Recent client projects - December 2025
A glimpse into what I've been working on lately
Every so often, I like to share a sampler of some of the things I’ve been working on with my clients.
Here are my past “projects” updates:
Think of this is as an attempt to dispel the many misconceptions of what financial advisors do in their day-to-day work…
While also giving you a taste of the breadth and depth of the topics, conversations, challenges, and opportunities I work on with my clients.
A simple term life insurance ladder
While I don’t sell insurance, I recently worked with a trusted insurance partner to get multiple term life insurance quotes for a client.
This client didn’t need the full amount of coverage for the full 15 year insurance need, so part of the coverage will expire after year 10 so they won’t be paying for insurance they don’t need for an additional 5 years.
Instead of a single 15-year term policy, we set up a 10-year policy and a 15-year policy so part of the coverage - and premium costs - will go away after the first 10 years.
Note: in most situations, term insurance is the only type of life insurance people need. Potential issues (and costs) arise when you start combining insurance and investments into a single solution.
Tax-free RMDs
I have a handful of clients who utilize Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from their IRA account to satisfy their annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) without paying income tax on them.
These clients use QCDs to give to their church or to various charitable organizations that are important to them.
I had one client divide his annual 2025 RMD of approximately $22,000 among 11 different organizations.
He was able to support several organizations that are important to him while meeting his RMD and not paying a dime of income tax.
Adjusting tax withholding
I have a couple of clients where we’ve had recent tax planning conversations.
One of the results is that based on our 2025 income tax projection, we can better dial in their Federal tax withholding rate on their monthly retirement paycheck coming out of their IRA.
Instead of withholding too much from these IRA distributions, we were able to adjust their withholding to a lower rate so they won’t get such a large refund when they file their 2026 taxes.
Funding a client trust
Many people use a revocable living trust as part of their estate plan.
However, the money spent to establish this trust is wasted if you don’t “fund” the trust with your non-retirement assets.
This is accomplished by retitling your bank accounts, your home, your brokerage accounts, etc. into the name of your revocable living trust.
I help clients with this all the time.
In fact, we helped a client retitle her Schwab brokerage account just a couple of weeks ago that she thought she’d already taken care of.
Health insurance
With the help of the team at Move Health, many of my clients have reviewed their Medicare and Marketplace health insurance coverage for 2026 in recent weeks.
Medicare Annual Enrollment ends on December 7.
Marketplace Open Enrollment Period ends on December 15 (for coverage effective Jan 1), but is open in most states until Jan 15, 2026.
In addition to helping my clients during open enrollment each year, they also help my clients who are enrolling in Medicare for the first time.
They also assist my clients’ adult children as they approach age 26 and can no longer remain on their parents’ health insurance.
Statement walkthrough
A client I began working with in the last year or so recently asked if we could walk through their monthly Schwab statement to explain in plain English what everything means for them.
So we spent some time on a Zoom call going through their statement page-by-page and line-by-line to explain what each figure means and its relation to their retirement income plan.
As I wrote just last week, clear expectations and clear communication are super important.
Pay off debt or invest?
A client’s mother recently passed away at the age of 100.
My client is currently knee-deep - along with her siblings - in working through her Mom’s estate.
It’s a lot… managing the financial - and very emotional - details of a loved one’s life.
One question that came up in a recent conversation is what my client should do with her portion of the inherited assets?
Should she and her husband use this money to pay down debt or invest?
We talked through the pros & cons of one versus the other, and my suggestion was to think in terms of “and” instead of “or”.
Paying down debt or investing weren’t their only 2 choices.
They could also use the funds to pay down debt AND invest.
However, I told them I would prefer to see them pay down their mortgage and other debt as the higher priority since they plan to retire in the next few years.
An insurance wreck
As I mentioned above, bad things can happen when you attempt to turn insurance into an investment.
You may have seen the recent news story about NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and his wife suing a big insurance company.
While I don’t know all the details of this specific story, just know that it involves an insurance product called Indexed Universal Life (IUL).
The people who sell these policies love them.
Most financial advisors, including myself, aren’t such big fans.
As a result of seeing this story, I reached out to a couple I was referred to over a year ago who decided not to become a client.
I remembered that he had an IUL policy he’d been sold just a few years earlier that was described to him as a “tax-free retirement plan.”
I emailed him and suggested he get a 2nd opinion on his IUL policy in light of this news story.
And the Kyle Busch story isn’t isolated.
For more context on the many problems and complaints associated with IULs please review this AI summary from Claude.
New relationships
While I’m not in “growth” mode, I’m always interested in meeting and talking to interesting people who might benefit from working with me.
In the past few months, I’m happy to have welcomed a couple of new clients.
Both are widows though there’s quite a difference in each of their ages.
If you or someone you know would ever like to have a casual conversation about retirement planning or would like a 2nd opinion, please get in touch and let me know.
Even if I’m not the right fit (which is often the case), I’ll be glad to help you find the professional advice you’re looking for.
Navigating IRMAA?
I’ve been having a bunch of client strategy meetings in the past few weeks.
Recently one client wanted to know how much more they could distribute from their retirement accounts before year-end without triggering the next higher Medicare IRMAA bracket and jacking up their Medicare Part B and Part D premiums 2 years from now.
This is just another example of the ongoing tax planning I’m doing with many of my clients.
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, or if you’re navigating similar questions, feel free to reach out.
Speaking of Medicare, CMS just released their updated premiums and deductibles for 2026 which you can review here.
The oracle retires
Warren Buffett, the 95 year-old CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is retiring.
Often referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” he’s stepping down after 60 years as CEO of the multi-billion dollar holding company.
Buffett has written his widely-read annual letter to shareholders for decades.
In the last couple of years, he’s also written a “Thanksgiving Letter.”
I’d encourage you to read his final letter.
End of year planning
As we approach the end of 2025, I wanted to share the following PDF that you may find timely:
Thank you for your continued readership and support.
And I always enjoy your email replies (and comments), so keep ‘em coming…
As always, please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for future essays.
Until next Wednesday,
Russ