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On December 28, 2004 John Soderman of KUSI News
interviewed Barbara Williams. The topic of their discussion was setting
retirement planning goals for the new year. The following is the transcript
of this interview.
John -
Speaking of finances, now is the time to create strategies for setting
financial goals that work for the new year and beyond. Barbara Williams from
Financial Focus is here with some advice. And, Barbara thank you so much
for coming down in the rain. We appreciate it.
Barbara
– Thank you.
John –
Let’s get right to it. We want to get some talking points… let’s get one of
them on the TV screen and have you answer them one at a time. First
question is; "When do you want to retire?"
Barbara
– Well how about me? How about you? How about tomorrow?
John –
I’d love it.
Barbara
– For most people, that’s their number on financial goal – to be able to
retire as soon as possible. But in… the reality of it is that they just get
stuck in the day to day, paycheck to paycheck and they don’t start making
steps towards that future financial goal.
John –
So they end up working late into their sixties.
Barbara
– Yea, right.
John –
Who wants to do that?
Barbara
– People say; "I want to retire at 55 when I can still enjoy it."
And, so we need to start taking steps now to be able to make a change for
the future.
John –
All right. Talking point number two. "How much money will you need in
retirement." I know that’s a big question. Let’s see if you can …
Barbara
– And most people don’t know – they just take a guess and say; "Maybe
I’ll have Social Security, I have a pension…." But if you want, let’s
say a $70,000 income at retirement you need a million dollars put away on
top of your Social Security if you don’t have a pension. And if you want
more than $70,000 the number goes up from there.
John –
Ok – that’s very specific information. Talking point number three –
"How long will you need the money?" And, I guess that we’re
talking about how long they are going to live. Right?
Barbara
– This is a big point. We want to keep retiring earlier and earlier and we
are living longer and longer. So if somebody is retiring at age 60 they need
to count on living another 35 years. And so once you take into account
inflation, if we have inflation at three percent which is the historical
average, the price of goods will more than double during the rest of their
lifetime. So if you thought you needed $4,000 per month to retire on you
realistically will need maybe $10,000 a month by the end of your life
expectancy.
John –
OK. I like the way you’re moving along at a good clip. Talking point number
four, "How can you increase your savings between now and
retirement?"
Barbara
– That’s the real trick.
John –
Investments, right?
Barbara
– You need to set up tricks for yourself to put away money. And its good
habit. Some of them, the ones you don’t notice are the obvious ones – Let’s
set up a 401(k). So if I work somewhere where there is a retirement plan
have it come out of my paycheck before I get it so if the money is not
there its automatically gone. Then the next steps take a little more work
on our part. Its really digging through out budget and its sitting down and
looking at where am I spending my money and really do a detailed look at
the last year. Where did I spend my money? Take your credit card statements
and your check book and write it all out. Its really amazing where some of
the money seeps through.
John –
Right.
Barbara
– If we look at those three dollar coffees every day and we start adding
those up and all the little places the money seeps out – we’ve got to set
ways to capture that money and get it put away.
John –
OK, finally, we’re going to put up a web site I think or phone number here.
Uh, coming up OK. Here it is, right there. 760-431-3040. And can you look
into the screen and tell me is that Fifo1 dot…?
Barbara
– Fifo1dot com.
John –
OK that’s so they can reach your company.
Barbara
– Yes.
John –
OK. Thank you so much for condensing a very complicated subject down into
three minutes. Not easily done in TV land.
Barbara
– Thank you.
John –
All right, thank you so much Barbara Williams. Thank you very much.
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