Lump Sum or Pension Payments - Which to Choose

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I’m retiring soon and trying to decide whether or not I should take one time lump sum payment or a monthly pension payments until I die.  As with some of you, if I were to die first, my wife would continue to receive part of my pension until she dies. This is a tuff decision and I’m not sure which way to go, here’s what I’m thinking about. 

The big question of course is not knowing how long we are going to live. If you take the lump sum, how much money will you make by investing wisely versus the continued stream of pension payments.

About 20% of the people taking the lump sum, have it gone in five years.  30% of retires with lump sums also worry about running out of money. On the other side you know employers offer lump sum payments for a reason, the lump sum payments help their bottom line not yours.

Pros for Taking the Lump Sum Cash

• Your Company’s has poor financials and might not back the pension
• Maybe you have doubts about the management team
• Are you and investor or work with a credible and trustworthy financial adviser
• Maybe you don’t really need the money and have retirement covered. Lump sum can give you some fun money to play with

Pros for Taking the Pension

• Your married and your pension plan offers survivor benefits
• If you like to buy things and spend money… you can only spend what you have!
• Significantly less anxiety

I’m going to keep adding to this list so send me your ideas.  My first thought is stay with the pension, but I still have a few weeks to decide.

Beware of Customer Service Scams

Be cautious if you are reaching out to customer service. Need to get a hold of Amazon, Google, Microsoft. We all have a tendency to to a quick Google Search or Siri Search. At the top of the search results screen is a toll free number to call. The problem is that the number is in a paid advertisement where the scammer pays to have their ads listed at the top of the search results. You don’t look carefully and quickly dial the number where you are quickly connected to the fake scam company. They are happy to help you and ask for your credit card number and social security number to verify your account. You’ve just been scammed!

Tips to Prevent Customer Service Scams

• Go directly to that companies website and look for their contact information.
• Look for the phone numbers on your paper statements
• Don’t use Alexa, Siri or OK Google to find customer services numbers or information for you.
• Check the URL for misspellings or text that just doesn’t look right.
• Don’t agree to pay for any service that should be free.
• Don’t EVER give anyone remote access to your computer
• Reach out to one of your tech savvy relatives to ask any questions if you have suspicion

Some Examples of Customer Service Scams

• You search for Amazon Customer Service. The link you follow connects to someone who asks you to buy gift cards and give them the numbers to pay for service
• You search to buy and airline ticket on United Airlines. Follow the wrong link and they take you to a site where you buy a ticket using gift cards.
• You search for help to fix your iPhone, don’t check carefully and are now dealing with a fraudulent repair center who asks for your credit card information before they start helping you.

Other Topics Relating to Scams:

Avoid these cash payment scams

Avoid Social Media Scams

<-- Your to honest - beware of scams!

How Do I Keep from Getting the Flu

It’s that time of year and we are ramping up to another flu season. With flu and Covid19 on my mind, I did a little reading on how to help prevent the flu. We should have already been doing some to the same things to prevent the flu as we would for any virus. Here are some ideas I’ve found.

• Get a flu shot - If you older get the super flu shot
• Eat Healthy, fruits, vegetables, fish basically a Mediterranean diet
• Take a brisk walk, it will help boost your immunities
• Get plenty of sleep, 8 hours is the preference, set your room up for good sleep
• Vitamin D, if you life in the north and don’t get winter sun take supplements
• Use an Humidifier - Virus linger longer in dry air
• Wear a mask and stay socially distant
• Wash your hands often, everything you touch can carry virus
• Don’t touch public surfaces, eat at buffets, use the pen from the wait staff

What other ideas do you have?

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