Managing Your Financial Future with Lucia Capital Group
Episodes
At What Age Should You Start Taking Your Social Security Benefits?
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's the most common question we get when we're discussing Social Security: what's the best age to start taking your benefits? Natura...
Buying Real Estate in Your IRA: Good Idea, or Bad?
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you've noticed that real estate prices have been soaring over the past year or so. And with the stock market gains we've experienced...
Planning for Retirement When It's Still 15-20 Years Away
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you're only a few years away from retirement, figuring out your basics -- income needs, expenses, activities -- is usually fairly easy. I...
Investing a Sum of Money: All at One Time, or Little By Little?
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you recently got a bonus from work, or -- perhaps even better -- an inheritance from a relative. Whatever the case, if you find yourself with ...
Why Naming Your Estate's Beneficiaries Is Vital
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Estate planning - it’s not just for the ultra rich! While many people don’t have estates that are large enough to warrant an estate tax (which, ...
How To Know If Your Social Security Benefits Will Be Taxed
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard that your Social Security benefits are always going to be taxed as income? Have you heard that they'll be taxed at a 50% rate? ...
When Should You Start Taking Distributions from Your 401k?
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re retired, or you’re approaching retirement, there’s a decent chance that you’ve got some money saved up in what’s known as a “qua...
The Conventional Social Security Strategy That Could Seriously Backfire
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Conventional wisdom, rules of thumb, standard advice - those are what the lazy person often resorts to when they don't have an answer for you, or...
How Do Financial Advisor Fees Actually Work?
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most common questions people ask us when they're considering the services of an investment advisor and/or financial planner is this: &...
3 Generous Tax Law Benefits You Didn't Know Existed
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Taxes can be scary. Whether you're anticipating a big tax bill this year, or you're fretting about a tax deadline that's coming up, o...
How Do You Know When You Can Retire?
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you've been planning on working until a certain age (62? 65? later?), but you find that you are a) overwhelmed by stress at work, and b) a num...
Annuities 101: Understanding the Basics
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the financial products available to consumers, it is the annuity that is perhaps the most misunderstood. The initial concept of the annuity -...
Do You Really Owe Taxes When You Give Someone a Gift?
06 Apr 2021
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...
How to Get Money Into a Roth When You're Over the Income Limits
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that individuals with annual incomes that exceed certain thresholds cannot contribute funds directly to a Roth IRA. This is true....
Why We Spend the Way We Do in Retirement
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What's your spending strategy in retirement? Are you (or will you be) extra frugal, concerned about maintaining a steady, or even a rising, acc...
Your Spouse Dies - What Do You Do Now?
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
All marriages end in one of two ways: divorce or death. If you live long enough with someone, eventually one of you will mourn the other. And whet...
The Unintended Consequences of Social Security's Survivor Benefits
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that Social Security provides a "survivor benefit," which allows a surviving spouse to continue to receive their deceased...
The 3 Biggest Risks Facing Your Portfolio Today
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
No matter how much you save throughout your life, or how diligently you work to maintain your level of wealth, you can never really be sure that the m...
Is It Time to Re-Think the "4-Percent Rule?"
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the old “rules of thumb” that’s been around since the early 1990s is the idea that your portfolio has a better chance of surviving 30 yea...
Creating Income When Interest Rates Are Low
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a fact that retirees in general dislike spending down their savings. In today’s low interest rate environment, and given declining dividend...
Is a Roth Option in Your 401(k) Worth Considering?
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to retirement savings, you have a fair number of choices available to you. One of the more popular options comes in the form of your e...
How the Pandemic Affected Your Finances
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If it seems to you like 2020 was an unusual year, you’re right - in more ways than one! Of particular concern to many people was their financial s...
The Triple Tax Benefits of an HSA
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If there's one thing most people can agree on when it comes to money, it's probably this: we don't like to pay taxes. If there's...
A Better Way to Take Your RMDs?
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are just a fact of life for most owners of an IRA or retirement plan account. While RMDs are suspended for 202...
Let's Strategize With Your IRA
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
IRAs, whether Traditional or Roth, have unique characteristics. Depending on the type of IRA you have, you may be able to manage your taxes or your ...
Dealing With Taxes on Your Social Security Benefits
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Taxes are a fact of life for most people. Even your Social Security benefits - for which you had the pleasure of paying taxes to receive - are subje...
Don't Make the Mistake of "Chasing Yield"
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If there's one "rule of thumb" that every investor should know, it's that there is a distinct correlation between risk and reward....
Are Cash Value Life Policies Really as Good (or as Bad) as You’ve Heard?
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Life insurance appears to be a fairly easy topic to understand. You pay your premiums to the insurance company, and if you die within the specified ...
What Are Your Options with a Roth IRA?
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 1998, Congress created one of its most popular tax-incentives in recent history – the Roth IRA. Since then, we’ve seen various changes to ...
Is There a Solution to the Pension Dilemma?
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you happen to be one of those people with a traditional pension plan, there’s one important piece of information you should know about: unless yo...
Never Say Never, and Always Avoid Always!
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever read an article about finance or listened to a financial podcast (other than this one), you probably heard someone say that you shoul...
Paying Off your Mortgage: Good idea, or Bad?
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks back, we offered a strategy for people who want to pay off their mortgage in, say, 15 years, but don’t like the idea of making the highe...
What's My Stock Allocation in Retirement?
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is it ever a good idea to mix stock market volatility with retirement? Maybe. It really depends on a number of different factors, not the least of...
You’ll Spend Less in Retirement Than You Think
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Retirement income calculators are everywhere online. What’s more, they’re fairly simple in nature: plug in some current income and savings, expe...
RMD Rules Have Changed - Here's Why That's Important
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So maybe you retired at age 65, and maybe you set yourself up so that you don't have to think too much about your financial strategy, and then --...
Overcoming Interest Rate Drag on Your Portfolio's Rate of Return
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard that a "traditional" balanced portfolio consists of some kind of mix of stocks and bonds: 60/40, 50/50, or something simi...
A College Tuition Tax Credit You Probably Didn't Know About
06 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever looked at how much it costs to attend college, you're likely aware that it doesn’t come cheap. The costs are high, and they ...
Let's Manage Your Taxes -- While There's Time
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We'll say it right up front: taxes are NOT fun. Nobody likes to think about them, much less actually do them every year. For most, it's ...
New (Temporary) RMD Rules Offer Potential Planning Opportunities
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought with it several changes for people who are facing deadlines, including filing federal and state income taxes. Anothe...
A Mortgage Payment Strategy You've Never Heard Before
26 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When taking out a mortgage, people often wonder if it's better to have a 15-year loan instead of a 30-year loan. They think of all the interest...
Maintaining Your Confidence in Retirement
19 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With everything that's been going on these days in the stock market, the economy -- the uncertainty of it all -- you might think that the confide...
Why Own Bonds in This Low Interest Rate Environment?
12 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The standard, cookie-cutter portfolio often consists of just three main assets: stocks, bonds and cash. One may argue that this is not enough divers...
Don't Neglect the Ordinary Things
05 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With everything we have going on in our lives right now, with all the new things we have to deal with, it's important to keep in mind that ordina...
Answering the Everyday Financial Questions
28 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stock markets are volatile, people are hunkered down in their homes, and life as we know has been put on pause, at least for a while. In spite of th...
The Best Opportunity to Get Your Financial House in Order
21 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During normal times, it's easy to put our financial lives on autopilot. Our 401(k) contributions happen without us having to do anything, many ...
Why the SECURE Act Is So Important to You - with Janean Stripe
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Between the CARES Act and the SECURE Act, both of which have been enacted, 2020 has turned out (so far) to be a year of change and uncertainty. The ...
Does a Bear Market Change Your Investing Style?
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's a fairly well-known and well-accepted fact within the investment world that market timing - attempting to get in or out of equities on the h...
Talking Lifetime Income with Chris Lloyd
01 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most potentially useful tools a financial planner has is the ability to create some form of lifetime income for those who need it. In much ...
From Bull Market to Bear Market in a Flash
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So maybe you looked at your 401(k) balance as recently as mid-February, and then decided you'd finally enough saved up to retire. You put your ...
Keeping Your Cool When the Markets Drop
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So the long bull market finally came to an end. The drop in equity values was quick, sudden, but not unexpected. The markets simply did what they&...
Making Your Social Security Decisions Easier
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many people who aren't old enough to receive their benefits yet don't give much thought to Social Security. They figure it will be there for...
IRA Withdrawals: Take Them Now, or Later?
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to finance, conflicting advice is everywhere. This is especially true when people have questions about when they should start taking m...
The 3 Questions That Every Confident Investor Should Ask
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The current bull market is 11 years old as of March, 2020. This seems to have given more than a few investors the mistaken idea that stocks will con...
How the SECURE Act Affects You
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The SECURE Act, passed by Congress at the end of 2019 and effective on January 1, 2020, provides several reforms to 401(k) accounts, IRAs, college sav...
A Tax Strategy You Never Knew Existed
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A few episodes back, we talked about the benefits of charitable giving for both the recipient of the gift and the giver. The one who receives the gi...
Killing Your Fear of Running Out of Money
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fear does strange things to people. It can motivate us to take immediate action when a threat is imminent, or it can cause us to retreat, cover up t...
Helping Yourself Through Charitable Giving
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most people at some time or another want to be charitable. Part of human nature tells us we should give to those in need -- that we have a kind of s...
How To Manage the Scare of Long-Term Care
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many people know that long-term care costs are expensive. In spite of that, they're often reluctant to buy an insurance policy to cover those c...
Controlling Your Tax Bill - It's Easier Than You Think
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that the location of your assets - 401(k), IRA, personal account, Roth - is a big determinant of your ultimate tax bill? By simply loca...
The Myth of the "Retirement Savings Crisis"
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard or read that Americans aren't saving enough for their retirement years. If so, there's a good chance that the phrase &q...
The Three Biggest Risks to Your Nest Egg
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You work hard for your money. You save, you plan, you make contingent plans, you save some more, and yet you can never really be sure that your savi...
The Unintended Consequence of Social Security
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Social Security has provisions for a survivor benefit, which allows a surviving spouse to continue receiving their deceased spouse's Social Secur...