Josh Scandlen Podcast

In this episode I interview Tom Jordan. Tom is the guitarist and vocalist for a hard-rocking two-piece band 20 Watt Tombstone out of Wisconsin. I was able to catch up with Tom after 20 Watt returned from a couple weeks on the road. It was a lot of fun chatting with Tom. In this interview, you'll learn the history of the slide guitar sound which Tom says he uses almost exclusively. You'll also learn the logistics a professional musician must go through in order to set up shows across the country...and how they get paid. Finally, you'll learn why it's SO important to be different and have some fun when you're creating content. So listen closely because you'll learn more in this episode than any class you took in high school, I assure you. Also, don't hesitate to check out their tour schedule and if they're in your town, I encourage you to check 'em out.  Just because they seem to be nice guys, doesn't mean they can't play hard music.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast

I can not even begin to tell you how excited I was to conduct this interview with Larry Kotlikoff, economics expert extraordinaire. Larry is an economics professor at Boston University and is probably most famous for warning anyone who will listen that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are doomed in their current state. We can only continue to rob from the future to pay for today for so long. At some point, there will be a reckoning and when that happens, what then? Larry's work has been an integral part of my life, both as a consumer AND as a professional financial planner. Whenever I am asked "What's a good book to read on financial planning", my recommendation is Larry's book with Scott Burns', "Spend Till The End", bar none. Here are some of the links we discussed: www.theinformact.com www.modernwhig.org/ joinsam.org/ economicsecurityplanning.com/ kotlikoff.net/ seekingalpha.com/article/4162603-money-magic-finding-alpha-sidewalk --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandle

I receive a lot of questions via Quora. Feel free to go to my blog at https://www.quora.com/profile/Josh-Scandlen/blogs or better yet just go to my website at http://heritagewealthplanning.com/blog/. Here are some of the questions I answer on the podcast today. 1. How many Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) also hold the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA)? 2. Do traditional to roth conversions count against your yearly roth contribution limit? 3. Is it better to pay off your house with your savings before retirement? 4. Is paying 0.50+ expense ratio on VMOT, GVAL, GMOM and SYLD ETFs worth it if investing horizon is 20+ years compare to broad market index ETFs with less than 0.20 expense ratio? Any question you want me to answer? Just send it in! I'll be happy to do so. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support

Headlines drive traffic. Don't believe me? How many articles have you "liked" online without actually reading the article. We've all done that. In fact, there is a rule of thumb that 5 times as many people read the headline as the actual copy. So headline writing is critical. In this episode I interviewed a headline maestro, Justin Blackman from www.prettyflycopy.com. Justin is an expert in putting words together to make your business stand out. Unfortunately, the audio wasn't great. DAMN YOU CELL PHONES! Audio is critical in podcasting and video so I decided not to use it. Sorry about that, Justin. Instead I give somewhat of a transcript from what we discussed. Justin talks about the need to identify who you are trying to appeal to, among many other things which I share with you. I think you'll find this episode very valuable, even if it's just me yapping. Visit Justin's website at https://prettyflycopy.com. He provides a ton of valuable resources. --- Support this podcast: https:

In this episode we reveal what the secret to retirement happiness is... It's having NO MORTGAGE! Yes, I just revealed it to you. You can thank me later. But actually, there are studies on this stuff. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that debt is increasing for retirees, big time. Housing costs account for over 1/3 of retirees expenditures and it's getting larger as people age. Also the amount of people who carry mortgages well into retirement is increasing significantly too. Ironically, TowerWatson did a study that showed at the same time the satisfaction of retirees is declining significantly. Coincidence? I highly doubt it. See my post/video on this topic here: http://heritagewealthplanning.com/1-thing-to-do-for-retirement-happiness/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support

If you are using a simple Monte Carlo analysis to analyze your retirement projections, you could be setting yourself up for a HUGE disaster. Worst off, is that this disaster may occur when it's just too late to change anything! Why is this? Because Monte Carlo analysis doesn't include investment fees or taxes. As I stated repeatedly, investment fees and taxes are the biggest detriments to your portfolio strength. So, consider using this FREE tool at Firecalc.com. While it won't give us insight into taxes you may pay, it most certainly can allow you to adjust your portfolio for the fees you pay. In this example I show what a retirement portfolio with a .18% looks like as compared to a more typical portfolio with a fee of 1.50%. It's not a pretty comparison. Not in the least. Factor in taxes and it's going to get even uglier. When it comes to retirement planning, ugly is not your friend; we want the prom queen. The easiest way to dance with her? Reduce fees and taxes! --- Support this podcast

In this episode, I share how a recently widowed friend of mine was told by a large investment firm that her money would last until she was 93 years old. She's 61 now. How did they figure that? Well, they ran a Monte Carlo analysis of course! And if the Monte Carlos says you are good to go, well, who's going to argue with that? I do! The three things that must be looked at when it comes to the Monte Carlo are: 1. Rates of returns the software is using 2. Investment fees 3. Taxes I go into detail of all three in the podcast. But, if the software from which the Monte Carlo is based is saying cash will return you 3% and a conservative portfolio (20% stocks / 80% bonds) 6.2%; That is way overly optimistic of real world returns that we see today when the 10 yr Treasury bond is paying 2.80%. Investment fees? Mutual fund fees? Those need to be considered as well as taxes on investments too! If you are not looking at the NET, you could be in big trouble. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scan

Take the Retirement Readiness Quiz here: http://heritagewealthplanning.com/retirement-readiness-quiz/ The 3 questions you need to answer BEFORE you hang up your work boots: 1. How much income will you need in retirement? 2. How much is your Primary Insurance Amount? 3. Subtract 2 from 1 and divide by .04. Is your liquid net worth larger than that number? If so, you're probably going to be in good shape. If not, you have some work to do. But no worries, you've taken a HUGE step towards preparing for a successful retirement. Maybe there is some fat you can cut from your income needs. Maybe you can increase your Social Security benefit. Maybe you can work an extra year or two to get your liquid net worth up to where you need it to be. Lots of things you can do to prepare. Remember, this is just a STARTING POINT. Nothing is chiseled in stone. But the journey of a million miles starts with the first step. So, use this quiz to begin your journey. And share it with others! --- Support this podcas

One of my pet peeves is how the financial planning industry had allowed itself to be consumed by the investment advisory industry. The two are not the same! Financial planning is truly ALL encompassing, taxes, insurance, investments, college, debt, estate etc. are all part of the discussion. What's investment advice though? Well, simple, INVESTMENTS! Investments are part of financial planning but financial planning is so much more. Yet, because most financial 'advisors' get paid on the investments they manage, it's easy to see how the two get mixed up. I wish this weren't the case. I wish we truly had an industry where clients value what a financial advisor does, in terms of seeing the big picture as opposed to just managing investments. But that industry is starting to spring up. Groups like XY Planning Network (which I'm a part of), Garret Planning Network, NAPFA are doing wonderful things to advance of the cause of true financial planning. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-sc

Latest episode of Josh Scandlen Podcast --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support

In this episode we discuss Revocable Living Trusts, aka Inter-vivos Trusts or Living Trusts. We discuss the pros and cons revolving around Living Trusts. First thing to understand: 1. Revocable means it can be REVOKED! Thus you still own it, control it and pay tax on any income in it on your personal tax return. However, a Revocable Trust becomes IRREVOCABLE at death. Thus you better understand what your trust states because at your death it can only be changed by court order. 2. Who is the Successor Trusttee? This is the most important person in your trust document. Who manages it when you are incapacitated or death??? 3. Is your trust actually FUNDED, i.e., hold an asset? If your trust doesn't actually own an asset it's not worth the paper it's written on. YOu need to make sure you actually put a property into your trust. Not difficult to do for financial assets, like a bank account, but for REAL assets, like your home, that's more problematic. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-sc

Today is Thursday April 5th, 2008. Do you know what that means? That means it's 4 days past the deadline for me to have filed for my Fulton County, GA property homestead exemption. This means I paid $871 TOO MUCH in property taxes this year. This means I've also been paying too much in taxes every year I've been here too. Thus that is nearly $3500 over the 5 years I've lived in Fulton County that I've paid too much. Don't let this be you! Go to http://fultonassessor.org/exemptions/ and learn what YOU need to do to reduce YOUR tax burden. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support

The very first episode of Josh Scandlen Podcast! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support

The very first episode of Josh Scandlen Podcast! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/josh-scandlen-podcast/support