Keen On Retirement

As parents, our children are always at the forefront of our concerns, especially during back-to-school season. But as my clients near retirement age, their own parents often become part of the caregiving picture as well. An aging parent who is showing signs of slowing down, or suddenly needs more direct attention after a medical emergency, presents a whole separate set of challenges and responsibilities that can affect your financial planning.

When I sit down with other financial industry professionals to talk shop, many of them ask me why I devote so much time to the financial education of my clients and online audience via blogs, podcasts, and webinars. Recently, someone quipped to me, “Bill, before I go to the dentist, I don’t read up on cavities and root canals. The dentist tells me what to do, and I do it. Fiduciary advisors and their clients are no different.”

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for Retirement Matters: What’s the Best Way to Take Distributions from My Retirement Plans? I hope this presentation provided some helpful perspective on how to put your assets to work for you once you’ve retired.

You probably read about WannaCry, the ransomware virus that locked up around 200,000 computers in 150 countries last month. And around the same time, hackers were tricking Gmail users into downloading a file containing a virus from what appeared to be trusted email contacts.

We’ve all had a good chuckle seeing #adulting and #failuretolaunch on social media, describing the difficulty some millennials have adjusting to adulthood. But the numbers behind the hashtags aren’t funny. For the first time in 130 years, an 18-34-year-old is more likely to be living at home with his or her parents than to be living with a spouse or partner. Incredibly, 25% of adults aged 25-29 are still living at home.

Recently, I took a friend up in my plane for a short lunch trip. As we were cruising along, he asked me, “Bill, how do you know that this plane is mechanically safe? Is the battery charged up? Do you ever check the engine and other systems? How do you know that, structurally, this plane is sound and airworthy?”