UI Extension workshops share how
YOU CAN RETIRE WELL
by Marlene Fritz
“Within the next 10 years, retirees will be 25 percent of
the U.S. population, and that’s
going to create sociological and political shifts.”
Craig Riddle retired on a Friday a year ago. By the following Monday, the 57-year-old Twin Falls fertilizer and chemical salesman had returned to work at another firm.
Craig and Susan Riddle, aged 57 and 55, are
surprised
at assisted living costs for her mom,
Dorothy Caldwell,
pictured with her dog Fluffy
Riddle and his wife, Susan, 55, participated in You Can
Retire Well, a freshly developed University of Idaho Extension course piloted in August in Jerome. Yes, they’d love to actually retire, but “we’re just not sure when we would feel safe dipping into what we’ve saved,” says Susan. “We’ve seen what assisted living is costing my mother, and it’s kind of a freaky thing.”
On a short break during the second of the workshop’s four classes, the Riddles were “anxious to go home this weekend and start crunching our numbers and see what we have to do in terms of our own nest egg.”
Start planning Encouraging Idahoans to start planning for all aspects of retirement—both financial and non-financial—is what You Can Retire Well is all about. Building on previous Extension family economics programs like Dollar Decision$, Credit Cents, Legally Secure Your Financial Future, and Planning for Independence and Long-term Care, the workshop helps participants determine what they’ll need and carve their own unique paths to satisfying senior years. The Idaho Department of Finance and AARP-Idaho are co-sponsors. (You can find UI Extension publications on all topics mentioned in this paragraph at www.www.cals.uidaho.edu/edComm/catalog/.)
“
Retirement information is definitely a primary need, regardless of your age,” says Madison County extension educator Luke Erickson. Along with five other UI Extension faculty members and representatives of the Idaho Department of Finance and the Social Security Administration, Erickson is a workshop instructor. “If you’re an adult, you need to be saving for retirement.”
The workshop attracted 57 Idahoans in Jerome and a similar number in Idaho Falls and will be offered in Boise, Pocatello, and possibly elsewhere during 2009. Jerome County extension educator Lyle Hansen doesn’t expect it to turn participants into “financial pros.” He does, however, want them to “become diversified in their investments and, feel comfortable with their plans.”
Good, solid, unbiased financial information
After Beverly Healy, Hansen’s Ada County counterpart, shows participants how to calculate their financial needs, Hansen helps them assess their investment risk tolerance and describes such basic investment options as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and annuities. Then, Erickson and Eastern Idaho Extension educator Jim Schaffer discuss how to make money last a lifetime, including tax effects, dollar-cost averaging, diversification, portfolio rebalancing, and withdrawal rates and strategies.
“Retirement investments are being sold right and left, and some are good and quite frankly many aren’t,” says Erickson. “We give people solid, simple financial information that is unbiased.”
“Because UI Extension doesn’t market products or services, we can really help people sort through them and weigh whether to manage their investments on their own or pay for a professional,” says Healy.
Earleen Peterson, 64, of Twin Falls, retired eight years ago. Now, she’s educating herself for a return to the workforce and for taking an active part in managing her money. “You know what: I need more funds to live the lifestyle I want to,” she explains as the workshop begins.
Downsizing from $6,000 to $2,000 a month
Calling the 1946-to-1964 generation the “silver tsunami,” speaker Jeanne Tyler of the Social Security Administration says many underestimate the economic gap they’ll need to close in retirement. “People come into the office who have been making $5,000 to $6,000 a month, and we have to tell them that we’ll be paying them $1,900 a month,” she says. “They ask, ‘How am I going to pay my bills?’ You’d better be doing some planning.”
For Debra Brunelle, 52, of Twin Falls, the workshop was a place to start. “It’s been really helpful, informative, and accessible,” she says. “It’s one thing to read about retirement, but it’s another to have it reinforced with a workbook, live presentations, and question-and-answer sessions.”
Thoughts on hiring a financial pro
Speaker Patricia Highley, education outreach coordinator and senior securities analyst for the Idaho Department of Finance, was impressed with the questions she got. Highley, who advised participants on how to choose a financial professional, says consumers often don’t realize that stockbrokers, investment advisers, insurance agents, and others who call themselves “financial planners” can’t all sell the same products and don’t have the same legal relationships with their clients. Some financial planners may not be licensed in Idaho at all.
“Investments are very intimidating, and hiring an investment pro is a big issue,” she says. “But anytime you’re allowing anybody to handle your money—whether they’re giving you advice or taking over the management themselves—you want to be careful, get references, and check them out.” Watch for red flags, like high-pressure tactics and hot-tips-just-between-you-and-me. She offered her agency’s assistance at finance.idaho.gov.
Retirement surprises are no surprise
At 68, Rudy Homolka of Kimberly came to the seminar to learn how to boost the performance of his Individual Retirement Account. Although a planner by nature, retirement had at least one surprise for him. After buying a camper-trailer, Rudy and his wife, Carolyn, soon discovered that life on the road wasn’t their cup of tea. “Our family is here, and we’re not traveling people,” he says.
Marilyn Bischoff, UI Extension family economics specialist and workshop coordinator, says their experience is common. Some experts on aging say non-financial aspects of retirement are often bigger eye-openers than financial ones. She encourages Idahoans who are a few years from retirement to start developing strategies now for meeting their social needs.
25 percent of our population will be retired
“Within the next 10 years, retirees will be 25 percent of the U.S. population. That’s going to create sociological and political shifts,” Bischoff says. “We’ll want to do things that we didn’t have time to do before to nourish ourselves, and those of us who have the health to be engaged will enhance our communities.”
Participants were also encouraged to maintain— or regain—their physical health through nutrition and exercise and to keep their minds keen through intellectual challenge. Owyhee County extension educator Marsha Lockard says many prospective retirees don’t fully appreciate the relationship between their personal and financial health.
“Everybody is concentrating so much on money,” she says. “A lot of times they don’t realize that the healthier they are, the lower their medical bills are likely to be in retirement.”
At 66, Magic Valley Realtor Gaea Lete of Shoshone still loves her work after 23 years. This winter Lete plans to fill out worksheets and visit recommended Web sites to see if her assets and investments will deliver the kind of retirement she seeks. “Although I probably will not retire for some time, I want to see what it’s really going to take.”
Contact Marilyn Bischoff at 208.364.9910 or mbischof@uidaho.edu.
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