Retire Right with Epstein and White: Recent Episodes
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Epstein & White, proudly a part of Mercer Advisors, operate a comprehensive wealth management firm and offer a full range of financial products and services. They help guide their clients through a tailored retirement planning process for a financially sound and enjoyable retirement. For additional information, disclosures and descriptions of professional designations references, please visit www.epsteinandwhite.com.
After a decade plus of doing this radio show today will be Brad’s final show. He tells us why and offers his final main lessons.
Well, there’s risk and there’s volatility and we’ve heard a lot about both of those here in the recent days and months. So, what’s the difference between risk and volatility? Brad explains it to us in todays show.
Well once again inflation makes the big headline this past Friday the 28th of March. The core PCE price index showed a .4% increase in February putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.8% - and both of those were higher than we expected which promptly caused a strong sell off on Friday.
Well, back in 1989, the band Queen opined the song “I Want It All and I Want It Now.” That’s kind of American society; we want it all and we want it now. But what if we had the wish that the market went up 0.032% every day, forevermore? Would we be satisfied? Some would; some would not. Brad is here to lay it all out.
The word fear gets thrown around a lot. Balancing fear of running out of money in retirement, that’s pretty real for a lot of people and it’s not an idea you probably enjoy thinking about, but Brad White is here to talk through balancing that fear of running out of money with the idea of not enjoying your money before you leave this earth.
So many people think that they are diversified because they have some stocks in the stock market, but the question is how many of those stocks are correlated with one another and they do basically the same thing. Brad White helps talk us through this on todays show.
On February 1st, President Donald Trump announced that he was going ahead with 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, and a 10% import tax on Chinese goods. We welcome Brad White in today to discuss what tariffs are and what they mean for you.
On this episode of Retire Right With Brad White, Brad White explores the potential impact of a Republican-led Congress and Presidency on those approaching or in retirement. Brad also highlights key areas retirees should focus on, including the effects of taxes and inflation as we enter Trump’s second term.
Well, it’s a new year and time for resolutions. Many of us make them, very few of us ever expect to get through an entire year and live up to it. Let’s talk about it as it relates to the financial side of things with Brad White on today’s show.
Let’s face it, adulting and taking care of all of our finances is hard and no matter how we set things up, things change, and we need to make adjustments. Brad is here today to make it an easy list so you can help do this – because there’s certain things that need to be done by year end and much better to cross them off the list so you can enjoy the holidays and spend all that panic budget of yours on gifts, not financial stuff to remember.
There’s an age-old question, am I on track for retirement? Well, there’s subjective opinions that are out there and Brad White is here to discuss what we’re talking about being truly on-track for retirement
Some folks who have listened to the show have come in and became clients at Epstein & White and they are still a little puzzled about this thing we call, “financial services." What does this industry do for me or how can you help, and we thought heck, lets unpeel the onion right here on today’s show with Brad White.
We know the presidential election has come and past for 2024, along with all the other elections and there will now be a second President Trump administration. With the election results now in our rearview mirror, Brad gives us his thoughts on the election and as we move forward.
The cost-of-living estimate is now out and it’s no longer an estimate. The government has announced that the Social Security COLA (cost of living adjustment) for 2025 is 2.5%. It’s an important number for retirees who are on social security, and they want to know that number and Brad shares his thoughts with us on today’s show.
We all hear about Risk Tolerance…what’s your score or maybe you take a quiz online and it shoots out a number and that’s your risk tolerance. How subjective is that test and how subjective are you in relating to that risk tolerance? Brad breaks it down for us in today's show.
Well, Brad you wrote kind of a headline to the start of the show and it says, are you averse to feels, but already paying them? I would say probably 99.9% would be 100% yes, but lets dive into this with Brad White because I think we’re going to have some fun with this on todays show.
In retirement some people think they might not want to live here anymore, although the tough thing about living in California is you don’t get this weather just anywhere in the country so it’s a hard thing to give up, but if family moves across the country and that’s the pull or maybe you just want to expand your horizons and go find another place in the country to live. There’s a lot to consider and Brad breaks this down for us.
We don’t know how long we’re going to live, which means you don’t know how long you need your money to last. Because we have no idea about this, that makes it very vulnerable, right? Brad offers some helpful tips on how to make your money last in retirement.
When it comes to retirement income planning, the stock market should not be your sole focus. We know people have felt some angst here in the last few weeks because of the stock market, but should the stock market affect our retirement?
You know when you get that new job for the first time and you fill out all the paperwork that HR has you doing? You fill that out and don’t really think about it again. You get another job and you do all the same stuff. Guess what? You’ve got several 401k’s. In this weeks episode Brad gives us some tips on what to do when it comes to those old 401k's.
We all make mistakes, but when it comes to your retirement making mistakes could cost you, not just today but down the road. Brad has a list of common mistakes that people in his industry see over and over that can cost retirees later in life. We go over this list on today's show.
We have hit the halfway point in 2024 and Brad White updates us on the different trends he is seeing and how they compare with years past.
Brad White gives us a real-life example of working with someone who just sells investments goes wrong!
Opinions expressed are as of the date of recording and are subject to change. Information contained herein is for informational and illustrative purposes only and general in nature. It should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any type of securities or insurance products and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. All investments carry a risk of loss, including loss of principal amount invested. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. It should not be assumed that diversification or asset allocation protects a portfolio from loss or that such will produce profitable results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Client experiences vary, successful outcomes not guaranteed. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only. Actual investor results will vary.
We work and we get a paycheck. Yes, that’s somewhat why we work. We have a life dream or a goal, but we also want to put money in the bank account to keep a roof over our head, lights on, gas in car, groceries in the fridge. In retirement, are you prepared to replace that paycheck? That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s show.
Opinions expressed are as of the date of recording and are subject to change. Information contained herein is for informational and illustrative purposes only and general in nature. It should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any type of securities or insurance products and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. All investments carry a risk of loss, including loss of principal amount invested. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. It should not be assumed that diversification or asset allocation protects a portfolio from loss or that such will produce profitable results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Client experiences vary, successful outcomes not guaranteed. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only. Actual investor results will vary.
How come some people are in great shape with 200k and some are in bad shape with 2 million dollars? Well, Brad White is here to explain.
Opinions expressed are as of the date of recording and are subject to change. Information contained herein is for informational and illustrative purposes only and general in nature. It should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any type of securities or insurance products and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. All investments carry a risk of loss, including loss of principal amount invested. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. It should not be assumed that diversification or asset allocation protects a portfolio from loss or that such will produce profitable results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Client experiences vary, successful outcomes not guaranteed. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only. Actual investor results will vary.
Brad White breaks down the biggest industry red flags in today's show.
Opinions expressed are as of the date of recording and are subject to change. Information contained herein is for informational and illustrative purposes only and general in nature. It should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any type of securities or insurance products and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. All investments carry a risk of loss, including loss of principal amount invested. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. It should not be assumed that diversification or asset allocation protects a portfolio from loss or that such will produce profitable results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Client experiences vary, successful outcomes not guaranteed. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only. Actual investor results will vary.
Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell he said before the start of this year that we could see three rate droppings of the interest rate, but things haven’t worked out like they’ve planned. In fact, they may have to back things up a bit, because inflation isn’t under control. So, did the hikes we did over that period of 18 or 20 months spark the US economic boom that we’re having right now?
Opinions expressed are as of the date of recording and are subject to change. Information contained herein is for informational and illustrative purposes only and general in nature. It should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any type of securities or insurance products and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. All investments carry a risk of loss, including loss of principal amount invested. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. It should not be assumed that diversification or asset allocation protects a portfolio from loss or that such will produce profitable results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Client experiences vary, successful outcomes not guaranteed. Hypothetical examples are for illustrative purposes only. Actual investor results will vary.
If you’re nearing retirement and you’re thinking of going somewhere else for retirement than California, the question is, what does it look like to do that? Brad White breaks the numbers down for us.
How much money in retirement can I generate? That’s always a good question, but let’s say you have a million dollars. When Brad is painting this scenario to someone sitting across from him, how much income can we generate from a million dollars? That’s the Million Dollar Question that we ask Brad on today's show.
Over half of investors surveyed by Investopedia say they’re worried about the 2024 U.S. Presidential election affecting their portfolios. Should we be?
A lot of people hear stock prices, Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500…they hear all these things, but do you really know them? Brad takes a deep dive with us today after a recent historic mark for the S&P 500.
For the better part of a decade from 2011 to 2020, we weren’t worried about this thing called inflation. But since the end of 2021 moving forward, inflation has been a part of our lives and we’ve noticed it at the grocery store and different things that we do in life and in times like these, well you need to probably step back and take an overview and that’s what Brad wants to do with us on today's show.
Understanding what someone is selling in the investment world is key and then the question is, should you buy? The two main questions when it comes to retirement is, have I saved enough money? And is this money going to last, but understanding what you have and what you want to accomplish and where you want to go, there’s a lot of questions that they need to answer so that you can give them some realistic expectation of if they’ve saved enough and is it going to get them through the rest of their life?
On January 11th, 2024, the SEC approved Spot Bitcoin ETF’s. Maybe one of the first questions is “why” or at least “why now?” Brad fills us in with all the details.
We start a new year and resolutions are always on people’s docket. Brad gives us some tips on how to be financially ready for the new year.
Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell he said before the start of this year that we could see three rate droppings of the interest rate, but things haven’t worked out like they’ve planned. In fact they may have to back things up a bit, because inflation isn’t under control, so did the hikes we did over that period of 18 or 20 months spark the US economic boom that we’re having right now?
Understanding what someone is selling in the investment world is key and then the question is, should you buy? The two main questions when it comes to retirement is, have I saved enough money? And is this money going to last, but understanding what you have and what you want to accomplish and where you want to go, there’s a lot of questions that they need to answer so that you can give them some realistic expectation of if they’ve saved enough and is it going to get them through the rest of their life?
On January 11th, 2024 the SEC approved Spot Bitcoin ETF’s. Maybe one of the first questions is “why” or at least “why now?” Brad fills us in with all the details.
We start a new year and resolutions are always on people’s docket. Brad gives us some tips on how to be financially ready for the new year.
We can often hear stories and the story can sound similar on two perspectives yet there are two different outcomes that come from that story. That can also happen when it comes to retirement income planning and it happens all the time because we’re all different. We all have our own scenarios, we all have how much money we’ve come to the finish line with and the question is, do I have enough and is it going to last?
We talk about taxes quite a bit on the show because they’re pretty important, especially when it comes to retirement, and Brad posed the question, “are you paying other peoples taxes with your mutual funds?” Brad explains through this for us on todays show.
The 2023 federal budget defect surged this year by 23%. In dollars and cents that’s 1.7 trillion dollars! Our debt is now over 33 trillion and continuing to grow. What are we going to do to address this? Brad unveils it to us.
We come across articles all the time and there’s an article in Financial Planning Magazine and people always want to know how in the world do people get paid especially when it’s related to “I’m going to give you my money to help manage it. I understand that I owe you something for that, but what is too much, how do you get paid all those kinds of things” and we talk through this article with Brad on todays show.
Knowing yourself, you need to know who you are and what do you need, and if you’re married what your spouse needs. This is something we need to know heading into retirement. What do we need? What do we want to do and where do we want to go. We spend a lot of time in our work life saying, “I’ll do that in retirement.” Well, you get to retirement and are you going to do that? Is it something you need? Is it a want or a desire? Brad helps us spell all of those out.
For the better part of a decade from 2011 to 2020, we weren’t worried about this thing called inflation. But since the end of 2021 moving forward, inflation has been a part of our lives and we’ve noticed it at the grocery store and different things that we do in life and in times like these, well you need to probably step back and take an overview and that’s what Brad wants to do with us on todays show.
Knowing yourself, you need to know who you are and what do you need, and if you’re married what your spouse needs. This is something we need to know heading into retirement. What do we need? What do we want to do and where do we want to go. We spend a lot of time in our work life saying, “I’ll do that in retirement.” Well, you get to retirement and are you going to do that? Is it something you need? Is it a want or a desire? Brad helps us spell all of those out.
Knowing yourself, you need to know who you are and what do you need, and if you’re married what your spouse needs. This is something we need to know heading into retirement. What do we need? What do we want to do and where do we want to go. We spend a lot of time in our work life saying, “I’ll do that in retirement.” Well, you get to retirement and are you going to do that? Is it something you need? Is it a want or a desire? Brad helps us spell all of those out.
There was a recent survey with a headline that read, “70% of Millionaires Work With Advisors,” and that’s according to Northwestern Mutual. They surveyed over 2,700 adults that have one million or more in assets and 70% said they’re working with a financial planner. Brad details some things to watch out for when working with a financial advisor.
How often is it that you want to do something around the house and you figure hey this is a do-it-yourself project, I can get it done. Three trips to the hardware store later you’re finally getting it done and probably spent more than you would if you would have just hired a professional to do it. Brad shares some common mistakes he sees do-it-yourselfers doing.
March is known for madness, but 2023 that madness might mean something else in the banking industry. Brad breaks it down for us in todays show.
We all have felt the impact of rising interest rates. Last year, the fed raised rates by 50 basis points a number of times. Already this year, they’ve taken a 25 basis points rise to the interest rate. So how does this effect your retirement income plan? Brad dives into this on todays show.
A lot of people are in retirement, heading into retirement or almost retiring and their thinking hmm, what do I do with this money I’ve been saving in my 401k, a TSP or a 403b for all these years? Maybe you worked at one job. So what do you do? Brad helps break it all down for us.
Well, we’re into a new year, but as people often tend to do even when they’re in that first month or six weeks of the year, they’re getting tax stuff ready and looking back on What Just Happened? And for some maybe they retired in 2022. Maybe they’re retirement year is this year in 2023 and we still want to assess what happened and what can I do to fix it moving forward or what can I do to get better from it going forward and 2022, lets face it by stock market assessments it was an ugly year and so what can we learn from it?
Well, we’ve begun a new year and we look back on 2022 and the bar was a little lower than what we thought going into last year. What should we do now to prepare ourselves financially for 2023?
As we wind down the year 2022 and head into 2023, some people might be saying this last year has been not so great. I’m just going to hunker down or I’m going to wait, well is that the right strategy? If you have zero advice it could be the wrong strategy for you. I don’t know how you could ever know if it’s the right decision if you don’t ask someone who does this for a living like Brad does and he offers tips as we head into 2023.
We’re winding down the year 2022 and we want to talk about some of the lessons we’ve learned from this year because we certainly know that you all have learned plenty of lessons this year. One that rises to the top would be Interest Rates. What did we learn about our economy, the fed and interest rate hikes and truly cooling inflation? Brad discusses in todays show.
Since 1950, all 18 midterm elections have been followed by an up year for the stocks. The stock market says, this is what we tend to do when it comes to elections at the midterm.
As we head towards the final quarter of the year and we head towards a new year in 2023, we know that markets are still up and down, inflation is still there, we know that social security has been raised. The cost of living increase next year will be 8.7%. What if my retirement date is in the next 12 months? You’ve planned it in your mind, but what about retiring when the economy is all over the place right not? Brad answers those questions for us in today’s show.
Risk is uncertainty about lifetime consumption. Long story short, you should know how to define risk. Is it the likelihood something can lose money? Is it how much it can possibly go down? Or is it just volatility along the way? Brad explains in todays show!
Over the past 6 months the US created an average of 381k jobs per month compared to pre pandemic pace of less than 200k. This is a good thing because as the fed raises rates hoping to cool the economy down and therefore inflation, this provides a cushion for them to do so without the economy falling into full recession or anything like that.
The benchmark S&P 500 Index’s recent rebound has brought it more than halfway back from its 2022 low point in mid-June, which is an encouraging sign for many investors. It’s certainly one of the most statistically reliable signals in the stock market. But does that mean it’s safe to get back into stocks?
Let’s say you have a rental property that you bought a while ago. In San Diego that means you have HUGE gains in that house, and if you ever sell it will be a capital nightmare. Brad offers some tips on how you could potentially get rid of the tax.
There’s a lot of speculation lately about whether the U.S. is officially in a recession. Both President Joe Biden and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said we’re not there just yet, pointing to the strong labor market and rising wages. Brad weighs in on today’s show.
Long story short is you could be earning more than 4% completely guaranteed on your money right now. Brad explains in todays episode.
On June 15th, the fed voted to raise 75 bps for July, first time since November 1994. What happened with the market then and what could we expect this time?
What does it mean to have a retirement plan done? It simply means you say “id like to be able to live off of x amount of money in order to do all of the things I like to do.
For 13 years we had an accommodative monetary policy, we went into the worst recession since great depression, the worst stock market decline since then and now we’re in a totally different environment with inflation the highest in 40 years.
For those that go “well the market is down 13% first four months to the year, and were hearing now we could be entering a recession and having more inflation – so we haven’t even seen that part yet!” - this is why the term leading indicator is so important to note.
Market will remain choppy and may at best manage single-digit gain in 2022 –Vanguard projects annual gains in U.S. stocks of only around 3% to 5% over the next decade after a rise of nearly 27% last year in the S&P.
Do you own actively managed (traditional) Mutual Funds in your non-qualified accounts? Mutual funds are designed to do two main (good) things – diversification and professional management. However they don’t actually “trade” they “redeem.” so inside the fund might be 100 stocks, and the whole idea is the manager is choosing and buying and selling them inside the fund the whole time – for a fee. And the idea is you don’t know how or what to buy over time, so you only have to buy this easy fund and they do all the internal stuff.
All the headlines talking about a possible US recession on the horizon..... what does this mean for your investments and retirement plan? On todays show, Brad reviews basic facts at a very high level. Economies and Markets are of course very connected – but they don’t move in lockstep with each other at all. The market, is a leading indicator for the economy. The market reacts today based on what it THINKS the economy will do in the future.
On March 16 the Fed approved a .25% rate hike, which was the first time this has happened since 2018. Also, the indication is that they will do the same all 6 coming meetings remaining in 2022 – we had an inflation reading of 6.1% in January! US inflation hit a 40-year high of 7.9% in February!
The market immediately assuming this is bad for oil supply and prices increasing as response.
How do geopolitical events both here and abroad can have an effect on the markets, but how can they effect our portfolio?
The house gets zero excitement, gets zero thrills, and gets nothing in the short term. the saying “money won is sweeter then money earned” is true. however, its just not profitable. the house builds in actual math that over the long term wins small amounts of money consistently and ultimately builds really huge expensive buildings and big wallets.
Ok, so since 2008 we have been reasoning with our monetary policy – that means an economy went into recession, so we lowered interest rates and pumped money in the system because that helps an economy move forward.
What do you have saved now, how far away you are – will tell you how much you need to save and what r.o.r you need to be in track!!!
New research suggests that if you aren’t an average investor—and most people aren’t—the one-size-fits-all approach isn’t the way to go.
Congratulations year 2021, between 2020 and you the bar has been set at an all time low! So first resolution is no new global pandemics and were off to a good start!
What's going on with inflation? What's causing it and just how bad could it get? Brad has the answers on this week's episode. Plus, healthcare is a major concern for retirees and Brad covers ways to address it. All that and much, much more on Retire Right with Epstein and White!
You’ve heard of Generation X and Gen Z … but Generation U? This week Brad explain who makes up Generation U and what they need to think about in terms of their retirement plan. Plus, ‘tis the season for charitable giving and Brad has plenty of tips for how to make smart charitable contributions.
Not updating your beneficiary information, failing to have a durable power of attorney, not having a plan for long-term care … these things can become a financial horror story if they aren’t addressed in your financial plan. Don’t miss this weekend’s episode of Retire Right with Epstein and White!
In real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. In retirement, the big idea is income, income, income. But how do you create an income plan when you don’t know how long you’ll live, what taxes will look like, what inflation will be, and what surprise expenses will pop up? Brad has the answers for us. Plus, we’ll cover the basics of estate and legacy planning, and how to approach planning for long-term care.
Things look a little different around the office of Epstein and White, so on this week’s show Brad fills us in on some exciting changes. Plus, Brad has an update on what’s going on with Social Security and what changes might be made with that program. He’ll also share some tips on how to think about where you’re keeping your retirement savings, and how to keep things in perspective when you’re trying to make good financial decisions in a chaotic world.
You’ve worked hard for your money for years, but when you get to retirement, that’s when the tables turn and your money works hard for you. So it’s important that you make the most out of what you have, so you are getting the most out of those dollars you worked so hard to save. Plus, Brad explains what happens when you shift from saving for retirement to focusing on preserving and protecting your assets, and what we can expect with increases in Social Security payments in the near future.
the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed that both income and transfer tax changes may be implemented retroactively, “Provided that the retroactive application of a statute is supported by a legitimate legislative purpose furthered by rational means…”
How do we know if we're making the right decisions heading into retirement? Am I on track? Am I buying high? Am I following a trend?
Congress is making some changes to the US retirement system. What do we need to be watching for if Congress is going to be making more changes?
We talk all the time on this show about plans, but do we really know how a retirement plan actually works? Brad offers us some tips for planning a retirement.
There is just something about that real life experience when it comes to some of these significant things that we've seen lately.
How much do you need to be happy or comfortable in retirement? The answer will likely be different for everyone. Listen to Retire Right with Epstein & White’s latest podcast where Brad White discusses the core elements to a retirement plan. Think about things like your income, investments, taxes, healthcare, and estate planning. They will lay the foundation for your retirement plan and must be unique to you and your goals for the future.
Just about everyone has a smart phone these days. So, you really can't ever get away from the pop-ups and the social media ads out there. You hear things on the radio, watch TV stories, read article headlines...and almost everyone seems to be telling (or selling) you a different story. Listen as Brad White, Founder and CEO of Epstein & White, shares his thoughts on how you can help break through the clutter and find out what you truly need to take away from all the different messages in today’s world.