Curious about your retirement savings? Our How Much Do I Need To Retire? quiz gives you an idea of where you stand and a starting point to think about your long-term planning.

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Your plan might be able to handle market volatility, but it might not handle your income disappearing.

In this episode, Scott breaks down the uncomfortable blind spot facing many high earners—what happens if your paycheck stops sooner than expected. Using a real-world scenario of someone with nearly $3M saved and a large amount of unvested RSUs, he walks through the question most people avoid: “If the job goes away in 3–5 years instead of 7-10, are we actually okay?”

It’s actually a timeline problem, not just a market risk problem. Scott explains how to pressure-test an early exit scenario, separate RSU strategy from income dependency, and ask the bigger question most plans ignore: what is your career capital actually worth if your role changes?

If a large portion of your wealth and income is tied to one company, this episode is for you. It’s about understanding the assumptions your plan is making—and making sure they hold up when it matters most.

Ready to learn more?

• Scott Frank on LinkedIn
• Stone Steps Financial

Leave us a question!

Money can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. When you’re able to understand the complexities, you can make better decisions to improve your daily life. Connect with us at Stone Steps Financial.

Curious about your retirement savings? Our How Much Do I Need To Retire? quiz gives you an idea of where you stand and a starting point to think about your long-term planning.

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You did everything right. You maxed your 401(k) for decades, watched the balance grow, and felt good about where you were headed. Then someone showed you a tax projection for retirement and it was a lot bigger than you expected.

In this episode, Scott walks through why a large, traditional 401(k) balance can quietly become a future tax trap. He breaks down a real world example of how required minimum distributions (RMDs), Social Security, and Medicare premiums can stack up in ways most people never saw coming and what a surviving spouse could face alone.

But this isn't a story about regret. It's about having a window of time to act before the IRS starts making decisions for you.

If 70 to 80% of your investable wealth sits in pre-tax accounts, this episode is for you. Scott walks through four practical levers: savings direction, Roth conversions, taxable bridge accounts, and asset location and closes with three concrete steps you can take right now to get clarity on where you actually stand.

Your401(k) isn't the issue, having one that is overly concentrated without a plan is.

Ready to learn more?

• Scott Frank on LinkedIn
• Stone Steps Financial

Leave us a question!

Money can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. When you’re able to understand the complexities, you can make better decisions to improve your daily life. Connect with us at Stone Steps Financial.

Curious about your retirement savings? Our How Much Do I Need To Retire? quiz gives you an idea of where you stand and a starting point to think about your long-term planning.

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Most people don’t actually want retirement, but they do want relief.

Relief from the schedule. Relief from the pressure. Relief from feeling like they can’t step off the treadmill.

But what if the question isn’t “When can I retire?” and it’s “What would I do if I knew I wasn’t trapped?”

In this conversation, Scott and Nick explore the tensions so many professionals feel but almost never say out loud: the golden handcuffs, the benefits package, the identity wrapped up in a title. And underneath all of it, another question: do I actually need this job… or am I just afraid to look?

Retirement doesn’t always have to mean stopping work. Sometimes it means choosing work, some others it’s testing something new, and every once in a while it means building enough cushion that you walk into Monday differently.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a role you’ve outgrown, this episode of Real Personal Finance might open a door you didn’t realize was already unlocked.

Ready to learn more?

• Scott Frank on LinkedIn
• Stone Steps Financial
• Nick Covyeau on LinkedIn
• Swell Financial

Leave us a question!

Money can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. When you’re able to understand the complexities, you can make better decisions to improve your daily life. Connect with us at Stone Steps Financial.