Podcasts about registered investment advisor

For British expats in America drawing income from a UK pension, the NT tax code has long been a straightforward, if slow, way to avoid being taxed at source in the UK on income that should only be taxable in the US. But something appears to be changing at HMRC, and what was once a simple administrative process is becoming unpredictable, inconsistent, and in some cases, actively obstructed. In this From the Trenches episode of Expat Wealth, Richard Taylor, Chartered Financial Planner and founder of Plan First Wealth, and business partner James Boyle share three real client cases that have taken them by surprise. The first involves a client who applied for an NT tax code over two years ago and has since had it granted on two of his three UK pensions, with no explanation as to why the third was excluded. The second is a case where HMRC outright rejected an application, claiming the pension in question was not a registered pension scheme, despite it clearly being one, an apparent administrative error that now requires a drawn-out correction process. The third case, and perhaps the most concerning, involves a client who followed expert advice to the letter. Working with a US-UK cross-border tax advisory team, he took small, regular UFPLS withdrawals from his SIPP, a strategy designed to have pension income treated as ongoing payments rather than a lump sum. Despite the amounts falling well below HMRC's own published thresholds, the claim was rejected on the basis that the payments constituted a lump sum, a position that surprised even the specialist tax advisers involved. Richard and James discuss what these cases might signal about a broader shift in HMRC's stance, particularly in light of recent guidance clarifying how lump sums from UK pensions are defined and taxed. They stress that while the US-UK tax treaty should ultimately protect expats from double taxation, the mechanics of resolving these disputes can be time-consuming, expensive, and deeply frustrating. Whether you hold a UK SIPP, are considering applying for an NT tax code, or have already hit a roadblock with HMRC, this episode offers a candid look at a process that is no longer as routine as it once was, and why having the right cross-border tax advice matters more than ever. -- Expat Wealth is supported by Plan First Wealth. Plan First Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor serving fellow expatriates and immigrants living across the US on matters such as retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and non-US asset management. https://planfirstwealth.com/ -- Expat Wealth is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas. ABOUT RICHARD: Richard Taylor is a British expat, dual citizen (UK & US). Originally from Bolton, he now lives in Greenwich, CT, where Plan First Wealth has its head office. As the firm's leader, Richard launched Taylor & Taylor, now Plan First Wealth, and continues to fuel the firm's growth. Richard is a Chartered Financial Planner (UK – CII) in addition to holding the IMC (CFA UK) and Series 65 (US – FINRA). Connect with Richard on LinkedIn

Are you considering a Roth conversion as part of your retirement strategy? In this episode of Financial Focus, host Peter talks with John Kuykendall, founder and CEO of Gulf Coast Financial Services, to break down the mechanics, timing, and key tax considerations involved in moving funds into a Roth account. In this episode, we cover: The core tax advantages and tradeoffs of traditional IRAs vs. Roth accounts Why paying conversion taxes from outside cash reserves is generally preferred How Roth conversions can impact Medicare Part B & D premiums (IRMAA) starting at age 63 Rules for converting while still working or when taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) How proactive tax planning can assist with estate planning and managing tax brackets John Kuykendall is registered with and securities are offered through Kovack Securities, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. 6451 North Federal Highway, Suite 1201, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 (954) 782-4771. Advisory Services are offered through GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor in Florida. GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc. is not affiliated with Kovack Securities, Inc. or Kovack Advisors, Inc. John Kuykendall may discuss/transact securities related business in: CA, FL, ID, and OK. "Likes", endorsements, and other recommendations should not be considered a positive reflection of the services or advice offered by John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services; positive reviews of experience with John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services may not reflect the experience of all, or even most, clients. Visitors to this page should not write positive reviews of their experience as testimonials may be prohibited under state and federal securities laws.

Are you approaching retirement and wondering whether your investments, spending, taxes, estate plan, and future goals are all working together? A retirement plan should do more than track portfolio performance. It should help you understand how your money can support the lifestyle you want, while accounting for income needs, taxes, market risk, family priorities, and changing circumstances. In this episode, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, explains how to build a retirement plan around the life you want rather than letting investment returns drive your decisions. He shares how cash flow, time horizons, risk tolerance, tax planning, estate planning, and investment decisions can work together to support both near-term needs and long-term priorities. Larry discusses: Why retirement planning should begin with your goals, priorities, and vision for the years ahead How different time horizons can influence the way short-term and long-term assets are invested How creating a regular retirement paycheck can make the transition away from employment income feel more familiar Why taxes, Roth conversions, beneficiary designations, insurance, and estate planning need to be coordinated How retirement progress can be measured by lifestyle, financial flexibility, family priorities, and long-term goals And more! Connect with Larry Heller:  (631) 248-3600 Schedule a 20-Minute Call Heller Wealth Management LinkedIn: Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, CPA YouTube: Retirement Unlocked with Larry Heller, CFP® Heller Wealth Management is now part of Savant Wealth Management. Savant is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Effective March 31, 2026, Heller Wealth Management joined Savant Wealth Management (“Savant”). A copy of Savant's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available at www.savantwealth.com/disclosure-brochures/

Welcome back to The Market Moment with Matt, John, and Isaac!   In this episode, the team breaks down critical financial topics shaping today's economic landscape, starting with a look at proposed legislation to solve the Social Security shortfall by altering the payroll tax cap. They unpack whether hitting all-time highs in the S&P 500 should trigger fear or confidence, backed by historical return data. The guys also discuss the hidden trap of financial information overload—explaining why consuming endless data, news headlines, and AI-generated insights often drives emotional, counterproductive investment decisions rather than clarity. Finally, they examine the blurring line between traditional investing and sports gambling following Kalshi's request to allow margin trading on prediction markets.   Key Discussion Points: ✔ Fixing Social Security: Analyzing Elizabeth O'Brien's article on raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap ($184,500) to address Social Security's shortfall. ✔ Investing at All-Time Highs: Why hitting historical highs in the S&P 500 isn't necessarily a signal to exit the market, and what the data says about forward returns. ✔ Information Overload: How consuming too much financial data and headlines can lead to emotional, poor investment decisions. ✔ Kalshi & Prediction Markets: The fine line between investing and gambling as Kalshi requests CFTC approval for margin trading.   02:48 Social security simple fix, what do we think? 06:31 Don't fear all time highs 11:09 More information does not mean better investing decisions 17:15 The lines between gambling and investing are being blurred “There's a Simple Fix for Social Security. Will Congress Get on Board?”   https://www.barrons.com/articles/social-security-fix-congress-7853aa7c?refsec=retirement&mod=topics_retirement “Kalshi asks CFTC to allow margin trading on its platform, letting users buy with borrowed funds” https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/22/kalshi-asks-cftc-to-allow-margin-trading-on-its-platform-letting-users-buy-with-borrowed-funds.html    

Healthcare is one of the most significant yet often overlooked expenses in retirement.  Host John Kuykendall, Founder and CEO of Gulf Coast Financial Services, and Peter Richon discuss the realities of healthcare in retirement. They explore key topics including: Estimating routine pre- and post-Medicare healthcare expenses Understanding Medicare Parts B & D, supplement options, and out-of-pocket gaps Managing the potential impact of IRMAA surcharges based on income Planning for long-term care needs and the six Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) Aligning investment strategies and tax considerations with long-term healthcare planning Tune in to learn how an integrated approach to income, investment, and tax planning can help you prepare for healthcare costs and protect your overall financial picture. John Kuykendall is registered with and securities are offered through Kovack Securities, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. 6451 North Federal Highway, Suite 1201, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 (954) 782-4771. Advisory Services are offered through GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor in Florida. GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc. is not affiliated with Kovack Securities, Inc. or Kovack Advisors, Inc. John Kuykendall may discuss/transact securities related business in: CA, FL, ID, and OK. "Likes", endorsements, and other recommendations should not be considered a positive reflection of the services or advice offered by John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services; positive reviews of experience with John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services may not reflect the experience of all, or even most, clients. Visitors to this page should not write positive reviews of their experience as testimonials may be prohibited under state and federal securities laws.

Many pre-retirees assume Medicare will cover all their medical needs in retirement, but the out-of-pocket reality can be a major shock. In this episode of Game Plan for Retirement, host Peter talks with Chris McIntyre, President and Founder of McIntyre Retirement Services, about the hidden traps and true expenses of healthcare in retirement. They dive into the "IRMAA trap," the 2-year income lookback period, gaps in traditional Medicare coverage like dental and vision, and the staggering potential costs of long-term care. Tune in to discover why healthcare planning cannot be done in a vacuum and how aligning your investments, taxes, and insurance strategies can help protect your retirement savings. For more information on this and many other important financial topics, contact Chris McIntire at (800) 868-1194 or visit the website at https://mcintireretirementservices.com/. More content like this is always available on our Youtube channel "@GamePlanForRetirement", because we believe Planning Matters. -Our Channel | www.youtube.com/@GamePlanForRetirement Like, subscribe to our channel, and share with all your friends and family. -Game Plan For Retirement Playlist | https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtf_wVWO2hUf3_NXVQacmaoBLitphgB5N -McIntire Retirement Service Shorts | https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtf_wVWO2hUc4QXHu68SuUoOETkr0XO-A For other resources click this link | https://linktr.ee/chrismcintire For more updates on when McIntire Retirement Services uploads a new video follow these social medias Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/McIntireRetirement If you prefer to listen to the videos they will be posted in audio form on this page. https://mcintireretirement.libsyn.com/ Find more information about Chris McIntire & McIntire Retirement Services, request your Game Plan For Retirement, or download the resources mentioned in this week's episode by visiting http://mcintireretirementservices.com/helpful-resources/. DISCLAIMER Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC (BCM), a Registered Investment Advisor. BCM and McIntire Retirement Services are independent of each other.

Ted was a traditional Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) for two decades after retiring from the Marine Corps as a Lt. Col. He built the allocation models, crunched the numbers, and pushed the same one-size-fits-all plans the rest of the industry sells.But then he watched the real world happen and realized he was wrong. Smart people make irrational financial choices the moment life gets in the way. He realized that if the product and plan are perfect but the behavior is broken, the entire strategy collapses.He sold his practice, dropped his licenses, and became a Reformed Financial Advisor. Today, he's the co-founder of DreamSmart Behavioral Solutions. His latest book, Confessional of a Reformed Financial Advisor (Yep, It's Mostly BS), is his manifesto on spending smart. Why? Because you likely have a behavioral wealth gap, and not even know it.BS, Colgate; MS, Boise State; MPA, Pepperdine. Author of five books on money behavior. Lifelong endurance athlete and former Ironman Age Group All-World Triathlete.Connect With Ted: https://tedmclyman.com

Starting a business from scratch isn't the only path to entrepreneurship. Buying an existing business can give you a head start, but it comes with its own financial considerations. In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura explore what to consider when choosing between buying a business and building one yourself, including cash flow, valuation, financing, personal risk, and the role you actually want to have as an owner. They also discuss an important question that can easily get overlooked: Does this opportunity move you toward the future you want? Whether you're considering your first business or your next one, taking time to understand the opportunity can help you move forward with greater clarity. ---           Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.    

The RIA model generally provides far more flexibility with how you can run your practice.Consequently, an exciting part of transitioning your practice to the RIA model is contemplating the services and investment solutions you'd want to offer your clients upon making the transition.Providing insurance solutions to clients is one such option.However, several variables affect whether and how you can offer these solutions.In this episode (#157) of the Transition To RIA question and answer series, I explain how RIAs incorporate insurance solutions into their offerings.Come take a listen!P.S. Prefer video? You can find this entire series in video format on Youtube. Search for the TRANSITION TO RIA channel.Show notes: https://TransitionToRIA.com/can-i-offer-insurance-solutions-in-the-ria-model/About Host: Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, where he helps financial advisors between $50M and $1B understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model. Brad has 20+ years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in Compliance, Finance and Business Development. He has an MBA and has held the 4, 7, 24, 63 & 65 licenses. The Transition To RIA website (TransitionToRIA.com) has a large catalog of free videos, articles, whitepapers, as well as other resources to help advisors understand the RIA model and how it would apply to their unique circumstances.

Brian Dunhill has stepped out for this episode, so Richard Taylor is joined by Dunhill analyst Kamaljit Somal for an unscripted breakdown of the forces moving global markets.  First up, the US bond market. Kam explains why rising long-term yields are making policymakers nervous, how higher borrowing costs feed through to mortgages, car loans and government finances, and why the bond market may finally be sounding the alarm over US debt. With federal debt approaching $40 trillion, Richard and Kam dig into the bigger issue: the growing cost of servicing it, which Kam says is now a larger expense for the US government than military spending.  Then, Japan. The yen has strengthened sharply, raising questions around one of the most important sources of cheap funding in global markets: the carry trade. Kam breaks down how leverage has built up around the yen, why a disorderly unwind could put pressure on the Magnificent Seven and other high-growth stocks, and what a stronger Japanese currency could mean for investors around the world.  They also look at what this means for cross-border portfolios. Kam explains why Dunhill has been reducing some US dollar exposure, particularly in fixed income, and why matching the safer part of a portfolio to the currency you actually spend can help remove an unnecessary layer of risk.  Finally, Richard and Kam turn to the US stock market and the constant talk of an AI bubble. Despite investor anxiety, they argue that today's market looks very different from the dot-com era: the companies driving growth are generating enormous amounts of cash, earnings are broadening beyond the Magnificent Seven, and even some of the software names written off during the so-called “SaaS apocalypse” are beginning to benefit from AI.  As always: real talk, zero scripts, and a cross-border look at what actually matters beneath another chaotic month in markets.  --  Expat Wealth is supported by Plan First Wealth. Plan First Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor serving fellow expatriates and immigrants living across the US on matters such as retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and non-US asset management.  https://planfirstwealth.com/  --  Expat Wealth is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.  Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas. 

Co-hosts Peterson Toscano and Diana Yañez explore reparations beyond simple transactions. Rooted in abolition, repair is examined as a relational commitment and spiritual discipline aimed at ensuring historical and systemic harms are never repeated. Guests Anthony "Ant" Smith and Lucy Duncan discuss the historical lessons of Reconstruction and share how Philadelphia's Greene Street Friends Meeting dedicated $500,000 to reparations, centering Black leadership and unlocking over $11 million in local housing wealth. Anthony "Ant" Smith Organizer and educator with Reparation Works and Abolition Schools, bringing an abolitionist framework to racial repair and systemic change. Lucy Duncan Quaker activist, writer, member of Greene Street Friends Meeting, and Reparation Works focused on transgenerational healing. Key Topics Covered Abolition and Non-Repetition: Why reparations require systemic transformation so racialized violence cannot be repeated. Reconstruction Precedents: How General Sherman's Field Order No. 15 proved the tools for Black autonomy were already understood. A Meeting's Commitment: How Greene Street Friends Meeting allocated $500,000 over 10 years, housing the work in Worship and Ministry. Centering Black Leadership: Entrusting full financial discernment directly to the meeting's Black members. Tangible Community Impact: Investing $25,000 in a legal clinic that preserved $11 million in Black generational housing wealth. Reparations as Spiritual Practice: Approaching long-term systemic repair with curiosity, patience, and love. Episode Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction: Beyond Financial Payouts 2:45 – Anthony Smith on Abolition & Repair 6:15 – Reconstruction & Sherman's Field Order 15 8:50 – Greene Street Friends & Spiritual Resources 12:10 – Centering Black Discernment 15:30 – Free Legal Clinics & Housing Wealth 18:40 – Reparations as a Spiritual Discipline 20:55 – Listener Query & Archive Highlights 22:30 – Sponsor Messages & Disclaimers Resources & Links Reparation Works: https://www.reparation.works/ Article: Reparations and Transgenerational Healing by Lucy Duncan https://www.friendsjournal.org/reparations-and-transgenerational-healing/https://friendsjournal.org Archive Episode: Quakers and Reparations (January 2023) https://www.friendsjournal.org/podcast/episode-3-quakers-and-reparations/  Racial Wealth Gap Simulation https://bread.org Bonus Video Feature Ant & Lucy Community & Activism Feature: https://youtu.be/IwN8-z7usYI?si=qEzVIeeMzlxZQH1H  Connect With Us What does repair look like in your community? Leave a voicemail at 317-QUAKERS ( 317-782-5377) or email podcast@friendsjournal.org. Quakers Today Website https://quakerstoday.org Friends Journal https://friendsjournal.org Quakers Today is a project of Friends Publishing Corporation, hosted by Peterson Toscano and Diana Yañez. Season 6 is supported by Friends Fiduciary and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).   Financial Disclaimer All investments involve risk, and financial decisions should be made based on your individual circumstances, ideally in consultation with a qualified professional. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host, Natural Investments, or its affiliates. Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. Quakers Today and Friends Journal are not registered entities and are not affiliates or subsidiaries of Natural Investments.  

We sat down with Chris Hodge, Chief U.S. Economist at Natixis Corporate & Investment Bank Americas, for his outlook on monetary policy in the current rate cycle. Chris joins host Mark Gatto, co-Founder and co-CEO of CION Investments, to discuss whether recent economic data prints point to a disinflationary trend, and how AI capex is bolstering what Chris calls a "three-speed economy" amid flattened consumer spending and declining wage growth.

For business owners, being debt-free may sound like the ultimate goal. But as a business grows, financing can become one of many factors to evaluate when considering a new opportunity. In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura explore how business owners can think about debt within a larger financial plan. From acquisitions and commercial real estate to cash flow, liquidity, and personal guarantees, they discuss important considerations before taking on debt for a business. The goal is not simply to avoid debt or take on more of it. The conversation focuses on understanding what the capital is intended to support, the risks and tradeoffs involved, and how the decision fits into the bigger financial picture. ---           Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.

Markets are facing another wave of uncertainty as inflation remains elevated, Treasury yields move higher, and investors try to figure out what the Federal Reserve may do next.In this episode of 15 Minutes of Finance, James and Brandon break down the latest market action, what higher interest rates could mean for stocks and the economy, and why the 10-year Treasury yield moving back toward 5% has investors paying attention.They also discuss absolute return, why some pension funds and endowments may be overly diversified, and how excessive consumer borrowing could eventually create problems for households, banks, and the broader economy.The conversation also touches on artificial intelligence, corporate profit margins, and whether the benefits of AI can spread beyond major technology companies.Finally, James discusses when it may make sense to take profits, build cash, and stay disciplined during periods of market volatility without trying to perfectly time the market. Invest Early. Invest Often.Hosted by James Walters, CIMA®, CRPC®, and Brandon West, CPA, CFP® co-owners of West & Walters Tax and Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and tax firm based in Carlsbad, California. Our goal is to share market insights, investing tips, tax strategies, and straightforward financial education to help viewers make smarter financial decisions. All Information is educational in its intent and distribution! Please do not consider this personal financial advice. We believe all clients have unique situations and thus require unique advice.

In this episode of Financial Focus, host Peter talks with John Kirkendall, Founder and CEO of Gulf Coast Financial Services, about the critical "wake-up calls" that catch many retirees and pre-retirees off guard. From falling into the trap of relying too heavily on Social Security to navigating the soaring costs of Medicare and long-term care, John breaks down why procrastination and emotional reactions to market volatility can derail even a lifetime of savings. Tune in as they discuss: Social Security & Business Owner Traps: Why Social Security was never designed to be a full retirement plan and how write-offs can result in unexpectedly lower checks for small business owners. The Reality of Debt & Healthcare: Managing ongoing debt in retirement and preparing for out-of-pocket medical expenses and long-term care needs. Market Volatility & Sequence of Returns: How to avoid panic-selling during temporary downturns and protect your portfolio against early retirement market crashes. Tax Planning & Spending Confidence: Navigating retirement tax brackets to avoid tax traps and overcoming the fear of enjoying your hard-earned savings. Whether you are years away from retiring or already enjoying your golden years, this episode highlights why a written, continuously updated retirement plan is key to keeping your financial future on track. John Kuykendall is registered with and securities are offered through Kovack Securities, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. 6451 North Federal Highway, Suite 1201, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 (954) 782-4771. Advisory Services are offered through GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor in Florida. GulfCoast Financial Services, Inc. is not affiliated with Kovack Securities, Inc. or Kovack Advisors, Inc. John Kuykendall may discuss/transact securities related business in: CA, FL, ID, and OK. "Likes", endorsements, and other recommendations should not be considered a positive reflection of the services or advice offered by John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services; positive reviews of experience with John Kuykendall or GulfCoast Financial Services may not reflect the experience of all, or even most, clients. Visitors to this page should not write positive reviews of their experience as testimonials may be prohibited under state and federal securities laws.

In this episode of Game Plan for Retirement, Chris McIntyre, President and Founder of McIntyre Retirement Services, joins the show to discuss critical "wake-up calls" many individuals face as they approach or enter retirement. From managing income gaps after the paycheck stops to understanding the real costs of Medicare and healthcare, Chris breaks down common oversight areas and explains how proper planning can turn potential surprises into lasting financial confidence. Tune in as we cover: Social Security & Paycheck Realities: Why relying solely on Social Security can create an income shortfall and how earnings calculations impact small business owners. Healthcare & Tax Considerations: Understanding out-of-pocket medical costs and how IRA withdrawals affect taxable income. Market Volatility & Debt Management: Strategies for de-risking your portfolio, mitigating sequence of returns risk, and eliminating debt to achieve financial freedom. Longevity & Spending Confidence: Overcoming the fear of spending your nest egg while ensuring your savings last throughout your retirement years. Whether you're 55 and just getting serious about your nest egg or approaching retirement in the near future, this conversation provides practical steps to take control of your financial future today. For more information on this and many other important financial topics, contact Chris McIntire at (800) 868-1194 or visit the website at https://mcintireretirementservices.com/. More content like this is always available on our Youtube channel "@GamePlanForRetirement", because we believe Planning Matters. -Our Channel | www.youtube.com/@GamePlanForRetirement Like, subscribe to our channel, and share with all your friends and family. -Game Plan For Retirement Playlist | https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtf_wVWO2hUf3_NXVQacmaoBLitphgB5N -McIntire Retirement Service Shorts | https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtf_wVWO2hUc4QXHu68SuUoOETkr0XO-A For other resources click this link | https://linktr.ee/chrismcintire For more updates on when McIntire Retirement Services uploads a new video follow these social medias Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/McIntireRetirement If you prefer to listen to the videos they will be posted in audio form on this page. https://mcintireretirement.libsyn.com/ Find more information about Chris McIntire & McIntire Retirement Services, request your Game Plan For Retirement, or download the resources mentioned in this week's episode by visiting http://mcintireretirementservices.com/helpful-resources/. DISCLAIMER Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC (BCM), a Registered Investment Advisor. BCM and McIntire Retirement Services are independent of each other.

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position: absolute; left: 0; font-weight: 700; color: var(--teal); } /* ── FOOTER ── */ .dfg-post .footer { background: var(--teal); padding: 20px 48px; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgba(255,255,255,0.75); line-height: 1.6; text-align: center; } .dfg-post .footer a { color: var(--accent); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 600; } @media print { .dfg-post { background: white; } .dfg-post .page { box-shadow: none; max-width: 100%; } .dfg-post .publisher-notes { break-inside: avoid; } .dfg-post .cta-box { break-inside: avoid; } .dfg-post .takeaway-item { break-inside: avoid; } } Dupree Financial Group Podcast Show Notes The Tom Dupree Show Episode  ·  9-12-26 Retirement Income Investing During Market Volatility: The Sequence-of-Returns Risk Every Retiree Should Understand The Tom Dupree Show | Dupree Financial Group | dupreefinancial.com | 859-233-0400 Episode Description This week’s Financial Hour opened with what one Wall Street strategist called the most complicated stretch of his career: one of the best monthly jobs reports in years, oil prices pushing back toward triple digits, and inflation data that came in exactly as expected but still rattled the market. For retirees and near-retirees, headlines like these can feel like reasons to abandon a retirement income plan. Tom Dupree, Mike Johnson, and Michael Dawahare spent the hour explaining why they don’t. The team walked through what’s actually driving the cross-currents: a stronger-than-expected labor market, a spike in oil and diesel prices tied to renewed disruption in Middle East shipping routes, and a Federal Reserve that markets now expect to act on interest rates in the near term. But the real teaching of the episode wasn’t about predicting the next headline. It was about a decades-old lesson from Peter Lynch’s Fidelity Magellan Fund, why “averages” stop mattering the moment you start drawing retirement income, and why a 401(k) full of index funds was never built to pay you a paycheck. By the second half of the hour, the conversation turned to what actually protects a retiree through a stretch like this: dividend income that doesn’t disappear when share prices move, a portfolio built around cash flow instead of guesswork, and, as the team put it, clients who already know what they own well enough that the phone doesn’t ring off the hook when the market gets loud. “If you don’t know what you own in your portfolio, you need to, and we can help.” Market Cross-Currents: Jobs, Oil, and the Fed The hour opened by naming the moving parts: a monthly jobs report strong enough that the prior two months were revised upward, real-time GDP tracking from the Atlanta Fed near 5%, and wages finally running ahead of inflation for the first time since 2022. On paper, that’s a strong economy. At the same time, oil and diesel prices pushed to multi-year highs after renewed disruption to shipping routes in the Red Sea region. Data cited on the show suggested 15 to 16 million barrels a day were still moving through the key chokepoints (close to the historical norm), with only 4 to 5 million barrels a day offline. That’s enough to move markets, but in the team’s view it isn’t a long-term supply crisis. The near-term bottleneck is refining capacity, not crude supply, after years of refinery closures reduced the country’s ability to turn crude oil into usable fuel quickly. Thursday’s Producer Price Index and Friday’s Consumer Price Index both came in right in line with expectations: numbers that, on their own, shouldn’t move markets much. They did anyway, because trading algorithms were already pricing in what a roughly 30% jump in diesel costs is likely to do to the next round of inflation data. It’s a reminder that markets often react to what’s coming, not just what’s already happened. Why the Right Move Is Often No Move at All Faced with that much noise, the team was direct about the job of an investor managing retirement money through it: “Sometimes the right thing to do is nothing. Most of the time, that is right. You have to be patient, be diligent, and look through the fog to find long-term opportunities. Otherwise, you’ll just be chasing your tail all the time as an investor.” That’s not a call to ignore what’s happening in the market. It’s a distinction the team draws constantly between short-term noise and long-term thesis. A short-term disruption in oil supply is a very different problem than a change in the long-term earnings power of a well-run, dividend-paying company. Historically, periods of volatility, whatever is driving them, have tended to create buying opportunities for investors willing to look past the immediate headline. The Peter Lynch Lesson Every Retiree Should Know The most instructive story of the hour had nothing to do with this week’s headlines. The team walked through the record of Peter Lynch, who ran Fidelity’s Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990: “Peter Lynch’s Magellan Fund averaged 29% annualized under his management. Fantastic performance by any measure. But Lynch himself said the average investor in that fund made closer to 7%, because they were churning their own account, trying to time it instead of staying invested.” Why the gap? Investors treated a well-managed fund like a trading vehicle instead of a long-term holding: buying after it had already run up, selling after a scare. As the team put it, “you can have the best vehicle with the performance, but if the volatility’s too high and you don’t understand the investment thesis, you won’t stay in it, and it won’t do you any good.” That reasoning is behind Dupree Financial Group’s emphasis on communication, not just performance: a client who understands why they own a particular company, and how it fits their income needs, is far less likely to sell at exactly the wrong moment. Why “Averages” Don’t Matter Once You’re Retired One of the more technical points of the hour, and one of the more important, was on sequence of returns risk: the idea that the order investment returns arrive in matters as much as the average return itself, once someone starts withdrawing income. “Averages don’t matter once you have a withdrawal rate. It’s all about what each year’s return actually is. You can have a portfolio that averages 11% over 20 years and still run out of money at a 4% or 5% withdrawal rate. That’s because of the sequence of returns.” In plain terms: a portfolio that loses money in the first few years of retirement, while a retiree is also pulling out income, can run out of money even if its long-term average return looks perfectly healthy. It’s a risk that doesn’t show up on most generic retirement calculators, and it’s one reason the show pushes back on one-size-fits-all retirement math. Your 401(k) Was Built to Grow, Not to Pay You A related theme: most people arrive at retirement with a portfolio that was never designed for the job it’s about to be asked to do. “Most people go into retirement with a 401(k) full of broad-based index funds. They’ve done well as an accumulation vehicle, dollar-cost averaging over decades, but they were never designed to produce income. That’s an accumulation vehicle, not a retirement vehicle.” The team pointed to 2022 as a case study in why “safe” isn’t always safe. Many target-date and retirement-date funds were heavily weighted toward bonds going into that year, a supposedly conservative allocation that turned out to be one of the worst possible positions as long-term bond values fell sharply. “A target date fund doesn’t take into account what’s going on in the current market environment. It’s all age-based. In 2022, if you had a heavy weighting to bonds, which was supposedly ‘safe,’ you got your head knocked off, because it was overweight bonds at the worst possible time to own them.” The danger compounds in a down market: a retiree drawing income from a fund with little or no dividend or interest income has no choice but to sell shares, locking in losses at exactly the wrong time to fund withdrawals. How a Falling Market Can Actually Raise Your Income Here’s the part that surprises a lot of listeners: for a portfolio built around dividend-paying investments, short-term price drops aren’t purely bad news. “When a dividend-paying stock’s price goes down, the yield goes up. So periods like this can actually mean new money goes to work at a higher current yield.” For a retiree relying on their portfolio for income, that distinction, income versus market value, is the whole ballgame. “In a good market, a bad market, or a flat market, it’s always about the income with the portfolio. That’s the number that stays consistent and predictable.” A stock price can swing meaningfully in a matter of weeks; a well-run company’s dividend, by comparison, tends to move far less. In a stretch like this one, new investment dollars can often be put to work at noticeably higher yields than just a few weeks earlier. Communication Is the Real Product Perhaps the most quietly important point of the hour: the value of an advisor isn’t only in the investment decisions, it’s in making sure clients understand them well enough to stay the course. “When the market hits a volatility patch, our phone doesn’t ring off the hook. In fact, it barely rings at all, because we’ve already explained why we own what we own, and our clients are comfortable enough with the process that they’re not in panic mode.” That’s consistent with the team’s broader philosophy: “if you don’t know what you own, why you own it, and have a clear thesis on what you’re trying to do with your investments, you’re going to end up selling at the wrong time, just like investors in the Magellan Fund did.” Every client, the hosts noted, eventually goes through their first bad market with the firm, and that’s typically when the value of ongoing communication becomes clear. The Value of Working With a Local, Fee-Only Advisor For retirees comparing a Lexington-based, fee-only fiduciary firm to a large national investment platform, the differences tend to come down to a few practical things: how personalized the advice actually is, who you talk to when you call, and how much say you have in your own portfolio. A large, mass-market wealth management platform often assigns clients to a rotating investment counselor rather than a dedicated local advisor, applies a standardized model portfolio across thousands of accounts, and adds layers of hierarchy between a client and the person actually making investment decisions. A regional, fee-only firm can offer a different structure: direct access to the people managing the portfolio, decisions grounded in local and regional context, and a strategy built around one household’s specific income needs rather than a model built for scale. Dupree Financial Group, as a fee-only fiduciary built around that investment philosophy, is structured around that second approach: no products, no commissions, and no assigned counselor who changes from year to year. Topics Covered Why one of the strongest jobs reports in years coincided with a spike in oil and diesel prices How Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index data can move markets even when the numbers come in as expected The Peter Lynch / Fidelity Magellan Fund lesson on investor behavior versus fund performance Sequence of returns risk and why averages stop mattering once you’re drawing retirement income Why a 401(k) full of index funds is an accumulation tool, not a retirement income plan What went wrong with target-date and retirement-date funds in 2022 How a falling stock price can raise the yield on a dividend-focused portfolio The role of client communication in preventing panic-driven investment decisions The practical differences between a local, fee-only advisor and a large national investment platform Key Takeaways Sometimes the right move is no move. In a week full of noise (jobs data, oil prices, inflation reports), the team’s approach was to stay patient and look past short-term volatility toward the long-term thesis behind each holding. Averages don’t matter once you’re withdrawing income. A portfolio can post an excellent long-term average return and still run out of money if losses hit early in retirement. That’s sequence of returns risk, and it’s why the order of returns matters as much as the average. Your 401(k) was built to grow, not to pay you. Broad market index funds are a strong accumulation tool during a career, but they weren’t designed to generate a retirement paycheck. Target-date funds aren’t automatically safe. In 2022, many target-date funds were overweight bonds at the worst possible time, showing that age-based, one-size-fits-all allocations don’t account for current market conditions. A falling stock price can mean a higher yield. For dividend-paying investments, a lower share price often means a higher current yield for new money, turning short-term volatility into a potential opportunity for income-focused investors. Know what you own, and why you own it. The gap between the Fidelity Magellan Fund’s 29% return and the average investor’s 7% return came down to one thing: investors who didn’t understand what they owned sold at the wrong time. Communication prevents panic. Clients who understand their portfolio and its purpose are far less likely to call in a panic during a volatile week, because they already know why they own what they own. About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a 48-year veteran of the investment business. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement, in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. The firm manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios, no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. Past episodes and market commentary are available in the podcast archive at dupreefinancial.com. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure whether your portfolio is built to produce income, or whether it could hold up through a stretch like this one, a second look is worth it. Dupree Financial Group offers a complimentary, no-pressure portfolio review to help you understand exactly what you own and why. Call: 859-233-0400 | Visit: dupreefinancial.com Dupree Financial Group  ·  Fee-only. Fiduciary. Lexington, KY  · dupreefinancial.com  ·  859-233-0400 This document is for reference and internal use. Not for public distribution. The post Retirement Income Investing During Market Volatility appeared first on Dupree Financial.

What does America look like through the eyes of a British financial planner who has just moved across the Atlantic? In this episode of Expat Wealth, Richard Taylor introduces Cross Border, Cross Country: a new recurring format following Plan First Wealth's newest team member, James “JB” Beck, as he travels across the US while making the transition from experienced UK financial planner to US-UK cross-border specialist. JB lands in America with a decade of financial planning experience behind him, including eight years working with business owners at UK firm Fiscal Engineers. He knows the British system inside and out. But moving to the US means learning an entirely different rulebook: US tax, UK pensions and US pensions sitting awkwardly side by side, the US-UK tax treaty, and the everyday financial quicks nobody warns you about. In other words, the same challenges faced by the British expats Plan First Wealth works with every day. And JB isn't experiencing America from one place. For the next 18 months, he and his wife are living on the road in a 43-foot RV pulled by a Ford F-350, using the journey to explore different states, communities and lifestyles while deciding where they might eventually put down roots. Richard will be checking in with JB throughout the journey, following both sides of his experience: what he discovers about life across different parts of America and what surprises him as he develops from a UK financial planner into a cross-border US-UK adviser. In this first instalment, JB explains why a Year 9 maths lesson ultimately pushed him towards financial planning, why joining Plan First Wealth felt like a natural fit, and how experiencing the same international move as the firm's clients gives him a unique perspective on the financial realities of relocating to America. They also discuss the first culture shocks JB has already encountered — from visiting a bank manager and getting a chequebook to discovering how the US financial system works very differently from the UK — before looking ahead to an 18-month route that will take him from New Hampshire through the Carolinas, the South, Texas and across much more of the country. Whether you're moving to America, already deep in the British expat experience, or just want honest expat tax advice and cross-border financial planning from someone living it, this is where the journey starts. Expat Wealth is supported by Plan First Wealth. Plan First Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor serving fellow expatriates and immigrants living across the US on matters such as retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and non-US asset management. https://planfirstwealth.com/ Expat Wealth is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas. ABOUT RICHARD: Richard Taylor is a British expat and dual UK-US citizen. Originally from Bolton, he now lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Plan First Wealth has its head office. As the firm's leader, Richard launched Taylor & Taylor, now Plan First Wealth, and continues to fuel the firm's growth. Richard is a Chartered Financial Planner (UK – CII) in addition to holding the IMC (CFA UK) and Series 65 (US – FINRA). Connect with Richard on LinkedIn ABOUT JB: James Beck is a UK Certified Financial Planner with ten years of experience in financial planning. Before joining Plan First Wealth, he spent eight years at Fiscal Engineers in the UK, working particularly with business owners who had sold their companies. Now living in the United States, JB is developing his US knowledge alongside his existing UK expertise as he works towards becoming a US-UK cross-border financial planner at Plan First Wealth. Over the next 18 months, JB and his wife will also be travelling across America in their RV, experiencing first-hand many of the cultural, financial and practical differences faced by people building a new life in the US.

How do you sell a trade business and turn decades of work into retirement income? If you're a contractor, electrician, plumber, landscaper, HVAC professional, or another skilled-trade owner thinking about retirement, the decisions you make before the sale may affect what your business is worth, how much you keep after taxes, and how the proceeds support your retirement.  In this episode, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, explains what business owners should consider before selling a trade business. He covers how buyers may determine a company’s value, why clean financial records and documented processes can support a sale, and how reducing owner dependence may make the company easier to transfer. Larry also examines how the sale structure, capital gains taxes, installment payments, retained equity, retirement income planning, and estate considerations work together. Beyond the financial questions, he explores how owners can prepare for their identity, purpose, and daily life after leaving the company. Larry discusses:  How far in advance you should begin planning to sell a trade business What buyers may review when determining how much a business is worth Why clean financial records and documented processes can support a future sale How owner dependence may affect business value and the transition to a new owner And more! Connect with Larry Heller:  (631) 248-3600 Schedule a 20-Minute Call Heller Wealth Management LinkedIn: Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, CPA YouTube: Retirement Unlocked with Larry Heller, CFP® Heller Wealth Management is now part of Savant Wealth Management. Savant is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Effective March 31, 2026, Heller Wealth Management joined Savant Wealth Management (“Savant”). A copy of Savant's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available at www.savantwealth.com/disclosure-brochures/

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position: absolute; left: 0; font-weight: 700; color: var(--teal); }.dfg-post /* ── FAQ ── */ .faq-list { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 18px; padding-bottom: 12px; }.dfg-post .faq-question { font-family: 'Lora', serif; font-size: 14.5px; font-weight: 600; color: var(--teal); margin-bottom: 6px; }.dfg-post .faq-answer { font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13.5px; color: var(--dark); line-height: 1.75; }.dfg-post /* ── FOOTER ── */ .footer { background: var(--teal); padding: 20px 48px; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgba(255,255,255,0.75); line-height: 1.6; text-align: center; }.dfg-post .footer a { color: var(--accent); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 600; }@media print {.dfg-post { background: white; }.dfg-post .page { box-shadow: none; max-width: 100%; }.dfg-post .publisher-notes { break-inside: avoid; }.dfg-post .cta-box { break-inside: avoid; }.dfg-post .takeaway-item { break-inside: avoid; }} Dupree Financial Group Podcast Show Notes & Blog The Tom Dupree Show The Financial Hour  ·  Episode Show Notes When Should You Take Social Security? A Retirement Income Guide The Tom Dupree Show | Dupree Financial Group | dupreefinancial.com | 859-233-0400 Episode Description If you’re trying to decide when to start Social Security, here’s the short answer Tom Dupree and Mike Johnson give on this episode of The Financial Hour: there is no single right age. The right age for you depends on your health, your marital status, your other assets, and how much of your monthly income Social Security actually needs to cover. On this episode of The Tom Dupree Show, Tom Dupree and Mike Johnson of Dupree Financial Group walk through a real Social Security claiming-age framework, the breakeven math, the spousal and survivor considerations, and how a dividend-and-growth income portfolio fits around whatever you decide, plus a second, closely related conversation about the “forgotten investor”: people in their 40s and 50s whose portfolios have grown large enough that ordinary market swings now move real money, not just numbers on a screen. What factors should go into your Social Security claiming decision? Mike Johnson lays out roughly seven variables that belong in the decision, starting with whether you’re still working. At full retirement age (67 for most people claiming today), you can work and collect Social Security with no reduction in benefits. Claim earlier than that, and you run into the Social Security earnings test, which temporarily withholds part of your benefit once your income crosses an annual limit — that withheld money isn’t lost, it’s repaid later as a higher monthly check once you reach full retirement age. Life expectancy matters too, even though, as Mike puts it, it’s a guess based on family history at best. And if you’re married, the earnings history of each spouse matters a great deal, because of how survivor benefits work. “We are not in the Social Security business, we are in the other assets business.”  Tom Dupree How does the Social Security breakeven analysis work? Mike Johnson walks through the most basic version of the math: compare what you’d collect starting at age 62 against what you’d collect by waiting until 67 or 70, then calculate how many years it takes the higher, later benefit to “catch up” in total dollars collected. In the show’s example, $2,500 a month at 62 versus $3,400 a month at 67, the breakeven point lands around nine years, meaning someone who waits until 67 typically comes out ahead in total lifetime benefits somewhere around age 76 to 78. Delaying all the way to 70 pushes the benefit even higher: the Social Security Administration’s delayed retirement credit schedule adds roughly two-thirds of one percent to your benefit for every month you wait past full retirement age, which works out to about 8% a year through age 70. The trade-off, as Tom and Mike are direct about, is that every year you wait is a year of Social Security income you didn’t collect, so the math only helps if you can comfortably cover your cash-flow needs from other sources in the meantime. If your other assets can’t comfortably bridge that gap, claiming earlier at 62 can be the right call even though the monthly check is smaller — because a smaller check you can count on now may matter more than a larger one you’re betting will still be there when you’re 70. If you have income sources that can cover your needs without it, delaying can make sense, but that’s a bet that Social Security’s rules won’t change materially by the time you start drawing on it. There’s no universal answer; it comes down to your specific cash-flow picture, which is exactly the kind of thing Dupree Financial Group works through one-on-one with clients as part of a Personalized Portfolio Analysis. Why does Social Security get more complicated for married couples? When one spouse has a meaningfully higher earnings history, there’s a strategic wrinkle worth understanding: if the higher earner passes away, the surviving spouse steps into that higher earner’s Social Security benefit instead of their own. That can make it worthwhile for the higher-earning spouse to delay claiming, since it locks in a larger survivor benefit down the road… but only if the couple’s other assets can cover the difference while they wait. As Tom and Mike explain it, this is a case-by-case calculation, not a rule of thumb, and it’s a good example of why Kentucky retirement planning conversations need to look at a household’s full financial picture rather than Social Security in isolation. How should your investment portfolio work alongside Social Security? Once the Social Security piece is on the table, the conversation turns to what has to carry the rest of the load: the investment portfolio. Tom Dupree’s approach centers on cash flow you can see… dividend-paying stocks and bonds… rather than paper gains you’re hoping to sell into at the right moment. “There isn’t an easy way to build an income portfolio only,” Tom explains. “It has to have growth components in it… you have to be flexible in where you’re investing and how you’re investing.” That means accepting that valuation drives the decision: when dividend-paying stocks get expensive, their yields shrink, and a disciplined manager has to be willing to look elsewhere for companies that are out of favor, less expensive, and often carrying a higher yield as a result. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and dividend income isn’t fixed or promised…a company can reduce or suspend a dividend. That’s exactly why Dupree Financial Group’s in-house research focuses on the durability of a company’s cash flow, not just its current yield. Who is the “forgotten investor,” and why does dollar-cost averaging stop feeling like enough? The second half of the conversation tackles a question Tom calls one of the best he’s read in a while, from a 44-year-old reader who’d been dollar-cost averaging for two decades and was unsettled by how large the dollar swings in his account had become…even though, percentage-wise, nothing unusual was happening. Tom’s read on it: “This is the forgotten investor right now, 40 to 50, because a lot of them have been putting back for 20 years. In this market run-up, they’re looking at dollars now that if you had a 20, 30% drop in the market, they’re gonna feel it… in real dollar terms.” Early in your investing life, a market drop barely registers because your ongoing contributions are large relative to your balance. Twenty years in, the balance has grown so much larger than any single year’s contribution that dollar-cost averaging alone can’t smooth out a real correction anymore…which is exactly the point in a plan where more deliberate, tactical decisions (raising some cash, addressing debt, revisiting allocation) start to matter more than muscle-memory saving. Tom recalls working with a client during the 2008–2009 financial crisis whose account value swung by six figures in a matter of months… a stretch, he says, where “there were no good answers,” and the discipline that mattered most was treating the downturn as an opportunity to buy rather than a reason to sell. That’s an illustrative example from Tom’s decades in the business, not a specific return or outcome any client should expect to repeat; markets and individual circumstances differ every time. What should you actually do differently once you reach this stage? Tom and Mike’s practical answer has a few concrete pieces: Track down and consolidate “orphaned” 401(k) accounts left behind at old employers, so the whole portfolio can actually pull in the same direction. If you change jobs or your income drops in a given year, consider whether that’s a good window for a Roth conversion… a decision that has real tax consequences and is worth reviewing with a tax advisor before acting. Revisit your plan on a fixed schedule, not just when the market gets scary. Dupree Financial Group meets with clients roughly every six months specifically because life circumstances change more often than people expect, and a plan built two years ago may not fit today. Decide what your accumulated number actually needs to accomplish — income to live on, flexibility to pursue a second act, or something else… before backing into an investment approach built around that goal. Topics Covered Choosing when to claim Social Security: age 62, full retirement age (67), or age 70 How the Social Security breakeven analysis works, with real dollar examples The Social Security earnings test and how working before full retirement age affects your check Spousal earnings history and survivor benefit strategy for married couples Why an income portfolio needs both dividends and growth, not one or the other The “forgotten investor”: why dollar swings feel bigger once a portfolio matures past 20 years of contributions Shifting from dollar-cost averaging to more tactical, deliberate portfolio decisions Consolidating orphaned 401(k) accounts from past employers Roth conversion timing around a job change or income dip Why Dupree Financial Group reviews client plans every six months Key Takeaways There’s no universal “right age” for Social Security. The best claiming age depends on your health, marital status, other assets, and how much of your monthly cash flow Social Security actually needs to cover…not a one-size-fits-all rule. The breakeven point for delaying to full retirement age is typically around nine years. In the show’s example, someone who waits until 67 instead of 62 generally comes out ahead in total lifetime benefits by around age 76 to 78… but only if other assets can bridge the gap in the meantime. Working before full retirement age can temporarily reduce your check. The Social Security earnings test withholds benefits above an annual income limit if you claim before full retirement age — but that money isn’t gone, it’s repaid later as a higher monthly benefit. Survivor benefits can change the math for married couples. When one spouse earned significantly more, delaying that spouse’s claim can lock in a larger benefit for the survivor — a case-by-case decision, not a rule of thumb. An income portfolio needs growth and dividends working together. Dividend-paying stocks and bonds provide visible cash flow, but valuation discipline matters, when dividend payers get expensive, a flexible manager looks elsewhere rather than chasing yield. Dollar-cost averaging alone stops being enough once a portfolio matures. After 15 to 20 years of contributions, market swings can outweigh what you’re putting in each year, that’s the signal to start making more deliberate, tactical decisions rather than relying purely on ongoing contributions to smooth things out. Orphaned 401(k)s from old employers are worth tracking down. Consolidating scattered retirement accounts lets a portfolio actually work as one coordinated plan instead of several disconnected pieces. A retirement plan should be reviewed on a schedule, not just in a downturn. Life circumstances change more often than people expect, regular check-ins catch the adjustments a static plan would miss. About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a 47-year veteran of the investment business. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement, in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. The firm manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios — no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. Clients work directly with the firm’s own portfolio managers rather than an assigned counselor inside a large, mass-market brokerage hierarchy — a difference that matters most when your income, not just your account balance, is what’s on the line. Past episodes and additional market commentary from the archive are available at dupreefinancial.com. You can also read more about the firm’s approach on the Investment Philosophy and Client Testimonials pages. Frequently Asked Questions When should I start taking Social Security? There’s no single best age. It depends on your health, marital status, and whether other assets can cover your income needs. Claiming at 62 locks in a smaller check permanently; waiting until full retirement age (67) or age 70 increases it, but only helps if you can bridge the gap from other sources. What is the Social Security breakeven age? It’s the age at which the total dollars collected from a later, larger benefit catch up to what you’d have collected by claiming earlier. In a typical example comparing age 62 to full retirement age, the breakeven point lands around nine years later, or roughly age 76 to 78. Does working before full retirement age reduce my Social Security check? If you claim before full retirement age and earn above the annual limit set by the Social Security earnings test, part of your benefit is temporarily withheld. That money isn’t lost… it’s repaid later as a higher monthly benefit once you reach full retirement age. Why does dollar-cost averaging feel less effective as my portfolio grows? Early on, your contributions are large relative to your balance, so dips barely register. After 15 to 20 years, the balance often dwarfs annual contributions, so a normal market correction can move more dollars than you’re putting in, which is when more tactical planning decisions start to matter. Should I consolidate old 401(k) accounts from previous jobs? Generally yes. Accounts left behind at former employers, sometimes called orphaned accounts, are easy to lose track of and often work against each other. Consolidating them under one coordinated plan lets your whole portfolio pull in the same direction. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review Whether you’re weighing when to claim Social Security or wondering whether your portfolio can actually support the income you’ll need, it’s never too soon to get another set of eyes on where you stand. Dupree Financial Group’s complimentary portfolio review looks at your full picture, Social Security, investments, and cash flow together — with no cost and no pressure. Call: 859-233-0400 | Schedule online: dupreefinancial.com/book Dupree Financial Group  ·  Fee-only. Fiduciary. Lexington, KY  · dupreefinancial.com  ·  859-233-0400 Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Nothing in this article is individualized investment, tax, or legal advice; consult your own advisor before acting. This document is for reference and internal use. Not for public distribution. The post When Should You Take Social Security? Kentucky Retirement Guide 9-05-26 appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Inflation and interest rates are constantly making headlines, but what do they actually mean for your financial plan? In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura put today's economic environment into perspective and discuss how changing rates can affect decisions around retirement, borrowing, investing, and cash. More importantly, they explore why a strong financial plan should be built to adapt as conditions change, so you can stay informed without letting every headline drive your next decision. Stay informed, stay curious, and keep the focus on what you can control. ---          Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.      

Choosing a custodian to hold your clients' assets is one of the most significant decisions when transitioning your practice to the RIA model.Many variables are involved in deciding which of the roughly dozen custodians best fits your practice.Though just as you would perform due diligence on them, each custodian has its own criteria for which RIAs they will work with.For some custodians, one of those criteria is that the RIA must have a minimum AUM level to use them. However, many nuances exist regarding how AUM is defined, and whether your RIA would meet their criteria.In this episode (#156) of the Transition To RIA question and answer series, I explain when AUM minimums are applicable and how they would apply to your eligibility to use a particular custodian.Come take a listen!P.S. Prefer video? You can find this entire series in video format on Youtube. Search for the TRANSITION TO RIA channel.Show notes: https://TransitionToRIA.com/do-custodians-have-minimum-aum-requirements/About Host: Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, where he helps financial advisors between $50M and $1B understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model. Brad has 20+ years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in Compliance, Finance and Business Development. He has an MBA and has held the 4, 7, 24, 63 & 65 licenses. The Transition To RIA website (TransitionToRIA.com) has a large catalog of free videos, articles, whitepapers, as well as other resources to help advisors understand the RIA model and how it would apply to their unique circumstances.

It's episode one hundred, and alongside the celebration (yes, there are balloons), Richard Taylor and James Boyle are using the milestone to take an honest look at where the show has been, where it went astray, and where it's headed next. The catalyst? A two-star Apple Podcasts review that, as Richard admits, is pretty fair.   In this From the Trenches episode of Expat Wealth, Richard and James dissect the review point by point: the name changes (from Always an Expat to Brits in America to Expat Wealth), the rambling episodes, the "scaremongering" label, the theme music, and the ads. They explain the rationale behind each decision, own their mistakes, and push back where they disagree, particularly on the accusation that highlighting the very real penalties facing British expats in America constitutes scaremongering.   The episode doubles as a roadmap for the next eighteen months. Richard and James commit to a tighter thirty-minute format, a renewed focus exclusively on Brits in America, and a structured weekly schedule: From the Trenches with James Boyle, Macro Aggressions with Brian Dunhill, Ask an Expert with twenty-four planned guests covering start-to-finish expat topics, and a brand new segment following a British financial planner discovering America from a campervan as he joins the Plan First Wealth team.   Whether you've been listening since episode one or just found out about the show, this is the reset. Richard and James lay out exactly what you can expect going forward, invite your feedback at expatwealth@planfirstwealth.com, and ask, politely, for five-star reviews.   --   Expat Wealth is supported by Plan First Wealth. Plan First Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor serving fellow expatriates and immigrants living across the US on matters such as retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and non-US asset management.   https://planfirstwealth.com/   --   Expat Wealth is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.    Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas.   ABOUT RICHARD: Richard Taylor is a British expat, dual citizen (UK & US). Originally from Bolton, he now lives in Greenwich, CT, where Plan First Wealth has its head office. As the firm's leader, Richard launched Taylor & Taylor, now Plan First Wealth, and continues to fuel the firm's growth. Richard is a Chartered Financial Planner (UK – CII) in addition to holding the IMC (CFA UK) and Series 65 (US – FINRA). Connect with Richard on LinkedIn

Send us Fan MailPhil Weiss, Founder of Apprise Wealth joined Tony on this episode of Get Ready Before Life Happens to talk about how understanding your financial situation, aligning your resources with your values, and having regular money conversations can help you navigate major life changes with more confidence and intention. Life transitions require clarity and confidence.Key TakeawaysYour money story shapes how you make financial decisions.Knowing your financial situation helps you see what's possible.Moving from your accumulation (saving) phase to your spending (decumulation) phase requires a mindset shift.Align time, energy, attention, and money with what matters most.Regular “money dates” strengthen communication and clarity.During major transitions, pause and avoid rushed decisions.Asking questions builds confidence and better outcomes.

Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube.Devin: What is your superpower?Michelle: I think of myself as having the superpower of a translator. I really thrive in doing curious, deep listening when I'm with people, and when you are in a mindset to listen, I think you can collect data at a rapid pace.Values-aligned investing becomes more accessible when advisors start with people's values instead of their account balances.That is the work Michelle Hoexum leads as CEO of Revalue, a Registered Investment Advisory firm and Purpose Built 100 winner. During this episode, Michelle explained how Revalue grew from early work in community impact investing into a fast-growing firm helping individuals, organizations and nonprofits align money with purpose.The traditional financial industry often leaves people out until they have accumulated enough wealth to qualify for service. Revalue chose a different path.“We became very accessible to people in the sense that we had no account minimums,” Michelle said. “So, we would accept people that the industry was leaving behind.”That commitment shows up in practical ways. Revalue helps clients consider public market investing, patient capital in their own communities and the deeper question of what money is for. Michelle described a client experience built around education, partnership and healing.Revalue is proud to be ranked #26 on the 2026 PurposeBuilt100™ list, recognizing America's fastest-growing mission-driven companies—proof that values-aligned investing and meaningful growth can go hand in hand. Meet the Class of 2026 — see the full list of winners →“A lot of clients come to us with guilt, just a lot of baggage around money,” she said. “We are able to break down the value of money or wealth into what we call the 10 forms of capital, which really gets its roots from permaculture.”That permaculture influence helps Revalue think in systems. Instead of chasing only the fastest financial return, the firm looks for long-term yield across multiple forms of capital, including social, natural, cultural, health and financial capital.For Michelle, that work begins inside the company. “Our strongest litmus test is our internal team culture,” she said. “Without internal team culture, we can't deliver then that same strategy to our clients.”I was struck by how much of Revalue's model challenges the assumptions baked into wealth management. The firm does not simply ask clients how much money they have or how much risk they can tolerate. Michelle wants to understand what matters to them.“This is your money,” she said. “You should never feel stupid about something that you worked very hard for.”That simple sentence captures the heart of Revalue's work. Financial wellbeing should not belong only to people who already feel confident with money. Revalue is showing that investing can be values-aligned, community-centered and deeply human.tl;dr:Revalue helps clients align investments with values, community impact and long-term regenerative thinking.Michelle Hoexum emphasizes no account minimums, making financial wellbeing more accessible to people.Money conversations at Revalue include healing guilt, building confidence and honoring personal agency.Permaculture shapes the firm's systems approach to wealth, culture and multiple forms of capital.Michelle's superpower, curious translation, turns deep listening into purpose-driven strategy and action.How to Develop Curious Translation As a SuperpowerMichelle describes her superpower as being “a translator,” grounded in “curious, deep listening.” She explained, “When you are in a mindset to listen, I think you can collect data at a rapid pace.” Her gift is connecting those data points into “a purpose-driven way of executing on those missions and values,” helping people see the systems they are part of and the strategies available to them. She said that “having that vision around what's possible and how to connect those dots” is what gets her out of bed in the morning.Michelle's path illustrates that power. After earning a finance degree, she worked in international banking in Chicago but felt drawn to food and moved to New York hoping to become a pastry chef. People did not understand the leap. She kept iterating, eventually combining food, PR, nonprofit storytelling and finance. Later, through her business Propeller, she helped creative entrepreneurs who had brilliant ideas but lacked business skills. Those experiences now help her understand purpose-built founders and the impact investments Revalue supports.Practice curious, deep listening before offering advice or solutions.Collect the data points people reveal through stories, values and context.Look for patterns across systems instead of treating problems in isolation.Translate what you hear into a purpose-driven strategy people can act on.Keep iterating when others do not understand your path or idea.Use story sharing to build trust, community and understanding.Harness who you are instead of trying to copy someone else's superpower.Find aligned people who strengthen your gifts and help them grow.By following Michelle's example and advice, you can make curious translation a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you!Guest ProfileMichelle Hoexum (she/her):CEO, RevalueAbout Revalue: Revalue, is a Registered Investment Advisory firm, that lives at the edge. The fertile boundary where life takes hold. It is here, at this edge, that we are growing into the fullest expression of what's possible: where more people reach the resources they need, grow deeper roots, and live abundance.We lead regeneratively, using the wisdom of permaculture to inform how we think, plan, and grow. Observing before acting, working with what's already alive in a system rather than against it, designing for the long yield, not the quick one. We love to serve, and service means honoring sovereignty: every person we work with holds their own agency, their own path, their own way of defining a life well-lived. Our role is to help heal. Be it money stories, or the flow of capital for the collective good, for humanity, with humanity.We hold that true wealth is multidimensional, made up of many forms of capital. Social, natural, cultural, spiritual, material, intellectual, health, attention, built, and financial. These multiple forms of capital are important because a whole life is not built from one root alone. We center on healing, recognizing that how capital has moved in the past has often left depletion in its wake. Our work is to help it flow differently, replenishing what it touches rather than extracting from it.There is no single right way to grow. We honor many paths. Revalue holds space for all of them, the way a healthy edge holds many species at once, each thriving because of, not despite, its neighbors.Website: revalueinvesting.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/revalueinvesting/Biographical Information: I live in a 100-year-old house with floors made from then 100 yr old trees. So, every day I am grounded in old growth forest wisdom. My chocolate lab, Albert, is my constant companion and helps me build real community with my neighbors. He reminds me of curiosity and generosity every day.LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michelle-hoexum-699b926/Watch the Impact Stories on BIG Screen!Support Our SponsorsOur generous sponsors make our work possible, serving impact investors, social entrepreneurs, community builders and diverse founders. Today's advertisers include PurposeBuilt100™ Winners and supercrowd.tv. Learn more about advertising with us here.Max-Impact Members(We're grateful for every one of these community champions who make this work possible.)Brian Christie, Brainsy | Cameron Neil, Lend For Good | Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Eric Coury, Arthia AI | Joey Hayes, thru | John Berlet, CORE Tax Deeds, LLC. | Justin Starbird, The Aebli Group | Ken Steele, Rotarian | Lory Moore, Lory Moore Law | Marcia Brinton, High Desert Gear | Mark Grimes, Networked Enterprise Development | Mike Babbit | Coledger Solutions | Mike Green, Envirosult | Nick Degnan, Unlimit Ventures | Paul Lovejoy, Stakeholder Enterprise | Pearl Wright, Global Changemaker | Scott Thorpe, Philanthropist | Sharon Samjitsingh, Health Care Originals | Add Your Name HereUpcoming SuperCrowd Event CalendarIf a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.Join the SuperCrowd Impact League! You can be recognized for making impact investments via Reg CF. See how your activity compares to your peers. It's free. Win valuable prizes. Start now!SuperCrowd Impact Member Networking Session: Impact (and, of course, Max-Impact) Members of the SuperCrowd are invited to a private networking session on September 8th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT. Mark your calendar. We'll send private emails to Impact Members with registration details. Upgrade to Impact Membership today!Apply for the Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: Are you raising capital through Regulation Crowdfunding? Apply by September 2 for the September 30 Superpowers for Good Live Pitch. Selected founders pitch free to investors and gain exposure through SuperCrowd.tv, e360tv, social media, and our 10,000-subscriber newsletter. We especially encourage social entrepreneurs, women and underrepresented entrepreneurs to apply.Visit Our Complete Community Event CalendarIf you would like to submit an event for us to share with the 10,000+ changemakers, investors and entrepreneurs who are members of the SuperCrowd, click here.Manage the volume of emails you receive from us by clicking here.We share educational information—not investment advice. Some links may generate compensation. See our full disclosure.We use AI to help us write compelling recaps of each episode. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe

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} } Dupree Financial Group Podcast Show Notes & Blog The Tom Dupree Show Episode  ·  8-29-26 AI Chips, a Sneaker Stock Shock, and the Fed’s Inflation Reckoning: What Retirees Should Watch This Week The Tom Dupree Show | Dupree Financial Group | dupreefinancial.com | 859-233-0400 Episode Description This week’s Financial Hour covers a lot of ground — and nearly all of it matters if you’re managing retirement income right now. Tom Dupree, Mike Johnson, and Michael Dawahare start with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s interview with Jim Cramer, (https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/08/26/watch-jim-cramers-full-interview-with-nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang.html ) which Huang argued that AI chips are becoming a revenue-generating financial asset rather than a depreciating one — and why that shift is already showing up in the bond market. From there, the conversation turns to Dick’s Sporting Goods, which slashed its earnings forecast just 90 days after raising it, wiping out two-thirds of its shareholder base in a single trading day. The hour closes with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole remarks, where he laid the blame for “65 months of elevated inflation” squarely on his predecessors and signaled what that means for interest rates heading into September. AI Infrastructure Investing: Are Chips Becoming the New Barrel of Oil? Nvidia just turned in another blowout quarter — by Tom’s count, the 15th straight quarter the company has beaten expectations. But the more interesting story, in Tom and Mike’s view, is what Jensen Huang said afterward: AI compute is starting to behave like a financial instrument with a real return on capital, not just an expense. That’s the logic behind the $500 billion GPU financing and securitization discussion involving BlackRock and Blackstone that the show covered a few weeks ago — essentially the same slice-and-dice structure used in auto loan securitization, applied to data center hardware. Even more surprising: chips built back in 2023 are holding their value instead of depreciating, partly because Nvidia keeps improving the software and firmware that runs on them. Tom’s analogy: picture Hopper and Blackwell chips coming down the conveyor belt the same way a barrel of oil became a globally monetized commodity in the 1970s. He also shared a personal note on Jensen Huang’s Kentucky roots — Huang spent time as a teenager at Oneida Baptist Institute in Clay County, a detail Tom knows firsthand from doing energy infrastructure work in the area. On the energy side, the team also discussed Emerald AI, a private company using software to shift data center power loads in real time — throttling usage in one location (say, Phoenix during a heat spike) while ramping it up elsewhere, which can actually improve grid reliability rather than strain it. The Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nike Earnings Shock: A Lesson for Long-Term Investors Dick’s Sporting Goods just had, in Tom’s words, the biggest one-day stock drop in company history — despite decent core earnings. The culprit was its newly acquired Foot Locker division. In late May, Dick’s raised guidance on Foot Locker, projecting roughly $50 million in profit. By late June, Nike’s business had also weakened everywhere except at the newly relaunched Foot Locker stores. Then, just 60 days later, Dick’s reversed course entirely — that projected $50 million profit is now expected to be a $50 million loss. Mike and Michael’s read: a flood of casual sneakers shipped ahead of the World Cup created a sales spike followed by an inventory hangover, compounded by a new Nike CFO (recently hired from Pfizer) who had every incentive to reset expectations low before his first earnings call. Nearly 40 million Dick’s shares traded in one day — roughly two-thirds of the entire shareholder base turned over — on a stock that had hit an all-time high just 90 days earlier. The Dick’s family, which owns about 25% of the company, took a $250 million hit in the selloff, which the team sees as strong motivation to fix the Foot Locker integration quickly. [COMPLIANCE REVIEW — Hudson: this segment discusses DFG adding to client positions in Dick’s Sporting Goods after the selloff, and references the stock’s current dividend yield and free cash flow. Please confirm these figures and the trade description are appropriate for publication.] As stated on air, this discussion is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security — please consult a financial professional before making investment decisions. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole Speech: “A Discipline, Not a Decision” New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech didn’t move markets much on its own — Mike Johnson called it “a nothing burger” — but it confirmed a generally hawkish read: the market-implied odds of a September rate hike moved to roughly 55–60%, up from where they’d been previously. Two lines stood out to Tom and Mike. First, Warsh directly criticized his predecessors for “65 months of elevated inflation,” making clear that responsibility sits with the central bank, not external events. Second, his framing that the Fed is “committed to a discipline, not a decision” signals a move away from forward guidance and toward data-dependent policy. The team also walked through household debt trends: delinquencies on mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards remain fairly stable, while student loan delinquencies have risen now that pandemic-era forbearance has ended. Oil prices remain a major swing factor — Tom estimates roughly half the cost of goods in daily life traces back to the price of a barrel — so a calmer oil market could reduce the pressure on Warsh to raise rates at all. “Markets do not always go up. Prices don’t always go up. So when you have weakness in prices for some esoteric reason, that is when you get an opportunity to buy — and add.” — Tom Dupree Topics Covered Jensen Huang’s interview with Jim Cramer following Nvidia’s 15th consecutive earnings beat Why AI infrastructure may be shifting from a depreciating cost to a “monetizable” financial asset, similar to a barrel of oil The push toward securitizing AI infrastructure and data center financing Jensen Huang’s Kentucky roots at Oneida Baptist Institute in Clay County How AI energy demand and data center efficiency (via Emerald AI) affect the power grid Dick’s Sporting Goods’ guidance reversal, 90 days after raising it, tied to the Foot Locker relaunch What a 40-million-share trading day and a 25%-family-owned stake signal to long-term investors Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole remarks on “65 months of elevated inflation” and September rate-hike odds Household debt and delinquency trends across mortgages, credit cards, and student loans Why the price of oil remains a key driver of the Fed’s inflation outlook Key Takeaways AI infrastructure is starting to look like a financial asset, not just a tech expense. Jensen Huang’s argument — that AI compute now generates a measurable return on capital — is why data centers and GPUs are being discussed in securitization terms usually reserved for auto loans or real estate. Some AI chips are appreciating instead of depreciating. Chips manufactured in 2023 are reportedly holding or gaining value as demand grows and ongoing software updates improve their efficiency — a break from the usual electronics depreciation curve. A sharp earnings-driven stock drop isn’t automatically a reason to sell. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ core business remained healthy even as its Foot Locker guidance collapsed. Separating a temporary supply-chain problem from a permanent business problem is central to how DFG evaluates opportunities like this. Watch the shareholder turnover, not just the headline. When two-thirds of a company’s shareholder base changes hands in a single trading day, it often reflects overreaction as much as fundamentals — something patient, income-focused investors can use to their advantage. The Fed’s new chair is putting inflation accountability front and center. Kevin Warsh’s “65 months of elevated inflation” line was a direct message to his predecessors — and a signal that he’s more willing to raise rates if inflation readings don’t stay in check. Household debt looks broadly stable — except for student loans. Delinquencies on mortgages, autos, and credit cards remain near longer-term norms, while student loan delinquencies have risen since pandemic-era forbearance ended. Nearly everything right now is tied to interest rates and oil. From long bond yields (pushed up partly by AI infrastructure financing) to utility and technology stocks, this week’s moves are a reminder that diversified, income-focused portfolios are built to weather single-headline swings. About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a veteran of the investment business since 1978. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement — in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor based in Lexington, Kentucky, managing separately managed accounts built around income-generating, dividend-paying holdings. The firm’s approach centers on personalized investment management and direct access to the people managing your money — a contrast to mass-market investment firms, where clients are often assigned to a rotating investment counselor rather than working directly with a portfolio manager who knows their specific situation. Read more about that approach on our Investment Philosophy page. For more on building a retirement income strategy in Kentucky, see our related post: Kentucky Retirement Planning: Your Complete Guide to Dividend Investing and Retirement Readiness. Past episodes are available in our Market Commentary archive. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure how AI-related holdings, sudden earnings swings, or Fed policy shifts are actually affecting your retirement income, let’s take a look together. We’ll walk through what you own and why you own it — no charge, no pressure. Call: 859-233-0400 | Schedule Online: Personalized Portfolio Analysis | Visit: dupreefinancial.com Dupree Financial Group  ·  Fee-only. Fiduciary. Lexington, KY  · dupreefinancial.com  ·  859-233-0400 This document is for reference and internal use. Not for public distribution. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Nothing in this content is a recommendation to buy or sell any security; consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions. The post AI, Earnings Shocks & the Fed: What Retirees Should Watch Air Date 8-29-26 appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Receiving an inheritance can open new possibilities, but deciding what to do with it may not be as simple as expected. In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura discuss what to consider before making major financial decisions, from understanding what you actually inherited to navigating potential tax considerations and giving yourself time to think about what comes next. They also explore how an inheritance can fit into your broader financial plan and the future you want to build. Whether the inheritance was expected or came as a surprise, a thoughtful approach can help you move forward with greater clarity. #inheritance #financialplanning #wealthmanagement #estateplanning ---         Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.       

Are you approaching retirement and wondering whether your spending, investments, taxes, insurance, estate plan, and retirement lifestyle are all working together? A retirement plan should do more than help you reach a savings goal. It should support the life you want while preparing for changing markets, rising costs, healthcare needs, and a retirement that could last 30 years. In this episode, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, shares a six-part retirement planning checklist designed to help people approaching retirement or already retired review the financial and personal decisions that can shape their future. Larry discusses:  How much you may be able to spend in retirement without constantly worrying about running out of money Why taxes, insurance, and estate planning deserve regular review How purpose and lifestyle planning can be just as important as your finances How tax-efficient withdrawal strategies and Roth conversions may help reduce taxes throughout retirement Why reviewing your estate plan, insurance coverage, and life after work can help you retire with greater confidence And more! Resources: Mastering Retirement Withdrawals: Expert Tips for Smart Distribution Planning (Ep. 169) Retirement Unlocked: Managing Sequence of Returns Risk (Ep. 171) Why Taxes Often Go Up in Retirement and What Planning Ahead Can Change (Ep. 194) From Net Worth to Cash Flow, Rethinking Retirement Strategy (Ep. 197) IRMAA Explained, How Income Decisions Today Can Increase Medicare Costs Tomorrow (Ep. 199) Connect with Larry Heller:  (631) 248-3600 Schedule a 20-Minute Call Heller Wealth Management LinkedIn: Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, CPA YouTube: Retirement Unlocked with Larry Heller, CFP® Heller Wealth Management is now part of Savant Wealth Management. Savant is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Effective March 31, 2026, Heller Wealth Management joined Savant Wealth Management (“Savant”). A copy of Savant's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available at www.savantwealth.com/disclosure-brochures/

Should we be concerned about the United States rising debt? What are your estate planning questions?   And let's talk about the stock market downturns and small caps' strong first half of 2026!   Those are some of the topics covered in this week's Market Moment with Matt, Isaac and Eli. Eli is a special host on the podcast because he spends a lot of time working on our show, Data Brief. In this episode, Eli introduces Matt and Isaac to some new research from Morningstar surrounding the 4% distribution theories and retirement planning information. He will break this study down even further in his upcoming Data Brief - new episodes every other Friday! 01:41 Record U.S. Debt but the interest payments are in the historical average 04:32 Small caps had a strong first half of 2026, are they finally coming back? 07:50 Federal Estate Tax Exemption, could this be reduced in the future? 15:07 Stock market downturns are healthy and normal 17:36 Morningstar's study on distributions and retirement planning strategies    

Financial planning should be more than an annual meeting or a conversation about investments. In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura explore what an ongoing relationship with a financial advisor can look like and why the work between major financial decisions matters. From preparing for what is ahead to having someone who already understands your bigger picture, a strong advisory relationship is built over time. Because when life changes or an opportunity comes your way, the question becomes: Who do you want in your corner? ---         Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.       

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On this week’s Financial Hour, Tom Dupree, Mike Johnson, and Michael Dawahare broke down why that number matters, what the U.S. Treasury Department is doing about it, and — more importantly — what it means for anyone who’s retired or approaching retirement and living off a portfolio. The team walked through Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s decision to expand the government’s bond buyback program, why the Treasury is repurchasing old, low-coupon “off-the-run” bonds, and what Bessent meant when he said he has “asymmetric information” the market doesn’t. Mike Johnson explained the mechanics in plain terms: the Treasury doesn’t hold these bonds on its balance sheet the way the Fed does — it swaps them out and reissues shorter-term debt, which theoretically frees up the plumbing in the bond market without actually solving the underlying supply-and-demand problem driving yields higher in the first place. The U.S. Treasury’s own announcement confirms the buyback size is at least doubling, from a $2 billion to a $4 billion per-operation ceiling, effective September 9, 2026 — exactly the increase Tom, Mike, and Michael were reacting to on air. From there, the conversation turned to what’s actually happening underneath the surface of the stock market. Economist Ed Yardeni’s “K-shaped economy” — where some parts of the economy do well and others fall behind — is evolving into what he now calls a “G-shaped economy,” with earnings-driven strength showing up in previously out-of-favor sectors. Coca-Cola hitting an all-time high the same week Walmart’s stock dropped roughly 10% on strong-but-complicated earnings was Exhibit A. Tom and the team also discussed two specific holdings in DFG client portfolios — a commercial real estate mortgage REIT and Verizon — and why research-driven, patient investing in “forgotten” sectors has been paying off for income-focused clients this year. On the mortgage REIT position, the team went deeper than “buy the dip.” The company — sponsored by a large institutional manager with global real estate data and research reach — makes commercial real estate loans, historically concentrated in office properties. When one or two of those loans showed early warning signs, the company increased its loan-loss reserves, which shows up on paper like a write-down even though the loan stays on the books and no cash has actually been lost. The stock sold off on the news. Tom and Mike explained why they added to the position instead of walking away: this management team was conservative during the “nuclear winter” for office real estate a few years ago, has since been letting legacy office loans run off, and is redeploying that capital into multifamily, healthcare, and industrial loans — property types with materially better performance right now. Because these are shorter-duration loans, the portfolio’s characteristics can shift relatively quickly as old loans mature and new ones get written. That combination — a real dividend yield in the double digits today, a management team with a track record of conservative accounting, and a portfolio actively repositioning into stronger property types — is why DFG treated the sell-off as a buying opportunity for income-focused clients rather than a reason to sell. Verizon came up for a different reason: SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service and the ongoing question of whether it can realistically compete in the cellphone business. Mike and Tom were skeptical, pointing to a CNBC analyst’s explanation that a satellite-based “cell tower” sits roughly 220 miles away compared to the two or three miles most people are used to today — a gap that raises real questions about latency and practicality for everyday phone calls, whatever the marketing promises. What both hosts agreed on is that the more durable asset is compute capacity: Starlink’s parent currently leases out some of that capacity, with the option to use more of it for its own future needs, not unlike how Amazon Web Services has become a larger and more important piece of Amazon’s business than its original retail operation. The team also used Walmart’s earnings reaction as a pulse check on the broader consumer. Despite what management called one of its healthiest quarters, the stock dropped roughly 10% the day of the release — driven largely by new government pricing rules on pharmaceuticals that took effect in the second quarter, layered on top of a business that’s now roughly half grocery. Because the market had to digest several moving pieces at once, short-term traders reacted to the complexity rather than the underlying strength Walmart itself described on the call. On the broader consumer picture, Mike Johnson noted wage growth is positive for the first time in a while, and inflation and affordability on goods have ticked slightly better — partly offset by a 20–30% rise in gas prices over the past month. The team also flagged a rollback of tariffs on beef imports from South American trading partners, aimed at easing supply after herd sizes shrank in recent years — welcome relief on one grocery bill line item, even as lower-income households continue to feel the most pressure on housing, auto, insurance, and everyday food costs. Tom also used part of the hour to deliver a message he called maybe the most important thing he’d say all year: it’s not how much your portfolio earns on average — it’s when the losses happen. “Here’s something most people approaching retirement have never heard, and it could be the most important thing I say. It’s not how much your portfolio earns, it’s when it loses.” If your retirement account drops 10% in year one and you’re already pulling money out to live on, you’re drawing from a smaller pool going forward. Do it again in year two, and — as Tom put it — “you may never recover. Even if the market bounces back, the damage is already done.” Wall Street tends to talk in long-term averages, but as Tom noted, “averages don’t pay your electric bill in a down market.” That’s the whole case for building retirement income around dividends rather than around hoping the market cooperates on your withdrawal schedule. FINRA’s own guidance on managing a retirement portfolio makes the same point: your time horizon shrinks once withdrawals begin, so reassessing how much investment risk you’re carrying — and where your income is actually coming from — matters more with each passing year of retirement. Topics Covered The 30-year Treasury yield hit 5.3%+ this week, its highest level since 2007 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s expanded bond buyback program and what “asymmetric information” means for markets Why the Treasury is repurchasing old, low-coupon “off-the-run” bonds instead of holding them like the Fed does Sequence of returns risk: why the timing of a loss matters more than your portfolio’s long-term average return Ed Yardeni’s “K-shaped economy” evolving into a “G-shaped economy” — and what that means for stock picking Coca-Cola’s all-time high vs. Walmart’s post-earnings stock drop, and what each says about the consumer Adding to a commercial real estate mortgage REIT position on a pullback — the research behind the decision [COMPLIANCE REVIEW: episode cites a specific dividend yield figure for a named DFG portfolio holding] Verizon, satellite phone service, and questions about whether Starlink can really replace cell towers Wage growth, tariff-driven beef price relief, and the uneven affordability picture for lower-income consumers Key Takeaways Timing beats averages once you’re retired and withdrawing income. A 10% drop in year one of retirement, combined with withdrawals, shrinks the pool you have left to recover with. Tom’s point: “averages don’t pay your electric bill in a down market.” The Treasury’s bond buyback is a Band-Aid, not a fix. Doubling the buyback to $4 billion per operation sounds significant, but against roughly $40 trillion in outstanding debt, it’s a small lever. It briefly pushed yields down, but the market has largely looked through it. A steepening yield curve isn’t automatically a warning sign. The curve normalized after years of inversion — but it’s steepening because the long end is rising, not because short rates are falling, which is a distinction worth understanding rather than reacting to. Fundamental research pays off when a market broadens out. With mega-cap “Mag Seven” performance uneven this year, previously out-of-favor companies and sectors — Ed Yardeni’s “forgotten” names — are earning higher multiples on real earnings growth, not hype. Pullbacks driven by loan-loss accounting, not fundamentals, can be buying opportunities. DFG added to a commercial real estate mortgage REIT position after a stock drop tied to conservative loss reserves — a decision built on management’s track record, not on trying to time a bounce. The consumer picture is genuinely mixed. Wage growth is up for the first time in a while, and tariff relief on beef imports is easing some grocery costs — but affordability on housing, insurance, and everyday goods remains a real strain for lower-income households. Frequently Asked Questions What is sequence of returns risk, and why does it matter for retirees? Sequence of returns risk is the danger that market losses early in retirement — combined with ongoing withdrawals — can permanently shrink a portfolio, even if long-term average returns look fine. A downturn in year one or two, while you’re pulling income out, leaves less money available to participate in any later recovery. Why did the 30-year Treasury yield hit its highest level since 2007? The 30-year Treasury yield crossed 5.3% in August 2026, its highest level since 2007, driven by heavy government borrowing, persistent inflation above the Fed’s target, and continued Treasury debt issuance. It marks a shift after years of historically low long-term rates following the 2008 financial crisis. What is the Treasury doing about rising long-term bond yields? In August 2026, the U.S. Treasury announced it would at least double its bond buyback program, from a $2 billion to a $4 billion per-operation ceiling starting September 9. The program repurchases older, low-coupon bonds and reissues shorter-term debt to help ease pressure in the long-bond market. What is a “K-shaped” or “G-shaped” economy? Economist Ed Yardeni’s “K-shaped economy” describes an economy where some sectors and income groups do well while others fall behind. He now calls it a “G-shaped economy” as earnings growth broadens into previously overlooked sectors, showing up in stock performance beyond the small group of mega-cap tech names. How does Dupree Financial Group approach investing during periods of market volatility? Dupree Financial Group focuses on in-house research into dividend-paying stocks and bonds that generate visible income, rather than reacting to short-term headlines. The firm looks for quality companies temporarily out of favor for fixable reasons, aiming to build retirement income that doesn’t depend on guessing short-term market direction. About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a 47-year veteran of the investment business. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement — in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. The firm manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios — no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. Past episodes are available at dupreefinancial.com under the Radio tab. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure how a rising-yield environment or a rough sequence of returns could affect your specific retirement income plan, that’s exactly what we sit down and work through. There’s no cost and no pressure — just a clear look at what you own and why. Call: 859-233-0400 | Visit: dupreefinancial.com Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only registered investment advisor. Investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Please consult with a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions. Dupree Financial Group  ·  Fee-only. Fiduciary. Lexington, KY  · dupreefinancial.com  ·  859-233-0400 This document is for reference and internal use. Not for public distribution. The post 30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 2007 High: What Retirees Should Know appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Many people think of the RIA model as an "independent" model.This is accurate, as many pathways into the model are independent in nature.However, some RIA models feature advisors affiliated as W2 employees. These come in many different flavors: partnership models, traditional grid payout models, buyout models, etc.In this episode of the Transition To RIA question and answer series, I explain what these models are and when they may be a fit for your practice.Come take a listen!P.S. Prefer video? You can find this entire series in video format on Youtube. Search for the TRANSITION TO RIA channel.Show notes: https://TransitionToRIA.com/what-is-a-w2-ria-model/About Host: Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, where he helps financial advisors between $50M and $1B understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model. Brad has 20+ years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in Compliance, Finance and Business Development. He has an MBA and has held the 4, 7, 24, 63 & 65 licenses. The Transition To RIA website (TransitionToRIA.com) has a large catalog of free videos, articles, whitepapers, as well as other resources to help advisors understand the RIA model and how it would apply to their unique circumstances.

Richard Taylor and Brian Dunhill are back with an unscripted breakdown of the forces driving global markets in August 2026.  First up, the Yen carry trade unravelling. Brian explains how the Trump administration quietly forced Japan to sell euros instead of US treasuries, what that reveals about a deliberate weak dollar policy, and why currency devaluation is now Washington's preferred tool for managing a 120% debt-to-GDP ratio. For expats and cross-border investors, the implications are massive.  Then, markets. Despite constant noise, the S&P 500 has had a strong run, but the Magnificent Seven are stumbling. Richard and Brian debate whether that's a healthy rotation into broader equities or an early warning that overexposed portfolios are about to feel pain.  They also dig into the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropping below 300 million barrels for the first time since the 1980s, why much of it may be unusable, and how rising gas prices could become the political pressure point that forces a resolution to the Iran conflict.  As always, real talk, zero scripts, and two advisors who manage money for a living trying to make sense of a genuinely chaotic month!  --  Expat Wealth is supported by Plan First Wealth. Plan First Wealth is a Registered Investment Advisor serving fellow expatriates and immigrants living across the US on matters such as retirement planning, investment management, tax planning and non-US asset management.    https://planfirstwealth.com/  --  Expat Wealth is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.      Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas. 

Drew Powers is the Founder of Powers Financial Group, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. He specializes in advanced insurance and investment strategies for doctors. Drew is 100% independent, he doesn't work with any investment or insurance company, which means he's able to give unbiased advice that is most beneficial for his clients. Drew started his career in 2001 as a Market Maker on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where he managed trading portfolios comprising hundreds of equity- and equity-index option listings. In 2008, he transitioned to the role of Financial Advisor and Investment Advisor Representative, where he helped clients develop individual financial strategies. At Powers Financial Group, Drew leverages his stock and options trading expertise with his financial advising experience to help clients increase and protect their wealth. Drew lives in Naperville with his wife and their two children. He is an avid downhill skier, active in youth sports, a proud "Rooster" within the Naperville Jaycees, and is passionate about CrossFit and the Paleo/Primal Lifestyle.

Talking About Money with Your Kids Episode 396 – When is the best time to start talking with your kids about money? At an early age, of course. But if you haven't gotten around to it yet, here are some ideas on how to get started. More SML Planning Minute Podcast Episodes Transcript of Podcast Episode 396 Hello, this is Bill Rainaldi, with another edition of Security Mutual's SML Planning Minute. In today's episode: why don't people talk about money with their kids? The statistics are startling. For wealthy families, studies indicate that 70 percent will lose that wealth by the second generation, and 90 percent will lose it by the third generation.[1] Is there something you can do to avoid being one of those people? Maybe part of the problem is that, according to other survey data, 90 percent of wealthy parents don't even talk to their kids about money.[2] The reasons vary. Some parents are simply waiting for their kids to get older and hopefully more mature. Others haven't talked about it because they're still not sure what they're going to do with their money. Still others don't want their children to anticipate receiving money that might not be there in the future. And some have decided it's none of their kids' business.[3] There are other factors. One part of the problem may be socioeconomic status. In a recent article at Wealthmanagement.com, author John Knowlton, co-founder of Credent Wealth Management and a retired Registered Investment Advisor, argues that, in his experience, lower income homeowners who have already saved something for retirement tend to be fearful that their children will ask them for money. They don't want to become what Knowlton refers to as a “community bank.”[4] When it comes to higher income families, Knowlton argues that some parents worry that their children will become “trust fund babies,” and they'll be expecting a big inheritance. He also states that other parents don't want to start the discussion because they might be overwhelmed with personal appeals for money. This causes some to focus, perhaps excessively, on privacy issues, even with their own children. Furthermore, parents may simply be worried that their children will share family financial details with friends which could hit the proverbial gossip trail. This is because some parents choose to maintain a public facing image that is either greater than or less than their actual financial picture. Regardless of the situation, there's no doubt that the process can be stressful. According to a recent study by the CFP Board, 57 percent of Americans believe that money has created stress for someone they know well.[5] But is it better to avoid talking about it? Probably not. Avoiding the topic doesn't make it go away. In fact, it could make the stress level even worse. It could also result in resentment from your kids, a lack of trust, or someone making a poor decision simply because they don't have all the information they need. Worse still, you might miss out on something that could help build rapport with your family, like seeking input from your loved ones and working toward a shared goal. When's the best time to get started? If you haven't already started, now might be a good time to begin. But exactly how do you begin? That all depends on the age of your children. If your kids are still young, it's a great time to introduce some of the most basic concepts, such as what money is used for, how to earn it, and how much things cost.[6] Your children can actually learn some valuable lessons at the supermarket. Among other things, that's where you can teach young kids the difference between what you need and what you want. You need things like milk and eggs; you want candy and toys. They need to understand what comes first. A little bit later, you may want to introduce the concept of an allowance for doing certain chores around the house. You can even delineate the chores based upon their value, paying the child more for certain (more important) chores than others. Things shift when you've got teenagers. This is the point where they need to learn more about how to earn and save money. This is also the time when (hopefully) your child will get their first job, maybe pay some taxes, and hopefully begin investing some of their take-home pay. It might also be a good time to get kids interested in long-term investments. Nowadays it's easier than ever to set up a small mutual fund, ETF, or stock account for them. If you have young adults, this is where—assuming they are working and still living at home—it might be a good idea to start charging some rent. Just a token amount is often sufficient. It doesn't need to be expensive; it just needs to make a point about money. It's also a good time to start talking to them about a budget. The process changes when you have mature adults. If you haven't talked much about money yet, here's one interesting way to get things started. How about if, sometime around the holidays, you gave a token sum of money to each of your children with a specific instruction: they have to give the money away to someone who needs it. They get to choose who—or what—that is.[7] The hope is that such a gesture will get them thinking about their values and charitable goals. And maybe in a year or two you could increase the amount, coupled with a group discussion about the best place for the money to go. Also, by talking to your children about money, you have a chance to do something more. You can also teach your kids a thing or two about your own money philosophy, and some of the habits that might have helped you get to where you are today. It's also a good chance to talk about some of the values that are dear to you. Your experience and wisdom are of value to others. Don't let them go to waste. When your children become adults, you might also be able to move from talking to your kids about money to talking about their legacy. If you frame the discussion properly, it might shift their focus from a sense of entitlement to a sense of responsibility. One final thought: just talking to your kids about their future is a step in the right direction. But you're probably going to need something more than that. You're also going to need to make some difficult decisions, preferably together. But at least now you can do it with everyone onboard. Being open is usually the best policy. If you're unsure where or how to start the discussion, perhaps a Security Mutual Life insurance agent can help. Your Security Mutual Life insurance agent can help assemble your financial team and coordinate with your attorneys and tax professionals to review your situation and to determine the insurance plan that will best suit your needs and objectives. [1] CFA Institute. “How real is the third-generation curse, and how can financial advisors tackle it?” Cfainstitute.org. https://www.cfainstitute.org/insights/articles/third-generation-wealth-curse-advisor-solutions (accessed July 30, 2026). [2] Bloom, Ester. “The unexpected reasons 90% of wealthy parents don’t tell their kids what they’ll inherit” CNBC.com. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/06/26/90-percent-of-wealthy-parents-dont-tell-their-kids-what-theyll-inherit.html (accessed July 31, 2026). [3] Heath, Thomas. “A how-to guide from the ultra-rich: What to tell your kids about money.” WashingtonPost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-how-to-guide-from-the-ultra-rich-what-to-tell-your-kids-about-money/2017/06/16/cbbd03a0-505d-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html (accessed July 31, 2026). [4] Knowlton, John. “Why Families Don't Talk About Money.” WealthManagement.com. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/high-net-worth/why-families-don-t-talk-about-money (accessed July 31, 2026). [5] Zuckerman, David. “Why Americans Are Afraid to Talk About Money – And How to Change That.” letsmakeaplan.org.org. https://www.letsmakeaplan.org/financial-topics/articles/family-finances/why-americans-are-afraid-to-talk-about-money-and-how-to-change-that (accessed July 30, 2026). [6] Epperson, Sharon. “10 smart ways to teach kids about money through the years.” CNBC.com. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/24/10-smart-ways-to-teach-kids-about-money-through-the-years.html  (accessed July 31, 2026). [7] Id. More SML Planning Minute Podcast Episodes This podcast is brought to you by Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, The Company That Cares®. The content provided is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Information is provided in good faith. However, the Company makes no representation or warranty of any kind regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information. The information presented is designed to provide general information regarding the subject matter covered. It is not to serve as legal, tax or other financial advice related to individual situations, because each individual's legal, tax and financial situation is different. Specific advice needs to be tailored to your situation. Therefore, please consult with your own attorney, tax professional and/or other advisors regarding your specific situation. To help reach your goals, you need a skilled professional by your side. Contact your local Security Mutual life insurance advisor today. As part of the planning process, he or she will coordinate with your other advisors as needed to help you achieve your financial goals and objectives. For more information, visit us at SMLNY.com/SMLPodcast. If you've enjoyed this podcast, tell your friends about it. And be sure to give us a five-star review. And check us out on LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Tax laws are complex and subject to change. The information presented is based on current interpretation of the laws. Neither Security Mutual nor its agents are permitted to provide tax or legal advice. The applicability of any strategy discussed is dependent upon the particular facts and circumstances. Results may vary, and products and services discussed may not be appropriate for all situations. Each person's needs, objectives and financial circumstances are different, and must be reviewed and analyzed independently. We encourage individuals to seek personalized advice from a qualified Security Mutual life insurance advisor regarding their personal needs, objectives, and financial circumstances. Insurance products are issued by Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Binghamton, New York. Product availability and features may vary by state.​ SubscribeApple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPandoraby EmailTuneInDeezerRSSMore Subscribe Options

Should Retirees Worry About the $500 Billion AI Data Center Financing Boom? By Tom Dupree, Founder, Dupree Financial Group — with Mike Johnson, James Dupree, and Michael Dawahare, as discussed on The Financial Hour, August 15, 2026. Wall Street wants to finance roughly $500 billion of AI data center construction by turning computer chips into asset-backed securities — the same financing tool that has funded mortgages, auto loans, and credit card debt for decades. On this week’s Financial Hour, Tom called it, in his words, “a huge boondoggle.” Michael Dawahare pushed back with a more measured read. Mike Johnson and James Dupree pressed both sides on what’s actually driving the deal. The short answer: Dupree Financial Group doesn’t currently hold this type of security in client portfolios, and doesn’t recommend chasing the headline. The more useful question for a retiree isn’t whether AI is real — it obviously is. It’s what’s actually backing $500 billion in new debt, and what happens to that collateral if the technology moves faster than the loan gets paid off. Key Takeaways A group of major financial firms — Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR — is exploring asset-backed securities to help finance AI data center buildout. The debt would be backed largely by Nvidia chips inside “NeoCloud” companies like CoreWeave and Nebius Group, not by traditional collateral like real estate or receivables. Dupree Financial Group owns mortgage-backed securities but avoids auto-loan- and credit-card-backed debt, because the underlying collateral in those cases isn’t reliably recoverable — the same lens the firm applies here. Separately, wage data suggests the economy may be shifting from a “K-shaped” pattern (higher earners pulling ahead) toward a broader, more generationally distributed “G-shaped” recovery. Tom’s own investment philosophy traces back to the 1990s, when he noticed dividend-paying stocks beginning to outperform bonds — the observation that still anchors how DFG builds retirement income today. Why This Is Hard to Evaluate From a Headline If you’ve read a headline about a “$500 billion AI financing deal” and felt your stomach tighten a little, that’s a reasonable reaction. Financial engineering stories are genuinely hard to evaluate from the outside. The vocabulary is dense — asset-backed securities, securitization, collateral, inference — and the stakes described in the coverage are enormous. Retirees have been burned before by financial products that sounded sophisticated and turned out to be thinly disguised risk, and that memory is not paranoia. It’s earned caution. The team didn’t pretend this was simple. Tom was candid about his own uncertainty, noting he’s “very willing to be corrected.” That kind of honesty — admitting a strong opinion isn’t the same as certainty — is itself part of how DFG evaluates a new trend: skepticism first, conclusions only after the mechanics are understood. What the Team Actually Discussed A NeoCloud company buys Nvidia chips, builds computing capacity, and rents that capacity to larger technology firms like Amazon or Meta. CoreWeave and Nebius Group are two examples the team named. The pitch from the AI industry is that even older-generation chips retain real value for years, through a secondary use called inference — essentially, running smaller, less demanding AI tasks on hardware that’s no longer cutting-edge. Bears on the other side of the argument worry the technology cycle will outrun the debt: if a chip is functionally obsolete before the loan backing it is paid off, the “asset” behind the asset-backed security stops backing much of anything. This is precisely the distinction DFG applies to every asset-backed security it considers. The firm holds mortgage-backed securities, which are backed by real property with a long, well-understood history of collateral value. It does not hold auto-loan- or credit-card-backed debt, because a depreciating car or an unsecured promise to pay doesn’t offer the same reliability. Asset-backed securities as a category aren’t inherently good or bad — the question is always what’s underneath. The team also placed the moment in historical context. Financing efforts without a clean precedent aren’t new: the Panama Canal and the Marshall Plan were both undertaken without a perfect playbook, and both eventually found their footing, even though the people funding them at the outset couldn’t have described exactly how. That’s not a guarantee this AI financing structure works out the same way — it’s a reminder that markets have absorbed genuinely novel financing before, and that every investment bank, underwriter, and rating agency involved here has its own incentive to get the structure right. Separately, the conversation turned to what’s actually showing up in the economic data. For the past few years, economists have described a “K-shaped” economy, where higher earners pulled ahead while lower-income households absorbed the brunt of inflation. According to recent wage data, that gap may be narrowing — wage growth for lower-income workers has recently outpaced higher earners, a shift the team tied in part to immigration policy changes affecting labor supply and rental housing demand. Some economists are now describing this broader, more generationally distributed pattern — retiring baby boomers spending freely alongside improving wages further down the income scale — as a “G-shaped” economy. DFG’s Reframe: The Three-Question Collateral Test Strip away the jargon, and The Dupree Team’s approach to any asset-backed security — mortgage bonds, auto loans, or AI chip debt — comes down to three questions Tom has asked in one form or another for 48 years: What actually generates the cash flow? Not the marketing story — the mechanism. A mortgage generates cash flow because someone lives in the house and needs to keep paying. What generates cash flow from a chip? What happens to the collateral if the cash flow stops? A house retains value. A car depreciates fast. A three-year-old computer chip in a five-year technology cycle may retain very little. Am I being paid enough to take this risk, or am I just hoping? Yield that doesn’t reflect the real uncertainty in the collateral isn’t a bargain — it’s a warning sign. This isn’t a formal framework DFG has branded or trademarked — it’s the plain-English version of “know what you own and why you own it,” the same standard Tom applies whether he’s looking at a dividend stock, a municipal bond, or a headline-grabbing new security structure. It’s also why the firm’s answer to the AI financing question isn’t a prediction about who’s right. It’s a description of the test the investment has to pass before it’s even a candidate for a client account. How This Shows Up in a DFG Retirement Portfolio None of this changes DFG’s core approach to retirement income, which was built on a much older observation. Tom started his career selling municipal bonds in the late 1970s. In the 1990s, he began noticing something that reshaped how he thought about money for the next three decades: dividend-paying stocks were, in some cases, outperforming bonds. As he’s put it: “Stocks with dividends were, in some cases, outperforming bonds. That changed everything for me. It’s all about return on your money, whether it’s a stock or a bond.” That’s the foundation DFG still builds on — pairing dividend-paying stocks with bonds so retirement income shows up as visible cash flow, not a number on a statement you hope holds up. It’s also why the firm’s research process for something like an AI-driven “picks and shovels” business (a company that profits from building the infrastructure, rather than betting on which AI model wins) still runs through the same cash-flow lens as everything else in a client’s account. Direct ownership of individual securities, in-house research, and no reliance on a fund manager’s black box — that discipline doesn’t change just because the headline is about a new technology. Five Steps to Evaluate Any Headline-Driven Investment Trend Identify the actual cash flow. Before anything else, ask what specifically generates the return — a mechanism, not a narrative. If you can’t describe it in one sentence, that’s worth noticing. Ask what’s collateral, and what happens to it under stress. Real estate, receivables, and dividend-paying businesses all have a track record. Newer categories of collateral don’t, yet. Check whether the yield matches the real risk. A return that looks unusually attractive for the stated risk level is a reason to look closer, not a reason to move faster. Separate the technology story from the investment structure. AI adoption and the specific debt used to finance AI infrastructure are two different questions. One can be real and durable while the other is poorly structured. Ask a fee-only fiduciary to walk through your own portfolio. If you’re not sure whether something like this is already inside a fund or account you own, that’s exactly what a portfolio review is for. What the Data Actually Shows For context on the broader economy: for the past few years, the story was a K-shaped one — higher earners pulling further ahead while lower-income households bore the weight of inflation. That pattern appears to be shifting. Recent wage data shows lower-income wage growth outpacing higher earners, a change the team connected in part to tighter labor supply following immigration policy changes, which has also shown up as flatter rental housing costs in some markets. None of this is a forecast about where markets go next — it’s the kind of context Tom has built a career on gathering before deciding what belongs in a retirement portfolio. Frequently Asked Questions What is an asset-backed security? An asset-backed security is a bond backed by a pool of assets, like auto loans, credit card debt, or mortgages, rather than a company’s general credit. Investors are repaid from the cash flow those underlying assets generate. Wall Street is now exploring this structure to help finance AI data center buildout. What is a NeoCloud company? A NeoCloud is a company that buys Nvidia chips, builds computing infrastructure, and rents that capacity to larger technology firms. Companies such as CoreWeave and Nebius Group are examples discussed on The Financial Hour as part of the broader AI infrastructure buildout. Should retirees be worried about the AI data center financing boom? Dupree Financial Group’s view is measured skepticism, not alarm. The firm does not currently hold this type of security in client portfolios. As with any headline-driven trend, the firm’s approach is to understand exactly what backs an investment before it belongs in a retirement portfolio. What is the difference between a K-shaped and G-shaped economy? A K-shaped economy describes higher earners pulling ahead while lower earners fall behind. A G-shaped economy, a newer term discussed on the show, points to more generationally and broadly distributed gains, including wage growth for lower-income workers recently outpacing higher earners. Why does Dupree Financial Group favor dividend-paying stocks for retirement income? Founder Tom Dupree began his career selling bonds in the late 1970s and, in the 1990s, noticed that dividend-paying stocks were in some cases outperforming bonds. That observation shaped DFG’s approach of pairing dividend growth stocks with bonds to generate income retirees can see and rely on. The Bottom Line A $500 billion number is designed to grab attention, and it did its job. But the number itself isn’t the risk — the collateral is. Whether this particular financing structure holds up will play out over years, not headlines, and the market’s own sophistication, imperfect as it is, has a real track record of surfacing trouble before it becomes catastrophic. What doesn’t change, regardless of how this specific bet resolves, is the standard Tom has applied for 48 years: know what generates the cash flow, know what backs it, and don’t confuse a compelling story for an understood investment. As Tom put it plainly on air: “We’re not a part of Wall Street. Wall Street is buying and selling for a profit. We sit back and watch.” Keep Learning AI Investment Strategies vs. Traditional Portfolio Management — why DFG separates durable AI-driven businesses from speculative ones. How Market Volatility and Geopolitical Risk Affect Your Retirement Portfolio — why reacting to headlines isn’t a strategy. Why You Need to Know What You Own — the philosophy behind DFG’s approach to portfolio transparency. About Tom Dupree Tom Dupree is the founder of Dupree Financial Group, a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. He has worked in the investment business for 48 years, beginning as a municipal bond salesman in the late 1970s, and hosts The Financial Hour of the Tom Dupree Show alongside Mike Johnson, James Dupree, and Michael Dawahare. Dupree Financial Group manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios — no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Historical events and market comparisons discussed in this article are for educational context only and are not a guarantee of future results. Mentions of specific companies, funds, or firms are for informational purposes and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If a headline about a $500 billion financing deal makes you wonder what’s actually inside your own portfolio, that’s exactly the conversation Tom and the team would like to have with you. A complimentary portfolio review is a no-cost, no-pressure way to see what you own, why you own it, and whether it still fits where you are today. 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A G-shaped economy, a newer term discussed on the show, points to more generationally and broadly distributed gains, including wage growth for lower-income workers recently outpacing higher earners." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why does Dupree Financial Group favor dividend-paying stocks for retirement income?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Founder Tom Dupree began his career selling bonds in the late 1970s and, in the 1990s, noticed that dividend-paying stocks were in some cases outperforming bonds. That observation shaped DFG's approach of pairing dividend growth stocks with bonds to generate income retirees can see and rely on." } } ] } The post AI Data Center Financing: What It Means for Retirees 8-15-26 appeared first on Dupree Financial.

The market is back at all-time highs, but investors are STILL nervous.In this episode of 15 Minutes of Finance, we break down why that may actually be a good thing for long-term investors and why we believe the biggest impact from the AI investment boom may still be ahead of us.We talk about:• Why fear is still hanging over the market even near record highs• Why a 10% or 15% pullback wouldn't change the long-term thesis• The massive amount of money companies are investing into artificial intelligence• Why investors should start watching for AI spending to translate into higher revenue, better margins and stronger earnings• What weaker retail sales and changing economic data could mean for markets• Why trying to perfectly time the market is usually a losing game• One of the worst technology predictions ever made and what it can teach investors today• Why you should never bet against long-term progressOne of the biggest lessons from previous technological revolutions is that people often underestimate how dramatically new technology can change businesses and the economy. The internet was once dismissed as something that might have no more economic impact than the fax machine. Today, that prediction looks ridiculous. Could investors be making the same mistake with AI?Our view is simple: short-term volatility will happen, but long-term wealth is usually created by owning great assets, staying invested and allowing technological and economic progress to work in your favor.If you don't have the time, knowledge or desire to manage your investments yourself, make sure you're working with someone with the experience and qualifications to help build a long-term plan.Hosted by James Walters, CIMA®, CRPC®, and Brandon West, CPA, co-owners of West & Walters Tax and Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and tax firm based in Carlsbad, California. Our goal is to share market insights, investing tips, tax strategies, and straightforward financial education to help viewers make smarter financial decisions. All Information is educational in its intent and distribution! Please do not consider this personal financial advice. We believe all clients have unique situations and thus require unique advice.

Some of the most important financial conversations are also the easiest to avoid. In this episode, Jeremiah and Laura talk about the conversations around estate planning, succession, insurance, retirement, and your future that often get pushed off for “someday.” The key may be starting somewhere simpler: What do you actually want your life to look like? That vision can make the harder conversations much easier to begin. #financialplanning #moneyconversations #estateplanning #successionplanning #businessowners ---        Information and ideas discussed are general comments and cannot be relied upon as pertaining to your specific situation, do not constitute legal/financial advice, and do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship. Examples discussed are fictional. You should consult your own advisor/attorney and do your own diligence prior to making any decisions. Investments involve risk and the possibility of loss, including the loss of principal. All situations are different, and results may vary. Randy Barkley is a life insurance agent CA license # 0518567 and Jeremiah Lee is a California licensed attorney and is responsible for this communication. Advisory services offered through TriCord Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.    

A lot of people think their estate planning is complete once the legal documents are signed. But for retirees and families with complex assets, those documents may not be enough if trusts, beneficiary designations, account ownership, and tax planning aren't coordinated. In this episode, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, speaks with Dominick J. Parillo, JD, CFP®, Director of Wealth Transfer at Savant Wealth Management, about the estate planning details families often overlook. They explain how an unfunded revocable living trust can still lead to probate, why beneficiary designations may override a will, and how account ownership can affect New York estate tax planning. They also discuss powers of attorney, healthcare documents, inheritance protection, trustee selection, and why your estate plan should continue to evolve as your family, finances, and wishes change. Larry and Dom discuss: Why signing estate planning documents doesn't mean the planning is finished Why funding a revocable living trust is important for avoiding probate How beneficiary designations and account ownership may override a will What married couples should know about New York estate tax planning How continuing trusts and trustee selection may help protect an inheritance And more! Resources:  Is It Time to Update Your Estate Plan? Why State Estate Tax Planning Matters Connect with Dominick J. Parillo: Dominick J. Parillo, JD, CFP® | Savant Wealth Management LinkedIn: Dominick J. Parillo LinkedIn: Savant Wealth Management Connect with Larry Heller: (631) 248-3600 Schedule a 20-Minute Call Heller Wealth Management LinkedIn: Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, CPA YouTube: Retirement Unlocked with Larry Heller, CFP® About Our Guest: Dominick “Dom” J. Parillo, JD, CFP®, is Director of Wealth Transfer at Savant Wealth Management. Based in Manassas, Virginia, he helps high-net-worth families and business owners coordinate estate planning, trust administration, wealth transfer, and legacy decisions.  Heller Wealth Management is now part of Savant Wealth Management. Savant is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Effective March 31, 2026, Heller Wealth Management joined Savant Wealth Management (“Savant”). A copy of Savant's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available at www.savantwealth.com/disclosure-brochures/

In this two-guest episode, Howard Farran sits down with two financial leaders from PracticeCFO. Wes Read is a CPA, Certified Financial Planner™, and Registered Investment Advisor who began his career in Big 4 accounting at Ernst & Young before founding PracticeCFO in 2009 to give practice-owning doctors access to CFO-level financial leadership. He's also the founder of Practice Orbit and creator of Associates On Fire, a free financial education platform for dental associates. Joining him is Paul Lipcius, a CPA, Series 65-licensed Investment Adviser Representative, and CFO Advisor at the firm with nearly a decade of experience, who focuses on higher-net-worth clients, capital markets, and portfolio strategy, and serves on PracticeCFO's board and investment committee. The conversation centers on investing philosophy for busy dentists who aren't watching the markets every day. Wes and Paul unpack how they define and manage risk in a practical, long-term sense rather than just as volatility, and what a good advisor actually does to create value beyond picking investments. They explore how dentists should think about retirement vehicles like 401(k)s, defined benefit plans, and IRAs, how to stay disciplined and avoid emotional decisions during market swings, and the unique advantage of integrating CPA services with investment management under one roof. The episode closes on the perennial industry debate over fees — whether advisors truly justify their cost, and how dentists can evaluate whether they're getting real value for their money.   Episode #1725 : Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran, Howard sits down with Wes Read, CPA, CFP® — Founder & CEO of PracticeCFO — and Paul Lipcius, CPA and CFO Advisor at the firm, for a deep dive into smart investing and wealth strategy for dentists. From defining real "risk" beyond market volatility, to the advantage of having your CPA and investment strategy under one roof, to whether advisor fees are truly worth it — this is straight talk on building lasting financial independence.

Dupree Financial Group  Blog & Podcast The Tom Dupree Show The Financial Hour · Hour 2 · August 8, 2026 Is the AI Rally a Bubble? What Retirees Should Watch For The Tom Dupree Show | Dupree Financial Group | dupreefinancial.com | 859-233-0400 By Tom Dupree, Founder, Dupree Financial Group III     Ii               I iiI.  Is this AI Rally Built to Last? Turn on any market report lately, and you’ll hear the same story: a handful of AI-linked names are doing most of the heavy lifting. On this week’s Financial Hour, Tom sat down with analyst James Dupree and market analyst Michael Dawahare to talk through what’s actually driving that rally — and it’s a more complicated story than “AI stocks are up.” The conversation opened with reshoring: American companies bringing manufacturing back from overseas, and the market slowly absorbing the idea that this makes more sense than the offshoring wave of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. From there it moved into the AI infrastructure buildout, the old industrial companies suddenly catching a second wind because of it, and a cautionary tale about a leveraged AI hedge fund that lost 78% of its value in three weeks. Tom, James, and Michael walked through the Gold Rush and dot-com parallels, why diversification matters more than ever in a fast-moving sector, and where Dupree Financial Group is finding value right now — financials, insurance, mortgage REITs, and energy. The short version: something real is happening in AI and in American manufacturing. But a real trend and a sure thing are two very different things, and knowing the difference is the whole job. “There’s gonna be people riding high on AI right now who in four years may not be. Don’t just focus on the new technology — ask what are the derivative trades, what can go wrong. Because something will.” — Tom Dupree Topics Covered Why the market is absorbing the reshoring of U.S. manufacturing — and why that’s different from a tariff headline The AI infrastructure buildout, and which “old economy” companies (Johnson Controls, Cummins) are catching a second wind from it The Leopold Aschenbrenner story: how a 4x-leveraged AI fund went from $45 billion to a forced $10 billion sale in about three weeks Gold Rush and dot-com parallels — and who actually made the money when a boom goes bust Regional mall traffic and the return of in-person, live entertainment spending as a signal worth watching Why financials, insurance, and mortgage REITs are on Dupree Financial Group’s radar right now The capital gains tax cost of trying to “sell at the top” and buy back in lower Why a “set it and forget it” approach is especially risky in a fast-moving sector like AI Security concerns as new AI models test the limits of their own guardrails Key Takeaways Reshoring is showing up in the data, not just the headlines. Manufacturing activity has expanded for several consecutive months, and reshoring initiatives have driven a meaningful number of announced U.S. manufacturing jobs since 2010 — a trend the show connected directly to the “picks and shovels” companies benefiting from it. AI infrastructure spending is running far ahead of AI revenue. The largest tech companies are on pace to spend hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure this year alone — spending that, by some estimates, is outpacing the revenue AI products are currently generating. That gap is exactly what Tom, James, and Michael were pointing to when they said “something will go wrong.” Leverage turns a good idea into a forced sale. The Leopold Aschenbrenner fund didn’t lose money because AI was a bad bet — it lost money because a 4x-leveraged position can only absorb so much of a pullback before it’s liquidated. That’s a lesson about position sizing, not about AI. History says the “picks and shovels” companies often outlast the flashiest players. Tom’s Levi Strauss story from the Gold Rush isn’t just a fun aside — it’s the show’s real thesis. When a boom happens, the companies supplying the boom sometimes outlast the speculative names chasing it. Diversification is what protects you when some AI names don’t make it. Nobody on the show argued AI is fake. The argument was that not every AI company will succeed, and a portfolio built around five or ten concentrated bets is a very different risk profile than one spread across sectors. Trying to time a pullback can trigger its own tax bill. Selling a highly appreciated position to avoid a possible drop means paying capital gains tax on the gain — which, as James pointed out, can functionally act like selling at the top even if the stock never actually drops that far. Dividend-paying sectors remain the core of the plan, regardless of what AI does next. Financials, insurance, mortgage REITs, and energy were named as areas of current focus — companies tied to real, ongoing economic activity rather than to a single technology cycle. “Set it and forget it” is the riskiest approach in a fast-moving sector. The show’s closing message: stay alert, stay informed, and know what you own — because in a sector that can move 10-15% in a day, being asleep at the wheel is exactly when it costs you. The Reframe: What This Means for Your Portfolio Here’s where we’d push the conversation a step further than the show had time for. The AI story and the reshoring story aren’t really two separate topics — they’re the same story told twice. Both are examples of real, durable economic activity attracting an amount of capital that may or may not be justified by what it produces. The five largest U.S. tech companies are on pace to spend somewhere in the range of $660–690 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone, nearly double the year before, according to industry analysis from Futurum Group. Other estimates put the ratio of AI infrastructure spending to AI software revenue at close to eighteen-to-one, per S&P Global research reported by ETF Trends. That doesn’t mean the technology is fake — it means the payoff isn’t set to arrive on the same timeline as the spending, and it may not arrive on that timeline at all. The Bank for International Settlements — essentially the central bank for the world’s central banks — has already flagged the scale of this spending as a risk worth watching, noting that combined AI capital expenditure across 2025 and 2026 is outpacing the free cash flow of the companies funding it, per Fortune’s reporting. Fidelity’s own research team has taken a more measured view, noting that as of early 2026 they aren’t yet seeing some of the classic bubble warning signs, like shrinking free cash flow among the AI leaders — but they’re watching closely, and so should you (Fidelity). Both things can be true at once, which is exactly what Tom, James, and Michael said on air. This is precisely the environment dividend-focused, diversified investing was built for. Research from Hartford Funds, using data going back to 1973, has found that companies that grew or initiated a dividend have historically delivered higher returns than the broader market with meaningfully less volatility than non-dividend payers (Hartford Funds). That’s the case for owning financials, insurance, and energy alongside — not instead of — exposure to the AI and reshoring trends. You get to participate in the buildout without betting the whole plan on any single piece of it working out on schedule.     Related Reading Listen to this episode and browse past shows on the Podcasts page Learn more about our approach and team on the About Us page Schedule your own complimentary portfolio review from the DFG homepage About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a 48-year veteran of the investment business. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement — in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. The firm manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios — no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. Past episodes are available at dupreefinancial.com under the Podcast tab. TD Tom Dupree Founder of Dupree Financial Group and host of The Tom Dupree Show. Tom started in the investment business in 1978 as a municipal bond salesman, and has spent 47 years building an income-first, fee-only approach to retirement investing in Lexington, Kentucky. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure whether you know what’s actually driving your portfolio’s gains right now — and whether it could unwind as fast as it built — we’ll take a look. No charge. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about what you own and whether it’s working for you. Call: 859-233-0400 | Visit: dupreefinancial.com { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "PodcastEpisode", "name": "Is the AI Rally a Bubble? What Retirees Should Watch For", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com/is-the-ai-rally-a-bubble-what-retirees-should-watch-for/", "datePublished": "2026-08-08", "description": "Tom Dupree, James Dupree, and Michael Dawahare discuss the AI market rally, reshoring, and where Dupree Financial Group sees value for retirement portfolios right now.", "partOfSeries": { "@type": "PodcastSeries", "name": "The Tom Dupree Show", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com/podcasts" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Dupree" } } { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is the AI stock rally a bubble?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It's too early to say for certain. AI infrastructure spending is running well ahead of AI revenue, which is a real warning sign, but the underlying technology and demand are also real. The honest answer is: parts of it may be a bubble, and parts of it may not be — which is exactly why diversification matters." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is reshoring, and why does it matter to investors?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Reshoring means bringing manufacturing and industry back to the U.S. from overseas. It matters to investors because it's benefiting a range of established industrial companies, and manufacturing activity data has shown consistent signs of expansion." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What happened with the Leopold Aschenbrenner AI hedge fund?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A hedge fund that was leveraged roughly 4-to-1 on AI infrastructure stocks was forced to sell at a steep loss after the market moved against it, dropping from about $45 billion in net asset value to roughly $10 billion in about three weeks. It's a reminder that leverage, not the underlying investment thesis, is often what causes forced losses." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Should retirees own AI-related stocks?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "There's no one-size-fits-all answer, and this isn't individualized advice. Generally speaking, exposure to a trend like AI works best as part of a diversified, income-generating portfolio rather than as a concentrated bet, especially for retirees who need their money to last for decades." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is Dupree Financial Group's approach to sector risk like AI?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Dupree Financial Group focuses on dividend-paying stocks and bonds across a range of sectors, including financials, insurance, and energy, rather than concentrating in any single trend. The goal is income and growth investors can understand, not a bet on any one technology." } } ] } The post Is the AI Rally a Bubble? What Retirees Should Watch For | Dupree Financial Group appeared first on Dupree Financial.

The markets are doing well, major indexes are near record highs, and earnings season has produced plenty of beats and raised forecasts. But whether stocks are soaring or falling, investors should remember one important lesson: this too shall pass.Negative headlines can make investors feel like they need to sell when prices are falling or chase stocks when prices are rising. Palantir is a perfect example. When PLTR was trading just above $100, negative articles were everywhere. After crushing earnings this week, the stock has now gained nearly 40%.The July employment report showed that the U.S. lost 23,000 jobs when economists expected more than 80,000 jobs to be added. While that is concerning for the economy, weaker employment data may also reduce the likelihood of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates soon.SpaceX's first lockup period also expired, making more than 900 million additional shares eligible for public trading. Many investors expected heavy selling pressure, but SpaceX shares finished the week up approximately 23%.AI continues to be another major theme. Palantir is producing real growth, semiconductor stocks moved higher, and Airbnb showed how AI agents can improve customer service, increase productivity, and reduce operating costs. Airbnb shares jumped more than 17% after earnings.Now imagine similar efficiency improvements being adopted across companies such as UPS, Amazon, Home Depot, and thousands of other businesses. We believe the AI buildout is still early, and companies are already demonstrating that the technology can produce meaningful financial results.The long term plan remains the same: stay invested, stop trying to time every market move, dollar cost average, and trust the process.Hosted by James Walters, CIMA®, CRPC®, and Brandon West, CPA, co-owners of West & Walters Tax and Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and tax firm based in Carlsbad, California. Our goal is to share market insights, investing tips, tax strategies, and straightforward financial education to help viewers make smarter financial decisions. All Information is educational in its intent and distribution! Please do not consider this personal financial advice. We believe all clients have unique situations and thus require unique advice.

For those that follow my content, I often rant about "TAMPs" and "hybrids."Not that they aren't good solutions, but rather because our industry often uses those terms to refer to offerings that are sometimes not at all similar. (i.e., one "TAMP" provides one type of service, while another "TAMP" has a quite different model.)It is safe to add "aggregator" to my rant list.How some market participants define an "aggregator" firm can sometimes look nothing like how another defines it.In the latest episode (#154) of the Transition To RIA question & answer series I explain the different models often defined as "aggregator" firms, so you can better understand if such a model fits your practice.Come take a listen!P.S. Prefer video? You can find this entire series in video format on Youtube. Search for the TRANSITION TO RIA channel.Show notes: https://TransitionToRIA.com/what-is-an-ria-aggregator/About Host: Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, where he helps financial advisors between $50M and $1B understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model. Brad has 20+ years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in Compliance, Finance and Business Development. He has an MBA and has held the 4, 7, 24, 63 & 65 licenses. The Transition To RIA website (TransitionToRIA.com) has a large catalog of free videos, articles, whitepapers, as well as other resources to help advisors understand the RIA model and how it would apply to their unique circumstances.

Did the market take a hit because of the Fed dissents? This week, Matt, John and Isaac look back on the Fed's meeting on the economy and interest rates, and overall there are positive reports regarding the US job market, unemployment rate, and business investments– the primary concern seems to be rising inflation thanks to the Iranian conflict and oil prices. The guys lament the volatility and how difficult it must be for businesses during this time but at the same time, the market is acting strong. They also discuss insane college football sponsor deals and contracts! 01:08 Fed rate decision and the three dissents 04:12 Let's talk oil prices and volatility 08:14 Microsoft's cloud business Azure is making tons of revenue 10:34 College football sponsorships in the millions

Dupree Financial Group Blog  ·  The Tom Dupree Show From This Week’s Episode Retirement Investing  ·  August 1, 2026 Is Your Retirement Portfolio Too Concentrated? A 25-year-old hedge fund manager lost roughly $35 billion in a matter of days this week. Here’s what his leverage and the market’s concentration in seven stocks have to do with your retirement account. By Tom Dupree, Founder, Dupree Financial Group  |  dupreefinancial.com  |  859-233-0400 This week, a 25-year-old former OpenAI researcher named Leopold Aschenbrenner watched roughly $35 billion disappear from his hedge fund in a matter of days. Two years ago, he wrote a 165-page essay predicting the future of artificial intelligence with such confidence that Silicon Valley treated it like scripture. This week, his fund — built on borrowed money layered on top of a handful of AI stocks — got forced into a fire sale to Ken Griffin’s Citadel at a steep discount. It’s a dramatic story. But here’s the direct answer to the question that actually matters for your retirement: if most of your money sits in a plain S&P 500 index fund, you may be more concentrated in a handful of the same stocks than you realize — and that concentration, not any single hedge fund’s collapse, is the real thing worth understanding before your next portfolio review. You don’t need borrowed money or a 165-page manifesto to be exposed to this. You just need to own “the market” and assume that means you’re spread across 500 different companies. Key Takeaways Leverage magnifies both directions. Borrowing money to buy investments can boost gains on the way up, but it can wipe out capital just as fast on the way down. That’s the entire story of this week’s hedge fund collapse. Seven stocks now make up a large share of the S&P 500. Depending on the week you check, the “Magnificent Seven” technology stocks account for somewhere between a third and roughly 40% of the entire index’s value. Owning an index fund is not automatically owning a diversified portfolio. A market-cap-weighted index gives its biggest companies the biggest influence — so when those companies wobble, so does “the market.” Know what you own and why you own it. That’s not a slogan — it’s the single most useful question a retiree can ask before the next headline-grabbing selloff. Why This Week’s Story Is Bigger Than One Hedge Fund Every generation produces an investor who seems untouchable — brilliant, early to a trend, riding a wave everyone else is still arguing about. Aschenbrenner’s fund, Situational Awareness, reportedly grew from roughly $200 million to as much as $45 billion in under two years, largely on concentrated bets in AI infrastructure names. Then, using leverage reported as high as 400% — meaning roughly four borrowed dollars for every dollar of the fund’s own capital — a sharp pullback in a handful of semiconductor and AI stocks triggered margin calls his prime brokers couldn’t ignore. That’s the mechanical part, and it’s worth understanding in plain English: when you borrow against an investment and that investment drops in value, your loan doesn’t shrink with it. At some point the lender requires more collateral — a margin call — and if you can’t provide it, your shares get sold for you, often at the worst possible moment. There’s no easy way around that math. It requires diligence, not confidence. Most retirees reading this aren’t using 400% leverage. But there’s a quieter version of the same concentration problem sitting inside a lot of 401(k)s and IRA rollovers, and it doesn’t require a single dollar of borrowed money to hurt you. What the Numbers Actually Show According to CNBC’s reporting on the collapse, Aschenbrenner’s fund held roughly $45 billion in assets at its peak, before margin calls forced the sale of its leveraged public stock positions — including major holdings like SK Hynix and CoreWeave — to Citadel at a discount, with the fund’s overall assets falling to around $10 billion within about 30 trading days (CNBC). TechCrunch’s coverage confirms Aschenbrenner had no prior professional trading experience before launching the fund in 2024, and that the losses came from both AI stocks falling and short positions in software companies moving the wrong way at the same time (TechCrunch). Meanwhile, the broader market has its own version of this concentration story. Reporting from Forbes notes that the “Magnificent Seven” technology stocks made up roughly a third of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization heading into 2026, with some advisors calling the resulting concentration risk a “legitimate concern” (Forbes). Separate reporting from CNBC put the figure as high as 35% to 40% of the index in recent trading, prompting some strategists to recommend equal-weighted alternatives to reduce that concentration (CNBC). The SEC’s own investor education office has published plain-language guidance on why borrowing to invest carries risks that go beyond the investment itself — including the fact that a broker can sell your securities to meet a margin call without waiting for you to act, and can do so without advance notice (SEC Investor.gov). It’s the kind of guardrail worth reading once, even if you never plan to use margin yourself. “Leverage is a thing to be used very judiciously and very carefully, because if you use it in a way that’s irresponsible, it can cost you everything.” — Tom Dupree The Reframe: This Isn’t a Bet on Whether AI Wins or Loses Dupree Financial Group’s Take Most of the commentary this week has been framed as a debate: Is AI spending going to pay off, or is it a bubble? That’s an interesting argument, and reasonable people disagree about it — Microsoft’s stock jumped double digits on one earnings report this year, while Oracle’s bonds have drawn scrutiny over its own AI-related spending. But that debate is largely beside the point for a retiree building income for the next 40 or 50 years. The actual lesson isn’t “buy AI stocks” or “avoid AI stocks.” It’s that when a market’s returns get concentrated in a small number of companies, your risk gets concentrated right along with it — whether you meant it to or not. That’s exactly why our approach starts with cash flow analysis, not headlines: dividend-paying companies across sectors like insurance, telecommunications, and financials keep generating income whether or not seven technology companies are having a good month. You get paid to wait, in good markets and choppy ones, instead of hoping a narrow slice of the market keeps carrying the whole index. What This Looks Like in Practice We build separately managed accounts around companies with a history of paying and growing their dividends, purchased when they’re out of favor and less expensive — not around chasing whichever seven stocks are dominating the headlines that quarter. Bonds play a role too: current income, lower volatility, and dry powder to buy good companies when the market temporarily marks them down for reasons that have nothing to do with their underlying business. None of this means avoiding growth, and it doesn’t mean the S&P 500’s biggest companies are bad businesses — several of them are genuinely excellent. It means not letting one basket, however impressive, decide the outcome of your retirement. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and no strategy removes that risk entirely. The goal is to understand it, size it appropriately, and build income you don’t have to sell into a downturn to access. Five Things to Check in Your Own Portfolio 1Pull up your 401(k) or IRA’s top ten holdings. Most plan providers list this on your statement or online dashboard. If you don’t see it, call and ask — it’s your money, and you’re entitled to know. 2Add up what percentage those top ten represent. If it’s a plain S&P 500 index fund, expect a meaningful chunk of your total to be concentrated in a handful of names, most of them technology companies. 3Ask whether that concentration matches your risk tolerance at your stage of life. A 35-year-old accumulating wealth can absorb more concentration risk than someone drawing income in retirement. 4Check whether you’re using any form of leverage or margin, even indirectly through certain funds or products, and make sure you understand exactly what happens if those positions move against you. 5Get a second set of eyes on the whole picture. It’s easy to know your account balance and much harder to know what’s actually driving it. That’s the gap a complimentary portfolio review is built to close. Frequently Asked Questions What is “concentration risk” in a stock market index? Concentration risk means a large share of an index’s total value — and therefore its performance — comes from a small number of companies. In a market-cap-weighted index like the S&P 500, the biggest companies carry the most influence, so a downturn in just a handful of names can drag down the whole index. Why did Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund lose so much money so quickly? Reporting indicates the fund used leverage as high as 400% on concentrated AI stock positions. When those stocks declined, the borrowed money amplified the losses, triggering margin calls that forced a distressed sale of the fund’s holdings within about a month. Should retirees stop investing in S&P 500 index funds? Not necessarily — index funds remain a legitimate, low-cost building block. The point is to understand what you actually own inside that fund, including how concentrated it has become, rather than assuming “index fund” automatically means “diversified.” What does “leverage” mean in plain English? Leverage means borrowing money to increase the size of an investment beyond what your own capital could buy. It can amplify gains, but it amplifies losses the same way — and if the investment’s value drops enough, the loan doesn’t shrink to match it. How can I tell how concentrated my own retirement portfolio really is? Start by looking up your fund’s top ten holdings and what percentage of the total they represent — most providers publish this. If you’re unsure how to interpret it, a portfolio review with an advisor can walk through what you actually own and why. The Close By the time you read this, Leopold Aschenbrenner’s fund will likely have faded from the headlines, replaced by whoever’s turn it is next — because, as history keeps showing us, there’s always a next one. But the question his week left behind isn’t really about him. It’s about whether you know what you own, and whether you’d be able to answer calmly if your own portfolio had a bad week. That’s the whole point of retiring on income instead of hope: you don’t need to guess right about which seven stocks win. You need a plan that keeps paying you regardless. Keep Learning Listen to the full episode — hear Tom, James Dupree, and Michael Dawahare walk through the Mag Seven earnings debate and this week’s market moves in more detail. Learn more about Dupree Financial Group — our fee-only, fiduciary approach and the team behind it. Schedule a complimentary portfolio review — see exactly how concentrated your own accounts are today. Tom Dupree Tom Dupree is the founder of Dupree Financial Group, a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. He has spent 48 years in the investment business, starting as a municipal bond salesman in the late 1970s, and hosts The Tom Dupree Show, a weekly radio and podcast program covering the financial topics that matter most to retirees. About The Tom Dupree Show The Tom Dupree Show is hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group and a 47-year veteran of the investment business. Each episode covers the financial topics that matter most to retirees and those approaching retirement — in plain English, without the Wall Street spin. Dupree Financial Group is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisory firm based in Lexington, Kentucky. The firm manages separately managed accounts focused on income-generating, dividend-paying portfolios — no products sold, no commissions, no conflicts of interest. Past episodes are available at dupreefinancial.com under the Radio tab. Schedule a Complimentary Portfolio Review If you’re not sure whether your retirement account is more concentrated in a handful of stocks than you’d like — we’ll take a look. No charge. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about what you own and whether it’s working for you. Call: 859-233-0400  |  Visit: dupreefinancial.com All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past market performance discussed above refers to historical index and company data, not to the performance of any Dupree Financial Group account. Dupree Financial Group  ·  Fee-only. Fiduciary. Lexington, KY  · dupreefinancial.com  ·  859-233-0400 { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "PodcastEpisode", "name": "Is Your Retirement Portfolio Too Concentrated?", "url": "https://www.dupreefinancial.com/sp500-concentration-risk-retirement-portfolio/", "datePublished": "2026-08-01", "description": "Tom Dupree, James Dupree, and Michael Dawahare discuss this week's hedge fund collapse, Magnificent Seven earnings, and what S&P 500 concentration risk means for retirement portfolios.", "partOfSeries": { "@type": "PodcastSeries", "name": "The Tom Dupree Show" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Dupree" } } { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is "concentration risk" in a stock market index?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Concentration risk means a large share of an index's total value comes from a small number of companies. 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A $35B Hedge Fund Lesson | Dupree Financial Group appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Most business owners run their company like a business — and their household like an afterthought. I sat down with Eric Miller, co-founder of Econologics Financial Advisors. Here are 3 things that stuck with me: 1. Your household is the parent company. Everything else is a subsidiary. 2. You're probably operating on the wrong number. 3. Do it now. Planning doesn't have to be a big event. -- Eric Miller is a seasoned financial planning professional with over 20 years of experience dedicated to empowering private practice owners and associates. As Co-Owner and Chief Financial Advisor of Econologics Financial Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, Eric specializes in strategic financial planning, including investments, retirement, asset protection, tax strategies, debt elimination, and business transition planning. A Registered Financial Consultant® (RFC) and graduate of Capital University, Eric is also a prolific author and speaker and has published countless articles, videos, and podcasts and is the bestselling author of How to Become a Financial Beast. He has presented at hundreds of events nationwide, and weekly hosts the Financial Beast Podcast. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Eric Miller: Website: www.econologicsfinancialadvisors.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FinancialBeast  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ericisyourbfff   Facebook: www.facebook.com/econologicsfinancial       *E - explicit language may be used in this podcast.  

Most business owners run their company like a business — and their household like an afterthought. I sat down with Eric Miller, co-founder of Econologics Financial Advisors. Here are 3 things that stuck with me: 1. Your household is the parent company. Everything else is a subsidiary. 2. You're probably operating on the wrong number. 3. Do it now. Planning doesn't have to be a big event. -- Eric Miller is a seasoned financial planning professional with over 20 years of experience dedicated to empowering private practice owners and associates. As Co-Owner and Chief Financial Advisor of Econologics Financial Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, Eric specializes in strategic financial planning, including investments, retirement, asset protection, tax strategies, debt elimination, and business transition planning. A Registered Financial Consultant® (RFC) and graduate of Capital University, Eric is also a prolific author and speaker and has published countless articles, videos, and podcasts and is the bestselling author of How to Become a Financial Beast. He has presented at hundreds of events nationwide, and weekly hosts the Financial Beast Podcast. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Eric Miller: Website: www.econologicsfinancialadvisors.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FinancialBeast  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ericisyourbfff   Facebook: www.facebook.com/econologicsfinancial       *E - explicit language may be used in this podcast.  

All affiliation models have pros and cons. They all have red flags to watch out for as well.The RIA model is no exception.Case in point: when someone predominantly touts the "100% payout" of the model.Yes, with your own RIA, you retain 100% of your client fee revenue. But when someone loudly touts the top line without also explaining the expenses required to generate that revenue, that is generally a red flag.On this episode (#153) of the Transition To RIA question and answer series, I address this and other red flags in the RIA model to be aware of.Come take a listen!P.S. Prefer video? You can find this entire series in video format on Youtube. Search for the TRANSITION TO RIA channel.Show notes: https://TransitionToRIA.com/what-are-red-flags-to-look-out-for-in-the-ria-model/About Host: Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, where he helps financial advisors between $50M and $1B understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model. Brad has 20+ years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in Compliance, Finance and Business Development. He has an MBA and has held the 4, 7, 24, 63 & 65 licenses. The Transition To RIA website (TransitionToRIA.com) has a large catalog of free videos, articles, whitepapers, as well as other resources to help advisors understand the RIA model and how it would apply to their unique circumstances.

What should you do after selling your business? Closing the deal is a major milestone, but it’s only the beginning of a new chapter. Without a thoughtful plan, emotional decisions, tax surprises, and a lack of direction can undermine the financial freedom you’ve worked so hard to achieve. In this episode, Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, explores the most common mistakes business owners make after selling their business and shares practical guidance for turning a successful exit into a successful retirement. He discusses how to make intentional financial decisions, prepare for taxes, invest with purpose, and build a retirement that offers both financial security and personal fulfillment. Larry discusses: What business owners should do immediately after selling a business and why rushing financial decisions can create long-term challenges How to balance enjoying the proceeds from a business sale while avoiding lifestyle inflation that could threaten retirement security Why keeping too much money in cash after a liquidity event can be just as risky as investing too aggressively Capital gains tax planning opportunities business owners should consider before and after a sale, and why waiting until tax season may be too late And more! Connect with Larry Heller:  (631) 248-3600 Schedule a 20-Minute Call Heller Wealth Management LinkedIn: Larry Heller, CFP®, CDFA®, CPA YouTube: Retirement Unlocked with Larry Heller, CFP® Heller Wealth Management is now part of Savant Wealth Management. Savant is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Effective March 31, 2026, Heller Wealth Management joined Savant Wealth Management (“Savant”). A copy of Savant's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available at www.savantwealth.com/disclosure-brochures/

What if your relationship with money started long before you ever had a bank account?Money can be more intimate than sex — yet so many of us fear it, avoid it, or feel a desperate need to control it. That relationship often traces back further than we realize: your first interaction with money, how your parents managed theirs, or whether you were ever trusted to make financial decisions of your own. If you're in midlife and find yourself as the non-moneyed spouse, or wondering whether you'll truly be okay on your own — this episode is for you.In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Lee, financial advisor and founder of Modern Wealth, for a grounded, honest conversation about men and women in transition, money, identity, divorce, loss, and what it actually takes to understand what you have and build a life within your means.We talk about the deeper story behind your relationship with money — the patterns, roles, and unspoken fears that surface the moment finances enter the conversation. This episode is designed to help you create enough clarity to stop avoiding the numbers and start making financial decisions rooted in your values and what you actually want.In this episode, you'll learn:How to identify your money story — and the patterns it may have quietly createdWhy your earliest money memories still shape your financial choices todayHow divorce financial planning brings clarity to one of life's hardest transitionsThe most important factors to understand before and during a divorceWhat to ask before choosing a financial advisorWhy the non-moneyed spouse needs a seat at the financial tableHow to divide marital assets and retirement accounts — and what a QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) is and when to start that processWhat it looks like when money becomes a form of control in relationshipsHow financial literacy builds lasting confidence with moneyWhat wealth building can look like after a major life transitionWhy money conversations matter when dating, partnering, or starting overWhether you're preparing for divorce, rebuilding your financial independence, or learning to trust yourself with money again — this conversation is a reminder that you don't have to know everything to begin making more empowered choices.Much love and freedom,LaurieClick here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it's $29.99Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting GoFree ResourcesPrevious Episode with Jennifer Lee - Understanding Divorce and How to Prepare for A Strong Financial FutureClick here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me.Click here for my FREE “Beginner's Guide to Somatic Healing”Click here for my FREE Core Values ExerciseConnect with me:WebsiteInstagramConnect with Jennifer:WebsiteLinkedinDiscussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Modern-Wealth, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated.Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email***********************DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.