Paying for Convenience is Financially Inconvenient
Rarely do Fred and I eat out anymore. And very rarely do we indulge in takeout food. We decided it’s almost always disappointing and never really what we want. Besides, we’re low-carbing it these days. So why add stress when we can make perfectly good food at home? As a result, I don’t really care about the price of my fancy organic groceries because, in the end, it’s still less expensive for our household than eating out.
A few weeks ago, I was engrossed in work and Fred was heading back from a client meeting. He offered to pick up lettuce wrapped Five Guys burgers, and I said yes. (Sigh. No french fries for us, alas.)
It’s my Turn to Apply for Medicare
Medicare, as you know, is the national health program for seniors created in 1966 by the Lyndon Johnson administration. But did you also know that, in 1912, Teddy Roosevelt’s platform included creating national healthcare insurance? Did you know that Harry Truman tried to put together a national health program in 1945?
The conversation around health care for all Americans is not a new conversation. And I am delighted that I get to receive the benefits of this great program that my and my employers’ 2.9% payroll taxes have funded all these years. That’s right, this isn’t an entitlement. I’ve been paying for this, and now I’m going to collect my benefit. Yay, me! Free Medicare Part A! Whoohoo!
Welcome to the Madrina Molly™ Community
I’m delighted to report that we had a successful launch last week. Our mission to democratize and demystify financial information for Women of a Certain Age(ncy) and their Allies and Friends has begun!
Only 16% of BoomX Women Say They Have Received Financial Education
That’s not acceptable. For years, women have been reaching out to me for financial advice and planning assistance. By and large you are:
Stressed and ashamed that you somehow missed the memo on how to manage money.
Ready to make yourselves wrong when you seek advice. (Seriously, the women I meet are quick to begin the conversation with, “I’m sure you’re going to tell me my financial management is terrible.”)
Scared that you won’t be able to continue working long enough to fund your retirement.
Worried that you’ll need to work forever to fund your retirement.
Ping-ponging from children to work to parents without time for yourself.
Angry that media, marketers, and institutions think you’re invisible.
A Madrina Molly™ subscription gives you a place to go to ask your questions, confirm you are on the right track, solve problems, and achieve a lovely "second half" of life. All of this comes with the confidence of knowing that I’m not a finfluencer; I’m a former working financial planner and a current (and forever) CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional.
24 x 7 = 168
You have 168 hours in a week. So do I. So does everyone on the planet. That’s no mystery. It’s simple math. And how we spend those 168 hours is up to us.
You may already be rolling your eyes thinking I’m dead wrong, that our time isn’t really ours, not all of it anyway. Some of it belongs to jobs, bosses or employees, some to our kids, our spouses or aging parents.
Each week, we devote hours to running errands, doing chores, and trying to carve out some time for ourselves, to preserve our health, our happiness or maybe our sanity. Then there’s time for sleep … often, there just aren’t enough hours left for that, or at least that’s what it seems.
“Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.” Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption
The Money Tree
Pull up an easy chair, and sit yourself down and lean back while I tell you ‘bout the folks who live in the town of Greenback….
So goes the old song, The Money Tree, which I learned as a young girl. Sometimes I find myself humming it to this day.
There are actually many plants that are called money plants and money trees. When I pulled the plug on my marriage in 2010 and moved into a lovely apartment overlooking the ocean to heal, I purchased a tiny money plant, a jade (Crassula Ovata) and sat it on the windowsill. Now, 14 years later, it continues to grow and branch, and I offer my cuttings to family and friends so they can enjoy luck and prosperity too.
The path hasn’t always been perfect; especially the immediate two years post-separation. My unpartnered friends and clients know this from their own experiences. Somehow, that’s how long it takes all of us to feel like ourselves again.
The New Map of Life Gives You Do-overs!
What would it look like if you went to a permanent four-day work week? Would you have better life balance? Reduced fatigue? More time for your family? What if you worked for more years but with greater flexibility?
What would it look like if you worked among people aged 20 to 70? Would you finally realize that age diversity is good for economic growth and your bottom line?
What would it look like if you did the math to take a month-long sabbatical (planned a year in advance) and embarked on a “vocation vacation” in which you took intensive credentialing to plan your next career? What if you learned and credentialed throughout your entire life?
Oh, Sh*t, the Market’s Down! What Do I Do?
I have a webinar with this title because down days in the market make me laugh. (Seriously!) On 8/5/24, the stock market had its worst day in two years, part of a three-day losing streak. On 8/6/24, the market closed substantially higher, showing a broad rally.
For 24 hours, market watchers wailed and beat their breasts, published articles about recession, and caused retail investors to sell $1 billion. Big mistake. In contrast, the institutional folks bought $14 trillion on the dip, and that was one of the reasons for the rally.
So, what can you do when the market goes south?
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Behind the scenes at Madrina Molly™, we’ve been working our little tails off to create a digital home for Financial and Longevity Planning Education. In fairness, my explorations on the Internet have yielded a few good teachers out there in social media land. But it’s hard to find them.
Currently, the “finfluencers” want to teach you how to trade options, buy tax liens, and purchase their “secret sauce” training.
Newsflash: If you haven’t spent any time learning how to trade up until now, what makes you think you’d be interested in it moving forward? Plus, you don’t have to “trade” to invest successfully.
Do You Want Lifetime Income in Retirement?
A few weeks ago, I met with Tamiko Toland, fellow Woman of a Certain Age(ncy), Principal of Toland Consulting, and Co-Founder and CEO of IncomePath, a new way to visualize retirement income intended to provide “freedom to spend” by enabling advisors and their clients to see how the use of guaranteed income can benefit their retirements.
That’s a mouthful, I know. And it’s complicated if you don’t operate in this space. But Tamiko’s nickname isn’t “The Annuity Yoda” for nothing. And she’s both a 20+ year veteran of TIAA and a sought-after expert in retirement risk mitigation. She is committed to doing a better job of educating the public and helping advisors educate their clients in how to build the lifestyles we all want in later life.
What if They’re NOT Hot Flashes at All?
I’m not sure I even know where to begin with this post. There are so many things to be angry about. And so many areas of frustration. And so many opportunities to be fearful. But I’m not going to start there. I’m going to start with my blessings and some #LoudFinancialPlanning:
How Much Runway Do We Really Have?
Have you heard the expression “thanatological age”? It refers to the average number of years you are expected, actuarially, to live. While insurance people are familiar with the term (although I can never pronounce it) the public at large is not. If you subtract your chronological age from your average life expectancy, what you have is your thanatological age. And 50% of us will live longer than this age.
That’s how averages work.
On Anti-Anti-Aging
What if we celebrated our friends and daughters’ first grey hairs with the same enthusiasm and chutzpah with which we celebrate their first steps, first job, or first drink? Whatever we need to feel beautiful, we should do. There’s no shame in that.
I’m not against self-care, but …
… our wrinkles mean we smiled.
… our mom-bellies mean we loved.
… our sunspots mean we enjoyed the outdoors.
… our muffin tops mean like good food.
… our grey hairs mean we made it.
These days, we can’t escape those pushing all sorts of anti-aging products at us: serums for youthful skin, injections for plump lips, dyes for grey hairs, push-up bras for sagging breasts, and modern-day corsets to fit in that dress we used to wear.
Romancing the Home
I started writing a serious post, but it just wasn’t happening. I took a break to find something amusing on TV and settled on Zombie House Flippers. I have thoughts.
For starters, their math doesn’t “math” for me, and I’ll explain that in a minute. But it made me think about how our DIY economy has grown beyond all measure, courtesy of these types of programs, customer workshops at Home Depot/Lowe’s, and social media. I applaud the industriousness, talent, and personal ambition of these creators.
But ….
The Kids are Alright
Recently, I went a couple of rounds (respectfully) with some readers on Facebook about my statement that I don’t think it’s productive for parents to tell their children that buying real estate is the “correct” path to wealth. I get that the real estate market sucks right now in lack of inventory, inflated prices, and that mortgage interest rates have adjusted upward. (My first mortgage was 11.85%. Either you can afford a mortgage, or you can’t. Rock bottom interest rates were never guaranteed. A decade of people got lucky, and that’s no longer the case. Get over it.)
Sentimental Stockholdings
As stock pickers, professionals and amateurs alike are terrible. Seriously, terrible. Like so many wise people before me, I would want you all to know that nobody knows anything about what’s going to happen. And it’s completely possible that a major player in the S&P 500 will be disrupted (think GE, now reinvented and back in the index) or a minor player on the NASDAQ (think any number of de-listed tech or bio companies) will cease to exist. There are no guarantees.
What if You Planned a Sabbatical?
Let me cut to the chase: I’m giving you permission to plan a sabbatical. Do I have your attention?
Traditionally, we have divided our lifespans into three unequal stages: growing up, working, and retiring. Of the three, a 30- or 40-year working career usually dwarfs the other two stages. In less than a generation, however, we have seen our retirement stage catching up to our working stage. For some of us, we may live (hopefully in good health and security) another 35+ years beyond age 65. That’s a retirement as long as our working careers.
Everyone, Everywhere, All the Time
I’m having a delightful time reading Dr. Andrew Scott’s new release, The Longevity Imperative. Maybe it’s delightful because he’s saying many of the things I’ve been saying (and living!) as I transit my second half. I mean, who can resist someone who agrees with you? In this book, Scott discusses how we have two ways to view an aging society: as a problem or an opportunity. I strongly favor the latter, because I’m far from being ready to be put out to pasture. #NotYoungNotDone
Family is a Fixed Expense
I just returned from a drive to see Grandchild #1 (Ava) play soccer on her college club team two-and-a-half hours north. A wave. A smile. I stuffed some cash into her hand. She laughed and thanked us because she knows that’s what we do. Then, she headed to Texas Roadhouse with the team, and we headed home, two-and-a-half hours south. We may have paid for her dinner (with a popcorn booster purchase the week prior). I didn’t check what I was funding because she’s a grandchild.
If you want a Successful Financial Plan for Retirement, you need a Longevity Plan Too
As we build out our “successful second half” capabilities, I keep returning to the notion that we have such a long runway from our 50s to the end of life (like, another 50!) that saying we are planning for retirement feels wrong. Rather, I think we should replace the “R-word” with the term “post-work” because none of us is going to be in the state of retirement for 30 or 40 years. Instead, we’re going to be doing and being many different things during that time, all kinds of “non-retirement” things. As a result, much of the financial conversation stops being about investment portfolios and insurance and more about:
· Health and healthspan
· Caregiving and family obligations
· Geography and community
· Philanthropy and legacy
· Consulting, volunteering and encore entrepreneurship
· AND … optimized distribution and retirement income from portfolios and insurance
Retirement is Dead! Long Live Continuous Reinvention!
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, retirement is the “withdrawal from one's occupation or position, especially upon reaching a certain age.” Note that the definition uses the word “withdrawal” and not “end.” The definition of “withdrawal” uses the words “retreat” and “removal.” Again, not the word “end.” That should be instructive for us in the 21st Century.
Retirement is not an end. We do not expire. Ageism in society notwithstanding, we have choices:
· Fund retirement in our 50s to support ourselves in our 80s and 90s. Or don’t.
· Be curious and embrace lifelong learning to nourish our brains. Or don’t.
· Invest in our health so that our bodies will stand a chance of taking us the distance under our own steam. Or don’t.