How to Retire Better from Retirees Who Learned the Hard Way (Pt. 1)

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All topics and securities mentioned on straightTalk from the House or for informational purposes
only, and should not be usedas investment advice. T Anton Investment House
does not offer tax or legal advice. Investments or investment strategies covered are not
a recommendation or solicitation to buy orsell the securities. Past performance is not
a guarantee of future performance. Thisis straight talk from the House with certified

(00:26):
financial planner Tracy Aton right here onthirteen ten WIBA. Tracy comes to us
from Tanton Investment House, a feeonly fiduciary with offices right in Middleton.
The website Tanton Investment House dot com. That's t A N t O N
Investment House dot com. The telephonenumber six oh eight five zero one,

(00:48):
fifteen forty nine. That's six soheight five zero one, fifteen fort nine.
And joining us this morning is certifiedfinancial planner Tracy Andton. Tracy,
how you doing this week? I'mdoing great? Sjan, how about you?
Really good? And We've got justa great conversation about how to retire
better and things that you've learned fromretirees. Folks. I know sometimes company
and say, you know what,Tracy I was doing it wrong. I

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need some help and sometimes lessons learnedthe hard way. It's going to be
a great conversation. Let's kind ofkick off with kind of the broad the
broad question, which is why isit hard to retire? Well, well,
a lot of people do it quitewell, but there are people that
struggle, and I think it's becauseit's a multi pronged approach. It's not

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just about the money. Although everyonethinks it's about the money, It's more
than that. And it's obviously moneyis important, but it's really about what
will life look like now that you'reno longer working. And many retires say
they realize kind of too late,how they could have prepared better for a
more rewarding post work life, andthey I think part of it is again

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they just focus so much on howmuch they can save, and obviously,
again that's a huge part of it, but it's also about the other things
that we take for granted related towhen we're working, for example, the
relationships that we've built. You know, some people have worked twenty thirty,
forty years at the same place.I mean, I have one client who
retired thirty five years at the sameplace. So when she leaves. I

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said to her, well, wellyou have a hard time leaving the people,
and she said, oh, yeah, I will. However, I
really don't like the job, soyou know, that makes it obvious I'm
out of here, right. Soit's all these other things, and it's
like, when you step into thenew world of not working, what is
your day going to look like?And are you do you have people in

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your life that you're going to spendtime with, And a lot of people
say, well, I've got kidsor grandkids. But sometimes that's even hard
because they move, or they're busy, or you know. So so sometimes
you think it's going to look oneway, and you might have to have
a plan B or see, andyou might have to think about cultivating new
hobbies and make sure going into retirementyour health is as good as it possibly

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can be. Really good guidance thismorning from certified financial planner Tracy anton I
mentioned the website. I didn't mentionhow easy it is to schedule an appoyment
right online. If you're looking formoney management or portfolio management, you can
schedule aployment with Tracy and her teamat a time and a date that's convenient
to you. Just head on overto the website Tantoninvestmenthouse dot com. That's

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t A N t O N investmentHouse dot com. That's allph number six
oh eight five zero one, fifteenforty nine. That's six oh eight five
zero one, fifteen forty nine.I someone once told me learn from others,
And do you think that there's somegood role models out there for retirement?
Tracy, Well, there was thisarticle on the Wall Street Journal and
it was written by Veronica Daeger andAnn Turgison, and they said that we

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often lack models of post life toemulate. And they said, you know,
our culture is kind of a washand images of what a professional success
looks like, but we're much hazieron what it would be successful in retirement
per se. So you know,it's a good question, I would say
in a lot of ways. Yes, I mean there are role models,

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but it's also harder because you thinkabout like your parents' generation and you think,
okay, well, you know whatdid mom and dad do? That's
our first kind of thought about whatdid that look like? And is that
what my retirement wants, you know, you want to look like? And
so some of those people are likeyou know, he fished all the time,
or he went golfing all the time, but they also watched a lot

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of TV. And I think,you know, now the generations that are
retiring, the baby boomers, they'resaying, you know what, I don't
want it to look like that.I wanted to be more active. I
wanted to be more purposeful. Iwanted to be more fulfilling. So you
know, this article I thought wasgood because it was trying to kind of
bring out what are some mistakes thatpeople are making so that we could look

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and see how how could we proovehow could we going into retirement think about
these things at least so that wemight have a plan b or see if
we need it. Is there anybig takeaways to this, Tracy Well,
I would say, you know,one of the takeaways here is, you
know, investing for retirement again meansmore than money. And I know I
say that and people go, oh, that's all touchy feely, But it's

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a lot of things that people arenot talking about that I think are really
important. And so one example thatthey had given in this article was Jim
Pilsner. He was a retired entrepreneurand he said that he regrets not seeing
see actually putting goals for himself whenhe retired, and he said, he

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retired about four years ago. He'snow aged seventy eight, and he found
that there's only so much golf youcan play and only so many lunches you
can go on. So you know, it makes sense to me. But
he said, you know, hewould counsel his younger self or even active
achieving people to recognize today what drivesthem and what success really means. And

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according to him, he eventually figuredout that for him, the two things
that motivated him most during his career, which we're taking action and learning new
things, were the same recipes heneeded in retirement. So basically, in
the spring he enrolled at the Universityof Nevada for two classes and he will
be going full time apparently in thefall, and he says he's studying a

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degree in political science and history.Now, for a lot of people,
you know, nobody wants to goback to the UW and go back and
get a free you know, Idon't know that I would, but you
know I do have one client that'sat the UW, and you know they're
taking their auditing fun classes and that'skeeping them, you know, enough engage
where they're feeling like they're learning somethingnew. I had another client that was

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learning to play a new instrument.I mean things like that. So again
I think you know retirement planning,we do a lot about the money,
but you have to switch years andstart thinking about what will my life look
like and what is my purpose inretirement? Really great perspectives this morning from
certified financial planner Tracy Anton here onthirteen ten WI b A, don't forget.

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You can get to know Tracy andthe team online Tanton Investmenthouse dot com.
That's t A N t O Ninvestment house dot com and also schedule
appoyment right at the website or picka phone call the office right in Middleton.
Six'oh eight five zero one fifteenforty nine. That's six's oh eight
five zero one, fifteen forty nine. Is there one thing Tracy that folks
may underestimate in retirement. Well,retirees don't realize how much self worth and

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sense of identity they receive from theircareer. So many underestimate the value of
purpose in retirement, and they oftenspend a lot of time on their finances.
But again, very little on theywill what they will actually spend their
time on. And so this canbe really hard for people who, you
know, their career has been kindof paramount in their life. You know,

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maybe they didn't don't have kids,or they don't have grandkids yet,
or you know, they've spent alot of time cultivating a pretty awesome career
and now they're turning around to going, huh, okay, I'm giving up
that sense of you know, Iwas this worker bee and I was talking
to a girlfriend of mine who's retiring, and she said, you know,
I came from a generation where wewere worker bees. This is what we

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do. And it's true. Isee it a lot. Maybe not so
much in younger generations, sorry,younger generations, but I do see it,
you know, definitely in my generation. And I see that people are
like, you know, I getup, I go to work. This
is this is what I do.So what you know, you can change
that. It doesn't have to bethat kind of work, and it doesn't
have to be that kind of placenow. Of course, part time work

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at the same institution can also begreat, or it's the same company,
it can be very good, andthat's a great way to transition for a
lot of people. But for thosepeople who don't, you know, they
say, well, if I worktwenty hours at the same place, that
would actually be full time because Iwould eventually stay continue to keep working there,
and I wouldn't get the benefits.So I mean, you have to

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figure out where you're at at yourcurrent job, and see, does that
even make sense? A is iteven possible? Do they even want you
to work part time? But ifit's possible, would that look more like
full time anyway? And therefore itwouldn't be a huge advantage to you because
you'd be missing out on either moneyor benefits or something. So there's ways

(09:24):
to get around this. But Ithink again, I think we underestimate,
you know, our identity that weget through that, and you know,
maybe that's a little therapy, Maybethat's a little just thinking it through.
Other people say, yeah, Ihave no problem. I'm okay, you
know, yeah, I was adoctor. I remember talking to this one
woman, she was a doctor,and I said she was retiring really early,

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and I said, are you surethat you're not going to miss the
job, And she goes, youknow, of course I'll miss the people.
But I really want to focus onmy children, and so I doubt
she had any trouble, but somepeople, and I think it's worth at
least thinking that through some things toconsider that is definitely, for sure,
things that you might not have thoughtof. It's one of the great things
that we talk with Tracyanton, certifiedfinancial planner from Tanton Investment House dot com

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each and every week. Some interestingperspectives we're talking about. This week,
we're actually going to talk about someof the best predictors when it comes to
happiness and retirement. We'll get thosedetails from TRACYN just a moment in the
meantime. If I've been to thewebsite yet, what you're doing, head
on over there right now. Thewebsite Tanton Investmenthouse dot com. That's t
A N t O N investment Housedot com. Great opportunity to get to

(10:33):
know tracing the team. Also agreat place there to schedule appointment at a
time and a date that is convenientto you. I can just head on
over to Tanton Investment House dot com, or as always, you can call
the office right in Middleton six'oheight five zero one fifteen forty nine.
That's six oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. More of Straight
Talk from the House is next hereon thirteen ten WIBA thirteen ten wib A

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and straight Talk from the House withcertified financial planner Trac Anton. The website,
Oh, it's easy to remember,it's Tanton Investment House dot com.
I'll even spell it for you.That's t A N t O N investmenthouse
dot com. Why because I reallywant you to check out the website today
and learn more about Tracy and theteam. Listen back to podcasts there.
Also if you're looking for money management, if you're looking for portfolio management,

(11:26):
Tracy would love to get to knowyou and you can schedule deployment right from
the website Tanton investmentous dot com,or of course pick a phone call the
office in Middleton sixoh eight five zeroone, fifteen forty nine. That's six
eight five zero one fifteen forty nine. Talking about how to retire better from
retirees who learned things the hard wayand sometimes taking those those lumps and little

(11:48):
mistakes we learned from those. It'salso great to share some of those some
of those experiences so others can canguide their path a better way. And
Tracy I think we all want tobe happy every single day, and especially
when we get into retirement. Arethere is there like a predictor out there
for happiness and retirement. Well,there was actually a Harvard study by Adult

(12:11):
Development which followed families for decades andthey said the best predictor of longevity,
health, and happiness later in lifeis the quality of your relationships. And
I thought, did I read thatright? Because you know, normally they'll
say, oh, your quality ofyour relationships and your purpose and your volunteer

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worker and this or that, youknow a couple other things, but it
was very clear it was just thequality of your relationships. And this article
went on to say one example wasthis man named Dan Roberts, who lived
in he's seventy two years old.He lives in Idlewood, California, and
he said he wished he kept upwith former colleagues for personal and professional reasons.

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And he said Roberts retired about eighteenmonths ago, and soon after his
son and family moved to californi Orniato New Zealand. So, my gosh,
he retires and the whole family,his son and the kids moved to
and the wife moved to New Zealand, and he said, Roberts and his
wife now say they can only affordtwo visits a year to see their son.
But had he kept open to therelationships, you know, that he

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had with his colleagues, he mighthave been able to do contract work.
And he also said in the articlethat he should have kept up with his
certifications as well, so he wouldbe more viable. And basically the articles
that you know, they miss theirgrandchildren terribly. So in his case,
you know, he kind of thought, well, I've got the grandkids here,

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I'm going to spend a lot oftime with them. And of course
they changed their world, and soyou know, he wished that he would
have kept up so that he couldmaybe stay in the game a little longer,
have a little bit more income.In his case. It's kind of
the big takeaway here, Tracy,is the relationships are kind of the key
to the happy retirement. Yes,I mean, I really think so.

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You know, sadly, I've seenpeople regret not retiring earlier and missing time
with their with their kids when they'reyoung, or postponing trips and missing opportunities,
you know, when they're healthy andthen all of a sudden, now
they're not healthy or their spouse isn'thealthy, and so now they're not going
on trips and not doing things.You know, it's also not a given

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that your loved ones are here.I've seen people wish for more time with
loved ones who have passed. Youknow, people keep thinking, well,
I'm just going to work a fewmore years because I really love my job.
That's true, and that's wonderful.But at the same time, if
you if your spouse is quite abit older, hey you've got to think
about you know, longevity type stuff. And yes, it's great, but

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at the same time, it canbe you know, it can be a
big regret. I've seen it forpeople and I just you know, my
job when in those cases is prettymuch just saying I try to mirror back,
is this, Are you sure aboutthis? What about that? You
know? What about that extra timewith your spouse? And you know,
sometimes those decisions are what they arebecause at the time you don't have a

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crystal ball, but it's worthy tothink, think, try to think it
through and have somebody else's perspective.I think, is there is there anything?
Like I always think there's you know, like the two sides to every
coin. Obviously there's folks that sayI worked, you know, way too
long and maybe cut out these importantthings in my life. Is so the
other side of the car, arethere some folks that say, maybe I

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retired early or anything like that.I mean, according to this article,
they pointed out that retirement is longerthan you think. They gave another example
shot of Arthur Paramantor who was sixtynine. He regrets retiring at age sixty
five. And apparently Arthur wasn't quiteready for retirement, and he was accepting

(15:52):
a lower monthly benefit from Social Securitythan he would have gotten if he had
waited. So he went on tosay, had I waited two more years
or maybe three, I would havebeen quite comfortable. But right now I'm
living on Sold Security and trying notto touch my IRA. And then he
said, I think now that Imay live into my eighties, so I
have to be prepared for that andmake sure my IRA will last me throughout

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those years. And that is true. I mean, when people think about
how old they are likely to live. I mean, I'll have people in
my office that it'll be like,well, my parents are in their nineties
and still going, you know,and I'll be like, okay, well
we have to you know, kindof factor that in. It's not the
be all, end all, butit is, you know, your health

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up until that point. And theysay, if you live until age sixty
five, you've got you know,the average life expectancy for a woman now
is eighty seven, not eighty six. I kept saying eighty six and eighty
seven now and eighty four for men. But I'd like to point out usually
the opposite sean that oftentimes when we'rein our eighties, we don't spend the
same kind of dollars that we think, you know, that we typically do.

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It's because we slow down and thosetrips are not as enticing. We
have all the stuff we need,you know, we don't want to accumulate
more things. So when you're younger, you know, using the Social Security
dollars often makes more sense to mebecause we don't live forever either, and
so there's this fine balance. Andyou know, I have seen people retired

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on the younger side mostly because theyhad to, mostly because either the job
was changing such that they couldn't workit anymore, or because their own health
was was you know, was failing, and probably because the job was stressful,
so I have seen that, andyou know, we've worked as hard
as we can and making the dollarsappropriate, like how to invest it in

(17:48):
a way that's still going to grow. So you know, but those situations
are a little bit more hand holdingbecause when markets go down, they have
to accept that because they do needthe better returns. They do need to
be invested. And for a lotof those people it's still seventy percent stocks.
It has to be because they needthe dollars to grow. And as

(18:08):
we as we talk this week abouthow to retire better and learning from folks
who who learn the hard way,this is going to have to be a
two parter because there's a lot moreinformation we've got to cover, that is
for sure. As we talk withcertified financial planner Tracy Anton. Don't forget
if you missed any part today's program, you can always listen back at Tanton
investment House dot com. While you'rethere, you can get to know Tracy

(18:30):
and the team again the website Tantoninvestment House dot com that's t A N
t O N investment House dot com. Also schedule an appointment right from the
website at a time and to daythat's convenient to you, and tell phe
number six oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. That's six oh
eight five zero one, fifteen fortynine, Tracy. Time always flies when
we're hanging out. You enjoy thisfantastic Dan. We'll do it all again

(18:52):
real soon. This sounds great,Sean, thanks so much, and again
the website Tanton Investmenthouse dot com.Dan O'Donnell has a chance for you to
win one thousand dollars. Next righthere on thirteen ten, Wiba