Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• How to account on your tax return for the basis in inherited IRAs ( 7:00 )
• Is having large Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") really a bad thing ( 12:04 )
• Is there any merit to using a break-even analysis to help decide when to start Social Security ( 15:59 )
• When does it make sense for someone to consider working with a financial advisor ( 18:14 )
• Are Roth contribution and co...

In this slight twist to the "real" person episode format, Andy doesn't interview a real person but instead addresses the most common retirement planning questions he gets from "real" people. The questions addressed are:

• Do I have enough to retire?
• When can I retire?
• How much cash should I have?
• When should I start my Social Security?
• How do I get money out of my portfolio?
• How do I pay taxes?
• Should I do ...

Andy and Mark Rosinski from Dunes Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Thoughts on common withdrawal strategies and what they use in each of their firms ( 12:04 )
• The level of impact of some of the changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ( 30:51 )
• Things to consider when doing rule of 55 distributions from your em...

Andy summarizes the recent 2025 annual Social Security trustees report, including what it would actually mean if the system's trust fund were to deplete, and what changes can be made to ensure that doesn't happen

Links in this episode:

• The full 2025 Social Security trustees report - here 
• My company's August 1 2025 newsletter summarizing the 2025 Social Security trustees report - here
  • The newsletter contains...

In this special guest host episode, Larry Pershing from Optimum Retirement Planning talks about how to reduce and manage concentrated holdings in your investment portfolio. Particular emphasis is given to the tax implications and tax management of trying to reduce highly appreciated positions in normal brokerage accounts

Links in this episode:

• Optimum Retirement Planning's website - https://www.optimumretirementpla...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• Why you know the return you'll ultimately realize if you hold a bond to maturity, but can't know the return you'll eventually realize if you instead hold a bond fund ( 7:13 )
• A commonsense intuitive answer why bond prices decrease (increase) when interest rates increase (decrease) ( 9:56 )
• His thoughts on holding only fixed maturity instruments such as CDs, bullet ETFs, indi...

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Jan. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as leaving the workforce early due to family caregiving needs, how health changes have impacted retirement, how to distribute money from an IRA particularly when looking to do Qualified Charitable Distributions, and more!
 
 Links in this ep...

Andy and Lauren Hunt from Daybreak Wealth share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about: 

• Their thoughts on the takeaways from 2025 annual Social Security Trustees report ( 7:17 )
• Some of provisions in the pending One Big Beautiful Bill Act that are likely to impact most people's tax returns ( 16:12 )
• Whether or not to get a loan o...

In the SPECIAL EDITION episode, Andy summarizes the key provision of the recently signed into law One Big Beautiful Act that are most likely to impact you and your tax return. The topics summarized are:

• Permanency of the current federal tax rates
• Permanency, and a slight increase, to the current standard deduction amounts
• A new temporary personal exemption up to $6,000 per person 65 or older
• Permanency, and a slight increase, to th...

Andy discusses the main ways in which investment custodians like Scwhab, Vanguard and Fidelity make money (even when you often don't outright directly pay them anything...)

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 ...

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

• A short explanation of bonds and "the bond market" ( 2:48 )
• Are actively managed bond funds better than passive bond funds ( 21:53 )
• What are the pros and cons of making all of the year's estimated tax payments in the first quarter ( 30:30 )
• Why insurers don't offer a long term care product with a 2-3 years elimination period or deductible to cover just LTC needs beyond ...

Andy chats with three different "real" people to discuss how they handled the non-financial/emotional transition from working to retirement, and what they do now to provide a sense of fulfillment, meaning and purpose and in retirement

Links in this episode:

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

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...