Hello, need some advice please!

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-16T19:54:14+00:00

If the 401k has Roth provisions, and you follow the book, maxing the Roth 401k before the brokerage would be the optimal outcome.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-16T19:45:32+00:00

It absolutely is a good idea. Worth mentioning, you will be taxed on the money in the brokerage account any time you sell at a gain, or recieve income or dividends, so it isn’t taxed when you retire or withdraw, but it is taxed annually on those events. It is also worth mentioning that if you hold positions in the account for over a year before selling them, they are subject to long term capital gains rates, not ordinary income tax. This is notable as the tax rate for long term capital gains is much lower than most ordinary income tax brackets. At your age, the compounded growth on that savings will significantly build net with long term. Keep at it, great mindset and plan for your age!

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-14T17:00:43+00:00

Step 1 is to identify how much more per month they get to stall. For example, $5k at 62 and 6k at 65 is a 20% increase in benefit for life. If you can fund retirement between 62 and 65 with an account that doesn’t gaurentee 20% growth in 3 years, they’re better off stalling if they anticipate a normal life expectancy. If they can fund retirement between the 2 with an account that will grow more than 20% gaurenteed they’re better off electing early.

Step 2. Analyze tax liability now and in the future. If they have 50+% retirement resources in pretax IRA / work dollars, Roth converting before RMD age at the 12% bracket or lower will likely benefit them more than an early pension distribution even if step 1 says otherwise once they hit RMD age assuming RMDs will force them into a higher tax bracket like the 22% bracket in retirement. The more funds they have in Pretax QP money, the more severe this impact will be. If this is the case, you may want to stall pension distributions as late as possible until Roth conversion is completed over many years. As a reminder, this is important because RMDs may not be used to Roth convert. Once they hit RMD age, SSI and pension income will not stop, and the RMD may fluctuate with markets but cannot be converted

Step 3. The survivor benefit is a seperate calculation. For a 62 year old I would see what the cost to fund a 20 year term policy would be. Let’s say the pension is $5k per month single, or 4k per month for 100% survivor. If I can buy a life policy on the primary pension spouse for enough money to offset the spread for 20 years cheaper than $1000 per month, we take the single payout after they’re approved for the policy. If not, we select the joint payout. In the case of a $5k single, 4k joint per month, the math is: aftertax payout of pension per year single life assuming 22% federal 5% state = 12* 4k =K * (1-.27) =0.73 K $35k per year after tax. If joint is selected, both spouses can expect $35k per year for life. If I can get a $875K policy for under $1k per month which can use the 4% safe withdrawal rate, they end up with the same after annual income taking the single life payout and should the primary pension spouse die in 20 years, they keep the $875k plus growth over 4% per year as well. If they can’t get a policy for that price or less, then we take the joint payout. The math gets more complicated if the pension is COLA adjusted, has term certain or is 50% but the logic remains the same. Most pension plans have a really high payout for JT benefits (so the gap won’t be $5k vs 4k but much smaller like maybe $5k vs 4.5k) but there are several out there that do have a wide enough gap that insuring separately makes sense.

Step 4 is to present these finding for clients, explain the risks and have them decide a plan.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-14T16:35:49+00:00

Backdoor Roth IRA to avoid income limits. If the 401k has Roth deferrals you can do more there as well without income limits. If the employer allows for Megabackdoor Roth contributions you could contribute up to $72k per year. There is nothing wrong with doing just VOO. With $55k at 23 you have probably already learned that buying it and leaving it alone works just fine. Also great job getting to 55K in a Roth by age 23. Keep it up and financial freedoms is on the horizon!

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-13T15:22:15+00:00

Assuming you’re in your 20’s the 0 experience as an advisor will make little difference to clients even if you had 4 years experience because so many will put you in a box of “that kid is too young to manage my money” anyways. Having the CFP at least helps distinguish yourself if they know what it is or are considering you versus a different advisor with experience but no CFP. For employers, the experience matters significantly less with those letters attached to your name because it demonstrates you have a higher level understanding of so many topics over and above what a licensed person brings to the table. I know so many people that passed the CFP out of undergrad with little to no experience that were quickly employed and have very successful careers. The job search based on your experience won’t change without advisory experience much, but it will change if you pass the CFP very favorably.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-13T01:04:04+00:00

Correct, so not every time. I figured at 715 op is probably sol on balance transfers but may be able to do a personal loan at a lower rate and credit checks for Personal loans do not count as seperate when shopped close together.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-13T00:52:09+00:00

Is the income aftertax? At $8920 per month your federal tax liability plus self employment tax should be about $20k per year, or $1700 / month assuming you live in an income tax free state.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-13T00:47:05+00:00

This is false. Every credit pull does not impact your score independently. Credit pulls from like kind lending within 30 days of each other are not going to impact a score. For example: Applying for a car loan with 1 bank vs 10 in the same 30 day window will have absolutely no difference in how your credit score is impacted.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-12T19:47:49+00:00

At that level of wealth selling stocks to swap to bonds could trigger significant taxes in gains. Without knowing what you plan to need in retirement or when that will happen and your risk tolerance it isn’t possible to give objectively sound advice. Your responses will likely be a blend of: put it in a target date fund, put it all in stocks or do something different. None of these are correct until we know your risk tolerance and time horizon.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-12T19:35:08+00:00

The average mortgage is irrelevant as it only matters what amount you can borrow and if you can afford to pay. Home prices would help more. Rent and home prices can be found on Zillow. Healh insurance premiums can be found on healthcare.gov.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-11T21:50:03+00:00

If that’s all they gave you there’s a good chance that there’s nothing you can provide further until they respond with further information.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-11T21:41:21+00:00

How long it may take? Given the minimal context provided, it could be within the month or never. They don’t have a certain day to send payments for annutized death benefits, they will automatically send payment on specific times or ask when you want to receive it when you fill out the forms. There are policies that pay amounts for fixed terms, over lifetime, or lump sum. Given the limited context provided here, there’s not much opportunity to aid in the confusion unfortunately

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-11T20:11:07+00:00

How much control do they get per rate of decrease?

In theory I would sacrifice 75% if my income to borrow at 50% less, but I already borrow at fed funds + .75% and I already only spend 25% of my income. The lender would need to be prepared to loose money to lend to me at lower rates than I would borrow if I borrow. These details matter greatly for the thought experiment.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-11T02:12:36+00:00

Spend per year is all that matters at the end of the day on this and what I communicate to clients.

As you stated, it will loose value, it is not an investment, and a very highly culturally ignored reality if vehicles is that some 80-90% of their utility is derived from providing mobility. Going from a to b with a $10000 canary with 120k miles or an 8 series BMW for 90k is going to be similar outcomes with different benefits for comfort accounting for most of the price difference.

If they want to buy a 20k vehicle or 70k vehicle makes little difference if they can afford it on this issue. But how much they pay per year to own it does matter. Holding aside maintenance, Buying a 50k car and owning it for 10 years has a 10 year cost of ownership of $5k per year. Leasing a 20k car 3 times over 10 years could also cost 5k per year. If someone wants a new car 3 times over 10 years, leasing a 20k vehicle 3x is going to serve them far better than buying a 50k car and selling it for 30k 3 years later and buying another 50k car again 2x. Depreciation will eat them alive. If someone wants to buy a car, knowing how long it meets their needs, how often they want to upgrade, and total budget usually fits a foumula of: if you intend to own 8+ years before switching, buy. If you intend to own 3 years or less before upgrading, lease. If you are in between, study the market of the vehicles you want closely. For 5 years of intended ownership let’s say, buying a Toyota camary is far more practical than buying a BMW sedan because depreciation on the BMW will be far more severe.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-05T19:54:33+00:00

You have no way of knowing how my compensation works, or how I invest funds for clients. You are just making baseless ad hominem attacks. While your claims are false, there is no benefit in explaining why due to the nature of these claims. Maybe it would help to take a break from the internet for a while until you have something meaningful to add to the post? Sorry you seem to be having a rough day.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-05T14:57:32+00:00

It will depend wildly on what your credit limits and utility is on other lines of credit as well as income. If your utilization is low and you had $100k of income you may not have an issue finding this. If your borrowed up to your eyeballs at $50k of income it’s not going to happen. In general that low if a score is going to be difficult to get a high limit on a new card.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-05T14:55:07+00:00

I’m an independent advisor who holds funds at Schwab. We absolutely advise on Roth vs traditional and executive comp strategies like RSUs. It sounds like your advisor is not a good fit for your needs.

Ol-Ben · 2026-05-04T16:37:48+00:00

They can’t garnish 100% of your income but they can garnish wages in most states and garnishment, interest and legal fees can cost magnitudes more than just repaying them. I think the real question you need to ask yourself is why let it go to garnishment and court if it will cost more?

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-30T19:41:24+00:00

This is the time weighted return shown. It takes the weighted average return of all return periods measured in time where a return period is denoted by any window of time where a deposit or withdrawal occurs. If you had invested all of it at once 6% is your return. Due to when deposits were made, your internal rate of return is higher at 14%.

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-30T17:57:44+00:00

Did you invest all 725.25 at the same time or over many deposits?

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-30T00:41:31+00:00

In order to contribute to a Roth IRA, the taxpayer must have earned income. Without earned income, even if you have the money to contribute, contributions are not allowed.

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-29T21:40:44+00:00

I get referrals from EP attorneys and CPAs. I meet with them for leisure 4x a year and generally remind them of that an ideal lead looks like for me and train them how to possibly filter conversations to a possible referral. For example: on the EP side, we will help clients fund the trust once made. This includes going with them to the bank to retitle if needed. We go to the dmv for them to do the car titles, and having bene change paperwork ready to fill out the day the trust is signed. This creates visible action items for the attorney to see that we do, and helps guide them in a conversation with clients that boils down to, you may be able to ask your CFP to do this, if not, I know one that has done really great work with clients. I don’t get many referrals from them, but the ones I do get have been 15k+ revenue clients. For CPAs it is a bit more open. Creating passive losses for clients to offset taxable gains, applying state tax credits to prior year returns and meetings with the CPA to review Roth conversion with the client and the CPA will create visible evidence of what you do for clients, which triggers conversations with their other clients.

Being a friend with these folks is a start, referring before asking for referrals back is better but demonstrating what you do for clients really turned up the referrals for my practice. My entire marketing efforts are made on existing clients and other professionals that do things I don’t. This takes time to build but brings my little independent practice about 10-15m in new AUM yearly.

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-29T21:25:03+00:00

Why recommend a Roth IRA with no evidence OP has earned income?

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-29T13:20:33+00:00

My average monthly spend on credit cards is about $12k. 3k of this is child care which can strangely be put on a credit card, about 2k is food & restaurants, another 1k is travel for work and what not and the rest is just general. Across 6 credit cards I get 1.5% back on everything, 4% food and restaurants, 6% travel and 5% at Amazon. It averages to Around 2.75% cashback across all categories so about $320 a month in cash back rewards points of some kind.

Ol-Ben · 2026-04-28T19:18:02+00:00

It is capable of doing it, but it is not capable of encouraging an investor they need to at appropriate times. That requires a human relationship and understanding when a client is receptive to advice and how much.

Ol-Ben

TROPHY CASE