The Dollar DerailGuide Financial Planning's Ben Wacek joins Zach Ashburn of Reach Strategic Wealth on Christian financial podcast The Dollar Derail for some quick conversations to change your financial train of thought.
You may have heard the term "Asset Allocation" referring to how your portfolio is divided up among different investments. Today, we're discussing something different, Asset Location, and how positioning your investments correctly across accounts can make a huge difference in your lifetime tax bill.
If you're working for yourself, you not only pay income tax but you pay all of the Social Security and Medicare taxes that an employer would normally pay. This can feel like a big burden as you calculate your tax bill quarterly. In this episode, Ben and Zach talk through what things actually reduce your self-employment taxes (it isn't everything), how to plan your business thoughtfully to lower your lifetime tax bills, and why focusing on your busines goals may be the secret to getting past the stress of writing the check to the IRS.
This week, Ben and Zach offer an encouragement toward simplifying your financial plan to suit your life and reflect on what they've learned in 2 years and 100 episodes of the podcast!
Financial Peace University has been an amazing starting point for people all over the country to organize their finances. Today we ask, "What happens when it's time to graduate?" In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss how to move forward after taking the baby steps provided by FPU, some of the good and the bad that can come from the program, and how to maintain a healthy perspective on money as your net worth grows.
Welcome to a brand new series on The Dollar Derail where we will be busting popular tax myths to stop you from basing your plans on bad information. In today's episode, Ben and Zach talk through the popular advice that, "you need an LLC to save money on taxes." You'll hear where this comes from, why it falls short, and what you need to know to have a good strategy in place for your finances.
A growing number of people are viewing independent consulting work as a viable route to financial independence. Whether you're looking to hone your skills, get paid what you're worth, or accelerate your retirement, this episode is for you. Ben and Zach will work through different ways to set your consulting and speaking rates and strategies for responding to feedback on your pricing from your marketplace.
As we hit springtime in a fast-paced housing market, you might be considering listing your home. In this episode, Ben and Zach talk through the tax bill you can expect to receive if your home has gone up in value and how you can do a little bit of planning to lower or eliminate it.
Some of the common questions around investments aren't related to individual holdings but to the accounts themselves. We work through common questions like, "Where should I have my account" "What type of account should it be?" "How should it be titled?" and "Am I diversified?" In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss the reasons to have multiple accounts, the reasons not to, and how to think about separating your dollars across companies.
While times of crisis may increase stress and confusion, they can also provide valuable insights and opportunities to refine your financial strategies. In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss the factors for current events that impact your portfolio and how you can approach your money with a healthy mindset in times of crisis.
In the second, and final, part of this series, Ben and Zach discuss the costs of different types of adoptions and how you can prepare. We'll work through some of the ways having children impacts you financially, what options exist for adoption and what the varying costs are, and what strategies you can use to make these costs more manageable as you plan for your family's future.
When it comes to how you use your money, there's nothing more important than the future of your family. In the first episode of this two part series, Zach shares his experience as a foster parent on the path toward adoption. You'll learn about the process, the costs, and how this is an important topic that mixes both emotion and practical information. Come back next week for a closer look at costs associated with international, private, and public adoptions.
2021 brought several changes to the Child Tax Credit and they've been causing confusion for taxpayers. In this episode, Ben and Zach break down the updates to the credit, the mail you may have been receiving from the IRS, and what it might mean for you at tax time.
Is it better to be lucky or good? Maybe it's actually best to know when you've been lucky versus good. In today's episode, Ben and Zach discuss the Self-Serving Bias and how your perception of yourself can impact how you view the results of your financial moves. Be sure to listen through to learn how to put up guardrails against this bias so that you can use both positive and negative outcomes to learn and grow.
Are you prepared for the risks of investing your money? Or are you too afraid of losing it? In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss the Loss Aversion Bias, the danger it poses to the unaware investor, and how you can put up safeguards to improve your long-term prospects.
This week we continue our 4 week series on cognitive biases and how they impact our financial lives. In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss Framing Bias, the way financial information is presented to us and how it shapes our actions. If you want to become better at evaluating financial opportunities, this episode is for you!
In this brand new 4 week series, we are taking a look at some common cognitive biases that can impact your financial life. These are ways of thinking that can shape how we act in ways that go overlooked if we are not watching out for them. In this episode, Ben and Zach discuss Confirmation Bias and how we interpret new information. Are you leaving your finances vulnerable by how you research new ideas?