March 1, 2025 | Seniors

October 31, 2018October 30, 2018

Ways to Cut Spending in Retirement

When you retire, depending on the retirement plan you put in place, you may find yourself with less disposable income than you once had. While this is not an issue for some people, many of us need to find ways to cut our spending when we retire, and here we offer you some tips on how to do so!

Pay off your mortgage

As with any loan, you pay a significant amount of interest on your mortgage, meaning that you effectively lose more money than necessary. If you have enough savings to pay off your mortgage without being completely broke afterward, you might want to consider doing so. Not only will you no longer have any monthly mortgage payments leaving your account – you’ll have a load off your mind as you relax in your property and know that you own it… fully.

Downsize your house

If you have kids and they have since moved out of your home, chances are that you have a multi-bedroom home of a decent size which is designed to accommodate a family. If, however, there is now only 1 or 2 parents living in the multi-bedroom home, it could be costing you too much in maintenance and upkeep for essentially no good reason. Moving to a smaller house could not only reduce your maintenance costs, it may allow you to make a profit from the sales (assuming the smaller house is cheaper), which could nicely bump up your retirement fund.

Travel off-peak

Lots of people travel during their retirement, and who can blame them? However, if you are going to travel around, be sure to do it off-peak. As a retiree, you have the freedom to go on vacation whenever it suits you, meaning you can travel at the times of year when the costs are down because the vast majority of people are busy working or taking their kids to school.

Move to a lower-cost area

If you want to keep a similarly-sized house but move to a cheaper area, consider moving further away from metropolitan areas and into cheaper suburbs. You may even decide to move cities or states altogether, opting for a part of the country where your existing money will travel much further than it does now.

If you’re looking to retire soon, you’re probably thinking about your insurance and financial planning. Why not speak to one of our insurance advisors and see what they could do for you today?

October 30, 2018October 29, 2018

Exercise Will Improve Your Memory!

A recent study from the Brigham Young University (BYU) has found that regular exercise is able to safeguard the brain from the negative effects of longtime stress. The study has suggested that the hippocampus – the area of the brain which deals with memory – strengthens if you exercise regularly. Put simply, it appears that regular exercise reduces the effects that stress has on your brain.

You see, well-functioning and healthy brain cells are able to easily transmit messages via your neurons, with your memories becoming more vivid and strong when your neurons are able to transfer these messages more quickly. However, as you become stressed and your brain tissues inflame and/or swell up, the speed of these neurons slows down, meaning that your memory becomes poorer and poorer with time.

However, when you perform cardiovascular exercise, you are increasing the rate at which blood flows around your body. This also affects your brain, meaning that more blood flows to your brain during exercise. This, put simply, strengthens your hippocampus and causes your memory to improve. The exercise can even increase the size of your hippocampus, making it even better and more efficient than it was before!

Exercise and mood

It’s a well-known fact that exercise triggers feel-good hormones such as endorphins, meaning that you naturally feel happier and less stressed after exercise. Although anti-depressants may aim to achieve similar effects which limit depression and anxiety, exercise is just as good (and often better) than taking antidepressants alone. Not only does exercise tend to release more endorphins than anything found in a pill – you’re also getting fitter, healthier, and a better memory while you’re at it too!

Emotions and memory are undoubtedly linked, with your most emotional moments having much stronger memories attached to them. It’s probably easier to recall moments of great sadness, joy, and anger in your life than it is to recall moments of boring mediocrity.

Anxiety is a condition which means that your body is constantly prepared for “fight or flight”, with a never-ending sense of fear and dread remaining over you whatever you do. This leads to a form of chronic stress, something which BYU’s study claims will make your brain’s synapses more effective. Fortunately, exercise is the best (and most natural way) to relieve general anxiety while also improving your brain’s memory and functioning. Studies have shown that when stress-prone people exercise, their brain tends to no longer be impacted negatively by their stress levels.

How much exercise do you need to improve your memory?

You don’t need to be a gym rat in order to improve your memory; you just have to make an effort! At least 150 minutes of exercise every week is enough to improve your memory and keep your brain healthy, and 150 every week is relatively easy to fit in across a week. If you can’t handle this much straight away, start small and go harder in time. At the end of the day, any exercise is better than no exercise.

It also helps to make exercise as fun as possible so that you don’t dread it as much. For example, listen to your favorite playlist or podcast while you run, or perhaps clean your house while dancing around and learning some new moves… whatever you can do to make it bearable. Your body and your brain will thank you!

Are you looking to improve your memory and ensure that your health stays optimal as you get older? If so, you may also have life insurance on your mind, as well as other insurance-related questions. If this sounds like you, give our team a call today and you’ll receive top-tier advice from some of the best insurance specialists in the country.

October 17, 2018

Managing Investing Risk in Retirement

When you’re looking to save a nest egg for retirement, you need to make sure that you manage your investment risk carefully. On the one hand, you want to try to maximize your returns down the road, yet on the other hand, you need to make sure that your investments aren’t going to leave you broke when you’re too old to work anymore. It’s certainly a tricky balancing act.

Setting aside savings from your salary is undoubtedly tricky, so your best plan for retirement is to earn high returns on savings without acquiring too many stocks and watching the stock market frantically like a panicked hawk. However, once you’ve actually retired, at least for most people, the plan is to maintain the savings for as long as possible, rather than keep growing them further.

Safe portfolios

When you’re younger, you can afford to take more risks with your portfolio because you most likely have income coming in from a salary. Although in your retirement you may have some sort of pension income, it’s not likely to be as much as a salary, and as a result you need to consider investing in very safe portfolios. Stability and predictability are your best bet as you retire, and if you’re going to opt for some risky investments, you’d better make sure you have a diverse range of safe investments in order to back it up.

Some personality types may not be too worried about investment risk, finding it exciting or interesting. Most of us, however, want to be secure and know that we won’t end up on the streets if the stock market suddenly crashes overnight.

The Warren Buffett Retirement Portfolio

The Warren Buffett Retirement Portfolio is a common investment strategy for retirees which suggests that you invest 90% of your savings into a Standard & Poor’s 500 index fund and the last 10% into government bonds which are short-term. However, this is quite misguided, as a 9/1 ratio of stocks and bonds could see a retiree running out of money over the long term, especially if they maintain their health for many years to come.

On the other hand, if you do opt for a very safe investment approach, you still have to consider how you’re going to make it work. Even if you’re going for a very safe approach, we cannot always predict how the markets will behave, and it can nonetheless be difficult to ascertain and predict your returns. Ultimately, your stocks/bonds ratio could end up being more volatile than you imagined, leaving you with a degree of uncertainty about your investments and their returns.

The T Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator

Nonetheless, perhaps you should use a tool such as the T Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator, which will help you to calculate the mix of stocks and bonds that are able to support and help you with varying levels of withdrawals throughout your golden years. Using the calculator, you should be able to determine the stocks/bonds mix which is best for you and your future, leaving you with an acceptable level of risk. Put simply, you need to be able to weather the storm should things go awry on the markets.

Limiting yourself to a reasonable withdrawal rate, for example 3% or 4% initially, allowing room for inflation, you should be able to allocate a diverse range of stocks/bonds which help you to maintain a nest egg for a good 30 years or so. Of course there’s always the fear of running through your savings too soon, especially when you have little income coming your way, but by being savvy, calculating your risks, diversifying your portfolio, and using calculators such as this to help you out, you should be able to prepare your retirement funds effectively.

The bottom line

When coming up with your retirement investment plan, you need to be incredibly flexible. For example, perhaps it may be a good idea to invest more heavily in stocks while still carrying an acceptable level of risk. Or you may for example decide to use a portion of your savings on an immediate or longevity annuity, guaranteeing yourself a form of income in addition to Social Security, thereby giving yourself a safety net if things go awry with the markets… as they often do.

Looking for help with insurance for your retirement? Speak to a dedicated member of our team today!