Top Worries - Just Before You Retire

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is straight talk from the House with certified financial
planner Tracy Anton right here on thirteen ten wi VA.
Don't forget to learn more about Tracy and the whole
team at t Anton Investment House the website Tanton investment
House dot com. That's t A N t O N
investment House dot com. Now there's a great resource learn
more about Tracy and the team. Tracy puts a ton
of great information up online, also links to this and

(00:22):
previous shows podcast. They're all available to you at t
Aton Investment House dot com. Of course, Tracyanton a t
Aton Investment House, a fee only for do sharing with
offices in Milton and joining us this morning is certified
financial planner Tracy Anton. Tracy, how you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm doing great, Sean, how about you?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I'm doing well. It's really good to see you. And
I'm always excited when you know, for folks, we'll kind
of give people a little peak behind the curtain. Obviously,
we talk before the show and we have kind of
an outline of what we're going to talk about, and
I'm always really excited when I see it. This week,
I'm especially excited because as I kind of go through
some of these questions. These are really those questions that

(01:00):
I think a lot of folks have. And let's talk
about this week's overall topic and what we're going to
be talking about.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, Sean, I think when we spend a lot of
years working and we think about our retirement and we're
pretty optimistic, you know, can we kind of picture ourselves
maybe on the beach, or maybe traveling to Europe or Africa,
doing safaris or playing pick a ball even But as
the retirement date gets closer and you start thinking, well,

(01:28):
I'm going to set a date, sometimes it can feel
a bit anxious and you start thinking not so much
about what I'm going to but either when I'm leaving behind,
like you know, good friends and good relationships at work,
and some people feel differently obviously, some people like I'm
out of here, right, But a lot of people. For

(01:50):
a lot of people, there's some anxious thoughts about the
future and particularly around around money too, right, like all
those types of things. So I think it's for me
I have such I think an ideal job because I
feel like, you know, can you make a difference in

(02:10):
the world, right, And that's what we're all here for,
how to help someone right, and so I feel like
in a lot of cases, because I can show it
with numbers, it makes it a lot easier. But so
today I just wanted to talk about, you know, what
are some common worries that I see people have. And
it's really common, and that's what I want to stress too.

(02:33):
It's really common for people to have really similar worries.
You know. It's not rocket science, right, I always say that,
and it's not, and so but sometimes these worries get overblown,
I think, and especially for the people who have planned.
Now that I have, again a really special job because
I see a sub sect of people. I see a

(02:55):
certain number of people that they've done a lot of planning,
and that's who comes to see me. I don't don't
really see the person who hasn't planned really not very often.
So you know, again, really a blessed job. But still
I want to focus today on what are some common
worries and what do I see? What's what's my peak

(03:15):
behind that curtain? You know.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
One of the things, though, Tracy, I have to say is,
you know, much like rocket science, the numbers don't lie,
is you know, I think I think one of the
things I've learned in working with you over you know,
over a decade now, is we talk about numbers and
we talk about planning. The numbers tell the tale, and
it's really important as we talk about that. I think
though a lot of folks do wonder and worry about

(03:38):
the numbers, and I would I've got to guess kind
of the first big thing that folks wonder about is
that kind of overall question, which is do we have
enough to retire on right?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
And that is usually the number one question is you know,
you always have to have kind of an impetus, like,
you know, let's go talk to our advisors because we
want to know that specific question. Or that's why new
people will come to see me a lot it's like okay,
well we be okay, and I want to stress something
I thought was good that you said. It's like, the

(04:08):
numbers don't lie. But the hard part is interpreting the
numbers and making it more. I think for some people
it's feeling based and so we can I can say,
you know, this number five million or ten million, or
whatever the number is, to be honest, is going to
be enough money. And it's still hard because it's hard

(04:30):
to wrap your mind around the unknown, what's going to
happen in the future, and all of the things that
go through our minds of the worries. Right, and so
even if you can have a number that you know
by all means, people like, oh, yeah, you can retire.
I'm sure you can, it's still hard. And I have
seen it in many, many cases where it's it's such

(04:55):
a big change. We've done this thing called work for
thirty some years, right, that's three decades, and it's like, okay,
am I am, I gonna be okay because these things
we can't pin down. We don't know inflation, we don't
know taxes, we don't know our health, we don't know
what cost of health is going to be with you know,

(05:16):
so you can spiral, I think, and so yes, I
feel like, I mean, it's so funny you said that, toushon,
because you know, why did I choose this versus a
different road? And I thought, well, because I know I
want to help people. And I thought, well, like you said,
numbers don't lie. I'll be able to help them because

(05:38):
I'll be able to say, well, here at least this progress,
here's where you're are at now. You know, if we're
in the growing stage of your money. But once we
get to the growing stage of your money, it's like, okay,
then how do we use it? How do we use distributions?
And I thought, well, I can help with that too.
But it's it's amazing because it's the one profession again

(05:58):
that at least you can easily quantify, you know, therapy,
for example, I could never do that job because I'd
always be worried. Okay, did I make a difference. And
I'm sure if you talk to you know, ten therapists,
they have their ways too of understanding how they're making
a difference. But for me, it's all about like what
do the numbers say? And how do you interpret the numbers?

(06:20):
You know, and you have to make assumptions. But these
assumptions over my career of thirty some years, you know,
it's I feel pretty confident, Yeah, this this is going
to be okay, right, So anyway, it's.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
It's just like two Tracy, when you know, you kind
of compare the you know, there are those tangibles and
those intangibles and kind of comparing the two. And I
know one of the things that you know, I think
of like my life as a prime example, is. I
think this is probably pretty typical. When we're in our
you know, in our twenties, thirties, forties, things like our health,
we're just you know, we oftentimes unfortunately take good health

(06:54):
for granted. As we start getting into our fifties, sixties,
seventies and beyond, we start saying, you know what, health
is a concern and obviously paying to take care of
ourselves and not only live longer, but also take care
of ourselves longer, make sure we've a high quality of life.
Health insurance comes into play, and that's kind of a
that's a big question for a lot of folks as well,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah. I think again, some of these things just they
just they balloon, right, It's like they mushroom. And usually
there's a backstory to it. And I love that. I
recently met with a client and he's like, well, this
is my perspective and why, And it's because, you know,
maybe maybe they've just lost their parents, you know, and
they saw somebody in a long term care facility for

(07:37):
a long time, or maybe they it was a short time,
but they recognized that for the first time, oh that's
very expensive. Or maybe it's that they had some health concerns,
serious health concerns. Earlier they're doing well, but you know
it's it's again that front and center. This is what
I know, this has been my experience. And again there's

(07:59):
not there's validity to all of this for sure, because
all of these things are expensive and they go up
over time typically, right, your health insurance or your costs
of things that you need. But it's not always given.
So let's go back. For example, like we talked about,
you know, the first concern of do you have enough

(08:20):
to retire around? Well, when I do a financial plan,
that really really helps to know. Okay, you have to
more break it down. You know, every goal, you have
to break these things down. So one of the things
you want to talk about is well, well, how much
do I need to live on? Now? Some people know
that answer like that, you know, you know, hitting their

(08:41):
finger right, It's like, I know that we live on
our budgets seven thousand a month. And then other people go,
you know, I'm not sure. I mean you got this
cost and that cost, and so yes, sometimes you have
to estimate it, but actually sitting down and doing that
and making even a rough estimate usually is fine. But
it's it's the doing that makes the difference. So again,

(09:03):
the financial plan, you have it written down. This is
what we you know, we use a computer obviously, but
you know, you write it down and go, okay, this
is our budget and these are our inflows. This is
what we're expected from social security. Do we have a
pension or don't we? This is the amount for the pension.
What are we expecting for inflation? You know the costs
of expenses are going to go up over time. What

(09:24):
does that going to look like? And then you take
a look and say, okay, well you know what is
what are our tax consequences? Are we pulling from an
IRA now or later? Does it make sense to pull
from an IRA versus a brokerage account now or late?
Because I'm in such a low tax bracket. All that
is more detail, but the big picture remains. You know,
what's my taxes and in the end, how much do

(09:45):
I need from my investments. I talk to some people
and I mean this is common where it's like, oh,
we only need three percent or two percent from our investments,
and you know, we don't know what we'd do with
the rest of it, so we're gonna, you know, keep
with that, and you know, maybe if we can think
of something or something comes up, then you know we'll

(10:06):
call and get one time distributions. Great, but it's writing
it down and giving a sense to the numbers and saying, Okay,
this is this is what it'll likely be. But my
financial planning software, Sean, what's so cool about it? It
pulls up at ten forty. I can go from twenty
twenty five to twenty thirty five and tell you, you know,

(10:27):
in ten years, this is likely if your tax brackets
don't change, if the Congress doesn't change tax brackets, this
is what it's going to be, because your arm D
will be this amount and your taxable income is actually
a lot higher. Let's take it from the IRA now
for example.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
That is amazing.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
It's so cool. I mean I always tell people that
we're in there. I'm like, isn't this cool? Is this
software awesome? I like, look at this, and they're go, yeah,
it's pretty kind of cool.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
You know, it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
So looking at the numbers and figuring out what your
numbers are just paaramount super important.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Talking this morning with certified financial planner Tracy Anton right
here at thirteen ten WIBA talking about some of the
common worries on the road to retirements. We talked with
certified financial planner Tracy Anton. One of the good things,
of course, provided by Tracy is some really good information,
some really good insight. If you missed part of today's program,
you want to listen back to previous shows. And there's

(11:22):
also some great information I just great articles and our things.
Just head on over to Tanton investment House dot com.
That's t A N T O N investment house dot com.
You get some really really good information from Tracy and
her team. Of course, telephone number the Office of Middleton
six oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. That's
six oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. And Tracy,

(11:42):
I feel like a lot of times and I was
just kind of mentioning earlier about you know, thinking about
things like, you know, we talked about health insurance and
do I have enough to retire on and some of those,
some of those like more tangible number type things. There's
also this thing and I feel like maybe a probably
a decade ago, Tracy, you and I I may have
talked about a show and I remember you saying something
about when you introduce yourself. Oftentimes in the working world

(12:06):
you ask, you know, I I am so and so,
and you talk about what you do for a living
a lot of times and correct me if I'm wrong here.
One of the fears that people face in retirement is
is maybe losing that and maybe losing this feeling of
I have a purpose. And there's an important part of
retirement planning to making sure that you're still fulfilling that
dream and that identity.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I totally agree with that. I mean losing purpose. You
hear it left and right, and you know, our careers
define much of our lives, and you provide that identity.
You know, this is what I do for a living.
I mean, how many parties have you gone to and
they say, well, what do you do? And I'm answering that. No,
I'm just kidding, but you know, it's like they provide identity, routine,

(12:50):
community connection, and so when you lose that, it could
be pretty challenging for some people, and in fact, about
a quarter of retiree struggle with findings in their lives
and even some even depression. It depends, you know, if
people are living alone, that can be hard to because
you really have to make more of a conscious effort, right,

(13:11):
But I would just say I read a really good
article on the Art magazine and they said that you
know that people have pent up demand for leisure activities
obviously when they go into retirement, but relaxing. They said,
it's so much sweeter when you're relaxing from something. So
you still want to feel like you're accomplishing things, they said, Right,

(13:33):
but this Christine Bentz who's the director of Personal finance
and retirement Planning for Morning Star. She wrote a book
called How to Retire Twenty Lessons for a Happy, successful,
and Wealthy Retirement. And what she says is you want
to choose to tackle. You don't have to choose something
to tackle that has to be big, Like, it doesn't

(13:53):
have to be a huge thing. She said. Sometimes people
have this idea that they have to start a foundation
or go on a global trek. But her point was
you can do something much smaller, like rediscovering a childhood hobby.
So again, you know, it can be simple, but you
kind of have to have that what does bring your joy, right,

(14:16):
But it doesn't have to be uber challenging. I think
people think it's too big sometimes, right, And obviously The
option too, of keep working is a good one. You know,
about twenty percent of retirees hold full or part time
jobs and another seven percent are looking for employment, according
to a t row Price study. So again, many people

(14:38):
choose to work part time. I've even had people who
retired and they go back to working because they miss
it so much. So I know some people are thinking
that's crazy, but it happens. It does happen. And of
course volunteering is another great way to give back in
a meaningful way. You can share your passions and your
talents and experiences with the community, and you can bound

(15:00):
with other volunteers. It could be a really fun thing.
And you know, I would say when you when you're
when you're thinking about retirement, you know, try not to overcommit.
I think that's another thing people go, I've decided I'm
going to do that, because there's just a lot of
fear built up that. But you want some flexibility. You
want to be able to be like, Okay, I'm going

(15:22):
to give this a try and see if I like that.
If I don't like that, I'm going to try this.
I'm going to try something different, you know, And a
lot of people have volunteer are ready, they're doing it now,
but some people aren't. Some people are waiting. And now
when they're ready, when they really feel like they have
the time, they then they then they volunteer.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Really nothing wrong with really prioritizing M and the E
and time, that is for sure. And Tracy as we
as we kind of work through this stuff, I know
another area and I think part of why why a
lot of us may be thinking about, well what am
I going to do as far as maybe a second
actor or volunteer and opportunities, and those are great benefits,
but also the idea that there's the other side is

(16:02):
I don't want to be lonely in retirement. And that's
and that's a legitimate fear as well, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah. Again, another same article that ARP addresses this, they
also mention the fear of being lonely. I don't see
this quite as much, but you know, not everybody admits everything, right,
we don't tell everything. So you know, it makes sense
to me because you know, as we get older, our
social circle also tends to shrink, right, And so I

(16:29):
would just say, you know, how do you conquer that?
You conquer it by building your circle, and you need
to make investments during your working years typically to have
those personal relationships so that you can draw upon those
in retirement and happier retirees tend to spend their free
time doing lots of activities, but most prevalent is spending

(16:50):
time with loved ones. So again, developing solid relationships with
friends and family members before you retire can obviously help
avoid socially isolate yourself in the in the you know,
in retirement. And again, I think another thing that people
think about is retirement spot. So a place that you think, oh,

(17:11):
it's going to be a great place to retire to.
That might sound appealing to escape when you're working full time,
but you know, people overestimate the satisfaction that will get
from retiring to a vacation environment if it isolates isolates
them from the people they know. So again, living near
you know, old friends, or in an environment that provides

(17:34):
frequent social interactions, maybe you live close to a gym
for example. You know, things like that they can really
have a positive impact on how happy we are in retirement.
And I think COVID taught us all that lesson, right.
It's like, you know, we're you know we're not an island.
We you know, we can't be alone too long before
we start thinking, you know, it would be much better.

(17:55):
We've been much easier, and this happens really with older,
older people right into the isolation, and they do better
when they go, you know, living with a group of people.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
It's it's really important stuff to and Tracy, that's great
perspective too. You mentioned kind of what we've gone through
and kind of kind of that realization, and we talk
about some of the important you know, a lot of
times most important things like of course, you know, your
health and longevity and of course having the money to
sustain your stuff, but also you know, those day to
day things like social activities and ways to get out

(18:27):
and opportunities to kind of give back. And that's some
one of the great things, you know, talking with Tracy
each and every week talking about some of those options
and opportunities for you. Don't forget. If you missed any
part of today's program, you want to share any part
of the day's show or listen back to previous programs,
you can always head on over to the website Tanton
Investment House dot com. That's t A N T O
N investment House dot com, great website and resource. They're

(18:50):
the telephone number for the office in Milton six oh
eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. That's six soh
eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine. We'll talk with
Tracy next about a client question and get the quiet
quat client question of the week. I'll get that one down.
I promised Tracy we will do that next as Straight
Talk from the House continues right here on thirteen ten,
double u ib a. This is straight Talk from the
House with certified financial planner Tracy and Town right here

(19:12):
on thirteen ten. Dou Wui b A talking this week
about some of the common worries and the road to retirement.
In Tracy, I've got to ask you, you know, we
touched on health insurance briefly. I know there's there's more
to that conversation, isn't there There's quite.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
A bit more to that conversation, But I'll just say
that I do think it's it's a concern that you
can be addressed, right So I think we it's a
it's a concern that people go, oh, but I have
to cover my own health insurance if they retire, you know,
before age sixty five when they can get on Medicare.
And I say, yes, that's true. But you know, all

(19:47):
we need to do really is take a look at
what that health insurance cost would be and a lot
of for a lot of folks, you know, they can
do a high deductible plan and therefore pay a lot
less in in health insurance premiums over time, right, but
from there to sixty five, and then they get on
Medicare and then they get on supplements. But beyond that,

(20:09):
you can also a lot of people qualify for Obamacare.
Now how do they do that if they're worth a
couple million bucks, Well, they can do that because they're
using a brokerage account and they're keeping their income low
and only paying you know, capital gains tax, and they
keep their income very low. Some people, you know, had
a cash job, which I'm not suggesting, but that's what happens.

(20:33):
And so, you know, I think there are ways. I
mean it's extreme too, it's like extreme, but it's it's
there's a big difference. So you might your your health
insurance you might think is fifteen hundred bucks a month, Well,
you know, maybe you're only going to pay three hundred
per person so say six hundred bucks per per person
because you're on Obamacare. I mean, it's a big deal.

(20:55):
So having a brokerage account retirement is huge. It's huge.
So I just want to stress that too, that it's
it's it's a something that can be addressed. You just
have to talk to the right person about. Okay, what
kind of health health insurance is can I qualify for?
So the Health Insurance Store is a great place. It's

(21:15):
a great resource, and they are just on University Avenue
and ask for Aaron and tell me to listen to
my show, you know, because it's a great place to
go if you need help with health insurance.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
That is great to here. Ask for Aaron and real
quick too. By the way, along those lines of health insurance,
what about long term care? I know that that can
be uh uh can consume quite a bit. What's kind
of the guidance there and what's kind of that concern there?

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, so long term care insurance, I think a lot
of people go, well, we're gonna need money for them,
you know, as we get older, we're gonna need you know.
So there's again a big fear because it is very expensive.
We understand that, but I think two things people always
always but mostly forget is one is that your income
doesn't stop from social Security and pensions and anything else

(22:03):
you have coming in the door. It doesn't stop because
you go into long term care or it's your income
still comes in, so that partly covers typically a long
term care. So let's say long term care is one
hundred and thirty thousand, and you've got at least forty
thousand coming in from different sources for you personally, and

(22:23):
then your spouse also has money, right, So you look
at that and go, okay, well that covers some. And
then you look at who goes to a long term
care in a long term facility, hardly anybody. Nobody wants
to go. And then if they go, if they have
to go, then the likelihood that they're going to stay
long is extremely low too. So if you look at

(22:45):
the percentages, I mean, women, their average is three point
seven years if they go and manage two point two years.
And I mean I've seen a lot of people that
you know that I have as clients and as they age,
it's like nobody wants to go, so very few go
and very few stayed longer than you know, one point

(23:06):
seven years or something like that. It's really low. So
I think it's a worry that people have that I don't.
I'm not sure is always grounded. Everybody knows that one
person that's been there, but it's just I think it's overblown.
But also I think when you look at the total assets,

(23:27):
you know, sometimes people aren't even spending their earnings. All
of the earnings that's potentially happening in their investment accounts
per year just continues to grow, even in retirement.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
It's fascinating as we talk about this stuff too, Tracy,
and it kind of reinforces a lot of as we
have some of these concerns and worries. Obviously, human beings,
we're going to behave the way and feel the way right.
One of the importance I would too, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I'm not I'm saying I would too. Yeah, definitely, But
that's my job to try to help us overcome some
of those.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
And importance of planning as well. And that's one of
the great things about working with Tracy and meeting with
Tracy and starting conversation with Tracy, and of course learning more.
Of course, the website is always a great resource. Start
at Tanton investment house dot com. That's t A N
T O N investment house dot com. Head on over
there now, Delphine up at the office in Middleton. Six
oh eight five zero one fifteen forty nine. That's six

(24:15):
oh eight five zero one, fifteen forty nine, Tracy, Time
always flies. Is great to see you enjoy this beautiful day.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
Thanks Sean. Bye,