The inventor of the 401(k) says he created a ‘monster.’ Could we see the end of the 401(k) as we know it? What about pensions? More and more employers have been quietly replacing pensions with other alternatives. In YMYW podcast episode 36, Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA discuss the future of retirement planning while sharing insight on what you should be doing now for your retirement. Original publish date June 4, 2016 (hour 2). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed. 

00:00 - Intro
3:53 - “You can put $18,000 into a 401(k) [each year] and once you hit 50 you can put $24,000 [each year] and then the employer’s usually have some sort of match”
7:18 - “The good news is that 401(k) plans, especially the larger ones have significantly lowered their fees”
9:38 - “I would much rather pay a bunch of fees and costs to have the 401(k) to get the deduction or potentially the Roth 401(k) to have my money grow tax-free…versus not having the plan at all”
12:53 - “There’s a lot more convoluted legalities to this (self-directed IRA); we’ll just talk high-level pros and cons”
17:40 - “As a CPA for over 40 years, it does amaze me how many people fail to get the message about tax planning until they make a mistake”
22:38 - “If you are divorced, can you collect a benefit based upon your ex-spouse’s earning history?”
33:17 - “We’re giving you a workaround (for making a budget), which is pay yourself first and spend the difference. If you don’t pay yourself first…you’ll find a way to spend it”
33:56 - “You do need to do a little bit of planning to figure out how much you can spend each month, and then have that come out as an automatic withdrawal from your spending account so you don’t spend any more than that”
35:27 - “Taxes don’t stop when your paycheck does”