Fourth Quarter Webinar Summary: My Key Takeaways

 

We are at the end of 2025 and it’s time for my fourth quarter summary of takeaways from webinars that I recently attended. Below are seven nuggets that stood out to me as I reviewed notes taken in my personal learning journal:

 

Budgeting for Happiness- The more money and time (e.g., commuting) that people spend on cars, the lower their life satisfaction, unless the money and time are spent on road trips with family or friends. High housing costs and car payments decrease happiness and leave less room for savings and shared experiences. Too much “stuff” can drag people down emotionally.

 

A Fulfilling Retirement- Three key factors in a fulfilling retirement are money, relationships, and health. All three require investments of time and/or money. Guaranteed income sources (Social Security, pension, annuity) provide peace of mind. Retirees without them tend to spend less and feel more stress about managing, and not running out of, money during their lifetime.

 

Financial Contentment- Three predictors of financial contentment are how much money you have, your “reference class” (who you compare yourself to), and generosity to others. The happiest group by wealth is people with $5 million to $10 million of assets. Why? They have significant wealth but not the stress of ultra-wealthy people where money complicates things.

 

Content Creator Income- AI is having a major impact on personal finance content creators. Some sites that people used to write for dropped their freelancers. In addition, search engines like Google push AI generated content to the top and many users no longer look for articles anymore. This decreases revenue derived from sponsored links when few people click on them.

 

Retiree Tips- Take care of your physical body. Nothing will impact your retirement quality more. Retirees can be happy at all asset levels. People are happier spending non-portfolio assets than taking withdrawals from invested assets so “practice” income withdrawals before retirement. A smaller gift made to children earlier in life is often more impactful than a big gift later.

 

Other Useful Tips- Make a “stop doing list” (i.e., things that you want to do less of). Stay away from any investment that you do not understand (e.g., crypto, AI) and cannot explain simply to others. Do Roth conversions in stages: take a tax hit a little at a time or you will have a big tax hit later. Choose a target date fund for ten years after you retire if you want to be less conservative.

 

Miscellaneous Insights- Current workers age 63 and older need to be aware of the two-year lookback period for the IRMAA surcharge for Medicare premiums. Money left in health savings accounts to non-spouses is subject to ordinary income tax within one year of the account owner’s death. Thirty states now have financial education mandates. Good retirement savers can be bad spenders as they try to avoid running out of money without leaving “too much on the table.”

This post provides general personal finance or consumer decision-making information and does not address all the variables that apply to an individual’s unique situation. It does not endorse specific products or services and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.