Semmax Financial Group

10/16/2026

Fifty years! We were honored to join the ribbon cutting celebrating Piedmont Opera's 50th year in our community. Half a century of performances, artists, and families passing a love of music down to the next generation.

Legacy like that doesn't happen by accident. It takes people who cared about something enough to plan for it long after they'd be the ones in the seats.

Families are no different. The traditions, values, and wealth that last for generations usually have one thing in common: someone was intentional about how the pieces fit together, from the estate plan to the giving strategy to what the next generation actually receives.

Here's to the next 50, Piedmont Opera!

10/15/2026

New Podcast Is LIVE! You've probably heard versions of all of these... "Taxes ease up once you retire." "My will decides who gets my accounts." "Medicare will cover it if I ever need long-term care." "My advisor, my CPA, and my attorney are already watching this."
Every one of them sounds reasonable. Most of them aren't quite true.
CEO, Matt Landon, CFP® and Larry VanLandingham CFP® spent this month's episode retiring five retirement myths, plus a rapid-fire round of three more, and a straight-talk rundown of what actually has a December 31 deadline.

Listen to "The Retirement Myths We Need to Retire" on The Semmax Way Podcast. Find this episode and more at semmax.com/podcast

10/14/2026

Last week Matt Landon, CFP® and Tanya Rivera from WFMY News 2 talked about IRMAA and how surcharges could sneak up on retirees. Listen to the segment here and catch them Live on Thursdays during the 4pm newscast.

10/13/2026

Last month, CEO Matt Landon, CFP®, sat down with Larry VanLandingham, CFP®, to talk through what changes when giving becomes part of the plan instead of a year-end decision.

A few things worth knowing before December makes the decision for you: appreciated stock is usually a better gift than cash. A donor-advised fund lets you take the deduction now and decide where the money goes later. Bunching several years of giving into one high-income year, like the year a business owner sells a company, can be worth far more than spreading it out.

They also cover the qualified charitable distribution, still available at 70 and a half even as required distribution ages keep moving, and why the same million dollars can leave behind very different amounts depending on whether it goes to your children or to charity.

None of these are decisions your CPA makes alone, or your advisor makes alone. They live in coordination between the two.

Watch "Giving With Intention" on The Semmax Way at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPnNmMIhrAc

10/10/2026

Most retirement planning focuses on one question: how much do you need to save? But once the paycheck stops, a harder question emerges. Which account do you draw from first? The order matters more than most families expect, and a few intentional decisions made before retirement begins can reshape your tax picture for years.

Read about it on this weeks

https://semmax.com/resources/articles/why-retirement-withdrawal-sequence-changes-your-tax-picture-for-years

The order you draw from retirement accounts affects taxes, Medicare premiums, and RMDs. A coordinated plan makes the difference.

10/09/2026

Recently we celebrated with The Arts Based School as they turned on solar power for their building and rolled out an electric school bus. Congratulations to the students, staff, and families who made it happen!

These were goal measured in years, not days and while the upfront cost was the easy part to see, the real value shows up over years of lower costs, in the lessons students learn from watching it work, and in a school that planned for the long run.

That's one of the most important money lessons there is, at any age.

10/08/2026

[Semmax Travels] Marcela's family didn't pick one landscape for their trip through Colombia, they chose the Amazon, the Caribbean coast, and the Andes, three ecosystems, three different rhythms of life, all in one journey.

That kind of trip takes intention, and the freedom to say yes to the whole picture instead of settling for one piece of it. We think that's a pretty good way to think about retirement too.

Visit semmax.com/travel to see where our clients have been and read the full story of Marcela and her family in Colombia on our blog

https://semmax.com/resources/articles/a-family-s-journey-through-colombia-pink-dolphins-the-amazon-and-the-andes

10/07/2026

"What is covered by Medicare?" CEO Matt Landon, CFP® and Tanya Rivera talked about it last week on - Catch Matt every Thursday on WFMY News 2 during the 4pm newscast.

10/07/2026

The leaves change because summer has finished doing its work, the harvest comes in because something was planted with intention months before.

October is National Retirement Security Month, and it's built around that same idea. Not a new plan from scratch, just a chance to check whether the pieces you already have are pointed the same direction.

If you or someone you know is a few years out from retirement and hasn't had that conversation yet, this is a good month to pass it along. Schedule a complimentary visit with a Semmax CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® at semmax.com.

10/06/2026

Your CPA sees your tax return. Your advisor sees your portfolio. Your attorney sees your documents. Each of them is doing their job well. But who's actually looking at how those three things fit together? That’s where a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional comes in.
This October is National Retirement Security Month and it’s a great time to check to make sure all the pieces of your financial ecosystem are working together for your benefit. Schedule a time to talk with a CFP® about your unique situation at semmax.com