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Financial Planning

The Architecture of Wealth Podcast

Luck & Retirement – Retiring Before A Lost Decade

The Architecture of Wealth Shownotes: Could retiring in the 2020s be as bad as retiring in the late 60s? Now is a scary time for retirees. Mark reviews a Barron’s article about sequence-of-return risk and the luck (or bad luck) of retiring before a bad stretch of stock and/or bond market returns. https://www.barrons.com/articles/retirement-recession-bear-market-51657228473?mod=past_editions Mark expands …

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why is the market afraid of inflation?

Why Is The Market Afraid Of Inflation? Is Baba Yaga Transitory?

Inflation. It’s all you hear nowadays. Inflation, Inflation, Inflation. The fear we hear from the word inflation when it is uttered on Bloomberg or CNBC is reminiscent of the name Baba Yaga in the movie John Wick. But why does the market fear inflation as much as the Russian mobsters who feared a widowed hitman …

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negotiating college award letters

An Alternative Approach To Retirement With Denise Downey

Retirement expert Denise Downey joins us to discuss different approaches to retirement. Times have changed over the last 20 years and maybe our approach to retirement should too. And as always, we will discuss how college planning fits into her alternative retirements. For questions on working with Denise: https://www.financialtrex.com/ For Sona’s free eBook on saving …

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Robinhood of investing

Robbin Retirement: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly of the New Robinhood Trader

Robin The Hood took from the rich and gave to the poor, or so the story goes. What you believe may depend on what movie you watch or book you read. Although, I tend to think Robin Hood: Men In Tights was probably the least historically accurate of all of them. When it comes to …

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New COVID-Related Rules For Accessing Your 401k

COVID-19 surprised everyone. As part of the response to COVID, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed. A less-publicized part of the act was the option for employers to offer very lenient 401k distribution and loan options for COVID-related hardship. One major takeaway for employees is to realize that the new …

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The 401k Loan, A Useful Tool (If Used Correctly)

401ks are for retirement. With pensions going the way of the dodo bird, flip phones, and fax machines, our retirements are dependent on 401ks and Social Security. While their primary purpose is retirement, 401k loans do have a feature that can be a great tool if used correctly: the ability to borrow money from yourself. …

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The SECURE Act Is Here! What You Should Know. (before you buy that annuity)

MNice Investor talked about the possibility of the Stretch IRA going away with passing of the SECURE act back in June 2019: , RIP Stretch IRA (Maybe?) SECURE stands for Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement. The accuracy of the name is debatable, unless you are selling annuities. For many of you, SECURE will have little …

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Don’t Be Afraid of The HSA This Open Enrollment Season!

I don’t think it was a coincidence that #HSAAwarenessday occurred right before Open Enrollment, nor was it a coincidence that I decided to write a blog post on HSAs (Health Savings Account) at the same time. Making smart choices during Open Enrollment matters more than ever: Rising healthcare costs being one of the major reasons …

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