May 19, 2025 • 35 mins
Mail Bag – Jeff Perry and Russ Ball dig into the Team AMR Mail Bag and answer
questions from listeners. Included in this episode are, “I have read that my household
expenses will go down when I retire, but I don’t understand why.” “I know that I need a
Will, but don’t know who in my family I should choose to take care of my estate. Who
should be my Personal Representative/Executor?” “I'm 49 years old and have nothing
saved for retirement - what should I do?” Listen in as Jeff and Russ offer their advice
and commentary to each of these listener questions.
For more information or to reach TEAM AMR, click the following link:
https://www.wealthenhancement.com/s/advisor-teams/amr
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Something More with Chris Boyd.
Chris Boyd is a Certified Financial Planner Practitioner
and Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor at
Wealth Enhancement Group, one of the nation's largest
registered investment advisors.
We call it Something More because we'd like
to talk not only about those important dollar
and cents issues, but also the quality of
life issues that make the money matters matter.
(00:22):
Here he is, your fulfillment facilitator, your partner
in prosperity, advising clients on Cape Cod and
across the country.
Here's your host, Jay Christopher Boyd.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Something
More with Chris Boyd.
I'm Jeff Perry, and I'm here with Russ
Ball of our team AMR, and we're co
-hosting today as Chris Boyd is at a
(00:44):
tax conference.
I don't know if that's an exciting thing
or a boring thing that he's doing, but
he's down at the Ed Slot meeting and
gaining additional information that he'll take back to
us to use for our client's benefit.
We have the privilege of sitting in again
for Chris today.
How are you today, Russ?
Pretty good, Jeff.
(01:04):
I'm doing well.
How about you?
I'm doing great.
Thank you.
It's time for a mailbag segment.
As our listeners may know, if they're regular
listeners, from time to time we take these
questions that we receive.
People email us who hear the show or
clients say, hey, this is a good one
for the podcast.
And we write them down and we save
(01:26):
them.
And when we have enough to cover an
episode, we say, let's open the mailbag.
And so we don't really have a mailbag
and pulling out a letter like the old
days, but we do have these questions that
have come up that we think are not
just questions that a particular client asked us
and we answered or a particular listener, but
have some broad appeal.
(01:48):
And so you ready?
Definitely.
Let's go.
I feel like I need a sound effect.
I don't know what the sound effect for
mailbag would be, but kind of ruffling some
papers.
I guess I could have a visual for
the people who watch us on YouTube.
But the first question, I'm not going to
make up names like they do either.
(02:08):
Bob from Bourne says, the first question is
about someone who is getting ready to retire
and they're doing their planning and they're hearing
this information that says when people retire, they
can count on spending less money.
(02:31):
And so this is a real common piece
of advice.
In fact, I just received a email from
Fidelity recently talking about this issue about what
level of income should you plan for and
their range in the article in the Fidelity
article was you should expect to spend 55
to 80% of your pre-retirement level
(02:52):
of cash flow expenses in retirement.
And I must say, Fidelity is a fine
company.
We do a lot with them, but I
don't agree.
So you do a lot of financial plans
and you work right next to Chris Boyd.
We don't do that when we're talking to
(03:15):
clients.
That's not our base case, right?
No.
And actually, come to think of it, the
previous firm I worked at, I think that
was what they were saying too, the 80%.
And it's widely cited around 80% to
plan for your expenses.
But here, and I think prudently, we plan
(03:35):
for 100%.
So basically, it's not like you have to
trim down some of the expenses as soon
as you hit retirement to be 80%.
We just say, all right, well, let's just
transition.
So we have our pre-retirement spending and
our post-retirement spending, and they're going to
mirror each other.
And then any other expenses that come as
(03:58):
goals, but the general living expenses, we usually
keep the same heading into retirement.
And I like that because for one, let's
say that's true that 80% is all
you really need, then we're creating that little
bit of an extra buffer for planning.
So that in and of itself is like,
all right, so does your plan work with
100% of your pre-retirement expenses?
(04:18):
And if it does, great.
Then if that number comes down a little
bit, there's more to spend on other things
or whatever it might be.
But just for peace of mind, and we
were talking about this before, the idea that
when you retire, psychologically, it's difficult.
You have to switch.
So you're not getting income anymore from your
(04:39):
job.
You're getting income from yourself, from your own
savings.
And so to think, well, I'm going to
do that, that's kind of scary.
But then I also have to reduce it
by 20%.
That might not feel that great.
That might not feel that comfortable.
So especially early on in retirement, I think
there would be ideally enough to cover those
(05:02):
pre-retirement expenses.
We've talked about, I agree with you completely,
on a related subject, we've talked about the
retirement smile on the podcast before.
And if you think of a smile, draw
a smile, if you don't know what this
is, and you see at both ends of
the smile, you're at the highest level.
So if you draw the smile in the
(05:25):
beginning, this is related to spending in retirement,
in case people thought I went off somewhere.
So on the left-hand side of the
smile is when you first retire, and that's
your highest level of spending typically, meaning I'm
retired, I'm free, let's go.
So we're buying a camper or we're going
(05:46):
on a month cruise where whatever it is,
people tend to have some spent up desires,
which many costs money.
Some things we do are free.
I'm but some things cost money.
So we spend a lot of money there.
And then it gradually goes down as you
get into your routine.
Maybe you're spending time doing nonprofit work.
(06:11):
Maybe you're volunteering here.
Maybe you've taken up these recreational activities that
are local to wherever you're living that don't
cost a lot of money.
And then as you get older, back to
smile starts going up and expenses come in
that you didn't have before.
Typically healthcare related, maybe going to the doctor
(06:31):
more, maybe need some help at home.
Maybe you used to clean your house, but
now you're like, that's too much for us
now.
We're going to have somebody come in and
then maybe you need some home care or
whatever the situation is.
Maybe you need to remodel the bathroom because
you don't want a tub anymore.
And I think of that as I think
of how much am I going to need
(06:51):
in retirement?
Not as a less, but a different, right?
And starting out thinking I need 55 to
80%.
I just don't like it.
I think if, because that when you tell
people that, and then they do their, hopefully
they're doing a budget before they retire.
We want you to do that.
And if they just take their current spending
(07:13):
and say, okay, I only need 70%
on average.
Oh yeah.
I can generate 70%.
I think that's a restrictive type of retirement
that they're planning for, and they may not
be able to live the retirement life that
they want.
So to your point, I completely agree.
If not, just change, meaning I haven't just
(07:34):
paid off my mortgage.
So my expenses are going to go down,
right?
Then yes.
Okay.
You take that off the top or we're
downsizing.
So our expenses are going to be less
or on the flip side of that, we're
buying a second home and we're going to
be snowbirds.
Well, that's more expenses, right?
And second, or we have all these travel
(07:56):
plans.
So, these rules of thumb are interesting and
people like to read them as just going
through their phones, but they can be dangerous
to think that people actually make a retirement
plan based upon this generalized advice.
And that's what I love about what we
do.
Russ, just spend a minute talking about how
(08:17):
we actually go through individual circumstances when we're
projecting retirement income for people.
It's not just a formula.
Yeah.
So we run through a number of different
analyses within a financial plan.
So when we take your pre-retirement expenses
(08:37):
and we say, all right, what are the
goals for when that income stream is turned
off?
We put in all the goals that you
have.
Maybe it's like 5,000 a year for
vacations.
I want to make some gifts to grandchildren,
whatever it might be.
We separate those out as specific goals that
(08:58):
can change over the years.
Maybe you want to go on a vacation
every year, but not until into your nineties.
That might not be what you need to
do.
There's a base living expense that we plan
for.
And then on top of that, additional goals.
And usually, as you mentioned in the retirement
spending smile, there's a lot of good research
that shows that that's how it works in
reality.
(09:19):
And when you first retire, you want to
live that retirement dream and you want to
go on those vacations.
You want to do everything that you want
to do with your family, all the free
time you now have.
So we can put that all into a
simulated cashflow and then run it through a
number of different models like the Monte Carlo
simulation, where it takes a look at, all
(09:40):
right, based on previous market conditions and a
whole range, like a thousand different scenarios of
what the market might do.
It takes a look at how is that
going to work given those goals, given those
spending, those living expenses, how is that going
to play out over time?
If you live until your late eighties, early
nineties, whatever it may be.
(10:02):
And we can literally see what that window
is going to look like.
And do you have enough to cover that
or not?
Right.
And it's a very thoughtful process and it
brings up, because I think when people get
their retirement vision and they start to do
their own cashflow, they understand the normal bills.
(10:25):
Even if they're paying off their mortgage before
retirement, they get that, we're not going to
have that $3,000 payment, whatever it is.
And they get that, but things that are
not recurring tend to be left out.
And you talked about vacations and gifts and
all that, but even other things that don't
(10:47):
cross their mind, like they have a house,
they say they're going to stay in the
house and the house is 20 years old.
Well, if you plan to live or hope
to live another 25 or 30 years in
retirement, you're going to need a new roof.
You're going to need a new furnace.
You're going to want to remodel something and
things like that.
The list is endless of what we talk
(11:07):
to the clients about, and it's very individualized,
but if those things aren't planned for that
$30,000 new roof in 10 years, that
will really change the likelihood of the success
of that plan.
Because there's a lot of things, new cars,
how are you going to pay for that?
I know that's when you do it with
everybody, right?
(11:28):
So how much do you spend on a
car?
How many cars do you have?
How, when are you going to get one?
And so you put all that in and
you really get an accurate picture, which we
also, as we talked about, I think a
week or two ago, you do an annual
review and you look at the plan and
update the plan, tweak the plan.
And that's how you get a good model.
(11:49):
You don't get a good model by saying,
oh, I saw this Fidelity article.
I can go with 55% because I'm
a real frugal person.
And then you're living in retirement and you're
not living the retirement that you want.
Yeah.
And I think with the article as well,
it's like 80% or whatever it might
be, that might be the reality of how
(12:10):
it plays out, but you don't want to
plan for that.
Because yeah, maybe there is that second house
or that boat that costs a lot of
money in retirement or whatever it is.
80% of your living expenses now, it
might be different after you retire.
There are a lot of variables that you
can't really anticipate.
So just keeping that number consistent, I think
(12:31):
there's a lot of value to that.
Even if the reality is you might end
up spending a little bit less, but let's
have that buffer so that we know that
we can cover it.
Absolutely.
All right.
So that's your first mailbag question.
Let's shift over to a different kind of
question about retirement.
(12:51):
Maybe a little less positive.
This one came from a 49 year old
person and they say they have nothing saved
for retirement.
What should I do?
And that's a big question.
It is interesting though.
I looked up some stats knowing that we
were going to answer this question and it
says about 20% of Americans, 50 and
(13:13):
older have nothing saved for retirement.
So that's one in five person.
This data is from the AARP.
That's tough to think about being approaching 50
or at 50 and have nothing for retirement.
The average, according to this 2024 study by
(13:33):
AARP is that most Americans on average will
need the equivalent of one and a half
million dollars to be able to have a
comfortable retirement.
We said this in another episode about saving
for college.
Do something is the first thing, right?
So 49 years old, so you have perhaps
(13:58):
another 20 years of retirement.
So you're not 70 saying you have nothing,
you're 49.
So the first place to always look is
with your employer.
Because there may be some great advantages to
matching options, right?
So if you're working, this 49 year old
person is working, investigate is there an employer
(14:20):
plan?
If there is, find out the details and
see if it's worth contributing.
It's usually worth contributing if there's a match,
if the employer is matching.
Secondly is I would say check with the
Social Security Administration to ensure that their information
is accurate and to get an estimate of
(14:41):
what your social security benefits will be at
retirement age.
Hopefully you've been working.
If you're 49, hopefully you've been working for
25 years and you've been contributing to the
social security system.
And let's make sure that number is accurate
and let's know what that number is.
It's certainly not going to be enough to
live the type of retirement you want.
(15:03):
Next, I would want to know what your
income is right now.
And I would also want to know what
your debt is, what your expenses are.
Do you own a house?
Is there a mortgage on it?
I'd like to get two statements from you.
Statements, I call them statements.
They are statements, but it's not like some
complicated thing.
I would like to get two statements from
(15:24):
you.
One, a budget.
I'd like to know what you're spending and
what you're making, what you're spending, your cashflow
statement, your budget, whatever you want.
So we can see if there's any wiggle
room in your spending, like are you spending
on things that you really don't need?
Are you in debt and need to get
control of your debt management?
(15:45):
Because how much debt you have at retirement,
whether it be a mortgage or a consumer
debt, is going to have a significant impact
on if you can retire.
So I'd want to see a cashflow statement.
And I'd want to see, next I want
to see your net worth statement.
So what do you own?
Do you have a house?
This 49 year old who doesn't have any
retirement savings, it's a real different analysis if
(16:07):
he has a paid off home worth $700
,000 or if he has a home worth
$700,000 and owes a million dollars on
it, or if he's in a rental situation.
So that's not known in the question.
So I want to know what you own
and what you owe to see if you
(16:28):
have a debt management problem.
So that's where I want to start with
this person.
And then I want to get that person
into contributing into assuming, let's assume that they
have a work plan.
I want to get them working to get
that, help them get that set up.
And then I want to find money in
their budget to get them contributing the max
to a Roth every year that they have
(16:53):
left, another 20 years.
And with that, back to the previous question,
then you can go do your thing, Russ,
and put all that into our software.
Right.
And then it's deciding if they decide that's
the time to pay down the debts and
really start saving in earnest, cut the expenses
(17:13):
that they don't need, then it's like, all
right, well, definitely let's save.
But like a lot of people, I get
the impression that a lot of people think,
all right, saving means saving in cash or
saving in a CD.
If you're 49, you still have a pretty
good runway.
You're probably going to be working for quite
a while if you haven't had any savings
(17:34):
at all.
So that's a pretty good runway to retirement.
And in those instances, it would probably be
prudent to look into investing in something that's
going to have a slightly higher return.
Even if you are somewhat risk averse, sometimes
it's worth investing a little bit more in
equities or in something with a little bit
higher growth potential in order to make up
(17:57):
the difference and to catch up a little
bit.
And 49, I think there's still enough time
there to get invested, obviously not overly aggressively,
but in order to make those funds grow
as you start saving over time.
Also making use of the catch-up contributions
after 50 to really do everything you can
(18:21):
to start really saving so you don't have
to work for a very long time.
And like you said, I think a lot
of people in that scenario about to turn
50 thinking, well, if I don't have a
retirement now, I'm probably never going to have
a retirement savings.
And then they just don't bother.
(18:42):
It's like, all right, I'll just live off
of social security, or they think social security
is going to be enough to cover what
they need, not really knowing exactly how much
it's going to provide each month.
So definitely if there are people out there
that are in their 40s and they think,
well, I guess a retirement, a nest egg
is just not going to happen for me.
It's never too late to start.
(19:03):
And just start saving and start investing.
And it's amazing what compound growth can do.
Absolutely.
And if you don't have an advisor and
you haven't had any experience in investing, it's
definitely worth to talk to someone who's a
fiduciary.
A fiduciary is another word for having your
(19:24):
best interest at heart.
Sometimes when people are nervous about finances because
they haven't had any experience with it, they
end up, this is going to sound like
a negative comment.
It's not intended to be, but they end
up at the wrong place for them.
The word financial advisor is broadly used inappropriately,
(19:48):
in my opinion, by some people.
And you might end up with a salesman
who's selling you a specific product, or maybe
someone who's going to convince you that a
certain type of life insurance is right for
saving for retirement.
So this is review for some of our
listeners, but whoever you're working with, whoever you
consider working with, I encourage you to ask
these three questions.
(20:08):
One, are you a fiduciary?
And that's a legal and moral standard that
the person that you're working with has to
act in your best interest.
Not what's paying them the biggest commission, not
the product, the one product that they have
that they sell to everybody and tell them
why it's the best product.
But are you a fiduciary?
Are you obligated to that standard?
(20:30):
If it's no, I say move on.
The next question, so assume the person says,
yes, I'm a fiduciary.
The next question is, how are you compensated?
Everyone who's providing you service, doctor, lawyer, financial
advisor, auto mechanic, landscaper, they have to get
paid.
I mean, that's the model, right?
(20:51):
So how are you paid?
And if the person can't tell you within
30 seconds, then maybe they're not the right
person for you.
If they're explaining some complicated formula or some
way that they get residuals back from whatever
they sell you, I would suggest that might
not be the right person for you.
(21:11):
They should be able to say, I get
paid this percentage, I get paid this much
an hour, whatever the situation is, something that
you understand and you know what it is
without question.
So are you a fiduciary?
How are you compensated?
And the third thing I think you should
ask anybody that you're working with is where
(21:31):
will my investments, my money, my funds, my
IRA, whatever it is, be held?
And you want it held as a third
party.
The answer is whatever they tell you, but
you want it held by someone other than
the advisor.
You want it at a third party custodian.
So for example, if you worked with us,
(21:54):
we are fiduciaries, we get charged a percentage
of the assets that you have with us
or by our, if it's a certain type
of situation, most of its assets under management
fee, and your assets are held at Schwab
or Fidelity.
Those are the two places that we use.
And the third part I'm focusing on now
(22:15):
is because if you aren't happy with us,
if you aren't comfortable with the relationship, you
don't even have to talk to us to
break up with us.
You can go to the third party, you
can call Schwab and say, you know, my
advisor isn't working out for me and its
communication is broken down.
So I just want to switch advisors or
(22:35):
I want to go to someone else or
I want to go to retail, whatever it
is.
And so it's important not to have to
count on your advisor to make that decision.
And it's also prudent that your advisor doesn't
hold your cash.
It's becoming more and more infrequent that advisors
are holding investments by themselves.
(22:56):
But just make sure that you, they're a
fiduciary, you know how they're paid and the
assets are held by a third party custodian.
Yeah, we had a conversation with someone recently
on that topic.
Specifically, I think they had a family member
that was unfortunately, you know, burned by a
situation like that.
I don't know if it was some kind
of Ponzi scheme or something like that.
But, you know, it's not even custody at
(23:19):
Wealth Enhancement, which is our company, but it's
custody at these, you know, very large national
institutions.
Fidelity has been around forever.
Schwab has been around forever.
And it's not, it's not held with the
advisor ourselves.
We were just managing.
Yeah.
And there's insurance to cover things for those
(23:40):
third party custodians.
So, you know, bigger point is if you're
late to the party, you know, you know,
you're behind, you know, you've just figured out
retirement's coming and you haven't done anything, do
something.
And if you're looking for an advisor to
help you walk through that, happy to talk
to you.
You can just call our office, 508-771
(24:02):
-8900.
And we'll be happy to give you a
complimentary meeting to see where you're at and
to offer some thoughts on best next steps.
Digging way into this mailbag for this next
question.
I do need a sound effect.
You need a bag or something.
I need something.
So, this is more common than I anticipated.
(24:26):
I had run into this as a practicing
attorney, but I think I'm running into it
more with our financial advising clients.
It has to do with estate planning and
choosing an executor.
So, this question comes from a client who
said, I know that I need a will
because we ask them during their annual reviews
about their estate plan.
(24:47):
And sometimes, you know, they say no and
we encourage them and then six months go
by and we're talking to them again and
they haven't done it.
And one of the reasons is they haven't
done it is they don't know who to
pick.
So, this question is, I know that I
need a will, estate plan, but don't know
who in my family I should choose to
take care of my estate.
How can I decide who should be my
(25:08):
personal representative, executor, healthcare proxy, power of attorney,
you know, whatever, trustee, successor trustee, whatever the
estate is calling for.
How do they pick that person out of,
you know, I think most families default, we're
talking about a situation maybe with adult children
(25:30):
involved, but it doesn't have to be.
How do I pick a child?
What if the, you know, we can go
back in history and it's the oldest male
child, right?
Well, that's probably not a good place to
start.
You know, you should pick someone who you
have complete confidence in is one interested in
(25:51):
doing it.
You know, see, I've seen estate plans.
I had one client who did all the
documents, gave the suggestions to them about how
to talk to the family about it, offered
them to come into the office.
They didn't want to do it, meaning the
creator of the estate plan.
And they just never had the desire, courage,
(26:16):
whatever, to talk to their family.
And she ended up appointing the person that
she thought was right, but never told her.
And that person just didn't want to do
it.
So appoint someone who is interested in it
and that you've talked about it.
And you think that they are aligned with
(26:36):
your ultimate estate planning goals and they have
the time, capacity, and capacity meaning a couple
different things like the time, but also meaning
the cognitive intelligence and ability.
It can get complicated.
And then share with them.
(26:57):
And also if there's other individuals who might
have expected, you know, the oldest child thing
that we kind of joked about, explain to
them this is advice, not legal advice, that
they're not the executor or who is the
executor and why.
That will avoid hurt feelings if you have
(27:18):
a good reason.
And it will avoid potential legal challenges to
the document saying, you know, I was, mom
told me I was going to be the
executor.
Mom told me I was going to get
this inheritance or something was changed.
You know, all these things that we see
in TV movies actually do happen.
So it's a difficult conversation.
(27:40):
And I also want to make sure that
you consider that it doesn't have to be
a family member.
And sometimes to avoid family strife or to,
or in the best interest of your beneficiaries,
maybe they're not, maybe it's not in their
best interest to be the executor for whatever
reason.
(28:01):
Maybe they're not healthy.
Maybe they're not, maybe they're not good in
math.
You know, maybe they're not good with details.
Maybe they're just too busy with their career.
You can pick someone, whoever you want.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know people who have chosen, you know,
had a trusted friend be the executor of
(28:21):
state.
And, and it could, it could, you know,
avoid some of those conflicts of interest that
could pop up or, you know, some kind
of animosity between family members.
Of course, you don't want to see that,
but definitely has to be someone you trust
fully.
And you, you know, it's going to have
your best interest if you're no longer around.
(28:42):
And it's a difficult decision, but definitely one
that you want to have conversations about that
you want to talk to people about it.
It doesn't, you shouldn't have it be a
secret.
Right.
It should not be a secret.
Right.
And you don't have to, you know, you
don't, the advice isn't, you don't have to
like get your three children and your grandchildren
in the room and say, this is what
(29:03):
you're getting.
This is what you're getting.
You can just explain to them that it's
created an estate plan that Sally Jo is
the executor.
And this is my attorney.
This is my financial advisor.
And you're all in the will.
We love you all.
We chose Sally Jo because whatever, whatever the
reason is.
And, you know, I've talked to her about
(29:24):
what we want to do and I want
you all to get along and I want
any strife about this.
And, you know, just a simple meeting like
that can really go a long way to
preventing hurt feelings or legal challenges.
And it's, it's just the best advice.
And, you know, I, I listed off a
bunch of documents there, a will, a trust
(29:45):
that's determining where your stuff's going to go
generally and how it's going to go delayed
all at once over a period of years,
whatever you decide.
But a healthcare proxy is also important, which
determines if you're not able to make your
own medical decisions.
It appoints someone to make those decisions for
(30:06):
you.
And you definitely need to talk to that
person.
I mean, you can have your wishes outlined
in the documents, but it also helps to
make sure that person understands them, agrees with
them.
People have different views about end of life
and you want someone to be your advocate,
not someone replacing their values for your values.
(30:28):
And that, so that healthcare person doesn't have
to be, the healthcare proxy doesn't have to
be the same person as your executor to
your will or your trustee, you know, someone
in your family or a professional may have
different strengths, right?
You know, maybe someone in your family is
a nurse and really understands all the healthcare
stuff, the terminology, and someone else in your
(30:51):
family is a lawyer or an accountant, or,
you know, an engineer, someone who gets details
and might do a great job being the
executor.
And then you have the power of attorney,
which could be the same person as one
of these or someone, someone different.
And that document is designed for being able
to handle your financial affairs.
(31:11):
If you're not able to, if you have
some cognitive challenges or you were injured somewhere
or had some medical procedure that made you
not available.
And so that may be someone totally different,
or that may be a professional.
I would just kind of end my comments
before you add yours is don't not create
(31:33):
these documents because you don't have the perfect
person.
Yeah.
Find the best person.
And these documents, most of them can be
altered, amended, redone, if something changes in life,
and you have a different person you want
to name.
But it's important that you do.
(31:53):
It's a gift to your family.
And if you don't do these documents, and
something happens to you, it can create a
lot of strife in your family, which is
usually the most compelling reason that people have
these documents.
Yeah, yeah.
And I've definitely seen what can happen without
a pre-planned estate.
(32:16):
But to your point, I think finding someone
with the strengths that align with whatever your,
you know, whatever the needs might be, I
think that's a great way to look at
it.
Like, all right, like I have one relative,
like a niece or nephew who might be
really good in the financial aspect, and one
who's very organized, and I trust fully and
another person that's works in the healthcare field
or has experience going taking, you know, family
(32:38):
members of the doctor, whatever it may be.
I think playing to those strengths is definitely
prudent and a good way to figure out
who should be what, and it doesn't all
have to be the same person.
I think that's a probably under-realized point
there.
And to tell them about it, and to
share that your reasoning with everyone, that's really
not everyone, you know, but the people who
(33:00):
need to know.
Yeah.
And we have some resources on that.
We have a couple of handouts that we
can email people, you know, no obligation, not
just trying to help people take care of
their their situations, and these are love letters.
One's called a love letter, and then there's
like an accounting of everything, like a worksheet
(33:24):
so you can start the process.
If you think these documents are helpful, let
us know, and we're happy to pass them
along to you to help your process.
Russ, the mailbag is not empty, but we
have run out of time, so we'll save
the other questions that we plan to discuss
for our next mailbag, and we really appreciate
you listening.
(33:44):
You have a lot of choices on podcasts
and YouTube shows that you can watch.
If you'd like our show, we'd love you
to subscribe, give us a good rating.
If you're going to give us a bad
rating, then move on, please.
But, you know, those likes, those shares to
other people, the more that you do that
for us, you are our marketing team.
The more that you do that for us,
(34:05):
the more people that we reach, and hopefully
you agree with us that these episodes are
helpful to your personal finances.
So, Russ, thank you for joining me today.
Great job, and thank you for listening.
We sincerely appreciate it, and until next week,
keep striving for something more.
(34:26):
Thank you for listening to Something More with
Chris Boyd.
Call us for help, whether it's for financial
planning or portfolio management, insurance concerns, or those
quality of life issues that make the money
matters matter.
Whatever's on your mind, visit us at somethingmorewithchrisboyd
.com, or call us toll-free at 866
-771-8901, or send us your questions to
(34:50):
amr-info at wealthenhancement.com.
You're listening to Something More with Chris Boyd
Financial Talk Show, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, and
Jay Christopher Boyd provide investment advice on an
individual basis to clients only.
Proper advice depends on a complete analysis of
all facts and circumstances.
The information given on this program is general
financial comments and cannot be relied upon as
pertaining to your specific situation.
(35:12):
Wealth Enhancement Group cannot guarantee that using the
information from this show will generate profits or
ensure freedom from loss.
Listeners should consult their own financial advisors or
conduct their own due diligence before making any
financial decisions.
Welcome to Something More with Chris Boyd.
Chris Boyd is a Certified Financial Planner Practitioner
and Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor at
Wealth Enhancement Group, one of the nation's largest
registered investment advisors.
We call it Something More because we'd like
to talk not only about those important dollar
and cents issues, but also the quality of
life issues that make the money matters matter.
(00:22):
Here he is, your fulfillment facilitator, your partner
in prosperity, advising clients on Cape Cod and
across the country.
Here's your host, Jay Christopher Boyd.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Something
More with Chris Boyd.
I'm Jeff Perry, and I'm here with Russ
Ball of our team AMR, and we're co
-hosting today as Chris Boyd is at a
(00:44):
tax conference.
I don't know if that's an exciting thing
or a boring thing that he's doing, but
he's down at the Ed Slot meeting and
gaining additional information that he'll take back to
us to use for our client's benefit.
We have the privilege of sitting in again
for Chris today.
How are you today, Russ?
Pretty good, Jeff.
(01:04):
I'm doing well.
How about you?
I'm doing great.
Thank you.
It's time for a mailbag segment.
As our listeners may know, if they're regular
listeners, from time to time we take these
questions that we receive.
People email us who hear the show or
clients say, hey, this is a good one
for the podcast.
And we write them down and we save
(01:26):
them.
And when we have enough to cover an
episode, we say, let's open the mailbag.
And so we don't really have a mailbag
and pulling out a letter like the old
days, but we do have these questions that
have come up that we think are not
just questions that a particular client asked us
and we answered or a particular listener, but
have some broad appeal.
(01:48):
And so you ready?
Definitely.
Let's go.
I feel like I need a sound effect.
I don't know what the sound effect for
mailbag would be, but kind of ruffling some
papers.
I guess I could have a visual for
the people who watch us on YouTube.
But the first question, I'm not going to
make up names like they do either.
(02:08):
Bob from Bourne says, the first question is
about someone who is getting ready to retire
and they're doing their planning and they're hearing
this information that says when people retire, they
can count on spending less money.
(02:31):
And so this is a real common piece
of advice.
In fact, I just received a email from
Fidelity recently talking about this issue about what
level of income should you plan for and
their range in the article in the Fidelity
article was you should expect to spend 55
to 80% of your pre-retirement level
(02:52):
of cash flow expenses in retirement.
And I must say, Fidelity is a fine
company.
We do a lot with them, but I
don't agree.
So you do a lot of financial plans
and you work right next to Chris Boyd.
We don't do that when we're talking to
(03:15):
clients.
That's not our base case, right?
No.
And actually, come to think of it, the
previous firm I worked at, I think that
was what they were saying too, the 80%.
And it's widely cited around 80% to
plan for your expenses.
But here, and I think prudently, we plan
(03:35):
for 100%.
So basically, it's not like you have to
trim down some of the expenses as soon
as you hit retirement to be 80%.
We just say, all right, well, let's just
transition.
So we have our pre-retirement spending and
our post-retirement spending, and they're going to
mirror each other.
And then any other expenses that come as
(03:58):
goals, but the general living expenses, we usually
keep the same heading into retirement.
And I like that because for one, let's
say that's true that 80% is all
you really need, then we're creating that little
bit of an extra buffer for planning.
So that in and of itself is like,
all right, so does your plan work with
100% of your pre-retirement expenses?
(04:18):
And if it does, great.
Then if that number comes down a little
bit, there's more to spend on other things
or whatever it might be.
But just for peace of mind, and we
were talking about this before, the idea that
when you retire, psychologically, it's difficult.
You have to switch.
So you're not getting income anymore from your
(04:39):
job.
You're getting income from yourself, from your own
savings.
And so to think, well, I'm going to
do that, that's kind of scary.
But then I also have to reduce it
by 20%.
That might not feel that great.
That might not feel that comfortable.
So especially early on in retirement, I think
there would be ideally enough to cover those
(05:02):
pre-retirement expenses.
We've talked about, I agree with you completely,
on a related subject, we've talked about the
retirement smile on the podcast before.
And if you think of a smile, draw
a smile, if you don't know what this
is, and you see at both ends of
the smile, you're at the highest level.
So if you draw the smile in the
(05:25):
beginning, this is related to spending in retirement,
in case people thought I went off somewhere.
So on the left-hand side of the
smile is when you first retire, and that's
your highest level of spending typically, meaning I'm
retired, I'm free, let's go.
So we're buying a camper or we're going
(05:46):
on a month cruise where whatever it is,
people tend to have some spent up desires,
which many costs money.
Some things we do are free.
I'm but some things cost money.
So we spend a lot of money there.
And then it gradually goes down as you
get into your routine.
Maybe you're spending time doing nonprofit work.
(06:11):
Maybe you're volunteering here.
Maybe you've taken up these recreational activities that
are local to wherever you're living that don't
cost a lot of money.
And then as you get older, back to
smile starts going up and expenses come in
that you didn't have before.
Typically healthcare related, maybe going to the doctor
(06:31):
more, maybe need some help at home.
Maybe you used to clean your house, but
now you're like, that's too much for us
now.
We're going to have somebody come in and
then maybe you need some home care or
whatever the situation is.
Maybe you need to remodel the bathroom because
you don't want a tub anymore.
And I think of that as I think
of how much am I going to need
(06:51):
in retirement?
Not as a less, but a different, right?
And starting out thinking I need 55 to
80%.
I just don't like it.
I think if, because that when you tell
people that, and then they do their, hopefully
they're doing a budget before they retire.
We want you to do that.
And if they just take their current spending
(07:13):
and say, okay, I only need 70%
on average.
Oh yeah.
I can generate 70%.
I think that's a restrictive type of retirement
that they're planning for, and they may not
be able to live the retirement life that
they want.
So to your point, I completely agree.
If not, just change, meaning I haven't just
(07:34):
paid off my mortgage.
So my expenses are going to go down,
right?
Then yes.
Okay.
You take that off the top or we're
downsizing.
So our expenses are going to be less
or on the flip side of that, we're
buying a second home and we're going to
be snowbirds.
Well, that's more expenses, right?
And second, or we have all these travel
(07:56):
plans.
So, these rules of thumb are interesting and
people like to read them as just going
through their phones, but they can be dangerous
to think that people actually make a retirement
plan based upon this generalized advice.
And that's what I love about what we
do.
Russ, just spend a minute talking about how
(08:17):
we actually go through individual circumstances when we're
projecting retirement income for people.
It's not just a formula.
Yeah.
So we run through a number of different
analyses within a financial plan.
So when we take your pre-retirement expenses
(08:37):
and we say, all right, what are the
goals for when that income stream is turned
off?
We put in all the goals that you
have.
Maybe it's like 5,000 a year for
vacations.
I want to make some gifts to grandchildren,
whatever it might be.
We separate those out as specific goals that
(08:58):
can change over the years.
Maybe you want to go on a vacation
every year, but not until into your nineties.
That might not be what you need to
do.
There's a base living expense that we plan
for.
And then on top of that, additional goals.
And usually, as you mentioned in the retirement
spending smile, there's a lot of good research
that shows that that's how it works in
reality.
(09:19):
And when you first retire, you want to
live that retirement dream and you want to
go on those vacations.
You want to do everything that you want
to do with your family, all the free
time you now have.
So we can put that all into a
simulated cashflow and then run it through a
number of different models like the Monte Carlo
simulation, where it takes a look at, all
(09:40):
right, based on previous market conditions and a
whole range, like a thousand different scenarios of
what the market might do.
It takes a look at how is that
going to work given those goals, given those
spending, those living expenses, how is that going
to play out over time?
If you live until your late eighties, early
nineties, whatever it may be.
(10:02):
And we can literally see what that window
is going to look like.
And do you have enough to cover that
or not?
Right.
And it's a very thoughtful process and it
brings up, because I think when people get
their retirement vision and they start to do
their own cashflow, they understand the normal bills.
(10:25):
Even if they're paying off their mortgage before
retirement, they get that, we're not going to
have that $3,000 payment, whatever it is.
And they get that, but things that are
not recurring tend to be left out.
And you talked about vacations and gifts and
all that, but even other things that don't
(10:47):
cross their mind, like they have a house,
they say they're going to stay in the
house and the house is 20 years old.
Well, if you plan to live or hope
to live another 25 or 30 years in
retirement, you're going to need a new roof.
You're going to need a new furnace.
You're going to want to remodel something and
things like that.
The list is endless of what we talk
(11:07):
to the clients about, and it's very individualized,
but if those things aren't planned for that
$30,000 new roof in 10 years, that
will really change the likelihood of the success
of that plan.
Because there's a lot of things, new cars,
how are you going to pay for that?
I know that's when you do it with
everybody, right?
(11:28):
So how much do you spend on a
car?
How many cars do you have?
How, when are you going to get one?
And so you put all that in and
you really get an accurate picture, which we
also, as we talked about, I think a
week or two ago, you do an annual
review and you look at the plan and
update the plan, tweak the plan.
And that's how you get a good model.
(11:49):
You don't get a good model by saying,
oh, I saw this Fidelity article.
I can go with 55% because I'm
a real frugal person.
And then you're living in retirement and you're
not living the retirement that you want.
Yeah.
And I think with the article as well,
it's like 80% or whatever it might
be, that might be the reality of how
(12:10):
it plays out, but you don't want to
plan for that.
Because yeah, maybe there is that second house
or that boat that costs a lot of
money in retirement or whatever it is.
80% of your living expenses now, it
might be different after you retire.
There are a lot of variables that you
can't really anticipate.
So just keeping that number consistent, I think
(12:31):
there's a lot of value to that.
Even if the reality is you might end
up spending a little bit less, but let's
have that buffer so that we know that
we can cover it.
Absolutely.
All right.
So that's your first mailbag question.
Let's shift over to a different kind of
question about retirement.
(12:51):
Maybe a little less positive.
This one came from a 49 year old
person and they say they have nothing saved
for retirement.
What should I do?
And that's a big question.
It is interesting though.
I looked up some stats knowing that we
were going to answer this question and it
says about 20% of Americans, 50 and
(13:13):
older have nothing saved for retirement.
So that's one in five person.
This data is from the AARP.
That's tough to think about being approaching 50
or at 50 and have nothing for retirement.
The average, according to this 2024 study by
(13:33):
AARP is that most Americans on average will
need the equivalent of one and a half
million dollars to be able to have a
comfortable retirement.
We said this in another episode about saving
for college.
Do something is the first thing, right?
So 49 years old, so you have perhaps
(13:58):
another 20 years of retirement.
So you're not 70 saying you have nothing,
you're 49.
So the first place to always look is
with your employer.
Because there may be some great advantages to
matching options, right?
So if you're working, this 49 year old
person is working, investigate is there an employer
(14:20):
plan?
If there is, find out the details and
see if it's worth contributing.
It's usually worth contributing if there's a match,
if the employer is matching.
Secondly is I would say check with the
Social Security Administration to ensure that their information
is accurate and to get an estimate of
(14:41):
what your social security benefits will be at
retirement age.
Hopefully you've been working.
If you're 49, hopefully you've been working for
25 years and you've been contributing to the
social security system.
And let's make sure that number is accurate
and let's know what that number is.
It's certainly not going to be enough to
live the type of retirement you want.
(15:03):
Next, I would want to know what your
income is right now.
And I would also want to know what
your debt is, what your expenses are.
Do you own a house?
Is there a mortgage on it?
I'd like to get two statements from you.
Statements, I call them statements.
They are statements, but it's not like some
complicated thing.
I would like to get two statements from
(15:24):
you.
One, a budget.
I'd like to know what you're spending and
what you're making, what you're spending, your cashflow
statement, your budget, whatever you want.
So we can see if there's any wiggle
room in your spending, like are you spending
on things that you really don't need?
Are you in debt and need to get
control of your debt management?
(15:45):
Because how much debt you have at retirement,
whether it be a mortgage or a consumer
debt, is going to have a significant impact
on if you can retire.
So I'd want to see a cashflow statement.
And I'd want to see, next I want
to see your net worth statement.
So what do you own?
Do you have a house?
This 49 year old who doesn't have any
retirement savings, it's a real different analysis if
(16:07):
he has a paid off home worth $700
,000 or if he has a home worth
$700,000 and owes a million dollars on
it, or if he's in a rental situation.
So that's not known in the question.
So I want to know what you own
and what you owe to see if you
(16:28):
have a debt management problem.
So that's where I want to start with
this person.
And then I want to get that person
into contributing into assuming, let's assume that they
have a work plan.
I want to get them working to get
that, help them get that set up.
And then I want to find money in
their budget to get them contributing the max
to a Roth every year that they have
(16:53):
left, another 20 years.
And with that, back to the previous question,
then you can go do your thing, Russ,
and put all that into our software.
Right.
And then it's deciding if they decide that's
the time to pay down the debts and
really start saving in earnest, cut the expenses
(17:13):
that they don't need, then it's like, all
right, well, definitely let's save.
But like a lot of people, I get
the impression that a lot of people think,
all right, saving means saving in cash or
saving in a CD.
If you're 49, you still have a pretty
good runway.
You're probably going to be working for quite
a while if you haven't had any savings
(17:34):
at all.
So that's a pretty good runway to retirement.
And in those instances, it would probably be
prudent to look into investing in something that's
going to have a slightly higher return.
Even if you are somewhat risk averse, sometimes
it's worth investing a little bit more in
equities or in something with a little bit
higher growth potential in order to make up
(17:57):
the difference and to catch up a little
bit.
And 49, I think there's still enough time
there to get invested, obviously not overly aggressively,
but in order to make those funds grow
as you start saving over time.
Also making use of the catch-up contributions
after 50 to really do everything you can
(18:21):
to start really saving so you don't have
to work for a very long time.
And like you said, I think a lot
of people in that scenario about to turn
50 thinking, well, if I don't have a
retirement now, I'm probably never going to have
a retirement savings.
And then they just don't bother.
(18:42):
It's like, all right, I'll just live off
of social security, or they think social security
is going to be enough to cover what
they need, not really knowing exactly how much
it's going to provide each month.
So definitely if there are people out there
that are in their 40s and they think,
well, I guess a retirement, a nest egg
is just not going to happen for me.
It's never too late to start.
(19:03):
And just start saving and start investing.
And it's amazing what compound growth can do.
Absolutely.
And if you don't have an advisor and
you haven't had any experience in investing, it's
definitely worth to talk to someone who's a
fiduciary.
A fiduciary is another word for having your
(19:24):
best interest at heart.
Sometimes when people are nervous about finances because
they haven't had any experience with it, they
end up, this is going to sound like
a negative comment.
It's not intended to be, but they end
up at the wrong place for them.
The word financial advisor is broadly used inappropriately,
(19:48):
in my opinion, by some people.
And you might end up with a salesman
who's selling you a specific product, or maybe
someone who's going to convince you that a
certain type of life insurance is right for
saving for retirement.
So this is review for some of our
listeners, but whoever you're working with, whoever you
consider working with, I encourage you to ask
these three questions.
(20:08):
One, are you a fiduciary?
And that's a legal and moral standard that
the person that you're working with has to
act in your best interest.
Not what's paying them the biggest commission, not
the product, the one product that they have
that they sell to everybody and tell them
why it's the best product.
But are you a fiduciary?
Are you obligated to that standard?
(20:30):
If it's no, I say move on.
The next question, so assume the person says,
yes, I'm a fiduciary.
The next question is, how are you compensated?
Everyone who's providing you service, doctor, lawyer, financial
advisor, auto mechanic, landscaper, they have to get
paid.
I mean, that's the model, right?
(20:51):
So how are you paid?
And if the person can't tell you within
30 seconds, then maybe they're not the right
person for you.
If they're explaining some complicated formula or some
way that they get residuals back from whatever
they sell you, I would suggest that might
not be the right person for you.
(21:11):
They should be able to say, I get
paid this percentage, I get paid this much
an hour, whatever the situation is, something that
you understand and you know what it is
without question.
So are you a fiduciary?
How are you compensated?
And the third thing I think you should
ask anybody that you're working with is where
(21:31):
will my investments, my money, my funds, my
IRA, whatever it is, be held?
And you want it held as a third
party.
The answer is whatever they tell you, but
you want it held by someone other than
the advisor.
You want it at a third party custodian.
So for example, if you worked with us,
(21:54):
we are fiduciaries, we get charged a percentage
of the assets that you have with us
or by our, if it's a certain type
of situation, most of its assets under management
fee, and your assets are held at Schwab
or Fidelity.
Those are the two places that we use.
And the third part I'm focusing on now
(22:15):
is because if you aren't happy with us,
if you aren't comfortable with the relationship, you
don't even have to talk to us to
break up with us.
You can go to the third party, you
can call Schwab and say, you know, my
advisor isn't working out for me and its
communication is broken down.
So I just want to switch advisors or
(22:35):
I want to go to someone else or
I want to go to retail, whatever it
is.
And so it's important not to have to
count on your advisor to make that decision.
And it's also prudent that your advisor doesn't
hold your cash.
It's becoming more and more infrequent that advisors
are holding investments by themselves.
(22:56):
But just make sure that you, they're a
fiduciary, you know how they're paid and the
assets are held by a third party custodian.
Yeah, we had a conversation with someone recently
on that topic.
Specifically, I think they had a family member
that was unfortunately, you know, burned by a
situation like that.
I don't know if it was some kind
of Ponzi scheme or something like that.
But, you know, it's not even custody at
(23:19):
Wealth Enhancement, which is our company, but it's
custody at these, you know, very large national
institutions.
Fidelity has been around forever.
Schwab has been around forever.
And it's not, it's not held with the
advisor ourselves.
We were just managing.
Yeah.
And there's insurance to cover things for those
(23:40):
third party custodians.
So, you know, bigger point is if you're
late to the party, you know, you know,
you're behind, you know, you've just figured out
retirement's coming and you haven't done anything, do
something.
And if you're looking for an advisor to
help you walk through that, happy to talk
to you.
You can just call our office, 508-771
(24:02):
-8900.
And we'll be happy to give you a
complimentary meeting to see where you're at and
to offer some thoughts on best next steps.
Digging way into this mailbag for this next
question.
I do need a sound effect.
You need a bag or something.
I need something.
So, this is more common than I anticipated.
(24:26):
I had run into this as a practicing
attorney, but I think I'm running into it
more with our financial advising clients.
It has to do with estate planning and
choosing an executor.
So, this question comes from a client who
said, I know that I need a will
because we ask them during their annual reviews
about their estate plan.
(24:47):
And sometimes, you know, they say no and
we encourage them and then six months go
by and we're talking to them again and
they haven't done it.
And one of the reasons is they haven't
done it is they don't know who to
pick.
So, this question is, I know that I
need a will, estate plan, but don't know
who in my family I should choose to
take care of my estate.
How can I decide who should be my
(25:08):
personal representative, executor, healthcare proxy, power of attorney,
you know, whatever, trustee, successor trustee, whatever the
estate is calling for.
How do they pick that person out of,
you know, I think most families default, we're
talking about a situation maybe with adult children
(25:30):
involved, but it doesn't have to be.
How do I pick a child?
What if the, you know, we can go
back in history and it's the oldest male
child, right?
Well, that's probably not a good place to
start.
You know, you should pick someone who you
have complete confidence in is one interested in
(25:51):
doing it.
You know, see, I've seen estate plans.
I had one client who did all the
documents, gave the suggestions to them about how
to talk to the family about it, offered
them to come into the office.
They didn't want to do it, meaning the
creator of the estate plan.
And they just never had the desire, courage,
(26:16):
whatever, to talk to their family.
And she ended up appointing the person that
she thought was right, but never told her.
And that person just didn't want to do
it.
So appoint someone who is interested in it
and that you've talked about it.
And you think that they are aligned with
(26:36):
your ultimate estate planning goals and they have
the time, capacity, and capacity meaning a couple
different things like the time, but also meaning
the cognitive intelligence and ability.
It can get complicated.
And then share with them.
(26:57):
And also if there's other individuals who might
have expected, you know, the oldest child thing
that we kind of joked about, explain to
them this is advice, not legal advice, that
they're not the executor or who is the
executor and why.
That will avoid hurt feelings if you have
(27:18):
a good reason.
And it will avoid potential legal challenges to
the document saying, you know, I was, mom
told me I was going to be the
executor.
Mom told me I was going to get
this inheritance or something was changed.
You know, all these things that we see
in TV movies actually do happen.
So it's a difficult conversation.
(27:40):
And I also want to make sure that
you consider that it doesn't have to be
a family member.
And sometimes to avoid family strife or to,
or in the best interest of your beneficiaries,
maybe they're not, maybe it's not in their
best interest to be the executor for whatever
reason.
(28:01):
Maybe they're not healthy.
Maybe they're not, maybe they're not good in
math.
You know, maybe they're not good with details.
Maybe they're just too busy with their career.
You can pick someone, whoever you want.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know people who have chosen, you know,
had a trusted friend be the executor of
(28:21):
state.
And, and it could, it could, you know,
avoid some of those conflicts of interest that
could pop up or, you know, some kind
of animosity between family members.
Of course, you don't want to see that,
but definitely has to be someone you trust
fully.
And you, you know, it's going to have
your best interest if you're no longer around.
(28:42):
And it's a difficult decision, but definitely one
that you want to have conversations about that
you want to talk to people about it.
It doesn't, you shouldn't have it be a
secret.
Right.
It should not be a secret.
Right.
And you don't have to, you know, you
don't, the advice isn't, you don't have to
like get your three children and your grandchildren
in the room and say, this is what
(29:03):
you're getting.
This is what you're getting.
You can just explain to them that it's
created an estate plan that Sally Jo is
the executor.
And this is my attorney.
This is my financial advisor.
And you're all in the will.
We love you all.
We chose Sally Jo because whatever, whatever the
reason is.
And, you know, I've talked to her about
(29:24):
what we want to do and I want
you all to get along and I want
any strife about this.
And, you know, just a simple meeting like
that can really go a long way to
preventing hurt feelings or legal challenges.
And it's, it's just the best advice.
And, you know, I, I listed off a
bunch of documents there, a will, a trust
(29:45):
that's determining where your stuff's going to go
generally and how it's going to go delayed
all at once over a period of years,
whatever you decide.
But a healthcare proxy is also important, which
determines if you're not able to make your
own medical decisions.
It appoints someone to make those decisions for
(30:06):
you.
And you definitely need to talk to that
person.
I mean, you can have your wishes outlined
in the documents, but it also helps to
make sure that person understands them, agrees with
them.
People have different views about end of life
and you want someone to be your advocate,
not someone replacing their values for your values.
(30:28):
And that, so that healthcare person doesn't have
to be, the healthcare proxy doesn't have to
be the same person as your executor to
your will or your trustee, you know, someone
in your family or a professional may have
different strengths, right?
You know, maybe someone in your family is
a nurse and really understands all the healthcare
stuff, the terminology, and someone else in your
(30:51):
family is a lawyer or an accountant, or,
you know, an engineer, someone who gets details
and might do a great job being the
executor.
And then you have the power of attorney,
which could be the same person as one
of these or someone, someone different.
And that document is designed for being able
to handle your financial affairs.
(31:11):
If you're not able to, if you have
some cognitive challenges or you were injured somewhere
or had some medical procedure that made you
not available.
And so that may be someone totally different,
or that may be a professional.
I would just kind of end my comments
before you add yours is don't not create
(31:33):
these documents because you don't have the perfect
person.
Yeah.
Find the best person.
And these documents, most of them can be
altered, amended, redone, if something changes in life,
and you have a different person you want
to name.
But it's important that you do.
(31:53):
It's a gift to your family.
And if you don't do these documents, and
something happens to you, it can create a
lot of strife in your family, which is
usually the most compelling reason that people have
these documents.
Yeah, yeah.
And I've definitely seen what can happen without
a pre-planned estate.
(32:16):
But to your point, I think finding someone
with the strengths that align with whatever your,
you know, whatever the needs might be, I
think that's a great way to look at
it.
Like, all right, like I have one relative,
like a niece or nephew who might be
really good in the financial aspect, and one
who's very organized, and I trust fully and
another person that's works in the healthcare field
or has experience going taking, you know, family
(32:38):
members of the doctor, whatever it may be.
I think playing to those strengths is definitely
prudent and a good way to figure out
who should be what, and it doesn't all
have to be the same person.
I think that's a probably under-realized point
there.
And to tell them about it, and to
share that your reasoning with everyone, that's really
not everyone, you know, but the people who
(33:00):
need to know.
Yeah.
And we have some resources on that.
We have a couple of handouts that we
can email people, you know, no obligation, not
just trying to help people take care of
their their situations, and these are love letters.
One's called a love letter, and then there's
like an accounting of everything, like a worksheet
(33:24):
so you can start the process.
If you think these documents are helpful, let
us know, and we're happy to pass them
along to you to help your process.
Russ, the mailbag is not empty, but we
have run out of time, so we'll save
the other questions that we plan to discuss
for our next mailbag, and we really appreciate
you listening.
(33:44):
You have a lot of choices on podcasts
and YouTube shows that you can watch.
If you'd like our show, we'd love you
to subscribe, give us a good rating.
If you're going to give us a bad
rating, then move on, please.
But, you know, those likes, those shares to
other people, the more that you do that
for us, you are our marketing team.
The more that you do that for us,
(34:05):
the more people that we reach, and hopefully
you agree with us that these episodes are
helpful to your personal finances.
So, Russ, thank you for joining me today.
Great job, and thank you for listening.
We sincerely appreciate it, and until next week,
keep striving for something more.
(34:26):
Thank you for listening to Something More with
Chris Boyd.
Call us for help, whether it's for financial
planning or portfolio management, insurance concerns, or those
quality of life issues that make the money
matters matter.
Whatever's on your mind, visit us at somethingmorewithchrisboyd
.com, or call us toll-free at 866
-771-8901, or send us your questions to
(34:50):
amr-info at wealthenhancement.com.
You're listening to Something More with Chris Boyd
Financial Talk Show, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, and
Jay Christopher Boyd provide investment advice on an
individual basis to clients only.
Proper advice depends on a complete analysis of
all facts and circumstances.
The information given on this program is general
financial comments and cannot be relied upon as
pertaining to your specific situation.
(35:12):
Wealth Enhancement Group cannot guarantee that using the
information from this show will generate profits or
ensure freedom from loss.
Listeners should consult their own financial advisors or
conduct their own due diligence before making any
financial decisions.
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