Take Pride in Retirement

Could the youngest generation in the workforce teach the rest of us something about retirement planning? I’m joined by Bank of America’s Kai Walker to explore findings from the company’s 2026 Workplace Benefits Report, including why Gen Z is getting an earlier start on retirement savings.

We discuss lessons that apply at any age: starting with small contributions, making the most of your employer’s 401(k) match, building emergency savings, and looking beyond your retirement account to understand your workplace benefits. We also explore health savings accounts and why open enrollment is a good opportunity to review your options.

Whether you’re just starting out or working to catch up, this conversation offers practical ideas for taking your next step.

No matter who you are or who you love, you deserve a retirement you can take pride in.

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Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
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About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

A bigger Social Security check sounds like good news—but how much breathing room will it actually give you? I’m joined by Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president of government affairs, to discuss the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment and why rising expenses can leave retirees feeling squeezed.

We explore how Medicare premiums can affect your increase, why the inflation measure used for Social Security may not reflect your retirement budget, and what Congress needs to address about the program’s long-term funding. Plus, we share resources to help you check your benefit estimates and make more informed claiming decisions.

Whether you’re already receiving benefits or planning ahead, this conversation can help you put Social Security’s role in your retirement into perspective.

No matter who you are or who you love, you deserve a retirement you can take pride in.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

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About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

“Guaranteed” sounds reassuring—but what does that promise actually protect? Your retirement income? Your account balance? Someone you love?

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, Josh joins me to unpack the differences between income protection and protection from market losses. I explain how a variable annuity can offer an income guarantee while its account value falls, how fixed indexed annuities work, and why an income benefit base isn’t necessarily money you can cash out.

We also connect those details to the retirement decisions that matter to our LGBTQ+ community: maintaining independence, paying for affirming care, protecting a spouse or unmarried partner, and including chosen family in beneficiary decisions. A lifetime income benefit doesn’t automatically cover two lifetimes—and naming someone as your beneficiary doesn’t automatically give them lifetime income.

Before relying on a guarantee, understand what’s protected, who’s covered, what it costs and what could change the benefit.

No matter who you are or who you love, you deserve a retirement you can take pride in.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

This Halloween-themed financial vignette explores the financial fears many Americans face, from market volatility and inflation to unexpected expenses and retirement uncertainty. Featuring insights from interviews with financial industry leaders, this month's vignette offers a message of optimism and emphasizes how proactive retirement planning can help turn financial uncertainty into confidence.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Your Medicare plan worked this year—but will it still meet your needs next year? In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, my husband and co-host, Josh Rhett Noble, joins me to discuss what to review during Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period (AEP).

We walk through your plan’s Annual Notice of Change, checking trusted doctors and prescriptions, and looking beyond the monthly premium to understand your potential healthcare costs. For LGBTQ+ retirees, keeping a provider who understands and respects you can be an especially important part of that review.

We also explain why spouses should consider their coverage individually: Matching rings don’t necessarily mean matching healthcare needs. I discuss why a move from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare deserves careful consideration, including questions about Medigap eligibility, and introduce IRMAA—the income-related adjustment that can affect Medicare premiums.

My goal is to help you ask better questions and understand how healthcare expenses fit into your overall retirement plan.

For personalized Medicare plan guidance, consult a licensed Medicare insurance agent or your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Prices go up, your investments go down—and your bills still need to be paid. How can your retirement plan account for both rising costs and market losses?

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, my husband and co-host, Josh Rhett Noble, joins me to discuss why growth and protection both deserve a place in your retirement plan. We explore how inflation can erode purchasing power, why market declines become especially challenging when you’re withdrawing money, and why having enough to retire today is only the starting point.

I explain how giving your money different jobs can help connect the pieces: growth for future expenses, dependable income for ongoing bills, accessible reserves for surprises, and protection to help manage risk. We also discuss why having several accounts doesn’t automatically mean you’re diversified, where annuities may fit, and why costs, restrictions, and tradeoffs matter.

For LGBTQ+ retirees and couples, the plan also needs to account for the people and experiences that make retirement worthwhile—and how household finances might change after a partner’s death. Josh and I share questions to bring to your next planning meeting so you can better understand how your income, savings, and investments work together.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

You’ve figured out your retirement paycheck—but who are you having brunch with? Leaving work changes more than your income. It can also change your routine, your friendships, and your sense of purpose.

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, my husband and co-host, Josh Rhett Noble, joins me to talk about planning a social life you can take pride in. We explore why the everyday connections we make at work can be harder to replace than we expect, and why it helps to start building your retirement routine before your last day on the job. We discuss maintaining friendships, finding welcoming LGBTQ+ groups, staying connected with chosen family, and balancing shared activities with individual interests in a relationship.

We also connect those goals to the financial plan, including budgeting for meals with friends, classes, memberships, transportation, and visits to loved ones who live elsewhere.

Whether you’re single, partnered, already retired, or still looking ahead, we share a simple place to start: one recurring activity, one relationship to maintain, and one new experience to try. Your retirement plan should support the people and experiences that make your days meaningful.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Federal employees may have access to valuable retirement benefits—but those benefits come with rules, elections, and deadlines that can shape the rest of their lives.

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, Josh joins me as I talk with my friend and colleague Rayna Reyes, a federal retirement specialist and co-founder of American Federal Benefits Consultants. Rayna explains what makes federal retirement planning so complex, some of the biggest mistakes she sees employees make, and why a collection of benefits is not the same as a coordinated retirement plan.

We discuss pensions, survivor elections, health and life insurance, the Thrift Savings Plan, Social Security, and the importance of coordinating benefits between spouses or partners. We also focus on issues that can be especially important for LGBTQ+ couples—including beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, trusts, and what can happen when a longtime partner is not legally recognized as a spouse.

Whether you work for the federal government, the private sector, or yourself, the larger lesson applies: Know what you have, make sure the pieces work together, and ensure the people you love know what to do if something happens to you.

Learn more about Rayna and American Federal Benefits Consultants: https://americanfederal.org

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

You may have spent 30 or 40 years saving and investing for retirement—but what happens when it is finally time to start spending that money?

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, Josh joins me as I sit down with bestselling author and AARP personal finance columnist Jean Chatzky to discuss her new book, The Forever Paycheck. We explore why the transition from accumulating money to creating retirement income can be difficult both financially and emotionally—and why having retirement accounts is not the same as having a retirement income plan.

Jean explains how retirees can build income with investments or purchase guaranteed income through insurance products such as annuities. We also discuss the importance of covering essential expenses, coordinating income with Social Security, accounting for taxes and inflation, and creating a plan that gives you permission to enjoy the money you worked so hard to save.

The right strategy is personal. But when your essentials are covered and you understand where your next paycheck is coming from, retirement can feel less uncertain—and a lot more enjoyable.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

A generic prescription should mean a lower price—but does that savings actually reach you?

In this episode of Take Pride in Retirement, I talk with Antonio Ciaccia of 46brooklyn Research about why some generic medications still carry surprisingly high prices. We explore prescription drug markups, the role of pharmacy benefit managers, and how a “specialty drug” label can affect where you fill a prescription and what it costs.

I also ask Antonio how people approaching Medicare eligibility can compare Part D plans and explore more affordable options. He explains why your specific medication list matters, why insurance isn’t always the cheapest route, and why your pharmacist should be part of the conversation.

Healthcare expenses belong in your retirement plan. This conversation offers practical questions to ask as you protect your budget—and build a retirement you can take pride in.

Explore the research: 46brooklyn.com.

Schedule your free financial consultation at TakePrideInRetirement.com or call 855-246-9211.

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Request your free RSSA Roadmap for Social Security optimization
Watch full episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TakePrideinRetirementShow
Follow on BlueSky, Threads, Facebook, Instagram — just search Take Pride in Retirement

-- 

About Take Pride in Retirement:
Take Pride in Retirement is a podcast dedicated to retirement planning solutions for the LGBTQ community. Host Matt McClure, a licensed fiduciary financial advisor, shares strategies to protect your hard-earned money while pursuing market-like growth.

Matt holds the RSSA® credential as a Registered Social Security Analyst®, helping clients optimize their Social Security filing strategies to potentially increase lifetime income. He’s also a Certified Annuity Specialist® (CAS®), a designation earned through a 135+ hour graduate-level program in fixed-rate and variable annuities from the Institute of Business & Finance.

Based in Georgia with his husband and two dogs, Matt spent over a decade in New York City, working with The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, NY1, and WCBS Newsradio 880. A career highlight includes reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.