Secure Your Retirement

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss what actually happens once a household crosses the $1 million mark in their 401k, and why hitting that number raises new questions instead of settling old ones. They walk through why the balance on your statement isn't the number you actually get to spend, how required minimum distributions can sneak up on even careful savers, and why the investment strategy that built your nest egg isn't the one that should carry you through retirement.
Listen in to learn about the tax traps that catch people off guard when withdrawing from a 401k, why Roth conversions deserve a serious look before required distributions kick in, how the three-bucket strategy protects your income from a bad market at exactly the wrong time, and what changes financially (and it's not what you'd expect) when one spouse passes away.
In this episode, find out:
Why a $1 million 401k balance is really closer to $650,000 to $700,000 after taxes, and how that mistake trips people up when withdrawing for big expenses
How required minimum distributions work, and why waiting too long to touch a 401k can create a bigger tax problem later
Why a Roth conversion strategy, done while both spouses are alive and filing jointly, can meaningfully reduce lifetime taxes
What sequence of returns risk is, and how the three-bucket strategy (cash, safety and income, growth) protects retirement income from market downturns
Why moving from a joint tax return to a single filer after a spouse passes away often raises your tax rate, even if your income barely changes

Tweetable Quotes:
"While you see the million on paper, really only about 650 to 700,000 of that's actually yours." — Murs Tariq
"How I take money out of a 401k has some things I've got to think through. So, I've got to think through my taxation. I've got to think through potential problems with IRMAA." — Radon Stancil
Resources:
If you are in or nearing retirement and you want to gain clarity on what questions you should be asking, learn what the biggest retirement myths are, and identify what you can do to achieve peace of mind for your retirement, get started today by requesting our complimentary video course, Four Steps to Secure Your Retirement!
To access the course, simply visit POMWealth.net/podcast.

In this episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss whether you can truly be a fiduciary and still talk about annuities and walk through exactly when an annuity earns a place in a retirement plan versus when it doesn't.
Listen in to learn about the three-bucket strategy for organizing retirement money, why an income safety bucket targets a specific historical return range instead of chasing the market, how sequence of returns risk can quietly damage a retirement plan, and the honest, no-spin answer to the fee concerns you've probably come across online.
In this episode, find out:
Why being a fiduciary doesn't rule out recommending an annuity, and why fit matters more than the product category itself
The three layers of retirement spending (essential needs, wants, and wishes) and how covering the first two changes your relationship with market volatility
How the three-bucket strategy, cash, growth, and income safety, is designed to prevent the emotional roller coaster of panic selling during a downturn
Where the high annuity fee reputation actually comes from, and why it's mostly confined to one specific category
Why sequence of returns risk changes the entire calculation once you're retired and withdrawing income, not just saving

Tweetable Quotes:
"We're not trying to sell the concept, we're saying we like the concept." — Radon Stancil
"This strategy is really there for predictability and reliability in your retirement income." — Murs Tariq
Resources:
If you are in or nearing retirement and you want to gain clarity on what questions you should be asking, learn what the biggest retirement myths are, and identify what you can do to achieve peace of mind for your retirement, get started today by requesting our complimentary video course, Four Steps to Secure Your Retirement!
To access the course, simply visit POMWealth.net/podcast.

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss long-term care, one of the topics that comes up most often with clients, including those who have saved well and still want a clear plan for it. They break down what long-term care actually means, why it's not the nursing-home picture most people assume, and how continuous care retirement communities and in-home care both fit into real financial planning.
Listen in to learn about the two hybrid approaches available today for funding long-term care, a life insurance policy with a built-in long-term care benefit and a long-term care annuity, and why the tax treatment on each one matters more than most people realize when it comes to protecting retirement savings.
In this episode, find out:
What long-term care actually means, based on the technical definition of needing help with two out of six activities of daily living
Why continuous care retirement communities offer an independent, resort-style option most people don't expect
Why Medicare does not cover long-term care, and what gap that leaves in a retirement plan
How a life insurance policy with a long-term care rider can provide either a tax-free death benefit or tax-free care funding, depending on what happens
How a long-term care annuity works, including the typical two-to-three-times benefit multiplier and tax-free withdrawals for qualifying care

Tweetable Quotes:
"The technical definition of long-term care is that you have someone that cannot perform two out of the six activities of daily living." - Radon Stancil
"If you don't use the money, if you don't go into long-term care and you end up passing away, there's still a benefit that goes to the beneficiaries." - Murs Tariq (flagged for audio verification before publishing per standard compliance check)
Resources:
If you are in or nearing retirement and you want to gain clarity on what questions you should be asking, learn what the biggest retirement myths are, and identify what you can do to achieve peace of mind for your retirement, get started today by requesting our complimentary video course, Four Steps to Secure Your Retirement!
To access the course, simply visit POMWealth.net/podcast.

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss the tax problem quietly building for anyone with a large 401(k) or IRA, required minimum distributions, Roth conversions, and the Medicare IRMAA surcharge that catches even careful savers off guard.
Listen in to learn about how RMDs are calculated once you reach your 70s, why a disciplined saving habit can turn into a bigger tax bill than expected, how a Roth conversion strategy can smooth that out over time, and how Medicare's IRMAA surcharge fits into the timing of it all.
In this episode, find out:
What a required minimum distribution (RMD) actually is, and why it can surprise even the most disciplined savers
A simple way to estimate what your own future RMD could look like, using nothing more than your current balance and a rough growth assumption
How a Roth conversion strategy can smooth out RMDs over time, including a real example from POM's tax strategy sessions that projected six figures in lifetime tax savings
What the Medicare IRMAA surcharge is, why it's tied to your income two years before you enroll, and why it can add hundreds or thousands of dollars a year to your Medicare premium
Why RMD planning and Medicare IRMAA planning can't be handled separately, and need to be revisited every year as part of a real tax strategy

Tweetable Quotes:
"Not everybody should do a Roth conversion, but everybody should have an analysis done to find out if it makes sense." — Radon Stancil
"A big 401(k) is a good problem to have, but it's still a problem you need a plan for." — Murs Tariq
Resources:
If you are in or nearing retirement and you want to gain clarity on what questions you should be asking, learn what the biggest retirement myths are, and identify what you can do to achieve peace of mind for your retirement, get started today by requesting our complimentary video course, Four Steps to Secure Your Retirement!
To access the course, simply visit POMWealth.net/podcast.

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss one of the biggest sources of investment risk hiding in plain sight for people nearing retirement: a portfolio that has grown large thanks to a handful of Magnificent 7 stocks, and what that means once a paycheck is no longer coming in. They walk through a real conversation with a new client whose accounts had grown substantially through stocks like Nvidia stock, Tesla, and Amazon, and why the retirement investment strategy that builds wealth is not the same one that should carry you through spending it. If you've ever wondered whether your risky investments have quietly become too large a piece of your retirement portfolio, this episode breaks down how to think it through without giving up the gains you've earned.
Listen in to learn about the numbers behind the Magnificent 7 run-up and the very real stock market risk that comes with it, including the 2022 pullback most investors have already forgotten. Radon and Murs unpack sequence of returns risk, why retirement risk management looks completely different once withdrawals begin, and how their three bucket strategy is built to protect retirement savings while still allowing room for growth. Whether you're actively planning retirement, working through a retirement checklist, or simply thinking about how to retire comfortably without one bad year undoing decades of work, this conversation lays out a retirement income strategy built for exactly that moment.
In this episode, find out:
Why the Magnificent 7 stocks grew so dramatically since 2020, and the specific 2022 declines (Tesla, Meta, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft) that most investors have already forgotten about
The math behind why a 50% loss requires a 100% gain just to break even, and why that matters so much more once you're living off your retirement portfolio
How the accumulation phase and the retirement phase call for two completely different approaches to risk, and why what worked to build your wealth can work against you once you retire
A breakdown of the three bucket strategy, including how the cash, growth, and safety and income buckets work together for real retirement portfolio diversification
Why you don't have to sell your winning stocks to build a secure retirement financial plan, and how to keep a piece of the growth you're proud of while protecting the rest

Tweetable Quotes:
"What gets you up the mountain won't get you down. It's a different type of physicality that we need to be able to deal with." — Radon Stancil
"There's ways to invest when you're growing your assets, and then there's ways to invest when you're trying to have your assets generate and preserve them." — Murs Tariq

Resources:
If you are in or nearing retirement and you want to gain clarity on what questions you should be asking, learn what the biggest retirement myths are, and identify what you can do to achieve peace of mind for your retirement, get started today by requesting our complimentary video course, Four Steps to Secure Your Retirement!
To access the course, simply visit POMWealth.net/podcast.