Social Security Claiming – Mark Edwards, MBA, CFP®

Cynthia Grether — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:17 +0000

Tips for Advising Couples Filing for Social Security

Retiring can seem like a long way in the future for a student who is currently in college and has barely even started their career yet. The idea of working out social security along with financial security is something that probably hasn’t even crossed many students minds at this point in their lives, but the reality is the years go by faster than we can imagine, and as technology along with science develops we are likely to live longer which means we need to make our plans last for a greater number of years.

In fact, according to Mark Edwards in his first of his two part webinar Tips for Advising Couples Filing for Social Security, people retiring now risk outliving their income and their financial assets. For example, over 50% of women who are over 65 today will live beyond 90. When planning for retirement the normal number of years planned is 20-25 years, soon this will have to increase as people are beginning to live longer than past years. I found this statistic to be shocking, and I cannot imagine what percentage of people when I reach 65 in over four decades time will be living over the age of 90. Edwards also discusses claiming social security benefits before reaching retirement age and other possible situations.

So how is this relevant to students like you and me? Well, we need to be aware of the number of years we will be living in retirement with no income. Which means we should also know when to claim social security benefits. This provides us with the opportunity to start thinking actively about saving now for the future. Save more, spend less are simple steps to address longevity. Furthermore many of our parents are either at the age of retirement or will be reaching it soon in the next decade or so, this is an opportunity to provide them with information you may have learn from this webinar.

Edwards webinar discusses when the best time to claim social security is to receive the optimal amount, and in the long run how to make a good plan for couples. According to Edwards, divorced and widowed women have greater levels of poverty compared to men. It is important that the question of “what will happen to the other survivor?” is asked when planning social security, keeping in mind the age of 65 is when Medicare becomes available. Therefore working with a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) practitioner is advisable or reaching out to the Financial Planning program here California Lutheran University for information.

About the Speaker:Mark Edwards is a full time faculty lecturer at California Lutheran University with 30 years of investment management experience. Edwards has an MBA and is Certified Financial Planner. He spent 11 years at Minnesota State Board of Investment, and the next 20 years as a Managing Partner at the Plexus Group. He also written for the Journal of Portfolio Management and for the Financial Analyst Journal.

About the author:Rosie Baker is a undergraduate student at California Lutheran University studying Communications with an emphasis in PR and Advertising. She is also minoring in Creative Writing.

To watch the archived webinar, click the link below:

Part 1:

Tips for Advising Couples for Social Security – Mark Edwards

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Working with Women – Linda Clayton, MBA, CFP®

Cynthia Grether — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 23:59:42 +0000

Working with Women as Clients

“Women look at money as a lake perceiving it as a finite source. Men look at it as a river constantly renewing,” said Linda Clayton quoting Liz Pearl at the beginning of her webinar Working with Women as Clients.

As someone who knows very little about finances, it was very surprising to learn that there is such a great difference between men and women when it comes to handling money. I liked that she started the webinar with this quote as it set the tone of what to expect from the rest. Women do not think nor do they act in the same way as men which can be troublesome when Certified Financial Planners work with couples.

As a young woman myself I didn’t realize how many women, in particular those married to men, that don’t take time to learn about their finances and don’t invest. Clayton believes that the reason comes from traditional ideas that women are too busy with motherhood and the man as the provider dominated the more traditional male roles within their lives including the finances. I was particularly surprised when Clayton said that half of marriages end in divorce, but men are providing 80% of the household. This statistic made me very aware that I need to make sure that as a woman I can support myself in case this happens to me later in life. As women we should work towards having financial stability and a plan to support ourselves.

However, I think this is changing, I believe women are no longer taking the back seat in today’s society when it comes to finances. This can be seen on our campus; there are so many amazing, young women working hard towards their career which in return will financially support them to be independent.

Clayton ended the talk by saying, “we’re working forward making sure that these women are empowered, educated and no longer fearful about managing money.” I believe it’s important to encourage women to be more involved with their finances and take control of their long term plans. When they begin this journey they don’t need to know everything which I think can be easy to feel like you need to do.

About the Speaker: Linda Clayton has an MBA in Financial Planning from California Lutheran University, as well as being an adjunct professor there. She is a Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Advisor in Downtown Los Angeles.

About the Author:Rosie Baker is a undergraduate student at California Lutheran University studying Communications with an emphasis in PR and Advertising. She is also minoring in Creative Writing.

References:

Linda Clayton. http://www.lindaclaytonadvisory.com/contact