Whitten Retirement Solutions

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Whitten Retirement Solutions

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09/02/2026

👉 Roughly 56 percent of IPOs bought at the offer price lost money after 3 years.

That's not the headline you see on day one.

You see the first-day pop. The company goes public, and its stock has averaged a 19 percent gain since 1980. Feels like a moment you should catch.

Here's what actually happens:

1️⃣ Institutional investors get the offering price before trading opens.

2️⃣ You buy at market open, after the move.

Then the real story starts.

🔎 This gap is based on research led by Professor Jay R. Ritter, who authored a 2026 report on IPO performance for the University of Florida. His analysis of 9,300 U.S. IPOs is one of the most comprehensive databases available.

Chasing IPOs can provide a thrill, but there are pros and cons.

A sound portfolio should reflect an investor's goals, risk, and time horizon. The risks of an IPO are not for everyone. 🎯

📋 Past performance does not guarantee future results. The return and principal value of IPOs and other stocks will fluctuate as market conditions change. And shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

08/27/2026

Two retirees can earn the same average return and have very different outcomes.

Why?

Because in retirement, timing matters.

An early market downturn in retirement can be more damaging than the same downturn later.

That is the sequence-of-returns risk.

The risk is not simply “the market went down.” It’s “the market went down while income still had to come out.”

A strong retirement strategy should look beyond average returns and address:

🔹 Where income will come from
🔹 How much cash or short-term reserves make sense
🔹 Which accounts to draw from first
🔹 When to rebalance
🔹 How RMDs and Social Security fit into the withdrawal strategy

Sequence-of-returns risk does not make many headlines.

But for anyone entering retirement, it can be one of the most important ideas to understand.

The goal is not to predict the next downturn. It’s about being prepared.

08/26/2026

🎒📚 Back to school & back to the books! ✏️

Our favorite littles are headed back to school❤️ We’re wishing all of our firm families’ kids a wonderful school year filled with learning, laughter, and plenty of fun!

Here’s to a year of growing, learning, and making memories. Investing in our kids is always a smart move. 📈🍎

Happy First Week of School! 🚌📚❤️

08/25/2026

There is usually no single moment when the roles begin to shift with aging parents.

A confusing medical bill.
A missed payment.
A scam text that almost got clicked.

When and how do you step in without taking over?

The goal is not to take control.

The goal is to make sure helpful people, information, and safeguards are in place before decisions have to be made under pressure.

One potential conversation starter you could try…

“We are reviewing our own estate documents and realize we should understand where everything is.”

Sometimes, that is enough to open the door.

The families who tend to feel best about how this chapter goes are the ones who approached it as a proactive exercise rather than a response to a problem.

We are glad to be part of that process at whatever stage a family is ready to begin.

08/21/2026

As today is National Senior Citizens Day, we wanted to draw attention to something that can sometimes fall through the cracks: the Medicare Part B late enrollment penalty.

Most don’t know that if you miss your Initial Enrollment Period (the 7-month window around your 65th birthday), Medicare tacks on a 10 percent surcharge to your monthly premium for every 12 months you delay enrollment.

No cap. No expiration date.

Delay two years, pay 20 percent more. Delay by five years, you pay 50 percent. Every month. For life.

How to manage it?

You are only exempt from this penalty if you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP).

This usually means you delayed signing up because you (or your spouse) were still actively working and had "creditable" health insurance through that active employer.

If you’re concerned, ask your financial professional where to find the most up-to-date Medicare information.

08/17/2026

🎒🎒 The backpacks are back.

Every year around this time, the phone calls change. ☎️

➡️ Tuition wires.

➡️ Grandparents asking how to help.

➡️ Parents of high school seniors are thinking about FAFSA for the first time.

➡️ Empty-nesters are asking what to do with the spending that just freed up.

➡️ New questions about insurance coverage when a teen starts driving to an out-of-state campus.

If any of this is sitting on the family list, it could be a good time to meet with a financial professional.

08/14/2026

Some professionals assume their financial strategy is in better shape than it is. Not because they're careless. Because they're busy.

Today is National Financial Awareness Day. Four questions worth sitting with:

▸ If something happened to you tomorrow, would your family know what you have, where it is, and what to do?

▸ Are you on track to replace your income in retirement, or are you assuming you will be?

▸ Has your financial strategy changed as much as your life has in the last 12 months?

▸ If markets dropped tomorrow, do you have written goals or a general sense of what you'd do?

You don't have to answer all four today. But if one made you pause, that's the one worth paying attention to.

08/13/2026

There's a difference between leaving money to your family and giving it to them.

One happens after you're gone. The other lets you see the impact.

The annual gift exclusion is one straightforward way to do the latter.

For 2026, the IRS says that each person can give up to $19,000 per recipient, free of gift tax. A married couple can combine up to $38,000 per recipient, with no gift tax return required and no reduction to the lifetime exemption.

For example, a couple with two adult children and four grandchildren can transfer up to $228,000 this year under the current rules.

Done consistently, annual gifting can help manage a taxable estate while putting money to work for the people you care about, now.

🎁 If you haven't reviewed your gifting strategy for 2026, there's still time. The window closes on December 31.

08/12/2026

For some executives, the most important tax deadline of the year isn't April 15. It's December 31.

If you have access to a nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan, deferral elections typically must be made before the compensation year begins.

Under IRC Section 409A, once that window closes, retroactive elections are not permitted.

Eligible executives may be able to defer salary, bonuses, and incentive pay and delay taxation until a lower-income year.

Missing the election means missing that opportunity entirely for that year.

What often gets overlooked is the timing.

Year-end is busy, and a deadline that arrives before income is received can be easy to miss.

📅 If this applies to your situation, now is the time to review your elections before Q4.

💡 Consider asking your financial professional to work with your tax, legal, or accounting professionals if you want more information on how nonqualified deferred compensation works.

08/10/2026

🏠 Most families have the same strategy for long-term care: deal with it when it happens. The problem is, by the time it happens, the choices have already narrowed.

Nearly 70 percent of today's 65-year-olds will need some form of long-term care, according to a 2025 study by Schwab.

The median cost of a private nursing home room is $116,800 per year.

An in-home health aide runs $75,504 annually.

With the average need lasting three years, you're looking at $226,000 to $350,000 at today's prices, and that number only grows over time.

Most people know it's coming. They just don't want to think about it.

And while they wait, premiums rise, health conditions develop that can limit eligibility, and options quietly disappear.

A few things worth knowing now:

🔸 LTC insurance can be most cost-effective when purchased sooner rather than later

🔸 HSA funds can be used to pay LTC premiums

🔸 Hybrid policies offer alternatives if you prefer more flexibility

There is no coverage that works retroactively. The conversation your family keeps putting off is worth having before the decision gets made for you.

Address

411 Muse Street
Cambridge, MD
21613

Website

http://whittenretirement.com/

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