Category Archives: Michele Clark in the news

Michele Clark in the News: St. Louis Post Dispatch about Retirement

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In the St Louis Post Dispatch article “Gallagher: Can You Afford to Retire?” Jim Gallagher discusses a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that estimated how much of your pre-retirement income one would need for retirement spending. I shared my experience with helping pre-retirees plan for retirement and how surprised people are by how expensive healthcare can be in retirement. Especially when you look at the impact that inflation has on it over time.  I also shared the figures I used when planning for retirees who do not have employer provided retiree healthcare.

Healthcare expenses are a significant portion of retirement spending and can prevent people from being on track for their retirement goals. In order to get on track you usually have to make adjustments such as;

1) increase the amount you are saving toward retirement, or

2) consider a later retirement age, or

3) spending less on other financial goals in retirement

or some combination of those three variables in order to reach your most important financial goals in retirement.

Jim also included information that I shared with him about the most common mistake I see when potential clients come in and would like me to double check their math to see if they can afford to retire. It is that they have added up their sources of income such as portfolio, Social Security, pension, etc. and compared it to their expected expenses their first year of retirement and since the two numbers (income verses expenses) finally match up they think they can afford to retire.  I know that that is a dangerous assumption because I have run so many financial plans and I have a lot of experience seeing the impact of inflation therefore I know that in a few years the income sources will not be covering the expenses due to the different inflation assumptions for income sources versus expense items.  For example Social Security income we assume will inflate at 2% while healthcare expenses we assume inflate at 6%.  The better course of action is to run a Monte Carlo analysis to determine if your money will last a lifetime and if not what changes to the three variables listed above would need to be made.

Some clients that initially hire me discover that they are already on track to make all of their retirement needs, wants, and wishes come true. But for most folks, we must create a plan with action steps to get there.  I have noticed that some people who thought they were on track were not, and some people who thought they were not, were.  Give yourself enough years before you would like to retire so that you can create the retirement for yourself that you deserve.  Especially considering what you now know about healthcare expenses and inflation!

 

Michele Clark Quoted in the News: LearnVest article about saving for retirement

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In the LearnVest article online this week “30 or Bust?  What Retirement Really Looks Like When You Put Off Saving” the article discusses the advantages of starting retirement saving in your 20s, and ways to ramp up your savings if you are starting in your 30s.

The majority of the reading audience is self-directed investors that are looking for financial education, probably not going to hire an advisor, and definitely need to know how to best help themselves. She asked me when she interviewed me if I thought that people should use online retirement calculators.  I told her, “yes!”  They should use everyone one of them that they could get their hands on.  I told her that in the online calculators that I have seen, there are usually one or two assumptions that I don’t like, but if you can do several of them that would give you a better picture than not doing planning or doing just one.

One challenge that I have as a professional financial advisor is that the majority of clients that come to me for retirement planning are coming to me in their 50s or sometimes in their 60s and they have never estimated how much they need for retirement.  Therefore some of the plans I do require some kind of adjustment in expectations:

1) saving more between now and retirement than they thought they needed to or

2) retire a little later than they hoped or

3) spend less than they had imagined they would,

or a combination of the three.

Which work out fine, and clients go away feeling relived to know what needs to happen to be on track.  But if they pulled up calculators when they were 20 or 30 and did some preliminary estimates, wow!  The results would be terrific.  And I am seeing more 20 and 30 year olds coming to see me for help with balancing financial goals.

I was so thrilled to participate in this article.  Financial journalists reach so many more investors than financial advisors ever could.  I am so glad that this message can get out.  Saving early has a big impact!

Michele Clark Quoted in the News: St Louis Post Dispatch article about financial compatibility

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The St Louis Post Dispatch quoted me in their article “Is Your Honey Good With Money? Better Find Out Before Tying The Knot.” in the Sunday paper.

I shared my thoughts on couples and financial compatibility.  As a financial advisor for twenty some years, I have worked with many different couples of various age ranges, so I was able to share some ideas for checking to see if you think about money in the same way.

Even if you don’t, one of the most important things to do is to talk about it before you marry.  Money squabbles are one of the leading causes of divorce.  Valentine’s Day has just passed and love is in the air, take a look at this article to make sure it stays that way!

Michele Clark in the News: Wall Street Journal Article About Retirement

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In the Wall Street Journal article “Five Ways You Can Really Mess Up Your Retirement” Brett Arends discusses some of the biggest mistakes that recent retirees make.

I shared my experience of working with recent retirees who have not ever felt the need to track expenses in the past because their income surpassed their expenses.  However when they retired, they were stunned by how fast they saw their checking account balance go down once they stopped receiving income from their employer which in the past had replenished their accounts on a regular basis.  They then call me for help with retirement cash flow planning.

To read what other advisors and I had to say about errors new retirees make, you can read the article on the Wall Street Journal website.  If you do not have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal website, let me know that you would like to read it, and I would be happy to send you a reprint. Send me an email at: michele@clarkhourlyfinancialplanning.com

Michele Clark in the News: Wealth Gathering’s Moneymentals Blog

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Should you get your investment advice from a couple of plumbers?  I did and it turned into a wonderful career for me.   Those plumbers were my grandpa and my dad.

Learn how I got introduced to investing at a very young age and how it has influenced my thinking about investing ever since by reading “Blogger Interview: Hourly Planner’s Michele Clark” at the Wealth Gathering website.

Michael Goldman at Wealth Gathering asked me some questions about;

  • My professional background and why I didn’t stay in the traditional, commissioned-based brokerage firm environment.  I have worked in a bank, bank brokerage firm, a full commission brokerage firm, and a full service discount brokerage firm.
  • How does my family balance living in the moment vs. saving for the future.  Such a great question, because it is the essence of financial planning.
  • Who is your financial role model.  I could have gone on and on with this one.  I think I will do a future blog post of my own.
  • And do I think everyone is capable of learning enough about personal finance to do it on their own.  This answer may surprise you!

I know Michael through the Garrett Planning Network.  He is like me, in that he owns his own financial planning firm.  In addition he has the Wealth Gathering site which is so unique.  It is designed to offer online tools, coaching, and peer support.  It is structured like a financial fitness program.   As you know, I am a fee-only financial advisor, so I do not receive any compensation from them, and am not affiliated with Wealth Gathering.  If you have a chance to look at the interview, take a look around at the other information on the website.  Especially considering this is the time of year that so many people are tackling financial To Do items.