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| By Nilus Mattive |
I heard from a lot of you that my story last week about helping my dad reset his retirement resonated.
And I love that I could help.
Some even asked if I could give some more specific ways I helped him out.
I’ve narrowed it down to three main areas that he and I worked on that I think could help you if you are in a similar situation … or are looking to retool your own retirement.
And if you haven’t yet, you can catch one of these specific recommendations in action here.
I’ll have more on that in a moment.
Here are my three big retirement moves …
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My Dad has always been there for me — whether it was coaching my childhood soccer teams or helping me move from one corner of the United States to another.
So, one of the great rewards of getting older and gaining expertise of my own is that I have been able to turn around and start repaying him for all his support over the years … in some cases, literally!
In fact, by the time I was in my 20s and working on Wall Street, Dad and I were regularly talking about his own retirement plan.
After working his way through college and climbing up the ranks at state mental health facilities, he had finally become the director.
As I said last week, he was making money. But he wasn’t getting rich.
We agreed that our goal would be supercharging his wealth as much as possible from that point onward.
Again, I’m proud to say we succeeded.
So, today, with inflation taking off and the stock market looking quite risky once again, I thought it would make sense to revisit three of the major moves I helped Dad make back then … moves that have helped create the retirement he enjoys now.
Move #1: Think More Flexibly
Once Dad got into his early 60s, he had a choice — retire early, keep working at the same place for a few more years or maybe even consider one last job move.
Retiring early wasn’t all that appealing to Dad.
He still liked his work. He had enough energy to keep going for a while. And he was making a difference in people’s lives.
At the same time, he had accrued enough years in the system to start collecting a pretty solid pension … and the future monetary returns of staying longer wouldn’t really be that great.
So after a lot of debate, we decided he should try to split the difference — by retiring from his current position if he was able to find another job or consultancy gig.
Now, a lot of people would say it’s nearly impossible to switch jobs at such a late point in someone’s career. After all, even if an opportunity is available, it’s hard to make the change emotionally.
Dad definitely felt that way.
He’d been in the same system for many decades and he’d never lived anywhere other than Pennsylvania.
He was comfortable.
Still, he started putting out feelers through various recruiters. And he ended up getting a solid offer near Charleston, South Carolina, where a similar hospital needed his deep experience for at least a few years.
Obviously, this might not be a move you can make personally.
Maybe you’re already retired.
Maybe you don’t want to pack up and move somewhere else.
But the bigger point is thinking flexibly about WHAT you’re doing right now … WHERE you’re doing it … and whether there might also be some interesting possibilities you haven’t really considered yet.
Move #2: Make Good Social Security Decisions
If you aren’t yet retired but can’t trade up to a new job or make a serious career change, you still have another card to play — making good decisions related to Social Security.
Amazingly, most Americans do NOT do this.
They simply collect the minute they can … or at best, file at “full retirement age.”
In my Dad’s case, we went way deeper.
First, I had him file and suspend his own benefits.
Next, when my mom started collecting her benefits, I had Dad collect spousal benefits on her work record.
Then, at age 70, he started collecting his own much higher, fully maxed-out benefit checks once again.
Eight years later, Dad has already made substantially more money from the system than he would have under other scenarios and the gap will keep getting wider and wider.
I figure my parents will now get an extra $100,000+ out of Social Security … from strategies that required no nest egg whatsoever and entailed no market risk.
The bad news is that some of these strategies are no longer possible. In fact, a few were taken off the table precisely because I helped popularize them to Weiss readers back in the day.
However, there are still better and worse ways to use the system. Much of it will depend on your own health … your personal finances … as well as your marital status.
But as my Dad would tell you, taking the time to game everything out is totally worth it.
Last but certainly not least …
Move #3: Make a Better Investment Plan
Finally, we come to an area that everyone needs to consider — whether you’re starting a career or already in retirement.
When Dad left his Pennsylvania job, he had a chunk of deferred compensation that I recommended putting into an IRA account.
That gave him big tax benefits going forward.
Of course, the next big decision was what to do with the money itself.
Dad had never really invested on his own before and he favored very conservative choices like CDs or money markets.
However, it was pretty clear that the rates being offered were not going to cut it. (Sound familiar?)
So starting in July of 2010, I helped him invest $100,000 of the savings in dividend-paying stocks and other income-producing assets.
More importantly, I taught him how to use a special strategy that can pull extra cash out of the markets almost anytime you like.
The result?
Within a few years Dad was able to peel off $54,148 in total profits while still keeping the original $100,000 invested for even more future upside and income potential … a plan that remains in place to this very day.
In fact, I’d say it’s more important today than it was back then.
After all, inflation is now running hotter and will likely keep rising …
Most CDs and money markets are still not paying enough to keep up …
And I think there’s a lot more risk out there than most Wall Street experts care to admit.
Which is precisely why I continue helping many Weiss readers use the very same strategies and investments I recommended to my Dad more than a decade ago now.
The results speak for themselves.
Best wishes,
Nilus Mattive
