The Plan

Our season 2 concludes with a roundtable of three Charles Stephen advisors: Kelly Famiglietta, Jonathan Stoner and Jeremy Aguilar. They discuss how COVID-19, the labor market, the war in Ukraine, and the upcoming midterm elections will all have an effect on how the market proceeds in the coming months.

We tend to give presidents credit for economic good times and blame for the hard times. And in the past year, as inflation and gas prices have led many Americans to grumble about what the current Administration is or isn't doing to make things easier.  But what are the government's powers and limitations in a free market? In this episode Adam Ciepiela discusses what the effects of government policy eventually has on your wallet.  

We know it's going to come. Either we go first, or our spouse does. And if we're the one left living, there isn't just debilitating grief to deal with, but a mountain of tasks to perform, even with the tidiest of estates. These dual paths of mourning and maintenance can be daunting, to say the least.  Cynthia Thompson, senior relationship manager at Charles Stephen, shares her own journey.

When women are paid 85% of what men make, but they make most of the decisions on purchasing in their families, you can bet they have a different relationship with money than men do. And while women own 45% of all the businesses in this country, just one in 4 of the companies listed on the Russell 3000 index have a woman on their board of directors, which, combined with the aforementioned and persistent pay gap, suggests women also have a very different relationship to work, career and retirement. Charles Stephen partner and advisor Kelly Famiglietta talks about the fundamental differences between women and men when it comes to money and investing.

A mountain of research shows that ethnic and racial minorities in the United States are not as wealthy or financially secure as their White counterparts. They make less, are more likely to be the targets of predatory lending, and are less likely to have access to commercial credit or invest in securities of all kinds.Charles Stephen advisor Jeremy Aguilar talks what he experienced in his ten-plus years of interacting with Hispanic customers in banks, automobile sales and credit unions, and in his own life growing up in El Paso, Texas. 

For so many of us, our 401(k) or IRA accounts are reservoirs of wealth we contribute to for years and years, all for that day for when we retire, or leave a job where we've been part of a group retirement plan. That day comes, and we have a sum of money staring at us from a statement or a computer screen and we think, “now what?” Is this all there is? How do I make this last for this unknown amount of time I have left? Where should I put it? Are there taxes to pay? Should I get some advice?  Kelly Famiglietta, who heads the Charles Stephen group retirement business, talks about the options.

Social Security is the federal government's largest, most popular, and most possibly most criticized program. Last year more than a trillion dollars was distributed to retirees, surviving spouses and dependents and the disabled. Along with Medicare, it's a federal program that all Americans, at some point, benefit from. But like Medicare, it's a program that, while we all expect to participate in it, few of us really know what we're getting into. Social Security expert and Charles Stephen founder Steve Ciepiela discusses how to get the most out of this complex rite of passage for seniors.

Stocks and bonds are the twin pillars of the investors' marketplace, discussed every hour of every day in financial media. But how much do we really know about these asset classes?In this second of two episodes called Equities 101, Charles Stephen founder Steve Ciepiela talks with The Plan host Mark Smith about what it actually means to own stocks — the exchanges, the indexes, and how to see the constant barrage of financial news in a broader context.

Stocks and bonds are the twin pillars of the investors' marketplace, discussed every hour of every day in financial media. But how much do we really know about these asset classes? In this first of two episodes called Equities 101, Charles Stephen partner and advisor Adam Ciepiela discusses bonds, the vehicles that make investors, not banks, the biggest lenders to corporations and governments, and why they are considered necessary to any diversified investment portfolio.

It's a term people use to describe what they have to depend on in their retirement, or if they're faced with an emergency.  It implies something sustaining and protective, but also precious and fragile. For many of us, even slight cracks to our nest eggs in a volatile stock market can have us running to the fire exits. But there's a way to look at the nest egg as something other than easily breakable....something that can take the ups and downs that come with investing, continuing to grow even after retirement.

It takes time and patience to get beyond what's simply compelling to what's real.  Financial news outlets compete for audiences, and they can be as sensational as tabloids when the markets go down, rates go up, or an official says something that makes a great headline. Charles Stephen partner and advisor Adam Ciepiela talks about how sort through the tidal wave of information thrown at us each day and see the news in a broader context.

5/23/22: After an unnerving week with big sell-offs and a drop in retail stocks, the financial media is talking more about a possible recession. Charles Stephen partners Adam Ciepiela, Kelly Famiglietta and founder Steve Ciepiela take a step back and look at these developments in the context of the post-Covid economy, and what a recession is and isn't. Takeaway quote: "Don't ever bet against the American consumer."

Four of Charles Stephen's advisors discuss inflation: how it's affecting our clients, our community, and a broader look at just what inflation is and isn't.

Marriage is a union of finances as well as hearts. We all have a financial past, financial values and plans for our future that we need to share with our partners before we tie the knot. On the cusp of wedding season in June, we thought we'd have a discussion on topics couples should talk about before they become real issues. 

It's the end of the year and the first season of The Plan, so we got four financial advisors together for a roundtable discussion about where we've been in 2021 and what might lie ahead for 2022.

The traditional concept of retirement means leaving behind your career and never working again. But for an entrepreneur with a successful business, it's not that simple. When the time comes, most small business owners are unprepared for the financial, psychological and emotional implications of retirement. Without proper planning, many believe there's just one option to not working: selling for whatever they can get and walking away. But there are alternatives that can ease the difficult process of separating from your life's work that could have surprising financial benefits. Steve Ciepiela, founder of Charles Stephen, joins us to talk about the business owners he's counseled, and his own journey of passing his business on to the next generation.

One result of the tremendous disruption caused by the Covid pandemic is that a record number of Americans are starting new businesses. A general reevaluation of work, combined with low interest rates, more ready cash, and cheaper commercial real estate have all combined to create a burst of entrepreneurship.  But all this empowerment comes with a new slate of responsibilities and concerns, as a business owner has to also be part bookkeeper, accountant and lawyer. We'll discuss the foundational issues you need to consider before you actually get to the fun part of making money and being your own boss.

Medicare is an essential part of life for any American over 65. It saves many vulnerable seniors from being wiped out by escalating health costs. But it's far from a perfect system. It's complicated, and many new enrollees get the unpleasant surprise of the “donut hole”— the gap in coverage for medications that lies between Medicare's regular limits and its catastrophic coverage threshold. This episode is for those Americans approaching 65 who have yet to go through Medicare initiation to prepare them for one of life's major rites of passage. 

More and more investors, particularly younger ones, are requesting their money be put into ventures committed to avoiding harmful impacts on the environment, communities, and workers. It's what the financial world calls “ESG” (standing for environment, social and governance). As this trend has gained momentum in the past few years, most leading mutual funds now have expert ESG asset managers.  But who decides what constitutes "ESG" status? We break it all down for you in this episode.

The economy's turbulent recovery from the Covid Recession has raised a lot of fears about inflation, where we all end up paying more for everything. The very mention of the word can send shivers down the spines of Americans who remember the crippling rates of inflation in the 1970s and 80s. That was bad inflation. But there's also good inflation, in which a growing economy can mean prosperity for many investors, chief among them homeowners. We'll examine the history of inflation in the United States, how its management is one of the primary concerns of the Federal Reserve, and how to keep the “I” word in perspective. 

There's a reason why we're not on TV or social media promising you the world: it's against the law. Licensed !nancial advising requires strict adherence to state and federal statutes and the intense scrutiny of industry self-regulation. In this episode, we'll discuss why the American securities market is the gold standard for individual investors, what's required of licensed advisors whenever you entrust them with your money, and why unlicensed “experts” can get away with saying almost anything on the airwaves. 

Just about the time that many people are finished raising their children, they face the momentous and often sudden responsibility of having to care for their aging parents. An accident or diagnosis, and everyone's lives and roles change in an instant. Without proper planning, this phase of life can be hugely expensive, often eliminating life savings in just several years or even months. And the emotional costs can be just as steep. In this episode, we'll explore the steps you can take to make this transition from child to caregiver smoother and less destructive to families and the nest eggs our parents worked so hard to create.

With the tradition of free, public education for elementary, middle and high school students questioned more and more by parents concerned about excellence and safety, many are wondering if saving for private school in the midst of skyrocketing tuition costs is a realistic option. Federal and state programs like 529s and custodial accounts offer parents and grandparents good options, but what happens when a child reaches adulthood and they decide college isn't for them? In this episode we'll sort through the benefits, limits and risks of investing for education.

Annuities (investments with guaranteed payouts) are among the oldest and most conservative forms of making your money work for you. Consequently, they come in for a lot of criticism for not performing as well as other asset classes. But for certain people, annuities are smart ways to hedge tax liabilities and can be an essential part of any portfolio. In this episode, we'll get the full picture of this often misunderstood and underestimated investment tool. 

Over 130 million Americans live with chronic or life-threatening diseases. For most of us, life just doesn't stop while we're trying to survive or stay well. We have to find ways to continue working, providing for ourselves and our families, and deal with an avalanche of medical bills and insurance claims. Our futures are suddenly much more immediate than we had anticipated. But there are ways to plan for such a drastic life change and adapt to new financial realities.

Retirement isn't what it used to be. We're not saving the way our parents did, and corporate pensions have, on the whole, disappeared. Consequently, we're working longer, health care is dramatically more expensive, and our standards and costs of living continue to rise every year and we're spending dramatically more on our children's education, for far longer than many of us planned to. Employees often wonder if it's too late for them to start saving. Employers feel burdened by the responsibilities of compliance with government regulations. Kelly Famiglietta, the partner at Charles Stephen who heads the group retirement portion of the firm's business, will join us to discuss how valuable these plans are, and why it's never too late to start employing your money to work for you.

Some 44 million college students, graduates and their parents owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans, a sum greater than all credit card debt owed by American consumers. As astronomical as that figure is, student loan borrowers have more flexibility to manage that debt than they may think. In this episode, we'll discuss how student loan debt became such a major source of stress for young people, the options available to them that can lessen that burden, and why it shouldn't interfere with plans for their futures.

Over the next ten years, experts agree that Baby Boomers, those Americans born between 1945 and 1964, will leave some $30 trillion to their children. It will be an unprecedented transfer of wealth that will impact tens of millions of people. Are they ready for it? Are you? This episode will explore what is involved in an inheritance...from the courthouse and probate to executors and trustees who determine when and how you receive your bequest. Whether you're anticipating receiving one or thinking about estate planning yourself, you'll want to listen to why wealth rarely arrives with the amount of emotional and legal baggage that comes with inheritance.