1. How can I estimate how much I will need during retirement?
This question comes up often because when we prepare financial plans for clients, we usually ask how much they want to spend during retirement. Understandably, the question is not easy to answer. When preparing a financial plan, we initially assume a person will need 70 percent of their current living expenses during retirement and increase or decrease the amount based on the likelihood of meeting the target that goal. For example, if your current annual living expenses are $120,000, we would begin your financial plan assuming you will spend $84,000 a year during retirement. If the results of your plan are unfavorable, we will recommend a combination of the following: save more, retire later, and/or reduce how much you plan to spend during retirement.

1. I just started at Kaiser, how can I maximize my benefits?

Most investors focus only on their retirement accounts such as 401ks, IRAs and pensions and overlook another powerful savings vehicle - the taxable brokerage account. The taxable brokerage account is like a supercharged savings account; just like a savings account, your money is accessible at anytime, but unlike a savings account, you can use a taxable brokerage account to invest in anything such as stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, etc. The real benefits of taxable brokerage accounts are when investors use the tax laws to their advantage. Below are three of the most commonly used tactics high income earners exercise to minimize and manage their taxes.

If you are thinking of investing some of the idle cash in your non-retirement accounts before year-end, avoid mutual funds because you will owe taxes. As mutual funds buy and sell securities in the fund during the year, they incur capital gains and losses. Mutual funds are required by law to distribute virtually all capital gains made throughout the year to their shareholders in the form of capital gain distributions. These funds usually pay out yearly capital gains distributions to their shareholders of record in December. The date of record is how the mutual fund determines who is eligible for the distribution. Therefore, if you purchase shares before the date of record, you will be entitled to the distribution and have to pay the subsequent taxes even if you didn't benefit from that fund's growth during the year. While it may sound like a good idea to buy a fund and get immediate income, beware that the fund value (known as Net Asset Value) declines on the date of payment by the exact amount of the distribution. So while you receive a taxable distribution, your asset value also declines by an equal amount. Most investors prefer Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) over mutual funds (click for an article on the differences between mutual funds and ETFs) because of their tax efficiency (most ETFs do not pay capital gains distributions). But caution should still prevail; some ETFs  may still distribute capital gains. To avoid having to pay tax on an investment you purchase in December, look on the fund's website to find out their date of record and make your purchase after that date.

1. What if I have a $1 million 401k, can I convert that to a Roth IRA?
This was a real question, but a hypothetical what-if scenario to understand the Roth IRA conversion limitations. The answer is yes, you can convert a $1 million 401k to a Roth IRA. In fact the IRS would love for you to convert a large 401k to a Roth IRA because like any conversion you would have to pay tax on the converted amount and that would be a revenue generator for the IRS. Once converted and held for 5 years, the benefits are the same as a regular Roth IRA - tax-free growth, ability to withdraw your money without tax or penalties, and of course no RMDs. So why would the IRS love such a thing? Because the IRS is shortsighted; they see the immediate tax revenue as a boon, not recognizing that they will never be paid on that money again.