Oct. 1, 2025

The Psychology of Losing Money: Inside the Ineffective Investor Loop

Most investors don't fail because they lack intelligence or good intentions-they fail because they let emotions drive their decisions. Bonita shares the sobering mistakes she made before really learning how the investing world works. My concept called The Ineffective Investor Loop explores how fear, greed and overconfidence keep people stuck in patterns that sabotage wealth building. We'll break down why following the rules of the game-not your gut-is the key to winning in the markets.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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w fourcy dot com. This week and every week, we

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will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

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let's join your host, Anita bell Anderson, as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hello, and welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. I

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am your host, Anita bell Anderson, and today we are

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talking about savvy social security planning for women. So I

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have some slides that I will put up on the

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screen now. So thank you so much. I'm so glad

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you're here. This is so important. Today we are gonna

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be talking about something that is really super important for women.

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I have been dealing with women clients and helping women

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clients for about the last twenty five years, and women

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represent about fifty six percent of all soil security beneficiaries

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age sixty two and older and about sixty six percent

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of all beneficiaries age eighty five and older. Whether you're

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married or single, divorced or widow, there are certain strategies

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you can use, and I am I. The reason I'm

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here is because I want you to get this right,

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because I want you to have the maximum benefits for

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your lifetime. So we're going to talk about some of

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these strategies today. So how confident are you in your

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ability to retire comfortably? You know, I've got women clients

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across the spectrum from very low income to very high income.

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The question was recently posed this question to fifty nine

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hundred men and women who are still working. So, not surprisingly,

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women are less confident in their ability to retire comfortably.

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Thirty six percent said they were either not too confident

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or not at all confident, compared to twenty eight percent

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of men. So another survey, I asked about some of

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the financial aspects of retirement. Will you have enough money

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to live comfortably throughout your retirement years? Only eleven percent

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of unmarried women said yes. Okay, so forget about living comfortably.

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Will you have enough to meet basic expenses during retirement?

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Just twenty three percent of unmarried women said yes. Are

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you doing a good job of preparing financially for retirement?

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Only fifteen percent of unmarried women said yes. So you'll

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see that my email address is scrolling if you have questions.

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I've also written a book for divorced or women who

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have lost your spouse about all of the issues around finances.

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When you email me, I will give you the link

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for going out to Amazon to get the book. But

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remember that many of these this thing that we're looking

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at on the screen right now, many of these unmarried

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women were once married, whether through divorce or widowhood. Many

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married women wind up single at the end of their life.

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It's just the case, right. So here's a quote. Women

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in general have greater concerns about their retirement security, yet

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do less than needed to plan for adequately addressing those concerns.

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This quote came from a study by MetLife on women,

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retirement and the extra long life. Unfortunately it's true in

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too many cases. But at least you're here, whether this

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is a first step for you or you're one of

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the savvy ones who have been planning for retirement all along,

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gathering information about social security and other sources of income.

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Retirement is what you need to do to take care

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of yourself financially, all right, So here's women's realities. It

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offers income you can't outlive. Idam a Fuller who was

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the first recipient of a monthly SOD security check, lived

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to be one hundred and this is back in the

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nineteen forties. She receives sold security right up until the

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month she died. If your monthly Social Security benefit is

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two thousand and you live ten more years, you'll receive

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a total of almost three hundred thousand in lifetime benefits.

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If you live thirty more years, you'll receive nearly one million.

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Hard to believe, isn't it. Because social Security provides inflation

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adjusted income for life, the best way to get the

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most out of the soci security system is to live

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a really, really long time. Right, So this is you know,

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this is something that how am I going to do?

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That well, maybe you should work a little bit longer.

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I know, I know, we maybe not want to, but

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pay down debt, adding to retirement savings, reducing how long

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you have to draw down, you know, for drawing down

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retirement assets and raising so security benefits are all super

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super important things that you should consider. So here's the

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value of the value of sold security is really, really

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really important. So you need to understand how you can

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get the most out of this, out of this whole thing.

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So it offers income you can outlive. Right, women love

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self security. Here's one reason why it offers income. You

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can outlive, and so you're going to be getting almost

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you know, you could you get almost a million dollars

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in benefits if you live to be like ninety five.

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That annual like if you do like this year, it

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was two point five percent, But if you do an

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annual cost of living adjustment of two percent, then your

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monthly income in ten years would be about twenty four

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to thirty eight. In thirty years, it's going to be

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about thirty six. That's nothing to sneeze at. So now

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for some fun stuff. Sold security rules and strategies. These

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can be somewhat complex, I know, depending on your marital status.

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But it's definitely worth understanding the different rules and strategies

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because it's what can help you get more out of

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the system. Right, Okay, let's start with a series of questions.

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The first question is do you qualify for Social Security

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benefits on your own work record? Right? You do if

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you paid into Social Security for at least ten years,

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and it doesn't matter if those ten years occurred all

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in one stretch, early in your life or later in life.

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You know, like me, I've got three daughters the years

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when I was having babies in a stay at home

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on they're big fed zeros on my work record. Also,

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my first husband, we were overseas in the military in

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Germany for four years in nineteen eighties. I was taking

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care of little ones. Actually, my youngest daughter was born

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in an army hospital overseas during that time. I don't

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recommend having babies in army hospitals or seas, but you

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just need of ten years of fairly minimal earnings to

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be able to qualify. So the next question is are

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you currently married and has your husband started receiving his

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SOE Security benefit. It will become clear later why we

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are asking these questions you and are your husband may

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be able to receive spousal benefits, and we're going to

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explain that strategy. So then regardless of whether or not

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you're currently married, you have you been married before? Are

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there any form husbands dead or alive lurking out there,

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believe it or not, You may be able to receive

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Social Security benefits based on a former husband's work record

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if your previous marriage ended in divorce, if it lasted

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at least ten years, and if you are currently unmarried,

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you may qualify for divorced spouse benefits. If you're divorced

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and your ex husband is deceased, you may qualify for

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divorced spouse survivor benefits. We'll talk more about that later.

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And all of these things. Also that PDF analysis that

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I told you that you can get by emailing me.

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I really want you to get this right. So those things,

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if that is a thing with you, then it's going

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to come up in that report. So don't try to

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memorize these roles right now where I'm going to explain

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them in more detail so that you know, so it

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just doesn't, you know, fly over your head. So let's pause.

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You know, you could. So let's pause for a minute here.

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You could be entitled to one or more of the

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following retirement benefits, spousal benefits, divorced spouse benefits, survivor benefits.

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Knowing how to coordinate these things is going to be

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a critical question for the remainder of your timement years.

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All right, So let's define some terms. What is this

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FRA that means full retirement age. Most likely everyone probably

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that is listening to this podcast, it's going to be

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nineteen sixteen later is probably going to be sixty. So

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that's how I'm going to address it. If you were

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born then then your full retirement is age sixty seven.

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Your estimate of benefits on the Social Security website shows

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you what is your full retirement bit you know age.

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So the next important concept is to understand is your

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primary insurance amount. That's what PIA means. We're not going

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to go into any benefit formulas today, but basically your

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benefit is based on your work history, and the system

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uses your highest thirty five years to calculate. The higher

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those earnings are, the better this amount is going to be.

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So that's one reason why I encourage women to work

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a little longer if you've taken time out of the

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workforce to raise children like I did, or go back

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to school, there may be some zeros on your earnings

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record like mine. So you all you have to do

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is look at your primary look at your annual Social

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Security statement, right, and it's going to show you what

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your benefit amount is at your full retirement age. And

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so the benefit amount. That benefit amount is what they

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call the primary insurance amount. All right, So we're going

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to talk about retirement benefits. So if you work for

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at least ten years in a job that paid into

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Social Security, then you're entitled to a retirement benefit, all right,

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So estimating it. If you go to SO Security, you're

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going to go start an account if you haven't already,

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you're going to answer some questions for security and they

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stop generating statements and sending them to people a while ago.

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But you just go online now and you can print

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it off and you can access also a retirement estimator

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through your MISO security account. And another way to use

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one of those calculators is on the Sole Security website.

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They have some calculators that you can do too, So

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hopefully that is another way that that can help you

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So this is a big concept. Your retirement benefit depends

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on when you claim it. So we talked about your

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primary insurance amount or PIA, which is the amount of

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your benefit if you apply for Social Security at full

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retirement age, let's say sixty seven. But what if you

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apply at a different age? Huh? What do you think?

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So I'm going to talk to you till I'm blue

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in the face to not do it before your full

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retirement age. So what I want you to do is

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look at the difference. So if you wait, you if

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it's two thousand, and you take it at your full

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retirement age, and you take it at age sixty two,

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it's going to be fourteen hundred and it's going to

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permanently stay there. It is not going to get better.

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And what if you apply after your full retirement age,

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Then there's something called delayed credits. Delayed credits means that

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for those three years between age sixty seven and seventy,

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you'll get an eight percent delayed credit. So a benefit

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at age sixty seven of two thousand would be twenty

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four eighty at age seventy. I'm going to talk to

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you about cost of living increases too. That is a

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makes a big difference too. So I feel it makes

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a big difference because you know, why, what is your

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income going to be when you're seventy five, and what

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is your income going to be at eighty five? And

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what if you live to be ninety five. That's what

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I'm wondering about. So here's another reason. Bigger checks to

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start means bigger checks later. If you do your income

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at age seventy with a two percent annual income, that

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and if you were here was the twenty like a

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age sixty seven, twenty three forty three would be twenty

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nine oh six with a two percent income. That delayed

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benefit just compounds over the years, better and better and better.

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And so if you were if you if you had that,

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if you waited until age seventy to take twenty nine,

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by the time you're seventy five, it's thirty two eighty,

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it's thirty five eighty five, it's thirty nine ninety, it's

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forty three. You see what I'm saying you. I want

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you to delay benefits because it triggers bigger checks later

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on for you. It means more income for you later on.

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So here you go, when to apply. If you apply

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early your benefit starts lower and stays lower for life

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if you let Here's another scenario, if you just applied

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and you go, oh, no, made a mistake. If it's

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within a year and they've started paying your benefits, you

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can stop it within that first year, and you're going

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to have to repay back what they gave you, but

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00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.359
you can do it and then say, I really made

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a mistake. I listened to Benita Bill Anderson, and I

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00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:45.279
really should have waited. You have to pay back what

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they gave you. But then you can stop it and

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then start it when you should. So Cola's magnified the

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impact of earlier delayed claiming as well. The longer you live,

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the more beneficial it is to delay benefits, and the

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00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:05.680
decision impact survivors. If you have a husband, tell him

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to delay his benefit if he has a higher benefit,

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that's going to increase your survivor benefit if he dies first. Right,

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So reasons not to file. Being stuck with the reduced

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benefit is not the only reason to not file for

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sold security before full retermin age. Another reason that is

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that if you are still working some are all of

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your benefit may be withheld due to the earnings test,

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00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:43.200
A dollar in benefits. For every two dollars you earn

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00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:47.720
over twenty three thy four hundred will be deducted. You

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00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.359
will not be able to take advantage of these savvy

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00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:57.480
spousial strategies. So after you turn full retirement age, there's

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00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:00.960
no earnings test, so you can save your full soil

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00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.599
Security benefit and earn as much as you want from

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earning from working without any benefits being withheld. You are

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00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:11.160
going to have to be thinking about taxes, but it

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00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.480
is possible. Another reason not to file for Social Security

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before full retirement age is that you might not be

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00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:25.119
able to take advantage of some of these spousal strategies

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that we're going to talk about next. All right, so

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let's talk about some spousal benefits. When Social Security was

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00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:43.240
first instituted in nineteen thirty five, can you believe it,

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00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:49.440
most women didn't work, so the system allows for spousal

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00:19:49.480 --> 00:19:52.759
benefits to be paid where women can draw Social Security

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00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:57.920
off of her husband's work account. Now, of course, most

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00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:01.799
women qualify for a retirement biling on their own work record,

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00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.200
but you still may be able to take advantage of

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00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:11.319
spousal benefits. And because Social Security is gender neutral, your

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00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:18.519
husband may be able to take advantage of spousal benefits too. Yeah,

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00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:28.119
doesn't matter. So let's start with a simple example. So

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00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:34.759
if you're if you filed before full retirement age, then

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00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.960
you're you're gonna be penalized no matter how you look

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at it. But let's look at this example example. Let's

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00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:51.759
say Jack, Jack and Jill are married. Jack's PI is

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twenty four hundred. Jills never works, so she doesn't qualify

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00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:58.200
for SoCal security. She worked a little bit, so she

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00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:05.640
has like eight hundred. Jack has claimed his benefit, so

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00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:10.240
she files for sold security at sixty two. Her benefit

279
00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:13.440
is seventy percent of eight hundred or five point sixty.

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00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:18.920
She should wait so her spousal add on will be

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00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:22.920
one half of Jack's PIA. So his his PIA is

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00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.680
twenty four hundred, so fifty percent of his would be twelve. Right,

283
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.319
so there's going to be deductions. But if she waits

284
00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:36.559
until her far retirement, then her benefit will be her

285
00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:39.920
eight hundred dollars plus four hundred dollars for what they

286
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:44.440
call a SOLI security add on. All right, that's a

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00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:52.960
big deal. So coordinateure benefits. Think about this. There are

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some rules you have to follow here, but knowing the rules,

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00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.680
you can make them work to your advantage. First, if

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you file out for Social Security before full retirement age,

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you're going to receive your own reduced benefit. And if

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00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:10.519
your PIA is less than fifty percent of your husband's PIA,

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you may also receive a spouse of benefit, but that's

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00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:20.319
also going to be reduced. If your primary insurance amount

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00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:25.200
is more than fifty percent of your husband's, then you

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00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:28.720
aren't receiving a spouse of benefit. Okay, let's be clear

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00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:43.559
about that. So okay, So if, like for instance, if

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00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.359
her PI is two thousand and his is twenty four hundred,

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00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:50.039
then there's no spouse of benefit. Right That spousal benefit

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00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:55.000
is only for people who have benefits that are less

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00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.519
than one half of the husband's. Okay, is that clear?

302
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:13.440
So how about how about divorce spouse benefits? Okay, if

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you were married over ten years to the same husband

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and are currently unmarried, pay attention to this. If the

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divorce occurred more than two years ago, he does not

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need to have filed for his own benefit. So there's

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some interesting things here. So let's say let's say Dick

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and Dora are divorced. They were married more than ten years,

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Dora is sixty two and old and or older and

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she's currently unmarried. His PIA is twenty four hundred, he's

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over sixty two. Dora files or her divorced spouse benefits

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at her full retirement agent and starts receiving fifty percent

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of Dick's PIA or twelve hundred dollars. Hard to believe,

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00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:15.039
isn't it? But it's true. Dick's own benefit will not

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be affected, right, His current wife spousal benefit will not

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00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:26.079
be affected, and Dick's other ex wives divorced spouse benefits

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00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:29.839
will not be affected. You're going, what if he has

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00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.400
three ex wives, and if he was married to each

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00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:37.319
one for ten years, all three ex wives may receive

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full divorced spouse benefits off Dick's record, and his current

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00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.680
wife can receive her spousal benefit as well. The Social

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Security framers probably didn't think serial marriages would one day

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become fairly common when they develop these rules, But here

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we are, and we can take advantage of them. So

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it's important to remember that when that even if you

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meet all the requirements for a divorced spouse benefit, if

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your own benefit is more than half of your ex

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00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:22.839
X's benefit. You're not going to be getting a spouse benefit,

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00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:28.839
so it's not possible to take a divorced spouse benefit

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00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:31.799
and let your own benefit grow to age seventy. Okay,

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00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:37.160
that rule. That rule changed about a few years ago. However,

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00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:41.759
if your X dies, the survivor benefit will generally equal

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00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.640
one hundred percent of the amount he was receiving at

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00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:48.480
his death. And if you meet all the requirements for

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00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:53.839
a divorced spouse benefit, and if that amount exceeds your

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00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:59.440
own benefit, you can switch to the higher amount. That's

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00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:03.000
why it will be important to keep tabs on your

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ex in the years ahead, so you'll know if he dies.

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00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:12.880
You can then contact SO Security and see if you're

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being entitled to a divorced spouse survivor benefit that is

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higher than your own. All right, okay, now let's talk

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00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:31.279
about survivor benefits. You probably can't even imagine this now,

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but if you're married or if you're divorced, your husband

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or your ex husband might die before you do. Odds

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are he will since women on average live longer lives

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00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:48.759
than men do, so you might at some point in

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00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:52.960
your life become eligible for a survivor benefit. If that

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00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:57.839
survivor benefit is higher than the benefit you are receiving

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00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.880
at the time of his death, you can switch to

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00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.119
the higher benefit. So, even though it may be a

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00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:13.680
long way you, you may need to understand how survivor

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00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.960
benefits work because certain decisions made now can affect the

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amount of that benefit. All right, So let's let's do this. Example.

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00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:36.920
Jack is twenty four hundred. Jack dies at age seventy.

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If he'd claimed his benefit at seventy, Jill's original survivor

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00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:43.680
benefit would be based on his benefit at the time

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00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:47.960
of his death, or twenty nine to seventy six. So

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00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:52.319
if he claimed his benefit at sixty two, Jill's original

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00:27:53.559 --> 00:27:56.240
survivor benefit would be based on eighty two point five's

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00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.799
of Jack's pia. So basically we're going to see that

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00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:04.799
the longer you wait, there's several different ways that the

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00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:11.960
longer you wait, it's going to be better for you financially.

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So you can see on the left, if Jill applies

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00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:18.079
at age sixty or all the way up to age

365
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:24.200
seven sixty seven, she there's a formula for how much

366
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:29.240
she's going to receive, right, and it's going to depend

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00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:33.759
on if he waited, if he was a numbskull, and

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00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:38.519
he took his at sixty two. It's it's going to

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00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:49.440
be reduced. So survivor benefits can be claimed as early

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as age sixty. Hopefully you don't have to do that.

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Hopefully you can just you can work and the amount

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00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:01.319
because if you do that is going to be so young.

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Widows shouldn't automatically file for their survivor benefits as soon

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00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.599
as they turn sixty. They should just work and then

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00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:13.599
file for it when they're going into retirement. To qualify

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for a survivor income, you have to be married to

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00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:19.920
the person who died. Living together doesn't count. If he

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00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:22.559
died during the marriage, you only need to have been

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00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.119
married for nine months. If he died after you divorced,

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00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:29.559
that marriage must have lasted at least ten years. Okay.

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By the way, same sex couples now get sold security

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00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:40.119
benefits as if they were if they are or were

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00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:46.920
legally married. Okay, that's a change to the law as well.

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00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:53.160
So here's the same thing. So so Jack is receiving

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00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:56.880
twenty nine to seventy six and she's receiving her spousal

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00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:00.759
benefit of twelve hundred. Let's say she doesn't qualify for

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00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.359
Social Security on her own work record. She can jump

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00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:06.319
up to Jack's benefit of twenty ninety to seventy six

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00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:11.759
after he dies, but her twelve hundred dollars benefit will stop.

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00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:16.039
Please remember that whatever the smaller amount is, that is

391
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:20.920
going to go away, and so that's something that we

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00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:27.839
help you help clients with as well. So there's a

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lot of stuff in here. If your husband, if your

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marriage lasted at least ten years, this whole thing with

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divorced spouse benefice is the same as widows. You have

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The Psychology of Losing Money: Inside the Ineffective Investor Loop

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