#197 - Q&A edition...how often to rebalance, tracking Roth IRA contributions, are RMDs really that bad, paying off mortgages before retirement and MORE!

26/03/2026

Retirement Planning Education, with Andy Panko

0:00

1:10:35

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about:

How often to check your accounts for rebalancing, and how often to check on your bigger picture finances and plan ( 2:32 )
What to do with old positions you no longer want in a brokerage account but they all have large unrealized gains ( 16:03 )
How Medi-Cal benefits interact with a high deductible health plan and an HSA (spoiler alert...I don't know!) ( 22:20 )
Are there any good reasons to leave old/prior employer 401(k) plans where they are ( 25:31 )
Tracking Roth IRA contributions (including money inherited from a deceased spouse's Roth 401(k)) ( 29:50 )
The mechanics of separating the cream from the coffee when rolling pre-tax money in an IRA to a 401(k) to leave behind in the IRA just the after-tax basis, and potential gotchas with that process ( 33:41 )
Are potentially large RMDs really a threat to someone's financial plan, or just a pain ( 42:37 )
Additional thoughts on whether to pay off a mortgage before retirement, particularly if using pre-tax funds (like from a 401(k)) to do it, even if the interest rate on the loan is really low ( 49:45 )
Why Roth money within a 401(k) isn't actually in its own separate account, but is instead just an internal accounting record type of "sub" account ( 53:04 )
Tax-free conversions of mutual fund share classes to ETF share classes of the same fund, where available ( 59:02 )
Thoughts on rental property vs bank CD's for purposes of estate transfer, tax implications and general retirement plan considerations ( 1:03:23 )

To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email [email protected]

Links in this episode:

My article about pros and cons of rolling over old employer plans to an IRA - here

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