Nickels Wealth

10/14/2026

A Roth conversion might make sense for your retirement plan, but could it also increase your Medicare premiums?

What many retirees don't realize is that Medicare premiums are based on income from two years earlier. That means a Roth conversion today could lead to an unexpected increase in premiums down the road.

In our latest blog, Spencer breaks down how Roth conversions affect Medicare premiums and why the amount you convert matters just as much as the decision to convert.

Read more:

A few times a year, we get new clients coming into our office a little stunned due to a conversation that they never had with anyone before coming to meet with us. They've just opened a letter from Medicare. Their monthly premium went up by a couple hundred dollars, and they cannot figure out

10/08/2026

Introducing our guest speaker for our Client Appreciation Dinner!

Jeff Struecker!

Twenty-three years in the Army, most of it with the 75th Ranger Regiment. Winner of the Best Ranger Competition in 1996. Inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2017. He earned a Silver Star in Mogadishu at twenty-four, leading a convoy back through the city under fire, the battle told as Black Hawk Down.

He finished his career as a chaplain and spent the years since as a pastor and author.

On November 5, he'll tell his story himself.

10/07/2026

Today is the final clue for our guest speaker at our Client Appreciation Dinner!

You've probably already seen the movie. Tomorrow we get to tell you his name.

10/05/2026

Clue number two for our guest speaker at this year's Client Appreciation Dinner!

10/02/2026

Our guest speaker this year spent twenty-three years in uniform, most of them with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He finished his career as a chaplain.

That's all you get today. We'll introduce him properly on October 8.

Don't forget!

Client Appreciation Dinner · Thursday, November 5

10/02/2026

Today we’d like to highlight not just another of our financial planners but someone that is also the president of Nickels Wealth, Bain Nickels CFP®, CKA®.

He's a dad to four boys, a Mississippi State grad, and a familiar face around the community.

Bain joined Nickels Wealth in 2005, and since then, he's earned both the CFP® and CKA® designations and is among some of the highest recognized advisors at LPL Financial.

Still, when he talks about his work, none of that comes up first.

"I love what I do. I consider it a tremendous privilege to work with our clients as an educator, guide, and financial life coach."

That's the part clients feel. He helps them turn their most important goals into a plan they can follow. He keeps things organized. He keeps things simple. And when life shifts, he's their sounding board.

The credentials tell you what he knows. The relationships tell you who he is.

09/30/2026

Social Security, Medicare, investments, healthcare, insurance. We help you fit the pieces together into one clear retirement plan. That's worth a conversation.

09/28/2026

Founded in 1973, we've helped families across Columbus, MS plan for retirement for over 50 years. When your advisor knows your name, the plan feels a lot less overwhelming.

09/23/2026

If you've spent any time in our office, there's a good chance you've met Lucy Rhett, our Director of Operations.

And if you haven't, it's likely because she's been busy handling the details that never even crossed your mind.

When our advisors put a plan in place, Lucy is the one who turns it into something that actually happens.

She holds clients' hands from start to finish, digs into the research behind each case, and stays on every detail until it's done.

Clients never see most of it. That's the point. They don't worry about the pieces because Lucy already handled them.

She puts it better than we could: "Each client is unique, and everyone's financial puzzle looks a little different. Once our advisors put a plan in place, my job is to help execute the plan."

And she does, every time, with a care for clients that runs deep enough to feel like family.

A plan on paper is just an intention. Lucy is the reason it becomes real.

09/21/2026

A retirement date is not a financial plan. Most people treat it like one.

The date feels like the decision. Circle it on the calendar, tell HR, count down the Fridays. Everything else, the thinking goes, sorts itself out from there.

But a date is a destination. It isn't a roadmap.

Circling a day on the calendar doesn't answer the questions that actually carry you through retirement. Where will your income come from once the paychecks stop? When does each source turn on? How do your savings cover the years in between?

Those are the questions the plan answers. And until they're answered, the date is just a hope with a due date attached.

The real work happens before you ever pick the day. Knowing which accounts you'll draw from and in what order. Understanding when Social Security, a pension, or your savings step in. Building something on purpose rather than assuming it will fall into place.

Do that work first, and the date often takes care of itself. Sometimes it moves earlier because the numbers work sooner than expected. Sometimes it moves later because the plan needs more room to breathe.

Either way, you're choosing the date for a reason instead of hoping the reason shows up after.

The date is where most people start. It's where the plan should finish.