09.22.26 Ask An Advisor With Wes Moss

And a warning, some of those statistics are very, very sensitive topics, so-

They're sensitive, yeah

... um, and also, something you hear...

Oh, we get a lot of questions about whether to take a lump sum or a pay-

Payments

... payments.

Payments.

Yeah, and you have new advice on that.

I have a new way of looking at that, and I think part of it is that we've gotten to answer so many questions about that topic here on the show.

It made me rethink, and it's not as though I've changed my view as a 180, but I have a new approach to try to help anybody making that decision between taking a chunk of money versus a payment stream, which by the way, it's not just pensions, right? If, if we win the lottery-

Mm-hmm

... which again, the, a- as an outlier example, that's one of the options.

Do you wanna take money over time, or do you wanna take it all in a, in a chunk? But we're very often faced with that mathematical dilemma, and I have a new way of, really a decision tree to help you think that through.

Great.

So you've heard me here on this show talk about the core theme for so much of what I do, uh, around financial advice, is to build a financial foundation, but also not ignore the life steps and the lifestyle habits and secrets that make for a happy retirement.

Because what is the point if we have plenty of money and we still don't have an, a happy retirement? The end in mind is to really be able to enjoy that American dream: work hard, have plenty of freedom, and then do the things we wanna do.

We think of golfing when I want to, traveling, seeing my grandkids, seeing my children, being active, and that's how we think and we, we want to have w- when it comes to having free time and no longer having to work.

But what makes it so that retirement is so hard, or can be so hard? And there are some real statistics that point to, I would say, troubling, some troubling statistics around aging in America, particularly in retirement.

And I'll start with this first question, uh, which again, was shocking to me when I first learned about this.

I haven't brought it up on the show, but again, I'd say this is the kind of statistic that k- that really drives me to want to help families find happiness in retirement, and that's this.

What demographic group in the United States has the highest suicide rate of any group in America? The answer is men age 75 and older.

Mm.

You immediately think, well, young people-

Mm-hmm

... and teenagers, Gen Z.