Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy does a deep dive into everything about "backdoor" Roth contributions, which is where you make an after-tax contribution to a traditional/pre-tax account, and then convert it to a Roth account. Looks simple on the surface, but there are a lot of angles and gotchas to watch out for

Links in this episode:

• IRS Form 8606 - here
• Congressional meeting summary from December 2017 meeting on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Ac...

Andy shares his background and how/why that shaped his views, beliefs and approach to providing tax-efficient retirement planning and related content through the Retirement Planning Education website, podcast, YouTube channel, blog and Facebook group

Links in this episode:

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

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Can a spouse claim spousal benefits while delaying the start of their own benefit ( 10:40 )
• What's the best way to view your accounts in terms of how much of them are actually yours after accounting for eventual taxes you have to pay on them ( 14:08 )
• Can a minor be named as the beneficiary of a retirement account ( 23:28 )
• His thoughts on dividend stocks and funds ( 26:55 )
• Follow up t...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. This episode is a bit different from our normal real people chats though. Andy is joined by Kevin Lyles from the Rock Retirement Club. Kevin is a retired corporate lawyer who has since become a certified retirement coach, focusing on helping people with the non-financial aspects of retirement.

In the episode, Andy & Kevin talk about six "Ret...

Andy and Cody Garrett from Measure Twice Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Affordable Care Act ("ACA") tax credits and income "cliffs" in tax planning ( 08:13 )
• Doing Roth conversions vs tax gain harvesting ( 22:30 )
• Paying taxes in retirement; estimated payments vs withholdings ( 31:33 )
• ...

Andy shares his thoughts and commentary about 2025 returns and events for:

• U.S. stocks
• International stocks
• U.S. bonds
• Gold & Silver
• Bitcoin

Links in this episode:

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

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Potential advantages or disadvantages of consolidating retirement accounts ( 4:28 )
• Paying taxes through IRA withholdings vs making estimated payments ( 13:08 )
• Whether a minister's housing allowance impacts Affordable Care Act subsidy eligibility ( 26:11 )
• When Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts ("QLACs") might make sense to consider ( 30:27 )
• When following the 4% "r...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jill. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as leaving the workforce relatively early, keeping expenses moderate yet still doing and enjoying a lot in life, what she wishes she would have known and done sooner for her retirement planning, and more!
 
 Links in this episode:

• T...

Andy and Kevin Thompson from 9i Capital Group share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Thoughts on how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act complicates 2025 tax planning. And in particular whether people 65 or older should try to keep their income low to get some or all of the extra $6k bonus deduction ( 7:41 )
• What's up with the...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• A correction on something incorrect I said last week regarding deciding which spouse's pre-tax account to distribute or convert from ( 3:28 )
• Pros and cons of using a single total global stock market fund vs multiple other funds such as just US and just international  ( 8:17 )
• What's in the calculation for Modified Adjusted Gross Income ("MAGI") for purposes of determin...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Starting Social Security benefits early so your minor children can claim dependent benefits, and how the earnings test can come into play if you're still working ( 5:53 )
• Social Security spousal benefits, and what happens when the lower earning spouse starts their own benefit early at a reduced amount, then later switches to spousal benefits ( 10:35)
• Social Security survivor benefits ...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor), Beth Pinsker, a columnist for MarketWatch, about her new book, My Mother's Money, A Guide to Financial Caregiving.

In the book, Beth details her personal experience in becoming her mother's financial caregiver, both during her mother's end of life and health decline, and beyond her mother's death and through the estate administration process.

The book provides tons o...

Andy and Ben Brandt from Retirement Starts Today share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Thoughts on Monte Carlo analysis; the good, the bad, the ugly ( 9:10 )
• Why all retirement plans are ultimately wrong as soon as they're made, and need to be agile and adaptable ( 13:30 )
• How to try to help people get comfortable spendin...

Andy shares some year-end tax planning tips, deadlines and things to consider around the following topics:

• contributions to qualified accounts
• Roth conversions
• distributions from qualified accounts
• Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs")
• charitable donations
• Qualified Charitable Distributions ("QCDs") from IRAs
• gifting
• tax loss and tax gain harvesting
• doing a projected/pro forma 2025 tax return

Links in this...

In this special guest host episode, Brian Tegtmeyer from Truly Prosper Financial  Planning talks about how to address and plan for the non-financial aspects of retirement such as intellectual engagement, purposeful activities, health and fitness, relationships and more. And he also shares a quick exercise to do to see how you can measure your satisfaction in these various areas, and how to help intentionally address the ones you fe...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• The CAPE (Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings) Ratio as a measure of whether the US stock market is overvalued or undervalued, and drawbacks with the CAPE Ratio ( 4:32 )
• The meaning of Benjamin Graham's quote "In the short run, the stock market is a voting machine, but in the long run it's a weighing machine" ( 17:07 )
• Helping clients overcome their frugality habits t...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jackie Cummings Koski.

But Jackie isn't just the typical "real" person doing her own retirement planning. She went the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) route and left her corporate job in her late-40s. She's since expanded on the financial knowledge she gained during her F.I...

Andy chats with fellow retirement planner Allen Mueller, CFA, CFP® from 7 Saturdays 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:

• Allen's advisor...

Andy shares his views on the few different ways in which people in the financial services/financial advisory industry can receive revenue:

• Commission-only
• Fee-only
• Hybrid or fee-based

Links in this episode:

• My article in Rethinking65 - How Much Are Your Services Worth?

• Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
• Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retire...