How to Avoid these HUGE Retirement Mistakes, Ep #103

<p>There’s an old Indian proverb that goes, “Tell me a fact, and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth, and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” Story enables us to connect with concepts and make the unfamiliar, familiar. So in this episode of Retirement Made Easy, I’m going to share someone’s story to illustrate huge retirement mistakes her husband made that could’ve been avoided. She allowed me to share her story so that others could learn from it. Don’t miss this episode. </p> <h2>You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...</h2> <ul> <li>[5:15] Mistake #1: Canceling your life insurance policy</li> <li>[9:19] Mistake #2: Leaving your spouse in the dark</li> <li>[11:20] Mistake #3: Not diversifying your retirement investments </li> <li>[17:43] The right way to handle inherited IRAs </li> <li>[19:15] Mistake #4: Not having a plan for retirement</li> </ul> <h2>Mistake #1: Canceling your life insurance policy</h2> <p>This lady I spoke with lost her husband a few months prior to our conversation. He had made a series of bad mistakes with their retirement. She was 57 when he passed away at the age of 64. </p> <p>A year before his death, he was in an accident and became disabled. Bills started piling up, so to cut costs, he canceled all of their life insurance. That was a mistake. Why? There's a disability clause in most life insurance policies that allows the disabled person to stop paying premiums. He would have been able to <em>keep</em> the life insurance without paying the premiums. </p> <p>At the time of his death, he was collecting disability from social security. Social security gives a spousal benefit, so if one spouse passes away the other gets a monthly survivor benefit—but that only happens if your spouse is 60. Because she was 57 when he passed away, she has to wait three more years to receive that benefit. </p> <p>The moral of the story? Keep your life insurance in place until your spouse is at least 60 so if you pass away they have some benefits coming their