Issuu

november + december 2021

Johnny Carrabba 35 Years Now and Then

Holiday Events Return To Full Swing

MFAH Welcomes 106 Most Significant Paintings

Our Fight on Plight • Teaching Kids About Money Matt Schaub on Texans

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contents

Send comments, thoughts or ideas to intownmagazine@gmail.com

810

12 14

ON THE COVER

10 20

Holiday Lights in Clay Family Eastern Glades presented by Green Mountain Energy. Image Courtesy of MPC. See page 12.

10-12

ARTS + EVENTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

16-18

14-15

CARRABBA’S: FEEDING HOUSTON SINCE 1986

20-21

22-23

IMPRESSIONISM COMES TO MFAH THE GAME: MATT SCHAUB FINANCIAL FOCUS

PRODUCTION

PUBLISHER

M. A. Haines EDITOR

Lisa June

memorialvillagesmagazine.com

Web Design CSS Art & Design Layout & Graphic Design CSS Art & Design Graphic Designer Cris Bell Photographer Wells Brown

CONTRIBUTORS

Lindsay Mowad William Hanover Marene Gustin Evans Attwell Philip Berquist Minnie Payne Virginia Billeaud Anderson

For advertising rates and information: 713.525.8607 intownmagazine@gmail.com Space reservation deadline is 15 days prior to publication.

Memorial Villages magazine is published bi-monthly by SNS Media. Articles are welcome and will be given careful consideration for possible publication. Memorial Villages magazine does not assume any responsibility for unsolicited materials. Materials submitted will be returned if accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Box 980757 Houston, TX 77098. You can also e-mail intownmagazine@gmail.com. Copyright 2021 by Intown magazine. All rights reserved. Content may not be reprinted or reproduced without permission from Intown magazine.

6 | Mv | November + December 2021

One City Block - Piney Point

Mariana Saldana Broker Associate

(832) 338-4040 www.uptownrealestategroup.com

Publisher’s Letter

The Fight on Plight

owhere in Houston is there more evidence of what money can do to improve an area’s future than on our beloved “Boulevard.” That’s the same Post Oak Boulevard that will soon light up the city Thanksgiving weekend with its modern technological marvel of Holiday lights. The same beautifully landscaped flowering esplanade is heavily funded year-round by the Uptown TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone). Most of our city and county officials focused on keeping people safe without completely shutting down the economy during the pandemic. On this front, I think Houston did pretty well. More recently, however, crime has spiked to levels not seen before the lockdowns. It is a consensus that a team or an organization is only as good as its weakest link. Houston and the County’s commission led by Lina Hidalgo voiced that “too often blighted buildings, dark streets, unsafe and abandoned structures serve as incubators of crime.” Ms. Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioners court put their money where their mouth is by both Republicans and Democrats unanimously approving $50 million to fight crime through planting trees, improving sidewalks, and adding streetlights in distressed neighborhoods. A unanimous decision for the people is why I like local government and why it functions so well compared to state and federal governing. Politics seem to always get in the way at the state or federal level and block progress. The state’s newly passed bond laws make it harder to be released on bail if you are already out on bail. Proponents say the law will help to keep violent offenders off the streets. Opponents say it will create additional hardships for some offenders, particularly those of limited financial means. “There are people that should not be in the community. They should not be given a personal recognizance bond,” said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Texas Senate District 7. However, people could still be released if they have the money to pay. “Cash bail has nothing to do with public safety. All it means is that if you have resources, you have money, you can pay your way out of custody, and if you’re poor, you sit in jail,” said Carson White, staff attorney with Texas Appleseed. Critics of the bill say it will disproportionately impact people from low-income and marginalized backgrounds. Government improving the lives and safety of all people is always a work in progress.

8 | Mv | November + December 2021

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Holiday Cultural Events

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It is time to list the major cultural events in Houston for the holiday months of November and December 2021. Let’s begin. Houston Ballet Opening night is November 26, 2021, and marks the return of the annual favorite, “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky. There will be 31 performances of the holiday classic which will conclude with a 2 pm matinee on Christmas Eve. Due to the pandemic, this family jewel was not presented in 2020. All performances are back at the Brown Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. Ticket prices range from $35 to $158. For ticket purchases go to www.houstonballet.org or call 888.684.3582. Houston Grand Opera Also returning to the Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center is HGO and their opening presentation of “Carmen” by Bizet. There are six performances of this “contemporary” production. Ticket prices range from $20 to $210. Tickets are available at the HGO Box Office at 550 Prairie. The email address is customercare@hgo.org, and the website is www.HGO. org. Or call 713.228.6737. The dates and times of the remaining four November performances are as follow: Wednesday, 3 November, 7:30 pm; Friday, 5 November, 7:30 pm; Saturday 6 November, 7:30 pm; Sunday, 6 November, matinee, 2:00 pm. Houston Symphony Orchestra HSO performs at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana Street. HSO provides a wide variety of performance series and the November and December schedules are as follow: • “Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Songbook” The music of one of the most influential musicians of jazz. Steven Reineke conducts the Houston POPS Orchestra with Byron Stripling on trumpet. Friday, 5 November, 8:00pm; Saturday, 6 November, 8:00pm; Sunday, 7 November, matinee, 2:30:pm.

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Arts +

EVENTS

THEATER

A.D. PLAYERS

The Christmas Shoes

Nov. 24 through Dec.23

Stages Repertory Theatre

ALLEY THEATRE

Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold

A Christmas Carol

Nov. 19 through Dec. 29

Broadway Across America Hobby Center

Tootsie

November 16 through 21

Match

A Little House Christmas Nov. 7 through Dec. 18

Artupdate houston published every two weeks by houstonintown. Go to website and sign up for newsletter to receive free update.

November 26 through December 31

The Ensemble Theater

Motown Christmas

Nov. 18 through Dec. 26

Theatre Under the Stars

The Little Mermaid

Dec. 7 through 24

• “Hélène Grimaud Plays Ravel” I have not yet seen Ms Grimaud perform, but I will not miss this opportunity. Her recordings are exquisite and she is a major talent at the piano. Friday, 19 November, 8:00pm; Saturday, 20 November, 8:00pm; Sunday, 21 November, matinee, 2:30pm. • “Thanksgiving Weekend: Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty” Fabien Gabel conducts, Simone Lamsma, violin, music of Bruch, Humperdinck, and Tchaikovsky. Friday, 26 November, 8:00pm; Saturday, 27 November, 8:00pm; Sunday, 28 November, matinee, 2:30pm. • “Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Gil Shazam” HSO Music Director, in his last season, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, concurs and the brilliant Gil Shazam, violin performs music of Barber and Tchaikovsky. Friday, 3 December, 8:00pm; Saturday, 5 December, 8:00pm; Sunday, 6 December, matinee, 2:30pm. • “Musical Treats from The Nutcracker - for Kids! Saturday, 4 December, special morning times, 10:00 am, and 11:30 am. • “Handel’s Messiah” Friday, 10 December, 8:00pm; Saturday, 11 December, 8:00pm; Sunday, 12 December, matinee, 2:30pm. • “Very Merry Pops” Saturday, 18 December, matinee, 2:30 pm, & 8:00 pm. Well, that is the schedule for our three major arts presenters. For tickets to HSO, Box Office, 713.224.7575. Let me hear from you, classicalmusicberquist@gmail.com Happy Holidays!

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November + December 2021

| Mv |11

Holiday Lights in Clay Family Eastern Glades

oliday Lights in Clay Family Eastern Glades presented by Green Mountain Energy returns to Memorial Park for its second year! Houstonians are invited to enjoy festive decorations and dazzling light displays from December 4, 2021, through January 3, 2022. The outdoor holiday wonderland will feature oversized ornaments, tinsel-wrapped light poles, and colorful tree lights. This year, the holiday light display will make its way around the Eastern Glades’ entire half-mile Promenade natural surface pedestrian path encircling nine acres of open space, native plantings and habitat. Food trucks will be available for guests to enjoy on the weekends. Green Mountain Energy, the nation’s longest serving renewable energy retailer, is excited to team up with The Memorial Park Conservancy, an organization with a shared commitment for promoting

conservation and sustainability in our community. To make the holidays even greener at the Park, @GreenMtnEnergy is making the event carbon neutral by matching the electricity used with renewable energy credits. Deck the Park: To kick off the 2021 Holiday Lights, Memorial Park Conservancy invites the community to a family-friendly, one-night-only event on Friday, December 3 from 4-9PM for an exclusive preview of the Holiday Lights

before they open to the public on Saturday, December 4 at sundown. Guests will toast with hot cocoa, enjoy holiday treats, and other activities including cookie and ornament decorating, live music, holiday carolers, letter writing and mailbox station for Santa, and more! Guests are encouraged to bring a picnic blanket and stay after dark to enjoy the beautiful Holiday Lights and a screening of The Grinch.

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FOOD

Carrabba’s The Original Feeding Houston since 1986

he original Carrabba’s, on Kirby Drive, turns 35 this December. That’s three and a half decades, which is a long life in the restaurant business. And John Charles Carrabba III, better known to all of Houston as Johnny Carrabba, has not only managed to survive, but to thrive, and expand, even during a pandemic. The Carrabbas family, and their cousins the Mandolas, have been in the business of feeding folks for decades. “I grew up in the East End of Houston, working at my grandparents and later, my parents’ grocery store,” Carrabba says. “Our customers ran tabs that they paid when they got paid. You learn how to be part of a community, and that’s been key to my success.” But the grocery store wasn’t his dream, opening a restaurant was. In 1986, he and his uncle Damian Mandola, opened the original Carrabba’s. They soon opened a second location at Voss and Woodway, and in 1993, formed a joint partnership with then Outback 14 | Mv | November + December 2021

By Marene Gustin

“I had a panic attack, my main goal was to keep my employees going, I have about 110 who have been with me for 15 years or longer and six that have been with me since day one.”

— Johnny Carrabba Steakhouse, Inc. (now Bloomin’ Brands) and Carrabba’s Italian Grill was formed. The chain has eateries not only across the country, but also in Canada and Brazil. Carrabba kept ownership of the two original locations. And, with an eye towards the future, built a multi-level parking lot on some property he owned across the street, then in 2012 opened Mia’s, a fast casual eatery focusing on family Texas food, and then he decided to rebuild the original Carrabba’s from

the ground up, and then built Grace’s — an ode to his grandmother, to which he attributes the successes of the Mandolas and Carrabba’s food empires — to create an eating empire along several blocks of Kirby Drive. He then partnered with George Joseph to buy Common Bond bistros and bakeries in 2016 but sold his share in 2018 as the business began to expand. “I just didn’t want to have any partners anymore,” he says. “I’m a guy who likes to hang out in his restaurants and mingle with the employees and customers. I don’t like board meetings and all of that.” A decision that also spawned his sale of his interest in the Carrabba’s Italian Grill chain just four months ago. The Mia’s concept was doing so well that he concentrated on expanding those, but that’s when COVID-19 came calling in Texas. “I felt threatened during the shutdown,” he admits. “I had a panic attack, my main goal was to keep my employees going, I have about 110 who have been

with me for 15 years or longer and six that have been with me since day one. “I have to thank Houston for supporting me during that, we had longtime customers who would drop off $1,000 checks for the employees, they knew they weren’t getting tips during the shutdown, and they wanted to help them.” The other thing that kept the Carrabba family business afloat, was take out. As other restaurants were pivoting to take out and delivery during the shutdown, he had already mastered the concept. “Back in 1995 I saw the dynamics of dining changing,” Carrabba says. “Parents were working, kids had Little League and other activities, and they wanted family dinners but didn’t have time to cook a big meal. “Chris Sullivan of Outback Steakhouse told me I needed to do more take out. That’s when we started doing take out on a large scale, with delivery right to your car. So, when COVID hit, we were already set up for that business.” When the lockdown was over, and the vaccine arrived, more people began dining out again. He added two new Mia’s locations — totally six now — but there was another problem. “The last one (in Cypress) sat empty for two months because I couldn’t get employees,” he says. “I finally started offering hiring bonuses. But I could still use another 60 or 70 employees for all of my restaurants.” He feels very fortunate that his family business survived when so many restaurants didn’t. “I’m just a neighborhood, family guy,” he says. His mother Rosie is at the Voss location almost every day, and his dad, known as Mr. C., hangs out at the Kirby location of Carrabba’s, while his son, Johnny IV, is learning the business from the ground up working in the Johnny Carrabba Family Restaurant company. Daughter Mia is still in college, so he says he’ll wait and see what she decides to do. Family, longtime employees, and fourth-generation customers, are what keeps him successful. So, what does the future hold for Johnny Carrabba? “I think I’m going to need to take a week off,” he muses. “I’m at the stage where I’m doing a lot of soul searching about what I want to do next and what the rest of my career will look like.” But it’s doubtful that he will ever stop showing up at the original Carrabba’s to shake hands with customers, and chat up employees, all while keeping an eye on the food that Houston loves to eat. November + December 2021

| Mv |15

Incomparable Impressionism Coming to MFAH

By Virginia Billeaud Anderson

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Dance at Bougival, 1883, oil on canvas, Picture Fund.

Edouard Manet, Victorine Meurent, c. 1862, oil on canvas, gift of Richard C. Paine in memory of his father, Robert Treat Paine 2nd. 16 | Mv |November + December 2021

raveling in Italy and missing Montmartre, Renoir said he’d choose the ugliest Parisian girl over the most beautiful Italian. His paintings however indicate otherwise. Lise, who modeled for over twenty of them, was stunning. Suzanne and Aline were no slouches either. It’s not certain which posed for “Dance at Bougival.” The painted figure resembles both Suzanne and Aline. Renoir may have combined the features of both women. What is certain is that without entirely abandoning line and form, Pierre-Auguste Renoir used luminous color and skittery brushstrokes to render the nearly life-size dancing figures in the Impressionist style. Following a new sensibility, artists were experimenting with technique and subject matter. Thus, Renoir churned-out a color and light filled depiction of a gussied-up provincial couple shaking a leg with café patrons drinking in the background and matchsticks under foot. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston which owns “Dance at Bougival” weighed in on its steamy undercurrent. “The touch of their gloveless hands, their flushed cheeks and intimate proximity, suggest a sensuous subtext to this scene.” Hot! It landed in Houston. On November 14, 2021, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Incomparable Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” an exhibition of 106 of the Boston museum’s most significant paintings and works on paper, through March 27, 2022. Ninety-one paintings and fifteen prints dating from 1830 to 1900 chart developments in French art, in which Barbizon, Impressionist and Post-impressionist artists made innovations in handling and radical subject matter to represent nature and contemporary urban life. If as Professor Jack Flam told us, Paul Cézanne had an “aversion to” using nude models, Édouard Manet on the other hand plunged in. And knocked the traditional idea of a nude as a naked pagan goddess on its ear. Manet’s nude in “Déjeuner sur l’herbe,” called “vulgar” when exhibited, stares defiantly at the viewer. More provocative, the nude in “Olympia” glares comfortably reclined with her hand over her crotch. Today, these are priceless masterworks, too precious to travel, considered steppingstones to modern art. Victorine Meurent modeled for both. Manet painted Victorine eight times between 1862 and 1874. The exhibition features two paintings Manet made of Victorine. One is a straight-forward portrait in which Victorine wears the black neck ribbon worn by the nude in “Olympia.” In the other, Victorine is a street musician departing a café, carrying a guitar, and eating cherries. Street musicians at sleazy cafés were unknown in academic art.

Manet, not an Impressionist, reinforced for the Impressionists modern edgy subject matter. Curators selected works to demonstrate influence, friendships, and collaborations. Eugéne Boudin’s fourteen marine paintings vividly exemplify these ties. Called an “immediate precursor of Impressionism,” Boudin parlayed penetrating observations of shorelines and harbors around La Havre into brilliantly executed portrayals of sunlight, atmosphere, waves, and boats, registering changes in hours and seasons. Not an Impressionist, Boudin was Monet’s teacher. He hammered Monet to closely observe nature and see its beauty. At Boudin’s encouragement, Monet painted “directly on the spot.” Which led to experiments in capturing impressions of color and light, exemplified by the show’s Impressionist-style haystack. The haystack series typifies Monet’s distillation of mundane objects at different moments, to record momentary fleeting impressions. The show includes a painting from Monet’s waterlilies series. Monet balked at leaving Giverny, nevertheless visited Venice to please his wife. He was determined not to work, yet the view of the Grand Canal and dome of Santa Maria della Salute from his hotel balcony was irresistible. The exhibit’s Venice canal scene shows loosely brushed light-splattered architecture and light-reflected ripely water. Not an Impressionist, Henri Fantin-Latour made portraits of Impressionists. Fantin seems to have admired Manet, he copied “Olympia.” It is significant that Fantin introduced Impressionist Berthe Morisot to Manet, through whom she met Degas. Through Fantin, Morisot met Monet. The show’s four stiff-lifes by Fantin are not avant-garde subject matter, nevertheless his Chardin-inspired compositional arrangements feel timeless. Pulling from the observed natural world, he finagled a painterly approach with breathtakingly seductive color and texture. For Fantin, still-life was lucrative. Why change? Gustave Courbet similarly raked in the bucks with floral still-lifes. He

(Above) Claude Monet, Grainstack (Snow Effect), 1891, oil on canvas, gift of Miss Aimée and Miss Rosamond Lamb in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Horatio Appleton Lamb. (Right) Edouard Manet, Street Singer, c. 1862, oil on canvas, bequest of Sarah Choate Sears in memory of her husband, Joshua Montgomery Sears.

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| Mv |17

Paul Cézanne, Fruit and a Jug on a Table, c. 1890–94, oil on canvas, bequest of John T. Spaulding.

Edgar Degas, Racehorses at Longchamp, 1871, possibly reworked in 1874, oil on canvas, S. A. Denio Collection—Sylvanus Adams Denio Fund and General Income. Gustave Caillebotte, Man at His

Bath, 1884, oil on canvas, museum purchase with funds by exchange from an anonymous gift, bequest of William A. Coolidge, Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, and from the Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund, Edward Jackson Holmes Fund, Fanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin, Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, gift of Mrs. Samuel Parkman Oliver—Eliza R. Oliver Fund, Sophie F. Friedman Fund, Robert M. Rosenberg Family Fund, and funds donated in honor of George T. M. Shackelford, Chair, Art of Europe, and Arthur K. Solomon Curator of Modern Art, 1996–2011.

Vincent van Gogh, Houses at Auvers, 1890, oil on canvas, bequest of John T. Spaulding.

18 | Mv | November + December 2021

claimed to be “coining money out of flowers.” Not an Impressionist, Courbet’s unsentimental narratives of ragged peasants made him a guru of 19th century Realism. Courbet questioned Manet’s modeling of the nude in “Olympia.” He found the “Queen of Spades” too flat. But Courbet himself experimented with wide patches of paint. The show’s “Hollyhocks in a Copper Bowl,” has large flat passages, and areas of thick paint. The impasto’s abstract quality looks ahead to Modernism. It was Cézanne who radically transformed the still-life genre. An original Impressionist who worked alongside Pissarro, in the end Cézanne abandoned Impressionism and conducted revolutionary experiments with still-life, landscape and human figures. The tilted tabletop in “Fruit and a Jug on a Table” lands us in new territory. Distorted forms, skewed perspective and unnatural color tones pave the way for newfangled developments like Cubist fracturing and planar variations, and Matisse’s expressive coloring. Cézanne ushers in modern art. The show has eleven depictions of modern urban life by Impressionist Edgar Degas. I suggest you enjoy these, then grab the catalogue for the 2016 exhibition “Degas: A New Vision” by MFAH’s Gary Tinterow and Henri Loyrette, former director of the Louvre and of Musée d’Orsay. Its an exhaustive, exceedingly informative description of Degas’ art, which clarifies his interest in women in tubs, exhausted laundresses. or the exhibited horse races at Longchamps. Alfred Sisley never deviated from the Impressionist style. The show features four paintings by Sisley. Sisley painted with Monet, Renoir, and Bazille in the Forest of Fontainebleau, near the village of Barbizon, guided by Barbizon landscapists. I once rode through the forest to see if those limestone boulders in their paintings were real. Bingo. Remnants from a geologic era when the forest was under water. If I could afford one of the paintings, it would be a landscape by Charles Daubigny. “Road Through the Forest” reveals Daubigny’s unmitigated proficiency at illustrating nature. Monet owned a Daubigny.

WORTHWHILE CONVERSATIONS

BETTING ON THE WRONG TEAM… DOES YOUR WEALTH MANAGER HAVE THE RIGHT PLAYERS?

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Linscomb & Williams is located at 1400 Post Oak Blvd., Ste. 1000 in Houston, TX For more information call 713 840 1000 or visit www.linscomb-williams.com. Linscomb & Williams does not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Linscomb & Williams is not an accounting firm. November + December 2021

| Mv |19

The

Interview with

matt Schaub

att Schaub is a former Pro Bowl quarterback for the Houston Texans and led the NFL in passing back in 2009. He played 17 seasons in the NFL and seven of those were in Houston. He played college football at the University of Virginia where he was 2002 ACC Player of the Year. Jake Asman: We waste no time as we introduce our next guest, former Texans Pro Bowl quarterback, Matt Schaub. Matt, it’s Jake, BK, and Cody, appreciate you making some time for us here on a Friday and hope all is well on your end. Matt Schaub: Hey, thanks for having me, guys. Glad to be here. Cody Stoots: David Kelley after a recent game was talking about the game and maybe they kept sort of the training wheels on, for lack of a better term, on Davis Mills a little bit longer than they should have as a quarterback. How frustrating it is at the QB spot, sometimes you’re like, let me go out there and sling this thing a little bit. Matt Schaub: Yeah, it’s definitely tough, I mean, you know, it’s also hard as a coach when you have to manage a situation where you have a guy who hasn’t played, and is fresh out of college. But at the same time, you’re a football player that’s played a lot of football so you’re not a stranger to throwing the football and going through progressions. OK, here’s my play: what are my coverage indicators and where the football can go? Take the snap. Okay, confirm those things and then make a decision. Is that number one or number two and get the ball out your hand on time. And all the while not keeping things within ten yards on a scrimmage, You’ve got to give them an opportunity just to loosen those things up and show you’re going to go and attack them. Brad Kellner: Matt, If I’m not mistaken, you had a total of two starts in your first three years in the league and you ended up having a really good career. Obviously, you look at a guy like Tom Brady who didn’t start right away. Hall of Fame career. Patrick Mahomes, maybe the best quarterback in football right now, didn’t start right away. In a perfect world, would you like your quarterback to rest, maybe sit and learn a little bit from the sideline before being thrust into the action? Matt Schaub: You know, that’s it, every situation is different, every player, every, you know, staff, everyone has their own philosophies and everyone needs to be treated somewhat differently. Are you coming into a team that has a top 10 defense, a top rushing offense view How is your team built? What’s around you? You know, how is your play caller, you know, taking care of you, but all at the same time, understanding you as a player, what your strengths are playing to those strengths, Peyton Manning wasn’t so lucky and fortu20 | Mv | November + December 2021

GAME

nate in his first year in the league. Look, what happens now? Sometimes it’s good to have those storms and you’re hardened and callous to those tough situations and that adversity. But not everyone can weather that storm who has that mental capacity and mental toughness to do that. Jake Asman: Matt, what do you remember about your first start? Because, of course, Davis Mills had to be thinking a lot of different things on three days’ notice that he was starting his first game. Matt Schaub: Yeah, it’s tough when things kind of happen that quickly. So having to get ready with minimal full speed reps for a young quarterback, It’s hard to translate over to game planning throughout the course of a week. You know what you’re working on, the game management side of it and situational football. And so to just get thrown in there. That can be a lot for a rookie quarterback. And you know, for

me, my first start, I got one at the end of my rookie year with the Falcons. We had secured our playoff seeding and so they rested Mike Vick and I was able to get a start against the New Orleans Saints that year. It didn’t go well. We lost the game, but it was something I learned from and I was able to grow from it. So I think that the important thing is to keep going and keep things in perspective and stay within yourself. Jake Asman: Matt, looking back to your career with the Texans, you were here seven years. You were a part of some really good Texans teams. What’s the thing that stands out the most? Matt Schaub: You know, I think all encompassing turning the Texans into a winner, you know? You know, winning the division championship for the first time back to back years in 11 and 12, you know, turning that organization from one that had been struggling into one that was to be reckoned with and was a force in the AFC South. And you know, that was something that

was a goal when I got there, you know, to turn into a playoff team, and win the division. We were able to do that. And, you know, that was something that you know, I always take pride in. Brad Kellner: Matt, you brought up Andre Johnson who was a big part of the 2011 team, the 2012 team and a lot of your career down here in Houston. Do you think he is a first ballot Hall of Famer? Jake Asman: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I don’t get a vote, unfortunately, but Dre definitely deserves it. And you know how those things work, sometimes with how long some guys wait. You know he’s going to get in, but he should be a sure fire first ballot. But you know, we’ll see how the voters, you know, vote. But one way or another, he’s going to get in. No question about it. Jake Asman: Do you have a favorite story from playing for Gary Kubiak? Matt Schaub: We saw the game through such a similar lens that we just, you know, we related really well to one

another. As you know one thing with Kube is his playbook from week to week was so large after having played for some other teams, you know, our game plans are probably twice as big with Gary But for me, just being a guy that was programmed to memorize the game plan, so Kube would come in and he would have a list of 20 questions that he wanted to know about from the quarterback. And he would go through every short yardage on third down and Red Zone Pass play. And you’d have to memorize the formation, give them the formation, give them your read, give them your coverage tips. You stressed but when that meeting was over it was such a relief like I could take a breath of fresh air and, OK, now we can just go play the damn game. So that was the hardest part of the week. Jake Asman: Certainly, you’re well appreciated by Texans fans and thanks again for coming on. Matt Schaub: Thanks for having me on, guys. Appreciate it.

May the Joy and Blessing of the Holiday Season . . . Be With You Throughout the Coming Year!!

Happy Holidays from Allegiance Title Memorial 10497 Town and Country Way | Suite 120 | Houston, TX 77024 281.747.7850 | www.allegiancetitle.com November + December 2021

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Financial

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

FOCUS

Did COVID Postpone Your Retirement?

our retirement picture is as unique as your fingerprint. With a variety of investment strategies, savings plans, and retirement planning methods, there are many ways to peel retirement’s onion. That variety can itself present challenges. Your retirement date is mostly your prerogative. But deciding when you’ll retire greatly affects how you will retire. If you decide to retire late, keep the following important financial considerations in mind while making your retirement plan.

Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)

by B. Craig Ivy, CFP®

Wealth Advisor, Linscomb & Williams

22 | Mv | November + December 2021

Pre-tax retirement accounts enable you to deduct new contributions every year, up to a certain limit. Accounts like Traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, and pretax 401(k)s give you the opportunity to potentially reduce your taxable income annually, while investing for the future. The time will eventually come, however, when the pre-tax accounts

must become after tax. This takes place through Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), starting in the year during which you turn 72. Accountholders are required to make an annual withdrawal which is calculated based on the balance of their accounts and which considers their ages. Since withdrawals from pretax retirement accounts are considered income by the IRS, RMDs are taxable events, and must continue until your pretax account balance is zero or you pass away. Until recently, you could not make additional contributions to your pre-tax IRA beyond age 70 1/2. Thanks to recent updates in the law, if you work past your RMD starting date (now age 72), you can continue contributing to your IRA.

If you don’t entirely need the funds from your RMD and want to save on taxes, you can direct the money from your RMD directly to a qualified charity. This is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) and is a non-taxable way to withdraw IRA funds that satisfies your RMD.

Estate Planning

Anyone with any assets they’d like to protect should have an estate plan. But if you believe you’ll be retiring later than usual or later than you once thought, you may need to go one step further. Folkswho retire later or prolong their work-life will potentially add to existing assets like retirement investments, bank accounts, land, valuables, and the like. In addition to accumulating more assets, situations and priorities change. Both retirees and non-retirees should check their estate plans regularly. component to save money and cover your needs. Social Security Regardless of when you sign up for Social Security is a major pillar of Medicare, Part A (which is hospital covmost retirees’ financial lives. While Soerage), it is free if you have a work history cial Security may not be your primary of at least 10 years. But Parts B through source of income during retirement, it’s a very valuable supplement to your other D can have premiums and copays, averaging around $135 and $30 for each, income vehicles. You can receive Social Security ben- respectively. Also, remember that higher efits as soon as you turn 62. But tak- earners will pay higher premiums. It’s ing your benefits early diminishes the important regardless to sign up for Part amount of your monthly payment. The A around your 65th birthday. If you’re retiring late, you can considlonger you wait to start taking your Soer delaying signing up for the more excial Security benefits, the more you’ll repensive parts of Medicare, perhaps only ceive on a monthly basis, up to age 70, enrolling in Part A. Receiving healthcare when increases stop. Retiring later can also increase your benefits from your employer or spoumonthly payment, as the Social Securi- sal benefits (if applicable) can add a big ty Administration compiles your high- boost to your healthcare savings. est-earning 35 years of covered wages Help from a (wages subject to Social Security tax) and Financial Advisor creates an average. If you make more for The added income from working can longer, your benefit can actually increase, be a big boost to your retirement plan. even if you’ve already begun receiving the But it’s extremely important that you payments. have your retirement planning in place,

Medicare

Retiring later may not change your healthcare priorities, but it may give you slightly more wiggle-room to be strategic with your coverage. All individuals become eligible for Medicare at age 65, but it’s important to look at each service

so the added income isn’t taken for granted. Working with a financial advisor to craft a comprehensive financial plan can help you maximize your existing assets, in addition to factoring in the additional income you’ll receive if you retire later in life.

Naturally, life has unknowns, and a fair share of twists and turns. Work with a financial advisor who can help you navigate the important elements of retirement, including estate planning, monthly budgeting, tax planning, and all the other pieces of your financial puzzle, regardless of what life throws at you. Combined with all of your retirement planning efforts, your advisor will work to make sure you live your best life in retirement. Retirement planning is our specialty at Linscomb & Williams. As a fee-only, fiduciary financial planning and investment management firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, our team has half a century of experience helping families with their retirement planning needs, so they live the retirement they want.

Linscomb &Williams does not provide legal, accounting, or tax advice. Linscomb & Williams is not an accounting firm. Linscomb & Williams is a Houstonbased wealth management firm established in 1971.

November + December 2021

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