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Plan With The Tax ManAuthor: Tony Mauro
Financial, tax and retirement planning guidance from Tony Mauro. Tony is the original Tax Doctor, serving central Iowa. Well teach you how to properly plan for retirement, minimize your tax burden and attain a successful financial future. Language: en Genres: Business, Business News, Investing, News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Inside Your Financial Easter Basket
Episode 146
Thursday, 26 March, 2026
Quick question before we get started... which Easter candy are you most looking forward to this year? Whatever your answer is, we're going to use it. Because today we're building a financial Easter basket and matching some of your favorite candies to the products and tools that belong in a solid retirement plan. Important Links: Website: http://www.yourplanningpros.com Call: 844-707-7381 ----more---- Transcript: Speaker 1 00:00 Quick question before we get started, which Easter candy are you most looking forward to? Yeah, that's my opener for the podcast this week, because we're going to talk about financial Easter baskets. So we're going to talk about candy and what they might say about you here this week on plan with the tax man. You Speaker 1 00:35 everybody. Welcome into the podcast. This is plan with the tax man with Tony Morrow from tax Doctor Inc, at your planning pros.com that's where you can find them, online. Your planning pros.com, and Tony, we're gonna talk candy, because you and I are in our 50s and we love candy, but it don't love us as much anymore. Tony Mauro 00:53 That's right. And I grew up eating candy and all these things, although my favorite Easter candy is not on there. Speaker 1 01:00 Okay, we'll add that. Get to that at the end. Yeah, we'll add that in. So what are we going to do here? Is, I want to give you some, some, you know, Easter candy in lieu of the, you know, the end of the month here and Easter upon us. And we'll do a little financial Easter basket, and let you kind of give me some sort of, we'll do some sort of an analogy. I'll set you up with something, and I'll let you kind of talk about it, so we'll have a little bit of fun. So, are you a jelly bean kind of guy? Easter time? Do you like some jelly beans? You know? I like the kind of, what I would call those artisan jelly beans that they now have come out with, you know? So I do like them. But we always used to get just to run the mill stuff. Oh, yeah. Like, like, you know, I don't know Apple Cinnamon, or, you know, I don't know pumpkin spice or something, yes, although they probably do make a pumpkin spice Jelly Bean. And people are probably like, no pumpkins for October, not for, you know, April, but so, all right, the Jelly Bean, so, lots of colors, lots of combinations, right? And so maybe you're, maybe the analogy here is the 401 k right? Maybe, maybe some combinations, or some, some different things, some variety, potentially, yeah. Tony Mauro 02:08 I think the biggest thing for, you know, the anchor of most retirement plans is either, you know, 401 K Sep, simple, you know, you name it as the anchor for what you're trying to do as you get toward the end. Speaker 1 02:23 True and jelly beans are probably a good staple, a good anchor in the basket, if you will. Tony Mauro 02:27 Yeah, you know, good anchor in the basket, you know. And you find them in every basket. If you don't have this, you know, you need to be starting it. Most employers are offering something these days, and you need to get started. I can't. We're in the midst of tax season, and I'll say this as a public service announcement, I and I've been doing taxes for 30 years. Is I always when I'm reviewing a return, look at somebody's w2 and look in box 12 and see what they're contributing or not contributing to their retirement plan. And many times I see the box check that they the company offers one, I see nothing being contributed, or I see a little bit, which is better than nothing, yeah, but you got to get it going, because it's one of the best deals on the street. It's usually some free money in there. And I think you need to start those early, the use time and compounding and everything else, so that you've got this anchor for when you you know, are at the end, Speaker 1 03:22 yeah, I don't know why. I just got hit with it. You're talking about, you know, out there on the street, I'm thinking jelly beans in the street. And also I'm like, could you imagine a funny little world where we're out there dealing jelly beans on the corner? Hey, man, right, I got some, I got some pinks. I got some yellows. I got some of those, those terrible black ones. They're those are never very good. I'm not a big fan of, maybe it's just the, maybe it's just the, like black liquors, not very good Tony Mauro 03:47 to me. I never did like the black ones. But I think, though, to your point, with the different colors, once you start contributing to one of these, then you need to have some diversification. Most, most retirement plans will offer you, you know, an array of different choices, which is, you know, probably behooves you to work with your advisor and come up with a strategy as to what those choices should be. Speaker 1 04:09 Now, the Jelly Bean choices in the 401 k are, it's not crazy assortment of colors, right? So, like an IRA, you're going to have a lot more to choose from, you know, because you're kind of stuck with whatever they you know, the company goes within those 401 K options. So some people, Tony, often think about, hey, look, from a workplace plan, get that match, get that free money. But then maybe let's do some contributing to an individual account or something we set up so we have more control or more options. How do you feel about that strategy as well? Tony Mauro 04:39 I like that strategy a lot. Well, that's what we generally will say, is, is somebody comes in, we tell them to start with their 401, K, get that company match. You could certainly continue to max that out if you want. Yeah, absolutely. And then one. Once you get to that point, then you've got to turn to outside. It might be a Roth, might be a traditional something like that. But yeah, if at least get the match. And then if you want more control, total control, then you have to go to an IRA or Roth. The only, the only drawback is, is you are limited on your contribution. So if you want to do more, you got to stay in that retirement plan with some of that. But yeah, they're all three are good ideas. Speaker 1 05:17 Okay, all right, so moving on here with our Easter basket analogy, things you might find on the Easter basket and the candy, and then how that, you know, might correlate to something. Let's talk about peeps that teach the nasty. And if you like peeps, don't yell at me yet. I'm gonna give you I'm gonna do pros and cons here. But, you know, look, when you're a kid, man, they're colorful, they're fluffy. They're marshmallowy. A lot of kids like peeps, right? They're just kind of fun. You're kind of play with them. You stretch them out a little bit, you chomp on them. They're sticky on your fingers. But as you get a little older, I don't know, they're kind of nasty, right? And they're kind of a pain a little bit. But, you know, some people grow up and they still really love them. And this, to me, is got to be life insurance, right? Because it's kind of like when you're younger, you kind of dig it, right? And then you get older, you think, why do I like this? Or why do I do I even need this anymore? Tony Mauro 06:08 Yeah, and, and just like peeps, and I don't like peeps anymore. I used to like them, right? Just like you life insurance generally, when we start talking about planning, is not very well, I would say, understood number one or used. So it's not everybody's first choice, that's for sure. And when we start talking to them about it, you know, everybody you know is going to die. And when you're younger, obviously, you know, especially today, term insurance is peanuts to get and protect your family. My son, who's 30, you know, got a new daughter. And, you know, home, and, you know, start accumulating debt, because they're just getting started, it's important that they have coverage. Yeah, for the family, in case one of them, you know, goes down. And yes, you can get some coverage through your employer, which obviously you want to take advantage of that. But it generally is not near enough to what you need, especially as you are younger now, as we age, we get in their 50s, like me, and I'm looking at my life insurance, and as some of this kind of is set to expire in the next five or 10 years, I don't need this much anymore, because I'm, you know, I'm closer to the end, all my bills are paid off, you know, it's in my other financial You know, situation is intact. So you may not need that. Now, some people say, Well, you know what, I don't care if I don't need it. I want it. I want to know if i i think a perfect scenario is I'm at retirement. This is me talking personally. I know that if I pass away, I can, I can, while I'm living, enjoy some of my money I've worked so hard for and I know that, okay, my son, if I'm going to pass money on to him, is gonna be taken care of through life insurance. And some people like, like, like, that angle as well, Speaker 1 07:49 just like peeps, right? I mean, in some people love it, and it's not everyone. Some it's not everyone's first choice sometimes, right? So, but it could be a useful tool, right? As far as the life insurance thing, right, to pass on that wealth. So at least consider the conversation, have a chat and discuss it, because, again, life insurance is one of those pieces of the retirement strategy that, you know, it's, it's, there's some more wiggle room in there, but there it could be, or life insurance products in general, there could be some aspects of those tools that can be beneficial. So again, talk with your financial professional about that. And of course, Tony's here to help if you've got those questions as well. All right, inside the financial Easter basket, diving back in. Here we go. Here, robin's eggs. Okay, now, we didn't get these often, but occasionally we did. We get these interesting little candy, right? Kind of a divisive candy. Some love them. Some can't stand them. Kind of like peeps, really hard shell the speckled colors, right? Designed to look like a robin's egg. Some people just, my mom just used to use them for decorating. She'd be like, yeah, don't, you guys don't eat those, right? But maybe this is an emergency fund. Maybe this is kind of the analogy there, right? Where some people kind of feel like, you know, they don't really necessarily need it, and other advisors are like, it's a mandatory, you know, pillar of the retirement strategy? Tony Mauro 09:01 Yeah, and I'm of the camp of, it's a required pillar of the strategy, because, and I think everybody should have one. You know, we tell our individual clients the goal is three to six months of income that you kind of hear that out on the streets in our business, with our business clients, we do accounting for, we're constantly harping on them for cash flow purposes is that you need to have 10% of your gross in your operating or OPEX account, yeah, generally at all times. And it's if it's not there yet. It's a goal. You work towards it. But everybody needs to have it. Because what happens when you have this emergency funding, whether you're individual or business, is it prevents small problems from becoming large problems. And in both cases, you know, on the individual side, you could lose your job, at least you've got a cushion till you find something else in business, you know, a product section or big client leaves, you've got a cushion until you build it back up. So I. Think you really take a big risk by not having one. And I think, as financial advisors, you know, we're trying to mitigate your risks, and so we, you work with me, you'll hear us harping on that that doesn't have to be go into the poor house until you get it built up. No, we're not saying that. But, you know, we want, we want a little bit of money going into that until we reach our goal. Yeah, it's very important. Speaker 1 10:22 Yeah, you know, this is a little cheesy, but, I mean, it's kind of fun, right? So we're talking about this robin's egg thing, right? And some people, like, I said, just use them for decorating. You don't really eat them and emergency fun, right? You know, whether you love the idea or not, like the idea is that you hope that it just sits there and looks pretty. It's an account you never really have to crack into. Sorry, it Tony Mauro 10:45 does work. And you know, I've had an emergency fund for, gosh, probably 24 or five years now, and it sat there. And I really it's at the point where I'm not, I'm not adding anymore, but I'm kind of starting to look at it and saying, Well, I wonder if I never use that, I get to retirement, right? Maybe I'll take it out and use it for a vacation fund or do something with it. But, yeah, you hope you never use it along Speaker 1 11:06 the way. But that's a great point, though, Tony, because there is that argument, switch of the emergency fund once you are retired and you're not doing that, replacing, you know, expenses. Should you lose your job? What do you do? You even need an emergency fund when you are fully retired because you're just pulling, you know, you know, the money from the accounts and the strategy that you set up. So what do you do with that emergency fund that's, that's a great point. It is, you know, I mean, for me, I'm not going to exhaust it, because I still like to have, you know, and everybody's different, a little bit of that cushion. And, you know, just for in case something happens, right? Roof, Roof flies off, and insurance only pays a certain portion, or whatever, Tony Mauro 11:43 right, you know, just so we've got it. Not that I couldn't take it out of, you know, my retirement income, but Right, right? I want that to be a certain level, but I, you know, the excess. I certainly plan on doing something else with it, for sure. And yes, so it's kind of a little bit of incentive that, man, all these years just sitting there, hopefully I'll, you know, I can have a chance to use some of that. Speaker 1 12:02 Yeah, well, and of course, that's always brings back the debate too, of how much is sitting there. Let's make sure it's not being too much do this. It's being too lazy, because you're not going to get that much from the bank. So again, just kind of managing the the robin's egg, aka emergency fund, isn't something important to do. And forgive me my for my cheesy puns there. But all right, let's do one more. Then. I want you to tell me your favorite Easter candy. We're gonna do the classic chocolate bunny almost always in a basket, right, in some form or fashion, right? So, and it's the financial plan, right? It's got to be the, you know, it's the, the main staple. Tony Mauro 12:36 Yeah, it's the main staple, because it wraps up everything we've just kind of talked about, you know, in the basket. And, you know, I think everybody needs a plan, whether you know or not, you're trying to go at it on your own or paying somebody to help you with it, yeah, I definitely think that a detailed plan that's a working, living document that changes all the time. Yeah, make it your own. You got to be your own, right? Yeah, it's got to be your own. It's got, you know, you've got to have it. That's where an advisor comes in. So you can help customize it, let them kind of keep track of you know, and coach you through you know where you're at along the journey, and making sure that you know it's going to be what your future. You know what you want for your future and what you think is your future at age 30 might be way different by the time you get to 40 and 50, and so you want to be able to change that plan. That's why I say it's always a working document. And you know, just as you go, so that you understand, you know your financial well being at all times, even if you've got assistance coming, you know, from an advisor. I've actually read a few articles lately that actually paying an advisor adds X amount of percentages over time to people's returns. And it's not by, you know, getting them better investments. It's, you know, that's not it. It's really just coaching them and keeping them invested when things are bad, not doing, you know, crazily, what I would call not your best financial decisions, uh, talking them out of some things and allows, you know, their money to work harder and longer for them. So, yeah, interesting. Behavioral management is what we're talking about, yeah, as we're talking about more than investment management, because you literally don't need us for that. There's so many options, right? And we don't have any secret sauce? I mean, you know, yes, there's some strategies and things, but it's really, it's the Speaker 1 14:24 experience though, right? It's the it's the accumulated experience, same. I mean, it's coaching. I mean, it really is coaching. It is right? I mean, you know, I mean, after a number of years, you know, does the professional athlete still really need you know someone to tell them how, you know, did Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, need, you know, someone to coach them on how to throw the ball. No, right? They know what they're doing, but they were still coaching there to talk to them about, hey, this is this play you ran, you you kind of went off script a little bit. And here's, you know, here's probably what you didn't see and why it went, you know, belly up, you know, or whatever the case is, right? So, you know, coaching is still an important facet to. To anything and, you know, just like your chocolate bunny and your financial plan, like you said, having it being, you know, customized and built to your own, whether you eat the ears first or eat the feet first, or whatever your approach is to eat your chocolate bunny, you know, your financial strategy, you know, same thing, manageable bites, right? Is how you want to handle it, and working with an advisor who helps you, kind of, you know, dissect that and work on all the moving parts, because it's also Tony how they interrelate to each other. Like you said, there's a lot of tools out there now, but having the experience to understand that when you pull this lever, it affects six more things down the way, is also an important thing that's different in retirement than it isn't just the accumulation phase. Tony Mauro 15:38 Yeah, it is. And I think with with an advisor. There's so much propensity today, with so much information in our fingertips, to that we're just going to do everything ourself. And then you start getting a little more, earning a little more, a little more money. It's like, I just want to pay somebody else to do this, because I don't want to take every minute of my time to say I'm going to research this and this and this. And it takes, it takes forever. You can't be an expert on everything. And so, like I tell all my business owners, and what I try to do my own business is anything that I'm not good at, I farm out and hire out, because I don't want to be an expert in that. Could I Yes, but yeah, I don't want to do that anymore. Speaker 1 16:17 And life is, life is complicated. There's so much stuff now, and yes, and unfortunately, getting quality people to help you with things. I mean, you know, I own a bit of land. I might, you know, I've got six acres here that my house is on. And every time I try to get a contractor with something, if you kind of feel like, you know, you're not getting good service, and then you wind up, I'll just learn how to do it myself, and I'll just handle it myself. You know, the old adage, if I want anything done, you want something done, right? You have to do it yourself. Do it yourself. Do it yourself. But I think there's a few areas where, if you haven't spent the time on it to understand it and learn it, you got to be careful, right? Because you're asking for to maybe get hurt, and certainly financially speaking, I don't want to make those mistakes when I'm 55 and having issues, or 60 or 65 and got some health issues, and, you know, I don't want to, I don't have the time, or maybe the physical, you know, or mental capacity to go deal with fixing those mistakes, right? So turning to a professional in that regard makes a lot of sense. And I can build my own house at 65 right? Because I don't know enough about house building. Tony Mauro 17:16 So no, I tell people, you know, this isn't a dress rehearsal. We only got one shot at this, right? And you know, we're not getting out of here alive. So we, you know, especially in the financial planning area, you don't have a lot of second chances, maybe a few, Speaker 1 17:29 but maybe a few, right? But they get thinner and thinner quickly. So yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, down to it. What's your favorite candy? My favorite Easter candy I could eat a whole bag of is actually, it's just really a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but they shape them in eggs. You know, it looks like an egg, yeah? And, I mean, that could be the chocolate bunny equivalent. I think, because they don't, don't, they make a chocolate bunny as well. That's a Reese's. I think they do, yeah, they may, now, yeah. Tony Mauro 17:53 And I may, I may have, what a nice, big one, because I do like chocolate Speaker 1 17:58 peanut butter, yes, yeah. Reese's have become a staple, I would say for sure. And it could be the Reese's Pieces too, Reese's Pieces. And sometimes Reese's Pieces replaces the jelly beans in the in the bag for the color and different things. So whatever your candy is, though, right? You know, good Easter basket has a little bit of everything. And that is my analogy to, you know, just retirement strategy. You know, your retirement Easter basket, if you will, should have a little bit of everything, right? We talked about diversification Tony. It's portfolio diversification, it's tax diversification, it's maybe insurance products diversification, right? So there's a lot of pieces you can be diversified in. Tony Mauro 18:35 There is, and I think, you know, you just want to make sure that, I would say your goal is to make sure that you're well diversified, and that you are covering all the aspects of planning, maybe not just one or two, just like you would with a good Easter basket. You got a bunch of candy in there. You don't want just one of just the Reese's. You want a little everything, especially as a kid. That's right, the more you had, the better. Speaker 1 18:59 That's right. You want that basket stocked, and so should your retirement strategy be as well as gonna do it this week, hopefully you had a little fun with us along the way, and maybe enjoy just a little bit of Easter candy. As I joked earlier, when we get older, it's like, Man, I'd love to have some more of this, but I just don't know that my stomach will allow me to anymore, or my waistline, but whatever your case is, have a Happy Easter, and we will see you next time here on plan with the tax man. Don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple Spotify, or whatever podcasting app you enjoy using, find all the information you need to talk with Tony or to subscribe to the show or just whatever at your planning pros.com. That's your planning pros.com. And we'll see you next time. Thank you, my friend. Tony Mauro 19:40 All right, thanks. We'll see you next time. Securities offered through Avantax Investment Services SM, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Avantax Advisory Services. Insurance services offered through an Avantax affiliated insurance agency. Investment strategies discussed in this episode may not be suitable for all investors. Please consult with a financial professional.
