Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

#206 - Q&A edition...Social Security spousal benefits, tax withholdings on Social Security, bonds vs bond funds, separating basis out of IRAs and MORE!

May 28
54 mins

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Episode Description

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 

  • Claiming your own Social Security benefit at 62 and then later switching to collecting a spousal benefit after your spouse starts their benefit ( 5:45 )
  • It's said by comedians that there are just a small number of basic jokes and everything else is just a variation. The same could be said about financial planning, where there are just a few core topics, and everything else is a variation on a core topic ( 11:18 )
  • What is meant when it's said the stock market is a "complex adaptive system," and that it's movement is a "random walk" ( 14:08 )
  • How to determine how much tax to withhold from your Social Security payments ( 17:34 )
  • Why many flat fee financial advisors who focus on working with retirees only work with people whose net worth is generally no more than $10 million ( 21:22 )
  • Bonds vs bond funds, and the pros and cons of using each for money that you plan on needing in three years, for example ( 29:23 )
  • An example of removing "cream from the coffee" with regards to after-tax contributions or basis in traditional IRAs, so you can convert just the after-tax contributions without the pro rata rule making some of that conversion taxable ( 33:44 )
  • Participating in fully paid securities lending programs at your brokerage custodian, where the custodian will borrow some of your securities out of your account and pay you some interest for doing so ( 41:50 )
  • Thoughts about rolling over an HSA from one custodian to another, and whether it's better to do a direct custodian-to-custodian transfer (even if the money is out of the markets for a few weeks), or an indirect 60-day rollover (which will likely be processed and reinvested faster) ( 48:10 )


To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.com


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