Roccy Knows | Podcast Guru

Details

Roccy DeFrancesco is a "recovering attorney" who puts popular financial advice on trial. Each episode, Roccy — founder of The Wealth Preservation Institute and author of over a dozen books on asset protection and wealth preservation — breaks down the claims made by big-name financial personalities like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and Ken Fisher, and shows you the details they leave out. Topics include annuities, indexed universal life insurance, whole life insurance, 529 plans, estate planning, and how to spot a bad advisor before they cost you. Sourced, on the record, no sales pitch — just the numbers most advisors won't show you. New episodes weekly. Subscribe and see for yourself.

Recent Episodes

Estate Planning Basics: Wills, Trusts and Power of Attorney

Roughly half of Americans don't have an estate plan in place, and Roccy DeFrancesco estimates only about 30% have a will. In this episode Roccy, an attorney who has worked in this area for about 30 years, walks through the documents everyone needs, the pitfalls he sees most often, and three issues he thinks belong in every estate plan: living longer than you expect, guaranteed retirement income and long-term care. Start with your beneficiary designations. Life insurance, annuities, retirement...

41 MIN

10 Roth Conversion Mistakes That Can Derail Retirement

Most advisors treat a Roth IRA conversion as a no-brainer, and most consumers hear the same thing from the internet. Roccy DeFrancesco thinks that's wrong for most people. In this episode he walks through his Top 10 Roth Conversion Mistakes white paper: the ten errors he believes can cost you or your heirs tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The 10 mistakes: Working with a bad advisor. Roccy says most CPAs and planners come up with conversion advice by guessing ("tax-free is better...

28 MIN

Should I Do a Roth Conversion? Why Most Don't Pay Off

Everyone says a Roth IRA conversion is a no-brainer. Roccy DeFrancesco disagrees. After years of running the numbers, his view is that about 85% of the time a Roth conversion leaves the IRA owner with less money to spend while they're alive. In this episode he explains why, and when a conversion does make sense. Design for the right goal. Most advisors and CPAs build Roth conversion plans around three things: lowering taxes, cutting required minimum distributions (RMDs) and avoiding the IRMAA...

36 MIN

Lifetime Income Annuity: Guaranteed Retirement Income

Guaranteed income for life is one of Roccy DeFrancesco's favorite products in financial services, and also one of the most polarizing. Some advisors love annuities with guaranteed income riders; others won't touch them. In this episode Roccy walks through how they work, runs the numbers on what they do for a retired couple, and explains why he thinks they make sense even for affluent clients who don't need the income. Who wants guaranteed income? Almost everyone, according to the surveys on R...

36 MIN

Bonus Annuity to Pay Roth Conversion Tax? Why It Fails

“Convert to a Roth with no out-of-pocket cost.” If you haven't seen that ad yet, Roccy DeFrancesco says you will. The pitch: buy an annuity with a 20% bonus and use the bonus to pay the tax on your Roth IRA conversion. Roccy believes it's a financial loser basically every time, and in this episode he walks through the math. Why everyone is talking about Roth conversions: there's roughly $40 trillion sitting in tax-deferred accounts — IRAs, 401(k)s and government plans — and advisors want to m...

21 MIN