Episode Overview In this episode of the Take Good Care Podcast, hosts Dr. Mironda Williams, Dr. Deanna Guthrie, and Dr. Karen Greene sit down with wealth manager Thomas Scott of Mangham-Scott Wealth Management. The conversation addresses the unique financial landscape women navigate—from longer life expectancies and career interruptions to the gender pay gap—and provides actionable steps to build lifelong financial security.
Key Takeaways
- Planning for Women’s Realities: Women face specific financial dynamics, including longer lifespans, higher rates of caregiving interruptions, and the statistical risk of outliving savings. Scott emphasizes setting clear goals and dedicating at least 14% of income to long-term savings early on.
- Stock Market & Innovation: Rather than fearing market volatility, view stock mutual funds as an investment in human technological evolution—spanning healthcare robotics, digital communications, and advanced transportation. Over time, market growth beats bank interest and stays ahead of inflation.
- Portfolio Allocation: Younger investors benefit from aggressive, stock-heavy portfolios, while those nearing retirement (the 5-to-7-year “red zone”) should shift toward moderate, balanced asset allocations (e.g., 60/40 stocks to bonds).
- Retirement Outside Corporate 401(k)s: Independent contractors and non-corporate workers can leverage SEP IRAs (contributing up to ~20% of net earnings), Traditional IRAs, or Roth IRAs. Scott notes that relying solely on Social Security is inadequate.
- Budgeting & Prudence: Housing costs should stay between 25% and 30% of take-home pay. Every dollar should have a designated purpose. Normalize financial conversations among peers, obtain level term life insurance equal to at least 10 times annual earnings, and maintain post-retirement purpose to stay engaged.
Episode Transcript
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome to Take Good Care Podcast, an endeavor that grew out of our love for obstetrics and gynecology. Our aim and mission is to serve as a source of vital information for women of all races, ages, and walks in life. I am Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I am Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome to our show.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Welcome to our show.
Dr. Karen Greene: Welcome to our show.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Welcome back to this episode of Take Good Care Podcast. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And for those of you who caught our last episode and are back for this episode, you see we still have our awesome guest with us, Mr. Thomas Scott, of Mangham-Scott Wealth Management. And we are really just going to not waste any time. We’re going to get into some of the real nitty-gritty about financial planning, what it means, how do we get started? So, Mr. Scott, get us started with some things that we need to start. How do we start to frame the conversation?
Thomas Scott: Okay. First of all, I want to make sure there are distinctions for planning for women versus planning for men. Number one, your life expectancy is longer.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Oh, pull your mic up. There we go.
Thomas Scott: Distinctions for the women’s financial journey versus men. Number one, your life expectancy is longer. That has to be planned for. Secondly, you are more likely to have career interruptions, be it for childbearing and/or for caregiving. Obviously, more women, I think at least 85% of caregivers are women. Okay. And there is gender pay gaps. Okay. That’s part of the reality. And lastly, likely, there’s a higher likelihood that women will outlive their savings. The point is that has to be planned for. Those issues can be overcome, but those are some of the realities of planning for women versus men.
Toward the extent, as we talk about fundamentals, number one, have goals. Be clear about goals. What is it you aspire to? Even retirement, at what age? How you want to live? Do you want to travel? So, go ahead and envision what is your plan? How do you want to live? Then when you get down to the nitty-gritty, build a budget. That goes to a concept. Every dollar has a name. Every dollar has a name. Plan for it. At a minimum, I would say set aside 14% for long-term savings. Particularly our young people starting out, go ahead and jump in and save 14% towards your long-term savings. Get started.
And they’re in other crucial items. Invest in stock mutual funds. That’s where you’re going to get your growth for your money. And often in a 401(k) or a 403(b) or an IRA, obviously, it’s tax deferred. It’s long-term. So, you can invest in the stock market via stock mutual funds and get some good growth over time. Those are fundamentals, I would say, that are critical.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And I know we’ve had some conversations as it relates to stock markets, and I think for most people, that’s just … My eyes glaze over. We started talking about the stock market, stocks up, stocks are down. Some people really are watching stock markets up and you get all panicked and whatever. And the attitude I’ve taken, I don’t really understand a lot of it anyway. What I have learned from just my own research and then meeting with Mr. Scott is time is your friend. And we can look back over all of the things that have happened, wars, economy crashing, economy surging. But over time, the stock market does perform well. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Thomas Scott: Absolutely. And I’ll try not to be too philosophical. I told you I’m a nerd, but I love this topic. The stock market is nothing but the evolution of mankind’s genius over time. Okay. How we choose to do things more technologically advanced, faster or more efficiently. If you think about it, think about communications. You had morse code, you had telegraph, you had telephone, you have the internet. If your money tracks the evolution of those newer ideas, you’re going to make money. Because mankind’s genius is to do things faster, quicker, more technologically advanced.
Same thing about healthcare. And this is for the audience to think about these and be inquisitive about what you buy and look at it and analyze it. My father was born in 1926, probably in some very modest home. Okay. I was born in 1962 in a hospital. My mom spent a week in the hospital. They probably used forceps. 1991 and ’95, I delivered my sons. What does that have to do? Be inquisitive as to how technology has changed each of those environments. Okay. And the technological advancement as far as the equipment. Okay. And companies that make that equipment.
By being in the stock market, you get an opportunity to participate in the evolution of all those ideas. Same thing with transportation. Horse and buggy, trains, planes, supersonic planes. Have your money track the evolution of mankind’s genius. And for you all, most specifically, healthcare. And I’ll try to be brief, but two of the most compelling examples I’ve come across is the evolution of surgical robots.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes.
Thomas Scott: And my wife’s in healthcare and I’ve come to understand that with a robot, there’s less blood loss, there’s less infection, and patients get out of the hospital sooner. Insurance company loves that.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Or they don’t even stay in the hospital.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Oh, they don’t stay. They come and go.
Thomas Scott: Right. That’s the evolution of mankind’s genius doing things faster, more technologically advanced. Track those. You can find stocks of companies that are involved in that.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s great. Even though we’ve had conversations, I was like, “Okay. That’s understandable.”
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: That’s very understandable.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Because as opposed to thinking, “I don’t know what stock to do. I don’t know.” Well, things that you do know, like you say, use that to just be inquisitive to find out, “Okay. Well, I understand this. I know this. Things seem to be moving in this direction. Maybe I’ll look at some stocks and things that may support that and then have some financial reward.” And then also, though, I know for those who are with 401(k)s and those kinds of things where you have entities that are investing your money for you in various stock options or whatever, the things that are going on. And I know with our 401(k) company, there are growth tracks. There are …
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: A more aggressive, more moderate.
Dr. Mironda Williams: More aggressive, less aggressive. Talk a little bit about just in general, how can one start to think about, “Do I want to be more in an aggressive growth track and have the selections that are chosen for me be a little bit more aggressive versus not so aggressive or more moderate?”
Thomas Scott: Okay. Excellent question. I’m going to revert back to your previous statement, “Time is your friend.” The younger you are, be aggressive. My personal recommendation, if you’re young, you can afford to be majority stock. And in a majority stock mutual fund, which is housed in your 401(k)s. Be aggressive. Look at the history of that fund and your advisor should be able to give you some counsel. Look at the history. What is its average annual rate of return over time? How old is the fund? Then specifically drill down. Well, what percentage of stock is it? What percentage of bond? Okay. What are the top 10 stocks in that fund? That will give you a sense of, “Okay. Number one, where has it been? And a sense of where is it going?”
As we age, we generally should get more conservative. So, that means less stocks and more bonds. I am cautious to tell people not to get too conservative over time, because again, with life expectancy, we need our money to last. Okay. We do need the market returns, because we have to overcome, we got to beat the bank and we got to beat inflation. So, there’s such thing as a balanced portfolio, which I take it to be about 60/40. That’s a ballpark.
Dr. Mironda Williams: 60/40, 60 being stocks.
Thomas Scott: Stocks. And 40% bond. That’s a balanced portfolio. I consider that moderate. But obviously, you talk with your advisor who you hope will have a heart of a teacher and get his counsel as to where you are. Okay. Are you very close to retirement? Or do you have plenty of the assets? Or do you have a pension and Social Security? That might allow you a little bit more latitude to go 70/30. Okay. So, it’s customized. But certainly, you can choose aggressive funds, moderate or conservative.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And when you say close to retirement, are you saying like within five years it’s considered close or like what’s the timeframe?
Thomas Scott: Five to seven years I would say is what I … Five years I consider the retirement red zone.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Okay.
Thomas Scott: And so, I would generally say be careful about being too aggressive as you approach retirement because you don’t want to experience a market downfall and you’re ready to start accessing your funds. That could be an exposure and that could compromise your goal to exit the workforce. So, your allocation of stocks to bonds should be a consideration in each meeting in each year. So, that’s another point. Have at least an annual meeting with your advisor, with your coach.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I want to go back to … Not everyone works for a company that offers 401(k). So, we’re talking about 401(k) and retirement and things like that. And some people, in their mind, they’re living paycheck to paycheck and trying to survive. But how can someone start to look at saving for the future without there being the company’s 401(k) behind you? What are good ways to start that?
Dr. Mironda Williams: Good question.
Thomas Scott: Excellent question. Number one, for people who perhaps are independent contractors, there are retirement plans such as a SEP, S-E-P, IRA. Stands for a Simplified Employee Pension. It is an IRA designed for people who are independent contractors or work for themselves. You can contribute up to approximately 20% of your net. So, many people out there are consultants and they don’t have the backdrop of a major corporation. So, you can go to a brokerage house or you’re a financial advisor perhaps and open up a SEP IRA.
Or there’s the customary traditional IRA or Roth IRA, which have lower limits. For 2026 for an individual over 50, you can put in up to $8,600. So, those are options to contribute to your own retirement outside of having the backing of a company.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Because I think a lot of people just think that Social Security is going, “I’m just going to live off of Social Security.” And for a lot of people that would not be a good plan.
Thomas Scott: That is a terrible plan.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I was going to say, “Can you speak to that?” Because you’re right, Deanna. That very good …
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: People think I’m just going to work until I retire and then I’ll just take Social Security.
Dr. Mironda Williams: … take more time then I live off my Social Security.
Thomas Scott: That is not a good plan. Social Security, and I do believe it’s going to be there, would be inadequate. Inadequate. It’s going to be there, but it will be inadequate. It needs to be … It used to refer to it as a three-legged stool, Social Security, your pension and your 401(k). But even there, you don’t necessarily have a pension. Pensions are going away. So, you have to save on your own. You have to save on your own. But unfortunately, many people fall into that category of doing nothing. That is not a good space.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Which is why we see so many people working who are getting their Social Security, but it’s not adequate to cover just basic living expenses. So, they’re picking up jobs and having to do other things. So, that’s great, Dr. Guthrie. I’m so glad you brought that up because I think we do, because we live and work the way we live and work, we’re thinking corporate. We have a 401(k) with our company. We have some opportunities and vehicles to be able to save for retirement, which is one of the reasons why when we meet with our staff and we’re always like, “A little goes a long way. You don’t have to be a high-income earner to contribute to a 401(k) if you have one that’s offered through the job that you may work through.”
Or as Mr. Scott was saying, and you brought up Deanna excellent question, there are ways that you can still start to contribute even whatever amount you’re able to contribute on your own because Social Security will not be enough. That’s not a supposition. It’s just not going to be enough.
Thomas Scott: Here’s another idea for those who do have access to 401(k)s, increase it 1% per year. Each year, if you start out contributing 5%, 12 months, take it up to 6%. 24 months go up 7%. You won’t feel it. And that’s a good way to create a regimen, a habit of increasing your savings. You won’t feel it and over time you will notice the difference and it’s how your dollars accumulate.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I’m a witness.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yeah. Me too.
Dr. Mironda Williams: I’m a witness.
Thomas Scott: And you won’t feel it. You really don’t feel it.
Dr. Mironda Williams: You really don’t.
Dr. Karen Greene: You think you will.
Dr. Mironda Williams: You think you will.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I think it’s that you’re thinking like, “I have this money, I should keep it to myself.” It’s like, “No. You’re not going to miss that. You’re going to miss a little bit next and a little bit next.” I wish someone had said that to me more aggressively in the beginning as a young 30-year-old.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Well, and even not, like I said, you still have the time because that’s something, again, that I really focused on “later,” meaning I had been working, had been putting stuff into my 401(k), but I wasn’t really trying to maximize my contribution until I started thinking about, “Okay. Wait a second now. At some point you need to retire.” And so, I just slowly, over time, continued to increase the percentage that I could contribute until I finally got to that maximum.
And then because I did it slowly, you really don’t miss it, number one. And number two, it really makes you use what you have remaining better.
Dr. Karen Greene: And smarter.
Dr. Mironda Williams: You become better at managing the amount that you still have to do other things with, but knowing, “Okay. I’ve got this other money that’s going into these accounts for me so that whenever I exit the workforce, I can have something to continue with.”
Thomas Scott: Exactly.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Wonderful. Any questions about anything else? I know you’ve got some tips about, I guess, just budgeting and financial literacy. Can you get some of that in?
Thomas Scott: Sure. I’m going to use that to plug also for those who do have 401(k)s or who do work for corporates, be sure you know your benefits. Be sure you know your benefits. There’s power in your benefits, particularly if you work for a larger company. And often there are significant numbers of us who do. And often those companies have employee stock purchase plans. There’s one local company that gives a 15% discount if you buy the stock. That’s a 15% rate of return. So, the nugget there is know your benefits.
As you talk about budgeting, I talked about every dollar has a name. Okay. Allocate dollars. Specifically, your housing expense should not be more than 25% to 30% of your take home income. That’s a careful number to protect against because housing obviously is our largest expense. Be wise about transportation expense. Be wise about large purchases. I would even say to our audience, before you make a large purchase, talk with somebody. Be it a car, talk with somebody. Certainly, you can buy a car at a car lot, but in this day and time with the internet, there are car brokers who can search the nation for better cost. And I say that because I see that a lot in our practice.
And people think they have to go buy the new shiny vehicle, and nothing against that, but you have options. So, check with someone and have a buddy. And that’s not necessarily your advisor, but have a buddy that you may want a square thing, “Hey, I’m considering buying this, having this large purchase. What do you think? What has been your experience?” So, that comes under one of the fundamentals. Read, listen, and converse.
Create a network or have a network, particularly amongst females. You all are incredibly social. Incredibly social. Have the conversation with them. “Hey, sister, what’s your average rate of return? What’s your experience buying a car?” Normalize the conversation about finances.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Karen Greene: That’s key.
Dr. Mironda Williams: That’s very key.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yeah. Normalize it.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: We talk about everything else.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yeah. We can easily talk about that. And you find that people know stuff.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yes.
Thomas Scott: Exactly. There is a thrifty nickel … As a person. As a person. There is a thrifty nickel in your network.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Dr. Greene is our thrifty nickel. I’m the spin thrift.
Thomas Scott: Okay.
Dr. Mironda Williams: So, she’s like, “Mironda, let’s check the account. Let’s make sure that we are going to not overspend the” … I’m like, “Okay, okay, okay, fine.” But this is great. And yeah, I’m just sitting here. I got so many thoughts. And we’ll get back to the finances. But one of the things we talked about is doing the work of knowing who you are. I think sometimes we let our money determine or what we think we can buy with our money determine who we are, or gives us value. Because that’s where I fell into trap. I wanted the first thing off the conveyor belt when I was in that mood of thinking.
And so, I would have to get the latest edition of whatever with all the bells and whistles and all the things. And I had another good friend of mine who is very frugal. And so, he just didn’t do all that. And I’m thinking, “You need to reward yourself and you need to do this.” He says, “I’m trying to have money forever.” So, he paid a house off in 15 years. Driving a reliable, but not so shiny vehicle, but it did the job. And so, that’s why now I have people tell me all the time, “You need to go get your whatever.” I say, “My Toyota is just fine. Thank you very much. It gets me where I needs to go. I enjoy my little Yoda,” as I call it. And it’s fine and it’s paid for.
And the other part of this, when you talk about budgeting, and people would tell me this, but I didn’t want to believe it, it’s not what you pay for the car, the oil changes, the tires, the upkeep. I’m like, “God. This much for a set of tires.”
Dr. Karen Greene: Right. Again?
Dr. Mironda Williams: Again? So, I remember the first time I had to go get tires from my Toyota. And I laughed because I was so used to having to pay this god-awful amount of money for tires. I’m like, “That’s it?” And so, that was the reinforcement that really helped me to say, “Okay. You know what? I don’t necessarily need all of the best and the brightest, because I’ve got a goal in mind. Every dollar now has a name. You can do that, but just do it smartly.” I think that’s the thing we’re talking about is that do it smartly, understanding that this isn’t the end of your world. It’s this, because it’s going to eventually get old and break down and not function anymore. Then what?
Dr. Karen Greene: Right.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Deanna, I thought you had …
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I was going to say, so many people, like you said, it’s not just the car that you get, it’s the upkeep, and so many people … And then this nice shiny thing, you can’t take care of it, and then it ends up not being worth anything. And so, even though it’s already a depreciating item, it’s almost like it had no value at all.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Right. That’s money gone.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: It is money gone.
Thomas Scott: That’s a theme to be prudent. And it applies to depreciable assets as well as appreciable assets. Certainly, depreciable assets, they whittle away and there’s maintenance. But we need also to be prudent in it in our purchase of houses. I know a young couple that have bought, I believe, too much house. Okay. Houses have to be maintained and there are costs that come about. So, the theme is be prudent. Be prudent with whatever our purchases may be.
Dr. Mironda Williams: What other budgeting nuggets do you have there?
Thomas Scott: Okay. Start early.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yeah.
Thomas Scott: Start early. Young people, start early.
Dr. Karen Greene: Start early.
Thomas Scott: Start early. Protect your family. Life insurance is critical. If you have someone that’s reliant upon your income, get life insurance. First place to start is 30-year guaranteed level term. Such to say if somebody’s reliant or someone’s are reliant on your income, if you pass, you need to be able to offset the cost of living as well as potential education. Those are fundamentals.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: How do you choose an amount, I guess? Is it based on your salary, what you’re making to know what … Because you have different policies. You can buy $100,000 policy. You can buy a $200,000 policy.
Thomas Scott: You can buy five million.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: You can buy five million. Yes.
Thomas Scott: Great question. It should be based upon your income. What is the amount that your household is accompanying or used to living off of? So, at a minimum, we would look at 10 times your earnings. So, if you make $100,000 a year and someone’s relying upon that … There’s a household relying upon that, a million dollars at a minimum. Now, also you should know, roughly, as you age and if you have a house and you’re paying off your mortgage and your kid’s age, the need for life insurance should decline over time. Over time. Now, this is very general.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Right.
Thomas Scott: Okay. So, life insurance should start high as kids are young. But overtime, should decline as you gain equity in your house and as your 401(k). And as they’re getting ready to leave.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Are they leaving? Do they leave? They come back.
Thomas Scott: They can get their own life insurance. So, that’s a fundamental to know. So, to your question, roughly at least 10 times your earnings.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yeah. Okay. That’s good to know.
Thomas Scott: I talked about be prudent. I often mention buy a house. I know you asked about budgeting, but buy a house. If you’re going to be somewhere a long period of time, buy a house. It’s prudent.
Dr. Karen Greene: And you say as opposed to renting …
Thomas Scott: Absolutely.
Dr. Karen Greene: As opposed to an apartment.
Thomas Scott: Absolutely.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yes.
Thomas Scott: Absolutely. Even with all its maintenance, the opportunity to gain equity over time versus paying rent outright is a good choice. Particularly, if you’re going to be in an area for a significant period of time. I’d have to touch on student loans. Many of our young people now leave college and/or graduate school with debt. And some of it can’t be the size of a mortgage. So, I challenge them to know what their opportunities are for loan forgiveness. Be it where they work or what enterprise they work for. Be knowledgeable, be inquisitive about opportunities for loan forgiveness. And to prioritize paying it off.
Dr. Karen Greene: Yeah. Yeah.
Thomas Scott: It will haunt you. Even in these days and times, it’s becoming even more haunting that the government is talking about garner sharing your wages. Those are pretty much my comments. Budgeting, every dollar has a name. Sit down and review it, I would say at least every six months and hopefully every quarterly. And if you’re by yourself, do it monthly. There are many software programs out there that can be of help. And you can Google what those software programs are. You can have an Excel spreadsheet.
Many banks now offer financial planning, budgeting software. So, get in the habit of looking at your revenue, what you’re bringing in, versus what you’re spending and the categories.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yeah. Yeah. And again, it can sometimes be scary and it feels daunting, but not knowing is not going to make it any better. And we say the same thing when we talk about health screenings. It’s the same principle. We have patients who don’t want to come in to the doctor where they may find something. Well, that’s the point. If there’s something to find, you want to get it at a point where you can then address it and try to, in the case of any disease process, cure it or alleviate it. And then to prevent it from coming back. So, those same principles apply when it comes to our financial health.
And I was in a bad situation. It doesn’t matter your income. It depends on your financial literacy, meaning what do you even understand about money? What’s your family history around money? And then just starting where you are, being willing to, like you say, have the conversations, talk to friends and family. You don’t have to put all your business out there in terms of specifics, but just say, “Hey, I’m thinking about,” like you say, “buying a car. I’m thinking about buying a house or I’m thinking about whatever it is I’m thinking. Have you had any experience with that?”
That’s how I found my financial planner. I was talking to a friend. I’m like, “Hey, I need to find somebody to help me with this money. Do y’all know of anybody? Give me a name.” And they say, “Oh, maybe you want to try checking on him.” I said, “Oh, this is a fit.” Same thing with my CPA. So, it’s just making sure, as we talk about on a lot of things with this podcast, normalizing conversations about even hard things, challenging things or things that may be confusing, things that you don’t know. But we won’t find out if we don’t remain inquisitive and seek good, wise counsel.
And this is an example. We use this platform to talk about health things, but we just also want to talk about life. And so, this is an example of how you get wise counsel in whatever the arena is. Financially, in this case, spiritually, mental health, physical health, all those things that help make sure that we can continue to live very healthy, vibrant, thriving lives, which is our goal as Rosa Gynecology. We try to live it, we try to represent it, and then we try to encourage everyone that we can touch to say, “Life doesn’t have to be a struggle or it doesn’t have to stay a struggle.” You may be in the struggle, but you can get out of the struggle. There are tools and things that can be helpful.
Any other specific questions? I do have one question. I know you’ve answered this three times or maybe five.
Dr. Karen Greene: But there are other people out there that want to know the answer to this.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Because I keep confusing myself for overthinking it. We were talking about Social Security and drawing down Social Security. And then I kept getting confused, because I wasn’t sure if you can be receiving your Social Security distribution and still work.
Thomas Scott: Absolutely.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And if you do still work, is there a cap on income if you’re already drawing your Social Security? Or how does that work? Tell me again.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I see a plan in your head. I see a plan there.
Thomas Scott: The brain is churning right here. Social Security has something called the Full Retirement Age. It’s called FRA. For most people of your age, it’s age 67. So, at that age, you are not, for lack of a term, penalized for earning money thereafter after age 67. Your full retirement age. Okay. If you choose to start drawing down Social Security prior to FRA, full retirement age, you will engage what’s considered, I’ll use the term broadly, a penalty. Meaning, they’ll actually pull back some of that, but you’ll get it at a later point in time on the backend. Okay.
So, you can work and draw Social Security. But if you’re working and drawing Social Security prior to full retirement age, expect for them to pull back some of those dollars and for them to return it to you later. Is that helpful?
Dr. Mironda Williams: It is. But it doesn’t … I can keep working at Rosa Gynecology or do I need to find another source of employment if I need to …
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Walmart.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Or something of that effect. Can they let me still be around helping out around the old office and still get my Social Security?
Dr. Karen Greene: What’s a maximum paycheck?
Dr. Mironda Williams: And is there a way, because this is my CFO and my chief human resources officer, so, they’re going to have to help manage this whenever the time comes. Not time, soon, but …
Dr. Karen Greene: When it comes.
Dr. Mironda Williams: … when it comes. So, is there a max?
Thomas Scott: Is there a max how much you can earn?
Dr. Mironda Williams: Yeah.
Thomas Scott: No.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Okay.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: That’s the answer she wanted.
Thomas Scott: No. There’s not a max.
Dr. Karen Greene: We can see her wheelchair.
Thomas Scott: But expect on the Social Security benefit, they’re going to pull back.
Dr. Mironda Williams: But I’m not going to pull out. I don’t plan to start Social Security, God willing everything goes well until 70.
Thomas Scott: Okay.
Dr. Mironda Williams: And again, because we’re all now, because Dr. Greene has crossed over. We’re in our 60s. And when we’re in meetings, I’ll tell patients all the time, or not patients, but staff and everybody said, “I’ll be 6-mmmm in a few months.” And they’re like, “No, you’re not.” I’m like, “Yeah, I am.” So, I intend to keep working, but because I have a great financial planner, we’ve had this relationship for many years. I’ve been thinking about all these dates and when can you do this and blah, blah, blah. But I want to still keep working. But I just kept confusing myself. I was like, “Well, I don’t know if I can still work. Can you work and draw your Social Security? Can I work after age 70?”
Drawing Social Security, but still having a job that has a full income. How does that work? And so, I guess you were saying before, Dr. Greene, women do live longer, generally. And then one of the things we are definitely emphasizing with women who are of a certain menopausal age, life ain’t over.
Dr. Karen Greene: No.
Dr. Mironda Williams: So, I don’t intend to really slow down a lot just in terms of life in my 70s, hopefully 80s. So, how does that all work into the financial plan? How does that work with the vehicles I’ve established for my financial wellbeing going forward as well as continuing to work? I find work enjoyable. I find work keeps my brain engaged, keeps my mind engaged. Personally, we have interpersonal relationships with staff, with family, with each other. And I find all of that valuable to me.
So, when we’re talking about what’s important goals as we’re approaching retirement? I like working. I like doing what I do. I like working where I work. So, how does that all fit into the financial plan? But I don’t want to put myself in a negative position financially?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: By working.
Dr. Mironda Williams: By working, because I can go home, if that would be financially prudence.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: It’s funny. I have a patient who’s on her third job after retirement.
Dr. Mironda Williams: You mean she retired from one thing.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: She retired and then she keeps going back and working at other jobs and she loves to work and she’s enjoying it and that sort of thing, because she came in this just about not even a month ago. And I said, “I’m probably going to retire before you.” She says, “Probably.” And she’s like 70 something. Yeah.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Because retirement doesn’t mean you’re done. It just means you’re done doing that.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Right.
Thomas Scott: You’re hitting on a very important point. And it goes to your question earlier about retirement at 67 or 70. And this may be not so much financial, but we need to really give thought to retirement or leaving the workforce or what we’re going to do. There’s a book out called The New Retirementality. You should have vision, should goals as to what does the next life stage look like in terms of fulfillment. And it’s not necessarily a number. But as we are a society where longevity is real, and we have our social networks, we should look for fulfillment or what we plan to engage in those post-workforce years. Is it another job? Is it working for a not-for-profit? What have you.
And that is a very … I counsel to that a lot. Don’t just leave work because you can. There’s a series of brothers at McDonald’s who are there from 8:30 to noon.
Dr. Karen Greene: They have nothing to do.
Thomas Scott: Exactly. That’s not good. Okay. I don’t know what the equivalent is for females. But as you leave or consider leaving the workforce, have purpose. What is the purpose? What is the desire? Because life goes on and you can still have a very fulfilling, purposeful life. And to the extent you don’t, you can accelerate the aging process.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Right.
Dr. Karen Greene: Most definitely.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Exactly. Well, this has been a very rich conversation. Again, thank you so much, Mr. Scott, for coming in and sharing yourself, your expertise. And again, I hope you see why he’s been my personal financial wealth manager, but just the importance and how you can have a conversation. Financial planners are people too. And so, they can be nice and engaging and have a teacher’s heart and all those wonderful things.
I just opened up his website and then the thing on the opening page, it says, “Financial planning that gives you control of your future.” That’s what we’re trying to do. And I know that’s what Mr. Scott and all the other associates that he has there with him at Mangham-Scott. So, again, Mangham-Scott, Mangham, that’s M-A-N-G-H-A-M, dash, Scott, S-C-O-T-T, .com. He’s here in the Atlanta area, but I’m sure you’re available with technology wherever.
Thomas Scott: We have clients in 18 states. There you go.
Dr. Mironda Williams: So, please reach out. Feel free to do that. Thank you so much for continuing on this journey with us as we have forayed into this type of platform with our podcast. It remains for me one of the joys of, again, as we talk about extending our reach outside of the exam room, that this podcast has allowed us to explore ourselves individually, personally, corporately, our mission, vision, the core values that we’ve articulated for Rosa Gynecology. And to bring consultants, normalized conversations, really to hit all areas of a woman’s life, not just their health. So, we’re concluding this season, but y’all know we got things already in the works. Even Dr. Guthrie, you said you missed it when we took a little …
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I did. I did. I did say that.
Dr. Mironda Williams: So, any closing though as we not only close this episode, but this season for Take Good Care Podcast?
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: So, yes. I can’t believe, what, seven?
Dr. Mironda Williams: Oh, my God.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: Seven. Seven seasons. Like I said, it’s been a growing process for me, but truly beginning to love it and love how we are able to reach the community and bring information and help. And like I said, it’s been great for me.
Dr. Karen Greene: I enjoy sharing what we share here in the office. I think I see as an expansion of the education we provide in all areas. And to end on financial literacy, I think it is very apropos to encourage people, ask the questions. Find someone you can talk to. Don’t be afraid of whatever you’re bringing to the table because I think that the knowledge is power when it comes to your future with anything. Whether it’s medical, whether it’s financial, whether it’s spiritual, it’s the knowledge that we want y’all to have.
Dr. Mironda Williams: Absolutely. So, until we meet again with the next season or you better stay tuned to YouTube, because we got some videos in the works. We got some fun stuff planned. We had horses, so you never know what we’re going to have next. So, please share this platform with your family and friends. You can always find out any information at rosagynecology.com, which is our website, rosagynecology.com. We’re on all your social media platforms, wherever you can share, and listen to your podcast, you can find us there, Rosa Gynecology. So, until we meet again. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.
Dr. Deanna Guthrie: I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.
Dr. Karen Greene: And I am Dr. Karen Greene. Take good care.
