Kimberly Blanton on Your Money, Your Wealth℠

Special guest Kimberly Blanton joins the show (9:00-19:26) to discuss what boomers should do if they are forced into early retirement. She also highlights the importance of delaying Social Security and talks about some of the pros and cons of reverse mortgages. Joe and Al close this hour of the podcast by discussing how taxes will affect your retirement. Having a forward-looking tax strategy will make a huge difference in your retirement.

2:44 “There’s a strategy called a Roth IRA conversion, where you can take money from your retirement account, 401(k), IRA, whatever, and then you move it into a Roth. There is no dollar limit on that, just know you’ll be paying taxes on it”

7:40 “A Roth conversion has to be done by December 31^st and if you convert too much, you could undo all or part of that conversion next year”

9:00 Start of Interview with Kimberly Blanton

10:50 “What advice would you give our listeners when it comes to preparing for a successful retirement?”

11:41 “In terms of what baby boomers can do, retirement is coming up fast—there’s only so much you can save and only so much money you can make in the stock market”

12:07 “Really get as much bang as you can out of your Social Security buck by delaying your retirement”

12:38 “What matters in retirement is how much money is coming in the door every month”

13:21 “Too many people take their Social Security when they’re 62”

13:47 “If you claim at 66 which is your full retirement age (when you get your full benefit) you’ll get 30% more on your monthly check than if you claimed at age 62. If you wait until 70, you get 70% more on your monthly checks than you would at age 62”

15:56 “If you’re laid off, at least the job market is not terrible now. Don’t give up—keep looking for work, figure out ways to work part-time”

18:07 “You really have to read the fine print when you buy any financial product”

19:26 End of Interview with Kimberly Blanton

24:52 “We wanted to make sure we built a firm to eliminate conflict in the sense of compensation structure, so everyone who’s giving financial planning advice is a salaried employee and never compensated on commission ever; there’s never commission generated to our firm”

28:54 “We talk a lot about how to save more so you can spend more in retirement, but does money actually make you happier when you retire?”

35:49 “When it comes to planning for your retirement, it’s all about figuring out if you have enough assets and retirement income to cover your lifestyle”

36:10 “Taxes and inflation are probably the biggest misses when it comes to retirement planning”