Trust This, Go Broke

We all know there are things in life you probably shouldn’t trust — like gas station sushi or an email from a Nigerian prince. But the same principle applies in retirement planning. Sometimes what looks safe, easy, or even “guaranteed” isn’t so trustworthy when you peel back the layers. Important Links: Website: http://www.yourplanningpros.com Call: 844-707-7381 ----more---- Transcript: Walter Storholt: Well, we all know that there are things in life you probably shouldn't trust, like gas station sushi or that email from a Nigerian prince trying to send you some money and get you to send them money. But the same principle applies in retirement planning. Sometimes what looks safe or easy or even that dreaded word, guaranteed, isn't so trustworthy when you peel back the layers. So on today's show, we're going to talk about the things that if you trust it, you might go broke and how to avoid it. Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of Plan with the Tax Man. I'm Walter Storholt filling in for Mark Killian on today's episode, but as always, joined by Tony Mauro, Des Moines professional alternative for the Tax Doctor Inc. in central Iowa, office right in Des Moines. You can find Tony online at yourplanningpros.com. Tony, great to be with you on today's episode. How's life treating you? Tony Mauro: It's good. Fall's upon us. Everybody's talking football of course, and now it's starting to get serious about planning, so it will be busy coming up. Walter Storholt: You get kind of a second hit in the tax calendar this time of year. Most people think of taxes as just being something you worry about at the last minute in April, but you get a little bit of a second wind as we head toward October, right? Tony Mauro: We do. As we're taping this, we're coming up on a due date the IRS puts on us for corporate extensions, which is the 15th, and then in another month, October 15th, everybody that we have on extensions and everybody out there have got to get those tax returns in, especially if they owe to avoid some big penalties. So most of our clients, though, are not the procrastinators or the ones that are on extension. We got them done long ago, but we still have a few that we're always pushing to get over that hurdle. Walter Storholt: That's right. Yeah. And it's not like corporate returns are easier than personal returns, right? A few more layers and moving parts to worry about there? Tony Mauro: It is. With the corps, it's not near as straightforward of just getting documents and getting them into the software. A lot of moving parts usually, and of course business owners by and large usually don't want to talk about taxes and they tend to put it off. So half the battle is getting them to communicate and get some of that stuff done. Walter Storholt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, good luck wrapping those things up so that you can enjoy the changing of the fall weather and football season and all that other good stuff. Well, here's how today's episode's going to work, folks. We're going to talk about the things that you trust might make you go broke and we're going to talk about some real world things and then some financial sides of the equation as well. So we'll kind of bounce back and forth between the two. So first of all, Tony, I like throwing this one out there. Gas station sushi. Is that something that you think you would trust? Tony Mauro: I would never trust that. In fact, I notice even in some airports now, kind of like sushi to go and fast food sushi. Walter Storholt: Oh, sure. Tony Mauro: I would never do that, and I do like sushi, but that kind of stuff, especially at a gas station, I wouldn't [inaudible 00:03:21]. Walter Storholt: Yeah. I might do the airport sushi if it was a sushi restaurant in the gas station, but when it's just kind of in those grab and go sections, I don't know if I want that going wrong right before a flight, right? Tony Mauro: Right before a flight. I agree. Walter Storholt: The risk there is not worth it. Tony Mauro: Yeah, yeah. Walter Storholt: I did, I thought gas station sushi was sort of a made up thing and then one day I did actually see sushi in the gas station. Tony Mauro: Wow. Walter Storholt: It was not appetizing. Tony Mauro: I've seen it in some small supermarkets and whatnot, but it just looks like, how long has that been there? Walter Storholt: Sure. Tony Mauro: I don't know if I want to try that, but I'm like you, I'd rather just have them cook it for me. That's the only way I'm eating it. Walter Storholt: Yeah, it's the same thing with raw oysters. I got to trust the place I'm getting my raw oysters from. Tony Mauro: Exactly. Walter Storholt: Otherwise I'm not eating it. All right, so let's look at a more realistic real world thing here from the financial perspective would be people who say they've developed a system for timing the stock market. That sounds a lot like ...