The Retirement and IRA Show

Chris’s Summary Jim and I discuss five common power of attorney mistakes flagged in an estate planning attorney’s article, along with points from Peter Scott. We cover naming an alternative agent, the friction a springing agency can create, gifting authority that is either absent or overly broad, notifying old agents and financial institutions after a change, and the boilerplate real estate language that title companies may refuse to accept. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I go through an article timestamped December 2022, one of the 72 sitting in my iPad folder, where an estate planning attorney lists her five biggest mistakes to avoid with a financial power of attorney. I’m not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, but I’ve been in this industry 27 going on 28 years and we deal with these forms quite often. I read her five, opine on them, and Chris weighs in after each. I also bring in Peter Scott, who shared with us on this show before he retired, because Pete flagged two of these as the big ones. Her list covers backup agents, springing powers, gifting authority, changing agents, and real estate. I used to be a fan of springing powers. I’m not anymore, and it was Pete who turned me around on it. I had never thought of it that way before. Gifting is the one I think gets overlooked most, and I use my own mother’s document to explain why, because what wasn’t in hers had me beside myself. It involved my sister, my niece and nephew, and a lot of college tuition. Chris adds that locking a document down too tightly can backfire just as badly, and suggests what to do with wishes that don’t fit into legal language. We also get into why banks and financial institutions often refuse older forms, the Colorado law Pete said he could fly a 747 through, and two clients whose documents came from the exact same software, where one attorney took the time to do the job and the other just clicked print. Pete’s warning on real estate was about boilerplate language, and Chris explains why the address you use every day may not be the one that matters. The post Power of Attorney Mistakes: EDU #2637 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris are again joined by Dr. Phillip Snider. They discuss listener emails on coronary artery calcium scoring, followed by a broader conversation on healthy aging. Dr. Snider revisits the five tests he recommended in a previous episode, explains what the calcium score ranges mean, and covers how to get the tests done. He then turns to the dietary patterns linked to a longer, healthier life and closes with where the evidence actually stands on the common supplements vitamin D, vitamin E, CoQ10, and beta-carotene. (11:30) George shares that after requesting the five tests Dr. Snider recommended, his coronary artery calcium score came back high despite other excellent health markers, and he and his physician are now building a treatment plan. (29:00) A listener who is a retired emergency physician offers a different view on the calcium score, arguing that testing asymptomatic people carries risks of its own. The post Heart Screening, Healthy Aging in Retirement: Q&A #2637 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I continue our Fun Number series with a listener email laying out a DIY retirement plan built account by account, each with an assigned purpose. We cover where her approach lines up with positioning dollars by spending need, where tax planning could change what comes from which account, and how declining ability to manage money shaped her decisions. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I get back to the series we interrupted, this time with a long email from a listener who has done the work herself and laid the whole thing out for us. She is retiring next year, she has been tracking her actual spending for years, and she has built a DIY retirement plan that throws out the two rules of thumb she started with a decade ago. I have never understood where that 75 to 80 percent of income number came from. Your mortgage or rent and your utilities do not shrink because you stopped working, and the money you were putting into the 401k does not vanish. It goes to fun. Where she really got my attention is that she gave every account a job. She has a good life account, a reserve for emergencies, aging and long term care, one for charitable giving, and one that exists to be spent. That is her version of what we do, and I like it. I do have a couple of caveats, and one of them I feel strongly enough about that I went looking for the sound effect button. It has to do with which account the charitable dollars should come from. We also get into what she calls the basics of life, which is close to what we call the Minimum Dignity Floor , why positions get etched in Jell-O and not in stone, the studies on when your ability to handle this material peaks and why your confidence never gets the memo, and the question of who her tax planning is actually for. The post Review of a DIY Retirement Plan: EDU #2636 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on IRMAA brackets after a spouse’s death, Social Security claiming and spousal benefits, annuities and inflation for a Minimum Dignity Floor shortfall, and a Qualified Charitable Distributio (QCD) funding a charitable gift annuity, followed by listener PSAs on expense tracking, home sale timing, and annuity flexibility. (10:00) A listener asks which year’s tax brackets and which filing status apply to the IRMAA two-year look-back following a spouse’s death, and whether remarrying later would change the result. (18:30) George asks whether claiming Social Security at Full Retirement Age rather than 70 makes more sense when a spouse is already receiving a small benefit that would step up to a spousal benefit. (32:15) The guys respond to a question about how to account for future inflation when purchasing an annuity to cover a Minimum Dignity Floor (MDF) shortfall. (1:02:15) Jim and Chris address a question about using a QCD from a traditional IRA that contains basis to fund a charitable gift annuity. The listener asks how the basis affects the reportable QCD amount, any charitable deduction, and the taxation of the lifetime income stream. (1:11:30) Georgette shares a listener PSA on using a budgeting app to tag every transaction as either MDF or Fun in the years leading up to retirement. (1:13:00) A listener offers a PSA recommending a different approach – similar to what Jim is doing – for the homebuyer from a previous episode. (1:15:00) The guys share a listener PSA suggesting a 60-day leaseback at closing as a simpler alternative to the 60-day rollover for that same home purchase situation. (1:19:30) Jim and Chris close with a listener PSA suggesting that an annuity purchased for fun spending could also serve as a partial source of MDF income later if it structured differently. The post IRMAA Brackets, Social Security, Annuity Inflation, QCDs, Listener PSAs: Q&A #2636 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I are joined by Jacob as we tackle four listener questions on Investment Positioning , covering Quicken tools for tracking positions, funding a delay period Minimum Dignity Floor with a stable value fund, evaluating a too-good-to-be-true real estate return, and weighing a target date fund for long-term care reserves. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I are joined by Jacob as we work through four listener emails, all circling back to how we think about Investment Positioning in retirement. (6:45) One listener wants to know what Quicken features another listener used to track positions. Jacob reads the original listener’s own description of using Quicken to set up investment positions, plus separate categories for essential and discretionary spending. (14:30) George wonders whether the stable value fund in his large 401(k) is principal protected enough to draw on. He and his wife are both 60 and plan to delay Social Security roughly 10 years, and he’s weighing this fund as the source to bridge that gap. Jacob and I dig into rate reset timing, liquidity restrictions, and mandatory withholding before landing on an answer. (46:45) A listener asks whether a real estate offer promising 18 to 30 percent annual returns is worth pursuing. Chris lays out the single clearest test I’ve heard for spotting too-good-to-be-true returns. (1:09:30) Georgette raises the question of parking her long-term care dollars in a 2040 target date fund. Jacob walks through how we tier the L in our SEAL Reserve by age instead of relying on one fund’s glide path, and I get into the real difference between a “to” fund and a “through” fund, including the story of a deputy sheriff who learned that difference the hard way. The post Investment Positioning Questions: EDU #2635 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on Social Security survivor benefits and earnings records, financing a home purchase, and using a fixed indexed annuity (FIA) for discretionary spending. (11:15) A listener asks why a Social Security estimate lists a $3,944 survivor benefit rather than the projected $5,101 age-70 benefit and which amount would actually be paid. (21:45) The guys consider whether adding previously omitted stock option income to a 2017 earnings record could result in higher Social Security benefits and back pay. (31:30) Jim and Chris weigh using a 60-day IRA or Roth IRA rollover to finance a home purchase before selling the current home against a HELOC or mortgage. (55:15) Another listener asks for their thoughts on using a fixed indexed annuity (FIA) with an income rider to support discretionary spending and how it compares with their simpler annuity strategies. The post Social Security, Social Security, Home Purchase, Fun Spending: Q&A #2635 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I continue our discussion on the Fun Number , this time as a dialogue episode built around one listener’s hesitation around spending retirement savings and how growth and legacy positioning and establishing his SEAL Reserve helped him work through it. We revisit the seesaw framework for undeployed assets, clarify how the SEAL Reserve consolidated the old reserve positions, and explain why the Fun Vision is never set in stone and can and should be revisited. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I are picking the Fun Number conversation back up in dialogue form this week, working through a long email from a listener whose growth and legacy positioning helped him get more comfortable with spending retirement savings after years of struggling to spend the money he worked his whole life to save. I have spent twenty-seven years questioning the safe withdrawal rate approach, and this listener took what we teach and reshaped it around his own need for peace of mind. He admitted flat out that spending money is difficult for him, and I don’t think that makes him an anomaly. Honestly, that’s the norm for most people entering retirement. I compare it to growing lettuce in my own garden, nursing it from seed, only to cut it down and eat it. You still do it, but there is a pull to let it keep growing. That is why we built the Minimum Dignity Floor first: the older you gets an explicit promise that food, housing, and healthcare are covered no matter what, so the younger you can give yourself permission to spend on fun. This listener wanted more comfort than that alone gave him. So we walk through where that extra comfort came from for him. The post Spending Retirement Savings: EDU #2634 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on spousal Social Security timing, a listener PSA on the super catch-up contribution rule, early withdrawals from a Roth 457(b) plan, Minimum Dignity Floor coverage using SPIAs, QLACs as a hedge against potential Social Security cuts, and a couple’s retirement strategy. (10:00) — A listener asks whether a wife nearing full retirement age can claim her own smaller Social Security benefit now, then switch to a spousal benefit once her husband files at his full retirement age. (18:15) — A listener PSA offers clarification on a previous Q&A episode’s super catch-up contribution rule discussion. (22:15) — Jim and Chris are asked how early withdrawals of growth from a Roth 457(b) plan are taxed for someone who won’t yet be 59 and a half, since 457(b) plans avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty but may not meet the usual requirements for tax-free Roth distributions. (32:30) — George asks for guidance on using a dual life single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) to help a retired couple with minimal Social Security and no pension cover their Minimum Dignity Floor . (45:00) — A listener asks several questions about how qualified longevity annuity contracts (QLACs) work and whether the current contribution limit could offset a potential future cut to Social Security benefits. (1:00:30) — The guys review a retirement drawdown plan involving brokerage assets, Roth conversions, and an inheritance, and are asked whether the overall strategy holds up. The post Social Security, Early Withdrawals, SPIAs, QLACs, Retirement Strategy: Q&A #2634 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I are joined again by Dr. Phillip Snider as we continue looking at narrowing the gap between healthspan and lifespan and extending your go-go years. We discuss a listener-submitted article on health-adjusted life expectancy, which argues for concentrating retirement spending in the first decade of retirement rather than following a static, Monte Carlo-based safe withdrawal rate. Dr. Snyder updates his coronary artery calcium scoring correction, introduces the CCTA angiogram for non-calcified plaque, and outlines the four components of exercise, cardio, strength, balance, and flexibility, for maintaining function as we age. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I welcome back Dr. Phillip Snider to pick up right where we left off, because folks, this whole thing, all of it, is about extending your go-go years, and I’ll admit this episode gave me some homework of my own. Dr. Snyder corrects something he got wrong last time on coronary artery calcium scoring, breaks down a newer angiogram option for catching the sneaky non-calcified plaque a clean CAC score can miss, and even mentions a blood test called PLAC2 for folks who can’t do the angiogram. A listener sent in a short article about spending more in your first decade of retirement instead of hoarding it for some rainy day that never comes, and it is basically what I have been calling the Fun Number for years. You spend your whole life saving, and then you’re too scared to spend it. My dad used to warn me about the Debbie Downers in his retirement community, folks with plenty of money left but no health left to enjoy it. Nobody wants to be that person, and nobody wants to be the wealthiest person in the graveyard either. Dr. Snider walks through the four pieces of exercise you need as you get older, cardio, strength, balance, and flexibility, and Chris and I both admit we need a grease gun just to get moving some mornings. We get into tai chi, stretching, why I still cannot make myself do it consistently, and why one-third of people who break a hip never fully bounce back. Show Notes: “The First Decade Retirement Plan” article The post Extending Your Go-Go Years: EDU #2633 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on the Social Security Fairness Act, an IRMAA question involving deferred compensation, Roth conversions before and after key age milestones, Roth contributions for high-income catch-up savers, and how TEFRA affects an inherited annuity. (9:45) — A listener disagrees with the show’s characterization of the Social Security Fairness Act as unfair, explaining that after paying into both a government pension and Social Security for 40 quarters, she believes receiving both without penalty is fair for her situation. (27:45) — The guys field a question from a retiree who retired in 2025 and will receive deferred compensation payments through 2029 that push his income over the IRMAA threshold. He wonders whether he can file an SSA-44 in 2029 to eliminate the IRMAA surcharges. (37:00) — Jim and Chris are asked to revisit a recent discussion on moving money from Traditional to Roth accounts instead of taking distributions, with a listener wanting more detail on the implications of doing so before age 59 and a half and after RMD age. (48:30) — George asks for the pluses and minuses of continuing Roth 401(k)/403(b) contributions later in life compared with investing in a taxable brokerage account, including how a 50-year-old might decide between the two and whether those aged 61-63 should use the Roth option for super catch-up contributions. (1:03:30) — A listener has several questions about TEFRA, including what it stands for, when it was enacted, and how it affects distributions from an inherited annuity listing Pre-TEFRA and Post-TEFRA cost basis. The post Social Security, IRMAA, Roth Conversions, Roth Contributions, TEFRA: Q&A #2633 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I are joined by Jacob Vonloh as we continue our discussion on investment positioning, wrapping up asset placement for emergency, aging, and long-term care reserves and the fun spending that flows from your Fun Number , across the Go-Go and Slow-Go/No-Go phases. Jacob also outlines the guaranteed inheritance set-aside and closes with the growth and legacy position, the leftover dollars not assigned elsewhere. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I are joined by Jacob Vonloh as we pick back up right where we left off last week on investment positioning, finishing up the fun spending and SEAL Reserve pieces we didn’t get to. I keep coming back to this: retirement is the mirror opposite of the accumulation years, and when your whole portfolio looks like one big pot, a down market makes it feel like everything’s going down — and that fear is what stops people from spending on fun. That’s exactly why we don’t look at it that way. Jacob walks through how we tier the SEAL Reserve by age, and how fun spending gets laddered and benchmarked differently depending on how soon you’ll need it — all made possible by looking at each position on its own instead of one blended portfolio, which is the whole idea behind what I coined the See Through Portfolio . It’s also why you can’t compare your protected short-term Go-Go dollars to your long-term positions and think something’s wrong — that’s an apples-to-oranges comparison from the start. There’s a real cost to saving your whole life just to sit there and watch the money grow instead of enjoying it — don’t become what my dad used to call a Debbie Downer. Before we wrap, we also touch on two more positions that won’t apply to everybody. If you’ve got a specific bequest you want locked in today, there’s a guaranteed inheritance set-aside for that. And if you end up with dollars left over once everything else is funded, we get into what to do with what we call the growth and legacy position. The post Investment Positioning Part 2: EDU #2632 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on Social Security spousal benefits, a listener PSA on HSA tax strategies and treasuries, and inherited IRA RMD rules for minor beneficiaries. (9:00) A listener asks about qualifying for spousal benefits after a lengthy separation, since both spouses are now retired but remain legally married. (28:15) The guys share a listener PSA on tax strategies involving harvesting HSA-eligible expenses, including Medicare B and D premiums, as a tax-free funding source, and on laddering treasury bills through Fidelity or Schwab instead of TreasuryDirect. (40:15) George follows up on inherited IRA rules for minor child beneficiaries, asking whether an eligible designated beneficiary can elect the 10-year rule instead of taking the stretch, which requires RMDs. The post Spousal Benefits, HSA Tax Strategies PSA, Inherited IRAs: Q&A #2632 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

If you’d like to skip past Jim, Chris, and Jacob’s opening chat about Jacob relocating to Iowa, Jim’s hiking plans, weather, office dog Apollo, and generational pop culture gaps, skip ahead to (10:00). Chris’s Summary Jim and I continue our discussion on the Fun Number , joined this time by Jacob as we turn to investment positioning of those pieces. Jacob walks through tracking positions without professional software, using individual fund assignments, spreadsheets, and a two-credit-card approach, plus the liquidity account and fall tax planning. We then cover delay period and post-delay Minimum Dignity Floor investment options, moving from full principal protection in the near term to a lesser degree of it further out. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I pick back up on the Fun Number series, this time bringing Jacob on to tackle investment positioning, the piece everybody asks about once they’ve done the math from the first two episodes. Jacob spent years helping me build this from scratch, back when we tracked everything by hand before we ever had access to professional-grade tracking software, and he shares some of the tools do-it-yourselfers can use to keep track of their own toy box of positions without that kind of software. We also dig into the liquidity account, the piece that quietly connects your positions to your actual spending. Jacob’s two-credit-card idea for separating Minimum Dignity Floor from fun spending ties directly into it, and I explain why we do our tax planning once a year, in the fall, rather than guessing all year long. There’s a reason we’d rather convert to a Roth than take a straight withdrawal when refilling that account, and it comes down to what happens if your plans change. Once Jacob turns to investment options for the delay period and post-delay portions of your essential spending needs, we get into how the degree of principal protection shifts depending on how far out that money is needed, from fully protected in the near term to something with a little more market exposure further down the road. This is the heart of what I call the See-Through Portfolio , the whole reason we break things out this way instead of running one big portfolio, and there’s a real difference in how we treat money a couple of years away versus a decade out. The post Investment Positioning Explained: EDU #2631 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on Social Security survivor benefits after the GPO repeal, estate planning for minor children, and annuity safety. (10:00) A listener asks whether the repeal of GPO permits the survivor in a mixed Social Security and non-covered pension couple to keep both Social Security benefits rather than only the higher benefit, and where this rule appears in the POMS. (37:00) The guys review whether a revocable living trust should remain the contingent beneficiary of retirement accounts while the couple’s children are minors, despite the potential for higher taxes, and what alternatives or overlooked issues may apply. (1:16:15) Jim and Chris address whether someone considering a $500,000 single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) should split the purchase between two insurers to reduce insolvency and state guaranty association risk. The post Social Security, Estate Planning, Annuity Safety: Q&A #2631 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I continue our discussion on the Fun Number , this time tackling what comes out first and how we plan for covering retirement income gaps. We look at funding both the delay period and post-delay period, including how a SPIA quote helps determine how much to set aside today to close a future gap. We also address aging and long-term care, and the smaller, less common carve-out for a guaranteed inheritance tied to a special needs dependent. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I pick up the Fun Number conversation right where we left off, and this time we’re finally cracking open the toy box to show you what has to come out before anything gets set aside for fun. I still say it best with the seesaw: younger you on one side, older you on the other, and every dollar you carve out first is a promise you’re making across that fulcrum. We walk through the delay period, those years before your Social Security or pension is fully turned on, and why we don’t discount those dollars down the way you might expect. Then Chris shifts to the post-delay period, pulling a real annuity quote to price out a future income gap and translating that future need into a present-day number using our See Through Portfolio thinking, so you can actually see which assets are spoken for and which ones aren’t. We talk through how to close retirement income gaps step by step, and I even work in my usual gripe about the crystal ball nobody’s built yet. From there we get into the harder, more emotional carve-outs, the ones tied to aging, long-term care, and in some cases a guaranteed inheritance, before circling back to what’s actually left over for you to enjoy. There’s a reason people tend to want to spend now rather than reserve for later, and we talk about why that instinct is so hard to fight. Next week Jacob joins us to talk through how we actually invest each of these positions, so consider this the setup for that conversation. The post Covering Retirement Income Gaps: EDU #2630 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss listener emails on Social Security survivor benefit strategies, a Roth 401(k) catch-up rule loophole, HSA reimbursement for Medicare premiums, pension options including a lump sum rollover, and trust titling versus individual beneficiaries. (13:00) — George asks whether his brother can claim his own Social Security benefit at 62 and switch to the higher survivor benefit at full retirement age. (22:45) — A listener asks whether starting a new job in 2026 could exempt him from the new mandatory Roth 401(k) catch-up rule. (28:45) — The guys field a question about using HSA funds to reimburse Medicare Part A premiums paid for a spouse before age 65. (40:00) — Jim and Chris review a listener’s decision to take a pension lump sum and roll it into an IRA over the annuity options. (1:13:00) — Georgette asks which accounts should be retitled into her trust versus left as individual beneficiary designations. The post Social Security, Roth 401k, HSA Reimbursement, Pension Options, Trust Planning: Q&A #2630 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary “Jim and I begin a multi-part discussion on the Fun Number , a retirement budgeting concept for how much someone can spend on what they want rather than what they need once other obligations are covered. Jim traces how the idea originated from a client hesitant to follow through with his retirement dreams despite having more than enough saved to do so. In response, a single undifferentiated portfolio evolved over time into separately identified reserve positions. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I are kicking off a series on the Fun Number , the concept, along with the Minimum Dignity Floor , that I’ve built my whole approach to retirement budgeting on. This first episode lays the groundwork for a multi-part discussion, since arriving at that number means first identifying everything else that needs to be sorted out first. To get into where the idea actually came from, I tell the story of a client who had more than enough saved but still couldn’t bring himself to buy the camper trailer he’d been dreaming about for years. Watching that play out taught me something I just couldn’t shake: money sitting inside one big portfolio, all lumped together, is money many don’t feel safe spending, no matter what the math says. That realization led me to start pulling pieces out of a portfolio. It started with handwritten notes and a three-bucket approach that never quite solved the problem. I kept pulling pieces out, the way a kid digs through a toy box, separating out what’s needed for security and reserves so what’s left becomes visible and spendable, for whatever someone wants to do with it. That thinking eventually grew into what’s now called the See Through Portfolio . The post Retirement Budgeting – The Fun Number: EDU #2629 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris discuss the new PROMISE Act’s potential impact on Social Security before covering listener emails on pension RMD timing, interest taxation versus capital gains indexing, and portfolio strategy around Social Security survivor benefits and multi-account allocation. (5:30) — Chris discusses the new PROMISE Act and how it may impact Social Security. (17:15) — George asks how long he can delay pension distributions without violating RMD rules, given his 73rd birthday falls in February 2027. (29:45) — A listener asks whether interest income should be inflation-indexed the same way some propose indexing capital gains for wealthier taxpayers. (43:00) — The guys field a two-part question on how a surviving spouse’s Social Security loss factors into MDF portfolio and annuity design, and how to allocate a portfolio strategy across different account types. The post Social Security, Pension RMDs, Interest Taxation, Portfolio Strategy: Q&A #2629 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Chris’s Summary Jim and I dig into two beneficiary disputes as part of what we’re calling a “potpourri” EDU show: the 1930s Goodman Triangle life insurance gift tax dispute and a recent Montana Supreme Court ruling on an uncashed cashier’s check. We also discuss a bipartisan proposal to raise the home sale capital gains exclusion and a separate proposal to index capital gains for inflation more broadly. Jim’s “Pithy” Summary Chris and I dig into a variety of topics, starting with a court fight that traces back nearly a hundred years, something folks in the industry call the Goodman Triangle. Picture three people tied to one policy: an owner, an insured, and a separate beneficiary. Mrs. Goodman took out five life insurance policies on her husband, moved them into a revocable trust, and thought she was fine, until he died and the IRS said she’d made a taxable gift. She fought it and the court’s decision on the case still gets cited whenever a policy or an annuity has three different people sitting in those three roles. From there we get into a couple of proposals sitting in Congress right now. One would finally raise the exclusion on gains from selling your primary home, something that hasn’t budged since the late nineties even as home prices have doubled and tripled around the country. The House and Senate versions land in slightly different places, but both would roughly double the current numbers and index them for inflation going forward. The other proposal is a longer shot, backed by senators who don’t have much bipartisan goodwill behind them, and it would apply an inflation multiplier to stocks, real estate, and other capital assets so you’d only owe tax on the growth that’s actually real. We close with one of our beneficiary disputes out of the Montana Supreme Court: a husband pulls eighty thousand dollars out as a cashier’s check made out to himself, hides it in the house, and dies without a will. His wife cashes it, his son sues, and the ruling comes down to whether a gift was ever actually completed. The post A Potpourri of Beneficiary Disputes and Tax Laws: EDU #2628 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .

Jim and Chris welcome back returning guest Dr. Phillip Snider for a Q&A episode that plays a little differently than usual. Listener emails open a broader discussion of healthspan and lifespan, (including how wealth, genetics, and lifestyle factors shape longevity), retirement planning for longevity, and Dr. Snider’s recommendation for additional tests to help assess your health risks. (5:15) — George cautions that median longevity statistics are heavily influenced by wealth, genetics, and individual behavior, and shares CDC data showing life expectancy rises significantly once someone reaches age 65. (29:45) — A listener asks Dr. Snider to discuss the value of the cardiac calcium score in assessing longevity. She also asks about the science behind statins, including their effect on plaque stability and a possible link to reduced dementia risk. Show Notes: Dr. Snider’s list of recommended tests: CAC test ( coronary artery calcium,) or heart scan – a noninvasive, low-dose CT scan that measures calcified plaque in your arteries to predict future heart attack risk. hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) – measures inflammation in the body related to cardiovascular disease risk. IL-6 (Interleukin-6) – elevated levels are associated with multiple conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes (insulin resistance), cancer, and autoimmune disorders. The sample has to be frozen before sending to the lab for processing, so it may need to be collected at a hospital lab or free-standing lab facility rather than at a doctor’s office. MPO (Myeloperoxidase) – measures an e nzyme found in white blood cells (neutrophils and macrophages). It is a key biomarker of inflammation and oxidative stress. In the bloodstream, high MPO levels indicate that immune cells are actively attacking vessel walls, making it a powerful predictor of cardiovascular disease and plaque instability. Lp-PLA2 (lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2) – measures a specialized inflammatory enzyme highly concentrated in unstable, rupture-prone fatty plaques within your arteries. Unlike general inflammatory markers (like hs-CRP), Lp-PLA2 is specifically localized to inflammation of blood vessels. The post Healthspan and Retirement Planning for Longevity with Dr. Snider: Q&A #2628 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show .