Retirement Answer Man

Have you been incorporating tax management into your retirement plan? If you have, you won’t want to miss this series, and if you haven’t, you definitely won’t want to miss this series. Last week we set the stage for this retirement tax planning series when we discussed how planning for taxes can work within your retirement plan. This week we’ll make you aware of the hidden tax bombs that could wreck your retirement plan. In next week’s episode, we’ll learn which tools you can use to defuse those tax bombs, and then in the last week of this series, we’ll learn how to integrate those tax tools into your retirement plan.My goal is to give you an organized way to incorporate tax planning into your overall retirement plan which is why I have invited retirement tax expert Andy Panko from Tenon Financial to join me to discuss the nuances of retirement tax planning. If you are ready to learn about the hidden tax bombs that are awaiting you in retirement then press play now. Required minimum distributions, the tax bomb that begets other tax bombs When you contribute your taxable income into a 401K, 403B, or other tax-deferred accounts your taxable income is reduced in the year that you make that contribution. However, many people forget that they are simply deferring that taxable income until later. Remember that taxes are never a question of if you will pay them, it's always a matter of when. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are the government’s way of insisting that you pay the piper. RMDs begin at age 72 and at that time you must take 3.9% out of your tax-deferred accounts at this time. The percentage that you must take from these tax-deferred accounts grows each year.The best way to defuse this bomb is to project the total that your tax-deferred accounts will grow to so that you can get a feeling of how much you will need to withdraw when the time comes. Yes, Social Security can be taxed! Did you know that Social Security is taxable? It has been since 1984 and up to 85% of your Social Security benefit can be taxed. Just how much is taxable depends on your other sources of income. The more gross income you have, the bigger percentage of your Social Security benefit will be taxed. If you are curious about the percentage of your Social Security income that could be taxed then make sure that you are signed up for the 6-Shot Saturday newsletter. Do ACA subsidies fit into your retirement plan? If you are in need of health care before the age of 65 you may want to use Healthcare.gov. The way the marketplace works is by using a tax subsidy system. If a person makes between 1-4 times the poverty level ($17,000) then they can qualify for tax subsidies on a sliding scale.If you can keep your income below the threshold, then you could qualify for the ACA tax credits. Keeping your income low needs to be balanced with the rest of your retirement goals which is why it is important to have a retirement plan of record. There are several more tax bombs out there ticking away. To learn what they are you’ll have to press play to listen.If your interest in retirement tax planning has been piqued by this series and you want to learn more, check out Andy’s Taxes in Retirement Facebook group. With over 16,000 members, this group is a great way to exchange ideas with others who are on the same journey. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [2:50] RMDs are the first tax bombs[11:30] Social Security is the next tax bomb[15:46] Will Social Security go broke?[21:41] Taking advantage of the ACA subsidies[31:00] When you need to watch out for IRMAA[37:50] Do you need to be careful of NIIT?[38:55] A change in marital status could surprise youTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [44:29] Understand the important numbers sheet in the 6-Shot Saturday emailResources Mentioned In This Episode Tenon FinancialAndy’s Taxes in Retirement Facebook groupRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Are you a bit behind on your retirement savings and wondering how you’ll ever be able to retire? One of our listeners feels the same way. In this Listener Questions episode, I’ll answer his question as well as how to handle net unrealized appreciation (NUA), how to shift retirement savings after a job loss, and we’ll wrap it up by discussing the ramifications of taking Social Security early.We’re trying a new format this month and releasing 2 episodes a week. On Tuesdays, we’ll release the main segment which focuses on the theme of the month, and on Fridays, you’ll hear listener the questions. Make sure to check out all the episodes and let us know if you like the new structure. Change is hard! October has been a month full of change for me and change doesn’t always go smoothly. Not only am I publishing 2 episodes per week, but I’ve stopped drinking alcohol and started exercising in the mornings rather than in the afternoons. Any time you bring about changes to the rhythm of your life it can be a challenge. This is why the transition into retirement can bring such trepidation. Even if something new seems daunting, with practice over time the situation will improve. The more you practice the bigger your muscles will get.With a bit of research, planning, and action, you can learn how to create a paycheck for yourself in retirement, how to tackle your taxes, and how to navigate the healthcare system. Listening to retirement podcasts like this one is a great way to get started. How to go from zero to retired Not everyone has a 7 figure retirement portfolio, in fact the majority of the population finds themselves wondering how they’ll ever be able to stop working. One listener asks how he’s supposed to be able to catch up on retirement savings at age 50. The first thing you need to do if you feel behind in your retirement savings is to acknowledge and accept where you are. The next thing you need to understand is that there is only so much catching up that you can do at this point. Social Security will be a large part of your retirement equation After you realize that there is only so much you can do it is time to figure out how to maximize your Social Security benefit. There are a couple of ways that you can do this. The first one is to work longer so that you can increase your benefit. The next idea is to navigate when would be the best time for you to file for your Social Security benefit. If you take it early at age 62 you may see your benefit decreased by 30%. Waiting until the full retirement age at 66 or 67 will ensure that you get your full benefit amount, and each year that you wait to file your benefit will increase by 8%. The beauty of Social Security is that it is adjusted each year for inflation and it lasts for the rest of your life. Retirement is about living out the best version of yourself To create a retirement plan you can live with, you’ll want to increase your income and decrease your monthly obligations as soon as possible. Identify which bills you can pay off and try using the debt snowball method to pay down your debts. The less you can live on the more prepared for retirement you will be. Try to create a living environment that doesn’t require a lot of money. Remember that rocking retirement isn’t about spending loads of money, it’s about creating an environment where you can live the best version of yourself. If you have a question to ask head on over to RogerWhitney.com/AskRoger to send a written question or leave a voice message. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN [5:00] How to go from zero to retired in 10 years[12:08] How to handle net unrealized appreciation (NUA)[20:23] How to shift retirement savings after a job loss[25:25] The ramifications of taking Social Security earlyResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Tax planning in retirement isn’t the same as in your working years. This is why we are dedicating an entire series to helping you understand how to manage your taxes in retirement. To help me navigate this complicated topic, I’ve invited retirement tax expert Andy Panko to join me for the whole month-long program. Over the course of this series, you’ll learn why tax planning is important in retirement, which tax land mines to look out for, what tools to include in your tax toolbox, and how to integrate tax planning into your retirement plan. Are you ready to dive deep into retirement tax planning? Press play now to learn why tax planning in retirement is so important. How does tax planning change in retirement? In your working years, tax planning isn’t that complicated. Since your income is based on your wages, you don’t have much control over your tax bracket. However, in retirement, you can control your tax bracket from year to year.Chances are, you have been contributing to tax-deferred accounts like 401K, 403B, or IRAs for much of your life. These have been wonderful vehicles for retirement savings that has allowed you to defer a bit of your taxable income. Now that you are coming to retirement age, it is time to pay the tax man. These retirement distributions will be taxed, but when you decide to take them is up to you--up to a certain point. Use long-term tax planning to save money in retirement In retirement, there are multiple tax planning opportunities that you can take if you plan for the long term. Since you have more control over your sources of income, you have a tax advantage that you didn’t have in your working years. This can make planning complicated and challenging; however, with a bit of research and practice you could end up saving thousands of dollars over the course of your retirement. Taxes aren’t the only thing to consider in retirement Don’t let the tax tail wag the dog. Even though it is important to consider your taxes in retirement it is also important to remember that taxes are not the end all be all of retirement planning. What Andy and I are trying to do is to help you build a framework so that you can consider your tax planning in an organized way. When you come up with a strategy to guide your decisions it will help make the complicated world of tax planning a bit easier to digest. Check out this episode on YouTube Did you know that we are now recording the Retirement Answer Man as a biweekly show? Make sure to check back in on Friday mornings to hear the Q&A part of the show. You can also watch this episode in a video format on YouTube so that you can see the charts and tables that we share. When you are done listening head on over to RogerWhitney.com and scroll down to the bottom of the homepage to sign up for the 6-Shot Saturday newsletter so that you can receive the worksheets mentioned in this episode OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [2:33] What are the changes in taxes in retirement?[7:00] Think long-term when tax planning in retirement[11:36] Taxes are important but not the end all be all[17:17] Trying to understand the tax systemTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [28:26] Pull out your tax return to find your AGIResources Mentioned In This Episode Tenon Financial Andy’s Taxes in Retirement Facebook GroupRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

If you are the non-planning type, it can be easy to worry about whether your retirement plan is on track. How are you supposed to know what is going on and whether you should have the confidence to know if your plan is working?On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, you’ll learn 5 things that you can check periodically to give you an idea if your retirement plan is on the right track. If you are wondering how to investigate whether or not your retirement plan is on track, then make sure to listen to this episode to learn what you need to know. Where does confidence come from? The whole point of retirement planning is to give you the confidence to live life in your retirement without worry. Before you create your retirement plan you need to understand what it is that will give you confidence in that plan. Confidence comes from understanding. To understand your plan you need to first set your goals. What is your vision? Once you have a vision of your ideal retirement then you can deconstruct that vision to map out your journey. That journey will take you from the current version of yourself to the future you. To map your journey you need to have clear action items to lead you along each step of the way. There is no need to look around at others on their journey since each one is personal. Your retirement journey is yours alone. 5 things you should track to feel confident in your retirement plan Have your goals changed? Assess your goals with your significant other or advisor to make sure they still reflect what you really want. Are you still aiming for the same target? Is this still the life you want to build or has anything changed? Check in with your spending. How is your current spending relevant to your overall plan? Track your spending goals to see if they are still relevant. At the end of each year look back at what you actually spent your money on. You’ll want to make sure to track how you did relative to your plan. Sometimes you may deviate from the plan a bit, but by tracking you can identify trends over the long term. Tracking can help you to tease out opportunities and risksIs your plan still feasible? Should you make a change? Big expenditures can pop up, the market could go down, expenses could go up: all of these things could change your plan’s feasibility. One way to check to see if your plan is still feasible is to track your withdrawal ratio. This is the percentage of your assets that you take out of your portfolio each year. Tracking your withdrawal ratio can help you recognize whether your retirement plan is sustainable. Listen in to learn what else you should consider to ensure that your plan will actually work.Make sure your retirement plan is sustainable. Is it resilient? Do you have enough financial nutrients in the near term, midterm, and long term? Check out last week’s episode to hear more about how to plan for the short-term, mid-term, and long-term in retirement. Focus on the WHAAM. Think about what you should do next. Then figure out how to do it, get accountability, take action, and finally, achieve momentum. In your retirement planning, think about how you can shift your focus to best serve yourself.If you want to ensure that you will rock retirement, then continually check in with these 5 areas. Are you ready for more Retirement Answer Man? For the past 7 years without fail, we have brought the Retirement Answer Man to your earbuds on a weekly basis. That is about to change.Starting in October we will be splitting the podcast into two separate parts released on two different days. Coming on Tuesdays you’ll hear the Q&A part of the show. On Fridays, we’ll focus on the monthly theme. This split will allow us to dive a bit deeper into our monthly topics and answer more of your questions. It will also allow you to decide to listen to what you want to hear. We value your feedback, so please let us know what you think of this new setup.  OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [6:25] A triathlon story to illustrate how humans overcomplicate things[14:40] Where does confidence come from?[16:13] 5 things you should track to feel confident in your retirement planLISTENER QUESTIONS [27:00] How does Josh designate pretax and post-tax contributions when they are commingled[33:26] How to understand the options to deal with precious metalsCOACHES CORNER WITH BW [37:31] What do people need to know about retirement planning the non-financial side of retirement?[39:26] How will you spend your days in retirement?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [43:34] Get answers to the 5 things we coveredResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

As the non-planner of your family, you may not be interested in all the nitty-gritty details of retirement investments, but it is important to know the basics. That’s why today we will cover the main concepts about investing your assets. Hopefully, my nutrition analogy will help make these financial concepts more understandable. Press play to hear what you need to know about investment basics for the non-planner. Investing in retirement is all about solving for risk Last week you learned how inflation and market volatility are the two risks to overcome when investing in retirement. Solving for these risks are the most important part of creating a retirement portfolio. To explain retirement investing, I like to think of nutrition. When you eat you solve the problem of being hungry now, but you also solve the problem of getting nutrients to your body to help ensure that you stay healthy in the future. Investing also serves to help you in the short and long-term. How are you nourishing your investments in the short-term and the long-term? With every meal you eat you are investing in your short-term energy. The vitamins and minerals that you may take help you invest in your long-term health. We keep enough cash and bonds on hand to sustain ourselves for the next 1-5 years and protect from market risk. Stocks and real estate investments can have ups and downs which can be scary in the short term but in the long-term they help to hedge against inflation. Ask your financial planning partner how you are nourishing your investments in the short-term and the long-term. The building blocks of investment It is important to learn the building blocks of retirement investing. Building a retirement portfolio is much like building a meal. There is the salad, the main course, and the dessert. Short-term investments are the funds that you plan to use within 1-5 years, mid-term investments will be used within 5-10 years, and long-term investments are funds that you don’t plan to use for more than ten years. Listen in to learn how these different investments are like building a meal. Be sure to join us in October for the Taxes in Retirement series Make sure to join us next month as we dive into taxes in retirement. We have certainly covered this topic before, but a lot has changed since the last time we discussed taxes. We’ll explore proposed tax law changes and discuss how that could affect you and your retirement. Andy Panko from the Taxes in Retirement Facebook Group will join me over the course of the entire series. If you are really looking to nerd out on taxes, then don’t miss the episode with Wade Pfau who joins me to discuss his tax management academic research. If you are a part of the RRC you’ll get the added benefit of having both of these guests in the Clubhouse for meetups. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:30] An investment analogy[10:04] How to invest for the short and long-term[18:25] The building blocks of investmentQ&A WITH NICHOLE [22:51] What are some solutions to the Social Security funding problem[29:19] The Rock Retirement book has been helpful to Steven[33:32] Why I haven’t covered the sale of a business to fund retirement[35:25] Will Jim’s retirement strategy work?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [40:24] Think about how you will pay for life in the short-term, mid-term, and long-termResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Are you the person in your family that stays away from financial planning? Do numbers and financial jargon put you to sleep? If so, this is the right retirement planning series for you. This episode is the third in the Retirement Planning for Non-Planners series. In this series, I explain what you need to know without all the financial lingo so that you can understand the most important aspects of retirement planning. In this episode, Fritz Gilbert from The Retirement Manifesto blog joins me to discuss the basics of retirement planning risks. Listen in so that you can understand what to look out for in retirement planning. This is a financial jargon-free series If you aren’t interested in finance it can be difficult to discuss retirement planning with someone who is. They start throwing terms like RMD, sequence of returns risk, and the 4% rule. When people start using these terms it can be easy to become overwhelmed. The purpose of this series is to empower you so that you can have an understanding of what is happening with your money to help make better choices. My goal is to explain retirement planning in a non-geeky way that anyone can understand. What are the financial risks in retirement? Retirement brings different types of risks for your money. Essentially there are two types of risks to be aware of: short-term and long-term risks.Think about a teeter-totter. On either side of the teeter-totter, you have your short-term risk and your long-term risk. The short-term risk is losing money today and the long-term risk is losing money in the future. You need to come up with a solution that balances both of these risks without tilting too much to one side. We lose money in the short term through market risk. If the market takes a tumble, you could lose a significant portion of your savings. The solution to that is to take all of your money out of investments and have it sit in cash. Unfortunately, this solution to the short-term risk doesn’t work in the long term. The long-term financial risk is inflation. You may have noticed gas prices or food prices increasing over time. This means that your dollar today won’t be worth the same as your future dollar. As prices increase the value of your money decreases. We combat long-term inflation risk with investing, however, this solution puts us at risk in the short term. How to balance retirement risk To balance both sides of the risk spectrum it is important to think about how much money you will need to support your lifestyle in the near future. You’ll want to consider how much cash you should have on hand if the market drops. This will help you mitigate the short-term risk while at the same time leaving the rest of your savings to grow in the long term. The goal of balancing these risks is to have the confidence to have money to spend next year and also to spend when you are 80. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT WITH FRITZ GILBERT [2:30] Financial lingo can be intimidating[6:37] Short term risks[10:47] Inflation is a long term risk[18:37] How to deal with spending shocks[25:55] Understand what types of questions to ask[28:39] Catching up with Fritz in retirementLISTENER QUESTIONS WITH NICHOLE [38:24] 6-Shot Saturday drama[42:15] Should Shari take the lump sum or an annuity?[48:20] How do I feel about LIRPs?[54:36] What are the non-financial boundaries of a fiduciary?[1:00:24] A question about my pronunciation of words[1:02:47] A proposal for changing the GAA acronymTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [1:04:34] Organize the strategy that best works for youResources Mentioned In This Episode Retirement Manifesto Retirement Planning for Non-Planners - start with this first episodeRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

When you hear financial lingo do you immediately begin to tune out? Does retirement planning make you nervous? If so, this is the right series for you. You’re listening to a 5-part series on retirement planning specifically designed for non-planners. The goal of this series is to educate you on retirement planning without all of the confusing lingo. We’re going to keep it simple and focus on teaching you the most important aspects of retirement planning. If you haven’t listened to episode 393, go back and check it out so that you can understand how to begin planning for retirement. You only need to focus on the important aspects of retirement planning There are many retirement planning geeks out there that love to focus on the economy, markets, and business cycles. They relish mapping out different Roth conversion scenarios to reduce their RMDs. But if you aren’t a planning geek, talking to those people can make retirement planning seem overwhelming. You’ll be happy to learn that to successfully plan for retirement you don’t need to have a degree in economics, you just need to make sure that you focus on the most important things. That is what we are doing here today. I’m here to help you understand what the most important aspects of retirement planning are. Can your retirement dreams come true? During the previous episode, you created a vision of your ideal retirement. Now it’s time to see if you can make your retirement dreams a reality. The biggest question everyone has in retirement planning is will I run out of money? The answer is, no one knows. The economy, life’s surprises, and people’s perpetual habit of changing their minds make it impossible to be sure. There are too many unknowns to be certain about the future. However, it is okay to have that uncertainty. If you can get a good approximation of a retirement plan then you can make adaptations to your plan as life unfolds. I use agile retirement management to help my clients make adjustments to their retirement plan when life shocks or bad markets disrupt their plan. Where will your retirement income come from? When planning your retirement you’ll want to consider the income you will receive from Social Security, pensions, or even part-time work. The rest of your retirement income will need to be covered by your retirement savings. There are many software tools that can help you plan your retirement. It is important to use a retirement calculator to estimate how much money you will need to live out your retirement dreams. In the Rock Retirement Club, we use the New Retirement Plus Calculator. A retirement calculator can give you a long-term projection of your retirement income needs. Have your first 5 years of retirement income readily available While retirement planning software can help you plan out the long-term, you’ll want to understand where your money is coming from in the near term. You should have the next 5 years of spending readily available in accounts that aren’t exposed to the winds of the economy like money market accounts or CDs. Listen in to learn what the most important aspects of retirement planning are so that you don’t get worried about getting caught up in the small details that don’t matter as much. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:51] Can you safely pay for your dream retirement?[6:55] Where will your retirement income come from?[13:45] Recheck your retirement compass periodicallyLISTENER QUESTIONS [19:31] Does it make sense to make after-tax 401K contributions?[23:14] How to estimate MAGI for an IRMAA appeal?[28:12] Can you start Social Security benefits from one spouse early and then wait for the other spouse’s benefit?[29:35] Should I open a non-retirement account?TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [33:45] Understand the resources you have available to use in retirementResources Mentioned In This Episode NewRetirement.comRock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

Do your eyes glaze over when your significant other starts talking about money? Or maybe you are single and you know that retirement is coming soon, but you simply can’t get motivated to plan it out? Or perhaps you are the planner of the family and you would like your partner to take an interest in what lies ahead in retirement? If so, then this is the series for you!Those of us who are into retirement planning can quickly overcomplicate things, but to someone that is new to all this or not really into this planning stuff, retirement planning can be overwhelming. In this Retirement Planning for Non-Planners series, I will introduce you to retirement planning in a lingo-free way that won’t put you to sleep. The objective of the Retirement Planning for Non-Planners series My goal for this series is to give you the power to participate in the retirement planning process. If you are planning your retirement on your own I want you to understand what you need to take care of and understand the basics without becoming overwhelmed. You’ll learn the fundamentals and be able to discuss retirement planning in an educated way. Are you ready to get started? Press play now! What do you envision yourself doing after your working life? What do you want for your life after work? Have you thought about this question? This is actually one of the most difficult questions to answer, but it is also the basis for retirement planning.It can be challenging to consider your life after work. There are so many options to consider and you are starting with a clean slate. Many of us treat this question the way we chose a major in college or our first job. But you don’t have to take this so seriously. Your life will not be ruined if you don’t get this question right. Since we use an agile approach to retirement planning, if you want to switch gears you can. Consider your future life after your working years. What can you imagine? The retirement fundamentals Once you know what you want to do in retirement, the next question is can you afford it?After you discover whether you can afford your dream life then you need to learn how to pay for it. You’ll want to find out how you actually create a retirement paycheck. The last question we’ll consider is how to gain the confidence to make it all work. You must have confidence in your plan to rock retirement. Over the course of this series, we’ll be taking a look at these questions so that you can build a retirement plan that works for you. Set your retirement goals To prepare for your retirement you’ll need to forecast your spending. To do so, can create different levels of spending. Your must-haves are things like housing, electricity, water, gas, and food. These barebones expenses are nonnegotiables.In the next category, put the things you would like to do in retirement. Maybe you would like to play golf once a week, travel once a year, or eat out a few times a month.The last level is your unspoken dreams that you like to think about but you may have never written down. This is your opportunity to think big.You’ll want to group these different types of spending so that you can have an idea of how much money each type of retirement would need. Listen in to hear why this type of exercise is so important in your retirement planning. You won’t want to live a life of regret thinking about what you might have been able to do had you thought bigger when planning your retirement. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [2:55] What are the fundamentals of retirement planning?PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [5:49] What do you want?[8:34] Setting retirement goals[13:45] Don’t let someone else dictate your life[18:51] What will you do every day in retirement?LISTENER QUESTIONS [22:29] When to apply for Social Security[23:32] How to reduce the effect of inflation in your 5-year income floor[27:48] How to get started early in retirement planning and saving[34:30] My own plans for retirementTODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [39:48] Think about your must-haves, like-to-haves, and cool-to-havesResources Mentioned In This Episode Rock Retirement ClubRoger’s YouTube Channel - Roger ThatBOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger WhitneyWork with RogerRoger’s Retirement Learning Center

You may notice that this is an extra episode this month. I wanted to make sure that we mark a special ending to the August Women, Money, and Retirement series, so at the beginning of the month I reached out to some amazing female financial professionals. I asked them all for a piece of financial wisdom to share with other women. You can hear their fantastic insight by pressing play now. Cristina Guglielmetti’s words of wisdom Cristina Guglielmettti from Future Perfect Planning offers suggestions about making 401K contributions. She recommends that you update your contributions regularly, especially if your salary has increased. Set a goal for yourself. How much would you like to save each year? Are you reaching that goal?If your goal contribution is more than your current contribution then changing it immediately could eat into your take-home pay and disrupt your budget. Instead of trying to achieve your goal contribution all at once, try increasing your contribution rate a little at a time. Then set a reminder for yourself to increase your contribution quarterly until you reach your target percentage. This way you won’t feel the decrease in take-home pay all at once. Small, repeatable changes are easier to keep up with which makes it easier to maintain your financial plan. Listen in to hear what else you can do to increase your retirement savings. Jane Mepham shares financial advice passed down from her mother Jane Mepham from Elgon Financial Planning grew up in a different country in a male-dominated society which meant that she had to learn a lot to get ahead in life. When she was young, her mother shared financial advice that she uses even to this day. She knows that attitude is the key to mastering money and it will determine the strategies and tactics that you will use to plan your retirement. Enjoy these words of wisdom from her mother. Make sure you can support yourself financially. You don’t ever want to have to rely on someone else to support you. Don’t eat your future today, however enticing it is. Regardless of how tight your budget is, prioritize saving for the future. If something affects you on a daily basis it is important. You need to know enough about it to make independent, smart decisions. The way you spend your money should align with your values Stephanie Sammons from Sammons Financial and Stephanie McCullough from Sofia Financial have similar advice. They want you to identify what is most important to you. They both stress that you need to define your values so that you can align your spending to reflect what you value the most. All your money decisions should be in alignment with your values and your life. Many people often separate their financial decisions from the rest of their life, however, money is connected to everything we do. By aligning your financial life with the rest of your life you will give meaning to your money. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WORDS OF FINANCIAL WISDOM FROM THE EXPERTS [1:20] Cristina’s recommendation[3:13] Jane Mepham’s words of advice[6:25] Stephanie Sammon’s proactive step to improve your financial life[9:26] Stephanie McCullough Resources Mentioned In This Episode BOOK - How to Be Here by Rob Bell Retirement Money Gal podcastTake Back Retirement podcastSofia Financial - Stephanie McCulloughSammons Financial - Stephanie SammonsElgon Financial Planning - Jane MephamFuture Perfect Planning - Cristina GuglielmettiRock Retirement Club

We have given the entire month of August to the ladies! Since this is the last Wednesday in August, it is the last episode that we are dedicating to the theme of Women, Money, and Retirement. However, that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop taking questions from women. This is simply the last episode to focus solely on women’s questions. We want to ensure that no matter who you are, you have the confidence to rock retirement.  Make sure to come back next month for the series, Retirement Planning for Non-Planners. This series will speak to those who have little interest in retirement. That means we’ll take out all the jargon and focus on the basics of what you need to know. Even if you don’t want to dive into the day-to-day details, it’s important to have an understanding of how to build a retirement plan. If you have any questions related to this theme please ask them at RogerWhitney.com/AskRoger.  What does it mean to put the “I” in retirement? We’re closing out this month with an episode titled, How Do I Put the I in Retirement? But what does the I in retirement really mean?  Over the course of the retirement planning process, most people focus on their financial situation, but it is more important to understand what you want to do in retirement. When planning your retirement, you are planning the next stage of your life and you have the opportunity to remake yourself to be anything you want. This is a fantastic time to uncover your deepest desires and make your voice heard.  Live a life true to yourself The most common regret that people have at the end of their lives is that they wish they had lived a life true to themselves. Many people simply do what is expected of them without ever thinking about what they want for themselves.  Retirement is a fantastic time to set aside what others expect of you and explore what you genuinely want to do.  Since the human condition tends to work in moderation, sometimes you have to peel away the layers to get to the bottom of what you want. Don’t stuff down your needs, dig deep to discover your true self. Have you lived a life true to yourself or do you have a hard time voicing your desires?  How to define what you really want Peeling back the layers can be a challenge, but to live a life true to yourself you’ll have to define what you want out of life. If you don’t voice your desires you’ll never be able to achieve your dreams.  Think about what you have always wanted to do that you haven’t had the time or space to think about. If you don’t have a clear vision yet, that’s okay, take the time to consider this question with wide-eyed curiosity. Retirement is a time of experimentation, so if you haven't completely defined what you want you’ll soon have an opportunity to further explore your desires.  If you have a partner, explore this question with them in little conversations over time. Those little conversations can lead to big ideas and create the space to open up a world that you might not have dreamed of before.  Once you have dreamed up your ideal retirement then you can see how your financial situation fits. You don’t want to go at this from a different perspective. First dream big, then work your retirement plan around your dreams.  Why join the Rock Retirement Club? The Rock Retirement Club has everything you need to create your retirement plan. When you join the club, you’ll gain access to education and tools to help you build your own plan.  Not only that, the club gives you access to a team of professionals that are dedicated to helping you rock retirement.  Last, but certainly not least, you’ll become part of an amazing community. The RRC is filled with a community of like-minded people who all want to rock retirement. When walking through a huge life change it helps to connect with those who are a bit ahead of you on the same journey. Come check out what the Rock Retirement Club is all about.  OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [5:40] What does the I in retirement mean? [13:15] You have to speak up and voice what you want LISTENER QUESTIONS WITH TANYA [19:20] What should you be doing within 6 months of retirement? [20:55] Making decisions immediately after the loss of a spouse [22:52] How to balance the load of caregiving [28:14] How to divvy up parental support between siblings [33:22] How to bring up retirement planning without the jargon [35:13] How to deal with an unexpected divorce in retirement TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [43:35] How will you put the “I” in retirement? Resources Mentioned In This Episode Thinking Ahead Roadmap BOOK - Moving Forward on Your Own by Kathleen Rehl BOOKS - Suddenly Single Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement  by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center