Special Guests

Travis Iles, Texas Securities Commissioner

Jason Williams, CFP(R), Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney

Managing your finances during retirement is like trying to land a helicopter in the wind--it requires accuracy, monitoring and caution. Texas Securities Commissioner Travis Iles advises retirees to steel themselves against unscrupulous brokers and precious metals hawkers who try to appeal to retirees’ greed and fear of losses. Financial planner Jason Williams says that the key to managing your money during retirement is to know exactly how much money will be coming in versus going out and to make sure your retirement investments achieve an optimal balance of capital protection and future growth potential. And while you can use online retirement planning calculators to get a ballpark estimate of how long your nest egg will last, these tools’ well-documented inaccuracies strengthen the case for working with an experienced fiduciary financial planner to address these critical issues and gain greater peace of mind.

Resources

• Establish an online Social Security account to estimate your monthly income: Link
• Texas Tech Study on the inaccuracy of online retirement planning tools: Link

NextAvenue articles on retirement planning

• Retiring on a shoestring: Link
• What retirees should do--and not do--If the stock market crashes: Link

Special Guest: Steve Vernon, Research Scholar, Stanford Center on Longevity: Link

Guest speaker Steve Vernon suggests that pre-retirees worried about their financial security adopt two mindsets: One, that it’s okay to start spending the money you’ve saved for retirement, and two, you may need to change your retirement investing objective from maximizing savings to generatng income. He also recommends that people delay applying for Social Security benefits as long as possible, since annual benefits are 8% higher for every year you delay taking benefits after you reach your full retirement age up to age 70. Pam, Richard and Terry also remind people that, outside of when they start taking Social Security benefits, nearly every decision they make about their financial life during retirement, from taking on a part-time job to generate extra income to revising their investment strategy, is reversible.

Resources

• Retirement Game-Changers: Strategies for a Healthy, Financially Secure, and Fulfilling Long Life, by Steve Vernon: Link
• Create your personal my Social Security account to receive estimates of your monthly benefits based on your earnings history: Link

Next Avenue articles on retirement income planning

• Social Security: Secrets, Myths and Misconceptions: Link
• How to Turn Your passions into Retirement Income: Link

In this episode of the Friends Talk Money podcast, the topic is debt and retirement. Co-host Richard Eisenberg — the managing editor of Next Avenue, the public media website for people 50+ — leads the discussion on the rising amount of debt held by retirees compared to the past and which types of debt cause the most stress for retirees.

Eisenberg interviews two experts:

One is Chris Farrell, a journalist and author (Purpose and a Paycheck) who focuses on personal finance and work topics for people 50+ in media outlets including Next Avenue and public radio’s Marketplace. He has recently been studying data about retirees and debt.

The other is Ohio State University professor Stephanie Moulton, co-author of a recent study on the relationship between debt and financial stress for older Americans: Debt Stress and Mortgage Borrowing in Older Age: Implications for Economic Security in Retirement.(https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/conference/pdf/2019RDRC%20P5%20Moulton.pdf)

The Next Avenue article, “The Hidden Retirement Crisis: Older Americans’ Debt,” https://www.nextavenue.org/retirement-older-americans-debt/) describes some of Farrell’s and Moulton’s insights.

Key statistics:

• The median total consumer debt of households headed by someone 65 or older in 2016 ($31,300) was 2 ½ times what it was in 2001 and nearly 4 ½ times the level in 1989.
• Some 60% of 65+ households carried debt in 2016, up markedly from about 42% in 1992.
• Stress resulting from a $1 increase in credit card debt, is the equivalent of stress due to a $14 to $20 increase in mortgage debt.

Special Guests:

• Stan Haithcock, aka “Stan the Annuity Man”
• Eric Lai, President, Archvest Wealth Advisors

The reputation of annuities as “guaranteed” income-generators for retirees has been shredded by countless horror stories of hidden fees, sky-high commissions and dishonest sales practices. We hear one such story from Lucian, a 37-year old investor who fell for a salesperson’s promises of “lifetime payments” and “money-doubling potential” and sank $400,000 of his life savings into a high-cost, low-return equity-indexed annuity. Fee-only fiduciary advisor Eric Lau, who is trying to help Lucian cancel his contract, advises that anyone considering purchasing any annuity should have an attorney review any contract and/or consult with an objective investment professional to discuss other retirement-income options.

Resources

• Objective, factual insights on annuities from “Stan the Annuity Man” Haithcock Link
• The Society for Annuity Facts & Education, Inc Link
• Annuity Consumer Alert from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Link

NextAvenue articles on annuities (and other retirement income options)

• Cautions about Buying Annuities for Retirement (Episode recap) Link
• What Could Help Americans Manage Their Retirement Money Link

Special guests

• Lori Trawinski, Director of Banking and Finance at the AARP Public Policy Institute
• Peter Bell, CEO of the National Reverse Lender Association

Pam and Richard remember the days when reverse mortgages were hawked like Ab Crunchers on late-night infomercials. But tighter regulations have now made them a legitimate source of supplemental tax-free income for seniors who wish to remain in their homes until their deaths. In fact, Terry helped her father get a reverse mortgage in that enabled him to live in his retirement condominium until he passed away at age 96. But it’s not a decision to be taken lightly, and the federal government has established safeguards to ensure that potential applicants and their families fully understand both the benefits and risks of this often misunderstood option.

Resources

• Reverse mortgage resources at the AARP Public Policy Institute: Link
• National Reverse Mortgage Association guides and tools: Link
• Home Equity Conversion Mortgage information at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Link

NextAvenue articles on Reverse Mortgages

• Should You Get One of the New Reverse Mortgages? Link
• Using Your Home Equity for Aging in Place: Link