When you think about the day you retire and enjoy a life time of hard work and planning, what do you expect that time to look like? 

Regardless of the specifics, everyone’s answer always includes some sort financial security. That’s what we hear from clients all the time when setting up individual plans. But knowing exactly how a person defines that security determines how we build that plan. On this episode of Money Wisdom, Joel Johnson will discuss the most common definitions for financial security and what that means for a retirement portfolio. 

For many people, the first thing they’ll say is they don’t want to be a burden on their children. Retiring with enough assets to cover any long-term care needs gives them a sense of security. For others though, it means never running out of money. Then there are those that say they never want to have to choose where the money has to go. They’d rather be able to afford whatever they need in retirement. Ask yourself how you’ve answered this. No matter what it means to you, it’s important to set up a retirement plan and we’d love to help you do that. 

We also share a fun fact that shows how much our country has changed over the past 50 years. Did you know it’s more likely that a 26-year-old lives at home with his or her parents over living with a spouse at that age? As you can imagine, this also impacts financial planning for many people that are close to retiring and that’s a huge challenge. 

Our three mailbag questions on this episode cover a variety of topics as well. The first gets Joel’s advice on whether it’s better to keep finances separate or combine assets if you decide to remarry later in life. The second is a good one about advisors and how they get paid. We’ll break that down for you so you know where your money is going. And then we’ll close it out with Joel’s thoughts on whether a recession is coming soon or not. 

That’s all on this episode of the Money Wisdom podcast plus a little more so let’s get started. Here’s the list of main topics we cover (Just click on the timestamp to jump to the specific clip):

[0:42] – Fact of the week: 50 years ago, 76% of America’s 26-year-olds lived with their spouse. Now that number is 24%.  

[3:09] – The average marrying age has gone up in the 21^st century. 

[3:39] – This impacts financial planning because many people nearing retirement are having to care for their parents and their children. 

[5:02] – What do people mean when they say they want ‘financial security’? The first thing people care about is not being a burden on their children. 

[6:18] – For some people, it means not running out of money in retirement. 

[7:23] – Another definition is reliance on a paycheck which means some people want to go back to work.

[8:48] – For other people it means not having to make choices on what you spend your money on. 

[10:17] – Other people don’t want to watch their accounts bounce up and down.   

[13:20] – In the news: A lady recently died at 102 and DirecTV tried to charge her son an early termination fee for closing the account.  

[14:41] – Financial Dictionary: What does NUA stand for and how it can benefit you?

[17:50] – Mailbag question: My husband died 15 years ago and never considered getting remarried until now. It makes me nervous to sell my house and combine finances. What would you recommend? 

[19:05] – Mailbag question: I’ve talked to multiple advisors about how they get paid and it sounds like they all have completely different models. Are there this many different fee structures or does everyone explain it differently?

[21:11] – Mailbag question: Should I be planning for a recession? Be honest. I can handle it.