Speaker Spotlight
Here at World Financial Seminars, one of the key components of achieving a rich life is becoming financially free.
At our Beyond Wealth Retreat this past February in Calistoga, we invited longtime friend of The Oxford Club Adriane Berg to speak on financial gerontology.
Because her presentation was such a hit with our attendees, we decided to interview Adriane so that you could also enjoy her insights on how to achieve lifelong goals through retirement.
Heather Downey Phillips: What exactly is financial gerontology?
Adriane Berg: Financial gerontology studies “wealth span”... how to make sure your money lasts as long as you do and beyond. A financial gerontologist helps clients achieve lifelong goals after age 55 through their 100th birthdays and makes sure they have reliable income to carry their lifestyles. We also know how any investor AT ANY AGE can capitalize on worldwide aging. We call this the “longevity portfolio.”
Heather Downey Phillips: What is the single most important thing you do to fund our longevity?
Adriane Berg: I work with a whole new world of solutions for tax-free income and lifelong, sustained low-risk growth. For example, the “short funded indexed universal life contract.” That’s a mouthful, but it is used to produce very significant TAX-FREE LIFELONG INCOME. This is a sophisticated program that takes know-how. For us, it is an everyday strategy along with specialized tax-free money management.
Heather Downey Phillips: You say money is part of successful aging – how so?
Adriane Berg: After 60, you’re doing new things and meeting new people and contributing to the world. But in our society you may start to feel invisible. I’ll be blunt; money helps you stay relevant, independent and younger because you are in control. Studies show that when you feel secure financially, you live six years longer. I believe my work is as essential to successful aging as medicine, nutrition and exercise.
Heather Downey Phillips: What is the financial industry doing to meet the challenges of longevity?
Adriane Berg: Very little. A lot of platitudes, warnings that we’re going to live longer – thank you very much. A lot of reminding us that healthcare is expensive – yet another thanks – as if we didn’t know it. But their solutions are the same old story: “Diversify, allocate your assets and pay me a nice fee to do it.” That’s what they’ve come up with.
Heather Downey Phillips: What do you do differently?
Adriane Berg: We use tools like guaranteed income contracts, tax-free income strategies, even arrangements with home health providers for lifelong care where needed. We look at portfolio agitators like Sharpe Ratio and standard deviation as leading indicators of how to infuse safety in managed funds while sustaining growth in this low interest rate environment.
Heather Downey Phillips: You call tax deferral dangerous. How so?
Adriane Berg: If your money is in tax-deferred vehicles, the piper (IRS) must be paid, and many of us are in a high tax bracket at retirement. We get tax infestation out and can even legitimately avoid required minimum distribution.
Heather Downey Phillips: Will Social Security be there for us?
Adriane Berg: Oh, boy. I was invited to the White House Conference on Aging in July, which takes place only every 10 years. Obama said no change until 2042. By October there were significant inroads in file and suspend and other strategies. I am hopeful for folks over 62, not for those younger. That’s why our Plan B for income and inflation protection is critical.
Heather Downey Phillips: What is the future of aging? Can we be immortal?
Adriane Berg: Maybe. Our current “maximum” life span is still 120 years, as it was in biblical times. Scientists have come up with medicines, hormone support, diet protocols, knee and limb replacements, eye implants, etc., which are making a difference in quality of life. This is not science fiction. It's science. The question to ask yourself is this: Can you fund your current lifestyle and take advantage of the innovations to come? That’s the essence of our brand of private wealth management for your long life.
Heather Downey Phillips: They call you the “cheerleader of successful aging.” How do you define that?
Adriane Berg: Successful aging is like a successful marriage. It depends on what you’re looking for in life. Decide what kind of future you want to craft. From there, everything tells the story for you. It’s our job to make sure you can fund your dreams at any age.
Adriane Berg is the lifelong income and retirement lifestyle director of Ronald Gelok & Associates and a consultant to ASI. Her nationally syndicated radio show, Generation Bold: The Fountain of Truth, can be accessed at http://www.generationboldradio.com.