Blog and Podcast

Ep 4: Rules Gone Awry – Spend 80% Rule of Pre-retirement Income

Walter was being nosy recently and asking his mom about her retirement plans. When she told him she was planning on living off of 80% of her current income during her retirement years, it raised a red flag. How did she come to that figure? You guessed it, she didn’t really have an exact answer for why she picked that number. So Walter turns to Kevin on this week’s podcast to understand how that “80% Rule” worked its way into the retirement planning vernacular and why we’d all be wiser to ignore it. Continue reading

Ep 3: Rules Gone Awry – Retirement Will Be Stress Free

There is a lot of obsessing over creating a stress-free experience in retirement. But life doesn’t really work that way. We can still experience happiness and joy in retirement, even if there’s still a few stressful moments along the way. Don’t buy into another one of those retirement rules gone awry, that a truly stress-free retirement is attainable. Kevin will show us how to root your financial plan in realistic terms. Continue reading

Ep 2: Details vs. Relationships

Unfortunately, many financial advisors fall into one camp or another. They’re either a great relationship person or they’re extremely focused on planning details. Kevin will tell us about a couple who called him recently after experiencing one of those scenarios and how it cost them a lot of money. Listen to this episode of “Retire Smarter” to find out why you should work with an advisor who respects the unique details of your situation, while also developing a strong working relationship with you. Only having both will lead to clarity and confidence in your decision making about your financial future. Continue reading

Your Changing Identity in Retirement

Have you considered the emotional aspects of retirement and how to plan wisely for your identity change? If retirement is knocking on your door, you may want to start preparing yourself emotionally for it now, because preparation goes beyond making … Continue reading

Ep 1: Be Realistic About Your Retirement

We often have a lot of unrealistic expectations about retirement. And there’s nothing wrong with that if we reel ourselves back toward reality before making major decisions. Let’s talk about some of the ways our retirement expectations get out of whack and what more realistic scenarios should look like. Continue reading

2018 Second Quarter Market Report

The U.S. equity markets suffered a small setback in the first quarter, but the second quarter brought us back into positive territory, being led by small companies represented by the Russell 2000 index. International markets, however, were negative, likely in … Continue reading

Top 5 Mental Errors You Make When Investing

Even the most perceptive and experienced investors, can fall prey to mental errors or biases that lead to poor investment decisions. After all, we are all human, and the emotional part of the brain is faster than the rational part. … Continue reading

Retirement Income: Bad-Timing Risk

You just retired and need to start taking money from your investment accounts. After all, you have no more paycheck. You now need to create retirement income. Continue reading