Tag Archives: Financial Planning

Episode 37: How to Prepare for Tax Season with Less Stress



Learn how to prepare for tax season with less stress with insights directly from JL Smith Holistic Wealth Managements’ experienced tax team. This episode, hosted by Bryan Bibbo, features Jeff Warnkin, CFP, CPA, NSSA, BPC, Senior Wealth Management Advisor, with over 25 years of experience and a master’s in taxation, and Kelli Knudsen, EA, Controller and Enrolled Agent at JL Smith who leads the tax division. 

Listen as Warnkin and Knudsen share practical strategies to simplify your tax preparation process and help you make informed decisions about your filing. They’ll walk you through how JL Smith’s holistic approach to wealth management helps prevent tax-time surprises while keeping you on track with your financial goals. 

Key Topics: 

  • Document Organization: Discover effective ways to gather and submit your tax documents using both digital portals and traditional methods 
  • Filing Status Benefits: Understand how to choose the best filing status for your situation, including special considerations for life changes and dependent claims 
  • Security Measures: Discover important steps to protect yourself from tax-related identity theft, including the value of IRS Identity Protection PINs 
  • Strategic Planning: Learn how incorporating tax planning into your wealth management strategy helps you prepare better and save more throughout the year 

Episode 36: Protecting Your Wealth from Cybercrime with Identity Fraud Investigator, Carrie Kerskie



As technology like AI advances, so do the methods criminals use to compromise your financial security. This essential episode, hosted by Jason L Smith, features the return of Carrie Kerskie, a certified identity fraud investigator and author, who shares proactive, sophisticated strategies to protect your wealth today.  

Listen as Carrie Kerskie, founder of the Kerskie Group, provides actionable strategies to protect your wealth from emerging cyber threats while maintaining the convenience of modern financial tools. 

Key Topics: 

  • AI Security Protocols: Learn how to safely leverage AI tools for business productivity while protecting sensitive financial information and maintaining data privacy 
  • Modern Identity Protection: Master the three-part framework of prevention, awareness, and recovery to safeguard your wealth from sophisticated cyber threats 
  • Digital Privacy Management: Understand critical vulnerabilities in everyday technology, from smart vehicles to mobile applications, that could compromise your financial security 
  • Fraud Prevention Strategies: Implement the “privacy pause” methodology to prevent financial fraud and protect against social engineering attacks enhanced by artificial intelligence

Episode 34: Exploring How Financial Intimacy & Attachment Styles Build Healthier Money Relationships 



Navigating finances within relationships can be a complex and deeply personal journey. In this episode of the Holistic Wealth & Health podcast, co-host Jason L Smith is joined by Ed Coambs, CFP®, founder, trainer, and therapy informed planner of Healthy Love & Money. Ed bridges the worlds of financial planning and relationship psychology, offering a transformative approach to understanding how our emotional and relational patterns influence financial decision-making. 

Join us as we unpack strategies for fostering financial intimacy, overcoming money-related conflicts, and creating a balanced approach to wealth management that supports your emotional and financial health. 

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Understanding Financial Intimacy: Learn what financial intimacy means and how it fosters transparency and trust in relationships. 
  • Attachment Styles and Money: Discover how attachment styles—secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized—affect financial decision-making and conflict resolution. 
  • Overcoming Financial Trauma: Explore methods to recover from past financial setbacks and rebuild confidence in managing money. 
  • Balancing Risk and Emotional Comfort: Strategies to align financial decisions with personal comfort levels and long-term goals. 
  • Practical Exercises for Couples: A simple yet powerful exercise to improve financial communication and connection in relationships. 

Episode 33: The Family Estate Organizer™ – A Guide to Preserving Family Wealth & Harmony



Join co-hosts Jason Smith and Bryan Bibbo as they unpack the essential role of The Family Estate Organizer™ (FEO) in creating a seamless wealth transfer strategy.  

Through compelling real-world examples and decades of experience, they reveal how this powerful tool transforms complex estate planning into an organized, manageable process that provides peace of mind for your entire family. 

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Document Organization Mastery: Learn how The Family Estate Organizer™ is used to create a centralized system for managing crucial financial, legal, and personal documents. 
  • Tax-Smart Asset Management: Master the organization of pre-tax, post-tax, and tax-favored investments to optimize inheritance outcomes for your beneficiaries. 
  • Legacy Planning Integration: Discover how the FEO seamlessly connects with The Bucket Plan® methodology to create a comprehensive wealth transfer strategy that aligns with your values. 
  • Crisis Prevention Protocol: Understand how proper document organization prevents common estate planning pitfalls and ensures immediate access to critical information during emergencies. 
  • Succession Planning: Learn the step-by-step process for ensuring your wealth transfers efficiently to the next generation while maintaining family harmony. 

Episode 31: Investment Fundamentals – Understanding Market Dynamics and Portfolio Diversification with Apollo Lupescu



Are you worried about making the right investment choices for your retirement? Join host Jason L Smith, and special guest Apollo Lupescu from Dimensional Fund Advisors, for a conversation that takes the mystery out of investing.  

Whether you’re already enjoying retirement or planning for it in the next few years, this episode breaks down what you really need to know about protecting and growing your nest egg in today’s complex market environment. 

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Investment Fundamentals: Learn why having a comprehensive financial plan is crucial before selecting specific investments 
  • Risk Management: Understand the difference between “smart risks” and “dumb risks” in investing 
  • Global Diversification: Discover why international exposure matters, with the U.S. representing 61% of global market value 
  • Market Timing: Why “time in the market” beats “timing the market” – supported by 50 years of market data 
  • The Bucket Plan® Strategy: How The Bucket Plan® philosophy of separating investments into Now, Soon, and Later buckets helps create peace of mind for retirement 

Episode 26: Enhancing Your Retirement Health – The Role of Reverse Mortgages in Holistic Wealth Management



Join host Bryan Bibbo and special guest Don Graves, RICP®, CLTC®, CSA® Certified Senior Advisor, president and founder of the Housing Wealth Institute and an Adjunct Instructor of Retirement Income at the American College of Financial Services, as they explore the often misunderstood world of reverse mortgages and their potential role in retirement planning. 

Together, Bibbo and Graves discuss how these financial instruments can provide increased flexibility, improve cash flow, and potentially enhance overall retirement outcomes when used strategically. 

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Beyond the Stigma: Don explains how reverse mortgages have evolved and why they’re now being considered by financial planners for clients across the wealth spectrum. 
  • The Mechanics of Reverse Mortgages: A breakdown of how these loans work, including the growing line of credit feature. 
  • Strategic Applications: Various ways reverse mortgages can be used, from eliminating monthly mortgage payments to funding estate planning strategies. 
  • Protecting Homeownership: Discussion on the safeguards in place and common misconceptions about losing one’s home. 

Listen as Graves dispels common myths and shares insights on how reverse mortgages are “just another mortgage” and can be a valuable tool for retirees across various financial situations.  


Episode 24: The Key to Holistic Wealth on National Financial Awareness Day



Join co-host Bryan Bibbo for this special episode of the Holistic Wealth and Health Podcast where he explores the critical importance of financial literacy today.  

Bryan shares his personal and professional insights into the rising consumer debt crisis and offers practical tips on budgeting, saving, and goal setting to help individuals secure their financial future. 

Key topics discussed: 

  • National Financial Awareness Day: The significance of this day and why financial literacy is more important than ever. 
  • Consumer Debt Crisis: Understanding the impact of rising debt levels and how to manage financial stress. 
  • Paying Yourself First: The importance of saving a portion of your income and taking advantage of employer 401(k) matches. 
  • Budgeting Basics: Practical tips for creating a budget that accommodates unexpected expenses and long-term financial goals. 
  • Financial Education: The need for better financial literacy in schools and how to instill good financial habits in the next generation. 

Learn how to take control of your financial future by implementing these essential strategies and discover the importance of educating yourself and your loved ones about money management. 


Episode 22: Grasping your Financial Needs, Step 3: Deliver



Join hosts Jason L Smith and Bryan Bibbo with special guest, Dave Alison, as they continue breaking down The Bucket Plan® financial planning process. 

This episode covers step three of The Bucket Plan® process, the “Deliver” phase, where we present and deliver the personalized, holistic financial plan we’ve developed for you.  

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Your Family Estate Organizer: Discover how we’ll help you organize all your financial information in one place, making it easily accessible for you and your loved ones. 
  • Understanding Your Risk Tolerance: Learn about our Volatility Tolerance Analysis, which will help assess your comfort with risk across different time horizons. 
  • Creating Your Custom Plan: We’ll explain how we take all the information from our previous meetings to engineer a financial plan tailored just for you. 
  • Presenting Your Financial Blueprint: Find out how we’ll walk you through your comprehensive plan, addressing your specific concerns and priorities for retirement. 
  • Planning for Your Retirement Phases: Understand the three phases of retirement – your “go years,” “slow go years,” and “no go years” – and how we’ll help you plan for each. 
  • Maximizing Your Retirement Income: Learn about our strategies for tax-efficient distribution planning to help you keep more of your hard-earned money. 
  • The Power of Tax Planning: Discover how proper tax planning could potentially save you tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. 
  • Optimizing Your Savings and Withdrawals: We’ll introduce you to our “funnel” concept for managing your money tax-efficiently during both your saving and spending years.

Episode 21: Grasping your Financial Needs, Step 2: Design



Join our hosts Jason L Smith and Bryan Bibbo with special guest, Dave Alison, CFP®, EA, BPC, President and Founding Partner of C2P and Alison Wealth Management, as they continue breaking down The Bucket Plan® financial planning process step by step.  

This episode covers step two of The Bucket Plan® process, known as the “Design” phase, where we analyze all your assets and how they come together to formulate your holistic plan.  

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Overview of The Bucket Plan® Process: A recap of the previous episode on “Discovery,” phase and each step of the planning process: Discovery, Design, Deliver, Dedicated. 
  • Document Analysis: Carefully reviewing your financial documents to gain a complete understanding of your current situation. 
  • Organization: Helping you structure your financial information using our Family Estate Organizer, ensuring everything is accessible and clear to preserve your legacy.  
  • Risk Assessment: Using our proprietary Volatility Tolerance Analysis to determine your comfort level with risk across different time horizons. 
  • Asset Categorization: Introducing you to our Bucket Plan philosophy, showing you how to categorize your assets for Now, Soon, and Later needs. 
  • Investment Education: Guiding you through our Pyramid of Risk, helping you understand various investment types and reflect on your past experiences. 
  • Visual Planning: Creating a personalized sketch of your Bucket Plan, giving you a clear visual representation of your financial strategy. 

Discover how our Design phase creates the blueprint for your customized holistic plan and sets the stage for the next phase of the process.  


Episode 19: Managing Wealth Wisely: Insights from Tax & Estate Planning Whiz, Chris Woehrle



In this episode of the Holistic Wealth and Health Podcast, host Jason L Smith is joined by esteemed tax planning professional and professor, Christopher P. Woehrle, JD, LL.M (Tax).  

With a background in tax and estate planning and as a professor at Villanova Law School and former chair of the tax and estate planning department at the College of Financial Planning, Chris shares his expertise on holistic wealth management and the critical role of tax planning. 

Key Topics Discussed: 

  • Holistic Wealth Management: Understanding the comprehensive approach to financial planning that integrates all aspects of your financial life. 
  • Importance of Tax Planning: Exploring the critical role of tax strategies in holistic wealth management. 
  • Effective Tax Strategies: Discussion of specific tax planning techniques, including the 83(b) election, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), and the benefits of gifting appreciated securities to charity. 
  • Navigating Retirement Planning: Strategies for ensuring a secure and comfortable retirement, including the importance of having a diversified income stream. 
  • Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Goals: How to save for immediate needs while planning for future financial stability. 
  • Risk Management: Understanding and mitigating risks such as mortality, longevity, and disability. 
  • Behavioral Finance: The importance of behavior modification in investment decisions and financial planning. 
  • The Role of Financial Advisors: How professional guidance can help you stay on track and make informed financial decisions. 

Tune in to learn how to manage your wealth holistically, make informed tax decisions, and plan effectively for your future. Whether you are preparing for retirement or looking to optimize your current financial strategy, this episode offers valuable insights to help you achieve your goals.