Sound Money Show - 7/30/23

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
In your corner, saving one investorat a time. I'm working for clients,
is not companies, all while bullyproofingportfolios, totally committed to sharing academic
truths, abotomissing, always representing MainStreet and no Wall Street team. It's
your Sun Money team and this isthe Sound Money Investment Show with Drawn Financial

(00:23):
Advisors. Hello and welcome to theSound Many Investment Show with Brown Financial Advisors.
I'm Greg Brown and I'm James Bourton. We are a registered investment advisory
firm. We are independent. Wedo work for clients and not companies.
Tricy for your complimentary and personalized financialincome plant. Give us a call five
one three five seven five six fivefour. If you're seeking old four one

(00:47):
K four three B, some typeof employer sponsored plan, even for some
anyway analysis, here's the point.If you're longer with the company, then
as a rule, your money shouldnot be there either, so we can
help you roll that out into atax cultural iray, or at least take
control of your money. Give usa call five one three five seven five
six five four. Our website BrownFinancial Advisors dot com. Email share your

(01:11):
thoughts to team at Brown Financial Advisorsdot com Our home office is in Milford,
but we also have locations in Bluewash, Wistchoster, and Florence greg Well.
Today, we're going to be discussingten retirement planning tips for women and
an order for women to enjoy let'ssay, an ideal retirement. There's special
planning considerations to make, and thiswould apply to most anyone who wants to
be successfully retired too. We're goingto focus a little bit more on the

(01:34):
women's perspective, and women, oftentimesthey deal with unique challenges that aren't necessarily
faced directly by men when planning forthe ideal retirement. Quite often women live
longer right and earn maybe less moneyalong the career path in that journey,
and have a higher chance of livingalone throughout many of the ending retirement years.
It's kind of like hitting the trifecta, you know, but in a

(01:57):
good way. If not properly addressed, these in these other realities where they
can cause significant financial stress and undermineretirement security. Now, this is why
it is important and even imperative forall women, whether married, divorced,
widowed, or single, to viewretirement and the planning for retirement is a
unique process unique process to them andso and also I would say not entirely

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unique consideration, separative man or others, but some worth noting. And then
you know, some of these provokingquestions, James will spotlight what we're talking
about. Oh yeah, so thinkof it from the perspective of this.
Have you made retirement planning a priority? Or turn that around and have you
made your or planning for your retirementplanning a priority? Have you allowed your

(02:45):
spouse or your partner to take controlof money matters to the point where you
really aren't sure of your financial position? You know, sometimes we all fall
into different roles in life and inrelationships as well, and it's like,
howney, that's your job to handlethe finances. Honey, that's your job
to handle the investments and the investmentdecisions. Sometimes we see that we don't

(03:07):
like it because we realize that inour later years sometimes the roles have to
change. So do you consider yourselfto be financially literate? Or maybe how
financially literate do you consider yourself tobe? Are you comfortable asking questions when
speaking to a financial professional. Sometimesthat's what we also see is where questions

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that should be asked, and they'reafraid to ask because they don't want to
show I guess perhaps ignorance of aparticular subject. Or on a discussion point,
have you made it clear to yourspouse, your partner, and your
financial advisor what are your most importantfinancial objectives? Is that something that's on
your bucket list or is something youwant to accomplish either during your working years,

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during retirement or even as a legacyconsideration. And then concerning that,
women, at least statistically there's thatwork often live longer than men. Are
you confident that your retirement plan willprovide the income you need to live hopefully
a good long life? Right?Do you clearly understand the fees and the
costs associated with your investments or what'sbeing charged by by your financial advisor or

(04:16):
your broker, depending upon it,if you have just a broker relationship versus
a financial advisor relationships? James rightthere specifically cost, total cost, total
cost of ownership, not just afee. We see it every day that
folks will come in perspective, clientsand so forth, and they'll have on
their mind or top of mind afee as some advisors propose charging or is

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currently charging them, and that feevery often is lost led because these platforms
know the internal costs that they canget and rebate back to themselves is compensation
also, plus the lost led feegives them a total compensation that equals what
is really your total cost of ownership. So you need to learn about total
cost of ownership, not just beyou can be as lead, you can

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old what is the old saying,pennyways or pennywise, pound foolish, something
like that. You don't want tofall for that. So we'll look at
fees when we're together, sitting witheach other, reviewing your situation, coming
up with recommendations and plan. We'llanalyze that thoroughly, because that is it.
That's like stepping into quicksand and youthought you're on the whole firm,
terraf firm, and that is anyway, James, Well, when it comes

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to risk allocations, this is alsowhere there's sometimes i a mismatch or diversions
between how the husband thinks versus thewife thinks about market risk. So when
it comes to market risk, howare your investments allocated? Do they match
your desired allocation or market risk allocation? Do you know the reasons why retirement

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planning for women needs to be atleast somewhat different than it is for men.
And do you really understand your investments, as in what do you own
and why do you own it?Greg? Yeah, It's just I had
this picture going through those why doyou own these things? Is it for
your benefit? Is it really foryou? I had this vision, and
I think we're going to run withthis and do some advertising around this concept

(06:08):
to protect our consumer investors and tokind of raise a have one of those
epiphany moments, and that is visualizethat you see this extremely formal, traditional
brokerage firm with a traditional advisor,almost like those old e Trade or Scott
Trade commercials, with a really slickdude from wall streets in the back of

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some stretch limo talking on the phone, all sophisticated and such, and is
stymied by a climate who's a skiingsome real life questions. It has no
clue how to answer him. Andwhat I'm thinking here is whose retirement is
it? Envision this collective traditional groupof staunchy, stuffy, high money people
that run expensive commercials, super Bowlcommercials, you know, and have stadiums

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named after him. Is that inyour best interest or picture you your family
and taking first person ownership of whatyour vision is for your retirement is.
It's your money, it's your purposes, your goal, your objectives, your
ambitions, your dreams, your legacy. Now contrast those two and then envision
us stepping into your family picture rightbehind you, putting our hands on your

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shoulders and being part of that thatimage, that future. That's the stark
difference. In contrast, we're inyour picture, where are they? Whose
retirement is it? We know whoseit is, and we want to help
you with that. Just hearing yougo through those questions just kind of inspires
that thought for what it's worth.Anyway, as we're going through more specifically

(07:33):
the retirement planning tips for women today, you know, we've already touched on
women typically earn less through the workforceover the years, and there's a lot
of reasons for that. There isa traditional view of being primarily responsible as
the nurture and the home for thechildren and you know, spouse and what
else do we see as that lifejourney continues to pick up responsibilities for the

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adult parents, you know, theaging parents, not just their own but
their spouses too. You go throughthat whole cycle as the kids continue to
get older in transition to college,and it's like, wow, one of
the two people in the household didn'tget the greatest opportunity to spend time building
a quote unquote career and all theearnings, potential accolades that go with that.
And then until maybe empty nesting,they get to go into some broader

(08:22):
sense of a career and about thetime the other spouse ready to throttle back.
And then they spend some time togetherand you know, work into their
last ten years leading a retirement andtwilight and have fun and travel and do
all the things that were their ambitionsand dreams. Isn't odd though, how
life thirds are they curve all theimmature, the old, the aging parents
start to show up again where they'reneeding more care. About the time you

(08:43):
thought you're gonna I'm just having areal talk with you here, About the
time you thought you were going tobreak free and do some things you have
other responsibilities, and about the timethat cycles a little further. Guess what
you have new people added to thatfamily portrait called grandchildren. And I don't
want to chase your children all overthe country. I get it, But
you sure like to chase your grandchildren, don't you. So you find yourself

(09:05):
still delaying in some way, shapeor form your vision of retirement. You
know we can have that talk todaybeing more practical with you some tough love,
what to do not to do interms of spending, financing all the
vacations for all the family every meal, when you see everyone you love,
when you're on a fixed income.This needs to change. And if you
think your typical couple has challenges likethis deep hair uncoupled dcouple for a moment

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and say you're a woman going intoretirement. Are you prepared? You're entering
retirement? What do you do?How's it different? What are some of
the pitfalls? What are some ofthe risk What do you need to know
to avoid mistakes? Because of theseodds that you know what, they've just
been kind of against you, andwe want to help you navigate that.
You know, we'll be the Magellanon the ship. Anyway. We're going

(09:54):
to try to touch on ten retirementtips for you, specifically, whether you're
a spouse, partner on your own, you're likely own a retirement plan to
some concept, and we want itto be a plan that's geared and wired
to succeed on purpose. Well,here's the stat or statistic for you,
and this is the average age ofwhen a woman becomes a widow, if
she's going to become a widow,is around age fifty six. So think

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about that average age. So manyof them are quite a bit younger than
that. Some of course are quitea bit older than that. But again,
statistically speaking, it's going to bethe women that outlive the men.
And especially when you look at relationshipsand the ages of people in relationships,
normally it's the woman who's younger thanthe man, so she's going to live
longer, but she's in the relationshipand she's younger. That means it's like

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a double effect of her outliving hermale counterpart. There's more, there's much
more. I'll fund about the alpha'sfive one, three, five, seven,
five, nine, six five fourcalls. We can help, but
stay tune. You're listening to theSound Money Investment Show with Brown Financial Advisors
here in fifty five care see thetalk station. Opinions expressed her those of

(11:00):
Brown Financial Advisors and should not beinterpreted as specific advice. Materials presented are
believed to be from reliable sources andno representations can be made as to its
accuracy. All ideas and information shouldbe discussed in detail with one of our
qualified investment advisors prior to implementation.Market based investments involve risk, and past
performance is no guarantee of future results. Insurance based investments offer guarantees based upon

(11:22):
the claims paying ability of the issuingcompany. All insurance, tax and mortgage
services are offered through Brown Insurance andTax Advisors LLC. Brown Financial Advisors and
Brown Insurance and Tax Advisors are affiliatedcompanies and may only transact business in those
states in which registered or were otherwiselegally permitted. Welcome back to the sound
Many Investment Show with Brown Financial Advisors. I'm Greg Brown and I'm James Spurt

(11:43):
and we are an independent RIIA that'sa registered investment advisory firm. We do
our free clients, not companies.That's Main Street and not Wall Street.
Our fundnumber five one three, fiveseven, five nine, six five four,
website, Brownfinets Advisors dot com,email team at Brown Finett Fosters dot
Com, and our home offices inMilford, but we also have locations in
Blue, Ash, wester and Florence. Greg well, retirement planning tips for

(12:09):
women. That's the focus today's showlook at explaining a few things to help
overcome what would be unique challenges.And really we'd just like to sit down
with you to discuss more specifically howour planning services being holistic, you know,
insurance investments and state planning, insurance, financial planning, income planning can
all be brought together. Tax taxadvisory, tax preparation, you know,

(12:30):
Medicare consultation, so security transitions,pension maximization choices, a healthcare gap if
you're retired before the Medicare age,and getting you two and through that,
all of it. I mean,that's the whole inch. A lot of
the financial services. As we are, we kind of like the Mayo Clinic,
like to help you out with allthat because holistic matters very much in
this phase of your life financially speaking. So as we go through a few

(12:52):
of these things, James, onceyou pick up with how do we make
better decisions? Oh, making yourbest decisions or at least making good decisions,
that's a good start. Starts byrecognizing that retirement often looks quite different
for women, and it seems likefar too few books, articles, internet
videos retirement planning advice that seems tobe given at least adequately take these differences

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into account. Much of the advicethat you'll hear, whether it comes from
friends, family members, professionals,colleagues, often ignores the very different realities
that women face as they age,and this might easily result in making decisions
that can lead to challenges that maynot be apparent for many years. Sometimes
you don't see the wrongness of thatdecision until what a decade or two later.

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To help to avoid this, thereare at least ten different retirement planning
tips that are especially important for womento consider. Greg what's number one.
Actually, I heard this referred toin a magazine. It said, what
was it botox for financial planning?And if you think about it, it's
like, how do you preserve andprotect how do you improve the look,

(14:03):
feel and overall satisfaction of what somethingis or appears to be? Well,
whatever your concept of making this betterand making better decisions, here we're looking
at as you if you haven't alreadyheard it, assume you will live longer.
So one of those biggest considerations thatword, that operative word, is
longevity. I mean it's a factstatistically women live longer than men, and

(14:26):
that longevity might be the single mostimportant retirement consideration for you all because well,
for example, fastest growing segments ofour population are the so called centenarians,
the people will make it two ageone hundred and above. And of
this group, you'll guess you willhave guessed it, women out number men
nearly four to one. So longevityis far reaching impact on many aspects of

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retirement planning because you know, lookat healthcare expenses. Longer here and longer,
we need to maintain the tires andthe oil and everything that is us.
You know, from a mechanical perspectivehealth your expenses are ongoing. So
security benefit timing, you start ittoo early, you get a smaller check
for a long period of time.And now we're talking about that you just
might be the person who listen fora long period of time. So when

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do you elect the benefit? Thereis a sweet spot. You know,
you have ninety six election opportunities betweenage sixty two and age seventy one.
Of those months, one of thosedays, within those months of those years,
it's going to be optimal for you. It's called socialcurity maximization. When
you come in we'll assess that,get your so security maximization report and put
that in the context of your overallfinancial plan on the income and cash flow

(15:33):
side, figure out how to useyour other investment buckets of money wisely,
efficiently, productively, and prudently,and then forecasts project your plan, make
those recommendations, get you up andgoing, and coach you through the rest.
You know, it's kind of likea pilot. We're going to navigate
and fly, get you to thedestination with the least amount of turbulence,
and make sure you enjoy You knowyour outcome, your goals. So one

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of these most important considerations it's releasedto retire planning for women is ensuring that
those retirement assets provide income needed fora long period of time. In other
words, the lunger you live,the lunger savings must last. And in
other words, what you don't wantto outlive your money. That's ironic the

(16:17):
phraseology of ensuring your retirement because socialsecurity by itself, by definition, is
a form of venturance and increased longevityis one of the reasons why these types
of benefits are so important. Itis one of the very few sources of
income that you can calom for lastingas long as you live, perhaps even
beyond what you live, depending uponwho goes first. So typically when there's

(16:40):
a husband, wife involved, orspouse in other words, then if both
are receiving social churity payments, oneof them passes away. The survivor receives
the bigger the two benefits. Thesmaller one falls away, but nevertheless there's
still the survivor benefits. So onthe surface, this is great, right.
That means there's nothing to manage,no investment decisions to make. A

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check just shows up in your accountmonth after month as if it's on autopilot,
and most important of all, it'slifetime income that you cannot outlive.
Nice and if you would like anextra Social Security check or a self pund
attention you like the concept of acheck coming to your mailbox every month,
you know conceptually, or to yourbank account, we can take part of

(17:22):
your investment resources and develop a plan. Dislike that. Yeah, So maximizing
your social scurity benefits very important becauseit's not just the individual but also the
collective benefits that need to be plannedfor. And there's a lot of different
benefits that are at least potentially available, depending upon your situation, and that's
why it's vital for everyone, butespecially for women, to make sure that

(17:45):
they're maximizing their benefits from Social Security. Emphasis here on big and a butt.
I'm not sure if that's the punintended, but there is one big
problem that can often stand in theway. Social Security. The program itself
can be quite complicated. Most peopleare not aware that there are actually thirteen,

(18:06):
yes, thirteen different kinds of benefitpayments available or at least provided potentially
by Social Security. Many of themcould also be especially important for women.
Most people know that they're eligible toreceive a retirement benefit that means off of
your own work record benefit that isbased on your earning's history. But there's
more, there's much more. Gregwhat's next. I just can't quit thinking

(18:29):
about the word butt and problems andthen big butt problems. And you're like
me. Your favorite belt tells youthe tale, you know, the one
that's so worn you can see everynotch of every place you've been along the
way. When your weight changes,will life changes, and you need to
be able to adjust the There's somany, there's so many metaphors to apply
in what we do. It's kindof fun. But you need a financial

(18:53):
belt that can be adjusted for wholesizes to help you get exactly through what
you need to get through and successfullywhere you always have the belt right anyway.
In addition to these, well,social Security benefits it is a benefit
and James referenced as a form ofinsurance, which it is. It's ensuring
assuring you have a check every monthfor the rest of your life. And

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we can take other assets and dothe same, replicate that through insurance insurance.
Think about it, ensure your car, your house, yourself. Why
not some portion of your retirement bucketsof money do the same converted to some
guaranteed income. But what are theother benefits you're dealing with and the head
winds of all This will include disabilitybenefits to extent you might have some,
need some or don't, spousal benefits, divorced spousal benefits. These that are

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all components in Social Security child incare, spousal benefits, widow widower benefits,
the child benefits, disabled benefits,disabled child benefits, mother father benefits,
divorced widow widower benefits, and soforth. Parent benefits. Grant your benefitts
something it just goes on and on. So what benefits apply to you,
Well, we'll figure it out.Socialcurity maximum Asian report or where you are
in the crossroads of life, becauseif some of those benefits don't make sense

(20:03):
to you other than widow widower,I mean, we get that we outlive
a spouse. We're looking to see, like James said, the larger the
two benefit. If we have aspousal benefit from a non spouse meaning divorced,
we kind of get that too.What are the provisions related to that?
How long do you have to bemarried? How long do you have
to not be married anymore? Howlong do you have to stay not married
at all after having been married fora certain amount of time to get a

(20:26):
certain divorced spousal benefit? Exactly?More questions and answers, But we have
more answers in questions. If that'spossible, we'd love to help you with
that. And if some of thisconfuses you, like child benefits, what
would that be for a Social Securityrecipient? Well, you'll see circumstances,
I know we do where one spousewho's the social Curity eligible participant turns onto

(20:48):
sociecurity and guess what they have amuch younger spouse. And guess what a
much younger spouse has children of thehome, their children, and one more
thing, and their age of minority. They're under eighteen. So for the
number of years that that Social Securityrecipient has children under age majority, there
are special benefits. In addition tothe check for the participant, there are

(21:08):
checks for the little ones too,all the way up until age eighteen,
until all of them get past eighteen, one by one they drop off Social
Security. Lots of extra money comingin. It's like a well, it's
just it's a helpful thing if youfind yourself in that situation. You may
not even know you're in that situation. And the interesting thing also is whose
tax returned to those benefits show upon hint, it's not the parents,

(21:32):
at least not usually. But thereis also a provision known as the kittie
tax that may or may not applyto your situation. That's why there's so
many more details to this than justsimply hey, I have benefits, let's
turn them on well. Measure twiceand cut once is really our advice on
that one. So much more toretirement than just investments, and that's why
we're holistic. Can help you withit all our fund about the office five

(21:53):
one, three, five, seven, five nine six five four calls we
can help, but stay tuned listeningto the Sound Money Investment Show with Brown
Financial Advisors. You're on fifty fivekrec the tax Station. Welcome back to
the Sound Many Investment Show. AtBrown Financial Advisors, I'm Greg Brown and

(22:15):
I'm James Morton. We are aregistered investment advisor firm. We are independent.
We do work for clients, notcompanies, and it really does all
start with the plan. That meansactually having a plan again, knowing what
you own and why you own it. So when you're seeking advice on an
old four one K four three bIRA rollover, investment planning, retirement planning,
income planning, tax planning, socialsecurity maximization are Roth conversion analysis,

(22:41):
Innyway analysis and for some perhaps evenan in service rollover all those in more
we can help five one, three, five, seven, five four.
Our website Brown Financial Advisors dot com. Go there, register for maybe some
dinner seminar workshops, listen to someof our recent podcasts. There's so much
more about our website, but thoseare two of the most important features.

(23:03):
Email team at Brown Financial Advisors dotcom our all boxes in Milford, but
west of locations in Blue, Westchesterand Florence. Y'all yeah. When you're
on the website, even look forwhere the commera Color of Money Risk Analysis
c O m R A eleven noninvasive questions. It will result in a
score on risk and tell you moreabout the color of money, which is

(23:26):
important to kind of simplify big pictureconcept. What types of money there are.
Red as unmanaged, Yellow has managedmarket type investments. Green would be
less risky, sometimes fully insured.Be careful though it can be so de
risked and so guaranteed, and sosay much on the safer side that you
can find a safe way to losemoney. But all this is a learning

(23:48):
journey. We want to help youalong and when you do come in,
we will have a sit down togo over everything you currently have, measure
your risk, measure the risk ofthe things you do currently invest in.
We'll look for the internal spreads,fees, margins and loads. We will
share all of the findings with you. Then will transition to the presentation of
a comprehensive financial plan. We willshow the investments and all things that we

(24:11):
recommend won't hold anything back. There'sno obligation, there's no cost. As
James also mentioned, we always haveeach month a couple of dinner workshops.
It's food, fund and finance.You're more than welcome to join us if
you're looking for maybe a change andadvisor, you're looking forward direction and help
with investing, financial planning, retirement. You know you're getting close. You
have all the right questions and you'rejust missing some answers or you know what

(24:34):
we found as a lot of timesyou don't even have the right questions because
you're carrying around questions other people putin your mind because they want you to
ask that question so they can giveyou their answer. We want to help
you with the independent choice of questionsthat make you better on purpose and reframe
the questions better in line with yourneeds so that you can get the answers
that actually solve for the problems thatyou're either facing, will encounter, or

(24:59):
aren't even are out there. Soas we're kind of given around on some
of the soul security related aspects,we'll go a little deeper and a couple
components that women at certain age andtransitional life will find themselves in encountering most
and it'd be like wow, widowor benefits and or diverse divorce spouse benefits.
But you know, James and Iwere talking during the break about one

(25:22):
thing is don't assume two things.One thing I'm going to cover, the
other thing he'll cover is that SoCsecurity representatives are they're not your consultants.
They're actually advised by policy not toattempt to consult. Now, they'll share
information, but it's kind of like, you know, they're just sharing it
by rote. It's not it's notspecific to your situation. They're not going
to go too deep, too far. Don't assume you're there for consult We

(25:45):
are here to consult you and helpyou coordinate what the information is you need
to get to and apply it toyour financial plan, your personal situation,
James, or something else you weretalking about that people should not assume.
Well, that's right, but byand large, they are prohibited by law
from giving you financial advice. That'swhat the government says of their workers,
are their Sociecurity Administration employees, isthat they are prohibited, by giving you

(26:10):
my policy, from giving you financialadvice. So take that with you know,
maybe a grain assault when you say, well, I'm talking to them
and this is what they've told meto do. Well, be careful with
that. So when it comes todifferent types of benefits, especially the category
of survivor benefits also known as widowwidow ware benefits, this is where oftentimes
people have maybe failed to plan properlyahead and say, well, what are

(26:33):
some of the impacts of the decisionsnow versus what they might be later.
And of course there are certain exceptions, but many married couples share a set
of circumstances where it's the husband whohas a larger retirement benefit compared to the
wives retirement benefit. Big reason whyis that women oftentimes have more breaks in
their work history breaks, meaning thatif you look at the last thirty five

(26:56):
years or the top thirty five yearsof the earnings records, there are several
times when women have a big fatgoose egg or zero because they've stopped working
to care for either a dependent parentor for children, and therefore they put
their careers on hold, whether that'sby choice or by obligation. You know,
we're not going to get into thatin today's show, but nevertheless that's

(27:17):
what we see happening quite a bit. And because again women statistically live longer.
It's often the wife who survives thehusband. And the way that the
survivor benefits work is that the survivorreceives the larger of either of their own
worker could benefit or the other theother spouse's work record benefit or in other
words, the deceased husband's benefit,And that also means that the surviving wife

(27:41):
will ultimately end up relying on herdeceased husband's benefit for the balance of her
life. Now put a little astracor caveat next to that, because sometimes
what happens is later on in lifethe wife or in this case the widow
decides to remarry. Well, whathappens then, well, that opens up
a whole new kind of worms,potentially about what types of benefits that your

(28:03):
els will to receive. But again, married couples, often in similar circumstances,
can help add a great deal ofconfidence to the surviving spouse by considering
how they can optimize the in thiscase the husband's Social Security benefit, which
in turn will serve to optimize thefuture widow's benefits. So this other transition

(28:26):
from that type of benefit to divorcespouse benefits, and a divorce can have
a negative financial impact on both spouses, and there are plenty of studies that
say that north of age fifty's it'seven worse. I mean, it can
be catastrophic. But in some situations, divorce might force a person to start
his or her Social Security benefits assoon as possible, which may be you

(28:48):
know, practically speaking, too earlypremature. It can greatly limit some of
the options, of course, theopportunities to optimize or maximize the benefits otherwise,
but divorce can also it can openup some tunities and strategies that aren't
available for married couples. So againit's a use it or lose it system.
And because of this, many peopleend up losing a great deal of
money as they just aren't familiar with, you know, in this particularly category

(29:12):
the divorced spouse benefits. Interesting facthere is that in some ways Social Security
favors divorced spouses over married couples.Now we see that throughout it seems like
anything the federal government's involved in,it seems to have a bias against the
married couple, traditional society, youknow, view of the home. But

(29:32):
I don't know how intentional this is, but the fact is it can just
seem to favor the divorce spouse scenarioone example, but there's also one major
catch. The divorce spouse well,go back to when you were married in
the first place. You had tobe married for at least ten years to
be aligible for divorced spouse benefits.How about that? Yes, nicely nicely

(29:52):
said here. You know, anexample of this is that you might be
able to claim benefits based on Xspouse's earnings record even if he or she
has remarried. The new spouse iscollecting spousal benefits. That that blows people's
mind. That in so, letme just reframe that. People are surprised
that they can claim a spouse's recordover their own. That's that's one second.

(30:15):
They're even equally or more surprised thatthey're going to claim part of the
well the record of a spouse whohas gone on to be remarried, because
in our minds we're thinking how manyways can you slice this money. Some
even think, all, I'm goingto get him or her, I'll claim
their benefit as though they're not goingto get it or they're going to get
less. Now it doesn't work thatway. Hey, they might not even
know that they're that you're getting theirbenefit and equal benefit to their own benefit,

(30:38):
because they'll get it too. It'sjust it's just an interesting thing.
And then um or that that thereis even a benefit such as this,
So the same is true in thesituation was reversed. Your X might be
able to claim spousal benefits off ofyour earnings record. There's nothing you can
do about it. I mean,it's it's not like they're getting something from
you that you're not going to getfor yourself. There's a lot of emotion

(31:02):
obviously in baggage tied into the conceptof divorce post divorce, and then you
bring in ad in money, itcan get a bit wonky. But anyway,
these are benefits. They don't diminishanyone else's. They can benefit you.
And that's the point. When thebenefits are successfully claimed, neither X
nor the excess new spouse is notifiedby SOLIS security. Nonetheless, and to

(31:22):
file off the X, they andyou don't have to let them know.
You can if you want to,if it makes you feel better. But
here's the point. That person hasto be eligible to receive benefits for you.
Then to be eligible to receive thedivorce or what is effectively a form
of espousal benefit. So, inother words, typically when they're sixty two
and above is when they're eligible forsociecurity. That's I would say, the

(31:47):
breaking point between when they're not eligiblefor benefits age sixty one or before versus
sixty two and above. They areeligible. At that point you can start
considering that as a potential benefit tobe had. Now, the next tip
would be about taxes. Don't forgetabout taxes. Yes, tax finding is
important for everyone, both men andwomen. But there's one aspect that could

(32:09):
prove to be especially crucial for marriedwomen, and that's because many widows get
the unwelcome surprise upon the death oftheir spouse. It's often called the widows
tax penalty and has triggered when thedeath of the husband causes a shift from
a filing a joint tax return tonow maybe filing as single. Now,

(32:30):
there are times, depending upon yoursituation, where you're filing status is either
filing jointly even after the husband orthe spouse has passed away, and there's
also the widows form of a taxfiling status. But again, the year
after that person has died is whenyour new filing status typically is single,

(32:51):
and it also can create a situationwhere the survivor's tax rate stays the same
or EEF and rises while their incomedrops. So there's it's almost like you
get penalized twice with having maybe thesame level of income but have the exemptions
to claim on your filing status,or you now have the same filing status
but income is mismatched. So itdoes definitely affect men. But the surviving

(33:17):
spals typically is the woman and that'swhere typically the widows tax comes in.
Our fun number at the Alphas fiveone three, five seven five ninety six
five four. Callus we can help, but stay tuned to listening to the
Sound Money Investment Show with Brown FinancialAdvisors here on fifty five care the Tax
Station. Welcome back to the SoundMany Investment Show with Brown Financial Advisors.

(33:45):
I'm Greg Brown and I'm James.More than we are an independent uria.
We do our for clients, notcompanies. Our fund number five one three,
five seven five nine five four.Website Brown Financial Advisors dot com.
Email team at Brown Financial Advisors dotCom. Home offices in Milford, but
we also have locations in Blue Ash, Westchester and launch Greg, Well,

(34:06):
let's look at something here that isi'd say very important and that would choose
choose a financial advisor wisely recommend thatyou find yourself a place and can have
balanced financial approach, balanced financial planning, a holistic one at that, not
just investments. You know, youwouldn't set in a one leg a chair.
Why would you sit in one legged, one service financial environment that just

(34:30):
does investments, or just does insurance, or really only works for the company
and not for you the clients.We work for clients, not companies.
Finish your interest, to put yourinterest first. So as you look at
the big picture of retirement and financialservices, retirement is complicated, investing,
taxes, self security, healthcare,just some of the many issues. You

(34:52):
know, literally, tax preparation,tax advisory work is very important. Financial
planning, income planning, making bigdecisi on how you invest within your plan,
not just the investment some cells,but the overall plan, the efficiencies
of it, the certainty of certainaspects of it, the guarantees. Where
are the guarantees are guaranteed to geta paycheck each month? Or you're just

(35:14):
going to go to the mailbox andkind of cross your fingers toes and hope
it's there, and then go backto the house and break the news to
your spouse. Either way, makingthis decision is incredibly important. So the
many issues that need to be addressedbefore you can work towards your retirement goals
need professional help in a holistic fashion. That's what would be recommended. Because

(35:36):
as often you'll hear say as aform of a question and answering form of
a question is do you still goto see a pedia attrition for healthcare?
You don't, And in this phaseof life, you shouldn't make a similar
mistake in seeing someone underhorsed, underversed, under You know, the lackey

(35:57):
of expertise to help you in abig picture weight to succeed through this.
So not only means needing help andthe knowledge of a knowledgeable financial advisor,
but it's important to work with someoneyou also feel comfortable with. You've had
an opportunity to listen to us forfifteen years. Maybe you feel like you
know us. We can't quite seeyou. If you speak up, maybe
we could hear you, or youjust give us a call, right five

(36:19):
one three, five seven, fivenine six five four five seven five nine
six five four You can email usteam at Brown Financial Advisors dot com sharing
your questions, your concerns. Justsay howdy that you like to begin a
process. The processes we just evaluatewhere you are, present what we find,
share recommendations, no obligation, presenta comprehensive plan just missing your fingerprints.

(36:42):
You get involved. We tinker aroundthat, get it to a full
completion mode to where it has arepresentation of the way you want to invest,
not only the things that make youbetter. You get a choice,
Your preference matters. It's your money, you're the boss, it's your life,
it's your retirement. So we justwant to present the skill set that
best serves your retirement timing and experience. So what that means if you're younger

(37:04):
and still have a number of yearsbefore retiring, you're in what we refer
to as the accumulation stage. Hey, it's never too early to get started.
And if you're out there and you'retransitioning to the other phase where you're
starting to take money back from yourretirement's like paying yourself back from your own
money for the rest of you forever. That's a distribution phase and we can
help you with that too. Soif you're in that phase, it's not
too late. If you're an accumulation, it's not too early. So during

(37:25):
all this period of time, wejust recommend don't settle for a broker don't
put your nest egg in a brokeragefirm or an entrench group or your local
bank in its financial area, becausethat financial area is very typically sourced or
outserviced. So and don't fall forjust a simple what is the cost?

(37:47):
What is your fee? No,become familiar. Let us help you with
the concept of total cost of ownership, because you can be lost led by
a fee and end up in thewrong place for the wrong reason. And
you can you can cheapen your ownretirement and you can diminish your outcome on
something this vital, and that wouldbe very sad. You only get typically

(38:07):
one good shot at retirement. Right, this retirement come with duovers? No,
does not typically come with duovers.Are we retired? Who are we
to talk about retirement like we've beenretired or retired know all this stuff?
Because we do. We know thisstuff. We've seen, My goodness,
what have we seen? Probably probablynorth of thirteen thousand households in fifteen years.

(38:29):
We are the laboratory, the proverbiallaboratory that know the inputs and outputs
and what works and what doesn't,what's highly probable to work, and what
probably will not work at all.Wouldn't you like the benefit by that experience
on a personal basis and make ita personal application. Maybe that sounds like
a personal appeal to you, Maybeyou need to hear it this way.
But to accomplish the objectives throughout yourdifferent financial phases of life, it's going

(38:51):
to require expertise scenaria of advisory,and I would suggest to you it needs
to be a holistic advisory firm atthat. So come see someone just like
guys, give us a call,reach out to us. We'll help you.
Well. The next tip is aboutplanning for healthcare, and yes,
as we get older, we getinto the age of medicare, that's almost
always what we assume that that meansis how do I make the proper medicare

(39:15):
decisions? You know, maybe contrastwith when you're younger, it's like,
well, what's my best choice ifI should need to go to the doctor
or the hospital or need healthcare?Versus in our later years it's like,
well, not if, but whenwhat's my best choice when I need to
use my health in choice or myhealthcare, And yes, when it comes
to Medicare, sometimes we hear this, there are so many different choices out

(39:37):
there, how do I know whichone to choose? Well, exactly,
That's why you come see someone suchas us, so we can cut through
the different choices and help you makewhat might be the best or at least
a really good decision for you.Sometimes there's multiple plans that kind of tie
for number one, if you will, as far as what might be the
best solution for you. And maybeon the converse, to look at it

(40:00):
this way, if you're complaining abouthaving too many choices, how about this,
would you like the government to decidefor you what you're going to have
for health insurance or have the choicefor yourself to decide what you want to
have for health insurance? For me, I'd rather have those choices, And
I'd also rather have someone you know, such as us who can help you
cut through the different things that haveto be really decided upon to make what

(40:23):
might be a really good decision foryou on your Medicare insurance. Now,
just for examp beyond Medicare, typicallythere's two worlds of Medicare insurance. There's
the Medicare supplements versus the Medicare advantageplans. For some one model works great
for others, maybe not so much. So once again, we can help
you with those different types of enrollmentdecisions. Also your prescription drug plans those

(40:45):
go along with it. So allyour different types of Medicare benefits. What
is the best approach for you whenit comes to health insurance? And once
again, Medicare being an individualized approachto health insurance means that what a husband
has for a health insurance their Medicareplan might be different from what the wife
has for their needs for their Medicareplan. So it is individual. It

(41:08):
is also very personal and we canhelp you with those decisions. Greg,
any thoughts, Yeah, I justwith healthcare it's a pretty large cost.
You've got to have that nailed down. It's just part of the overall plan
you need to look at putting yourplan in writing. Ask a financialiser such
as us. We find so manypeople don't actually have a plan. By
default, their plan is to fail. It's not their desire, but they

(41:30):
don't have a real plan. Comesee what a real plan looks like in
the real analysis that goes behind it. A long term financial plan, a
written plan, the framework for definingyour goals, shaping your decisions, the
types of investments that align with allthe above to help you set your sights
and the goals and the long termthey'll help you keep on track regardless of
market conditions, news and noise ofthe day, and even unfortunately unexpected life

(41:52):
events which do, for a facthappen. So beyond a plan, having
a plan, having and writing whatdo you need to any plan and a
plan? B Well, I'm ahope not, but you just might need
a backup plan. Yes, So, speaking of life events when they happen,
can we pre assess? Can weassume together some of the types of

(42:13):
events that might happen even though wedon't want them to? Certainly we can.
Can we then project those on topof other projections on a what if
else kind of conditional you know,reality and kind of blue sky that to
see the impact. He passes ateighty four, Where does that leave you?
She passes at ninety one. Oh, you're not here anyway. How

(42:36):
does it affect the estate? Maybeyou are here? Oh my, what
do we do? What if there'sa critical illness along the way starts to
chip away at the nest egg.You're not going to die. You're going
to be okay, but you're notwell and it costs a lot of money
keeping you feeling well enough to live. Where's the detour? What happens?
Does the train derail or is itjust get bumpy for a while? We're

(42:57):
all going to be okay? Whatis the backup plan? Contain agencies?
When it comes to the estate,it's kind of a backup plan this side
of eternity UNI an estate plan becauseyou probably fogg to mirror. Therefore you
have an estate. What is it? Will it change between here and the
finish line? Will some children disappointyou? Will some folks need to be
written out of the script. Somepeople just fall out and disappear from the
script. Maybe adult children pass.It happens. It's very sad, it's

(43:20):
out of sequence. Nothing about it'sfair. But as these things happen,
what do you do then? Whatdo you think in terms of the in
law who survived your son or daughterwho is in law today becomes an outlaw
tomorrow, Oh my, or marriesHarold the horrible and what happens to the
resources you planned on sending your son'sway now to his estate, to the

(43:44):
in law who's maybe now outlawed becauseyou married Harold the Horrible. And there's
your grandchildren. Did they just getcut out? What provisions can you make
to make sure they don't? Canyou give too much? Can you be
too loving? Can you pay forone vacation too many for the family like
you've been doing most of their adultlives leading up to your retirement when you
entered a fixed income reality? Where'syour coach? Who's your coach, who's

(44:06):
on your team, who's got yourback? We'd like to help you.
So yes, the last part ofthe retirement planning for is the planning for
your family's future. That means thelegacy. So the estates creating a strategy
that's designed to take care of yourerrors while optimizing your retirement income. Again,
your retirement comes first, but onceagain, legacy is very important to

(44:28):
plan for as well. There's more, there's much more off front to beout
Alpha's five one three, five seven, five nine six five four again five
one three, five seven, fivenine six five four call us we can
help now on behalf of Greg myself, James, thank you for listening today.
Have a great We can remember thissound money where good things are believable,
achievable and true for you,