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On October 24, 2004 Bill Griffith and Lauren Reyonlds of
Channel 10 News interviewed Gloria Foote. The topic of their discussion was
retirement planning. The following is the transcript of this interview.
Lauren –
One area you definitely don’t want to lose out on is your retirement. It is
never too early to start saving.
Bill –
Yea – Is it ever too late. That’s a big question. Joining us now is Gloria
Foote from Financial Focus to talk about some ways you can check your
financial plan, your retirement plan and see if you’re on pace to be OK. And
you have a great phrase. Not outliving your…
Gloria –
Your money.
Bill –
Not outliving your money – yea.
Gloria –
Absolutely. We don’t want to outlive our money. And it’s a very big concern
today because the fastest growing segment in the United States is those
over age 100. Think about that.
Lauren –
Wow!
Bill –
Oh my goodness.
Gloria –
Another problem is that we don’t have that old three legged stool to depend
on like we did in the past. It used to be that retirees could count on a
company pension plan, you could count on Social Security and then of course
personal savings.
Bill –
That’s right.
Gloria –
Well guess what? Company pension plans are virtually no more. We see very
few of those coming into our office today. And its no secret that Social
Security is in pretty big trouble. So personal savings has to pay a much
bigger part in your financial retirement plan than it ever has before.
Lauren –
So what do you do and at what age? What do you really need to do to start?
Gloria –
Well, obviously the more quickly you start the better off you’ll be. But
the thing that we do find is that when they first come into the office –
and again, hopefully the quicker the better – is that we do a reality
check. Where are you today? Where are you today, where do you want to be
tomorrow? So that involves looking at your current investments. It looks at
what those investments are doing. Are they in the right investment vehicle?
What does inflation look like? That’s a huge problem. People are shocked to
find out what three percent inflation does to their portfolio in a fairly
short period of time. So if you want to retire at age 65 and you’re
spending $100,000 today, with just three percent inflation in 24 years
you’re going to have to have $200,000 to have the same lifestyle.
Bill –
Is there any good ways to hedge against those kinds of things – especially
for people who are approaching retirement and for years and years they were
counting on Social Security. Its only been in the last ten years or so that
we’ve seen that its going to be a real boondoggles.
Gloria –
Well that, again, gets back to the reality check. It’s a painful piece, but
a very important piece. What you have to do is find out where am I today.
So you look at that… you look what that’s projected to be for you in
retirement. If you don’t like that picture that means that you have to
either work longer or spend less.
Lauren –
A lot of people say that they can’t make ends meet now how can they plan
for the future?
Bill –
Well, you know, there is always someone living on less than you are. So
that’s why that budget – we call that the "B Word" – but it is
the budget… that you take a look at that it has to be exact you find out
exactly where the money is going. Once we know that we know where we can
find the discretionary income.
Lauren –
OK. Important tips and important things to do.
Gloria –
Whatever you want your retirement to be today its going to take a lot of
money. So you have to plan if you want to be in a comfortable position.
Bill –
Gloria Foote. I think after that I may work till I’m 90. Just put off
retirement until I’m way too old to worry about it.
Lauren –
Good advice. We appreciate it.
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