Your Life, Simplified

50% of adults will need long-term care at some point in their life, and this can have major impacts on your emotions and financial plan. Dr. Christina Lynn, practice management consultant, joins this episode of Your Life Simplified to share how to discuss aging and long-term care with your parents, what emotions this may bring, how much to plan for financially, the different types of care and each of their costs.

Before saying, “I do,” it can be helpful to discuss finances with your fiancé and have a prenuptial agreement in place. On this episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, hosts, Julia Rodgers, CEO and Co-Founder of HelloPrenup, who shares ways you can approach this topic with your partner, how to have that conversation and ways that you can help protect both people with a prenup.

Oftentimes, getting a prenuptial agreement may feel unromantic, timely and expensive. But not having a prenup can end up causing more strife and costing more in the long run. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and hosts guest, Julia Rodgers, CEO and Co-Founder of HelloPrenup. They discuss what is a prenup, what should go in it, the process, making sure it is equitable for both parties and postnuptial agreements.

With the passage of the SECURE Act & SECURE 2.0 Act, Stretch IRAs are no longer an option. So, how should investors with an IRA manage this and what should beneficiaries do with their inherited IRA? Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share strategies investors may consider with their IRAs.

In 2022, Congress passed SECURE 2.0 Act, and this new legislation has significant changes to the ways you save for retirement. On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, detail important changes in SECURE 2.0 Act that may affect your retirement savings. They’ll discuss required minimum distributions, Roths, saving for education expenses through 529 Plans, student loan payments and more.

In celebration of Your Life Simplified’s 100th episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, look back at the last 100 years in finance and the markets. While history doesn’t provide a perfect roadmap for the future, it can teach us useful lessons about bear markets, industry trends, risk and the economy.

A Roth IRA is an important component of your retirement portfolio. In this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss mistakes that can be made when investing in a Roth IRA and how to avoid them. Topics discussed include spousal contributions, Roth 401k options, the 5-year rule and contribution eligibility.

On this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, is joined by special guest, Brett Kunshek, head of options. They break down what an option is and dive into risk mitigation, generating income and return enhancement. They’ll also cover areas of frustration for investors and examples.

To kick off the new year, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share financial goals and new year’s resolutions you may want to set in 2023. From retirement planning to estate planning and gifting, we cover ways to help you achieve your goals.

With only a few weeks left in the year, make sure you check everything off your financial list. On this episode, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor provide an end of year wealth planning checklist, which includes areas like retirement planning, Required Minimum Distributions and gifting.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Christina Lynn, practice management consultant, continue their conversation about financial conflicts between spouses. Topics discussed include tips for managing spousal differences as an advisor, suggestions for spouses when talking about financial conflict and examples of financial conflict.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Christina Lynn, practice management consultant, dive into the topic of financial challenges between spouses including divorce, overspending and how wealth advisors and clients can communicate during this difficult time.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, share what they are grateful for. Each discusses one thing in the financial industry and one personal thing they are cherishing this season. Listen to hear more about their gratitude for compounding interest, investments and financial planning.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Mike MacKelvie wealth advisor, and special guest Kevin Ahern, Human Resources Manager, discuss Health Savings Accounts and the 5 benefits of having one.   0:00: Intro 01:30 Benefit #1 – Triple Tax Saving 02:04 Benefit #2 – Portability 03:53 Benefit #3 – Medicare Premiums 05:35 Benefit #4 – Investment Control 06:17 Benefit #5 – Tax-free Withdrawals after the age of 65 12:29 Outro & Disclosures     

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Mike MacKelvie wealth advisor, and special guest Kevin Ahern, Human Resources Manager, discuss how to get the most out of your open enrollment.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and special guest Joe Reynoldson, associate wealth advisor, get into the spooky seasons spirit by discussing five financial decisions that can haunt you and tips to avoid making these mistakes.

Description: In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Mike MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss what a donor-advised fund is, the best strategies to use a donor-advised fund and how they can be beneficial to your charitable giving.

In this week’s episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Mike MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss how financial decision making can be tied to emotion and why it is important to make logical decisions when managing your finances.

In this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, and Michael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss how retirement plan rollover works. They also discuss your rollover options, including but not limited to the pros and cons of using an IRA as a rollover vehicle, and what options may be beneficial to your long-term goals.

In this episode of Your Life Simplified, Valerie Escobar, senior wealth advisor, andMichael MacKelvie, wealth advisor, discuss the checklist you should run through before the end of the year to make sure your taxes are in ordergoing into the new year.