Adult Financial Education Services of Tennessee

08/30/2018

We are one week out from the first MAXIMIZING SOCIAL SECURITY workshop in Donelson/Hermitage at Argosy University. Reserve your seat now. Space is limited!

Sept 6: https://bit.ly/2PlKkVJ
Sept 13: https://bit.ly/2C2d9VA

Instructor: Rick Miller, CPA

09/06/2017

Happy to take some time away from education conference to support those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

08/30/2017

Excited to announce, How Not to Run out of Money in Retirement, exclusively for women is coming to Nashville on Oct 10 and 12!

07/16/2017

A variety of factors can set back retirement savings, such as investing too conservatively or withdrawing funds early.

To the extent most people fall short in retirement, the causes are usually attributable to a lack of planning or foresight.

07/16/2017

A variety of factors can set back retirement savings, such as investing too conservatively or withdrawing funds early.

06/07/2017

The Wall Street mentality has conditioned us to believe that we must accept risk. Financial planners that adopt this way of thinking will invest our money in certain types of investments, made up mostly of stocks and bonds, based upon our “risk tolerance.” This “risk tolerance” is determined by a lengthy myriad of questions to determine how much risk we are willing to accept. All the while, we have been conditioned to believe that risk is something we must tolerate. Why?
When Retirement Planning, must we tolerate market risk? I have a better idea. Let’s find a way not to tolerate anything and avoid market risks altogether.

Maybe we need to recondition our thinking when building our plans to retire. Why don’t we practice “risk avoidance” rather than “risk tolerance” and not have to worry about running out of money.

John Pickard, CFP®

05/09/2017

Several studies show the happiest people in retirement are those with secured Guaranteed Lifetime Income. Otherwise known as "Retirement Insurance." This is money received every month for the rest of their lives - and it never runs out!

Retirement Insurance comes only from three basic sources:
1) Social Security
2) Workplace Pension
3) Lifetime Annuity.

Social Security can be the best source of Guaranteed Lifetime Income (GLI); however, most do not take it correctly. This is the greatest error made in planning for retirement.

Unfortunately, a workplace pension is not an option for most Americans. Pensions are becoming a thing of the past. Most people do not work for companies that provide a pension.

The best and least understood retirement vehicle is a Lifetime Annuity. There are different types of annuities. Not all annuities are optimum for creating lifetime benefits. When an appropriate annuity is structured into a retirement plan, lifetime income can be created duplicating a pension.

Why are the people with these types of income the happiest people in retirement? The answer is: They never worry!

John W. Pickard, CFP®

05/02/2017

During our ABC Retirement Planning Workshop, we often ask this question: “Do you have home insurance, life insurance, auto, business, liability, boat, UV, etc., etc., etc. insurance?” Yes is the response. Then we ask them, “Do you have Retirement Insurance?” That’s when we get puzzled looks.

Who are the “Happiest People in Retirement?” Those with Retirement Insurance!

The “Wall Street” style brokers (I use to be one) who manage most of America’s retirement assets primarily focus on building up retirement assets. We call this asset accumulation. Over the last 20 plus years, I’ve noticed that this mindset continues even after retirement.

This strategy can have catastrophic results!!

If you had retired in 2000, you probably would have depleted all your assets in less than 13 years (that’s using the Wall Street 4% retirement rule). Many so called Financial Planners don’t understand how or why this is.

There have been several studies done that conclusively show that the happiest people in retirement are those that don’t have to worry about market fluctuations or whether there will be a retirement check next month – next year – next 10 years – or for life.

John W. Pickard, CFP®

04/20/2017

Outliving My Income

The number one worry among Americans in retirement is outliving their income. Most people do not know how to structure their retirement assets appropriately to deal with risks such as market fluctuation, inflation, longevity of life, and unplanned expenses caused by long term care. And frankly, most "financial planners" don't either.

Most "financial planners" focus on building retirement assets and getting the highest rate of return for your "risk tolerance." Few have any idea how to form an exit strategy (getting money out at a safe rate during retirement) that can deal with the fluctuating markets. Personally, I want a written guarantee that I will never run out of assets no matter how long I live.

If you feel like I do, then you need to attend our next ABC Retirement Workshop as we discuss a fresh new way to understand your risks in retirement and how to deal with them.

John Pickard, CFP®

04/07/2017

Learning how to plan and save for retirement should not feel like learning a new language.