Welcome! Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer talk introduce themselves and talk about why they started the channel, Friends Talk Financial Planning.

Individual 401Ks, otherwise known as Solo 401Ks, are retirement plans is specifically designed for self-employed individuals and small business owners. They're great if you're eligible! We talk through the benefits and advantages of a Solo 401K, including high contribution limits and the ability to invest in a wide range of assets. We also cover record-keeping, plus why your tax preparer or CPA might not be up on the latest details of the plans. For us, they're tax plus l

What's NOT in the SECURE Act hasn't gotten much attention as everyone, including @FriendsTalkFinancialPlanning, have been focusing on explaining the changes that did make the cut. Before the SECURE 2.0 was passed, many ideas were put out there. In some cases advisors suggested taking pro-active action to avoid the negative impact of changes that ultimately haven't come to pass! Today on Friends Talk Financial Planning we’re going talk through six main ideas that are NOT

Two Emotional Hurdles of Retirement: Retirement is great, but can feel a lot different than you expect, especially at first. We see that retirement presents some significant challenges. In this episode, we’ll be teaching you about what Wall Street advisors don’t tell clients about retiring, the two biggest challenges we see, and give you tools to work with these hurdles so that you can feel happy and free in retirement. We talk about retiring at 40 or 50 as well as at 70.

Smart Charitable Giving is relevant during this time of year. In this video, we talk about how to give money and save on taxes. Give more money in donations and pay less in tax; we love this formula. Be smart about your charity. If you're smart about charitable giving, you'll think before you give gifts of cash. We've got three tips that you should be aware of before you make any gifts of cash to charities. The tax savings could be huge. By the end of this episode, you

Understanding QCDs, or Qualified Charitable Contributions can save you big on your taxes. As a practical matter, there are important reasons to do QCDs before December. Many people know that at a certain age, the law requires you to take RMDs, or Required Minimum Distributions out pre-tax accounts. But did you know there are ways to take Required Minimum Distributions, or RMDs, and pay no tax at all? It sounds to be too good to be true, but the IRS explicitly approves

CDs, or Certificates of Deposit, Treasuries, and TBills are paying higher interest than they have been in years. You can start earning 3-4% interest on money that is safe and guaranteed. When we talk about parking cash, we think—what money might I need in the next 1-5 years. We want to make sure that it’s safe. In the past 10 years or so, there hasn’t been much variance between different types of safe investments. With interest rates going up, there are opportunities to

Should I buy I bonds now? There's an incentive because interest on the series I bond changes November 1st. In this video we'll explain: * what you should know about the interest rate change, * why if you're procrastinating you should probably act now, * and see if our attempt at comparing I bonds to Old Fashions makes sense! We talk through the advantages to buying series I bonds when interest rates are going down. We also discuss if I bonds might be appropriate for y

When it comes to how to save money for a college fund, John Scherer and Bridget Sullivan Mermel are unconventional financial planners. Here, they discuss the hows and whys of why they think that saving for college is over rated. It's not that you shouldn't save anything for college. It's that there are more things to consider than people usually do. From their perspective on what actually happens, they see a lot of options when it comes to college planning. 00:00 Welcom

We both have a No Budget No Problem philosophy. However, if you have this approach, you'll want to keep in mind the things in this video. At different stages in your life, budgeting is different. Figure out what your goal is. People's personalities and strengths differ, too. Some people have no problem tracking each expense. Other people feel like a failure when they, once again, fail at the process. At different income levels, the same person can take different app

When you have to chose employee benefits, there's a lot to consider. First-- on most people's mind--is what is a must have, one to consider, or a benefit that I can safely skip? You want to use the benefits that are the best and skip the ones that are a rip off or don't make sense to you. To make things more complicated, your choices of which benefits to pick sometimes change over time! Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer will discuss employee benefits, how to pick

Happy retirement planning is about more than the financial aspects of retirement. It's also about planning not just to retire, but to feel the happiest possible during your retirement years. Money, happiness, and meaning, is a particular area of interest for Bridget. She discusses how the latest research in what makes people happy before and during retirement can help you think through your own plans to retire. First, she talks about the latest from Carolyn McClanahan. Ca

Rolling your 401K to an IRA used to be automatic advice, but it might not be a great idea. We talk about when to do it, and when to hold off. The first major pros and cons to consider is how this move might impact your ability to do a back door Roth. If you max out your 401K and want to save more, back door Roths can be an appealing option, IF you don't have any IRAs. Also, if you want to retire between age 55 and age 59 and a half, keeping the money in your 401K w

The most common tax mistake people make is happening right now. Not doing tax planning. Or thinking that because they had their tax return done for 2021, there's nothing more to do. The biggest way to save money in taxes is through great tax planning. We'll talk about what that means so that you avoid common items that people overlook and legally pay less in taxes. We talk about how to do tax planning now. We cover: What to look for in different stages of your life.

Figuring out where to invest invest after you've maxed out your 401K is a reason that many people come to financial planners. We offer our five best suggestions on where to invest after maxing out your 401(k). We discuss when Roth IRAs and backdoor Roths. Bridget says that there are some fun tax planning ideas that open up with what she calls Goldilocks taxable accounts. But, is fun tax planning a contradiction in terms? Well, saving money on taxes is fun, so perhaps t

https://youtu.be/9TjD_b7OVvk The bond ladder--a tool in retirement that provides guaranteed cash flow on the same date each year for a low price. We love them, but most of the industry doesn't talk about them. So, let's talk about the nuts and bolts. When people retiring, they will need income. They want to know their cash flow is guaranteed. They want to know what to expect and when it will pay out. As fee-only advisors, we work in our client's best interest. We thi

You can figure out retirement, but it generally takes a bit of time. Knowing how much you need to retire and feeling ready to do it are two different things. It's great if you can take time to let all the realities of it sink in. In this episode, we talk through the transition from financial independence to retirement. You'll find out how much you need as well as how to focus your attention. You want to think through your income--social security, pension, and any other i

Understanding how much money you need for financial independence isn't rocket science. What do you need to consider yourself a financial success? We talk about the basic calculator and the goal that most people have--whether conscious or not--of getting there by age 55. Financial Independence means that you can focus less on earning as much as possible and coast into retirement. For a lot of people that means cutting back, reducing work, or taking the dream job that m

Is your net worth at 30 on the right track? We talk about how to figure that out. First, we talk about elements of net worth. What is important to include? What should you not include. Bridget doesn't include student loans most of the time, while John does. Judging from what they say, you can figure out what makes sense for you. Why do we focus on net worth and not investments? We take a more holistic approach. There are benefits to savings accounts, owning a home, and

Is Inflation good or bad? Gas prices are up. We see them every time we drive down the street. On the news, they keep talking about inflation. If you're in retirement or thinking about retirement, it can be scary. Should it be scary? How should we think about this? John Scherer and Bridget Sullivan Mermel talk about a source of economic analysis they like--Full Stack Economics. (See below for links). Full Stack Economics does a nice job of breaking down inflation in no-h

Too often, buying an annuity is a mistake. It doesn't have to be. Watching for 5 simple, easy to identify red flags can help you avoid a costly mistake. People buy annuities looking for a steady income stream and reduced risk. Unfortunately, too often, they get substandard products. Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP(R) CPA and John Scherer CFP(R) talk about how to sort it out. One of the big things is that—when you look at them, look at the number of moving parts. All annui