Radio show helps seniors protect assets

By Galen Moore/ Daily News Staff

NEWTON -- Financial advisers Richard Rubino and Sam Liang do not want you to save your money, diversify your portfolio or otherwise invest wisely.

They would rather see you spend it -- give it away, even -- as long as you follow their rule number one: "Dont lose the money."

The two produce a weekly radio program, Senior Financial Focus, advising listeners how to protect their assets in retirement. It is syndicated on four local radio stations, including, most recently, WRKO 680 AM. Their firm, Rubino and Liang LLC, in Newton, has provided the same service for clients since its formation in 2002.

"Nine out of 10 people are in an accumulation mode," Liang said. "But every marathon has an ending. Youve got to stop accumulating. Youve got to start distributing."

Protecting assets becomes more and more critical as Americans lives lengthen, Rubino and Liang say. According to a study by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research released this June, 43 percent of Americans who retire at 65 are at risk of not having enough money to maintain their standard of living through retirement, even with a reverse mortgage on a home.
"People say, youre a financial adviser, " said Liang, a Burlington native. "We say not really. " Liang is a financial consultant, but Rubino is a lawyer.

Rubino said their typical customer is the one who is most at risk -- the middle-range retirement investors who may have a house and about $100,000 saved. Its enough to worry about losing what youve worked hard for, and not so much that they dont have to worry about it, Rubino said.

Most want their nest egg to allow them a comfortable retirement and some assets to leave to their children when they die, Rubino said. However, there are some pitfalls to be avoided. Long-term medical care is foremost. Seniors who enter nursing homes must spend down their assets completely before taking advantage of Medicare benefits. High costs can erode a comfortable retirement investment quickly, leaving nothing for a surviving spouse or heirs. Retirees can protect against that by putting assets in a trust, which allows them to enjoy the benefits for the rest of their lives but cannot be taken from them. The retiree gets to live in the house, for example, or live off interest from their principal investment, but relinquishes ownership control. After death, ownership goes to heirs.

Other problems are stickier -- for example, who is going to be an heir, and who is not. Rubino and Liang have co-authored a book on this topic: "No Blood, No Money," sums up their philosophy.

"Our families have the same problems everybody else has -- divorces, nursing homes," said Rubino. If kids divorce, most people want to make sure their grandchildren get the benefit of an inheritance, not an ex-spouse or a new spouse in a second marriage. There are legal strategies for making sure that happens, he said.

However, both Rubino and Liang say before thinking about who should inherit your assets, its important to think about protecting them, early on. "People who lose their assets dont do anything until the last minute," Rubino said. Which brought him back to Rubino and Liangs second rule of retirement investment: "Dont forget rule number one."

Source: http://www.dailynewstribune.com

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