Advertise on podcast: Retirement Quick Tips with Ashley

Hi there, welcome to the retirement quick tips podcast, I'm your host Ashley Micciche, I've been a financial advisor for 19 years and my team and I currently manage $480 million in client assets for about 300 clients. We've got a lot to cover today during an interesting quarter for markets (where I spent much of it on the sidelines feeding and caring for a newborn!) so let's get into it!

What happens when you save for decades, you stop working, and then the market completely falls apart? If you've asked this question and you worry about retiring at the worst possible time, you are not alone. I've seen people get so paralyzed by the thought of retiring into a bad market or a bad economy that they put off retirement indefinitely. So today, I'm going to talk about why it can be truly devastating if you retire at the wrong time - and how you can take steps now to make sure that doesn't happen to you. If you're new here, hi, I'm Ashley, and I'm a financial advisor. For the last 19 years, I've been helping my clients navigate their retirement. If you're trying to plan for and live a fulfilled and financially secure retirement, that's exactly what this podcast is dedicated to. Please subscribe. All right, so I actually have been through this firsthand with my clients because I started my career back in 2007. In fact, September of 2007 is when I started, and it was right before the market peaked—before everything completely fell apart during the great financial crisis. I had clients who I was brand new to working with, and they were on the cusp of retirement or had just recently retired when the financial crisis hit.   Sequence of returns risk:  Before I talk about what you can do to prevent bad timing leading to really bad consequences, we need to talk about why investment losses early in retirement can be especially damaging… Why the order of your investment returns matters when you're taking withdrawals --  If you don't take steps to build a moat around your retirement to protect yourself from sequence of returns risk, it can and has been devastating for many people who unfortunately simply retired at the wrong time.    Here's what I tell my clients, and here's how you can build that moat:  Stress test your plan: What a significant market decline could mean for your retirement income, spending, and investment portfolio. Backup income: How part-time work, consulting, or gradually transitioning into retirement can reduce pressure on your investments. Cash reserves: Why I recommend setting aside emergency savings, money for upcoming major purchases, and a separate reserve for planned portfolio withdrawals. Spending flexibility: How knowing your expenses and entering retirement debt free can make it easier to adjust during a downturn. Social Security timing: Why revisiting your claiming strategy may be worth considering, depending on your circumstances.   Your takeaway: Look at your retirement plan and ask: Where can I be flexible? What could I adjust now to give my portfolio more breathing room during the next downturn?   Thanks so much for listening! If you found this useful and you're looking for time-tested ideas and strategies to plan a financially secure retirement, please hit that subscribe button and I'll see you next time! ---------- >>> Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP               >>> Spotify: https://bit.ly/41sTKHs  >>> Pandora: https://bit.ly/47YTXnt >>> Stream Online: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/  ---------- Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance

Welcome back to Retirement Quick Tips. I'm your host, Ashley Micciche, and today's episode is a little different. There's no retirement topic, unless you consider my summer sabbatical a lesson in mini-retirements.  Instead, here's a quick update on what's happening with the podcast this summer. As many of you loyal listeners know, I am pregnant with my 5th child. Hard to believe myself, as I never grew up around a lot of other kids or siblings. I didn't babysit much, and I wasn't even sure I wanted to have kids until my husband and I decided we wanted to grow our family a couple years into our marriage. Since then we've been open to adding more children, and the good Lord has blessed us abundantly with now 5 children. And that 5th baby is coming very, very soon. My due date is June 11th, so by the time you listen to this episode, it's likely she's already arrived.  Which means that this summer, I'll be taking a break from recording new episodes for the podcast. New episodes are going to be on pause for a bit, and I'll be back in September with fresh content. September. Now, I know what you might be thinking. "Ashley, what am I supposed to do without my Retirement Quick Tips fix all summer?" Fear not! Here's what I want you to do. Head over to YouTube and subscribe to my channel. It's called Retire with Ashley, and I'm still going to be posting videos over there from time to time throughout the summer. So that's where you'll want to be if you want to stay connected and keep the retirement tips coming your way. You can search "Retire with Ashley" on YouTube and you'll find it. Subscribe, turn on the notifications, and you won't miss a thing. Lastly, thank you so much for listening. Whether you've been here since episode one or you just found this podcast last week, I'm so grateful for all of you who tune in, share the show, and send me your questions and feedback. It means a lot and I can't wait to be back with you again in September. Until then, take care & enjoy your summer. My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast

We talked about why inflation is so dangerous in retirement, how stocks can help you stay ahead of inflation, why dividend growth matters, how bonds behave in rising rate environments, and how tools like TIPS and I Bonds can fit into a broader strategy. We also talked about practical steps like reducing high-interest debt and managing spending more intentionally. Today I want to zoom out and talk about the bigger picture.

Yesterday I talked about TIPS and I Bonds—two investment tools designed to help offset inflation. But today I want to zoom out and talk about something just as important: the practical, everyday decisions that can help you fight inflation outside of your portfolio.

Today I want to talk about two tools that are often used specifically for inflation protection: Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, and I Bonds.

Yesterday I talked about why stocks are one of the best long-term inflation hedges. But today I want to get more specific because not all stocks perform equally well during inflationary periods.

Today I want to talk about one of the best long-term inflation hedges available to retirees: stocks.

This week I'm going to talk about how retirees can build a portfolio that is better designed to withstand inflation. We'll cover stocks, dividend-paying companies, bonds, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, and practical steps you can take to protect your purchasing power.

The question of whether to stop saving for retirement before you actually retire is more nuanced than it might seem, but it is absolutely a legitimate planning strategy for the right person in the right situation.

If you're going to coast and stop contributing, make sure the number you're projecting to end up with at retirement is not the bare minimum. You want to build in a bigger buffer and a bigger safety net so that you could still retire even if the number ended up being less than projected.

Here's how I would approach answering this question.

Now let's talk about some reasons why you would seriously consider stopping contributions so close to retirement.