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You can do the hard part right and still not feel it. You save for years. You reach retirement with a healthy balance. And the worry shows up anyway, on the first of every month. If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. In this episode of Safe Money Radio, host Brett Blake sits down with Bart Catmull, Former President and CFO of Sagicor Life Insurance Company and a 35-year veteran of the life insurance and annuity business. Bart spent his career on the company side, first as an accountant, later as a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Risk Officer. Now he is retired himself, and he helps his own mother and mother-in-law manage their money. He has seen the numbers and the human side, and he has one plain message. Money does not buy calm. A plan does.

When You Have Money and Still Worry  

Bart watched this up close with his own father. His dad had money in the market, and for a year and a half, he was stressed every time Bart came to visit. So Bart sat him down. If you do not want that risk, he told him, there are things you can do to take the stress off the table. You may not earn as much, but you will not carry the worry either. His father made some changes to how his money was positioned, and it worked. The stress lifted. Bart could enjoy visiting again.

Brett has seen the same thing from the other chair. One of his first clients had a strong pension and thought he needed an annuity on top of it. He did not. He just did not understand what he already had. Once Brett walked him through it, the worry went away. That is the pattern behind so many stressed retirees. The problem is rarely the size of the balance. It is not knowing what the money will do and not having a plan that lets them stop checking.

What Sits Behind the Promise  

When you buy a product that promises to pay you later, you are handing over money today and trusting the company to be there for decades. Bart pulled back the curtain on how a company earns that trust. It is not one person. Actuaries build a plan for how much cash will be needed and when. The investment team puts the money to work to match those future payments. Short-term promises get safer, shorter investments. Longer promises can be matched with longer ones. Claims teams handle the payouts. Compliance teams answer the state regulators, who get regular reports confirming the company is doing what it said it would.

All of that runs in the background, so the money is there when it matters. For a retiree, that moment is not abstract. You no longer have a paycheck. Your savings are expected to fund your life for the next 20, 30, even 40 years. The strength of the company standing behind your income is not a detail. It is the whole point. Any guarantees come from the issuing insurance company and depend on its financial strength, not on the market.

How to Judge a Company's Strength  

So how do you tell a strong company from a shaky one? Bart says start with the ratings. Independent firms like AM Best, Moody's, and S&P grade insurance companies on their financial strength. The grades run A, B, C, and down. As a rule, he wants his money with companies rated at least a B+, and he leans toward the A range. Those companies have usually been around a long time and hold strong assets behind their promises.

He adds one useful nuance. A newer company might carry a lower grade simply because it is new, not because it is risky. A company that once held an A and is sliding down after a change in management is a different kind of bet from a young company climbing toward one. Ratings tell you the direction, not just the letter.

There is also a tradeoff to understand. A B-rated company might offer a higher interest rate to attract your money, say 5.5 percent when an A-rated company offers 5. The higher number is tempting. But the stronger company has weathered more storms. Bart's advice is to take your time, learn the company, and not chase the rate alone. He also suggests working with an independent agent who represents many companies, not one who sells the same product to everyone. A product can be good and still not be the right fit for you. The only way to know is to see the full field.

Plan for a Long Life  

A plan is not finished until it accounts for living a long time. Bart learned this firsthand. Because he retired earlier than most, he had years of expenses to cover before other coverage kicked in, and health coverage in early retirement can cost far more than people expect. His advice to his younger self is simple. Do not save only for the far-off retirement years. Build up assets you can actually live on in the near term, too.

The other half of longevity is the risk of being under insured. Bart says many people assume they are covered without doing the math. A widow left with a million-dollar policy may sound secure, until you realize that lump sum might produce only 40,000 or 50,000 dollars a year to live on. He tells the story of a good friend, a successful doctor in his early 50s with kids still at home, who passed away suddenly. All of his money had gone to lifestyle. There was no retirement plan and no thought given to what would happen if he died. The only coverage was a small group policy, and his family was left to pick up the pieces. It changed how Bart talked to everyone he knew after that. He was not selling. He just asked people, please, have something in place.

Buy Protection Early  

On the life insurance side, timing matters more than people think. The earlier you buy, the less of a risk you are to the company, so you tend to lock in a better rate for longer. Bart bought a policy on himself in his 20s that still costs less than the coverage he added in his 40s. He is careful to note this works differently with annuities, where the math does not reward buying young in the same way. But for protection, waiting usually costs more, not less.

A Little Planning Goes a Long Way  

This is the line Bart is known for, and he means it in the plainest sense. His father never made much money. The family was always just getting by. But his dad did a little planning. He put a bit away. He kept health coverage and life insurance in place for when he needed them. And in retirement, he was calm. He got to enjoy his grandkids and tinker with the furniture he loved to fix.

Bart admits he is a champion procrastinator, and he thinks most of us are. So what he's asking is small. Do something. Even a little planning compounds over time, the same way a little money saved each day compounds into something real by the time you retire. It was not the size of the deposits that built it. It was the compounding. Planning works the same way. Start where you are. Make sure you have a will. That small step pays off later in ways that are hard to see today.

Take a Breath Before You Decide  

Brett asked Bart for one piece of advice for anyone thinking about their retirement. Bart gave two. First, the old line about not putting all your eggs in one basket is old for a reason. Stay diversified in your portfolio and in your thinking. Talk to more than one expert. Nobody has all the answers, not even the Warren Buffetts of the world, and they will tell you so themselves.

Second, take a breath. Most bad money decisions come from a knee-jerk reaction, from feeling rushed. A friend once told Bart there are very few decisions in life that need an instant answer. If someone is pushing you to decide right now, that is your signal to step back. Take a few breaths. You will usually find you did not need to rush at all. That is the whole spirit of this show. We spent 40 years teaching Americans how to fill the bucket. Nobody taught them how to turn on the tap without running it dry. A little planning and a few deep breaths. That is how you start.

Want to take the next step?Run your own numbers with the free WIYN calculator at brettblake.annuity.com, which takes about three minutes. Ready to talk it through? Book a Retirement Clarity Session with Brett. Not a sales call. Not a slide deck. Your numbers, not ours.

Worry Less. Live Longer.

About the host

Brett A. Blake hosts Safe Money Radio and is the CEO of Annuity.com. He is 58, a Harvard MBA who will tell you the degree taught him almost nothing about retirement income. Before Annuity.com, he helped scale a business to nearly $1 billion in annual sales. He lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with his wife Erin, and asks the questions every retiree would ask if they had access to the right rooms.

About the guest

Bart Catmull is the Former President and CFO of Sagicor Life Insurance Company, with more than 35 years in the life insurance and annuity industry. He started out as a public accountant, then spent decades on the company side, serving as a Chief Financial Officer and later as a Chief Risk Officer. He helped build a small life insurance company into a business doing more than $400 million a year. Now retired himself, Bart also helps his mother and mother-in-law manage their own retirement, so he sees both the numbers and the human side of this work.

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DISCLAIMER:

Safe Money Radio is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Products discussed may not be appropriate for everyone. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions. Product availability varies by state. Our Agents are licensed to sell insurance products, including annuity products that guarantee retirement income based on the financial strength of the insurance company providing the product. Annuities may not be suitable for everyone. Guarantees are not government-backed or provided by Annuity.com, Inc. Annuity.com, Inc. is a licensed insurance agency. National Producer Number (NPN): 21086345. Licensed in all states where required by law. Doing business in Florida and California as "Annuity.com Insurance Marketing," CA License No. 6013124. In New York, licensed as Annuity.com Insurance Solutions, License No. LA-1860109.