Most retirement plans don't fail on day one — they fail in the middle, ten or fifteen years in, when it's too late to go back to work. In this episode of The Retirement Risk Show, host Dave Hall breaks down longevity risk, the retirement risk he ranks as the single biggest threat to a happy retirement in his book Getting Safely Through Retirement.

Dave starts with the story of a 91-year-old woman whose family called a police welfare check after she went two days without answering the phone — only to find she'd been fine the whole time, just too absorbed in a video game to check in. That story sets up the real topic: why the "average life expectancy" number you'll find online (around 79) is misleading once you've actually made it to 65, and why a healthy retired couple should be planning for one spouse to live into their 90s, not their late 70s.

From there, Dave explains why longevity isn't just one risk among many — it's a multiplier that makes inflation risk, market risk, and withdrawal risk worse with every extra year you live. He covers the retirement planning gap nobody talks about, the "independence illusion" that convinces retirees they're fine right up until they're not, how long-term care risk fits into the picture, and the silent tradeoff between overspending and underspending that traps most retirees who don't have a real plan. The episode closes with a practical framework: guaranteed income, built-in flexibility, reserves for the unexpected, and giving every asset in your portfolio a specific purpose.

If you're within a decade of retirement, already retired, or helping a parent plan for the years ahead, this episode will change how you think about how long your money actually needs to last.

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Getting Safely Through Retirement by Dave Hall — available at https://www.gstrbook.com/info
Learn more or schedule a consultation at https://www.retirementriskadvisors.com

New episodes of The Retirement Risk Show release weekly, covering the risks that actually derail retirement plans — longevity, inflation, market risk, sequence-of-returns risk, taxes, and long-term care — and how a holistic retirement plan addresses all of them together. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

Investment advisory services offered through Alphastar Capital Management LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC, nor does it indicate the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability. Fixed insurance products are offered through Retirement Risk Advisors, and Alphastar Capital Management is not involved with the offer, recommendation, sale, or management of commission-based fixed insurance products. Alphastar Capital Management and Retirement Risk Advisors are separate and independent entities. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal, tax, or investment advice, or a recommendation of any particular security, investment product, or investment strategy.

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5 Irreversible Retirement Mistakes: Social Security, Roth Conversions & Long-Term Care Planning

These are the retirement mistakes you only get to make once. On this episode of The Retirement Risk Show, retirement planner Dave Hall shares a story from early in his career — a real estate deal that taught him a hard lesson about due diligence — and uses it to introduce five irreversible retirement planning mistakes he sees again and again.

Dave covers:

Taking retirement income the wrong way, including why your Social Security claiming strategy matters, how claiming at 62 instead of waiting can mean a 76% cut in benefits, how to think through pension elections and lump-sum options, and how withdrawing from your portfolio during a down market can trigger sequence of returns risk.

Ignoring tax planning strategies, including how a Roth conversion strategy done early and managed annually can reduce lifetime tax drag, help you avoid IRMAA surcharges on Medicare, and protect your beneficiaries from a rushed 10-year withdrawal window.

Failing to plan for long-term care, including why 56% of retirees will face a long-term care event even though only 6% have done any long-term care planning, and when to self-insure versus buy a long-term care insurance product.

Relying too heavily on the stock market for retirement income, including how a lack of income diversity leaves retirees exposed to sequence of returns risk.

Lack of coordination across your retirement plan, including why an accountant, estate planning attorney, investment advisor, and insurance agent working in silos can quietly undermine an otherwise sound retirement plan.

If you're researching retirement planning, Social Security claiming strategies, Roth conversions, IRMAA, or long-term care insurance, this episode walks through all five.

To learn more or schedule a no-fee consultation, visit https://www.retirementriskadvisors.com.

Investment advisory services offered through Alpha Star Capital Management LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC, nor does it indicate the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability. Fixed insurance products are offered through Retirement Risk Advisors, and Alpha Star Capital Management is not involved with the offer, recommendation, sale, or management of commission-based fixed insurance products. Alpha Star Capital Management and Retirement Risk Advisors are separate and independent entities. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal, tax, or investment advice, or a recommendation of any particular security, investment product, or investment strategy.

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Why do most retirement plans fail? It's not bad investments — it's that the entire system changed in the 1970s, and nobody updated the plan.

In this episode of the Retirement Risk Show, Dave Hall breaks down how retirement in America shifted from a pension-and-Social-Security "golden age" system to a do-it-yourself model built around the IRA (1974) and the 401(k) (1978) — and why that shift is the real reason 46% of Americans die without the money they need to get safely through retirement.

Dave covers the four structural problems this created: the shrinking income floor (Social Security now covers only ~40% of retirement costs, down from near 100% for pension-era retirees), concentration risk (you're now the only one managing your own outcome), uncertain withdrawals (no one tells you exactly what you can safely spend), and the full shift of responsibility from employers to individuals.

He also explains the three consequences retirees face as a result — losing the lifestyle they worked for, missing the window to maximize their legacy, and outliving their money — and walks through the three-part framework the ultra-wealthy use instead: guaranteed income, reserves for long-term care and short-term cash flow needs, and proactive legacy planning.

Whether you're years from retirement or already in it, this episode lays out why the traditional approach falls short and what a more resilient plan looks like.

Learn More @ https://www.retirementriskadvisors.com

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