Not Your Average Financial Podcast™

Episode 299: Why the FDIC is NOT Your Superhero

May 26, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What’s that up in the sky?
Can the FDIC keep your money safe?
Who relies on this great institution?
Who can rest easy?
Wait?!
Who is breaking a sweat?
What would happen in a sudden wave of bank failures or sudden financial crisis?
What about times of financial stress?
How might this pose a BIG risk?
What about exposure?
What about protecting depositor funds?
Is this superhero up to the challenge of the current economic climate?
What is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)?
What happened earlier this year?
Where did the money come from?
Who funds the FDIC?
What happens to the yield?
Who is the US Treasury?
How many banks are in a precarious position now?
Is there any end in sight?
What has happened as interest rates have risen?
What about fractional reserve banking?
What about a credit crunch?
What about regional banks?
How many funds will be protected?
Where are people moving money?
Where will the government get the money to guarantee deposits?
What if you only got 1% of your money back in the event of a collapse?
What about the bank lobby?
What is book value?
What is market value?
What is fractionalized methodology?
How are bank reserve regulations different from insurance reserve regulations?
How are insurance companies regulated?
What does NAIC say about reserves?
Why do insurance companies need much larger reserves?
Do insurance companies have an enormous edge over banks?
Would the government step in and cover your deposits?
Who decides?
Who is systemically important?
What about lending?
What did Mark Twain say?
Is it raining?
What can we do about this?
What is within our control?
Who is your superhero?
What happens with policy loans when banks are in crisis?
Who wants to become their own source of financing?
What are the takeaways?

Episode 298: College Knowledge with Dave Kozak and Joe Kerins

May 19, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Who needs to hear this?
Would you like a free book?
Who is going to college?
Who is Dave Kozak?
Who is Joe Kerins?
What are some strategies beyond college planning?
What about strategic planning and critical thinking skills?
How does one plan for the non-college path?
What matters to financial success?
What does life insurance have to do with college planning?
Why do non-direct recognition life insurance loans matter?
What’s wrong with 529 plans?
What do we need to know now?
What is new in the college planning ecosystem?
Is college the next step?
Would core business education and learning hurt?
Are you beginning with the end in mind?
What is the best for our kids?
Who enjoys work?
Do your kids need to go to college?
What is Joe’s story?
What is the largest expense most families face?
How do college funding mistakes affect retirement?
What is the FAFSA?
…What don’t we know?
What’s the problem with traditional college financial planning?
What is the reality of the 529?
Are you saving college or are you investing for college?
What counts against you as you pay for college?
How do investments raise your college cost?
How does one win at this game?
How does financial aid work?
Do only poor people get a financial aid?
How does one build to their advantage?
What is financial aid?
Who needs to buy life insurance?
Who needs to fund an education?
Is it accessible?
How much are we going to spend?
Where is the money?
What are the secrets?
Why does a life insurance policy need to be non-direct recognition, for this to work?
Who understands policy design?
Why do IULs (indexed universal life insurance policies) fail?
What about compound growth?
Do you have to sacrifice your future retirement?
When do we earn our highest income?
Where will your money live?
What about an example?
What’s the difference?
Why does it matter?
How does one lower the cost of college?
How do Dave and Joe help on the front end of college planning?
What is the advantage of merit based dollars?
What if it wasn’t the school that made the career?
What about the social, academic and financial fit?
What about a regional school?
What about a case study?
Who is falling in love with a school?
Is the school truly a fit?
What is the cost?
Will schools compete for students?
How much does the school truly love this student?
Would you like to hear the College Knowledge podcast?
Would you like to learn more at elitecollegiateplanning.com?
What are the takeaways?
What about 529 plans and the Secure Act 2.0?
What are the classic mistakes parents make?
What about properly designed non-direct recognition life insurance policies?
How is this a double benefit?
Are you keeping your wealth in the family?

David A. Kozak is the founder and CEO of Elite Collegiate Planning and CEO of the College Planning Network. He has, in his own words, “the distinct honor” to work with families across the country to redefine what “investment” means to them. He believes—to quote Benjamin Franklin—“An investment in knowledge always pays the best dividends.” This drives his passion for educating families about how to send their children to college without jeopardizing their own financial goals and retirement. Dave created the College Knowledge podcast to let college insiders share their own expertise, experience and perspective to help inform college-bound families.

Joseph L. Kerins III, CCPS® is a Certified College Planning Specialist, Financial Planner, and Senior Planner at Paradigm Financial Group. Helping families pay for college without destroying their overall wealth and retirement is Joe’s focus. Many families don’t realize that it is not just a college problem, but a wealth and retirement problem. Joe works with these families to create unique plans with proper strategies to save and pay for college without sacrificing financial freedom and achieving all of their financial goals. Joe lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania with his wife, Mollie, and three children, Joey, Ellie and Eddie. Joe is a fourth-generation member of the South Philadelphia String Band, which participates annually in the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

Episode 297: What It’s Like to Give Out 500 Death Benefits with Andrew Young

May 12, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What is even better than a five-star review on this podcast?
Who do you know who needs to hear this?
Would you like a FREE book? Email us at hello@nyafinancialpodcast.com
What about the mourning and sadness?
What about best practices for leaving an inheritance?
Who is Andrew Young?
Why should you keep your beneficiaries up-to-date?
What about the deceased’s wishes?
What happened when Andrew’s dad died?
What happens when families do the wrong thing?
Should we tell our beneficiaries that they are getting money?
What does Andrew recommend?
What about adult children?
What about an annual meeting?
What about reviewing the beneficiaries annually?
What about an example?
Why is it so important to work with an advisor?
What could have happened if…?
How did Andrew’s client dodge a massive mistake?
Which is smaller, the cash value or the death benefit?
What about covering nursing care?
What about a story?
What is the very nature of life insurance?
What about dementia?
What is the advantage of very mature policies?
How fast did the family receive the death benefit upon his death?
What is the typical rough timeline for death benefit payments?
How were the generations changed?
What about another story?
What about getting everything in place?
How did Andrew become an honorable member of the family?
What can we do to receive well?
What can we do to give well?
Do you have a place for your usernames and passwords?
Are the survivors able to access your accounts, documents and other details?
What about the medical directive?
What about a patient advocate?
What about getting legal documents set up?
Does everybody have a will?
How might we set our family up to succeed?
What about a poem?
Aren’t you thankful for Andrew?

Andrew Young is the Director of Recruiting for Bank On Yourself®. For over 25 years, Andrew has worked with individuals and business owners on retirement planning, succession planning, and estate preservation. He has been married to his wife Maureen for over 35 years, and they have two children. In Andrew’s spare time, he and his wife love to sail.

Episode 296: [The Survivor’s Checklist] What To Do When Your Loved One Passes

May 5, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Who needs to hear this?
Would you like a FREE book? Email us at hello@nyafinancialpodcast.com.
What about unclaimed life insurance funds?
What about going into “full detective mode”?
How might you search?
What about the deceased’s own paperwork?
What about the deceased’s recent tax returns?
What about the deceased’s transaction history?
Are you the named beneficiary?
Can you call the insurance company to find out if you are a beneficiary?
What about the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s (NAIC) life insurance policy locator service tool?
What about an example?
Is there a contingent beneficiary?
What happens if no beneficiary can be found?
What happens if the death benefit goes to the deceased’s estate?
Does the federal government have a website for this?
Can you find it on your own?
What about the unclaimed property office?
What happens if you move to another state?
What about unclaimed wages?
What about VA benefits?
What about unclaimed insurance funds?
What about the IRS and the federal tax refund?
What about the state tax refund?
What about treasuryhunt.gov for savings bonds?
What about SEC claims on stocks and brokerage funds?
What about contacting the brokerage fund directly to find an account left in your name?
What can you do to broach the topic?
When would be a good time to have a 30-minute conversation?
How could this be a positive experience for everyone?
Do you know about your parent’s life insurance policy or policies?
Do they have medical care benefits on these policies?
What if the worst has just happened?
Would you like to have the Survivor’s Checklist?
What needs to be done?
What do you need to do in the first few days?
What about the certified death certificate copies?
What about the deceased’s files and safety deposit boxes?
Is burial insurance or final expense insurance in place?
Has your loved one selected a cemetery location or plot in advance?
What about contacting the funeral home?
Should you assign the death benefit to the funeral home?
Should the death benefit get paid directly to you?
Should the death benefit be paid as a lump sum or as ongoing payments?
What should you do within the first week of someone’s passing?
What about the Social Security Administration?
What about Veteran’s Affairs?
What about the Department of Health Services (if they were receiving Medicaid)?
What about the insurance companies?
Do you need to contact the life insurer?
Do you need to contact the medical insurer?
Do you need to contact the disability insurer?
Do you need to contact the homeowners insurer?
Do you need to contact the auto insurer?
How long does it take for a life insurance death benefit to be paid out?
What do you do with the certified death certificate?
What about the liquidity of the life insurance company?
What happens with lump sums at a bank?
Who can easily withdraw $1M from a bank account? Are banks liquid?
How many days does it take to get a large withdrawal from the bank?
Are bankers allowed to ask you questions about why you want your own deposits back?
What about unused life insurance premium?
What about the retirement account plans (401(k), IRAs, Pensions, and other benefits still due to them)?
What about cancelling recurring bills?
What about closing down online and social media accounts?
What about establishing an I Love You folder with passwords?
What about bank accounts and online accounts?
What about the probate process?
Does your loved one have a will or trust (who is the trustee?)?
What about issuing bond?
What about notifying creditors that your loved one has passed?
What about taking an inventory of all assets and liabilities?
What about asking the court for a final distribution of the estate to be paid out to beneficiaries?
What if the loved one had a small or no estate?
Is there agreement among surviving relatives?
How can you collaborate with relatives in a constructive way?
What about the overwhelm?
What about the grief?
How might you love your family to make this process so much easier?
What is an I Love You folder?
What are the documents you should leave?
- What about the sources of all of your income?
- Where are your assets held? (401(k)s, IRAs, Pensions, Social Security, Medicare, Life Insurance premiums, etc.)
  - Company
  - Account Numbers
  - Listed Beneficiaries
  - Bank accounts and numbers
  - Phone numbers or addresses of companies
- What online accounts, social media accounts and other usernames and passwords will your loved ones need to access upon your death?
- What do you want your funeral to be like exactly?
- What items do you want to leave to specific people?
- What would you write in a letter to your closest loved ones? (Would you like a hand writing this letter? Hop on our calendar and select a time.)
What can you do this week to make sure your family is better off?

Episode 295: How to Prepare Your Family for an Inheritance

April 28, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What do you say to someone when you know it’s the last time you will ever speak to them?
How do you say something loving and honoring?
What are the most important and pressing issues?
Who is prepared? Who is not prepared?
How does true wealth come through assets plus skills?
What about the mindset and skillset that’s needed?
What about education?
What about buying a home?
What about mentoring the next generation?
What about leaving a family fund?
How might one create a family fund or family reserve using Bank on Yourself® type dividend paying whole life insurance?
What about creating a long-term, safe and sure wealth bucket?
What about instantly creating a legacy and a savings strategy for years to come?
What will help your whole family weather tough economic storms?
What about long-term thinking?
What about a more durable view of wealth?
What about the family thinking as a family unit?
What about creating financially responsible kids and adults?
What skillsets will grow?
What about creating a mission for your family that’s bigger than individual happiness?
What do you prefer?
How does one get started creating a family fund?
Who do you need at the table?
What is your greatest asset?
Would you like to hear Episode 294?
What about the big picture strategy?
What is the best design?
What is the unique solution for your specific needs?
Would you like to meet with Mark to discuss a family fund?
How soon does one see cash value?
How might one use cash value from whole life insurance policy loans?
What about an uninsurable life insurance policy owner?
Who is buying policies on family members?
Who is buying policies on their parents?
Who is buying policies on their kids?
Who is buying policies on business partners?
What about a parent matching program?
How might both generations contribute to a policy?
How many creative ways can you think up?
What about an example?
What about single premium immediate annuities?
Is it possible for annuities to pay insurance policy premium?
What about the Vanderbilts?
What about the Rothschilds?
What about leaving assets?
What about leaving assets and values?
Who is a part of the ever unfolding story?
Why does family wealth evaporate?
Does success leave clues?
Do you have control over your assets?
Who has control over your assets?
What about saving?
What is the different between lending and giving?
How might kids use family money wisely?
What skills do kids need to remember?
What about nurturing and training?
What about long-term thinking?
What about delayed gratification?
What about displaying family values?
What are the takeaways?

Episode 294: How Families and Financial Advisors Sabotage Generational Wealth

April 21, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Who needs to hear this?
Would you like a FREE book?
What about leaving a legacy?
How many generations?
What did Gloria Steinem say?
What about aggressive investment?
Did you lose $1?
Should we become more conservative as we get closer to retirement?
What is human capital?
How might we think like a family?
What is the greatest asset?
Would you like to hear Episode 104 and Episode 105?
How might one take an individual’s net worth and build up the family for generations?
Who is “taken out of service”?
Who will transform the family?
What happens in retirement?
What is the work that you love?
What about consulting?
What about freelancing?
What about starting a business?
What about mentoring the next generation?
What about sharing your story?
Is insurance temporary?
How is life insurance the bedrock of generational wealth?
Who buys term insurance?
…What do they have to show for it?
What happens when term insurance runs out?
What is the best age to purchase insurance?
What are the guarantees?
What is the only type of life insurance that offers guarantees?
What about government and taxes?
How much will you pay in tax in retirement?
What are the restrictions on the 401(k) or IRA?
Do you want the choice to spend down the accounts?
What happens now the SECURE Act has passed?
What are growth vehicles?
What are transfer vehicles?
What about failure?
What if there was no transfer of power?
How might we prepare the people to receive gifts?
Who is leaking money, as the generations progress?
What about shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations?
What about nurturing emotional, intellectual and human/social capital of the family?
Why do so many focus on short term thinking?
How do we avoid sabotaging and avoiding long term generational wealth?
Would you like to talk with Mark about generational wealth?
What are the four key elements that lead to long term thinking and generational wealth?
What about financial foundations?
What about saving?
What is the opposite of saving?
What about a family fund?
How might one save money, mitigate against risk and provide permanent protection and leave a legacy?
What about family lending?
What creative ways might you use family capital?
What if grandma and grandpa bought up all of the loans for the children and grandchildren?
What would happen if the wealth stayed within the family (instead of bleeding interest to bankers)?
What about leadership?
What about mentorship?
What about nurturing family relationships?
What about growing children into world leaders?
How young is too young?
What about legacy?
How might we prepare the people for the money?
What about the traditions and the values you leave behind?
What about sharing this episode with a family member?

Episode 293: [Client Spotlight] Solar Tax Credits and Bank On Yourself® with Julia Amstutz

April 14, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What do you see?
Have you ever used SoftSoap?
What problem did Robert Taylor solve?
What did Sherlock Holmes say?
Who can see (and not just observe)?
Who is Julia Amstutz?
What was dinner like for Julia growing up?
What did Julia learn from her parents about budgeting?
What happened when Julia came back from Europe?
Is deferring tax always a good idea?
What is the tax rate now?
What will the tax rate be in the future?
What is Julia up to now?
How has Julia used her policy?
How did Julia and her husband Steve pay cash for their car?
What was Steve’s reaction when learning about Julia’s policy?
What about the solar installation project?
What about tax credits and renewable energy credits?
Is it possible to zero out an electric bill?
How is Julia repurposing the energy bill to repay the policy loan?
What about thinking long term?
What happens in the first few years?
What pays off?
How much has Julia’s policy grown?
What additional goals does Julia have with her policy?
What about liquidity?
What about contributing to your own retirement savings?
What are the takeaways?
Who thinks about tax deferral?
How does Julia transcend this limited thinking?
Who thinks long range?
How does a CPA think?
What about thinking out loud, talking with a buddy?
How might you think about it in a different way?

Julia Amstutz grew up in Italy where her parents served as missionaries until they moved back to the United States when she was sixteen. She attended Wheaton college and began her career in public accounting shortly after graduation.

She is now a senior manager in the National Professional Standards Group of an international public accounting firm. She lives in Central Illinois with her husband Steve and together they enjoy serving the international students in their community.

Episode 292: Multiple Streams of Tax-Free Income in Retirement

April 7, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What is better than a five star review?
Who needs to hear this?
Who wants a FREE book?
When is the time to make changes to your tax situation?
Would you like to hear Episode 290 and Episode 291?
Who wants multiple streams of tax-free income?
How many streams are we talking about?
How many streams of income does Ryan Reger have? Would you like to hear Episode 76?
What provides a series of tax advantages?
What happens if the IRS changes the rules?
What about social security?
What is the correct time to take social security benefits?
What are the factors that play into this decision?
What happened to social security rules in the 1980s?
How much of your social security check is taxable?
What about Roth IRA conversions?
What tax trap is easy to fall into?
Why is it smart to do a piece meal, internal, multi-year conversion?
What did Nelson Nash say?
Who is getting a guaranteed income stream?
How might one spread out the tax liability?
Is there still time?
What is the standard deduction?
What about an income annuity?
What about an example?
When were you taxed?
What about a recap?
What about some counter-intuitive strategies?
What about muni-bonds?
What about tax on muni-bonds?
How does this affect social security?
How much will you pay in tax?
How many states charge tax on muni-bonds?
What are the rates?
What about call risk?
What about reverse mortgages?
What are the takeaways?
What about future taxes?
What about putting all your eggs in one tax-free basket?
Does your CPA think beyond this year?
Would you like to join us next week?

Episode 291: Unexpected Ways to Max Out Your Roth IRA

March 31, 2023 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Are you paying more in tax?
What are some strategies with IRAs and Roth IRAs?
What about the drama of the stock market?
What strategies include a guaranteed life time income?
Who is ready for a next level strategy?
What’s wrong with self-directed IRAs?
Would you like to hear Episode 209?
What is a “back door” Roth?
How do conversions work?
Who meets the income eligibility requirements for a Roth IRA?
What about an IRA on a spouse?
What about a “mega back door” IRA?
What does this look like?
What about high income earners?
Who allows for after tax contributions?
Does it make sense to pay tax on a smaller balance?
Is it better to convert when your income is lower?
Is time running out?
What about a multi-year conversion?
Do you have the number of your HR department?
Do you own a small business?
Are your family members employed?
Where will the money live?
What is liquid?
What is accessible?
What do you want to purchase within your IRA?
How much do you need?
How much annual income do you want?
Is the IRA full of stocks? Indexed funds? Real estate?
Is there a better way?
What about an income annuity inside of an IRA?
What about guaranteed lifetime feature?
What about inflation protection?
What about liquidity?
Is the money locked up?
What about emergency funds?
What about leaving a death benefit to your heirs, should you pass away too soon?
What about an IRA transfer?
What about piecemeal internal Roth conversions?
What about paying your taxes now?
What about an annuity inside a Roth IRA?
What about guaranteed, tax-free, inflation-adjusted income that could last the rest of your life?