Im a fan of RILAs for some people.. IMO, they can be used for hedging purposes for the very squeamish who want to stay invested but cant stand the pain. People think all annuities have these huge margins and expenses. I dont think that’s true. It depends on the type of annuities.
But once again, that’s just my personal opinion.
I wrote that the acoustics were so bad that I don’t have a lot of meaningful feedback. And I wasn’t lying so I felt perfectly fine leaving that on my evaluation sheet and not including my name and contact info!
It seems you are a good researcher, so probably you already know this. But in many cases, one can make the argument to only defer til age 70 for one spouse (often the older and/or higher earner). That way, whoever is the longer living spouse will be assured of the higher-age70 payout… but there can be more spending money available in the younger “Go-Go” years of travels etc.
Lots of variables in play with different couples, and each will have a preferred scheme. But mentioning this in case we have newbies here. Many of us appreciated the insights from using opensocialsecurity.com modelling tools
One day, Id like to live in the Villages so I can go to a free dinner every night.
We have a financial planner that we like so never did a presentation from them.
We did go to a presentation from an elder attorney. We did use them to set up our wills and trusts. Very happy to have that behind us
There are different types of client events. There’s direct mail and there are ones where advisors invite their clients.
The first one tends to be very sales focused because they have no relationship with random strangers and they have to make up the cost of hosting the event.
The latter can be quite good and educational because they want to deliver value to their clients, especially when they bring in an outside expert.
Remember that one of the reasons why the social security administration shut down file and suspend/payback strategies was because too many people learned about them at social security seminars.
There are many people who benefited from these type of educational events.
Just a general comment from me: Please be sure to review wills and trusts every 5 years and really consider whether the POAs and others are still the right people to represent your interests.
My parents’ wills were from 1990. My mother died in 1992. My father re-married with a post nup in 1999. He had a number of business interests. In 2024 he decided it was finally time to activate the POA and the lawyer immediately sent a new document**.
The 1990-appointed POA is not financially astute. He doesn’t keep a check register. He overdrafts and then covers the overdrafts, rather than moving money into the checking account first. (POA’s wife has paid all the bills for 35 years).
**Because the documents had not been updated, the new POA document was stunningly different from that created in 1990. The new document included issues relating to the technology that we now use daily.
Re-reading this: to clarify, it was important to review the documents with an eye to whether the most astute or capable person was named to handle the business affairs. I think my father did not seriously consider this. It’s all working out, but it is a larger mental challenge than it needed to be.
DH and I had our first “baby will” in the mid 80s and created a trust in the summer of 2001. We created a new trust in 2018. As our daughters graduated college and married, we modified it in 2021. When DH was sick, we completed another revision just two weeks before he died in 2024. We now have our first grandchild. I recently re-read it and am OK with how it now works— with designations for grandchildren.
So, times change and try to remember to review your documents 
Well yay! DH is retiring at the end of August. Happy birthday to me!
The usual response is - my spouse is retiring soon and will now be around the house more. Darn.
This is my concern - he won’t know what to do with himself so he will be my shadow. My husband said he’s retiring at the end of the year but his company may offer him part time work so that he can work when he wants or when they need him. I hope that works out because he really does need that, as much as he complains about being tired of work, it is really important to him. Money doesn’t hurt either!
My H works in the yard for hours every day. There are a couple months where he can’t do that, but he often has snow to deal with in those months. I don’t garden (I have a black thumb - I touch it, it dies), so he takes care of all of the outside stuff. It keeps him busy (and happy).
He has been WFH 2 days a week for a while and doesn’t like it as he says its too close to the kitchen. He doesn’t like hanging around the house so I suspect he’ll find his share of activities!
I really enjoyed my dining companion. His mother died last year in another state, and he said being executor has been so much more difficult than he thought it would be. I quizzed him on why that was as she had all her affairs in order, and I want to make it easier on my kids. Some of it was just companies not wanting to release her money.
I also thought of y’all, my cc friends, because I told him that we were looking at CCRCs, and he said, “For who? Yourself?!?!?” Yes, I know! 
Any feedback on how long it takes to deal with probate in NY (a state notorious for complicated legal paperwork)? Google says 9 to 18 months, but I’ve heard stories of even longer.
I’d like to encourage my father to assign beneficiaries to his Computershare stock. No skin in the game myself, since I’m not named in the will and not the executor. But I’ve heard some NY probate horror stories, and I’m thinking it would be better for his wife and the grandkids if their inherited stock (assuming there is any left after tbd nursing home etc) did not have probate delays.
Just read an interesting article on municipal bonds and the increasing risk from climate change. Will be interesting to see when/if these issues get priced into bonds more regularly and if that will change investor behavior/outlook.
There was almost no delay when I had to go through probate on my mother’s estate in 2019. Letters Testamentary issued quickly (two to three weeks maybe?).
The only reason we had to go through probate was for the sale of the house. Brokerage & IRA accounts were TOD, so that process just required some paperwork for each child to file.
I have heard that things are much slower post-Covid; a friend went through the process two years ago and each step took longer than it did in 2019.
I used a lawyer who also handled the closing on the house, but the paperwork did not seem particularly onerous to me. It was a clean estate w/o any conflicts. (For example, I was joint owner of her checking account, which I suppose meant that I was entitled to keep the money, but instead I used it to pay her funeral expenses, and ongoing house & tax expenses. Each sibling contributed when we needed additional funds for the house.)
Another SS related thing that people may or may not know…
If you have a post-retirement gig, you need to consider that related to SS. You can only make a certain amount before it impacts how much SS you get, and if you’re making a fair amount with your side-gig, it’s a good way to push out when you take SS.
Good point! I believe that applies to folks who have not yet reached FRA.
Note two things:
2.No one has lost a cent - the bonds were paid on time - both interest and principal. Why? They’re insured by Assured Guaranty - so if you buy an unknown, then buy insured - and yes, there are many insured by AGM - which is still top rated even after covering Puerto Rico losses - and BAM - which is a new AA rated insurer.
So - there was no danger to any lender in this case. And like they are supposed to do, the cities raised taxes to insure it can cover its future obligations…that’s what is supposed to happen when you are backed by the full faith and credit.
So the default was not impacting to investors.
You can earn any amount after you reach your full retirement age. At that point there is no penalty for earning more than the amount which is just over $23,000 a year for 2025.