Secure Your Retirement

In this episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Murs and Nick Hymanson discuss direct indexing with tax loss harvesting, a tax-efficient way to manage a taxable brokerage account. They explain how investing went from individual stocks to mutual funds and ETFs, and why it is now coming back to individual stocks. Then they break the strategy into its two parts: owning 50 to 100 stocks that track an index like the S&P 500, and selling the ones that dip to bank losses that offset future gains.
Listen in to learn how harvested losses can make a retirement withdrawal nearly tax-free, and how they help unwind a concentrated stock position without one large capital gains bill. They also cover how donating appreciated stock to a donor-advised fund and banking losses before a real estate sale fit into the strategy, along with its honest trade-offs.
In this episode, find out:
The difference between owning an index fund and owning the individual stocks inside it
Why not every stock in the S&P 500 goes up in a strong year, and how those losers create tax opportunities
How tax loss harvesting offsets capital gains and can reduce your ordinary income
How banked losses helped a client take a $20,000 withdrawal with little to no tax
How to diversify out of a concentrated stock position like Apple or NVIDIA, with help from a donor-advised fund
Why banking losses in the years before a real estate sale can save tens of thousands in taxes
The trade-offs: no downside protection, taxable accounts only, and a minimum of about $250,000

Tweetable Quotes:
"We're not trying to get losses, but we know that they will happen. And so, because they're going to happen, we might as well benefit from that." Nick Hymanson
"There are no perfect investment strategies. There's only tradeoffs." Murs Tariq
Audio check needed before publishing. Both quotes need verifying against the recording. The Murs line is lightly cleaned of filler words from the transcript.
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 phone conversation with Secure Your Retirement!

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Murs and Taylor Wolverton, Director of Financial Planning and Tax Strategy, discuss how the most common assets are taxed when they pass to your heirs. They separate federal estate tax and state taxes from the income tax most heirs face. Then they work through cash, brokerage accounts, IRAs, Roth IRAs and real estate one account at a time.
Listen in to learn about how step-up in basis can erase decades of capital gains, and why the 10-year rule makes an inherited IRA a planning project. They also explain how small Roth conversions today can grow into a meaningful tax-free inheritance for your kids.
In this episode, find out:
The difference between estate tax, inheritance tax and the income tax most heirs pay
Why inherited cash carries no income tax, and how a payable-on-death designation keeps it out of probate
How step-up in basis works on inherited stocks and real estate, and what changes if you keep holding
How the 10-year rule and yearly required distributions apply to inherited traditional and Roth IRAs
The two-year home-sale window for a surviving spouse, and why an appraisal at death matters

Tweetable Quotes:
"Your estate is really everything you leave behind." Taylor Wolverton
"We're not here to try to sell anyone on anything. We enjoy planning, we like solving the puzzles." Murs Tariq
Audio check needed before publishing. Both quotes need verifying against the recording. The Murs line is lightly cleaned of filler words from the transcript.
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 phone conversation with Secure Your Retirement!

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss the domino effect in retirement tax planning, where one smart move quietly knocks over another part of your plan. They walk through four cases from recent tax strategy meetings, including a guaranteed income annuity that would have cancelled a charitable tax break, a 0% capital gains sale that raised a couple's tax on Social Security, and a high earner working out how to exit a variable annuity without stacking taxes on top of deferred compensation.
Listen in to learn about how Roth conversions, Social Security timing and Medicare IRMAA surcharges affect each other, why picking one dominant goal makes these decisions easier, and the seven year-end items to settle before December 31.
In this episode, find out:
How a lifetime income annuity can cancel the tax benefit of a qualified charitable distribution
Why a stock sale in the 0% capital gains bracket can still raise the tax on your Social Security
How starting Social Security early can shrink the room you have for Roth conversions and move you closer to IRMAA
What "valley years" are and how to use them before required minimum distributions begin
The seven-item year-end checklist, from RMDs and QCDs to inherited IRAs and estimated taxes

Tweetable quotes (verify speaker and wording against the audio before publishing)
"For good savers, it's not about how do I maximize Social Security anymore. It's way more about how does Social Security complement my plan the best." Murs Tariq, (lightly trimmed from the transcript)
"A tax strategy is where I'm going to talk to someone prior to December 31st, and I'm going to have a clear strategy so I understand exactly what's going to happen." 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 phone conversation with Secure Your Retirement!

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss what life after retirement looks like with longtime client Jerry Coats. Jerry spent his career in engineering and risk management at GlaxoSmithKline, and he and his wife Gardenia have been retired for about two and a half years. He shares the savings habits they set when they first married, how they knew when the time was right to walk away from two successful careers, and why the biggest adjustment had more to do with filling their days than with the money.
Listen in to learn about the money routine Jerry and Gardenia built in their first six months of retirement, what Jerry calls “scope creep,” and the guiding principles they use to shape what they call chapter three.
In this episode, find out:
The three savings rules Jerry and Gardenia set early in their marriage and kept for decades.
Why defining what retirement looks like for you comes before deciding whether you have enough.
How scope creep, the “one more year” trap, can cost you time you can’t get back.
The monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings that keep both spouses on the same page about their finances.
What surprised Jerry most about retirement, and his advice for anyone five years out.

Tweetable quotes:
“You have to define what retirement looks like for you.” Jerry Coats
“Once you set your goal and you’ve crystallized what you want it to look like, you’ve hit the mark in terms of the numbers, go with it.” Jerry Coats
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 phone conversation with Secure Your Retirement!

In this Episode of the Secure Your Retirement Podcast, Radon and Murs discuss when a business owner should start planning to exit with Van, a Raleigh-based business broker who helps owners across the Carolinas and Virginia sell and transition their companies. For many owners the business is the largest piece of their retirement, and selling it well starts years before a buyer ever sees the books.
Listen in to learn about the steps that get a business ready to sell, what the process looks like once it goes to market, and how taxes and deal structure shape what an owner keeps after the sale.
In this episode, find out:
Why Van says exit planning starts the day you buy or start your business
The two kinds of readiness, business and owner, and why you need both for the best result
What buyers look for, including three years of clean financials and a valuation based on comparable sales
How a sale unfolds, from the Confidential Information Memorandum to closing, and why it takes months
Why the sale price isn't what you keep, and the two-to-three-year minimum runway Van recommends

Tweetable quotes:
"From the moment that you buy a business or start a business, you should prepare for the future to exit that business." Van [last name to confirm]
"It's taken you 10, 20, 30 years to wind up your business...it will be difficult to unwind it or transition it in 30 days." Van [last name to confirm]
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 phone conversation with Secure Your Retirement!