It’s one of the most hotly debated topics in personal finance…Roth or Traditional?

Some argue that the national debt almost guarantees higher taxes in the future and that you should choose Roth and pay your taxes now. Others argue that flexibility and low-earning retirement years should lead you to choose traditional. And of course, some “professionals” highlight that retirement accounts are a scam and you should be investing in their life insurance product to avoid taxes altogether…for the sake of this conversation, we are ignoring that one.

At the end of the day, we all know the correct answer…it depends. It wouldn’t be a controversial topic if there wasn’t nuance in the decision. Multiple factors make it a personalized decision for everyone.

In today’s episode, we dive deep into many of those factors to help you feel equipped to make this decision for your situation. To help me with this goal, I invited on my friend and CFP Rachael Camp.

Rachael recently appeared on the podcast in episode 143, so if you want to learn more about her story and her thoughts about work optionality, get that episode queued up.

In this conversation, we jump straight into it, debunking bad advice, sharing a rule of thumb to decide if Roth or Traditional is the right option for you, discuss how unique factors such as which state you live in, RMDs, and medical subsidies might impact your decision, and ultimately, a case for why this decision should be revisited every year.

So if you want to get deep into the weeds about Roth vs Traditional, this episode is for you. I hope you enjoy my conversation with the owner of Camp Wealth…Rachael Camp.

Key Takeaways:

• The math behind bad advice
• If taxes are bound to increase, how does that change our decision?
• A Roth or Traditional rule of thumb based on your tax bracket
• Changes in your life that might impact how you should be investing
• How and why to create flexibility in your retirement accounts
• A year-by-year approach to maximize your tax savings

More of Rachael:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CampWealth/videos

Website: https://www.rachaelcampwealth.com/

More of The Struggle is Real:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

Over the last couple of years, a key group of companies known as The Magnificent Seven has emerged. This group of high-performing and influential companies includes Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla. These companies are at the forefront of sectors such as artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, cloud computing, and digital services.

They have also been positively impacting much of the growth in the US stock market. Just last year in 2023, these 7 companies’ stocks grew 73% while the rest of the S&P 500 grew 8%. These companies are routinely showing up in many of the financial headlines and it got me wondering, is the US stock market too reliant on a few large companies?

So I reached out to my friend and fellow CPA Erik Baskin, to see what he thought. He had a ton to say. Of course, as any podcaster would, I asked if he would be up to record a conversation about it.

In this episode, Erik shares his thoughts about The Magnificient Seven’s impact on the stock market. We discuss if this concentration is new. We also explore what changes, if any, you should make to your investments because of this.

Erik and I also had this awesome conversation near the end of the episode about when being a super-saver doesn’t make sense anymore. It really had me rethinking a few things in my life currently.

Let’s get into it. I hope you enjoy my conversation with the Airman turned Financial Advisor…Erik Baskin.

Key Takeaways:

• Has the US market become too reliant on a few large companies?
• Is this kind of concentration new?
• Equal weighted vs market cap
• Impacts of investing only in the S&P 500
• Should we be investing at all-time highs?
• When being a super-saver doesn’t make sense anymore

Mentions:

Morning Star Portfolio X-Ray: https://www.morningstar.com/help-center/user-guide/x-ray-overview

Die with Zero: https://www.amazon.com/Die-Zero-Getting-Your-Money/dp/0358099765

The Gap and The Gain: https://www.amazon.com/Gap-Gain-Achievers-Happiness-Confidence/dp/1401964362

More of Erik:

Website: https://www.baskinfp.com/

BLUF Finance Podcast: https://www.baskinfp.com/podcast

More of The Struggle is Real:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

Things can get complicated quickly in the world of personal finance. From investing and budgeting to estate planning and insurance, there are multiple ways to accomplish what you need to get done.

Let’s take investing for example. There are different strategies including but not limited to passive index investing, value buying, the 3-fund portfolio, rental real estate, stock picking, target date funds, 70/30 splits…Honestly, I could rattle off a hundred different options which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if you got overwhelmed by all of the choices.

The more experience I get, the more I realize, that simple is usually better. Although the word simple can mean different things to a lot of people, at the heart of the meaning, it means something is easily understood and easily done.

So how can we simplify money? Well, my friend Peter Lazaroff wrote a whole book about the topic called Making Money Simple and he is on the show today to share some of those tips. In particular, we focus on investing and budgeting.

On the investing side, we discuss why Peter chose to invest his personal portfolio into one index fund although he has gained a ton of knowledge managing six billion dollars as the Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp. And if you hate tracking every dollar you spend, we discuss an alternative to traditional budgeting, the reverse budget, which is a simplified way to make sure your spending is aligned with your income.

Key Takeaways:

• What matters whenever it comes to successfully investing
• Why Peter invests in only one mutual fund
• The most important factor in investing
• How to simplify spending by reverse budgeting
• How to enjoy your money as it grows

Mentions:

Making Money Simple (free book): https://peterlazaroff.com/freebook

How Peter Invests Guide: www.HowPeterInvests.com

More of Peter:

The Long-Term Investor Podcast: https://peterlazaroff.com/podcast

More of The Struggle is Real:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/