Financial Planning for a Dignified Retirement

Welcome to ‘Age of Reinvention’ with your host, Emily Bron! In today’s episode, we sit down with Ron Surz, a seasoned expert in retirement planning and investment management. With over four decades of experience, Ron shares invaluable insights on navigating the financial challenges of midlife transitions. Learn about the importance of protecting your retirement savings, the risks of the stock market, and practical strategies for a dignified retirement. Don’t miss Ron’s advice on how to reinvent your life and financial strategies at any stage. Subscribe to stay updated on more inspiring journeys and expert tips!

TIMESTAMP: 
02:01 Meet Ron Surz: A Financial Visionary
05:06 The Risk Zone: Protecting Your Retirement
06:12 The Genesis of Baby Boomer Investing
08:51 Living on Savings: Strategies for Retirees
13:02 Target Date Funds: Myths and Realities
19:54 Hedging and Protecting Your Investments
29:53 Understanding Retirement Risk for Baby Boomers
31:13 Exploring Investment Options Beyond Stocks and Bonds
32:36 The Role of Cryptocurrencies and Precious Metals
35:09 Global Economic Concerns and Quantitative Easing
37:51 Relocation as a Retirement Strategy
41:17 The Importance of Health, Wealth, and Purpose in Retirement
43:53 Navigating the Challenges of Relocating Abroad
46:11 Final Thoughts and Future Planning
54:10 Conclusion and Reflections

Emily Bron: Welcome to Age of Reinvention, the podcast where we deep dive into the stories of those who have boldly redefined their lives, finding new purpose, passion, and a sense of freedom in their midlife and beyond. I’m your host, Emily Bron, and in each episode, we explore the journeys, strategies, and insight that empower you to make your own midlife the beginning of your best life yet.

Today, we have the pleasure of sitting down with Ron Surz, a remarkable figure in retirement planning and investment management with a career spanning over four decades. Ron has witnessed the evolution of financial strategies. He has been at the forefront of creating solutions that address the unique challenges, those approaching retirement face beyond his professional accolades around personal journey of adopting an education in the financial realm.

offers invaluable lessons for anyone looking to navigate midlife transitions with financial savvy and foresight. Many people perceive Ron as a coach for the financial education and advice for the retirement. So whether you are visualizing the retirement on the horizon or seeking to reinvent your life based on your financial options.

Today’s conversation promises to be enlightening and helpful. Ron Surz is president of Target Date Solutions, developer of the patented safe landing glide path, Soteria, personalized Target Date accounts, and H. Sage, do it yourself investing. He’s also co-host of the baby boomer investing show. His passion is helping his fellow baby boomers at this critical time in their, our lives, when they’re relying on the lifetime savings to support a retirement with dignity.

He wrote the book, Baby Boomer Investing in the Perilous 2020s, How to Live a Dignified Retirement. Ron co hosts a financial educational curriculum and writes a newsletter for baby boomers. It’s actually your remarkable journey into financial management and retirement planning is what inspiring me and others. And I would like to outline that your professional experience is exactly what our 50, 60 plus years old people need to know when they consider the big change. Or in the process of reinvention and redefining their lifestyles and goals in this life stage.

And first I would like to start from your words. I found in your book baby boomer investing in the previous decades of 2020s, which actually not new for me, but still impacted my view on what’s going on. ” Most of our 78 million baby boomers will spend much of this decade in the risk zone, spending the 10 years before and after retirement.

Losses in the risk zone can make remaining lifetimes far less comfortable and could make baby boomers a burden. on society because of 50 trillions is at stake. Following the roaring 2010s, the odds of avoiding a market crash in this decade are incredibly low. This book explains why inflation and other threats are likely to burst bubbles in stock and bond markets, creating significant investment losses.”

Baby boomers should protect their savings at this critical time. I don’t want to frighten anyone, but please tell something. What brought you to this conclusion?

Ron Surz: Sure. So the Genesis of the book really started Christmas of he can never do these dates, but before COVID 2020, 2021, my sister was visiting us for Christmas.

And I shared with her that I was concerned that, baby boomers were taking way too much risk. And that there’s based on basically the observation that this one size fits all solution, 60 percent in stocks and 40 percent in bonds was very common. And then also this thing called target date funds was becoming very popular.

And that 60 40 solution was right there. So people near retirement were about 60 percent in stocks and 40 percent in bonds. Risky long term bonds. So my sister, Kathy had a very successful streaming show about dogs was called the dog connection. And she said you know what you need to do is we ought to do a show for baby boomers.

So we started doing one and now we have about 35 episodes. The mission is the same with every show. It’s to shout out at baby boomers that if they’re unlucky, and by the way, the last 15 years have been the best 15 years of the stock market ever. The longest so we had a little interruption in 2022, but by and large, the last 15 years have been pretty much just up markets.

We’re overdue for a correction by about 10 years. So we’ve gone 10 years missing the bullet. The bullets missed us. So I’ve been doing this, for a while with my sister. Then I decided to help get eyes on those videos. So I wrote a book and the book you mentioned is the Baby Born Investing in the Perilous Decade of the 2020s.

And if you’re interested in the book at all, don’t buy the paper buy the Kindle because the book has links. So every chapter has a link to at least one video. Some of them have links to as many as three videos. So you can read the chapter if you wanted to actually, if you learn better by watching rather than reading, you can click on any one of the videos and it’ll open up and you can watch it and hope you enjoy it.

The caution is there will be a stock market crash. And so some people say I’m a perma bear that I’ve been doing this forever, I saw the crash of 2000. I was there and it was very painful, but I was not in the risk zone. Then the risk zone is what retirement researchers have documented as what is exposed to what they call sequence of return risk. And the idea about sequence of return risk is, there comes a time when losing money matters more to you than other times. So when you’re young and you lose a little bit of money, you care, but you got your whole life ahead of you. So you can recover from that.

You have plenty of time to recover, but when you’re not making money anymore, you’re retired and you lose some money. You might find that you could very well run out of it. Now, one of the shows we did was really interesting. It was helping baby boomers live on what they’ve saved. And one of the interesting things we found in preparing for that show, and this is mind boggling.

So I don’t know about Canada, but in the United States. 70 percent of retirees have saved less than $300,000. Less than $300,000.

Emily Bron: I think in Canada, the number would be even greater, taking into account the difference in incomes in our country. So the problem is common, I would say.

Ron Surz: It is. So how do you live on $300,000?

That’s not much. You do have Social Security. But what we do in the in the episode and in the book, we talk about what we call the poor people who save less than $300,000. And then the next higher ups, we call the middle and what they should do. And then finally the wealthy, we’re not too worried about because they’re going to be fine.

But for the not so rich, you need to focus in on what you are spending your money on. And the number, the biggest expense is housing. So we focus in on that, and that details right into what you do, Emily. So we documented certain cities in the United States. where you can live no, rents are pretty low and they’re not terrible places.

They’re not living on the beach, but they’re not terrible. So El Paso, for example, is it’s not a bad city. Then the other thing you can do is to try to get roommates and that’s something else you can do. So there’s basically in the book and the chapter and the episode sort of a budget for people who don’t have much, but want to make it last for a lifetime.

And it’s doable, but one of the things you don’t want to do is even though it’s not that much, if you lose it and you’re investing. It’s going to make it even harder. So those people, you might say, so they’re poor. They can afford to take more risk. That’s not true. So we’ve, we, again, the spirit of the episodes in the book and everything else is to tell baby boomers to wrap their arms around that money and keep it safe, protected for the rest of their lives.

Now, the common thought about this quote risk zone, is that it’s roughly a five to 10 years before and after when you retire. And the researchers have actually documented that once you’re through the risk sub, you are basically five to ten years after you retire. That might be a time to start to re risk again.

And the underpinnings for that are to now go back and take some more risk with the express purpose of trying to make those assets last longer. So this is a weird situation. You want to be very safe for about, let’s say 10 years or five years before and after and just get through that. And then when you’re through the risk zone, this getting through the hurdle you can think about getting back into the capital markets.

And this is so heavily researched that, it’s surprising that it’s not built into the financial services, so I do most of my work in target date funds. I can tell you that two things are going on in target date funds. One is the providers say that they follow academic theory and the theory basically tries to integrate human capital with financial capital.

So the idea is that the financial, the human capital is basically your earnings. And the financial capital is how you invest your savings. So when you’re young, most of your assets are human capital. You don’t have much invested, but then as you age, your earnings power goes down because you’re going to retire when you do retire.

There’s a human capitalist, unless you’re working in retirement, which a lot of people do, but basically it’s almost zero. In the meantime, the financial capital is building. So the academic theory. Basically looks at the financial capital and says, what do you need to do with that as you as you age?

So the theory is you can take a lot of risk when you’re young because there’s not much involved and you recover. But then as you get very close to retirement. The theory goes, you should be 80 percent risk free. There’s a number that they come up with. So very safe as you’re about to retire.

Almost nobody’s doing that. The providers of target date funds say they follow that theory.

You would think, but that’s not what target date funds do. The target date fund providers and the largest are Fidelity, T Rowe and Vanguard. All three of those and most of the others are about 55 percent in equities. So already not the 80 percent risk free, but then most of the balance of the assets are in risky long term bonds.

In effect, their quote glide path is about 90 percent risky for everybody. Although the mix of risk is a little different for young people. It’s a more equities for old people. It’s more bonds, but the bonds are risky. So, they’re not telling the truth. I don’t want to say lying, but they’re so they should explain how it is they actually believe that they’re following the theory, because if you open the book, that’s not the theory. But the other thing that’s going on with target date funds is.

I think the reason, oh, by the way they acknowledge that they’re not concerned about what’s called sequence of return risk. And they say they’re not because people don’t save enough. So their explanation for not being safe at the target date is they’re taking this medicine to try to help people.

Help the poor people get rich, which is not going to happen. So that’s their justification. But I think that the real justification is when they sat down to do these things. They’re in the business to make money. Their fund companies are in business to profit.

I think what they did is they saw, and, but this all started in 2006 with the passage of the pension protection act of 2006. And the passage of that declared three, this is all in the United States now, by the way. So three, what they would annoy to be qualified default investment alternatives. And the idea there was that if you’re looking for guidance, if you’re a plan sponsor looking for guidance on how to invest people who can’t make a decision, people who default. Before the pension protection act, by the way, the common default.

I’m going to go way back, let’s stop for a second here. 401k plans have pretty much replaced defined benefit plans. And early on when they started to be evolved, they found that they could not get people to participate. They hire new employer, employees and they say, good news, we have this plan for you.

It’s called a 401k plans, defined contribution plan. So now, but we’re not signed on. So behavioral scientists told the 401k industry that if they made enrollment automatic. So when somebody joined the company, they would say, good news, you’re automatically enrolled in our plan. That behaviorally, they say, great, thank you.

So that totally changed the dynamic. So participation 401k plans really picked up and that created a brand new problem. And that is many people don’t know how to invest. They have no idea. So now you’re in this plan. And you’re sent a form and you’re told to choose how much, how you want to invest, how much you want in stocks, how much you want in bonds, to do your own investing.

And at least the common result is at least half of the people in 401k plans don’t choose. So they do what’s called defaulting.

Emily Bron: Ron, I understand that in your book as well as in your newsletters, you provide a lot of practical, actionable steps for people to know, consider, and actually implement.

in short, bullet points. Can you repeat it or summarize again?

Ron Surz: This week’s newsletter has exactly that. So we spent the show and everything else to warning the baby boomers to at least look at their risk. And we’re warning them that we think they’re taking too much risk, but no they might decide they’re fine.

That’s okay. But what we got and no surprise is people said, so if we’re taking too much risk, what should we do? Should we go all the cash? No. And before, before the interest rates went up, you’ll go I’m not going to cash and we’re going to make 1%. That’s crazy. I’m going to make any money.

That changed. So that, that’s all good. We can make a little more money. But what I just recently wrote was what you want to do, I think is get out of stocks and bonds first. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get through and , if you’re staying at stocks, you won’t be hurt, but we think you could.

And that’s, this is a serious risk for you. And it’s like airplane risk. You get on the plane and it could crash, but the odds are pretty low. So pretty safe to get on that plane. But in the case of this, Long overdue stock market crash. I don’t think those are good odds that you should stay in.

Then we also suggest getting out of bonds, but you don’t need to do that. You can stay in bonds, but we recommend a certain kind of bonds. So when you get out, what do you do with that money? You can do a couple of things. When one is we say inflation is probably something you want to protect against.

So take those assets and move them into things that should defend against inflation. So what are those things? Real estate always has any real assets, commodities, precious metals things like that. And those could be your risky portfolio. So there’s, they’re not risk free, but at least you’re moving out of stocks and bonds that are likely to, especially the stock market likely to crash into something that’s.

It’s less likely to crash. You should do okay. Now, real estate right now, there’s certain kinds of real estate are certainly very risky. The COVID has made office space really risky because the offices are empty. That kind of real estate is something you probably don’t want to get into.

You need to be careful about the kinds of inflation protected kinds of investments you make. In the article, I tell you what those assets are, and then I have a suggestion about how to allocate to them, how much in real estate, how much in precious metals, even cyber securities are a reasonable thing, the crypto currencies, agriculture, farmland, people got to eat, that kind of stuff.

I rely on the article of the advice in the Talmud. Which, this is not the Jewish Bible. It’s the Jewish sort of interpretation of the Bible. And in there, the guidance is interesting. It’s a third in land, a third in business and a third in reserve. So the third land that’s real estate. A third in business is what I say you can put into precious metals and cryptos and all these things that protect. And then the third reserve I say should be treasury inflation protected securities. They call it tips. Now, I think you might have something like that in Canada. I don’t know. But these are government guaranteed.

When inflation goes up, you get more money. So it’s definitely an inflation hedge. Then the third, a third is a place to start. So I say in the article, segregate out that reserve asset, that third and tips. And then the other two thirds are roughly 50/50 real estate. And a variety pack well diversified investment portfolio of inflation kinds of investments.

Then I say, if you are comfortable with a third, that’s fine. But you could move these two portfolios depending on your risky appetite. So if you really want to be more conservative, move more into the reserve asset, truly want to be more aggressive, move more into this this bundle of inflation protected securities.

So that’s one thing to do. Once you get out of stocks and bonds, that’s where you put the money. The other thing you can do is do what’s called hedging. So if you really don’t want to sell your stocks and bonds, That’s okay. But you may want to buy insurance. So hedging is insurance and you can hedge those assets by, and this might sound contradictory, but the cleanest hedge is to buy what’s called a put option.

And a put option is basically putting a floor on how low that asset can go. So if you have a stock that’s worth a hundred dollars. And you buy a put at 90. That basically says that if that stock goes below 90, the put’s going to give you back whatever that amount is. So if it goes from 90 to 10, from 90 to 80, you get 10.

The put pays you 10. I’m oversimplifying here. But that’s, I think many people are afraid to buy options because they’re so scary and unknown, but you can buy those. The other thing that for people who don’t are afraid of the options, there are these exchange traded funds, which again might scare people.

But I think a lot of individual investors are buying exchange traded funds. No, I think those are pretty popular. There’s some varieties of those that actually bet against the markets. One that I’m just giving you an example, so one of these is called SPXS, and this is basically a contra bet.

Every time the stock market goes down, you make money. So that’s a good thing. There’s also, you can buy an exchange traded fund that bets against what’s called the volatility index, the VIX. So the volatility index goes up, you make money. So there’s a lot of things like that you can do that basically lets you hold on to your current stocks and bonds, but insulates them from the downside.

Emily Bron: And I understand it’s not so easy to comprehend to people who might listen and see our conversation. Because usually it’s involved, some graphs demos charts that we are not using now. And obviously what I think is the best, it’s to read your articles and connect with you, this particular question, because it’s every situation is unique.

So my question would be with your career spanning over 40 years, you have witnessed

Ron Surz: It’s actually 55.

Emily Bron: Okay. Okay. It’s over 40. And adapted to bust the changes in financial industry. You’ve seen many market cycles, ups and downs and changes in investor behavior. How’s this time times are different from previous cycles in your opinion?

Ron Surz: Yeah. So one of the episodes we do is a 75 year history of investment consulting. And let me just cut to the quick of that without bringing you through all that, all the evolution because it has evolved and it’s gotten better. But what is so entrenched in investment consulting is the go to answer is still that 60 40, 60 percent equities and 40 percent in bonds.

And if you want to check out how consistent that is, is EBRI, the Employee Benefit Research Institute publishes a table of asset allocations for different ages. And the really revealing thing is the average allocation for young people is 60 40. The average allocation for midlife people is 60 40. The average allocation for old people is 60 40.

So that the advice we’ve been giving people is good chance you’re 60 40 and you really need to Take a close look at that and this is the hard part about the advice. Good chance your financial advisor is telling you 60 40 is okay. But you really need to take back control over your investments, at least for people near retirement.

Emily Bron: Yes. The difference in this times comparing with I would say crushes or cycles of the past, which obviously many people, financial analysts are speaking about actually for years already. But I’m surprised that with all these people still not listening, didn’t learn. And the next question I have reflecting on your career, is there a particular moment or success story that stands out to you where you helped someone reinvent the approach to retirement planning?

How did this experience impact you personally?

Ron Surz: I think that moment hasn’t happened yet. And I think it will. Yeah. So here’s the thing. The stock market has not had, so it’s been 15 years really since the stock market had a crash. So 2022 was a little bit of a hiccup. And you can say that was down, but it wasn’t, it was just a little bit.

I think my moment will happen when we get the next crash. And I’ve been, I just actually released an article this morning. And the comments already started coming back going, there’s not going to be a crash. The market’s not going to crash, it’s not going to happen. And I’d say to that, what are you, nuts?

The market’s always crashed. We’ve been lucky to not have one for a very long period of time. But what will happen is, Warren Buffett said when the market crashes, we get to see who’s been swimming naked. And what we’re going to see is especially baby boomers who are right now in a predicament of sorts where they really should be protecting their savings because they’re not in the workforce anymore, most of them.

And if they lose that money, They’re going to run out of they’re going to run out of money quickly. They’re not going to be able to finance the rest of their retirement. So they should be protecting and they’re not. And so I think my moment is in the future when the stock market does crash, all the stuff I’ve been saying in writing, I’ve been doing a lot of that has been trying to wake baby boomers up and say, I hope you’re safe.

And if you are perfect, I really think you’re doing the smart thing. But you need to look, and I think you’re going to find that most of you are 60 40, if you’re in a 401k retirement plan, and you’re directing your own investments, then you ought to look at that and get safe. But if you’re, half the people in 401k plans are defaulted, they don’t know how to invest, so the employer is making a decision for them.

And that decision almost always is a target date fund, and target date funds for those near retirement are very risky. They’re again, the 60 40 stock bond mix. So the last time we saw a target date funds lose money. Most people don’t remember anymore, especially not young people, but that was 2008, and in 2008 people near retirement and entire debt funds lost more than a third of their assets.

Can you imagine that?

Emily Bron: But baby boomers should remember it. It was in my memory.

Ron Surz: The older baby boomers were there then, but the middle of the baby boomer group is there now. They are, most of the baby boomers right now spend this decade in what’s called the retirement risk zone.

Some were there in 2008, but they’re my age. I’m an old baby boomer, the oldest baby boomer. Some of them were there and they remember this, but most of them don’t.

Emily Bron: How you would explain it to me? I’m sorry because I know there are plenty or I would say several Podcasts about financial education.

There are tv shows. There is column or page in each newspaper I’m not speaking about specific professional Financial or investment news you are working for so so many years other people even with different approach You working and I get this kind of news or announcement about future crashes, we can take it or not for years already.

And you still not very optimistic that many baby boomers really listen to it. How is it possible?

Ron Surz: So you could call me a perma bull and I’ve been saying this for a long time, but no, the fact is a crash will happen. There’s something can’t last forever. Like the stock market going up, it will end. It’s the fact.

So when it ends, it may end badly with a crash. All of the indicators, anything you look at in terms of, is the stock market expensive in the United States? Price earnings ratio, the Buffett measure, any of the measures are at near all time highs. The markets have never been more expensive.

And people argue that, again this article I just published, people come and go, the stock market’s only going up. You’re nuts. It’s not going to go down. It’ll never go down. And that’s, this is, it will go down someday.

Emily Bron: You mentioned early that it considered that uh, retirees, so people in this age bracket who has less than $300,000 of savings are considered to be poor and for the retirement and I know speaking about Canada, at least that many people specifically people like me, a newcomers who didn’t build, the life here from the early age. who came already with family and obligation to to start from zero, actually.

So what you would suggest to this category of people? What are some actionable steps or pieces of advice you would like to offer?

Ron Surz: The one piece of advice I’ve been offering, and it’s for rich people and poor people, is for this time of their life, if they are a baby boomer. They are in what retirement researchers call the retirement risk zone.

And the other words that I used is sequence of return risk. And what that means is there’s the time in everyone’s life when losses matter more than in other times in their life. And that time is for baby boomers right now. So a lot is written about how you protect against sequence return risk.

Insurance companies write articles all the time about, say, buy annuities. And that’s an answer. It gets you out of exposure to risk. Let’s the insurance company take the risk.

But the reality is that even though academics and people in the financial industry all know about sequence return risk, and they know about the retirement risk zone, they are not selling product other than annuities that offer protection.

Emily Bron: I actually don’t know any other products other than annuities. Because I have a little and I was looking for the last couple of years, what else I can do.

I didn’t find any advice at least in this regard.

Ron Surz: It’s in my book, one of the chapters in my book. I think I just wrote an article on on LinkedIn, I think. And so I’ve been given this advice and exactly what you just said, people say, so if I’m not in stocks, I’m not in bonds, what should I invest in?

And I think we talked about this yesterday in this article, I suggest that the one threat that you should also be aware of, in addition to the stock market crashing, there’s a possibility that we get inflation. Okay.

Emily Bron: Yeah, and we did.

Ron Surz: So if you move out of stocks and bonds, there are assets that do, are likely to protect against inflation.

Agriculture natural resources real estate protects against inflation. So those kinds of investments, then those are risky. So you’re not eliminating the risk, but the safe asset that protects against inflation is called Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, otherwise known as TIPS. Now, I don’t know, I think Canada probably has something like this, but in the United States, When inflation goes up, you get higher interest on your tip.

So if you want to have a safeguard, if you’re investing safely at a minimum, I would suggest that you think about taking some money out of your reserve as your safe asset and invested in this inflation protected safe asset.

Emily Bron: Do you believe in gold? And precious metal?

Ron Surz: Oh, for sure. Precious metals for sure in that list.

I’ll even say cryptocurrencies are in that list too because, I don’t know, they are an alternative. We actually had a show about cryptocurrencies

Emily Bron: And many people believe in cryptocurrency. Maybe it’s not widespread and baby boomer cohort, but I know that people with their own understanding that, money printing will bring some other issues as we see inflation and will not save us from the crash turned already to crypto option.

Ron Surz: What makes this different from any other piece of paper? Why is this piece of paper different from this piece of paper?

Emily Bron: Yeah, it’s kind of official.

Ron Surz: Is this a piece of paper? It’s because we all agree that if I come to a store, you’re going to accept this and I’ll take the candy bar, whatever I want.

But someday I’m going to have to show up with a lot more to buy that candy bar. And then eventually these pieces of paper just, aren’t worth much at all. So that’s the risk that you’re taking. That’s inflation risk. So cryptocurrencies are basically a money substitute.

It’s worth holding them. We hold a little bit. I’m not, I’m just saying in the mix of things that you would hold. To protect against inflation, I would do the precious metals. I would do real estate. I do agriculture. I do that. The cryptocurrencies, there’s a whole list of things and I would diversify because not all of them are going to defend as well, this inflation, but that’s what I’m advocating.

So I’m saying stocks are definitely risky. They’re as expensive as they ever been. Do you really want to own the most? This stock’s at the most expensive time they are right now, more expensive than they’ve ever been. Bonds are typically the reserve asset, but long term bonds interest rates can go up.

They’re not guaranteed to go down, even though, not that the inflation used for last month was this under control. I’m going to wander off here a lot, but if the Fed lowers interest rates, it’s actually fueling the inflation fire.

So they can dictate what the short end of the term, the yield curve is. But in order to control the long end, the 5 year, 10 year treasury bonds, they have not cleared the market at a low interest rate. There’s not enough investors to buy those bonds at low interest rates.

So do you know who’s buying them?

Emily Bron: Yeah, they’re serving themselves, yes.

Ron Surz: So we’re issuing bonds and we’re buying them in the Federal Reserve. The government is issuing them and buying them back.

Emily Bron: Tell me if such situation exists as of now only in United States, Canada, And several other Western countries, or all over the world.

Ron Surz: Japan is a poster child. So when people criticize what we’ve been doing, basically printing money, quantitative easing, everybody points to Japan and says Japan’s been doing it for 20 years, and they’re okay. They’re not okay anymore. They’re not going to be okay for very much longer. So our poster child, I think, is leading the way in what the ultimate costs are of just printing money.

So in Japan, they say it’s different because for some reason, there’s a word for this that’s not coming to you right now. The Japanese people are willing to hold Japanese bonds with a negative interest rate. And there’s something in their culture that allows that to happen. Can you imagine if you bought a bond for $100 and you knew that a year from now it was going to be worth 80?

Would you do that? Apparently the Japanese people do it. They’ve been doing it.

Emily Bron: It’s happened not with bonds, like in our life, it’s happened with many other assets or objects we purchased.

Yeah,

Ron Surz: But this is guaranteed to lose. You don’t know, most of those other cases, you might lose. But when you buy a bond with a negative interest rate, you’re going to lose money.

So anyway, Japan’s been doing it, when people say quantitative easing is going to work because hey, it’s worked for Japan starting to stop working and I think it’s going to get worse there. No, the world is very deeply in debt. So the, a lot of justification for the U. S. doing what it’s doing is the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry basket, and that gives us that unique capability because we are the world trade currency.

So everybody says we can do all the shit we want because we’re the world trade currency. We were the U. S. dollar. But I think that genie’s out of the bottle. China’s definitely. Position itself to have this currency become the trade currency, or if not China, some basket of other currencies to become a substitute for the U. S. dollar. So that’s all out there. And I’m not trying to be negative about all that stuff. I’m just saying

There’s plenty for us all to worry about. I guess I want to step a hundred steps back and say my articles that are getting criticism are not about saying the market’s going to crash tomorrow. They’re saying baby boomers can’t afford to be there.

Emily Bron: So what is the solution? Like my solution and not only mine, some people who look in the same direction is to move to the country where you can afford actually to have decent life.

Ron Surz: Oh, that’s one. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. No, tell me back to the 70 percent of people say less than $300,000. One of the major things. To try to figure out how you make $300,000 last a lifetime. Just consider within the United States to move to cities where it’s inexpensive to live, and they’re here, you can do that.

You can live with somebody else. But, I like what you do. I think it’s really interesting. I read your stuff. You can move to other countries and live fairly nicely. Now, a poor person here can be a rich person in other countries, as

Emily Bron: first of all, you don’t need a lot. Speaking about the stuff, possession, actually, the quality of life not determined to the amount of things you have.

Yes, you need to have some comfort to be healthy. To enjoy life to have to have pleasures and actually to be, to continue going, I would say. But many people already selected relocation especially for retirement to other country. It was not just new thing for now Americans and Canadians did it for years already, but before it was small percentage.

Now, I believe reality already pushing people to, to consider this option. And people are moving. And obviously it brings some other challenges of adaptation to the new country, new culture, new language.

Ron Surz: It takes some courage. It really does. And if you’re going to pack up and.

Emily Bron: Yes, but many people will be in a hard choice to select between life they used to have and cannot afford, and relocation.

And I’m not even speaking about medical bills, which are really always was a big danger even to think about the cost of medicine and cost of living from medical perspective in the United States. And yes, I’m looking to next a couple of years and I’m following the statistics and people are relocating.

And what I’m saying is that there is an option, even the, it’s better probably to do before crash because you can sell your property maybe to get you, you have time to arrange the thing.

Ron Surz: You got the money to do it now, you might not have the money to move later on. No the.

Emily Bron: Yeah, because to move, you need money to work on the legal side and not to be so stressed out when you really stressed out and you think that.

You lost all your life saving all your life dreams. And I am speaking actually about reinventing yourself, not just saving whatever you have, but trying to get new old hobbies to consciously switch your attention actually based on financial situation, but create something else or work on learning new skills, which will help in the time of need.

Ron Surz: I agree. So we’ve done several shows on what’s called retirement happiness, and one theme came out of all three shows. And if you want to narrow it down, it’s three things.

It’s health, and sometimes you can’t do anything about that. And if you’re not healthy, it’s going to be really tough. You’re not going to be happy. Nobody can be sick and happy. Wealth is the second one. And that, I think, what we’re saying here is the sort of relative thing. A poor person here is not so bad in some other countries. So the second one is wealth. And the third one is purpose. And that is that’s in your head. That’s psychological.

One of our guests was a fellow who wrote a book called “Retirement, Heaven, or Hell.” And the book tells his real life story. He got fired from his job. He was in the sixties. He couldn’t really figure out what he wanted to do next. So he decided he got enough money, he was going to retire.

So he did what he saw his mother do. So he was sitting on the sofa, eating popcorn, watching TV with his mom. And it was hell for him. It’s total hell. But that was heaven for her. So I think that the generations have different ideas, that the older people when they work, they look forward to never doing anything.

That was their dream. That’s all they want to do is. It’s in front of the TV and popcorn. For most of us now, I think contemporary people, if you want to have your life have any meaning at all, you’re going to, you’re going to look for something to do. You want a purpose. And I think that’s exactly, I’m just reinforcing what you’re talking about.

Emily Bron: Yeah. And if you lost your previous purpose, life is changing. And under circumstances, the purpose was to raise the children. Children are grown up to achieve some career growth. It’s achieved or maybe not important anymore. So find the new purpose, because without purpose, you will not have a house, you will not have a reason to wake up tomorrow.

Ron Surz: Exactly, that’s exactly it. Again, applauding what you do. Purpose can go anywhere you go. You don’t have to do it here, you don’t have to do it in another country. It might be harder in other countries, I don’t know. You’re the expert on that, but I think with technology being what it is today, with the internet and everything else, You can probably follow your passion, whatever it is, in other countries.

, you know the barriers as well as I do, that there’s, it’s going to be the language, but, the major barrier is packing everything up and moving it over to someplace that you’ve never lived in before. That’s scary.

Emily Bron: It’s scary, but it can be accepted as a new opportunity to reinvent yourself.

To try something new, obviously it should be done with help of professionals, in many cases. It should be done with open mind and should be done the selection of the place to relocate. Sometimes it’s a big challenge because people are not ready, don’t have experience, and their information about different places, if it’s based only on, Hollywood movies and articles from the newspapers.

It’s very limited. It’s more fear than it can be in real situation because people should filter actually life required components to have to have a happy life or to have normal life, I would say, but I believe that many people will already looking for the such option. Thank you. And here I am actually bringing stories of people who already did it, and I’m speaking about emigrant, immigrants like me and others from different countries who came without a visa.

Language or with limited English we speak in this case and not only learn it and I know I’m not perfect in English. I know I accept my limitation in some way, but with all this. We worked on some strategies to to build our new life and we built it and sometimes even better, I would say, comparing with the person who was born in the country.

So it’s possible. It’s possible to come in a middle life and I understand that it’s not so easy, but people have asset as. Life experience, knowledge, professional experience experience of understanding, some dynamic in society, which is very valuable. And actually, they can bring it to the different place they experience and build something new based on the experience they had In the country they were born.

So it’s how it’s working.

Ron Surz: I agree. So we’re on the same page. I’m warning the baby boomers to do what they need to do before the market crashes. I have no idea when it’s going to crash, but I know it’s going to.

Emily Bron: So what is your backup plan in regards to relocation, or you have some other options?

Ron Surz: We’ve talked about this, it’s not going to happen. Fortunately, we’ve saved enough to stay where we are. But what I have done is, I’m not in stocks, I’m not in bonds. I’m in the Treasury Inflation Protective Securities, I’m in precious metals, I’m in Cryptocurrencies. So I might be wrong. When the market’s up today, my wife typically would complain and she doesn’t do that anymore.

we’ve had the discussion and we’re gonna miss out on the market ups, and that’s just the way it’s gonna be. But we won’t be there for the down, and we don’t need to be there for the ups to live the way we like to live. So we’re in the, we’re in the lucky group.

Emily Bron: People have option. We lived, many of us, in our community, lived in different countries for really small means, financial means. And we were happy not only because we were young, but because we found some other activities. We found some other interests.

And I believe with this experience. Maybe with less comfort and less room in our houses, we can achieve if working towards this purpose as a goal, we can live decent life, and I use the same words as you use in your book, and it’s I can help, I can connect with people who can help in different aspects.

Ron Surz: You’re out there doing the research and, your research is really great. It just gives people some things to think about especially places in New Mexico that you visited, where you tell them, what the culture is like, and that sort of thing. It’s good work.

It really is.

Emily Bron: Thank you. Thank you for appreciation. And I very appreciate you coming to my show. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your stories with us. And I don’t say it’s pessimistic, it’s realistic. It’s our life as of 2024.

Ron Surz: That’s the point. Yeah. So I’m not a perma bearer. I’m a guy who I’ve seen a number of crashes, not just 2009, but 1974 and other crashes, and I know how painful they are.

And I also know, having been in this industry for a while, that this one is going to be super bad because there are 75 million baby boomers who are going to be hurt. A lot of people are going to be hurt. So that’s what I’m saying. I hope they all make it through the risk zone.

If the baby boomers can make it through to 2030, they’re out of the risk zone.

Emily Bron: We are living in interesting times, and I wish you and everyone listening, following all the best. Cheers! reasonable wealth, as you mentioned, and what is most important, purpose. Purpose to continue going, growing, and living fulfilled life.

Ron Surz: Good. I have a question, actually. So some time ago we asked our doctor about if we were going to move outside the country, what he would recommend, and he said Costa Rica, and he said with great authority and conviction that he knew that’s where the doctors were moving. Is that true? Doctors are moving to Costa Rica?

And why there and not in other places?

Emily Bron: Actually, doctors are people and people have different

Ron Surz: Yeah, I know that. But why would they all decide that Costa Rica was the place they all wanted to move to?

Emily Bron: I like Costa Rica. I’ve been in Costa Rica. And they say that the medical system, it’s pretty good.

And I experienced on myself like dental services in Costa Rica. But with all this, and it’s very important to consider I think that medical help, if you will find correct place can be very good and affordable in Mexico. In Mexico, life is cheaper, and medical services, again, we should speak about the same apples, not different ones, but I believe even from medical perspective, it depends like for example, I’m not good with humidity, I don’t like heat, that’s why Mexico, middle center of the country, is better for me.

Because it’s a dry, I can find the dry climate, while like Mexico, you can find, people, all climate zones. And sometimes people don’t know, they relocate to Costa Rica, and if you on the seashore, You always will have some humidity. Some people don’t care. Or maybe they don’t care until a certain age.

And with some, condition they feel different. That’s why I even saying don’t buy immediately the property. Go and try. Live several months. Live at winter. Live during the summer, say, in Mexico. And it’s what many people are doing, by the way. Trying, until they found the place. They feel good physically, they no, but it takes time because what I’m saying as well, make a consultation with a person who can save your time and navigate you to the better place.

Based on your health condition, age, your preferences. And some people like, sports activities. Some other prefer cultural environment with music. It’s all complement to our being. And if we found the purpose even to learn language, to communicate with other people, to enjoy the new country, new culture I feel that it fulfill us to many years ahead.

Obviously financial means are important for relocating, for the process, but people Sometimes don’t know where priority should be and in different situations, they might be different for different people, based on their expectation. And again, financial means, and I know I was living, in small apartment back in Soviet Union.

And we lived several generations together. I cannot say that it was ideal, but we had this experience. So it’s not such a kind of big deal. Even now, or even now in a big home, we are living three generations. For us, it’s okay. Maybe not good for each of families. So

Ron Surz: exactly. It’s all individual. I agree.

Emily Bron: Yeah. And some people, they even might benefit. So if they go and they live by themselves, in small apartment in other country, they will get some independence. You can look at different to the same situation. Again, we cannot resolve all questions that each of us can have along the road.

But what I say and what you confirm, we live in a time of change. Some of us don’t have even funds that you mentioned, but we need to keep on guard whatever you have, and at the same time to have a backup plan to have plan how to find the place where you can enjoy whatever you have remaining.

And not to be stressed out that you outlive your savings.

Ron Surz: That’s important.

Emily Bron: Yes, on this note, I would like again to thank you for joining us and sharing your expertise and I believe that we can communicate and connect again in some time to discuss, what we learn in year or two and maybe what new advices each of us can provide the baby boomers.

Thank you.

What an insightful conversation with Ron Surz. His deep knowledge and passion for educating and empowering others highlight the significance of preparing for retirement with proactive and informed approach. It’s clear that whether it’s through his innovations in retirement planning, his co hosted show, or his work in making financial education accessible to all, Ron is dedicated to helping individuals navigate the complexities of financial planning, especially as we approach or embrace midlife.

Thank you, Ron, for joining us today and sharing your expertise and personal experiences. Conversations like this remind us of the power and potential of reinventing our life at any stage. If today’s episode inspired you to reflect in your journey and financial strategies as you redefine your freedom, lifestyle, and purpose in midlife, we’d love to hear from you.

Share your thoughts, Stories or questions with us and let’s continue the conversation offline. Remember to subscribe to Age of Reinvention on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode that could catalyze your next significant reinvention. I’m Emily Bron. Thanks for listening. And I’m here to remind you that this podcast is committed to supporting your growth and learning.

I encourage you to embrace the limitless possibilities that come with redefining midlife. Till next time, here’s to reinventing your life on your terms.

Ron Surz

President @ Target Date Solutions | Inventor of Safe Landing Glide Path Retirement Planning Expert | Co-Host of Baby Boomer Investing Show Educating and Advising

Investors for Over 40 Years I am the President of Target Date Solutions, a leading-edge company that offers personalized target date accounts for retirement savers. I have over 40 years of experience in investment management and financial risk management, and I am the inventor of the patented Safe Landing Glide Path, a unique approach that integrates modern portfolio theory and liability-driven investing to protect and grow retirement savings. I am also passionate about educating and advising baby boomers on how to navigate the perilous decade of the 2020s. I co-host the Baby Boomer Investing Show, a live-streaming program that covers topics such as retirement planning, investment strategies, and risk management, based on my extensive research and publications. I also offer online courses on financial education through LearnFormula.com, and I am an educator at Age Sage Education, where I share my insights and expertise with a wider audience. My mission is to help millions of plan participants and individual investors achieve their financial goals.

Empowering Baby Boomers: Navigating Midlife Financial Reinvention

Welcome to another episode of Age of Reinvention, the podcast dedicated to diving deep into the stories of individuals who have boldly redefined their lives, discovering new purpose, passion, and a sense of freedom in their midlife and beyond. Today’s episode features an enlightening and inspiring interview with Ron Surz, a stalwart in retirement planning and investment management with a career spanning over five decades. Their courage and determination to reinvent their lives will surely inspire you.

The Power of Midlife Reinvention

As the host of the show, I, Emily Bron, have the privilege of exploring the journeys, strategies, and insights that empower individuals to transform their midlife into the beginning of their best life yet. Today’s guest, Ron Surz, shares invaluable lessons on navigating midlife transitions with financial sagacity and foresight, empowering you to take control of your retirement.

Meet Ron Surz

Ron is the president of Target Date Solutions, the developer of the patented Safe Landing Glide Path, Soteria personalized Target Date accounts, and H. Sage DIY investing. He also co-hosted the Baby Boomer Investing Show and authored the book Baby Boomer Investing in the Perilous 2020s: How to Live a Dignified Retirement. His mission is to assist baby boomers in leveraging their lifetime savings to support a retirement with dignity.

Insights from Ron’s Journey

Ron recounts the genesis of his book during a family gathering in the early 2020s, sharing his concerns that baby boomers were taking excessive financial risks. This episode of the Age of Reinvention podcast encapsulates their conversation about financial strategies, highlighting the changing dynamics of the market and providing actionable advice on safeguarding one’s investments.

The Retirement Risk Zone

One key theme in Ron’s discussion is the concept of the “retirement risk zone.” This is the five to ten-year period before and after retirement when the potential for financial losses can significantly impact one’s future quality of life. Ron emphasizes that many baby boomers are currently exposed to this risk due to traditional investment mixes, such as the 60/40 stock-to-bond allocation, which he argues needs to be updated and risky.

Strategies to Mitigate Risks

Ron advocates for baby boomers to reassess their investment strategies proactively. He suggests shifting assets from traditional stocks and bonds to inflation-protected securities and tangible assets like commodities, precious metals, and real estate. He also explains the benefits of diversifying into Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and even cryptocurrencies as a hedge against market volatility and inflation.

The Challenges Ahead

Despite numerous financial advisories and educational resources, Ron notes a concerning trend: Many baby boomers either lack awareness or choose to stay content with conventional risk-laden portfolios. This calls for a more robust dialogue about the financial realities facing retirees today and the importance of proactive planning.

The Role of Purpose in Retirement

Beyond financial security, Ron and I discussed the critical role of purpose in ensuring a fulfilling retirement. Health, wealth, and purpose were pinpointed as the three pillars of retirement happiness. Retirement inevitably brings significant lifestyle changes, and finding a new purpose can dramatically affect one’s psychological well-being and overall satisfaction.

Practical Moves: Relocation and Reinvention

For many, moving to a more affordable location can be a feasible strategy to enhance their quality of life in retirement. Whether within the United States or abroad, relocation presents an opportunity to reinvent oneself, reduce living expenses, and enjoy a different pace of life. The importance of researching and trying out potential new homes before making a permanent move is emphasized.

Embracing Change and Proactive Planning

The conversation with Ron Surz underscores the critical importance of realistic financial planning and the courage to make significant life changes during midlife reinvention. As we navigate these complex challenges, proactive approaches and informed decisions are essential for securing a dignified and fulfilling retirement.

Thank you, Ron Surz, for sharing your expertise and personal experiences. This conversation reminds us of the immense potential in redefining our lives at any stage. Until next time, I’m Emily Bron, inviting you to embrace the limitless possibilities of midlife reinvention. Cheers to reinventing your life on your terms.