Retire Today

Retirement planning often begins with a financial question: Will I have enough money? But once the paycheck stops and the financial pieces are in place, another question can become just as important: What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Jeremy Keil talks with Arlene Nelson about her own transition into retirement as a single woman. Arlene expected retirement to bring freedom, but after the initial excitement wore off, she found herself struggling with a lack of structure, connection, and direction.

For disclosures and conflicts visit keilfp.com/disclosures.

Annuities tend to generate strong opinions. Some people insist they're terrible. Others talk about them as though every retiree should own one. Jeremy Keil and Jeremiah Konger of Annuity Association argue that both approaches miss the more useful question: When does an annuity actually make sense within a retirement plan?

Jeremiah and Jeremy discuss common misconceptions about annuities, including fees, access to money, market exposure, guarantees, and the financial strength of the insurance company issuing the contract. Plus, Jeremiah highlights the 4 major types of annuities and what typical use cases they apply in.

For disclosures and conflicts visit keilfp.com/disclosures.

Scammers don’t only hack into a computer to steal from their victims. Increasingly, they're trying to hack the person using it.

Jeremy Keil talks with cybersecurity and fraud-prevention expert Robert Siciliano about how modern scams use text messages, artificial intelligence, deepfakes, voice cloning, manufactured urgency, and human psychology to gain trust.

Learn practical ways to reduce your vulnerability. Robert’s three-step Analyze, Authenticate, Act protocol provides a simple response to suspicious communications, while unique passwords, password managers, two-factor authentication, and updated devices can create additional barriers for criminals. The goal isn't to assume you're too smart to be scammed. It's to build habits that make it harder for a scammer to get through.

For disclosures and conflicts visit keilfp.com/disclosures.

Do you really need a financial advisor in retirement? Jeremy Keil argues that the answer depends on a better question: What do you actually want a financial advisor to do for you?

After reading responses from Kiplinger readers about whether they use financial advisors, Jeremy noticed that most people immediately focused on investment management—choosing investments, managing portfolios, or trying to improve returns. Real retirement planning extends well beyond investments. For retirees deciding whether professional advice is worthwhile, start by identifying the problems you need help solving. Once you know what you need from an advisor, you can make a much better decision about whether—and what kind of—financial planner is right for you.

For disclosures and conflicts visit keilfp.com/disclosures.

A retirement plan is more than an investment portfolio and a decision about when to claim Social Security. Jeremy Keil is joined by financial advisor Joe Schmitz Jr. to compare the planning processes they use to help clients coordinate the many financial decisions that come together at retirement.

Joe explains his five-pillar approach covering tax planning, investments, income, healthcare, and estate planning, while Jeremy compares it with his own five-step Retirement Master Plan. Despite approaching the process from different angles, both emphasize an important point: your investments should serve your retirement plan—not become the plan itself.

For disclosures and conflicts visit keilfp.com/disclosures.