Keen on Retirement

Election cycles can stir up some intense emotions. And while everyone is entitled to have their individual beliefs, as well as causes and candidates that they support, there's one area where we all need to draw a very strong line: between our politics and our money. In the run-up to any election, folks across the whole political spectrum ask the Keen Wealth team the same questions. If Candidate X wins: Will the economy go under? Will inflation and interest rates destroy my nest egg? Are my taxes going up? Should I get out of the market and move to cash? History tells us that the feelings folks have around these kinds of questions don't typically move the markets. But following your feelings every other November can lead to some devastating financial moves that may be impossible to recover from. On today's show, we discuss how to keep your retirement plan insulated from the political noise during the midterms.

The leaves are changing. Sweaters are coming out of closets. Ghosts and monsters are popping up in neighborhood yards.  And the Social Security Administration is about to announce the cost-of-living adjustment for 2027. That's why October can be one of the spookiest – and most dangerous – months for seniors.  Any time the government makes major announcements about Social Security or Medicare, fraudsters spring into action: texts, phone calls, emails, social media messages, "warning" seniors that they need to "activate" their benefits or make an "emergency" transfer to avoid theft.  Another group of scammers, knowing that many seniors are preparing for a lonely holiday season, offer false promises of companionship ... "If you can just send money to help me pay the rent this month." The financial toll of these crimes is heartbreaking. According to the FBI, folks 60 and older reported almost $8 billion in losses to scams in 2025 – a 60% increase from the previous year. On today's show, we discuss how fraudsters try to bypass logic by targeting emotions and review some actionable steps you can take to protect yourself from the latest scams.

Giving back is one of our core values at Keen Wealth. Every year, my wife Carissa, who leads our Keen Community Impact Committee and the Keen Wealth Foundation, works with the committee to bring philanthropic opportunities to our broader team. Together, we identify key initiatives to support through fundraising, volunteer work, and our financial expertise. If you visit our offices during the week and see a couple of empty desks, it's a good bet that our team members are pitching in at one of these causes and trying to make our community a little brighter. I'm especially grateful for our relationship with the Veterans Community Project (VCP), which is working to end homelessness among veterans by building "tiny homes" and offering outreach to our heroes. Keen Wealth has contributed over $500,000 to the VCP's mission, provided hundreds of hours of community service, and helped found and continues to volunteer at its "Operation Clay Storm" skeet and trap shooting fundraiser. I was honored to be a part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the VCP broke ground on their new Veterans Navigation Campus, which will expand the support services they're able to offer veterans in our community.  On today's episode, we follow up on a recent webinar I co-hosted with VCP Co-Founder & Chief Project Officer Brandonn Mixon and Keen Wealth Senior Financial Planner Jeb Flynn and discuss giving strategies that can help folks do the most good for the causes that matter most. 

Dolly Parton's songs and movies will live on forever. But when the 80-year-old entertainment icon passed away last month, she also left behind an impressive financial legacy that we all can learn from.  In a 2020 interview, Parton made it clear that she had no intention of becoming another celebrity cautionary tale about poor estate planning, saying, "You don't want to leave that mess to your family for people to have to fight over. You need to take care of that yourself."  Parton's $450 million estate is protected by a trust with executors and successor trustees, as well as a team of legal and financial professionals. And while one of the benefits of establishing these kinds of protections around your estate is that many details may remain private, I'm guessing a good portion of Parton's fortune will continue her extraordinary philanthropic mission.  Most of us won't write hit songs and build our own theme parks. But we can follow Parton's example by being proactive about protecting our legacies and giving back what we can to make the world around us a little bit brighter.  Another important part of shoring up your own financial plan is making the most of your Social Security benefits. On today's show, we follow up Matt Wilson's recent webinar, Maximizing Social Security Benefits, by answering some questions from our audience. 

"Save more than you spend" sounds like a timeless piece of money advice, as true today as it was two hundred years ago.  But in the mid-1800s, many folks believed you needed to spend your money as soon as possible. In fact, saving too much back then could lead to financial ruin! That's just one example of how Americans' attitudes about money have evolved throughout history. But it's not just rules of thumb and hand-me-down wisdom that's changed. It's the nature of money and our relationship to it.  On today's show, we welcome author Joseph S. Moore to discuss his new book, How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't), and the surprising ways five money philosophies have shifted over time.