True Wealth - Financial and Investing Podcast

When it comes to risk, is this the only question to ask yourself? Some people believe in only taking as much risk as they are comfortable with, but is this the solution? The answer might be more complicated than you think.

Let’s explore the unseen systems affecting low-income families, the shrinking middle class, and even the wealthy. From government dependence and inflation as hidden taxation to financial traps and wealth extraction schemes, we’ll explore how economic policies may be engineered to control and divide us. This is more than just an economic conversation—it’s a look into the deeper, hidden forces shaping the financial futures of all Americans.

As the world appears to be escalating in tension and the financial health of major countries like China are in question, what happens after the election is over? We know the world is watching, what could happen next? Lets talk about possible scenarios and what it could mean for the market.

Let’s explore proposed policies from both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Are these promises genuine blueprints for their presidency, or are they just campaign rhetoric designed to win votes? We’ll break down healthcare, tax policies, and more, examining the details behind the bold claims and how policy changes could affect the markets. Tune in as we attempt to separate truth from fiction and help you decide: are these plans just for show, or could changes be on the horizon?

Discover the strange and surprising money habits that many people have, which could be quietly draining their wealth. From avoiding employer retirement matches to chasing past performance, learn how to avoid common financial misconceptions and start building wealth more effectively today. Explore these unusual financial behaviors and get tips on optimizing your money management strategies for better results. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   Transcript: (00:07) all right let’s not waste any time getting into today on this the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week welcome to the true wealth radio show Dave Littlejohn in studio today with me Matt Dickson. Matt yes we say this every time have we got a show for you this one will be fun though I think this one’s funny actually it’s fun and funny and I actually like the idea of it um you know when I was think about radio show prep today I had some ideas in mind and I read through some of the thoughts that I had and I’m (00:38) like gosh you know it sounds like something we’ve done before how about something new something fresh something yeah fresh and the funny thing is none of it’s new but it’s a new take it’s fresh it’s fresh we’ll go with fresh we’ll go with fresh I had uh I spent like a whole bunch of time just I’ve been on the road for like 6 hours in the out of the last 24 right and so lot of podcast time and um those of you that know me I listen to podcasts at like a little past 2x speeds like 2.3 2. so (01:08) it’s like listening to Chipmunks but you get stuff faster that way and uh that doesn’t wear you out like you’re on a road trip instead of just listening to some music and relaxing you’re like two times the speed give me the PO like just cramming your brain full of information uh no keeps me going I like it wow most people would be like at the end of the car drive you know just hopping out of the vehicle my mind is fried you know the gears have been cranking too fast I do have to switch topics so that I don’t (01:37) get fried what do you switch between uh I was so I’m reading one I forget the author but I’m listening right so was listening to a book called uh the 46 immutable Laws of Power so that’s an interesting one um it could be used for nefarious purposes I don’t ADV that how many books do you get through in a year uh I don’t know is it a lot is it more than five yes more than 10 yes wow okay so yeah I go through books I didn’t realize you were such a a big like book person so books and then I do a lot of (02:10) podcasting or I do a lot of topical search do you ever like read the book or is it all audio books I do a lot of so I’m a fairly auditory learner uh but I do a lot of audio I definitely read books too really yeah H yeah it’s a different kind of Engagement um my issue is like when I read I tend to read kind of slower than I want to because I tend to say the words in my head see I’m the opposite I hate audio books can’t stand them but I’m curious have they like started to use AI to do the audio books (02:43) or are they still paying people to like sit there and read them and record it mostly it’s people who actually read them they have actual narrators and so and the narrator does make a difference if there’s I’m just waiting for like the series exist there’s AI out there I mean they’ve been for a long time some better than others but it’s sort of robotic readers uh the Cadence can be a little awkward at times you’re like that wasn’t really what it’s supposed to sound like yeah but but not on I’ve not had like (03:13) books that I’ve purchased and had them narrated in a poor way yeah so or well I should say I’ve had poor narrators but I haven’t had them like a computer narration that I paid for that I can tell anyway usually it says oh read by so and so so yeah anyway I I do I like digesting information I get into like I go down rabbit holes for topics to do deep like what probably fairly deep research for some or others they’re like I don’t know what you’re talking about uh and it can be goofy stuff like I’ve (03:42) learned a lot about ultra light backpacking gear cuz at one point that became a thing for me cuz I like to backpack but I have sleep apnea so I have to carry a cpap with me and so that’s like just dead weight right out of the gate so then you get really clever about how to reduce weight in all kinds of other ways to just make it more tolerable so instead of packing your food you catch your food all sorts of little no we don’t do that usually we pack the food Matt’s a better Hunter I’m more of a gatherer I guess yikes uh could (04:15) probably there’d be some fishing opportu

With a wide range of investment types and varying amounts you can invest, figuring out where you belong in the investment world can be challenging. Let’s dive into the different investment scenarios and tools available, so you better discover how your financial goals fit in the vast investment landscape.   SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   Transcript: (00:08) all right welcome to the true wealth radio show I’m your host Dave Littlejohn in studio today with me Matt Dickson and this is of course the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week are you ready stoked to be here um and so we have a delightfully Loosely scripted show today yeah but I think this may be one of the topics that is of highest interest to our listeners perhaps ever in the history of topics I was going to go as far as to say David do you realize this might be the best show we ever do without a script it’s possible it’s just (00:44) the best show that’s ever happened ever yep have we oversold it yet no we’re we’re under selling it yeah yeah let’s go for it look we got to thinking about what is something that we could talk about that would be really useful for investors right in general and you know we talk about all kinds of stuff the the reality is right now Market’s really difficult to handicap you don’t know which way it’s headed everyone trying to figure it out and if someone knew well they’d be a billionaire right so that’s (01:14) the the the first issue here markets tough to handicap then we talked about the news cycle and yeah it’s just a bunch of everybody should hate everybody else per the usual there so then we got to thinking well how could we provide some value to our listeners yeah okay and uh we we started asking the question so you know there’s a bunch of things that we take for granted as Financial professionals because we assume people know stuff that they don’t actually know maybe yeah it may be that and so we (01:47) thought about it so well what if we were to do a show that was really built to say what is available to investors at various stages of investment from like your brand I knew you’ve never done this I don’t even know how it works all the way up to hey we’ve got a lot going on here where should I be headed with this right and so I think today what we’re going to do is attempt to help investors figure out where am I and what is available to me I want to say what options are available to me but when I (02:22) say options option is an actual type of investment we kind of touch on like what helping people identify what they need so that they know like not only what’s available but what do I kind of need given my circumstance no I mean like why would we be that useful that seem like all right maybe he not asking too much yeah and I you know the TR the tricky part we can’t give personalized investment advice there’s a bunch of liability associated with that but what we can do is talk about the broader circumstance and what I want our (02:52) listeners to be able to do today like just think about where you’re at and and maybe it’s not just for you maybe this is something that you can help uh somebody else right so maybe you’re already an investor maybe you’re a parent or a grandparent but you want to help a kid or a grandkid get started and you’re thinking well how do we do that okay so I’m going to start out with the very most basic here uh let’s talk about what are the most common Investments that people buy and and then because the (03:20) show’s going to kind of orbit around those a little bit okay today we’re not really talking about real estate a whole lot okay I think that that’s certainly a worthy invest but I don’t want to talk about the Exotic you’re talking more like what do people actually go out of their way to invest in that’s not like well I have to own a home because I need someplace to sleep you’re talking like actually going out to invest and I’m also talking about what might you own inside of a retirement plan so there are (03:48) some things that we could talk about and I’m just going to sort of glance over them right we’re not going to talk about investing inside of life insurance policies today nope too weird okay we’re not going to talk about buying art today we’re not going to talk about collectible items like maybe you want to buy classic cars and you know fix them up and flip them okay that these are all real things by the way but that’s not the the flex today if you will right okay so what I want to talk about first (04:17) and foremost is some of the the standard things so stocks and bonds mhm first of all we’re get to take what are they and then we can talk about how does so

The Yen surges, the markets vomit and rumors are swirling. What really happened?   SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT (00:07) all right welcome to the true wealth show on this the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week I’m your host Dave Little John in studio with me today Matt Dixon and as I like to say have we got a show for you cuz you know what there’s a lot of stuff going on yeah no kidding cuz the markets are giving us a show this week like I show a force in the wrong direction yeah definitely today was a little relieved but jeez woo Matt yeah what is going on all right so I’m going to break this down as simply as I can (00:36) and you’re probably going to have to be like what Matt really tried to say is this I doubt it I doubt it all right so basically a bunch of us investors were going to Japan and changing in their dollars for Yen okay and then they were taking that Yen and they were borrowing at 0% because Japan had been basically letting people borrow it 0% and then they were taking that money and buying US Stocks specifically the Magnificent 7 so companies like Google meta Facebook Amazon Tesla like the big Microsoft Microsoft Apple and apple I (01:18) think that’s the set let’s focus on Nvidia a little bit just by this is Matt’s favorite one to kick a little bit right now it is okay and we’ve loved Nvidia in the past but right now Woodshed all right here we go so they borrow this money at 0% and then what they did is they not only turned around and bought these tech stocks but they bought them on margin and on Leverage so a fancy way of saying that talk talk about what does that mean so like if you bought on margin right you could take $10,000 and then use your margin to buy (01:50) $20,000 worth of stock yeah it essentially margin is the credit card right if the and the way margin works is you’re getting a loan with collateral okay so you’re using your in your account as the collateral so or they bought with leverage yeah is the other one well and well that margin is how you get leverage right but the other way that you get leverage and you still need a margin account to do this right a margin account is essentially an account that allows you to borrow money and it also allows you to have the (02:26) Securities in your account loaned or borrowed that’s a good point to be made yeah so it is kind of like a loan right and not just loaned on but like if you have 100 shares of stock that you may that stock may be Borrowed by somebody else MH and then returned to you okay and it’s up to the broker dealer environment to manage that element but but we’re getting a little too complicated right now so basically they margin is leverage so they bought all these kind of higher risk I’m air quoting that stocks that had been doing (02:59) really really well they had been making a lot of money yeah in fact on paper for the last year or two they would look low risk if you were just measuring the downside volatility let’s just for easy numbers say the stock went up 10% right but if you had leveraged it and say with twice the amount of margin for example so if your asset grew and grew by $10,000 but you had used margin times two maybe you’re now making $20,000 instead of just 10,000 yeah right so the it looked really good but you also get (03:38) bit if the stock moves down twice as hard right yes yeah and I’m I’m getting ready to like explain all this it’ll be fun so what happened was you know we saw stock slide maybe 10% on these grow stocks well instead of just a 10% loss that’s a 20% loss and then you extrapolate that out with they now have this Margin Call where they have to pay back money that’s due so what do they have to do in order to get access to money they had to force liquidate the stocks that they were holding and how (04:14) does the stock market work yeah uh the balance of supply and demand right so we just had a a supply glut and a demand decrease right so everyone’s having to well all these big hedge funds and other big investors are having to sell sell sell sell sell in order to cover the debts that they had well they did that and so now we see the stocks fall even further and on top of that now they have to go convert their Yen back into US dollars in order to make those payments well guess what the Yen appreciated 11% (04:45) over the dollar in just that short little window of time so now they get dinged on the way out too yeah so let’s think of it this way um you the same way that if you were buying a house right you actually buy a house with Leverage I need 20% down to buy the whole house right and then I have to make payments on it right I have to pay interest okay the same thing happens in a margin account the difference is the equity in your house is Cash in a traditional mortgage

With rising costs, high interest rates and expensive housing, how do we adapt and become successful given these difficult times? Let’s talk about ways to bolster our financial and physical health. In this episode, you will learn the following:   Benefits of saving more than the traditional 10-15% of your income to achieve greater financial independence and flexibility. Why delaying Social Security benefits could significantly boost your retirement funds. How planning for financial self sufficiency can mitigate fears about the future of Social Security. The distinction between good and bad debt. Practical advice on avoiding common pitfalls like credit card misuse. Effective methods such as negotiating lower interest rates and using Dave Ramsey’s snowball effect to tackle high interest debt. Why it’s important to reduce access to credit once debts are paid off to avoid falling back into the debt trap. Insights into leveraging the financial system to your advantage with disciplined money management. Power of compound interest and how responsibly using debt can benefit small business owners. Concept of “living large on less” by making thoughtful choices and maintaining the things you own to reduce replacement costs. Distinguishing between wants and needs, evaluating high cost items, and finding cost effective ways to enjoy life without overspending. Importance of incorporating generosity into your financial plan. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 How much time did you spend over those five years oiling and taking care of them to go buy an $80 pair of shoes?   00:00:00 Yeah.   00:00:00 I don’t know. But which in my wife is the exact opposite for shoes. I bought her shoes. I don’t have a problem buying my wife shoes because I bought her shoes that are just 10 year old shoes that look brand new.   00:00:00 Oh, yeah.   00:00:00 I’m horrible on shoes. So I never buy shoes. My wife buys me shoes. But I won’t buy them because either, just a tool, they’re just going on your feet. And then when they wear out, as long as they don’t look horrible.   00:00:00 All right, everybody. Welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show. Today, I am your host, Matt Dickson, and with me in studio.   00:00:51 Justin Bruggeman.   00:00:52 And we’ve got an action packed show for you guys today where we are talking kind of about the flow of money through your life. And we’ve got a lot for you today where we’re going to be kind of talking about, you know, kind of different phases of life, spending, saving and how that all kind of ties together. And we might even throw cool couple statistics at you that you didn’t know. So Justin, do you kind of want to start the show off today kind of talking about maybe, like ways that we can kind of rethink building wealth? Like we have some preconceived notions. How might we kind of be able to branch out away from those preconceived notions and maybe adopt, kind of a different way of looking at things? Because times are changing, right? Like inflation is here and what rules applied to us maybe five years ago or 10 years ago maybe aren’t the same rules that we’re playing by today because things are different and people are going through unique, kind of new situations. Like I know when I was kind of getting ready for the show today, one of the things that I looked at was just home ownership statistics, right? And if you look at like, millennials versus Gen X at the same age, kind of in that 25 to 34 years old, what is the rate of home ownership? Millennials are at 43% where Gen X was at 51%.   00:02:18 Right.   00:02:19 So that’s an 8% reduction in people owning homes, you know, and that’s pretty big when you start to think about it, almost one out of every 10 people that might have had a home now doesn’t. Right. And so that’s a change, right? Like houses have become more expensive, harder to get into a house. So things have really changed. And so I want us to keep that in mind as we start thinking about, kind of that need to reshape the way that we’re spending or that we’re saving. Talk to me a little bit about, kind of what’s on your mind as far as kind of ways that we can rethink this whole thing.   00:02:58 Yeah, a little bit of it is, we kind of have the general like numbers is, you know, save 10 to 15% for retirement.   00:03:04 Right.   00:03:05 But we don’t really ever talk about is why not more, if it makes sense.   00:03:11 Right. Like if you can actually do it, why stop at 10 percent?   00:03:15 Right.   00:03:15 Okay. I like that.   00:03:17 And so, and then it’s not a matter of, you know, if I maintain this path, am I going to make it? But if I accelerate the path, it can change your options.   00:03:26 R

Using a tax deferred retirement account can be a great idea, but have you considered taxes when you go to retire? Could your required minimum distributions actually drive you into a higher tax bracket? This is the show you can’t afford to miss.   SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT   (00:07) all right gang it is that time of the week it is the favorite Tuesday You’ had all weekend it is time for the true wealth radio show I am your host Dave Littlejohn in studio today with me Matt Dickson and our special guest nobody but us y yep so glad that we’ve got each other so thanks for hanging out mat I’m ready to go yeah we have got an interesting question to post today yeah right and here’s the question Matt mhm at what point have you put too much money into pre-tax or otherwise known as (00:43) qualified retirement plans I don’t know that there’s a necessary like a actual number that we can slap on there because it can kind of vary right but there surely is a number out there where it’s like maybe you’ve put too much in so I kind of want to unpack that today right I I was waiting for him to say it’s $4 good show let’s that’s a wrap right nope we’re not going to do it we’re going to actually answer the question if you’ve if you’re wondering how could you (01:12) possibly think that you’ve got too much money in a retirement plan so there’s there’s a funny funny element at play here okay so I mean help our listeners for a second what is the what is the concern that we as advisers have about about really big retirement plans maybe I’ll try and oversimplify it right yes say you’re in a 20% tax bracket today because you’re deferring some of your income into a retirement account all right pretty simple what if you defer enough over a long enough period of time (01:50) you grow that retirement account substantially and when you go to retire you have to take out so much money that you have jumped into a higher tax bracket so here’s what there’s there’s this critical piece some people do not know and that is that retirement plans particularly these a qualified pre-tax plan like a traditional IRA traditional IAS 401ks 403bs and so forth the IRS will only let you defer money for so long before they start looking for you to pay taxes right right and that age has been changed but it’s now (02:34) currently 73 73 and then you start to have what’s known as a required minimum distribution right so you have to take some portion of that money out of the retirement account they force you to yeah it’s compulsory in nature and how do they force you to well if you don’t do it they tax you at 50% of what you should have taken out it’s a lot which is so just take the money out it’s yeah and and so that is higher than the highest marginal tax bracket mhm so they’re essentially they’re saying we (03:04) will make you pay the highest tax we have if you refuse to take money out of your retirement plan right so now you have to think to yourself wait a minute what happens if I make more money in our current tax system well we have what’s known as a progressive tax system which means very simply the more you make the higher your tax rate goes right and it tops out around what 30 37% feral and you know that changes from time to time depending on Administration MH right so depending on the makeup of Congress and the White (03:40) House that the those tax rules can change and they have certainly have throughout my few decades working around this I guess more than two decades few makes it sound like more than three I haven’t been doing this for 30 years I’m in the year 25 so it’s been a while and I’ve seen a lot of tax changes mhm so here’s the here’s the rub right if you in retirement have a really big retirement plan then you’re going to have a really big required distribution right which will drive your tax bracket (04:16) higher in because it’s a larger distribution right and here’s another thing to think about you just mentioned it right policies change with different administrations yes what has been a recent change that we’ve seen since Biden took office the secure act right right and that’s a big deal because we’re talking about like these Ira growing to a you know a sizable amount and then you end up in a higher tax bracket but we also got to think about what are the implications to the heirs of those retirement accounts can I just (04:53) for a sec can I just hit pause on this one yeah because what I’d really like to do for for everybody listening let me let me paint this the the scene for a minute here the IRS has kind of a an interesting approach here they typically do not tax something twi

Let’s examine how the stock market has been affected by presidential elections. We’ll analyze past patterns, talk about how the market has responded to various political administrations, and provide helpful investing advice. Discover why it’s critical for investors to prioritize market fundamentals over political preconceptions. In this episode, you will learn the following: How emotional reactions, particularly fear and stress, can cloud judgment and lead to hasty financial decisions. Importance of maintaining emotional detachment in high stress professions like investing, drawing parallels to the medical field’s rule against operating on family members. The benefits of training and preparedness in managing market uncertainties. How political debates and election outcomes can influence stock market perceptions and behaviors. Historical patterns and common misconceptions about the impact of political outcomes on market performance. Interplay between advancing technology, increasing energy demands and the market implications of different energy sources. Environmental impact, cost effectiveness and potential of nuclear and renewable energy sources in the current financial landscape. How money supply, government expenditures and political regimes influence market trends and behavior. Historical spending patterns under different political regimes and their effects on market growth with a focus on large cap stocks linked to AI and sector specific volatility. Psychology behind smart investment choices, emphasizing the need for self awareness and logical decision making over emotional responses. Market dynamics during election years reflecting on historical patterns and understanding sector specific volatility. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT (00:00) you become less rational when you’re when you’re really stressed and fear is a big one and markets tend to produce fear right stock markets can be very scary things are going down it generates a stress response and what do you do you can you you skip the logic Center sacrifice accuracy for Speed because of fear all right it is that time of the weekend welcome back to the true wealth radio show on this the best Tuesday you’ve had all week uh I’m your host Dave Little John back from Beyond yeah (00:40) you were gone there for a minute uh yeah I think at least two shows I was gone three three yeah they never yeah they’re not going to let me that live that down either the best three shows that there there’s ever been and and I wasn’t part of it well yeah for June how about that the best three shows in June yeah fine but July whole new month a lot new content that we’re ready to start pushing out we are it’s time to launch um let’s go straight into the fun Matt did you watch the debate yeah so I have (01:16) only seen Clips I haven’t watched it start to finish on the road no I actually need to watch the whole I can’t claim that I’ve seen the whole thing I I caught about 25% of it and then I had other stuff that was more pressing and so I stepped out but then I caught the highlight on the other 75% and um the highlights seemed to have been enough that the the fumbles were pretty significant big time um here’s why do I bring it up right well we keep getting asked the question you know what does this mean for the stock market right and (01:50) we’ve been getting this question a lot and so I really think it’s worth unpacking you know um what if we get a republican in office what if we get a democrat in office how is that going to change things and I think a lot of people are under the impression that it’s going to have a radical change to the market and so we need to unpack that and I think one of the best ways to do that is to look to history right there’s been a lot of elections in our past what has happened not that it’s going to (02:19) pertain to the future but it’s a decent indicator as to maybe what we can kind of expect right the as the joke goes history doesn’t repeat itself but it Rhymes ah there you go yeah so yeah it’s really not partisan today believe it or not um that’s not to say that we’re not inherently partisan I mean everybody brings their own opinions to this one um this is where in the interest of disclosure like I’m just a total wasp right white anglosaxon Protestant yep got you know three kids at home and a nuclear family and we’re (02:53) still doing that stuff and uh you know for some people that makes me like hey r on and for other people are like oh my gosh you’re an oppressor and to those people I just say I don’t know pants down it’s ridiculous yeah like you know show me where the oppression occurs and well we don’t know your privilege or this that and the other go man we’re going to

Explore the implications of the recent Trump assassination attempt on the financial markets. Lets unpack immediate market reactions and analyze potential long-term impacts if Trump secures the presidency. Discover which sectors might thrive and which could face challenges under his leadership. Tune in for expert insights and strategic advice to navigate this complex economic landscape. Episode Highlights: How the stock market reacted with notable increases to the assassination attempt of Donald Trump. Reviewing how the markets initially reacted during the assassination attempts of Ronald Reagan and JFK The assassination of JFK led to more significant market turmoil with the Dow dropping 2.9% Companies in the coal and oil sectors saw stock increases following Vance’s alignment with Trump. Foreign direct investment in the U.S. was reported to slow down by 15% immediately following the assassination attempt. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here

There are many layers of a financial plan: the real question is, do you need one? Ignorance is not bliss: learn about ways you can start planning for your future today.   Episode Highlights:   The critical benefits of starting financial planning early in life, particularly in your twenties or thirties, to ensure a stable financial future. Evaluation of the current financial landscape, including income, expenses and future goals, to create a comprehensive plan. How to establish and balance short term and long term financial objectives to maintain motivation and track progress. Examples of practical goals such as building an emergency fund, paying off debt, or saving for significant life events. Assessing your personal risk tolerance to choose appropriate investment options, whether conservative or aggressive. Aligning investment strategies with your risk appetite to optimize financial growth and security. Key considerations for retirement planning, including projecting retirement income needs and planning for healthcare costs and longevity. Being realistic and transparent about your financial situation to avoid underestimating expenses. Benefits of diversifying your investment portfolio across various assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate to manage risk and enhance returns. Strategic allocation of assets based on time horizons and financial goals. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Significant time on getting this thing really crafted. And then they drop a bomb on me at the end of it. And they’re like, I got $200,000 of gold too. And I’m like, that would have been nice to know at the beginning.   00:00:00 That’s great information.   00:00:00 Yeah, because that completely changes the entire picture here. And you were super stressed out this whole time about your financial plan. And you’re willing to actually spend on some of that gold that you have, well that changes everything. And now that lifestyle that you wanted is very doable.   00:00:40 What’s going on, everybody? This is Matt Dickson. And with me in studio today for the True Wealth Radio Show is.   00:00:46 Justin Bruggeman.   00:00:48 Justin. Wow. This is what? Three part series now.   00:00:52 Three weeks in a row.   00:00:53 Yeah. So we are on a roll. We’ve been going over a lot of really good material and we’ve got more of that good material for you today. Justin, talk to me a little bit about what’s on the agenda for today’s show. What can listeners kind of expect?   00:01:08 Yeah, we’re going to talk about what, well, the pros of having a financial plan and what is included in a financial plan?   00:01:19 I think that’s a really important thing for us to talk about because a lot of the times when I’m fielding a phone call from someone who is just inquiring to the firm, you know, they have a lot of questions and they don’t necessarily know how to ask those because they don’t really know what it is they’re looking for, because they don’t really know what goes into a retirement plan. And so you get a lot of comments like, I have some assets in my retirement account and I’ve got some savings, but I’m six years away from where I think I might be able to retire, but I don’t know if I can retire. Can I retire? I need answers to these questions. So I think this is a really good show because people don’t know what they can expect.   00:02:04 Right.   00:02:05 So talk to me a little bit about some of the things that kind of go into a financial plan or kind of that comprehensive wealth management. What does that really look like, Justin?   00:02:15 Right, and so I guess to start off, what is a financial plan? So we’re even gonna go to the actual definition because it can be interpreted a lot of different ways, but the process of assessing the current financial situation and future goals and how to achieve them.   00:02:35 I think that’s a big one, the future goals part, because a lot of the time, you know, people are just looking at, what do I have and is that good enough? But they’re not looking at what, is it that I actually want to achieve, not what, is it that I feel like I just have to achieve.   00:02:50 And the best part about financial planning is, one, it’s subjective, and two, it is different for every person. There’s not a cookie cutter, you know, just save this amount and that’ll, you know, you’ll be fine, which yeah, there’s a dollar amount that probably is fine. But I mean, you have differences in clients. Some clients are spending $15,000 a month in retirement and others are spending three.   00:03:17 Right. So looking at where you at currently versus where do you want to be in the future and trying to run some proj

How can you achieve financial and emotional peace while thriving in today’s challenging economic landscape? Discover strategies for adopting a minimalist lifestyle, prioritizing mental health, smart financial management, and investing in personal growth. Lets talk about balancing your life, accumulating wealth, maintaining a high quality of living, and building long-term happiness.   Episode Highlights: Three crucial stages of financial growth: accumulation, maintenance, and distribution. How simplifying one’s lifestyle can lead to financial success. The pitfalls of lifestyle inflation and the necessity of maintaining a robust emergency fund. Useful tools and apps for tracking spending and managing finances. How individual goals and lifestyles impact retirement strategies. Challenges millennials face in the workforce. (longer hours, relatively lower income, and high turnover rates) Balancing work-life and personal life to avoid burnout and achieve financial goals. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 Adopting this minimalist lifestyle. You know, of course it starts with creating the budget and not going outside. Because to get to the accumulation phase, you have to have a base. Otherwise, you just never get there. You’re just chasing this accumulation phase. And so, you know, even if you’re doing the right things, you know, saving 10 to 15% requirements, saving 10%, but then you have a bunch of outstanding debt. You’re not really accumulate. You’re almost taking back.   00:00:40 What’s going on, everybody? This is Matt Dickson and with me in studio today…   00:00:45 Justin Bruggeman.   00:00:47 All right, guys, we have got an awesome show for you today. We are going to be talking about some really important stuff. And I think inside of the show, we’ve got something for every single listener, no matter what your age, no matter what, you know, your financial situation. We’ve got something here that you probably want to hear. Justin, thanks for joining us today.   00:01:07 Or we don’t want.   00:01:09 Yeah, or maybe you don’t want to hear it. But kind of the the thing I want to talk about today is. You know, we’re in. I didn’t know this. I’ll be honest, but. Millennials, right? There’s a lot of conversation around millennials. They are making up an extremely large portion of the workforce right now. In fact, millennials are making up. I think by the year 2025, they estimate 75% of the workforce. Yeah, the global workforce is not just in the US. And I didn’t realize that it was that large. In fact, back in 2016, millennials became the largest generation in the labor force. And that’s quite an, I mean, eight years ago? Yeah. And if you would have asked me, I would not have guessed that at all. And so one of the things, you know, when I think about millennials, I’m thinking about how they’re in this accumulation phase, right? Right. Where they’re working hard to try and make their way in life. And how’s that going for them versus maybe some other generations in the past? But then the second part being, you know, once you actually accumulate some wealth, how do you kind of maintain a lifestyle? And so what are some of those kind of challenges inside of that accumulation phase? And more than just that, it’s looking at how do we balance the work life, the home life, the personal life, right? Because we always want to talk about how do we accumulate wealth? Well, you know, I think that it’s something where, you know, we got to look at this and say there’s more to it than just building wealth.   00:03:00 Right?   00:03:02 It’s taking care of yourself along the way because it’s really easy to get burning. Let’s just jump right into this thing and kind of start talking about, you know, we’ve always got this drive for more. And I was watching an old Western just the other night and it introed with, you know, I forget the quote, but it was something to be effective. Every man’s just looking to put more gold in its wagon. Right. And I kind of think about it from the standpoint of, well, you can keep doing that. You can keep piling gold in the wagon, but you pile too much in there and the weight of it might start to break the axis. Right. Like there can be something almost too much. So how do you find a balance where you’re not doing so much outside of, you know, living that you kind of lose sight of where it is that you’re going in and are you enjoying the ride along?   00:04:01 Almost your output. Weighing more than your input.   00:04:05 Yeah.   00:04:05 So are you just putting too much time?   00:04:07 Yeah. Do you got any kind of recommendations for the listeners? Well, you know, hearing this and saying

Let’s discuss how retirement plans can provide tax benefits and serve as a retention tool for employees. We’ll also explore the role of financial advisors in helping entrepreneurs optimize benefit packages and the importance of understanding the scope of their services. Discover how Littlejohn Financial’s unique approach sets them apart in the industry, with a focus on providing compassionate guidance and personalized solutions tailored specifically for entrepreneurs. Episode Highlights: Understanding the importance of planning for family businesses Leveraging retirement plans for tax benefits and employee retention Navigating the differences between fiduciary and suitability obligations Evaluating investment performance in context and the impact of managed products SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 They do some common things in their business, but then a lot of things are not common, right? So, everybody’s kind of running their own business within a business. And so you don’t get the consistency of result by going from player to player. Some practitioners are really good and some are less so.   00:00:23 All right, it is that time of the week. It is your favorite Tuesday of How to All Week, and it is time for the True Wealth Radio Show. I’m your host, Dave Littlejohn, in studio with me today.   00:00:34 Matt Dickson.   00:00:35 Okay, Matt.   00:00:35 Yes.   00:00:37 Thank you for doing the prep work for the show today by not letting me see the prep work for the show today.   00:00:43 I know, I only printed one copy, so it’s like. Maybe it’s the interview Dave show.   00:00:48 It’s the, let’s see how well Dave does on his toes day. Should be fun.   00:00:54 I’ll walk you through it. How about that?   00:00:57 I love it. What is the theme that’s developing today?   00:01:04 I think a lot of people kind of have questions around, you know, what maybe does a financial advisor even do, right? We know they deal with money in some fashion or another. But more than just that, it’s talking, I think today, about business owners or people that have a company or an entrepreneur of some sort. Look at this and they’re like, how do I invest outside of my business? Most of the time, you know, people that have a business and are good at running a business, they know that landscape really well. But they might not know maybe some ways that they can save on taxes or you know, invest in ways that allow the business to continue to grow, but also to put some potential money in their own pocket and employees pockets. So I want to talk a little bit today to business owners and people who are even thinking about starting a business in the future.   00:01:57 So, business owners and entrepreneurs. And what I heard sneaking between the lines of everything you just said was some people want to invest a lot of people, the business is their investment. But what if you could reposition some money out of the IRS’s account and back into your own?   00:02:20 Yeah. Especially, yeah. I mean, talking about what are some of the benefits of maybe opening a retirement account. We could kind of start there in really generic language and say, is a retirement plan a good idea? And—   00:02:32 Yes. Okay, next question.   00:02:34 So could you talk to me maybe about some of the choices that are out there for someone who does have their own business and how those work.   00:02:43 Yes, I feel like just for those listening to kind of help out though a little bit, first consider, you know, maybe you’re not a business owner. This probably is still interesting to you in that, if you understand how the business made a decision, it may help you as an employee to kind of figure out like why are they doing this? What’s in it for me?   00:03:06 I think we should talk about the flip side of this. If you’re the employee and you’re being offered this menu to choose from like, hey, I’m allowed to open this type of retirement account. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t open another type of retirement account on your own.   00:03:21 So again, backdrop for everybody here, because I don’t assume that everybody knows what we’re talking about yet, right? The challenge of living in the financial world is that we do this all the time. And I know you guys listening, not everybody does this all the time. Right? So if you own a business, one of the things that now the state of Oregon pushes this to, right? They’re saying we want to help people save. Right? And so they’re encouraging businesses to open up or in certain cases, requiring businesses to create retirement plans. Okay. Which is kind of a weird thing. It doesn’t mean that the employer has to contribute

In this episode, we delve into the real stories of celebrities who went from riches to rags and explore the common financial mistakes that led to their downfall. Learn how to avoid lifestyle inflation, poor investment decisions, and inadequate financial planning to protect and grow your wealth. Tune in for essential tips and strategies to help secure your financial future and prevent common pitfalls. Episode Highlights: How lifestyle inflation can erode your financial stability. Insights into practical strategies for maintaining and growing your wealth after the accumulation phase. The importance of not overspending and questioning traditional guidelines for housing expenses. Common financial mistakes that high income earners make, especially in terms of tax traps and how to avoid these pitfalls and seize beneficial opportunities to protect your wealth. Tax traps that can erode your wealth. How to manage taxes effectively and avoid costly mistakes. Risks associated with overleveraging– borrowing too much to fund your lifestyle or investments– and how it can lead to financial instability. Significance of diversifying your investments to avoid being over-concentrated in a single asset class or stock. Tips on how to adjust your financial goals and savings strategies to account for inflation and this includes practical advice like increasing your retirement contributions when you get a raise.   Transcript   00:00:00 I mean, maybe you’re not in the accumulation phase of, you know, retirement is, right? You’re, this is more towards, you know, trying to get money out of my estate. I don’t want to pay more taxes than I have to, especially in Oregon, because Oregon is expensive. Right. So taking those steps, and I can’t remember where I read that like 75% of people don’t even have a will. 00:00:00 What’s going on, everybody? This is Matt Dickson and this is The True Wealth Radio Show. Today, I’ve got a… awesome guest speaker in the house. 00:00:41 If I still consider it a guest? 00:00:42 Yeah, because you’re not here enough, Justin. 00:00:45 This is Justin Bruggeman. 00:00:46 Yep, so one of the other advisors at the firm that just so happened to make it onto the radio show today and probably actually will over the next maybe week or two. 00:00:55 For the next couple of weeks. 00:00:56 Yeah, we’re running this thing and we’re super excited to do it. Justin, I wanna just pick your brain today. I noticed a trend. When we run this radio show, we’re often talking about how do you acquire wealth and what are some of the tactics in order to be able to generate more income or save more money. And so I’m kind of curious to see the opposite of that. So after you’ve already kind of gained your wealth, right? After you’ve already gone through that accumulation phase and you’ve got the money that you’re looking to get, maybe you’ve become wealthy, how do you preserve that wealth and not squander it? And it’s funny because I was talking about this earlier when I was kind of drafting the show up and I was talking to the ladies at the office. And I, they asked, you know, what are you going to do for a show today? And I was talking about, how can, you know, we stay rich instead of squandering our wealth. 00:02:04 Right. 00:02:05 And they’re like, oh, well, that’s simple. You know, just don’t spend a lot of money. And I think that’s everyone’s kind of knee jerk reaction, right? It’s like, well, just don’t blow it all. But– 00:02:15 Just spend less than you make. 00:02:16 Right. But I think there’s a lot more to it than that. Right. Like that’s the easy answer and that is part of it. Right. But I think there’s a lot more than just, don’t blow it because I mean you look at a lot of these pro athletes and all of these people that, you know, start a business and do really well and they grow their net worth oftentimes they fail. 00:02:39 Right. 00:02:39 And so I want to talk a little bit today about what are some ways that you can preserve the wealth and not squander it? Do you kind of want to head this show off and give us maybe a starting point as to some ideas that maybe you have on ways that we can preserve our wealth? 00:03:01 It’s almost not even, it’s maintaining wealth and the stepping stones to growing, to where you really want to be long-term. I mean, even take this, your first home purchase that isn’t necessarily intended to be your home forever. It’s a stepping stone to get to where you want to be or where you’re most comfortable and where you can within your budget. 00:03:29 Okay. 00:03:31 And then what we’ve kind of talked about kind of prepping for this is the inflation and the lifestyle. 00:03:39 I mean, just speaking about what you just mentioned, your first house, you know, we kind of together looked at t

Ready to dive deeper into real estate investing? In part 2 of this series, we’ll cover important aspects you need to know about real estate investing to help you make smarter investment decisions. Episode Highlights: How real estate investment can reshape your financial future and the importance of location in property investment. The impact of shifting urban boundaries post-COVID on real estate values and how the American dream is evolving due to rising homeownership costs. Strategies for negotiating real estate prices on, using Detroit as a case study to understand supply and demand dynamics. Motivations behind property transactions and debunking myths about landlords’ roles in rent hikes. Advanced techniques for scaling your real estate portfolio including refinancing, leveraging depreciation and using the 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes. Complexities and benefits of real estate trusts in estate planning and investment and how they can circumvent certain tax issues. Risks and rewards of high leverage real estate strategies, exemplified by Donald Trump’s approach and an outline of three paths to billionaire status in real estate. A comparison of different methods to evaluate property values such as cap rates and how to assess the attractiveness of a real estate investment compared to other financial alternatives. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 Even with taxes, you could simply gift things away if you didn’t want to pay taxes on it, right? Give it to a charity, end of the discussion, right? So there’s not typically, I just can’t conjure a reason where somebody would willfully lose money unless it’s like they had a stupid bet or something, or if they could figure out how to do it, they got paid for, I don’t know.   00:00:27 Hi, gang. Welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show. On this, the greatest 10 day you’ve had all week. Matt, why do I call it a 10 day?   00:00:35 Well, because it really does feel like a Monday, but somehow it’s not. It’s a Tuesday.   00:00:40 Right, and when you kind of cram two days worth of work into one, because you took Monday off, Tuesday is a ton day.   00:00:47 Yes, it is.   00:00:47 Tuesday and a Monday equals a 10 day. Welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show, guys. We are picking up on something that we started a week or two ago.   00:00:58 Yeah, two weeks.   00:00:59 Two weeks ago, three weeks ago. And then we had some folks ask more questions and said, can we kind of like keep going with that one? And it was a show about real estate. It ended up that the first segment or the first show, we talked a lot about home ownership and how hard that is, how expensive it is, what that looks like. Today, I think we’re gonna talk a little bit more about investment real estate.   00:01:25 Sure.   00:01:26 Right? And I think more specifics, we’ve got some of the things that go on with investment real estate. And keep in mind, we’re not real estate professionals here. We are financial advisors that are talking about what real estate looks like. That being said, I do invest in real estate personally. So, a few of these things, it’s like, hey, I stayed on Holiday Inn Express. We could probably figure it out, right?   00:01:49 Well, and it doesn’t have to be, you know, super detailed strategies either, because real estate for a lot of people, especially as an investment, that’s kind of a foreign landscape. So even if we just touch on kind of those high level points, I think a lot of people might walk away feeling pretty good about that.   00:02:04 Sure, sure. And so we’re going to do that today. We’re going to kind of muddle our way through some of its questions. Some of it is just stuff we’re going to… when I say question, like we’ve had some of our clients ask us stuff and then, you know, we’re gonna guess at some of the questions you guys have out there listening today too. So Matt, first and foremost, when we’re talking about real estate, what do you think is one of the most important things that we need to consider if we’re investing in real estate?   00:02:30 Location.   00:02:31 Ah, okay. There you go.   00:02:33 No, seriously. Like if you’re buying out in the middle of nowhere and there’s no utilities nearby and it’s just scab ground, like that might very well be worth the same amount that you bought it for 20 years from now.   00:02:47 It’s interesting. It’s so true that, and this is what happens, I give like massively vague questions to Matt and be like, let’s just get the show started with it, like an open-ended vague question, and you go straight for location. There’s so much buried in that, you know?   00:03:02 Well, there is. You w

Today’s show provides quick, practical advice to help parents save for their child’s college tuition. Learn tips, strategies, and insights from experts to make college savings simple and effective. Start securing your child’s academic future now!   Episode Highlights: The often overlooked expenses of college education such as room and board and strategies for managing them. Non monetary benefits of a college education, including life lessons and independence. Importance of early financial planning for college and the diverse paths available post high school such as entering the workforce or further education. Strategic major selection and how personal readiness and life goals can influence education and career paths. Critical role of financial literacy in a successful future and how writing skills are important in explaining complex concepts. Insights into 529 plans and Roth IRAs including recent legislative enhancements and their impact on educational savings. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 Find something that you can be interested in and it will greatly increase your chances. What was I interested in? Marketing. So I ended up in the creative advertising channel, which was a journalism degree, not a business degree. Like the business advertising is all about numbers and media buying, which was like a giant yawn to me. Media buying, how interesting is that? Let’s go figure out where the target demographic lives and how much we have to pay to reach them. Yawn, right? But Super Bowl ads? Those were awesome. Right? Maybe you disagree, but I thought that was awesome. So that’s how my career path found me, or how my education path found me.   00:00:00 All right, that is the cue. We got our music playing, our favorite music said nobody ever. Welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show on this, the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week. I’m your host, Dave Littlejohn. In studio with me today?   00:00:57 Matt Dickson.   00:00:58 And also a special guest. It’ll all make sense in a minute. Thank you for joining me.   00:01:03 Knut Torvik.   00:01:04 All right. So Knut, first of all, I’ve known you for a long time. You have, it’s, you have the advantage, something I don’t. You know what this is besides your striking good looks? That’s the word, it’s radio, right? You have kids that are in or nearly through the college system.   00:01:26 That is right. I have a daughter who’s just… will graduate from [U of O] now in about four weeks, and I have a daughter who’s gonna start in September.   00:01:36 Okay, so you’ve got one who’s about to finish, one who’s about to start. And I’m gonna be super selfish on the show today because this is my chance to ask, normally we’re like, we give a lot of advice on the show. That’s kind of the deal. But I’m gonna be asking Knut for advice today because here’s a guy that’s paved the road before me and we’re gonna be talking. So for everybody listening today, we’re getting close to graduation season. And so this… today is all about education. We’re gonna be talking about the cost of education, how we pay for education, what is the value of education, not necessarily the same as cost, or maybe we’re measuring it with different terms. And so I hope you’ll stick around and listen today because there’s a lot going on. But first, right out of the gate, Knut, now that you’ve launched one, or you’ve already launched one, you’re about to launch the next one, all right, is there anything that you would say, I learned, I did not expect this in the process? Or is something you learn that you’re, like everybody should watch out for this?   00:02:43 Well the biggest shock is the cost. We always talk about how expensive college is, but one thing I didn’t really consider was the cost of room and board, how expensive that is.   00:02:56 Okay.   00:02:57 And even if, you know, at the University of Oregon, the kids have to stay on call, on campus for the first year. She did that now, she’s moved out. And I had no idea how expensive housing was around there.   00:03:12 Right, just the either on or near campus housing options. Yeah, it’s definitely a premium.   00:03:20 And also how they force you to sign and lease that goes from September to September. Well, of course, she’s going to finish up in June and we still have to pay her lease for another two and a half months.   00:03:33 Oh, that’s delightful.   00:03:35 It is. Nice housing option. But basically it’s looking, glorified campus housing. It’s not that nice.   00:03:46 Now did she live on campus, like on campus housing itself for the freshman year? &#

Let’s take a look at what goes into making real estate an investment. How do we evaluate price, timing and developing a healthy portfolio. Episode Highlights: How investing personal labor into property improvements can significantly increase the value of real estate and lead to equity gains. Why real estate is often overlooked by financial advisors and how it can play a critical role in diversifying a financial portfolio, providing stability, and contributing to wealth management. The nuances of property valuation, market conditions, and the importance of understanding real estate investment from a business perspective. Capital gains tax exemptions for primary residences and the strategic financial choices involved in property investment such as the potential capital gains tax exemption when selling a primary residence. Journey towards real estate ownership, the responsibilities that come with being a landlord, and how state-specific laws can impact the landlord-tenant dynamic. Concept of making extra mortgage payments early on to reduce interest over time, leading to financial stability and freeing up funds for further investment opportunities. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 When you say sweat equity, what do you mean?   00:00:00 I’m talking about you’re willing to do some work to improve the house. You’re sweating it out, right? Like you’re the one swinging the hammer and chopping the wood. But if you have, if you’re at all handy and you can put some work into it, you might gain equity. So if you bought it for $100,000, maybe you put 20,000 into it and then you can turn around and sell it for 150, you have 120 into it and you sell it for 150, that’s a $30,000 gain. There’s your equity.   00:00:00 Alright, it is that time of week, the time where we complain about the music and then we get started with the True Wealth Radio show. I am your host Dave Littlejohn, joining me in studio today.   00:00:45 Matt Dickson.   00:00:46 And today we’re going to talk about all of the things that we don’t really do directly in our office.   00:00:52 Sure, but it’s going to be fun to talk about because why not?   00:00:55 It’s going to be fun to talk about it because why not? Actually, it is fun to talk about. It’s just interesting because so many financial advisors tend to steer away from this as a topic.   00:01:06 Why? Just because it’s outside, kind of their scope of knowledge like they just look.   00:01:11 Well, I disagree.   00:01:12 Really.   00:01:13 I think it’s because they don’t get paid.   00:01:14 There you go.   00:01:17 But I’m like, you know real estate, something you do somewhere else, the financial advisors not getting paid.   00:01:21 Well, the real estate agent, you know, they… that’s kind of their field a little bit. But they might not have, kind of, the intricacies.   00:01:29 Well, it’s something you don’t typically manage unless you’re a property manager, right? You don’t, once you buy the real estate, the management is, well, you got some taxes, but you got physical management of the property. That’s not what advisors do.   00:01:43 No.   00:01:44 Right. And the other thing is–   00:01:45 And if they’re getting you into real estate. It’s probably a proxy for real estate. You’re not really holding the asset directly.   00:01:51 I know. Here’s a soundbite for you. Consider the fact that, most advisors, the way they get paid is usually for assets under management and real estate is not typically under management.   00:02:01 Right.   00:02:01 Right. It’s outside the scope of. And so–   00:02:04 Less money to build on.   00:02:06 Exactly. And so I think that there’s a big financial undertone to this. Now, do I think that we should ignore that as advisors? Or I mean–   00:02:14 Well no, because, yeah, it’s its own thing and historically it’s done well.   00:02:19 Look, if to me, part of having a good stable, total financial picture includes, you know, there’s checking and savings, right. In the form of emergency reserves, you have real estate as part of that component, you have tax deferred investments as part of that, and then there may be specialty things that you’re particularly good at that we’re going to talk about, right? Maybe you’re really good at restoring classic cars or something, so you could find something, fix it up and sell it for a profit, right? So that’s a form of business, so that’s entrepreneurship, and so I think that financial advisors should be talking about the total financial picture, there are plenty of people that niche down and just say, well, we’re retiremen

Discover the nuances of inheriting money and how different types of assets can impact you. Join us as we explore the key aspects of inheritance and gifting that you need to know. Episode Highlights: Tax planning strategies that can save your heirs a bundle in taxes, such as adding a pay on death beneficiary to a bank account to avoid probate. How to manage the complexities of inheriting retirement accounts. After-tax traditional IRA contribution that can lead to a backdoor Roth IRA strategy. The two main categories of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)– Traditional and Roth– and the tax implications for beneficiaries. Strategic tax planning for managing large retirement accounts, including timing withdrawals to reduce tax liability and the concept of “bullying your tax rate” to fall within lower tax brackets. Common misconceptions about inheritance and capital gains taxes, explaining the ‘step up in basis’. Potential tax implications of adding children to property titles. When life insurance may be subject to taxes. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 So what I hear you saying is, if this is a problem you have, call Dave and Matt offline,   00:00:00 Yep.   00:00:00 Because almost nobody has this problem.   00:00:00 That is correct. And it’s a really interesting tax planning strategy. It’s also the front door into the back door Roth IRA strategy. Okay? So, why are you laughing?   00:00:00 That was funny. The front door to the back door. That was a little bit of a financial advisor kind of almost joke a little bit.   00:00:00 Yeah. Because we’re hilarious as financial advisors. So there you go.   00:00:36 All right, gang, it’s that time of the week. It’s the best Tuesday I’ve had all week. And this is the True Wealth Radio Show. And we’re excited to have you here today. Let me give you the rundown. It’s not just me, your host, Dave Littlejohn in studio today. I’ve also got with me.   00:00:49 Matt Dickson and someone special.   00:00:52 Derek Simmons, your favorite attorney.   00:00:54 He is our favorite attorney joining us today. As you guys know, we have Derek on often. Usually it is to talk about a combination of Kansas and Carolina basketball.   00:01:05 And I think that’s a reasonable topic. We’ve only got an hour today, so I’m gonna try to be brief.   00:01:10 Okay.   00:01:11 Kansas was pre-season number one and then flamed out in the round of 32 this year.   00:01:15 Right.   00:01:15 And that was disappointing. So now they’re pre-season number one again for next year.   00:01:21 Which just makes me question what pre-season number one means.   00:01:24 Nothing. That and $6 will get you coffee at Starbucks.   00:01:28 Very well. Yeah, I was gonna say Carolina went in as a number one seed and flamed out in, I think the round of 16. So nonetheless, they were out, and you know what? The ducks made it farther than I expected. So there you go. The Beavers were not in. So, although the ladies did real well. Right. I think they were, what? Final four. So, are close to it. Lead eight. They did great. So, anyhow, look, today we’re going to talk about all kinds of stuff. Cause that’s what we do. Some of it will be relevant to you, and some of it you wish will be relevant to you, right? Why? Because we wanna talk a little bit about what happens when you inherit stuff.   00:02:07 And the first task there is, pick your parents carefully.   00:02:12 Yes.   00:02:13 That is very helpful.   00:02:14 Yes, this is sort of like Derek and I have done estate planning like seminars together before, one of my favorites. You’re gonna get this from Derek on occasion, will be things like, Hey, if you don’t want to ever have to have a will or a trust document, what’s one of the things you could do?   00:02:32 Remind me.   00:02:32 Just be immortal.   00:02:34 That’s true. Immortality prevents the need for a will or a trust.   00:02:37 The other is if you hate your family. So those are two of my favorites. If you hate your family or you’re immortal, then by all means, you could skip the planning.   00:02:45 It works well.   00:02:47 Or if there are just no assets.   00:02:49 That actually is one of them, but that one was not so funny. The immortal wouldn’t, really caught me. I remember you said that the first time I just went, how am I supposed to follow that? So.   00:03:00 Well, and you know, a lot of people feel immortal for a certain period of their life.   00:03:05 Yeah.   00:03:05 They’re like, yeah, there’s no risk I’m gonna die. No risk. And then they hit about 45 and their back creaks at them. And then they go, all right, there&#8

With inflation running hot and the middle class getting squeezed, how do we push through difficult times and overcome the financial adversity? Let’s explore the pain points and learn how we can be better investors. Episode Highlights: The effects of productivity advancements on the job market, including the potential for fewer jobs and increased competition among workers. Insights into the performance of the markets, the validity of the “sell in May and go away” strategy and considerations around the 4% rule for retirement planning. Impact of unexpected financial elements such as surprise inheritances and forgotten assets on personal financial planning. How the federal minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation since its peak in 1968 Disparity between productivity increases and hourly compensation since the 1970s. Importance of investing in assets over liabilities. Influence of inflation and government spending on asset prices. Challenges faced by the younger generation in asset accumulation. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 When productivity per unit of labor goes up, what does that mean from an employer’s perspective? Right. If I’m hiring people and I can now get double the production out of a worker.   00:00:13 You’re hiring less people.   00:00:14 Right, I can hire half as many people to produce the same amount.   00:00:17 Right.   00:00:18 Okay, so what you see is the number of jobs declines as productivity goes up. Now–   00:00:26 So there’s more competition for those higher paying jobs.   00:00:30 Well, they’re not necessarily higher paying jobs, just the jobs that remain.   00:00:34 True.   00:00:34 Right, you have more people competing for the jobs that are left, which means higher supply of labor and lower number of jobs.   00:00:42 So you don’t have to pay people as much because everyone’s fighting for those jobs.   00:00:47 Correct.   00:00:54 All right, as fast as we can get into the music so we don’t have to listen to it. This is the True Wealth Show, the best Tuesday you’ve had all week. It’s Dave Littlejohn today. With me, in studio.   00:01:05 Matt Dickson.   00:01:06 It is my favorite Tuesday all week.   00:01:08 Really?   00:01:08 Yes.   00:01:09 Okay.   00:01:09 I love it. Also the last Tuesday of April. So goodbye, April. You’ve been good. Welcome, May.   00:01:15 I feel like 2024 is just ripping by.   00:01:18 It really is. So, you know, we’re in Q2. Like, we’re like a third of the way through Q2 already.   00:01:25 Well, the market has been pretty nice to us so far.   00:01:28 It has.   00:01:28 That felt good.   00:01:30 So here’s the real question, right? Do you sell in May and go away?   00:01:34 I mean, I don’t know what the numbers are year to date, but it’s on the run. Yeah.   00:01:40 Yeah, and I don’t have the answer either. If you’re looking for the answer, we can check the crystal ball and it says, oh, I didn’t even have one with me. So what it says is go get your own crystal ball. We do not try to play that game on this show as you guys know because somebody will take us seriously and then blame us. So we’re not gonna play the blame game and say we’re gonna play the let’s learn together game.   00:02:01 What are we learning about?   00:02:02 Okay, this is one of these strange ones. Let’s probably start it with an observation and a handful of statements and then it’s blossomed into, we just wanna talk about this, okay?   00:02:12 All right.   00:02:13 The question is, what does it take to get ahead today?   00:02:18 Well, I saw something interesting coming into the show. We, I mean, you saw it too.   00:02:23 Yep.   00:02:23 There’s this interesting Google search going around right now.   00:02:26 Okay, talk to me about the Google search.   00:02:28 And people are saying, you know, is $700,000 enough to retire? And apparently that’s one of the most popular, you know, searches right now on Google.   00:02:37 Right, and can you help? So we did a little reverse engineering, like a little snooping around, like, why did you come up with this number?   00:02:46 Yeah, I really wanted to know. So I started prodding around on the internet. And apparently, it’s because people are kind of focused around, well, I think I might be able to live on $40,000 a year. And with trying to live 25 years in retirement and having that kind of safe withdrawal rate around 4%, that works out to be about $700,000 that you could draw on for 25 years to live on about $40,000 a year.   00:03:15 We gotta talk for a minute about the 4% rule.   00:03:18 Do you wanna kinda go into wh

In a time where everything costs more, taxes are a burden and wage growth might not feel adequate, how do we fight back? This episode breaks down practical ways the middle class can stretch the dollar and make smart money moves. Episode Highlights: The potential investment value of firearms and ammunition, and the challenges the middle class faces in ascending to wealth. Impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains, the shift in manufacturing from China to other regions for resilience and national security, and the role of geopolitical tensions and media narratives on financial markets. Insights into economic cycles, the possibility of inflation or deflation, the role of the Federal Reserve and the complexity of managing government debt and interest rates. Strategies for wealth accumulation through asset allocation, the importance of investing in appreciating assets and balancing spending on life-enriching experiences with saving for financial growth. Principles of scarcity and leverage as they apply to economics, including the high market value of professional athletes due to their unique skills and limited supply and the strategic moves in industries such as semiconductor manufacturing. An understanding of how tax implications affect different income streams and the advantages of certain types of income such as long term capital gains, real estate and passive income over earned income. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 Here’s the interesting thing about buying into, like the stock market. Okay? Now, admittedly–   00:00:05 This is what I tell my wife whenever I buy a new gun, honey, it’s an asset.   00:00:09 Well, and the crazy thing is that guns have historically appreciated in value. Unless they are abused, they typically hold their value or even go up.   00:00:16 Interestingly enough, even ammo. You watch ammo prices continually jump, jump, jump.   00:00:21 Yeah. You know when ammo prices drop though? After you shoot it. It’s really not worth as much.   00:00:27 Just hold on to it.   00:00:36 All right. It is that time of the week, the time where we complain about the inter music and get started with the True Wealth Radio Show. I’m your host, Dave Littlejohn. In studio today with me.   00:00:45 Matt Dickson.   00:00:46 Right. Because we’re like, how did we pick that one?   00:00:49 Well, we didn’t. So we just move on and–   00:00:52 Right.   00:00:53 We love it.   00:00:53 What song should we move toward? Can we pull the audio? I want everybody that’s listening to throw, especially if you’re watching this as a YouTube like thing. Go put the comments in there. We need some intro music. What should we try? Okay, so anyway, but this is not the show, this is not the True Wealth music program. We’re not gonna do that. True Wealth Radio Show today. The topic of the day. Huh?   00:01:18 Are we talking about wealth?   00:01:19 We are, no, so this is–   00:01:20 True wealth? Artificial wealth?   00:01:22 Maybe.   00:01:22 What type of wealth?   00:01:23 Well, today we’re gonna talk about being in the middle class and trying to break out of the middle class into the wealth class.   00:01:30 Okay.   00:01:31 Okay? Because–   00:01:32 These tricks and everything in between.   00:01:34 Well, there’ll be a little bit of that. What did we say? It was kind of, I will call it mildly obnoxious, but like, right? Unfortunately, the middle class often gets–   00:01:45 Pinched.   00:01:46 The middle finger.   00:01:47 Yeah.   00:01:47 Right?   00:01:48 No, it’s true.   00:01:49 The middle class gets the middle finger.   00:01:50 And every politician is gonna look at you and say, I got a plan to help you out.   00:01:54 Well, they have to.   00:01:55 Yep.   00:01:55 Right, and they have to because otherwise somebody else will say that.   00:01:59 But is that the reality? Are they actually helping us out?   00:02:01 You know, this is, well, let me ask the question another way.   00:02:04 Okay.   00:02:05 When was the last time you got 535 people in a room and you came out with the best decision possible?   00:02:10 Very, very rarely.   00:02:11 Right, if you got a decision at all, right?   00:02:14 And that’s how government works. You get a bunch of people in a room, no one can agree on anything, and your results are so poor.   00:02:19 And then you think to yourself, this is the cynical part of me, wait a minute. How do we get anything done at all? There’s 535 people, right? Like some of you guys in the community are like, yeah, I have an HOA with a hundred people in it. We can’t even determine how tall the fence can be.   00:02:31 And it’s p

Dive into the parallels between today’s AI hype and the late 90’s tech bubble. Discover similarities, differences, and valuable lessons for smart investing. Explore how historical trends can guide us in making smarter investment decisions amidst the current AI craze. Episode Highlights: AI’s transformative potential, economic disruptions, and cybersecurity risks, balancing its benefits with potential drawbacks. The true cost of technology, particularly AI and its impact on the job market, including potential job losses. Energy usage and carbon footprint of AI platforms like ChatGPT, alongside the resource requirements of electric vehicles and AI technology. The adverse impacts of technology on social behavior, productivity, and the risk of dependency, prompting the necessity for a ‘tech detox.’ The speed of market transactions, the shift to decimal stock prices, blockchain technology, and the environmental impact of AI and digital technology. SUBSCRIBE HERE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 What’s the diminishing return, right? AI can do everything in 0.001 seconds, but we need to get it down to 0.0001 seconds. And you’re like, what’s the differentiator? Right now, if it has to fight another AI for something and it needs that speed, maybe, you know, military, something like that. This is for most of us. It’s like, I can wait the one 100th of a second and I don’t have to spend twice as much.   00:00:32 All right, that’s the new music. It tells us we’re going again. Welcome to the True Wealth radio show. I’m your host Dave Littlejohn. Matt’s in the studio with me today. And we’re currently setting up cameras and making sure that they are live because we are chatty and sometimes, we’re a little slow on the uptake here, but we’ve got a very interesting show for you. And again, this is the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week.   00:01:01 First, I’m just going to say this out loud. I think we’re going to have to try to get different music, right? This is not a news program. This is like a financial entertainment program. Right? So we got to talk about money and we got to talk about it. Make it fun. Right. So we, this, that news thing, it just makes me all stressed out.   00:01:22 Well, it’s not my favorite. Yeah.   00:01:25 All right. So Dale, we’ve officially put our vote in Kyle. We were officially voting. We’re going to change the music for our program. You know why?   00:01:33 What’s like if your life was a theme song, what would it be?   00:01:36 Oh, probably something goofy. It’s not like–   00:01:39 I had a tiger or something super cool.   00:01:41 No, no, that’s cool. That I’m like, I’m not the cool guy. I’m firmly in dadland now. And so my life is a stream together of dad jokes and finance. Yeah.   00:01:57 In that order?   00:01:57 Yeah. Do you need me to, are you going to fight the microphone?   00:02:00 I am.   00:02:01 That’s like literally just, you guys are going to have to watch the video of it later because it’s going to look ridiculous. Like, what are you, are you arm wrestling the microphone?   00:02:10 I’m just going to give up for the segment and say, you know what? We’ll fix it at the break.   00:21:16 Yeah. So anyway, we got to thinking today, what would be the most valuable thing that we can talk about? And I will tell you, I feel like I was chasing a curveball today.   00:02:28 Yeah, but.   00:02:29 Well, why? You know, cause yesterday was tax day, right? So tax freedom day, which I haven’t checked the actual date. You know, there’s a thing by the way, you know, there’s a thing called tax freedom days.   00:02:37 You have to work in order to like start to break even. And it’s like, you work for the first, what, three or four months.   00:02:43 It’s usually really close. It’s somewhere in early February. It’s usually the crossover point where great, you’re done paying your taxes, the rest of what you earn can be yours, at least at the federal level. So, and then there’s different tax freedom day for different states, right? Oregon’s historically been on the higher side of things, so, you know, who knows? But anyway, so if you didn’t get your IRAs funded.   00:03:07 Well, too bad.   00:03:08 Now you have to do it for this year, right? Yeah, but 2023 is officially in the books.   00:03:12 Does it feel good to have another one like crossed off the list. Is it starting to go too by? Is it going by too fast? Or, I mean, you’ve been in business for a lot of years now. How many years have you been in this industry?   00:03:23 So, Little John Financial’s be

In this video, we’ll explore how different generations view and manage money based on their historical experiences. From The Silent Generation to Gen Z, we’ll discuss the unique perspectives each generation brings to money management. In this episode, you will learn the following : Generational wealth dynamics are examined, exploring how historical events have influenced spending and saving patterns. Silent Generation is known for thriftiness due to experiences like the Great Depression and World War II. Baby Boomers, growing up in economic prosperity, inherited financial discipline from the Silent Generation. Generation X faces the challenge of supporting both aging parents and children, resulting in the highest spending on necessities. Millennials prioritize experiences over possessions and have been shaped by the Dotcom Bubble and the Great Recession leading to cautious investing. Generation Z exhibits entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking but also faces unique financial challenges due to digitally-focused upbringing and recent global crises. The importance of adapting spending habits to the current economic landscape and preparing for the future, regardless of generational influences. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT   00:00:00 I think that speaks a lot, maybe to some of the inflation that we’re seeing when the top three expenses are really, kind of, stuff you need more than, want. Whereas the millennials might be on the opposite end of that spectrum, that travel, that leisure, that experience isn’t necessarily a want, it’s more of a need. And so both these generations are spending, but they’re spending in different ways.   00:00:00 What’s going on everybody? This is Matt Dickson and with me in studio today.   00:00:37 [Justin Bragerman].   00:00:38 You guys are listening to the True Wealth Radio Show where we are bringing you guys an awesome show today. Justin, this one was your kind of brainchild today. And I really am looking forward to seeing what you’ve got for us. Do you want to talk a little bit about today’s show and kind of what listeners might have in store?   00:01:00 Yeah, well, we can definitely get into that. But first, we should probably… The deadline is coming up.   00:01:07 Oh, what deadline are you referencing?   00:01:11 Tax deadline. Is it Monday?   00:01:14 Man, what day is the 15th?   00:01:15 The 15th, I don’t know what day it is.   00:01:16 Yeah, that’s coming up pretty quick. I think that is a Monday.   00:01:19 Yes. And so, any IRA or Roth IRA contributions that need, want to be made, need to be done prior to Monday.   00:01:29 Yeah, let’s try and get it done this week so that we’re not stressing out over the weekend or pushing things out to a Monday. Let’s try and get that done this week. So that’s a good friendly reminder.   00:01:41 Yes.   00:01:41 You need to fund a retirement account. This is kind of–   00:01:45 The IRAs and the max contribution that you can do, is $6,500 in 2023, unless you’re over 50, then it’s another thousand dollars for a total of $7,500.   00:01:57 Okay, well, there it is. Is that all we’ve got for people?   00:02:03 That’s the big update. I mean, the limits change next year, but, you know–   00:02:07 Yeah.   00:02:08 That we can–   00:02:08 I feel like that’s a pretty fair update for everyone. But what about the main meat of the show today? What do you got on your mind?   00:02:15 So we deal with this all the time, but we don’t necessarily compartmentalize it, I guess you could call it as different generations have different habits.   00:02:25 Okay.   00:02:26 And I don’t know what even sprung me even looking at this and it got me thinking of the different spending habits by generation and how they change and what events they kind of went through that kind of molded those changes. And so, it just got me thinking, is I wonder what the pros and cons they consider each generation?   00:02:50 As far as spinning and saving habits go based on, kind of, what age bracket you’re in.   00:02:56 Right.   00:02:56 Because I mean, I’d venture to say that, you know, if you are part of that, like I think the silent generation, right, that was somewhere in the 20s to the 40s. If you’re part of that generation, you might have a very different approach to spending and saving compared to someone who’s a Gen Z.   00:03:15 Right.   00:03:15 You know, person who’s just kind of getting started on their financial journey. So I think this is definitely worth kind of walking through because as we look at spending and saving habits by, you know, generation, I think it might awaken people to maybe

Curious about a mutual fund? In this video, we dive deep into the structure of mutual funds to help you understand them better. So many options, but we’ve got you covered! In this episode, you will learn the following : Owning a variety of mutual funds doesn’t guarantee proper diversification. Utilizing Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s can significantly impact your financial future due to their tax advantages. Mutual funds are suitable for investors who are either starting or prefer not to manage their own stock portfolios. Target date funds automatically adjust investment strategies based on the investor’s age and proximity to retirement. Assessing mutual fund suitability requires understanding key investment metrics such as past performance, expense ratios, turnover ratio, manager tenure, alpha, beta and Sharpe Ratio. Be aware of the “phantom index” effect where mutual funds mimic an index fund but with higher fees. The R squared value is a statistical measure that reveals a fund’s alignment with its benchmark index and can be a tool to avoid paying high fees for index-like results. Risk drift occurs when certain assets grow and unintentionally increase the risk in your portfolio. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? -Learn More Here     TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 I’ve seen this before where someone’s like, oh man, you know, I’ve got all these different mutual funds and my money spread out over so many different areas, but you start breaking it down. And you know, I know we’ve mentioned the S&P before, but I’ve seen it before where they have maybe six mutual funds and all of them are growth oriented mutual funds. And then you look at it and you’re like, well, if the S&P for example, is 20% four or five different companies, and then your mutual funds are tracking that index, and then you add them all up, you still have about 20% of your money tracking the four or five largest companies in the US. And it’s like, well, you actually are not as diversified as you think you are.   00:00:00 Hey, welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show. On this, the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week. I am back in, studio after a week on vacay with a little bit more of a tan.   00:01:06 I was gonna say, yeah.   00:01:08 So it’s nice, went down to Baja, had a good time. Joining me today in studio.   00:01:12 Matt Dickson.   00:01:13 And so, yes.   00:01:14 David, did you have any fish tacos?   00:01:16 Oh yeah, oh yeah. Actually, you wanna know what I had that I’d never had before? Like I had a first while I was there.   00:01:21 Really?   00:01:22 I had a first.   00:01:23 Okay.   00:01:23 Lobster tacos.   00:01:25 Oh.   00:01:26 And they were a really [bland].   00:01:28 Were they drenched in butter?   00:01:30 No, I don’t know. I mean, they were just, it was chunks of fresh lobster.   00:01:34 Yeah.   00:01:35 And it was like… it was salsa and other stuff in there too. It was like a taco instead of fish. It was lobster. And it was just kind of like, it was literally this, like, family joint. We were, now I gotta remember what it was called. It’s a separate town. We left Cabo, we were hiking, we went up into a river and jumped in waterfalls and stuff like that. But afterwards we went to there. It was… Miraflores is the name of the town. And a small town, but very authentic like, family restaurant. And my Spanish was tested. It turns out I could use some work.   00:02:11 Okay.   00:02:12 But we had a great time, great meal. But I will say this, let’s strengthen the US dollar.   00:02:18 Not quite what it used to be.   00:02:20 It does not have the same horsepower as it’s had other visits. So, you know, there’s a real life example where the exchange rate will play into your world. So, but yeah, no, it’s good time. So glad to do it. Don’t worry, your turn’s coming. Your kids are gonna get older, mad, and then it’s gonna be like, we gotta go do stuff for spring break. Right now doing stuff is like, wait a minute, it’s 10 minutes after normal nap time.   00:02:45 Right, exactly.   00:02:48 So, but it comes and then it goes fast. Everybody says.   00:02:52 First birthday is coming up this weekend.   00:02:54 That’s why.   00:02:55 Isn’t that crazy?   00:02:56 It is. Really a year?   00:02:58 Yeah.   00:02:58 Really?   00:02:59 Doesn’t seem like a year, but it’s been a year.   00:03:02 So this is the reason that investors, it should be much easier to think long-term because you just blink and it’s over, right?   00:03:11 Right.   00:03:11 Oh, I thought I was gonna be trading this thing and I’ve been holding it for a year.   00:03:15 I’m sure you’v

Are you struggling to make financial decisions? A financial coach can help you reach your financial goals and reduce financial stress. Find out if a financial coach is right for you in this video! In this episode, you will learn the following : Human aspect of financial advising and the importance of personalized coaching. The transformative impact a financial mentor can have on an individual’s success. Significance of strategic advisory teams and the concept of having a personal ‘board of directors’ for different aspects of life. A holistic financial advice that encompasses taxes, legacy and trust planning is important. Value of tailoring a coach’s approach to the individual needs of clients for optimal growth. Role of third-party expertise in business and how it can contribute to monumental growth and avoidance of pitfalls. Building a strong professional network and being selective in choosing experts who can communicate effectively is necessary. VIEW FULL EPISODES ON YOUTUBE!

Confused about which retirement account is best for you? In this video, we break down the differences between Roth vs Traditional IRA, covering key details and considerations to help you make the best decision for your financial future. Watch now to become an expert on Roth vs Traditional IRA! In this episode, you will learn the following : ● Distinguishing between traditional and Roth IRAs, their tax implications and the significance of rolling over these accounts. ● The IRA contribution rules, emphasizing that one must have earned income to contribute. ● The importance of maximizing catch-up contributions for those over 50. ● The need to stay current with regulations that adjust for inflation and the changing ages for required minimum distributions (RMDs). ● The significance of keeping track of non-deductible IRA contributions, which can affect your tax situation upon withdrawal. ● The five-year rule for Roth IRAs, explaining that both contributions and conversions to a Roth IRA must satisfy a five-year holding period to avoid penalties. ● The estate planning considerations. ● The unique benefits of Roth IRAs in estate planning. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE! Looking for Personal Financial Advice? – Learn More Here   TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Here’s an example that you have to be aware of too, for example, a lot of people, oh, I’ve worked for years and I have a 401(k) plan. Years ago, my employer offered the ability to have a Roth 401(k). And so you took that up and put some money in there. 00:00:15 Perfect. 00:00:15 And then you say, I’m gonna retire and I’m gonna roll over my IRA and I’m going to– 00:00:23 I’m cringing. 00:00:24 Then take control of it and get it out of the company plan. Why are you cringing, Matt? 00:00:30 Because if you roll it over into the Roth portion, you’re starting that five-year clock that we just talked about. And it’s like, hey, I’m retired, and I’m ready to spend some of my money. And then you’re like, mm. 00:00:43 Oops, I just rebooted my five-year clock. I just re-exposed myself to the taxes that I wasn’t exposed to. 00:00:57 I’m so excited to be here. I can’t even wait for the guitar riff, Matt. 00:01:01 You know what? Just cut that guitar riff out. 00:01:04 Let’s do this thing. Welcome to the True Wealth Radio Show on this, the greatest Tuesday you’ve had all week. I’m your host, Dave Littlejohn. Joining me today. 00:01:12 Matt Dickson. 00:01:13 And we did show prep. 00:01:17 You did. 00:01:18 Yeah. 00:01:19 Well, I was kind of there for some of it, right? 00:01:20 You were. Oh, actually, no, we did do show prep, believe me. We’ve had a lot of discussion. Today, we are going to talk about something that should be relevant to all of our listeners. And no, we’re not going to go run off into the weeds. We’re not going to talk politics or anything like that, although it’s probably unavoidable knowing who we are. But we are going to talk about IRAs. 00:01:41 Is it because April 15th is kind of around the corner? 00:01:44 April 15th is around the corner. No, it’s the way you say it. 00:01:48 I feel like winter. 00:01:49 Irish Republican Army. Who is that? Not that IRA. 00:01:53 Not that IRA. No. 00:01:54 Yeah, I mean, that was sort of the start of it. And then I’ve had a number of questions that have just come up recently. We’ve had a number of clients that have also been talking to us about things like, should I convert some IRA into Roth and so forth? So we are going to talk today about exactly that. Right. 00:02:16 And maybe like, differences versus similarities? 00:02:18 Yeah, if you’re, we’re gonna look at traditional versus Roth IRAs and some of the use cases for the win of, you know, the different types. Like, why might you want one over another? Might you want both? What does it mean? And so, and some of this, we’re not gonna shy away from, there aren’t necessarily yes or no answers to this. 00:02:40 Right, we’re not really giving out specific financial advice to any one person. We’re just kind of talking about, yeah, we’re just talking about, what do these instruments do and if you need more information you can see us after. 00:02:54 Well, how about this? How about here are some red flags that may tell you that it’s time for you to go speak to somebody more knowledgeable. Okay, so that’s some things that I want to cover today, too. Like– 00:03:06 Give me an example of a red flag where it’s like, maybe go talk to someone. 00:03:10 So a red flag would be if you have a retirement plan that gets like a traditional IRA or 401(k) that gets pretty large, right? And so let’s say that you have a million and a half or more dollars in a retirement plan. 00:03:31 Right. 00:03:32 This may start to come into play. So a flag would be when you have an account that big, the question

Have you checked to ensure your beneficiaries are up-to-date? Is your life insurance under the correct spouse? Should you consider gifting assets and cash, or allow heirs to inherit? Are your assets titled in the name of your trust? Do you need a trust, and how does it differ from a will? Is a Roth Conversion the right choice for me? What exactly is a backdoor Roth? Should I convert my home into a rental? Mistakes can be costly, so tune in now for tips, tricks, and everything in between. In this episode, you will learn the following: Understanding how life insurance policies are included in the estate value is essential. If not managed correctly, life insurance can lead to taxable events. Trusts can help manage estate tax exposure but do not eliminate tax obligations. It’s essential to fund a trust by retitling assets. Common mistakes in financial planning can lead to significant tax bills and legal complications. There’s a need for accurate financial knowledge and the value of seeking professional advice to avoid errors. Strategic planning is necessary to manage estate taxes and preserve wealth within families. Demystification of the backdoor Roth IRA strategy which allows high earners to maximize their retirement savings despite income limits on traditional Roth IRAs. The critical role of precise knowledge and the benefits of having a professional financial advisor.

Discover the various methods and approaches to market analysis in this insightful video. Learn all about factor investing and how it can enhance your investment strategy. Dive deep into the world of investment evaluation and broaden your financial knowledge today! In this episode, you will learn the following : The basics of factor-based investing and how it differs from asset class categorization. The relationship between risk and expected rates of return using personal credit as an analogy. The three-factor model which includes market capitalization, value versus growth investments and the book to market ratio. How different investment factors such as beta, value and quality impact the volatility and potential returns of a stock. The concept of the cost of capital, interest rates and their effects on consumers, businesses, and government spending. A comparison of how different sectors like technology and consumer staples deal with economic fluctuations. The importance of having a strategy to weather financial storms.

There seem to be two kinds of people in the world – spenders and savers. Spenders usually need to learn how to save. But when is the right time for savers to spend? If you’re never going to spend the money, what kind of impact could you have? David and Justin tackle this question and more in this episode of True Wealth. In this episode, you will learn the following : The psychological barriers that prevent individuals from enjoying their finances. Financial industry’s emphasis on wealth accumulation over strategic spending. The balance between enhancing one’s lifestyle in retirement and planned giving to personal interests and charities. Strategies for managing retirement income, including safe withdrawal rates and the role of insurance. Financial implications of homeownership and the critical choice between self-insurance and the security of an annuity. Risk management in the golden years and considers the impact of deep-seated beliefs on financial behaviors.

In this era of escalating labor expenses, inflation, and real estate prices, how do you maintain healthy margins while expanding your business? As the True Wealth team welcomes a special guest to the show, tune in to hear from a prosperous local business owner.

As technology advances, what potential advantages and disadvantages might artificial intelligence have for the world? We must be alert and learn how to use this tool for good as the world evolves. In this episode, you will learn the following : AI brings both efficiency and ethical challenges to various industries, especially automotive. The relationship between government regulation and industry innovation requires careful navigation. Over reliance on AI and algorithms can threaten our critical thinking and autonomy. The potential of AI to be used for harmful purposes such as deepfakes and manipulation is a serious concern. AI can be a powerful tool for enhancing productivity in areas like financial planning. Individuals are seeking ways to reclaim autonomy from technology’s pervasive influence, including reverting to simpler devices.

How efficient is the stock market? Should you put all your money in at once? There are a lot of theories floating around, so lets take a look at what these theories mean and how investors can benefit from educating themselves on the way markets operate.

What does preparedness in the face of natural disasters and potential system-wide challenges look like? Join Littlejohn Financial as they unveil a curated list of items crucial for turbulent times. Tune in to ensure you’re equipped for any unforeseen circumstances.

While many advisors focus on downturns, we unveil crucial insights on how to capitalize on market highs. Tune in to learn actionable strategies and gain a competitive edge in handling a hot stock market. In this episode, you will learn the following : Discussing government spending and its unintended consequences like the Patriot Act and No Child Left Behind Act. Staying informed about market projections during election year and the value of maintaining a learning-oriented mindset. The relationship between politics and economics and how they can affect market trends. Diversifying one’s investment portfolio and caution against putting all eggs in one basket. The necessity of having a clear strategy for managing market risks and re-entering the market after exiting. Understanding different types of risks, such as concentration risk and purchasing power risk.

With so many politicians on the naughty list this year, rumors are whirling about sightings of Santa opting to shovel coal as he flew over the capital this Christmas Eve. Bad actions often bring about unfavorable consequences: we need more accountability. Catch our top take aways from 2023 as we wrap up the year. In this episode, you will learn the following : Balancing personal freedom with societal responsibility in a technologically and economically shifting landscape Personal finance strategies to secure retirement amidst economic challenges The implications of quantum computing on industries, investments and the security of cryptocurrencies Environmental and economic impact of advancements in transportation and energy The role of traditional industries, like oil, in a future geared towards renewable energy Disconnect between market trends and economic indicators, with markets rising despite recession predictions Alarming state of personal savings and retirement planning in America The potential of drone-based transportation systems and the challenges they pose, including regulatory and safety concerns

We examine the true extent of the nation’s debt as it continues to rise. Is it possible to solve the issue? Things may appear slightly differently than you would think. In this episode, you will learn the following : The complex issue of national debt, its potential consequences, and potential solutions. Holding colleges accountable for part of student loan debt, highlighting the challenges that come with it. Economic dilemmas faced by other heavily indebted countries, particularly in Western Europe. Analyzing the $32.9 trillion national debt of the United States, comparing it with the debt of other nations and evaluating the concept of debt per citizen. The importance of wise money management and investments to avoid unnecessary debt. Economic fallout from the pandemic and the alarming rate of debt growth. Potential solutions to rising government spending and national debt, such as increasing the retirement age, instituting a national sales tax, and overhauling the tax code. The role of partisanship in these discussions and its impact on society.

Although we are not in possession of a miraculous crystal ball that can see into the future, we may utilize technical and basic patterns to guide our decision-making. Don’t pass up this fascinating viewpoint that you should hear. In this episode, you will learn the following : The viability of systems built on debt and consider the possibility of a total system collapse. The role and power of industry giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Vanguard in financial systems. The fundamentals of financial systems, discussing concepts of analysis and the market’s fluctuating nature. Scrutinize the recent market recovery and the rapid change in narrative from panic to near all-time highs. Examines the role of derivatives in the market and their potential effects on the economy. Following the money to understand the motives behind certain actions and events, and to uncover fraudulent activities.

Humor and catchy phrases make for easier ways to understand investing. You know you need a good laugh and a couple funny investment phrases, so tune in and laugh along with the True Wealth team as they run through a variety of ways to avoid mistakes and invest with confidence. In this episode, you will learn the following: A deep dive into the financial wisdom of Charlie Munger: The impressive financial acumen of Charlie Munger, his significant contribution to the evolution of Berkshire Hathaway and the essential investment lessons that can be gleaned from his experience. Financial advice with a touch of humor: Engaging advice on investing and financial planning interlaced with witty metaphors and playful references to trendy phrases such as FOMO, YOLO and HODL. Importance of patience and consistency in investing: Successful investment practices are marked by long-term planning, consistency and patience with an emphasis on steering clear of fleeting trends and excessive trading. Embracing market volatility and understanding financial tools: Delving into the importance of accepting market volatility, understanding financial tools like credit cards and maintaining an emergency fund. Mistakes to avoid in financial planning: Common mistakes in financial planning and investing such as lack of long-term planning, inadequate research, and being swayed by short-term trends.

This show highlights 10 examples of financial mistakes. Learning from others blunders can save a lot of unnecessary pain, so tune in and learn how to leverage a little patience and control during high stress situations.

There are different ways to try and gauge your investment performance. Savvy investors should give their holdings a health check and reassess goals. Learn to identify some of the common mistakes of the impatient investor. In this episode, you will learn the following: Understanding the importance of benchmarking: It is crucial to know how your investments are performing and compare them to other investments to gauge your progress. Defining your goals and needs: Benchmarking should be based on what you want to achieve and what you need from your investments. Consider factors like desired returns, time horizon, and risk tolerance. Choosing the right benchmark: Select a benchmark that aligns with your investment strategy and risk profile. Look for indexes or strategies that closely resemble your portfolio composition. Regularly reassess your risk tolerance: Your risk tolerance may change over time due to life events or market conditions. Revisit your risk assessment periodically to ensure your investments align with your current risk tolerance. Avoiding common investing mistakes: Be aware of common pitfalls such as expecting unrealistic returns, making emotional decisions, and not properly assessing risk.

The news can trigger emotional responses that shift how we view the market. How does group psychology affect the market? What we do know is the lemming scrum is often bloody and one you want to avoid, so tune in and learn how discipline can help you avoid following others into a financial pitfall. In this episode, you will learn the following: Negative news influences investment decisions: Humans have a natural bias towards negative news, and this has an impact on the stock market. When negative news is released, it can cause investors to make decisions based on fear or uncertainty, which can lead to market fluctuations. Importance of Time Horizon in Investment: Underscores the significance of understanding the time horizon for an investment. The time horizon can affect the type of risks an investor is willing to take and can influence the potential return on investment. Distinction between investing and trading: While investing generally involves a longer time horizon and is based on a company’s fundamentals, trading typically involves short-term strategies aimed at profiting from price fluctuations. The Impact of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Fear of missing out can lead investors to make hasty decisions, often leading to financial loss. This phenomenon, also known as the lemming mentality, can drive investors to jump on the bandwagon without proper analysis or consideration of the potential risks. The Importance of Investment Discipline: Emphasizes the importance of discipline in investing, advising against chasing performance or getting caught up in groupthink. Having a disciplined approach can help investors avoid common pitfalls and stay focused on their long-term financial goals.

How did ESG investing start? What is it really about? Should you care as an investor? There might be more layers and complexity to the ESG investing trend than one might think. In this episode, you will learn the following : ESG Investing: ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing, its origins, hype and impact on companies and investors. Influence of Major Shareholders: Significant influence that major institutional shareholders, such as BlackRock and Vanguard, have on the voting and decision making process of companies, particularly in relation to ESG initiatives. Marketing and Profit Motives: Criticism that some companies use ESG as a marketing ploy rather than genuinely caring about environmental and social issues. Political and Globalist Influence: Political and global factors that have shaped the rise of ESG investing, including the involvement of the United Nations, the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Economic Forum – the political conflicts of interest and the push for global governance. Consumer Choice and Government Intervention: Debate between consumer choice and government intervention in promoting sustainable practices. Being questioned is the effectiveness of government incentives and subsidies, such as for electric vehicles and the potential unintended consequences of government interference in the free market.

Tune in to our latest podcast episode, where we dive deep into the world of investments and unravel the key factors that contribute to investment performance. In this episode, you will learn the following : ● Investment Return: In simple terms, pick the stocks that go up. ● Backdrops in Investing: Cost of Capital, History, Interest Rates, Stock Market, etc. ● Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): The effects of TARP and its parallels in today’s landscape. ● Growth Companies: Such companies must achieve higher growth rates, particularly in an environment with economic headwinds and higher capital costs as it is challenging to significantly increase its value when it is already of such magnitude. ● Investing in Growth Companies: They look less attractive to invest in because capital costs are higher and they may not sustain their growth rates therefore, higher risk. ● Treasury Yields: If you have a treasury that you’ve owned for a while, and the new yields get published for new treasuries, what you own gets compared to what now exists. If yields have changed, your principal value may change ● Dividend Stocks: A dividend that’s below 10-year treasury suggests that that stock, unless it has a really high growth rate, may be overpriced relative to a risk-free rate of return.

Fear is being spread by the news, advertisers and rising inflation. Many people are scared and wondering what to do to preserve their assets. Listen in as we break down the gold trade and help you to make better informed decisions.

All of us have had some kind of financial regret and wished we could go back and fix a mistake. Listen as the True Wealth team outlines nine distinct ways you might be able to avoid making an expensive financial error that might initially seem enticing.

Even savvy investors sometimes fail to grasp how concentration risk can stem from the phantom index and an eclipse market. The True Wealth team unveils how you can use metrics such as R^2, while also taking a look at what a Roth conversion is and who might benefit from one.

Even when markets are experiencing turmoil, you can often find opportunity. The Truth Wealth team breaks down a series of ways you can approach shaky markets to better navigate the storm and feel more confident as an investor.

What are the structural elements that are influencing the supply side of real estate? Tune in to hear what AmeriTitle’s General Manager, Barry Robinson, has to say.

With crime on the rise and bedlam in the streets, inflation is fueled. The cost of crime carries throughout the system. The True Wealth team takes a dive into explaining bonds and how they are affected by rising rates and what it means for the investor.

What really goes into building a business that has decent odds of surviving? AI gave us it’s best formula, but the True Wealth team takes a deeper dive into laying the groundwork for giving entrepreneurs a leg-up in building a successful strategy.