The best and worst part about the internet is the feedback you receive when you put your thoughts or opinions out there.
There will always be people who troll or disagree with you but I’ve learned how to filter out constructive criticism from people who project their unhappiness onto others in the form of mean internet comments. But for me, the feedback is positive and helpful the majority of the time.
Feedback from the podcast, YouTube videos and this blog gives me new ideas, opinions and data to consider. I also get plenty of recommendations for books, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, TV shows, movies and smart people to follow.
I’m biased here but feel my audience is more intelligent than most.
The fact that our firm produces financial content means there are also tons of questions that come in from the audience to get our opinion.
Each week our inboxes are full of dozens of intelligent questions.
Sometimes these emails make us laugh. Sometimes they make us cringe. Sometimes they make us think. Sometimes they help us learn.
And it’s pleasantly surprising how much trust people are willing to put in us by sharing so much of their personal information.
People tell us how much money they make. How much they have saved. Their investment strategies. Their career aspirations. The financial mistakes they’ve made. Their financial wins. The decisions and problems they’re working through.
This stuff isn’t always easy and there is no one there to check your work when thinking through these decisions.
We’ve come to realize all of these questions could be helpful beyond our inboxes.
When you hear someone else’s financial situation you can think to yourself:
- How would I handle that situation?
- Wait, I’ve dealt with that very same problem before. Was I on the right track?
- What if something like this happens to me?
- What is this person thinking?
We get questions on a wide range of topics from personal finance to taxes, investing, markets, economic data, careers, savings, retirement, crypto, housing, financial planning and much more.
So we’ve decided to start a new show that’s going to be all Q&A from you the audience.
I’m going to host each week and try to provide as much context, perspective and research as I can.
But it’s not going to be all me.
There are some questions that are above my pay grade or outside my area of expertise. So each week I’m going to bring on an expert who knows what they’re talking about more than I do about specific topics.
The goal of the show will be to help people make better decisions with their money by thinking through all of the factors at play.
Each week we’ll answer questions straight from our viewers. If you have a question, email us at AskTheCompoundShow@gmail.com.
Just to give you a taste of the kinds of questions we’re receiving, here’s one we get to on today’s show:
I’m a 48 year old single male with around $840,000 saved, that is 55% traditional IRA, 35% Roth, and 10% taxable. I’m currently maxing out my Roth 401k, Roth IRA, and putting a few thousand into my taxable account each year. Next year will be the first year I will make significantly more than the Roth IRA income limit of $125,000. What do I do with the $6,000 Roth IRA contribution going forward?
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- Do I switch almost all of the 401k from Roth to traditional to get my modified AGI under the $125,000 limit, keep the Roth IRA fully funded, and add the tax savings from the new traditional 401k to taxable?
- Do I keep everything the same and just add the previous Roth IRA money to the taxable account?
- Do I use the money that was allocated to the Roth IRA to pay taxes on a chunk of traditional IRA savings and roll it into a Roth?
I live in a moderate tax state (VA) and my taxes are very simple, as I rent.
Here’s another one:
Once someone has maxed out their investing tools (401k & Roth IRA) is real estate the next best option? I have always been told that owning property is the best wealth building tool outside of investing. Do you guys believe this still holds true? If so, is real estate investing still a viable option these days with bloated home prices?
For context: I live in NYC, single, no debt, 30, and earn roughly $105,000/year. The houses in the New York City area are price prohibitive but I have considered buying out of state.
In this inaugural episode, we’ll tackle these questions along with helping a friend better align their portfolio with their time horizon and negotiating with landscapers.
And remember to subscribe to The Compound to see these videos. We’re going to be back every Thursday with a new episode answering your questions.
Enjoy:
