Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

Andy chats with a real person (not an advisor) doing their own retirement planning. In this episode, Andy talks with Daryl. They talk about a wide array of retirement planning topics such as when he started getting serious about planning for retirement, how he's gotten comfortable spending from his nest egg, what he's doing for health insurance since he's not yet on Medicare and what his claim to fame was with being on television...

 
 Links in this episode:

Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Andy and Brad Flood from Tenon Financial share their thoughts on a handful of current events and "hot topics" relating to retirement planning. Specifically, they talk about:

Portfolio withdrawal strategies for addressing sequence of returns risk ( 10:44 )
Using financial planning software and dealing with its limitations ( 26:25 )
Thoughts on Medicare surcharges known as IRMAA, and how much they should be factored into tax planning ( 40:25 )
Dealing with legacy investments in client's accounts when clients want to streamline and simplify their holdings, but also want or need to continue to hold some existing positions of theirs ( 46:14 )
Balancing optimization and simplicity in financial planning; when is "good enough," enough? ( 58:29 )
When in the year to take distributions from Required Minimum Distributions ("RMDs") ( 1:12:19 )
A summary of our processes and semiannual meetings at Tenon Financial ( 1:19:02 )

Links in this episode:
Tenon Financial's website summarizing services and fees - https://tenonfinancial.com/services-and-fees

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

My company newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Andy discusses the different options for holding cash and cash equivalents (i.e. things that are principal protected, offer some amount of interest and are highly liquid and readily accessible)
The options are:
Physical bills and coins
Checking accounts
Savings accounts
Certificates of Deposit, or CD's
Money Market Mutual Funds or Exchanged Traded Funds that invest like Money Market Mutual Funds
Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities, or MYGA's (but hear why he doesn't fully consider them cash equivalents)

Links in this episode:
FDIC insurance calculator - https://edie.fdic.gov/calculator.html
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/
Tenon Financial's May 2026 Newsletter/blog - Options for holding cash and cash equivalents

Tenon Financial monthly e-newsletter - Retirement Planning Insights
Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Guest host Mark Rosinski, CFP®, CPA, RICP®, from Dunes Financial does a "hot topics" episode where he talks about:
US Government obligation interest and what to look for on your consolidated 1099 to make sure you properly reflect the state income tax treatment on your tax return ( 9:06 )
Understanding and tracking after-tax "basis" in inherited IRAs ( 20:14 )
Required Minimum Distribution ("RMD") aggregation rules ( 25:03 )
Potentially doubling up contributions to governmental 457 employer retirement plans, and other unique aspects of 457 plans ( 33:27 )
Different approaches for investing money during the period where income from working has stopped but Social Security has not yet been started. Options include total return, bond ladders, bucket strategies, and hybrid approaches ( 46:35 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Links in this episode:
Mark's company's website - https://www.dunesfinancial.com/
Mark's first time on the Retirement Planning Education podcast - #146 – Retirement planner chat, with Mark Rosinski from Dunes Financial
Mark's second time on the Retirement Planning Education podcast - #165 - "Hot topics" edition...Andy and Mark Rosinski talk about different withdrawal strategies, rule of 55 distributions, allocating the stock portion of a portfolio and MORE!
Andy's YouTube video - IRA after-tax "basis," the pro rata rule and Form 8606

Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: 
Correction to a previous Q&A episode regarding taxation of lump sum Social Security benefits paid in one year for benefits attributable to the prior year ( 9:54 )
His thoughts on artificial intelligence and how it can impact the financial planning industry ( 13:00 )
The "withhold and replace" method of paying taxes when doing IRA distributions or conversions and using the indirect 60-day rollover approach to ultimately pay taxes out of your bank or brokerage account, but with the benefit of doing it via withholdings from the IRA ( 20:30 )
Step DOWN in basis when inheriting assets that have declined in value from where the original owner bought them ( 31:46 )
When having a pension available, instead of selecting a payment option that lives on for your spouse upon your death, instead taking the payment option that stops when you pass, and using the difference in the larger payment amount to buy life insurance for the benefit of your spouse ( 40:00 )
His thoughts on using a TIPS ladder ( 45:29 )
Whether to invest money or instead use it to buy long term care insurance. Such as deciding between making an $8,000 Roth 401(k) catchup contribution, or using some or all of that $8,000 to buy long term care insurance ( 50:48 )
At what point does larger investable asset size or net worth start to lead to the need to have a more complex portfolio, or to invest in non-traditional assets like private investments, alternatives, etc. ( 54:31 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Links in this episode:

Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning Insights
Facebook group - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Taxes in Retirement)
YouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)
Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com