What are 7 ways to make the most of my social security check?

Ralph
00:00:00

Are you worried your Social Security check won't stretch far enough? Maybe you're feeling like you're constantly choosing between necessities and watching your retirement dream slip away.

Well, today we're tackling the crucial challenge head on and I'm going to share seven powerful strategies that will help you maximize every dollar from your Social Security check. Today's a show you don't want to miss.

Podcast Announcer
00:00:22

Welcome to the Ask Ralph Podcast where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting. Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.

Now here's your Host, Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:00:52

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Welcome to another episode of the Ask Ralph show.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: I'm your host, Ralph and I am thrilled you're joining me today. Thanks for taking a little time and coming by as we work to master your finances from that Christian perspective. Now, if you missed yesterday's show, I talked all about navigating inflation while working to maintain generosity. We explored some practical ways to keep your giving spirit alive even when prices are soaring. So I'm gonna encourage if you missed it, go check it out.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Today's listener question comes to us from James and James is from Ohio, and this is what James writes.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: "Dear Ralph, I'm writing to you with tears in my eyes. Last night, I sat at my kitchen table staring at bills

Ralph Estep, Jr.: I can't pay, even after receiving my social security check. My wife Mary and I worked hard our entire lives, but now we're forced to choose between buying her blood pressure medicine or paying our heating bill. We've already cut out everything we can think of. No more coffee dates, no visits to see the grandkids three states away, and we've even started unplugging appliances to save on electricity. The shame of having to ask our adult children for help is crushing my spirit. I never imagined retirement would look like this. Some nights, I lie awake and I wonder if we'll have to sell our home of 30 years just to survive. How can we possibly stretch this small social security check

Ralph Estep, Jr.: to maintain any quality of life? I feel like I've failed my wife and failed as a provider." With desperation, he writes again, this is James from Ohio. James man, I feel you today. And it's a struggle that I see many people facing. I have many clients that are relying on social security. And I'm thinking about what you're saying, and it resonates with me that you're combining this financial hardship and on top of that, this level of emotional distress.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I know it's really a test of your faith. I hear you saying that as well. And this show is all about being dedicated to helping working class people during their financial journeys and help them master those finances while growing their faith and your mission, your situation, is actually the core mission of the show.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: So James, I've got some real strong answers for you today.

[00:03:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You know James, when I was thinking about your question, what's you're really saying is Ralph, how can I make the most of my financial resources, especially when I'm on this fixed income, social security. And I found a profound scripture to teach us about wise stewardship and careful planning. And it comes to us from the book of Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. And it says this. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." And if you think about it James, this is a very relevant Bible verse. Because think about it. Managing social security involves two aspects. There's practical financial wisdom.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: You've got to pay your bills. Like you said, you're making that decision to either pay for heating or your wife's medication. And you're also seeking out that spiritual guidance, which is exactly what this Bible verse talks about. And what the Bible verse is telling us is this biblical approach to financial planning. The key components are trusting in God, making informed decisions, and balancing faith with careful planning.

[00:04:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And that's exactly what we're gonna cover on today's show.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well, let me tell you a story about a client I had a few years back and her name was Martha. Her name was Martha Johnson actually. Now again, that's not her real name. I don't use real names on the show. And Martha was a 68 year old widow.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: She had just lost her husband. And the reality started to sink in for her. She was living on a social security check monthly of $1,643. And all of a sudden she had lost her husband. She's overwhelmed by these financial responsibilities. It was tough on her and she was a tax client of mine. I knew her husband. She came in to see me the following tax year.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And she's, she's laying it all out for me.

[00:05:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And this was a really difficult one because for her, her husband always handled the finances. He just took care of it. So this was new to her. She's dealing with the loss of her husband and the emotions of that. She's now got this economic reality of $1,643 a month on social security. And now she's got to handle all these finances on her own and she was overwhelmed. And when I looked at her situation, here's the problem.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: She had fixed expenses. Her mortgage was $800 a month. Her utilities were $250 a month. She had a mounting medical bills because she was no spring chicken either. And all of a sudden her car needs repairs. And because of this lack of income, she had significant social isolation. She wasn't able to go do things with her friends.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: I think she told me she used to go to the senior center, but she just couldn't even afford to go there because her car was having issues and the thought of the gas and all that to get there just didn't work for her.
Ralph Estep, Jr.: So she came in, she sat down with me and we did what I call the initial assessment.

[00:06:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I wanted to do a black and white here's where things are without any emotion. She brought me in this big stack of stuff and we laid it out on my desk. And to be honest with you, most of the stuff wasn't even opened. She had bill after bill just unopened bill. She had overdraft notices from the bank. And this was an emotional time because literally just sat there together and we just opened these things up.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I asked her, I said, Hey, I know you've got some kids.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Have you shared this with them? And she goes, Ralph, I don't want to burden them. I can never share this with them. And so she had hidden these struggles from her family.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I could see emotionally, financially, she was overwhelmed. So we did that initial assessment and then we moved on to the next step and said, well, what can we do here? What are some things that I can help her do? So one of the things we did was we looked at her income and expense information. On the income side, she didn't have a whole lot going on.

[00:07:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: She did have a small pension from her husband. And she had that $1,643 social security. But what I did notice is she was paying $283 in different monthly subscriptions for this and that. And I said, listen, one of the things you might need to consider is cutting out some of those unused premium services and those subscriptions. So we did that.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: We said, okay, here's the things that I can live with then here's the things I can live without. She cut that. So that saved her $283 right there. And then I said to her, wait a second, Martha. I said, you said your husband passed away. But you never went back to social security for those what they call the unclaimed survivor benefits. So she went back and here's a beautiful part to this story. They are now giving her an additional $400 a month.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So that $1643 now jumps to $2000 plus. And you talk about a lifesaver, that was huge for her. So you might be asking Ralph, what solutions did you implement? Well, like I said, we did an expense audit and we eliminated all of those unused services. We found that she was paying for this subscription and that subscription.


[00:08:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: We said, Hey, are there other ways you can do that. So now she's sharing different streaming services with her kids.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: She also liked to go to the coffee shop, meet up with friends. So we replaced this so what we called the home-based coffee gatherings, and she would have it at her house so that she could make the coffee there and it was a great deal, less expensive. And one of the things that Martha said to me, she goes Ralph, you know, one of the things I also could do, she goes I make this stellar banana bread, she goes, everybody loves it and are always asking me to make it for parties and all that kind of stuff.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I said, Martha, I said, why don't you think about selling that banana bread to people at your church or the people in your community. So guess what Martha did. She started her own banana bread company and she told me not too long ago that she's now making $300 a month in extra income. And like I said, we filed for those additional social security benefits which gave her more income.

[00:09:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: So if you're doing the math, we eliminated $283, we added $400 in survivor benefits. We got another $300 a month in selling banana bread which is fantastic.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And at the same time, here's the other things we did. I helped Martha build a thousand dollar emergency fund. Now she didn't do it overnight. It took six months to get there. But now she's got that thousand dollars in a savings account that if something happened, she needs that car repair, or some home repair, she's got a thousand dollars set aside to do it. So she's achieved what I call financial stability. And she also, here's a great part of this whole story. She was able to help her grandchildren.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And she took a new role at her church.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: She's teaching financial stewardship to others. So she's giving back what she's learned.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So, what do we learn from this? What are the lessons that we learned from this? Here's the first thing we learned. Financial transformation is possible even on a fixed income. You can do it. You can do it. There is hope for you. We also learned the importance of expense auditing. That's the first thing I did.

[00:10:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I sat down with her and we looked at the real numbers. It was not emotional. It was factual. Here's where your money's going. I had her bring in her bank statements. I had to bring in her credit card statements and we looked at every single item and that's where we found those unused subscriptions. Another lesson we learned was that value of creating additional income streams.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Think about it. That $300 a month in extra income is huge for her. That $300 a month meant helping out her grandkids. It meant helping to build that emergency fund.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And the big thing we learned was the power of community support and this faith based approach because like I said, this is what was important to Martha. She reached out. She sold her banana bread. She talked to people at church, even started that financial stewardship program.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And here's the thing I want to tell you. I've helped many people just like Martha.

[00:11:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I know you believe that your circumstances and your story are different. But here's what I'm going to tell you. It's all money. And you can do this as well. Just like Martha. I believe in you. And I've helped many people do this. So let's get onto those 7 powerful ways that I can help you maximize your social security check and we draw these right from Martha's inspiring transformation.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So number one, this is the key. Create a strategic budget blueprint. It's the first thing when I work with any client, I tell them to do for the next 30 days, I want you to write down every single penny that you spend. It's not about judgment, it's just facts. Write it down. $20 at the coffee shop. $15 for a pizza, whatever your life looks like. Write it down and you don't have to get complicated with this.

[00:12:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You can use a simple notebook. If you like apps, go to get a budgeting app and then monitor those spending patterns. Because this is going to help you find those leaks. Just like if you have a plumber come out to your house. And let's say on your ceiling, you're noticing a water spot. Well, what that plumber is going to do is that plumber's going to identify those leaks. It's going to look at that pipe and see where that's coming from.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well, you're going to do the same thing with your finances. It's like Martha, she found those forgotten subscriptions. I remember her saying to me she said Ralph, I didn't even realize I was still paying for those. So identify those spending leaks you didn't realize and review those bank statements line by line. Those credit card statements, those bank statements for any hidden fees or charges. So you start there. Create that strategic budget blueprint. Like I said, it's not emotional.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: It's factual. Just take a look at what's going on. Number two.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Practice biblical stewardship with essential expenses. You might be saying, Ralph, what are you talking about, dude? Here's what I'm saying. List every expense in order of its true necessity.

[00:13:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Distinguish between those needs and wants. Yeah, you might want cable television. You might want the highest level cell phone plan.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: You might want those subscription services. But do you really need those? And that's where you're gonna start to list your expenses in the order of necessities. So focus on those first four core needs and most people's four core needs are these. Housing, utilities, food, and healthcare. And a lot of people leave off that last one, but healthcare is important, especially as we age. So focus on these four core needs.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Like I said, housing, utilities, food and healthcare. And then in those things, look for areas to reduce essential costs without sacrificing quality. There are things you can do to reduce those costs without sacrificing the quality of those things. And I've done shows talking about this. Maybe you need to think about downsizing, maybe that house is too big

[00:14:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: now. Maybe you need to have the reality check of going to something smaller. Maybe you're paying for utilities you don't need to pay for any more. Maybe you need to do a better job of strategizing your food shopping. Listen, and I get it. Stuff is going up and up and up in cost. I totally get it. And then look at your healthcare and say, are you making wise decisions there?

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So second one, like I said, practice biblical stewardship with essential expenses. Number three. And I know I've been harping on this lately, but I truly believe this is a game changer. And that's implement the wise waiting rule. Now you're going to hear me say 24 hours. I've said 48 hours. Pick what works for you, but wait 24 to 48 hours before any purchase over 50 bucks. And ask yourself the next logical question. Does this purchase align with my values?

Ralph Estep, Jr.: You might be saying Ralph, what do you mean by that?

[00:15:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Well, consider if this item serves a true need or just a temporary want. When you put in that waiting period and that $50, pick a number that works for you, maybe it's $25 for you. Maybe it's 48 hours, maybe it's 36 hours. But then ask yourself those two questions. Does this purchase align with my values? And does it serve a true need or just a temporary want? And then during that time, here's the game changer. Use that time to pray about the purchase decision. And really put it out there and ask God

Ralph Estep, Jr.: and if you feel like you're asking a silly question, then it's probably a want, not a need.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: You know, if you say to God, listen, I really want to take this hot air balloon ride. And you're sitting there praying about you're like, man. God, I sound stupid, don't I? So use that time to pray about it. So that's number three. And that's, implement the wise waiting rule. Almost got myself confused there. Let's look at number four. This is something I encourage,

[00:16:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I don't care how old you are, whether you're just starting out or whether you're like Martha and your own your fixed income social security. Conduct a complete financial inventory. So what I do with Martha, so I do it, every person that comes in here that wants financial assistance, wants financial counseling. List all of your assets. What is your home worth?

Ralph Estep, Jr.: What is the equity you have in your home? What are your savings? What are your investments? Write it all down. That's your asset side then you're going to document all your liabilities, you know, what do you owe on your mortgage? What are your car loans? What are your personal loans? What are your credit cards? That is information that is vital to helping you make more and better decisions.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: You got to know where you're standing. Like I use this analogy all the time. When I work with clients, we're going to develop a roadmap for financial success. But if we don't know where we're starting, there's no way I can get you to where you're trying to go. As part of this, look at your insurance policies.

[00:17:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I don't know how many times I've worked with clients that were paying for insurance. They didn't even know they had it, but it was coming out of their bank account every month. They couldn't tell me what it was for and then when we dug a little deeper, we found that it was redundant. So we'll look at each of those things. And while you're doing that, look at those debts and look for opportunities to consolidate those debts or eliminate those debts.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I've talked a lot on the show about the avalanche method, the snowball method by getting out of debt as part of this. So that's number four. Conduct a complete financial inventory. And again, this is not judgment. This is not emotion. This is just data. Number five, like Martha did. Develop those multiple income streams.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: I can't stress this enough. You might not feel like working, but consider part-time work align with your skills. Listen. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills, there's two ways to resolve that problem. Either reduce your expenses or increase your income. It's really that simple. And if you're saying Ralph, there's nothing else I can cut. My mortgage's my mortgage, my car payment is my car payment. My utilities are my utilities.


My health insurance is my health insurance. Then guess what? The only issue you're going to have, I say this to my business clients all the time too, is look for those revenue side things. You know, maybe explore some passive income opportunities. Maybe you can't make banana bread like Martha, but look at other things that you can do. And here's the truth.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And if you listen to my show, you know I've said this time and time again. So if you're a younger person like me, or even younger than me, remember this. Social security alone rarely provides sufficient income. It just doesn't. And Martha learned that the hard way. And that's why she had to supplement that by cutting expenses, by doing that multiple income stream. So that's number five, develop multiple income streams.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Number six. And as you get older, this one becomes even more and more important. As my clients, I see them aging, this is their major cost and that's master healthcare costs management. This is important. This is a time every year to look at those Medicare plans. And I know you're probably hearing these rumors.

[00:19:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I think they're over now, but man, sometimes they get on my nerves, it's like 10 times a day. But look at those Medicare plans and see if there's some tweaks you can make that will help you save money. And compare those supplemental insurance options. And I'm going, ain't gonna get into that today, but there are options. When you're at the doctor, here's a pro tip. Ask for generic medication alternatives. Say to your doctor, listen, can you pull up that medication and see what it costs?

Ralph Estep, Jr.: I've done this myself. When my wife and I are first starting in our practice, we had catastrophic healthcare. But it didn't cover prescriptions. So when I went to the doctor, I would say to the doctor, okay, you want to write me a prescription. Let's take a look and see how much that cost. And I got all kinds of apps. And we looked at, okay, well, this medicine does this, and it's this much.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And this medicine does the same thing. It costs this much. Hey, let's go generic.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And that's where you can build those relationships with healthcare providers to discuss those costs openly. And so I'm gonna tell you a crazy story. Listen to this one. I remember, I am a type two diabetic and I was at the pharmacy. Actually, I'm going to tell you that the truth is this. The doctor sent over a new prescription and the pharmacist actually called me. And they said, Ralph, they said, listen, we're getting ready to fill this prescription for you.

[00:20:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I think it was an injectable or something like that for diabetes. And they said, but we want to tell you this injection is $900. And I say, wow. That's expensive. And at the time we actually had, you know, medical insurance and we had some level of prescription coverage. But it wasn't fantastic like most insurance. And I said, okay, well, what can we do?

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And they said, well, do you have the GoodRx app? And I said, no, I don't even know what that is. They said, well, download that on your phone and then call me back. So I download this GoodRx app. And I figured it wasn't complicated. And this isn't the answer for everybody. And I looked up that medication and they gave me a quote.

[00:21:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I called the pharmacy back. And I gave them the code. He said, okay, that'll be $70. So think about that nearly a thousand dollars for this medication down to $70. And another thing I learned. Go to the place where they go to the healthcare provider, ask them if there's any coupon codes. Because a lot of these pharmaceutical companies, they're trying to get you to go on their medication. I remember one particular medication I had, I went to the website for the place that manufactured that, and they actually had a 12 month coupon where this medication only costs me $25 a month. Hey. Money well spent.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So again, master those healthcare costs. Look for opportunities to save. And number seven, just like I did with Martha, build your safety financial safety net. It's important. Maybe you just start with a goal of a thousand dollars. I think that's a good number for everybody to have. Everybody should have at least a thousand dollars in emergency savings. Now if you listen to my show, you know I say six months worth of income. You're not going to get there overnight, but add small amounts consistently.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Listen, even if it's just $5 a week. We were out to dinner with my youngest son last night. And I said to him, I said, son, are you working on your emergency savings plan? And he said, yeah, dad he says I'm getting there, but I don't know how much longer, you know, how much, how long it's going to take me to get there.

[00:22:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: I said, well, are you doing something every week? Now my son is a barber. And I said to him, here's an idea. You get tips every day, take half of your tips every day and live on the half. Put the other half and add emergency savings fund. And here's a deal. Keep those things separate. Even if you want to open up another account. Making a savings account or something that you just can't go to the ATM machine and hit. And then here's the key to this thing. Use that fund only for true emergencies.

[00:23:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Not those conveniences. Again, let's go look at that. 24 48 36 hour rule. And if you're going to hit your emergency funds, ask yourself a question, is this truly an emergency or is this just a convenience? So that's number seven. That's build your safety net. And remember this, Martha's success came from implementing these strategies gradually. You're not going to do it overnight. But at the same time, maintaining your faith in God's provision because every small step creates that momentum for those bigger changes. So Martha didn't have that thousand dollar emergency fund overnight, but she started with just $5 a week or $10 a week and it built that momentum. Now, maybe you're listening today and you're saying Ralph, I'm feeling overwhelmed by my financial challenges. Whether you're buying a home, running a small business, or maybe you're like Martha living paycheck to paycheck or the social security check. Like I said at the beginning, you don't have to walk this journey alone. Like many others that listen every day. They feel like they're watching their dreams slip away. They're struggling with mounting debt.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: They're feeling stuck and frustrated. Sometimes we're trying to balance our business and our personal finances. And you might be saying Ralph, there's no hope. But let me tell you friend, there is hope. And working together, we can create a plan for you to find that financial freedom while at the same time honoring your Christian values and this is how we get there.

[00:24:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: Just like I did with Martha. We're going to sit down and work on assess your current situation. We're going to identify your God-given dreams. What I call your big, hairy, audacious goals. And then we're going to align your goals with your faith. We're going to build you that financial roadmap. And work with me,

Ralph Estep, Jr.: you're going to have that accountability. We're going to track your success and we're going to find ways to tweak it as you move forward in that successful journey. And listen, there's no cookie cutter solutions, just a practical faith-based approach that's tailored to your unique situation. So you might be saying Ralph,

Ralph Estep, Jr.: that sounds great. I want to break free from debt. I want to find financial stability. I want to achieve that longterm success. And I want to grow spiritually while building wealth. Well, don't let another day pass feeling stuck or overwhelmed. You can book a consultation with me. Go to askralph.com.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: At the top of the screen, you'll see an icon. It says, book a call with Ralph. Let's get to that. Let's create your plan to financial freedom and let's do this spiritual growth together. Again, that's at askralph.com, click on the button that says book a call with Ralph. And I always like to end the show with some practical applications. I've given you a lot to ruminate on today and to store on. So here's what you can do.

[00:25:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: You can start implementing these strategies 7 things we talked about today gradually. Number one. Week number one. Here's what I want you to do. For the first week, track all of your expenses. Again, not emotional, not judgemental. Just write them all down. That's your first week. Second week, categorize those. Look at those needs versus wants.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Do they fit into those four main categories of things that you have to spend money on? So that's week number one, track the expenses. Week number two, categorize that spending. Number three, implement that 24 hour rule or at 48 hour or whatever works for you. Come up with that number and those number of hours. And then when you go to make that purchase, say, nope.

[00:26:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: The rule says I can't do that. Now, if it's a necessity, that's a different story. Like if you need heating on in your house, I would say it's probably going to be more than 50 bucks. You're gonna have to buy that, but look at this thing and say, if it's a non-critical thing, implement that rule. And then week number four is the time to take a review of everything it did and optimize that budget, optimize that intentional spending plan. Now today we've explored 7 powerful ways to make your social security check work harder for you.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: And I think we've actually made it a little bit bigger than that because it doesn't just affect people who are on social security. It affects anybody that's trying to manage their money. And remember this, we don't take anything else away from today. Small changes can lead to significant results over time.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: Look at Martha. She made little changes, small changes. Started selling that bread, that banana bread. She started doing that emergency fund. She started looking at cutting those unused expenses. Now on tomorrow's show, I'm going to discuss how to negotiate the best deal when buying a used car. It's a question I got from a listener

[00:27:00] Ralph Estep, Jr.: so make sure you tune in for that valuable information. Now, remember. My passion today and every day as I do this show is to help you achieve financial success. That's what I want to see. I want to see you live out your dreams. I want to see you grow in your faith. And I knew together, working together, we can master your finances from a Christian perspective.

Ralph Estep, Jr.: So as I always end this show, stay financially savvy, and God bless you abundantly.

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00:27:16

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