Keen on Retirement

If you're only judging based on what's happening in the world and the financial markets, there's never a "perfect" time to retire. But 2025 is throwing a bunch of extra variables at seniors that are adding more complexity to an already complicated decision. Businesses are changing. The rules around investing are changing. And, most importantly, your life is changing. Your financial plan has to be flexible enoug...

Last week, I discussed how Keen Wealth's comprehensive planning process might assess a multi-million-dollar nest egg. I think these hypotheticals, including some back-of-the-napkin math, are useful in illustrating how retirement planning can work, and also the limits of focusing exclusively on your numbers. 

However, in the Keen Wealth offices, we don't work with hypotheticals. We work with real people, their real savings, their ho...

According to a report from the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12.5 billion to scams in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023. 

That's why episodes like this one are among my least favorite to record and also among the most important. 

We’ve all heard about so many folks losing large sums of money because they answered the wrong phone call or clicked on the wrong email link. The greed, cruelty, and, yes, ingenuity of today's fra...

Well ... we were wrong. 

During our previous discussion about The One Big Beautiful Bill, we predicted that the final law would probably pass with a different name. 

But, instead of the acronyms we're used to seeing lately, like the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement), President Trump and Congress stuck with the original title. For the most part, the final bill also maintains the big picture tax polic...

I believe that The Keen Wealth Advantage helps folks feel more confident about comprehensive financial planning and their road to retirement. I also believe wholeheartedly in the consumer being as educated as possible on their various options before entrusting their planning and investing to any financial advisor. This is one of the key reasons we are now in our 10th year of producing this podcast and blog, answering listener quest...

By the time it works through Congress to President Trump's desk, The One, Big, Beautiful Bill will probably have a few different details, and a different name. But the version of the bill that recently passed in the House gives us a fair indication of where tax policy could be headed for the next few years. 

On today's show, we discuss the current version of the 2025 tax bill, potential changes that Congress might make, and potenti...

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, there were 580,887 pending Social Security claims in March 2025. That's an increase of more than 80,000 from a year ago. Many of those claimants are seniors who have not yet reached their reach full retirement age. 

I'd love to believe that the majority of these folks are taking Social Security early as part of a carefully considered plan to achieve a specific goal, such as early r...

Matt Wilson, Chief Investment Officer and President of Keen Wealth, sure had a lot to work with when he put together his 2025 Q2 Market Update Webinar! It's been an eventful few months for the economy, and Matt delivered a clear analysis of everything from growth trends and interest rate expectations to the potential impacts of tariffs. 

On today's show, we complete our Q2 outlook by discussing some of Matt's broader points and ans...

Folks reach out to Keen Wealth for all sorts of reasons, at all different points in their lives. We talk to young couples just starting out who want to put themselves on a path towards financial security. New retirees want to feel secure about transitioning away from work. Older seniors come to us looking to secure their legacies and make life a little easier for the next generation. 

And, sometimes, a person realizes they've been ...

"Jim" (66) and "Karen" (64) both retired in the last six months.

Jim has an IRA with $900,000, and Karen has a Roth IRA with $300,000. They inherited a brokerage account with $600,000 and a cost basis of $500,000. They have $100,000 in an emergency cash fund.

Jim is receiving his Social Security benefits of $2,600 per month. He also has a pension of $1,800 per month.

Tariffs are nothing new. They've been implemented at several points in U.S. history, including as recently as 2018. But there are a confluence of factors surrounding President Trump's current round of tariffs that make it worth discussing.

On today's show, we round up questions we've been receiving at Keen Wealth about tariffs to provide a comprehensive rundown of why Wall Street is interes...

With about a month until Tax Day on Tuesday, April 15th, you should, ideally, have all your financial documents collected. It might be a good idea to check in one last time with your financial advisor before you send your 2024 data to your CPA or start plugging away on your favorite tax software. 

But as you put a bow on last year, it's important to keep an eye on the future, especially for retirees. Cracking open your nest egg and...

The words “fun” and “taxes” probably don’t go together in your mind. 

But, as I mention on today’s episode, they do at Keen Wealth! 

Helping folks be good stewards of their money so that they can enjoy life to the fullest is one of the most rewarding parts of being a financial advisor. And as Tax Day approaches, I love seeing my team in action, working through our checklist-driven process to make sure folks aren’t overlooking any d...

If you're spending a lot of your day scrolling on social media or glued to cable news, you might feel like your emotions are running a little high right now.

Major life transitions can also cause our feelings to spike, whether we're getting ready to send a kid to college or thinking about retiring.

But while letting your feelings in is just part of being human, letting ...

A New Year brings excitement, hope, and a little extra motivation to achieve some major goals. But 2025 has also brought some uncertainty as well. Political, economic, environmental, and technological events have all made big headlines, sometimes all on the same day. If you're feeling a little unsure about your financial planning right now, you're not alone.

So, on today's show, we answer t...

Happy 2025! 

At Keen Wealth, we're often of two minds at the beginning of the New Year. On the one hand, Tax Day is just around the corner, so we're helping folks put a bow on last year's financials and making sure they not missing out on any potentially advantageous moves. 

But this New Year also means a new president, a new congress, new laws, new facts and figures, and lots of new legislative proposals. 

On today's show, we disc...

What might be even better than having a Happy New Year?

Having a purposeful 2025. 

Longevity experts who study "blue zones" where folks live the longest have popularized the Japanese concept of "ikigai," meaning roughly, "having a purpose in life." Their research shows that seniors who are motivated to get out of bed in the morning don't just live longer, they also feel more fulfilled and have healthier habits that nourish their mi...

Reviewing your estate plan is an important part of the year-end review sessions that we hold at Keen Wealth. At least annually, folks should make sure that their plan is still in sync with how they want to be cared for, how they want their assets distributed, and who they trust to settle their estate and preserve their legacy. 

But an estate plan check-up is also a good opportunity to review your feelings around what your money mea...