The Financial Detox® Show

Today’s show starts off with Jason and Alex sharing stories about trucks and the potential benefits of depreciating company vehicles warming into the topic for discussion. Tax Planning.Jason begins the discussion by reminding listeners that now is the right time to start tax planning for 2021 tax year, while you are doing your taxes for 2020. Alex adds that tax planning is one of the least enjoyable planning exercising and unfortunately most individuals are just happy to get it over with and not investigate forward planning. Alex suggests that when you are with your tax advisor completing your 2020 returns ask for a list of action items that you could have done in 2020 that would have reduced your taxable exposure. Tip #1Max out your retirement savings. Maxing out your 401(k) contribution allows you to defer taxable income. In 2021 you can defer 100% of your income up to [...]

Jason and Alex started off the show by welcoming Jim Pupillo, a Senior Wealth Adviser at IDA, who has a ton of industry experience, and specializes in providing his clients with regular Fiduciary advice pertaining to the company retirement and private wealth areas of the business. Jason discussed how the IDA investment committee spends countless hours stress testing and analyzing the asset allocation of the client portfolios to make sure that they are optimized given the current environment. Jim and Jason discussed how the rating systems for investment funds is not always the best aspect of analysis to be looking at when choosing investments.Jim discussed how you cannot just use the star rating of a mutual fund solely and then pick investments for a portfolio. There must be a comprehensive analysis done using numerous different metrics to make sure you know exactly what area of the stock and bond [...]

In this episode, Jason and Alex open the show up to listener questions. Every couple months Jason and Alex collect questions from listeners, clients and firm advisers that are getting asked the most to share on the air. Question #1 - What should I expect from my portfolio if inflation happens?Inflation – Jason shares his thoughts and concerns around printing money and the growing deficit. Alex interjects stating that the government desensitized us with trillion-dollar figures. Regarding your investment, a well-diversified portfolio should contain hedges for inflation built into it. Jason continues with sharing some stories from older advisers from when he first entered the industry and thoughts from the tech bubble. Question #2 – One of the advisers in the firm, proposed a question around Crypto Currency. Is this something that we should be considering within our client’s portfolios? Jason comments, “this is a tricky one” and shares [...]

Jason and Alex reminisced on Joe Biden being inaugurated as the next President of the United States, and then signed 17 executive actions. Jason talked about there being a real problem in this country where we are being fed information and bias from a propaganda media machine. He said our country is turning more into countries like China and Venezuela, where the government only provides us with what they want us to hear. Alex and Jason talked about the importance of remaining informed as a wealth management team to make sure that our portfolios are representative of the changes in the global macroeconomic environment. Jason specifically talked about how IDA has strategic tilts in our portfolios to accomplish this and remain aligned with macroeconomic themes.Jason talked about the hypocrisy and barrage of misinformation from the mainstream media and difference of media opinions regarding the capitol riots and the “peaceful [...]

Jason and Alex recap some of the predictions made by strategists in 2020. If there was ever a year that we were reminded of the difficulty of making stock market predictions, it was 2020. To exemplify the difficulty of making market forecasts, we can look in the rear-view mirror at several examples of 2020 market forecasts and see how they turned out. A well-known financial publication surveyed 10 Wall Street strategists to gather their outlook, below are a few takeaways:The consensus of the strategists was that the S&P 500 would rise 4.1% in 2020, a substantial difference from the 18.4% that the index returned, despite all the headwinds faced. Even the panel’s most bullish member undershot where the S&P 500 would end up, estimating the index would rise to 3500 by year end. The strategists predicted that the 10-Year Treasury would end the year yielding 1.89%, a number more [...]

Today’s show kicks off with Jason and Alex introducing guest Rick Labrum, founding adviser to Intelligence Driven Advisers also Jason’s Dad and mentor. Today’s show discusses Smart Goals for 2021.Jason shares a story of how he and his boys applied a S.M.A.R.T. goal to make the game of golf more enjoyable for young players.Using the acronym S.M.A.R.T. to help define a goal.Specific (simple, sensible, significant).Measurable (meaningful, motivating).Achievable (agreed, attainable).Relevant (reasonable, realistic, and resourced, results-based).Time bound (time-based, time limited, tie/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).After briefly describing the smart goals acronym and how it can be used to structure a goal, Jason and Alex ask Rick to share his thoughts. Rick comments that, it is very structured and that you would probably be successful if you used it, but in addition, it needs to be “Exciting and Fun” and not supposed to look like work. Rick continues that with visualizing the achievement of [...]

Jason and Alex kick off the show sharing stories of family and staying safe around the holidays attempting to hold on to the traditions that we all have, while recognizing the current COVID protocols. With this intro, the show segues into the “Season of Giving” a discussion around charitable giving and the benefits associated to reduce your taxable liabilities. Alex references some charitably inclined billionaires and the strategies that they have implemented to give back to society. Jason interjects that we are the most charitable country on the face of the earth and that even smaller charitable donations can and will add up. With clients, IDA has been creating family foundations that require (per the client’s wishes) a 5% donation every year to a specified non-profit charitable organization. An awesome way for them to save a little bit on tax, but truly a way to be focused on giving [...]

Jason and Alex talked about our proprietary 401(k) solution called Future Ready 401(k), which is for an any person participating in a 401(k) plan. This 401(k) retirement solution would bring benefits to the participants/employees, human resources department managers, corporate owners, controllers, directors of finance, etc. They invite listeners to send their questions to jason@financialdetox.com or call 877-707-8889.Alex asked Jason what prompted him to want to create a better 401(k) experience for individuals. They explained that the Future Ready 401(k) experience is one in which all aspects of the 401(k) are bundled into one solution, so it is structed as transparent as possible and designed to make life easier for all parties involved in the 401(k) plan and corresponding processes. Jason also explained that he has been in business for about 22 years and has helped participants with all aspects of their 401(k) plans. This includes the investment selection, retirement [...]

Jason and Alex started by talking about how this year has brought their family’s closer together with one another. There have been a lot of ups and downs this year and it has been filled with tremendous hardship for a lot of people, and much prosperity for others. Jason talked about how negativity and people having negative attitudes is at an all time high, and how it is almost trendy to talk about the doom and gloom. They invite listeners to send their questions to jason@financialdetox.com or call 877-707-8889. Jason explained that our IDA team serves a vast range of clients ranging from very high net worth clients to more mass affluent households, and we are always ready to serve new individuals with their financial goals and financial challenges. They made the joke that we work best with clients ages 1 to 100, but it is very true because [...]

This week’s show starts off with Jason and Alex sharing what they are thankful for and what IDA will be doing as a give back to the community. “Wreaths Across America” a benefit that honors past veterans, by placing holiday wreaths onto their grave sites. The employees of Intelligence Driven Advisers and their families will be placing wreaths on over 400 veteran grave sites at the Fallbrook Masonic Cemetery in Fallbrook Ca. This patriotic gesture leads the conversation into respect for our country and the sacrifices that were made for the better of mankind and the ability to practice freedom of speech. After the introduction, Jason and Alex segue into discussing what it means for a financial firm to deliver value by introducing a Delivering Value Series. This week’s show focuses on rebalancing as a value add. Jason challenges listeners to ask their current advisers how they approach rebalancing [...]