Reign Over Money: Recent Episodes
Kevin Hissong
Reign Over Money is a project launched by Kevin Hissong, founder of The Hissong Companies, with a focus on getting people to make more and save more of their money. Focusing on everything from establishing a budget to retirement plans and everything in between, Kevin brings his 25+ years of financial services knowledge along with a passion for personal finance.
Episode 28 covers our breakdown of travel in 2023 and how we took advantage of our credit card points and other travel programs. Focusing primarily on Southwest Companion Pass and Marriott Bonvoy as the two main programs. But also how Reign Over Money utilizes different credit cards from Chase and CapitalOne to overcome the expenses of travel.
In this episode Reign Over Money shows a common tool financial advisors use in retirement planning and how to have some fun with it. The introduction of a Monte Carlo simiulation also helps to highlight what is called Sequence of Return Risk and why individuals should care about that near and in retirement.
In the final episode of 2023, Kevin gives a recap of the 18 episodes that made up the Reign Over Money Diamond. The diamond was created by Kevin as a building block for personal finance and all things money as a jumping off point for different topics. Each segment of the ROM Diamond will be discussed in much deeper detail in episodes to follow.
Reign Over Money talks about the importance of having a fundamental estate plan no matter your asset size. Simple items like; retirement account beneficiaries, life insurance and wills among other topics most people should work towards having are discussed.
In Episode 24, Kevin talks about the major problem facing many people, how to control the variable expenses (wants) versus needs; those absolute needs (shelter, food) and allowable needs.
This episode gives some ideas and food for thought on focusing on how to lower variable costs or wants to get to the ultimate goal of creating a surplus in income versus expense on a month to month basis.
Reign Over Money gives a broad overview of social security and the major decision about when to take it. Kevin discusses the ssa.gov website as a resource and also additional calculator tools that can help assist you in making an informed decisions about how and when to start taking social security.
Kevin gives a high level overview of each type of insurance and why they are important. He also explains how his family has utilized each and the plan for insurance during his retirement. Briefly touches on the importance of term over whole life and utilizing an HSA at work if available.
We all have different views on why money is important to us. Understanding your relationship with money and what it means to you and what you want it to do for you in life is something that evolves over time. The way you approach money and investing can significantly increase your chances for success if you know what you want. Kevin shares how his thoughts have changed over time and gives some advice for potential success as you form your thoughts and beliefs around money and investing.
In Episode 20, Kevin focuses on the most important piece that will fuel your financial success and that is how you make money. Kevin reflects on his 25 year career and time as a small business owner, working for a small company and working for a large company. Having this background the pros and cons of each are discussed along some tidbits learned along the way on how to succeed at whatever your job or career is or becomes.
In the first episode of season 2, Reign Over Money continues to unlock the ROM Diamond with the subject of Asset Allocation. Kevin tries to simplify the subject and relays to the audience his long-time allocation guidelines. Kevin also introduces the Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns as a nice research piece.
In this episode Reign Over Money focuses on how you go about getting money from your retirement account or brokerage account into your bank account to spend when needed. Many investors understand how to put money away for retirement or savings but many don't understand how to access their money when they need it.
Anyone that invests in retirement plans through an employer already uses dollar cost averaging (DCA). Its quite simply the easiest and surest way to grow your investments over time. DCA takes the psychological burden of the daily stock market grind out of your hands and with constant, periodic, investments that can capitalize on the down trends in the market and reap the benefits of the up markets.
In Episode 16 Kevin takes advantage of Kentucky Derby week to talk about the difference in investing, speculating and gambling. Setting guardrails for how much money you put into each category can set you up for success in the future and make each an enjoyable adventure.
Kevin introduces the flexible and important brokerage account. Much of the focus with investing is on retirement, but non-retirement investing is another valuable piece to the puzzle. This episode focuses on the difference of a traditional brokerage account and the benefits it can give an investor for many different options.
Reign Over Money opens up the discussion on Retirement Planning, touching on some of the inputs that go into planning for retirement along with introducing probably the most popular way to draw down funds in retirement, the 4% Rule. More in depth episodes will follow down the road.
Kevin breaks down the differences in the two terms. The focus on Episode 13 is on the holistic process of financial planning with retirement planning coming in the next episode of Reign Over Money. The financial planning discussion focuses on what all goes into a financial plan and Kevin discusses a tool he has used for years to track his financial plan. https://www.flexibleretirementplanner.com/wp/
In Episode 12 Kevin talks about ways to take advantage of current interest rates and earn more on lazy money that just may be hanging out in your bank account earning very little. Also, Kevin gives a high-level overview of additional interest earning options such as tax-free bonds and dividend paying stocks for those willing to take on a bit more risk.
Kevin walks listeners through his steps over the last two years to Reign Over Credit Cards. Focusing on how to maximize Southwest, Marriott, Chase, CapitalOne and many other options, Kevin explains how his family has saved nearly $10,000 over the last two years on travel. If you love to travel and have wanted to understand how best to utilize credit card rewards this is a must listen!
We know that taxes are important part of the financial process. Taxes effect our take home pay, our retirement and just about every facet of the personal finance world. Kevin gives a high level overview of personal taxation in regards to filing taxes and what all goes into it from income, deductions and credits. He briefly walks through Form 1040 and tries to simplify what all goes into calculating taxes for an individual.
Following up to Episode 8 "Choosing a Financial Advisor", Kevin goes a little deeper on what to look for in an advisor, including looking for those with a CFP of ChFC designation. Also, Kevin discusses expectations an advisor will have of a client and what a client should expect out of an advisor including portfolio performance and communication timing.
Kevin calls on his 25 years of working in the financial world to give you some ideas of what types of advisors are out there and how to help you decide who to work with. This episode also covers some tips and ideas for researching advisors and understanding their firms structure.
Reign Over Money focuses on managing your cash and utilizing banking to your advantage. What accounts to open, how to structure, how to choose a bank and other topics to consider with your banking are discussed. Also discussed are emergency funds, money markets and CD's.
Reign Over Money focuses on building "The Trinity" of tax-deferred, tax-free and taxable accounts. Kevin shares his story for getting involved in investing and how individuals can build their way up to having the 3 most important types of accounts in investing and retirement. More at Reignovermoney.com
Kevin walks through the escrow account that can be attached to mortgages. He shares how he took over his own escrow payments and how he budgets that money to make the escrow payments on his own throughout the year. Also discussed are some additional ways to potentially pay off your mortgage faster. Check out more at https://reignovermoney.com/
Kevin takes viewers into a deeper dive of his budget that was discussed in Episode 2. Focusing on grocery stores that consistently come in as the best in price in the United States along with thoughts on membership grocery stores. A good episode for anyone wanting to cut grocery costs.
Kevin talks about his experience with debt and how/where it's used. Covers the main types of debt consumers take on with some thoughts on how best to navigate utilizing each type of debt.
Reign Over Money's first content video. This episode sets the stage for how you can reign over your money this year. Episode focuses on budgeting and organization of finances with an overview of how Kevin tracks his budget and the software he uses and has developed.
The inaugural episode of ROM introduces you to Kevin and what listeners can expect over 2023. Focusing on personal finance and investing, Kevin's goal is to help listeners put their money to work better by earning more and saving more.