Align Your Retirement
de Hazel Secco, CFP®, CDFA®
Cel mai nou episod
Delaying Social Security to 70 Cost This Couple $137,000. One Change…
Delaying Social Security to 70 Cost This Couple $137,000. One Change…
Despre acest podcast
Align Your Retirement is the retirement podcast for women in their 40s and 50s who've done a lot right with their money and know retirement is too important to wing.
If you're the CFO of your household, whether you're married, single, divorced, or widowed, you already know the voices:
"I'll run the real numbers after Q4."
"My 401(k) is fine. I check it."
"I'll handle Social Security timing when I'm closer."
"The inherited IRA can sit in cash until I figure out the 10-year rule."
Every one of those voices is quietly moving your retirement date. Each episode covers one retirement decision that costs more than it needs to when you carry it alone, like Social Security timing, Roth conversion windows, sequence of returns risk, tax-efficient withdrawals, pension elections, asset location, the inherited IRA, and health care before Medicare.
Hosted by Hazel Secco, CFP®, CDFA®, founder of Align Financial Solutions, a fee-only fiduciary firm in Hoboken, New Jersey, that helps high-net-worth women bring retirement, equity compensation, tax, and estate planning into one plan. We work with clients across the country virtually.
Two ways to go deeper:
📋 Retirement Readiness Assessment, free and self-paced. Link in every show note.
📞 Align Call, a 15-minute conversation with Hazel about your own situation. Link in every show note.
Episoade
Cele mai noi 20 din 36 episoade
- Delaying Social Security to 70 Cost This Couple $137,000. One Change Made It Worth $1.5 Million. · 16 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 22Send us Fan Mail Delay Social Security to 70. It's the most repeated retirement advice on the internet, and the check really does get bigger. What almost nobody shows you is what…
- Retiring Before 65? Why Your 401(k) Could Cost You $9,500 a Year in Health Insurance · 10 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 21Send us Fan Mail A lot of women run the retirement math, know they could stop at 60, then price health insurance for the years before Medicare and decide to keep working. What…
- I Tested 4 Roth Conversion Strategies on a $2M IRA for a Single Woman · 22 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 20Send us Fan Mail Much of the Roth conversion guidance out there is built on married couple numbers. If you're single, or expect to be, those numbers can be off by about half. In…
- $2 Million vs. $5 Million: Why 2.5x the Savings Buys Only 1.7x the Income · 21 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 19Send us Fan Mail Two couples, identical in every way except one detail: Paul and Linda have $2 million saved, and Richard and Susan have $5 million. In this episode I run both…
- Why a $3M Nest Egg Can Mean Higher Taxes in Retirement · 12 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 18Send us Fan Mail Margaret saved $3 million, and every dollar sits in a 401(k) and a rollover IRA. It's enough money. The problem: at 75, she'll pay about $16,400 more in federal…
- You Have Two Social Security Checks. Only One Should Wait Until 70 · 11 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 17Send us Fan Mail "Wait until 70 to claim Social Security" is the most repeated retirement advice on the internet. For a married woman who is the higher earner, it's only half…
- Health Insurance Before Medicare: How Your Income Sets Your Premium · 12 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 16Send us Fan Mail Health insurance before Medicare keeps a lot of women working longer than they need to. Coverage on your own can cost well over $2,000 a month for a family, so…
- The Medicare Surcharge That Ambushes You Two Years Late (IRMAA, Explained) · 11 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 15Send us Fan Mail Episode Description You did everything right. You saved aggressively, earned well, maybe converted to Roth or sold a property. Then two years into retirement, a…
- Laid Off After 50? Five Clocks Are Already Running · 13 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 14Send us Fan Mail If a layoff lands after 50, it isn't an income problem. It's a structural one. Severance, equity, health coverage, and your 401(k) all start moving at once on…
- Same $200,000 a Year in Retirement, One Woman Pays About $1,000 in Tax · 12 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 13Send us Fan Mail Two women, both 62, both retired, both spending $200,000 a year. One pays tens of thousands in federal tax. The other pays about $1,000. The difference is which…
- The New Roth Catch-Up Rule: Earning $150K+? Your 401(k) Just Changed · 12 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 12Send us Fan Mail If you're over 50 and earned more than $150,000 last year, a SECURE 2.0 rule that took effect this January changed your 401(k): your catch-up contributions must…
- Can You Retire at 55 With $2 Million? (Single, No Pension) · 13 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 11Send us Fan Mail $2 million sounds like a finish line. At 55, single, with 35 years of retirement ahead of you, it's a starting number, and the distance between those two things…
- Why "Just Max Your 401(k)" Stops Being Good Advice in Your 50s · 12 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 10Send us Fan Mail Maxing your 401(k) was one of the best habits you ever built. In your 50s, at a $200K+ income, it deserves a second look. Every pre-tax dollar buys a deduction…
- The RSU Tax Trap: Why You'll Owe the IRS Five Figures Next April (and How to Fix It Before December) · 10 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 9Send us Fan Mail Your RSUs vested. Taxes came out of every vest. And you may still owe the IRS five figures in April, because your employer withholds a flat 22% by IRS default…
- The Cheapest Tax Years of Your Life: Roth Conversions Before Social Security Starts · 6 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 8Send us Fan Mail There's a short stretch in early retirement when your paycheck has stopped, Social Security hasn't started, and required withdrawals haven't begun. Your taxable…
- The Widow’s Penalty: Why Taxes Rise After a Spouse Dies and How Roth Conversions Can Help · 7 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 7Send us Fan Mail Hazel Secco explains the “widow’s penalty,” where a surviving spouse, usually the wife, often pays more tax after a husband’s death despite similar income…
- Inheriting an IRA? The 10-Year Rule That Can Quietly Cost Your Kids Six Figures · 15 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 6Send us Fan Mail You just inherited an IRA. Somewhere in the grief and the paperwork, a clock started, and almost no one tells you it's running. Since the SECURE Act, most people…
- Where You Hold Investments Changes What You Keep (Asset Location) · 15 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 5Send us Fan Mail Your investment allocation might be fine, but your account structure could be quietly shaving thousands off your retirement over time. I’m talking about the gap…
- Sequence of Returns Risk: Same $2 Million, One Runs Out at 82 · 18 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 4Send us Fan Mail Two women retire at 62 with the same $2 million, the same index funds, the same 7% average return, and the same $80,000 a year. One dies at 92 with more than she…
- When to Claim Social Security: Why the Math Is Different for Women · 15 min · Sezonul 3 Episodul 3Send us Fan Mail Most Social Security break-even calculators give women the wrong answer, because the life expectancy table they use isn't yours. In this episode, Hazel walks…
