The Retirement Café Podcast

A diagnosis of dementia can be scary, not just for those suffering with the disease, but those close to them too. As the dementia progresses, communications skills can be lost and the loved ones surrounding the dementia patient often wonder how they can communicate with their loved one.

Dr Jane Mullins has spent her career working with people who have neuro degenerative conditions and researching dementia. After working in memory clinics and as a care home manager, Jane completed her PhD which centred around communicating with people who have dementia through sensory ways.

Her projected specifically explored using tourism memories and multi-sensory communication strategies to help couples rekindle their couplehood.

Using the knowledge from her PhD research and the experience gained from her career and research, Jane went on to publish a book Finding the Light In Dementia. The book offers support and help along the way when you or a friend or relative is diagnosed with dementia.

More recently Jane has set her sights to creating a training programme for families and care providers to teach them how to develop a connection between the individual requiring care and those providing it.

In our conversation Jane talks about what she learnt from her PhD research project, and how anyone can use photos and props to start an engaging conversation with someone suffering with dementia. She also shares her motivation behind setting up the training programme and why she believes it could make a difference to the dementia care industry.

A few months ago, we launched a new series called The 9 Accelerators of Successful Retirement Planning. The series covers the 9 steps in our Retirement Success ProgrammeTM. This week, my wife and business partner, Kathy, is back in the interviewer’s chair to quiz me on why investing is such an important part of retirement planning and what the difference is between investing for retirement and investing in retirement.

In our in-depth conversation, I explain the effects that inflation will have on your retirement, what investment risk is and why we need to keep our emotions out of investing.

So far in the series, we have discussed the importance of Life Priorities, Lifetime Financial Forecasting and Minimising Lifetime Tax. Next up will be Asset Allocation.

Most of us don’t enter our careers with the aim of retiring early, and our guest this week certainly didn’t think early retirement would be an option when he stopped enjoying his career.

Chris Mamula qualified as a physiotherapist in Utah but quickly realised he did not want to stay in the industry for 30 or 40 more years. When his wife discovered she was pregnant, Chris dived into the world of personal finance and discovered the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement.

Having spent their entire marriage living off one salary and saving the other, Chris found that the maths and core values of the FIRE movement resonated with him.

Since discovering the FIRE movement, Chris has used his personal journey as inspiration to write about how others could live the best life possible and retire early. Partnering with others passionate about gaining financial independence, Chris has written a book Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence, and runs the blog Can I Retire yet?

In our conversation, Chris shares his attitude towards money, and how that has helped him, and his wife, reach financial independence and retire at the age of just 40 years old. Chris also talks to us about redefining retirement, and how you should live the life you want to at every stage of your life.

Before Christmas, we released the first episode of a new series called The 9 Accelerators of Successful Retirement Planning.

The series will cover all 9 steps of our Retirement Success Programme which include: Lifetime Financial Forecasting, Minimising Lifetime Tax, Protecting your Legacy, Estate Planning, Care Funding, Well-Crafted Investments, Asset Allocation, and Staying on Track.

In this first episode we discussed the importance of considering our life priorities.

In this episode my wife and business partner, Kathy, is back in the interviewer’s chair to ask me about the second of the 9 accelerators, Lifetime Financial Forecast

In the conversation, I chat about why we should all start financially planning for our retirement, what a plan should include and start pointing you in the direction of how you can start a plan.

Tune in to hear how anyone can start planning for their retirement.

Professor Keith Brown has spent a lifetime in the medical profession. Starting his career in paediatrics, Keith headed up the paediatrics intensive care unit at St. George’s Hospital in London. After a number of years he moved into academia and for the past 20 years he has led the National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice (NCPQSW).

Keith specialises in in mental health, mental capacity and the care and safeguarding of older persons. He also sits on a number of government advisory boards and has been called upon to provide guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Department of Health Adult Safeguarding Advisory Board
• Joint Department of Health and Ministry of Justice National Mental Capacity Leadership forum
• Home Office Joint Financial task force.

Professor Brown wrote the national guidance on Next of Kin and Lasting Powers of Attorney, as well as the national guidance on Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment.

In the first of two interviews, we chat about mental capacity, the role of the next of kin, lasting powers of attorney and how to ensure your wishes are followed in the event of tragedy at any stage of life.

It’s a fascinating conversation with one of the most qualified professionals in the UK, so why not listen here on episode 089 of The Retirement Café Podcast.