Retirement Answer Man

The retirement decisions that you make today will impact you for years to come. This can be a scary thought since we don’t know what the future holds. The Medicare decisions that you make now can affect your future self so you don’t want to take these decisions lightly.For the past 4 episodes, we have discussed the inner workings of the Medicare system which has given us a good basis of knowledge to work from. Danielle Roberts from Boomer Benefits joins us one last time to help us understand how to make Medicare decisions. The retirement choices you make now will affect you for years to come Choosing a Medicare plan is one of the most important and long-lasting choices that you will make in retirement. It’s hard to make these choices that will affect our future selves who may not be as healthy or alert as we are now. It is important to strike a balance between overanalyzing this decision and not analyzing it enough. How to start to make your Medicare decision Thankfully Danielle Roberts has returned to the show with her sage advice on how we can begin to make these choices. She recommends a few things to help you narrow down your choices. First off, start your research early. (Listening to this How Does Medicare Work series is a good start.)Next, you need to decide whether to choose a Medigap or Medicare advantage plan. To help with this decision, start at your doctor’s office. You’ll need to ask whether they accept original Medicare. If they do this means that they accept Medigap plans. Then you’ll want to find out whether they participate in any Medicare Advantage plans. There are many questions that come with Medicare You’ll start thinking of more questions that you want to ask your doctor as you learn more about Medicare so start creating your list of questions to ask your doctor now. There are a lot of considerations when deciding between Medigap or Medicare Advantage. Do you have a lot of different doctors? Do you want inexpensive copays? Do you have the money set aside to afford large deductibles or hospital stays down the road? Consider your future self when making you Medicare decisions It’s easy to choose what’s right for today rather than considering your future self. Ask yourself if you are going to be ok with this coverage not just now, but if you have a year where you aren’t as healthy. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sleep on it to see if you have a few more questions. You may want to consider using a broker like Boomer Benefits. Since they are a brokerage there is no cost to the consumer. All costs are worked into the insurance plans. Learn more about the whole Medicare system by listening to the entire How Does Medicare Work series. This will help you make the right Medicare decisions. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [3:03] The latest happenings of the Retirement Answer Man showPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [9:20] How to make good Medicare decisions[15:30] Should you ask a specialist the same questions you ask your primary care doctor?[21:04] Know the risks of each plan that you are considering[23:08] What about dental and vision plans?[25:46] What are the benefits of using a brokerage?COACHES CORNER WITH B.W. [30:21] Don’t you let your life shrink in retirementTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [39:43] What are you doing to expand yourself?Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Danielle Roberts from Boomer Benefits joins The Retirement Answer Man Show again to help us understand the nuances of the Medicare system. She has a new book coming out soon called 10 Costly Medicare Mistakes that you won’t want to miss. In this episode, you’ll learn from Medicare horror stories, the biggest mistakes you can make with Medicare, and why you need to check your plan every year. Make sure to sign up for 6 Shot Saturday to get free resources by Danielle Roberts, our Medicare expert! Make sure you are prepared to jump into retirement Sometimes retirement can come at you suddenly. Are you ready to jump into retirement? You may be suddenly thrust into this whole new world. However, for others, retirement can seem like a cliff where they are standing on the edge. It can be hard to take that leap; some people end up waiting and waiting forever for the right time to jump. Educating yourself and planning ahead can help you prepare for retirement. Listening to Retirement Answer Man can help you prepare to take that leap into this amazing new world. Will dropping Medicare Part D help this listener eliminate IRMAA? One listener got a notification in the mail that he would be charged an IRMAA surcharge for his Medicare Part B and D plans. Since he uses a discount drug plan apart from Medicare Part D he was just thinking of dropping Medicare Part D altogether.He can drop Part D and forgo the IRMAA surcharge on that plan, however, doing so will mean that he has to wait until the next election period if he decides he wants back into the program. Additionally, he will then have to pay a penalty for each month that he went without the Part D drug plan. Listen in to learn how much that penalty is and discover a Medicare mistake that you won’t want to make. Biggest medicare mistake Medicare is a tricky system to learn, especially if you haven’t done any research. The biggest mistake you can make is waiting until the last minute to learn about this healthcare system. Danielle shares that there are many people who are under the impression that Medicare is free and then are shocked to learn that they don’t have enough money saved to cover their healthcare expenses in retirement. Make sure that you don’t make this mistake. Listen to the entirety of the How Does Medicare Work series to help you begin to learn the intricacies of the Medicare system. Check your plan every year Medicare has so many different ‘open enrollment’ periods so it can be confusing to know which ones are the most important. Your plan will change from year to year, so when you get a packet in the mail in the fall pay careful attention to the changes. You can also check your plan changes at MyMedicare.gov and use the plan finder tool to compare your plan with different plans. Don’t miss it when Danielle explains why it is so important to check the different plans that are offered from year to year. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:33] How retirement is similar to hang glidingPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [9:08] Will dropping Medicare Part D help this listener eliminate IRMAA?[13:35] The biggest Medicare mistake[15:22] Did your job prevent you from paying into Medicare?[17:57] Medicare horror stories[22:19] Why it is important to check your plan every year[26:37] Danielle shares her biggest pet peeveQ&A SEGMENT [30:22] To an RV finance or not to finance [35:54] Renting in retirement?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [39:03] What will it take to make you jump into retirement?Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - 10 Costly Medicare Mistakes by Danielle RobertsBoomer BenefitsRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Over the past few weeks, we have talked about the different pieces that make up our Medicare system. Medicare is a fairly complex system with a lot of nuances to be aware of. One of the things you may have noticed is that there are some gaps in Medicare coverage. Today Danielle Roberts from Boomer Benefits is back to help us understand these gaps and what we can do to fill them. Medicare isn’t the only place we see gaps in retirement. Often time there are other places where we have gaps in our retirement planning. Listen in to discover how to fill these gaps in Medicare and elsewhere in retirement. Analyze your gaps in retirement In project management, there is something called gap analysis which helps project managers identify gaps. Gap analysis has 5 basic steps. Identify the area to be analyzed and identify the goals to be accomplished in that area.Establish an ideal future state. What is the ideal outcome?Analyze the current state. What is it like now? Compare the ideal state to the current state, Identify the gap between the current state and the ideal state so that you can begin to close that gap.Gaps in retirement planning In retirement planning, people often skip step 2 when analyzing their own gaps. Rather than identify the ideal state for their retirement, they only analyze their current state. I argue that the project management method of gap analysis is a much better way to approach retirement. When you first establish what your ideal retirement will look like and then figure out the rest you start with a blank slate. Isn’t that what you are looking for in retirement? Learn how you can start your retirement off right. Start with a blank slate rather than limit yourself by where you are currently. Filling the gaps that Medicare leaves If you have been listening to the past few episodes, you probably noticed that there are some gaps in the Medicare system. If you have been wondering how to fill those gaps, then you’ll definitely want to listen to one of the top Medicare experts in the country, Danielle Roberts, from Boomer Benefits. Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans There is a difference between traditional Medigap plans and newer Medicare Advantage plans. Medigap plans are generally more expensive but they offer more flexibility and a wider variety of plan choices. Medicare Advantage plans cost less and sometimes they are even free, however, these plans come with many more limitations. These plans are gaining popularity over the past few years. Listen to Danielle’s expert analysis of these different types of plans to help you decide the best way to supplement your Medicare coverage. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN? [1:48] What is a gap?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [6:43] Check out Danielle’s new book![8:22] How does Medigap insurance work?[14:29] What you need to consider when choosing a Medigap provider[19:08] What do Medigap plans cost?[25:30] What is a Medicare Advantage plan?[31:16] How does Medicare work while traveling?Q&A SEGMENT [35:25] You could lose your coverage if you are still working[36:52] A Roth 401K questionTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [45:49] Let me know if you are experiencing challenges in unexpected retirementResources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - 10 Costly Medicare Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make by Danielle RobertsBoomer BenefitsRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Medicare Part D has similarities and differences to Parts A and B. On this episode of our How Does Medicare Work? series, we’ll explore Part D. We’ll also discuss what Medicare doesn’t cover. How much do you know about Medicare and how it works? Are you trying to figure out how this new type of insurance will be different from what you are used to? Make sure to listen to the whole series to help you understand the changes that enrolling in Medicare will bring to your life. Live a life without regret The number one regret that people have upon death is that they say they wish they would have had the courage to live a life true to themselves. During most of our lives, we have a series of obligations that make it hard to really live a life true to ourselves. Retirement is a time when we can finally shed those obligations. What will it take for you to live a life without regrets? Think about what living a life that is true to yourself really means for you. What is Medicare part D? Danielle from Boomer Benefits joins me again today to help us understand Medicare part D. Danielle has a knack for explaining the complexities of Medicare in a way that laypeople can understand.Medicare part D is the prescription drug coverage portion of Medicare. It actually wasn’t rolled out until 2006. Since prescription drug coverage wasn’t typically covered in the 1960s, it wasn’t included in the original Medicare plans. Can you imagine what Medicare was like before Part D? How does Medicare Part D work? Medicare Part D is a bit different than parts A and B but it does have some similarities. It’s a voluntary plan that you have to opt into. But unlike parts A and B, you don’t enroll in part D at the Social Security office. Each state has private insurance companies that offer Medicare part D. Just like Medicare parts A and B, there are 4 stages to the plan. The first is the deductible. There is a deductible set by Medicare each year and the drug companies are allowed to build that into their plan how they choose as long as it is within the parameters. After your deductible has been met then you’ll move into the second stage of the plan which is the copay. Listen in to discover how Medicare part D works and why your choice in pharmacy could really affect your drug costs. Where are the gaps in Medicare? Medicare isn’t perfect, there are still gaps to consider. We are often used to our employer-sponsor health plans covering dental and vision, but along with hearing, these services aren’t covered under Medicare. In a subsequent episode, we will discuss the Advantage plans that can help you bridge these gaps. It’s also important to remember that Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care. To ensure that you are fully prepared, you’ll have to plan on how you’ll handle a long-term care event. Discover why it is important to review your Medicare plan each year by listening to Danielle on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN? [1:32] Let’s define regretPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:24] Part D is a relatively new option[7:12] How does Medicare Part D work?[15:34] What is the total out of pocket you could pay? [19:32] Are there drug assistance programs within Medicare part D?[20:33] Where are the gaps in Medicare?Q&A [29:12] How to fund a special needs trust?[31:31] What is the benchmark for decide when there is a gain or loss to fill your bucket?[35:52] How to easily settle an estateTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [38:35] What does being true to yourself really mean?Resources Mentioned In This Episode The Pie Cake episodeLong term care episodes - Start hereMyMedicare.govBoomer BenefitsRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

I cannot believe that this is our first time doing a monthlong series on Medicare! Thankfully, this is a five-week month, so we can really dive deep into this complex topic. Let me lay out the month for you. This week we’re talking about Medicare Part A and B. During the next episode we’ll discuss part D and all the things that Medicare doesn’t cover. Following that episode, we’ll discuss Medigap and Medicare Advantage as well as mistakes we can make with Medicare. Finally, we will dive in deep to help build a framework that we can use to best serve ourselves when it comes to Medicare. Are you ready to start your Medicare learning journey? Press play to start your Medicare education now. How does Medicare work? Danielle K. Roberts is a Medicare expert from Boomer Benefits. She helps people educate people on their Medicare journey all the time and she has even helped out in the Rock Retirement Club. I have invited her on the show to help all of us better understand Medicare. Today she is helping us learn about Medicare Part A and B. Medicare benefits can be so confusing, especially since most of us are coming from a completely different system of insurance. Are you ready to hear what is covered, what is not covered, what requires copays, and if you can ever fully exhaust your benefits? Well then, start listening now. What is Medicare Part A? Medicare Part A started in the 1960s and was modeled after the old Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance. Part A covers inpatient hospital stays and outpatient medical care related to a hospital stay. Included in Part A coverage are the hospital room, doctors, nurses, drugs, nursing facility visits, and hospice care. Medicare Part A does have its limits in coverage which could result in expensive copays and eventually exhausting the benefits fully. Listen in to find out what those limits are. What is Part B? Whereas Medicare Part A covers your hospital stays, Part B covers all that other stuff. For example, Part B covers chemotherapy, radiation, blood work, and doctor visits. However, Part B has a completely different deductible and coinsurance setup than Part A. The good news is that the deductible is only $198. The bad news is that there is no cap on the 20% coinsurance. Who do you pay? Doctors’ visits can be so confusing. Should you pay the doctor at the time of your visit? Should you wait for the bill to come in the mail? What about those statements that Medicare sends? Danielle’s advice is to wait for Medicare to process the doctor’s bill before you pay. The doctor will then bill you if there are any excess fees. She also advises to ask plenty of questions and become an advocate for yourself. Even though Medicare can seem confusing at first, this system has been in place for a long time and actually runs quite well. If you are interested in receiving resources to help you make your own Medicare decisions, sign up for 6-Shot Saturday at RogerWhitney.com OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:13] What is fear?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:05] Our plan for the month[7:14] What is Medicare Part A?[11:30] What should people be aware of?[13:32] What is Part B?[16:12] Who do I pay?Q&A SEGMENT [26:58] Place yourself in the future when making a decision[31:02] A Social Security survivor benefit question[33:34] Comparing a first position HELOC instead of a mortgageTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [43:09] Sign up for 6-Shot Saturday at RogerWhitney.com to get a Medicare resource packetResources Mentioned In This Episode Boomer BenefitsMyMedicare.govRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

This whole month of August we have talked about improving decision making. Retirement brings about hundreds of choices. If you aren’t well-prepared to make those decisions you might simply revert to the default choice. Do you really want your retirement to be set to default? In this episode, you’ll learn how to create a framework to make tactical decisions. If you’re ready to learn how to make decisions that will help you rock retirement then press play now. What is the difference between strategy and tactics? A strategy is an overarching plan to help you achieve the kind of life you envision for yourself. Strategies don’t change very often. Tactics are the specific actions or steps you take to accomplish the strategy create an amazing life. This sequence can be hard to achieve because we often jump straight to the tactical decisions without thinking about the strategy first. It’s important to keep in mind your strategy first. Have you thought about the strategy that you want to use to create the retirement of your dreams? Retirement changes the trajectory of your life The trajectory of your life is changing in retirement. Your life is coming off autopilot and so that leads to hundreds of small decisions. It can be hard to adjust to making all these new decisions, we often just resort to the default choice. But if you can change the way you make decisions it can have a huge impact on your life. Think about the butterfly effect that has led to the life you live right now. One tiny change in the state of your life can really make an impact in the long term. If you are wondering how you can improve your decision-making press play to hear how. Use a process-strategy-tactics approach Before learning to make tactical decisions it is important to have some other things in place before jumping into making decisions. It is important to start with your values. Once you have a clear vision of your values then you can set goals that align with those values. After you have clear goals in place then you can develop a strategy to achieve your goals. Finally, within that strategy come the tactics. You’ll use these tactics to execute the strategy to achieve your goals that are in line with your values. How do you make tactical decisions? Once you have your goals and strategy in place you can make the most of your decisions by using this decision-making framework. Ask yourself these questions before making any decisions. Try it out on small decisions first before jumping into the bigger ones. What is your objective? What does success look like after you make the decision?What is the ideal outcome if you make this decision? What is the worst-case scenario?What are the consequences of the decision? What are the effects of this decision? Test it out. Use first-order and second-order thinking tease out what those effects might be.Listen in to hear how some real-life retirement decisions could play out using this framework. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:20] What is the difference between strategy and tactics?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:50] If you can get just a little better at making tactical decisions it can have a huge impact on your life[9:52] How do you make tactical decisions?[16:45] A framework for tactical decision makingCOACHES CORNER [24:44] Choosing leisure activities to add spice to your retirementTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [35:31] Test out this decision-making frameworkResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

We’ve been talking about decision making for the past several episodes and today I want to help you build a framework to rely upon when making decisions in retirement. This framework for better decision making will help ensure that you are living the life you really want. If you are ready to create a strategy that reflects your values so that you can rock retirement then press play now. Why do you need to build a decision-making framework? Have you really thought about your values? A person’s values are their principles or standards of behavior. Values are what you feel is important to your life. If you want to build a retirement and a life that you love then you need to live a life that reflects your values. The life that you lead is based on the decisions that you make. So if you want to enjoy a life that stays true to your values you need to put some thought into the decisions that you make. Having a decision making framework in place will help you stay true to your values. How to create a strategy that reflects your values So now you know why you need a decision-making framework, but how do you build one? You can create a strategy that reflects your values in just 4 easy steps. Step one is easy to remember. Start with your values! Before you can begin to build your framework you need to establish what is important in your life. What are your values?Create a vision of what you want your life to look like. This may sound a bit cheesy, but try and picture what you want your life to look like. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be important to you. Try asking yourself this question: at the end of your life what would make you think that your life was amazing?What’s your mission? This question leads to the how. How you are going to achieve your vision? Create strategic objectives that follow your mission. What strategic objectives will you focus on first? How will you focus on your mission?Build your decision-making framework today. That’s it! Your framework can be as detailed or loose as you need it to be. But if you start taking these 4 steps you can build the strategy to make decisions that will reflect your values. Stay true to yourself and rock your retirement by creating a decision making strategy that you can implement. The ideal framework will reflect your values and set you up to live a life you truly love. Some real-life examples If you are curious about how these steps play out in the real world listen in to hear a couple of examples. You’ll discover how I started my firm and how my values are reflected in what I do. You will also hear how this strategy can be applied to life in retirement. You also want to listen in to hear Tanya Nichols help me answer some listener questions. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN? [1:31] Values are your judgment of what is important to youPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [4:31] Build your framework[6:30] Some examples of building a framework[9:44] An example of how you can build your framework in retirement Q&A SEGMENT WITH TANYA NICHOLS [12:28] What is the best and worst decision Tanya has made[15:21] Does it make sense to have a trust as a beneficiary?[17:52] How to predict taxable investment income from year to year[26:55] What is a good strategy for asset allocation after taxes?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [34:12] Sign up for 6 shot Saturday to help you figure out your top 10 valuesResources Mentioned In This Episode HolistiplanAlign FinancialRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

What is your retirement strategy? Do you have one? A strategy is born from a process and tactics are born from that strategy. This is why it is so important to make sure that you have a process and strategy in place when planning for retirement. Your strategy will help you drive those important decisions. Your decisions during the accumulation phase of life were much different than they will be in retirement. This is why I’ve got Dan Miller joining me to discuss his book 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. Why did Dan decide to change the title of his book? Dan Miller recently changed the title of his best-selling book from 48 Days to the Work You Love to 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. He changed the title to reflect the fact that work is just one tool in a successful life. What people really want is a successful life. His book can help you discover what drives you and how to dig in and strive toward building a life you love. Why 48 days? Dan mentions that although 48 is a somewhat arbitrary number, it is enough time to get you on the road to change your life. No, it isn’t scientifically tested, but if you work at it those 48 days can give you a roadmap to build a life you love. It is enough time to assess where you are, create a plan, and act on it. When making decisions and changes in your life it is important to have constraints. It is much too easy to sit back on your heals and wait for changes to act upon you. By setting a deadline of 48 days you are able to take control of your life. How do you deal with your identity when you leave your work behind? Our identities are so wrapped up in the titles of our jobs. In retirement or upon leaving any job, it can often feel like we are leaving our identity behind. But this shouldn’t be the case. Who you are should include more than just the work that you do. It is important to realize the difference between these three things: vocation, career, and job. Your vocation is who you want to be remembered for, this should include your mission, your purpose, your destiny, and your calling. Your career is simply a subset of that vocation. Your job has an even smaller role; it is just what you do from day to day. So, what is your identity? How do you define your vocation? There are 3 main problems in retirement In retirement, three of the biggest problems that people experience are no friends, no money, and no purpose. The lack of money and friends can easily be changed, but what about the lack of purpose. It’s important to really define what your purpose is and what it will be in retirement. You can use your background, training, and network to help you figure out what you really want to do, who you really want to be in retirement. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [7:31] Why did Dan Miller decide to change the title of his book?[12:12] Why is there a deadline of 48 days?[16:20] How do you deal with your identity when you leave your work?[27:32] Procrastination is the enemy of changeQ&A SEGMENT WITH FRITZ GILBERT [34:07] Fritz’s spending process in retirement[40:40] An planned early retirement question[52:35] Should they stop saving in pretax assets[57:30] A five year ladder strategy questionTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [1:09:45] Do you have a strategy in place?Resources Mentioned In This Episode Episode 45 - Can Carl Retire?Retirement Manifesto Resources48Days.com/RogerBOOK - 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love by Dan MillerRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

I’m excited to share with you this next series of episodes. Over the next 4 episodes, we will explore how to make better decisions for yourself in retirement. Today we’ll examine what a decision is and think about all the different choices you have to make in retirement. Learn how to evaluate your decision-making process and discover how to make better retirement choices on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. Decision fatigue can wear you down Every day we are faced with so many choices. Have you ever looked at the number of different kinds of toothpaste there are to choose from? Even that small choice is overwhelming. If you don’t have a framework in place to help you make decisions you can easily get worn down. This type of exhaustion is called decision fatigue. The more decisions you have to make the more your willpower becomes depleted. When decision fatigue sets in people often turn to the choices they have always chosen in the past. What do you do when you become overwhelmed by choices? There are so many decisions you face in retirement Think about all the decisions you need to make surrounding retirement. When are you going to retire? Will you retire fully or ease into it? What will your spending look like? How will you create a paycheck for yourself? How will you protect against inflation? How will you pay taxes? Who will you spend your time with? Where do you want to live? The list goes on and on. And with each of those big decisions a decision tree with massive roots and limbs sprouts with new questions. It becomes easier to simply ignore all of those retirement choices and stick with the status quo. Is there a better way to make decisions? The goal of this series is to help you build a framework to harness decisions. You’ll learn how to make good incremental decisions so that you don’t become overwhelmed. You’ll discover how to focus on the right decisions, the ones that really impact your life. You will develop a structure to get to the result that serves you the best. As a result, this framework will help you improve the quality of your life in retirement. Are you ready to learn how to start making better decisions? Don’t miss this series, it could change the course of your life in retirement! OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT'S THAT MEAN? [2:16] What is a decision? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:55] There are so many choices to make [9:04] Set some rules to combat decision fatigue Q&A WITH CHAD SMITH [16:10] What is the Financial Symmetry podcast about? [18:12] Does it make sense to have a high yield savings account? [27:45] How you can access webinar replays [28:41] What about the SWAN ETFs? [37:36] Jane did a direct transfer from a 401K to an IRA [41:16] What’s on Financial Symmetry this month? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [42:30] Premake one decision for yourself Resources Mentioned In This Episode PODCAST - Financial Symmetry with Chad Smith BOOK - The Behavioral Investor by Dr. Dan Crosby Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Have you ever had to deal with closing an estate? Mark Ross happens to have the unfortunate experience of helping to close out 4 different estates in a short period of time. Since experience is the best teacher, Mark joins me today to discuss his experience with the probate process. He’ll share how he dealt with his feelings during the process, how long it took, how he managed, and what he thinks you can do to organize your own estate. Give your heirs the gift of an organized estate by learning all you can now to help ease the probate process. Organization can be a gift to your heirs In helping to close out 4 different estates in a short amount of time, Mark Ross learned a lot about the differing levels of organization in estate planning. Probate is a long and complicated process that can be even more challenging if you don’t have all of the pieces of the puzzle. Mark learned that when an estate is well organized the process is so much easier. He feels like that organization was a gift that helped him through the probate process. How should you organize your own estate plan? Mark’s main piece of advice in organizing your own estate plan is to get an attorney that is a good fit for you and your personality. He also recommends that you keep meticulous records of all conversations regarding your estate. Since family dynamics can play a role when money is involved it is important to be clear about the flow of money. One last piece of advice he has is to never be a coexecutor. He found that that situation could drag out the emotional journey even longer than it needs to be. An executor needs to be able to have the accountability to make difficult decisions. How organized is your estate plan? Is it updated to reflect your current situation? 3 things you can do to gain confidence in your financial plan in retirement If you don’t have confidence in your financial plan you won’t be happy in retirement. There are 3 things you can do to gain more confidence in your plan. Understand how your financial plan reflects your personality. There are a couple of different ways that you can go about planning your finances in retirement. With a probability-based or investment based plan, you will have a portfolio that generates enough income to live on. The second style is the safety-first style. This means having your basic expenses covered by guaranteed income like social security or a pension. These two very different planning styles optimize for different things. Make sure the style you choose to follow reflects your personality. Educate yourself. Many families have one who invests and the other doesn’t. Both partners need to be educated to have enough understanding to be confident in the financial plan. Hope isn’t good enough. Get a plan you are both comfortable and have confidence in. Have an emergency fund and a “fun” fund. Sure, this is just a psychological trick but it could give you peace of mind. How confident are you in your retirement plan? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN? [2:07] What is the difference between information and knowledge? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [7:41] How do you balance the obligations of the estate with your feelings? [13:04] They have been able to learn and prepare for the estate closure over time [14:36] How should you organize your own estate plan? [16:54] How to deal with differing interests? COACHES CORNER WITH BW [20:27] If you don’t have confidence in your plan you won’t be happy in retirement [23:01] Paying off your mortgage can mean so much to some people [27:45] Have an emergency fund TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [33:03] Think about the past year: what were the best and worst decisions you made Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

By now you know how important estate planning is in retirement. But what is also important is to organize and communicate your wishes to your loved ones. In this episode, you’ll learn how to organize and communicate your estate planning wishes. We’ll chat with Sarah Bunnell from Everplans who will let you know how and why organization and communication are so important. Listen in to hear her expert take on these matters. And make sure you are signed up for the 6-Shot Saturday email so that you can receive an essential document checklist. An estate plan that is not organized or communicated correctly misses the point Let’s say that you have just finished your estate plan. Congratulations on putting that all together! Now that you have completed this first step it is imperative that you take that next step and communicate your wishes to your loved ones. Once you get your financial assets and legal records organized then you’ll want to ensure that your loved ones know about them. The probate process is very involved so the more information that you can give them now will save them time and worry during an already stressful period. Who should you communicate your estate plan to? Once you get your estate plan set up you’ll need to think about who you want to share it with. Do you have a trusted financial advisor? A CPA? An attorney? Who will be your point person? You’ll also want to make sure that you tell more than one person in your family. What would happen then if the family member that has all the information was involved in an accident with you? If you are single you’ll also want to consider who your trusted team may be. What about organizing your digital life? Almost everybody knows that you should have a will and a medical directive. But what about your digital estate? How will your family access your digital files? Is your digital estate a mess? In these modern times of paperless statements, your heirs may not know what kind of accounts, insurance policies, or even properties you own. Without the passwords to the myriad online accounts, they won’t be able to make the payments or changes that they need to in the event of your passing. A bit about EverplansEverplans is an online digital vault that we use in the Rock Retirement Club. This online organizational tool stores all the estate information you would need to have organized. Everplans allows you to share information on a piece by piece basis either now or after death to the important people in your life. You can store funeral plans, wills, trusts, financial statements, even recipes, and videos. Learn more about Everplans and organizing and communicating your estate plan on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:50] What is an emergency plan?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [4:18] Why is the organization of your financial assets and legal records so important?[6:50] What are the essential elements of an organized estate plan?[14:30] How important is it to organize[19:45] A bit about Everplans Q&A SEGMENT [26:10] You can do qualified charitable distributions at age 70.5[28:08] A state pension offset question[29:38] Baby boomers retiring and taking money out of the market[33:21] What did I end up doing for medical insurance?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [39:20] Lessen the impact of loneliness in the pandemic by calling a loved oneResources Mentioned In This Episode EverPlans.comRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Many people choose to give to charity as a way to give back to their community. If you are overfunded you may decide to give to charity while you are still alive as well as part of your estate after you pass. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we’ll continue the estate planning series to discuss different ways that you can give charitably now and as part of your estate. Stick around to hear the Q&A session with my esteemed guest Peter Lazaroff. What is a charity? U.S. citizens are known for being extremely charitable people. Although many people help others as individuals, a charity is an organization that uses money and human capital to make a greater impact in the world. Different charities have different motivations and missions. When choosing a charity to give to it is important to look at its mission but also to make sure that the organization is a good steward of the money it receives. What motivates you to give? Each of us has a different motivation to give to charity. Maybe your reasons are personal, or perhaps your life was affected by a certain event. Some people practice charitable giving as a way to model good citizenship to their family. Others are overfunded and use charitable donations to help ease their tax burden. For whatever reason you choose to give to charity it is important to make sure to find organizations that match your values. Why do you choose to give to charity? How you can give to charity in life There are several ways to give to charity now while you are still alive.If you are over 72 you may find that your RMD is more than you need. You can solve this problem and reduce your tax burden by making a qualified charitable distribution. You can give to one organization or spread out your contribution among several charities. You can donate appreciated assets and avoid capital gains. If you donate all or a portion of appreciated assets directly to a qualified charity you can avoid capital gains. This could help you rebalance your portfolio or reposition your assets. Use a donor-advised fund (DAF) like your own charity. With a DAF you can donate cash or assets. It’s like a simple version of a private foundation. You can choose one or many different charities to give to. Listen in to hear how you can involve the family in your charitable giving. Use a trust in tandem with your charitable giving. Charitable remainder trusts or charitable lead trusts are a bit more complicated and require the help of an attorney. How to give in an estate after you pass There are basically 2 ways that you can give to charity in your estate once you pass. You can either make a bequest in your will or name the charity as a beneficiary of an asset. The most simple and direct way is by making a bequest in your will. If you chose to name a charity as a beneficiary in an IRA asset then the charity would pay no income tax on that asset. How would you prefer to give to charity? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [3:08] What is charity?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [7:04] What motivates you to give to charity?[9:30] How to give to charity while you are still alive[22:44] How you can give your estateQ&A WITH PETER LAZAROFF [26:44] Peter describes when decided to create his own estate documents[30:38] Will a Roth conversion send your assets over the income limit?[33:33] How to become a financial planner later in life[44:30] How to navigate stock risk with your companyTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [52:52] Examine your charitable giving to look for planning opportunitiesResources Mentioned In This Episode XY Planning NetworkPeterLazaroff.comRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Retirement is often the time when people begin to think more about estate planning. On this episode in the Estate Planning series, we’ll talk about giving. You want to be able to give to your loved ones but you also don’t want to rob them of their problems. That’s why we’ll discuss how you can give without enabling and you’ll discover how to optimize the impact of your gift. You’ll also learn how to decide whether you have enough to give. When you begin to think intentionally you’ll see that there are so many ways to give. Do you have enough to give? It would be amazing to be able to give to your loved ones before you pass, but how will you know whether you have enough? The first hurdle in giving is being comfortable giving away your assets. What if you need that money later on? Actually that’s not so hard to figure out. Often times you’ll see that deciding how to give is less a money question than a mindest question. To be comfortable giving away assets you need to understand your level of fundedness. Are you underfunded, constrained, or overfunded? Once you understand this then you can begin to put a plan in place for giving. How can we give intentionally? We give for many reasons. A gift is an item that you give someone without an expectation of payment in return. Giving is a way to express feelings and emotions and share those feelings with the receiver. You may not want your gift to your heirs to come in the form of a check from an attorney several months after your death. There are more intentional ways that you can give so that your family can feel the love behind that gift. Enhance don’t enable As parents, we would love to solve all of our children’s problems for them, but then we would be robbing them of that learning opportunity. One of the best gifts we can give our kids is not robbing them of their problems. We need to find ways to help them but also allow them to figure things out for themselves. There are ways that we can give to them that enhance their lives rather than enabling them. There are many ways to give before you pass Create memories - I think this is a fantastic way to give and to be able to enjoy that gift as a family. You could rent a house at the beach and help subsidize the family trip. Spend money to bring the family together. Annual gifting - You can give anyone $15,000 per year without reporting it. You could help fund their Roth IRA or help buy them a house. You might be surprised when you find out how much the lifetime gift exemption is. The gift of education - There are many ways to give for education. You can pay for college tuition directly. You could fund the grandkids 529 plan and allow the money to grow tax-free. You can also use up to $10,000 per year to fund a pre-college education if your grandkids are in private school. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:20] What is a gift?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [6:50] How do you give more intentionally?[10:45] We don’t want to enable we want to enhance[14:55] Retain optionality[16:12] Ways to give[27:43] What is a trust?Q&A SEGMENT WITH TAYLOR SCHULTE [36:59] Should we be investing in ESG funds in the “new normal”?[44:08] A rainy day fund question[52:18] A tax bracket questionTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [60:06] How do you want your assets to be distributed?Resources Mentioned In This Episode Stay Wealthy podcast with Taylor SchulteDefine FinancialCuriousHistory.comRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

One important aspect of retirement that not everyone is prepared for is estate planning. People avoid estate planning for various reasons, but a properly done estate plan is more than just documents. An estate plan is a way of continuing relationships and loving those people you leave behind in ways that you may not even imagine. Today we are kicking off our monthlong series on estate planning and we are starting with the basics. Listen in to hear what kind of documents you should have in place but also why they are important. What is estate planning? Everyone knows they should have an estate plan, but very few have or understand what estate planning really is. Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging the management and disposal of your financial and legal life. The good news is that if you don’t have an estate plan the government has one for you. The bad news is that it probably won’t reflect your wishes. Done correctly, estate planning can be an important gift that you leave to those you care about. Why have an estate plan? Some people may be fine without a plan and having the state doling out their worldly possessions. The purpose of an estate plan is to close out your financial life. When you pass away you probably don’t want to leave your loved ones with a financial and legal mess. Planning your estate in advance is one way to give a gift of elegant simplicity to your family. What does an estate plan involve? Probate - When you pass away the process by which the state goes through closing out your legal and financial life is called probate. A will - A last will and testament is a document that designates where your assets will go, but there is quite a bit of paperwork involved so an executor is named to manage the paperwork and distribute the assets based on your wishes. Beneficiary driven accounts - These accounts have beneficiaries chosen when you set up the account. Beneficiary driven accounts include 401K’s, 403B’s, IRA’s, etc. The benefit of having a beneficiary listed on these accounts is that they get out of probate quickly and transfer quickly and directly.Power of attorney - Another important document to have in place is a durable power of attorney. This gives a specified person the power to make decisions for someone who is incapacitated. Healthcare power of attorney - This document allows you to appoint someone to make healthcare decisions for you should you not be able to. If you don’t have one in place it could delay treatment. You can also specify specific situations in which you may not want life-saving actions. How often do you review your estate plan? There is more to estate planning than just having these things in place. I am not a professional estate planner. Think about talking to an estate planner to help you plan your estate. And remember that it is important to periodically review your will and beneficiary driven accounts. Do you have an estate plan in place? When was the last time you reviewed it? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [3:06] What is estate planning?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [4:34] An example of why estate planning is important[9:14] What are the basics of estate planning?Q&A WITH TANYA NICHOLS [21:58] Should a woman seek to work with a female financial planner?[26:49] Should you plan leveled withdrawals in retirement?[35:09] How to factor secure income[45:41] Why do we use average rather than the median in market assumptions?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [51:02] Review your estate planning documentsResources Mentioned In This Episode Align FinancialRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Do you think your own behavior affects your retirement investment management? If you said no, you may want to think again. The most significant risk to your finances is not market volatility or inflation, it’s your own behavior. Over the past several episodes we have explored how our own cognitive biases affect our financial choices and this episode continues that journey. On this episode, you will learn what you can do to make better decisions to ultimately protect your money from its own worst enemy: yourself. What is heuristic? A heuristic is a psychological term for a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly with minimal mental effort. Our brain constantly uses so much energy that it always looks for shortcuts. Renowned behavioral finance expert, Dr. Dan Crosby, calls this bumper sticker thinking. The 4% rule is a good example of a heuristic used in retirement planning. We need to learn to work around our mental shortcuts and truly think things through. Behavioral risk is the most significant risk to your finances In finance, there are many kinds of risks. We often worry about volatile markets or inflation. We use diversification to help us lessen the market risk but we often ignore the greatest risk to our finances. The biggest risk to your financial security in retirement is your own behavior. If you can’t control your investment behavior especially during challenging times then your retirement portfolio will suffer. Listen in to learn how to manage your cognitive biases and set yourself up for financial success in retirement. Tips for managing investment behavior Investing is a crapshoot. That’s why we diversify, in essence, diversification is an act of humility. When you diversify you are admitting that you don’t know what will happen. Put a premium on optionality. As life unfolds you need to have the ability to make changes to your plans. Don’t white-knuckle it. If you can’t sleep during volatile times then you are taking too much risk. Listen to differing points of view. Cultivate a knowledge base with diverse opinions. Redirect your energy. Once you identify your cognitive biases, set up systems to redirect your natural tendencies. Consistently receive feedback from others with different points of view. Be careful to cultivate diverse opinions. Force yourself to consider the opposite case of any decision you make. Learn to see an issue more fully from both sides. Use personal benchmarking to compare your finances to a set standard. This will allow you to look inward at what matters to you personally How I manage behavioral risk with clients When I work with my clients I have to help them manage their own behavioral risks. I do this by considering process, strategy, and tactics. Consider what you want your life to look like. What is important to you? Before making any decision, slow down and ask yourself some questions. If you slow down and center yourself you can think through any decision. Think about the decision from all sides. What does success look like? What does failure look like? What are some alternatives that you can consider? Listen to this episode of Retirement Answer Man to hear how you can manage your own behavioral risks. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:20] What is heuristic?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:45] Managing behavior is the most significant risk you have to your finances[7:04] Be nimble as life unfolds[12:36] Create personal benchmarks[14:23] How I manage behavioral risk with clients as well as with myselfCOACH’S CORNER WITH B.W. [21:41] What is the Rock Retirement Club?[22:35] Do we make rational decisions?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [34:02] Practice your decision-making frameworkResources Mentioned In This Episode My article on Kitces.comRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

We all have cognitive biases that we have to account for when retirement planning. Although we can never shed ourselves of these biases we can manage them. In this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we continue to explore behavioral finance and how it affects retirement planning. Our minds like to play tricks on us and prevent us from making rational decisions. Listen to this episode to learn how to be aware of those tricks and overcome them so that you can rock retirement. What does bias mean? Before we further explore the subject of the cognitive bias we need to have a clear understanding of the term. Bias means that we prefer one side over the other. We all have our preferences for certain things, sometimes we aren’t even aware of them. Cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking when people are processing or interpreting information. Cognitive bias can affect our judgment. It is especially important in finance to be aware of these errors in thinking. The biggest obstacle to rocking retirement is a cognitive bias. These 7 types of cognitive bias can impact your retirement planning There are several different types of cognitive biases that can affect our decision making and impede our judgment. Confirmation bias is when we look for information to support our conclusions rather than looking at all the arguments in an objective way. Our minds are often overloaded with information and use confirmation bias to make decisions easier. Confirmation bias provides the mind with a quick shortcut to come to an answer that you already ‘know’ to be true.Loss aversion explains people’s tendency to avoid loss rather than seek a gain. Psychologically the pain we feel when we lose outweighs the joy we feel when we gain. Oversimplification tendency helps us to find simple explanations for complex matters. Retirement planning is one of those complex problems. It takes a lot of energy to think out complex solutions to complicated issues. We love those rules of thumb to help us simplify matters, but the truth is we need to seek to understand the complexity. Only then can we discover the elegant simplicity of our own unique retirement plan. Memory bias impairs us from understanding past lessons. Instead of looking back in the long-term, we look to more recent decisions to guide our plans. Recency bias is similar to memory bias. Recency bias is the reason most people buy high and sell low even though they ‘know better’. When the markets are up we become more optimistic about life. Information bias brings out our tendency to continually seek out information even when it doesn’t affect the action. It becomes a way of procrastinating to delay making decisions.Parkinson’s law of triviality means that we spend more time focusing on trivial details rather than the important issues at hand. Good investments plus good behavioral habits will help you rock retirement The worst part about these biases is we don’t even realize that we have them. The first step in overcoming a problem is to realize that the problem exists. None of us have this retirement thing all figured out. But if you can create good behavioral habits and pair those with good investments you will rock retirement. Be sure to tune in next week to learn how to create a framework to manage your cognitive biases and become a better critical thinker. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [1:52] Check out the Grandpad to stay in touch with elderly family membersWHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [4:35] What does bias mean?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [6:40] You have so much information coming to you[13:43] The goal of retirement planning is to find the elegant simplicity[16:48] We become optimistic when the markets is doing well[21:21] Good investments plus good behavioral habits can help you rock retirementQ&A SEGMENT [23:44] What can you expect to pay as an individual for Medicare?[26:55] The number of publicly traded companies has declined over the past few years[34:10] Be cautious of booking travel due to the potential of travel company bankruptciesTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [35:40] Examine a past investment decision you have made to look for one of these biases Resources Mentioned In This Episode GrandpadRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Life planning is one of the hardest things about retirement. Deciding when to retire can be challenging and is a decision based on more than just money. There are various types of mind tricks that we play on ourselves to talk ourselves out of making life big changes. In this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we continue the behavioral finance series by taking an in-depth look at rational decision making. Come join me to learn how you can make more rational decisions so that you can rock retirement. Our biases often get in the way of our life planning There’s a difference between being rational and rationalizing. We, humans, tend to choose the latter. Our minds often play tricks on us. Instead of making simple choices, we tend to complicate things by letting our biases get in the way. We use different types of biases like status quo bias, anchoring bias, information bias, and sunk cost fallacy to guide our decisions. Many times you know that change is coming, you can see it a mile away, but you still have a hard time navigating that change. Retirement is one of those changes. You have been preparing for it all of your life, but leaving the safety of what is known and what is easy can be hard to do. Don’t let yourself get lulled into the status quo. Has anchoring bias got you stuck in the same place? Anchoring bias is another common bias seen in retirement. People often don’t know how to live a life without constraints so they simply choose to stay in place. They choose not to see the myriad possibilities that are out there. Embrace the total freedom of retirement by exploring all of your options. Listen in to hear an interesting parable to help you understand all the opportunities you have waiting for you on the other side of retirement Are you waiting for more information? Other people are always seeking information to guide their choices. While making informed decisions is important, some keep delaying their decision to retire due to their lack of information. They think that once they have all the information they will finally be able to pull the trigger and retire. But the reality is, we will never have all the information. There is always a gap between the known and the unknown. Do you want to create memories or regrets? The sunk cost fallacy is another way people tend to rationalize themselves out of making good decisions. At your age, you have a lot of sunk costs. Don’t let those get in the way of living your life to its fullest. In the Rock Retirement Club, one of the first things that we discuss with new members is the 5 most common regrets from people on their death beds. Those regrets are:I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself.I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.I wish I had allowed myself to be happier.You don’t want to die thinking about all of those things you wish you had done. Using rational thinking and consciously stepping away from your biases can help you live your life to its fullest so that you can look back at a life full of memories rather than regrets. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [1:58] The more difficult the decision the more likely you are to choose the status quo[9:02] Sunk cost fallacy can also influence our decisionsQ&A SEGMENT [13:24] The transition from an employer-sponsored account to your money can be scary[17:20] Do you still need an emergency fund in retirement?[22:00] The difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage[25:05] Concerns about municipal bonds TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [31:37] Read Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer JohnsonResources Mentioned In This Episode PODCAST - Retirement Starts Today with Benjamin BrandtBOOK - Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer JohnsonRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

This month on the Retirement Answer Man show we are diving deep into behavioral finance. Do you consider yourself a rational person? Most of us think we are rational people, but according to Frederick Nitzsche rationality is impossible. However, without rationality, we are bound to make poor financial decisions. That’s why today we’re going to explore our humanness and focus on how we can make better decisions. Listen in to learn how to make better financial decisions so that you can rock retirement. What is behavioral finance? Behavioral finance is an area of finance that attempts to understand and explain observed investor and market behaviors. One question behavioral finance seeks to answer is why do investors sell during bear markets and buy during market peaks? Behavioral finance tries to explain how our humanness affects the markets. When we study behavioral finance we have a better understanding of those things about investing that don’t make sense. How do traditional finance and behavioral finance differ? On the flip side, traditional finance assumes that investors are rational, optimizing market players. Modern portfolio theory is based on the premise that every investor is going to try to maximize returns and minimize losses in their portfolio. The sweet spot that every investor seeks is called the efficient frontier. So, according to traditional finance thinking, an investor would never deviate from the efficient frontier. Traditional finance assumes that an investor can filter information and assess the tradeoffs in order to maximize utility. But the reality is, self-deception and social influence have a huge impact on our decision making. What does Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs have to do with finance? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs plays a role in our decision making as well. Many of us have learned how quickly we can move down the pyramid from self-actualization to base needs during the recent turn of events in the world. Our own pessimism and optimism have so much to do with where we lie on this psychological chart. We use self-deception, irrationality, and bias to block our ability to make rational decisions. This month my goal is to help you learn to make reasoned decisions even with all of your cognitive biases. Should market volatility affect plans to rebalance? A listener asks if she should continue her plans to rebalance her portfolio amid the recent market volatility. There are two different ways to approach rebalancing. Some choose to rebalance according to a date on the calendar. Others choose the threshold approach which means they rebalance when their portfolios begin to tip too far in one direction or the other. David Stein recommends choosing one approach and sticking with it. Listen to this episode to see what he has to say about rebalancing, taxes, and other listener questions. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:11] What is behavioral finance?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [2:05] Why is behavioral finance important to understand?[8:12] Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsQ&A SEGMENT WITH DAVID STEIN [16:25] David Stein thinks that loss aversion is the most prevalent bias that people have[18:54] Should Wendy take a lump sum or payments?[23:40] A rebalancing question[27:22] What could John do to lower his capital gains tax?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [32:30] Read The Behavioral InvestorResources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK: The Behavioral Investor by Dr. Daniel CrosbyBOOK: The Laws of Wealth by Dr. Daniel CrosbyMoney for the Rest of Us podcast with David SteinBOOK: Fix This Next by Mike MicalowiczRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

It’s easy to say don’t live your life based on assumptions. But how can we do that in retirement when assumptions are our way of managing uncertainties? Assumptions are basically just guesses at things we don’t know. And we need to make some assumptions to create a retirement plan. So today we’ll finish off the setting your retirement assumptions series by exploring 5 rules for setting and managing retirement assumptions. Join me to learn how you can make good assumptions so that you can rock retirement. 5 Rules for making and managing assumptions Recognize the assumptions you need to make. Even if you don’t like to make assumptions, you still have to make some to effectively plan your retirement. It’s important to recognize the assumptions that are important to retirement planning. There are obvious ones like inflation, rate of return, and longevity. But some may not be as obvious. Spending rhythms are difficult to understand in retirement and challenging to predict. You also may not understand how to live a life without the boundaries that have constrained you for your whole life. Investigate the data surrounding your assumptions. Don’t just assume blindly. Do your research. It’s good to start with historical data, but you can also think about more personal factors. One example is with longevity. You should consider your personal health and family history when estimating your own longevity.Beware of making extreme assumptions. This one can be challenging in the times of COVID-19. We tend to start believing in extremes when faced with extreme situations.Determine which assumptions have the biggest impact on your life. Next identify which ones you can control. Where those two meet is precisely where you want to focus your time and energy.Don’t trust your assumptions. Although we need our assumptions to help plan for retirement, we can’t trust them fully. This is where being agile comes into play. When you are agile you can find the blips on your dashboard and then readjust your model accordingly. Agile retirement planning can help you keep your model up to date and relevant as life changes.Why is identity such a big issue for retirees? When you retire you lose your work identity and your identity as a wage earner. It can be easy to become lost. But instead of lamenting the loss of what was you can instead take this opportunity to create a new identity that you choose. You can create this identity based on who you really are. So give it some thought, who do you want to be in retirement? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:00] 5 Rules for making and managing assumptionsCOACHES CORNER [16:10] Why is identity such a big issue for retirees?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:00] Go through these rules think about how you will manage your retirement assumptionsResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Once again we are tackling your retirement assumptions on Retirement Answer Man. This week we’ll discuss market assumptions. You are modeling 30 years out, so the market assumptions that you make can easily overestimate or underestimate the amount of money you will need. What kind of market assumptions have you been making with your models? What are capital market assumptions? Capital market assumptions are the assumptions that investment managers or asset allocation software use to design your pie chart. It will include what the expected returns are for the asset class. The factors include what the return assumption is, what the standard deviation is, and how each ingredient reacts with each other. We can refer to these factors as return - volatility - correlation. We try to manipulate these assumptions and put our own views on top of them. It is important to note that these are the components of your pie chart asset allocation forecast. It’s different this time… We always think that this time is different. Each major crisis has been unique. The Great Recession of 2008 hit us all hard and changed paradigms. During The New Economy of the 90s, many threw caution to the wind because they just knew that returns were always going to be 20%. But this time is different, right? This pandemic, it’s personal. The safety of our families is at stake. You can’t leave your house. But this time just like all the rest one thing stays the same. It is difficult just to try and be reasonable. What kind of historical market assumptions do you use to plan your retirement? Many people like to use the 10% number to plan their retirement model. But why do they choose 10%? Is it a nice round number? The last 5 years’ stock market returns were 7.7%. During the past 10 years, they were 15%. Over 50 years that number drops to 8.4%. And over 94 years it averages 10%. We often use these historical numbers in our models, but these numbers don’t factor in the lumpiness. These numbers vary wildly from year to year which is why linear models fall apart over time. Find the answers to your retirement questions In our Q&A segment, you’ll hear the answers to questions like, should you consolidate all of your assets in one place? How should you rollover your pretax and post-tax dollars? How hard is it to get a mortgage in retirement (even if you have a pension)? Should you use withdrawal strategies in retirement? Listen in to the end to hear all of these questions answered on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:02] Capital market assumptionsPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [2:50] It’s different this time…[7:05] What are your assumptions that the stock market will do going forward?[10:32] It is easy to overestimate the viability of your planQ&A SEGMENT [19:15] Should you consolidate all of your assets in one place?[23:30] Is qualifying for a mortgage in retirement challenging with a pension?[29:16] Should you use withdrawal strategies in retirement?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [31:20] Reexamine your market and inflation assumptionsResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

One of the biggest assumptions you can make in retirement is in your spending. Spending is one of the greatest financial pieces of retirement planning. On this episode, we’re talking about spending. How do you track your spending? How do you know how much you will spend in retirement? Will your spending change after you retire? Listen in to hear how to break free from your retirement assumptions so that you can not just survive retirement but rock retirement. Americans want to keep working remotely American views are changing amid this Corona disruption. According to a recent study done by IBM, 54% of Americans would like to continue working from home and 70% would like to retain the option to work at home. Major events like the one we are experiencing accelerate social trends. We are all learning a new rhythm of life and many of us like it. If you are enjoying working from home it’s time to consider, what does this make possible? Would working from home give you access to more time freedom? Would it cut down on your wardrobe and commuting costs? Listen in to brainstorm with me how you can use this new trend to perhaps extend your working life. You can’t rely on averages to plan your own spending There is a rule of thumb in retirement spending. People who make close to $50,000 per year spend about 70-80% of that in retirement. But conversely, as your wages go up your retirement spending goes down. Those making over $100,000 per year spend only about 55% of that in retirement.Another generalization about spending in retirement is household spending by age group. People under 55 spend about $57,000 per year. Ages 55-64 spend approximately $59,000 each year. But then the numbers begin to go down once people reach ages 65-74. This demographic spends $47,000 and finally those in their golden years who are 75 and older only spend $35-37,000 per year. We can look at averages and facts and figures all day long but they don’t mean anything. These averages aren’t yours. The data is a good place holder to use as you plan far into the future but in the short-term, the only figures you should be concerned with are your own. We all have different categories of spending Everyone has different ideas about what essential spending entails. I like to customize retirement spending into 3 categories: needs, wants, and wishes. Obviously the needs category includes food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. But it is important to include a bit more than the basic rice and bean budget. Your needs category is your firewall. You want to make sure that you can really live your life on this level. The wants category may include more travel and discretionary spending. The wishes category is where you get to dream big. I encourage you to create different retirement budgets based on these 3 categories. Two ways to estimate your budget There are two approaches to create a retirement budget. If you are still a way out from retirement, one easy way to project your spending is to do a top-down budget. A top-down budget is where you estimate all of your income sources and then subtract the money you save. This will give you a ballpark figure for your current budget. As you get closer to retirement you’ll want to create a more accurate model. You can do this by forming a bottom-up budget. This is where you will get a real handle on each category of your spending. This type of budget takes a lot of work, but it’s important to be as accurate as you can as you approach retirement. One way you can really dial in your budget is to live on your projections for a year and see how that works for you. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [1:21] Americans want to keep working remotelyPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [10:45] Spending assumptions[15:56] You can’t rely on averages to plan your own spending[17:20] Health care costs vary per age as well[23:45] We have different seasons of life[35:36] Healthcare assumptions[39:35] Two ways to estimate your budgetQ&A SEGMENT [43:49] An asset dedication question[47:41] An IRMAA correction[49:02] RMD’s for 2020TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [52:33] Revisit your retirement cost assumptionsResources Mentioned In This Episode Jasnon Aten’s article in Ink magazineRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

What retirement assumptions do you have? In retirement planning, we rely on assumptions for just about everything. This may seem like a small thing, but this topic is so big that we are taking the whole month of May to talk about it. Today we tackle the life assumptions: how much you plan to spend, how long you plan to work, how long you think you’ll live. Join me as we consider the different assumptions we all make when planning for retirement. What is an assumption? Your assumptions are your windows on the world. An assumption means assuming something is true, taking it for granted. In retirement planning, we must make assumptions. Assumptions must be made to plug into the models. We assume for inflation, spending, costs, markets, longevity, and health. As you plug these numbers in, the range of potential outcomes gets wider and wider the farther out you project. And often in retirement planning, we plan as far as 40 years out. You can never get the assumptions just right but you can try to get as close as possible. We often have incorrect assumptions about how we will spend money We need to make assumptions about how we will live in retirement to be able to plan accordingly. One of the biggest inputs into the retirement plan is spending rhythm. Many people assume that they will continue to spend in retirement as they do now. But retirement spending is lumpy. It doesn’t have an even flow. In the go-go years at the beginning of retirement, we often spend a lot, then that spending slows down as life slows down. It’s hard to imagine yourself at age 70 or 80. But try to think about how you’ll be living your life at that age. We assume that retirement is like turning off a light switch One day we’re working and then the next day we stop. Right? Wrong. Retirement doesn’t have to be that way. Most people actually work for a period of time in retirement. You can take that light switch and make it a dimmer switch. If you are willing to rethink work and rethink income then you can still work and have the time freedom that you seek. You can choose pretirement and slowly But oftentimes it’s not that way. And it doesn’t have to be that way. How will longevity affect your plans? Be careful with statistics, they can fool you. We often look to statistics to plan our longevity outlook. But your health is not average and it’s not based on statistics. You need a more personalized plan. Consider where you really fall on the longevity timeline based on health, fitness, and family history. We also often assume that our mental capacity will remain the same. You may want to factor in some kinds of systems to help keep your finances running smoothly if your mental function begins to diminish. These aren’t things we have fun thinking about but they are important. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT’S THAT MEAN SEGMENT [2:54] What is an assumption?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [6:00] We often have incorrect assumptions about how we will spend money[10:02] We assume that retirement is like turning off a light switch[14:32] Is your plan dependent upon you working in retirement? [17:07] Will helping your kids impair your retirement plans?[18:38] How will longevity affect your plans?[23:44] You also need to consider your mental capacity[26:02] Consider your assetsQ&A SEGMENT [29:20] A super backdoor Roth questionResources Mentioned In This Episode John Hancock longevity calculator Nova Article by Kate BeckerRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Beachwalker, the rockin’ retirement coach is in the house today. He joins us once a month on the show to give some helpful tips on how to create an awesome retirement. Today we’re talking about attitude. Attitude makes a huge impact on your retirement, your health, and even your longevity. Listen in to hear how a positive attitude can affect your life and stick around for the Q & A segment to hear the answers to questions you didn’t even know you had. Attitude isn’t everything, but... It’s a huge component of rocking retirement. Attitude is an important determinant of the quality of your life now and it will be so even more in retirement. The definition of attitude is a settled feeling about someone or something that is reflected in behavior. So what comes first the chicken or the egg - a great retirement or a positive attitude? What do you think? Attitude has an even bigger factor on longevity than your health People are living so much longer than they used to. 80 is the new 60. With this newfound longevity, it’s important to create a positive mindset. You can’t let every ache and pain get you down, find a way to deal with that so you can move on and make the best of your life. Studies have shown that a positive attitude impacts your balance, your mental health, and even your longevity. Aging is inevitable, being old is a choice. Robo advisors and target-date funds in retirement If you are young and accumulating your savings, target-date funds are totally fine (even though I like allocation funds better). And robo advisors are able to put your portfolio on autopilot by automatically rebalancing whenever you need it. But these tools are not set up for managing your assets in or nearing retirement. In retirement, they can lead you astray since they are not geared for distribution. How do you determine whether to take a lump sum or an annuity? Choosing between taking a pension or a lump sum is a tough call. There are many factors to consider. One factor you should think about is what other assets do you have? A pension offers flexibility if you have other assets in place. But if you are underfunded for retirement taking a lump sum would create investment risk at a time when you need to have guaranteed income sources. When planning for retirement, I like to first create a process, then a strategy, and lastly, I choose the tactics to use. You can create your own model at home using your own process, strategy, and tactics. Try modeling both choices and see where you end up. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [3:00] Attitude isn’t everythingCOACHES CORNER SEGMENT [5:22] People who have a more positive perception of aging live longerQ&A SEGMENT [10:30] Robo advisors and target-date funds in retirement[12:43] Why isn’t catastrophic long-term care a thing?[14:30] Lump sum or annuity?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [19:27] Ask yourself, what does this make possible?Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - Younger Next Year by Dr. Henry LodgeRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Retirement planning will never be the same. Actually there are many aspects of our lives that will never be the same. The Coronavirus disruption has been exactly that, a disruption of our everyday lives. It has affected everything from education, to work life, to retirement planning. Find out how staying intentional and agile will help you rock retirement on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. Disruption causes trends to accelerate Normally we see new trends happening but they take time to really take root. But once some kind of disruption takes hold those trends begin to accelerate. Remote working and online learning were two trends that were coming along in the world but they never really took hold until the Coronavirus disruption. These two trends have been fueled by this disruption and education and the workspace will never be the same. How do you define retirement? If you look retirement up in the dictionary it can mean several things. But none of those ring true for most people in the various stages of retirement planning. We all have our own definitions, our own versions of how we want to spend our golden years. Many of us feel that the most important thing to consider in retirement is time freedom. We want to have control over our own schedules. Plenty of people want to continue to work, but for a different purpose. The compensation may not be the same. Instead, they choose to work to give or to make an impact in the world. So what does retirement mean to you? 5 ways retirement planning is changing School and work aren’t the only aspects of life that are changing. Retirement planning is changing as well. This field has its own trends that will be accelerated by the Coronavirus disruption as well. Here are 5 trends that I see changing retirement planning.I think we were all starting to value experiences over things and that will continue to accelerate when all this is said and done. Retirement planning generally starts out as a mathematical formula and we often forget life outcomes. I think retirement planning will become less investment-focused, and more focused on creating the outcomes that are right for you. Matching our assets with our liabilities will increase in importance in retirement. This is what retirement planning actually is.People will become more focused on short-term volatility risk and may forget about long-term inflation risk and decreased buying power. Since inflation has been so low for so long we frequently ignore its risk. Pretirement will boom. Pretirement is an excellent bridge between full-time work and retirement. It doesn’t just give you cash flow in retirement it also gives you:Time freedomA purpose or something that interests youA way to help mentally ease into retirementA transition in your social networkAgency and a sense of power What trends do you think might accelerate from all of this? Let me know by responding to the 6 Shot Saturday email. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [0:40] Disruption causes trends to accelerateWHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [3:20] What does retirement mean?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:35] 5 trends in retirement planningQ&A SEGMENT [20:28] How should Mitchell roll his pension so that he doesn’t get taxed for the lump sum?[22:00] What kind of stress tests can we do to prepare for retirement?[25:38] How to prioritize what’s important in stressful times[30:28] How to pursue a second actTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [33:24] What can you do to treat yourself?Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

So, we’re not in a recession yet, but these are definitely challenging times. Now is a great time to learn how to navigate a recession in retirement. A recession is a temporary economic decline with a fall in the gross domestic product over successive quarters. Although we technically aren’t in a recession right now, we can stay agile by preparing ourselves for what is to come. Join me today to learn how you can navigate a recession in retirement. You’ll learn 6 areas in which you can play offense or defense to help you be prepared for what may lie ahead. 6 areas of defense or offense to prepare yourself for a recession in retirement Maintain a mental edge - What do you do to stay mentally agile? Self-care is so important during challenging times. Exercise and journaling are 2 great ways to practice self-care. Find a healthy way to vent if you need to let off steam. It’s also important to limit the news you watch and avoid the bait of commercials and sales pitches. Be careful with those sales pitches, everyone is trying to take advantage of the situation to make a buck. Evaluate what is important to you - Right now we are experiencing unprecedented times where we have an opportunity to really think about what is important to us. So give it some thought. What are your life goals? What is important to your life? Consider your cash flow - Another opportunity presents itself to stress test your retirement plan. Review your liquidity. Do you have enough laid out in cash reserves? Take this time to evaluate the sustainability of your retirement plan. Build a cash floor, moderate your wants and wishesLook for opportunities - Since interest rates are at an all-time low, consider refinancing your mortgage. Now is also a great time to find flexible travel deals look for travel deals. Examine your portfolio - This is a good time to simplify your investments in a tax-efficient way. Examine your asset allocation. Is your portfolio doing what you expected? You don’t need to take action right now if you want to change, just make a note of it for better times. Examine your risk tolerance. We’re used to riding risk while accumulating assets, not while we’re in the decumulation stage of life. You also have an opportunity to do some tax planning this year. You may be able to take advantage of tax loss harvesting. Also consider whether it makes sense to do some Roth conversions. Help the family - Now is a great time to gift shares of stock or cash. Many people are experiencing challenging times with job losses. Remember you can gift $15,000 per person. You could also consider making an interfamily loan to someone who just needs help weathering this storm. These loans have no requirements other than you must charge a minimum applicable interest rate which is low right now. How will you stay agile? You may never be 100% prepared for a recession in retirement, but you can be agile. Think about the ways you can maneuver and look for opportunities. Although it is important to consider how to defend your assets it’s also important to stay on your toes and be proactive. So what will you do to stay agile in the coming weeks and months? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:00] What is a recession?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:22] 6 areas to help you navigate a recession THE Q&A SEGMENT [24:30] Where should you invest a chunk of money?[28:40] Evaluate the things you own[31:55] How to best utilize tax brackets[34:33] No one knows how to file for unemployment as a contract workerTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [38:00] Do something to manage your stress and anxietyResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

If you are nearing retirement you may be hyper-aware of the corona disruption. With all this extra time on your hands, you may want to spend more time planning your retirement. But don’t overthink this. Listen to this episode to hear my take on 6 years of Retirement Answer Man plus hear the answers to several listener questions. 6 lessons from 6 years of Retirement Answer Man Thanks for 6 years of Retirement Answer Man! Last week I entitled the episode 6 Retirement Lessons from 6 Years of Retirement Answer Man and then I forgot to mention the lessons or the fact that 6 years have gone by. So here are 6 of my takeaways after 6 years of producing the show.It’s all about the money. Many think of retirement as being a math problem, but it’s not. There are too many unknowns for retirement to be as easy as a math problem. Retirement is the problem that cannot be solved that easily. Going from accumulation to decumulation is hard. After saving your whole life, switching gears is a challenge. Not only are you no longer earning, but so much else in your life is changing as well. Your social networks, your purpose, your relationship are just some of the things that change alongside transitioning from being an earner to living off your savings. Your attitude is critical to your success. Attitude is everything. You can have the attitude: what does this make possible? Or, why is this happening to me? Don’t let the circumstance determine the attitude, let the attitude interpret the circumstance. The traditional system of retirement planning is broken. This system is based on sales of products and investment portfolios. Financial planning is evolving thoughLittle actions are critical. What can you do next? Create the momentum to take advantage of opportunities and mitigate risk. Agile financial planning is a journey. Trust that everything will be ok. Take action, but understand that your path will be revealed. What retirement lessons have you learned on your journey? Let me know! How to time the bottom of the market One listener writes in with a question about timing the bottom of the market. He had the foresight to pull out when the virus hit China. But now he wants to get back in near the bottom. He is worried that he might miss the upswing. Planning the bottom of the market is pretty challenging. I am not a market timer. I prefer to have a process and strategy where I develop my tactics. Without a process, our choices are fueled by emotion rather than logic. Do you have an investment process? Listen in to this episode to hear more listener questions OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [2:45] 6 lessons from 6 years of Retirement Answer ManPRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [13:43] Recommendations on buying gold[19:12] How to time the bottom[23:40] How to build a fixed income source for your pie cakeTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:02] What are you going to learn over the next 7 days?Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Making the choice to retire and actually stepping away from the comfort of your long-time career can be so difficult. It takes a lot of courage to make that leap. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we’ll be analyzing how you can create a strategy to step off that train and get started on your retirement. Listen in to hear how to start planning for the retirement that you know you want. But first, let’s talk about this stimulus package. What does the CARES Act mean for you? In a landmark piece of legislation, the CARES Act was recently signed into law. Roughly 90% of the population will be receiving a direct deposit into their bank account courtesy of Uncle Sam. The qualifications will be based upon your most recent tax return. If you are married and made less than $150,000 then you will qualify. Another perk of the CARES Act is that in 2020 there will be no required minimum distributions. Listen in to hear about 401K loans and hardship distributions which were also covered in the bill. It can be hard to retire Sure retirement sounds exciting, but actually stepping away from a longheld career and living off your savings can feel like jumping off a cliff. At this point in your life, you are probably at the top of your game. You are probably making more money than ever before. You are the captain of your universe. How can you step off that money-making train and into the unknown? Some strategies to help you prepare to retire So how do you garner the courage to give up your income, live off your savings, and step into this unknown world? There are some tactical strategies that you can use to help you prepare for this change in life. Set a deadline for retirement - not just in general, set a specific date to pull the plug.Create a compelling vision of where you want to go - Use process strategy tactics to prepare and organize your resources.Pretire - set yourself up to make a little bit of income. Now is a great time to prove to your employer that you can work remotely. Pretirement can be a great way to gain time freedom without giving up all of your incomeFlock with birds of the same feather - get to know people that are walking the same path but a bit ahead of you in their journey. The Rock Retirement Club is a great way to share ideas and conversation with people in the same boat. Now more than ever it is important to remain agile in your retirement planning. Listen in to hear listener questions and to find out how you can prepare to retire. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:18] What does the CAREs Act mean for you?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [7:41] It can be hard to retire[13:43] Some tactical strategiesLISTENER QUESTIONS [17:10] This whole month is dedicated to your questions[18:00] Will the stimulus package end up causing inflation?[21:54] How to rebalance at this timeTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:35] This is the perfect time to get readyResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

We chat with Fritz Gilbert, founder of the Retirement Manifesto blog and author of Keys to a Successful Retirement, Staying Happy, Active and Productive in Your Retirement Years.

Choosing where to live in retirement can seem daunting to some and exhilarating to others. On this final episode of the Where to Live in Retirement series, we hope to teach you how to take steps to navigate a transition to create the retirement and the life that you really want. If you listen to this show that means that you are preparing to rock retirement. Listen in to this episode to hear how to take intentional action to plan where you really want to be in retirement. Let’s acknowledge the crazy things going on We can’t begin this episode without acknowledging the crazy life-changing events that are happening all around us as we live through this Coronavirus disruption. I have talked to so many worried people in the past few weeks; clients, Rock Retirement Club members, and listeners who are all concerned about the effects of the Coronavirus. They want to know what they can do to mitigate the financial damage. To address everyone’s concerns, share tips, and answer questions, I’m hosting a town hall tomorrow 3/26 at 7 pm central. You can sign up for this webinar at my website: rogerwhitney.com just click the ad at the top of the page to register. How to avoid bad decisions during the Coronavirus disruption Stop! Don’t do that! It’s important that you don’t make large, rash decisions in the middle of a crisis. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus has disrupted many aspects of our lives. Although you shouldn’t make big decisions at this time, you can take small actions. Cut some discretionary expenses, have a positive attitude, bring in some extra income. Most importantly, ask yourself what does this make possible? Find out what is possible during this challenging time and lean into it. Open your mind to the possibilities of where to live in retirement How to begin to decide where to live in retirement? First of all, you need to open your mind to the myriad possibilities. The world is your oyster. Where can you envision yourself living? Try this exercise separately from your spouse. Have a seat and write down 3 places to live or even styles of living that you would enjoy. List the pros and cons of living in each place. Then each of you can present them to each other. This is an exercise in healthy communication. How can you have the best of both worlds? You and your spouse may not have the same lifestyles or places written on your list of places to live. Think about how you can have the best of both worlds. Could you rent a place a few months out of the year? Buy a second home? It’s important that both of you make your voice heard. Think about the creative ways that you can live your ideal retirement. Listen in to hear how you can navigate the transition into retirement and decide where to live. You’ll also hear listener questions that could help you up your retirement game. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN COACHES CORNER [3:30] Open your mind to possibilities[7:45] How to avoid bad decisionsQ&A SEGMENT [12:10] How to verify expense ratios?[15:24] Should he track information in a spreadsheet?[19:35] Cash value or pension?[20:34] An unusual retirement planTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:58] Realize you have choices to create the type of environment you wantResources Mentioned In This Episode Dan CrosbyRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Over the past several episodes we have been discussing how to decide where to live in retirement. After listening to the previous episodes in this series, you have been able to acknowledge your own status quo and build a framework to decide the kind of place that you want to live in retirement. Now is the time to experiment and decide what makes the most sense for you and your situation. Listen in to hear different ways you can experiment and choose the right place to retire. Is the grass really greener somewhere else? All this talk of packing up and moving can get you ready to pack your bags and drive across the country to start a new life. But before you do that, think about if that is what you really want. Our thought experiment is really meant to get you thinking. So now examine where you are right now. What would happen if you decluttered the house or even remodeled it? Would it feel more liveable? What if you reexplored your own city? Check out the museums, parks, and trail systems. You may find there is more to love than you thought. How to experiment and decide where to live in retirement How do you know where to even begin? Deciding the right place to retire can seem like a daunting task, but just like any other research project, you can start with the internet. Think about the aspects of a place that are important to you to get a profile of what you are looking for. Country or city? Beach or mountains? North or south? You’ll also want to think about factors such as affordability, proximity to airports and family. Keep your ear to the ground Once you find a place that intrigues you start chatting with friends and colleagues about that location. Keep your ears open and you’ll hear plenty about that place. Another way to investigate places to live in retirement is to test the waters. Use your vacations to explore the places you are thinking of. Instead of buying a new place right away consider renting for a year to see if it’s somewhere that really suits your needs. Test the waters Remember the whole point of this exercise is to have you analyze your status quo to see if it will still fit your desires in retirement. After doing this you may find that you are exactly where you want to be. So build your framework and put it to the test. Test the waters to see what may work for you. Continue to flush out your living profile to research and experiment on where you are thinking of settling. Try booking a vacation there or testing the waters. This will help you decide what is right for you. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:00] What is huzzah?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:00] Is the grass really greener somewhere else?[7:44] How do you research and explore[11:45] How these decisions are made in my homeQ&A SEGMENT [17:45] How to evaluate when you will be ready to retire[25:35] Should you hold onto a stock?[30:55] How to protect yourself against identity theft when working with a planner?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [38:15] Continue to flush out your profile to research and experimentResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

In this episode, I share some perspective to help you navigate this crazy market

Creating an ideal living profile will help you build a vision of your retirement. On the Where to Live in Retirement series, we’re not giving you a list of top places to retire, instead, you will learn how to build a framework to help you understand where is the right place for you. On this episode, you’ll consider questions to ask yourself and your spouse to create the ideal living profile for your retirement. Listen in to learn how to build a vision of what you want your retirement environment to look like. Would you move across the country if it meant you could retire 2 years early? Moving can often lead to a completely different lifestyle. If you live somewhere with a high cost of living then moving to a state with a lower cost of living could completely change when and how you retire. Some people are completely happy with where they live and even identify with that place, and if that is you, then great! But for those that may be considering a change, make your decision intentionally. Don’t base your choices on the status quo. Consider your right answer. How to create your retirement living profile How do you feel about your living environment? Our living environment sets us up for success and happiness. To create an ideal living profile there are many things that you can consider. Consider the climate. Do you like consistency or do you like change? Are you someone that wants to see the seasons change or would you prefer warmer weather all year long? Would you prefer to live in the city, suburbia, or out in the country? Would you enjoy the conveniences of a planned community? What kind of amenities do you like to be near? Listen in to hear what you should consider when creating your ideal living profile. What tools can you use to create your ideal living profile for retirement? Now that you know what kind of questions to ask yourself, it’s time to actually build your living profile. There are many different ways that you can do this. One way is to create a vision board. A vision board is a way to use pictures, words, and ideas and arrange them in a visual way. You could also use a mind map to help you create your retirement living profile. I use a mind mapping app called Mind Node that helps me create mind maps. Make sure you’re signed up for 6 Shot Saturday to receive a mind map example. Create a conversation When considering where to live in retirement it is important to check your status quo at the door. As you work through this exercise of creating your living profile make sure to do it separately from your spouse. Define what is important to you individually. After you have both created your living profiles you can use them to spark an ongoing conversation. You want to make sure that both of you express your feelings. Use this exercise as your Smart Sprint this week and start the conversation with your spouse. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:40] What is a bond ladder? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:38] Would you move across the country if it meant you could retire 2 years early? [7:07] How to create a living profile [15:44] What are some tools you can use to create your living profile? [19:42] Next week: how do you experiment with your decision? Q&A SEGMENT [21:50] Roth conversions and making use of your tax brackets [27:15] What are the pros and cons of using a bond fund vs. using a bond ladder? [31:15] Target-date funds TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [35:06] Start thinking about the environment where you want to retire Resources Mentioned In This Episode The Pie Cake episode Mind Node Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Retirement is one of those life changes that gives you the opportunity to reevaluate and set yourself up for the next stage of life. On this monthlong Retirement Answer Man Series, we’re going to think about how to decide where to live in retirement. This will not be a list of the top ten places to go, but instead, I want to help you build a framework to weigh your decisions. In this episode, we’ll get you thinking about your own status quo so you can evaluate whether it’s right for you. Listen in with an open mind and really think about whether your in the right place or if you’re just comfortable. The Coronavirus and market corrections I can’t sit by and ignore the recent market correction due to the Coronavirus. The whole situation can seem scary, While I can’t assess the health risk of the illness, I can discuss the market risks. Nobody knows how this event will slow down our economic system overall or how it will affect the profits, growth, and earnings of individual stocks. What you can do is consider whether you have the right structure in place. If you have done your planning then you need to sit down and remember that the money you have in the market right now won’t be touched for 5+ years. Relax and remember that this too shall pass. Are you getting trapped by what is? The status quo can be quite comfortable. But instead of sitting back and letting life pass you by you can use the status quo as a baseline to help you consider what could be. How did you come to live where you do? Think about what that journey was like. Have you lived there long? What ties you there now? Retirement is a unique time in life where you don’t have the ties of work or kids to influence where you should live. Acknowledge your status quo but don’t simply accept that life must remain the same. Consider whether a change would improve your life. What are the pros and cons of selling stock by specific shares? I recently got a great question about selling individual stocks by specific shares to manage one’s tax bracket. If you are looking to manage your tax bracket when selling stocks that were bought at different periods of time then it’s a good idea to do multi-year tax projections. Think about what your spending will be like and what your income will be. Where will you obtain that income? What will your tax bracket be? Map it out and model it. Listen in to hear the full explanation of how you should handle selling stocks by specific shares. What can average people do about long-term care? Another listener sees long-term care insurance as a luxury since prices range from $3000-$7000 per year. He is wondering what people with average incomes can do to help with long-term care. Unfortunately, there is no good answer. First off you need to really consider if it is a luxury for you. Can you exchange a different expense like life insurance for long-term care insurance? Is there a way you can mitigate the odds and make some lifestyle changes? You’ll also need to begin discussing this issue with your family. Find out why having this discussion sooner rather than later is important by listening to this episode of Retirement Answer Man. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [2:53] The Coronavirus and the markets WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [10:00] What is status quo bias PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [11:02] How did you come to live where you do? THE Q & A SEGMENT [17:08] What are the pros and cons of selling stock by specific shares? [23:50] Buying long-term care is a luxury, what can average people do? [27:55] The goal is to not use long-term care insurance TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [29:44] Start having this conversation about where to live with your spouse Resources Mentioned In This Episode Ask me a question! - RogerWhitney.com/AskRoger Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Today as we close out the long term care planning month, Steve Cain returns to the show to discuss hybrid long-term care insurance policies. On the previous episode (#313), Steve Cain gave us the key facts about traditional long-term care insurance and today we explore some alternatives to the traditional long-term care insurance route. This episode will help you understand different options in the long-term care insurance realm. I’ll also answer some listener questions and have our retirement coach, B.W., The subject of long-term care can be a tough one to address This entire month we have discussed how to cope with long-term care risk. While this is not the most exciting or even upbeat topic to learn about it is something to consider. It’s important to address potential risks while we are still of sound mind rather than while we are dealing with them. Examining your options now will lead to better decision making and peace of mind. Listen to this conversation with Steve Cain to arm yourself with knowledge so that you can better weigh your options when it comes to long-term care. Hybrid long-term care insurance policies manage risk from a different angle The long term care insurance industry has had a lot of trouble in the past and they don’t have the best reputation. But the hybrid long-term care insurance policies are an alternative to the traditional long-term care insurance policies. These policies don’t really have a proper name and can be called a number of things like; hybrid, life with long-term care, asset-based long-term care, or combination long-term care. Even though they don’t have a decent name in place they are an exciting change from traditional long-term care insurance. These policies are life insurance-based products with long-term care riders or additions. Unlike traditional long-term care policies, with these, you are more likely to get something in return for your money. There are different types of options in hybrid long-term care There are many different types of hybrid long-term care options on the market. One is a long-term care solution that is actually rolled into a life insurance policy. Essentially it is whole term life insurance with a separate long-term care component. This insurance has separate buckets of money designated for different purposes. It is a bit more expensive than a traditional long-term care insurance policy but the benefits are guaranteed. Listen in to hear more about this type of hybrid long term care insurance policy and a few others. Who needs long-term care insurance? Long-term care insurance isn’t for everybody. There are some who are affluent enough to be able to self-insure, many more won’t be able to afford this type of insurance. But there are plenty in between those extremes that can consider this type of insurance. There are many different types of insurance and ways to plan for your potential long-term care needs. The key is to have a plan. Be sure to include your family in this discussion, since long-term care is an issue that affects the whole family. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:05] Hybrid policies approach long-term care insurance from a different angle [6:30] The long-term care solution atop a life insurance policy [16:38] What is the return to the premium option? [19:22] Can you repurpose your traditional life insurance policy? [24:35] Who needs long-term care? COACHES CORNER [27:25] What to do when you are thrown into the role of caregiver LISTENER QUESTIONS [36:00] A question about annuities [44:10] How to handle holding onto stuff in retirement [49:44] How to evaluate a portfolio manager TODAY’S SMART SPRINT [60:03] Think about your potential long-term care needs Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - Winning the Losers Game by Charles Ellis To check out the annuity series start here Steve Cain Steve Cain on Twitter@SteveCainLTC Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

You may know that I am not a fan of traditional long-term care insurance. But that is why we are exploring this topic together. It is important for me to reexamine my biases periodically to see how they hold up. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, Steve Cain, from LTCI joins me to examine traditional long-term care insurance. I have plenty of questions for him so that we can learn how traditional long-term care insurance works and examine our own risks. Join me by listening to this conversation to learn more about long-term care insurance so that you’ll have the tools to determine if it is right for you. How to plan for risk There are 5 basic strategies to address a risk and shockingly, ignoring the risk is not one of them. No one likes to think about long-term care, but instead of burying our heads in the sand we need to think about how we will confront this risk. These are the 5 strategies that risk management professionals consider. Retain the risk - this means dealing with it yourself Avoid the risk - not really a possibility in this situation Mitigate the risk - lower the odds of the risk Share the risk - use insurance to help to share the risk Transfer the risk by using insurance to own all of the risk. Keep these strategies in mind as you listen to the show so that you can begin to consider which one you’ll want to use to consider long-term care. Is traditional long-term care insurance right for you? Deciding whether to use traditional long-term care insurance is a difficult decision. The long-term care insurance industry is still in its infancy and there are many factors to consider as a consumer. The industry doesn’t have the best reputation, but Steve Cain is here to help us consider whether traditional long-term care insurance is the best option for our potential long-term care needs Will the long-term care insurance company be around when we really need it? We’ve all seen the headlines, long-term care insurance companies raising their rates, or even worse, companies going out of business. How do we know if the insurance company is going to be around when we really need it? Despite the history of problems in the industry, Steve Cain feels that the newer generation of long-term care insurance policies are more stable than the first generations. He feels that the industry has evolved and adapted by learning from the mistakes of the past. Find out why Steve feels the newer insurance policies are more stable than those of the past. How are the policies structured? To get a long-term care insurance policy you’ll have to go through several steps. The companies want to ensure that you won’t need long-term care for a number of years, so they do check your medical history. There are many factors to consider when choosing your policy. The amount you can afford is an important factor. But you’ll also want to consider your lifetime maximum benefit, the maximum benefit amount per month, and you’ll also want to factor for inflation. Find out what else you should consider before you think about getting long-term care insurance. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [3:00] Lifetime maximum benefit PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [7:53] The long term care insurance industry is in its infancy [14:40] What happens to a policy when the company becomes insolvent? [20:30] How does a long-term care policy get crafted? [29:17] The elimination period used to be bigger than it is now [37:14] What is the average premium? LISTENER QUESTIONS SEGMENT [40:44] Tax diversification in retirement [47:44] A sequence of return risk question TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [51:30] Consider your long-term care risk Resources Mentioned In This Episode Steve Cain Steve Cain on Twitter @SteveCainLTC Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

There is a 50% chance that you’ll need long-term care at some point in your future so let’s learn how to mitigate your long-term care risk. Sure, you can always try the long-term care insurance route, but with it being an emerging industry, the underwriting doesn’t have enough data to provide the insurance that you need at a consistent cost you can afford. Long-term care insurance policies still aren’t as robust as home owner’s insurance policies. If you plan to self-insure against long-term care you’ll need to know the risk factors and what your personal risk of needing this type of costly care will be How to determine your long-term care risk and build a financial framework One of the scary parts about needing long-term care is that your resources are finite. At that point in life, you won’t be able to fill the gap by working if something happens to you. When self-insuring for long-term care you’ll need to start with the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario in a long-term care situation generally means dementia or Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s care can cost up to $350,000. So this worst-case scenario is how we’ll start to build our framework to self-insure. Next, you need to consider your risk factors to determine the likelihood of the worst-case scenario happening to you. After that, you’ll want to build a plan and stress-test it. Listen in to hear how I simulate financial plans and stress test them. What is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s? For years, Alzheimer’s and dementia were terms that were used interchangeably, but finally, we have gotten to the point where we clarify them. When discussing dementia, we are describing symptoms. But there are more than 200 diseases that can cause symptoms of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease that presents with symptoms of dementia. How to lower your risk for Alzheimer’s Everyone wants to know what they can do to minimize their risks for Alzheimer’s. The good news is that dementia and memory loss doesn’t happen overnight. Since it is a long, slow process there are little changes we can make to combat the risks. Unfortunately, no one knows what to believe since there is so much fake science on the internet. That’s why Dr. Marc Milstein has joined me today. He is here to give us some actionable items that we can implement to lower our risk for Alzheimer’s. 5 keys to lower your risk for Alzheimer’s Sleep is an essential piece of the puzzle. Without proper sleep, our brains build up a type of trash. Proper sleep washes away that trash build up each night. But constant disruption impedes the brain’s ability to get a good cleaning. Learn difficult things. Any learning is great, but when you learn something difficult your brain really gets a workout. Challenge your brain in a different way: try learning a foreign language, a new sport, or a new instrument. Train your brain the way you would your muscles at the gym. Hearing is important too. If someone is not hearing they are not learning and they are not engaged. Over time the person becomes isolated without even realizing it. Hearing loss is easily treatable with a hearing aid. It helps you stay engaged. Stay engaged. Social interaction is good for the brain. Treat inflammation. Inflammation is like a fire in the body. Many of us experience inflammation due to poor diet or autoimmune conditions. This inflammation can cause the brain to become inflamed and damaged as well. If you have an autoimmune condition then do whatever you can to lessen the inflammation. Listen to this fascinating interview with Dr. Marc Milstein to hear more about what you can do to lessen your chances of getting Alzheimer’s. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [1:30] What is underwriting? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:33] Let’s build a framework [8:45] Long-term care insurance is still an emerging industry [12:43] How powerful is the Alzheimer’s gene? [15:33] What is dementia? [19:00] What can you do to take action to lower our risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s [31:25] What is a good implementation plan? Resources Mentioned In This Episode DrMarcMilstein.com Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement

Long-term care is an issue that is really hard to grapple with and talk about. Yet it is an important one that we all need to think about. You may have dealt with it with your own parents or you may be dealing with it now. On this episode, Christine Benz, director of finance with Morningstar and author of 30 Minute Money Solutions, joins me to discuss long-term care, long-term care insurance, and what’s in store for the baby boomers who are now living longer than anyone in history. What are ADLs? When discussing long-term care and long-term care insurance you may hear the term ADL thrown around. Checking someone’s ADLs is a great way to assess if someone is really up to independent living or if it is time to seek assisted living. ADL means activities of daily living. They include tasks such as; personal hygiene, dressing, eating and preparing food, maintaining continence, and mobility. Not only are these indicators an important way to decide if you or a loved one needs long-term care, but they are also used by insurance companies in the same capacity. What is a long-term care event? Often when we think about long-term care we may immediately jump to thinking about dementia, but the reality is that long-term care is needed by people in many different situations. Since the daily care of an ailing elderly male is often shouldered by his spouse, women tend to have more need for long-term care than men. We also tend to think of a long-term care event as being a sudden thing, but more often than not, people graduate up through different levels of care. Let’s talk long-term care insurance The obvious answer to the exorbitant costs of long-term care is to purchase insurance. But the reality is that it’s a broken marketplace. Long-term care insurance holders can suddenly find their rates increasing by 30%-50% or more after paying in for many years. Long-term care insurance is still a relatively new product and the insurers discovered that they initially underpriced their product. Learn about what the future of long-term care insurance may look like and some long-term care insurance alternatives by listening to this interview with Christine Benz. Long-term care is scary Yes, the thought of needing long-term care is scary on many levels. The thought of becoming vulnerable and losing control of your functions at the end of life scares the wits out of us all. But the financial ramifications can be just as scary as well. One way to help ease your mind into this fearsome territory is to plan for it in advance. Listen to this series on long-term care to help you prepare for any eventuality. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:45] What are ADL’s? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:44] Christine Benz joins me to discuss long-term care [8:07] What is a long-term care event? [16:35] Let’s talk long-term care insurance [19:40] We’re at the beginning of the wave of baby boomers LISTENER QUESTIONS SEGMENT [26:45] How can Charlotte minimize health insurance costs before Medicare kicks in? [29:21] Can the inherited IRA RMD amounts over 10 years be different or do they have to be the same over that stretch of time? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [31:56] Check out the link in 6-Shot Saturday that contains all the data that Christine Benz refers to Resources Mentioned In This Episode Healthcare Before Medicare (If you have questions about this topic, start here!) BOOK - 30 Minute Money Solutions by Christine Benz Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Investing in retirement is different than any investing you’ve ever done. The asset allocation that you’ve been doing your whole life won’t cut it in retirement. On this episode, you’ll learn what comes after asset allocation. You’ll also learn how to manage market risk. And BW joins us in the Coaches Corner to discuss how to survive bear markets in retirement. You’ll definitely want to listen in to hear my pie-cake analogy, don’t miss it! What is asset-liability matching? Have you ever heard of the term asset-liability matching? This is a term typically used in the pension management world but we can apply it to our own retirement. Asset liability matching is the process of investing in a pool of assets so that cash is available when you need it to cover consumption. It is when you take a pool of assets to cover the short-term but you also need that pool to cover expenses in the long-term as well. This is a good term to refer to how we must cover our retirement expenses. Asset allocation is not the only way of investing in retirement You’ve been told your whole life that you need to focus on your asset allocation when investing. Asset allocation is so important to the accumulation stage of retirement planning. But in retirement, asset allocation is not the only thing to consider. Rather than sowing your seeds for growth, in retirement, you are now reaping the rewards from a lifetime of hard work. So now is the time to rethink your asset allocation strategy. The pie-cake analogy We often refer to asset allocation as a pie. You’ve seen all of those pie charts with different percentages of stocks, bonds, and cash. But instead of a pie, in retirement, what you really need is a cake. One of those big, multi-tiered cakes, like a wedding cake. But the cake you need is actually made of pies. Yep, that’s it! A pie cake! You’ll want to create your cake with 3 or 4 layers and the pies will be made of different things. You really need to listen to hear how amazing this analogy is. What should your pie-cake look like? So you’re all ready to build your pie-cake, but what should it look like? Sure there are layers, but layers of what? Layer 1 - this bottom layer is full of funds that are to be used in the next 2 years so it needs to be made of cash or cash-like investments Layer 2 - this second tier will be funding years 3-6 You’ll want some stability in this layer, but also some income. It could be made of bonds that will be maturing, stable value funds, and some cash. Layer 3 - this layer will have a very different looking pie than the bottom layers. The time frame of this layer is 6-10 years. There will be growth but it will be moderate growth. The objective here is income. A good mix could include bonds, real estate equities, but also consider growth. Layer 4 - now we are talking 10-15+ years ahead. This is the pie where you can get aggressive. You’ll want this pie to be growth-oriented with more risk and less bonds and cash. Listen in to discover how you can build your cake-pie and eat it too! OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [2:12] Asset liability matching PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:55] Why asset allocation is not the only way to invest in retirement [6:46] How to figure your asset-liability matching COACHES CORNER SEGMENT [12:50] How to survive a bear market in retirement [16:26] How we live our life can reflect how we react to a bear market [19:22] What can we do in a bear market? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [22:00] Relisten to the pie-cake analogy and think about the tiered approach Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Protecting your retirement lifestyle is an important part of retirement planning. You want to know that if everything falls apart you’ll still be able to live the life you want. Well, unfortunately, nothing is absolutely certain and there is no way to protect yourself against everything. However, proper planning can help give you peace of mind. If you’re wondering what on earth you’ll do in the event of a bear market or market crash, listen to this episode to help you understand how to set yourself up for success in retirement. Retirement is asymmetrical The 4% rule looks great on paper, but it really isn’t practical when applied to life. Retirement is lumpy and asymmetrical and returns on investment are asymmetrical as well. There are always going to be unexpected expenses. Sometimes expenses will come in the form of opportunities and sometimes the expenses won’t be as much fun. The only thing that is certain is that life is always uncertain. So it is important to prepare for the unexpected. When planning your retirement, you need to remember that life will get in the way. It’s all about finding balance In retirement, you need to find that balance. On one end of the spectrum, you have that near-term market loss and on the other end, you have a loss of purchasing power. Let’s learn how to keep the tension between the two of them. Know what your spending forecast is. Understand your needs, wants, and wishes. Build a model retirement budget and then categorize your spending in those 3 different categories. Determine your fundedness. Are you underfunded, constrained, or overfunded? Know where you fall on this spectrum. The strategies you take will depend on how funded your retirement savings are. Listen in to hear the different strategies to use based on your fundedness. The best way to protect your retirement lifestyle How can you protect your retirement lifestyle? Try using your superpower longer. What is your superpower, you ask. Your human capital. The longer you can continue to bring in income the better off you’ll be. Retirement doesn’t have to be like a light switch. You don’t have to simply turn off the work button. Try pretirement to gain time freedom and flexibility while still maintaining a bit of an income. Pretirement is the best strategy you can use to protect yourself from whatever life throws at you. How much is enough? A listener writes in with a question, how will he know when he has enough to retire? This is such an important question and one that we all struggle with, but it’s not only an external question of how much you have in the bank. You need to go through a process to determine the retirement that’s right for you. Here are some steps you can follow to help: Determine how much the retirement lifestyle you want will cost. Create a model retirement budget based on your needs, wants and wishes. Know what your resources are and strategize from there. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [1:06] Retirement is asymmetrical [3:03] How do we balance near term market loss on one end with loss of purchasing power on the other end? [10:28] Tips to protect yourself LISTENER QUESTIONS SEGMENT [13:44] BC is wondering whether he should pay off his mortgage [16:50] How much is enough? [24:02] Should gold be a part of your portfolio? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:05] Revisit your premise that retirement is binary Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Market crashes are black swans. No, not those black swans, unpredictable events beyond what is normally expected with potentially severe consequences. You can probably name all of the market crashes in the past 100 years since they have had an impact on the way we invest. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we’re learning about market crashes and the lasting impact they can leave on our psyches. Market crashes can leave you with emotional scars Even though market crashes are not as important to worry about in retirement as bear markets. The real problem with market crashes is the effects they leave behind. Whereas bear markets are long and drawn out, market crashes are sudden and devastating. Similar to a car crash, a market crash can leave emotional scars. We haven’t had many market crashes in recent history, but the ones we have had have left an imprint on our collective memory. Market crashes are certainly memorable You may have seen the long-lasting effects of the 1929 market crash on your parents or grandparents. It changed the way people thought and behaved. The ‘Black Monday’ crash of 1987 drove the market down by 23% in one day. The NASDAQ fell from 5000 to 1000 during the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2001-2002. And of course, more recently, there was 2008 of which many of us still haven’t recovered. In retirement, market crashes can be even more traumatic Does your retirement plan prepare you for a market crash? In retirement, we need to build a system to where a market crash won’t derail our lives. That system should give us enough emotional currency to help us understand that we will be okay no matter what. You don’t want to let a market crash derail your decision making. Does your financial plan account for market crashes? How would I design a high school finance course? One listener who is a high school teacher asks, how I would design a financial literacy course for high schoolers. This was a fun question to answer. I hope that financial literacy becomes a course that every high schooler can take. There are several fabulous resources out there that teens can enjoy and learn from. I don’t necessarily think that teaching stock market training is as important as building healthy financial habits. Find out which resources I recommend by listening to the Listener Questions segment of this episode. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:20] What is a black swan? HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [3:30] Let’s talk about market crashes [9:37] In retirement market crashes can be even more traumatic LISTENER QUESTIONS SEGMENT [11:10] A listener correction about Social Security and COLA [13:08] A question about all Roth contributions [16:20] How would Roger design a high school course? SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [21:40] Increase your savings rate (or lessen your spending rate) by 5% Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - Atomic Habits by James Clear BOOK - The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason BOOK - The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Episode 306 Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

The thought of bear markets in retirement can be so scary, but they can be a bit less frightening if you have a plan. That’s why we’re taking this month to discuss market downturns and how they affect retirement plans. Every couple of years there will be a 10% correction in the market but this isn’t a bear market. A bear market is at least a 20% decline in the markets. The more you learn the more you’ll be prepared for any eventuality in retirement. Listen in to learn more about bear markets and how they could affect your retirement investments. What is a bear market? You may have heard the term bear market thrown around loosely, so before we dive in to discuss how they’ll affect you we need to define what a bear market really is. A bear market is a condition or period of time when securities fall 20% or more from recent highs. There is usually a lot of negative sentiment surrounding bear markets. The stock market is usually what we’re talking about when we discuss bear markets but we could be discussing any kind of securities. There are 2 types of bear markets that we usually talk about. The cyclical bear market is the more common type. This signifies a short term downturn. There is also a secular bear market which refers to a long-term timeframe of below-average returns. A history of bear markets We have had 12 bear markets since 1945. The average drop was 33%. The most famous bear market was during the great depression and suffered an 86% decline over a 34 month period. The most recent bear market is still fresh for many of us. The 2008 crash lasted 17 months and saw a 56% decline in values. Unfortunately, bear markets don’t all perform the same since past performance is not an indicator of future results. But there are some things we can learn by looking back at history. Listen in to find out what you can learn by looking at bear markets throughout history. Bear markets and investing for retirement The 4% rule is talked about all the time as a retirement strategy. It’s popular because it works very well in a spreadsheet. On this episode, I’ll compare how the 4% rule holds up throughout different bear markets throughout history. Listen in to learn how the 4% rule holds up through various historical models. You’ll learn what you can do to reduce your risk and lessen the impact of a bear market in retirement. When to dial back risk Cathy has an audio question for me. She has enough assets to cover her retirement expenses already, so she wants to know when is the right time to dial back her risk. Obviously, this is a matter of personal opinion and risk tolerance. But there are some things you can consider to gauge how much is enough. First, you should consider if you really have enough. Enough for what? Think about how you could live your best life. Next, you should isolate the excess. During the listener questions segment, you’ll hear the full answer to Cathy’s question as well as 2 more listener questions. Discover whether you should pay off the house or do a Roth conversion and how to assess when it’s time to consider a long term care facility. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [2:20] What is a bear market? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [4:20] A history of bear markets [8:02] what does this mean for you in retirement? [15:50] what lessons can you learn from history? THE LISTENER QUESTION SEGMENT [17:41] When to dial back risk [25:14] Pay off the house or do a Roth conversion? [29:35] Bill asks how to assess when to enter a long-term care facility TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [32:33] What is your asset allocation? Resources Mentioned In This Episode Morning Star’s Instant X-Ray tool WealthOfCommonSense.com Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

The way you invest changes in retirement. Rather than being in the accumulation stage of life, now it’s time for the decumulation stage. But how do you flip that switch? How should your investment strategy change to reflect this new period in your life? During this monthlong series, we’ll be learning how to deal with bear markets and crashes in retirement. You may be thinking, why should I worry about bear markets when 2019 was so hot? Well, that is precisely why you should begin to consider how you would handle a bear market or a crash in retirement. Learn to be prepared for any eventuality by listening to this episode of Retirement Answer Man now. Are you trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Certain decisions are larger and more important than others. Retirement is one of those high stakes decisions. You’ve got a lot to learn if you are going to get it right. Investment strategy is typically built on the idea of accumulating wealth. That’s what you’ve been trying to do your whole life, right? But investing in retirement is quite different than any other kind of investing. When investing in retirement people often try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Listen in to learn why investing the same way you have for your entire adult life won’t work in retirement. 5 ways that investing in retirement is different than any investing you’ve ever done The math changes. You have had plenty of time to invest which has allowed you to outperform by investing your money consistently. Unfortunately, retirement turns the tables. Now, instead of investing systematically, you are taking money out of the market systematically. You have lost your superpower. You no longer have the ability to earn income. This can really affect you psychologically. When you were working you could simply earn your way out of many financial missteps. Fear of missing out. Do you feel like you're missing out on the next best thing? Statistics are good at lying. We tend to think in statistics, but unfortunately, statistics aren’t very good for decision making. You only get one shot at this. Unlike the accumulation phase of life, there are no do-overs. The Secure Act passed! In a rare act of unity Congress actually got something done! We’ve discussed what the Secure Act might mean for you in previous episodes, but now it has officially become law. This means that there are changes coming to a retirement near you. This bill has changed RMD’s, IRA limits, 401K’s, and done away with Stretch IRA’s. Find out what the Secure Act could mean for your retirement by listening to this episode of Retirement Answer Man. What does sequence of return risk mean? When researching retirement you may have heard the term sequence of return risk thrown around. But do you really know what that means? You may plan on getting 5% returns, but steady returns on investment rarely happen. You could get 0% one year and 12% the next. Find out how bad returns at the beginning of your retirement can impact the viability of your overall retirement plans. Make sure you’re signed up for 6-Shot Saturday to see plenty of examples of sequence of return risk. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [4:28] 5 ways that investing in retirement is different than before PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [18:05] Our words for the year [23:06] The Secure Act passed! LISTENER QUESTIONS [27:48] How to maintain a balanced portfolio in a bear market WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [34:43] Sequence of return risk SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [37:25] What is your word for the year? Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

This is the episode to listen to if you are looking for hacks to save money on travel. You’ll hear my personal travel tips, as well as tips from the Rock Retirement Club, and international travel hacks. BW also joins in for the Coach’s Corner segment to enlighten us on his own views on how travel can benefit your retirement. You won’t want to miss this episode. Make sure to take notes on these travel hacks that will save you money. Hacks to save money on your retirement travel Where will you go in your retirement? Have you already started planning your retirement trips? Planning the logistics of travel can be tricky but I like to use Google Flights to help me search for the best prices. Google Flights can be dynamic and your flexibility can really save you money. Use the alert function to set price alerts for places you want to go. I also use my network of friends and acquaintances to get tips on where to go and what to do when I’m planning a trip somewhere. The people you know can really enhance your travel experiences. You never know who has been to the places you want to go. Travel tips from the Rock Retirement Club The Rock Retirement Club is an amazing hive of knowledge. I love tapping into this invaluable resource. The members of this club have some great tips to share with you. Here are a few. Utilize Costco Travel, Scott’s Cheap Flights, or your favorite airline’s credit card. If you visit a place annually make a checklist to make it easy to remember things you want to do or places you love to go. Sign up for TSA Precheck or Global Entry to fly through those lines Plan ahead, especially for popular national parks Don’t overschedule your time. You need downtime and flexibility. Learn how to improve your travel experience in retirement by listening to this episode to hear all our collective travel tips. Hacks for international travel Retirement is a great time to finally experience the world. But planning international travel can be daunting. You’ll be in a foreign place where you don’t understand the language or customs. Some of these travel tips can ease your worries about international travel. Purchase travel insurance. You never know when you’ll need to use it. Get your cell phone service in order. Listen in to find out how I ended up with a $1000 phone bill after one international trip! Sign up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program through the U.S Embassy. Check the CDC for vaccine information and health risks if you plan to go to some exotic locales. Get a medical pack from your doctor to be prepared for any situation This episode is chocked full of travel hacks and you’ve got to listen to hear them all. What will the Secure Act mean for you? It looks like the Secure Act will pass and become the law before the end of the year. This will mean significant changes are coming to retirement planning. This Act contains 29 provisions, some of which will be big changes, but others won’t have much of an impact. Here are a few changes you might see in the coming year. Required Minimum Distributions will move from age 70 ½ to 72. The RMD life expectancy table will change as well. The Secure Act will repeal the maximum age to contribute to an IRA The new law will get rid of the Stretch IRA. Find out what that means for you and your heirs by listening in! I’m so excited that it will be easier for small businesses to offer 401Ks to their employees. You’ll have to listen in to hear the rest of the ways that the Secure Act will change saving for retirement. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [2:33] Tips on how to save money on travel [7:45] Why it is important to tell your network of your travel plans [9:23] Tips from the RRC [14:30] International travel tips WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SEGMENT [19:40] What will the Secure Act mean for you? COACH’S CORNER SEGMENT [27:00] The anticipation of travel can be a lot of fun TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [35:15] Think about the person you want to become next year Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Where will your journeys in retirement take you? Now that you’ve learned about dreaming up your retirement travel plans and how to pay for it all, it’s time to get to work mapping out your journeys. On this episode, I’ll walk you through how to choose where to go for those initial travels in retirement. You’ll also find out why you shouldn’t lump all of your 401K contributions into the first few months of the year. And finally, I answer a listener question on a topic that I thought I covered but hadn’t. We’ve got lot’s of fantastic information for you so grab your headphones and press play! Why does travel always get pushed aside? There is always something more important than travel. Even when we have the time, money, and opportunity we still sometimes miss out on traveling. Sure, we all have good reasons for doing so, but we may not have this window of opportunity again. The beginning of retirement is the ideal time to pursue your travel dreams. This is the perfect time! You have the time, the money, and the opportunity. Go now! Don’t miss out. How do you prioritize your journeys? Hopefully, after listening to episode 302, you’ve already created your bucket list separately from your spouse. Now it’s time to get together and create a master list and prioritize the trips that you want to do together. The first thing you need to think of is, which places are physically strenuous? You’ll want to put those places at the top of the list since you are as healthy and mobile as you are going to get. Next, think of creating a list of places that you want to go together with your spouse. Then create another list of places you want to go, but your spouse doesn’t. You can choose to go to those places on your own, with friends, or with other members of your family. Finally, pick which one you want to do first and book it! Seriously, put the dates on the calendar now. Block out those dates and begin creating a research folder on that location. Listen in to hear why you’ll want to start chatting with your friends immediately about your next trip. Reflections on our word of the year If you have been a long-time listener, you know that Nichole and I chose a word at the beginning of each year to be our guiding light throughout the year. That word becomes the focus of our energy, and we try to keep it at the forefront of our minds. Now that 2019 is coming to a close we’re taking a moment to reflect on how we did with our words. The word I chose for this year was Embrace. I chose this word so that I could embrace the moment of life that I am in right now. Nichole chose Flow since she wanted to learn how to go with the flow. Did you chose a word this year? Let us know how you did with it, we’d love to hear! Why you should consider Roth conversions A dear listener commented recently on the fact that I didn’t really touch on Roth conversions during the Retirement Tax Management Series. The bad news is: I was wrong in thinking that I had already covered Roth conversions in depth. The good news is: we will have a whole monthlong series on Roth conversions in 2020. But if you can’t wait that long then you’ll want to listen in to find out 2 reasons why you should consider Roth conversions. By listening you’ll also learn how to avoid a costly mistake with your 401K contribution. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:30] There’s always something more important than travel [7:56] Making connections is important in travel planning LISTENER QUESTIONS [18:30] How did we do with our words of the year? [24:53] It’s not wise to max out your 401K contributions [27:40] I haven’t deeply covered Roth conversions on the show TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [39:25] Decide on your word for 2020 Resources Mentioned In This Episode Michael Kitces Podcast Surfin bird video Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

If you want to travel in retirement then you’ll have to go about creating a budget first. In this episode of Retirement Answer Man, I’ll walk you through the basics of creating a travel budget. You’ll learn how to categorize the types of travel you envision and then you’ll discover how to break down your expenditures. Check out this episode to get into the traveling mindset so that you can travel without the worry that you’re doing something you can’t afford. How can creating a budget for retirement travel allow you to travel without regret? You know you want to travel in retirement, but how much should you spend on travel? One way to begin to budget for travel is to divide your retirement travel into separate categories. First, you have car trips, plane trips, and weekend getaways. Next, come the annual vacations. Then you have your extraordinary trips or bucket list items. Once you have your travel categories laid out then you can take a SWAG (A sophisticated, wild, awesome guess!) at how much they may cost. At this point in time, there is no need to dive too deeply into counting the cost. Top-down or bottom-up? What is a reasonable amount you can expect to spend over life’s normal expenditures? And just how do you go about budgeting for a trip you have never taken? Well, there are 2 ways you can choose from. The top-down approach is taken when you find an amount that you are comfortable spending and you fit your trip into that financial constraint. The choices you make will be influenced by the amount you decide is right. If you like a more detailed analysis you may prefer the bottom-up approach to budgeting. This involves estimating your expenses for each individual line item. You consider the costs of transportation, lodging, eating, and entertainment and then build your budget around those factors. The advantage of this method is that it is specific and you will understand how much you spend on each. How do you traditionally budget for vacations? How do you pay for vacations in retirement? So now that you understand how to create a budget for your retirement travels, how do you actually pay for it? In retirement, the only paycheck you have is the one that comes from your savings. There are a few ways you can go about paying for your trips in retirement. You can add the amount you need for next year’s travel to your cash reserves. Some people opt to do part-time work with their paychecks earmarked for travel. This gives them peace of mind that they aren’t dipping into their nest egg. How will you fund your retirement travel? What do you do if you suddenly come into money? On our new listener questions segment, one listener asks what she should do now that she has suddenly and unexpectedly come into a large amount of money. People are quick to offer advice and want to help you decide what to do if you come into newfound wealth. But my first piece of advice is to take some time and breathe. Just let the money sit in the bank until you are ready to decide what to do. When you’re ready, then you can choose a team to help advise you on taxes and finance. Check out 6-Shot Saturday to find the questions you should be asking when you interview potential candidates. And listen in to find out why you need a fiduciary on your side to help you come up with a financial strategy that matches your goals. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [3:12] How do we budget retirement dreams to travel without regret? [14:00] How do you pay for the trip? LISTENER QUESTIONS SEGMENT [21:10] What do you do when you suddenly come into money? [29:11] Fund 401K each year? [30:00] How to determine the value of a pension? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [34:45] What is the difference between social capital, human capital, and financial capital? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [37:00] Start thinking about your ‘word’ for 2020 Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Is there anything more exciting than planning your travel in retirement? During our recent listener survey, we asked you what you were most excited about in retirement. Number one on the list was time freedom and number two was travel. December is the perfect time to plan your travels for the next year which is why we decided to explore travel in retirement over the course of this month-long series. Learn how to dream up your ideal vacation on this episode of Retirement Answer Man. What is our most precious resource? Do you think money is your most precious resource? What about time? We always feel like we have an endless supply of time until we get sick or someone around us passes away. When we are young time feels infinite, but as we age we realize that it’s not. Time is something we always feel we don’t have enough of, we can’t store it, rent it, or buy, it. Yet we all seem to waste time in different ways--from watching TV, to browsing social media, or aimlessly searching for distraction. Do you value time over money? Do your choices reflect your values? Would you walk away from a million dollars to gain more time with family? How to create your ideal vision for travel in retirement Sure you know you want to travel more in retirement, but how do you begin to plan what you want to do? First, you need to discover what you want to do. You need to get a good idea of your vision. You can think creatively about what it is you really want to do to create the rich life you envision for yourself in retirement. There are 2 types of travel people usually think about: the normal yearly vacations and the bucket list travel goals. Learn how to plan both by listening in and learning the questions you should be asking yourself about how you want to travel in retirement. Define your travel goals Think about how you want to travel. Where do you want to go? Do you prefer rural or urban locations? Sun or snow? Beaches or mountains? Do you prefer to travel with a group, alone, or just you and your spouse? Do you need to have everything planned out for you, or do you prefer to just go with the flow? Do you crave leisure, activity, or fitness? You can use these questions to create a vision for where and how you want to travel in retirement. Learn what else you can consider when mapping out your travel goals in retirement. What tools can you use to help you plan to travel in retirement? Now that you know what to consider when dreaming up your ideal vacation, you need some tools to help you plan. I love my giant NeuYear wall calendar, it helps me quickly see where my vacations fall amidst the rest of my year. One way to begin brainstorming is to create a mindmap. This allows you to take an idea and then expand upon it by adding new layers and ideas. If you are a visual person, you may enjoy creating a vision board. How will you begin to plan your retirement travel? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [3:02] What is our most precious resource? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [8:44] How to create your vision for travel in retirement [11:00] What kind of travel suits you? [23:12] Tools you can use TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [26:50] Start mapping out your retirement travel Resources Mentioned In This Episode MindNode NeuYear Wall Calendar BOOK - The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

After all of the retirement tax management topics over the past few episodes, today we finally get to withdrawal strategies. We are wrapping up our monthlong series on retirement tax management, so make sure you listen to the previous 3 episodes to get the scoop on managing your taxes in retirement. This is a huge topic that we will definitely revisit in the future. But today you can get some great tips on how to manage income in retirement, dangers to look out for, and withdrawal strategies. When you’re done listening, head on over to RogerWhitney.com and take our listener survey to give us your input on the show. Christmas gift ideas for those that have everything NeuYear Calendar - This is a great idea if you are within 5 years of retirement. I have this huge 5-foot wall calendar. It’s a great way to plan your vacations, your countdown to retirement, or you can use it as a jumpstart to a vision board. Everplans - This is a $75/year subscription service that is a platform where you can store all of your important documents and passwords together online. The online portal can help you organize everything you need. The beauty of this service is that you can assign delegates to see as much or as little as you choose. Or they can access it only when you pass away. *If you are an annual member of RRC you get a subscription to Everplans included with your membership. Smart plugs - These are really cool plugs that can connect to your phone via an app and you can control your lights from different locations Away Luggage - Great for all that traveling you have planned in retirement. Airpods Pro - A great gift for Apple enthusiasts. Give’r gloves - Outdoor gloves that last, you can even have them branded for a more personal touch. Perini Steaks - Who doesn’t love a good Texas steak?! Cutco Knives- Sure, we’ve all heard the sales pitch, but seriously these are fantastic knives! Get them engraved to add a personal touch. Meet BW, our host of the new Coaches Corner segment We’re starting a new once a month segment that includes coaching tips for the theme of the month. These tips aren’t on the financial side of things, but rather the more personal side. BW is a certified retirement coach who is also the head of the education department at the Rock Retirement Club. BW will bring research and coaching tips to help you learn to ease into and then thrive in retirement. Topics may include work reorientation, replacing work functions, life meaning and purpose, family and relationships, how to fill your day in retirement, or health and leisure. Listen to the new Coaches Corner segment to meet BW and hear his tips on tax management in retirement. Taxes to be aware of in retirement Tax management in retirement is a multi-dimensional puzzle. There is so much to consider, but that’s why you’re planning ahead by listening to this show! Let’s look at some taxes you need to be aware of in retirement: Social Security taxes IRMAA surcharges - Remember these reflect 2 years in the past. Income taxes and income tax brackets - Become more familiar with them since you now have more control of your income in retirement. Required minimum distributions - Once it starts it never stops! Withdrawal strategies you can use to help plan your taxes in retirement Even though there are lots of scary new taxes to be aware of in retirement. It’s actually an exciting time, tax-wise, because you have much more control of your taxes than ever before. You are in control of your income and you can time it in ways you never have been able to before. And there are plenty of other strategies you can use to help you manage your taxable income. Consider doing Roth conversions, strategic gifting, and timing your Social Security to help you manage your taxes in retirement. Listen in to learn how to create a dashboard and plan your taxes year by year. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [2:30] I am thankful for all of you [4:25] Christmas gift ideas for those that have everything COACHES CORNER [14:00] Meet BW, Retirement Coach Extraordinaire PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [20:38] Taxes to be aware of in retirement [23:49] Dangers to be aware of [29:32] The tools we have in our toolbox to battle the tax giant [33:49] Create a dashboard THE THANKFUL LAB SEGMENT [39:43] I’m thankful for the Detroit Lions TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [41:30] Start thinking about your withdrawal strategy Resources Mentioned In This Episode Perini Steaks Give’R gloves EverPlans NeuYear Calendar Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

There is a lot to consider when planning tax management in retirement. You’ve got to think about RMD’s, tax brackets, Medicare, and IRMAA. You may have heard of IRMAA and been wondering just what this mysterious acronym is. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, you’ll learn about Medicare and IRMAA and how exactly this all fits into your retirement tax management plan. You need to understand all the levers available to make the most of tax management in retirement. Highlights I’ve learned over the past 300 episodes Consistency is so important. My daily habits keep me on track You all have helped me learn how to define the agile retirement planning process. My team is amazing! Listeners provide the ultimate feedback loop. We have created a safe place to interact and have discussions surrounding retirement. We have listeners from all over the world! I know my purpose and I’m acting it out each day. Can this exercise help you consider if you are ready for retirement? I recently had a client that didn’t think he was ready for retirement. He thought there would be a huge void in his life. How would he spend his days? So to get an idea about this he decided to make a list. Not a bucket list, but a list of things he wanted to do with his time. Things like: practice playing guitar, learning to play golf, mentoring kids. These were just some of the day to day items he considered. Next, he decided to map out an ideal schedule for an entire month. Find out what he discovered by listening in! Who is this IRMAA, and why is she in my Medicare? In 2007 Congress passed a law allowing a surcharge on part of your Medicare benefit if you make over a certain amount. IRMAA is that surcharge on Medicare Part B and Part D. If you make over $85,000 if you are single or $170,000 if you are married then IRMAA will apply to your Medicare Part B and D. One important aspect about IRMAA is that it considers your income, not from last year, but from 2 years ago. Listen in to find out how much this surcharge is. What are some tax strategies you can implement to avoid IRMAA? The number one rule of tax management is: don’t let the tax tail wag the dog! You will need to consider if IRMAA is worth all the trouble to avoid. Consider these strategies to see if they can help you avoid the IRMAA surcharge. Be aware of temporary spikes in income, be more thoughtful about how you spend money as you approach Medicare age. Be aware of your required minimum distributions (RMD). You’ll want to be aware, from a tax perspective, but now you can consider IRMAA as well. Use Partial Roth conversions now to try and minimize your RMD later on Multi-year tax planning so important in retirement because you finally have ultimate control over your taxes Start to build some balance in your balance sheet. Consider funding your HSA early on. You can keep the bills for years and create a tax-free slush fund. If you don’t need the extra income, but have to take it due to RMD, do a qualified charitable distribution to minimize your income. How will IRMAA affect you? Will you jump through hoops to avoid it? OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [3:30] Highlights I’ve learned over the past 5 years [6:12] Do I really want to retire? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [9:30] Who is IRMAA? [16:00] How will IRMAA affect you? THE THANKFUL LAB SEGMENT [21:56] I’m thankful for being brave TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [24:02] Take our annual listener survey! Resources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center

Nobody likes taxes, but tax management in retirement doesn’t have to hurt so bad. During this Retirement Tax Management series, you’ll learn about tools and tricks you can use during retirement to lessen your tax burden and make paying taxes as painless as possible. On this episode, we’ll focus on Social Security and how it affects your tax burden. You’ll also hear retirement tax tips from a variety of other professionals. Make sure to listen to the whole series to learn as much as you can and when you’re done be sure to take the listener survey so that we can get your opinions to refine the show to cover topics that interest you. Tax management tips from a variety of professionals When looking for good advice it helps to crowdsource to hear a variety of tips. Check out these ideas to help you lessen your tax burden in retirement. CFA, CFP and writer, Peter Lazaroff, focuses his advice on limiting your RMD liability. He encourages listeners to minimize their RMD liability early on, prior to age 70 ½, by doing partial Roth conversions. It’s important to remember all of those pretax dollars will be taxed eventually. Think about it early on so you won’t get stuck with a huge tax bill at age 70 ½. Julie is currently maxing out her husband’s 401K to save for retirement, In addition, she is funding an HSA with pre-tax money. She is paying cash for her medical bills now and saving those receipts to withdraw from the HSA in retirement. She is using the HSA like a slush fund. Julie also uses a donor-advised fund for charitable giving. Brandon Renfro Ph.D. encourages you to consider your multi-year tax rate. In retirement, income is multi-dimensional and you can manage when you Michael Hennessy, CFA, CFP, recommends using a qualified charitable distribution if you are charitably inclined. When having to take your RMD, if you don’t need the full amount of money, give it away. This will help with IRMA as well as help you manage your tax brackets. Michael Molitoris suggests auto-withholding a portion of your IRA distribution for tax purposes. Make sure to also withhold taxes from your Social Security check. This will help save you from filing quarterly taxes and it will further save you from a huge tax bill. Ashley Daniels use your tax return as a tool to help you think about tax brackets, IRMAA, and Social Security. What can you do to help you get ready to plan for your Social Security benefit? As you are sitting here thinking about Social Security and retirement, you might be wondering what you can do to be proactive. There are 2 things you can do right now. First, go to ssa.gov and set up your login to begin to manage your account. Review your earnings history, give it a once over to make sure it is reported correctly. Your benefit is based on the reported earnings history so you’ll want to make sure they are in the right ballpark and act early if something is amiss. Secondly, check out the retirement estimator calculator. This is a great tool to help you with multi-year tax planning which is imperative in retirement. Are your social security benefits taxable? Wait! I already paid taxes on my Social Security benefits, why are they taxing me again? This is why we’re learning about retirement tax management now. So there won’t be any surprises later. Your Social Security benefit is taxable but only up to a certain amount. It really depends on your adjusted gross income (AGI) and your nontaxable interest accounts. Make sure you listen to the examples I give to fully understand when and how your Social Security benefits are taxed. What can you do now to help manage future taxes? In your working years, you don’t really have control over your tax bracket or how much you will owe, but in retirement, you can have a lot of control if you are proactive. Multi-year tax planning is so important and that’s why you are listening to Retirement Answer Man now. There are several strategies that you can think about using to manage your taxes. Consider these: Delay Social Security while you take distributions from your IRA’s or earn income in pretirement Start converting your IRA’s to Roth IRA’s early Consider multi-year tax strategies to think about your IRA withdrawals Fill your tax bracket Make sure to listen in next week to meet our old friend IRMAA and find out how she could affect your Medicare premiums. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN HOT TOPIC SEGMENT [4:00] Tax tips from financial advisors PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [11:40] How does the tax scheme work in retirement for your Social Security benefit [14:07] Are your Social Security benefits taxable? [17:45] Let’s look at an example [23:22] What can you do now to plan for the future? THE THANKFUL LAB SEGMENT [26:30] I’m thankful for the listener interaction we get TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:14] Go register at SSA.gov and check out the new retirement calculator Resources Mentioned In This Episode SSA.gov Retirement Estimator Calculator IRS Publication 9