The Planning For Retirement Podcast

Are you approaching retirement while juggling paying for your kids' college, or even perhaps caring for aging parents?  You are not alone.  In fact, 48% of adults are providing some sort of financial support to their grown children, while 27% are their primary support. Additionally, 25% are financially supporting their parents as well.  

The conversation focuses on the sandwich generation, which refers to individuals who are planning for their own retirement while also supporting their children and aging parents.  In this conversation, Kevin Lao and Jeff McDermott discuss various financial planning topics, including college planning, retirement savings, and caring for aging parents. They emphasize the importance of balancing saving for college and retirement, taking advantage of catch-up contributions after age 50, and having open conversations about estate planning and long-term care. They also highlight the benefits of using 529 plans, taxable brokerage accounts, Health Savings Accounts, and more. 

I hope you enjoy this episode!

-Kevin 

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Are you approaching retirement and worried about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the future of your job?  What about the impact of AI on the financial markets?  And lastly, do Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have a place in a well-diversified investment portfolio?

I hope you enjoy my interview with Brian Bonewitz.  Brian is an AI consultant, CFA holder, and has a unique perspective on AI, digital assets, and the impact they have on investing for retirement.

Personally, I believe the mainstreaming of Bitcoin in 2024 is likely to cap some of the upside potential, but also it reduces the downsize given some of the world’s largest asset managers are now substantial stakeholders in crypto assets.

To each their own, but I believe a decision should be made one way or the other, and likely sooner rather than later.

-Kevin Lao

Connect with me here:

Links Referenced in Episode:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Are you interested in working with me 1 on 1?⁠ 

⁠Click this link to fill out our Retirement Readiness Survey⁠

Or, ⁠visit my website

Do you ever wish you could get inside the minds of existing retirees to ask them what their experience has been?  Or, ask them what they wish they would have known before they quit their day job?  This episode is for you!

In this episode of the Planning for Retirement podcast, I’ll share 50 truths that retirees wish they knew before they quit their day jobs.  Some of these are straight from the horse’s mouth, some are my observations in serving retirees for more than a decade, and some are research-based that I uncovered during this process.  I’ll cover a range of topics including finding purpose in retirement, the misconception of retirement expenses going down, the importance of exercise and brain stimulation, the high costs of healthcare in retirement, tax traps, and much more. 

Thanks for tuning in!  Make sure to subscribe to give me a follow on social media and company newsletter below.  We’re also getting the YouTube side of things going and I’ll be posting one offs in bet

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Click this link to fill out our Retirement Readiness Survey

Or, visit my website

Welcome to "The Planning for Retirement Podcast," where we help educate you on how to achieve financial security and fire your boss.

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Welcome to this edition of The Planning for Retirement Podcast.  This is Volume 1 of this new series, The Whiteboard Retirement Plan, where Kevin breaks down a real-life client case for “Bob and Jennifer” in plain English.  The goal is to help answer the question, “Can I fire my boss?”  

ERROR IN THE VIDEO

***Hey all, just a quick note about this episode. In minute 22:47, I mentioned the spousal benefit Jennifer would collect would equate to $18k/year. However, this is not the case. Because Jennifer filed her OWN benefit early, she would also have a lower benefit even after Bob collects his benefit at 70 and she is eligible for the spousal benefit. This includes the $12k she would receive, plus a $6k "top off" to get to the full $18k/year she would be eligible for.

Thanks for catching that one, Roberto!

https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/can-i-start-collecting-my-own-benefits-age-62-and-then-switch-spousal-benefit-age-67

Back to the action***

He discusses the savings rate, income sources, and withdrawal rate, highlighting the need for adjustments and planning opportunities. The episode ends with a discussion on the impact of early Social Security claiming and survivor benefits. Bob and Jennifer are in a good position to retire, but there are some risks they need to address. Long-term care planning is important, as 70% of people over 65 will need some form of long-term care. They should consider whether to self-fund or get long-term care insurance. Tax planning is also crucial, as 80% of their assets are in tax-deferred accounts. They should explore Roth conversions to minimize taxes and leave a financial legacy to their children. Finding purpose in retirement is essential, and they should consider how to spend their free time to maximize their life experiences with their loved ones. Lastly, they need to have an optimized investment strategy to spin off income for the rest of their lives, while at the same time address a potential bear market or recession.  

Takeaways

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In this episode, Kevin discusses the topic of downsizing to retire early. He shares the reasons why people downsize their homes to fund their retirement and talks about the tax implications of doing so.

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It’s official, we moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee where my wife’s family is from.  Considering this big move and the fact that I’ve spoken with hundreds of retirees who relocated during retirement, I thought this would be a timely topic!  

I’ll unpack some of the main reasons I see people relocating during retirement including;

The reasons I hear are good ones, but make sure you find a tight-knit community.  Every study I read on this topic points to a close social community being vital to maintaining health and happiness during your golden years.  

I will also encourage listeners to be open to the possibility of change and to prioritize their physical, mental, and financial health in retirement.  Nothing has to be “set in stone” in terms of where you move initially.  You can always “try it out” and decide on the long-term plan after a year or two.  

Takeaways

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Are you interested in working with me 1 on 1?  Fill out our Retirement Readiness Survey

In this episode, Kevin Lao discusses the key takeaways from the book 'Die with Zero' by Bill Perkins. He emphasizes the importance of using money as a resource and not hoarding it. He also talks about the concept of return on experiences and the different life phases for different experiences. Kevin highlights the significance of investing in one's health and giving with a warm hand instead of a cold one. He also mentions the Life Cycle Hypothesis and the importance of insurance products in mitigating financial risks. Lastly, he discusses the potential drawbacks of enabling children and the importance of open communication when giving money.

Takeaways

Chapters

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Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/KevinLaoCFP/ 

LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-lao-cfp%C2%AE-ricp%C2%AE-4181a29/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/imaginefinancialsecurity/

Retirement Readiness Survey 

https://us5.list-manage.com/survey?u=85d31240005020d412afa7ca3&id=95db102295&attribution=false

Living to 100:  https://www.livingto100.com/

Die with zero book:  https://www.diewithzerobook.com/welcome

You can invest in your company stock in several ways, whether you are working for a publicly traded corporation or even a privately owned company.  

And who wouldn’t want to have ownership in the company you have your sweat equity with?  

However, there are tax implications and investment risks you must weigh before moving forward with doing so.  And even if/when you decide to invest in your company’s stock, you must have a plan and process to ensure you are not taking on unnecessary risk.  

In this episode, we’ll cover:

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Links referenced throughout this episode:

Ways to invest in your company stock

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/invest-own-company-stock-160142745.html

RSU vs. ESOP

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/mc-explains-how-is-an-esop-different-from-rsu-and-espp-9779721.html

The risk and underperformance of concentrated stock positions

https://www.fa-mag.com/news/the-risk-and-underperformance-of-concentrated-stock-positions-78253.html?section=68&utm_source=FA+Magazine&utm_campaign=3dd4479fde-FAN_AM_John+Hancock_060324&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4b692acec9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Excessive Extrapolation and the Allocation of 401(k) Accounts to Company Stock

https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/shlomo.benartzi/excessive.pdf

If you are interested in working with me 1x1, start by filling out our Retirement Readiness Survey below.  I’ll follow up with feedback on how you are tracking towards your goals, as well as how we can help you in your journey to financial independence.  

Take The Retirement Readiness Survey

Thanks for tuning in and hope you enjoyed this episode.  

-Kevin Lao

Thanks everyone for tuning in!  As we continue our review season with clients, it’s a friendly reminder of how important a retirement spending budget is!  This is a key input your financial advisor must know to run accurate projections for you.  Remember, the outputs are only as good as the inputs.  

In our last episode, we talked about how important an assumed retirement age is.  This week, we will focus on projecting how much you’ll spend in retirement.    

This is a very personal question that is tough to fit into a “rule of thumb.”  However, I’ll focus on discussing a few rules of thumb and ways you can project an accurate spending number.  From there, we’ll talk a bit about some research in retirement spending phases and how that will impact your projections.  

And finally, I’ll talk about some of my observations on retiree spending patterns based on my years of practice.      

I hope you enjoy today’s episode.  Make sure to give us a follow if you’re interested in how to plan for retirement.    

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Articles:

Exploring the Retirement Consumption Puzzle

How much does the average 65+-year-old retiree spend?

https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/how-much-the-average-65-year-old-retiree-spends-monthly/?utm_term=incontent_link_8&utm_campaign=1264931&utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_content=11&utm_medium=rss

Are you interested in working with us? Fill out our "Retirement Readiness Survey" and we'll follow up with some feedback on how you're tracking for your goals and how we could help.

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