A funny thing happened during a recent seminar I was giving at a financial services firm. We were supposed to be talking about retirement planning. We ended up talking about life. More specifically, two words kept finding their way into the conversation: Purpose and Permission. Neither was on my slide deck. They emerged organically from a room full of financial advisors who spend their days talking with people preparing for, entering, and living through retirement. The more we talked, the...

Financial advisors do not need another product presentation. They need practical information that helps them recognize opportunities, ask better questions, and serve clients more completely. That is the purpose of my “Reverse Mortgage 101” CE session. The program is designed specifically for financial professionals who want a clearer understanding of how today’s reverse mortgage loan works, where it may fit into a retirement plan, and which clients could benefit from considering one before...

Retirement planning is filled with questions that look simple - until real life gets involved. When should you claim Social Security? How much should remain invested? What happens if the market declines, your health changes, or retirement arrives earlier than expected? There may be a mathematically ideal answer, but retirement rarely follows a spreadsheet perfectly. Consider Social Security. For someone whose full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 can reduce the monthly benefit by as much...