Keen On Retirement™

In financial planning, we sometimes refer to your working years as the "accumulation years." A large part of your time is spent working and earning so that you can support your family, achieve milestones like buying a house, and secure your financial future. But during those years, you're "accumulating" more than money. You're gaining relationships, hobbies, interests, skills, experiences, memories, and, yes, possessions. By the time you reach retirement, your life is probably as full as it's ever been. Too full, maybe. As you move through the various stages of retirement, your identity is going to change along with your interests and priorities. And part of change is letting go so that you can make room for new people and new experiences that are going to make every step of your journey more fulfilling.

Dolly Parton's songs and movies will live on forever. But when the 80-year-old entertainment icon passed away last month, she also left behind an impressive financial legacy that we all can learn from. In a 2020 interview, Parton made it clear that she had no intention of becoming another celebrity cautionary tale about poor estate planning, saying, “You don’t want to leave that mess to your family for people to have to fight over. You need to take care of that yourself." Parton's $450 million estate is protected by a trust with executors and successor trustees, as well as a team of legal and financial professionals. And while one of the benefits of establishing these kinds of protections around your estate is that many details may remain private, I’m guessing a good portion of Parton’s fortune will continue her extraordinary philanthropic mission. Most of us won't write hit songs and build our own theme parks. But we can follow Parton's example by being proactive about protecting our legacies and giving back what we can to make the world around us a little bit brighter. Another important part of shoring up your own financial plan is making the most of your Social Security benefits. On today’s show, we follow up Matt Wilson’s recent webinar, Maximizing Social Security Benefits, by answering some questions from our audience.

A recurring theme in my series of blogs about The Adaptable Retirement is that your financial plan has to account for a constant that seniors often overlook. Change. As you near the end of your career, I doubt that you have the exact same goals, relationships, and interests that you had when you started working, or when you and your spouse first met. What you do every day has changed. Who you do those things with has changed. How you spend time when you are and aren't working has changed. Your body and health have changed. Your understanding of the world and other people has changed. In many ways, you’re a different person with a different identity. And this continual process of growth and renewal doesn't stop when you stop working.

"Save more than you spend" sounds like a timeless piece of money advice, as true today as it was two hundred years ago. But in the mid-1800s, many folks believed you needed to spend your money as soon as possible. In fact, saving too much back then could lead to financial ruin! That's just one example of how Americans' attitudes about money have evolved throughout history. But it's not just rules of thumb and hand-me-down wisdom that's changed. It's the nature of money and our relationship to it. On today's show, we welcome author Joseph S. Moore to discuss his new book, How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't), and the surprising ways five money philosophies have shifted over time.

In my previous post, I explained why a 30-year retirement plan cannot be treated as a "one and done" checklist. From unexpected health events to shifting personal priorities, your life should determine how and when your financial plan needs to adjust, not the other way around. But not every change requires a new financial strategy. And that's where the true tension in retirement planning lies. On the one hand, underestimating the effects of a meaningful change could put your long-term security at risk. On the other hand, overreacting to every market dip, unsettling headline, or argument with your spouse about money can cause lasting damage to your wealth. The goal for retirees should be thoughtful adaptation, not constant reaction. Before you overhaul your portfolio, ask yourself these six questions to determine if your plan truly needs an adjustment.

Housing is one of the biggest line items on just about any retirement budget. Whether you're still paying a mortgage, looking to escalate your payment schedule so you can retire debt-free, or thinking about relocating or buying a vacation home, where you live plays a significant role in how you spend your time, who you spend it with, and what your financial plan looks like. On today's show, we group together some common questions about managing mortgages that we've received from seniors in our Keen on Retirement audience.