Articles and Videos

Capitalize

CAPitalize Good and Bad Debt -Season 2: Episode 8

October 25, 2021

For those who are accustomed to hearing that all debt is bad, when they’re told that there is actually such a thing as “good debt,” they’re often more than a little skeptical. This can be a hard concept for many people to understand. Believe it or not, there are strategic ways to utilize debt to your potential advantage. The key is to understand which debts are good, and which ones are bad. Knowing the difference between the two can make a big difference in your financial life.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

How Long Do You Expect to Live?

October 21, 2021

Have you thought about what might happen if the stock market dropped precipitously just as you began your retirement? What if your portfolio took a 10-, 20-, or 30-percent cut or more just when you needed the funds the most? This is what’s known as “Sequence of Returns” risk. And can be one of the biggest challenges a recent retiree can face.

Managing Your Financial Future

Answering Your Most Common Social Security Questions – Season 7: Episode 6

October 19, 2021

This episode covers some of your most common Social Security questions that we get every week: How can I avoid paying taxes on my benefits? Is there an ideal age to start taking benefits? Can I collect a benefit even if I’m still working? How do the spousal and survivor benefits work? Social Security provides a baseline for many people’s retirement plans, which is why it’s important to be as well-informed on the topic as you can be.

Managing Your Financial Future

How to Set Up Bucket One- Season 7: Episode 5

October 12, 2021

The basic idea of a Buckets strategy involves taking portfolio distributions from a non-volatile source: what we call Bucket #1.  You never want to be in a position where you have to sell volatile assets (like stocks) to fund your short-term monthly expenses. But does this mean that you need to have several years’ worth of cash sitting around to make sure it’s there when you need it?  The short answer is no – you just need to “bucketize” the bucket. But how do you do that?  It’s not as simple as it seems.

Capitalize

CAPitalize Your Debt -Season 2: Episode 7

October 11, 2021

For those who owe a lot of money to creditors, debt can seem like a really bad thing. And the bigger the debt, the worse the situation. And for those on the other side of the spectrum, those who are essentially debt-free, life can certainly seem a lot easier, at least financially speaking. There’s no shortage of financial pundits who tell you how much better your life will be if you eliminate all of your debts. But is this really sound advice? Perhaps not. There may be some instances where debt can actually work in your favor.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Sequence-of-Returns Risk: What If You Retire at the Wrong Time?

October 7, 2021

Have you thought about what might happen if the stock market dropped precipitously just as you began your retirement? What if your portfolio took a 10-, 20-, or 30-percent cut or more just when you needed the funds the most? This is what’s known as “Sequence of Returns” risk. And can be one of the biggest challenges a recent retiree can face.

Managing Your Financial Future

How To Manage Your Tax Bill, Now and in Retirement – Season 7: Episode 4

October 5, 2021

It’s been said that taxes are perhaps the biggest drag on your portfolio’s returns. So it would stand to reason that managing your taxes, with the goal of keeping them as low as possible over the course of many years, should be one of your biggest financial planning priorities. But “managing” your taxes is different from “minimizing” them. There may indeed be times where paying a little more in taxes now could save you much more down the road: maybe for the rest of your life.

Investing and Personal Finance

Are You Really Diversified?

September 30, 2021

You’ve probably heard that diversification of your investments is a good thing. And it would seem to make sense that by keeping all of your eggs out of a single basket, and spreading your wealth across different asset classes and geographies, you may be able to avoid the catastrophic risk that often comes with just… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

Know Your Pension Options: Lump Sum, or Annuity? – Season 7: Episode 3

September 28, 2021

For anyone with a pension, the decision of how to take the payments is an important one.  Are you offered the choice to take the entire amount as a lump sum?  If so, you’ve got to know about what could happen when you decide to go one way or the other. And for married people, there are even more choices, compounding the issue even further.

Capitalize

CAPitalize Your Savings -Season 2: Episode 6

September 27, 2021

People sometimes wonder if “Cash is King,” or if “Cash is Trash.”   What if the answer is neither…or both?   Something as simple as how much you need to have in savings truly depends on your individual situation — and the variables are endless.  Do you work for the government and have a steady income?  Are you an owner of a company where your income fluctuates?  Are you a dentist and perhaps struggle to understand how much cash to have in your personal savings and business account?   On today’s episode, I talk about how to be prudent with your savings (and where to store it)!

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Let’s Manage Your Tax Bill

September 22, 2021

So we’ve still got some time left in 2021, which means that right now may be a great opportunity to do a little tax planning. This is especially true if you’re retired and you’re looking for ways to potentially lower your tax bill, either right now, or over the long-term. Here are a few things… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

How Should You Invest in Your 401k?- Season 7: Episode 2

September 21, 2021

If you’ve ever looked at your investment options inside your 401k plan (or other retirement plan at work), you might have felt overwhelmed by the number of choices. Even if your choices aren’t necessarily numerous, how do you know whether you should go all in with stocks, or maybe keep it safer with a blend of volatile and non-volatile assets?  This decision is big, and going the wrong way can lead to significantly different outcomes in the future.