Annuities. They used to be Taboo in a nasty word in my mouth and I swear I would never have one until now in retirement my financial advisor has me in some which kept me flat these last few months instead of losing like the rest of my accounts. So never say never you just have to get the right one from the right person that’s not doing it just to turn a lot of income on selling it to you
Basically everything. There are thousands of conflicting, constantly changing views from “experts’ on just one topic. It’s very hard to keep myself detached from the noise knowing that ignoring them is the best…..
At this point in our lives, it’s definitely all the issues involved with decumulation. My wife and I feel comfortable with our DIY plan to take us the last few years to retirement, but we’ll probably pay for help to get us started down the remainder of the road.
Honestly, the responses to this post tell me that most are much more sophisticated than I am. I’m decent but need to figure out how to simplify more for my wife for when we retire. Will probably need to get advice from an adviser at that point as I don’t want to burden her or my son when I’m gone.
Any attempt to lower the cost of my AT&T wireless-internet-cell bill. It seems that no matter what changes I attempt to make, the bill barely budges. If Einstein was alive today, he would revise his statement about the tax code being the hardest thing in the world to understand!
I’m a frequent reader of the XYPN Network’s Facebook page, and the questions posited by the independent advisors can get soooo into the weeds sometimes. I shudder to think how I’d react and what I’d do if I were the advisor.
While rolling over a 401(k) to an IRA is easy peasy and transferring one HSA to another is simple, things quickly get really complex when there are different account types.
Also, the contribution limits can be confusing when someone has a 401(k), 457(b), 403(b), 401(a), Solo 401(k) when having a few jobs. I had this situation last year. Being a super-saver, I had to be very careful I didn’t go over the various contribution limits!
Decumulation in general; and within that, minimizing taxation.
Second place goes to various portfolio strategies, both asset allocation and asset location. KISS works ok – BH 3 funds. But backtesting tells me my robo is beating the 3 fund portfolio and doing TLH along the way, too. So as we move into decumulation and reading up on various safe/variable withdrawal strategies, I find the whole AA theory a bit challenging. Maybe I’m overthinking it (likely).
I was going to mention decumulation as well. Thorniest financial problem in existence to my knowledge.
If your portfolio has between 30 and 70% equities, balanced mostly by bonds, maybe a few percent in misc, I think your AA will likely serve you well as long as you stick to your plan. I had all sorts of crazy combinations of equity funds in my younger days, but it turned out fine. 7 years ago or so I finally got a clue on AA, built a portfolio approach I like, and the result has been fine. I can stay with it because I understand it’s strengths and weaknesses vs BH 3 fund (which is fine too.) I expect I’ll use it the rest of my life (with possible adjustments when I transition to decumulation.)
Insurance products. When clients come to me with complex annuities and other type of insurance products, it can take hours to try and unravel helpful information and even more time/strategy to try and get them out of the product, if at all.
VIX. How do they determine this figure and how to use it.
Can it be smart to do Roth Conversions even if they push you beyond the 24% tax bracket and you need to spend IRA funds to pay the taxes?
Puts and covered calls. . I constantly have to re-read how they work!
Annuities. They used to be Taboo in a nasty word in my mouth and I swear I would never have one until now in retirement my financial advisor has me in some which kept me flat these last few months instead of losing like the rest of my accounts. So never say never you just have to get the right one from the right person that’s not doing it just to turn a lot of income on selling it to you
Whether to open a Roth or not. Tax person says no, but everyone else says yes.
Trust structures
Basically everything. There are thousands of conflicting, constantly changing views from “experts’ on just one topic. It’s very hard to keep myself detached from the noise knowing that ignoring them is the best…..
Bonds.
Annuities first and Futures Contracts second.
Bonds. Need I say more? 🙂
At this point in our lives, it’s definitely all the issues involved with decumulation. My wife and I feel comfortable with our DIY plan to take us the last few years to retirement, but we’ll probably pay for help to get us started down the remainder of the road.
Trust administration, reporting and taxation
Honestly, the responses to this post tell me that most are much more sophisticated than I am. I’m decent but need to figure out how to simplify more for my wife for when we retire. Will probably need to get advice from an adviser at that point as I don’t want to burden her or my son when I’m gone.
Any attempt to lower the cost of my AT&T wireless-internet-cell bill. It seems that no matter what changes I attempt to make, the bill barely budges. If Einstein was alive today, he would revise his statement about the tax code being the hardest thing in the world to understand!
Oops – I just realized I already answered this 9 months ago. Happily, my answer was going to be the same – decumulation.
Tax treatment of retirement account scenarios.
I’m a frequent reader of the XYPN Network’s Facebook page, and the questions posited by the independent advisors can get soooo into the weeds sometimes. I shudder to think how I’d react and what I’d do if I were the advisor.
While rolling over a 401(k) to an IRA is easy peasy and transferring one HSA to another is simple, things quickly get really complex when there are different account types.
Also, the contribution limits can be confusing when someone has a 401(k), 457(b), 403(b), 401(a), Solo 401(k) when having a few jobs. I had this situation last year. Being a super-saver, I had to be very careful I didn’t go over the various contribution limits!
Decumulation in general; and within that, minimizing taxation.
Second place goes to various portfolio strategies, both asset allocation and asset location. KISS works ok – BH 3 funds. But backtesting tells me my robo is beating the 3 fund portfolio and doing TLH along the way, too. So as we move into decumulation and reading up on various safe/variable withdrawal strategies, I find the whole AA theory a bit challenging. Maybe I’m overthinking it (likely).
I was going to mention decumulation as well. Thorniest financial problem in existence to my knowledge.
If your portfolio has between 30 and 70% equities, balanced mostly by bonds, maybe a few percent in misc, I think your AA will likely serve you well as long as you stick to your plan. I had all sorts of crazy combinations of equity funds in my younger days, but it turned out fine. 7 years ago or so I finally got a clue on AA, built a portfolio approach I like, and the result has been fine. I can stay with it because I understand it’s strengths and weaknesses vs BH 3 fund (which is fine too.) I expect I’ll use it the rest of my life (with possible adjustments when I transition to decumulation.)
Money – money supply, international exchange rates, fiat currency, … The math isn’t hard, but it’s not always intuitive.
Insurance products. When clients come to me with complex annuities and other type of insurance products, it can take hours to try and unravel helpful information and even more time/strategy to try and get them out of the product, if at all.
The Net Unrealized Appreciation strategy is a contender. But the DW and I should have some time to figure it out.