Married, Partnered, or Single: Why Relationship Status Matters for LGBTQ+ Retirement Planning

Episode 64: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 64: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Hey, it's Matt McClure of Active Wealth Management and host of Take Pride in Retirement. How would you like guaranteed growth for your retirement investment? Nationwide's peak ten fixed indexed annuity offers an 8% simple interest roll up for the first ten years or until your first withdrawal, whichever comes first. When you choose the lifetime Bonus Income plus rider for an additional cost. With Nationwide Peak ten, you will also receive protection for your principal, keeping your initial investment safe even during market downturns. Growth opportunities linked to market performance without direct market risks and guaranteed lifetime income helping to create a more secure retirement. Call me today at 855246 9211 or go to take pride in retirement. Com to connect with me and start building a brighter future. Let's take pride in retirement investment advisory services offer through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, BCM, a registered investment advisor. Guarantees and protections referenced are subject to the claims paying ability of Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company. Nationwide peak ten is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company. Columbus, Ohio. Neither nationwide nor its other entities are associated or affiliated with Active Wealth Management. 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.

Speaker1:
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. 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 on this latest edition of the show. Or if you, you know, if you've gone back and listened to the archives of the show, the not latest edition, but still a wonderful edition of the show, at least I hope I'm at the beginning of it right now. So you know, and all bets are off. No, I, I kid, I kid, but but, um, thank you so much because without you, this show would not exist.

Speaker1:
Um, and and really here on take Pride in retirement. If this is your first time listening to the show or watching the show, if you watched the the video version on the old YouTube machine, um, this is a show all about celebrating you and your unique financial journey and hopefully offering you some support, some tips, some, um, you know, generalized advice here, personalized advice if you reach out, by the way, I'll tell you more about that in a second. Um, but this time around, it's all about whether you are single, married, partnered, divorced, whatever the situation may be. Because, you know, retirement planning is definitely not one size fits all. I always say, you know, no matter who you are, where you come from, who you love, how you identify, how much money you have, any of those things or anything else, whether you're single or married, your partner or divorced, it's all about you and your individualized needs. But you also deserve, no matter who you are, a retirement that you can take pride in. And that's what the show is about. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, it's not one size fits all. It really is about your individual and unique needs. So we're going to talk a lot today on the show about how your relationship status could impact your retirement and could impact it in some pretty big ways.

Speaker1:
Right. So we'll get to that here in just a second. I, as always, need to tell you. Uh, Aside from saying thanks at the beginning of the show, which I always do, I will tell you to go to the website, take pride in retirement. Take pride in retirement. That is the website to go to for the show. You can learn more about me and why I do what I do. You can also learn more about the show itself. You can get all of the previous episodes of the show. Got the entire archive there, the podcast feed as well. I think the coolest thing that you can do on the website is click on schedule a consultation, because that takes you directly into my calendar and shows you my real time availability. Um, that would be amazing if you would do that, because then I can actually provide you with fiduciary advice. And what do you say, fiduciary? What in the world is that? Well, that's advice that's tailored to you. That's in your best interest because I have a fiduciary duty as a financial advisor. Right. So here on the show, I kind of offered more generalized advice. But I have to act in your best interests.

Speaker1:
If we meet in person or online or however, if you want to reach out, just schedule that consultation directly there, or use the contact page on the website to just ask a question or get some more information. All right. Also the socials I want you to follow on the socials. Um, we are slowly creeping up on all of the social media accounts here. Take Pride in Retirement is on Instagram, on Facebook, on YouTube, on blue Sky, on threads as well. So, um, all of those places search for take pride in retirement, follow like our posts. That really does help the algorithm. It helps all of the things. It helps me spread the word about financial planning and retirement planning, specifically for LGBTQ+ folks. Also, I want you to go subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts as well. Um, yeah, that's probably where you're listening to this right now. Unless you have come across the video on YouTube. Go to your favorite podcast app, subscribe. Like leave a nice comment. I would appreciate it if you got bad comments. Keep them to yourself, but leave a nice comment. I'd really appreciate it. But yeah, thank you so much. Okay, housekeeping. Done. Now it's time to get some inspiration for our conversation. Let's do that with our quote of the week.

Speaker2:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker1:
And this week, the quote once again comes from anonymous, our mysterious quote giver here. Lately I've had several of these, um, anonymous quotes. But, you know, I run across them and I'm like, oh, this is actually perfect for the show. And so I like to share them, even though I don't really know where they come from. But they're good and I like them, so hey, they could be just for me. As far as you're concerned. But this quote of the week is great goes right in line with what we are talking about here on the show. Marriage is a legal contract. Love is a personal choice. Retirement planning needs to consider both. Marriage is a legal contract. Love is a personal choice. Retirement planning needs to consider both. It really, really does. Um, it's got to be comprehensive. Your retirement plan. And it's got to take into account your situation. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, you absolutely have to be married in order to have a good retirement. Now, that's not at all what it's about. If you're not married. You got a plan for that? You've got to take that into account. Work with a financial professional or financial advisor like myself to help you along in the planning. Taking all of the things into account, and all of the things in this case includes the fact that maybe you're not married. Maybe you're partnered. Maybe you are just single.

Speaker1:
You're just plain old single. Um, whatever the situation might be, you just gotta take that into account when you are planning for your retirement years. And why does that relationship status matter when it comes to your retirement planning? Number one thing, when you're looking at relationship status of anyone, it's that that part of it is first and foremost about love and and about the affection and care and all of the things that you have for that other person. But it's about more than that from a financial planning standpoint. It's about the law, and it's about your money that you've worked so hard for over the years to, to save, to invest, to do whatever you have done with it in order to help it hopefully grow over time. And so, you know, your relationship status, whether you are married or partnered or single, can really impact things like your Social Security benefits. You know, if you are, um, someone who will claim Social Security, then you could be entitled. If you if one spouse earns a lot more, significantly more than the other spouse, that lower earning spouse could be eligible for a spousal benefit, which means based on your spouse's earnings record rather than your own, really is how your benefit will be calculated. It's actually kind of under the hood. If you want to get really super technical about it. It takes both into account. But if you earn so that your primary insurance amount, which is the amount that you would receive at your full retirement age, is less than 50% of your spouse's primary insurance amount.

Speaker1:
So it's less than half. Then you could get that spousal top off to receive as much as 50% of your spouse's benefit. It is a great thing for couples where that really makes sense, and maybe that makes sense for you now if you are not married. That's something that you can't take advantage of. You also cannot take advantage of survivor benefits if that partner or the would be spouse, um, were to die. Like, say you were married. That person dies. You keep the higher of the two checks. So if there was a situation like I was talking about a moment ago, where one spouse is a significantly higher earner than the other, then that could be very beneficial in the unfortunate event that will happen eventually that the one spouse passes away. If that's the higher earning spouse than the lower earning spouse gets to keep the greater of the two amounts. You don't keep both checks, but you do keep one, and it's the largest of the two. And so that could make a huge difference to someone who is trying to plan for their retirement years being married versus not right. And so not only Social Security though, you're talking also about, um, things like taxes, you know, are you just single, a single filer, um, versus married filing jointly or even marrying, filing married filing separately? Um, there are different tax benefits that you can take advantage of health care decisions as well.

Speaker1:
There are things that you will need to do to make sure that you are recognized as next of kin And have the right to be in the hospital visiting your loved one. Should they be incapacitated or not able to say yes, let this person back in to see me because this is my person, you know? Um, retirement account rules, estate planning, all of those things are really affected by this. And same sex marriage, you know, wasn't even recognized nationally until 2015. So many LGBTQ plus couples really missed out on years of spousal benefits prior to that. And so that makes planning today even more important for all of us, really. And so let's go through some different scenarios here. Um, first of all, if you are married, if you have either gone down the aisle and said I do, or if you've gotten married at the courthouse or eloped or whatever you've done, gone to Vegas Guess. And been married by Elvis. Um, no matter what. If you have done that, please send me pictures. I would love to see that. Um, but. Or maybe married by a fabulous drag queen in Vegas. That would be awesome, too. Um, but you're married, which means you've got another layer of protection financially.

Speaker1:
Um, so there are some benefits. There are some considerations here as well. Being legally married really opens up full access to spousal and survivor Social Security benefits, like I was just describing a few minutes ago. So and of course, you know, I think I talked about recently in, um, a question and answer video that I posted on all the socials. So it's on, um, the Facebook. It's on, uh, it's on Instagram. It's on threads, YouTube and on blue Sky. So follow me. All those places somebody actually had a question about ex spousal benefits and yeah, you know you got to meet certain requirements. Like having been married for at least ten years previously. You have to be currently single, but you can still, if you are the lower earner between yourself and your ex-spouse, if you are still single and fulfill those other requirements, you can still get that spousal benefit based on your ex's earnings record, and it doesn't have any negative effect on them or their new potential spouse or anything like that. So even ex marriage has its benefits when it comes to Social Security, but you also have the ability to, of course, file joint tax returns. You have spousal IRA contributions, spousal rollover options for retirement accounts. Marriage also provides automatic inheritance rights. Right. Um, the ability to make health care decisions. The authority to do that and other protections. So yeah, marriage is it's about you know, two people who love each other and making a lifetime commitment and all of that.

Speaker1:
But it's also about all of the legal protections. And that really is where the the government recognition of marriage comes in, because, you know, it used to be like, and I'll just I'll tell this story I've probably told before when I was mentioning, um, you know, being able to make health care decisions for someone, that one really hits home because my husband and I were married in 2011. Well, 2012, we moved to Florida from New York. We moved to Florida where we had no rights as a married couple. We were not recognized as a married couple in the state of Florida. Well, we also were in a situation then when we where we had no health insurance, and that really made things very difficult for us at the time. Um, but at the same time. My husband got a kidney stone when we were in Florida. Extremely painful if you've never had one. I luckily have not. Um, I'm kind of counting down the days because my dad used to have one. It seemed like every other week. Um, my sister has had several. I have not knock wood, but my husband had. I mean, he was like in the fetal position on the floor in so much pain from this kidney stone. And I remember, you know, we were sort of hesitant to go to a doctor emergency room or whatever at first just because we didn't have health insurance, but also when we did end up going to the emergency room, thank God he was conscious because I had to sign paperwork, and he had to sign paperwork stating that I was allowed to come back to see him in the emergency room after they took him back for treatment and the tests and all the stuff.

Speaker1:
Otherwise I would not have been allowed back there. I mean, they would have just said who? Who are you? So that is one of the benefits that legally recognized marriage affords. It goes beyond the walking down the aisle or the standing in front of a judge in a courthouse, or justice of the peace or whatever, or Elvis. It goes beyond that. Yes, the wedding day is fantastic, but it goes beyond that to the benefits that you are eligible for. For all of those other things. Now remember, though, beneficiary designations override wills. So if you are in an ex spousal situation, keep everything updated. Right. I had someone give me a call. This is a few months ago now, but I had someone give me a call who said he had been married to his now ex-wife for for many years they had gotten divorced, and he was now married to a man. And he wanted to make sure that everything, all of his beneficiaries and all of that were updated because, you know, he obviously wanted the new spouse, not the old spouse, to get it.

Speaker1:
And I said, great. You know, you're being proactive. That's that's wonderful. And that really is what you need to do if there is a relationship status change. Make sure that you keep that updated. Specifically, if you know you have any sort of maybe life insurance policy, um, you know, retirement account, annuity, whatever the case may be, that you have a named designated beneficiary who is not who you currently want it to be. Just double check. Make sure. You might say, oh, we've been together for a few years now. Surely I updated that, um, check, because you might not have. And you really want to make sure that you did? Because beneficiary designations on those particular policies or whatever the case may be, those override what's in a will. So keep everything updated to make sure that your your money, your funds, your all the things go to where you want them to. So that is, you know, kind of the look, a look, a brief look anyway at some of the married, uh, benefits, the benefits of marriage and some considerations there as well. So what about, you know, if you are unmarried but you are with a partner long term, so you're together, you're spending your life together. You are, you know, doing things together. You live together. You do all of the things together.

Speaker1:
You might as well be married, but you don't have that marriage certificate. You don't have that piece of paper. You're not legally tied together. So what may be at risk if that's the case. Well, unmarried long term partners face more legal and financial risk. No access to Social Security, spousal benefits or survivor benefits. Higher taxes, in some cases filing in a in a single status versus a married filing jointly status. No automatic rights to make medical or financial decisions. As I was talking about a few minutes ago there with my situation with my husband, even though we were legally married in the state of New York, Florida did not recognize that. And so if you are not married, it's like us living in Florida in 2012. Even though we were married. Right. There's no legal recognition for you to be able to come back. I mean, on on paper, it would just be like, who? Where I we don't know you. So. There's no automatic right to be able to make those medical or financial decisions. Estate planning is critical as well. I mean, things like a power of attorney, um, health care proxy will trust documents. All of that stuff should be in place. As far as all of those are appropriate for you, maybe you don't necessarily need to trust, but you need the health care directive. You need the power of attorney. You need the will.

Speaker1:
You need to make sure that those beneficiaries are updated. All of that because it gets complicated. If you are not legally married and without marriage, inheritance could be subject to estate taxes, could be subject to legal challenges as well. You know, if there is a situation where you're not married, but, you know, some family members of the spouse or the partner, rather not the spouse in this case, but the but the partner that passes away. If some family members want to come calling and and try to take things, um, it could get ugly when maybe your intention, the late spouse or the late partner's intention was to leave everything to the surviving partner without the proper legal documentation in place. You could be in for a lot of drawn out drama. That's really unnecessary. So make sure that that power of attorney, the health care proxy, the will trust if it's appropriate. All of those things are in place and, you know, just get you to a place where you have as much control over things as you possibly can without that marriage certificate or get married. Now, I'm not saying that that's exactly what you need to do. You do what's right for you. But if you want to call me 85524692 11 (855) 246-9211 or go to take pride in retirement at the top of the page there. You can schedule a consultation or you can call me, talk to me, schedule a consultation.

Speaker1:
It's absolutely free of any cost, any obligation. We can take a look at all of these things, see what makes the most sense for you. And we'll we'll work it out right. We'll make sure that you are set up for success in your retirement years. All right. So we've covered if you're married, if you are legal spouses, we've covered if you are long term partners but not married. What about if you are just plain old single or if you are divorced or widowed? And in those two last cases, their life definitely changes. You know, that's the old saying, the only thing constant is change. Um, it's very true. And there can be some big life changes that make a big difference in your Or plan. And so when life changes, your plan should change as well. Again, if you were married for ten or more years and now you're divorced, you could be eligible for ex spousal benefits through Social Security. You've got to make sure, though, that you are still single. Now if you want to take advantage of that, your ex can be married again, but you need to be single at the current time. Widows or widowers can claim survivor benefits as early as age 60. So you know, 62 is the earliest age you can start claiming Social Security benefits on your own based on your own earnings record. Well, if you are widow or widow or widower, you can claim survivor benefits a couple of years earlier at 60.

Speaker1:
Again. For single people, planning is absolutely even more crucial. You know, there's no backup income. There's going to be no change in your own income from Social Security. When, um, you know, someone dies, let's say. Um, because you don't have that other person who could, you know, potentially be making a higher income for you to then inherit that larger monthly payment from Social Security, and there's no real backup income or automatic, you know, health care decision maker for you, you know. And so you got to make sure that you designate that who you want that to be. If you are aging alone, if you're going at so low, you need a strong plan for retirement income. You need a strong plan for long term care. You need a strong plan for legal protection as well. Make sure that all of those T's are crossed, the eyes are dotted, and that you have a retirement you can take pride in. And that includes planning for the future. As far as your Estate plan for all of the things, like if you have done really well and you have saved up and you have invested and you have this big pot of money. Work with me. Work with a professional, even if it's not me. Just work with somebody to get everything straightened out, to make sure that your beneficiary designations are who you want them to be.

Speaker1:
To make sure that you've got a plan for guaranteed income in retirement. And that would be, I feel, the, um, the best thing that you could do for yourself, the greatest gift that you can give yourself is making sure that you have a plan in place that's going to account for no matter what happens. All right. And give yourself the legal protection, the plan for long term care, the plan for retirement income. It's going to make a huge difference in your life. Once again, take pride in retirement. Com is the website for the show. Schedule a consultation there or just call me 85524692. 11 (855) 246-9211. Again. No cost, no obligation to continue on. You only work with me if it's best for you. And that's what you decide to do. All right. So you know, really what it boils down to here is that it's a very, very personal and personalized thing. This whole retirement plan process, no matter who you are, no matter what your situation, no matter your marital or relationship status, you've got to understand that your legal status affects your benefits in many different ways, like we've been talking about. So I want you to do a few things. One is to get your documents in order, right. Make sure that you've got everything the wills, the health care proxies, all of all of that stuff, no matter your situation.

Speaker1:
Review your Social Security options as well, and I'll be glad to do that. I'll be glad to run an RSA roadmap for you. And that roadmap is basically a Social Security. You can call it a maximization report, but it really is more of an optimization report, especially when we're dealing with spouses, because the timing of benefits between the two of you, that can be very, very crucial, right, as to when was going to be the most advantageous for you. We'll take into account things like your life expectancy and all that. We've got some different ways to calculate everything, so we'll absolutely be glad to do that for you. It's about a $350 value that I'll provide for you free of charge. A lot of people will charge for a report like that. I will not, because it just gives you so much value and can potentially give you so much peace of mind because it clears those cobwebs away and you've got all that information right there in front of you. And so, you know, I would encourage you to review those Social Security options, talk with someone who is a fiduciary. That is what I am. Again, a fiduciary has to act in your best interest. I am a registered social security analyst. I am a certified annuity specialist. And I am someone who operates in a fiduciary capacity. So that means I have to act in your best interest.

Speaker1:
And the other designations and things that I bring to the table mean that I bring a certain amount of expertise and knowledge to your situation. And chances are, I've seen a situation similar to yours. And you know, if you are someone who is LGBTQ. Plus, I also know quite a bit about what you have potentially gone through in life. Obviously we all have different paths in life, but you know, as a member of the LGBTQ plus community myself, I want to help you, and I bring a certain level of understanding to that help. Right. And so, you know, whether you're married, your partner, your single, whatever, your financial plan should reflect your life, your real life, not anybody else's. And not just legal definitions and any of that stuff. You know, talk with your partner, whether it be your spouse or just your partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, whomever. Talk with your partner, your advisor and your attorney. And, you know, maybe a tax attorney or another tax professional as well. I can help you with tax planning on my end, planning for future taxes and the impact that taxes will have on you in the coming years. But as far as like now, in different tax breaks that you may be eligible for and all of that. Um, you know, I'm not I'm not a CPA. I'm not a tax attorney. I'm not any of those things. So we can connect you with someone who can help you with that.

Speaker1:
I'll help you with the tax planning for the future though. But the right plan. And it's got to be again. Notice I say the right plan. Um, it brings peace of mind. And it protects you in the future. Future you will. Thank you very, very much for taking the time to plan like this. And so, you know, no matter your relationship status, that retirement plan should reflect real life, not just what it says on a piece of paper. Obviously, love is love, period. Legal protections do matter, though, and planning now really means peace of mind later. As I say future, you will thank you. Your future spouse, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, whomever will also thank you if that's the case for you. So look, if you have questions about how your relationship status affects your retirement, I would love to help you. I do offer those free Social Security maximization reports. Like I say, there are about a $350 value. I'll do a full deep dive into your, uh, accounts as well. And all of the, you know, financial situation overall, uh, your income, your expenses, all the things. And I will make sure that the, uh, t's across, the eyes are dotted, and everything is good to go with a plan that's in place for you, I'll come up with a proposed plan, present it to you. All of that analysis and all the different reports that we provide in all are more than a $2,000 value.

Speaker1:
Provide that free of charge as well, and there's no obligation to continue on if you want to continue to work with me. If you think that the plan that I present to you looks great, that's awesome. Let's work together. Let's do it. Let's make your life better. But if you're like, I need some time to think about it. Or if you're like, I don't think I want to move forward with any changes right now, but maybe I will in the future. Whatever the case is for you, that's fine. There's it's a not a big pressure situation. What it is, is a situation where I want you to have the best life and the best retirement that you can have. And I want you to have a retirement that you can take pride in. So go over to take pride in retirement. It's take pride in retirement. That is the website. You can also call me 85524692 11 (855) 246-9211. Let's get a plan together that works for you and your life and your love as well. Well, that's going to do it for this edition of Take Pride in Retirement. Thanks so much for being a part of things. And until next time, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you then. Thanks for listening to Take Pride in Retirement. Members of the LGBTQ plus community.

Speaker3:
Deserve to work with a 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 or go online to take pride in retirement investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC. Bcm, 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 and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Matt McClure and Active Wealth Management are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. When planning for retirement, trust is everything, and that's just one way. Nationwide's peak ten fixed index annuity stands out with nationwide peak ten. You will benefit from protection for your principal, shielding your initial investment from market downturns. Growth opportunities linked to market performance. Without the risk of direct market exposure and a guaranteed income stream you can never outlive. Nationwide's reputation for reliability means you can plan for tomorrow and have confidence today. Call us now at (855) 246-9211 or go to take pride in retirement to connect with an advisor and learn how peak ten can help secure your financial future.

Speaker1:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC BCM, a registered investment advisor. Guarantees and protections referenced are subject to the claims paying ability of Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company. Nationwide peak ten is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company. Columbus, Ohio. Neither nationwide nor its other entities are associated or affiliated with active wealth Management. Information provided is not intended as tax or legal advice and should not be relied on as such. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional. 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 ADV two, item four for additional information.

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