Well, this is the end of the line. You have come to the very end of the Financial Procast. After a little over three years and 188 episodes we've decided to call it quits. Turns out the C-suite goons have decided to “go a different direction”. The irony is that we're the goons and…we think it's […] The post 188 We Are Tootally Done appeared first o…

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.” Margaret Thatcher Not much that needs to be added to that quote. We are seeing what happens when the government devises plans that use flawed logic and a lack of mathematical fact. Is it really a big surprise that the health […] The post 187 What Should We Do When …

Newsflash: someone has finally exposed the real problem with student loan defaults. Turns out that half a degree doesn't get you a decent return on investment for money you borrowed. And we all know why Vanguard can provide really low expenses for their mutual funds. You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out […] The post 186 It’s Tough To Ge…

Well, today may be the shortest full-length podcast we've ever recorded. You're welcome for that little gift. Here's what we discussed in episode 185: New research shows that 401k's haven't hurt retirement benefits A well-known market pontificator sounds an alarm The tax code gets “Trumped” (pdf download) As always, we appreciate your comments and …

We're back after taking a week off and wouldn't you know it…Gen Y still doesn't like being forced to talk to insurance agents at their kitchen tables? (sarcasm light on) This is a story that never gets old to us. It seems like financial services industry just discovered that the internet is here to stay. […] The post 184 Hey…Have You Heard About th…

Today we're back to your regular format. A veritable hodge-podge of news from the world of finance. Yes, we could've spent another whole episode discussing the volatility of the markets, but we figured there are plenty of other places you can go to hear all about that. And no one really has any answers when […] The post 183 Reduce Your Retirement I…

Well, we take a week off from recording/producing the financial procast and the market decides it's going to fall apart. I wasn't aware that our podcast was the glue that holds it all together? In light of that, and the fact that today marks the 3rd anniversary of our show, we decided to take a […] The post 182 A Discussion of Risk: Percentages Be …

In episode 181 of the Financial Procast, here's what we discuss: Money Flees U.S. stock funds SEC commissioners push for greater pricing transparency for bonds Variable Annuity surrender charges aren't what some would have you think Rents rise to “crazy” levels An as a reminder, there will not be a new episode of the financial […] The post 181 Cars…

Ever been around someone who tried too hard? It's painfully obvious. The financial services industry is guilty of this kind of behavior. Need proof? Just google the term “society of grownups” and you will need no further evidence that we're telling you the truth. I could link to them here but we make it a […] The post 180 Follow Us on Facebook and …

Don't let the title fool you. We're not actually starting our own sorority. But we do think that it's a shame that the CFP board recently compared itself to one in a recent court case where they were being sued. We thought it was an organization dedicated to upholding a professional standard in the financial planning […] The post 179 Welcome to Chi…

We're back after a two week unplanned hiatus. Sometimes life happens, not much we can do about that. Thankfully, we still remember how to record and produce a podcast. Here's what we're discussing in episode 178: A $15/hr. minimum wage? Obamacare rates set to skyrocket The housing market is irrational As always, if you’d like […] The post 178 Oh Ke…

Are you tired of new ideas? Why is that people (us included) spend so much time trying to come up with new ideas when the old ones aren't bad? Let me clear, lest you think I'm a luddite. I'm not saying that things shouldn't improve over time and that new choices aren't a good thing. […] The post 177 URSA: The Other Retirement Plan appeared first on…

We tried not to talk about the Department of Labor's proposed rule change regarding retirement accounts. I promise. We had a conversation where we specifically decided we weren't going to do it. But then we did. There are times that no matter how much we'd like to talk about something else we can't. This story […] The post 176 I Don’t Think That Wo…

Every now and then something comes along that we just have to spend a bit more time on than usual. Today in the second half of the show, we get into proposed legislation from the Department of Labor. Now, this isn't the first time we've discussed the issue. But we now have congressional testimony to […] The post 175 The Plural of Anecdote is Not Da…

Today we're tackling the topic of getting your financial house in order. That also means that we're discussing the lack of solid financial educational information that is available. And yes, we are talking about pensions…again. We (Brandon and Brantley) are very concerned that people are fed a fair amount of misinformation regarding personal financ…

One of the most common phrases you'll see tossed around on the internet (at least as it relates to the topic of personal finance) is that “cash is king”. In fact, we recorded a podcast on that very topic a couple years back. But today we're not talking about cash per se. No, today we're […] The post 173 It’s All About Cashflow appeared first on The…

Well, back from the beach and with much better wifi than what I had last week. I don't think there are any long moments of silence in this episode. Here's what's on tap for episode 172: Data Shows that Congress Doesn't Care What You Think Jack Bogle Likes Active Investment Management? Dividend Stocks Are Better […] The post 172 Congress Doesn’t Giv…

In this week's “live from the coast of Georgia” episode, we're talking about: Why Elite Colleges Don't Guarantee Success How the Rich Got Rich Is the 401k to Blame? Your financial advisor has vanished Not much else to add this week…somebody's gotta get some sand between their toes. As always, if you have questions please […] The post 171 If We All …

It seems like episode 170 is all about psychology and how people think about things related to money. Well, at least that's what we were shooting for…I think. Of course we'd all like to think that we're 100% logical when it comes to planning our finances but as you'll learn by listening, that's just not […] The post 170 Spend More, Save Less appear…

In episode 169 of the Financial Procast we re-visit the Bondex. For those of you that have no idea what that means, you could go all the way back here and listen to the original episode. Be warned, it was one of the first recordings we made…sound quality is not great. The first half of today's show […] The post 169 Remember the Bondex? appeared fir…

In the 168th episode of the Financial Procast there is a common theme. Being overconfident about money, how much you REALLY have, and what it takes is dangerous. Confidence is generally a good thing. But when it comes to money, being too confident can lead to apathy and apathy leads to carelessness. Being careless with your […] The post 168 “O” is …

Today we're talking about Robo Advisors again. Don't worry, that's not the only thing we're discussing but we do spend quite a bit of time on that topic. What they're doing almost feels dirty. Taking a “process” that the investment industry has been doing on paper for 20 years and putting on the web almost […] The post 167 I Paid .25% and All I Got…

Well, you lucked out again. We got so wrapped up in one of our discussions that we only got to complain about 3 topics today instead of four. In this episode of the Financial Procast we discuss the spending habits of the rich, poor and everyone in between. You may be surprised that the differences are […] The post 166 Is That Latin 102? appeared fi…

To those in our audience who have reached out to us and let us know more of what you’d like for us to discuss on the Finanical Procast, we thank you. And for those of you that have not let us know what you’d like to hear us discuss, please don’t hesitate to do so, […] The post 165 We’ll Watch Your Money appeared first on The Insurance Pro Blog.…

Here is the lineup for today's show: Hate Your Boss? You're Not Alone. (02:49) Investment Firms Advertise Like Fiduciaries (16:50) Financial Services Companies Late to the Social Media Party (35:06) Index Fund Investors More Intelligent? (49:40) As you can probably tell by now, we are more than capable of talking about things that WE are […] The po…

We're back after taking a little break last week but not to worry…we've made up for it with this week's episode. Here's what we're discussing about today: Elite Credit Card Holders Are a Fraud Target (03:06) Foreclosures Stalled by Pesky Laws (14:00) Investment Advisory Fees on the Rise (31:18) The Quiet Company™ Makes a Purchase (46:25) As you can…

You're probably wondering, “what's with the crazy title?” Well, one of us getting married in a few months and is getting quite the education on weddings and I say “miscellaneous” costs that tag along for the ride. But don't fret, if that's of little interest to you, we've got plenty more to discuss Here's the […] The post 162 I do, I do, I do, I do…

Sometimes after we record the Financial Procast I realize that though we've discussed three or four separate topics with no apparent connection, a common thread emerges that ties them all together. Today's episode is one of those moments. What is the obsession with “objective” financial advice? What does that even mean? And…more importantly, just b…

Despite it being a bit of a slow week in the world of financial news, we managed to find a few nuggets that hopefully you'll find interesting. Today we are talking about President Obama's proposed budget for 2016…well not really. But we are discussing some of his proposed changes to how IRA's are taxed–both in […] The post 160 Are You Ducking Crazy…

No today's episode of the Financial Procast is not really sponsored by Apple, but if you listen closely you'll get the joke. All I can say is thank goodness for the amazing battery life of my Macbook Pro Retina. We were able to record this hour long podcast with me only having about 25% of the […] The post 159 This Episode Brought to You By Apple a…

In episode 158 we were truly given the gift of awesome topics to discuss and we even get to reference some commentary from one of our favorite economists/financial commentators, Robert Shiller. Today we're discussing what Dr. Shiller thinks investors can expect in regard to asset returns moving forward, the rise of “roboadvisers” (and their insane …

Well, we're back after I was gone on a little vacation last week. I know that many of regular listeners were shocked that we didn't release an episode last week as it is customary for us to do so even when one of us is away. Alas, life happened and we weren't able to record […] The post 157 What It Takes to Become a 401k Millionaire appeared first …

Well, today's episode takes us back to our normal format where we scoured the interwebs looking for stories that we think would interest our community and that we could pontificate on for more than a minute or two. Oddly enough we ended up with two stories that illustrate what we think is vast governmental overreach […] The post 156 Newsflash: Rich…

Today's episode is all about taxes. Now, we normally talk about taxes as the April 15th deadline approaches, however, with all the buzz concerning the President's latest proposed changes that could ultimately change tax law, we felt obliged to talk about taxes today. So, we don't have a neatly organized show for you today. Instead, […] The post 155…

A new variable universal life insurance lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court back in October of 2014 alleging Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Fraud, Professional Negligence, and Unjust Enrichment. Defendants listed in the lawsuit include Larson Financial Group, Larson Financial Securities, John Hancock Life, and Nationwide Life and Annuity. The…

We had a couple of thin topics to start off today's episode but not to worry…the last two topics carried us and we had plenty to say about those things. It seems talking about 401k's and picking on government officials is always good fodder. Be sure you tune in to the bit on Roth IRA […] The post 153 That Two-Faced Sonnova… appeared first on The In…

Well, here's the first episode of the Financial Procast for 2015. The show has now managed to span three calendar years and we are grateful that you choose to spend some time with us each week. It's been a while since we've done a “Q&A” type show and we would love to do a couple […] The post 152 Grandma’s Gold Bunions appeared first on The Insuranc…

Well, it looks like we've survived another year…both literally and figuratively. This is our last episode of the Financial Procast for 2014 and we would like to sincerely thank all of your who listen regularly, occasionally or even just for a few minutes here and there. No doubt we are humbled that anyone listens to […] The post 151 Lawsky, Lew, & …

Today we're sharing our Christmas cheer with all of our listeners–you should all be excited. Along with our healthy dose of holiday spirit there's also a somewhat harsh reality check coming for all those who love to spend, spend, spend during this time of year. But it's not all about admonishing you not to […] The post 150 Fa-la-la-la-la You’re Bro…

As you've probably already guessed, at least one of things up for discussion today has to do with the renewed vigor of the mortgage lending market. But not to worry, it's not all about poking fun at so-called “responsible borrowing”. No…we have a few other topics of interest as well. Here's a full list […] The post 149 This Is What Responsible Borr…

I guess we should've called this our “Thanksgiving Special” since we've decided to take the week off from producing an episode of the Financial Procast. So, here you go, it's our Thanksgiving Special–filled with joy of course (sarcasm light is blinking). Today's episode may not be filled with all the joy of a Thanksgiving […] The post 148 This Is H…

Every now and then when we're compiling things that we'd like to discuss in an episode of the Financial Procast, we find 3 or 4 topics for discussion that have absolutely no relation at all to one another. If you've never experienced this phenomenon, you're in luck today! Listen closely, comment freely and let us […] The post 147 The World’s Wealth…

Well, you'll find it a big relief to know that my office was clear of dead rodents this week so our sound quality should be back to an acceptable quality. Here's what we are talking about today: Seems Some Millennials Can't Save Enough for Retirement (04:27) Is the 4% Rule Finally Dead? (16:15) LIMRA: […] The post 146 I Went to College And All I Go…

Well, today we're back to our format of discussing a few different topics that we found interesting from the past week in the world of finance. I guess I should also mention that I had some technical difficulties today so the quality of our recording is a bit off of our high standard but hopefully […] The post 145 And the 8th Thing The Middle Class…

In today's episode of the Financial Procast, we take a deep dive into why it is that universal life insurance is such a hated product by so many in our industry. This is a single topic episode as we had to record this episode a bit early due to travel. We'll be back soon with […] The post 144 Talking About Life Insurance on a Sunday appeared first …

Here's what we're talking about today: Accredited investor gets redefined (05:30) Congressman says “Not so fast FINRA” (15:30) Swiss banker arrested for helping Americans hide money (34:39) Auto finance industry the next bubble? and New study says most can't afford a used car (47:17) As you can probably tell by now, we are more than […] The post 14…

To those in our audience who have reached out to us and let us know more of what you'd like for us to discuss on the Finanical Procast, we thank you. And for those of you that have not let us know what you'd like to hear us discuss, please don't hesitate to do so, […] The post 142 How It Should Be Interpretated appeared first on The Insurance Pro B…

Well, it's been a few weeks now since we've switched back to our original show format. For those who are new, that means we're recording a weekly episode that runs about an hour. This was requested by some in our audience and we aim to please. However, we would like to hear from more of […] The post 141 It’s Not You, It’s Me appeared first on The I…

If you've ever been in a position where you were responsible for creating content for a website, blog, newsletter, podcast, radio show or video, then you know how much of a struggle it can be to sometimes to find interesting subject matter to discuss. Particularly when you've been at it for a little over three years […] The post 140 Hey, We Told Yo…

This is our second week of publishing the Financial Procast after going back to our original format of discussing various issues that have come in the world of finance. We sincerely hope that those in our community are enjoying listening to the episodes as much as we enjoy putting them together for you. Now, onto today's show: […] The post 139 Fina…