Don’t Think You Will Ever Retire? You Still Need a Plan for Your Future!

9.8.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Producer:
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:
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.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome to the Active Wealth Show Activators. I'm Ford Stokes, our chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis on the board with us. He's our executive producer. Sam, say hello to everybody.

Producer:
Welcome to the weekend activators. I hope everybody enjoyed week one of the college football season and now it's on to week two's big games on the schedule this week and NFL football gets started as well. It's for a lot of you guys out there, one of the most fun times of year. So thanks for making us part of your weekend and enjoy the football.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. And again, thanks for making us the number one listen to radio show on Am 910. The Answer on the weekends. We appreciate you activators. And if you're wondering who an activator is that somebody who who actually listens to this show, who wants to build a tax efficient, efficient and market efficient portfolio, it's somebody who's looking to protect and grow their assets, who also is wants to build a successful retirement through sound investment and multifaceted and kind of a comprehensive plan, not just somebody that's going to just try to seek rates of return. So what I would encourage you to do is reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com. If you've been a long time listener of the Active Wealth Show, we'd love to talk to you. We'd love to hear from you. Also, if you have questions that you want to have us ask on the air, we are more than happy to do that. All you got to do is send me an email at Ford at ActiveWealth.com and you can give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. And my email again is Ford at ActiveWealth.com and you can also visit ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner of the homepage. Now on this week's show, we've got an important show where we are talking about some of the big mistakes to avoid when preparing for retirement.

Ford Stokes:
That's the number one thing we're going to talk about today on the Active Wealth Show. We've also got our financial Quote of the week, and we've got some this week in history. We've also got some interesting. The things that, you know, football season has started, college football season has started. And good luck to the Georgia Bulldogs and the Yellow Jackets, whoever you follow in the South, there's a lot of Southern teams represented by fans here in the Atlanta area. And then also we've got another. Really great. You know, tradition that starts up here in the south in the fall, which is, you know, hunting season for deer and duck and quail and dove. A lot of people go on dove shoots here in early September. But we had an interesting story that came up in Mississippi, Sam, that I wanted you to go ahead and read. And also, we're going to put the photos of this hunt up on active wealth. Show.com, it's pretty remarkable. We were blown away by the pictures. You will be, too, Sam. Go ahead and share. What was this hunt that happened in late August in Mississippi?

Producer:
Yeah, I just heard of this last night. I was listening on to the radio with an interview of one of the hunters who caught a state record gator in the state of Mississippi. It broke the state record for length in the state of Mississippi. This is a £800, 14 foot alligator that was caught in Mississippi by four hunters. And if you'd like to see the picture, you can go to active wealth, show.com, like ford said. But for hunters in the state of Mississippi, it looks like they're definitely Ole miss fans brought in this state record gator that actually broke the Texas state record as well for length but they brought it in on a ten foot John boat. So there were four feet of gator still hanging off the end when they were bringing this thing in. But they were one of the Fordunate few to get a tag that you get in a lottery to go out and actually get your gator for the year. And this one was £800. They're going to be donating the meat to charity and they're going to be keeping the hides and making it into some boots and some belts. But an impressive animal and you can see the photos on active wealth.

Ford Stokes:
Show.com, i got to tell you, that thing is enormous. He's got a big old alligator jaw on him for sure. His claws and his are just, oh my god. I mean, he just the girth on that guy and the length, it's just unreal. You ought to go check it out. And you probably didn't expect to hear about an alligator hunt here on the Active Wealth Show today. But we just saw the pictures and we just were like, you know, we need to mention this. And also, people want to visit Active Wealth Show.com and click that episode button. You can see the pictures. We'll post it on Active Wealth Show.com on the on this episode or this week.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the Quote of the Week.

Ford Stokes:
Let's go ahead and jump right into our financial wisdom quote of the week and then we're going to go and talk about the mistakes that you want to avoid when preparing for retirement.

Producer:
All right. This week's financial wisdom quote of the week is a proverb, and the proverb goes, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

Ford Stokes:
Amen on that. Listen, if you struggled to save or you've you've been sitting on the sidelines and just saving money into your checking account. You want to get invested and there's ways to get invested in a safe way, too. We've got a fixed indexed annuity that's offering a 20% immediate bonus. It's an offer from nationwide. All you've got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. We can help you with that. Also, if you want to take a little bit more risk in the financial markets, we can do that with a tactically managed portfolio and or strategically managed portfolio in a combination of both. We also offer structured notes and we'll talk about that here in Segment three this week. But I would strongly encourage you to get started. And if you've put off getting a retirement plan, you may want to consider doing something else. And I would strongly encourage you to get your portfolio analysis and a financial plan to your 95th birthday and also consider what could be the most important decision is when to take Social Security during retirement. And then the last is consider a Roth ladder conversion plan. So you can if you've got over $400,000 into an IRA account that's in assets in your IRA account, you can actually save. Six figures during retirement just by implementing a Roth ladder conversion. And we help people do that all the time. Literally multiple times each week we implement Roth ladder conversion plans for clients. All you've got to do is reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Pretty amazing stuff there. And I'll say, let's go ahead and jump into talking about the five mistakes that we want people to not make when preparing for retirement.

Producer:
All right. The first one is simply putting off saving for retirement. So I know a lot of you may feel like you're a little bit behind on preparing for your golden years. And just rest assured, you're not alone. Americans are in some trouble when it comes to saving for retirement. Millions of older workers are approaching retirement with nothing saved. If you've skimped on saving for retirement this year, it is understandable, especially given a volatile economy. But this is a mistake you must and can fix as soon as possible. And for there are actually special provisions called catch up contributions for anybody out there who's close to retirement and is looking to make up for some lost ground.

Ford Stokes:
Yes. If you want to put money into your IRA and your Roth IRA, you could do that with us. And you can put up to $7,500 if you're over 50 years young. So if you want to go ahead and get started on setting up that IRA or Roth IRA for this year, all you've got to do is reach out to us at active Worldcom. We're happy to help you do that. It's a lot more. It's $1,000 more per year if you're over 50. But you can do for those catch up revisions. Also, if you are still working, you want to make sure that you're. Saving at least up to the match within your 401. Also want to remind everybody that you can invest in a 401. And or a Roth IRA or IRA. Separately, they are mutually exclusive. So therefore, you can still put money away into your IRA at $7,500 a year. So that's something to definitely consider. What's number two on the list, Sam?

Producer:
The second mistake to avoid when preparing for retirement is not having an emergency fund. And the importance of this cannot be overstated. But many Americans are behind here as well. In fact, it may be surprising, but most people would be unable to cover a $1,000 unexpected expense. And you need to try and remedy this problem if you fit into this category. Because unexpected expenses become more likely as you get older and the chances of health issues increase.

Ford Stokes:
So if you've got an issue with, let's say you got a need to get an MRI done or you've got something happens with your roof and you got to pay for your deductible for your homeowner's policy, or you've got a water heater that goes out and then floods the basement or whatever that looks like. And you've got to then pay the deductible for home insurance policy or you wreck your car and you've got to pay your car insurance deductible. There are so many things that can happen in life and what I would encourage you to do. Is to try to put aside or set aside between 3 and 6 months into an emergency fund. We've only got like a minute left in this segment. I would strongly encourage you to get an emergency fund that is at least three months worth of your monthly expenses. It starts with you understanding what your true monthly expenses are. You've got to include all the money you're putting on credit cards and money You're you're setting aside and you're paying an interest rate on credit cards. Listen, here's another hint. Do everything you can to pay your credit cards every month off. You can't take those points to the bank. Let's make sure that we get debt free during retirement. There's no reason to carry credit card debt during retirement as well. But let's try to get to that emergency fund and don't use credit cards to fund those special one off larger expenses that we invariably have to cover. Come right back. We're going to finish the next three of these mistakes you want to avoid when preparing for retirement.

Producer:
Thanks so much for listening to the Active Wealth Show. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back to Activators, the Active Wealth Show on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here on the board with us as our executive producer. And Sam, we're talking about the five mistakes that you want to avoid making when preparing for retirement. We've gone over the first two. The first two are being putting off saving for retirement. If you have, then go ahead and start saving now. The best time to save is when you have some money. And then number two, was not building an emergency fund. Do everything you can to build that 3 to 6 month emergency fund. And the best place to start is to truly understand your monthly expenses. Take your monthly expenses over two months. Add those up, divide by two, and that will give you a better idea of how much you're really, truly spending during. Your retirement years on a monthly basis and also even in your pre retirement years. If you're in that retirement red zone, which is five years before retirement and five years after retirement, something you really want to understand is what your monthly expenses are running for. Sure. And saying, why don't you go ahead and share what is our number three mistake that we want to avoid when preparing for retirement?

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. That's selling investments when markets swing. So the stock market got off to a rocky start in 2023. We all know that 2022 was a very tough year for the stock market, but since then, things have stabilized somewhat. And if you've made any quick reactions to this market volatility either in the first half of 2023 or even last year in 2022, you definitely missed out on some profits. But this is a mistake that you can fix for a lot of people tend to invest emotionally when things are getting bad, people pull out of the market, but that actually tends to be one of the better times to invest. So how can people avoid investing emotionally for their retirement?

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, you want to stay invested and you can also stay invested in safe investments within 20 to 40% of your assets that also can give you income. Listen, Harry Markowitz, given credit for being the founder of Modern Portfolio Theory, which gave you an efficient investing frontier. With an efficient growth curve at 60% stocks and 40% bonds. The problem is the 60 over 40 portfolio had its worst year in 2022. Because interest rates kept rising and then bonds kept losing. Their value because if you held a bond in. In early January of 2022. Worth significantly less than the end of 2022 because the interest rates grew so much. And therefore, if you want to make your bond more attractive to sell, guess what? You're going to have to discount your bond because you're offering a lower interest rate than the new bond. So what we recommend people do is to try to consider a new 60 over 40 portfolio. You want to go 60% stocks and 40% fixed indexed annuities or multi year guaranteed annuities or spias or other types of annuities to give you income. And you can also consider even structured notes in that. For like 10 or 20% of the portfolio, they can give you a higher rate of return, give you the income you're looking for. And therefore not expose you to unnecessary risk. That includes interest rate risk and reinvestment risk.

Producer:
All right. The next mistake to avoid when preparing for retirement and this is similar and that is going into cash or even worse, staying in cash. So as many Americans stash their earnings in checking or savings accounts, when they get fearful of what's going on in the market. They tend to lose quite a bit of value. In fact, I've heard people say that the bank is one of the safest places to lose money because as you hold that money in cash, your buying power is going to be eroded away by what's happening with inflation.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, there's no question. We have access to money market accounts that are paying over 4%. We've got access to multiyear guaranteed annuities. That are paying 5.25%. Or more on a two year multiyear guaranteed annuity and oh, by the way, with multiyear guaranteed annuities. Guess what? It's 100% financial reserve requirement on those because they're regulated by the states. Fdic is a 3 to 10%. Financial reserve requirement, depending on how much the bank has in deposits. If there are over 100 million, they've got a reserve 10% according to FDIC rules. What I would recommend you do is consider a multi year guaranteed annuity or a fixed indexed annuity to stay invested and don't just be in cash. Can you imagine? 325% growth. On how the BNP Paribas Global Factor Index does and or also get a 8% role up or 8% guaranteed interest growth every year that you defer taking any withdrawals. That's available right now through a nationwide product that we have exclusive access to. There's only like 3000 plus advisors in the country that have access to this product. We are one of those 3425 advisors that have access to this product. I would encourage you to give us a call. Give us a call to to learn more about this special nationwide insurance product. It's an annuity. It's a fixed indexed annuity. All you gotta do is call us at 770685177. And we're happy to help you.

Producer:
All right. And the last mistake to avoid when preparing for retirement is simply going at it alone. And we know that money can be perceived as a deeply personal topic. You know, it's one of those things that people tell you don't talk about money around the dinner table. Don't talk about politics or church around the dinner table. But not only is it wise for us to engage in some dialogue about our financial lives, but we need to be proactive and enlist the guidance of licensed professionals if we want to make the best choices and set ourselves up for success in the future.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. I mean, you wouldn't do surgery on yourself, right? You wouldn't do dental work on yourself. So I'd encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. Again, (770) 685-1777. Also, you can reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule consultation button. You're going to get booked directly into my calendar as well. So pretty excited about that. And listen, if you listen to this show for a long time and you just haven't called us. You know, I think it's time to go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call. We'd love to hear from you. We also look forward to giving you a free $1,300 value of a full financial plan with portfolio analysis and Social Security maximization report and also a financial planning your 95th birthday with your current plan that has nothing to do with us. Then also one with our recommended portfolios that also includes a Roth ladder conversion plan at no cost to you. So go ahead and give us a call at (770) 685-1777 or visit ActiveWealth.com. So just to recap here, we were talking about in this segment, let's don't make these mistakes when preparing for retirement.

Ford Stokes:
There's five of them. Number one is putting off saving for retirement. Number two is not building an emergency fund. Number three is selling investments when market swings. Be very careful about emotionally investing. You really want to invest for the long haul example. You don't want to invest in our strategically and tactically managed portfolios without. Understand that you're going to be there for a long time. You don't want to do it for 6 to 8 weeks. You want to do it for 6 to 8 years. Next is staying in cash. Be careful about that. You can get invested with safe products that can actually give you bonus on your money and give you great income that's greater than that typical 4% withdrawal rate and you won't lose buying power more than likely. And the last is going it alone. Don't do that. Go ahead and reach out to us at Active. Welcome. We're happy to help you. All you got to do is click that schedule consultation button. We look forward to working with you and giving you a full financial plan, including a portfolio analysis. Now, when we come back from the break, Sam, what do we got going.

Producer:
When we come back from the break forward, a lot of people are saying that they'll never retire, but we're going to talk about why you need a plan anyway, even if that sounds like you. So the Active Wealth Show will be right back.

Producer:
With the traditional 60 over 40 portfolio having its worst year in more than four decades now may be a great time to consider more than just stocks and bonds. Ford Stokes, author of Annuity 360 and host of The Active Wealth Show, wants to help you retire with peace of mind. Schedule your free consultation today at ActiveWealth.com. That's ActiveWealth.com.

Producer:
Investment Advisory services are offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC a registered investment advisor.

Producer:
The 2023 NFL season will mark a new beginning for the Washington commanders. I'm Jim T with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. Back in July of this year, NFL owners, through a unanimous vote, approved a $6 billion sale of the Washington commanders to a new ownership group led by American investor Joshua Harris. At his introductory press conference, Harris expressed his excitement for the future of the franchise.

Joshua Harris:
I'm incredibly excited and.

Joshua Harris:
Humbled by the opportunity to serve alongside my partners as stewards of this great franchise. On behalf of the city of Washington DC.

Producer:
A Washington, DC native and a lifelong fan of the district sports scene. Harris will lead an ownership group that includes basketball legend Magic Johnson. The group takes over from former embattled owner Dan Snyder, whose tenure was consistently clouded with documented controversy. Nfl Commissioner Roger Goodell is looking forward to the addition of Harris to the NFL landscape.

Roger Goodell:
I think Josh is going to be a great addition to the NFL and his ownership group. He has a remarkable business record, not just in finance but also now in sports.

Producer:
Meanwhile, fan excitement at commanders camp this summer was evident with NBA star and lifelong commanders fan Kevin Durant even showing up to practice sessions. The Commanders Week one home game against the Arizona Cardinals is sold out, with fans eager for the franchise to start anew for the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. I'm Jim Tarabukin. 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:
Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, BCM, a registered investment advisor, not an actual client of active wealth management. Remember, all of Ford's listeners receive a free financial consultation just for listening to the show. Visit ActiveWealth.com to learn more and schedule an appointment. Thanks for listening to the Active Wealth Show and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back Activators, the Active Wealth Show on Ford Stokes. Your chief financial advisor got Sam Davis, our executive producer here. And listen, there's a lot of people are saying, hey, I'm never going to retire. It's also great because they feel like they're going to live longer, which is true. They stay engaged with their brain. They don't wait because to retire really means to withdraw. We work with a lot of people that relaunched as well, and we also work with a lot of people that like to retire and enjoy retirement. They're also busier during retirement than they were when they were working, and they've been able to really manage all their hobbies, manage their time with friends, family and all that stuff. But there's a lot of people that say, you know what, I'm never going to retire. What we're seeing is there's so many baby boomers and even Gen Xers that don't have enough money to fully retire and stay within the lifestyle that they want to grow accustomed or they have already grown accustomed. Sam, We've got some things in here that are reasons why they still need to have a plan anyway.

Producer:
Yeah, well, first, I think it's important to understand that the definition of retirement has evolved as time has gone on, especially over the last few decades. I mean, the retirement that your parents are enjoying or enjoyed is going to be different than the one that you enjoy. And it's going to be different than the one that your grandparents experience must mean. Many of you listening probably remember the days of when someone would work 30 to 40 years at one company or maybe for the military, and then they would get that pension and they would retire to a warmer climate on the beach in Florida or Georgia or something like that. But that is no longer the norm. So with the rise of remote work, people can now work from anywhere. That makes it easier for senior citizens to continue working with the remote work model. Many businesses also offer flexible work schedules, so for it, it's no surprise that some people are saying that they'll never retire. And in fact, in a July poll that was conducted jointly by Axios and Ipsos, 29% of workers under the age of 55. So almost a third Answered a retirement question with I don't think I will ever retire. So according to the numbers, about a third of the Gen Xers out there currently feel like. They're never going to retire. But I think it's important for to kind of walk through some of the reasons why, regardless of whether you love work or if you think you must continue to work for financial reasons, it's still a good idea to have a financial plan in place.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I agree. I think it's always nice to have something to fall back on. The number one would be health reasons while working forever seems like a possibility when you're feeling well. Getting older does come with a high risk of fragility. If your health should fail before you even are ready to retire, you'll want to have a plan in place for when you can't work anymore. I mean, we would love to be able to work with all immortals out there, unFordunately, and that would be very newsworthy if we did have some immortal clients, Sam, But unFordunately, we don't. I mean, all of us are going to end up meeting our maker and we're going to end up getting cremated or buried. And, and I will just say this. It's just, um, you know, it's just an inevitability. And it's death and taxes. Both of them are inevitable. It's important to have a financial plan in place if you can no longer work. This means investing in tax advantaged retirement accounts and having enough set aside to pay for health care. This is really comes home to roost for me personally. My dad is 84 years young and he still works as an attorney. He represents a lot of people that need legal help, and he's a former big corporate attorney and used to really hold a unions accountable.

Ford Stokes:
And now he holds other big corporations and other people accountable. And, you know, I, I applaud that he's still working. But, you know, he's much slower than he's been. I've got my father in law and mother in law. Both of them are retired. And my mother in law worked all the way until she was 77 years old. And she fell down the stairs at her home. And luckily for us, she's doing great and back working and going, I mean, just back enjoying life. But she didn't go back to work and she thought she was going to retire. I mean, she thought she was going to work forever. She was an office manager of a law firm in Canton, Georgia. And I will just tell you, I've seen the fragility of life. I've seen people slow down. People have health, health, things that affect their ability to work. All of us seem to think we're going to be able to work forever. It's difficult to do that. And I would just say you really need to have a contingency plan to fall back on when their rainy days.

Producer:
Yeah, it's a great point. Ford And especially important to consider the type of work that you're doing now. Some work is very labor intensive and very demanding on your body, and that's going to be something that's going to kind of shorten that time horizon that you're going to be able to do that career. But even things that even if you're working a desk job, even if you're working remotely from home, you know, your mental capacity is just not going to be as strong as you get older. So it's important to have a plan in place because of your health. The next reason to have a plan, even if you don't plan to retire, is to have that plan for taxes and doing what you can to save on taxes now, but also in the future.

Ford Stokes:
You really want to make sure that you're minimizing the tax burden that you're going to pay out of your IRA account? UnFordunately, you know, Sam and I hate to be the bearers of bad news here, but 100% of the money that is sitting in your individual retirement account that came originally from your 401. Or your 403. B or your 457 or your Sep IRA. UnFordunately, the money that is sitting in your IRA, your IRA is not 100% your money. Because the government wants their taxes on that money. A lot of people do think tax is going to go up in the future with over $32 trillion in heading towards $33 trillion in US national debt according to US debt clock.org. I would really strongly encourage you to try to take your. I would really strongly encourage you to try to take your tax bite now and over a five year or 5 to 7 year period, then risk it and think that you're going to pay less taxes over the next 20 to 30 years. The US debt clock is no joke. That thing is now at $32.9 trillion and counting. So if you want to minimize the tax, you're going to pay on your IRA. Let's say you've got $1 million IRA. Based on the projections that we've seen that we've actually got reports on with bond replacement and also with Roth IRA calculators. We're looking at over $430,000 in total tax savings. For a married couple on $1 million IRA, you're going to save six figures during retirement by implementing a Roth ladder conversion. We also want to implement that over a 5 to 7 year period. We don't want to take it all in one year because we don't want to take 37% for federal and 5.75% for state in the state of Georgia. You want to be careful about that. So. Again, you want to be able to save on taxes now rather than later and get a plan for that.

Producer:
The next reason why you need a plan for retirement. Even if you feel like you'll never retire is that you might change your mind. You're right. Forward. You mentioned earlier we're all living longer, so it's not unreasonable to think that in 10 or 20 years you may be tired of going into the office every day. You may be tired of punching that clock or doing whatever it is that you do. It may be pretty demanding on your body. So keep in mind that you might change your mind. And you know, by saving money in these retirement accounts, you're making sure that you're paying yourself first by having these funds set aside just in case. You know, even if you love working now, you want retirement to be an option for you later.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. One thing I want to say is what you should be doing, especially if you're over 50 years old and you're trying to save for retirement. Pay yourself first, just like what Sam said, but pay yourself first. 15 to 20%. Take the first 15 to 20% and pay yourself and let that money work for you. And get that money working as hard as you worked. Also, get a plan for greater withdrawals than just 4% than just the 4% rule. And there are real products that allow you to do that and still allow you to have money left over to be able to pass on to your loved ones. You can also let the rest of your portfolio grow and therefore you don't have to take withdrawals out of that part of your portfolio and really watch that money grow over time. Again, You might change your mind. Have a plan for that, and at least do yourself a favor and pay yourself 15 to 20% first.

Producer:
Yeah. Ford Money may not buy happiness, but money does give you options. And the more money you have, the more options that you'll have in the future. One more big reason why you need to have a plan even if you don't think you'll ever retire is required minimum distribution. So for those of you who have been diligently saving in your accounts, once you hit, it's going to be 73, age 73. For most of you listening, you are going to be faced with required minimum distribution. So Uncle Sam and the IRS is going to need to see money coming out of those accounts and that is going to be taxable. So RMDs are in place for pre-tax retirement accounts such as your 401. K or IRAs. So you can't just shelter those funds forever. Like I said, they're required. So you're going to have to begin withdrawing funds by April 1st of the year. You turn 73.

Ford Stokes:
Also they did with Secure Act 2.0. They changed the regulation on that. And they do allow you to continue to put money away into IRAs and 401. S as you continue to work in your 70s and you don't have the RMDs on those funds. But. You will have RMDs starting at age 73in your IRA accounts. But with 401, that money can continue to grow. And then you can then when you're done working, you can move money from your 401. Into your IRA.

Producer:
All right. Ford And we will have more on this topic. Even if you don't think you'll ever retire, you need to have a plan. And we're going to talk more about this when we come back. For segment four. Visit ActiveWealth.com for more information and the Active Wealth Show. We'll be right back.

Charlie Kirk:
Are you concerned about the Biden administration, how rising taxes could negatively impact your retirement? Then I encourage you to talk to Ford Stokes and his team at Active Wealth Management. Ford and his team of experienced financial advisors will help you understand the fees and risks involved with your current portfolio. Simply visit ActiveWealth.com to book your free financial consultation and tell them Charlie Kirk sent you.

Producer:
Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC BCM a registered investment advisor, not an actual client of active wealth management.

Producer:
Like what you're hearing, you can watch the show to visit YouTube.com and search the Active Wealth Show to watch clips from this program.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back. Activators, the Active Wealth Show on Ford Stokes, chief financial advisor in Sam Davis, our executive producer. He and I are talking about what do you do if you think you're never going to retire and you really need to have a plan in case you've got a rainy day with health reasons or you might change your mind, or if taxes are going to go up in the future or if RMDs are going to be a factor because they are that death and taxes thing is real. But we've got a couple more what ifs. Sam Yeah.

Producer:
Just some things to consider. If you don't think you'll ever retire, it's important to consider what if your company goes out of business? You might be forced into retirement against your will. Sure, you could go out and get another job, but you can't necessarily find a company that will take you on based on your experience. And we know that some companies, even though it's not permissible by law, are definitely discriminating based on age out there. So you don't want to run out of luck if your company goes out of business. It's also important to consider what if you get fired or laid off? No one plans on getting fired or laid off, but a change in management or volatility in the economy could result in jobs being eliminated. It's also important to consider this may be the most important one and the most likely one. What if a close family member needs your help, even if you're in perfect health until you're 100 years old, you may need to take care of a close family member as you get older. Ford I know that there are millions upon millions of unpaid caregivers in the United States. That's something that is very common as we're all living longer. So it's important to consider some of these things. Even if you love your job, you love going to work every day and you don't think you'll ever retire. It's still very important to have a plan. And Ford and Active Wealth Management is here to help you adjust that.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, there's there's 40 million unpaid caregivers in the United States, and most of those are either wives or children, the actual children of the parent. And that's a pretty tough sentence for kids when they're also trying to raise kids on their own to take care of folks that are advancing. You got folks that are 40 and 50 years old, sometimes even 60 years old, taking care of 80 and 90 year old parents. That is a difficult situation because those you're you're in your prime earning years. If you're in those 40 or 50 and 60 year olds early 60s and you really need to have a plan for all of it. And one other thing that we want to talk through is I want to make sure we don't lose and leave this show without telling you. Here's how you implement a Roth ladder conversion. What you do is you take money from your IRA, you move it into your Roth IRA. The best way to do that, the best tip I can give you, besides doing it over a 5 to 10 year period, usually it's 5 to 7, but call it 5 to 10 year period to minimize the taxes you're going to pay because you have to pay taxes on the money you move from your IRA to your Roth IRA in that year.

Ford Stokes:
So if you move 100 grand a year, a 20% bracket, you're going to pay 20 grand. So you've got 80,000 going into your IRA, and 20,000 is going to go to the IRS. But the best strategy that I would give you is you want to take money from your tax deferred bucket, which is the IRA account. Take that money and move it over. Dollar for dollar into your Roth IRA and pay the taxes. By taking money from your taxable account. And paying the taxes from that. So you take money from your individual investment account or your savings account or your checking account. Let. The Roth IRA grow to the same extent that the IRA was depleted. That is the best way to implement that. And if you've got questions about this, all you've got to do is reach out to us at. Active dot. You can click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. We're happy to help you. And you can also just call us at (770) 685-1777 again (770) 685-1777.

Producer:
All right, Ford, We've been talking about it at the beginning of the show, but also the last couple of weeks since Labor Day, it really feels like the summer has come to a close. The kids here in the state of Georgia are back in school and we've been seeing a lot more calls coming into the office of people really trying to get their plans together and get their finances in order Now that the summer vacations and the kids being at home, that's all behind us. So, you know, one of the things that we really want to take a look at is what is it like after you actually call in to the Active Wealth Show and you start working with active wealth management? So Ford, what is it that the people get and what is that process like?

Ford Stokes:
So what happens is you'll talk to Deborah or you or Diana or myself or Matt or Darrell, and we'll have a consultation with you. We'll actually try and understand what's going on with monthly expenses, what's going on with your income sources, what's going on with if you're planning to retire, if you're already retired, and when you're planning to retire. We also try to get your Social Security income statements from tsa.gov. And if you haven't gotten that yet, I would encourage you to go ahead and visit TSA.gov and set up your own account. They'll ask you a bunch of questions so they make sure they know exactly who you are and that you're the right person. So that way you can set up your own account. And it does. It takes like 5 or 10 minutes. Then we take your top 35 earning years and we help you understand what your options are on when you take Social Security. Really, one of the most important decisions you can make during retirement is when to turn on Social Security income. Also with 20, 33 and 2034 looming with ssa.gov. The Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office. They're saying that the OAC, which is the old age survivor insurance. Is going to run out. That fund is going to be depleted by 2033, 20, 34. And they're estimating a 23% reduction in the actual income benefit that everybody will receive across the board doesn't mean 100% loss, but 23% reduction also. So you need to have an income plan, right? You also need to have an income plan for when one spouse passes away. What happens? And do you have an income plan for that you can actually get? A fixed indexed annuity that can actually replace that income and we can help you do that.

Ford Stokes:
Bottom line is when people come in to meet with us, we're going to try to understand every facet of your retirement plan. We're going to understand the portfolio that you currently have. What are the risks you're taking, what are the fees you're paying, and also the correlation of your assets. We're going to help you understand here's what your financial plan would look like between now and when you turn 95 years young. All the way to 95. We're going to take you all the way to 95 with your current plan that has nothing to do with us and give you that results and advance plan in two pages so you can understand here's what my income is year over year. Then we're also going to do the same thing with our recommended portfolios to your 95th birthday and then also a plan to your 95th birthday with a recommended Roth ladder conversion plan. We're going to do all that for free and give you a Social Security maximization report and a retirement income plan at no cost to you. We're going to do all of that. It's a $1,500 value that you get absolutely for free. All you've got to do is pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. Or just visit ActiveWealth.com. We also just want to thank the activators out there for making us the number one listen to radio show here on Am 920, The Answer on the weekends. And now for the final countdown.

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

Ford Stokes:
We talked about the five mistakes you want to avoid when planning for retirement. And to recap, those mistakes were, number one, putting off saving for retirement. Now's the best time to start saving if you haven't already. Number two is building an emergency fund. Get a 3 to 6 month fund. And also first, understand what your monthly expenses are. Number three is selling investments when market swings. Got to be careful. Don't invest emotionally. You got to give your assets time. 6 to 8 years. See how they do. 6 to 8 weeks. Also, avoid staying in cash the whole time. Be careful about staying in cash. You want to stay invested. There's also safer investments out there that can give you a greater withdrawal rate than the typical 4% withdrawal rate. We can help you with that and then also avoid going in alone. We'd love to be able to help you. All you've got to do is visit ActiveWealth.com, click that schedule console button and we look forward to working with you on that. We then also went into the. What to do when you say you're never going to retire. And here's why you need a plan anyway. We talked about health reasons. Could be a reason to have a plan. Saving on taxes now to have a better plan with a Roth ladder conversion. Also, you might change your mind.

Ford Stokes:
You might actually retire. Or also be careful about when RMDs can really take a bite out of your retirement accounts. And we went into additional what ifs, including what happens if your company goes out of business, you get fired and a close family member needs your help. With over 40 million unpaid caregivers out there, it's a real thing you need to look at. And again, we're here for you. All you got to do is reach out to us at active dotcom or give us a call at (770) 685-1777 to schedule your free consultation with us right away. Deborah and Diane are standing by to take your call. And we really look forward to work with you. Next, we're going to talk more about how to build a smart financial plan. We're going to start our full series that follows my new Smart Retirement Plan book. And if you want a copy, a digital copy, an advance copy of that book, all you got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. And I want to thank you, Sam, for writing the foreword for that book. And also I know that Matt McClure is working on the afterword for that book. All the best and look forward to talking to you guys next week right here on the Active Wealth Show on Am. 920 The Answer.

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.

Producer:
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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