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  • Retirement Rescue: The Money Mistakes of Every Decade

    Retirement Rescue: The Money Mistakes of Every Decade
    2026/07/24
    Whatever you've done, there's a very good chance you can recover. That's the message of this week's show — and then Ben and Dan get specific, decade by decade, about the mistakes that quietly sink retirements and the moves that rescue them.In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon walk through the money mistakes of every stage of life. The 20s and 30s: waiting to invest, lifestyle inflation, and treating insurance as a nuisance instead of what it really is — protection of your ability to retire. The 40s — the squeeze years: turning off the 401(k) match to pay the bills (walking away from free money), getting too comfortable with debt, and skipping the tax planning that builds tax-free assets for later. The 50s — the catch-up years: catch-up contributions, the HSA "triple threat," the backdoor Roth, and the fear-driven mistake of going too conservative too soon. And in retirement itself: the light-switch move to cash, target-date funds past their date, scattered old 401(k)s, chasing a "number" instead of an income, and the biggest one of all — no plan for a health change.What you'll learn:
    • Why your 20s and 30s are the most powerful investing decade you'll ever get — and what lifestyle inflation really costs
    • Insurance reframed: insuring well-being, not events — and why long-term care planning protects the healthy spouse
    • The 401(k) match rule for the squeeze years: never walk away from free money
    • When to shift from investment planning to retirement planning — and why the goal is an income number, not a total number
    • The catch-up toolkit for your 50s: 401(k) and IRA catch-ups, the HSA triple threat, and the backdoor Roth
    • Why "too conservative too soon" quietly loses money backwards — and how segmentation puts risk and security in one strategy
    • The bucket strategy in action: a real case of a 60%-bond portfolio, a 4.5% withdrawal rate, and a first-home gift — rescued
    • Foundational expenses: the income planning step most people skip before retiring
    • The health-change plan: estate documents, powers of attorney, and why waiting can mean it's too late to sign
    Plus Money In The News:
    • Alphabet set for a blockbuster quarter as AI bets collide with spending fears — why this AI buildout isn't the dot-com era
    • Phased tariffs on generic drugs: 90% of U.S. prescriptions are generics, and most aren't made here
    • Fidelity's new number: retirees may need nearly $186,000 for healthcare — up 7.5% in a year
    Want the Retirement Rescue white paper? Email us at info@yourmoneyontap.com and we'll send it over.Read the companion blog: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: https://app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Browse the full Money On Tap library: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    • Phone: 855-226-8551
    • Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    • Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    • Web: brayshawfinancial.com
    Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc. Osaic Wealth, Inc. and Brayshaw Financial Group do not provide tax or legal advice. Figures cited are as of the air date, drawn from sources believed reliable, and subject to change. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
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    56 分
  • Beyond the Index, Winners, Losers, & What's Next

    Beyond the Index, Winners, Losers, & What's Next
    2026/07/18
    The S&P 500 is up about 10.2% this year. That average is hiding one of the most lopsided markets in a decade: energy up 28%, communication services negative, and the Magnificent Seven — the stocks that carried the market for three years — collectively underwater.In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon go beyond the index, sector by sector. They walk the 2026 scoreboard — energy +28.1%, technology +26.8%, industrials +16%, with a 30-point gap between the top and bottom sectors — and unpack the year's most important story: the broadening of the market, with 46.3% of S&P companies now beating the index itself, up from 30.5% last year. Then the mechanics most investors never see: why seven stocks absorb a third of every dollar in a standard S&P fund, why the SPY and QQQ share 8–9 of their top 10 holdings, and why your "diversified" ETFs may be the same bundle of stocks in different wrappers. They close with the Fed's looming rate decision — hike odds jumped from 26% to 73% in one month — and the five durable themes they're watching for the second half.What you'll learn:
    • The 2026 sector scoreboard: all 11 sectors ranked, from energy's +28.1% to communication services' −3.1%
    • The broadening of the index: why 46.3% of S&P companies are beating the index — a decade-plus first
    • Why the Mag Seven flipped from engine to anchor (Microsoft down 20%+), and what the index looks like without them
    • The ETF overlap trap: cap weighting, 35–55% in the top 10, and wrappers around the same stocks
    • What a Fed rate hike would do to sector leadership — winners and losers under both scenarios
    • Buffett's warning: "a church with a casino attached," and why down doesn't mean cheap
    • The dials for outperforming: sector weighting, security selection, valuation discipline, income, cash, and tax management
    • Taking gains on purpose: the sequence-of-returns lesson in 2026's −4.3% Q1 and +15.2% Q2
    • Five second-half themes: electrification, defense, nuclear renaissance, the aging population, and the infrastructure rebuild
    Plus Money In The News:
    • 73% odds of a Fed rate hike by September — up from 26% just a month earlier — and the two culprits behind it
    • Warren Buffett: it's tough to find value "when everybody is preferring gambling"
    • Blockbuster stock sales — SpaceX's record $75B IPO, Alphabet's $85B raise, SK Hynix ADRs — and whether $500B of new equity can overwhelm the bull market
    Read the companion blog: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: https://app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Browse the full Money On Tap library: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    • Phone: 855-226-8551
    • Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    • Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    • Web: brayshawfinancial.com
    Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc. Index and sector performance figures are as of the air date and subject to change. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
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    56 分
  • Math, Myths & The Reality of Retirement: Why Income Beats the Magic Number

    Math, Myths & The Reality of Retirement: Why Income Beats the Magic Number
    2026/07/09
    A new study says the average retired couple needs $1.16 million to retire comfortably. Scary headline — until you do the math. Because retirement was never about reaching a number. It's about the paycheck that number can produce.In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon take the "magic number" apart piece by piece. They trace where $1.16 million actually comes from — $84,000 in average spending, $37,700 in Social Security, and a 4% withdrawal covering the gap — then show what the headline can't see: sequence of returns risk, the tax code, health events, and the market's habit of dropping 25–30% when you can least afford it. The centerpiece is a tale of three couples: Couple A with $1.8 million and no guaranteed income beyond Social Security, Couple B with $950,000 and a teacher's pension, and Couple C with $900,000 who built their own pension with an annuity — and ended up more secure than the couple with twice the money.What you'll learn:
    • Where the $1.16 million figure really comes from — and why the study converts it to income immediately
    • Why the race-to-a-number mindset is programmed into us, and why it fails in retirement
    • The tax reality: 12% vs. 22% brackets, Social Security taxation, RMDs at 73, Medicare's hidden 3–5% "tax," and climbing capital gains rates
    • The bucket strategy: cash for years 0–3, buffered strategies and dividends for 3–7, growth for 7+
    • Why 1% of inefficiency on a 4% drawdown is really 25% of your income
    • Couple A vs. B vs. C: how guaranteed income beats a bigger portfolio
    • The timing trap: why buying the annuity after the crash locks in the loss
    • Rewriting the 4% rule with 5–7% joint lifetime annuity payouts
    Plus Money In The News:
    • SpaceX goes public: Wall Street's sky-high price targets, the trillion-dollar valuation, and why investors stay cautious
    • Trump floats an Australian-style retirement system with 12% employer contributions
    • The IRA saver's match arriving in 2027: who qualifies, and why the income limits are so tight
    Read the companion blog: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: https://app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Browse the full Money On Tap library: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    • Phone: 855-226-8551
    • Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    • Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    • Web: brayshawfinancial.com
    Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc. Annuity guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
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    56 分
  • The Hidden Companies Powering the AI Revolution: The Picks and Shovels of the Build-Out

    The Hidden Companies Powering the AI Revolution: The Picks and Shovels of the Build-Out
    2026/07/04
    Only 20–30% of the AI data centers planned through 2030 are built today. The other 70–80% — the cement, the cooling, the chips, the memory, the power — are still coming. And the companies collecting the profits from that build-out are mostly names the mainstream isn't talking about.In this week's Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon go beyond the Mag Seven and into the hidden companies powering the AI revolution. They trace how the AI trade rotated from the companies spending the money to the companies receiving it — the second-wave winners like Micron, SanDisk, Vertiv, Marvell, and Broadcom — and why Taiwan Semiconductor may be the king of the whole story. Then they go layer by layer through what's still ahead: electrical infrastructure, utilities and nuclear power, engineering, construction materials, and data center REITs.What you'll learn:
    • Why only 20–30% of planned AI data centers exist — and what that means for the next decade of demand
    • The rotation out of the Mag Seven: from speculation and hope to follow-the-money
    • The AI stack, layer by layer: chips, memory (Micron), storage (SanDisk), cooling (Vertiv), networking (Marvell, Broadcom)
    • Why Taiwan Semiconductor is the company nearly every AI player depends on
    • The risks worth respecting: valuation, capex pullbacks, competition, interest rates, and tariffs
    • The layers still to come: electrical, power and grid, engineering, materials, machinery, and data center REITs
    • Why high conviction — knowing why you own what you own — beats chasing every headline
    Plus Money In The News:
    • Trump Accounts for kids launch July 4: $1,000 at birth, up to $5,000 a year — and the math that could reach seven figures by retirement
    • Which financial stocks actually benefit when interest rates stay high
    • Trump's rare earth agenda hits a milestone as the U.S. Army moves to break China's grip on defense metals
    Read the companion blog: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: https://app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Browse the full Money On Tap library: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    • Phone: 855-226-8551
    • Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    • Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    • Web: brayshawfinancial.com
    Securities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc.

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分
  • The Great Wealth Transfer: Will Your Family Be Ready? $124 Trillion Is About to Change Hands

    The Great Wealth Transfer: Will Your Family Be Ready? $124 Trillion Is About to Change Hands
    2026/06/25
    By 2048, an estimated $124 trillion will change hands — the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Roughly $105 trillion to heirs, $18 trillion to charity. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: about 70% of family wealth disappears by the second generation, and 90% is gone by the third.In this week’s Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon dig into what the great wealth transfer really means — not for the economy, but for your family. They unpack why wealth preservation is far more behavioral than investment-driven, what the Vanderbilts got wrong and the Rockefellers got right, and the Warren Buffett principle every parent and grandparent should know. Most importantly, they walk through the four conversations every family needs to have before the money moves — and the simple first step you can take this week.What you’ll learn:
    • Why $124 trillion in motion could be a generational blessing — or a great wealth disaster
    • The statistic that should stop every family cold: 70% gone by generation two, 90% by generation three
    • Why wealth preservation is behavioral, not investment-driven
    • The tale of two fortunes: Vanderbilt vs. Rockefeller
    • The four conversations every family must have before the transfer
    • A practical first step you can take this week — and the BFG white paper that helps you run your own family meeting
    Plus Money In The News:
    • General Motors and Lockheed Martin announce a new multi-billion-dollar defense manufacturing partnership
    • Jeff Bezos proposes eliminating federal income taxes for the bottom half of U.S. earners — and what it would actually mean
    • “The job interview is broken”: how AI is reshaping hiring on both sides of the table
    Read the companion blog: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/blog Schedule a free consultation: https://app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta Browse the full Money On Tap library: https://www.brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us - Phone: 855-226-8551 - Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com - Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110 - Web: brayshawfinancial.comSecurities and advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. All other services offered through Brayshaw Financial Group, LLC are independent of Osaic Wealth, Inc.

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分
  • Retirement Redzone, The Last Mile

    Retirement Redzone, The Last Mile
    2026/06/15
    Ten straight up weeks, then a sharp pullback — and if you’re two to five years on either side of retirement, the fear is real. This is the Retirement Red Zone: the last mile into and out of your retirement date, and the most fragile window in your entire financial life.This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon turn last week’s market-history conversation into a practical playbook for anyone near retirement: how to avoid the paralysis that wrecked so many retirements in 2008–2009, and what to actually do right now.What you’ll learn:
    • Why a 35-year-old and a 65-year-old should do the opposite thing in a pullback
    • The accumulation-to-distribution switch most people don’t know exists
    • What history says: after 40 sharp selloffs since 1980, markets were higher 75% of the time a year later
    • Sequence-of-returns risk — why the first five years decide everything
    • Building a 1–3 year retirement runway with ~4% cash and T-bills
    • Rebalancing a 60/40 that drifted to 75/25
    • Diversifying away from a top-10 that’s now 40% of the S&P (8 of them tech)
    • Buffered ETFs — a 20% buffer with a 12–15% cap, explained
    • Foundational income, annuities, and the tax-aware withdrawal piece most firms skip
    Plus Money In The News:
    • Consumer prices rose 4.2% annually in May — the highest in three years (CNBC, Jeff Cox)
    • Elon Musk poised to become the first trillionaire — and just how much a trillion dollars really is
    • A top JP Morgan strategist’s four ways to prep your portfolio for “considerable danger” (David Kelly)
    Mentioned on air: Our short sequence-of-returns risk video — watch it at brayshawfinancial.com.Read the companion blog: brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Full Money On Tap episode library: brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    Phone: 855-226-8551
    Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    Web: brayshawfinancial.com

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分
  • Risk, Reward, & Record Highs

    Risk, Reward, & Record Highs
    2026/06/11
    Nearly every major index is at a record high — and everyone’s asking the same question: is this the beginning of something great, or the end of something that’s gone too far?This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon take that question apart with 75 years of market history, a few statistics that genuinely surprised them, and a clear look at what a record high means for you — whether you’re decades from retirement or already drawing income.What you’ll learn:
    • The Fidelity data showing investing at an all-time high beats investing on a random day
    • Why a record high is usually a signal of a healthy economy, not a top
    • A walk through 1982, 1987, 1995–1999, 2000, 2009, and 2020
    • Why today’s AI market looks more like 1995 than the 2000 dot-com bubble
    • Why timing the market is a loser’s game — and why taking profits isn’t fear
    • Sequence-of-returns risk — why the first years of retirement decide everything
    • Buffered ETFs — staying in the market with downside guardrails
    • Annuities with lifetime income and long-term-care riders
    Plus Money In The News:
    • American financial literacy hits a 10-year low — U.S. adults answered just 47% of the TIAA Institute’s 2026 questions correctly (Yahoo Finance, Kerry Hannon)
    • America’s data-center build-out falls behind schedule — Google’s $80B equity raise and what it signals about AI’s real cost (WSJ, Katherine Blunt)
    • Exxon chief warns oil could spike to $160–$170 a barrel as strategic reserves run thin (Fox Business, Robert McGreevy)
    Mentioned on air: Our short sequence-of-returns risk video — watch it at brayshawfinancial.com.Read the companion blog: brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Full Money On Tap episode library: brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    Phone: 855-226-8551
    Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    Web: brayshawfinancial.com

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分
  • Retirement Anxiety: Why So Many Americans Feel Unprepared

    Retirement Anxiety: Why So Many Americans Feel Unprepared
    2026/05/29
    61% of Americans now fear running out of money in retirement more than they fear death itself. Half of all U.S. households approaching retirement are at risk of falling short of their current standard of living.This week on Money On Tap, Ben Brayshaw and Dan Michelon sit with the topic that shows up in the conference room more than any other these days: retirement anxiety — and why so many Americans feel unprepared.What you'll learn:
    • The five fears inside retirement anxiety — and which one most plans don't address
    • Why retirement is structurally more anxious today than a generation ago
    • The Honeymoon, the Shock, and the Reframe — the three phases of every retirement
    • Why men, executives, military, and first responders are hit hardest by the identity loss
    • The new 100% income rule (the old 60–70% rule of thumb is dead)
    • The six-part income plan that actually reduces anxiety
    • Sequence-of-returns risk — and why the first five years of retirement determine everything
    • Social Security in 2026: 77% benefit, $1.5T bipartisan proposal, what it means for you
    • Why phased / consulting retirement is the underrated soft landing
    • The emotional plan nobody writes down — hobbies, friendships, purpose, marriage
    Plus Money In The News:
    • Can the stock market save Social Security? A $1.5T bipartisan proposal from Cassidy and Kaine
    • Ford stock surges on a $2B (becoming $10B) pivot to stationary energy storage with CATL
    • Student loan changes hit July 1 — payments rising $300–$350/month under IBR and RAP plans
    Free resource: Email us with "Retirement Anxiety white paper" in the subject and we'll send the companion document.Read the companion blog: brayshawfinancial.com/blog
    Schedule a free consultation: app.greminders.com/t/9f3ce72e/initialconsulta
    Full Money On Tap episode library: brayshawfinancial.com/money-on-tapContact Us
    Phone: 855-226-8551
    Email: info@yourmoneyontap.com
    Office: 116 South River Road, Bedford, NH 03110
    Web: brayshawfinancial.com

    • Is it too late to fix my retirement at 50?
      No — the 50s are the catch-up years by design. Catch-up provisions let you contribute above the standard limits to 401(k)s and IRAs, the HSA offers triple tax advantages for future healthcare costs, and a backdoor Roth can build a tax-free bucket even if your income is too high for direct contributions. Pair those with a segmented "bucket" strategy — instead of retreating to CDs and cash — and most late starts can still be rescued. The first step is knowing your income need, not chasing a number.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    56 分