In this episode of the Financial Harmony™ Podcast, Dr. Preston Cherry explores why so many smart financial decisions still feel heavy — and why the answer has less to do with optimization and more to do with control.

These conversations aren’t about tactics. They’re all responses to the same question: what actually reduces dependency when financial decisions start to matter more.

The conversation moves across three seemingly different topics that all point to the same truth:

Bitcoin, mortgage decisions, and even everyday preferences are all responses to uncertainty.

Dr. Cherry unpacks:

• Why Bitcoin decentralized rails, not power
• How the original decentralization belief shifted from ideology to utility
• What people misunderstand about “digital gold”
• Why paying off a mortgage isn’t about interest rates, but about buying flexibility
• How housing decisions shape retirement timing and healthcare planning
• Why accumulation matters — and why accumulation without direction creates anxiety
• How cultural signals, like the return of wired headphones, reflect a deeper desire for reliability over convenience

This episode isn’t about tactics.

It’s about understanding what actually reduces dependency, restores clarity, and supports well-being as financial decisions become more consequential.

If you’ve ever felt torn between “what pays more” and “what feels right,” this conversation helps explain why.

👉 Take the Retirement Readiness Scorecard:
https://concurrentfp.typeform.com/genx-scorecard

Explore more:
Financial Harmony™ Membership
https://www.concurrentfp.com/financial-harmony-membership/

Flat-fee, life-aligned financial planning
https://www.concurrentfp.com/

Subscribe for weekly episodes on money, meaning, and alignment.
Follow: @DrPrestonCherry

Gen X followed the rules.

Work hard.
Max the plan.
Delay gratification.
Trust the system.

And yet retirement feels fragile, spending feels wrong, and confidence in institutions keeps eroding.

This episode isn’t about interest rates.

It’s about what happens when a generation does “everything right” and still ends up boxed in. When retirement accounts solved accumulation but killed flexibility. When policy feels political, not procedural. When spending feels irresponsible even when money exists.

We unpack:

• Why Gen X feels hustled by the promise of high achievement and retirement accounts
• Why institutional trust is breaking down and what that signals beneath the surface
• Why gold, policy theatrics, and market behavior reflect confidence erosion, not panic
• Why spending guilt persists and what it reveals about control, identity, and choice

This is a conversation about money, culture, and judgment.
Not tactics. Not fear. Not hot takes.

If you’ve ever thought, “This wasn’t the deal,” this episode is for you.

👉 Take the Retirement Readiness Scorecard:
https://concurrentfp.typeform.com/genx-scorecard

Explore more:
Financial Harmony™ Membership
https://www.concurrentfp.com/financial-harmony-membership/

Flat-fee, life-aligned financial planning
https://www.concurrentfp.com/

Subscribe for weekly episodes on money, meaning, and alignment.
Follow: @DrPrestonCherry

High earners are often told they’ll be in a lower tax bracket in retirement.
For executives and business owners, that promise rarely holds up.

In this episode of the Financial Harmony™ Podcast, Dr. Preston Cherry breaks down why retirement taxes are often higher—and more complex—than people expect. While income may decline, taxable income often doesn’t, due to RMDs, taxable Social Security, Medicare IRMAA surcharges, and capital gains.

In this episode:

• Why “lower” doesn’t always mean low for high-income retirees.
• The hidden tax layers most retirement plans underestimate.
• Why retirement income is often lumpy, not smooth.
• Practical strategies for lifetime tax smoothing and withdrawal sequencing.

Segment highlights:

• The Wealth Word: Why the “low-tax retirement” idea persists
• The Signal: Cutting through noise, headlines, and false certainty in retirement planning
• The Money Move: How tax brackets really work in retirement and what to plan for instead
• Financial Harmony™: The financial and emotional investment we make in adult children—and how to audit it without guilt
• Culture Corner: Why this podcast paused, and how alignment—not hustle—brought it back

🎯 Start here:

Take the Gen X Retirement Readiness Scorecard
https://concurrentfp.typeform.com/genx-scorecard

Go deeper:

• Join the Financial Harmony™ Membership: https://www.concurrentfp.com/financial-harmony-membership/
• Explore flat-fee fiduciary planning with Concurrent Wealth Management: https://www.concurrentfp.com

Subscribe for weekly conversations on money, meaning, and life alignment.
@DrPrestonCherry