Belonging Wealth Management

05/07/2026

Turning 73 comes with surprises…and RMDs are one of them 😅 Learn how Required Minimum Distributions can impact your retirement income 🎥⬇️

03/14/2024

A strong equity market is always good. And although it's especially good leading into retirement, you still need to consider the broader picture as I explain in this U.S. News and World Report column.

If you are thinking of retiring soon, the strong stock market is certainly good news.

11/18/2023

Tax planning may not be fun, but it's important and can save you from paying a lot of unnecessary taxes in the long run. Before the December 31 deadline sneaks up it's time to start thinking about whether or not a Roth conversion makes sense. In this SmartAsset.com article reposted to Nasdaq, I explain to a reader the basic structure for making that decision.

I am 70 and I have $1.4 million in traditional IRAs. Is it best to do $160,000 in Roth conversions for the next 1-3 years to reduce my high RMDs in about 5-10 years? That would put me in the 24% tax bracket and $330 Medicare premium rate. Please give me advice. – Dennis I do […] The post Ask an ...

11/14/2023

End of the year retirement & tax planning reminder for those of you who prefer not to pay penalties to the IRS!

11/01/2023

This article appears in a major news article... and is designed to rile up readers!!

Our issue with the article is not a political debate of Democrat vs Republican, but rather an issue of how this has been framed to the public.

The way the journalist structured what this means for American’s retirement accounts can be misleading. The underlined part makes it sounds like the government is trying to mandate financial advisors recommend Americans put their money into certain types of investments. The journalist buried the lead by tacking on “in the saver’s best interest” at the end of the comment and after they used trigger words to rile up readers.

What the press release actually says, “…the Department of Labor will propose a new rule to close loopholes and require that financial advisers provide retirement advice in the best interest of the saver, rather than chasing the highest payday.”

The intention of this rule is not to tell financial advisors what they need to recommend to clients. What the government wants to do is require financial advisors, or those that put themselves out there as financial advisors, BE TRANSPARENT with their clients….what a novel concept!

08/22/2023

As if anyone needed to be convinced that taxes and tax planning are unnecessarily complex, today's column in Yahoo Finance hammers the point home.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/professional-tax-calculation-roth-conversion-134413664.html #:~:text=(A%20financial%20advisor%20can%20help,to%20do%20a%20Roth%20conversion.)

Which professional do I need for the tax calculation of a Roth conversion? A CFP, financial advisor or tax preparer? I’ve reached out to tax preparers before but they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. My income right now is very low so I would like to take advantage of this […] Th...

08/18/2023

🎉 🎉 🥳

We are excited to announce that Den Murley earned his CFP designation by passing the rigorous CFP exam on his first attempt, completing 4,000 hours of experience, and fulfilling the education and ethics requirements.

Den also holds a Master of Science in Personal Financial Planning, and a graduate certificate in financial therapy from Kansas State.

Congrats Den on the completion of this monumental task!

07/31/2023

If you know, you know.

07/27/2023

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-can-cds-grow-your-money-we-asked-the-experts/

Timely article by Tim Maxwell in CBS MoneyWatch about CDs.

"CDs are good for conservative investors or for when you need to lock in a fixed rate of return and maturity for a specific purchase," says Brandon Renfro, a Texas-based certified financial planner and owner of Belonging Wealth Management.

Here's what experts say about how much CDs can grow your money and when the best time is to invest in them.