Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Welcome to Take Pride in Retirement, the podcast dedicated to helping members of the LGBTQ community protect and grow their hard earned money. Get set for a show full of education and insights with your host and advisor, Matt McClure. We recognize every family is unique. The goal of the show is to help you achieve financial freedom so you and your loved ones can have the retirement you've always dreamed of. A retirement you can take pride in.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: No matter who you are, where you're.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: From, or who you love.
So now let's start the Show. Here's Matt McClure.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Hello, and welcome to another edition of Take Pride in retirement. Matt McClure here with you, your advisor, your friend, your pal, and your confidant. Thanks so much for being a part of things this time around. Got a lot to get to here on this edition of the show. It is Halloween week. It is the spooky season as I am doing this episode. And so we're going to talk about the three scariest mistakes that retirees make.
We're going to talk about health care planning, we're going to talk about longevity, and we're going to talk about the old tax goblin that may sneak around and. And rear his ugly head. So we got a lot of that to get to here. We also are going to talk about something that's. That's scary in, in this month and all year round, really, and that is RSV.
Thousands of people in the country actually die from RSV every year. Tens of thousands are hospitalized, more than 10,000 hospitalized. So it's a big deal.
And I'm going to talk to an expert, a health expert about it and someone who has suffered from it and how it affects people who are, you know, 50 and older at and that they are very susceptible to it if they contract rsv. So it's something that you need to pay attention to. All right, so that is that. We're going to get to it here in just a sec. But if this is your first time following along here on the show, is this your first time listening to the show, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Appreciate you being a part of things this time around and hopefully in the future as well.
Take pride in retirement.com is the website take pride in retirement.com that is the website, once again, for the show search for Take Pride in retirement on YouTube. There are also, by the way, many things that you can do on the website.
You can go there, you can browse around, read more about me and why I do what I do.
You can also, while you're there, schedule a free consultation. Yeah, it's absolutely free of any cost or any obligation. You'll only, you know, work with me if you feel like that's the best thing for you and I'll only do the best for you because I am held to a fiduciary capacity. Fiduciary responsibility. Right. Fiduciary standard, I should say. And so that is my commitment to you when I work with you one on one. And I hope that you'll go in and schedule that free consultation. Just do that. Once again, take pride in retirement.com or hey, if you like to use that, that thing that you carry around in your pocket as an actual phone, you can give me a call on it. 8552-4692-1185-5246-9211 is the number to call. And yeah, as far as I know, they still work that way.
So feel free to give me a call on the old phone if that's more your speed. All right, a lot to get to here, but first let's get some inspiration for our conversation with our quote of the week.
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.
This time around, the quote comes from Anonymous.
That's a pretty spooky thing too. Anonymous, we don't know who you are, but you said wise things, so we're gonna give your quote. And whoever you are out there, just, you know, take solace in the fact that your wise words live on.
Here we go. It is this financial planning is like ghost hunting. You're chasing invisible threats before they manifest.
You're chasing invisible threats before they manifest.
Boy, that is true.
It's. It's like, you know, it's one of the reasons I feel like that financial planning doesn't necessarily take on as much importance when you are younger. A lot of the time there are a lot of younger people actually have some younger clients who are on top of it. And I am very, very proud of them because when I was their age, I was not on top of things. I've gotten much more so over the years. But generally speaking, when it's harder to get people to focus on financial health and planning and well being, because you're looking at the Long term. And when you are younger, that thing seems so far away. I'll think about that when I get there, you know, but there are those invisible threats that can really rear their ugly heads along the way. And so you got to be prepared for those. You got to be prepared ahead of time, right? You can't just go willy nilly into the, into the darkness and think, okay, I'm going to be fine and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. No, it's got to be something that you plan for and you've got to have that goal in mind. Whatever your goal is. If your goal is to have a retirement where you sit around on the front porch and sit juleps all day, great, let's make that happen. Or if you want to travel a bunch, let's make that happen to whatever your goal is. I want to help you achieve it.
But as we are in the spooky season here, we're going to kick things off with three big mistakes here. The three biggest retirement mistakes that we see people make just really time and time again. The very first one is going to be outliving your money. So not planning for longevity. Number two, not planning for health care and then ignoring taxes. The old tax goblin coming to coming home to roost or something, whatever goblins do.
So let's start with the one that really is. We've talked about it before on the show, but it bears repeating here during spooky season. That is the one that scares retirees the most. Outliving your money. It really is the biggest fear of retirees. Survey after survey has shown that money talks. News reports that, you know, Americans are living longer than ever and that many of them are spending 25 to 30 years in retirement. And so they say that nearly half are likely to outlive their savings. According to that report.
They're rising expenses as well. Things are not getting cheaper. I don't know if you've noticed.
Any time you've basically stepped out the door, you'll notice that things are not getting any cheaper out there. And so even with some careful planning, inflation and the unexpected costs that come along with that or ancillary to that, such as, you know, things like health care, of course, that's a huge one in retirement especially.
Or home repairs can really drain your savings faster than you might expect.
Underestimating your retirement length is a big deal because if you're retiring at 65, that often means, you know, funding at least 25 years of retirement.
And so that's going to be without earned income, right? Because you're, you're retiring and generally speaking, you're not going to go back to work. A lot of people do. If you want to go back to work, that's the goal is to, you know, if that's one of the things that you want to do in retirement, maybe get you a little part time job or something so that you can, you know, that helps the time pass, keeps you occupied. That's great for your mental health, whatever the situation may be. That's awesome and that's great. That's something that we want you to do and we can help you reach that goal. We don't want you to be in a situation where you go back to work because you have to. Right? That's a scary thing.
And so let's say a five year underestimate of your retirement length can really increase the odds of running out of savings big time.
So one big mistake too, within this mistake that we see is, is people, when they're planning or not planning, their men may or may not have longevity in mind, right? And so they kind of will just set it and forget it, right? They'll come up with, okay, here's what I want. I've got maybe the old 6040 portfolio, 60% stocks, 40% bonds. I was going to let that ride and see what happens.
And that really is one of the most dangerous retirement strategies because things change over time. Think how, how different the world is now than it was, heck, just 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30.
And how investing has changed and how financial planning has changed because of the changes all around us. Things don't stay the same. Your financial plan should not, should not stay the same either.
So you gotta plan to live longer than you think you're going to. You got to at least have that number in mind.
And the thing is, you know, running out of money in retirement, that's not a thing that kind of happens overnight. It builds slowly through, you know, small financial missteps over time. That's why it's important to have a solid plan. You know, overspending, skipping financial reviews with an advisor intent and failing to adjust for, you know, your changing needs, let alone the changes around the world. But your changing needs, all of that stuff can really quietly drain your savings. It's sort of that thing that sneaks up on you. Things that go bump in the night, that's one of the things that can go bump in the night and then put its hand in your pocket and take your money. And that is not A fun thing, a flexible plan with multiple sources of income that is going to be your best bet. Yearly check ins as well to make sure that you are still on track. That is also something that you need to do and build that retirement income that combines that retirement plan rather that combines guaranteed income with growth and also with, you know, safety.
We got your growth, you got your safety. You've got the ability to turn on a lifetime income stream and then don't just set it and forget it. Review it each year to stay on track. So take pride in retirement.com. that is the place to go. Take pride in retirement.com schedule a free consultation. I'll go into more about how you can do that in your particular situation because I can yak on about, you know, generic and more generalized things here on the show all the time, but when it comes right down to it, it all depends on your individual situation. No retirement plan is or should be one size fits all at all. It is not and it should not be. So if somebody tries to sell you a one size fits all retirement plan run, don't walk away from that particular person.
All right. So yeah, the sort of cheesy title that I came up with for this next big retirement scary mistake here is, was the mummy's medical bill.
You know, if you've been buried in a, a sarcophagus under a pyramid for thousands of years and you never paid off your medical bills, maybe you've not, you're not having such a good time. But I think that probably the having been buried for thousands of years would be the greater shock Anyway, the mummy's medical bill failing to plan for health care costs. Boy, such a huge thing. You know, health care costs really can kind of rise from the grave when you least expect them. Because health is one of those things. I mean how many times have we seen it or heard it right where somebody is, oh, that person's perfectly healthy and then the next day they have heart attack or the next day they're diagnosed with something or God forbid, the next day they just drop dead.
To be really morbid about happens, unexpected health things happen.
It's one of those facts of life and you never know when they might happen to you. So you have to plan so your savings don't get drained in case of something like that.
Fidelity reporting that a 65 year old couple is going to need about $330,000 to cover lifetime health care expenses. Do you have that much if you are a healthy 65 year old couple? If not, call me or go to the website.
Medicare definitely does not pay for everything. Just did a big Medicare episode last time around. It does not pay for everything by a long shot. Dental, vision, hearing aids, most long term care, really all long term care to speak of. All of that stuff has got to come out of pocket or you got to get separate coverage for it because Medicare doesn't take care of it. Long term care that I just mentioned, a private room.
According to a Genworth study, a private room in a nursing home is averaging about $110,000 per year.
$110,000 a year.
Assisted living exceeds 60,000.
So make sure that you are planning for that because can you afford to just pay that out of pocket?
I mean most people can't, right? They just pay that out of pocket.
Unless you've planned for it, you've set that aside.
And then the Bureau of Labor Statistics is showing that medical inflation is about 4 to 6% per year.
That is way above the typical retirees budget increase every year. So you've got to make sure that you've got a plan for that in place as well.
And healthcare costs really are one of the we've seen this play out in real life that medical costs are one of the top reasons for people to have that number one fear realized, running out of money.
So you've got to plan early.
Plan early and often for health care.
Consider supplemental coverage, an hsa, a health savings account, maybe long term care insurance or as part of your overall plan an annuity maybe that has a long term care rider in it where you'll have access to a lump sum of money and or the income from that annuity will double if you are confined to a nursing facility or other long term care home. All right. Take pride in retirement.com that is the website take prideinretirement.com or the number 8552-4692-1185-5246-9211 all right, so one more here before we get to the interview that I am really excited to share with you because just speaking with them just recorded this interview today as I'm as I'm doing the show and it was really really great. Some great info so all about RSV and its importance during RSV awareness month and all year round. But we'll get to that in just a moment. First though, one more topic, one more fear, one more scary scary mistake is ignoring Uncle Sam's tricks. Uncle Sam doesn't usually have a lot of treats as far as taxes go. It's mostly tricks and so we've got to pay attention to the old tax goblin there because a lot of retirees really are caught off guard by things like required minimum distributions.
You know, investment gains in Social Security may push them into higher tax brackets.
The along with retire required minimum distributions in retirement, which now started age 73. Eventually that'll work their way up to 75.
But at 73 right now you're required to take money from any account that your retirement account that has not been taxed, something like a traditional IRA or 401K.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: And so those become mandatory at age 73. So you're required to take money out. Therefore you have to pay the taxes on that amount. That's why they're required to be taken out, because you've never paid the taxes on them before.
So that is something to be aware of. Social Security surprises as well. I mean, 85% up to 85%, I should say, of your Social Security benefit can be taxed depending on your total income. You know, for some of you it could be up to 50%, some of you could be up to 85%.
It depends on your individual situation. Once again, double taxation, don't ignore that as well. You know, withdrawals from those tax deferred accounts can increase Medicare premiums because of the IRMAA surcharges, those income related Medicare adjustment amount.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: Right.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: So you could see your Medicare premiums go up if you have too much income in the couple of years before you start taking Medicare. Especially there's that two year look back period.
And so that can shrink that take home income.
You know, modest investment gains or you know, capital withdrawals can push you into a higher tax bracket without warning.
That's something to be concerned about as well. Especially if you just shoot way past one tax bracket into another. And that's something that we can take a look at and see what you might be affected by or how you might be affected by that in retirement when we meet one on one. And so some smart moves here to stay ahead are to space out your Roth conversions over several years instead of making one big move because you pay the taxes up front on anything that goes into a Roth. Right.
So if you do it all in one fell swoop, then you're going to have a big tax bill that year potentially. And so that could work out not as well in your favor as it could if you just did a little bit at a time over several years contributing to a Roth or you know, converting to a Roth, really, I should say, because then you spread out that tax burden and you don't potentially put yourself into a much higher tax bracket. As a result, you coordinate withdrawals across different accounts and account types to manage your taxable income. That's just where we talk about different buckets of money. Talked about that on the show before. Having that taxable bucket, a tax deferred bucket, a tax free bucket, and then making sure that you coordinate those withdrawals and or, you know, generating an income stream from those buckets. Make sure you coordinate those so that you minimize your tax burden in retirement. Don't want you to, you know, do any tax evasion because that would be illegal tax avoidance and avoiding paying too much in taxes. That's the goal and that's perfectly legal.
Review your income each and every year and see how that affects your tax bracket. And importantly, especially this time of year, where I'll say again, it is Medicare annual enrollment season. And so you got to be thinking about that as well. It affects your Medicare costs if you make over certain amounts of money. All right, so give me a call, 855-2469-211855-24692 11 or go to take PrideInRetirement.com again, the website. Take PrideInRetirement.com we are here at the.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: Tail end of October, but it's been Respiratory Sensational Virus Awareness Month. Now you might say, what in the world is that? It's more commonly known as rsv, which is a common, contagious, potentially serious respiratory illness that really does kick off circul fall and in the wintertime. Joining me now to talk more about RSV and its dangers and all of that, I've got Dr. Leonard Friedland, who's the vice President and Director of Scientific affairs at and public health at GSK North America. Dr. Friedland, how are you, sir?
[00:20:46] Speaker D: I'm great. And thanks for your interest in this important topic.
[00:20:49] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: I appreciate it.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: We also have Carol with us who she's a national Senior games athlete. Carol, thank you so much for being here.
[00:20:57] Speaker E: Yeah, thank you. And I appreciate you having me on your show.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: Yeah, no worries at all. It's, it's great to have you both. And you know, Dr. Friedland, let's just start with you. Kind of give us a baseline here of why RSV is so it's just so important to, to draw attention to.
[00:21:15] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. So RSV is the respiratory sensational virus.
We just call it RSV for short. And it's common and it's contagious and potentially serious, especially in infants and in older adults. And this virus affects the lungs and our breathing passageways, and it's most likely going to be spread in the fall and winter. So right now, this time of year.
And many people associate RSV as the disease of infants, but indeed, it also is a serious disease in adults.
And that's because adults with RSV can develop serious complications, including hospitalizations, visits to the intensive care unit, and even die from this disease.
In fact, in the United states, for people 65 years of age and older, it's estimated there's about 177,000 hospitalizations due to RSV each year.
And unfortunately, of those people hospitalized, about 14,000 will die as adults from RSV each year in the United States.
And so who's at risk?
One risk factor is advancing age, especially above the age of 75, but also for people 50 to 74 who have underlying medical conditions such as asthma. And you'll hear about Carol's story as well. She has that particular underlying medical condition. But other medical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, weakened immune Systems, places adults 50 to 74 also at increased risk from severe outcomes from RSV. And so, as this virus circulates in fall and winter, now's the time to get informed, have the information, and take steps to try to prevent this disease. And we can talk a bit more about what those preventative steps are.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. So, Carol, though, tell us. The doctor kind of teed us up here to talk about your particular experience with rsv. I mean, you obviously, as a national senior Games athlete, you're someone who is. Is very active, but you still have had this personal experience with rsv. Tell us about that.
[00:23:27] Speaker E: Thanks, Matt. Of course I would.
Yes. Like Dr. Friedman said, I was one of those people that experienced that. I was also one of those people that thought it was only for babies. I do have an underlying condition, and I definitely have asthma. And as a result of that, my experience was definitely severe. I had it at 55, so I was in that younger age group between that closer to 50. So I didn't even originally realize that that's what I had.
But what I do know is when I had it, it was debilitating.
It really stopped me in my tracks. As an athlete, we're generally used to being able to push our body to do things. We know what our body's capable of, and we know our breaking point, because we're always trying to get to that breaking point as we train.
But severe RSV was my breaking point. It definitely broke me for a period. I wasn't able to even get out of the bed. And that made it difficult because I'm very much used to pushing past things and making things work.
It did not. It was very difficult. I couldn't breathe.
I could barely sit up.
I was.
I had fever, joint aches, everything. There was just a lot going on that it was completely, what felt like it was out of my control.
[00:24:45] Speaker C: Wow. And I bet that is something that.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: Probably changed your view of, of your health overall.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: I mean, like you said, you. You thought that maybe this, you know, RSV was just something for infants, but I guess this is kind of a, I don't know, kind of a, maybe a wake up call, you know, health wise. Even though you're, you know, a healthy person and an active person, I bet it probably changed your perspective on a lot of things.
[00:25:10] Speaker E: Absolutely. It changed my perspective in not taking my health for granted because I'm an active athlete. I thought I wasn't taking my health for granted. I thought I was taking care of myself. I thought I was doing everything that needed to be done. I managed my nutrition, I managed my training. But what I forgot to manage is my overall health. So it gave me a view of more holistic health. It made me talk to my doctor about what options were for me once I became ill. I realized that I needed to be more active in my overall health care. So it definitely changed my view there.
[00:25:47] Speaker C: Yeah. And Dr. Friedland, you mentioned, you know, some of the preventative or, you know, kind of the proactive steps that people can take in preventing severe rsv.
Go through some of those, if you will, because, you know, I guess as the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure here.
[00:26:04] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
So RSV is a common contagious respiratory virus, and just like all of the other respiratory viruses, hand washing, staying away from people who are sick, ourselves, if we're sick, not exposing other people.
These are all the important things. Of course, as we get older, we also want to focus in on our overall nutrition, exercise, sleep, et cetera. But the virus is contagious.
And the best tool that we have is prevention. And the reason for that is that there is no treatment for rsv. There's no medication to take that will stop the progression of this or treat or cure this illness.
When people are sick with rsv, the treatment is supportive. It's oxygen hydration and just getting them through the illness. Managing fever, for example. So the best tool that we have is vaccination, because vaccination is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of those severe outcomes from rsv, including outcomes such as hospitalization.
The good news is, is that there are now three different RSV vaccines that are available for use in adults here in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control recommends a single dose of an RSV vaccine for all adults over the age of 75 and RSV vaccination for adults 50 to 74 with those underlying medical conditions like asthma, COPD, diabetes, weakened immune systems. So the best tool we have is knowledge and that's what speaking to you today is all about. That's what our TV special, redefining Aging with Senior Athletes is all about. And also the information we have at our website, sidelinersv.com get those resources, have that discussion. Now's the time to speak to the doctor, the pharmacist, learn about RSV and speak about options such as RSV vaccination.
[00:27:56] Speaker C: Very good. Well, we'll send our listeners in that direction to the website as well.
That's going to just about wrap us up here. But Dr. Leonard Friedland with GSK North America and Carol, who is a national Senior Games athlete, thank you so much both for, for sharing, especially Carol sharing.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Your story here with us.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: Really do appreciate your time.
[00:28:15] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:28:16] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Well, that's going to do it for this edition of Take Pride in Retirement. Thank you so much for being a part of things. I really do appreciate it as always.
Just really look forward to our next episode. We'll go through some more of some some scary fact, your money and some ways to make your retirement a little less scary as you get closer and closer to it, get you to and through retirement. That's my goal here on the show. And you know, when I work with folks one on one each and every day, I would love to work with you as well. Just give me a call. Once again, 855-246-9211 or go to take pride in retirement dot com. That is it for this time around. Until next time. As always, take pride in yourselves and take care of each other. We'll see you then.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to Take Pride in Retirement. Members of the LGBTQ community deserve to work with a fiduciary financial advisor who puts their needs first. To schedule a free no obligation consultation with Matt McClure and the team at Active Wealth Management. Call 855-246-9211 or go online to Take Pride in Retirement investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management llc, bcm, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Active Wealth Management, Inc. Are independent of each other insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Registered Investment Advisors and Investment Advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure the ADV2.2A, item 4 for additional information. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not in any way refer to investment advisory products. Rates and guarantees provided by insurance products and annuities are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company, not guaranteed by any bank or the fdic.
