4.28.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

4.28.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
Welcome to the Active Wealth Show with your host, Ford Stokes. Ford is a fiduciary and licensed financial advisor who places your needs first. He’ll help you protect and grow your wealth. The Active Wealth Show has grown because activators like you want to activate their retirement planning with sound tax efficient investing. And now your host, Ford Stokes.

Producer:
And welcome to the Active Wealth Show Activators. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. I’ve got Sam Davis, our executive producer, with us here today. Say hi to the folks, Sam.

Ford Stokes:
Welcome to the weekend activators. Very excited to have a special guest on this week’s Active Wealth Show. We’re going to have a lot of important information coming up in the back half of the show. So stick around and hope you’re having a good weekend.

Producer:
We’ve got Gus Morris, a very special guest with us. He is the author of Saturdays in the South. He’s also a veteran of 31 years as an SEC football official, which is in the Southeastern Conference, which is kind of a big deal around these parts. And Gus, just welcome to the show.

Gus Morris:
Well, I appreciate you having me on. Hope y’all doing well today.

Ford Stokes:
We are. And also, people can get your book and they can get more information at TheFootballBook.com. Is that right?

Gus Morris:
That’s correct. And it’s also available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Producer:
Yeah. So if you’re looking to get this great book that’s got all these kind of great stories over 31 years of Gus officiating in the Southeastern Conference, I would encourage you to check out Saturdays in the South on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. So, Gus, we just got we’re going to have two segments because we’re just so excited to talk to an SEC football official. I think that’s a pretty big deal for for us in this part of the world. How have you seen the sport of college football change during your lifetime, your career, both on and off the field?

Gus Morris:
Well, it’s changed in in so many ways. Just pulling one right off the top is, you know, every game today is on TV, some sort of platform. When I started, you may only have two games a week that are being broadcast. You know, the technology around the team areas, coaches used to carry, you know, corded headsets around with them and they would have a person that was responsible for trying to keep that untangled. And now all of that is wireless. You know, the speed and the size of the players has increased over the years. And. You know, just the the the the amount of information and the preparation that an official goes through now is so much more than when I started.

Producer:
Yeah, I’m sure it’s it’s incredible how you’ve got linebackers that are running for 340 and you’ve got defensive linemen that are running for five for six. It’s I mean, being a quarterback where everybody wants to just get to you with the ball is got to be a pretty daunting deal there. It’s got to be pretty scary. You know, most football fans, guys don’t really appreciate the challenge of officiating a game. I know I don’t. I you know, I always want to cheer for my team. What was the most difficult part of the job, in your opinion?

Gus Morris:
Probably meeting the expectations of my, uh, you know, my peers on the field. When I started, I was working with veteran officials and I felt confident about what I was going out to do. But I was really anxious about meeting those expectations of of the veterans that I was working with. Um, I was fortunate enough that I think I kept things in perspective and I did it really for, you know, something to something to do, something to stay active. Um, I went out there to do the very best job that I could do, but. There’s a there’s a tremendous amount of. Yeah. Again, preparation that goes into being able to go out during a game and execute properly. And then you go through the debriefing aspect of it after the game. But there’s, there’s just an awful lot that goes into it. And that’s one of the reasons that I wrote the book. I wanted to kind of pull back the curtains of what an actual, you know, power five official goes through what their life is like, what we do so that people will, you know, understand because the average fan has no idea, you know, where the officials come from, what they do, you know, outside of, you know, Saturday afternoons and what all is involved in, you know, just getting to a game site.

Producer:
No, I’m sure you said something very remarkable there. I’m going to let Sam jump in and ask the next question. But you said it was just something to do. That’s something else that you’re going to be sitting on a field making calls that make determinations on the outcome of a game. And there’s 90,000 if you’re sitting there in Neyland Stadium, there’s over 100,000 fans in the stadium or you’re in Tuscaloosa, there’s 90,000 fans. Sanford Stadium over in Athens, there’s 90,000 plus. In Auburn, there’s 87,000 plus. And Florida field in the swamp. It’s crazy amounts of fans as well. That’s something remarkable. Oh, I just I just wanted something to do. So I’m going to go ahead and be an SEC official. Holy cow. That is going on the next level there, Gus.

Gus Morris:
I mean, I understand what you’re saying, but, you know, if you look back on your playing days, no matter, you know, what you were doing, you know, once the game started, you know, all that kind of went away as far as the fans and the size of the stadium, because it really isn’t official. There’s so much stuff going on. You know, we’re we’re managing the game and, you know, something as simple as making sure you got the right teams, football in there how to, you know, execute a measurement so that you don’t, you know, mess it up on TV and, you know and then get noticed and, you know, doing something like that. But when I got out of college, I was, you know, playing softball and it was great and had a good time. And then I moved back to Atlanta to go to graduate school at Georgia Tech and started playing softball again. And it just was not enjoyable. So I got into officiating and it was, you know, seventh and eighth grade games and junior varsity games. And I really, really enjoyed it. I understood the game. I had a I struggled learning the rules. But once I kind of got a grip on that, I still enjoyed going out there and working with the other guys and being a part of something that was so much bigger than myself. But I kept that approach throughout my entire career where I wasn’t, you know, looking to move up to the NFL, I would have gone. I would have considered going if they had contacted me, sure. But I just had a I had a fabulous time. And having written this book as I was writing these stories and I started, you know, accumulating a pretty thick stack of papers, I would sit back and think to myself. You know, this is I’ve had a pretty good life as far as officiating.

Producer:
Well, it’s probably well earned, too. I mean, you’ve got to have some intestinal fortitude to be able to deal with that. I mean, we we deal with that, as, you know, as financial advisors who are always looking to protect people’s assets. And, you know, because it matters. I mean, we we have to protect their money because it’s their retirement and they can’t go back to work and we can’t we’ve got to do a great job at protecting and growing people’s assets at at active wealth. And also we try to educate people on the Active Wealth Show. It’s not, I guess not too dissimilar, but we’re not at the bottom of a field, you know, sitting there on a field at the bottom of 90,000 fans around us in that in that cavern that is, you know, it’s just a sea of humanity. It is remarkable. And your intestinal fortitude is something else that probably makes the book even more intriguing as well. Sam, I’m going to go ahead and let you ask the next question.

Producer:
Yeah, Guess we’ve got just a, you know, 2 or 3 minutes left in this first segment. We’re excited that you’re going to stick around for segment two of the show. We were talking before we got started here on the radio show today. You know, I grew up in the Midwest, in Kansas, where when you were talking football, you were talking the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL football at that time, the Saint Louis Rams or the Dallas Cowboys, maybe the Denver Broncos. But it was amazing to me when I moved to the South in 2017, how much college football is embedded into the culture down here, especially, you know, those fans that enjoy SEC football. So of all the great traditions in the Southeastern Conference, which one was your favorite to experience as an official?

Gus Morris:
Well, each school has their own unique traditions, no doubt. But there’s something about. Looking up at a perfectly blue sky without a cloud in it. And when they fly that eagle down at Auburn and he really soars, he doesn’t come right in on the bait and, you know, hit the field. But when he soars, it’s it’s really something to behold how well trained that animal is. But there’s other traditions as well. You know, when they used to at Florida when they had the the real Mr. two bits. Yeah. That was something that got people fired up when you know.

Producer:
I’ve been there. I’ve been there at that one. And it is remarkable to hear how loud just and how much noise he can make. He could make just by putting a hand up to one side of the stance. It was it is remarkable.

Gus Morris:
Yeah. You know, Texas A&M has a lot of tradition and was a great fit into the SEC when they joined. Um, but each school has their own, you know, really unique traditions that are that are very special. And that’s and that’s what makes part of the, you know, Southeastern Conference. That’s what makes the Southeastern Conference what it is.

Producer:
Yeah. You know, one of those traditions having lived lived in Atlanta and seeing also UGA and that tradition of UGA on the field and seeing him, you know, whether he’s going after an Auburn player or going after Bevo at a Sugar Bowl, you know, being that junkyard dog, it’s always pretty neat. It’s always funny to see a guy sitting on a bag of ice so he can get cool.

Gus Morris:
But also, Georgia, before the game starts, they have that bugle player and the southwest corner of the stadium. That’s that’s pretty inspiring as well. Yeah, I agree. Everybody in that stadium is turning and looking at that guy and he’s probably hoping he doesn’t, you know, miss a note while he’s up there, I’m sure.

Producer:
Yeah. We’ve got just a ton of Georgia fans who are listening, also Auburn fans as well. And and just throughout the whole Southeastern Conference, because Atlanta is kind of that Southeastern and the SEC and ACC melting pot here I think I think Atlanta adds like 200,000 people a year to the city just from graduations from across the south where people come back looking for jobs. Yeah, And we work with a lot of those people now at the end of their career. So we try to help protect and grow their wealth. Just make sure you go out and pick up that book Saturdays in the South at Barnes and Noble or on Amazon. We come back from the break. We’re going to have more from Gus Morris, the author of Saturdays in the South.

Producer:
And welcome back to the active well show activators. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Also, if you’ve got questions on how you can better protect and grow your wealth, I’d encourage you to check us out at ActiveWealth.com. You can click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner and we’re happy to work with you. We’ll give you a free portfolio analysis and a free financial plan to 95th birthday with absolutely no charge and at no cost to you because we want to help you make an informed financial decision and talking about, you know, making informed financial decisions, but also really just doing the next level thing in your career. We’ve got Gus Morris back with us here talking about his book Saturdays in the South. And it’s interesting, Gus, that you said, you know, I just needed something to do. So I’m going to go ahead and and be an SEC official. And you started started from like a lot of people’s careers. You started from the ground up working, you know, seventh and eighth grade football games all the way to the SEC. That is quite a climb, sir, during your 31 year career as an SEC official, I just got to ask you. Who are some of the most difficult coaches you dealt with? Who was who was your favorite? Any really crazy, tough stories, Any things that people may or may not know and things that might even be one story that might even be in the book. In your book, Saturdays in the South, that’s available on Barnes and Noble and on Amazon, just any of those coaches that were a little bit tougher. Any cool stories you could tell us? And also just at the end, just make sure you give us who your favorite coach was. Gus.

Gus Morris:
Well, so I do have some stories in the book about coaches. The as I finished my career, I totaled 102 coaches that I worked with, 102 head coaches in the SEC during my 31 year career. Now, that does include some interim head coaches, but that’s quite a list of of guys that I had the, you know, had a chance to work with.

Producer:
It shows that turnover is real in the SEC, the at the head coaching position.

Gus Morris:
Absolutely it’s real. And so, you know, at the beginning of my career, coaches would they would lean on you a little bit. They would try to intimidate you while you were out there and you would make a call and, you know, you’d hear from the coaches that, you know, if you make another call like that, you’re never going to work another game here and that sort of thing. And. Because at the end, in the beginning of my career, coaches had input on your on your ranking. Now, I’m told that they don’t and I don’t think they do, but. So after I got a little more comfortable and got some years under my belt, you know, Coach would say something similar to that again and you wouldn’t say it to them, but you would think to yourself, you know, if you don’t start winning, you’re not going to be coaching here much longer. Right. Sure. But I had the opportunity to work with some really, really good coaches and interesting coaches, just not in any particular order. But you know how Mummy at Kentucky had had Mike Leach working for him and they were throwing the football around all over the place. Yeah.

Producer:
Crazy innovative for sure.

Gus Morris:
Just way ahead of their time and didn’t have a whole lot of talent up there compared to the rest of the league, but they were making a lot of noise and winning some games and beating some teams that they probably should not have beaten. Um, probably my favorite coach throughout my career was Les Miles down at LSU. He was just a really interesting guy. He was he was very approachable. He was. He was really humble. And he treated you. He knew the difficult situation that we were in. And even if a call went against him, he treated with, you know, treated you with a lot of respect. Um, there was a coach down probably the, the most difficult coach that I worked with was, I think it was at Florida International Carl Pelini. It was Bo Pelini, his brother. Uh, he, he got the best of me at Alabama. One day. He he distracted me right before a snap, and I missed a false start. And and he took great pride in doing that. And I gave him credit for it. But after that, I just shut him down and didn’t have any more interaction with him the rest of the game. But he’s the one coach that did that did pull me off my game one time. Um.

Producer:
Well, one time in 31 years isn’t too bad, guys.

Gus Morris:
Well, made some other bad calls, don’t get me wrong. But, I mean, as far as that, I mean, I will. I will always remember that I just let him get to me. And I shouldn’t have. I should not have done that. But the one thing that I will say about working with these coaches, these guys are at the at the top of their profession and they are so good at what they do. Um, I was an official that, you know, that went into the team area during timeouts. I wasn’t intimidated by the coaches. I’d go in and, you know, go get water or something like that. And to be able to watch these guys do what they do. Um, I learned a tremendous amount from them dealing with, you know, that I could use in my own businesses. And I got paid to do it while I was out there learning from them.

Producer:
Well, that’s, that’s kind of comes to the profit from being in the arena, I guess. I mean, you deserve it because that is you almost deserve combat pay. I mean, that is that is quite the arena to be officiating in, in my opinion.

Gus Morris:
I’ve been out there in some in some in heat and driving rain and sleet and everything in between. And, you know, but then you have those perfect days where it’s 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.

Producer:
Right. Gus, we’ve still got, you know, as of now, like four months until football season gets going again. So I think people should definitely head over to the football. Book.com I’m excited to dive into this to kind of hold me over during the dog days of summer, get some college football stories. You know, what’s a story maybe you have about, you know, possibly getting injured on the field during a game? Well, I.

Gus Morris:
Took five big shots during my career. The first one was down at LSU. I don’t know what his name is, but it was number 55. And he hit me in the chest with the top of his helmet like a missile. And and I went down, but I gathered myself up. I was a lot younger back then, so I could I could I was a little more resilient, but I took a hit. And in 2013, when Vanderbilt was playing at South Carolina and I got caught on the sideline. The chain crew guy who was supposed to put the equipment down and get out of the way didn’t and the defensive back for Vanderbilt stepped right on top of my right foot and buried the cleats into the ground and I couldn’t move. And they hit me. They started hitting me at about my waist and it went up towards my chest. And the first thing, you know, that really hit was the back of my head. And and I was done. I remember coming to a few minutes later, didn’t really know where I was. They they carted me off the field. But South Carolina really, really took care of me. They they they stayed with me all night. But it took me about nine months to get over that hit. Oh, my gosh. I told myself that if I ever, you know, if I’d ever taken another hit like that, I was done. I you know, I just don’t think that the human body can, you know, take too many.

Producer:
When they have armor on and you don’t. It’s a problem. Yeah.

Gus Morris:
Yeah.

Producer:
Especially when they’re.

Gus Morris:
Crazy. That’s really the last thing I remember is, you know, this is going to be bad. Yeah. And then, you know, so anyway, it was, you know, you do and, but, but officiating has kind of changed, too. We used to work out on the field in close proximity to the players and we did a lot of movement. We’d move downfield on the, you know, right at the snap and stuff. And now the officials are, you know, on the sidelines. They’re not moving as much. So they let things, you know, develop and then they they kind of chase the play. We were we were more involved in the play, you know, as far as the, you know, runner going downfield and that sort of thing. So so they’ve they’ve changed. And and again, it’s a result of the players, you know, getting bigger and faster.

Producer:
Yeah, that makes sense. You talk about, you know, getting taken care of by the South Carolina folks. When you got after that hit, you also had an interesting story that you shared with us before we started talking here today. But what the student managers did at Georgia and also what what the sons of the coaches at Georgia did to take care of you. I thought that was a remarkable story. Also super smart as well. Can you just share a little bit about that experience? Yeah.

Speaker6:
So the official.

Gus Morris:
You know, during a break, the the team, the home teams are responsible for making sure the officials are taking care of that. We’re watered down that we need anything during a you know, during those breaks that occur during the game. And usually, you know, they’re student managers that do that. But at Georgia and they’ve been doing it for years and years, they actually have, you know, the sons of the coaches. And, you know, these little guys are some of them are, you know, seven, eight years old on up to about 12, I think is probably as old as they get. And they’ll congregate like on the just outside the team area. And when the when there’s a natural break in the game, a timeout or a team timeout or, you know, an injury or something like that, they’re like shot out of a cannon. They come running onto the field in all different directions and each each little guy has a particular official that they take care of throughout the entire game. So you get to, you know, kind of build a little relationship with these guys. And I enjoyed talking to them That first part of the game, they’d be intimidated by you. But if you drop down on a knee and you, you know, extended your hand and introduce yourself to them and, you know, ask them to have a girlfriend or something like that, you know, they would kind of loosen up. And it was a it was really a neat experience. And I give Georgia a lot of credit for doing that.

Producer:
I wish we had more time. Thank you so much for being on the active Well show. We wish you all the best with your book, Saturdays in the South. We encourage everybody to go get that book at Barnes and Noble or on Amazon. And Gus. Again, thanks for being with us here on the Active Wealth Show.

Gus Morris:
Well, thanks for inviting me and good luck to you and hope you guys have a great rest of the day.

Producer:
You bet. All the best. When we come back from the break, we’re going to talk more about how you can build a smart retirement plan right here on the Active Wealth Show.

Charlie Kirk:
Charlie Kirk here. If you’re concerned about your investments, rising taxes from the Biden administration, then I encourage you to listen to the Active Wealth Show hosted by my good friend Ford Stokes right here on AM 980. The answer. Listen to the Active Wealth Show Saturdays at noon and Sundays at 11 a.m. The Active Wealth Show right here on AM 980. The answer.

Producer:
Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, BCM, a registered investment advisor, not an actual client of active wealth management. Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Producer:
And welcome back. Activators, the Active Wealth Show. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis with me. Well, Sam, that was a great interview with Gus Morris. I applaud him on writing that book. And he’s got some really great stories in that book of Saturdays in the South. And I would encourage everybody to go ahead and try to get that book. You can visit TheFootballBook.com or you can go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and look for that Saturdays in the South from. Gus Morris is a 31 year veteran official in the SEC. Being a football official in the SEC, I can’t imagine something more stressful. But other than maybe being a neurosurgeon or a heart surgeon or something like that or an orthopedic surgeon, but I just got to tell you, it was intriguing to talk to one of those people. I’ve actually never gotten the chance to sit down and and spend extra time with a football official from the SEC. I thought Gus represented the species quite well.

Producer:
Absolutely. Great stories shared. If you missed the first part of the show, check it out on the podcast feed. Just go wherever you listen to podcasts, search the Active Wealth Show or you can just head on over to ActiveWealthShow.com and Ford. Let’s go ahead and get this week’s show going here on the financial side with the financial wisdom quote of the week.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It’s time for the quote of the week.

Producer:
This week’s quote comes to us from Milton Friedman. And Milton Friedman once said, Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as they spend their own.

Producer:
Amen. And I think that’s what we’re seeing right now with Congress and with all the Democrats trying to tax and spend. And they’re spending your money and they’re they’re they’re coming after your money. And we’ve got to do everything we can to vote with our wallets and our retirement in mind. Everything will be on the up and up. And, you know, one person, one vote. That’s what I hope and pray for. But we’ve got to vote. We can’t be disillusioned and not vote because that’s what happens in socialist and communist countries. We’ve got to vote with our conscience and we’ve got to make sure that we’re protecting those retirees and protect ourselves as pre-retirees and retirees, because. Absolutely, Milton Friedman’s right. Absolutely nobody spends money, spends somebody else’s money as carefully as they spend their own. You know, I know when I was a kid growing up, you know, I would get 20 bucks from my dad and I would go out and spend it on a movie and popcorn and all that stuff. But when it came to my money that I was earning when I was doing demo work at a building downtown in Atlanta at ten Park Place South, right there next to Georgia State, I got to tell you, that money was precious to me and it stayed in the bank.

Producer:
And I would absolutely encourage each one of us to make sure we’re doing a great job at protecting and growing our assets. Again, we’ve talked about it last week. Don’t put more than $250,000 in any any bank as a family, as a household, not just individually and don’t split it up with with spouses. You’ve got to do a really good job at that piece for sure. On the rest of the show, we’re going to talk about. We’re going to give you more information on the lost decade. And we’re also going to. And talk about should you keep trying to time the market or not. So a lot of people with this market unrest, they’ve been trying to consider time in the market as well. And that can be a difficult situation. So more information on the lost decade and how it devastated millions of Americans in their retirement plans. The term lost decade is often used to refer to the period of time between January 1st, 2000 and December 31st, 2009, during which the stock market experienced a significant downturn. Here are some stats on that period. The S&P 500, which is an index of 500 large cap stocks, had a negative return of 9.1% over the course of the decade.

Producer:
And here’s how the commonly held index performed year over year. 2000, it lost 9.1%. 2001, it lost 11.1%. 2002, it lost 22.1%. 2003 it gained back 28.7. In zero four. It came back 10.9. In zero five it came back 4.9. In zero six, it came back 15.8. In zero seven it came back 5.5. That’s five years in a row of growth. And then in 2008, it lost 37%. And in 2009 it came back 26%. And that overall return for the S&P 500 again, was a -9.1%. And we really want to help our clients what is called the sequence of return risk, just like we’re talking about here. Einstein once called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. But it’s important to remember that compound interest can work both for you and against you. Please consider scheduling a consultation with us. It’s absolutely free at no cost to you and where we can help you implement a plan that allows you to capture stock market like gains without stock market risk. And you can visit ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule consultation button in the upper right corner.

Producer:
Yeah Ford I think another great way to think about sequence of returns risk is you know let’s say I gave you the listener $1,000 and you invested that thousand dollars in a stock and that stock lost 10%. Well, you’re now going to be at $900. But the next year the stock comes back and gains 10%. Well, most people would say, well, I’m back to 1000, I’m back there, but it’s only 10% of 900. So you’re actually at 990. So I think that’s very true. Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world, like Einstein said. But it’s important to keep in mind that, you know, it works great when it’s going up, but it’s not too good when it’s going down.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And also, just for all our listeners out there, we provide these comprehensive consultations at no cost to our listeners because we want to help you make an informed financial decision. You only work with us if it’s best for you. We will discover exactly how much you’re paying in fees and help you cut unnecessary costs in your IRA 401, K or any other retirement savings accounts. We can also help you with Social Security planning and your Medicare planning. We’ll compare your current situation to what’s possible if you work with us. Remember, it’s your money. If it matters to you, then it matters to us. And let me ask you, have you recently changed jobs or have you recently retired? If you have questions about what you should do with those old retirement accounts that you’ve left behind. Number one is I would tell you to go ahead and get control of those assets. Get those into your own IRA account. Don’t leave them with an old 401. K where they’re just sitting there with limited investment options and limited options to be able to rebalance and reallocate your portfolio. I would encourage you to consider investing in some smart risk and smart, safe investments, smart risk being a managed portfolio. Also that’s implemented with ETFs. You want to try to keep the fees down, so you want to try to avoid mutual funds if you can, so you can avoid those share fees and see share fees.

Producer:
And also what’s called 12 be one fees, which are marketing fees that mutual funds have been allowed to charge since 1940 and since the Investment Act of 1940. And what we typically see is those those mutual funds are taking those marketing fees and they’re putting it into their pocket. They don’t spend a whole lot of money on advertising. You know, on golf tournaments and thing like that. You don’t see them on billboards or even you don’t see mutual funds, even advertising on this radio show. So I would encourage you to try to minimize your mutual funds in your portfolio as well. Invest in exchange traded funds. You can get the same diversification. You can also trade those funds intra day within the trading day. And we can help you do that. We do. We implement managed portfolios, we utilize exchange traded funds to implement a lot of our portfolios. We try to minimize any mutual funds that are in our portfolios. And we do everything we can to minimize the fees and also try to manage and minimize the risks that our clients have to take. And that’s kind of with the smart risk side, you’re not going be able to eliminate market risk when you’re investing in the market for sure.

Producer:
But when you want to invest in smart, safe investments like life insurance, where you can get tax free income, if you set that up properly or if you’re investing in fixed indexed annuities that can give you tax deferred growth and income later. But that wouldn’t be tax free income more than likely, unless you’re investing Roth IRA funds into a fixed indexed annuity. And by the way, you can do that. A lot of people didn’t don’t realize that. And it’s also interesting to note that a lot of people are taking advantage of smart, safe investments where they’re even concerned about depositing money in their checking accounts right now. Because what’s happened with Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank in the marketplace in the last two months. Believe it or not, annuities are being bought at a record pace. And when we come back from the break, we’ve got an update on that popular defensive investment. But we’re going to spend most of the time talking about. Should you really be trying to time the market or not? And what are the benefits of actually investing? Into a dollar cost averaging environment, even if you’ve got bad timing. I would encourage you to consistently invest in the markets to get your money working as hard as you do, and we will go from there.

Charlie Kirk:
Even with inflation, eating at home is often cheaper than dining out. I’m Matt McClure with the retirement radio network Powered by Amira Life. Food costs are up for everyone these days and when you get sticker shock at the grocery store, you may be tempted to consider dining out more often. But think again. Prices are up at restaurants too. Chef David Burke recently told CNBC some of the reasons why not.

David Burke:
Changing the menu Not one menu, but printing menus every day. Paper goods are through the roof to gloves that we wear in the kitchen are through the roof, so there’s a lot of deep fryer oil. The oil that goes into the deep fryers, which we don’t really look at, we always look at the protein prices that all of those little all of those ancillary things are through the roof with pricing.

Charlie Kirk:
Energy costs are also having an impact on restaurants. Not only have they driven up the price of shipping food from producers, but gas prices are driving up labor costs as well. Burke said employees who live farther away from restaurants are asking for pay increases to offset the increased cost of driving in every day. So cooking at home will still be cheaper than dining out. In most cases. Many large and local grocery stores offer discounts for seniors, but if you’re not able to drive, you can also order groceries online and have them delivered directly to you. If you do decide to dine out, say, for a special occasion, try to find a restaurant that offers senior discounts. So have you thought about cutting back on dining out? It’s a key question to consider, and it’s one of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 with the retirement radio network powered by AmeriLife. I’m Matt McClure.

Producer:
Welcome back. Activators Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor, got Sam Davis, our executive producer here with us. This is segment four. It’s our last segment on this show. And we’re going to try to pack a lot in here. Sam, go ahead and read that information. We were talking about how annuities are being bought at a record pace and we had an update. I think you’ve got an update on that popular defensive investment.

Producer:
Yeah, just a quick update. Annuity sales did hit a record in 2022. Some recent data has been compiled and it shows that demand for annuities has been rising amid concerns of the US economy as well as the possibility of a recession. Annuity sales hit an all time high in 2022, according to Limra, an insurance industry trade group and early forecast show another record breaking first quarter for 2023. So annuities have also been benefiting, benefiting from higher interest rates. Those generally translate to insurers being able to pay a better return on investment. And if you have any questions, Ford, how can they get in touch?

Producer:
All I do is visit ActiveWealth.com or even active wealth. Show.com, there’s a schedule, a consultation button on both websites in the upper right corner and all you’ve got to do is click schedule a consultation with us and you’ll get booked directly into my calendar. We’re happy to help you. So we’re talking about some big takeaways here also from a revealing financial survey that nationwide. That’s right. The folks that are on your side nationwide is on your side. They also have one of the top performing products out there. And we’re fortunate to have access to that product. It’s the nationwide peak ten, and they did an annual advisor authority survey and the results are in. And I wanted to read a little bit from that, Sam. Nearly 4 in 10 investors, 39%, believe that the US is already in a financial crisis and 3 in 10 believe the US is approaching one right now. Two thirds or 65% of Gen X and almost half of the baby boomers, 48% expect to live through at least two more financial crises in their lifetimes across all generations. One thing is clear it helps to have a plan. Nearly 9 in 10 or 88% of investors feel more confident that they can make the right investment decisions even during extreme financial crises, by having a plan for their investments. Investors with an advisor feel less nervous 31% versus 46% and more confident 40% versus 26% than those without an advisor in their ability to protect their finances in the event of another financial crisis after living through prior episodes.

Producer:
And again, we’re here to help you when you’re dealing with any. Situation regarding your investments or retirement or you’re trying to determine. Your retirement income. We can actually run a retirement income gap analysis to determine whether you’re going to have a positive income surplus as your starting retirement or nearing retirement or you’re in retirement, or do you have a negative income gap? And what’s going to happen if you have a negative income gap? It’s going to widen over time as inflation continues to increase. Now, we’ve been promising this. We’ve been promising this all show. We’re going to talk about timing the market. Here’s why Planning and investing now could be the best option for long term returns. If you look at the two decade period from 2001 to 2020. Here are the final results of a $2,000 annual investment for retirement under different scenarios. Timing isn’t everything is the title. This becomes the source of this at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. Let me walk you through. If you invested $2,000 annually in an S&P 500 portfolio from 2001 to 2020, and again, the source for this is the Schwab Center for Financial Research. If you just stayed in cash, you would have 44,438. That would include, I guess, bank CD growth money. If you had just bad timing. You would have 121,171. So let’s say you invested in the market, went down 10% or something. Shortly after you invested your money, you still would have 121,171.

Producer:
Verses. Only 44,000 of you stayed in cash. That is a significant difference that you need to consider and watch this whole staying in cash thing. Now, if you implement a dollar cost averaging. Were you invested? A little bit each month. You would have 134,856, which is far superior than the 44,488 if you stayed in cash. If you invested all of your $2,000 immediately at the beginning of the year, each year, you would have had 135,471, which tells me you’re better off just getting money in the market. And then if you had perfect timing where you timed the investments perfectly right after a dip and right on the on the beginning of a rise, you would have had 151,381, which is only like. Less than $17,000 difference if you just implement a dollar cost averaging and invested a little bit every month. So the key to this is to go ahead and invest and to stay invested and be invested. I just thought this was a really interesting exercise that Schwab went through, that the Schwab Center for Financial Research did. I thought it was really important. We’re sharing with our clients this week, and we wanted to share it with you, our prospects and our listeners and just say, Hey, we’re here to help you any way that we can. But specifically, you want to get invested and you can do things like implementing tactical asset allocation with your at risk money to minimize the fees and hopefully diversify your risk.

Producer:
And again, you cannot diversify financial risk away when you’re invested in in the financial markets because you’ve got systematic risk, which is the overall market and unsystematic risk, which is individual companies and individual individual stocks. So. Again, I would just say get invested, stay invested and continue to build on that investment. And again, your wealth, the greatest generator of your wealth is your personal income. And so you really need to take. 1,520% of your income and pay yourself first. Put money aside first. Put money in that 401. K. Put money in that IRA. But also, if you’ve got old orphan 401 K’s out there that you haven’t done anything with and you can’t contribute to those anymore, that’s another big point. You need to get it into your IRA so you can continue to invest $7000 or $7500 starting in 2023 into your portfolio, and we’re happy to help you do that. Again. I would encourage you to visit ActiveWealth.com or ActiveWealthShow.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. We’re happy to work with you. You can also reach us at (770) 685-1777. If you listen to our show for a long time, I’d encourage you to go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Diana and Deborah and their team are standing by to take your call and you’ll get to talk directly to me and you’ll get to work directly with me. It’s the final.

Producer:
Countdown. So let’s recap what you may have missed. It’s the final..

Producer:
So on today’s show, we had Gus Morris, the author of Saturdays in the South that’s available on Barnes and Noble and Amazon. On our show. And he is a 31 year veteran, Southeastern Conference official football official. Man, that is some job and he’s got some serious stories to tell. And what I thought was great, we did a bonus segment and if you want to get this bonus interview segment, I would encourage you to visit active wealth. Show.com we talked about emotional intelligence because he clearly has that and I encourage all of our listeners to try to have emotional intelligence when they are considering about investing and also investing for their retirement and protecting for their retirement. We also talked about. You know, in this segment, our timing’s not everything. And you really need to get invested and stay invested. We also covered how more annuities are being bought than ever before because people are looking for that safe harbor, that 100% financial reserve product out there. And we talked about some of the concerns that folks had from the Nationwide Financial survey. I thought that was really interesting, that people are really concerned and feel like there’s more financial crises looming in the future and that they’re trying to do everything they can to protect their future by investing in smart risk and smart, safe solutions as well. And we talked about what to do if you recently changed jobs. You don’t want to leave that money in that Orphan 401. K You want to try to get out there and do something a little different for sure. And we also discussed that lost decade from 2000 to the end of 2009, where it was a 9.1% loss in the S&P 500 net over an entire decade.

Producer:
And to expand on that, from January 1st, 2001, all the way through December 31st, 2013, even. There were zero growth in the S&P 500 over that time period. And. The S&P 500 is a basket of 500 of the highest cap stocks out there on the US financial markets. And to be able to go 13 years without any growth or to have a -9.1% growth over the lost decade from 2002 through 2009, That is a significant concern. I mean, if you go 13 years over a 30 year retirement where you haven’t made any money over those 13 years, that’s 43% of your retirement that you’re not getting any growth in. How would that make you feel? Whereas if you would have been invested in a fixed indexed annuity, you would have had growth over those years and you would have had the 2008, 2001, 2002 and 2003, you would have been protected against those losses in those years. So thanks so much for listening to the Active Wealth Show. When we come back next week, we’re going to talk more in depth. We’re going to go all the way into all the elements of a smart retirement financial plan. Have a great week, everybody. Remember, if you’re planning for retirement, if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly, be as aggressive as you can, give as much information as you can and hope everybody has a great week this week.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show. You deserve to work with a private wealth management firm that will strategically work to protect your hard earned assets. To schedule your free consultation, call your Chief Financial Advisor, Ford Stokes at (770) 685-1777 or visit ActiveWealth.com. Investment Advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC BCM A registered Investment Advisor. Bcm and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Charlie Kirk:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

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