Social Security Lunch & Learn

ML&R Wealth Management knows that approaching retirement is an important life decision. Filing for benefits can be complicated and we want to help navigate and simplify the process for you. 

 

We are excited to bring you Valery Maercklein, Public Affairs Specialist with the Social Security Administration, who will present the different choices and rules that prepare you for an informed approach to filing for benefits with the Social Security Administration. She will also discuss different timelines, as well as other considerations for family members who may also be eligible.

 

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Registration & Lunch: 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Program: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

 

Frost Tower Conference Room
401 Congress Avenue, 11th Floor
Austin, TX  78701

 

Adam Grant's best-selling book Originals looks at "how non-conformists rule the world" by developing new ideas, then releasing them to the masses. To be one of these difference-makers, though, you don't have to be all that different. In its review of the book, Publishers Weekly wrote, "Inventors don't need to be cliff diving risk takers, and originality is far more common than is generally thought. Emphasizing the human tendency to take the default action, the book shows that it takes real verve to overcome that inertia and seek out the better option."

Put differently, Originals don't necessarily have to stand above the crowd as much as they have to be willing to walk against it -- but Grant states it's OK to do so at a not-so-brisk pace. He says there is great value in being a procrastinator and in not being the first to market with a new product or idea. In an interview with NPR, he says, "Successful entrepreneurs are much more likely to play it safe and have back-up plans than failed entrepreneurs."

Through his studies of Originals, Grant has become one himself. He is a professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School (where he was tenured in his 20's!). Noted author Malcolm Gladwell calls Grant "one of my favorite thinkers." And Grant's talk " The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers" was the talk of TED2016. In it, he implores you to put yourself out there and to believe in yourself, your ideas: "The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they're the ones who try the most. You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones."

The payoff for the good ones is significant.

"Look, being original isn't easy," Grant says, "but I have no doubt about this: It's the best way to improve the world around us."

> MORE FROM GRANT IN THE NEW YORK TIMES:

" How to Raise a Creative Child. Step One: Back Off"

" Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate"

Whatever plans you are making, they should start with one person, and that person is you. Two of the BAM ALLIANCE's National Thought Leaders share the importance of taking the lead when walking your life's path.

 

Are You Living the Life You Chose?

Director of Personal Finance/music lover Tim Maurer shares wisdom found in song lyrics and offers a checklist to follow when making your goals: make sure they are yours, not someone else's; make sure they are consistent with your personal gifts and attributes; and make sure they are for a cause bigger than you alone.

Your Most Valuable Asset Is Yourself

Carl Richards , director of investor education, says to find your best asset you only need to look in the mirror each day. When looking at your career, you can take this viewpoint from three perspectives: the beginning, the middle and the end. 

The Academic Skills Center at California Polytechnic State University offers a guide for its students -- but is useful for all. The importance of goals are explained in the overview: "There is great power in setting and determining your own goals. ... Always following the crowd hinders your individual thinking to shape your own goals and the ability to decide things on your own terms and personal experiences. When you become the source of your own career and destiny, you grow without the interference of another's experiences or expectation. As a result, you become more self-confident."

> View Cal Poly's goal-oriented guide

Seth Godin is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker and industry-setting marketer
(he has been called "America's greatest marketer" in fact). Godin is also a  prolific blogger, with an archive of more than 2,500 posts. His blogs often share messages of encouragement, imploring people to make big but executable plans, to push yourself -- and others -- to do better work, to invent new and better ways to do the tasks that make up your life. 

 

The following post shares Godin's thoughts on goals, and how they are meant to make you -- and others around you -- better. 

 

GIVE UP AND GO UP GOALS

"You will benefit when you tell lots of people your give up goals. Tell your friends when you want to give up overeating or binging or being a boor. Your friends will make it ever more difficult for you to feel good about backsliding. 

 

On the other hand, the traditional wisdom is that you should tell very few people about
your go up goals. Don't tell them you intend to get a promotion, win the race or be elected prom king. That's because even your friends get jealous, or insecure on your behalf, or afraid of the change your change will bring.

 

Here's the thing: If that's the case, you need better friends. 

 

A common trait among successful people is that they have friends who expect them to move on up."