138: Questions Advisers Should Ask You for Retirement Planning

OVERVIEW

Navigating through retirement planning can be tricky, but that’s where a stellar financial advisor comes in. Today, Mark and Jordan will walk you through the crucial questions your advisor should be asking to make your retirement plan as personalized and effective as possible. We’re not just crunching numbers here – we're setting the stage for the retirement lifestyle of your dreams.

INSIDE THIS EPISODE

1. Setting the Scene

  - Why it’s crucial to get personalized advice for retirement.

  - The big impact the right questions can have on your future.

2. Must-Ask Questions for Kickstarting Your Plan

  - Mark dives into why understanding your current financial health and future necessities lays the groundwork for any solid plan.

  - Jordan opens up about the importance of advisors grasping what you really want to do in retirement. It's not all about the money!

3. Strategizing with Your Investments

  - How to balance between growing your funds and keeping them safe.

  - Shifting gears with your investments as you approach retirement.

  - A rundown on why and how to diversify your investments tax-wise.

4. Making You Part of the Conversation

  - How advisors make sure you’re comfortable in asking questions and understanding your own financial strategies.

5. Thinking Ahead

  - Chatting through the unexpected, like health changes and planning how you’ll pass on your wealth.

6. Wrapping It Up

  - A quick recap of all that we’ve covered.

  - A nudge to get in touch with South Shore Retirement Services for a strategy session tailor-made for you.

7. Your Next Steps

  - Where to go to get more info and how to book a chat with the experts.

Tune in today for an episode packed with the insights you need to ensure you’re on the right path to a dreamy retirement. It’s all about asking the right questions and making sure your retirement plan really fits your vision for the future.

So grab your notes and get ready to think about retirement planning from a whole new angle. And remember, it’s never just about having enough money—it’s about making the most of your golden years just the way you’ve always wanted.

TRANSCRIPT:

Jordan Rich [00:00:03]:
Welcome. This is the retire South Shore radio podcast produced by South Shore Retirement Services, inviting you to get started on the path toward your dream retirement today. Hello. I'm Jordan Rich with the founder and president of South Shore Retirement Services, Mark Rowlette. Enjoy today's episode. Questions beget questions. That's the nature of the game. So let's say we're at that point where we're contemplating retirement. And it all happens to so many of us, thankfully, and we've got a nice future ahead of us if we do the right planning. We visit with our current financial advisor or perhaps are interviewing future ones. What should they, the financial advisors that know their stuff, what should they be focusing on with us? What should they be asking us?

Mark Rowlette [00:00:50]:
Whether you're contemplating retirement, whether you're already in retirement, whether you're far away from retirement, or whether the money that you have saved, whether it be a million dollars, $500,000, $5 million, has nothing to do with what you think you're going to need for retirement income. We've seen lots of people come into the office, and, you know, the things that we think aren't necessarily the right things to ask them. And this is just our opinion is, you know, sitting down with someone and a professional says, how can I help you? Well, I don't know how you can help me because I don't know what I've done right, and I don't know what I've done wrong. You know, it's not like going to a doctor, necessarily, and saying, how can I help you when my elbow hurts? And that you're kind of guiding them as to where to go. You know, asking a direct question like that doesn't really help the situation. Some don't know where to start. Some don't know what they're meant to be doing. And quite honestly, some people, you know, they have the trust part of it.

Mark Rowlette [00:01:44]:
I think the trust part is, can I trust this person enough that they are doing the right thing for us? And I've been doing this for 26 years, and Damon's been doing it for about 28 years. Eric has been in the business for about ten. So we have a lot of experience helping people feel comfortable enough to open up and not feel uncomfortable that they feel like they're going to ask a dumb question or that they feel that somebody's going to take advantage of them.

Jordan Rich [00:02:12]:
Well, it's so important. This is our future. I say our future because I'm pretty close to retirement age, although I don't have any plans to in the near future. But the fact of the matter is, this is a big, a huge step in one's life. So you want to have, you want to have the financial advisor, whoever that might be, whatever firm that might be, you want to have them asking the right questions, vetting you as you vet them.

Mark Rowlette [00:02:35]:
Yeah. I mean, ultimately, we've seen that people ask the same question in different ways. And the question people ask us is, is my money going to last as long as I do? How do I know if I have enough money in the first place to do this? And ultimately, am I going to be okay? Right. That's what people want to know. They want to feel comfortable. It's not about, you know, finding the next great thing, finding the next Google or Amazon. It's about, am I going to be okay? And that's what our all hands analysis does, is making sure that we're from a holistic approach, looking at the big picture and not giving advice in a vacuum. So jumping into questions that people should have, their financial advisors, or their financial advisors should be asking them, and they're not complicated questions, is, what do you have? Right? What stuff do you have? What's your stuff? Do you have? You have assets you've saved, you have emergency funds that maybe are sitting on the side.

Mark Rowlette [00:03:29]:
Maybe it's too much. Maybe it's not enough. And I see that all the time. I was with a couple who've been clients for a while. She just inherited money about maybe two and a half months ago. So we were coming up to our quarterly conversation, and they came into the office the other night and did about $165,000 in a zero interest checking account. And I said, do you think that's too much to have in there? Oh, yeah, I think it's too much, but I don't know what to do with it. You talk about debt.

Mark Rowlette [00:03:55]:
What do you have for debt? How's that debt going to evolve over time? Is it a mortgage that has you just refinanced and you've got 28 years left on it? Is it a mortgage that you've had for a long time, and it's got three or four years left on it? So that kind of brings you into what your needs are and what your obligations are going to be going forward. So you start with that. What do you have? Show me your stuff. And then we evolve from that perspective.

Jordan Rich [00:04:20]:
And it is impressive when someone rattles off what you just rattled off the top of your head, when someone has a working knowledge of what stuff and how assets apply and debt and all that I want to know in a meeting, face to face, after I explain what I think I have, I want to have somebody explain further what that means.

Mark Rowlette [00:04:41]:
Yeah, I mean, like I said a minute ago, Jordan, to give advice in a vacuum is not giving advice at all. And it's like somebody might come in and say, tell me when I should take Social Security. And I'm like, absolutely, I can tell you that. But let's look at the big picture of everything. Cause if your house is burning down and your next door neighbor runs into your house or runs up to the front door and says, oh, by the way, you have a flat tire on your car, that's probably not a high priority at that very moment, right. You want to take care of the bigger picture. So figuring out firstly, what you have is obviously critically important and taking an asset inventory. And I know when clients or people come into our office before they become clients or even if they don't become clients, we have a pretty methodical way of getting information out to them as to what would be important for them to bring in.

Mark Rowlette [00:05:27]:
And then when they bring that in, we look and analyze it while we're chatting to them. And, you know, we do a much deeper analysis of it for follow up appointments. But we look at it and I ask, well, why do you have what you have? And people look at me normally blankly, well, what are you talking about? Why do I have what I have? So lots of people have money saved and they've done a really good job of saving for retirement or just saving in general, but they have what we would call like a junk drawer of stuff, right? A mishmash of investments that are sitting all over the place from various jobs they have, or friends and family who've told them, you should buy this or you should have that. And those aren't plans, those are just portfolios that maybe are working against each other. Maybe they've been just not, they're not right for the situation that you're in currently. So we want to make sure that if an investment that you have doesn't have a purpose, change it to something that does. Right? So if you have been accumulating for the last 15, 2025, 30 years, that maybe you want to start looking at all right now I have to start using this money, I have to start distributing this money. So maybe I don't have to have all of my money in growth.

Mark Rowlette [00:06:34]:
Maybe I want to shift some of my money from growth to dividend yielding and start taking dividends from it. I still want to have accumulation but now I'm starting to think about, I'm no longer really a long term investor. I'm more of a short term investor for some of my money. So I need to start using some of my money.

Jordan Rich [00:06:51]:
So that first question, which is a loaded one, what is in your asset drawer? What do you have? Sets the table for quite a bit. And if you're dealing with somebody who is efficient and understands the processes, that's a great first step. And that's where all hands analysis comes in.

Mark Rowlette [00:07:07]:
Absolutely. Listen, I start every meeting with, this is an opportunity for you to ask me any questions, but it's an opportunity for me to get an idea of where you're currently at, at this stage in your life, both from how close you are to retirement, how much money you have. Like I said, what are your various obligations? And you kind of just start to evolve the conversations, and then questions will come up as a result of that. But our job is to help people not feel intimidated, not feel like they can, um, not ask a question because it's a silly question to ask because that, you know, there is no bad questions. It's just people feel overwhelmed, stressed, maybe because they're transitioning out of a job, maybe because they were transitioned out of a job. But they also feel stressed because they're sitting down with somebody that maybe they haven't met very often, or at least face to face very often. Maybe they've heard us on the radio and they're, they're trying to figure out if they trust the person they're talking to.

Jordan Rich [00:08:03]:
Lots of questions. That was a great segment. But there are more things to consider and ponder when you're dealing with your financial advisor. But let me just remind people, you can find out about all hands analysis and approaches that work for you, perhaps by visiting the website retiresouthsure.com comma, setting up that 15 minutes, no obligation strategy, phone call or whatever is on your mind. If you'd like to have an in house meeting as well. Retiresouthsure.com dot well, in the first segment, we talked about the questions that are important to receive when you're visiting with a financial planner, either the one you have or a new one. That big question we talked about in the first segment had to do with what do you have? What are your assets? What's in your pool? What's the follow up to that? It's a very important one.

Mark Rowlette [00:08:48]:
How will you use it? How are you going to use your money? Right. And it's not like we're trying to ask questions to stump people, but people don't know how they're going to use it. I've had clients that have had four or $5 million saved, and they have more than enough money to sustain their lifestyle, but they haven't the first idea how to spend their money, because the psychology around investments for many, many people is that it's all about accumulating money. And I think that's obviously important to get to the point of having the money. And it's still important when you go through retirement. And, you know, we don't have any fixed agenda. We, you can use anything and everything, every financial instrument that's available. You know, we sit our clients money on Fidelity's platform, and I think that's important to note because fidelity is probably one of the most well known custodians in the country, if not in the world.

Mark Rowlette [00:09:39]:
But beyond that, we're not governed by having to use a certain amount of investments with one company over another company. That's not something that we do. When clients understand, or people come into the office and they understand that there's no one size fits all here, it's not Mark Damon, Erica are going to say, and the product is, that's not how we work. They feel a lot more comfortable and confident as to how they should proceed, whether they're going to come on board, whether it's a good fit, because not everyone's a good fit for our office, and we understand that. But how you use your money is really complicated thing for a lot of people. When they start thinking about, oh, my gosh, I never really thought about that. I just was going to take the money as I needed it, but I don't really know. What do you mean? I say, well, there's different types of money.

Mark Rowlette [00:10:27]:
There's Ira money, there's Roth IRA money, there's brokerage account money, there's Social Security, there's pension money, there's cash and savings. A lot of the time people will say, well, I'm going to spend the cash first because it's not taxable. Then I'll spend the other money not taxable. Then ultimately I'll get to my IRA. But that might not be the most efficient way to do it because now you're just taking a tax holiday for four or five, seven years, however long it is, and then all of a sudden you get clobbered in taxes and you have no control over your money anymore. So we are much more kind of in tune with. Let's take a little bit from each of the accounts. Every year, because that makes more sense mathematically from a tax perspective.

Jordan Rich [00:11:02]:
Oh, I'm waiting for my favorite word that comes out of your mouth when that beautiful irish accent invades the space. So that's books or buckets, as we say in America.

Mark Rowlette [00:11:13]:
I think the bucketing system is the most logical and easy way for people to understand it. You know, I've said this week in and week out, year in and year out, that my opinion is that the investment world has done not a really good job of helping people figure out how to spend their money because all it was about was accumulating wealth. I can't stress it enough. It's still really important to accumulate wealth, but it's really difficult to accumulate wealth if, as you're getting closer to retirement, your brokers or advisors are telling you to pull all of your money back and make it more conservative. Because first glance, that sounds logical, right? You saved money for 30 years. You're going to retire. Let's make it conservative so it's there. But if you save money for 30 years, you need it to last you for 30 years.

Mark Rowlette [00:11:58]:
So yes, some of the money should be conservative because you need it immediately. But you don't need all the money immediately. So the money that you don't need for 510, 1520 years make that work a little bit harder for you. And maybe it doesn't need to be as conservative. And if it goes in the wrong direction, if it's in the right bucket, then you don't need to spend it right. You only spend dollars that have not taken losses because otherwise you're not going to be able to recoup those losses.

Jordan Rich [00:12:24]:
That is a huge point. Very, very well said. And a reminder, as we're talking about all this, you have questions and thoughts and want to explore, go to their website, which is the easiest thing to do. As you're listening, retiresouthshore.com dot links to all kinds of information, including updates on webinars and seminars. And if you'd like to set up that free 15 minutes no obligation strategy, call a chance to get questions answered from the comfort of your own home over the phone. You can always do that via the website retiresouthshore.com or call the office to set it up. 781-836-4214 781-836-4214 you mentioned this a few seconds ago, Mark, but I think the question bears repeating. Is my money safe? The assets that I'm investing, will it be secure in the hands of a financial advisor?

Mark Rowlette [00:13:13]:
Yeah, I mean, we're completely independent. And then when we say we're completely independent, sometimes people think, well, gosh, where's the money sitting? Like, where am I going to log in and look at my account? And as I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, we use fidelity as our custodian. I don't think anyone in this country has not heard of fidelity. I mean, they're one of the biggest, most well known custodians in the financial world. But being independent using fidelity allows you to use anyone. Vanguard, t row price, Morningstar, Blackrock buy stock portfolio, it doesn't matter. It's all depending on what a client's needs are. We can accomplish them on the fidelity platform.

Mark Rowlette [00:13:54]:
And I think that's really important for people to know that many of our potential clients who come in already have used fidelity for 2025 years. So they feel comfortable with the software, they feel comfortable with the platform that they have, and they understand it. But it's not always the case that the holdings that they have are still the correct holdings. And I think that's important to note that if, like I said before the break, if you have something that doesn't have a purpose, if you have an investment that doesn't have a purpose, change it to an investment that does have a purpose. Right? I mean, maybe it worked well for you when you were 30 or 40 years old, but maybe it's not the appropriate thing to have all of your money in, or that portion of your money in when you're 50 or 60 or 70 years old.

Jordan Rich [00:14:38]:
We're equipping listeners today with information, things to ask at your upcoming meeting with a financial advisor or as you're interviewing someone, expect these questions to be asked. We have about five minutes left. Want to run through a few more things we should remember?

Mark Rowlette [00:14:53]:
Well, I think the obvious things is that your financial people should be asking you how much money do you need and how much are you going to take from each of these accounts? Right. I mean, I think, again, the bucketing system is not just how your money is allocated from what normally people think is allocation of money is stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and that's right. But allocation of money is also tax diversified. Right. IRAs, Roth IRAs, brokerage or joint accounts, non IRA accounts, checking and savings accounts. Different tax qualifications is also a way of diversifying your money so you're being efficient with how you spend your money from a tax perspective. And I think that's an important thing for an advisor to be asking their existing clients or people that they're meeting. Listen, I.

Mark Rowlette [00:15:40]:
Jordan, I'm realistic enough to know that not every single person who listens to this show is picking up the phone and calling us. I would love that. But those are the questions that the people that you're paying to take care of your money should be proactively asking you. And if they're not, then maybe you should start asking questions of yourself, am I paying for what I think I'm actually getting, or am I getting what I'm paying for?

Jordan Rich [00:16:01]:
And ultimately it goes beyond the money because I know you spend a lot of time getting to know people, getting to know their families and understanding with them what their real desires and dreams are through retirement. First and foremost question, am I going to be okay? Once you can assure that, yes, you'll be okay, what do you want? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to experience and enjoy and leave to your children?

Mark Rowlette [00:16:25]:
I think when the money side of things is laid out in such a way that people understand that they're going to be okay, then you start thinking about, well, what am I going to do? You know, I said this to a couple the other night, and I say to people all the time, you got to retire to something. You can't retire from something, right? I mean, you have to have a plan in place for what you're going to do. And I mean, like, are you going to go to Florida for three months? Are you going to go on a world cruise? I was with a lady the other night who said one of her biggest things, and she's going to do it this year. And when we went through the math of it, I said absolutely, was she wants to go to New Zealand and Australia and she's going to have to spend at least a month there, if not six weeks. And she's like, I was worried I couldn't afford it. And I said, well, you know, based on this very conservative stress test, yeah, you can absolutely afford it. One of the things, and I know we're coming to the end that I wanted to kind of close on. And I have this client that we've had.

Mark Rowlette [00:17:18]:
Him, he's been a client for a while, him and his wife, and he's a retired CEO. And he told me this and I was like, that's a really good thing to ask. He said every meeting that he ever used to go to in his world, he would sit at the end of the meeting and ask the presenter of whoever was doing the talk if I had an opportunity to ask you one more question, what should I have asked you? Right. And it kind of led into what we talk about with people is what you don't know. You don't know, right. What other things should you be thinking about that you haven't been thinking about? And that's, I guess from having 26 years experience of doing this. I'm 47 now because you mentioned I had a birthday last week. So I've been doing this pretty much most of my life.

Mark Rowlette [00:18:02]:
You get a knowledge and you get an understanding on everyone's situation is obviously unique, but everyone's situation is similar. And there's lots of things that people aren't even thinking about that we want to bring up, you know, stuff simple as somebody gets sick, what do we do? Do we have the resources to cover that? What are the, what are the, what's the game plan if that happens? If somebody gets becomes incapacitated and can't make decisions for themselves, like my own mom with dementia, do we have legal documents in place? What are we going to do for transitioning money to the next generation? Talk about legacy planning. And, you know, there's so much in the financial world, and I only know this world. I'm not very good at anything else. As my friend Brendan will tell me. He's like, you love fishing. You love getting out there. You're not very good at it.

Mark Rowlette [00:18:46]:
Thanks, Brendan. But it's the stuff, the unknown that really makes people fearful. And that's what experience of doing this for a long time has allowed us to build a database or library of things that people should be thinking about.

Jordan Rich [00:19:02]:
Offering a chance for people to breathe easier. It's so important. Big transition. You want to know you're in the hands of capable people. All hands analysis. Find out more about that, folks@retiresouthshore.com. And set up that free, no obligation 15 minutes strategy call if you do have follow up questions. Mark very informative and very helpful.

Jordan Rich [00:19:21]:
Appreciate it very, very much and we'll see you next week.

Mark Rowlette [00:19:24]:
Thanks, Jordan. Have a good one.

Jordan Rich [00:19:25]:
Thank you for subscribing and downloading the retire South Shore radio podcast. Feel free to leave a review and a rating and tell your friends for much more, visit retiresouthshore.com. That's Retiresouthshore.com. Discover how South Shore retirement services helps individuals and their families achieve their ideal retirements.

Disclosure [00:19:47]:
Investment advisory products and services made available through Aewealth Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Insurance products are offered through the insurance business roulette and Associates, LLC dBA South Shore Retirement Services Roulette and Associates, LLC dBA South Shore Retirement Services is also an investment advisory practice that offers products and services through Aewealth Management, a registered investment advisor. AEwM does not offer insurance products. The insurance products offered by roulette and Associates, LLCDBA South Shore retirement services are not subject to investment advisor requirements. Investing involves risk, including the potential laws of principle. Any references to protection, safety, or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying abilities of the issuing carrier. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.

Disclosure [00:20:50]:
It is not intended to be used as the sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual's situation. Mark Roulette and Associates, LLCDBA South Shore Retirement Services is not permitted to offer a. No statement made during this show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with or endorsed by the US government or any governmental agency. The information and opinions contained herein provided by third parties have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. By Mark Roulette and Associates, Llcdba South Shore Retirement Services.