May 2024

Podcast

Ep. 44 – How Much Will I Spend in Retirement?

Thanks everyone for tuning in!

As we continue our review season with clients, it’s a friendly reminder of how important a retirement spending budget is! This is a key input your financial advisor must know to run accurate projections for you. Remember, the outputs are only as good as the inputs.

In our last episode, we talked about how important an assumed retirement age is. This week, we will focus on projecting how much you’ll spend in retirement.

This is a very personal question that is tough to fit into a “rule of thumb.” However, I’ll focus on discussing a few rules of thumb and ways you can project an accurate spending number. From there, we’ll talk a bit about some research in retirement spending phases and how that will impact your projections.

And finally, I’ll talk about some of my observations on retiree spending patterns based on my years of practice.

I hope you enjoy today’s episode. Make sure to give us a follow if you’re interested in how to plan for retirement.

Connect:

Imagine Financial Security
Imagine Financial Security on Facebook
Kevin Lao on LinkedIn

Articles:

Exploring the Retirement Consumption Puzzle

https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/MAY14%20JFP%20Blanchett_0.pdf

How much does the average 65+-year-old retiree spend?

https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/how-much-the-average-65-year-old-retiree-spends-monthly/?utm_term=incontent_link_8&utm_campaign=1264931&utm_source=yahoo.com&utm_content=11&utm_medium=rss

Are you interested in working with us?
Fill out our “Retirement Readiness Survey” and we’ll follow up with some feedback on how you’re tracking for your goals and how we could help.

Kevin Lao

May 30, 2024

Podcast

Ep. 43 – Stop Planning for a “Normal” Retirement Age

Two of our recent client meetings were with folks who retired much earlier than they had anticipated.

So, I started to go down a rabbit hole of research and thought this would be a great episode to encourage you all to STOP planning for a “normal” retirement age in your assumptions!

Even if you do end up working until 65 or 70, you should not build that into your calculations when planning for retirement. Instead, whatever you think your expected retirement date is, push it forward 5 years. So if you want to work until 60, push it to 55. If you want to work until 70, push it to 65.

The point is, that you cannot control what you cannot control.

It then got me thinking about assumptions for retirement planning. And how the inputs/assumptions we, as financial planners, put into the calculations make a huge difference.

So, what I thought I would do for the next several episodes is go through each of those inputs (retirement age, retirement spending, inflation, longevity, investment returns, and taxes) to coach you through some of those important considerations before making certain assumptions. Also, to point out mistakes that I’ve seen in my career practicing retirement planning.

I hope you enjoy this episode, the FIRST-ever time we are publishing a video recording! (*Welcome to 2024 😁)

Thanks for tuning in.

-Kevin Lao

Sources:

USA Today Article – Most Americans Retire Earlier Than Expected

Connect:

Imagine Financial Security
Imagine Financial Security on Facebook
Kevin Lao on LinkedIn

Are you interested in working with us? Fill out our “Retirement Readiness Survey” and we’ll follow up with some feedback on how you’re tracking for your goals and how we could help.

Kevin Lao

May 16, 2024

Podcast

Ep. 42 – Wealth Protection and Transfer in a Blended Family (with Tim & Alexis Woodward)

Here is part 2 of 2 in the “blended wealth” series! I hope you enjoy it!

In this episode we shed light on the unique financial planning and estate planning considerations for blended families, emphasizing the importance of tailored advice and open family communication to navigate these complexities successfully.

Today’s guests are Tim and Alexis Woodward, co-founders of Blend Wealth, a firm specializing in financial planning for blended families and business owners.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you listen to episode 41: Blending and Building Wealth in a Blended Family before listening to this episode.

Thank you!

– Kevin

Connect with Tim and Alexis: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendcouple/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/theblendcouple

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blendwealth/

Blend Wealth: https://blendwealth.com/

Key Points:

3:56 – Retirement Distribution and Wealth Preservation: Complexities of retirement distribution, wealth preservation, and estate planning for blended families. Managing different account types for tax diversification and creating a retirement income strategy that supports both parents and children in blended families.

8:14 – Estate Planning and Beneficiary Designations: The critical role of updating estate plans and beneficiary designations to reflect current family dynamics and intentions.

15:10 – Family Meetings for Estate Planning: The value of holding family meetings to discuss and clarify estate plans to prevent misunderstandings and ensure fairness.

21:40 – Long-Term Care Planning: The necessity of planning for long-term care, particularly in blended families, and the options available, including insurance.

27:48 – Life Insurance as a Tool for Estate Planning: How life insurance, especially permanent policies, can be strategically used in estate planning for blended families.

31:36 – Investing in Relationships and the Future: The importance of investing time and resources in family relationships and future generations.

Resources:

Blend Wealth https://blendwealth.com/

Blended Kingdom Families https://blendedkingdomfamilies.com/

Ron Deal’s Smart Stepfamily https://smartstepfamilies.com/

FamilyLife Blended https://www.familylife.com/familylifeblended/blended-families/

Kevin Lao

May 2, 2024