What Makes for a Happy Retirement?

/in , ,

Greetings all,

As financial planners, we at Bona Fide Finance spend a lot of time working with people to get them to retirement. We analyze current cash flows, we project future income, we optimize tax strategies, and do a myriad of other things chiefly centered around making sure you arrive at retirement with enough resources (aka, money) to get you through your retirement years without worrying about outliving your bank accounts. Something that can get lost in this focus on the arithmetic of retirement is the question of what makes a ‘good’ retirement. We believe it is equally important to focus not only on getting you to retirement with an appropriate nest egg, but also to help you realize what is going to make you happy in the retirement you’ve worked so hard to create.

Watch – 
If you haven’t noticed, we are big fans of a good TED talk and that’s where we lead off here. Watch Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the world’s longest studies of adult life, address the topic, “What makes a good life?”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, creating a happy and well-lived life isn’t just about the amount of money you have (although it certainly doesn’t hurt), but more so about the amount and quality of relationships you have and how fulfilled you feel in your personal life. In his talk, Robert shares, “shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.” We hope you’ll enjoy this as much as we did. 

Read – 
If you enjoyed the above TED talk, you’ll surely want to read more in this article from the Harvard Gazette, “Good Genes Are Nice, But Joy is Better”. The article is full of wisdom such as, “The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80”, so if you feel like you’ve neglected some of your personal relationships in pursuit of your professional success, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities. Let’s say you are blessed with financial stability, great relationships, and long life, what then? There is a growing movement in financial planning toward taking care of the people who are spending more and more time in their retirement years. This increase in longevity requires special skills. This is an area we are acutely attuned to and Ben recently attained his RICP® (Retirement Income Certified Professional) which focuses on longevity planning among other topics. If you’ve got questions about how to prepare for your later years, we can help you.

Listen – 
In what appears to be one of our best finds in recent history, check out the Lifespan Podcast with David Sinclair, professor at Harvard Medical School. This podcast started just in December of 2021 and from what we’ve watched is of exceptional quality. With high production values, tons of good information, and a host that is extremely easy to listen to, this is one of the most engaging sources of information on the science of aging that we’ve found. If you are interested in living a healthier, happier, and longer life, then this is a great resource. 

Thank you so much for spending your time reading our newsletter. We hope you’ve found some value here. Please reach out if you have any questions or comments. Share this with your friends and family and let us know if you have any topics you’d like us to cover. If you haven’t yet, take a listen to our podcast, The FI Entrepreneur. We’ve been doing it for a few months now and have gotten some good feedback. Ben and Andrew are set to record an episode about how to keep the ‘Freedom’ in ‘FI’ and how to avoid burnout as an entrepreneur, something both of them have plenty of experience with. Have a great month and we’ll see you next time!

Best wishes, 

The Bona Fide Family

Social Security

/in ,

Greetings! We hope you are doing well and enjoying the spring weather with some great plans for the summer. For this newsletter, we have decided to focus on something pretty important and often misunderstood by many people: Social Security. There are many misconceptions out there about Social Security and a couple of good things to keep in mind when considering your situation. We won’t be able to cover everything, so if you have a question, please feel free to reach out, and we will do a follow-up to this or respond individually. Happy reading, watching, and listening!  

  • Watch: Here, we are giving you a double-shot. One of the things most people worry about is if Social Security will still be around when they need to draw on it. In fact, about half of American’s don’t have faith that Social Security will be able to provide for them in their retirement. The above link takes you to a CNBC video that delves into the past and possible future problems of Social Security. Supposing you want to skip to the ‘What’s next?’ part of the video, start at about 13:30. For your bonus video, we have a feature on working while collecting benefits. This may not apply to you, but it could for someone close to you. 
  • Read: Another common question people have is, “When should I claim Social Security?” We’ve linked this article from Investopedia to help answer that question. It is an in-depth article, so if you’re looking for a quick and easy answer, it’s to generally delay as long as possible, especially if there is longevity in your family history of life expectancy. The article also links to a breakeven calculator that will help you compare the breakeven age of retiring at age 62 with $1,500 per month or at age 66 with about $2,000 per month. In this case, you will have received roughly the same amount in total benefits by age 77. So, if you live longer than age 77, it would have been better for you to delay receiving benefits, if possible.
  • Listen: If the above wasn’t enough for you, the Social Security Administration offers a lot of content in audio format. So, if you’re looking for something for your next road trip, you can peruse the list and find something that appeals to you. If you want something a bit more riveting, this episode of The Long View takes the other side of the above point and explores why it is not always better to delay Social Security. FYI – that page and the podcast are chock-full of great financial topics, so you may want to check it out for more than just Social Security content.

We hope you have enjoyed this ‘light’ topic, and let us know if you have any questions! Is there a topic you would like us to delve into in a future newsletter? Please let us know, and we will be happy to consider including it.

Make it an amazing month!
The Bona Fide Family

Investing in your Health

/in ,

There are many ways in which a person can invest; a most practical but seemingly unconventional way would be to invest in your health. Especially in light of the recent compromising health issues facing the globe with covid-19, placing care and attention on you own personal health can pay dividends. After all, “if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything” (to quote my wife’s favorite movie, The Princess Bride): if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy the hard work on which you’ve you spent your life, you’re missing out! Check out the following three resources on this topic:

  • Read: States differ right now in their own response to covid, and while we in North Dakota have a lot more general freedom than many in the rest of the country with eased restrictions, there is still a great personal responsibility to reduce the opportunity for covid to spread. This Time article has great tips for staying physically and mentally healthy in the midst of staying at home.
  • Listen: Roger Whitney of The Retirement Answer Man presents how the quality of your health can have major financial implications on your financial wellbeing in retirement in 1) healthcare costs; 2) preventing Alzheimer’s disease; and 3) the possibility of work after retirement. Additionally, he outlines six areas of wellness (including physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and occupational) and discusses the financial benefits of investing in them. It is important to start investing in this now before you reach retirement so that you can enjoy it!
  • Watch: We’ve heard it 100 times throughout our lives – how to improve your overall health. This handy video reminds us of the top five steps in doing so: maintain a healthy BMI, don’t smoke, exercise, eat more fruits and veggies, and get some good sleep! Start with building one small habit in these areas if you haven’t already, and reap the rewards of better health!

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

Accessing Retirement Funds Early

/in , ,

Retirement saving and planning: If you have made prudent financial choices that will allow you to retire early (early meaning before age 59 1/2), what sort of plan should you employ for taking advantage of those retirement accounts without losing some of the valuable money you’ve set aside? See below for some well-thought-out perspectives:

  • Read: Mad Fientist has written a lot about the benefits of tax-advantaged accounts and why they are especially beneficial for people planning on retiring early. He’s even created a real-time experiment to prove that utilizing tax-advantaged accounts is the best way to speed up your journey to financial independence. In this post How to Access Retirement Funds Early he writes about all the ways you can access the money in retirement accounts prior to standard retirement age.
  • Listen: Have you ever wanted to invest through an IRA or 401(k) for the purpose of early retirement but found yourself stymied by the thought of paying a 10% penalty tax to gain access to your money? Listen to Joshua Sheats’ approach in this podcast, How You Can Get More Money For Early Retirement.
  • Watch: This article and short video detail how dividends on IRAs are taxed. An IRA is a great option to save for retirement. The key is to know the rules for withdrawals before you invest, so you do not face any tax surprises at retirement.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

F.I.R.E.

/in , ,

F.I.R.E. is an acronym. It stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. There’s a growing movement of people who are practicing FIRE principles and retiring decades earlier than expected as a result. Smart, often middle-income earners are using a simple formula of high savings rates (50-70% of their incomes) + frugal living (minimalism) + low-cost stock index fund investing (Warren Buffett’s standard investment advice) in order to reach financial independence within short–usually around 10-year periods–of time. For obvious reasons, FIRE is sometimes referred to as “the ultimate life hack.” (this definition taken from Playing With Fire). Look onward for these hot resources below!

  • Read: Vicki Robin wrote Your Money or Your Life in 1992, on the topic of personal finance. In this interview with MarketWatch, she expands her definition of financial independence to financial interdependence. Read more here in How Much is Enough?
  • Listen: Early retirement has become a popular dream, especially in the FIRE community, but many are spending too much to make it a reality. In this podcast episode, David Stein explores why the tendency to spend too much is such a large part of our culture. Listen the whole way through to learn about practical ways you can filter your spending for greater savings and earlier retirement.
  • Watch: There is a documentary on this entire FIRE movement that will be released soon. Watch the trailer here and sign up to be notified when it’s available to view full-form!

Just a reminder: we have an entire page dedicated to FIRE, other financial topics, as well as all of our archived newsletters on our Resources page.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

Loss/Grief

/in , ,

We learned in mid-January that our third pregnancy resulted in miscarriage. Since then, we have been navigating the grief of this loss, and thought it poignant to address the topic of loss in general in a newsletter format. This month will be a little heavier on the “read” side of things:

  • Read: In Get it Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won’t Have To, Melanie Cullen provides a compassionate guide to end-of-life planning. No one wants to think about their own death or what happens once they’re gone; the same goes for thinking about the death of a loved one. But without proper planning, this grief-filled inevitability can be fraught with frustration, added pain, and legal issues for those left behind. Aside from the emotional weight, thinking through every element of a death and getting everything organized can be overwhelming. Cullen’s clear-eyed guide will help to make the process as smooth as possible.
  • Read: This very brief article from Dave Ramsey places emphasis on creating and maintaining a Legacy Drawer. He recommends having 11 things in said drawer, including a cover letter, funeral instructions, insurance policies, and monthly budget. It is worth noting that current clients have much of what is recommended to have in a Legacy Drawer through your subscription to Right Capital, but not everything is contained there. Take some time to fill in whatever gaps are present.
  • Read: Should you take out a life insurance policy on your child(ren)? I give an emphatic “no!” Read 6 Reasons Why NOT To Buy Life Insurance for Your Children for a series of excellent reasons why purchasing a policy is a bad idea.
  • Read: My wife and I found a lot of solace in reading through Grieving Together: A Couple’s Journey Through Miscarriage by Franco and Laura Fanucci. Not only did this couple experience similar grief as we in the realm of infertility and miscarriage, but they also chronicle the deaths of their identical twin girls at 22 weeks. It is an inspiring book, discussing the impact of grief on the physical, spiritual, and emotional planes of both father and mother.
  • Watch: In this touching tribute to his wife who died from complications of ovarian cancer, Jason Rosenthal offers candid insights on the often excruciating process of moving through and with loss — as well as some quiet wisdom for anyone else experiencing life-changing grief.

One last note: an incredible consolation we received through genetic testing was finding out our little one is a girl; we named her Dorothy Rose Michelle.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

Resources for Comprehensive Financial Planning

/in , , , , , ,

Bona Fide Finance has exciting news to share this month! We now have a resource page available to use as a reference as needed. It’s creatively called the Resources page (original, I know!); we have numerous links to all the major subjects of personal finance. Within each subcategory you will find a number of links to other blogs, articles, websites, books, interviews, etc., all with the aim to help you be as informed as possible regarding these topics. Take a gander when you have a moment; we hope you are able to put it to good use. Enjoy!

  • Investments: Mutual funds, asset allocation, fixed income instruments, annuities, socially responsible investing, trivia
  • Taxes: Payroll tools, online tax preparation, 1031 exchanges, state tax rates
  • Budgeting: Software, debt management, managing money, saving and spending, credit cards, financial spreadsheets
  • Student Loans
  • Behavioral Finance
  • Insurance: Life, disability, health, auto, long term care, home, umbrella liability, trip, pet
  • Estate Planning: Trusts, executor, legal documents, ethical will, digital lockbox
  • Home Ownership: Mortgages, insurance, determining your home’s basis, reverse mortgages, homestead exemption
  • Car Buying
  • Retirement: Early retirement, retirement accounts and contributions, retirement calculators, social security
  • Lifestyle Design
  • Financial Independence

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

/in ,

Planning one’s estate is an important component of your financial outlook; however, most avoid acting on this aspect to the detriment of their loved ones after their death. Check out these three resources so that you can get your estate documents created:

  • Read: It’s natural to put off estate planning. After all, no one wants to anticipate his or her own death. You also may think that only the wealthy require estate planning. Not so! Read this brief article on Understanding the Estate Planning Process to see why everyone should get these tasks accomplished.
  • Listen: This podcast with Joshua Sheats is a simple overview of the major estate planning documents: a will, a living will, a medical power of attorney, and a durable power of attorney. See what they mean and why they’re important. Note that this is not a technical deep-dive into these documents; it is a light and friendly overview.
  • Watch: In this interview with an estate planning attorney, you will be introduced to ten common estate planning mistakes to avoid based on her experience with clients.

Services Spotlight: Everplans is a secure, digital archive of everything your loved ones will need should something happen to you. They offer secure sharing of your information, expert guidance and resources, a custom fit for your situation, and security you can rely on. Everplans contain wills, trusts, and insurance policies; important accounts and passwords; health and medical information; advance directives and DNRs; final wishes and funeral preferences; and more. All new users receive a free 30-day trial; annual subscription is $75.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

Financial Independence and Early Retirement

/in , , ,

This month, I’d like to emphasize the processes one would go through if he or she wants to retire early (and by early I don’t just mean at age 62.5!). Enjoy the following pieces on this topic:

  • Read: Early Retirement Extreme is, well, an extreme look at retiring early. Jacob Lund Fisker wrote a book of the same title and has a plethora of information on his website, including this article on Can I Retire Young? In sum: the main question you should ask yourself is thus not whether you have enough money, but rather whether you can envision yourself living an unconventional life outside the boxes that most others live in. Can you be happy without doing what everybody else is doing?
  • Listen: The Shocking Truth About Life After Financial Independence is a podcast interview between Financial Mentor Todd Tresidder and Tess Vigeland, former host of NPR’s Marketplace Money. They discuss what stands on the other side of your career and how to embrace the risk and uncertainty, living life as an adventure. 
  • Watch: This 26-minute video of Peter Adeney (from Mr. Money Mustache, who retired at the age of 30) highlights 3 facts about money that helps the viewer understand what best to do with it to be able to retire early.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!

Lifestyle Design & Financial Planning

/in , , ,

This month, I’d like to highlight the theme of lifestyle design, a concept that weighs heavily on ordering your financial situation accordingly:

  • Read: This article from Seeking Alpha focuses on the work of Tim Ferriss, author of such books as “The Four Hour Work Week” and “Tools of Titans”. Ferriss encourages folks to move from an annual thinking and total costs to monthly cash-flow. What is your ideal lifestyle in exact detail, and how much does it cost per month?
  • Listen: Joshua Sheats interviewed Jake Desyllas, author of “Job Free” in this podcast, which focuses on distilling all the plans and strategies you can use to design your ideal financial freedom plan into a clear, simple framework.
  • Watch: A double-dip on Tim Ferriss this month: check out this 30 minute interview between Mark Frauenfelder of the 2014 Bay Area Maker Faire and Tim on his own experiments in lifestyle design, including dancing, learning languages, working out, and stoicism.

If you find the information provided valuable, please pass this email along to your family and friends! Better yet, recommend them to subscribe to this monthly newsletter by signing up on our website!

You can click on the links below to access this month’s resources. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching!