VFP In The Media (2nd Quarter of 2026)

Written by Jonathan Vance, CFP®, EA

You may already know this if you’re one of my clients, but I really do enjoy talking about retirement planning, taxes, low-cost diversified investing, and related topics. 

You’ll also notice that I’m passionate about radical transparency in the financial planning and wealth management profession. I take almost any chance that I get to advocate for other CFP® professionals to abandon older compensation models (such as more opaque commissions or percentage based charges) for what I believe is a more equitable and modern approach. 

If you’ve been reading my blog posts for the last few months, you’ll notice that this is the second edition of my ongoing series where I compile all of my media mentions from the prior quarter into one easy to read summary. 

You can look at the previous edition here. 

I’ll stop introducing there and get right into it. Below you’ll find brief summaries and links to articles and a podcast that I was able to contribute to in the second quarter of 2026. I’ll plan to continue making one summary post each quarter moving forward, and I hope you enjoy!

“Hot Topics” with Andy Panko and Jonathan Vance

By Andy Panko | Spotify | April 9, 2026

I had the opportunity to join my friend and fellow flat fee financial planner Andy Panko on his podcast, Retirement Planning Education. I have pasted the link to the Spotify audio episode, but you’re also welcome to watch the video version of this podcast on my about page. 

• The VFP Take: I can’t fully do this episode justice by trying to sum it up here since we talked for an hour and 35 minutes, but I’ll provide a bit of a teaser: We covered a wide assortment of topics from 2026 tax planning to safe retirement withdrawal rates to questions to ask when hiring a financial advisor. I’m biased, but I think it’s a good one!

You’re probably paying your financial adviser about 1%. Here’s exactly when that’s worth it - and when it’s not

By Alisa Wolfson | MarketWatch | May 28, 2026

This is the second of Alisa’s articles with this title that I’ve contributed to. There are lots of questions out there about whether or not a 1% assets under management fee is fair or reasonable in 2026. I provide my thoughts in this piece. 

• The VFP Take: I continue to advocate for the general public to have a thorough understanding of how much they’re paying for financial planning and/or wealth management services, and what they’re receiving in return. For those with large portfolios, either hiring an advisor with a flat fee arrangement or negotiating a considerable discount from the full 1% may save you thousands of dollars each year. 

The Retirement Equation: A CFP® Professional’s Financial Planning Guide from Ages 55 to 75

By Jonathan Vance | Flat Fee Advisors | June 4, 2026

Okay, this one might be cheating since this is a re-post of a blog that was originally published on my site. However, my friends at Flat Fee Advisors were kind enough to add it to their blog as well to reach a wider audience. 

• The VFP Take: The transition into retirement has long been a triggering point for people to seek financial advice. In this piece, I walk through varying topics that are generally on my (and my clients’) minds as they enter this age range. 

How Financial Advice Can Be Right, Yet Dangerously Wrong for You

By Opher Ganel | Wealthtender | June 12, 2026

I couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity to contribute to Opher’s piece here. In my opinion, this is one of the most important concepts in financial planning, and still widely misunderstood. Financial planning (and most things, if we’re being honest) is not a subject of broad education. Rather, to provide the most valuable answers, you need to start with context.

Now, as I’ll often mention, you don’t need loads of contextual information for basic decisions like selecting a good interest rate bearing account for your emergency fund. However, when you’re talking about a highly personalized equation such as “Is the amount of money I have saved adequate to take me through my personal view of retirement?”, you need various context points, not broad rules of thumb.

This is the reason on the front page of my website, I have bolded the words “tailored to you”. 

• The VFP Take: The angle I took for the sake of this article was helping the general public know when to spot bad advice that’s being given due to financial conflicts of interest being present. As Charlie Munger once said, “Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.” In today’s world, we’re unfortunately always being sold new “shiny things”, it’s up to us to determine which ones are fools gold and which are the real thing. 

Looking Ahead

That summarizes what I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in on the media front over the past few months. I’m looking forward to continuing contributing over the remainder of 2026. 

If you are a reporter, editor, run a podcast, or otherwise would like my contributions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email (my email address is on the bottom left corner of this page). I’d be happy to discuss if I can help. 

And if you liked this content, you can read my deep dives on taxes, investments, retirement, and more by clicking over to my blog.