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Resolved: I Will Do Away with Resolutions
Spruce branches surrounded by a clothes clip holding a note with New year, New chances, New goals, New Start, New results all crossed out with red marker

With serious planning and determination, many of us are gearing up for the next round of New Year’s resolutions. The change in the year will be the time we finally lose weight, or drink less, or exercise more, or wake up at 4 a.m. like those social media productivity thought-leading rockstars do!

As for me, I will not have a New Year’s resolution. I won’t be hustling to be the oldest participant in the hardest 5k in the state in 2026. I will not be striving to achieve or maintain a specific weight. I will not be avoiding or including certain foods in my diet. No resolutions. Not one.

Many of you have heard me say that I’m planning to work to age 92. Will any New Year’s resolution make that happen? There’s nothing magical about December 31 (except perhaps some fireworks at midnight!). I don’t measure my health by a calendar.

Instead, I measure my efforts every single day.

When you really think about it, doesn’t wealth work the same way? Even though we measure markets on an annual basis, that’s really just a long-held standard for consistency. You may have heard that in 2025, the stock market (as measured by the S&P 500) was up 12% for the year, January to December. But we have the tools to calculate the return for whatever 365 consecutive days you’re interested in. We can look at the results birthday to birthday, or any other range we’d like.

The process of becoming financially independent—of gaining the option to live on your wealth instead of your labor—uses essentially the same process as my health goals. Steady decisions, over time.

And we’re here to help anybody navigate the process. We try to offer guidance in your journey through the economic ups and downs, the noise of market pundits both on business channels and at the café. To focus on your financial health overall, instead of some calendar-year resolution.

Just like my health goals don’t change when I buy a new calendar, my wealth goals don’t need to either.

Clients, don’t think we are against all New Year’s resolutions. There’s actually one I highly recommend: in 2026, help someone learn what’s going on here at 228 Main in beautiful downtown Louisville. I know I’ll try to stick to that one too.

Thank you all, for everything.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.

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Resolved: No Resolutions – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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How Many Hats at a Time?
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Every once in a while, the schedule gets really and truly full. We might have places to be throughout the day, for many days in a row. Weeks might go on like this, in an exciting blur.

It’s not a bad problem to have, but sometimes, it can feel like we’re being pulled in more than one direction.

Some of you may experience this sensation too, as you also wear multiple hats in life. You may have commitments as a parent, an employee or an owner, a teacher, a partner, a community member, and more.

Here’s an idea that might provide some relief: we may have many hats, but we only wear one hat at a time. It’s okay to allow ourselves to focus on one at a time, even if we must switch hats often.

The same general principle is true about our financial goals: it may seem prudent to save for retirement, and a house, and a child’s education, and all the other things one may want in a lifetime… but the secret is that you don’t pay for these things on the same day, or week, or month, probably.

Having many hats doesn’t mean we can’t focus—and strategize. Time is finite, of course. But we take things one hat at a time.

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The Hats We Wear – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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Your Money Never Retires 

For many people we know, money represents work. It’s the sweat and the time and everything else that goes into one’s livelihood.

It may have started decades ago, perhaps with a job for a local farmer, walking beans or baling hay. (Does that reference date us?) It’s all the jobs that followed, too. No matter where those paychecks came from, the work behind them can become a source of pride—one that can also fund our retirement years.

We’re fortunate to know many people who end their careers with resources beyond their needs. It’s a nice problem to have: what happens when the excess outlives us? What’s the next “life” for what you’ve earned and accumulated?

We’ve been hearing from some of you about these big financial legacy questions, and there are many possible answers. In no particular order, here are a few ideas that you have been sharing with us.

Spend it on shared memories. For many, the pace of retirement includes more travel and experiences that weren’t possible during the working years. And while you’re at it, you might think about including those closest to you. Some might take their children or grandchildren with them on the big adventures. If you don’t want to leave behind wealth well beyond your beneficiaries’ needs, spend well now, with them: create the memories while you have the opportunity to do so. Bonus? They have another shared memory to enjoy, long after the experience is over.

Consider making gifts where they would make a difference now. There’s no rule saying you have to wait until you’re gone to get the excess to your beneficiaries. An inheritance can be life-changing, but who’s to say that a well-timed gift couldn’t make a big impact? It could be that splashing around a little cash now might make more difference in the long run. Maybe a loved is working toward a down payment on their first house, or some seed funding for their business expansion, or some other worthwhile project that you’d like to support. Why not now?

Direct it to the causes you care about. You can turn some of your charitable intentions into plans now, too. Your legacy planning may already involve leaving behind some assets to charity, and there are other strategies that might fit your goals. For example, a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) can be set up to benefit organizations of your choice after you’re gone, but it can also be left to a successor: a person you trust to direct charitable distributions of your gifts. They could carry on the work you start now.

Making these kinds of choices truly is a great problem to have. Generational wealth is a powerful tool and privilege. It also highlights the tensions we feel around money: what is the utility of money in our lives—and beyond? We don’t have to know all the answers, but there might be a chance to unlock some exciting opportunities for the generations ahead, if only we get a little more intentional or organized now.

Clients, may your wealth bring you only the best of dilemmas. We’ll be here to try to help you along your way.

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Your Money Never Retires – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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THREE LITTLE WORDS YOU MAY NEED TO KNOW: Required. Minimum. Distribution.  

If you are of a certain age and have certain retirement accounts, you probably need to know about the annually required withdrawals from those accounts. The IRS calls them “Required Minimum Distributions”—RMDs.

One special note: Clients, many of you are already treating your retirement account like an orchard, taking out the fruit crop each year to live on. The RMD is not an “extra” amount on top of the crop: it is just a minimum. If you are already taking out 5% in monthly payments to fund your retirement, you don’t need to worry about what happens at age 73.

We’ll talk about the details here, then how it works out in practice.

People born in or before 1950 with any form of retirement account (other than Roth IRA) have already begun doing this RMD process each year (or should have). People born in 1951 or later will have to begin by the year they turn 73.

Basically, the RMD needs to be calculated for each retirement account you have (except Roth IRAs). You must take out the total amount required by December 31, and you will receive a 1099-R showing taxable income.

Clients, you know we pay attention to this and strive to keep you informed about what needs to be done. But there’s one thing to be careful of: take this as an opportunity to check whether there is some account somewhere that we don’t know about, like a 401(k) from a former employer, an odd IRA balance somewhere, 457 or 403(b) plans, and so on. It happens, but it would be a pain to get yourself into some trouble over an account that’s been out of sight, out of mind.

Some people may choose to use the onset of RMDs as a time to consolidate all of their retirement funds into a single rollover IRA, to make this process simpler going forward.

One of the advantages of Roth IRAs is that they have no RMD requirement. As a matter of good planning, it may make sense to convert partial IRA balances to Roth, pay tax when you choose, and whittle down that balance that is subject to RMDs in traditional retirement accounts.

There are lots of ways to handle things! If you’d like to talk about it, we’re here for it. Email us or call.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

Traditional IRA account owners have considerations to make before performing a Roth IRA conversion. These primarily include income tax consequences on the converted amount in the year of conversion, withdrawal limitations from a Roth IRA, and income limitations for future contributions to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you are required to take a required minimum distribution (RMD) in the year you convert, you must do so before converting to a Roth IRA.

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The Team Grows: Welcome, Allison! 

Friends, it’s been a season of change for Leibman Financial!

As many of you know already, Mark will be focusing on client work and research—and less on administrative duties—starting January 1, as Caitie takes on the front-facing CEO role.

Caitie has been serving as Director of Communications full-time since 2020, and our communications program has only grown in those years.

The team has committed to making our messaging more accessible, adding more audio and video in addition to our blog posts. We take pride in making our ideas available in multiple formats, to fit a variety of clients’ lives. We’ve been working to make our contact with you more timely, relevant, and consistent—without clogging up your inboxes!

As Caitie starts to flex her leadership muscles, it’s time to introduce our newest addition: a dedicated Director of Communications who can continue to foster our important connections with each of you. On that note, we’re pleased to introduce Allison Bauers as Leibman Financial’s next Director of Communications.

Allison is a Nebraska native, growing up on a farm near Auburn and moving to Cass County in the mid-1980s. She and her husband Larry raised their children in Louisville, where they were involved in the school system, community theater, and other endeavors over the years. Now they split their time between Nebraska and Arizona spending time with family and making their best attempt at exploring all of our National Parks and the wonders of this country.

Allison’s work includes decades in roles across the fields of education and communication, and her skills suit the demands of this role well. She tells us she is excited to join the team and grow in the specialty role that Caitie helped establish.

We’re already confident that Allison’s attitude and energy will bring fresh possibilities to the firm, as we work to continue to serve our clients in thoughtful new ways.

Communications will remain a team sport here at 228 Main, and we are thrilled to add Allison to that team. We hope you get a chance to meet her soon.

Welcome, Allison!

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The Team Grows: Welcome, Allison! – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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Spend Well, for Impact 

The object of our work can be distilled into four words: Invest wisely, spend well.

You’ll notice that half those words have nothing to do with saving more, investing more, or putting off pleasure today in order to have more wealth tomorrow. They are a call to action for the present moment: spend well.

But who gets to do the spending? And for whose benefit?

(To put it more bluntly, as one of you has told us before, “I’m not living my life to make my kids rich.”)

We each have to decide what it means to spend well. Our spending habits have a chance to make an impression on the next generation. In fact, what we give away today might inspire even more generous habits in our offspring, or our neighbors, or our students.

It can be downright fun to spend today rather than waiting to leave our mark. Bequeathments, retirement gifts, and other forms of legacy planning can be fitting vehicles for our generosity, but for some people, it might also be prudent to consider what it is we’re waiting for.

If “enough is as good as a feast”—another gem one of you taught us!—then the excess might be spent in a specific direction, today.

A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is one vehicle for committing to a charitable intent, whether or not the exact destination of the gift is known right now. Spending well might actually mean investing for someone else’s long haul: an organization or cause near and dear to us, a community effort that’s bigger than what any one of us could achieve alone.

This is what we do at 228 Main: help connect the resources we manage to their sources of meaning. We’re not accumulating wealth for the sake of having it. It’s what those resources might mean, what they might do.

But if you can “invest wisely,” you may end up with even more to “spend well”—both now and in the future. No guarantees, but this is what we strive toward: Invest wisely, spend well.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, email us or call.

Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

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Spend Well, for Impact – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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What If Your Legacy Started Today?

Clients, the wealth you bring to the shop is meant for the long haul.

We often say that the grocery money doesn’t live in here. The car breaks down or the washing machine gives out? You don’t call us for that. Long-term money lives in long-term investments, aimed at long-term goals—the next stage of life, retirement, perhaps the needs of descendants, and so on.

But once all those different goals are on track, we’ve still got some choices to make. (It’s a nice problem to have, surely.)

As habits or hobbies or whole stages of life come and go, we might take a fresh look at our discretionary spending.

What if you started thinking about your legacy and impact as a regular part of your budget, now?

  • What are you not doing that you wish you were doing? Maybe you’d love to become a major contributor to a cause you’ve been volunteering for.
  • What do you wish your community had that it doesn’t have now? Maybe you could lead the driving force behind a park improvement, a new service for a preschool or senior care facility.
  • Where might your money save time for someone you care about? Maybe someday it would be your turn to be the benefactor of the local library foundation or to help the school go digital with its historical records.

Starting a project like this is just like budgeting for any other financial goal. Just ask the big question today: what would you have to change in order to afford this new choice?

We don’t mean to make any of this prescriptive. After all, you are the one who must live your life—not us! But there might be a chance to unlock some exciting opportunities, if only we get a little more intentional or organized now. Who knows?

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, please email us or call.

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What If Your Legacy Started Today? – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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Change on the Horizon: It’s Official!  

Friends, we’ve reached another milestone in the life of Leibman Financial Services. Since I founded the company back in 1996, I’ve been fortunate enough to see LFS through many chapters and changes already. 

I wrote recently about how I spend my working hours, and my teammates are helping me get more time for my favorite work activities: talking with you and researching the opportunities and challenges that might impact your portfolios. To do more of what I want, I need to be doing less of everything else.  

To that end, we are pleased to announce that Caitie Leibman will succeed me as the next CEO of Leibman Financial Services, effective January 1, 2026. 

I’ve long believed that we are all better off working from our passions and values, and we’ve got a chance to reshuffle what goes on each of our plates.  

We believe Caitie’s strengths are well-suited to this role. There are tasks that stayed on my plate for years only because once upon a time, mine was the only plate! Many of these tasks require the type of logistical thinking and eye for detail that Caitie has brought to all her work. 

Since 2020, Caitie has served LFS full-time as the Director of Communications. She added client work and investment research to her plate after becoming licensed in 2023. 

 It was that year we split ownership of the business: many of you are already aware, but I co-own this business with Caitie, Greg, and Billy. We work as a four-person management team. Decisions will still be made in this collaborative way moving forward, no matter who has what title. 

Instead, the hope is that I get to spend more time doing the parts of the work that are most gratifying to me, and Caitie has a chance to shine in a new way. 

We’ll talk more about what this news means in the coming weeks. For now, know that I’m excited. I’m still aimed at working until age 92, and this change may be part of what gets me there. 

Thank you all, for everything, always. 

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Don’t Be DAFfy: Planning Your Impact 

“I have enough, and enough is as good as a feast.” — Granny, as told to us by one of you

For many folks, giving and community are important pillars of their financial plans and planning. After all, once we discover that we have enough to get by on, we’ve got some important decisions to make about our resources.

What will our excesses and gains mean for the community around us? Or the next generation? Or causes and organizations we care about?

In 2025, Leibman Financial Services added a new type of account, a tool that may be an option for those with charitable intentions and a desire for a little organization.

Here is what we are talking about: a Donor Advised Fund, or DAF. A DAF is an account that we can open and manage for you here in-house. Money or securities that you send to the DAF are considered tax-deductible charitable contributions, even if they came from existing accounts here. (Consult your tax advisor about what this means for you in particular.)

The funds can be invested for long-term growth or disbursed more quickly; you may donate as much or as little as you choose, on your schedule. You request distributions, or “grants,” from your DAF to be sent to the nonprofits of your choosing.

A DAF would become part of our regular conversations about your portfolio, your goals, and your financial plans and planning.

Why consider a DAF? A DAF could be used…

  • As an alternative to creating a family foundation or other organizational structure on your own
  • As a way to simplify philanthropic activities, having a single destination for gift dollars and a single vehicle for sending out donations
  • As a way to organize tax deductions and tax planning
  • As a way to direct high-flying holdings toward charitable intentions (by gifting appreciated assets to a DAF, you pay no tax on the gains, and the DAF pays no tax on the gains)

We work with iGift, a registered 501(c)(3), to administer these accounts. iGift requires a minimum of $25,000 to open a DAF, though only a $1,000 minimum balance needs to maintained thereafter. You may send out gifts as small as $100 to approved nonprofits year-round.

Fees and rationales can be found in our disclosure documents where we discuss more about the terms of our services.

If the DAF still has funds at your passing, your designated successor—an heir or heirs—may direct future donations until the fund is exhausted, or you can elect to provide instructions for how to distribute the remainder among nonprofits.

Our money has a chance not only to outlast us—but to continue making ripples in the world.

The Donor Advised Fund concept has been used by people here at Leibman Financial as part of their tax planning and to organize charitable intentions. Not all account types are appropriate for everyone, though there’s a lot to like here.

Could it be a good time to learn more?

Reach out, anytime.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

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Don’t Be DAFfy: Planning Your Impact – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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What’s on the Horizon for 228 Main? 

We live our lives minute by minute, day by day, and only in hindsight do the broad patterns emerge. 

And sometimes, it helps to think through those patterns out loud. 

As it has been for decades now, working to age 92 is a cherished goal of mine. With a goal like that, sustainability is key. To that end, I work four days a week, and I spend some weeks at a time working from afar, enjoying other scenery while I stay connected with you and with my teammates via the wonders of the internet and mobile telephones. 

My partners and I have been putting some energy into thinking about how I spend those working hours. 

A few months ago, Billy, Greg, and Caitie asked me what I wanted more of, so I told them about what I enjoy most. I love our business objective: striving to grow your buckets. My favorite activities are talking to you as well as researching the opportunities and challenges that might impact your portfolios.  

So then, we realized: to do more of what I want at work, don’t I need to be doing less of everything else? 

Clients, that was a moment when I realized how blessed I am to have the partners I do. They asked me that question, and I could almost feel a load lifting from my shoulders as I shouted, “Heck yes!” 

You see, there are tasks that have long been on my plate because once upon a time, mine was the only plate. Parts of my role have included a lot of logistical overhead, the type of detail work that I don’t always enjoy having to do—especially if I could be talking with our clients or researching investments instead! 

All this is to say, there are some exciting organizational changes on the horizon. I’ve long believed that we are all better off working from our strengths and passions, and we’ve got a chance to reshuffle what goes on each of our plates. 

What will not change is the four-person collaborative ownership and management team that shapes the enterprise that works to take care of your business. I simply will get to spend more time doing the parts of the work that are most gratifying to me. 

We’re looking forward to less stress, and more joy, all around. And I’m excited. Stay tuned in the coming weeks: details are on the way! 

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What’s on the Horizon for 228 Main? – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

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