Want to finally stop working and retire in peace. It's about more than quitting work and living off your savings. In retirement reimagined, yu'll discover how to have a fulfilled retirement that lets you enjoy travel, family time and freedom. And now here are your hosts, Ron Bernstein and Nicole Sullivan.
(00:23): Hello everyone. And welcome to retirement reimagined. My name is Nicole Sullivan. I am a financial planner and the co-founder of prism planning partners. And today I'm joined by my wonderful partner and the managing member of our firm, Ron Bernstein. Hi Ron. Hi Nicole. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? Fantastic. Really excited to be here today.
(00:48): Yeah, as am I as am I, this is our very first podcast. I am so excited that we're gonna be launching this and hopefully just talking with some wonderful community members and people that, uh, we're hoping will follow us a little bit more about, uh, something that I know is huge topic of conversation, which is retirement.
(01:11): And this is a big, big area saying that you look from a demographic standpoint. Uh, there's been a drastic shift of the whole baby juke boom generation, starting to think if not already transitioning into retirement. So very appropriate conversation here for sure.
(01:26): Money is emotional and retirement is one of the biggest life transitions that any person, any couple will go through. It's probably one of the most popular reasons that people walk through our door at prison planning partners. And so I think what we're hoping to do with this podcast and specifically with the episode today is really dive into more than just the dollars and cents of retirement.
(01:54): It can be a very complex conversation for sure because, um, a lot of folks view retirement as somewhat of an open book. So it's just wiping the canvas clean and starting over. So we do try to simplify it the best way we can. So we'll, we'll attempt to do that here today.
(02:11): absolutely. So on that note, we're gonna start things off at the bang and we are gonna talk about probably the most common question that we, we hear from clients and potential clients, which is when can I afford to retire. And
(02:26): It's very interesting how, um, our industry has tried to make this a real interesting marketing line. You know, what's my number as if it's, it's really just a math equation and it's one that we just need to strive for. And once we've hit that, you know, the coast is clear and we can just move on and they give off these beautiful images of these folks, you know, walking down a beach or hanging out on a boat somewhere, but, uh, not to debunk that it's all beautiful, but I think there's more to it.
(02:53): Absolutely retirement is so much more than a math problem. And I think that that's something that we really look to explore with clients, you know, and a big, a big thing that we work on with folks is really why are you looking to retire? What do you hope to get out of it? I know many, many people are tired of their career that they've had for decades. A lot of folks suffer from burnout and things like that, but retirement should really, I think be viewed as a time to grow. In addition obviously is a time to relax and, and chill out a little bit, but I think it's a way to grow on your own terms.
(03:28): Absolutely. And these are conversations that are best be had, you know, years before you retire. Unfortunately, a lot of folks don't pay much lip service to it until they're ready to make the move. And, and in which case, uh, you just lack the preparation to make a smooth transition
(03:43): Towards the end of the episode. We'll talk about a couple resources that we use with clients and would love to offer to everyone listening out there today around just kind of getting started with that conversation of what do I wanna do when I'm in, uh, control of my free time and kind of have, uh, the resources available at my disposal to do what I'd like to do in theory.
(04:02): And there's a lot of thought that needs to go in the, to that as well, because there are a significant amount of variables and assumptions. Yes. Uh, we as planners must have to, uh, input to make sure that that things are okay. A person can walk into a retirement situation at least from a financial standpoint with confidence. And we should probably go through a few of those
(04:21): Couple of these variables. Absolutely. Again, the number one I would say that people, uh, as goes about is the stock market conditions in that arena. And inflation has been a much more popular, uh, topic of conversation recently.
(04:35): And that could be one of probably the most dangerous components of eroding a, a good sound retirement, uh, strategy is loss of purchasing power due to inflation. So especially in a more timely manner is as we're hearing more about it, uh, in the news, uh, it's, it's definitely worth, uh, paying close attention to, and obviously we're on top of it as
(04:56): Well. Other things that need to be considered are your health and the health of your spouse for both the good, which is, you know, living a long and healthy retirement, you know, into your nineties and hundreds, that's something that we are starting to see more and more frequently, but also obviously health, maybe for the negative planning for things like maybe an unanticipated long term care need or just other chronic conditions that some folks have to deal with.
(05:21): Yeah. In today's world. I think people are for sure, living longer now, does that translate? Are they living healthier? But you know, living a good, long, healthy life and remaining active in your later years is certain something to strive for and something we can all
(05:34): Affect. It's been so funny. We've had folks come in, they think we're crazy because we plan for age 95 or a hundred in our financial projections. And they say, I'm not gonna live that long, but you are living in an affluent area and you have access to quality healthcare. It's absolutely possible.
(05:50): Right? And there's, uh, innovation and, and disruption going on in, in the medical, you know, care space that really is out there prolonging lives way beyond what anybody ever expected. So folks, you know, my age, I'm in my late fifties, I think, you know, there's a lot to look forward to in, in the medical technology that will prolong life. So we should prepare for
(06:10): That. Oh, and I think we're gonna have, we're gonna have a future episode just on this topics. I know Ron, you, you love to talk about those. It's fascinating. Yes. But the other point I wanna make too about retirement is that you need to bake bluff into your retirement plan because there's a lot to look forward to. And a lot of really good things that maybe people can't completely anticipate when they're in their fifties and maybe starting to do planning things like grandchildren, maybe it's coming into a windfall, maybe it's discovering an incredible new hobby travel, something like that, that just really invigorates your life. And I think that it's so important that retirement be a time when you can really drive the bus and take advantage of some of these wonderful, good opportunities that come your way as well.
(06:55): Yeah. Cuz you don't wanna be constrained by poor planning, you know, because there's gonna be a lot of wonderful things to explore, you know, in a time when you have, you know, a lot of space and time in which to, to do things and you certainly don't want your finances to, to come in the way of doing what you want. So clearly that is, uh, an important aspect of making sure as we live longer, that we have the means in which to provide for it.
(07:17): Absolutely. And I actually wanted to just share a statistic I have here about just kind of longevity here. So according to the society of actuaries, a relatively healthy 65 year old man living today in 2022 has a 35% chance of living until age 90 and for a 65 year old healthy woman, there's a 46% chance of living until 90. And if they're a married couple, there's a 50% chance that one of those two people, those two healthy 65 year olds will be alive at 92. I mean, that is just remarkable. I guess the takeaway from that is just plan on living a long life.
(07:58): Yeah. You know, and thinking about too, how are you going to spend those years? How are you going to revitalize yourself and keep growing and um, just really living kind of the life that you wanna live.
(08:11): Absolutely. You know, and staying emotionally involved and, and living life with, with purpose. And I'm sure this'll be for a later conversation as well, but there's just a lot that we can contribute, you know, both to family, to community in. I think it's really important that people recognize that there's a lot to prepare for here. And these are just a few, few topics that we, we brought up. So
(08:32): We harp on this retirement at 65. I, I don't really know kind of how that age came about. It seems like it's just kind of a random number, maybe a social security and Medicare came up with it, but there's so much more to life beyond age 65. And I think that that's something we'll be exploring more in this podcast series.
(08:53): Fantastic. I'm really excited actually, like I said to, to bring this, uh, topic to the forefront and hopefully, uh, it will serve to, uh, educate some of the folks out there. Yeah. Getting a good head, start on planning around this.
(09:05): So let's talk about a couple resources that are out there to help you think about how you might wanna formulate a plan for your time in retirement. I want to direct you to a wonderful giveaway that we have, which is the week in retirement planner and what this is, is a blank week, morning, afternoon, and evening for all seven days of the week. And we challenge you to fill out how you would wanna spend that ideal week when it's totally controlled by you, right? How are you going to pass the time on a random Monday morning when you, you know, don't have meetings and don't have your boss breathing down your neck, how are you gonna spend a random Thursday afternoon? And I think some people think, oh, well babysit my grandchildren and go on vacation. And while that's wonderful, it's more than likely not gonna fill up those 21 boxes.
(09:57): We also, in addition to help give you some inspiration, have some suggestions in different categories for where our real life clients and other folks that we've spoke, how they enjoy spending time in retirement. So we have both of those things available for all of our listeners to access. And we also have a plethora of resources available on our website, which is prism planning, partners.com. We have blogs, eBooks video series, a whole host of resources. So I would encourage you to both check out the retirement planner, which we'll make sure is linked in the show notes. And then also check out our website.
(10:35): And if I can only add just one thing to that, cuz it's a wonderful activity doing that week in retirement planner is have both spouses do it because it's a fascinating, fascinating, um, insight into how each may be viewing their world, you know, when retirement hits and, and it, it's a, a wonderful way to spur dialogue about making sure everyone's on the same page here.
(10:59): Oh, and it's been just so funny and interesting, you know, maybe we have one spouse saying, oh, I'm gonna be babysitting the grandkids every single day. And the other spouse might say, no, no, no, , I think we're gonna be traveling the world. We've had some interesting conversations, no doubt, no doubt bearing and contrasting. So
(11:18): Yeah, and I think it's an activity that we've seen some really good insight from as well with the clients. And it helps us make our job a little bit easier as we, you know, help plan on behalf of our clients. So,
(11:31): And by the way, too, I wanna encourage everyone to check out episode five. When that one comes out, we are gonna be talking a little bit about some spousal conflict in retirement. You know, he or she is now home all the time and driving me crazy. That is something that we definitely see sometimes as planners and definitely are excited to cover in a future episode. So please stay tuned for that. All right then. Well, I wanted to just wrap it up. Thank you all so much for listening to the very first episode of our podcast, Ron and I are so excited to keep making more wonderful content and sharing with you. We'd also love to hear from you and if you have any questions, please, uh, feel free to email Ron or myself. I'll make sure that our contact info is linked in the show notes. Thank you all so much for taking the time to tune in. We are so excited. Take Care. Thank you. And we'll uh, talk to you soon. Great. Thanks. Bye.
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