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Align Your Retirement
Align Your Retirement is the retirement podcast for women in their 40s and 50s who've done a lot right with their money — and know retirement is too important to wing.
If you're the CFO of your household — whether you're married, single, divorced, or widowed — you already know the voices:
"I'll run the real numbers after Q4."
"My 401(k) is fine — I check it."
"I'll handle Social Security timing when I'm closer."
"The inherited IRA can sit in cash until I figure out the 10-year rule."
Every one of those voices is quietly moving your retirement date. Each episode is a direct, specific conversation about one retirement decision that costs more than it needs to when you carry it alone — Social Security timing, Roth conversion windows, sequence-of-returns risk, tax-efficient drawdowns, pension elections, asset location, the inherited IRA, healthcare before Medicare.
The decisions. The tradeoffs. The numbers. From a fiduciary who runs these with clients every week.
Hosted by Hazel Secco, CFP®, CDFA®, founder of Align Financial Solutions — a fee-only, fiduciary firm built for women in their 40s and 50s. Serving clients virtually across the U.S. from Hoboken, NJ — the mile-square city just across the Hudson from NYC.
Two ways to go deeper:
📋 Retirement Readiness Assessment — free, self-paced, 5 minutes. Link in every show note.
📞 Align Call — 15 minutes with Hazel. One conversation. No pitch. You'll leave knowing where you stand.
Align Your Retirement
Latest Episodes
The New Roth Catch-Up Rule: Earning $150K+? Your 401(k) Just Changed
If you're over 50 and earned more than $150,000 last year, a SECURE 2.0 rule that took effect this January changed your 401(k): your catch-up contributions must now go into the Roth side - after tax, no deduction. Most high earners are discover...
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Can You Retire at 55 With $2 Million? (Single, No Pension)
$2 million sounds like a finish line. At 55, single, with 35 years of retirement ahead of you, it's a starting number — and the distance between those two things is where most plans quietly break.In this episode I walk through what $2 mi...
Why "Just Max Your 401(k)" Stops Being Good Advice in Your 50s
Maxing your 401(k) was the smartest habit you ever built — and in your 50s, at a $200K+ income, it deserves a second look nobody's ever given it. Every pre-tax dollar buys a deduction now and creates ordinary income later — on top of forced wit...
The RSU Tax Trap: Why You'll Owe the IRS Five Figures Next April (and How to Fix It Before December)
Your RSUs vested. Taxes came out of every vest. And you may still owe the IRS five figures in April — because your employer withholds a flat 22% by IRS default, while your actual bracket is 32, 35, or 37. Nothing went wrong; the system is built...
The Roth Conversion Window You Can't Get Back: The Cheapest Tax Years of Your Life
There's a short stretch in early retirement that most high earners walk straight past — the cheapest tax years of your entire life. Your paycheck has stopped, Social Security hasn't started, and required withdrawals haven't begun, so your taxab...
