Fullerton Financial Hour

It’s a bit of a sticker shock for all those gifts “my true love gave to me” … starting with that partridge in a pear tree.

A phone call or website can seem so impersonal. Or worse, it could be a financial scam. At least, those are possible thoughts one may have before they visit someone to handle their finances in retirement. It can be a scary thought to go out there and do something new. So, to help provide more confidence to face the unknown, this show will focus on what the process is like for a potential new client first meeting with a financial professional and what this meeting and process may entail.

Women statistically outlive men by about six years, so a lot of wives will outlive their husbands in retirement. That means a lot of women will suddenly be taking over their own finances for what may be the first time in their lives. That can be confusing and even scary.

In 2020 more than half of all Americans were covered by some type of life insurance. So a good number of people see life insurance as a useful tool to help protect their families and loved ones. The question we want to address today, is not really “do I need life insurance?” but rather, “Do I need life insurance for my retirement?”

We’ve repeated the stats time and time again: thousands of Baby Boomers retire every day. And by 2030, they will all be 65. And if Baby Boomers are up to bat for retirement … that means Generation X is on deck.

Fewer than 1 in 4 Americans think their current retirement lifestyle aligns with what they planned for their retirement to be. It turns out, it’s one thing to dream about retirement and it’s another thing to live in retirement every day.

Interest rates are near record low levels. They’re so low, it may seem like you might as well just stuff your money under your mattress or stash it away in a cardboard box since it’s hardly earning anything. But a Missouri man learned the hard way that there’s another risk with stashing cash around your home – mice (literally) ate some of his savings. His bank was ultimately able to reassemble the bills so he could be reimbursed by the U. S. Mint for about $1,000. Low interest rates are...

There are millions of articles online about investing, tax planning, budgeting, everything you can think of when it comes to preparing for retirement. There are important facts to know, and when it comes to your financial future, knowledge is power. BUT. There’s more to financial success than book smarts. There’s a psychology of money.

Some things are fun to plan in advance. Vacations, weddings, retirement. But other things are just as important, but much harder to plan. And when it comes to things like your final wishes, you might not even know where to start. But we’ll help you learn what you need to know, coming up next.

Who is most likely to be comfortable and confident with their retirement? There are a few things you can do to help secure your financial future and Stephanie will help us break it all down.

Our national conversation is starting to shift when it comes to mental health and how well you take care of yourself. We don’t always talk about it a lot on this show, but there’s a mental health aspect to preparing for retirement as well.

It’s a lot easier to get a job done if you have the right tools. And the financial tools you need for retirement are a little different from what you used during your working years. So, we want to help you pack your retirement tool kit.

People are staying active and productive longer in the workforce. And they’re carrying that mindset into retirement as well. For example, a 75-year-old grandfather from Chicago has become the oldest American to scale Mount Everest. Stephanie and Tyler talk about what retirement looks like for today’s retirees versus what it was like 25 or 30 years ago.

We’ve repeated the stats time and time again: thousands of Baby Boomers retire every day. And by 2030, they will all be 65. And if Baby Boomers are up to bat for retirement … that means Generation X is on deck. We’ll talk about Gen X here in a minute. But ten thousand boomers turn 65 each and every day … and the number of boomers retiring picked up the pace in 2020 thanks to the pandemic. When you have that many people leaving the workforce, what could be the potential impact on the economy?

You don’t know what you don’t know. And unfortunately, most of us don’t know enough about Social Security. A third of pre-retirees failed a basic Social Security quiz, and almost 20 percent got a “D” on the quiz, meaning more than half of Americans age 55 to 65 don’t understand the basics of Social Security and its rules.

Remember back when you were a kid and you bought a bag of chips? You open the bag and look inside and there were chips all the way up to the top of the bag. But remember the last time you bought some? You had that craving for a salty snack. (You probably felt kind of guilty because you know you don’t need all that sodium, but you bought them anyway.) You open the bag up, and it’s … air. Like a third of the bag is air. And you have to reach your whole hand in the bag just to get a chip. Why...

The Tour de France is the most outstanding and highly respected bike riding competition in the world. Held in France and neighboring countries every year, it takes place over 21 days that covers approximately 2,156 miles. So, if you’re going to compete in this bicycle race, you need to be in tip-top physical and mental shape. Because it’s a grind.

Key Largo? Montego? Oh, why can’t we go to Jamaica right now, am I right? Think about it… digging your toes into sandy beaches… swimming with dolphins… with a tropical drink in your hand… That’s the thing, we’re always so focused on the destination, because that is the reason why we’re going. But there’s the whole process to get there, the journey… And we know what that’s like. Getting everything in order like your passports, IDs, tickets, luggage, grandchildren maybe – oh no! Did I forget...

When you were growing up, did you ever have a hard time respecting an elder’s strict rules? Whether it was an aunt, uncle or grandparent, we all had one of those. But we should respect our elders’ wishes and honor the legacy they leave behind.

The forms. The deadlines. The mad scramble to find all the documents you need. That’s right … it’s tax season. Did you know the IRS sends out over 8 BILLION pages in forms and instructions every year to help people get their taxes filed? It’s a busy time for many of us. There’s so much to do, and it’s easy to put it all off until the last minute. I imagine the time between January to April 15 is when most Americans think about taxes. That’s a misstep, which we’ll get into more next segment,...