Retirement articles we’ve written featured in
Forbes, The Topeka Capital Journal, & MetroVoice News
6 Tax Pitfalls to Avoid
At The Retirement Team we are big fans of the saying, “Give to Caesar his due, but not a dollar more!”, which is why at our firm we focus on helping clients create tax efficient retirement plans and portfolios. With tax filing season upon us, we thought we’d share a...
How to Save a Boatload in Tax if You Work(ed) for the Federal Government or a University
Retirees are one of the highest and most unfairly taxed groups. Every dollar that needlessly goes to taxes is one additional dollar you must make up for elsewhere, whether that be by taking on extra investment risk, spending less, or not having as much to pass on as a...
Beneficiary Mistakes Can Cost a Fortune
Beneficiary designations are important in determining where certain assets of an estate will end up. Many think that a will or trust is what determines where everything goes. This is not necessarily true, and it’s a big mistake to make this assumption. A last will and...
Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Those on Wall Street
Gas prices, grocery store bills, and interest rates have all been rising at a fairly high rate recently. It seems to be what everyone is talking about. The question is, where are they headed next? To be blunt and to the point, no one knows and listening to those that...
If the Average Investor is Losing, Who is Winning?
When it comes to investing, for every loser there is an equal and opposite winner. If someone sells something to someone else and it goes up in value the person that sold lost while the person that bought won (and vice versa). According to Dalbar’s most recent study...
Top 10 Reasons Not to Plan for Retirement
You probably read or hear about some “Top Ten” list nearly every day, but take a moment to read this one. This list is different, and probably not the kind of list you’d expect a financial advisor to write. Reason #10: “It’s too expensive” Being penny wise and dollar...
Should You Take a Pension Buyout?
Interest rates have been soaring and bonds, typically seen as a more conservative or ‘safer’ investment, are seeing their largest loss in history as a result. In fact, if you look at the US Aggregate Bond Index (this is the most widely followed bond index and the...
One Reason Why ‘Target Dated’ Funds Haven’t Done Well For Over a Decade
There’s a reason why we often refer to target date funds as ‘target dated’ funds. These types of investments rely on portfolio construction techniques to decide what to own based on decades old dated data that is not really reflective of the much different globalized...
Given What’s Happening in the World, is it Time to Sell?
There’s been a lot of negative news headlines recently and I’m hearing the phrase “with what’s going on right now, should I just cash everything out until things calm down?” when having new meetings with prospects. If you’ve been thinking or wondering the same thing,...
The Trouble with Trillions
Since the pandemic began, we’ve had 3 different stimulus bills that far exceed by multiple amounts any other stimulus measure in history as well as the largest ever infrastructure bill all passed. The current running total between these pieces of legislation exceeds...
Stop Losing Money Safely
Over the course of the average retirement all prices more than double. In fact, they’ll go up more than 2.5 times. Something that costs $100 today will cost $257 by the end of a 30 year retirement. That’s assuming just historical average levels of inflation as...
How to Get Cheap (or Free) Health Insurance if You Retire Early
I often hear when I first meet with someone that the only reason they are still working is to pay for health insurance until they can get on Medicare at age 65. No doubt health insurance when you are in your late 50s and early 60s is quite expensive. A private...
How Low Can Rates Go?
Think stocks are high and overpriced? We think the real bubble is brewing in bonds. Looking back to the start of the century, interest rates have been in decline. Back then the Aggregate Bond Index was paying over 7%. Today? Just 1%. This means in order for investors...
401(k) Plan Owners: Watch Out!
Imagine how you would feel if you were on a sinking cruise ship and couldn’t get off because there weren’t any life jackets or backup boats. Now ask yourself, if you were going to potentially face this scenario, when would you want to know about it? If you have money...
Nearly 1/3 of Investors 65+ Sold at the Market Bottom
Typically when you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. It’s best to have a plan before trouble comes, rather than make emotional decisions on the fly during times of duress as this often leads to the exact wrong decision. Incredibly nearly 1/3 of investors 65+ (a...
Ways to Avoid the New Tax Increase on Retirement Accounts
Last month we discussed the SECURE Act and its projected $15.7 billion tax increase on beneficiaries of tax deferred retirement accounts (like 401(k)s, 403(bs), TSPs, IRAs, etc.). The only ones excluded from this new way of distributing retirement accounts are...
The New $15.7 Billion Tax on Retirement Accounts
We have a saying around our office that retirees are one of the highest and most unfairly taxed groups out there and with the recent passage of the SECURE Act things are getting worse. With most individuals having either their retirement account or their home as the...
The “7% Guaranteed” Annuity Myth
One of the most common things I hear from people who own or have been pitched an annuity is the belief that the annuity will “earn 7% guaranteed.” Usually this is due to either a salesperson misrepresenting how the annuity works or the consumer misunderstanding. The...
Don’t Play Politics With Your Portfolio
Did the outcome of the election make you really happy and excited? Or did it leave you concerned, especially when it comes to your investments? Either way, you shouldn’t play politics with your portfolio. Why? Because investing when only a specific political party is...
Should You Change Investments Ahead of the Election? Maybe.
Worried about what might happen to financial markets if we have the first contested election in 20 years or if your candidate doesn’t win? You aren’t alone. Unfavorability ratings of presidential candidates has been on the rise the last 36 years and with the megaphone...
Who Believes in the Rally?
Last month the S&P 500 reached a new all time high. Crazily this has come at the same time that retail investors have been piling out of mutual funds and ETFs at a record rate. The week the S&P 500 finally made it back to where it was in February of this year...
Who’s Gonna Pay for the ‘Free’ Lunch
The saying “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” has been attributed to many people over the years. Someone must produce and someone must pay for what we consume. There has to be food in order for there to be a lunch and once that food is consumed it is not...
The RMD Holiday
We said last month that retirees are one of the highest and most unfairly taxed groups out there and stressed the importance of tax reduction planning when it comes to investments and retirement. While the SECURE Act passed last December is certainly a huge negative...
Should you be changing what you are doing, given recent market events and news?
Financial markets have been on a bit of a wild ride as of late, so we’d like to give some comments and context as to what is occurring. In 12 trading days we have seen the S&P 500 drop by 17% and in just one day we have seen oil drop by more than 30%. On Monday we...
The Stock Market in Election Years – Should you be worried?
A common question I’ve heard as of late is ‘what’s the stock market going to do given the upcoming election?’ Well let’s start by looking at how the S&P 500 has fared in the 18 elections since World War II. There has only been 2 years out of the 18 where the...
Getting The Taxman Out Of Your Retirement (Part 2)
Recently, in part one of this article, we discussed how you might be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, but pay a higher tax rate. In this article, we’ll look at how a Roth may be able to help you avoid this scenario. Utilizing a Roth The beauty of a Roth is that...
Getting The Taxman Out Of Your Retirement (Part 1)
One of the most overlooked, but perhaps most important, aspects of income planning is taxes and how they relate to Social Security. Taxation on Social Security benefits works differently than other income sources; because of this far too many people unknowingly fall...
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Insurance products, including annuities, offered through Roger Shumaker, KS Insurance License # 787094, and Ryan Shumaker, KS Insurance License #10359614. The generalized information we provide regarding tax minimization planning is not intended to, and cannot, be used by anyone to avoid paying federal, state, or local municipality taxes or penalties. You should seek advice based on your particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor, as tax laws are subject to interpretation and legislative change and are unique to every specific taxpayer’s particular set of facts and circumstances. Annuity guarantees rely on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurer. Any comments regarding guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer, in any way, to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing company. Investing entails risks, including possible loss of principal. The use of tools cannot guarantee performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in a period of declining values. WealthGuard™ is a complete portfolio monitoring system. Designed by determining the amount of downside risk a client is willing to tolerate, WealthGuard™ is added to client accounts to help protect from downside risk. WealthGuard™ is not a stop-loss strategy. When the account value in the portfolio hits the targeted downside value, an alert is sent to the client, advisor, and money manager. The money manager trades the account as indicated on the WealthGuard™ agreement. There is no guarantee the exact WealthGuard™ value will be captured, or assets will be traded or liquidated, the same day the WealthGuard™ value is reached due to time of day and/or market restrictions. WealthGuard™ is not responsible for any tax implications that may result due to the liquidation or trading of the holdings. FormulaFolio Investments is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the information used to prepare your WealthGuard™ percentages. WealthGuard™ does not make any representations or warranties, whether expressed or implied, regarding investing in securities or investment products. WealthGuard™ makes no warranties to the legality or suitability of any investment product. Roger & Ryan Shumaker are not affiliated with the Social Security Administration or any other governmental agency. We encourage you to contact the SSA about your specific circumstances. Voted Best Financial Planning Firm, Best Financial Planner, & Best Accountant in Topeka in the 2020 Best of Topeka by Topeka Capital Journal readers.