Important Changes that Will Impact Retirees

7.25.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Speaker1:
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.

Speaker2:
Welcome to Retirement Results, the national radio show and podcast for listeners like you who want to protect and grow their hard earned money. In a world filled with so much uncertainty and financial risk, we seek to cut through the noise and build successful plans for hardworking Americans on their road to financial freedom. Retirement results is powered by Active Wealth Management, a team of fiduciary advisors who always place your needs first and now your host. He's a registered social security analyst, member of the Forbes Finance Council, an author of multiple books on retirement planning. Here is your chief financial advisor? Ford Stokes.

Speaker3:
Welcome to retirement. Results. Result. Drivers on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us on the mic. He's our co-host and senior financial advisor. Say hello to everybody, Sam. Welcome to the week end result, drivers.

Speaker4:
Thank you once again for tuning in wherever you're listening, whether it be on the radio on Am 920 the answer or on one. Up and around the lake or even on the podcast feed. Thanks for listening. And Ford, we've done a lot of these episodes together. By my count, we've done almost 250, if not more, with all of our extra episodes, and we've got another one coming up for all the listeners today. But before we get into the retirement material, you have a very special member of your family you want to recognize.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So Herb and Roll Priest, my father in law. He was a junior, too, by the way. So Herb Monroe, priest junior, um, died peacefully on July 23rd, 2025 at the age of 82, surrounded by his loving family. Which is great stuff. Um, it was really tough. We're going to miss him for sure. His father in law's go, he was absolutely awesome, did a great job. He he took care of our girls. They he and his wife Janice, we we called him Papa, by the way. He and Janice took them to Disney Cruises. Um, spent lots of time with them. It wasn't one cool thing that he did when I was able to get my first elk. Um, with a bow, they shipped the the elk head to me in a really huge plywood box. It was like, all zipped together with, um, with drywall screws and and carpenter screws and deck screws and stuff. And it was this, this box was huge. And he said, hey, can I, can I have that box? I was like, sure, for sure. And he went and he cut windows in it and a door in it. And our girls were like two years old at the time. And he created basically a split level kitchen with a kitchen and then carpeted it.

Speaker3:
And then it kind of stepped down into like, almost like a living room or a breakfast area, kind of a deal. And he put on all the appliances in there and it was really cool. They put it on the on their deck, on their porch that overlooks Town Creek and Shoal Creek over in Ball Ground, Georgia. They have like the one of the last soil disturbance permits, um, within 50ft of a major creek that was ever given in the state of Georgia. So it's like rushing water. Really cool stuff. That's where they got to play a house and all that stuff with their American Girl dolls. Anyway, he did a fantastic job on that. Just one of those big memories for me. But Diana's cousin, Jennifer Kellogg Kelly, she did a great job on his obituary, and I just want to read a little bit of it. So one really cool thing is herb went to, um, he was a standout, uh, baseball player, football player, all that stuff at Cherokee High School here locally in the Atlanta area. But he also attended North Georgia College, where he played baseball, excuse me, and was a proud member of the ROTC.

Speaker3:
But he was a talented left handed pitcher. And he was recruited, um, to play Major League Baseball as well. But in defining moment of his athletic career, he pitched a game in which North Georgia beat the University of Tennessee, marking the school's first ever win against an SEC team, which is really cool. I thought that was really neat. Um, professionally, he he was he joined the family business. He was he was the owner proprietor of Freestone Furnishings in downtown Woodstock. He he kind of helped start the Woodstock Merchants Association, was the first president of that association as well. And in 2012, a pedestrian crossing over the railroad tracks down there in downtown Woodstock was named in his honor. They call it Herb Crossing, but he was an awesome, awesome grandfather, so her was just an awesome grandfather. They took the girls fishing a bunch in the pond right next next door to their their property at Ed and saying they're my father's property and caught a huge brim and stuff. The girls thought that fishing was easy because I heard pretty funny stuff. So I just want to take a few minutes here and recognize her and, um, her. We're going to miss you. We really are.

Speaker4:
Well, for thank you for sharing that story. It sounds like he was just an incredible guy. Awesome father in law. Um, those relationships mean so much to us. And, you know, we work with so many seniors and people who get into retirement and eventually pass through that chapter of life. And I think it's really special to be able to to honor your father in law and your your daughter's grandfather in that way. Um, we'll get on to the rest of the show. We've got a lot of great information. We've been talking the last few weeks about the one big Beautiful Bill act and how some of those changes may affect you as a retiree. So we're going to give you a bit of a market update. We're going to talk a little bit about how the new one Big Beautiful Bill act could affect your bottom line and also give you some tips and strategies on how to plan for more income in retirement. We can actually help you forecast your future income, which is something that we find a lot of people really appreciate, that they can actually start to see some of their retirement results in advance, and that's why we named our show Retirement Results. But before we get into all of that, we've got a few minutes left in this first segment. Let's share our financial wisdom. Quote of the week.

Speaker5:
And now for some wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker4:
And this week's quote comes to us from motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar. And Zig Ziglar once said, if you're not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you're determined to learn. No one can stop you. And I think this is a great quote for our show forward. We try to give people all the information that we can so that people can truly understand their money better than ever before, if not for the very first time. And so one more time, if you're not willing to learn, no one can help you. But if you're determined to learn, no one can stop you.

Speaker3:
Amen. I think it's a big deal. Um, if you can just learn it, one of the things that Warren Buffett talks about, the greatest investment is actually in yourself, in your own professional growth. Um, that's the one thing that you know that you can bank on. And so I would encourage you to do the same thing. That's also true if you're trying to plan for retirement planning, you ought to invest in yourself and make sure that you're seeking as much information as possible at the end of every show. We say, hey, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Be as aggressive as you can about seeking information so you can invest and retire successfully. We want to help, you know, build that tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio. Um, for you and also say, I'm just thanks for giving me a little bit of respite so I could kind of recover there. But, um, you know, I also think it's important for people to understand kind of what's been going on here in July. And so why don't you go out and share the market update for this week? Yeah.

Speaker4:
So we've wrapped up the second quarter of the year, and a busy Q2 earnings calendar saw 12% of the S&P 500 actually report their earnings. Earnings from several large banks came in larger than expected. But despite better results, many of the banks sold off after earnings announcements. Uh, this may be an indication of what to expect the rest of earnings season, given extraordinary moves that we've seen in the equity markets. One important note in the coming week and we are recording this this week. You're hearing this the weekend of July 26th and 27th in the coming week. 112 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to announce earnings results. So keep a look on the markets in the next coming weeks. Also, we know that trade negotiations are continuing. Few deals have actually been announced. The EU is preparing retaliatory tariffs in response to President Donald Trump's announcement of a 30% tariff on a broad basket of European goods.

Speaker3:
One thing to just jump in, it was really great to see them get a deal done. Um, this week in the middle of the week with Japan with $550 billion, it was it was pretty remarkable. I think they're going to settle in at 15% tariff rate. Um, that allows the Japanese to really still compete and actually put their, their goods out there, but they're going to have to open up their markets as well. To our goods, which I think is really helpful.

Speaker4:
Yeah. So the ongoing trading landscape, you know, just regarding global trade, is something to keep an eye on throughout, uh, Trump's second term. Also, the Federal Reserve's independence remains a key talking point for Wall Street. President Trump continues to suggest he may fire Chairman Jerome Powell. The president continues to insist that the fed should also be cutting rates. As of now, the odds of a July rate cut are under 5%. Suggestions that Powell has mismanaged the renovation of the Federal Reserve's building have been growing so much that Powell recently penned a letter to the president. So a little bit of up in the air. Therefore, as far as what's going to happen with interest rates and Chairman Jerome Powell, um, taking a look at, you know, just how things are going for the year so far, the S&P 500 year to date is up a little bit more than 8.6%.

Speaker3:
Yeah. And if you've got questions about what you want to do with your portfolio, let's say you're thinking about retiring or recently retired or you've been retired a long time. I would encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results. Com you can, uh, click on the button that says, just, uh, book a consultation in the upper right corner and you can get booked directly into our calendar. We come back for the break. We're going to talk about how Roth conversions might be a little bit trickier under the new law, and what you need to know. You're listening to retirement results. You listen to us on Am 912 The Answer and WD.

Speaker2:
Call (770) 685-1777 to schedule your free, no obligation meeting with us today. You're listening to retirement results.

Speaker6:
Ain't got no regrets. I ain't losing track of which way I'm goin. I ain't gonna.

Speaker1:
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.

Speaker2:
Schedule your free no obligation consultation today by visiting retirement results. Now back to the show.

Speaker3:
Welcome back to retirement results for drivers on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us on the mic. He's our senior financial advisor and co-host. So we teased it right before the break. We said we were gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about it right now. Roth conversions are a little bit trickier under the new tax law. It's really good though that that is out there really good that we're getting $6,000 in tax credit for Social Security. But if you're trying to do Roth conversions, especially as a married couple filing jointly, and you're getting in over that $150,000 income mark, it can be a problem and you can make it where you're not going to get that tax break. So Roth conversions are taxes income. You're taking money from your IRA and moving it over into your Roth IRA. Their taxes, ordinary income. Many of the new tax breaks can be lost if taxpayers push their income up too high. With the extended tax cuts under President Donald Trump's recently passed tax and spending law. Roth conversions should be accelerated to take advantage of more years of low tax rates. You never want to leave a low tax bracket unfilled. Low tax brackets should be maximized each year, but how much you convert each year can be trickier. Many of the of the new tax breaks have income gaps.

Speaker3:
For instance, the new $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and older as individual filers is effective for this year, but it begins phasing out when the income exceeds $75,000 for individuals, or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly. Here's the deal on this. Let's say you're getting $40,000 in Social Security income into the household, and you're withdrawing, let's say, another $50,000 from your nest egg. And then. Okay, so we're at 90 grand. If you go and convert $80,000, you're going to be you're going to be over the income limit. If you've just done 60. You'd be right after the income limit of $150,000. If you want to get that $6,000 tax credit for your Social Security income, that will effectively eliminate the taxation on your Social Security, more than likely on that Social Security income benefit that's coming in. Then I would encourage you to consider doing a little bit of Roth ladder conversion a little bit at a time. You almost want to look at almost a keyhole type of strategy. So let's say you want to retire like 62 or 63. Maybe you wait to turn on Social Security from 63 all the way to 67 or 68, 867, being the full retirement age for people that are born after 1960, then you may want to consider doing the conversions during that time period. You're still going to drive up your Medicare surcharges with the Roth conversion, because they're going to count you in as at a higher ordinary income tax rate.

Speaker3:
But it's not as bad as giving up $12,000 coming into the into the into the family and into the household. So I would encourage you to try to do your Roth conversions earlier than when you're taking Social Security, like right before it, but after you work, you also have all the way until age 73 to kind of drip and and convert like 20, 30, 50, $75,000 if you need to. And this really works great for married couples. For individual filers, you're going to be cut in half. You're only going to be able to convert a very little amount because the income threshold is at 75,000. A lot of people don't know this. And we're going to give you the facts. We're huge supporters of Donald Trump. We're huge supporters of visit his administration in the Republican Party. At the same time, you need to be aware how Roth conversions are now kind of trickier under the new tax law. And if you've got questions about that and you want to figure out how can you get the Roth ladder conversions going, how can you delete the IRS and be your partner in retirement? I'd encourage you to give our office a call at (770) 685-1777 again (770) 685-1777, and we're happy to help you get started right away.

Speaker3:
You can also visit retirement results. Com forward slash plan. We've created a page for you that makes it really easy. Just put your name, email and phone. We'll give you a call and we'll get started right away. Uh, Diane and her team are standing by, um, on most weekends. Not this weekend, because, uh, the funeral for her, uh, priest junior. My my father in law will be on this Saturday, but I would encourage you to reach out to us on Monday at Say 51777 again (770) 685-1777. And we look forward to helping you. And we want to help protect and grow your hard earned wealth for your family. Just as my father in law did for his family. My my mother in law is well taken care of. They did a great job. And, um. And hopefully she'll live a lot, many, many years to come and be there for our girls and all of her great, all her grandkids and her great grandchildren. So we have we have three grand nieces, Sam, and we have one grand nephew. And so we're with our girls being 18, hopefully we're going to be pretty far away from being grandparents anytime soon, but we're really excited. Um, to be able to really enjoy, uh, our time with all of our grannies and nephews, too.

Speaker4:
Yeah, that's so special. I come from a big family as well, and I'll be going back for a family wedding in October, and I just know that I'm going to see a bunch of new faces, some of which I've never met before. It's so cool to see the families really spread out and start to grow their own family trees. But these are some important updates for on Roth conversions. And really with these changes with the One big Beautiful Bill act, it really just makes it all the more important to do some tax planning ahead of your actual retirement date. I mean, find out to what extent you are eligible to contribute to a Roth. Find out the best way to actually go through and do a Roth conversion. If it's going to be something that's right for you, because it is definitely a balancing act, you want to take advantage of some of the deductions that the new bill gives you, but you also want to be able to take advantage of some of those tax free investing opportunities. There just aren't that many ways that you can follow the US tax code and and take advantage with some tax free investing. The Roth is one of them. So we want to help people do that to whatever extent they're able. So we will keep all of our listeners updated as more information comes out. But if you're interested in starting to do some smart tax planning for your retirement, definitely go ahead and give us a call or visit our website. Retirement results.com. You can actually visit Retirement Results plan. You can submit your information. We'll get in touch with you. You'll meet directly with us. And we'll even right now we're sending out copies of for your new book, The Smart Retirement Plan Book. And there are some sections in there about tax planning. So if you're interested in that at all, definitely reach out to us. We love meeting with our listeners.

Speaker3:
Yeah, but we're happy to get on the Smart Retirement plan book out to you. Also, if you love audiobooks, you can go check out, um, the Smart Retirement Plan audiobook on Amazon and Audible. Um, and it's also there in Kindle, too, for those of you Kindle readers. Um, but we've also got a few more, summary changes that came from the big beautiful Bill. One is the big beautiful bill as roughly 0.3 to 0.8% of fiscal stimulus to the GDP growth for 2025 through 2028. One thing that I thought was really interesting, the law raised the debt limit by 5 trillion, which could delay the need to address the debt limit again until late 2026 or early 2027, so that all the games that the Democrats play regarding the debt limit, um, those things at least are going to be done. We don't have to deal with those for at least another year. And, uh, one of the other thing that I thought was really interesting was the estate and gift tax exemption permanently extends the increased estate tax and gift tax exemption amounts, with an increase in unified estate and gift tax exemption to an inflation adjusted 15 million for single filers and 30 million for married couples filing jointly, effective Of December 31st, 2025. So that's pretty helpful there. Um, and I the other big one is they've set aside $3,000 for unpaid caregivers that are caring for a loved one in the home. And that could be a great, uh, tax credit as well.

Speaker4:
Yeah, there's just a lot of details in there, particularly about taxes. It extends the current individual tax rates, including the 37% top ordinary income tax rate. Uh, we expect to see some of those thresholds change, but the brackets themselves should remain in place. And if anybody is interested on how the new one, big beautiful Bill may impact your retirement. Uh, Ford, you wrote a blog, uh, for active wealth and retirement results where they can learn a little bit more.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So you can check out that article on active wealth. Com forward slash blog or retirement results. Com forward slash blog. There's also just a blog button in the in the top navigation, and you can see all those different blog articles. We've got stuff in there about the, the the estate tax exemption. We've got stuff in there about the big beautiful bill and the different tax rates and what's going on there. And also obviously the the Social Security tax credit that's going on with 6000 per individual. And we've just got we've also got another article that just came out in brokered CDs versus bank CDs, how brokered CDs actually, um, offer a higher interest rate if you want to learn more about that. And we can also help you if you if you're a bank CD investor and you want to invest safely without financial market risk, uh, I would encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. What started right away to help you do that as well.

Speaker4:
And when we come back forward, we're going to talk about why you want a retirement plan that prioritizes income and puts income at the center of your retirement plan. All that and more when we come back. You're listening to retirement results on Am 920. The answer and WD win.

Speaker2:
Don't go away. Retirement results will be right back. To schedule your free no obligation consultation, visit Retirement results.com.

Speaker7:
You are going to see a crack in the bond market. Okay. It is going to happen. And I tell this to my regulator, some of you who are in this room, I'm telling you it's going to happen and you're going to panic. I'm not going to panic.

Speaker3:
Did you hear that? That was Jamie Dimon warning all of us about serious trouble ahead in the bond market. Hi, I'm Ford Stokes, president of active wealth management and host of the Retirement Results radio show. If you're holding bonds in your retirement portfolio, it's time to rethink your strategy. Our team at Active Wealth can help you replace those bonds, avoid market risk, and still get market like gains without risking your principal. You could get a bonus on your investment. Enjoy gains when the market grows. Generate lifetime income during retirement, all without bond market exposure. Visit Active Wealth right now to schedule a free consultation that's Active Wealth.

Speaker1:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor.

Speaker2:
Visit retirement results to schedule your free, no obligation consultation today. Now back to the show.

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor got Sam Davis here with us, our senior financial advisor and co-host. And Sam, this next segment we want to talk about why you want a retirement plan that prioritizes income.

Speaker4:
Yeah that's right. And you know it's it sounds simple, but you know you're earning income during your working years. You're getting paid. You know, every couple of weeks. Most of us out there get paid biweekly every two weeks. And you want that, if possible, to be what you experience in retirement as well. And in many cases it may change to getting paid once a month. But for what we like to do is actually help people establish multiple streams of income for their retirement and always encourage them to not just rely on Social Security. There's actually some other things you can do. You can self-fund your own pension. You can take advantage of some great participation rates in stock market indexes. So you can actually get some stock market like gains with that principle protection. So, you know, imagine that safety and protection that many people are looking for with things like bonds and bank CDs. But in this case you actually have a 100% reserve requirement product that's also allowing you to participate in the gains of an underlying index. But, you know, a lot of people out there are in bonds for when we do a portfolio analysis. A lot of times we see people have 20, 30, 40% of their portfolio in bonds, and you do want income, but we know that there are better solutions out there.

Speaker3:
Yeah, it's it's interesting. A lot of people are getting income from two primary ways these days that are not as not as educated or are not as enlightened, I should say. So number one is they're they're just going to their bank. They're getting bank CDs, and they don't realize that the FDIC reserve is 4 to 10% and a lot of it during Covid. The Federal Reserve requirement, the Federal Reserve requirement even was further relaxed during that time period, and it hasn't really returned since. At best case, if you're investing in a bank CD, you're looking at a 10% financial reserve product. So if you give them 100 grand, they've got $10,000 in deposits that they're going to, that they're actually going to do the finance reserve on and 90% else they're going to loan out the rest. To me, I'm not as comfortable, especially with what happened with Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley Bank last year and a few others. I'd rather see us do something different. The next one that everybody's in is bonds, because, you know, Harry Markowitz was the founder of of modern portfolio theory. He published a paper in 1952 called Modern Portfolio Theory that basically says, hey, if you invest in stocks and bonds, 60% stocks, 40% bonds all in the same markets, you'll get an efficient investment frontier. And that's a lot of the wire houses still operate.

Speaker3:
The problem with that is with bonds. You've got interest rate risk and reinvestment risk that you talked about. And you know, if you held bonds in 2019 and you didn't sell them in 2020, 2021, 2022, the market value of those bonds eroded tremendously because as the interest rates went up, the value of the bond you held went down the market value. Now you could get paid out. Don't get me wrong. You could get paid out. But it is a huge problem and an issue that interest rates could really affect it. So it's really tough for you to go and trade those bonds and then go get into equities or even withdraw money on that stuff. Now if you're just taking income, great. You can do that with bonds. But why take the interest rate risk? I don't understand why people do it. So a fixed indexed annuity in my opinion, is a far superior product to bonds and also to bank CDs for a lot of reasons. Number one is a 100% financial reserve product. And with bank CDs it's a 10% financial reserve product with bonds. There's interest rate risk. As we talked about with fixed index, there's not interest rate risk. You can also get market like gains without market risk. Let me ask you as a listener out there, would you like to get 75% of how the Invesco QK performs, which is one of the highest flying indexes over the last 10 to 15 years? That has a lot of Nasdaq 100 stocks in it.

Speaker3:
Would you like to get 75% of how that index performs with zero downside market risk. I bet you would. Well, we have a product that that offers that with a fixed indexed annuity. All you got to do is reach out to us at retirement results. Com. We're happy to help you get get going there. You can also go to retirement results. Com forward slash plan. Put your information in. We'll give you a call and get started right away. It is a bigger deal to really get to income as well. So if you can plan for your income you're going to win in retirement. If your income every single month outpaces your expenses every single month, you're going to enjoy retirement a lot more than hand-wringing and going, oh gosh, we need to take money out this month to be able to pay the bills. I don't know if we're going to make it. You also need to stay within that 4% withdrawal rate on the rest of your assets. But if you can do all of that, you can literally retire without a lot of stress and you can really enjoy retirement.

Speaker4:
Yeah, and that's what I was just thinking for it. It really simplifies your retirement plan when you build it around, how much income do I generate each month to cover my expenses, but also cover all the fun things I want to do, like take, you know, the grandkids on the cruise and, you know, go to the lake in the summertime and, and, you know, buy the gifts for the kids and the grandkids around the holidays. And, you know, it's such a burden sometimes I find, you know, for people for they've saved, they've saved, they've worked hard, they've built up a nest egg more than they ever have before. And now they feel this responsibility and this burden to actually manage that large nest egg. I mean, when you hold an asset, when you know, most investments, like, you know, stocks, bonds, when you hold an asset, you know, the only options you have are to keep holding it or to sell it for whatever the current market price is. And it's hard to predict what those things are going to be. Even with bonds, there's a reinvestment risk when it comes to what the interest rates might be. You don't know what they're going to be in the future, so why wouldn't you build a retirement plan where you can see your results in advance? You can actually see how much you're going to make the first year of your retirement, the second, the third, and every year thereafter. And that's exactly what we do when people come in and meet with us forward. We put all of their retirements simply on just a couple of pages and show them, here's what your income looks like from now to age 95.

Speaker3:
Yeah. We also will take the other 60% of your assets and invest it into tactically managed portfolios. We've got our BCM growth basket stock portfolio. That's doing great. Uh, our dividend basket um, portfolio. That's fantastic as well. If you want to go a little safer, we've got our Ray star moderate, moderate, aggressive conservative. All those different portfolios are there for you as well. So we're not just all about, hey, let's just do annuities and forget about it. We're we're here to make sure that we grow the heck out of the rest of the nest egg while you're getting that income, and while you're really enjoying the principal protection that comes with the fixed index energy as well. But if you want to if you don't want to, just hang in there and just do a buy and hold on 100% of your assets. And also if you if you experience some significant losses in April this year or when the with the tariffs hit in the middle of the month and the in the markets kind of panicked if you want to um, you know, if you experience some downturn in 2022, I would encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results. Com forward slash plan or call us at (770) 685-1777. Again that number (770) 685-1777 to schedule your meeting with us again the the financial advisors and fiduciaries at Active Wealth Management, we're the ones that power retirement results. And we're here to help you build that tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio. And we're ready to get started right away.

Speaker4:
Yeah. And you know, this is great for anybody out there who's just looking to improve their plan. Even if you feel like you're in a good spot get that second opinion. See what could be improved. You know, if you're one of those people who worked hard for multiple decades, but you didn't receive a pension during your career. Self-funding a pension is a great way to get some additional guaranteed income. And again, just removing that stress, instead of just managing your own withdrawals and deciding how much you're going to take and when you're going to take it, you know, if you're doing it that way. You went through a lot of stress in March and April when the markets were going through that tariff tantrum. Maybe you needed to take the money, but you didn't want to take it from a depreciated asset and a lowered portfolio. If you can structure a strong income plan into your overall retirement plan, you eliminate a lot of those concerns.

Speaker3:
No doubt about it. Its bottom line is you really should consider doing something bold and not just doing whatever what the crowd's doing. You ought to really consider replacing the bonds in your portfolio with a fixed indexed annuity and, and or a series of them, and we're happy to help you do that, but also manage the rest of the assets tactically. So you're not just riding the lowest of the lows down to the bottom of the market. We're going to help you make sure that we rebalance and don't just get hit when there's huge market downturns. So therefore you capture less of the market downturn and you're getting a lot of the market upside as well.

Speaker4:
Yeah. And we know we have a lot of long time listeners out there listening to the show right now. We see the numbers on our podcast feed. We see the numbers coming from our radio station. So thank you for listening. Thank you for continuing to listen for so many years. And if you are one of those long time listeners, maybe you've been listening to us for a year, two years or longer. We want to hear from you. Make yourself a first time caller. Just give us a call right here in our office, and we'll connect you with either Ford or myself. And that number again is (770) 685-1777. And when we come back, we're going to get into what concerns us about Social Security and Medicare. Why you need a comprehensive retirement plan. And I've got ten cities that retirees are leaving. So if you're considering relocating in retirement, you may be interested in those ten cities that, uh, retirees are actually leaving right now. You're listening to retirement results. Come right back.

Speaker2:
Retirement results. We'll be back in a moment. But in the meantime, take a moment to schedule your free meeting with us at retirement results.

Speaker8:
Although we both lie close together, we feel miles apart.

Speaker4:
How would you like guaranteed growth for your retirement investment? Nationwide's peak ten fixed indexed annuity offers an 8% simple interest roll up for the first ten years or until your first withdrawal, whichever comes first. When you choose the lifetime bonus Income plus rider for an additional cost. With Nationwide Peak ten, you'll also receive protection for your principal, keeping your initial investment safe even during market downturns. Growth opportunities linked to market performance without direct market risks and guaranteed lifetime income helping to create a more secure retirement. All is today at (770) 685-1777 or visit active.com to connect with an advisor and start building a brighter future.

Speaker2:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Guarantees and protections referenced are subject to the claims paying ability of Nationwide Life and Annuity insurance Company. Nationwide. Pg ten is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio. Neither nationwide nor its other entities are associated or affiliated with Active Wealth Management. As part of today's show, Retirement Results is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at retirement results.

Speaker3:
And welcome back to retirement results with all drivers. It's Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor here. And we've got Sam Davis, our senior financial advisor and co-host. And Sam and I want to thank everybody for making us the number one listen to radio show on Am 920 answer. Also, I just want to thank everybody for allowing me to say great things about my father in law who just passed away this week. But thanks, Sam also for being a great co-host for the last five plus years. And, and um, it's so great to be able to take care of families here in Atlanta and helping them protect and grow their hard earned and hard saved wealth. And people don't really care what you have to say until they know that you care. And we do. And it's so great to feel the love and the care back from all of our listeners. So just a big thank you. For me, that's the most I've broken up and on our on our show ever. But it's, you know, facts of life and and we're going to miss Papa for sure. We've got some, some concerns about Social security and Medicare. Uh, Sam, why don't you go and read off some of those? It doesn't mean that security is going away or that Medicare is going away. But we also need to make sure that we've got our own retirement income plan that we can make it all work with or without Social Security. Um, and even if Medicare surcharges go up in the future, or if taxes go up in the future, we need to make sure we've got enough income coming into our nest egg that will swamp any problems that could arise.

Speaker4:
Yeah, we're just looking out for all of the listeners, those retirees and even those pre retirees out there who maybe you're in your 40s or 50s or early 60s and you're starting to think about what your Social Security benefit will look like. And if it's going to be there, we'd love to help you by putting together a registered Social Security analyst roadmap. That's an RSA roadmap that Ford and Matt, a couple of our fiduciary advisors put together for folks here in the office. Um, recent data shows that the funds that really prop up Social Security and Medicaid could dry up and just a little bit more than a decade. Social security relies on its trust funds to provide monthly benefit benefit checks to 70 million Americans. So a lot of people out there are actually relying on Social Security. The aging population is pushing up the cost of the program. And in what has been dubbed the silver tsunami, 4.1 million Americans are due to turn 65 in 2024 and every year through 2027. So you've got over 4 million Americans per year turning 65. And that's according to the Alliance for Lifetime Income. The latest report from the Social Security Board of Trustees found that Social Security would only be able to pay out full benefits for the next 11 years. After that, they're looking at somewhere between a 20 and 24% cut. Social security is financed mainly through payroll taxes, which are taken out of paychecks used to pay retirement and disability benefits. And if those trust funds are depleted currently, beneficiaries would face cuts to their monthly checks. So flawed. It really just makes it so much more important for people to have that strong income plan so that you can have that regular, guaranteed monthly income in retirement.

Speaker3:
Well, the other thing we didn't mention yet is also what happens when there's a death of a spouse. So if you have a death of a spouse, you're going to lose up to 33% of the Social Security income that's coming into the household. The example we always use, if the husband that worked all his life outside the home is making $30,000 a year in Social Security income, and the wife who worked all her life inside the home and and probably worked harder and and raised the kids and did all that stuff. That person's good. You know, that spouse is going to get 50% of what he's getting. So that's 15%. So the total income coming to the household for Social Security is $45,000. But let's say he passes away first because those guys we do pass away first. Usually, you know she's going to lose hers but get his. So should keep 30,000. But she's going to lose 15,000 are coming into the household day one on the date on his death certificate. So we need to have a plan for that as well. And the best way to do that is with really good retirement income planning. And we can do that for you. All you have to do is reach out to us at retirement results. Com.

Speaker4:
Absolutely. It's so important to have that comprehensive plan. And even in those cases where people out there have a pension, you know, you may be taking a joint life option, which reduces your benefit. Um, you know, you just described for that, when the first spouse passes away, you're going to lose one of those checks coming into the household, you know, with the fixed indexed annuities that we like to have people implement in their portfolio, if that growth rate can outpace the withdrawal rate, it actually preserves a contract value. So when that annuity owner passes away, there is a death benefit and a contract value left over. That's something you just don't see with Social Security. And it's something you don't see with a lot of pensions, even some of the better ones that we see coming from big corporate companies.

Speaker3:
Well, those those big pensions from those big corporations, those are those are spears. Those are implemented with a product called a single premium immediate annuity. And those are not market linked. Whereas the annuities that we market and sell and we've got access to like some annuity products, only 1% of financial advisors have access to they are market linked. So you can get market like gains year over year or somewhat have to your point to point, a lot of the really lucrative ones that that'll give you a 310% participation rate. Have two year point to point. In other words, they have two year protection periods that give you the crediting every two years. That's a really good thing to try and and to really give. At least have a look at what the illustrations look like and what it can mean to you for greater income from your portfolio. All you gotta do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777, and we'll give you that retirement income gap analysis and give you all of your options absolutely at no cost to you. We do that on the front end. For all of you listeners and for all of our prospects that come to our seminars on purpose, because we want to make sure that you can make an informed financial decision about your retirement future. And also, we want to help cut all the fees, cut all the costs. And on the bonus segment that we're going to talk about how to avoid variable annuities, but stick with fixed index annuities and how that could really benefit your retirement.

Speaker4:
And before we get to the final countdown, I just want to share this list. We really keep an eye on these various data organizations and these surveys and these reports that come out just so we keep an eye on what's happening with retirees all across America. And there's a lot of retirees who are moving and relocating in retirement. We've got ten US cities that retirees are fleeing right now. So these cities experience the highest net loss of residents aged 60 and over, recently larger cities could have higher migration numbers because they have more people. But we do see a lot of retirees leaving New York. 24,000 seniors recently left the city in a single year. That was more than triple the number that moved in. Four of the top ten cities that retirees are living are in the state of California. That state had a net loss of almost 57,000 residents over 60 recently. Here's the top ten cities retirees are leaving New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, DC, Denver, Oakland, California, Arlington, Virginia, Chicago, San Jose, and Anchorage, Alaska. So if you're considering relocating in retirement, there's a lot of retirees out there that are leaving some of the big cities.

Speaker3:
It's crazy because there's like only one of those cities actually in a in a red state. The other nine are in a blue state, which obviously makes sense because people usually flee high taxes.

Speaker9:
It's the final countdown.

Speaker2:
So let's recap what you may have missed. It's the final countdown.

Speaker9:
The final countdown.

Speaker3:
We talked about it. First of all, I gave a shout out and a tribute to my father in law, Herbert Monroe, priest junior, who lived a great life 82 years young and lived all the way to 82 years old, which is great. And he was a fantastic man and a great grandfather and a great father in law and a great dad. My wife, Diana Stokes, is, um, definitely was a daddy's girl, which is great. Encourage everybody to try to marry a daddy's girl. It's very helpful. Um, we also talked about important changes that impact retirees. We've talked about changes with the big beautiful bill. We talked about the $6,000 Social Security tax credit, and also how Roth ladder conversions can be a little bit more tricky. Um, and so you really ought to give us a call if you're considering doing a rope ladder conversion. Now, in this post, uh, environment. And also we talked about, you know, the estate tax exemption went up to 15 million per person or 30 million per couple, and that's permanent right now. So that's great news. Hopefully it stays permanent. Um, but we also talked about, hey, here's some changes with Social Security and Medicare where you really need to get your own retirement income plan. And, uh, let's, let's try to get to bedrock and foundational stuff and also try to figure out how we can get you a higher rate of income payout than it's beyond the traditional 4% rate.

Speaker3:
And the best way to do that is to invest in a bond replacement strategy. We can help you do that. Just reach out to us at retirement results.com. And Sam, you shared that great quote from Zig Ziglar. If you're not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you're determined to learn. No one can stop you. So I'm super, um, bullish on that quote for sure. And big Zig Ziglar fan as well. And, uh, big fan of all of our listeners and and a big fan of you, Sam, thanks for being a great co-host. Uh, it's it's amazing that we're we've eclipsed over five years of doing this show and also being the number one listen to show on Am 920. The answer. And we've got a growing listenership on WGN as well. Remember, if you're if you're seeking information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Be as aggressive you can about how to minimize the fees that you're paying with your portfolio, minimize the risks you're taking with your portfolio, and how to build that successful retirement for yourself and for your loved ones. Have a great week, everybody.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to retirement results. You deserve to work with an independent team of fiduciary advisors that will strategically work to protect and grow your hard earned assets. To schedule your complimentary financial consultation, call us now at (770) 685-1777. That's (706) 851-7772. Connect with a qualified advisor. To learn more about our mission and our team, visit retirement results investment advisory services offer through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC. Bcm, a registered investment Advisor, ECM and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCA, 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.

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients, and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV two day item for. For additional information.

Speaker2:
Get started on your free portfolio analysis and financial plan right now by visiting retirement results.com.

Speaker4:
And welcome back to retirement Results. This is a bonus segment for all of our radio listeners in Atlanta and in Gainesville, up and around the Lake Ford. We're always bringing important information to the community, and there are actually more than $2 trillion currently invested in variable annuities. And we're here to tell you why this is not an ideal investment for your retirement and give you some, you know, warnings, just in case there may be a variable annuity in your portfolio.

Speaker3:
Here's the problem with variable annuities. It really comes down to fees and risk. So you've got mortality and expense fees that range from 1 to 1.5%. Then you've got also sub account management fees. Think of these like mutual fund fees that are between 0.5 and 1.5. You got admin fees. They're usually right around 0.3% or a little bit more. And you've also got income guaranteed Read by an income writer, and there's an income writer fee for that, and you'll pay another 1%. Give or take for an income writer fee. If you add all that up, you could be paying as high as 3 to 6% a year with a variable annuity. Because a variable annuity is an annuity, because a variable annuity really is a mutual fund wrapped into an annuity chassis. So it's really something to really try to consider avoiding because it really is a boat anchor drag on the performance of the annuity just because of all the fees. So we recommend doing something different and getting you into a different type of product that can help you build a retirement income. It can give you also an immediate bonus and also give you up to 8% guaranteed interest, or even up to 310% participation and how the underlying index performs.

Speaker3:
We have different products that are actually exclusive and proprietary with only 1% of financial advisors have access to them. I'd encourage you to go ahead and submit your information in this form, and we'll get started right away. But one other big problem with a variable annuity is the risk level. A variable annuity is actually security. So that means your principal is actually at risk. A lot of those variable annuity products are missed sold. They're saying oh everything's guaranteed. Well the income might be guaranteed for the income rider. But the actual principal, if you wanted to sell it and invest in something else that's not guaranteed. So if that underlying index does poorly, if that mutual fund does poorly, then you could see eroding value from your variable annuity. So be careful there as well. Again, we really encourage you to not invest in variable annuities and consider other investment products that we can help you with. All you got to do is submit your information on this form, and we're happy to get started with you right away to get you on the right path, to build a more tax efficient, more fee efficient, and more market efficient An investment for you for your retirement future.

Speaker4:
Yeah, I really Ford. The trouble with this is that as retirees get close to that retirement date, and even in the first few years of retirement, they've saved up more than they've ever had before, which means they really need to start taking some risk off the table. And some of these alternatives can help you do that while still giving you that pension like income, that guaranteed consistent income that you can live on throughout retirement. So you really owe it to yourself to take a look at some alternatives, find out where you stand with your retirement plan, and work with some fiduciaries right here in the area. Who can help you do that? We'd love to help you. Over here. At Retirement Results.

Speaker2:
Call (770) 685-1777 to schedule your free, no obligation meeting with us today.

Speaker10:
To do what those ladies tell us. Get shot down because you're overzealous. Play hard to get females. Get jealous. Okay.

Speaker4:
Hi, this is Sam Davis, senior financial advisor with retirement results. You've saved your whole life so you wouldn't have to worry about your money when you retired. But you worry more now than ever. You've been a good saver. You have 500,000. $1 million, maybe even more. You should feel confident, but you don't. You're worried a big loss will wipe you out. You want to retire, but you don't. You're worried you don't have enough. Does any of this sound familiar? It should, because we hear these things all the time from people just like you who are preparing for retirement or are even already retired. So why do you worry so much? It's because you don't have an actual plan in writing. Nothing to guide you through retirement. Retirement results helps people just like you. You'll get a free, customized written retirement plan. That's right. Free and no obligation. Schedule your meeting now at retirement results plan. That's retirement results plan.

Speaker2:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor.

Speaker1:
The weather is warm. Are you planning to use some of your hard earned money to get out of town? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network powered by amateur life. Whether you prefer a trip to the mountains. Soaking up sun at the beach. Or the thrills and chills of a theme park, here's a destination for pretty much anyone who's looking to travel over the summer. The consumer finance website WalletHub recently did a study ranking the top summer travel destinations. Orlando came out on top, followed by Washington, D.C. and Tampa, Florida. Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah rounded out the top five. Wallethub analyst Jill Gonzalez.

Speaker11:
The study was based on 43 metrics, including cheap flights, number of delays, hotel costs, and Covid numbers.

Speaker1:
In the meantime, inflation probably has you watching your budget more closely than before. So when considering travel costs and hassles, the website says Santa Rosa, California is your best bet. At the other end of the spectrum, McAllen, Texas has the highest costs and most hassles. But what if you have your heart set on escaping to a specific destination and it's on the pricier side? There are ways to save no matter where you're headed. Travel expert Mark Ellwood recently told the Today Show.

Speaker12:
Before you do anything, if you're a member of a warehouse club like Sam's Club or Costco, go to their websites because they sell travel at a big discount. Brilliant. So that's immediately you might find you could suddenly cut the price.

Speaker1:
Of course, there are also travel websites like Expedia, Travelocity and Kayak, just to name a few. But if you're looking for discounts specifically geared toward retirees, the senior list.com has a pretty extensive directory of them, including which airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and rental car companies give discounts to those over a certain age. So how can you head away for a warm weather vacation without breaking the bank? That's a key question to consider as you keep a close eye on your budget with the Retirement Radio Network, powered by a marine life. I'm Matt McClure.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you’d love including advanced search, powerful integrations and APIs, collaboration tools, share transcripts, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.