cheese making as a hobby on her resume, as well.” Both Blache and Dorothy had part-time jobs. Dorothy worked as a tutor, using her former teaching skills in her part-time work, and Blacnhe worked at the museum. All 4 golden girls led very active retirements, which is really important for longevity, mental fitness, and physical health in retirement, according to research. So we all can learn a little something from the Golden Girls. Because it was a show and not real life, your interests are likely to be more limited than theirs, but having at least a couple of hobbies, volunteering your time, and having at least one hobby or activity that you can share with friends is critical for a fulfilling and happy retirement.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Today's lesson from the golden girls is: Living the single life is likely. All the Golden Girls were either widows or divorced and it's likely that you may face the same situation in retirement. Would it shock you to know that The average age of widowhood is 59 years old, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and many widows could go on to live another few decades after the death of their spouses. Many of you listening are older than 59, and living life in retirement that differs from our original plans is something that most people push out of their mind as soon as the thought bubbles up.  In my own practice, I have many, many clients who are single in retirement because of a death of a spouse or a divorce. One of my favorite clients died a couple years ago. She lived into her 90s but was a widow for 40 years prior to her death. She managed just fine, but knowing how to manage the family finances without the help of your spouse is essential.  The Golden Girls certainly had their struggles because they had to navigate their retirement years as single people, but it's an important thing to plan for. If you're married and your spouse died or became disabled today, would you be able to pick up the pieces and be okay financially? What would you need to do differently or what skills would you need to learn to be able to function better on your own?  I know it's tough to think about if you're married, but it's important.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Today's lesson from the golden girls is: Think outside the box to live the lifestyle you desire. The Golden Girls moved in together so they could all afford to live in their house in Miami, which if my memory is correct, Blache owned the house, put out an ad for roommates, and that's how the show got started. Then Dorothy's mom, Sophia moved in after her retirement home, shady pines, burned down.  There's a lesson to be learned from this in that sometimes living the lifestyle you desire in retirement requires some creativity. The golden girls could have never afforded that nice one-level, 4-bedroom house in Miami on their own. Buy pooling their expenses, they could afford to live in that beautiful house with all of that rattan furniture and bold 80s florals. So how might you also need to Think Outside The Box To Live The Lifestyle You Desire? Moving in together to spread out the expenses - GG did this Vacationing with friends Working part-time Working longer 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Today's lesson from the golden girls is: There ain't nothing that cheesecake and conversation can't fix. If you watched the Golden girls, you'll remember that in most episodes, there was a crisis that was usually solved late at night at the kitchen table with some cheesecake and talking it out.  What does this have to do with your retirement? A lot actually, because it speaks to the importance of friendships and how important friendships are at all stages of life, but especially in retirement. The Golden Girls always had each other, even when their lives were chaotic and when they experienced loss and heartache. Last October, I covered a podcast theme on the topic of the 3 things you need to get right for a happy, meaningful, and fulfilling retirement.  What are those 3 things? Money, Health, and Relationships.  And the kind of relationships that bring the most happiness in retirement, according to research, are friendships and your relationship with your spouse. It's very easy to become socially isolated in retirement and that's a big reason why many retirees become bored and depressed in retirement and find that it's not all they hoped it would be.  When you lose the natural social interactions and friendships that develop in the workplace, you have to become more intentional about cultivating friendships in retirement. Maybe this is spending more time with friends you already have, or making new friends. Retirement allows you to focus more on the things you enjoy doing, so whether you're into golf, travel, cars, or gardening, try to find ways to enjoy your hobbies with others, or at least make an effort to regularly get coffee or go out to lunch or dinner with friends.  According to Michael Finke (Fink-a), professor of wealth management at the American College of Financial Services and one of the researchers involved in this study, “The retiree's job is to invest in the inputs that are actually going to result in the output of greater life satisfaction,” Cultivating friendships is work. If you're willing to put in the investment of time it takes, it will lead to more fulfillment and enjoyment in your retirement years, and more time spent around the table with a cheesecake, and those you hold most dear.  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Inspiration for this week's podcast is one of my favorite Golden Girls episodes which interestingly enough have 2 separate lessons for retirement in just this one episode:  You're never too old to find love again, and  When the social security administration sends you checks, just keep on cashing them.  In this particular episode, Blanche tries to lure men by placing a fake ad in the paper trying to sell a Mercedes. Meanwhile, Dorothy discovers Sophia is hoarding Social Security money, thanks to a computer error. Sophia received over $100,000 in extra social security checks, and then just starts pulling out wads of cash, and tipping the delivery boy, saying “here's a president you've never seen”.  So this week, we'll talk about… I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Understanding Stock Splits In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: What is a stock split  Why companies split their stock Whether or not it's good for the future stock price for a company to split it's shares Who is splitting their stock in 2022, and  Why stock splits may become less common in the coming years The most important takeaway from this week is:  Tomorrow, come on back because we're starting a brand new theme: 5 Lessons On Retirement From The Golden Girls Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Understanding Stock Splits Today, I'm talking about why stock splits may become less common in the coming years Fractional investing…explain Allows you to invest in individual stocks with as little as $5. So with $50 or $100, you could own 10-20 stocks and build a diversified portfolio without having to own mutual funds or ETFs. Really cool innovation that  Only a handful of large investment companies are doing this, but it's becoming increasingly common.  May take many years - first announced that it would be rolled out at Schwab in 2019. Still not available for institutional investors.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Understanding Stock Splits Today, I'm talking about which big name companies are splitting their stock in 2022: Shopify Amazon - buyback $10 billion Alphabet (parent company of Google) Tesla 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Understanding Stock Splits Today, I'm talking about whether or not it's a good idea to buy companies who split their stock. Don't add any real value - I'm going to trade you 2 oreos, you're going to break them in half and give me 4 half pieces back. Nothing has chaged really, I have twice as many pieces of oreos but they're half the size they were before. That's a 2 for 1 stock split.  Make the stock more accessible to more investors at a cheaper price Signals the management and leadership at the company are optimistic  Many companies continue to do well and continue that growth trajectory after a stock split, but there's no clear evidence that companies who split their stock do any better post-split 2010-2020: 240 stock splits Average return 1 month post-split = 1.5% Average return 6 months post-split = 5.25% Only about half of the companies who split their stock over this time period performed better than the S&P 500 over the short term 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Understanding Stock Splits Today, I'm talking about why companies might decide to split their stock.  One of the best examples of why a company might want to split it's stock is to look at Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffet's company has famously never split their stock, and as of when I'm recording this episode, the stock trades at over $505,000 per share. You need half a million dollars just to buy a single share of Berkshire Hathaway. That locks out most would-be investors, because they just don't have $505k to buy just one share. Now you could buy the cheaper class B shares which trade for a much cheaper $335/share.  Back in 1995, at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder's meeting, Buffett acknowledged that having such a high-priced stock — at the time, it was trading around $25,000 per share — could be “anywhere from awkward to disadvantageous” for investors, But he said that the barrier to entry was intentional. He went on to say that “We want to attract shareholders who are as investment-oriented as we can possibly obtain, with as long-term horizons,” he said. If Berkshire were to split the stock and lower its price, “we would get a shareholder base that would not have the level of sophistication and the synchronization of objectives with us that we have now.” So Buffet has remained committed to never splitting Berkshire's stock price, but his stance is pretty much non-existent among all other companies and their respective Boards.  Companies like splitting their stock for a variety of reasons. The most common reason why a company will decide to split it's stock is that it makes expensive shares cheaper to buy, like in the case of Amazon who will be doing a 20 for 1 stock split in about a month. Amazon shares have gained over 4,300% since their last split on Sept. 2, 1999, so it's about time if they want to bring their share price back down to a more affordable level.  Companies will often decide to split their stock after a period of strong growth and especially if there is anticipated and continued momentum which is likely to propel the stock higher post-split. Since most investors can still only buy whole shares, it provides more access to the companies stock at a lower price point. Many high-flying growth companies whose share prices have soared in recent years have also announced upcoming stock splits - Apple, Tesla, and Google among them.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Understanding Stock Splits Today, I'm covering the basics and talking about stock splits 101 - what is a stock split?  A stock split can take on many forms. Most commonly, I see 2 for 1 stock split, which means that for every 1 share you owned previously, you'll now own 2 shares after the split. And before you get all excited thinking that you've doubled your money, the company will also halve their stock price in this split.  So essentially nothing happens with the stock market capitalization. There are now twice as many shares outstanding but the stock price has also been reduced by half.  On the flipside, some companies will do a reverse stock split, which is exactly the opposite. Using the same 2 for 1 split example, in a reverse split, the company will reduce it's # of shares available by half and then the stock price will double.  While regular stock splits aren't good or bad in and of themselves, reverse stock splits can be major red flags. When stock prices fall too far they can become delisted from the exchange they trade on which have minimum share price rules. So if the stock is trading for $1, then a 1 for 2 reverse split that doubles the value per share to $2 can keep it from being delisted, and create the perception that things aren't so bad by artificially boosting the stock price. But it's not just 2 for 1 stock splits. Traditional stock splits and reverse splits can take a number of forms like the 3 for 1 split in Disney stock that I discussed yesterday, or the 20 for 1 stock split that Amazon that will take effect in early June.  Tomorrow, I'll talk about why companies would want to split their stock, but for today, I just wanted to lay the groundwork to explain stock splits and how they can take on many different forms.  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: Understanding stock splits.  For my 10th birthday, my dad bought me 1 share of Disney stock as a way to try to get me interested in the stock market. Well, it didn't have the intended impact - at least not right away. He didn't just buy me 1 share of stock in a brokerage account, he made sure to get the physical certificate, which for Disney stock is pretty cool.  The stock certificate had all of the classic disney characters on it and it's something cool to frame and put on the wall. Unfortunately, Disney no longer offers these physical stock certificates, but the stock price around my 10th birthday was $18/share. 27 years later when I turned 37 earlier this year, the stock price was $138/share which represents over a 600% increase in the stock price in the last 27 years.  A few years after my dad gave me 1 share, the stock completed a 3 for 1 split, meaning that for every one share I owned, I now owned 3. This happened in 1998, and interestingly, that was the last time Disney split their stock.  Unfortunately, I don't remember what happened to my 3 shares of stock. I'm sure I eventually traded the certificate in and sold the shares, but I wish I would have held on to it, especially considering that it was the first stock I ever owned and you can no longer purchase the physical certificates.  I was reminded of this story when I started preparing for this week's podcast. If you've ever owned individual stocks yourself, you've likely experienced a stock split.  So this week, we'll talk about:  What is a stock split  Why companies split their stock Whether or not it's good for the future stock price for a company to split it's shares Who is splitting their stock in 2022, and  Why stock splits may become less common in the coming years I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: The Pros of a Roth IRA Conversion Why Most People Don't Take Advantage Of Roth Conversions The Best Time To Convert To a Roth IRA During The Year The Worst Time To Convert To a Roth IRA During The Year My Favorite Roth Conversion Strategy The most important takeaway from this week is: To make a plan for Roth conversions in your own situation. Decide on whether or not this strategy makes sense for you, and then how much and when you'll convert those assets during a given calendar year.  And if you're still not sure if a Roth conversion is right for you, you can still take me up on my offer to run the numbers for you. Just email me your age, the $ amount you want to convert, and your expected income for 2022, and I will send you a personalized Roth conversion analysis and help you interpret the results.  Just send me an email - ashleym@truenorthra.com - again with your age, the $ amount you want to convert to Roth, and your 2022 expected income. That's ashleym@truenorthra.com Tomorrow, come on back because we're starting a brand new theme: Understanding stock splits.  A number of companies recently announced they were splitting their stock. A number of well-known companies recently announced stock splits, notably Amazon, Google, and Shopify.  But what are stock splits, and do they make a difference for you if you're a shareholder in any of these companies when they split their stock? We'll explore this question in more detail next week.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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 financ

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  Today, I'm tying everything together and explaining my favorite Roth Conversion Strategy. This week's theme asks the question: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k? And today, I'm going to answer that question now that we've looked at it from a bunch of different angles.  The principles here with a Roth conversion timing strategy are based on maximizing the amount you convert for a given year by minimizing the taxes. That's why converting when your IRA is at a loss or at the beginning of the year before you've had much growth for that year, both make sense.  So let's start with the most timely issue right now considering that as you're listening to this podcast, your portfolio is probably down for the year.  Let's say you decide that in 2022, you want to convert $100,000 of your Traditional IRA to your Roth. The lower the IRA account drops, the more a conversion makes sense since the same $100,000 conversion that you might have made in a given year, now represents a larger % of your IRA account that gets converted to Roth. My favorite Roth conversion strategy is one that is flexible and takes advantage of market volatility. This strategy would involve spreading out your conversions during the year. For peace of mind and knowing more about your income, your tax situation and your ability to pay the taxes on your conversion, you could wait to convert a portion until the end of the year, but also convert some at the beginning of the year. I like this approach the most, because it allows you to take advantage of potential market declines during the year. For example, let's say you decide this year to convert $100,000 to a Roth, and you already did a $50,000 conversion in January.  If your IRA is down 10% this year, now would be a good time to convert say another $25,000 now. Then you could wait to see how things play out over the rest of the year. If your account continues to drop, maybe you accelerate those conversions and do the rest of the conversion if your IRA drops 15-20% at some point during the year. If that doesn't happen or if the stock market stabilizes, you could wait until later in the year.  Again the goal is to maximize the % of your IRA dollars that get converted to a Roth with minimal tax consequences, and having a flexible strategy that converts dollars at different times and circumstances during the year will help to maximize the retirement assets that are in your Roth.  The key is to have a plan. I find that very few people take the time to just find out if a roth conversion makes sense, even though a well-executed Roth conversion strategy could result in hundreds of thousands of additional dollars by the end of your retirement years. Retirement dollars that won't be taxable for your heirs either.  So here's what a Roth conversion plan looks like: Decide if a Roth conversion makes sense for you Decide what amount you'll convert in a given year Decide on your strategy - all at the beginning, all at the end, or a combination strategy 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  Today, I'm talking about the worst times to convert during the year.  End of year is when most people convert to a Roth - they know more about their tax situation, but in most years when you have a gain by the end of the year, you're not making a big enough dent in your IRA.  Example: converting $100,000 of a $1,000,000 IRA at the end of the year. If the IRA grew by 8% that year, the new value is 1,080,000, so they $100,000 conversion at the end of the year only reduces your IRA balance down by only $20,000, because most of what you converted was the growth from that year.  As long as your account is growing in a given year, you're always behind and not really making a dent in your IRA balance.  Not sure if a Roth conversion is right for you? I'll run the numbers for you to help you decide if a Roth conversion makes sense for you. Just email me your age, the $ amount you want to convert, and your expected income for 2022, and I will send you a personalized Roth conversion analysis and help you interpret the results.  Just send me an email - ashleym@truenorthra.com - again with your age, the $ amount you want to convert to Roth, and your 2022 expected income. That's ashleym@truenorthra.com 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  Today, I'm talking about the Best Time To Convert To a Roth IRA During The Year- market downturn, lower taxes (early years of retirement or semi-retirement), now while you still can In 2021, there was a proposal in the House to eliminate Roth conversions for Americans in the top income brackets. It was part of the Build Back Better bill that didn't have the votes to pass, so it's been punted for now.  But Roth rules, especially for higher income earners are always on the table for changes.  Prior to 2010, Your adjusted gross income needed to be below $100,000 to convert a traditional IRA into a Roth. In 2010, the $100,000 income limit disappeared, and anyone can now convert to a Roth But you can see that the tax rules around Roth conversions are always pretty active. It's low hanging fruit when Congress considers raising taxes, because it will still raise hundreds of millions of additional tax revenue over a number of years, without the pain of raising the taxes that comes out of each one of your paychecks.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  Today, I'm talking about some of the drawbacks of a Roth conversion and Why Most People Don't Take Advantage Of Roth Conversions. Forking over that much in taxes and needing to pay it from an outside source (like your savings account) is a real obstacle. Some people are so turned off by writing a big fax tax check on a Roth conversion, that they just don't do it, despite the clear long-term benefits in many cases. This is the biggest reason I see for people to decide that a Roth conversion isn't for them…they simply don't want to pay the taxes on the amount converted.  This may be a rational choice, and it should be based on weighing a number of factors and potential downsides, not just the tears you'll shed as you write that check to Uncle Sam.  So here are a few other reasons why people don't do Roth conversions and why you might decide Roth conversions aren't right for you:  You're going to be in a significantly lower tax bracket in retirement…why pay the taxes now if the tax bite on future IRA withdrawals or RMDs isn't going to be painful?  You don't have enough cash in your savings account to pay the taxes.  Your income is higher this year and you expect it to be lower in future years - wait for income to go down some because the tax rate you'll pay on the converted $s will be lower You're going to need the money that you converted to a Roth within the next few years. Roth IRAs have rules that make you wait a few years before withdrawing funds. There are some workarounds for this, but in general, it's a good idea to not convert assets to a Roth if you'll be withdrawing those Roth assets in the next few years. In the real world though, this is hardly an issue, since the Roth assets are usually depleted last when you're withdrawing funds from your assets in retirement.  Not sure if a Roth conversion is right for you? I'll run the numbers for you to help you decide if a Roth conversion makes sense for you. Just email me your age, the $ amount you want to convert, and your expected income for 2022, and I will send you a personalized Roth conversion analysis and help you interpret the results.  Just send me an email - ashleym@truenorthra.com - again with your age, the $ amount you want to convert to Roth, and your 2022 expected income. That's ashleym@truenorthra.com 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  Today, I'm talking about Why At Least Some Of Your Retirement Should Be In A Roth IRA….in other words, what are some of the biggest benefits of having a meaningful amount of your retirement assets inside of a Roth IRA account.  Here are just a few of the biggest benefits of doing a Roth IRA conversion:  Anticipate higher taxes, especially in retirement. Taxes right now are pretty low by historical norms.  Estate tax rules significantly favor the Roth IRA assets. The SECURE Act passed in 2019 created a10-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries to withdraw all funds from the original owner's IRA. The act established a time period of 10 years for the “full” distribution of an inherited IRA for deaths occurring in 2020 or later. The 10 year rule still applies to the Roth IRA, but $0 dollars of that is taxable to your beneficiaries. This is a huge change, and significantly increases the amount of accelerated taxes your beneficiaries will pay on inherited IRA assets, that's largely out of their control and could send them into much higher tax brackets especially if the IRA assets are significant.  The best reason to convert assets to Roth - reduced RMDs (explain)  Not sure if a Roth conversion is right for you? I'll run the numbers for you to help you decide if a Roth conversion makes sense for you. Just email me your age, the $ amount you want to convert, and your expected income for 2022, and I will send you a personalized Roth conversion analysis and help you interpret the results.  Just send me an email - ashleym@truenorthra.com - again with your age, the $ amount you want to convert to Roth, and your 2022 expected income. That's ashleym@truenorthra.com 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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: Does It Matter When You Convert To a Roth IRA or 401k?  When I started my career as a financial advisor at the age of 22, I was fortunate enough to work for an employer that offered a Roth 401k option. For the last 15 years, I've been saving as much as I can each year into my Roth 401k, and while I have not benefited from the tax deductions that I would have otherwise had from my 401k contributions, as I write this today, about 50% of our personal assets set aside for retirement are in Roth accounts. I'm thankful for this because I won't have to contemplate significant Roth conversions later in life as I approach retirement, because I took care of getting the money into the Roth on the front end. But most people I work with are in the opposite situation. They might have 10-20% of their retirement assets in Roth accounts, and they'd like to increase those Roth assets.  So this week, we'll talk about the pros and cons of Roth conversions, and the nuances of why it matters when you complete a Roth conversion during the year. And with the stock market down for the year and changes to the rules for Roth's always on the table, I think now is an excellent time to consider at least a partial Roth conversion.  I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement, and your family's safety. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Is a Phased Retirement Right For You?  In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: WSJ: Part-Time Retirement Programs Are on the Rise The Benefits of a Phased Retirement Why You're In Such High Demand Using Your Crystallized Intelligence For A Happier Phased Retirement Other Options When A Phased Retirement Won't Work The most important takeaway from this week is: Phased retirement is increasingly common, and with labor shortages across many industries, Americans who are planning to transition into retirement are in a much better negotiating position than predecessors to have the best of both worlds - continued work, income and benefits with a more flexible and relaxed pace of life. Deciding if a phased retirement is right for you is something that should be taken very seriously as you begin to make plans for your own timeline and transition into retirement.  Tomorrow, come on back because we're starting a brand new theme: Does it matter when you convert to a Roth IRA or 401k?  With the stock market down for this year and talk of changing the rules around Roth conversions, there is a lot of interest right now in converting assets in a Traditional IRA or 401k to Roth. So next week I'll talk about why it matters when you do it and how to determine if now is a good time to convert some of your retirement dollars to Roth.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: A Phased Retirement…Is It Right For You?  Today, I'm talking about other options to transition to retirement if your employer doesn't offer this option, if you no longer want to continue working for your current employer, or if you're in a job that's too demanding that you just can't imagine yourself working longer there than is absolutely necessary.  You don't have to throw in the towel and stop working all together! Depending on your needs and skillset, there are plenty of part-time jobs that would be a good fit for retirees. Here are just a few, according to AARP and a few other sources: Driver - school bus driver, Uber or Lyft driver…my FIL's favorite things to do is shuttle people to and from the airport, and I've been many drivers who are retired. I actually have a client who is an Uber driver. He has no need of the extra income…he just really enjoys driving people around wherever he feels like turning on the app and making himself available.  Bookkeeper Admin assistant, receptionist, or office manager. When I was hiring for this position at True North, the hours were part-time and many businesses are looking to fill these types of positions with part-time workers.  Consultant - this is a big one especially if you have a specialized skill set. Many businesses are happy to work with experienced retirees on special projects or seasonal work.  As I mentioned earlier this week, there are tremendous benefits - not just financial but mental and physical benefits to working longer as well. So if you don't see how you could make it work in your current position, there are still opportunities and job openings for other companies or in other industries all together.  Who knows, maybe shuttling around elementary school kids will end up being the most rewarding job you ever had. Me personally, I would rather shove a sharp stick in my eye than drive around a bunch of kids, but that's just me.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: A Phased Retirement…Is It Right For You?  Today, I'm talking about using your crystallized intelligence effectively for a happier phased retirement.  Now if you aren't familiar with the term, crystallized intelligence, it's important that you know what it is, because it has important implications for being happy in your late-working years.   There's 2 types of intelligence - fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence refers to the ability to reason and think flexibly. Crystallized intelligence refers to the accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout life. At nearly 15 years in to my career as a financial advisor, believe it or not, I'm nearing the peak of my fluid intelligence in my career. If I stay in this career another 20 years, I will definitely start to see some noticeable declines in my fluid intelligence.  But that's ok, because even though fluid intelligence declines for all of us and earlier than we think, crystallized intelligence actually increases with age. Many aspects of fluid intelligence peak in adolescence and begin to decline progressively beginning around age 30 or 40.  Jobs that require you to be at the peak of your fluid intelligence are often frustrating for older workers. As we age, we lose our edge and our ability to reason and deal with complex information.  But that's ok, because this other aspect of our intelligence - crystallized intelligence - continues to increase with age. The key is working in a job, especially a job later in your career - that uses your crystallized intelligence and doesn't demand so much of what's left of your fluid intelligence.  Examples of this would be a manager or a supervisor, where you have the opportunity. Jobs that involve speaking and teaching or writing are also good for using your crystallized intelligence, without the frustration of fighting against the decline of your fluid intelligence.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: A Phased Retirement…Is It Right For You?  Today, I'm talking about some of most common applications of a phased retirement.  My husband is a CPA and with his experience and qualifications, he could pretty much work wherever he wants and command a high income. I don't say this to brag…he's actually decided not to do that since he doesn't like to tax season grind and would prefer to have a more balanced schedule. I say this because labor shortages are a serious problem in the world of public accounting, and in many other industries as well. I've had conversations with clients who are lawyers and architects and the same problem exists in their industries. They can't find qualified younger workers to fill positions of those who have quit or retired…this was a problem before Covid and it's only gotten worse over the last couple years.  So if you're in an industry that has some real labor shortages, you can more likely negotiate your way into a phased retirement that's going to give you the balance of schedule and free time that you're looking for while still maintaining some of your income and benefits.  Phased retirements work really well for knowledge workers like CPAs, lawyers, engineers, many desk jobs - especially in government, education, healthcare, and pretty much any position with hard-to-replace skills or knowledge. Phased retirements can also work well for more physically demanding jobs where you might be on your feet all day. Nursing comes to mind here. It's physically demanding and stressful, but you can maybe last a couple more years on the job if you are working 20 hours a week instead of 40-50+.  Owens Corning, a Toledo, Ohio-based maker of building and construction materials, launched a phased retirement program in 2020. Paula Russell, their chief human resource officer said that with a projected wave of retirements, “we were concerned we were going to lose a lot of institutional knowledge and intellectual capital,” 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: A Phased Retirement…Is It Right For You?  Today, I'm talking about the benefits of a phased retirement.  I don't know about you, but when I read a really good article, especially an editorial piece, I find that the comments are often more interesting and insightful than the article itself. That was the case with this WSJ article that is the basis for this week's podcast which talks about how more companies are now giving phased retirements a try to deal with the labor shortage and knowledge transfer issues. And inevitably, there was a comment from a reader who articulated so well the benefits of a phased retirement in her own experience.  Jean says:  “I worked part time for 5 years after decades of full-time work for a company.  I worked special projects that we all agreed on ahead of time.  I was able to keep my health insurance benefit (most important).  I was an hourly worker subject to state rules that gave me overtime rates for longer days and weekends.  As a result, I sometimes made more than I would have as a salaried employee.  I worked on interesting tasks that required my specific expertise, no administrative tasks to fill in my day when I wasn't busy.  I sometimes worked from home, sometimes from an office, sometimes on travel. I had plenty of free time.  I retired at 65 and was ready for it. It was a great way to evolve into retirement.” A great way to evolve into retirement…Jean hit the nail on the head. She kept her great income and health insurance benefits, which most likely also kept her from tapping into her social security and her investment portfolio. This is the main financial benefit of the phased retirement, and it's huge. To allow your portfolio and your social security income to continue growing for even just an extra year or 2 can make all the difference.  She also had the flexibility that a part-time work schedule allowed, so she could work from home occasionally, travel, and have plenty of free time without being shackled to her desk 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. With so many companies used to providing more flexible hours and work schedules in the post-Covid world, it's not a big ask anymore for many people to downshift their schedules like Jean did. This flexibility made working longer more sustainable and much more enjoyable as well.  There are also important psychological benefits to working longer, especially if you like the work you do. There's dignity in work. Work helps to provide meaning, purpose, and structure to our lives, and keeps our minds and bodies physically and mentally active. Lots of research points to a direct connection between working longer and living longer, as well as staving off cognitive problems like dementia.  So if you want to transition into retirement, the tremendous multi-faceted benefits of working longer, especially on a reduced schedule, are worth serious consideration.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: A Phased Retirement…Is It Right For You?  Today, I'm sharing with you a recent article from the WSJ which talks about the concept of a phased retirement. I'll be using this article as a jumping off point for this week's them.  If you would like to check out the article, I've linked to it in today's show notes. The article was published on March 15, 2022 and the title is “Part-Time Retirement Programs Are on the Rise.” Link to article:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/part-time-retirement-programs-are-on-the-rise-11647336602?st=hvd9lb4oky9pnr4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink    The article says:  “Plenty of older workers have wished for something between full-bore work and retirement. Now, more companies seem to be giving them what they want. Phased retirement programs—which allow workers nearing retirement age to cut back on their hours while keeping some pay and benefits—are growing in popularity. Human-resource executives say the pandemic has opened bosses to flexible work arrangements, while the fierce hiring market and higher-than-expected rate of retirements have motivated managers to find ways to retain older workers with key skills. In a forthcoming survey of 1,736 HR executives world-wide from consultant Mercer LLC, about 38% say they offer phased retirement, more than double the 17.2% that did so before the pandemic.” It's really interesting, but not surprising that such a game-changing HR practice has become commonplace since the pandemic. And with the current labor shortage, I think many companies simply have no other choice. On top of that, many companies benefit tremendously when the more experienced employees are able to successfully transfer knowledge and train the new hires. Tomorrow, I'll talk more about the benefits - both financial and psychological - that come from a phased retirement.But for today, I just wanted to let you know that phased retirements are more common than ever, and if it isn't a formal practice at your employer, it could be a great time to ask about whether your employer would consider something like this .  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: Is a Phased Retirement Right For You?  Actually, he just opted for a phased retirement instead. He could work the hours and schedule he wanted without any of the headaches of running a practice or managing employees.  I recently came across an article in the WSJ that talks about this concept of a phased or semi-retirement in detail, so since I seem to be coming across this more and more in the real world with clients, I thought it was fitting to do a deeper dive on this topic in this week's podcast.  So this week, we'll talk about this WSJ article to help you explore the idea of a phased retirement and whether it might be right for you.  I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement, and your family's safety. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Prepping for emergencies in 2022 In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week: Prepping For The Zombie Apocalypse Your Best Investments: Canned Food, Gold Coins, & A Gun Prepping Goals 3 Golden Rules Of Prepping Become A Prepper…More Resources The most important takeaway from this week is: Preparing for emergencies is an essential part of your long-term planning and how you approach it is very similar to how you go about planning for retirement. Start where you are and focus on the most important and most impactful things you can do that will make the biggest difference for you in the long-run.  Since I've been talking this week about prepping for the worst, it's time to lighten things up with a more positive weekly theme, so tomorrow, come on back, because we're starting a brand new theme: Is a Phased Retirement Right For You?  I've noticed a really strong trend among many of my clients over the last 5 years or so, where many of them continue working in their early retirement years, but at a much reduced pace to the rat race they've been in for the previous 30-40 years. Then I recently came across a WSJ article about part-time retirement programs on the rise, saying: “Workers have longed for a way to ease into retirement while keeping some pay and benefits. More companies are giving it a try.” So next week, we'll look at this new and exciting opportunity for Americans in their later working years to downshift their schedules, travel more, have more control over their working hours, all while earning enough to hold off on tapping into retirement accounts, paying for expensive healthcare benefits before medicare kicks in, and wait on taking Social security income.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Prepping for emergencies in 2022. Today, I'm talking about some further resources if you want to go deeper down the rabbit hole of prepping. Let me be clear - I'm not suggesting this  In generations past, a bad winter, a drought, disease or a bad year for crops would have wiped out an entire family, town, or region. That's not the case today, and if our ancestors would have had the financial resources and storage capacity to stockpile food, would they not have done that to keep themselves and their families alive? In our world of stocked grocery store shelves and greased supply chains, we have largely forgotten the need to prepare of some likely emergencies.  I strongly believe that while you don't want to get carried away here, it's prudent to use your financial resources to not just prepare for your future retirement, but to prepare for your basic future survival in a variety of emergency circumstances.  With that in mind, I want to turn today to some further resources that are worth exploring:  I just scratched the surface of prepping this week, so if you're new to prepping, focus on the basics and getting started. It's better to grab a 40 pack of bottled water today at Costco than to research how to build a rainwater catchment system that might take you thousands of dollars and several months to complete.  The best place to start are places like ready.gov - which has supply lists, and how to plan for various types of emergencies like floods and hurricanes. The Red Cross is also a great resource with lots of guides and an interactive map that shows you the most common types of disasters based on where you live.  Websites & Blogs - there is a long list of websites and blogs  YouTube videos - great for building knowledge, learning skills and strategies like building and organizing your food and water storage so things get used and don't go to waste. One word of caution: easy to get down some rabbit holes with some of the prepper videos. Videos about preparing for doomsday are really common and unnerving, so just be careful about what you watch and listen to when the predictions turn dire…it's probably not good for your mental health and could even scare you and paralyze you into doing nothing about it.  Books! Great for building knowledge & keeping for reference in an emergency - can't google how to give someone CPR or clean and stitch a deep wound if you've lost power.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Prepping for emergencies in 2022. Why am I focusing on prepping for emergencies when this is a podcast about planning for retirement? Although I am not an expert prepper and there are plenty of people who know a lot more about this than I do, prepping for emergencies goes hand in hand with planning for retirement.  What good is your 401k if the power goes out this coming winter for a week, it's below freezing outside, the power won't be back on for a week like it was in Texas last year, and you haven't devoted any time, effort, or money on basic preparedness and essential life skills?  So today, I'm talking about 3 Golden Rules of Prepping. These aren't the only golden rules of prepping, but based on what I've learned over the years here are 3 golden rules of prepping that I believe will serve you well in preparing yourself, your family, and your home for emergency situations:  The Rule of 3s to guide your priorities.  Earlier this week, I talked about the prepping pyramid that should guide where you focus most of your efforts. This includes building emergency stores of food, water, and basic safety supplies like a flashlight, before you move on to storing up 300 lbs of rice in mylar bags and buckets.  The Rule of 3s means that: You can survive three minutes without breathable air  You can survive three hours in a harsh environment (extreme heat or cold). You can survive three days without drinkable water. You can survive three weeks without food. The Rule of 3s is useful because it can help your prioritize the right kind of preparations in the right order - air, shelter/warmth, water, then food.  The 2nd golden rule is:  Store what you eat and eat what you store This rule is very useful in not wasting a bunch of money on canned goods you'll never eat. When I first started exploring building up some emergency stores of food and water, my biggest hang ups were the shelf life of most items, and finding the space to store things. Why would I buy 100 cans of spam if there was no way we would ever eat that? Storing what you eat, and eating what you store helped to shift the way I think about building up a stockpile of food. My kids love applesauce pouches and pirate's booty, so I can buy 10 giant bags of pirate's booty and 10 boxes of applesauce pouches from Costco, that will go into a rotation that will get used up within the next year, so it will never go to waste and whenever something runs out, I go to the pantry to grab a new one, and then add that item to my list to replenish the back of our stockpile.  Now I have to say that I don't have a large stockpile of any of these items, but now that I understand emergency food storage isn't just about hundreds of pounds of dried beans and rice, I feel better about building up food stockpiles for emergencies that won't go to waste.  Knowledge is the most important tool you have.  I don't know how to change a flat tire, I'm pretty worthless at getting any tough stains out of clothes, I've never been successful at growing anything edible in my garden, and God help you if you ever need me to stitch up a wound, because I was never interested in learning how to sew.  But I can read a map and compass, I can sail a boat, start a fire, cook most anything, build a shelter out of a tarp and some rope, and live alone in the woods for a couple of days which no food (which I actually did when I was 15 years old). In the early days of Covid I learned how to cut hair, and I know the correct way to hold a wine glass.  When it comes to basic survival, you might often hear that knowledge is the most important tool you have. In a life or death emergency, you may not have the time or the ability to just google it, so knowing what to do in a variety of circumstances could prove to be the key to survival in an emergency.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Prepping for emergencies in 2022. Today, I'm talking about creating some prepping goals which starts with having enough emergency supplies for: 3 days, then moving up to 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and if you're really serious about this prepping stuff - 1 year or longer. I'll probably never make it to a year's worth of food in storage, but I am actively working towards a 3 month supply of food and water, which is no small feat.  If I'm being honest, what scares me the most is a prolonged power grid failure, because everything hits the fan when that happens. No heat, no lights, no ability to cook food, the water supply and sanitation would go pretty quickly. No food at the grocery store, no clean running water. And then you have unrest and serious security issues in a prolonged grid-down situation as people become desperate.  But this is not the most prudent place to start and it's pretty overwhelming to think about. Do I have basic emergency supplies to keep my family fed, warm, and dry for 3 days? Getting 3 days worth of food, water, and backup power, along with some basic tools like flashlights and a first aid kit are a great place to start.  Once you're covered for 3 days, move on to 2 weeks. CDC has some good resources on Creating and Storing an Emergency Water Supply, and recommends 1 gallon of water per person, per day for drinking and sanitation. So that means in my household of 5 + the dog, we need a minimum of 70 gallons of water for a 2 week supply.  At 2 weeks, you'll definitely need more food, and a reliable way to stay warm and cook that food, so alternative sources of heat and fuel will become necessary. What good is all that pasta and rice if you have no way to cook it and not enough water for it anyways?  At 2 weeks to 3 months of preparedness, you'll need to move into the safety and security category as well if all your basic necessities are covered. This doesn't just involve guns and ammo. How to protect your property and your family goes well beyond that, and I read recently that a good solid flashlight is the most important personal safety tool you can own.  I just scratched the surface here, and later this week I'll talk about some additional resources to help you build up some emergency preps, but for now, just focus on starting small where you are and building up over time.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Prepping for emergencies in 2022. In the early 1970s when the economy slipped into a recession and inflation jumped to 12.3% by 1974, someone was quoted as saying your best investments going forward will be canned food, gold coins, and a gun. I actually had a copy of this quote that I kept in a binder and would sometimes reference it, since 30 years later in the late 2000s, it seemed like a ridiculous quote. Yet, here we are in 2022 with high inflation and economic uncertainty, and now the advice doesn't seem so silly. It just shows that history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme. As it relates to this week's theme, the canned food, gold coins, and a gun advice reminds me that this is probably where we should start with talking about using your financial resources to prepare for emergencies that you and your family might face.  While I wouldn't recommend selling your stock and bond portfolio to buy canned food, gold coins, and a gun, there are definitely things you'll want to invest in and there is a hierarchy that you'll want to follow with stockpiling emergency provisions. Many people get this wrong because they might focus on building up security, like tripwire,an arsenal and ammo, but completely ignore their most basic need of clean, drinking water.  If you've seen Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is shaped like a pyramid and covers most basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid all the way to self-actualization at the top of the pyramid, you can think of preparing for emergencies with a similar hierarchy. The Canadian Prepper has a good explainer video on the prepping pyramid on his YT channel that can help guide where to focus your efforts and not waste time on getting a ham radio when you don't even have a basic first aid kit in your home.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOdirgJrwAI&t=917s  At the bottom of the prepping pyramid are air, food, water, warmth and shelter. Depending on health concerns, medicine would also fall at the base of this pyramid. So if you're going to devote time and money to preparing for emergencies, it's advisable to start here first. Again, clean air, food, water, warmth, and shelter.  Next comes security and safety. As I mentioned before, I think too many people start here. Plenty of guns and ammo for the band of murderers coming to ransack their home, but no way to stay warm if the power goes out for a few days in the winter.  After this comes knowledge and skill building. Things like knowing how to use a map and compass could help you find a water source, or knowing how to use a trap or grow your own vegetable garden could help you sustainably stay well-fed. Do you know how to build and cook on an open fire? I worked at a summer camp for 2 years in college and was really into hiking and backpacking at this time. I learned how to sail a boat, build fires,  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Prepping for emergencies in 2022. Today, Let's talk about the emergencies you will most likely face, and why that means you shouldn't prep for the Zombie apocalypse like today's title suggests. I've lived in the Portland, OR area my whole life and have been through 2 memorable earthquakes - the first one in March 1993, which was a magnitude of 5.6 about 30 miles from Portland. This happened in the early, pre-dawn hours. I was 8 years old and I ran out of the house along with my dad, which is something that you are definitely not supposed to do in an earthquake! My mom and my sister slept right through it. The 2nd one happened in 2001 in the middle of the day. I was at school at the time and remember feeling this weird sensation of waves like I was on a boat. Neither caused any real damage, but it's been drilled into me since a kid that we are well overdue for a massive and devastating earthquake here on the west coast. How bad could it be? In 2016 the US Navy, Coast Guard, and Washington state's National Guard did a full-scale, nine-day drill to test how well they could respond to a massive earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. That area covers Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland through northern California. The 83-page report comes to a lot of scary conclusions. The authors admit the systems are not ready, infrastructure would collapse, and they'd have a full-blown humanitarian crisis in ten days. We recently interviewed the Portland Water Bureau, and they had a similar message about an earthquake in that region: a million people in that 225-square-mile area will be without water for months, not days.” Months, not days! Eye opening. The most likely emergencies where I live would be a power outage due to a snowstorm or a heat wave, an earthquake, and wildfires, and probably in that order of likelihood. So my preparations need to reflect the likely events that I'll face. Instead of building a tornado shelter, I would focus on not keeping all of my emergency items - food, water, tools, medical supplies, etc in one spot. Things get crushed and ruined in earthquakes or something could get so buried that I can't access it and it becomes worthless.  I also need supplies stored in my car and what's commonly known as a bug out bag. This is a trimmed down list of items that my family and I can take if we need to leave our home, which would be very important if an earthquake makes our home unsafe to stay in or if a wildfire gets too close.  And probably most common but often overlooked are the everyday emergencies we might face. Things like a burglar, a kitchen fire, or health event like a choking or a heart attack. Or a financial emergency like a job loss. It would be nice to have 3 months of food on hand so you could dramatically reduce your household food spending while you look for a new job.  So a great place to start is to research and understand the most common types of emergencies you'll face, based on where you live.  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 started this podcast because I love helping people just like you gain clarity and make a plan for the retirement you envision.  The theme this week on the podcast is: Prepping For Emergencies in 2022 [diaper panic of 2020 story] Even though the existential crisis of the early days of Covid is long gone, and we're all still here, the world, as always, is a very uncertain place. We have the uncertainty of the war in Ukraine and the unpredictableness of Putin, continued supply chain issues, the highest inflation we've seen since I've been alive, and with Biden even saying recently of food shortages: “It's going to be real”.  After my diaper panic of early 2020, followed by the civil unrest in my own city of Portland, OR, and now the war in Ukraine, my eyes have been opened to the vulnerabilities of the life of ease and comfort and the things we all take for granted every day - food, clean, running water, personal safety and security, and a reliable power grid that provides electricity & heat.  Why am I focusing on this topic and what does it have to do with retirement exactly? Well, a lot I think…what good is it to have a plan for retirement and cash in the bank, if you don't have enough food, water, Plus, prepping costs money and it's easy to go out panic buying and waste a lot of money on items you may not really need or that aren't really a priority.  I find that prepping is much like politics and religion in that's it's a divisive issue. Half of you right now are nodding in agreement because you have your bug out bag ready to go. The other half of you are about to shut me off and accuse me of being an end-of-days zombie apocalypse prepper.  The main problem when our human nature collides with an emergency is that we are generally pretty terrible at preparing for things. But the good news is that you're probably better than most at preparing and thinking ahead, since this podcast is about preparing for your future retirement and you care enough about that to listen to me and this podcast.  If you're going to plan for the future and set aside resources for your retirement, I am a strong believer that those resources should include the real and practical items you might need if things don't go according to plan.  So this week, I'll talk about how to prioritize your prepping and spending money on the things that will have the biggest impact on helping you and your family prepare for everything from a weather-related emergency like an earthquake or a tornado, to a prolonged grid-down scenario.  You can go crazy and waste a lot of money with your preps, so I'll help you determine where to allocate your time and resources in building up a reasonable stock of emergency supplies for you and your family.  I hope what I have to share with you this week will help you make smart and thoughtful decisions with your retirement, and your family's safety. And while I am careful to not lead you astray, personal finance is not an exact science. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone, so I encourage you to disregard anything I say that may not be helpful for you, and to consult your own financial, tax, and legal advisors regarding your own individual situation.  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

It's Sunday, which means...it's recap time here on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast This week the theme was: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement In case you missed any episodes, here's what I covered in each episode this week as I featured a case study from Monica about her upcoming retirement:  The most important takeaway from this week is: While Monica faces a multitude of issues, her situation is actually pretty common. She'll need to do some additional planning to figure out how she'll pay for healthcare before Medicare kicks in, how to prioritize paying down debts, and whether or not they can afford to continue living in New York, where the cost of living is very high.  If you would like your own questions answered on the podcast, I'm planning to incorporate more of these mailbag topics into upcoming weekly themes, so please email your own retirement questions to me. I'll do my best to answer your question and I just might feature your question on the podcast!  Send your email to ashleym@truenorthra.com. That's ashleym@truenorthra.com  Tomorrow, come on back, because we're starting a brand new theme: Prepping for Emergencies. With the recent attacks on Ukraine, I think a lot of people are concerned about escalation and this turning into WWIII. Myself, I worry about vulnerabilities to our power grid and situations where I might need to protect and feed my family in an emergency situation. And putting apocalypse worries aside, we all saw what happened in Texas last year as In February 2021 with the massive power outage during a string of winter storms. which came about as a result of three. The storms caused the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat.More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power,some for several days. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis. So with this in mind, how can you use your financial resources wisely to plan for emergencies. I'll talk about smart ways to spend your money and what to focus on when making a plan for emergencies, which is a lot like planning for retirement. After all, what good is all the money in your bank account or in your 401k if you couldn't keep yourself or your family alive for more than a few days in a natural disaster scenario.  Thank you so much for listening this week! If this podcast is valuable for you, please share the show with a friend, a neighbor, your brother, or co-worker who is getting close to retirement. 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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement. About a month ago, a listener of the podcast emailed me with some questions about her upcoming retirement and this week, I'm addressing the multitude of issues she's facing as she nears retirement.  Today, I'm talking about what Monica should do next. Here's what I would recommend in order of priority:  Make a plan for getting out of her stable value fund, that will have her fully invested in a 40-60% stock allocation over the next 6-12 months.  Calculate the cost of healthcare. Because of her husbands disability and health issues, navigating paying for health insurance is more complicated in Monica's case, so she'll need to find out what health care costs are going to be, especially since she'll be retiring before she's covered by medicare.  Determine if their income and assets will be able to sustain their spending needs in retirement. I offered my retirement success forecaster, and this type of in depth analysis that looks in detail at your financial assets and income sources to see if that can support a comfortable lifestyle for you in retirement. If you want to go through the retirement success forecaster yourself, just go to truenorthra.com/retirementsuccess Pay off debt before retirement.  Monica has a few other homework items as well, but these are either dependent on figuring out the above items first, or they're not as pressing, so I would recommend focusing on the above to do list, and then moving on to selling their rental house, considering where to live in retirement, determining an annual travel budget, and deciding on whether or not she should choose the pension income or the lump sum for the pension she'll have.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement. About a month ago, a listener of the podcast emailed me with some questions about her upcoming retirement and this week, I'm addressing the multitude of issues she's facing as she nears retirement.  Today, I'm talking about the number 1 reason why people retire earlier than planned - and that is for health reasons. You may have picked up on this in Monica's email to me that I read earlier in the week, but her husband is the same age as her and has been retired for several years due to health issues. He is currently taking SS disability income and they even went into debt because he wasn't working for several years. Prior to his forced early retirement, he was self-employed and wasn't covered by any sort of 401k plan or IRA.  This has lead to some struggles for them financially and while they are nearly out of the debt hole they're in, it's important to plan for this type of unexpected early retirement.  If you or your spouse could no longer work, what's your plan B? If you had to stop working to take care of  These are just possibilities. It's incredibly likely that you may need to retire earlier than planned because of health issues - either your own or someone else's. The statistics back this up. 11% of people retired earlier than planned because of needing to take care of a loved one. 5% of people retired earlier than planned because of Covid health risks, and 36% of people retired early because of their own health issue or disability. That's over 50% of people who retired earlier than planned because of health reasons.  So make a plan B, and determine what compromises need to be made if you can't work as long as your planned to.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement. About a month ago, a listener of the podcast emailed me with some questions about her upcoming retirement and this week, I'm addressing the multitude of issues she's facing as she nears retirement.  Today, I'm addressing another question from Monica's email. She wrote: “I read about a philosophy of setting aside 5 years worth of required retirement investment withdrawals to use during a strong and long market downturn, allowing the market to recover without making withdrawals during this time.” I've actually talked about this before on the podcast as it's a common question I receive from clients: How much cash should you keep on hand for income needs and emergencies when retired? I actually think 5 years is too excessive, as it will be a drag on your long-term returns and although it sounds counter-intuitive, it could actually cause you to run out of money in retirement because you had too much cash. What if 5 years of cash represented 30% of your portfolio? That's 30% of your retirement assets that's essentially losing money, because it's likely not going to keep pace with inflation. At a bare minimum, you'll want about 6 months worth of monthly expenses on hand for emergencies. So if you spend $5,000/month, you'll want $30,000 in cash, just for emergencies.  In addition, to protect yourself in the next market downturn, you'll want to keep another 12 months worth of your portfolio withdrawals on hand. Why? Well the average bear market lasts 14 months. Some are shorter, and some of the deeper ones are even longer. So if you can stop your portfolio withdrawals for a year while the stock market is reeling and we're in the midst of a recession, you can sleep better at night and not make the problem worse. So 12 months of suspended withdrawals from your investment portfolio should be enough, even if the downturn lasts a little longer than that.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement. About a month ago, a listener of the podcast emailed me with some questions about her upcoming retirement and this week, I'm addressing the multitude of issues she's facing as she nears retirement.  Today, I'm talking about Monica's non-negotiable, which is the age which she retires. She mentioned in her original email to me that the latest she would want to retire is sometime in the first half of 2023. This for her is non-negotiable. She'll be 64 then and has been working for the same company for 42 years.  She has about 1.6 million saved for retirement, will have social security and a modest pension income, and she wants to enjoy retirement. Her husband also has some significant health issues and it's important to her that she can be home more with him. Here are a few concerns I have with Monica's timeline that she'll need to make a plan for before retirement:  Debts - [list them]. How will she pay these off and make sure she keeps enough cash for emergencies that she won't go back into debt in retirement. The student loans and CC debt definitely need to get wiped out before retirement.  She has a child that is still in college and will graduate in May 2023. She's paying out of pocket for his room and board and some other expenses. She will retire before turning 65 and health insurance will be expensive for her. Needs to make sure she can afford it.  It's important for cash flow and peace of mind that Monica knocks out all of her debts except for the HELOC prior to retirement.  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

The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Listener Case Study: One Year To Retirement. About a month ago, a listener of the podcast emailed me with some questions about her upcoming retirement and this week, I'm addressing the multitude of issues she's facing as she nears retirement.  Today, I'm talking about the biggest problem that Monica is trying to solve right now, and that is getting out of the stable value fund in her 401k and back into stocks.  Monica writes in her email: “Up until recently I was aggressively invested in stocks in my 401k. I was always calm about market fluctuations. However, now as I approach retirement all the volatility in the world and in the stock market has me worried. In January I moved all my 401k funds into the stable value fund. Prior to that I was invested in primarily large cap funds.  I know I cannot keep it all in the stable value fund long term so I am looking for an allocation strategy when I feel ready to [get back in the market]. I am not a fan of bonds and I think the stable value fund is a better choice for now. I would be willing to leave some money in there as I reallocate other funds into stocks to hopefully increase [growth] in retirement.” Monica is right - sitting on cash is not a long-term strategy for investing for retirement. What I recommend for Monica is gradually getting back into the stock market over a period of 6-12 months. But not 100% stocks like she was before. She probably should get to a stock allocation that is in the 40-60% range. The exact amount will depend on some other factors other than her age, but that's a good range to shoot for.  Pick an allocation. Pick a timeframe. And start reinvesting without flinching.  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