Journey Asset Management

03/30/2026

Let’s talk about inherited Traditional IRAs — because this mistake is costing service members real money.

When someone passes away, their Traditional IRA can transfer to a beneficiary. Under today’s rules, most beneficiaries must empty the account within 10 years. There are different ways to do that, but one thing never changes:

📌 Every dollar you withdraw is taxed as ordinary income.

Two weeks ago, a junior Sailor came to me with an inherited IRA he received two years ago. For simplicity, let’s say it was worth $100,000 at inheritance.

Here’s the issue:

He’s a junior Sailor, a nuclear pipeline student — meaning his effective tax rate is often around 6%, sometimes even lower. Those are prime years to take controlled withdrawals.

But his advisor — from a very large, very well‑known firm — had him take nothing for two years. The account just grew. No tax planning. No bracket‑fill strategy. No understanding of military pay, bonuses, or reenlistment timing.

Now he has to unwind this under worse conditions:
• Higher pay
• Bonuses
• STAR reenlistment
• Fewer low‑tax years left

If he had worked with someone who understands military pay structures, we would have:

👉 Maximized withdrawals during his lowest‑income years
👉 Skipped the STAR reenlistment year
👉 Emptied the account strategically over the first 5 years

Total taxes paid: ~$15,000

If he followed the “do nothing until year 10” approach?

Taxes owed at the end: ~$52,000

Same Sailor. Same inheritance.
The difference? A 30‑minute conversation with someone who actually understands your military pay.

That’s a $37,000 mistake avoided simply by getting the right advice.

01/08/2026

This isn't rare. A recent Vanguard study revealed something surprising — and expensive.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are making costly mistakes simply because they’re navigating retirement rules without guidance.

Vanguard found that 6.7% of IRA investors who were required to take an RMD didn’t take one at all. Scaled nationally, that’s roughly 585,000 people missing a mandatory withdrawal each year.

And the consequences are steep:

• IRS penalty: Up to 25% of the amount not withdrawn
• Estimated total penalties: Up to $1.7 billion annually
• Repeat errors: 55% of people who miss an RMD once miss again the next year

This isn’t about RMDs alone — it’s a reminder of how easy it is to make costly mistakes when managing retirement accounts without support. The rules change often, and the penalties for getting them wrong can be significant.

If you want clarity, structure, and confidence in your retirement plan, I’m here to help you avoid the pitfalls that catch so many people off guard.



https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/articles/how-costly-are-missed-rmds.html

01/07/2026

Now that we’re in the New Year, it’s a great time to review some of the changes that may affect your retirement planning—starting with Roth accounts.

• Roth IRA contribution limit:
The new annual maximum is $7,500, which breaks down to $625 per month for those aiming to maximize tax‑free withdrawals later on.

• TSP Roth conversions:
The TSP now allows rollovers from Traditional to Roth. This is a powerful tool, but it comes with major tax considerations.
When you convert, taxes are NOT taken from the TSP itself—you must pay them separately. Before initiating any rollover, make sure you fully understand the tax impact or sit down with a financial professional (preferably me!) to review your situation and avoid surprises.

• Catch‑up contributions for those 50+:
The rules changed significantly this year, and they’re more complex than most people expect. Depending on your income, you may be required to make catch‑up contributions as Roth instead of Traditional—and the income calculation for this rule is different from the one used for regular contributions.
If you’re in this group, I highly recommend working with a financial planner to make sure you’re following the rules and optimizing your tax strategy.

09/07/2025

08/13/2025

https://gojourney.biz/

07/29/2025

We’ll pay a $200 mechanic bill without hesitation—but delay meeting a financial advisor when hundreds of thousands are at stake. The logic? It’s not about money. It’s about perceived urgency. The car breaks down—we act. Our financial future drifts—we scroll.

You don’t need permission to take control. The question isn’t “should I pay for advice?”—it’s “can I afford to ignore it?”

07/16/2025

I recently met with a person, who had just come into a pretty good amount of money, for simplicity let's say it was 100,000 dollars. One of his family members recommended a financial advisor they had used for years. He is from one of the "big name" advising companies, and this was the result:

50k was placed into a company branded mutual fund for growth (5.5% Sales Charge and .67% Expense Ratio)
50k was placed into a company branded money market mutual fund (5.5% Sales Charge and .61% expense ratio)
On top of this every transaction resulted in a 2% trade commission.
The plan was to make monthly transfers from the money market fund to the growth fund for dollar cost averaging during a volatile time (not a terrible strategy).
The gigantic problem with this was:
The person paid roughly 13,000 dollars in sales charges and trade commissions in the first week.
Per the plan the 50k was going to be moved over the course of 2 years, meaning 2083 dollars a month, each one costing 2% commission and then the 5.5% sales charge costing roughly 156 dollars a month in fees.
The expense ratios average is 0.64, thus the approximate expense ratio cost to the person would have been 670 dollars for the year.
Total cost of using the big-name advisor for the first year?
$15,542

My normal portfolio mix has an effective expense ratio of 0.157% costing 157 dollars per year.
My fee would be 1% AUM (Assets under Management) costing 1,000 dollars
Total cost of using Journey Asset Management?
$1,157

In addition, this person said it would often take weeks for his advisor to respond to a text, call or email.
I'll normally respond immediately, but in any case, within 48 hours.

All estimates are simplified assuming 100,000 dollars in the same account and no growth throughout the year.

07/10/2025

Myth busting time. I have had 3 people in the last month, mention to me that they are worried about a raise bumping them into the next tax bracket and thinking they will get less take home pay because of it. This is not the way our tax code works. Let's look closely at what happens as we cross from the 12% to 22% tax bracket. Let's assume we make 120k dollars a year in our household. The first thing that happens is subtracting deductions. For ease we are going to assume a married couple taking the standard deduction of 30k and no credits. This leaves 90k for taxable income.

Income from 0-23850 is taxed at 10% for 2,385 dollars
Income from 23851 - 96950 is taxed at 12% for 7,938 dollars
This gives you a total tax due of 10,323 dollars or 8.6% effective tax rate. (Not including State, local, sales or payroll tax)

When we get a raise to 130k, now some of our income is in the 22% bracket, but not the entire income. So, taking away the 30k, from 130k gives us 100k taxable income.

Income from 0-23850 is taxed at 10% for 2,385 dollars
Income from 23851 - 96950 is taxed at 12% for 8772 dollars
Income from 96951 - 206700 is taxed at 22% for 671 dollars
This gives you a total tax due of 11828 dollars or 9.1% effective tax rate.
So, making 10k more a year, you pay 1505 dollars more in taxes (under these assumptions).

There are rare cases where raising your income may push you beyond an income limit for a certain deduction or credit, but that is going to apply rarely, especially under 150k a year in income.