Keen on Retirement

Election cycles can stir up some intense emotions. And while everyone is entitled to have their individual beliefs, as well as causes and candidates that they support, there's one area where we all need to draw a very strong line: between our politics and our money.

In the run-up to any election, folks across the whole political spectrum ask the Keen Wealth team the same questions.

If Candidate X wins:

Will the economy go under?

Will inflation and interest rates destroy my nest egg?

Are my taxes going up?

Should I get out of the market and move to cash?

History tells us that the feelings folks have around these kinds of questions don't typically move the markets.

But following your feelings every other November can lead to some devastating financial moves that may be impossible to recover from.

On today's show, we discuss how to keep your retirement plan insulated from the political noise during the midterms.

The leaves are changing. Sweaters are coming out of closets. Ghosts and monsters are popping up in neighborhood yards.

And the Social Security Administration is about to announce the cost-of-living adjustment for 2027.

That's why October can be one of the spookiest – and most dangerous – months for seniors.

Any time the government makes major announcements about Social Security or Medicare, fraudsters spring into action: texts, phone calls, emails, social media messages, "warning" seniors that they need to "activate" their benefits or make an "emergency" transfer to avoid theft.

Another group of scammers, knowing that many seniors are preparing for a lonely holiday season, offer false promises of companionship ... "If you can just send money to help me pay the rent this month."

The financial toll of these crimes is heartbreaking. According to the FBI, folks 60 and older reported almost $8 billion in losses to scams in 2025 – a 60% increase from the previous year.

On today's show, we discuss how fraudsters try to bypass logic by targeting emotions and review some actionable steps you can take to protect yourself from the latest scams.

Giving back is one of our core values at Keen Wealth. Every year, my wife Carissa, who leads our Keen Community Impact Committee and the Keen Wealth Foundation, works with the committee to bring philanthropic opportunities to our broader team. Together, we identify key initiatives to support through fundraising, volunteer work, and our financial expertise. If you visit our offices during the week and see a couple of empty desks, it's a good bet that our team members are pitching in at one of these causes and trying to make our community a little brighter.

I'm especially grateful for our relationship with the Veterans Community Project (VCP), which is working to end homelessness among veterans by building "tiny homes" and offering outreach to our heroes. Keen Wealth has contributed over $500,000 to the VCP's mission, provided hundreds of hours of community service, and helped found and continues to volunteer at its "Operation Clay Storm" skeet and trap shooting fundraiser. I was honored to be a part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the VCP broke ground on their new Veterans Navigation Campus, which will expand the support services they're able to offer veterans in our community.

On today's episode, we follow up on a recent webinar I co-hosted with VCP Co-Founder & Chief Project Officer Brandonn Mixon and Keen Wealth Senior Financial Planner Jeb Flynn and discuss giving strategies that can help folks do the most good for the causes that matter most.

Dolly Parton's songs and movies will live on forever. But when the 80-year-old entertainment icon passed away last month, she also left behind an impressive financial legacy that we all can learn from.

In a 2020 interview, Parton made it clear that she had no intention of becoming another celebrity cautionary tale about poor estate planning, saying, "You don't want to leave that mess to your family for people to have to fight over. You need to take care of that yourself." Parton's $450 million estate is protected by a trust with executors and successor trustees, as well as a team of legal and financial professionals. And while one of the benefits of establishing these kinds of protections around your estate is that many details may remain private, I'm guessing a good portion of Parton's fortune will continue her extraordinary philanthropic mission.

Most of us won't write hit songs and build our own theme parks. But we can follow Parton's example by being proactive about protecting our legacies and giving back what we can to make the world around us a little bit brighter.

Another important part of shoring up your own financial plan is making the most of your Social Security benefits. On today's show, we follow up Matt Wilson's recent webinar, Maximizing Social Security Benefits, by answering some questions from our audience.

"Save more than you spend" sounds like a timeless piece of money advice, as true today as it was two hundred years ago.

But in the mid-1800s, many folks believed you needed to spend your money as soon as possible. In fact, saving too much back then could lead to financial ruin!

That's just one example of how Americans' attitudes about money have evolved throughout history. But it's not just rules of thumb and hand-me-down wisdom that's changed. It's the nature of money and our relationship to it.

On today's show, we welcome author Joseph S. Moore to discuss his new book, How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't), and the surprising ways five money philosophies have shifted over time.

Housing is one of the biggest line items on just about any retirement budget. Whether you're still paying a mortgage, looking to escalate your payment schedule so you can retire debt-free, or thinking about relocating or buying a vacation home, where you live plays a significant role in how you spend your time, who you spend it with, and what your financial plan looks like.

On today's show, we group together some common questions about managing mortgages that we've received from seniors in our Keen on Retirement audience.

"Ute" (SUV), "chips" (French fries), "sunnies" (sunglasses), and "mates" (friends) are just a few of the slang terms I picked up earlier this year when the Keens visited our family in Brisbane, Australia.

Another was "super," which is short for "superannuation." This mandatory savings program is central to Australia's retirement planning. And recently, President Trump floated the idea of implementing a similar program here in the U.S.

On today's show, we discuss if taking some inspiration from our friends Down Under could provide a "super" solution to Social Security's looming insolvency and help more Americans build their nest eggs for retirement.

Keen on Retirement listener "Joe" is 51 and his wife is 60. They are thinking about an early retirement before either of them turns 65.

Joe wrote in asking about the best strategy for coordinating Social Security benefits around that retirement goal. Should they take his wife's benefits now? Delay benefits to keep their income low and make Roth conversions?

And since they're both too young to collect Medicare, how will their Social Security benefits affect their Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies?

The good news is that Joe and his wife are already thinking about the main topic of today's episode: when you pull one lever on your retirement plan, another piece adjusts.

Working with a professional advisor can help you navigate these interconnected decisions with greater clarity and confidence.

Are you feeling a little more anxious than usual about your money?

Given everything that's happening in the world right now, that's perfectly understandable.

What concerns me is the rising number of Americans who say that their money worries are nudging them towards high-risk speculation in crypto, meme stocks, and prediction markets.

And what's even more concerning is that folks aren't taking massive money risks just because they want to get rich quick. They're afraid that their peers and some of the bedrock assumptions of our financial system are leaving them behind.

Unfortunately, substituting a disciplined financial plan with speculative gambling rarely helps anyone catch up, let alone build wealth to secure retirement.

On today's show, we try to ease some of this financial anxiety by answering three listener questions that touch on some very common money fears.

Your phone buzzes with a text message that appears to be from your bank:

"Did you authorize a purchase on your debit card at a local apparel shop today? Reply YES if you recognize this. Reply NO if you don't, and a fraud specialist will contact you."

You reply, "No." A minute later, your phone rings. The man on the other end is calm, professional, and sympathetic.

"I'm from the fraud department. I'm going to help you stop this unauthorized transaction. I sent a six-digit code to your phone. Just read it back to me."

You do. He thanks you. The call ends.

Minutes later, three transfers leave your bank account. You call your bank and manage to cancel one. But two transfers totaling thousands of dollars are gone permanently. And because you voluntarily provided the man on the phone with that six-digit code, the bank is likely not liable for your loss.

This is a hypothetical example of what the FBI calls "takeover fraud." But the reality is that scams like this are targeting more and more seniors every single day.

On today's show, we review the latest data from the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report and some best practices that can help keep your money and personal info safe.