Live 4 Financial Freedom

The more questions we ask the more we learn about Social Security to help us with our Retirement Projections. My Dad and myself got talking about what happens when once spouse dies how much the other spouse gets then from Social Security for monthly payments if they are both retired.

We hope we never will need Social Security to get by on but it looks like for our situation that it will be part of the money we will need to keep our current lifestyle. We hope to live long healthy lives so we will be able to keep golfing and traveling when we both are retired.

My Dad thought the living spouse got the whole Social Security amount each month of the spouse that died and I was thinking it was half of what the spouse was getting.

So, I called Social Security Office and was put on hold for over 30 minutes. Ughhhh Once someone came on the line, I asked them what happens when one spouse dies and you both are retired. She said the living spouse gets what ever spouses monthly check amount was the highest. So that confirmed with me that we were making the right decision for us to wait till I am age 70 to start Social Security. We still are deciding on what age Darlene will take hers. We will keep reviewing our Retirement Projection each year to decide what is best for our situation.

As always, I am not giving you any Financial Advice and you should seek advice from your Professional Advisors to see what is best for your situation. See my Disclaimer at MillsWay.com. This is for entertainment only.

Let’s also review how Social Security is figured before talking more about why we like waiting till age 70 to start my Social Security. Listen to the whole Podcast for the whole episode.

We teach the boys to live debt free and especially at Retirement time. We want them to work with a Financial Planner if they don’t feel they have the education to take care of their Retirement Funds. We really hope they will consistently keep educating themselves on Personal Finances and Investing.

We want to give our boys the best chance to have their money last them thru their retirement years and have them reach their Financial Freedom goals..

What age did you start taking Social Security? If you haven’t started yet then what age do you plan on starting at? Why did you choose that age?

Don’t give up on your dreams; don’t let others talk you out of your dreams. Make your dreams happen. Make it happen today.

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

Thanks, and Have a great night.  Please Support or Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/millsway  for access to all my blogs.

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Sources and Resources from Podcast (Available in Show Notes)

1. Social Security Stats from https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/1943-delay.html

2. Social Security Break-even Points https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/13/those-social-security-break-even-calculations-can-be-misleading.html

3. Here is a link to go see your Social Security Statement - https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/statement.html

It is a new year and we have done our Family P & L Actuals from last year. We have also done our 2021 Budget and Goals sheets together. Now is the time to update our Retirement Projection sheets with our Actuals from 2020 to see our new Retirement Projections.

Since last year we decided on the year 2030 for Darlene to retire at. That is the year that I can go on Medicare Insurance so we would just need to buy Health Insurance for Darlene for about 11 years. We are projecting that it will cost us roughly $500 per month or $6,000 per year for her Health Insurance when she retires.

If she decided to work part-time for Insurance, she would have to average over 20 hours per week. Right now, she is feeling like being totally retired at age 54 so that is what we are planning on when doing our projections.

We have done Retirement projections with us starting Social Security at age 67 and others at age 70. We will keep doing both projections up to the date we need to start Social Security to decide which way we are going. Some things that can factor on when we start taking out Social Security is the following;

- How are Investments do for us for the next 12 years.

- When the kids move out of our house and we aren’t supporting them in anyway.

- When Darlene decides to fully Retire or if she decides to work for a while part-time for Insurance.

- How are Health is.

We wish we had a crystal ball to tell us a perfect time to start Social Security but we don’t. We are going to go with what are projections are showing us when we are closer to the date. Our current projections are showing us currently that we should start at age 67. But I still would love not to ever have to count on Social Security. My goal would be to wait till age 70 to start.

The tough part is most guys in my family on both sides of my parents don’t live past age 80. Only my Grampa actually did that I know of. We are projecting that I live to age 90. I hope to live to see the 100’s in my pipe dream. But I would want my health also and not just be able to lay in a bed when I am old. We try to take care of ourselves now so we can live long lives. More on the entire Podcast or at MillsWay.com

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Recently we took our car in for an Oil Change and the Store Manager came out to the sitting area and gave me a long list of repairs the car needs. It was over $3,600. I said to him that the cars value isn’t much over that. When the shock wore off, I told him I was going to hold off for now.

When I got home and started looking up Used Cars that had less miles than my car did it looked like I would need to spend over $15,000 easy to get the same model car but maybe 8 years newer and maybe 80,000 less miles.

Then Darlene came home from work and we talked it out. We decided to take the car to our normal mechanic for a second opinion to see what they said. We told them that we like the car because it looks nice and runs really well. He said it is a nice car and has a good motor in it. He was in favor of fixing the car if we were going to hold on to it for the next few years.

He brought up that all cars need maintained and why buy someone else’s problems. He said most cars start needing some work done to them around 70,000 miles. So, I may end up still having car repairs even if I bought a newer car. Besides that, I would have the cost of the newer car plus higher Car Tabs and higher Car Insurance. Darlene and myself decided for us and our situation that it was best to hold on to our car and do the maintaince on it that it needed.

I am for fixing the car also because I am not a fan of the car shopping process. A friend of mine once said he would rather go to the Dentist then go car shopping. I am not a fan of Dentist either and probably enjoy some of the hunt and numbers of car shopping. - More Details during Podcast.

We also cover with the boys how to maintain their vehicles so they last longer and hopefully it will save them less future car shopping trips in the future. LOL, we do plan on buying Darlene a new Van once her Van hits around 125,000 miles since we drive it a lot back to see family. We still have two or three years till we go car shopping again. We plan on holding on to our Car for life if we can since we don’t drive it often.

We hope everyone hits their Financial Freedom Goals from our family – The Mills Family.

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

Thanks, and Have a great night.  Please Support or Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/millsway  for access to all my blogs.

Click here for some Side Income and Part-time Business Ideas

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Sources and Resources from Podcast (Available in Show Notes)

Our folks came from large families. Especially our Dads because they came from farming families and that seemed to be the thing to do. Have a lot of kids and they can help on the farm. Now a days with the high cost of living or the high living lifestyles that so many people have it is hard to have large families. Some people have one or two kids and others choose not to have any kids and have a pet.

Nothing wrong with having a pet instead of kids if your financial situation or lifestyle doesn’t fit for having a kid. For instance, I always had Labs. They were the best dogs for us.

For instance, Labs were always happy to see you where kids ages 12 to 22 aren’t always excited to see their parents. My dogs cost less money per year than our kids did. Both Kids and Dogs need to be potty trained but Dogs seem to learn faster. My Labs were protective and good guard Dogs where a lot of time our Teenagers are in their rooms playing Video Games. Our Labs we would be with us most of the time when we are home and Teenagers we hardly see. Our Labs didn’t complain and want stuff like our Teenagers do. Labs don’t take long showers or stay in the bathroom for an hour like a Teenager. You have no car expenses or clothing expense each year for a Dog either. The list could go on.

Kids are great don’t get me wrong. I love our 4 kids. But there are times they drive me nuts. Kids are most loveable from around age 2 to age 12. They say kids come back after they are in their twenties. I have not seen that from my two older kids but with the Divorce from my first wife she bought their love and brained washed them. Hopefully they will come around someday and meet their brothers, step Mother and be apart of our family. If they don’t then it is there loss. I know our boys want to get to know them. Plus, Darlene would love to have another girl in the house. Maybe also our boys will get married someday and then we can have more girls in the house. LOL

We teach our boys to have Financial Planning meetings with their future spouse and after they are married about their Financial Freedom goals, plans, budgets, desires and more. I have worked with couples in the past that didn’t have these talks until it was too late because it was uncomfortable. Then most of them was at a point of no return. Money is one of the major reasons for Divorce.

We taught them that they should also go to a Church for Pre-Marital Classes. If they have a problem talking about money issues then to find a third person that they both trust to talk with them. It could be a Financial Planner, Accountant, Lawyer or a Financial Coach like myself.

Remember this show is for entertainment only and you should seek advice from your Financial team if you have any questions on Investing. See my Disclaimer on MillsWay.com. I want to help you prepare for an unexpected bill so you don’t go into debt paying on a bill. I want everyone to live Debt Free and reach their Financial Freedom goals.

If they both aren’t on the same page before they get married it will make it harder to be on the same page with Money issues once they are married. It will be hard to spend less then they make and to Invest enough money to reach their Financial Freedom goals or ever Retire.

The people that can’t talk about Money or plan for their future then they would be a great candidate to have a dog. Besides Money there are so many things to discuss before getting married to make sure each of them knows the others desires and what they think being married should be like.

Listen for More Details

We hope everyone hits their Financial Freedom Goals from our family – The Mills Family.

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Hope you had a fun New Year’s Eve and New Years Day. I am excited that it is 2021 and all the new opportunities we have this year. It would be hard for 2021 not to be way better than 2020. As many people know a lot of things can happen to a family in a short period of time.

Last year we saw COVID-19 mess up peoples lives in so many ways. For instance, some businesses had to shut down and some never reopened. Which caused a lot of people to lose their jobs and probably their only source of income to pay their bills. If they didn’t have an Emergency Fund then they are probably behind on their bills.

Some people that got COVID-19 had to be hospitalized and I am sure that ran them up some big hospital bills. I know my four hours in a hospital was expensive for us. Until the COVID-19 Vaccine is available to everyone I am sure more people will be hit with large hospital bills in 2021.

I don’t want to scare people about COVID-19 because I am talking about it. I am not a Medical Doctor or giving any Medical Advice to you. But it is a big Thing that is in the news and our world last year and will be this year probably. Seems like a lot of people have different views on it. The ones that are really afraid of getting it probably needs to find a way to never leave their house or have anyone ever over. We don’t live that way and most of our friends don’t live that way.

Some do and we just don’t see them. Such a small percentage of people live this way. I love the guys I golf with; they shared a bottle of Brandy the other day and shake hands. They are older than I am and have seen a lot of things over the years that was supposed to be dangerous to their lives. They choose to enjoy each day they are above ground. I am in that boat also. I have out lived my friends and cousins so far and not going to quit living due to COVID-19. I say leave Businesses open and let people choose to go shop them or not.

We just think it is funny how many cars are on the road. Darlene works in a Grocery store and they are busy with customers. We go to other retail shops and there parking lots are jammed full. Yet some people act like don’t get by me when you are shopping. I say they should just lock themselves up in their house and do home delivery then. They should just never live the house. They made the choice to go to the store, I didn’t for them.

Many people do not have enough money in their bank accounts to pay for a $1,000 car repair bill. I have worked with and talked with so many people that had less than $100 in their checking and savings account. Many had no retirement savings either. I have heard that one out of four people have no emergency savings fund.

We believe in having an Emergency fund for our family. We teach our boys to have at least six months of their total expenses in a savings account. We like to use a Brokerage Account for our Emergency Funds and we invest it in Stocks, Mutual Funds and EFTs. We know if we have to liquidate some funds to pay off an unexpected bill, we could with in about seven days at the most.

Remember this show is for entertainment only and you should seek advice from your Financial team if you have any questions on Investing. See my Disclaimer on MillsWay.com. I want to help you prepare for an unexpected bill so you don’t go into debt paying on a bill. I want everyone to live Debt Free and reach their Financial Freedom goals.

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

Thanks, and Have a great night.  Please Support or Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/millsway  for access to all my blogs.

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Happy New Years Eve! Yea, 2020 is over and in the books tomorrow. 2020 is a year that we will all want to forget. I am optimistic that 2021 is going to be better by a mile. I don’t see how it could have been any worse.

In 2020 we lost my Mom to COVID-19 and other health issues. We lost our Sister Audrey who was only 41 years old. We had to wear Masks and many businesses were closed up at times or had restrictions. Then on top of that our boys missed out on Home Coming, Prom, a formal Graduation and had to do school on-line at times. What a crazy year. So, 2021 has to be better right?

Now is the time to review your 2021 Budgets and Goals for you and your family. We do actuals each month of our expenses and then do a rolling recap for the year. Darlene and myself review our past years expenses when we are doing our next year’s Budgets and Goals.

Things that we didn’t Budget for in 2020 that came up was some Medical Issues we had that we didn’t plan on. They were over $6,200. We put in a Shed for our folks which was over $8,300 that we didn’t Budget for. Then we had some major Car repairs that were over $4,500 that we didn’t plan on. Then we had Funeral Expenses that we split with my Sister for our Mom and we Published a New Book this year. We had $22,000 of expenses that came up in 2020 that we didn’t plan for this year. That can happen each year and that is why we keep any Emergency Fund to help our in these crazy years. Most years we can come in below our Budget or just barely over but not in 2020.

Our family keeps our Budget, Gift giving breakout and Yearly Goals posted in our Bedroom so we can see it easily everyday to help keep us on track towards our goals. Besides doing our end of the month recaps and then having a meeting to cover them.

Our 2020 Goals was messed up big time with COVID-19 and all the crazy things that came up. We hit some goals but others we didn’t. Due to COVID our goals we had for our Disney Cruise was not hit because they canceled the trip. We had goals for taking the boys to special events and that didn’t happen. Then we had goals for taking the boys to movies that didn’t happen. It wasn’t all doom and gloom for our 2020 goals, we did hit a few of them. I don’t think we ever had a year that we hit every goal anyway. Things come up.

Remember my disclaimer on millsway.com. I am not giving any legal, medical or financial advice. This podcast and blog are just for entertainment.

This new year our family goals is about the same as 2020 except for less trips planned and lower expenses. We revised our Budget for 2021 with less expenses since Logan Graduated and having less Vacations planned. We have a Budget for our family Expenses of $50,000. Let’s hope we can come in under that.

Having a personal budget is like work. The place you work needs to spend less on expenses than they bring in for income. That is no different than your own personal budget. It is simple Math.

What is your situation? Do you have a Budget? Do you track your expenses each month or not? A budget is worthless exercise somewhat if you don’t track your expenses and do a recap to see if you won for the month or not. Same with a yearly recap. Some people use Envelope Budgets, Zero Budgets or even Reverse Budgets. What is most important is the one that works best for your situation.

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Christmas is tomorrow and then we start a new year in just seven days. Are you looking forward to the holidays or are you feeling down? This time of Year, can be hard for people depending on what their situation is and what has happened in their world in the past.

For myself when I am watching Christmas and Holiday shows on TV it can get me down really easy in the past. Even today there is times that it can get me thinking of the past but now I have some ways to help me get to a better mood.

We all have past experiences that can affect us in a good way or a negative way depending on how we look at it. I know there was some Holidays in the past that wasn’t a lot of fun for me because I couldn’t get myself seeing the good things in my life. Two big events in my past was my Divorce and then when my Dad died.

Then I met Devin Hastings years ago and he taught me about the Mind and how to use a Positive Score Card. He taught me NLP and Hypnosis Classes for a few years. His classes where amazing and I learned a lot about the power of our Minds.

This last year has been challenging for everyone from the roller coaster of the stock market to uncertainty of jobs being around with the disruption of businesses. Some people had challenges on home schooling to finding day care for their kids when the schools went to home schooling.

I’m sure people around the world felt all sorts of feelings this year. I would bet that depression and anxiety rates are at a all time high. Friends of mine had different things that were bothering them about 2020 from having to wear a Mask to not being able to go to their favorite restaurant.

Before we wrap this up some other ways people show Gratitude is, they will pray or meditate. I have done both in the past but for me reading my Positive Score Card and Positive Quotes helps me the best.

We hope everyone has a safe, fun and happy Christmas and New Years from our family – The Mills Family. This is our Christmas Card to you. LOL

Don’t give up on your dreams; don’t let others talk you out of your dreams. Make your dreams happen. Make it happen today.

Visit my Podcast at www.Live4.Club on Anchor.fm, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Breaker Audio, Google Podcasts, Radio Public, I-tunes, Apple Podcast and more. If you would like to be a guest on my Podcast drop me an email at [email protected]or Text me at 480-389-6224

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

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Christmas is definitely our favorite Holiday Season. Darlene and myself start decorating the day after Halloween. We like to buy some new Christmas decorations each year.

This is our best Christmas this year since we have our Mom and Dad spending it with us. They will be here with us for four months and we are so excited to have them here. Since the boys don’t spend much time with us.

Logan didn’t go into the Navy like he had planned on so we will get to enjoy the Christmas holiday with him and Seth this year. The more the marrier. 2020 has been an ugly year after my Mom passed away and our Sister Audrey passed away just two months ago. ughhh

Remember - As always, I am not giving you any Financial Advice and you should seek advice from your Professional Advisors to see what is best for your situation. See my Disclaimer at MillsWay.com. This is for entertainment only.

So, let’s talk about Christmas or Holiday Season spending. I saw that Investopedia said $998 is the average amount that consumers expect to spend on winter holidays in 2020. That is down $50 from 2019.

Probably due to COVID-19 and people not getting out to the malls shopping. 2021 can’t come fast enough and come on vaccine. I don’t know your views on taking the vaccine but for myself I will be first in line once it is available to us. I always get a FLU shot each year also. COVID-19 has affected everyone in one way or another. For us we have become experts at online shopping. LOL

The $998 they said covers gifts, food and decorations. Of course, your numbers may be smaller or higher depending on your own personal budget or family size.

Welcome back, let’s talk about what we are looking at spending this Christmas and Holiday season;

- $800 on Christmas Gifts. Which is over our budget by $425. We got shopping happy. LOL

- $175 on Christmas Decorations. We like to add to our Christmas Decorations each year. This year we about some more outside lights and wall décor for inside our house.

- $350 on Christmas and New Years foods and drinks. We want to go all out this year with Mom and Dad here and both boys still with us.

- Total $1,325 of Christmas and Holiday spending for our family.

We are over the $998 average that Investopedia said for consumers in 2020. But we want to be above average in everything we do. LOL

Some more changes we are doing this year due to COVID-19 is we aren’t going to the Mall has often. Also, we aren’t giving out Christmas Cookie trays to neighbors or friends this year. We haven’t drove around looking at Christmas lights like we have in past years either. So sad…

Do you have a Christmas Spending Budget? We have one even though we didn’t follow it this year. We teach our boys to have one and stick to it. Then after Christmas to do an Actual of what their expenses were and compare it to their budget. Then make notes what they can do the next year to improve.

We hope everyone has a safe, fun and happy Christmas and New Years from our family – The Mills Family. This is our Christmas Card to you. LOL

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There are a lot of different philosophies on the subject of if you should stay in the market through the up and down times or not. Some of my friends say they get out when it is high and then buy when it is low. They swear they make a ton of money doing it that way. Yet, I don’t have a crystal ball on when the Stock Market is at around the top and not going any higher. I would have felt bad jumping out of the Stock Market when it was even at 20,000 and then waiting for a crash. I would be missing out on all these dividends and growth we have been receiving.

I have been to classes and heard from many other people that was against trying to time the market and they showed examples of why not to try jumping in and out.

As always, I am not giving you any Financial Advice and you should seek advice from your Professional Advisors to see what is best for your situation. See my Disclaimer at MillsWay.com. This is for entertainment only.

The mental part of Investing is a challenge and with all the news that hits us constantly from our TV’s, Radio Stations, News Paper to Social Media posts we are smothered by good or bad news on the stock market and opinions.

We teach the boys to hold strong to their beliefs and ride out the stock markets roller coaster. To hold on to their stocks and not to try to time the market. They think it is boring to just hold on to their stocks and not trade them. I hope the older they get they will realize that holding is the way and yes it can be boring to some.

To also have the money they have in Stocks, Real Estate or Businesses. Not to be sitting around not working for them.

Of course, we want them to keep building on their Financial and Investing education each year and work with their Financial Team to make the best choices possible towards their Financial Freedom goals. We want them to learn how to make the best educated choice when picking a stock. They should feel that stock is a solid company and will be around through their retirement years.

The boys are human and the stocks they own go up and down. So often they will say “If I had only sold it before it dropped”. Each time I remind them that they are in for the long run and they have probably at least forty more years till they retire.

With AI technology coming into play who knows what the world of Investing will look like in the next forty years for our kids. I feel AI is the future for sure. For all the Details listen to the full Podcast Show.

If you would like to be a guest on my Podcast drop me an email at [email protected] or Text me at 480-389-6224

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

Thanks, and Have a great night.  Please Support or Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/millsway  for access to all my blogs.

Click here for some Side Income and Part-time Business Ideas

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Sources and Resources from Podcast (Available in Show Notes)

1, Tony Robbins Book called “Unshakeable”

https://paulminors.com/blog/unshakeable-tony-robbins-book-summary-pdf/

We have taught our boys to shop around for the best Financial Planner that they like. We have told them to do research on different Financial Planners from what they charge and more. We want them to feel good about who they work with and are able to talk with them comfortably. If they do choose one to work with, we prefer Free of course or if they do pay, then to pay a fixed cost.

I have talked to people that pay a percentage of their holding to a Financial Planner. Some paid from around $5,000 to $20,000 a year. Ouch. Six years ago, when we had someone want to be our Financial Planner it would have cost us over $6,000 a year. Think if we paid that each year for twenty years for a total of $120,000. Would we have maid more than if we did it ourselves or not.

As always, I am not giving you any Financial Advice and you should seek advice from your Professional Advisors to see what is best for your situation. See my Disclaimer at MillsWay.com. This is for entertainment only.

Basically, there are four fees the boys could pay for a financial planner or advisor;

- Free – I like this option the best.

- Flat Fee – Could range from $500 to $3,500.

- Percentage of your Portfolio – For them to manage your investments monthly. Charges could range from .80% to 2% of your money they are managing for you.

- Hourly Fee – This isn’t a bad option if you just want to see them once or twice to help you with advice. They could also help you create a financial plan. Cost could run $75 to $400 an hour.

Of the four above options I still like the Free option with our current situation. Maybe for the boys one of the other options will work better for them. I know they could benefit from working with a Certified Financial Planner and if it is in their budget it could be a good investment.

Finding a Certified Financial Planner that you may like to work with can be more of a challenge. At least if they are Certified Financial Planner then you know they took the classes and received the training to provide good advice. For more details listen to the whole Podcast

If you would like to be a guest on my Podcast drop me an email at [email protected] or Text me at 480-389-6224

Support me at Anchor.fm/Live4, Patreon.com/Millsway or Paypal.me/Millsway

Thanks, and Have a great night.  Please Support or Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/millsway  for access to all my blogs.

Click here for some Side Income and Part-time Business Ideas

Millsway.com and Live4.Club

Personal Capital - Manage your money now. Smart way to track and manage your financial life. Award-winning financial tools and more.

#financial freedom #financial independence #FIRE #Hustle #Live4 #podcast #millsway