{"podcast":{"title":"Retire With Style","slug":"retire-with-style-5225834","podcast_index_feed_id":5225834,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/retirewithstyle/feed.xml","website_url":"https://retirewithstyle.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/13684325/Retire_with_Style_Cover87fom.jpg","author":"Wade Pfau & Alex Murguia","episode_count":100,"summary":"The purpose of Retire With Style is to help you discover the retirement income plan that is right for you. The first step is to discover your retirement income personality. Your hosts Wade Pfau, PhD, CFA, RICP and Alex Murguia, PhD walk you through creating and implementing a retirement plan that will help you reach your goals, and that you’ll be able to stick with. Start by going to risaprofile.com/style and sign up to take the industry’s first financial personality tool for retirement planning.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T08:21:31.121809+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/retire-with-style-5225834"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 233: Should You Worry About Social Security Running Out?","slug":"episode-233-should-you-worry-about-social-security-running-out","published_at":"2026-06-16T15:39:09+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/retire-with-style-5225834/episode-233-should-you-worry-about-social-security-running-out","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/retire-with-style-5225834","url":"https://retirewithstyle.podbean.com/e/episode-233/","audio_url":"https://op3.dev/e/mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/sxdih9v6ix76vfu9/Episode_233_Should_You_Worry_About_Social_Security_Running_Outarjq9.mp3","summary":"In Part 2 of this Live listener Q&A episode, Wade Pfau and Alex Murguia tackle several retirement planning topics, including Social Security claiming strategies for spouses with age differences, how younger workers should think about Social Security’s long-term solvency, whether to assume future benefit cuts in retirement projections, the impact of the ”widow’s penalty” on tax planning and Roth conversions, evaluating an older variable annuity with high fees, tax considerations when selling investments in a taxable account, and how to think about maintaining portfolio discipline during retirement. Throughout the discussion, they emphasize balancing planning conservatism with practicality, avoiding unnecessary forecasting, and making decisions that support long-term retirement goals rather than reacting to headlines or uncertainty. Takeaways When spouses have similar Social Security benefits, but one spouse is significantly older, the older spouse often has the strongest case for delaying benefits until age 70 because that higher benefit is more likely to become the survivor benefit. Younger workers may not need to heavily discount future Social Security estimates because projected wage growth could offset a significant portion of any future benefit reductions. For retirees already near claiming age, assuming a 25% reduction in future Social Security benefits can be a reasonably conservative planning assumption. The eventual Social Security reform package is unlikely to rely solely on benefit cuts and will more likely include a combination of tax increases and benefit adjustments. The ”widow’s penalty” can significantly increase taxes for a surviving spouse because income often remains similar while tax brackets and Medicare thresholds become less favorable. Potential f…","meta_description":"In Part 2 of this Live listener Q&A episode, Wade Pfau and Alex Murguia tackle several retirement planning topics, including Social Security claiming stra…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1844,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/retire-with-style-5225834/episodes/episode-233-should-you-worry-about-social-security-running-out/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/retire-with-style-5225834/episode-233-should-you-worry-about-social-security-running-out.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}