Épisodes

  • Lessons on Managing Life-Changing Money from Lotto Winners and Successful Retirees
    Oct 8 2025

    In 1988, William Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery.

    A year later, he was $1 million in debt.

    First, he splurged: houses, cars, a plane. Then a former girlfriend sued him for a third of his winnings. His brother was arrested and convicted for hiring a hitman to kill Post and his then-wife in hopes that he'd inherit a share. And after sinking money into a failing family business, Post spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector.

    In the end, Post said he was happier living quietly on $450 a month and food stamps than he was when he was rich.

    Post's story is an extreme example of the bad decisions and bad luck that leave so many lotto winners wishing they'd never won at all. But while you're more likely to be struck by lightning than hit the winning numbers, an inheritance, a promotion, a legal settlement, selling a business, and reaching retirement can all create significant windfall scenarios as well.

    On today's show, we offer some tips on how to manage life-changing money, including tax planning, dealing with friends and family, and the kind of team that can help you protect your assets.

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    35 min
  • Special Guest Carissa Keen on How the Keen Wealth Foundation Is Making an Impact and Sharing Guidelines to Help You Evaluate Your Own Charitable Giving Strategy
    Sep 24 2025

    Charitable giving is a cornerstone of many comprehensive retirement plans.

    It's also a cornerstone of our mission at Keen Wealth Advisors.

    Our whole team takes great pride in serving as active members of our community, whether we're making monetary grants or lending a hand to projects around the greater Kansas City area. And through the efforts of the Keen Wealth Foundation, we're able to identify causes where we can have a high impact and share what we've learned about effective giving with friends and clients of the firm.

    On today's show, I'm honored to welcome the director of the Keen Wealth Foundation, my wife Carissa Keen, to discuss our philanthropic mission. Carissa also shares some best practices and a checklist that can help you feel more confident as you evaluate and consider which charitable causes and organizations you may want to support.

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    42 min
  • One Retirement Question, Two Different Answers: Who Should We Trust?
    Sep 10 2025

    Married couple "Mark" (62) and "Lisa" (60) want to retire together in the next year. They shared their financial plan and their goals with two financial advisors.

    One advisor said they could retire.

    The other said that they should keep working.

    So ... Who's right?

    On today's show, we try to split the tie and help Mark and Lisa set the best course for a successful retirement.

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    44 min
  • Should Private Equity Investments Be Part of Your Retirement Plan?
    Aug 27 2025

    If you're only judging based on what's happening in the world and the financial markets, there's never a "perfect" time to retire. But 2025 is throwing a bunch of extra variables at seniors that are adding more complexity to an already complicated decision. Businesses are changing. The rules around investing are changing. And, most importantly, your life is changing. Your financial plan has to be flexible enough to keep pace while also maintaining focus on the best path towards your personal long-term retirement goals.

    On today's show, we discuss two listener questions that touch on alternative investments and how to think about portfolio management at various stages of your life.

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    39 min
  • A Keen Wealth Case Study: Can We Retire Comfortably at 65?
    Aug 13 2025

    Last week, I discussed how Keen Wealth's comprehensive planning process might assess a multi-million-dollar nest egg. I think these hypotheticals, including some back-of-the-napkin math, are useful in illustrating how retirement planning can work, and also the limits of focusing exclusively on your numbers.

    However, in the Keen Wealth offices, we don't work with hypotheticals. We work with real people, their real savings, their hopes, dreams, worries, and goals for the future.
    Every day, we help hardworking folks navigate complex financial issues that touch every part of their lives. We're honored that our clients have entrusted us with the responsibility of managing assets they've spent decades earning, and we want them to feel confident about their path to retirement.

    On today's show, we explore the Keen Wealth Advantage in action as we help a couple answer one of life's most important questions: Can we retire?

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    51 min
  • Don’t Engage: Protecting Your Info and Your Money from the Latest Scams
    Jul 30 2025

    According to a report from the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12.5 billion to scams in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023.

    That's why episodes like this one are among my least favorite to record and also among the most important.

    We’ve all heard about so many folks losing large sums of money because they answered the wrong phone call or clicked on the wrong email link. The greed, cruelty, and, yes, ingenuity of today's fraudsters is only growing along with the technology available to them. Keeping our audience updated on the latest scams is an important part of Keen Wealth's educational mission.

    On today's show, we discuss warning signs that you may be dealing with a scammer, as well as best practices for safeguarding your personal information and your nest egg.

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    41 min
  • What Seniors Need to Know About The One Big Beautiful Bill and Their Retirement Plans
    Jul 16 2025

    Well ... we were wrong.

    During our previous discussion about The One Big Beautiful Bill, we predicted that the final law would probably pass with a different name.

    But, instead of the acronyms we're used to seeing lately, like the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement), President Trump and Congress stuck with the original title. For the most part, the final bill also maintains the big picture tax policy objectives that President Trump has been discussing since the start of his second term.

    On today's show, we focus on the portions of the One Big Beautiful Bill that could have the biggest impact on retirement planning.

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    42 min
  • What to Know and What to Ask When You’re Searching for a Financial Advisor
    Jul 2 2025

    I believe that The Keen Wealth Advantage helps folks feel more confident about comprehensive financial planning and their road to retirement. I also believe wholeheartedly in the consumer being as educated as possible on their various options before entrusting their planning and investing to any financial advisor. This is one of the key reasons we are now in our 10th year of producing this podcast and blog, answering listener questions and giving listeners a candid “look behind the curtain” on all things personal financial planning.

    When you're meeting with professionals who could be managing your life savings for the rest of your life, there has to be more than just a personality fit. While personality is important, you also need to know what questions to ask and what warning signs to look for. Do they have a disciplined process and the depth and breadth of experience and resources to undertake this most serious responsibility? Are you able to confidently discern what your overall client experience will look like and know that they take the appropriate steps to ensure your confidential information is protected and that rules and regulations are being complied with?

    On today's show, we answer two discerning listener questions that will help you have more productive meetings with potential advisors.

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    44 min