Retirement Answer Man

Hey, hey - it’s great to have you along for another episode of The Retirement Answer Man. I’m Roger Whitney and I am THE Retirement Answer Man. This episode of the show is all about how the habit of binary thinking can derail your retirement planning goals. What is binary thinking? I’m glad you asked! On this episode, I’m going to walk you through a couple of examples of binary thinking, including...

Well, here we are - at session number three of Kim and Joe’s 2017 Retirement Plan LIVE experience. Today we reach the topic nobody enjoys talking about but that we HAVE to talk about anyway: Retirement Risks. There are many things we need to consider on this episode of the Retirement Answer Man in order to think about retirement realistically and Kim does an amazing job of thinking soberly about t...

Planning for retirement will be next to impossible if you don’t have some sort of barometer of your financial situation - and that’s why I always create a personal net worth statement with my clients to have a starting point for retirement planning. On this episode - the 2nd in the 2017 Retirement Plan LIVE sessions - I’m talking with Kim about her and her husband’s financial status, and you’ll he...

What are your retirement wishes? Do you have any? This episode of The Retirement Answer Man is all about retirement wishes - dreaming up the kind of retirement you really want to live (forget about what seems practical for now). I’m walking through an initial retirement planning conversation with Kim and Joe - this year’s participants in my Retirement Plan LIVE event. In this conversation, you’ll...

Every year I conduct a grand experiment in internet broadcasting that features everyday people like you. It’s called Retirement Plan LIVE and it’s my attempt at helping you know the ins and outs of effective retirement planning - and I do it by inviting listeners to take part in a to-be-aired set of conversations that walk through their actual financial situation. If you would like to take part, a...

Every one of us has a Facebook face - right? It’s that face we put on for the Facebook watching world (at least we HOPE they are watching). Here's what it looks like: We have a great life, great relationships, new car, enviable vacation pictures - you know the drill. It’s the adult way of impressing our friends and family. But the problem is that it’s not entirely true. On this episode of The Reti...

Financial forecasting season is upon us! It’s the new year and there’s always a handful of predictions you see regarding politics, markets, social trends, and much more. If you spend much time listening to the talking heads out there you can come away very confused. Why? Because you’ll hear as many opinions and forecasts as there are talking heads! On this episode of The Retirement Answer Man, I’m...

Welcome, welcome welcome! It’s 2017 and time to address those retirement goals you’ve been putting off. And I’m here to help. I’m Roger Whitney, otherwise known as The Retirement Answer Man. I’m here every week to help you think through, plan for, and take action toward a better retirement than you can conceive! Well, maybe not that extreme but I do want you to have a happy and healthy retirement...

Dealing with failure is never an easy thing. We all have things we regret, wish we could do over, or would like to have never done in the first place. This episode of The Retirement Answer Man is filled with YOUR feedback to this show - over 220 responses you sent in at my request, responses to my annual listener survey. And you didn’t hold back! There was lots of great advice for making the show...

You may not even know what “hyperbolic discounting” is. But it’s something we all fall prey to numerous times, at least weekly. It’s the temptation to do something now that you know is not the best long-term. On this episode, I tell the story of how I bought a set of noise canceling headphones even though I knew that the money spent on them could have been invested more wisely in other ways. It’s...

You want to get the most out of your Social Security benefits, right? I’m with you, maximize Social Security as much as you can! But there’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about what you should do to make that happen. Some advisors are saying you should take early but reduced benefits in view of life expectancy while others are saying the early benefit is wise because social security is not...

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the so-called retirement crisis that’s happening in the United States. And what I think has happened is this - a long-held belief that rising costs and the decreasing value of the dollar make retirement more and more difficult - has conditioned us to think in terms of survival instead of in terms of possibility. We approach retirement planning with a crisis min...

In case you haven’t noticed, the recent election has had a pretty significant impact on the strength of the dollar worldwide. The U.S. dollar is actually gaining strength in the world economy - it’s at a 13 year high - and it’s in large part because of what financial gurus around the world believe is going to happen in the U.S. economy because of the election of Donald Trump. But do you know what...

It’s almost time for that year end tax planning. 2017 is going to be here before you know it! Over the past few weeks, I’ve been talking with quite a few of my clients about their year end financial planning and realized that the things I’ve been talking about week after week these days could also be of help to YOU! So on this episode, I’m going to walk you through some of the most common things I...

The power of reading is something you shouldn’t underestimate. Even if you don’t enjoy reading. That’s because there’s no other resource in the world where you can spend $20 and get a potential return of thousands of dollars, increased happiness, greater success, and a whole lot more. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I’m discovering that the older I get the more I appreciate book...

Do you understand the concept of sunk cost? It refers to anything you’ve invested time or money in and afterward discover that the thing is not going to play out the way you thought. It could be an investment, a hobby, a project of some kind, a purchase, even a political candidate. The tendency we have when this happens is to stick with the unproductive thing simply because we’ve sunk so much into...

The 2016 Election in the United States is being hailed as one of the WORST campaigns in American history. It’s pretty bad but historically it’s actually not the worst that has happened. The election of 1828 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson was truly vicious and I for one am thankful that we’ve come a long way from those days. But in every Presidential election cycle, the financial mark...

I love putting out episodes of the Retirement Answer Man podcast because you don’t think about your retirement every day of your life, but I do! I get to experience varied conversations with people from all walks of life about their retirement goals, every day of the work week. That’s a lot of varied experiences - and I love to share them with you on the show. One thing that’s been coming across m...

When I think about the way the American Dream is typically carried out, it looks like a “Paint By Numbers” exercise. We’re given specific things we’re supposed to do in life - graduate High School, go to college, get a job, work a long time, save up for retirement, retire. But is that really the way it has to be? And does it NEED to be that way? What if you don’t want it to be that way? What can y...

When I speak to clients and potential clients it’s amazing that the #1 fear they have about retirement is not how they are going to support themselves financially, where they are going to live, or what their standard of living will be. The #1 fear I hear from clients is the fear of losing their minds. Dementia, Alzheimer's, and other mental conditions are top of mind for those nearing retirement b...

Anyone who is a reader would be happy to give you their “top 10” list of book recommendations. But today’s episode is not about my top 10 - it’s simply a list of books that have had a great impact on my life through the years. Your list will by default be different than mine and that’s OK. I just wanted to put these books on your radar so that if you’re not familiar with them, you might consider t...

All of us can become better decision makers but we often don’t realize that one of the most important realms of life we need to do that in is relating to the small things. Small things add up over time to become really big things. Just ask the alcoholic or an inmate in a penitentiary. They’ll tell you that what I’m saying is true. On this episode, I continue my thoughts about how to make better de...

Decision making: It’s been said that not making a decision is actually making a decision. But we tend not to think of it that way because it doesn’t feel like we’re making a decision. It feels safer to go on the way things have been instead of making a change. But is that true? On this episode of the Retirement Answer Man, I’m excited to share some of the things I learned from a recent event I att...

It’s not a good things when the financial services industry is freaking out.  I mean really - these are people who are giving advice to you about your finances and retirement. Does it make YOU feel good when you see them freaking out? You might be wondering what in the world I’m talking about. It all has to do with a new regulation that’s being passed regarding how people who work in the financial...

 Economic growth is always a hot topic when election year rolls around.  The candidates make it sound like a lack of growth is the worst thing that could ever happen during any President’s term. But is that true? And furthermore, are there actually benefits to having times of economic slowdown or even recession? On this episode of The Retirement Answer Man, I’m answering a handful of listener ques...