RetirementRevised

My guest on the podcast this week is Elizabeth White — author of a remarkable recent book on the traumatic experience of job loss at midlife – 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal.

We hear so often about out-of-work baby boomers and the problem of age discrimination. But Elizabeth has written an intimate account of what happened in her own life when the bottom fell out in 2008 and 2009. She wrote the book after speaking out about her experiences in a 2016 Facebook post that went viral, called You Know Her.

The overwhelming reader response to that essay allowed Elizabeth to include in her book the voices of many other older Americans struggling with the uncertainty and loss of income that comes with being cast out of the job market earlier than they expected or wanted.

For this week’s podcast, Elizabeth and I talked about her career story, how things went south and how she has found equilibrium – also, her tips on how people can “small up.”

My guest on the podcast this week is Elizabeth White -- author of a remarkable recent book on the traumatic experience of job loss at midlife - 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal.

We hear so often about out-of-work baby boomers and the problem of age discrimination. But Elizabeth has written an intimate account of what happened in her own life when the bottom fell out in 2008 and 2009. She wrote the book after speaking out about her experiences in a 2016 Facebook post that went viral, called You Know Her:

You know her.

She is in your friendship circle, hidden in plain sight.

She is 55, broke and tired of trying to keep up appearances. Faking normal is wearing her out.

To look at her, you wouldn’t know that her electricity was cut off last week for non-payment or that she meets the eligibility requirements for food stamps. Her clothes are still impeccable, bought in the good times when she was still making money.

But if you paid attention, you would see the sadness in her eyes, hear that grace note of panic in her otherwise commanding voice.

The overwhelming reader response to that essay allowed Elizabeth to include in her book the voices of many other older Americans struggling with the uncertainty and loss of income that comes with being cast out of the job market earlier than they expected or wanted.

For this week’s podcast, Elizabeth and I talked about her career story, how things went south and how she has found equilibrium - also, her tips on how people can "small up."

Subscribe!

The in-depth version of this interview is available to subscribers to the RetirementRevised newsletter. I’m making this shortened version of the podcast available for free.

But even this free version contains none of the annoying advertising you find in most of your favorite podcasts. No sincere pitches from me on the most comfortable mattress you’ve ever slept on or the best meal delivery service on the planet. Ad free now, ad free forever!

If you haven’t thought about subscribing to the newsletter, do it now - this is listener-supported media. It’s the future, so get on board.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

My guest on the RetirementRevised podcast this week is Jill Schlesinger. You probably know Jill from her reports on business for CBS News, or her national weekly radio program on personal finance, Jill on Money.

Jill has just published her first book, The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money. I don’t read many personal finance books or write about them very often - too often, they seem like homework and use simplistic formulas. Or, they’re selling a get rich quick formula (Bitcoin in your retirement account comes to mind). But Jill has a knack for boiling things down, and her great sense of humor makes it all go down easy. So do the funny stories she tells about her own financial mistakes along the way.

Before getting into journalism, Jill got her start on Wall Street, and she also is a certified financial planner. In her book, she runs through 13 of the most costly blunders people make with money; we focused our conversation on four of those mistakes that can do real damage to a retirement plan.

The in-depth version of this interview is available to subscribers to the RetirementRevised newsletter, along with my analysis of key things to keep in mind if you are contemplating retirement abroad. I’m making this shortened version of the podcast available for free.

This is a listener-supported podcast!

Imagine: a podcast with no annoying ads promising the most comfortable mattress you’ve ever slept on, or the best meal delivery service in the universe.

The RetirementRevised podcast and newsletter are listener supported! No ads, anytime anywhere.

If you haven’t considered a subscription, please do! For about the same price you’d pay for a couple large lattes, you get a month’s worth of the smartest conversations around on retirement and aging. Less caffeine, more smarts. A good thing, right?

Subscribers get the full-length podcast interviews, plus my weekly deep dive into news and trends about retirement and aging via email. The newsletter aims to provide a must-read weekly summary of developments for retirement and aging professionals – and for anyone else with a deep interest in the field.

The first edition of the podcast a few weeks ago featured Nancy Altman, who heads up Social Security Works, one of the key grassroots group pushing for expansion of Social Security and an admired historian of the program. Last week, I spoke with Dan Prescher of International Living magazine about retirement abroad. And next week, my guest will be Elizabeth White - author of 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, just out from Simon and Schuster. Elizabeth’s book is an intimate account of the loss of employment and career at midlife - both her own, and hundreds of people who she has spoken with since she first started speaking out on the topic in 2016. Don’t miss it!

Learn more about the newsletter here, or click the little green button below to subscribe now. $10 per month or $120 annually; cancel anytime with no obligation.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

My guest on the RetirementRevised podcast this week is Jill Schlesinger. You probably know Jill from her reports on business for CBS News, or her national weekly radio program on personal finance, Jill on Money.

Jill has just published her first book, The Dumb Things Smart People Do with Their Money. I don’t read many personal finance books or write about them very often - too often, they seem like homework and use simplistic formulas. Or, they’re selling a get rich quick formula (Bitcoin in your retirement account comes to mind). But Jill has a knack for boiling things down, and her great sense of humor makes it all go down easy. So do the funny stories she tells about her own financial mistakes along the way.

Before getting into journalism, Jill got her start on Wall Street, and she also is a certified financial planner. In her book, she runs through 13 of the most costly blunders people make with money; we focused our conversation on four of those mistakes that can do real damage to a retirement plan.

Illinois debate raises questions on taxing retirement income

Illinois is one of the few states that have an income tax but do not tax any retirement income. Two leading business groups recently renewed their calls to change that as part of broader, desperately needed fiscal reforms. The ensuing debate casts a spotlight on an important national conversation about how states should tax retirement income, if at all.

The federal government taxes income from tax-deferred retirement accounts, but Social Security benefits for lower-income retirees are exempt. And taxpayers over age 65 also can take an extra deduction of $1,300 (joint filers) or $1,600 (single filers).

But state policy is all over the map. Data provided by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that 11 states tax some portion of Social Security benefits, usually mirroring the federal formula. Many others tax pensions and tax-deferred accounts, although some have exemptions that protect lower-income, public sector workers and military personnel.

Aside from Illinois, just two other states that levy income taxes exempt all retirement income: Mississippi and Pennsylvania.

Learn more in my Reuters Money column this week. You can find more detail on how retirement income is taxed in this backgrounder.

Who spends the big lobbying bucks in financial services?

The fight to protect retirement investors from conflicted advice has been long and difficult. If you’ve ever wondered why some politicians are so eager to fight against the best interests of their own constituents, check out this new ranking of the largest expenditures for lobbying by financial services firms. It’s dominated by trade groups for stock and insurance brokerages and Wall Street. Keep that in mind as you watch the Securities and Exchange Commission cobble together something to replace the U.S. Department of Labor’s now-deceased fiduciary rule.

The SEC is calling its rule “Regulation Best Interest,” and it would be a win for the traditional commission-based stock brokerage industry. As one dissenting commissioner has said, “Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it regulation status quo.”

Jack Bogle, inflation fighter

Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, who passed away in January at 89, sparked an investing revolution by inventing low-cost, passive mutual funds. Some experts think the Vanguard effect puts $100 billion or more back into investors’ pockets every year.

But it turns out you can measure this another way, as Jeff Somer reports in The New York Times:

Now, it turns out, cost savings from various types of index funds, run by Vanguard, BlackRock, Fidelity, Schwab, State Street and others, are having a measurable impact on inflation much as prices for groceries and gasoline do.

In January alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found, overall portfolio management costs in the United States “plunged 5.2 percent,” Michael Feroli, the chief United States economist at J. P. Morgan, said in a note on Feb. 14.

Until then, I hadn’t realized that the government tracked management expenses paid by investors. But Mr. Feroli set me straight. He said the effect of falling fees was great enough to make a difference in inflation numbers broadly.

In an email, he said most of the decline in portfolio costs, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics incorporates in the Producer Price Index, could be attributed to cuts in fund fees. That includes traditional mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, a type of index fund.

Who knew? Certainly not me.

Falls can kill you; here’s how to minimize the risk

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. Every 19 minutes in this country, an older person dies from a fall. But falling is not an inevitable consequence of aging, notes New York Times aging columnist Jane Brody. Most age-related falls are preventable once you know why they happen and take steps to minimize the risk for yourself, relatives and friends whose age or health status renders them especially vulnerable.

Coming up on the podcast

Next week, I’ll be talking with Elizabeth White, author of 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, just out from Simon and Schuster. Elizabeth’s book is an intimate account of the loss of employment and career at midlife - both her own, and hundreds of people who she has spoken with since she first started speaking out on the topic in 2016. Don’t miss it!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

The idea of retiring abroad holds a certain allure: great weather, new experiences and a fresh perspective on life. And then there are the living costs: living abroad can be a way to cut expenses dramatically.

How dramatically? My guest on the podcast this week, Dan Prescher, is the co-author of The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget: How to Live Well on $25,000 a Year.

Prescher is senior editor of International Living, a magazine and website that can be a terrific resource for anyone thinking about retiring abroad. Dan and his wife Suzan have lived in four countries over the past 18 years as they research and write about the ex-pat lifestyle. International Living publishes an annual Global Retirement Index that ranks top destinations. This year, they also feature a break-out of the types of extra “benefits” retirees get in various countries, mainly big discounts on transportation, entertainment and the like.

But it’s important to understand that retirement abroad can be complicated. In this week’s podcast, I interview Dan about how to pick a location, along with implications for your finances, healthcare and more.

The in-depth interview is available to subscribers to the RetirementRevised newsletter, along with my analysis of key things to keep in mind if you are comtemplating retirement abroad. I’m making this shortened version of the podcast available for free.

Subscribe!

If you haven’t checked out subscription to the weekly RetirementRevised newsletter, please consider it now! The weekly podcast is just getting started, and will feature interviews with some of the smartest people around on retirement aging. The first edition last week featured Nancy Altman, who heads up Social Security Works, one of the key grassroots group pushing for expansion of Social Security and an admired historian of the program.

Along with the weekly podcast, you’ll get my weekly deep dive into news and trends about retirement and aging via email each week. The newsletter aims to provide a must-read weekly summary of developments for retirement and aging professionals – and for anyone else with a deep interest in the field.

Learn more about the newsletter here, or click the little green button below to subscribe now. $10 per month or $120 annually; cancel anytime with no obligation.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

Welcome to the first edition of the RetirementRevised.com podcast!

The plan is to serve up interviews with the smartest people I can find on the retirement and aging beat - policy experts, researchers, economists, journalists and authors, financial planners and other top thinkers in the field. The podcast will be a weekly feature for paid subscribers to the RetirementRevised.com newsletter, and I’ll be tossing a few out for free, too (like this one). Probably once a week, we’ll see how it goes.

I’d love to have your feedback and ideas for future podcasts - drop me a note in the comments field on this page, or here.

This week . . .

My guest this week is Nancy Altman - one of the most knowledgeable people in the United States on Social Security. You may have heard of Nancy’s work as a progressive advocate for Social Security expansion - she heads up Social Security Works, one of the key grassroots group pushing for expansion as part of an overhaul that also would restore 75-year solvency to the program. But Nancy also wrote the book on the history of Social Security and why it should be expanded. Correction, she actually has written three authoritative books on Social Security. Nancy has been involved with Social Security policy since the 1980s, having served as a staffer on the Greenspan Commission, which crafted the last major Social Security reforms.

She also is a major mover/shaker on the latest proposals to expand Social Security, but I also wanted to chat with her about the program in the broader context of our current approach to retirement security. We discussed the evolution of the Democratic Party's approach to Social Security reform; the current proposal on the table in the House; the state of right wing privatization strategies; and the proper balance between private saving and Social Security.

Learn more

For further reading on some of the topics discussed on this podcast, check out Nancy Altman’s books. She also blogs at Huffington Post. I mentioned a study by the Urban Institute study on older workers and the risks posed to them by a higher retirement age; here’s a link to my recent column on that study.

Subscribe!

If you haven’t subscribed yet to the weekly newsletter, do it now! Along with the podcast, you’ll get my weekly deep dive into news and trends about retirement and aging via email each week. The newsletter aims to provide a must-read weekly summary of developments for retirement and aging professionals – and for anyone else with a deep interest in the field. Not every story – just the ones that matter most from the perspective of a journalist who has been covering the beat for nearly 15 years now.

Learn more about the newsletter here, or click the little green button below to subscribe now. $10 per month or $120 annually; cancel anytime with no obligation.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com