Posts by Chris Scalese
Ep 21: Things People Think They Know (But Don’t!)
When it comes to your financial plan, are your plans based on financial expertise or your
assumptions? It’s hard to recognize our own weaknesses or deficiencies, but in reality, there
are many key areas where people trip up.
Ep 20: The Different Stages of Retirement Planning
Building a retirement plan takes time, but your focus should start to narrow as you move closer to that big day. On this episode, we’re going to look at the different stages of planning from 15 years out all the way until that transition into retirement. Find out what you should be doing at each stage along the way.
Read MoreEp 19: How Much Cash Should You Keep in Your Portfolio?
We all like to check our bank account and see a healthy number staring back at us, but at what point do you have too much cash on hand? Today we want to focus on the benefits of having cold, hard cash but also why it’s important to understand that too much cash will bring your portfolio down over time.
Read MoreEp 18: Understanding the Ins and Outs of Mutual Funds
Mutual funds have long been a popular investment choice for people everywhere for a number of reasons, but is the landscape changing? We’ll explore the basics of mutual funds by explaining the key terminology associated with the investment and talk about the future of funds as a part of retirement strategy.
Read MoreEp 17: Do These Current Events Matter for Retirement Planning?
Depending on who you ask, 2020 could be quite eventful. The year has already gotten off to busy start both nationally and globally, and we’ve gotten questions from people wondering how their retirement portfolios will be affected by the events around us. Let’s look at the top headlines for this year and whether they matter for your finances.
Read MoreEp 16: Are You Sabotaging Your Own Retirement?
When it comes to money, there are so many things that we have no control over. So why would we not take care of the things that are within our control? Today we talk about the ways people sabotage their own retirement and what you can do to avoid making the same mistakes.
Read MoreEp 15: 5 Variables that Shape Your Retirement Plan
Retirement will look and feel different for everyone because each of us have different variables to consider. These variables make it a little more difficult to plan but that what makes the process more fun. On today’s show, we’ll explain why answers to these critical retirement questions vary from person to person.
Read MoreEp 14: Financial Fortune Cookies
Think about those fortune cookies you crack open at the end of a Chinese dinner as you await that small bit of wisdom inside. We always apply those fortunes to our life, but what if we took those and used them for financial guidance?
Read MoreEp 13: A Message to the Good Savers
Even for people who have been very responsible with their money over the years, entering retirement can still be a challenge because it’s such a different stage of life. Let’s discuss some of the areas where savers might make a few missteps so you’ll be better prepared in retirement.
Read MoreEp 12: Financial Lessons Learned from Classic Fables
Some of our earliest life lessons came from stories passed down from generation to generation. These classic fables have stood the test of time because the moral of each story can be applied to nearly every aspect of our lives to teach us what’s most important. We’re going to take four classic fables and find out how they apply to financial planning on this episode.
Read MoreEp 11: The Retirement Road Trip
Retirement planning is a lot like a road trip. It takes careful planning, strategy, research, and execution. We’ll explore the similarities between the two and explain what you need to do to reach your final retirement destination on time and as planned.
Read MoreEp 10: Should We Follow Conventional Wisdom for Retirement Planning?
When it comes to investing, conventional wisdom guides a lot of our decisions and strategies. While it usually benefits it, conventional wisdom isn’t always black and white. Following this advice on real estate, debt, and retirement lifestyle might not be in your best interest. We’ll explain on this episode.
Read MoreEp #9: What Financial Wisdom Can We Gain from Beatles Songs?
Chris has been a fan of The Beatles for a long time so we decided to make the connection between the Fab Four and Finance. Join us as we take song titles and explain how they apply to retirement planning.
Read MoreEp #8: Doing the Research Before Making Financial Decisions
Everyone wants to feel more informed about their options when they’re making financial decision, but not all information is valuable. Let’s discuss the different types of research people are using to stay informed about retirement planning and whether it’s right for you.
Read MoreEp #7: Strategy in Chess is Much Like Retirement
Much like chess, retirement planning utilizes multiple strategies to reach an end goal. Think about the way you use each piece and consider how that would compare to your different investments. On today’s episode, we’ll tell you what we think each piece represents in your portfolio.
Read MoreEp #6: Do These Popular Beliefs Actually Work in Financial Planning?
We see and hear a lot of things in our everyday life and in financial planning that people believe to be true, but that’s not always the case. From cheesy pick-up lines to longterm care in retirement, we spend this episode discussing whether these five specific actions actually work.
Read MoreEp #4: How Your Financial Feelings Factor Into Retirement
Have you ever been told to put your emotions aside when it comes to money? Well, that’s not always the case for retirement. Your opinions – or financial feelings – can play a big part into your plan. By factoring those feelings into your future, you can set yourself up for a retirement that fits you best.
Read MoreEp #3: Retirement Decisions: More Than Just Investments
Perhaps you’ve been building your nest egg for quite some time, but have you realized that retirement is about so much more than just your investments. Chris will talk us through five areas that require a bit of thought and some careful decisions to prepare you for a thriving retirement.
Read MoreEp #2: Fuzzy Math In Retirement
A lot of investors (and advisors) fall victim to fuzzy math in retirement planning. We’ll make sure you aren’t one of them on today’s show. Plus, we’ll answer two questions from local listeners about how to retire when you’ve done no previous planning and trying to understand the spousal Social Security benefit.
Read MoreEp #1: Managing Your Retirement Expectations
It’s not uncommon for your expectations about retirement to be out of whack from reality. Some people have unreasonable expectations while others set the bar way too low. On today’s podcast, Chris describes what reasonable expectations look like for most people in retirement. We’ll also answer some great listener questions about rental properties, estimated tax payments in retirement and what to do about being trapped in “golden handcuffs”.
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