Mission Retirement 4 - 4:19
	SEGMENT 4: THE RETIREMENT DECISION NARRATOR: REACHING RETIREMENT AGE DOESN'T MEAN THE END TO RETIREMENT PLANNING… IN FACT, THAT'S WHEN YOU FACE THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION… CAN YOU AFFORD TO RETIRE? MAKING THE RETIREMENT DECISION TAKES CAREFUL PLANNING… AND LIVING IN RETIREMENT TAKES CAREFUL AND CONTINUOUS MANAGEMENT OF YOUR SAVINGS… OTHERWISE, THE GOLDEN YEARS CAN BECOME GRIM YEARS… Ext of Crabbs house… cut to Crabbs at table going over their bills… NARRATOR: THAT'S A LESSON THAT WINSON AND BESS CRABB LEARNED THE HARD WAY… Winson Crabb You got to plan early and you've got to stay with it. And if you don't your retirement is not going to be real sweet. You know you'll burn up all your money pretty quick. AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS OF WORK, WINSON CRABB RETIRED AT THE AGE OF 65… HE HAD A SMALL MONTHLY PENSION FROM AN OLD UNION JOB PLUS $120,000 IN 401(k) SAVINGS … BUT THE CRABBS CASHED IN THEIR SAVINGS IN 2003, AFTER THE STOCK MARKET HAD DROPPED DRAMATICALLY… W. CRABB: I was expecting $120 useable. B. CRABB: And we ended up with $65. AND BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T ROLL THEIR SAVINGS OVER INTO ANOTHER TAX-DEFERRED ACCOUNT, THEY HAD TO PAY TAXES… B. CRABB: And that took a lot of it out and we actually end up with what was 46. W. CRABB: 46 actually in the bank. B. CRABB: 46 out of $125,000. W. CRABB: $120,000. B. CRABB: Yeah and that was very disappointing, very, very. W. CRABB: And it's spooky, too. Crabbs in the kitchen… THE CRABB'S PROBLEMS GOT WORSE… AFTER PAYING OFF DEBTS AND OTHER EXPENSES, THEY HAD 20 THOUSAND DOLLARS LEFT… Bess Crabb It was devastating really because I mean we had planned on like I told you to take a cruise to, he was going to buy a motor home, we was going to do sight seeing, do some repairs on the house. Winson Crabb Now, we are unemployed with out about 20K. Dallas Salisbury Regrettably, the Crabbs are not unusual. Regrettably, one of the most common things that people do out of their 401(k) plans is they take a lump-sum distribution. They take it in income, they get hit with penalties, and they spend it quickly. Susan Wyderko Just about everyone looks at that lump sum and considers, however briefly, taking the money and running. Unfortunately, just about - for just about everyone, that's not the right decision, and it's far more sensible to reinvest he money so that it can continue to bring you earnings during your retirement. WITH THEIR SAVINGS ALL BUT GONE… BOTH OF THE CRABBS HAD TO GO BACK TO WORK… WINSON IS NOW 68… Winson Crabb You start thinking about, “Boy, did I do something wrong here?” somewhere you know because I'm going to have to do the same thing I would have done at 40: go back to work. Hedrick Smith If you were the Crabbs or anybody else and you had a retirement checklist // can you tick off the key things on a retirement checklist? Graphic with checklist… Dallas Salisbury I think the key checklist is, “How much will my Social Security benefit be? How much bigger it may be by waiting?” The second checklist, “Will I have health insurance from where? How much is it going to cost me?” The third checklist item is, “How much income will my savings produce on top of Social Security?” The fourth checklist item is, “What are my expenses likely to be now and in the future? Can I really afford to retire?” Back to Crabbs at table going over expenses of Winson's work… STILL LOOKING FOR THE DAY WHEN THEY CAN AFFORD TO RETIRE, THE CRABBS OFFER A CAUTIONARY WORD ABOUT THE NEED TO PLAN CAREFULLY. Bess Crabb I couldn't stress to anyone how important it is to sit down and take it very seriously because it is and as you get older it gets more serious.