Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy and Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• The pending "Big Beautiful Bill" tax bill that recently was approved by the House; what's in it, what's not in it, practical planning considerations around it, etc. ( 8:12 )
• Potential concerns about US debt US go...

Andy discusses what financial firms do for their fee, using his own firm, Tenon Financial, as an example

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial's website - https://tenonfinancial.com/
• Tenon Financial's June 2025 newsletter - here
• Andy's article explaining how it's impossible to quantify the value of advisory services in - How Much Are Your Services Worth?

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newslett...

In this special guest host episode, Mike Powers and Kirsten Ashbaugh from Manuka Financial talk cybersecurity best practices.

Links in this episode:

• Manuka Financial's website - https://www.manukafinancial.com/

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (f...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Why more fund managers don't offer mutual fund-to-ETF conversions ( 5:02 )
• How my firm helps clients prepare for severe market declines, and how we communicate bad markets to them ( 8:48 )
• Who's the voice of the intro and outro to this podcast ( 16:06 )
• For spouses claiming Social Security, what's a good claiming strategy when one spouse doesn't have enough work history ...

Andy chats with real people (not advisors) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Rob Berger, the creator of the Rob Berger YouTube channel, the founder of the former DoughRoller website, published author and more!. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about retirement planning and a variety of financial topics such as Social Security, inve...

Andy and Brian Tegtmeyer share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Should someone delay their planned retirement if the markets are bad ( 6:50 )
• Should someone cancel or delay taking a big trip in retirement if the markets are bad ( 13:48 )
• Should someone start Social Security earlier than they were otherwise planning to since the...

Andy provides some tips and best practices to help keep your ID and financial information secure. Specifically:

• Check your credit report regularly
• Freeze your credit
• Get a tax return filing PIN from the IRS
• Use strong and unique passwords for all websites and online accounts
• Use a password manager
• Use two-factor (if not multi-factor) authentication wherever possible
• Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) whenever on public Wi-Fi
• Use separ...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Buffer ETFs and whether they can be used as replacements for CDs in building a ladder for upcoming years' expenses ( 4:29 )
• His thoughts on direct indexing and whether it's worth doing to try to make non-qualified accounts for tax-efficient ( 14:11 )
• Whether or not it's practical to implement a bucketing strategy ( 23:38 )
• Considerations to put into a will when there is a ben...

In this special edition "real" person chat, Andy talks with four different people who went through "gray" divorce (i.e. divorcing later in life; typically over the age of 50), to learn what they wish they would have known or done differently as they were going through the divorce process. 
 

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Educat...

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Mark Rosinski, CFP®, CPA from Dunes Financial. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as tax planning, distribution strategies, investing, annuities, long-term care insurance, how to know when people have enough to retire, what consumers often overlook in retirement planning and much more!

Links in this episode:

• Mark's advisory compa...

Andy discusses the ins and outs of mutual fund capital gain distributions, particularly in normal taxable brokerage accounts.

Links in this episode:

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com

• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
• YouTube ch...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Whether the rule of thumb saying in retirement you'll need about 80% of what you were making in wages is on a gross or net of taxes basis ( 6:49 )
• Understanding why some dividends are "qualified" and some are not, why they're taxed differently, and why dividends from bond funds aren't qualified ( 14:15 )
• Whether the decision to start Social Security sooner vs later...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jim Jones. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as transitioning from owning a dental practice into retirement, investing, Social Security, when they got serious about retirement planning, and more!
 
 Links in this episode:

• Jim's podcast - The JimJam

• Tenon...

Andy and Mike Powers share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Tariffs: what they are, who pays them, do they cause inflation, etc. ( 9:42 )
• Pros and cons of Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, or TIPS  ( 21:32 )
• Whether or not to hold international stocks ( 37:07 )
• Considerations about whether to de-risk your portfolio and ho...

Andy discussed how to determine how much Roth conversion to do in a particular year (assuming you've decided Roth conversions make sense for you). He walks through how to do a current year income & tax projection, and what tax "targets" or "goals" are commonly used in determining how much conversion to do.

Links in this episode:

• DinkyTown 1040 online tax return projection tool - here
• Ten...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Can Donor Advised Funds ("DAFs") be funded with pre-tax IRA money ( 2:22 )
• How to do a backdoor Roth IRA contribution and avoid the pro rata rule if you have pre-tax funds in other IRAs  ( 5:46 )
• What are the must have important things to address and get right in retirement planning, vs what are nice to have optimization things ( 10:51 )
• How come most flat fee advisors don't ...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with John McLaurin. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as planning for special needs and the "generational" planning involved, investing, Social Security, when they got serious about retirement planning, and more!
 
 Links in this episode:

• The book John mentioned - Th...

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Liz Yoder, CFP®, ChSNC® from Dependent Financial Planning. In this episode they talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics with a particular emphasis on special needs planning and the unique considerations and areas to consider when you or your child has or is likely to have a disability

Links in this episode:

• Liz's advisory company website - Dependent Finan...

Andy discussed seven common scenarios where it might be beneficial to do Roth conversions:

1. You know your income now is much lower than it will be in the future
2. You're married (and may eventually be single)
3. You have large pre-tax accounts
4. Your eventual heirs are likely to be in higher tax situations than you currently are
5. Your plan on moving to a state that will have higher income taxes than your current state
6. You're convinc...