In today’s episode we share the results of our first annual listener survey, we check out breaking news in our “retirement headlines’ segment, and we tackle part one of our two part series: ‘Working beyond age 70’. 

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Thank you to those of you that participated in the survey – It is my hope that as we finish our 3rd year as podcasters, we improve this show each and every year. Having an annual survey will go a long way toward making those improvements.

Listener survey results

  • Over 90% of our audience is over age 50! In my mind, I’m talking to folks primarily age 50 and up, but I was surprised it was over 90%.  
  • One-topic long form monologue-type episodes are your favorite, out ranking both interviews and answering listener questions.  
  • Half our audience likes our current publishing schedule of twice per month, the 1st and 15th of the month (just like payday). 15% would prefer once per month and about 37% would like us to publish weekly.
  • What would you like to see more of? Multi-episode deep dives, webinars, and case studies were the most popular.
  • How often should we offer webinars? – a whopping 65% of you would like a webinar at least quarterly
  • What is your biggest retirement planning concerns? 62% said understanding more about sustainable withdrawal rates from our retirement accounts, followed by healthcare and confidently choosing an accurate retirement date.
  • What excites you most about retirement? Travelling and more time for hobbies were a close #1 & #2 answer.
  • Do you currently use a financial advisor? Results were split 50% yes, 50% no.

Thanks again to all who participated.  

Click below to join our email list and receive alerts for upcoming webinars.

Retirement Headlines!!

Investment News Article – All time market highs

Gambler’s fallacy Wikipedia:  Perhaps the most famous example of the gambler’s fallacy occurred in a game of roulette at the Monte Carlo Casino on August 18, 1913, when the ball fell in black 26 times in a row. This was an extremely uncommon occurrence, with a probability of around 1 in 136.8 million. Gamblers lost millions of francs betting against black, reasoning incorrectly that the streak was causing an imbalance in the randomness of the wheel, and that it had to be followed by a long streak of red.

My thoughts on the article:

The market has no memory – In fact, the market doesn’t even know if it is up or down. Invest for your own needs and unique situation and don’t think about all-time highs.  This bull market could continue for another decade, there’s really no way to tell when the good times will end – only that they eventually WILL END. “The end” doesn’t always mean something dramatic like a market crash, it just means a return to average return, or said in fancy financial advisor speak – reversion to the mean.  Above average returns now simply mean lower expected returns later. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated or dramatic than that.

What happens if I work beyond age 70?

Inspired by what we learned from the listener survey – we’ve split this deep-dive into  multiple episodes.

Part #1 covers Healthcare & Social Security – Part #2 covers Retirement Accounts & Retirement Income.

Health care

What happens if I’m on my employer’s plan beyond age 65? Do I have to grab part A? Part B? Do i get a special open enrollment for Medicare if I retire after 65? After 70? Do I need a prescription drug plan if I’m covered by my employer’s plan beyond age 70?

Medicare Part A does not carry a premium and will work as secondary coverage to your primary employer-sponsored health insurance plan.  If you work for a company with fewer than 20 employees, your Medicare Part A will become the primary coverage.

Note: if you are already collecting Social Security, sign up for Medicare Part A occurs automatically.

Medicare Part B & D both have associated premiums, and aren’t necessary if you like your employer-sponsored plan.

Once you finally retire, you will have your own special enrollment period of eight months to sign up for Medicare Part B before you start to incur a penalty.

This special enrollment period is different from your initial enrollment period (IEP) that falls around your 65th birthday.

Your employer can not require you to enroll in Medicare at age 65. As long as your employer has over 20 employees. Your employer also can not entice you to drop your employer sponsored plan and enroll into Medicare by offering to pay your Medicare Supplement premiums.

If you opt for Part A and delay Part B due to working beyond age 65 and wish to keep your employer coverage, it is recommended that you make an appointment with your local Social Security office 1-800-772-1213. This interview will ensure that proper documentation occurs that you are applying for Part A and declining Part B due to employer coverage. You may need to provide documentation of employer sponsored coverage.

What about Part D?

If you are still working past age 65 and your employer provides “creditable” coverage, meaning your coverage is at least as good as what Part D would offer, you don’t need to worry about Part D.
Source

Once you separate from your employer sponsored plan, you have a two-month special enrollment period.

**It would be worth your time to double-check if your employer coverage is “creditable” because if you miss your initial enrollment window around your 65th birthday, a penalty will be waiting for you when you finally enroll for Part D coverage.

What about COBRA?

COBRA is tricky, BE CAREFUL! COBRA for retirees generally lasts 18 months.  If you use COBRA beyond your 65th birthday, you could suffer a penalty when you finally sign up for Medicare.  Remember, you need a special enrollment period to sign up for Medicare more than three month after your 65th birthday. You need to be an active employee leaving employment to qualify for the special enrollment period. The expiration of COBRA coverage DOES NOT trigger a special enrollment period and if you are beyond three months past your 65th birthday you WILL incur a penalty when you attempt to sign up for Medicare.  

You’ve been warned!!

Source

Social Security

Will my Social Security benefits automatically start at age 70? Is there anyway to defer them? 

Social Security will not start immediately at age 70.  Your benefits will stop accruing at age 70. If you are already 70 and haven’t filed yet, Social Security will only let you file for retroactive benefits looking back six months. If you voluntarily suspended your benefits at full retirement age – according to the Social Security website – you benefits will automatically restart on the month of your 70th birthday.  

Retiring After 70.