Whatever life after 50 looks like to you, thinking about money in retirement shouldn’t keep you up at night. We’re all dealing with the big questions about money and aging: How much you can really spend, how to invest your life savings without risking it all in the stock market, and should you sell your home and downsize? Then there’s the biggest unknown: how much health care you’ll need, and whether your savings and insurance is enough to cover the costs. This is personal. These topics may not be easy to talk about with your own family. That’s why nationally known personal finance experts Terry Savage, Richard Eisenberg, and Pam Krueger and are here to open up the dialogue so you can learn how to define your retirement and deal with your money on your own terms.
These three friends think, write, and speak about these issues. And now they’re joining forces to give you the benefit of their experience, wisdom and advice in their new podcast, Friends Talk Money.
Each week Richard, Pam and Terry will discuss a different piece of the retirement pie. Everything from Social Security and Medicare to investing and cash flow management is on the table, with practical, common-sense advice on how to deal with these and other challenges.
But don’t expect cut-and-dried answers. These friends have strong opinions, and aren’t afraid to debate the pros and cons of their friends’ recommendations. But what you will walk away after each episode is a greater awareness of the retirement planning issues you’ll need to address with the help of your family, friends and financial advisor.
Only 17% of low and moderate-income adults aged 50 or older believe they are in good financial health, according to research from the Financial Health Network. Many of these people don’t have enough income or assets to work with a financial planner. This leaves them with many unanswered questions about how to manage their income and reduce their debts during retirement, how to choose Medicare coverage, and when they should start taking Social Security benefits. While robo-advisors can help peopl...
May 13, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast
According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute 2021 Retirement Confidence Survey, more than half of workers and a third of retirees said that debt was a major problem in their household. Too much debt can negatively impact your credit score, which banks and other lenders use to determine whether to approve your credit card or loan request and how much interest you’ll pay. That’s why it’s important to check on your creditworthiness on a regular basis. You’re entitled to receive one free cre...
May 06, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Most retirees want to live independently as long as possible. But it’s important to have realistic expectations of what you’ll be able to do on your own as you grow older. According to a University of Michigan survey of 8,000 seniors, 31% of respondents between the ages of 80-89 said they could live independently. That number dropped to just 4% for those over 90. If you’re hoping to live independently by staying in your home—or moving to a condo or townhouse in a retirement community—you’ll need...
Apr 28, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast
According to a recent MetLife survey, 19% of full-time Baby Boomers said they would need to delay retiring because of COVID-19-related financial challenges. However, in the same survey, 12% said that the pandemic had convinced them to retire earlier, citing reasons such as dissatisfaction with their job or “life is too short.” There’s also a growing movement known as Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE). These workers, mostly highly paid Millennials and Generation Zers, are committed to s...
Apr 15, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Many retirees allocate 60% or more of their portfolios to bonds, having followed the traditional mantra that fixed income securities are less risky investments than stocks. But what many are finding out is that with interest rates at historically low levels, the bonds they own may not be generating significant income and, in fact, may be hindering, rather than boosting, their portfolio’s total returns. With money market instruments earning less than 0.5% and most long-term CDs earning less than ...
Apr 09, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast
New research from EMD Serono’s Embracing Carers initiative found that 54% of family caregivers said that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened their financial health. To help pay for their parent’s medical and living costs, children may have to use money they were saving for retirement or their own children’s higher education. If a caregiver has to quit a full-time job, this may reduce their future Social Security benefits and keep them from saving for their own retirement at work. There are a numb...
Apr 01, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast
According to a recent UBS poll, 60% of women surveyed let their spouses and partners handle their finances. This is not uncommon, even among wealthy couples. The gradual shifting of financial responsibility and knowledge to one person often begins early in the relationship. But if the couple goes through divorce or the family financial manager dies or becomes physically or mentally incapacitated, their spouse or partner will have to scramble to figure out where their money is, how it’s being inv...
Mar 11, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Right now, millions of high school seniors are receiving acceptance letters and financial aid offers from colleges and universities. These offers usually include a combination of merit-based scholarships and grants, student loans, work study grants, and private parent loans. In past years, it was challenging to convince many schools to increase this aid. But according to author and college planning expert Ron Lieber, with the COVID-19 crisis reducing the number of applicants to most schools, par...
Mar 05, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast
As Richard says, “It’s a doozy of a tax year.” The IRS will be way behind in issuing refunds, yet the deadline for filing your 2020 federal tax returns is still April 15. For most people, it will be filing as usual, but there are situations where special attention may be required. If you earned $75,000 or less ($150,000 as a couple) in 2020 and should have received a $1,200 government stimulus payment last year and a $600 payment in January but didn’t, you can claim these missing payments when y...
Feb 24, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast
In January, news from Wall Street was dominated by the GameStop saga. To put it simply, a group of individual investors belonging to a social media forum called WallStreetBets started buying shares of GameStop, a moribund online videogame retailer. This speculation drove the price up from $20 to nearly $500 in three weeks. The WallStreetBets clique pitched a Main Street versus Wall Street story, claiming that they were trying to punish hedge funds, which were making huge bets that the price of G...
Feb 18, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast
