Didion Wealth Management

06/02/2026

The real advantage that you have with life insurance is the leverage that it gives you.

Have a $1,000,000 policy and the annual premium is $4,500?

On day 1 you have $1,000,000 that goes to your family should you suddenly pass away (as long as you paid the premium).

Having $4,500 turn into $1,000,000 is huge leverage. 🤯

That's obviously leverage when it comes to the death benefit.

But other policies can give you leverage when it comes to living benefits such as Long-term care coverage.

Don't discount the real benefit of life insurance.

Leverage.

06/01/2026

Person wants to retire in January 2028.
Take the lump sum or the pension?

This is a pretty common scenario (believe it or not a decent amount of companies still have pensions).

When you have a pension with your company, you usually have a couple options with it when you retire.

→ You could of course take the 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.

This monthly income is what most people think of when they think of a pension and a lot of people like the idea of a pension because it's "guaranteed" monthly income.

→ What a lot of people don't know is the other option you have, which is taking the 𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝘀𝘂𝗺 amount from your pension.

If you take the lump sum then you can usually roll that to your IRA and invest the money.

So if you will have a pension when you retire you're faced with a decision that you don't want to get wrong or not put any thought into.

Because once you make your decision you're left with it.

You can't change your mind.
You can't undo it.
You can't backtrack

If this is you, you need to run some scenarios to see which option gives you the potentially best outcome.

You need to take into consideration:

→ Your retirement income sources
→ Spending goals
→ Your spouse
→ Retirement assets
→ Inflation
→ Taxes

Then you can make the best possible decision for you and your spouse.

Don't just hear "monthly income" and automatically take that because you might be better off taking the lump sum.

05/30/2026

Want to be successful?
Be boring.

Doing the same things everyday is boring but that’s how you get ahead.

A lot of people keep switching things up.

They want to try new things.

They start one thing, stay with it for a few weeks maybe even months, but then they learn about something else that's new and they change gears.

But doing this doesn’t actually hurts you.

Because when you're constantly switching it up you don't let anything you try stick and gain momentum.

→ Eat the same thing everyday
→ Invest the same amount every month
→ Go to bed at the same time every night
→ Get up at the same time every morning
→ Have the same exercise routine every month
→ Pour into your business/career the same each and every day

Start doing these things and be amazed at the momentum you start to gain.

So don't be exciting

Be boring.

05/29/2026

55 year old, has $2,000,000 in cash and was ready to retire.
I had to be the bad guy and tell him the truth.

The truth is he wasn't ready to retire.

Not even close.

He had sold some of his shares in a business he was involved in and parked his money in the bank.

He thought he was set.
He had no interest in investing any of his money.
He was ready to retire and set off into the sunset.

But he couldn't answer 𝗮𝗻𝘆 critical questions about 𝗵𝗼𝘄 he was going to make it in retirement.

How much could he spend each year?
Didn't know

How much was he going to spend each year?
Didn't know

Does he know what his monthly or annual expenses are?
Nope

What's his plan for health care?
Didn't have one

How much in taxes will he pay?
Didn't know

He hadn't done 𝗮𝗻𝘆 planning and he simply 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 $2,000,000 was enough to live off since it sounded like a big number.

Your feelings can really do some damage to you.

Don't make big life decisions, like retiring, based off of how you feel.

Do some due diligence and put some thought into how you're going to make it work.

Have some sort of plan.

This guy had nothing.

I'll never forget I asked him about inflation and how was his cash making literally nothing was going to be able to keep up and he chuckled and said, "Inflation? Like my milk going up a couple bucks? Not worried about it."

I think about him often and wonder how he's doing.

Needless to say he did not become a client.

Don't be like him.

05/28/2026

Most people chase higher income.
They think that's how they get ahead.

But the real secret?

It's not what you earn.

It's what you keep and invest.

If you spend everything you earn you'll never get anywhere.

If you save some of what you earn but it stays in the bank as cash making .1%, you'll still never get anywhere.

Here's what most people overlook:

You can build wealth starting pretty small but the impact is meaningful.

→ If you saved $500/month and invested it, got a 9% average return and didn't ever increase your monthly contribution amount you'd end up with over $𝟴𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 in 30 years.

Not bad.

Imagine if you gave yourself longer than 30 years?
Imagine if you increased how much you saved every month?
Imagine if you did both?

You'd potentially be a millionaire, maybe a multi millionaire.

Start investing
Start as early as you can
Save as much as you can increase it over the years

You can build wealth
You don't have to be destitute in your older age
You don't have to be a burden to your loved ones.

05/27/2026

Retiree was excited to tell me they're getting ready to file for social security. Then I had to tell them the bad news.

𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟴𝟱% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.

Believe it or not most of your social security benefit is potentially taxable

And it all depends on how much income you have.

Unfortunately, the income threshold for determining if, and how of, your social security benefit is taxable is surprising low.

If you're married and filing jointly and you make more than $32k then 50% of your social security is taxable.
If you make more than $44k...then 85% of your benefit is taxed. 🤯

A lot of people assume their taxes will be lower in retirement.
But...
There's a lot of taxes that people don't account for in retirement, such as their social security benefit being taxable.

Your retirement plan should take into account ALL the taxes you would likely pay in retirement.

If not, then you may have a false sense of security when it comes to thinking your income and assets will be sustainable throughout your retirement.

05/27/2026

Did you know that part of your social security benefit can be taxed in retirement? A lot of retirees are surprised by this but knowing how social security taxation works can take the surprise out of the situation.

You might be surprised to learn that your social security benefit may likely be taxable. But how much of it is taxable?

05/26/2026

There's nothing more annoying than DIY investors trying to get free advice from you.

It happens all the time.

I tell someone I'm a financial advisor and they immediately start telling me how they have accounts at Fidelity or Vanguard.

Then they go on to tell me about how they picked this fund or that fund, this stock or that stock.

They might even go on to tell me how they started with an advisor but then realized that was "stupid" because they could "save a lot of money" if they did it themselves and didn't pay the advisor a fee.

Then the questions start...

"What do you think about this fund?"
"What do you think about this stock?"
"I just sold this fund and bought this fund, what do you think?"
"What changes are you making to people's accounts right now?"
"Should I do this or do that?"
"How much can I contribute to my IRA?"
"What's the income limit for making Roth contributions?

I keep thinking to myself...

"I'm not going to play this game."
"You're not a client, and you never will be so why would I engage with this?"

I usually just try to end the conversation peacefully with a lot of wows, yeps and uh-huhs.

But if they keep trying to get free advice from me I just say, "I'd love to tell you but there's a fee for that."

I laugh and move on. And then the conversation usually ends.

A lesson I learned a long time ago is not to waste time on DIY investors.

They are not who I work with or want to work with.

I work with humble, goal-oriented people who want help and need help with their investments and financial planning and are comfortable delegating to a financial advisor.

05/25/2026

Grateful for another race day with my son and long time friend.

Every year we do the Bolder Boulder 10k in Boulder, CO.

The older I get the more grateful I am for every race I get to run.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

05/24/2026

Jesus said there’s no better display of love than this…

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:13

This Memorial Day weekend these are the people we are remembering and honoring.

People that have laid down there lives for their friends, their family and their country.

What a massive display of love.

Thank you for your sacrifice. 🙏🏼