Managing Your Financial Future with Lucia Capital Group
Episodes
The 1 Big Risk Most Retirees Aren't Prepared For
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What's a $345,000 retirement expense that most people never plan for? Long-term care is one of those risks people know exist, yet tend to ignore....
What If You Retire at the "Wrong" Time?
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if you retire at the "wrong" time? It’s a question that sounds reasonable, especially when headlines suggest that market conditions s...
5 Financial Truths Most People Don’t Know
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Before you ever get to investment strategies, there are a handful of core financial truths that shape almost every success or failure story with money...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Estate Planning
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Estate planning tends to get treated like something you only worry about after you're gone. But the truth is that some of the most important part...
Should You Own More or Fewer Stocks in Retirement?
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The idea that you should own fewer stocks as you get older is one of the most common rules of thumb in retirement planning. The logic says that stocks...
The Art of The Bucket Strategy®
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Retirement income planning looks like a math problem: formulas, percentages, projections, etc. These are important, and they form what may be called t...
Why the "RMD Withdrawal Strategy" May Be Disastrous
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of the "RMD-style" retirement withdrawal strategy? It involves taking a percentage of your portfolio each year based on life ...
Who Really Controls Your Money When You’re Gone?
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Estate planning deserves more attention than it usually gets in retirement conversations. You've spent a lifetime building assets, but what reall...
4 Things Every Surviving Spouse Should Know
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Losing a spouse is something no one likes to think about, but for virtually every married couple, it’s a reality that will eventually have to be fac...
What Retirees Wish They Had Done Differently
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When people look back on their retirement years, what do they wish they had done differently? It turns out the biggest regrets aren’t about picking ...
What Should You Do with an Old 401(k)?
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When you leave a job, what you do with your 401(k) often feels like a formality. But the reality is that most people have no idea what to do with thei...
Asset Location: How a "Good" Portfolio Can Still Lose Money
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There are plenty of conversations about how your money should be invested: stocks or bonds; aggressive or conservative; growth or safety, etc. But the...
Why the Short Term Matters Most in Investing
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's true that most investing success happens over long periods of time. So it would stand to reason that you should stay focused on the long ter...
Are Roth Conversions Always a Good Idea?
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Roth IRAs are often described as one of the most powerful tools available in retirement planning. Tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals, and flexibili...
Why Your Income Strategy Matters More Than Big Returns
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a strong rate of return. The problem starts when “the best return” becomes the plan, especially once you’re...
Save Like a Pessimist And Invest Like an Optimist
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Financial planning is NOT about predicting the future. It’s about balancing what you can reasonably expect with everything you can’t possibly cont...
Debunking 3 Ideas of "Conventional Wisdom"
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no shortage of “rules of thumb” in personal finance. They sound simple, they sound authoritative, and you can find them almost everywher...
3 Things Every Retiree Should Understand
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are many things a retiree needs to know about their finances – some more important than others. But how can you tell which ones are best to le...
How High-Income Earners Can Have a Roth IRA
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many people with high incomes assume they make too much money to contribute to a Roth IRA. And they’re right – sort of. The IRS does put income li...
5 Things a Good Financial Advisor Will Do for You
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of confusion about what a financial advisor actually does. Some people think it’s all about picking investments or predicting the ma...
3 Tax Traps Most People Miss
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve probably heard that taxes are unavoidable. Fair enough. But what if we told you that in some cases, you might be paying more than you should,...
The Best Way to Win Is to Keep from Losing
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are perhaps many thousands of books out there that purport to tell you how to "win" in investing. Many of them contain various gimmick...
Is "Value Averaging" Really the Key to Long-Term Success?
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If there's one thing we can always be sure of, it's this: the stock market is unpredictable. There will be months or years where the marke...
Why the First Five Years of Retirement Are the Most Dangerous
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that what happens with the stock market in the first few years of your retirement can either make or break your entire nest egg? It'...
Why Bonds Are Not the Simple Assets They Appear to Be
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You're probably familiar with bonds as an asset: you make a loan to a company or state or municipality, and you hope to be paid back over time wi...
5 "Rules" of Finance That You Can Easily Break
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the financial world, there are many "rules" that have become so ubiquitous that people are really reluctant to break them: Should you nev...
Volatility Is NOT Risk - Why This Matters to You
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to stock market investing, what creates the most anxiety and fear? Usually, it's when the markets are behaving erratically. Put...
Why You Should NEVER Own Real Estate in Your IRA
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You may have noticed that real estate prices have been soaring over the past five or so years. And with the stock market gains we've experience...
How to Pay NO Federal Tax on $100,000 of Income
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a question: Is it really possible to take a six-figure income and pay no federal taxes on it? Depending on the sources of your income and ...
Can Bucket 1 Actually Increase Your Social Security Benefits?
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The question of when to take your Social Security retirement benefits often comes down to whether you need the money now or can wait until later. La...
College Savings and 529 Plans - What You Need to Know
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the cost of college in the US skyrocketing, many parents find they need to begin saving almost immediately if they want their children to be able...
The One Thing Your Financial Plan Can't Live Without
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A good financial plan will contain many elements: a source of cash flow, assets that are matched to liabilities, tax management, and investment oversi...
Why You Should Manage Risk - NOT Return
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the investing world, there are certain things that are out of your control: the short term direction of the stock market and where the economic tr...
Which Pension Benefit Option Should You Choose?
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you have a pension, the decision of how and when to take the payments is an important one – and, probably irrevocable. Maybe you have the choice ...
What You MUST Know About the New Tax Bill
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In early July of this year, the new Budget Reconciliation Law was enacted by Congress. It made several changes to existing tax law, introduced some ne...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Your Taxes
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the federal tax code was enacted more than 100 years ago, it consisted of approximately 11,000 words. Today, it contains north of 16 million wo...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Your 401k
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A few months back, we explained how the 401(k) plan has become a default retirement savings plan for most people, and is thus a very important saving ...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Your Roth IRA
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One thing that most people would agree on is that paying no taxes is a lot better than actually paying them. This makes the tax-free nature of Roth ...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Your Social Security Benefits
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For many retirees, Social Security is a cornerstone of their income strategy. That makes sense - it helps establish how much support a retirement port...
What No One Teaches You About How to Be Retired
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many people spend years preparing financially for retirement, but almost no one prepares for the emotional side of it. When the paychecks stop, the qu...
What Some People Get Wrong About Buckets
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Bucket Strategy® is both simple and complex: while the structure on the outside is easy, the inner workings can vary wildly from person to person...
Is "Blending" Your Buckets a Better Strategy?
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's true that in general, the basic Bucket Strategy® consists of a 3-, 4-, or 5-Bucket plan, with each bucket separated into short-term, mid-te...
Why Survival Is the Most Important Tactic in Investing
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's the most important quality an investor could have? Some people would say it's the ability to achieve the highest rates of return poss...
Why You May (or May NOT) Need Protected Income
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A steady cash flow stream is one of the most valuable things you can have, both before and after you retire. Pensions guaranteed by the PBGC and Socia...
Answering More of Your Buckets Questions
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our previous episode, we answered 5 of your most common questions about The Bucket Strategy®. Those covered some of the more "basic" ele...
Answering Your 5 Most Common Buckets Questions
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've been talking about The Bucket Strategy® for decades, and over that period of time, we've received thousands of questions about how th...
A Tale of Two Retirements: One Good, One Bad
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How is it possible that two individuals could retire with the exact same portfolio allocation and use the exact same withdrawal strategy, and yet one ...
Do You Really Have to Pay Taxes On a Gift?
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of the "Gift Tax?" Many people are at least familiar with the term, but relatively few know how, when, or where it might be...
Should You Ever Consider a 401(k) Loan?
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For many people, the 401(k) is their largest source of retirement savings. Because of that, it may be tempting to tap into some of that money in the f...
What If the Markets Crash When You Start Retirement?
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After years of building your savings, there are a number of scenarios that threaten to deplete it. But what happens if you retire just when the stock ...
The Truth About This Volatile Stock Market
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first trading two weeks of March, 2025 were brutal for stocks. Nearly $4 trillion of value was lost in less than a month. All of this negative v...
What You MUST Know About Inheriting an IRA
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the middle of 2024, the rules changed for people who become beneficiaries of an IRA. We devoted an entire episode to those changes at that time, ...
Will Your Taxes Really Be Lower in Retirement?
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Several weeks back, we talked about how different types of retirement income are taxed. This topic created a follow-up question from several listeners...
How to Use the Tax Brackets to Your Advantage
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US tax system is by design a complicated beast, and trying to understand it all is a daunting challenge. And yet, unless you understand how the ...
How Are Your Social Security Benefits Taxed?
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You've probably heard that your Social Security benefits are subject to taxation. You may have also heard that they're never taxed at all....
Let's Talk About Your 401k
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For many people, the 401(k) plan has become the default retirement savings plan. Opting in early enough, combined with consistent contributions over a...
Here's How to Supersize Your Roth!
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Having money in a Roth account can be great - especially if the cost to get that money in there is minimal. But there are some people who cannot con...
Comparing the Portfolio Withdrawal Methods - Which Is Best?
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been said – by us – that keeping your wealth can be a much harder task than accumulating that wealth. And it's true. If you don&ap...
Financial "Resolutions" to Make in 2025
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's the start of a new year, which means right now is a very good time to begin thinking about what your financial goals are for 2025. Sometim...
How Different Types of Retirement Income Are Taxed
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many retirees have several sources of retirement income: IRAs, 401k accounts, personal money, pensions, and Social Security, to name just a few. Bec...
Here's How Your Social Security Benefits May Be Reduced
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the SSA sends you your benefit projections each year, there is an actual amount that they're telling you that you will receive, depending up...
Here's One More Tax Move to Make Before 2025
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're nearing the end of the year, and while there's not a whole lot left that you can do to perhaps improve your tax situation for this yea...
Is This a Good Time for Roth Conversions?
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're asking the question that we posed to our listeners at the beginning of 2024: Is this a good time to do your Roth conversions?There ar...
Why the Wrong Withdrawal Strategy Can Be Disastrous
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Building a nest egg is relatively easy if you're both consistent and patient. Regular contributions over time can lead to compounded growth, whic...
Let's Do an Actual Bucket Strategy!
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Regular listeners to this podcast know that we talk a lot about a Bucket Strategy, and why we so firmly believe in it. But it's important to no...
Asset Location - The Hidden Gem of Tax Management
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There's a well-known topic in the investing world known as Asset Allocation which is primarily about deciding which asset categories you should o...
How Much Can You "Safely" Withdraw From Your Portfolio?
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most people, by the time they reach retirement age, have a certain amount of money saved up that they'll need to tap into from time to time. Pr...
Do Not Confuse Volatility With Risk!
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the stock market behaves erratically, it can create a lot of fear and anxiety among investors. Large swings to both the up and down side are what...
Building Wealth vs. Keeping Wealth
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's a fact that many people are not aware of: your wealth accumulation strategy should be vastly different from your wealth distribution strateg...
Which Assets Belong in Each Bucket?
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Bucket Strategy® is both simple and complex. It’s simple in the sense that there’s a short-term, midterm, and long-term bucket, and maybe a...
Is It Really Better to Own More Stocks in Retirement?
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If stocks are inherently risky, and if you're retired and you're risk-averse, doesn't it make sense to lessen your exposure to the stoc...
What's the Best Age to Take Social Security Benefits?
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social Security retirement benefits are the bedrock of guaranteed income for most American retirees. It forms the income basis that helps to build t...
Six Financial Lessons Everyone Should Know
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Very few things in life are universal, especially when it comes to finances. What’s right for one person may be completely wrong for another. Ye...
Should You Pay Cash For a Home, Or Get a Mortgage?
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have noticed that real estate prices have been ticking up at a steady rate for the past several years. For many people, that means they have...
Roth, Personal, or IRA Funds: Which Should You Spend First?
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Once you hit retirement, you'll probably have money in several types of accounts: a 401(k) from work, some personal money in a brokerage account,...
IRA vs. 401(k) - Which Is Better?
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are many ways to save for retirement. Two of the most popular are the 401(k) and the IRA. Both are savings vehicles, but both have different a...
What Percentage of Stocks Should You Own in Retirement?
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that stocks are too volatile for retired people to own. In fact, there’s an old rule-of-thumb formula that says you should decrea...
It's Time For Your Mid-Year Money Checklist!
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're half way through 2024, and it's time to get your financial house in order! What moves, if any, should you have made at this point? ...
Why Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset in Investing
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s your most valuable asset when it comes to investing? Is it maybe knowing the right stock to buy and when? How about a spreadsheet of things l...
Why Your Bonds May Not Be Paying What You Think
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you buy a bond, you might expect that the amount of interest stated on the coupon is the amount of interest that you’ll be receiving. So if y...
THIS Is Why We Love The Bucket Strategy®
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been said that the most important rule of finance is to not consistently mess things up. In other words, you need to survive the short-term c...
Why Engineers May Make Great Financial Planners
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many times in life, we see how one career field translates extremely well into another. Engineering is a great example of this. A good engineer need...
Roth IRA Strategies for High-Income Earners
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you're at all familiar with the Roth IRA, you probably know that there are income limits for people who want to make a contribution to a Roth....
The New Rules on Inherited IRAs - What to Know
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you in line to inherit an IRA? While inheriting almost any asset is generally a good thing, it's helpful to know the rules - mainly tax rules...
Is There Really a Charitable Giving Strategy With No Downside?
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many people who are at Required Minimum Distribution age find themselves wanting to give some of that distribution to charity. They don't need th...
How Much Money Do You Need to Retire Comfortably?
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How much money does it take for you to retire in comfort? Is it $1 million? $2 million? Far more than that? Far less? Large investment firms and...
What Is Your Wealth Distribution Strategy?
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are two distinct phases of your financial life. The first one is the years (decades) that you spend accumulating assets: building your savings...
5 Things You Didn't Know About Your Social Security Benefits
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social Security is vital part of many people's retirement income. It forms the foundation of a retirement plan and helps to determine how much (i...
Your Pension Options: Which One May Be Best for You?
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you have a pension, the decision of how and when to take the payments is an important one. Are you offered the choice to take the entire amount a...
How to Overcome Your Single Biggest Financial Fear
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What are people's most prominent financial fears? There are many: losing a job, not saving enough for retirement, financial emergencies, and m...
Why “Blending” Your Buckets May Produce Better Results
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that a basic Bucket Strategy® consists of a 3-, 4- or 5-Bucket plan, with each bucket separated into groups of short-term, mid-ter...
Tying Your Social Security Benefits Into Your Investment Portfolio
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you get to retirement, your portfolio - that is, your savings - will presumably provide you with the money you need. The more guaranteed income...
Could Value Averaging Be the Key to Surviving Market Downturns?
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s just a fact of investing life that the stock market is unpredictable. There will be months or years where the market exceeds expectations, an...
What Are the Biggest Regrets that Retirees Have?
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There aren't many people who make it through their working years without having at least a few things they wish they'd done differently. A...
Can You Safely Ignore the 4% Rule?
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a popular “rule of thumb” that’s been around for about 30 years known as the “4-percent Rule.” The main idea is that your portfoli...
What Can Trigger an IRS Audit?
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever gotten a letter from the IRS, even if you're sure you've done nothing wrong, you know how stressful that can be. An ev...
Why (Almost) Everyone Needs an Estate Plan
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you care what happens to your money and your assets after you die? Most people would probably answer that with an emphatic “yes,” even if the...
A Peek Inside a Bucket Strategy
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Everyone’s situation is different.” If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you’ve heard that many times. Because of that, the Bucket...
How to Make Use of the Zero-Percent Tax Bracket
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you look at the tax tables, you’ll see that there are seven different tax brackets listed: 10%, 12%, 22%, and on up to the highest bracket at 37%...
Is a Fixed Annuity a Better Alternative to Bonds?
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s topic is a follow-up to a similar discussion we had on this podcast in late 2022. Back then, interest rates had risen as bond values (and ...