From Anxiety to Empowerment: Beating Longevity Risk in LGBTQ+ Retirement

Episode 71: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 71: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Speaker2:
Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement, the podcast dedicated to helping members of the LGBTQ+ community protect and grow their hard earned money. Get set for a show full of education and insights with your host and advisor, Matt McClure. We recognize every family is unique. The goal of the show is to help you achieve financial freedom so you and your loved ones can have the retirement you've always dreamed of, a retirement you can take pride in, no matter who you are, where you're from, or who you love. So now let's start the show. Here's Matt McClure.

Speaker1:
Hello and welcome to another edition of Take Pride in retirement. Matt McClure here with you, your host, your advisor, your friend, your pal and your confidant. Thanks so much for being a part of things this time around, as always. You know, this is the show where we help members of the LGBTQ plus community protect and grow their hard earned money so that you can retire with with clarity, with confidence and with pride. And I am so glad that you are a part of things today. I really do appreciate it. One note here off the top, um, there are, you know, Pride Month was back in June, but in the Atlanta area where I am, there are a lot of pride related events this month. As a matter of fact, I just was at one end of September, kind of the end of September, middle ish to end of September, and now I have two pride events coming up this month. I'm going to be at, um, West Georgia Pride in Carrollton. Uh, that's out at the University of West Georgia at their, um, student center, the campus center there, um, on Saturday. And then that's Saturday, the 4th of October, by the way, and then the following weekend, um, for two days, Saturday and Sunday, I'll be at Atlanta Pride, have a booth there in the marketplace. So come by and say hi if you're in the Atlanta area. Also, if you're watching the video version of the show, I am going to show you this.

Speaker1:
It is the new version of the t shirt to the Take Pride in Retirement t shirt right there. Uh, and my thanks to Shelby Todd, who really designed it and did such a great job. Um, I've got a few of these, if you would like one, just reach out to me. Go to take pride in retirement comm and fill out the contact form there, and it'll just send me an email and you can say, hey, I'd like one of these, I'll get back to you. And, and, um, we'll see about sending you one there. As long as I have one in your size or the size close to what you will wear. Um, but, yeah, we'll we can do that again. Take pride in retirement. Com is the website, um, if you'd like. Uh, by the way, give me a call 85524692 11 855246 9211. I mean, you can ask me about the t shirt. You can also ask me about a free consultation for, um, you know, your retirement plan for your overall financial plan, whatever your needs might be. We'll take a look at it, go through it with a fine tooth comb. I'll talk more about that as the show goes on here. But I wanted to share about the pride events coming up and about the t shirt. That is very, very cool. If you're just listening to the audio version, it is purple, like the shirt from last year, but it has a new design on the front that's kind of like a faded take pride.

Speaker1:
Um, like it fades in and it's got, I don't know, it's really cool. It's kind of a little bit difficult to describe, at least for me, because, you know, I'm, uh, may talk for a living, but maybe I, uh, am not that great with words sometimes. Um, but, um, it's a it's a cool shirt. And if you'd like one, reach out to me and I'll, um. I'll be glad to send you one, if at all humanly possible. All right, so on today's show, we're going to talk a lot about longevity. Yeah. People are living longer. And the big concern there is how do I make my money last for my entire life? Like, how do I have more money than life? Um, instead of more life than money? Because that's. That would not be a good situation. Um, and if you do have kids, you know, even the LGBTQ plus community, a lot of people still do have kids. Or they have nieces, nephews or other people chosen family that you want to pass money along to, making sure that you can do that. Um, and this whole longevity conversation is part of that as well. You know, making sure that you don't run out of money, uh, during your lifetime so that you have some left over to then leave a legacy, whatever legacy you know, you want to leave behind.

Speaker1:
So, um, there's all of that. We're going to talk about the fear of running out of money. Uh, we're going to talk about longevity risk and exactly what that is. Some of the old rules for income in retirement and making your money last, that may or may not be the best rules to follow still these days. We'll have a little bit of an inflation demonstration. We're going to talk about Social Security some it's a lot to get to. And it's great, great stuff here on this edition of the show. Also, I'm going to talk to a wonderful guest from AARP, um, about technology. And I'll kind of start off the show with that here after the quote of the week in just a moment. But I'm going to talk to him about the use of technology and kind of how to keep yourself safe online. Um, as Tom Kamber with AARP. And he's got some great advice there about how to keep yourself safe online, about how to use technology, but doing it in a responsible way. And they actually have some really actionable steps that you can take via their challenge that they have sort of like, you know, keeping your it's your digital house cleaning challenge, I believe they call it. Um, and so I'm going to share that conversation with you right after we get some inspiration for our conversation this week, and we'll do that, as always with our quote of the week.

Speaker3:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker1:
And this week's quote comes from civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ ally Angela Davis, who said this you have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world, and you have to do it all the time. Boy, great words there from Angela Davis. You know, I mean, because in retirement and when it comes to retirement planning, you might not be transforming the whole world, but you can transform your own future. You can transform your retirement years. You can transform your life in general, and you can do that one informed decision at a time. And are you going to make mistakes along the way? Yes, we all do. We all screw up? That's just how life goes, you know? But at the same time, working with a professional on your financial future, helping you control the things that you can control. And yeah, you can control your financial future no matter what your situation is. As I always say, no matter who you are, where you come from, who you love, how you identify, or how much money you have, you deserve a retirement you can take pride in. And that is what I love to do for people, is give them that confidence that they can have that retirement, that they can take pride in and know you may not be changing the world with that action. This day and age, it can feel overwhelming. All the things that are going on in the world. And so, you know, believing though, that you can change the world and act as if that is possible is great. And that's great advice there from Angela Davis.

Speaker1:
But when we take that and apply it to your own personal life and your situation, your financial situation, Control the things you can control, basically. Um, she just has a lot more eloquent way of saying that than I do. Than I do. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's it's pretty straightforward control those things that you can control. And if you have questions, if you have needs, if you have concerns, contact a professional like myself. I'm a fiduciary. Uh, my financial advisory work. I have to act in your best interests. And so that's what I love to do. So 855246 9211 is the number (855) 246-9211. Or you can go to the website take pride in retirement.com. Once again take pride in retirement.com technology is integrated everywhere into our lives these days. And uh, you know getting your kind of your digital house in order is so important, especially when it comes to your data privacy and, and all of those things. And joining me to talk more about that is Tom Kamber. He is executive director of Older Adults Technology Services, or Ot's Oats from AARP. Tom, thanks so much for taking some time for me, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me today. I know that you all have done some some research there, specifically regarding older Americans and kind of how they feel about using technology. There seem to be a lot of concerns about digital privacy, kind of the digital footprint that people leave behind. What does your research really show there as you kind of get into the numbers?

Speaker4:
Well, the two big trends are, on the one hand, a lot of older folks are really using technology a lot. The device ownership has gone up. Online subscriptions have gone up. People are you know, more than two thirds of older adults are using technology and getting a lot of benefit from it. But what we're finding is that people are not doing the kind of back end maintenance tasks that make sure that everybody is able to stay safe and protect themselves. And so we did a survey recently and found that two thirds of people over 50 that responded have not saved any digital documents, anywhere securely, and when we asked why, they said they just weren't quite sure how to do that and many of them just hadn't gotten around to it.

Speaker1:
Yeah, and it's super important. I mean, you know, I feel like, um, maybe the more time goes on, I feel like sort of anecdotally, anyway, the digital divide gets narrower and narrower, but there still seems to be a pretty big gap there. According to this research, people not really knowing how to back up those documents and things. What are the kind of things that technology can help people with, you know, that older Americans might not be taking advantage of. I mean, you sort of alluded to a couple there.

Speaker4:
Well, there's really a silver lining here with the technology, because the thing it allows us to do for the most, I mean, to begin with, it allows us to do a much better job of storing our information and keeping keeping it in an organized way. I know when I was a kid and, you know, was growing up in a household of, uh, you know, older folks, we had a lot of documents stored in boxes in the attic and files in the basement. And you know, when there's a flood or there's a problem or you need that, you need to get your hands on things quickly. Uh, it's really a nightmare. Well, the digital era gives us a chance to store things and put them securely in a online folders. It allows us to keep those documents indefinitely. And most importantly, it allows us to protect them with passwords and also grant access to other people in our family or even caregivers if we need medical support. And so there's just a lot more in the tool chest for us here these days. And frankly, you know, for people when imagine, for example, that you become ill, you need to share your, um, health documents in terms of your insurance or your treatments or medications. Um, if you've set up the proper access for things like that, it really allows you to, to focus on getting better instead of worrying that people are not able to get the information they need.

Speaker1:
Yeah. And it does just make things so, so much easier there. And so what can people do? I mean, older Americans especially. What are maybe some steps that they can take to make better use of technology. But you know, and really to, you know, put their digital house in order I guess.

Speaker4:
Well, we we took it right to as a, as a real, um, we took it to heart when people said they had a hard time getting started. And so we put together a website specifically devoted to this. Uh, it's a page. It's called the digital House Cleaning Challenge. And, uh, we created the site. It's on Senior Planet for house cleaning. And what we put on that page is just a five day challenge. It's A55 steps. They're designed for older adults, and they're they don't require any special technology knowledge or skill. And everything is free, right? And so the first day when you go there, uh, the first step is to look at your app permissions, and that really asks you to take a look on your phone and see which apps you're using and And consider how those apps are set. You can actually go to the settings and you can change who they're allowed to share information with to limit that so that you're not being tracked all the time. A second day focuses on password management and helping you sign up for password manager software. If you want to use that. A third day focuses on your social media, which is really important for us these days. You know, you've got, uh, who has access to your social settings and your, your, your posts. And then finally, we focus for two days on digital documents, how to store them and how to use a digital vault, which is a new technology that allows people to have more security for those documents and to share them more, uh, more intentionally.

Speaker1:
And that's great, too, that it really, um, is kind of this proactive thing on AARP's part and on this, you know, if you take this challenge, you get those reminders every day to take that next step, to take that next step. And I think that really, um, should be helpful to a lot of folks as well.

Speaker4:
Yeah. That's right. It's meant to be one of these things. You know, we all know that, uh, there's stuff we should be doing in our lives that we put off, right? But if you do it with a friend, or you get somebody to remind you that often is all we need to get us started. And once you're doing it, it actually goes pretty well and pretty fast. And we've got a hotline set up for people. So and we also have those reminders. As you mentioned, you can sign up for your email reminder every day to get you coming back to it. And it'll get you done in just a week of setting at it and working with it a little bit. And it'll it'll take a real load off your shoulders and know that you are, first of all, taking care of all your own information. And also it means that you're not likely to be a burden to other people if something goes wrong and you haven't prepared all the information, that really kind of needs to be there.

Speaker1:
Yeah, just a lot of peace of mind for folks. And, you know, really just getting this done I think is so, so important. And as you say, getting started is kind of the the biggie here. You know, if you take that first step, you really go a long way toward getting your digital house in order. Um, and remind us once again of that website, and maybe where people can go to find out more.

Speaker4:
Yes, it's a senior planet dot slash housecleaning. Digital housecleaning is all one word there. So just senior planet. Housecleaning. And when you go there, you'll see all the information right on the page. It's easy to to access. And remember there is that hotline. You know, it's very helpful sometimes to just pick up the phone and call somebody if you have a question. So we've we've set that up as well. And AARP supports all of this. So it's really designed to be really appropriate for anybody over 50.

Speaker1:
All right. Very good. Well um, Tom Kamber with AARP, uh, he is the director of Older Adults Technology Services, or Ot's there at AARP. Tom, thanks so much. Really do appreciate your time. Once again.

Speaker4:
Thanks for having us today.

Speaker1:
All right, so on to kind of the meat of the show here. And we're going to talk about the fear factor. And no, I'm not gonna make you like eat scorpions or put your, you know, hand in a fishbowl full of spiders or anything like that. Not that kind of fear factor. I'm talking about the fear of running out of money. And we've seen survey after survey after survey, um, over the years that have shown this. So, you know, I would cite one particular survey, but there have been multiple ones that show that retirees pre-retirees fear running out of money even more than death itself. I mean, it's just a fact of the, you know, concern that people have for running out of money. And it's not as if the, you know, it's not as if things have changed so much in necessarily people's attitudes toward the actual planning process. I think people have always sort of, by and large, been overwhelmed by the planning process for retirement and been, you know, kind of just, I don't know, a little bit scared of that, a little bit scared of the planning process, but they're scared even more of running out of money before they run out of life. And so we've got a couple of different stats here to share with you. Um, Gen X is actually the generation that leads the way in their fear of running out of money. 70%, according to Investment News, say that their top financial fears are running out of money.

Speaker1:
That's compared with 66% of millennials and 61% of the baby boomer generation, 45% of workers ages 50 and over, outliving savings and investments as their greatest retirement fear among retirees. That's 32% the greatest retirement fear. Um, that's from the Transamerica Institute, and 62% of older adults have already cut spending on essentials like groceries and medical care due to rising costs. And that's from nmla that particular stat. And so, you know, I mean, this is it's a it's a concern. It is something that we, you know, need to not just be Debbie Downer about and be like, oh, well, you know, I'm just scared of this and I can't do anything about it. No, you can if you plan. I mean, you know, for LGBTQ+ retirees especially, that fear of running out of money can even be more pronounced. I mean, we often face unique challenges. A lot of the times higher health care costs, a greater reliance on personal savings, the responsibility of supporting chosen family members or those chosen family members supporting us. And so, without a plan, our dollars and cents can disappear faster than you would like. And so, you know, extending your retirement. This is kind of crazy. Extending your retirement by just five years raises the chance of depleting your savings by more than 40%. And so if you want just one sort of quick tip here, it's to always plan for longer than you think you're going to live, not shorter, right? Planned for.

Speaker1:
You know, if you want to say, okay, I'm going to plan, I'm going to live to be 110. I would much rather you do that than say, I'm going to plan to live to 80 because, yeah, 110. You might not make it. People are living longer these days, even post-Covid. But the, you know, the chances of you living to 110 not that great. But if you only plan to 80 boy on your 81st birthday, that's not going to be a happy birthday for you. So if you would like a plan that is good no matter what, no matter how long you think you're going to live, and no matter how long your your parents lived or your other relatives lived, taking all of the things in your life into account and looking at your your life expectancy, looking at your health, looking at your financial health, and getting all of the things in order that you can. Controlling the things that you can control If you want to plan that accounts for all of those, and make sure that you are going to have income for the rest of your life, I encourage you to give me a call 85524692 11 (855) 246-9211 or go to take pride in retirement.com. So you know we we talk about this this concept of living longer than your money. And that really is kind of the wonky sort of phrase for it is longevity risk.

Speaker1:
Right. It's you know, there are a lot of different risks that we face, financially speaking. And as you're as I've studied these things, to become a financial advisor, you learn a lot about these different kinds of risks. You know, you've got legislative risks. We've seen I haven't seen a lot of that in Washington. Um, this this particular year and in this past week, as a matter of fact. Um, so you've got like legislative risk, you've got regulatory risk, you've got, uh, risk of, you know, the market. So market risk. One of the others is longevity risk. And that simply put is the fear or the risk rather of outliving your money. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I believe is where this came from. Or the Census Bureau, I think is the Census Bureau actually came out with this. Let me make sure that I'm telling you the right thing. Um, actually, no, this was the I got another one from the, uh, another agency in just a minute. This one's from the Social Security Administration. So the Social Security Administration. I'm human. Yeah, the Social Security Administration says a 65 year old American today can expect, on average, to live another 20 years or so into their mid 80s. So that's why another reason I'm saying if you're, you know, in your 60s or whatever, and you're only plan until the age of 80, uh, yeah.

Speaker1:
Not going to be so good because on average, according to the federal government, you can expect to live another about 20 years or so. And women, especially LGBTQ+ women, face a higher risk because they tend to live longer than men. So even on average, we'll live longer than than the guys out there. And often we'll spend more years widowed or single later on in life. And here's the issue, though only about a little more than a third of adults even understand the financial implications of longevity and of that risk. You know, planning for 25 years used to be the thing, because that was sort of a little bit higher than, than average, the amount of time you would spend in retirement. So if you plan for 25 years and you live for 35, that's a recipe for disaster, a recipe for running short and more years retired means more years of inflation. You got more years of healthcare, more long term care costs to pile up as well. And so kind of a quick tip there is to come up with a plan that blends growth, protection and guaranteed income. And that way your money lasts as long as you do. And those are the kinds of plans that I love to come up with. For folks. Everybody's situation is different, right? Like no two people are the same. And especially in the LGBTQ plus community, I mean, the symbol is a rainbow, uh, for, for crying out loud.

Speaker1:
So we've got all the colors of the rainbow, all different walks of life, all different identities and all of those things. And so we come from different places. That means different financial, um, realities for us. And I love putting together, taking people's unique situations and then saying, okay, here's what you've got. Let's analyze that. Let's see where this would lead you. Let's project things out and say, okay, hypothetically, if you keep this particular investment allocation into the future until you're 95, what could that look like? What's the most likely scenario for that? And then we'll say, okay, can we do better than that? Can we move things around? Can we start putting more money in one particular place over another? Can we make some different decisions so that in the future you have a more secure retirement, you have income that's going to be around as long as you are. You have the proper amount of growth means you're taking the right amount of risk for your particular situation, and you have the right amount of protection. You know, you've been working for however many number of years. You've put so much money away. It's in your 401 K or your IRA or whatever other plan TSP if you're a federal employee, whatever the situation might be for you, if you've been working so hard and doing all of those things for so long. Why would you want to put that money at too much risk? Protect what you already have.

Speaker1:
Protect what you've worked so hard for. Still get a good amount of growth in that protected money, or at least the potential for a good amount of growth in that protected money. And then with a different portion of your portfolio, you know, still, you know, be maybe a little bit more aggressive there, get more growth. So you've got the growth side, you've got the protection side, and then you've got a switch that you can flip and turn on some guaranteed income for the rest of your life. And so you've got a guaranteed income stream, you've got a pot of money in your retirement years and you've got Social Security. You've made your own three legged stool. That used to be the whole big thing. You know, three legged stool of retirement was a pension, Social security and whatever you had saved up. Well, pensions have gone the way of the dinosaur, right? So you've a two legged stool and is not going to stand up for long. Is she gonna she gonna be wobbly, y'all. And so, you know, you don't want that three legged stool to turn into a two legged stool, and then you're sitting there without any sort of security in retirement. So replace that pension with a pension of your own, one that you create, and I can help you do that. Take pride in retirement. Com is the website that's take pride in retirement.

Speaker1:
Com. Now I mentioned at the top of the show we're going to talk about some some of the old rules that were out there. And um, one of them, you know, we sort of talk about and this is one that's called the 4% rule. I think of it today more like the 4% guideline or suggestion maybe idea, I don't know. Um, but you've probably heard of that if you've thought about retirement planning or retirement income. Um, if that's been on your radar. Lord, I just got a Britney song in my head. On my radar. Um, but if that's been on your radar at any point in in time, you've probably heard about this 4% rule, and it's the old guideline that says you can withdraw 4% of your savings each year in retirement and be okay. The idea sort of being, you know, four, 4% to get to 100 like four goes into 100. How many times? Thank you in the back of the class 25. So that's basically planning for 40 or for 20 or 40, Lord, for 25 years of retirement if you don't have any growth. Right. And so that's kind of what I was alluding to earlier, is that it used to be you just plan for about 25 years of retirement. That's it. But that is because people are living longer. Not so much a good idea today. There's a analysis from Morningstar. Morningstar has all kinds of analyses that they run.

Speaker1:
One of the previous episodes of the show. I actually talked to somebody from Morningstar, and you can go back and watch or listen to that if you want to, because she had some great insights about the LGBTQ+ community in particular. And, you know, I mean, Morningstar's latest analysis suggests not a 4% rule, but really like a 3.3% rule, kind of more realistic in today's world. And then, you know, you have to think also, so many people in this country rely solely on Social Security. But that can really, especially these days when the future of Social Security is so uncertain here that can leave dangerous, dangerous gaps in your income. You know, you want to obviously have more coming in than going out every month. And so if you're only relying on Social Security, that's probably not even going to cover your bills every month. And your, your other living expenses, your food, your, you know, um, keeping keeping four walls around you and a roof over your head and all that kind of thing, not to mention repairs on the house or whatever, the repairs on the car, whatever the situation might be. And for LGBTQ plus retirees who are less likely to have traditional pensions, it's especially risky. That's why I said earlier, let me help you create your own personal pension. And there are a couple of different ways we can do that. And I would love to talk you through those different ways that we can do that.

Speaker1:
Take pride in retirement. Com is the website by the way. Um, so yeah, I mean there's, there are those old rules like the 4% rule, um, that really don't necessarily apply today because of the longevity issue, because we are living longer, you need to not withdraw as high a percentage each year so that that money can last longer. It's kind of that simple. Now there are some other quote unquote rules that you might be able to still follow today, or at least use those as more effective guidelines. There's like the rule of 100, which is one that I like as a general guideline for people because it says take your age and subtract it from the number 100, and whatever's left over is the amount of money that you should have at risk in the market at any given time. Um, and of course, there are different factors in there that could have an effect on this. If you are someone who has a higher tolerance for risk, you want to shoot for the moon, that kind of thing. Maybe you can take a little bit more risk than what this would suggest, but the idea being that the older you get, the less risk you take, because the closer you get to retirement, the less runway you have to make up before you take off into retirement. Blue sky the less runway you have to make up for any losses that you might experience.

Speaker1:
So you put more money in in a protected part of your portfolio. Protect what you've earned, right the closer you get to retirement still takes some risk, but with a lesser percentage of your overall portfolio. And that really is what it is. So, you know, if you're 40, you subtract that from 100, you got 60. Well, 60% of your portfolio can be at risk in the market. That's that guideline, right. Flip that around. If you're 60, only 40% should be at risk and the rest of it should be protected. So but you also need to maintain some flexibility. That's why I say it's a guideline and not and not a hard and fast rule. Right. So you got to have a flexible plan, one that mixes growth investments with the guaranteed income that I talked about, maybe some tax smart withdrawals as well. We can talk about things like Roth conversions and that sort of thing, having some flexibility there, but still knowing that you have a plan in place that no matter what happens, you're going to have that guaranteed income and you're going to be set up for success. That adapts better to the reality of today. Really, the old rules can serve, as I say, as that that kind of benchmark, maybe a guideline or a suggestion, but they're not a blueprint. They're not to be followed. Exactly. Letter for letter. Number for number. Right.

Speaker5:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going? It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Speaker1:
So an inflation demonstration here for you is that, you know, inflation over time is really something to worry about. It's a it's a big deal. Um, see, I told you I was a wordsmith. It's an inflation. Big deal. Yes. It is. Um, well, that's the show. Good night. Everybody know? Um, something else, though, that works against retirees is inflation. It's kind of like a silent thief, you know, coming in and and eating away at the money that you have there. Well, you look, you may look at your accounts. You may look at your 401 K, you may look at Gets your IRA or whatever other investments that you might have in a bank, CD or whatever it might be, and say, oh, well, that's growing, that's good. But how much is it growing? And is it outpacing inflation? Because that's really what you got to do. Otherwise the numbers yeah, they may be going up the numbers on paper in that IRA at 400 K. They may be going up. But if inflation is going up faster than that money is increasing, then you're in a bad way because that money doesn't go as far as it used to. And so that's why it's kind of a silent thief. You don't really see it necessarily on paper, but you really will feel it in the future. It kind of slowly erodes that buying power year after year, and it hits the LGBTQ plus community particularly hard.

Speaker1:
You know, studies show that LGBTQ plus retirees often face higher health care costs, fewer family based caregiving options, making the pressure even more intense on LGBTQ+ people. And, you know, even though Social Security's cost of living adjustments, they can help because they're tied to a particular index of inflation and indexed to inflation each and every year, they don't really fully keep up most of the time. Um, there's a there's a bit of a lag, you know, based on when the calculation is announced. Usually it's like mid-October for the following year and then but then, you know, what? If there's some big event or something that happens that drives inflation way up the last quarter of the year, then you're not really, you know, at any kind of advantage. You're better off than you would have been. But are you really you know, and so the cost of living adjustment or the Cola, it helps, but it doesn't necessarily keep up fully, especially with things like health care and housing costs rising faster than average costs overall. And so one thing that you can do and look at here, and I can look at that with you as we go through with your particular situation with a fine tooth comb is build an income stream that rises with inflation. You know, there may be a particular type of indexed annuity, a fixed indexed annuity or growth oriented asset with some downside protection. And that way you're not falling behind.

Speaker1:
You do have something that is tied to a marker of inflation that goes up, or you have something that based on the growth and the underlying asset goes up. Um, you know, that is a possibility. And some of those things can be guaranteed. Some of those things cannot be guaranteed because they might be more market based or whatever. Point is, there are options. And that's what I like to give. People are options. You know, it's not like you just go into, um, you know, when you go to a restaurant, some places are like, if you've ever been to a certain cheesecake place, um, they can do the menu. And it's like a, it's a, it's a novel. It's war and peace. They said they plunk it down on, on the table in front of you and you're like, oh my gosh, it'll be three hours before I know what I want to eat because there are so many different options. That is the opposite of, you know, you go into a restaurant and there are three things on the menu and you're like, well, okay, are you going to a restaurant? And it's like, it's one of those pre-fix menus, and maybe you've got a couple of choices for, um, the entree, but it comes with the same appetizer, the salad and dessert. Everybody gets the same thing. But maybe you have a little choice for the entree. That's it.

Speaker1:
That's the only flexibility you have. That's not the way I like to work. I also don't like to overwhelm people with war and peace novel, you know, down on the table in front of them. But I like to give you as many options as possible. The ones that I think are best for you, based on research that I do, based on the education that I have and all the things that I have done to get to this point in my, in my life. And so that is kind of in a nutshell, what I like to do for people is give you the options so that then you can be confident that a, you understand what in the world is going on with your retirement plan, and b you're comfortable with your retirement plan going forward. You are confident you are more secure. You have all of the things that you need to make it, not only make it not only survive in retirement, but thrive in retirement. And that is my goal. No matter who you are, where you come from, who you love, how you identify, or how much money you have, take pride in retirement. Com is the website the consultation, by the way. Free. Absolutely free of any cost. There is no obligation. Take pride in retirement. Com. All right. So we talked about Social Security briefly. And I wanted to just briefly kind of come back to something on Social Security here for a moment.

Speaker1:
Um it can be the backbone of people's retirement income. And I think too often people rely solely on Social Security, as I said earlier. But to get the most out of it, you got to know some of the rules. And I am, by the way, uh, an RSA that's a registered social security analyst. I have particular tools in my tool belt that can analyze your situation. We'll take your earnings record directly from the Social Security Administration. Plug it in, plug in the numbers and your information, your life expectancy and all of the things. And then come up with the optimized plan that is best for you. Could it be waiting all the way until age 70 so that you max out your benefit. You delay taking your benefit from Social Security until age 70 that you get the maximum monthly benefit. That way, you know, full retirement age for most people right now is going to be 67. For most people who haven't retired yet is going to be 67 at the current time. Um, you wait beyond that age 68, 69, 70, you get basically an 8% increase in your monthly payout, your monthly paycheck, your monthly direct deposit. However you want to think about it each and every year that you delay, there's no point in waiting beyond 70, uh, because it doesn't go up beyond that, beyond that point. But is it always the case that age 70 is the best option? A lot of times maybe it is, especially if you have a long if you have a long life expectancy.

Speaker1:
But if maybe you have some health issues, some concerns there, or if your people just don't live as long, than you might want to look at that and say, maybe, okay, well, my life expectancy not quite as long as maybe some others. I'm not going to live to be 150. So maybe I should, you know, take at full retirement age. Maybe I should take my benefit at 68 or 69. It can be different for everybody, and even people with similar financial situations based on life expectancy and other factors can be completely different. And so what you want to know too is some of the other like different rules and regulations that go along with things. You've got spousal benefits there, you've got survivor benefits. Those are especially important. And an ex spousal benefit if you were married for at least ten years and you're currently single, you can potentially claim and get up to 50% of your ex spouse's current benefit amount. Doesn't affect them at all. Doesn't have any impact on their benefit. It could be, though, that you could benefit, especially if you were the lower earner of the two during the time that you were married. And so it wasn't really this is the other part to that. You got to remember, it wasn't until fairly recently that LGBTQ+ couples even had full and equal access to those benefits.

Speaker1:
Now claiming strategies like delaying benefits, as I was mentioning, maximizing spousal options or filling in those 35 highest earning years can mean tens of thousands of extra dollars over a lifetime. What do I mean by those 35 highest earnings years? Well, those are the one. The ones those are they or them or something? Um, the 35 years of your highest earnings are the ones that the Social Security Administration will use to calculate your benefit. And so you want to make sure that you have at least 35 years of work experience, that you've had income and you don't want any zeros in there. You know, it's kind of like in school. Well, if you make a 100 on your quiz one day and then the next day you make a zero, that that's only a 50. You know, you don't want the zeros in there because they they count. They do count against you. And so if you make sure that you have 35 years of income at least and, um, that you earn as much as you, you possibly can during those years, then you really can see tens of thousands or maybe even more of extra dollars over a lifetime just by understanding that, just by understanding, oh, I can delay my benefit and get a higher monthly amount, or I'm eligible for potentially up to 50% of my spouse or ex-spouse's benefits under certain circumstances, and then survivor benefits as well.

Speaker1:
You know, if you have a spouse and you're both getting Social Security, that one spouse passes away. Let's say they are the higher earner of the two. So they're getting the larger Social Security check every month. You keep their benefit that like basically sort of passes down to you in a way you keep the higher benefit of the two regardless. If you're the higher earner. You keep your benefit, your spouse's benefit goes away. Um, if you are the lower earner, you get your spouse's benefit because it was a higher dollar amount. So whichever is the higher dollar amount, that's the one that stays. And so you got to understand all of these things. I've taken the time to get the certification as an RSA to make sure that I know these things, so that I can then analyze your situation with Social Security and help you make the right decision for you, for yourself. And so you got to run kind of those multiple what if scenarios. And the right claiming strategy can help preserve your savings for longer as well, because then you may not have to dip into them, right? Or at least not as soon or not as often. If you've got more Social Security income coming your way, if you would like. By the way, I can run an RSA roadmap for you. That's the the analysis, the kind of Social Security optimization report that, that I like to do for folks.

Speaker1:
Um, just reach out to me, take pride in retirement. That's take pride in retirement comm. You can also give me a call 855246 9211 (855) 246-9211. And on the website, by the way, do a couple of things. They're getting in touch with me. You can just use the contact form. That's fine. It sends me an email directly to my inbox. Or you can actually schedule a consultation that free consultation with me directly in the, um, website there. Just click on schedule consultation. It's that easy. It's right up at the top of the screen. Click on that button and it'll take you to my calendar and you'll see my real time availability. So I want to sort of leave you with this last little part here. And that is, you know, we've been talking a lot about this, a little bit doom and gloom. I don't think it's been too bad, but a little bit doom and gloom. But I want to I want to turn the fear of outliving your money into something positive, into a feeling of freedom. Right. And so all of these challenges, how do you how do you turn all of these things like longevity, risk, inflation, those old rules into a retirement that you can actually enjoy? Well, the first thing that you do is you start with the basics, right. You cover your essentials, those essential expenses, the things like, you know, keeping the roof over your head, keeping the power on, keeping the water coming out the pipes and all that stuff and keeping food to eat on the table.

Speaker1:
Um, cover those essential expenses with guaranteed income sources if you've got a pension. Lucky you. You are in the minority, a very small minority, and getting smaller these days. That's great if you've got a personal pension or if you want to create one, contact me because I can help you create one. And then Social Security, of course, as well. Use your portfolio so your investment portfolio for growth and then for any sort of lifestyle extras, things that you want to do, a big trip that you want to take, you want to go on a tour of six weeks in Europe. Wonderful. Do it. Have take that out of your investment portfolio, perhaps. But you've got you know, you can do that because you've got these guaranteed income streams that are paying all the basics. So that's number one. And and the key is to have it all down in writing to have a plan that is in writing. So you know what is going on. You have that confidence to say I have this plan. It is here in my hand in black and white on this paper, or it's on a PDF on my computer, whatever the case may be these days. Um, but get a written plan because it doesn't just map out your money, it can restore peace of mind.

Speaker1:
And that's the best gift that I love. Giving people is peace of mind. When I come up with a plan for folks and they I can a lot of times just sort of see the light bulb go off and they're like, oh yeah, this makes a lot of sense. You can see the smile come up on their face, you know. And so that peace of mind is worth its weight in gold or platinum or whatever other precious metal. Um, and for LGBTQ plus retirees, by the way, who often have unique financial challenges, unique family dynamics, the clarity of that written plan can mean the world. It really, really can. And I know that from the experience of working with a lot of different folks now who didn't have a plan in place or thought they had a plan because they had accounts, but they didn't really have a plan. And then for a lot of them had to, of course, make changes along the way. And that's that flexibility piece. You got to be flexible. You've got to do regular reviews and you've got to make sure that you have confidence in your retirement so that you can take pride in your retirement. So let's turn the uncertainty into confidence and let's turn that fear into freedom. So, you know, longevity risk doesn't have to be a risk.

Speaker1:
It can be a gift. Right? It doesn't have to be a financial burden for you. The key really is to make sure that your income lasts as long as you do at least. And by blending that guaranteed income, flexible savings and strategies that can adapt over time, like I was just talking about, you really can enjoy retirement without second guessing each and every dollar. You don't need that stress. You don't need that worry. What you do need is a plan, and I can help you get a plan in place so that you can have that retirement. You can take pride in again, schedule that free consultation. It's take pride in retirement. You can see my calendar there by clicking on schedule a consultation. Take pride in retirement or call 855246 9211 (855) 246-9211. Well, that is going to do it for this edition of the show. Thank you so, so much for listening. I really do appreciate it every time I say it because I mean it. I really do appreciate you taking the time because I know how precious your time is. And, um, you know, if you're on the treadmill, uh, or if you are, uh, just, you know, riding around in the car or whatever you might be doing, hanging around the house, doing some cleaning. I thank you for spending a little time with me. And again, as I always say, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you next time.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to Take Pride in Retirement. Members of the LGBTQ plus community deserve to work with the fiduciary financial advisor who puts their needs first. To schedule a free, no obligation consultation with Matt McClure and the team at Active Wealth Management, call (855) 246-9211 one or go online to take pride in retirement investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Bcm and Active Wealth Management Incorporated are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered in sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Matt McClure, an active wealth management, are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency.

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure, the Advt to item four for additional information. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not in any way refer to investment advisory products. Rates and guarantees provided by insurance products and annuities are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company, not guaranteed by any bank or the FDIC.

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