TRANSCRIPT

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#60 - Downsize or Rent in Retirement? 5 Key Decisions You Should Consider

Eric Blake: Are you thinking about selling your home and downsizing, or maybe even renting in retirement? It's a big decision, and the wrong move could cost you more than just money.

Eric Blake: Welcome to another episode of the Simply Retirement Podcast, where we want to empower and educate women to live your retirement on your terms.

I'm your host, Eric Blake. Today's topic was actually inspired by a recent conversation with a client who's facing a very real retirement dilemma. Stay in a current home or explore renting instead. Joining me once again on this episode is going to be Wendy McConnell. Wendy, how are you?

Wendy McConnell: I'm good. How are you?

Eric Blake: I am doing very well. So you got a vacation coming up, right? So we, I had to squeeze this episode in.

Wendy McConnell: That's right. Well, it's a staycation, but still stay, you know, good enough. No, no responsibilities for a whole week.

Eric Blake: There you go. You don't have to listen to a bunch of podcasts. Right.

Wendy McConnell: Yes, that's right there.

It's awful.

Eric Blake: Terrible. Well, hopefully, hopefully you're gonna learn something from this one. I, I'm definitely looking for your, looking to have you input wherever I provide your input. Wherever you think it, it might be appropriate. 'cause this is definitely a topic that it, it. Faces, it's really challenging right now, especially in our current real estate environment.

So I think it was a, uh, again, taking kinda the lead from a conversation we had with a client recently, because on paper renting really does check several of those boxes, especially for her and in her case, uh, more flexibility, less worry about maintenance costs, um, the opportunity to live in a community that she really enjoys.

But the in reality, of course, is much more complicated than that, unfortunately. And you know, for her being in her ideal area, the cost, the rental cost is actually higher than it would be the rental payments that would be much higher than what her housing cost is by staying in there. She also has a couple of older dogs that wouldn't be easy to accommodate in an apartment environment.

Um, and a lot of people these days are sitting on these low mortgage rates, right? Where you see, and we know, interested in all the conversation about interest rates being so high. While a lot of people are sitting on these low interest rates, I think hers was in the threes still. And so that is a huge part of that decision.

And again, you hate to, to always focus on the financial aspects, and you really shouldn't when you're making the ultimate decision, but it's just hard to overcome some of these financial factors when you're making a decision like this.

Wendy McConnell: All right, so tell me what to do.

Eric Blake: Well, and again, her, her story is not unusual, like I said.

So, and the other thing is keeping in mind that, you know, if you've lost a spouse, that's where this decision could be even more layered with not only the financial aspects, but the emotional aspects that are involved. Uh, so it's, again, just not about dollar and cents. So, uh, for this episode, what I wanna do is gonna break down what I would consider five key issues that you wanna consider when you're deciding whether you want to downsize.

Or maybe just look at renting and what's gonna make the most sense for your specific retirement goals. Also, wanna make sure everybody's aware that for all the links and resources shared in this episode, there's gonna be a few episodes that we've done in the past that are gonna tie to this conversation.

You can visit www.thesimplyretirementpodcast.com. Also, please don't forget if you have a retirement challenge, something you're just, you're struggling with, or you have a retirement related question that you would like to be discussed on an upcoming episode. You can also visit www.thesimpleretirementpodcast.com/ask Eric, and we can, uh, consider having that on the episode and see if we can help you make some of those big decisions.

Wendy McConnell: You had already mentioned it. Often, it's, it's more expensive to rent these days than it is. To pay a mortgage.

Eric Blake: It is, and that's where, you know, the, and we're gonna touch a lot of these different variables that'll come into play, but that, that is definitely true. But you have to always factor in the, the cost of owning a house goes beyond just the mortgage payment as well, right?

So it's, you've got the mortgage payment, the principal and interest, you've got property taxes, you've got homeowners insurance. But depending on how, maybe how long you've been in that house, are your, your maintenance expenses gonna go up? Are you having to pay somebody to do the yard? Are you able to do it yourself?

And as we'll talk about in retirement, that scenario changes or very likely could change with your own health conditions or your own, your mobility and being able to still do those things five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. So that has to be considered as well, and that's really gets into the first of these, these issues to consider is just the cost of living and cash flow in retirement.

So when you think about, uh, downsizing even, so you, you've got the, and that's one of the decisions you can make if you've got a, if you've been in a house for a while, that you've got, you've got some equity built up if you sell that house. Do you think about downsizing into something smaller, which again, presents a challenge these days or renting?

That's part of the conversation that has to be had, because you think about, again, downsizing. You're still gonna have property taxes, you're still gonna have insurance, you're still gonna have maintenance. You might even have a very comparable house payment, even though you might have less house if you get a higher interest rate than what you have.

Right? So that could be a big factor. And then of course, renting then offers, you know, convenience. Uh, but it just, like you said, the higher rental cost these days. You gotta do that breakeven. And that's really what we did for her in helping her make, if at least evaluate the decision. She hasn't made the decision yet.

But what we did is basically said, okay, let's do, we gotta, we can't ignore the financial aspects, so let's do a financial breakeven analysis. So that's really what we did. We said, okay, let's look at your, your house payment, your rent, your property tax cost, all the things that you currently have with your current mortgage rate.

And what would it look like to rent where you would want to rent? That's the other big part of this is you, if you're gonna make that decision, do you want to be sell? Do you want to have a specific location? Does that mean you because you wanna be closer to family you, or you wanna be closer to things you do on a regular basis?

And that was the big problem for her is the rental cost, just like you said, was much more than what her house payment is. Even surpassing, if she's got additional maintenance costs. So that's what we did. We looked at the equity that she would have. What would she get out of it if she did sell, based on what her current mortgage balance is, uh, what would be the cost of renting?

What are her other monthly housing expenses that she's on the hook for? Uh, what would she potentially get in investment returns on the money I. She got outta the house, so we gotta factor that in as well. And then again, what would be the future? In her case, that's one of the, the difficult parts of her decision was she does intend to sell at some point.

This is not the house she's gonna be in 20 years from now. She would rather actually rent that wasn't for her. Renting is actually something she'd prefer to do. She doesn't want all the deal with all the maintenance and all that. But again, those financial aspects really come into play. And one of the things you also gotta be aware of, especially if it may be in a circumstance where you have, you've lost a husband for some reason, whether that be divorce or being widowed, is what are the potential tax implications of this decision as well?

The difference between, for example, selling a primary residence where you have a $500,000 exemption on any gains by selling that house versus it only being $250,000 for a single filer. That's one of the things we had to evaluate for her as well. And looking at what that might do if you, if you got an additional appreciation, if the house continued to increase in value over the next, you know, handful of years, how does that play into this in terms of what the tax implications and that's, so that was really, we had to do, try to do as thorough of a break even analysis as we could for her to at least help her check some of those financial boxes so she can worry less, worry, worry less about that part.

Now it really gets down to those emotional pieces of, Hey, do I, do I really want to sell now? Do I wanna sell later? Um, and just help her, give her as much information as we could to help her make that decision.

Wendy McConnell: Okay. Yeah. You know, it's one of those things where. You know, I, I was dead set against renting until, no, I didn't even think of the breakdown.

Like, like you just mentioned, but there's also that, and I can't think of the word right now, but that extra like maintenance fee that apartments and condos or what have you, what is that called?

Eric Blake: I know what you're talking about, but I can't think of the term off the top of my head. Yeah, like the homeowners

Wendy McConnell: associations have them too, where it's like a monthly fee.

I can't think of it. It's driving me crazy. But, um, but you know, some of them are very high

Eric Blake: and, but I think the good thing for her, and again, the more specific you can be about where you want to be, the more helpful doing this type of analysis can be. So if you know, okay, I want to be in this area, I could pick the, the 2, 3, 4 possible locations I would want to be and say, okay, what is it gonna cost me?

What's gonna be, what are they charged for rent. What, are there other additional costs that might be associated with that? Because the good thing about renting is it's relatively straightforward. Now. You know that the rent probably will go up over time with cost of living or inflation, but you, it's a little more certain, I guess, than maintenance costs on a house because you never know when the, the.

Air conditioner's gonna go out here in Texas, that's a huge issue. Or your fridge goes out or your microwave goes out, you know, whatever it might be. Those things that you just can't plan for that. If you're renting, you just call up the, uh, landlord, say, Hey, I got, I need you to take care of this.

Wendy McConnell: Yeah, yeah.

Can you get in here? I need you.

Eric Blake: Absolutely. So that, that's, that's some of those, again, those emotional factors, balancing those out with the financial implications and trying to hopefully, hopefully mess, make the best decision possible for you. Okay. Which leads us to the, to me the issue too is lifestyle and maintenance.

Then what do you want your life to look like and what, uh, drawing back from, uh, if you remember, Carol Muroc. Back on episode 26, that was one of the things I thought was really valuable. What about what she shared was she made the living decision because she wanted to be. She wanted to have a built in community of people around her, and that's one of the things she worried about being in a house is who's around but who?

Who am I going to be able to interact with? Who socially? Who, who's my social circles now? Right? And do I, do I want to have a different social circle when I'm in those retirement years versus what I have now? 'cause that's the other part of the owning a house is the, unfortunately we know the young not, I don't accept, unfortunately, probably a bad word, right?

The neighborhood's changed, your neighbors changed. You just never know. Life happens. So, you know, five years from now, 10 years from now, you may have completely different neighbors on each side of you, right? Who knows whether you know what that relationship might look like. But that was one of the things just you stressed, I thought was really valuable was, um.

For her is that social community. Also for her, the ability to not have to worry about driving to the grocery store. She could just hop out and walk to wherever she needed to go. Oh yeah, that's nice. To take care of everything she wanted to, so that was big for her. So I think looking at your lifestyle should be part of this decision making process as well.

And really what is, what are you gonna be spending the next 20 years doing? Uh, and what do, who do you want to be around you while you're doing it?

Wendy McConnell: Yeah. You know, the other thing though too is even though you can walk to the grocery store, how much can you carry back? So that's, you know, like, you gotta think about that.

Eric Blake: Well, and, and that's obviously, you know, what is your, what's your living environment? Are you by yourself? And maybe, you know, in that case, you know, and I, I. Personally, I hate going to the grocery store. Whether I'm walking or I'm driving. It doesn't matter. I hate it. I have groceries delivered so that, that, again, lifestyle ch, there's my lifestyle choice right there.

I would never go to another grocery store if I could avoid,

Wendy McConnell: they're crowded. I'll give you that.

Eric Blake: It's, uh, but yeah, but that, I think that's again, just about with living, choose being very, uh, diligent in your choices around what you want life to look like and how you wanna spend your day to day. You know, we had that, we had the episode not too long ago, about my thousand hours.

How am I gonna spend those thousand hours? Do I wanna spend part of that in the grocery store? I don't, but you know,

Wendy McConnell: I'll give you a tip, and I know you're not gonna take it, but maybe some other people will. My husband and I go first thing in the morning, and there's not a lot of people there except for the people stocking shelves.

So you do have to kind of maneuver around them. But it's a good time to go, I'm just saying.

Eric Blake: I, I, I am, I agree a hundred percent. Other than I, I would prefer to be in the gym or playing pickleball at that time. The morning

Wendy McConnell: I, I'm with you. I, I mean, I am with you, but you know, I don't, I don't wanna pay somebody to do something.

I can do, uh, you are looking at the opportunity costs. I'm looking at the actual cost. Right?

Eric Blake: Right. Well, they, in our industry, they always talk about, you know, what is your hourly rate and could you be, spend your time doing better? Doing other things right. And yeah, I, I just don't like going to the grocery store.

I, I use, I can justify it that way of, Hey, what's my hourly rate for going to the grocery store? It's just, I just don't wanna go.

Wendy McConnell: What is your hourly rate for going to the grocery store? I don't

Eric Blake: know. Well, I, I don't know. Not enough.

Wendy McConnell: Okay. Let's, let's move on. I, I need

Eric Blake: to pay myself more to go to the grocery store.

That might change my attitude. All right, so the next thing is getting by a little bit more back into the financial aspects, and that is what about that equity? That you have in your house. Because you know that, you know, and for many people and women, especially the, when that equity is the, your house itself is your biggest asset, but it's also in many cases, your most illiquid asset.

Mm-hmm. So regardless of how much equity you have in there, at some point, if you need to access that equity, I. You either gotta sell it or you've gotta use some of these other strategies. So thinking about what that looks like and what that equity could be used for. You know, if you think about, again, back to that rental decision, if you're gonna rent and you sell a house for, you know, maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars or whatever it might be, now that equity potentially turns into additional income that helps you cover some of those other rental costs.

So that's where, again, looking at that break even analysis really becomes so critical. And if you don't, if you decide you'd really just rather stay where you're at. You've got that equity built in, now you gotta think about, okay, what if I did need it? What would I do? How would I go about accessing the equity in my house?

So you start thinking about things like home equity loans, maybe, uh, or home equity lines of credit. And again, always keeping in mind that those two in particular may cause other cash flow issues because you have to pay that money back if you take it out for some reason.

Wendy McConnell: Mm-hmm.

Eric Blake: But then you also have reverse mortgages.

And of course these are, you know, they've gotten a bad rap over over the years, right? Probably rightfully so. But they're also a potentially really vi viable strategy now that, that's been a little bit more, uh, scrutiny on that industry. And things are a little bit more clear. Doesn't mean they, everybody should.

To use it, right, but it's probably not worth not gonna hurt to at least evaluate it. And that's again where we also had the episode back on episode eight where we had Mary Rob talking about reverse mortgages and how do we, uh, potentially access that home equity for, whether it's healthcare cost or maintenance or lifestyle or whatever it might be, making an educated decision on whether that something like that would be important.

And then one of the things we talk about in, uh, with every client is what is your strategy for covering long-term care costs or extended care? I think we've, I think I've talked about that a little bit. The, even the long-term care industry doesn't talk, say long-term care anymore, they talk about extended healthcare.

Wendy McConnell: Okay. That's

Eric Blake: the, that's the new buzz phrase. They long-term care people immediately think, okay, I've gotten going to a nursing home, which is not typically the case. Right? So they use extended healthcare, but. In the event that you needed extended healthcare, what's gonna be your strategy? Mm-hmm. A lot of times home equity's going to be part of that strategy.

Again, whether it's a reverse mortgage or selling the house to move into, uh, a, an assisted living facility or whatever the, depending on what your healthcare needs are. That's the other way to think about it is thinking, okay, if I, if I sell the home today, I can't use all that equity up now 'cause I might need it down the road.

As you're thinking about that decision of, Hey, I'm, I'm gonna, I would rather rent now, I'm gonna have that equity potentially provide some additional income, but do I have, do I have a long-term care policy? Do I have other resources that I could pay for that extended care? Or do I really need to think about carving some of that equity off and B, making that part of my extended healthcare strategy for 10 years from now, 20 years from now, whenever I might need that care?

Wendy McConnell: Hmm. Yeah. I like that because, you know, I have never really thought I. About it from that aspect. And that's something I got in my back pocket now they go, woo hoo. Shoot.

Eric Blake: Right. Well, and because you need to think of it the, again, talking about industries that have gotten a bad rap and that's the, the long-term care industry.

Mm-hmm. And the insurance tell long-term care insurance, traditional insurance specifically, you know, where they, they've revamped a lot of the pricing, so it is more appropriate these days, I would say. But thinking about. And the 20 years ago, a lot of those policies were priced way too cheaply. Mm. People are now way living way longer than planned, and even, even you're thinking about the cause of needing that long-term care insurance or long-term care benefit, it's not because of those activities of daily living being in terms of being able to walk or stress yourself or bathe yourself.

All the, it's the cognitive part of it. All right, that people are still physically able to do a lot of those things that they could normally do, but now the cognitive issues of Alzheimer's and dementia are becoming such a huge factor. So you gotta take these things into consideration as you're, again, thinking about today, as difficult as this decision might be, am I in the right housing environment?

Today, and maybe it is, but what is that gonna look like 20 years from now? And do I need to factor that into my decision making?

Wendy McConnell: Right. Okay. I understand.

Eric Blake: And just referencing one other episode that we talked about, and that is when you get the, and you're in a situation where, just understand that if you wait until, you might need that care.

If you haven't done any planning. You might be in a situation where say, I've got an immediate need. I need to sell my house quickly. And that's the other thing of saying like with Jules Hicks back on episode 10 and saying, okay, dude, maybe I, I, I don't have time to use a real estate agent. I don't have six months to, to figure this out to get my house sold.

Right? So using resources like that where I can say, Hey, I can just have it, you know, have it bought for cash and now I've got the resources that I need. But again, you're limiting your flexibility if you're putting yourself in that position.

Wendy McConnell: Mm-hmm. Okay. Got it.

Eric Blake: So getting away from the financial aspects and talk a little bit more about the, again, the, just the emotional considerations.

And we know that, you know, in many cases, especially if you've been in that home for a while, if your children grew up in that home, you've got memories. You've got just that comfort of being in your own place. Um, and, and for many, it's the identity, you know? And especially if you've been in that neighborhood and you've got friends around you, it becomes who part of who you are.

And letting go of that can be such, it can be so challenging, just again, just emotionally. Uh, even if the numbers do support, even though the financial, if I can make financial just justification that I should probably sell or sell at some point in the near future, that emotional piece can be such a big hurdle to jump.

It just, it's hard to, to overcome.

Wendy McConnell: Yeah. You're gonna have to pull me out of my house. I'm gonna be screaming and yelling. I, I love my house. I do not ever wanna move.

Eric Blake: Well, and again, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think the great thing about having that mindset is then okay, if that's really. What I feel, how do I put myself in the best position possible to stay in there as long as possible?

And it, again, it's not always fun to think about, about thinking about these extended healthcare situations, but it is the reality of the situation. Most people, you know, again, when you hear that term, long-term care, and many people immediately think nursing home, most care actually starts in the home with having somebody.

And it might be just a couple of days a week coming in, uh, even if it's rehabilitation services from, you know, maybe a fall or something like that. But how do you then put yourself in the best position possible, planning wise, financially, so that that can be part of your reality, that you can actually stay in that home as long as reasonably possible.

Because that is, that is in fact what most people would prefer to do. They would rather stay in that home. It's just, unfortunately, we kind of get to that point where it's just not reality and it, it, it's hard to, a hard bite to, uh, to swallow.

Wendy McConnell: Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, now they're, you know, we're putting elevators in homes and it's very normal now.

Eric Blake: Right. Well, and I think one of the other things, and this is just kind of getting them an emotional piece, is again, for a lot of our, our clients and you know, the audience of where maybe you have lost a spouse. It's interesting just to see that, that emotional dynamic as well about, you know, if I'm in that house where, you know, my, where I spent years with my husband, it's either, well, I, I just can't see myself living.

I, I, I would feel like I would miss it. I'd miss him. Or the other side is, I just can't stand here anymore. I can't, everything that I, everything I see, everything I do reminds me of him. The, the reminder too much. And how does, does that factor into that decision as well? And that, and that's, you, you always hear that rule.

Another rule of thumb about don't make any big financial decisions within the first 12 months. But, you know, unfortunately, there's always some financial decision you have to make, uh, related to that. But that's, you gotta, unfortunately, that's gotta be part of the decision making as well. If you just, you know.

Can't get past that, uh, that emotional piece, whichever, whichever side of that spectrum you fall on.

Wendy McConnell: Right? One of my neighbors, um, they lost their husband and, and we were so afraid she was gonna move. She's like, oh no, this was our dream house. I'm staying like, there's no, no matter, um, I'm staying. But within, I think it was two years, she goes, I, I.

I have to move closer to my kids. They won't come and see me like you know it, you know? 'cause I live in like a resort area, like on the water and all of that stuff. And you know, we were really sad to see her go and she had no intention of going, but again, life circumstances, it just wasn't, she just wasn't happy here anymore.

Right.

Eric Blake: So

Wendy McConnell: it was sad.

Eric Blake: Yeah. Well, and again, it's, it's kind of that you've gotta, you gotta do the, the pros and cons on, on everything as best you can. And again, there's, the emotional piece is gonna be part of it, but it goes to, to, the questions that you, getting back to the financial piece is, are you reasonably able to, for afford to stay in that house based on whatever your financial resources are, you know, from different episodes we've talked about, you know, the widow's penalty about losing, you might lose a social security benefit because one spouse has passed.

But then if your income doesn't really change a whole lot, you know, you might be in a situation where you're in a higher tax bracket. So being aware of some of those issues of, again, can I, is, is my financial situation changed enough that I, I just can't stay in the house? And again, coming to that, that emotional, uh, crossroads of Okay.

Does that, I, I, you gotta try to look past the emotion sometime as well and say, okay, if I, if I lost my house 'cause they couldn't make the payment, that's even, even puts an extra layer of stress and trouble into the situation as well. Um, and so you, you do have to factor the, the financial resources into the conversation as well.

Wendy McConnell: Mm-hmm. Gotcha.

Eric Blake: The last one I've got is just more future needs, kind of almost like a catchall and just kind of putting all these pieces together. Because again, we know that life, you know, life in retirement is not static. It's not just, you know, set it and forget it. Uh, right. So you've got you healthcare changes.

You've got, uh, your social circle may change or may shift if you, especially if you're in the same neighborhood. Uh, again, your neighbors may change. The neighborhood itself may change a lot. Um. Thinking about some of these things, family dynamics, that is such a huge, especially for many women, where they want to be close to grandparent, the grandkids.

Um, I can think right now, so one, I I didn't start this episode off with this, but right now our grandbaby, our granddaughter's gonna be spending the week with us next week for the first time by herself. And I'm just thinking about all these things my wife is doing right now to prepare the house, to baby proof the house and, right.

And she's, I mean, she's so excited. I'm so excited as well. But you know, all these different things that she's worried about, about, we gotta put bumpers up on the bed so she doesn't fall off and we gotta move plants, we gotta move this, we gotta put, you know, little cushions on all the furniture.

Wendy McConnell: Yes, yes.

Watch those corners.

Eric Blake: Exactly. So, but those types of things come into play again, whether it's you, the location of where you want to be when you retire, or just simply the lo where you're at, be in your house. If you want to maintain your house and you want your grandkids to come over, you may have to make, uh, certain adjustments.

Wendy McConnell: Yeah, absolutely.

Eric Blake: But it's a, you know, it, it's a good, it's a, that, that one is a, a good problem to have. But, uh, again, a problem nonetheless. When you're, uh, when you've been an empty nester for a little while and now you've got a, uh, a 17 month old coming in, you gotta make a certain adjustments.

Wendy McConnell: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Eric Blake: But again, yeah. So again, and why again, all this matters is, again, you gotta evaluate your cash flow. You gotta do things to your, you evaluate your ability to maintain your home. Accessing that home equity, and again, that emotional readiness piece can be, you know, can be such a, a big hurdle to, uh, to overcome when it comes to making a decision on where, where you're ultimately gonna to reside.

Wendy McConnell: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Lots of decisions, lots of things to think about. You know, nothing in life is easy, Eric.

Eric Blake: That is right. Well, and I think, yeah, and that's, and again, especially that homeland is such a big one though. And because there is, there's such that conflict between the financial and the emotional piece of it.

That you all, you just gotta be willing to say, okay, I gotta do that. I don't wanna do an analysis. And, and that, again, that's way my mind thinks is we gotta do the pros and cons. We gotta do the checks, check this box, and check that box and evaluate the financial implications. You know, and actually really what, what my, what my passion is for, especially with our clients, is.

I wanna, let me do the financial work for you. I can help you answer the financial questions and we can have a further conversation about the emotional piece. And if it is, hey, I just, the emotional piece outweighs the financial piece. Okay, let's figure out how we make that work. What are the financial adjustments?

And that's mainly many cases that is gonna be, you may have to just make some financial sacrifices. In order to stay where you wanna be, whether that's renting or owning your house, or staying in your existing house or downside, whatever you decide to do, we do need to understand what the financial implications are, and that's where I want to be, that resource to help.

Guide those decisions to help answer those financial questions. So now you become more about where do, again, my lifestyle and things I wanna do and what I wanna be close to, and don't wanna be close to family, or don't wanna be close to the airport. That's, that's one that, that says gonna become a little more popular about that.

I wanna be close to the airport. So if I wanna travel, I'm not that far away. I'm not, uh, I'm not paying Uber or paying Lyft to, to get to the airport, spending 75 bucks or whatever it is, to every time I wanna take a trip. So that's really what I, I, I would say is you, you gotta answer the financial questions, but by answering the financial questions now lets you focus on a little bit more about what you want life to look like.

Wendy McConnell: Right. So you're saying you can make the financials work, you just have to be willing to do what it takes. Yep. And. Focus on the lifestyle issues the most.

Eric Blake: Yep. You may mean living on a little bit less than you might otherwise be able to. Uh, those types of things that, that really it's worth. Uh, again, it's, it's more the awareness and the knowledge to help you make those educated decisions as much as anything.

Yeah. The other thing I would say is all this is very specific to each individual. You know, evaluate your situation based on your specific feelings and your circumstances. You don't wanna make decisions based on what your friend did or what your parents may have done. You know, all those things. You, that's one of the biggest challenges.

Hey, my, well, my, my friend did this and it didn't really work out. That doesn't mean it's gonna happen for you as well, right? So make decisions on, based on your specific situation, evaluate your financial situation. So you can say, okay, now let me think more about lifestyle, what I want life to look like.

In other words, you live your retirement on your terms, just like we said at the very beginning, right?

Excellent. Anything you think I missed or anything else you think would be helpful for the audience to, to think about as it relates to their housing situation?

Wendy McConnell: Stay in your house. No, I'm just kidding. That's, that's my choice. But yeah, I'm still. Mobile so you knows. So let, let me

Eric Blake: change that last part. Do what Wendy says to do in the world.

Wendy McConnell: That is all I've ever wanted.

Eric Blake: I, yeah. Wow. I just made all kinds of brownie points on that one, didn't I?

Wendy McConnell: No, I think that, you know, there's a lot of different things to, to think about and, you know, you just need somebody to help guide you and tell you what you can do financially so that you know what you want to do.

Eric Blake: So if you are looking for a personalized retirement plan that helps you make smart decisions around your income investments, your taxes, including how your housing fits into the big picture, visit www.getmysimplyretirementroadmap.com. That's where you can review our Simply Retirement Roadmap process.

You can even schedule a 20 minute Get to Know You call. That's the first step into your complimentary retirement assessment, what we call your Personal Simply Retirement Roadmap, which is a step-by-step guide to help you navigate your financial journey. That is it for today's episode. As a reminder for all the links and resources mentioned today, you can visit www.thesimplyretirementpodcast.com.

Don't forget to like, follow, and share the show. Until next time, please remember, retirement is not the end of the road. It's the start of a new journey.

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All investing involves risk including loss of principal. Results will vary. Past performance is no indication of future results or success. Market conditions change continuously.

Information here is provided, in part, by third-party sources. These sources are generally deemed to be reliable; however, neither Blake Wealth Management nor RFG Advisory guarantee the accuracy of third-party sources. The views expressed here are those of Blake Wealth Management. They do not necessarily represent those of RFG Advisory, their employees, or their clients.

This commentary should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by Blake Wealth Management or RFG Advisory, or performance returns of any client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice.