RMG Advisory Services

05/15/2026

Inflation is one of the biggest threats retirees face.

Not market volatility, headlines, or even recessions.

Inflation.

Because once you retire, the question is no longer just:

“Can I create income?”

The real question is:

“Can my income keep its purchasing power over the next 20 or 30 years?”

That’s where annuities can fall short.

Fixed annuities may provide stability, but the income can lose buying power over time.

Indexed annuities may sound like they are tied to the market, but caps, spreads, participation rates, surrender charges, and contract limits can restrict the actual growth.

Variable annuities may offer market exposure, but fees and complexity can eat into the benefit.

None of that means annuities are always bad.

They can have a role.

But retirees should be careful about treating an annuity as the entire retirement income solution.

Historically, stocks have helped investors outpace inflation.

Dimensional’s data shows that from 1928–2025, in years when inflation was above its historical median, average annual real returns were still positive:

S&P 500 Index: 4.6%
Dimensional US Small Cap Index: 7.7%
Dimensional US Small Cap Value Index: 10.8%

Real returns mean returns after inflation.

That matters.

Because retirement income planning should not just be about creating a paycheck.

It should be about creating a paycheck today while preserving purchasing power tomorrow.

For many retirees, the better answer may not be annuity or market.

It may be annuity plus market, depending on the person.

-Safety for essential income; if that's what you need.
-Growth for inflation protection; that's what EVERYONE needs.
-Discipline so neither fear nor salesmanship drives the decision.

Retirement income should be designed around your life, not sold around a product.

If you’re nearing retirement, ask a better question:

“What income plan gives me the best chance to live well for the rest of my life?”

05/07/2026

03/26/2026

The Westwood Mall Hippo has retired and is doing a Rollover with RMG.

Be like the hippo-roll over with RMG.

03/09/2026

The Dow has fallen about 3,000 points.

While I generally discourage timing the market, now wouldn't be a horrible time to think about that cash you have parked on the sidelines. Maybe it would be better invested now when prices are low?

Will investing your cash now make all your dreams come true with riches and fame when the market rebounds to 50K+?

I mean, there's a chance it will if you're special, but for the rest of us, probably not.

We don't hunt for windfalls. We make prudent decisions (especially when it's a no brainer), sometimes small but meaningful decisions over and over again that stack one on top of the other to build robust outcomes (aka security).

It's the totality of smart moves over a lifetime that create wealth more often than windfalls.

01/24/2026

The market is at an all-time high, which makes some people nervous. When prices are high, the word “bubble” gets thrown around, but markets being high is not unusual, it’s just what they do over long periods of time. Prices rise and fall, and no one can reliably predict the turning points, which is why long-term investors like you don’t panic over headlines.

What matters is WHY prices are high. Today, companies are actually making strong profits, and higher profits tend to lead to higher stock prices. That’s very different from periods (such as the dot-com 'bubble') when prices rose even though some companies weren't earning much money—that’s when real problems tend to show up.

So when you hear talk about bubbles and crashes, take a breath. Yes, markets can decline. They can also keep rising. The point isn’t to guess what happens next, but to stay invested in a system that, over time, reflects real business growth and rewards you for it rather than making decisions based on fear.

11/10/2025

If you do the right things long enough, eventually you’ll have the problem of too much money— too much taxable money locked inside your 401(k) or IRA.

That’s the blast most people don’t see coming. Every dollar in those accounts is a future tax event waiting to explode.

And once the tax man starts the countdown with required withdrawals, it’s too late to stop the clock.

You can still manage the blast—what we call damage control—but prevention is cheaper than cleanup. If you can give it your attention now, then do it.

If you’re a high wage earner in your 50s, still stacking explosives in fully taxable retirement accounts, now’s your chance to build balance.

Balance means flexibility for future you: with the option to choose whether retirement income comes from the high-tax basket or a low or no-tax basket.

That’s how you defuse the bomb before it detonates.

11/05/2025

If you’re a client or follower, you already know us for our academically grounded investment philosophy.

That philosophy drives evidenced based portfolios — in trusts, IRAs, 401(k)s, and beyond — designed to perform predictably within a disciplined range of outcomes. Think pie chart on your monthly statement.

It’s the foundation of everything we do — for us, and for you.

But as for our messaging, for the rest of this year and into January, we’re going to pivot.

Because while it matters, the pie chart doesn’t have the final say.

Income and Investment Taxes do. And at RMG, nothing bothers us more than seeing clients pay more tax than they must.

That’s why we use advanced tools and strategies to minimize tax exposure. One of the most powerful: life insurance.

How? Stay tuned.

If you’re a high earner ($350K+) with over $1MM in retirement assets, you’ll want to see how we’ve helped our top clients create future streams of tax-free income, tax-free emergency liquidity, and even tax-free long-term care benefits — all under one coordinated plan.

If you can’t wait for the posts, direct message us your phone number and we will call to give you the full scoop now.

10/31/2025

Investing doesn't need to be spooky

At RMG, we often hear questions like,
“What stocks should I buy?”
“Should I diversify or concentrate?”
“Do I need income-producing assets like bonds?”

These are good questions — but they often come from the wrong starting point. They assume investing is complicated, unpredictable, or something to fear.

We see it differently.

There’s no need for guesswork or gambling. A disciplined, evidence-based plan — one built with purpose, patience, and structure — can do far more than a “spooky” portfolio full of risk and excitement ever could.

Because wealth isn’t built by chasing thrills. It’s built by patience, discipline and the right design.

Skip the tricks and stick with a plan that treats your future well.

At RMG Advisory Services, we believe the scariest thing you can do with your money… is let emotion make the decisions.

Stay disciplined. Stay invested. And let stillness win.

10/29/2025

The market offers choices every day: when to buy, when to sell, when to move, when to get back in.

Each feels like a decision, but most are temptations.

Behavioral finance calls this the illusion of control—the belief that through vigilance or clever timing, we can outsmart uncertainty itself. We can’t.

Research from leading scholars and award winning economists such as Eugene Fama, Kenneth French, Meir Statman and Daniel Kahneman reveals that frequent trading tends to reduce long-term returns.

Each click of the mouse feels like control, but it’s often erosion—of returns, of discipline, of peace.

Patience is not inaction. It’s confidence in the plan you’ve already built.

Discipline is trusting the process you designed, even when your emotions demand movement.

You can’t control the market. But you can control your behavior, and in the end, that’s the control that matters.

10/27/2025

Every investor faces moments when emotion challenges reason. Understanding why we react the way we do is the first step toward better decisions.

The idea of behavioral finance, pioneered by great thinkers and Nobel laureates, reveals how emotion and bias shape financial choices.

This idea shows that even intelligent people make poor decisions when fear, greed, or overconfidence take hold.

We cannot eliminate emotion, but we can design around it. That is where patience and discipline come in.

Patience is not the absence of action. It is the strength to act according to a plan, not emotion.

Markets reward consistency, not reaction.

You can’t control the market, but you can control your design, your discipline, and your decisions.

10/23/2025

Diversification is only one building block of an efficient portfolio.

Every investor’s goals, timeline, tax picture, and tolerance for risk demand special attention. A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works in life, and it certainly doesn’t work in personal finance.

Designing a portfolio that truly reflects your needs takes more than a model. It takes a different approach; structure, discipline, and intention.

We're not trend followers at RMG Advisory Services. The portfolios we build use deliberate and exclusive strategies, with funds that are time-tested and have earned recognition for their predictable results.

We trust our process because it works—efficiently, purposefully, and with your life at the center.