Godsey & Gibb Wealth Management

Most people compare advisors on their fee schedule and stop there, but the advisory fee is often just one line of a longer bill. Fund expense ratios, tax drag from year-end capital gains distributions, and what your idle cash is actually earning can all add real cost that never shows up next to the number you're quoted.

We broke down three of the most common hidden layers, and how we handle each differently at Godsey & Gibb.

Read it here: https://www.godseyandgibb.com/fees-for-financial-advice/

Divorce is hard enough without the tax return surprises that show up years later.

When wealth is involved, splitting assets isn't just about who gets the house. A stock portfolio and an equal amount of cash and retirement funds might look identical on paper, but very different after taxes. Retirement accounts need to be divided correctly (a QDRO for 401(k)s, different rules for IRAs) to avoid unintended tax hits. And if you were married 10+ years, your ex-spouse's Social Security benefit may still be on the table.

We put together a guide on the financial side of divorce for households with significant assets, including what to know at the start, how to divide accounts without a tax surprise later, and how to rebuild your plan once it's final.

Read it here: https://www.godseyandgibb.com/divorce-financial-planning/

Proud to be a Small Business Partner of the Clemson Tigers™.

We're honored to stand alongside these student-athletes as they represent Clemson on and off the field. Same values we bring to our clients: showing up, doing the work, and building something real over time.

Clemson Athletics

Turning 73 soon? The IRS has an opinion about your retirement accounts, whether you're ready to spend that money or not.

Required Minimum Distributions catch a lot of people off guard. You spent decades contributing to your 401(k) or IRA, and now the rules flip: the government requires you to start withdrawing a calculated amount each year, and missing that deadline comes with a steep penalty.

The tricky part isn't just knowing the RMD exists. It's understanding how those withdrawals interact with your tax bracket, your Social Security benefits, and your Medicare premiums, sometimes years before your first RMD is even due.

We put together a guide covering what triggers an RMD, how the amount is calculated, and strategies to consider before the rule catches up with you.

Read it here: https://www.godseyandgibb.com/rmd-rules-strategies/

Your financial advisor may be a fiduciary and still have incentives that don't fully align with your best interest.

Being a fiduciary means your advisor is legally required to put your interests first, but it doesn't eliminate every conflict. An advisor can be a fiduciary and still work for a firm that owns proprietary investment products. They can be a fiduciary and still have year-end bonuses tied to how many clients they moved into certain products. They can be a fiduciary and still have upward mobility at their firm depend on cross-selling you into insurance or lending products you may not need.

None of that necessarily violates the fiduciary obligation. But all of it can influence the advice you receive without you ever knowing.

We wrote a breakdown of how fiduciary responsibility works, what it guarantees, and what it doesn't.

https://www.godseyandgibb.com/fiduciary-responsibility/