Tax Planning September 23, 2025 / September 24, 2025 There’s a tremendous difference between tax planning and tax preparation. Effective tax planning can save you thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. Think about it – when your accountant or tax preparer sits down to prepare your taxes they are dealing with numbers from last year. It’s […] Read more
Sequence of Returns Risks June 20, 2025 / September 24, 2025 Sequence of Returns Risk comes into play as you transition from your accumulation years, to your preservation and distribution years. It simply refers to the order in which good and bad market returns occur. Think about it – if you take yearly withdrawals from a portfolio that is appreciating each year at a rate higher […] Read more
The Money Cycle May 13, 2025 / September 24, 2025 Have you ever heard of The Money Cycle? The Money Cycle is something that we all go through during our lifetime. There are three phases: accumulation, preservation, and distribution. The accumulation phase starts early in life. When you are accumulating assets, you are typically willing to take more risks with this money. Let’s face it, […] Read more
Managing Volatility January 30, 2025 / September 24, 2025 In order to understand how to manage volatility, I first need to explain what a majority of the financial industry preaches about it. First, it’s based on something called Modern Portfolio Theory, which is based on some very good research. The problem is that the findings of that research are grossly misinterpreted and misapplied throughout […] Read more
The Flaw of Averages November 23, 2024 / September 24, 2025 The Flaw of Averages is probably the most misunderstood concept in all of investing AND the most important concept to understand if you want to build a solid retirement plan. The Flaw of Averages has everything to do with volatility. The concept of volatility is largely overlooked in investment planning because we’ve all been trained […] Read more
Social Security September 16, 2024 / September 24, 2025 Lifetime Income Stability is a significant part of the equation as we focus on Planning for your preferred future. Social Security can play a foundational role on that bottom level of your cash flow pyramid, by providing a solid base of guaranteed, increasing, lifetime income. Across the top of this chart are the various ages, […] Read more
Cash Flow Planning February 9, 2024 / September 24, 2025 We’d like to introduce you to the three key concepts of Cash Flow Planning: The Cash Flow Pyramid is a depiction of the different levels of confidence we can have with the different kinds of cash flow we might receive in retirement. The most secure types of income are at the bottom of the pyramid. […] Read more
Estimating Expenses November 2, 2023 / September 24, 2025 We have a simple way of estimating your retirement expenses. Because, without a fairly accurate estimate, it is extremely hard to create a reliable retirement plan. If you’re one of those people who already has a detailed budget and tracks it regularly, you may already have this all figured out. However, this is a good […] Read more
Lifetime Income Stability June 27, 2023 / September 24, 2025 Retirement is a cash flow problem. In fact, anyone who has planned their retirement the traditional way, focusing on whether they have enough money, has probably learned the hard way that this approach doesn’t always work. When the stock market plummets some 35%, and the value of your nest egg drops with it, and interest […] Read more
Your Preferred Future February 27, 2023 / September 24, 2025 We will begin our deep dive into the details of each of the three steps – starting with Step 1: Planning for your preferred future. Getting this first step right will give you a strong sense of peace regarding the success of your plan. Your preferred future is what you’ve had in mind all these […] Read more
