Southeast Retirement Planners, Inc.

09/02/2026

Planning ahead is one of the greatest gifts you can give your family. ❤️

If an elderly loved one suddenly needs help managing finances, healthcare decisions, or personal affairs, having the right legal documents in place can make all the difference.

Les and Ryan discuss important documents which come up most often.

Start the conversation. Get organized. Give your family peace of mind.

Think you have all the legal documents necessary for an elderly fam...

09/02/2026

When a company everyone knows goes public, it can feel like an opportunity you can’t afford to miss.

The headlines are everywhere. The excitement builds. And suddenly, everyone wants in.

Before turning IPO buzz into an investment, ask yourself: What am I actually buying, what am I paying, and how does it fit into my overall strategy?

If you’re considering a new investment opportunity and want to talk through how it fits into your broader financial plan, we’re happy to help.

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

By 2030, women are expected to control nearly two-thirds of private wealth in the United States, representing roughly $30 trillion, according to a landmark 2020 study by McKinsey & Co.

That shift is already underway.

More women than men now graduate from college. Women-owned businesses generate more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue.

And because women statistically live longer than men, many also manage the final, and often most complex, chapter of a family’s financial life.

The numbers tell an important story:

🔸 Women make or influence a growing share of household financial decisions.

🔸 Yet many still report feeling less confident, less heard, and less well served by traditional financial preparation.

🔸 That gap isn’t about ability. It is about whether the guidance, questions, and process reflect the realities of modern wealth.

Today is Women’s Equality Day.

A financial strategy should reflect the life being built and the goals that matter most for women and men alike: family dynamics, longevity, business ownership, caregiving, legacy, and the financial decisions that shape what is possible.

Does yours?

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

The national debt has now crossed $40 trillion.

It's a number worth paying attention to...but what should it actually mean for your own financial decisions?

Bob Fincher - Financial Advisor, Southeast Retirement Planners shares a simple perspective: "we can't control Washington's balance sheet, but we can take responsibility for our own."

A timely reminder to focus on what matters, filter out the noise, and pay attention to the things we can actually control.

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.

08/20/2026

What could the Fed’s next move mean for markets? LPL Financial Chief Investment Officer Marc Zabicki examines Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s pragmatic policy shift and why cooling inflation and labor market data could pave the way for potential rate cuts.

LPL Financial’s Chief Investment Officer Marc Zabicki examines Fed ...

08/19/2026

Some conversations are difficult to start—especially when they involve aging parents and what the future may look like.

In this clip, Les and Ryan share practical ways to begin the conversation no one wants to have about a topic no one wants to discuss: planning ahead for an elderly family member’s needs as they get older.

It may feel uncomfortable, but waiting can make things even harder. Having these conversations sooner rather than later gives families the opportunity to plan together, understand each other’s wishes, and make thoughtful decisions before a crisis occurs.

If you have an aging parent or loved one, this is a conversation worth having.