How to Delete Fees and Future Taxes from Your Retirement Plan

5.12.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

5.12.23: 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 the Active Wealth Show activators. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. And I’ve got Sam Davis, our executive producer with us. Sam, say hi to everybody.

Sam Davis:
Welcome to the weekend activators Thank you so much for once again tuning in to the Active Wealth Show. And if you missed last week’s show or the week prior, we’ve had some really good episodes coming to you so far here at end of April and the start of May. Check out the Active Wealth Show wherever you listen to podcasts and we look forward to hearing from you.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, absolutely. Really looking forward to it. So we’ve got a really impactful show today. We’re not pulling punches today. We’re going straight at it. So the title of this show is Kick the Government Out of Your Retirement Plan. And we also want to talk about how Congress and the IRS are putting your golden years at risk and what you can do about it. So we’re so glad you’re with us. We’re so glad the activators are with us. Thanks for making us the number one listen to radio show on AM 920 The Answer on the weekends. We sincerely appreciate that. Whether you’re listening on Saturday or Sunday, it’s it’s great that AM 920 The Answer is put it on put us on both days. We’re super happy and pleased about that. We we love our teammates and team members over over at our radio station at Am. 920 The answer and if you’re wondering who an activator is, it’s somebody who’s looking to build a successful retirement. It’s somebody who wants to protect and grow their hard earned and hard saved wealth. And many of you are probably listening today thinking, you know what it did? It was harder for me to save it than it was for me to earn it. And I do want my money working as hard as I did. And if you’re looking to do that, you really need to build a tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio. And we can help you do that, whether it’s tactical asset allocation and managing your portfolios or whether it’s doing smart, safe investments with fixed indexed annuities or life insurance or both. Or whether it’s trying to get more market efficient with fixed indexed annuities again or, you know, even utilizing structured notes, that gives you some principal protection.

Ford Stokes:
But then also just utilizing tactical asset allocation where you’re rebalancing your portfolio every month and things are really changing and happening within your portfolio versus just being asked to just hang in there. And if you’ve been asked to hang in there, then I encourage you to just pick the phone up and give us a call. At (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. Also, if you aren’t happy with the performance of your portfolio in 2022. Then I would encourage you to give us a call. If you feel like you’re not getting the rebound you thought you would get in 2023, then I would encourage you to give us a call or visit ActiveWealth.com. That’s ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. And again, if you want to get any of our episodes you want to. Here in depth or you want to watch us actually doing this show because we record it via video every every week. You can visit Active Wealth Show.com and click on any of the episodes there. So, Sam, on this week’s show, we’re going to you’re about to give us our Quote of the week. We’ve got a little bit of market update with interest rates on the rise again, plus the national debt and why it matters. We’ve also we’re going to talk about don’t count on Social Security as your retirement plan. And we’ve got five steps to master your cash flow within your retirement years. And then also, we’ve got a little this Week in History segment as well. I think people are going to find interesting with famous birthdays in the worlds of music and cinema. So, Sam, go ahead and share our financial wisdom. Quote of the Week.

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

Sam Davis:
This week’s quote of the week comes from Milton Friedman lived from 1912 to 2006. He was an influential American economist and Nobel laureate known for his advocacy of free market capitalism and limited government. Friedman’s wit and sharp insights continue to make him a memorable figure in the world of economics. It’s the reason why his quote is on this week’s Active Wealth Show. And he once said the government’s solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.

Ford Stokes:
Amen. And I would just love to do everything that we can to kick the IRS and the government out of being your partner in retirement. And we’re going to help you do that. I’m a huge Milton Friedman fan. I loved all of his debates with Phil Donahue. Phil Donahue being a very famous liberal. Um, it was so great. He’s actually a Chicago liberal, I believe. It’s so great to see Milton Friedman just giving him the supply side economic side of it. And I really feel like this country thrived in supply side economics during Reagan’s years, and Friedman was a big part of that. He was he was really behind that. And so huge fan of Milton Friedman. And and thanks for the wisdom there, Milton. We we miss you for sure Your active wealth market update Sam let’s talk about what Jerome Powell and the Fed did over the last few weeks.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. Ford Last week, the Federal Reserve raised its key short term interest rate by a quarter percentage point or 25 basis points and signaled it could now pause if inflation continues to ease as expected. In a statement, the central bank removed previous guidance that some additional policy firming aka rate hikes may be appropriate to lower yearly inflation to its 2% target. We’re currently looking at about 1.5 or 2% inflation per quarter. So if 2% yearly is their target, they still probably have a ways to go there. Instead, it said its policy making committee will closely monitor incoming information and assess the implications for monetary policy.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, it’s just interesting. Um, you know, a lot of people feel like this is going to be the end of the of the rate hikes. I hope it is. I don’t have a crystal ball on what Jay Powell is going to do. Um, but I will tell you. Now is one of the greatest times ever to invest in a fixed indexed annuity versus a bond, because as bond, as as interest rates continue to go up. The bonds you used to hold their value, their overall value is going down. And you have to if you’re going to sell those bonds, you have to offer a discount to make them equal to the higher interest rate bonds because people want the higher interest rate. And if you can get. Market like gains without market risk and get retirement income. And we’ll talk about that in the cash flow section of this show today. And get the income that you really need during retirement without paying advisory fees and portfolio fees. Why wouldn’t you consider that? So I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com that’s ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Book directly into my calendar and we look forward to helping you with your retirement planning. So let me just tell you what to expect when you come in to meet with us to. We’re going to try to get your latest statements and we’ll ask you to share those and we’ll ask you to share your Social Security statement and also your monthly budget. Like what are your monthly expenses and what’s your what are your income sources either prior to retirement or during retirement.

Ford Stokes:
We work with a lot of pre-retirees, people who are about to retire. I’ve got one gentleman who just retired last week from UPS and want to say happy retirement to Mr. Jerry. Really just proud to work with you and really enjoy working with you. Jerry. We’re here to help you. We’re here to help you kind of sift through what you need to do during retirement and also not take too many risks. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to analyze your current portfolio. We’re going to run an institutional level Morningstar report so you can understand the risks you’re taking, the fees you’re paying, and some of those fees or fees that don’t necessarily show up into your monthly statement. They might be in the prospectus of a of a mutual fund, but they’re not going to be there in. In your statement where you can see the 12 B1 fees or the A share fees or the C share fees that are coming out because you’re your portfolio got rebalanced and and they purchased a new mutual fund where the broker got a 5.5% commission rate on that. Again, if you walk into a bank and you buy a. You buy a mutual fund, you buy 20,000 mutual fund. Let’s say you’re going to buy a $20,000 mutual fund. Guess what? You’re going to walk out with a $19,000 mutual fund and that that broker at the bank is probably going to get 5% on the first day you meet them. And we don’t think that’s right. I mean, it’s good. It helps us get our start when we’re trying to save and invest, but it doesn’t help us, really.

Ford Stokes:
Do well when we’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars that we’re working with. And so I would encourage you to do everything you can to understand the the fees you’re paying, the risk you’re taking. Also, then we’re going to give you a financial plan to your 95th birthday at no cost to you with your current plan. That has nothing to do with us. It’s only has everything to do with what you’re dealing with with your current plan. And then we’ll also give you a retirement income gap analysis and a retirement income plan for you. That’s number three. Number four is we’re going to give you a full retirement plan and investment plan to your 95th birthday. Number five is we’re going to give you a retirement plan, a complete investment plan as well, with our recommended portfolios that also includes a Roth ladder conversion plan at absolutely no cost to you. And you’re wondering. What kind of impact, how many dollars you could really save by implementing a Roth ladder conversion plan. I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button. When we come back from the break, we’re going to talk about the update on the national debt. And we’re also going to share three reasons we should all be concerned about the national debt. We’ll talk about concerning facts about the national debt. And we’re going to go straight into what to do when you can’t count on Social Security as your retirement plan. You’re listening to Active Wealth Show right here on AM 920 The Answer.

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. Activators The Active Wealth Show. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us as our executive producer. And Sam, you’ve got some information about what’s going on with the US national debt.

Sam Davis:
Yes, the national debt is at 31.7 trillion with a T and counting. You know, we talk about this number from time to time on the Active Wealth Show, and we just wanted to kind of help put it into context and give a few reasons why, you know, you listening and we all should really be a bit more concerned about the national debt. Number one, economic stability and future generations. So the national debt puts the nation’s economic stability at risk. It can lead to increased interest payments, which we’ll talk about here in a moment. Potentially requiring higher taxes or reduced public services to actually work that debt down. That burden is going to fall on current and future generations that will limit their ability to invest in essential areas and could possibly hinder economic growth. The number two reason would be interest payments and opportunity costs. So high levels of debt results in significant interest payments. Any of you listening who have a car payment or a mortgage payment know that while you’re paying down that principal, you’re also making payments toward the interest on that debt as well. And the government’s debt. The net interest payments on the debt this year are estimated to be $395.5 billion, 395 and one half billion dollars in interest payments just this year. Or another way of thinking of that is 6.8% of all of the federal outlays that interest payment amount for just this year is more than the government expects to spend on elementary and secondary education, disaster relief, agriculture, science and space programs, foreign aid, natural resources and environmental protection combined. That number is also a hundred billion more than the government expects to spend on veterans benefits and services. So Ford, when I take a look at this, what concerns me the most is we’re eating so much of our federal budget up and just paying the interest on this debt. Consider what we could have the possibility to do. Could be lower taxes, could be better programs for schools and stuff like that across the country. But 395.5 billion in just interest payments this year. That’s what concerns me the most.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah it’s it’s it’s a big problem. We. We have not our government has not operated like we have to operate with our own checking account. Like, I can’t if I don’t have money in my account, I can’t go spend it right. Whereas our government is going to do that. And the moral of the story is this You probably you know, we’re not going to be able to solve the US national debt problem here on this radio show today. But what we can do is encourage people to stay invested so that inflation doesn’t grab them. You want to make sure you’re growing with the market, you want to make sure you’re you’re growing with interest rates go up and things like that that you’ve you’ve got your money working for you versus working against you. You also want to eliminate debt, you know, would take a page out of Dave Ramsey’s side and just try to get his debt free as possible. That’s definitely a really good idea. Um, yeah, there’s there’s certain things as good debt, but during retirement there’s not as much unless you’re not really retired and you’re trying to do leverage things like buying rental properties or, or trying to go in and do a good job at flipping real estate or things like that. I would just encourage you to do everything you can. One, to eliminate credit card debt. You’re not going to get rich off of credit card points. I’m just telling you that right now. You’re not going be able to take the credit card points to the bank.

Ford Stokes:
You might be able to get a ticket or a hotel room or a day of a rental car with it. But it’s going to be a little bit more difficult for you to actually deposit those points into a bank account. So do me a favor. Do everything you can to eliminate the debt that you have and the next thing you need to do is stay invested. And the third thing I would recommend that you do is lock up. Like 40% of your assets to make sure that you’ve got an income plan. Where you’re not going to have a problem, where you know that you can count on the income from 40% of your assets. You don’t have to touch the other 60%. And the best way to do that is to consider investing in a fixed indexed annuity for that 20 to 40%. And you don’t have to invest in one fixed indexed annuity. You can invest in several different ones, but that’s just something to really consider. So I would encourage you to reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com and click that schedule a consultation button and we’re happy to help you with your retirement income planning, but also help you keep pace with inflation by staying in smart risk and smart, safe investments. So now we’re going from one piece of bad news to another actively telling folks, hey, be careful, don’t count on Social Security as your retirement plan. In late March, the Social Security Board of Trustees released the annual report on the financial status of the Social Security trust funds.

Ford Stokes:
These include the trust funds for old age and survivors insurance OAC. And listen, a lot of you retirees and pre-retirees, you’re looking to thrive during retirement. You’re not looking to just survive, right? And then also the OASDI or SSDI, which stands for Disability Insurance as well. According to the report, the combined asset reserves of both Oaci and the Di funds will be depleted by 2034. If Congress does not act before then, there will only be enough revenue to pay for 80% of scheduled benefits. The old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which pays Social Security, retirement and survivor benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits in a timely manner through 2033, with 77% of the benefits payable. So what would happen if Social Security runs out in the United States, even if the trust fund is depleted? The Social Security Administration or SSA will continue to collect payroll taxes from workers and their employers, allowing the program to pay most of the benefits, experts say, per a report by CBS News, which I think is not a great place to be, I’d rather have money in the bank working to pay for the old age and survivors insurance part of it, and also the disability insurance. However, if the program ran out of money, there would be a trust fund deficit so retirees could receive lower Social Security payments affecting millions. And I got to tell you, I work with a lot of widows and divorcees and. Their budgets are tight and I don’t think they can afford a 20 to 30% cut in what they’re getting.

Ford Stokes:
And also. Social Security income is either the number one or number two source of income for Americans in the United States, for American retirees. It just that’s just the facts. Such cuts could prove devastating for millions of older Americans, people with disabilities and children who receive benefits. These are people that likely will not be able to go back to work, not because they don’t want to go back to work because they cannot go back to work also. If they’ve been retired for ten years, they’re not going be able to go back to work at the same level of income, the same level of job title that they had before. On the current trajectory, it seems very likely that the Social Security trust fund will run out of money in or around 2033. However, legislators have proposed preventative measures, including raising the retirement age to 70 years old and increasing taxes. Many have been critical of Social Security, not helping retirees keep up with the true rates of inflation. Here’s a recent history of the cost of living adjustments. In 2015, there was a 0% Cola, which stands for Cost of Living Adjustments. That’s the acronym for Cost of Living Adjustments, The Cola Cola 2016 0.3. 2017. A 2.0 Cola 2018 was a 2.8% Cola. 2019 was a 1.6% Cola. 2020 was a 1.3% cola. And then. Uncle Joe Biden here. Let’s go. Brandon 2021, 5.9% and 2022, 8.7%. That’s how runaway the inflation has been that the Social Security Administration said, you know, we need to give you at least 8.7.

Ford Stokes:
And if any of you guys think that we didn’t have more than 8.7% inflation in 2022, I would beg you to reconsider. Now, if you’re interested in maximizing your Social Security benefits and strengthening your retirement income plan, our listeners always receive complimentary consultations when they call us at (770) 685-1777. Or when you visit us at ActiveWealth.com, we can provide you with a social security maximization report. It’s about a $250 value, by the way. And we’ll do that absolutely for free for you because we want to help you make an informed financial decision about what will be one of the most important retirement decisions you’ll ever make, which is, hey, wait a second. We need to. Turn on Social Security income. And. We provide all of that absolutely no cost to you because we’re fiduciaries. We want to help you make decisions. And we want to help you establish your own and separate from the government or workplace a personal pension plan. And you’ve probably got questions on, Look, Social Security was a big part of my cash flow. So many of you probably have questions about cash flow during retirement. Hey, wait a second. Ford Social Security was going to be a big factor of my cash flow during retirement. Okay. Well, when we come back from the break, we’re going to talk about the five steps to master your cash flow and create a budget right here on AM 920 The Answer on the Active Wealth Show.

Producer:
All shall. With owning and maintaining a car can be expensive even if you don’t do a lot of driving. I’m Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. The average monthly payment for a new car in the US is $716, according to the latest data from Bankrate.com. Used car payments are less, of course, but the website says they still run $526 on average. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of car costs. Things like maintenance, insurance and gas all add up in a hurry. Financial expert and Shark Tank co-host Kevin O’Leary says a possible solution is pretty simple. Get rid of the car altogether.

Kevin O’Leary:
Cars cost a Fordune in maintenance and insurance and just the amortization, which means as they go down in value, you’re losing money. Let’s say I pay $25,000 for it. Two years later, it might be worth only 12. I hate cars.

Producer:
O’leary told CNBC recently that with rideshare services like Uber and Lyft operating in pretty much every city these days, many people simply don’t need a car of their own.

Kevin O’Leary:
I know people that go miles for only eight bucks. They’re taking advantage of a system that’s actually democratizing the cost of transportation. Why aren’t you?

Producer:
Of course, rideshare may not be an option for everyone, depending on where you live. In that case, check for nonprofit volunteer transportation programs in your area. And if you find you really do need that car in your garage, shop around for better deals on car insurance or consider car pooling with friends and sharing the cost of getting where you need to go with them. So could you be saving a pretty penny by getting rid of your ride? It’s a key question to consider, and it’s one of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023. With the Retirement.Radio Network powered by Emeril Live, I’m Matt McClure.

Kevin O’Leary:
To get your free copy of 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 give for to call today at (770) 685-1777 or go online to ActiveWealth.com.

Ford Stokes:
All right and welcome back activators the active well show I’ve got Sam Davis our executive producer here with me and we’re talking about the five steps to master your cash flow and create a budget. Sam we gave folks a lot of bad news on the last segment, so we got to talk about ways to solve things. So we talked about 31.7, $4 trillion in US national debt. And we talked about. Oh, and the Dei funds with Social Security being depleted by 2033 or 2034. And that’s probably really tough news for folks that are driving around listening to us here. On the Active Wealth Show or listen to us on Active Wealth Show.com or listening to us wherever they get podcasts. I mean, that’s probably a stark thing that they haven’t considered. Um, what I would ask is, can you just you had a conversation with your own parents, with your mom and your dad separately this past week when you went to a visit? Can you just have a conference? Just tell them. Tell me what they said about what’s going on with Social Security and. And mean your mom used to work for the you know, was in the military and you know, what was their take on. Wait a second. The the trust fund for Social Security is actually going to run out of money. What’s going on?

Sam Davis:
Yeah, I think that’s just one of those things that, you know, even my generation, but the generations prior have been told pretty much their whole life, Hey, don’t expect Social Security. But because it was one of those things that was always said, I think it was never quite believed. My parents are both in their 50s and if you look at 2033, that’s pretty much right around the time that most people would be looking to retire in their life. So, you know, it’s really concerning because they’re already starting to kind of plan and make their budgets for retirement and think about what they want to do when they step away from their careers. And, you know, yeah, my mom worked in the Air Force and and so she kind of has always expected that that the government would find a solution to that. But that’s not looking like the case, at least at ten years out. And I know my dad’s looking to relocate for his retirement. And so that’s definitely going to play a factor as well. So it’s just something that everybody’s got to do while you still have time and you’re kind of in this pre-retirement phase, come up with an income plan that will be able to fill that gap that the government may leave for you.

Ford Stokes:
We want to give you five steps to master cash flow and help you create a budget. Today, we want to give you some of the good news, not just the bad news. Sorry for the bad news in the last segment, but it’s what our government’s doing right now. Um, step one You want to assess your financial landscape. You know, and gather all the relevant financial information, including income expenses, debts and savings. You also want to take note of a regular income sources and any significant financial obligations you may have. And kind of the last point here, when you’re trying to assess your financial landscape, you want to understand your current financial standing. Actually starts with creating this household balance sheet that will serve as a solid foundation for budgeting. I mean, you’ve got you’re the master of your own retirement. I mean, it’s retirement Inc for you. You’re the CEO. And both folks within the couple. You’re both responsible for it. It’s not just the male. It’s not just the female. And you may have it where the man. May have been the primary breadwinner and the female was the one who managed the budget. That that may be the case. But during retirement, you both really need to be involved, both on the expense side and the income side and also the growth side. So you’ve got three big areas. You’ve got to. You’ve got to really look at you’ve got to be able to grow your money and grow your portfolio so that you don’t run out of money, too. You’ve got to be able to deliver tax efficient or at least tax deferred growth. And so therefore, you get income at the end of that.

Ford Stokes:
And then. You’ve got to make sure that you’re managing your expenses to make sure that your income isn’t below your expenses and you’re running up credit card debt and therefore it exacerbates the problem. Step two in the five steps to master cash flow and create a budget is. Set clear financial goals. You want to reflect on your short term and long term aspirations. Like, really ask yourself what do you want to achieve? One of the ways that we overstep our bounds here at Active Wealth Management is we will ask our clients in our pre-retirees and retirees, and we do it in a good way. I mean, people do like this. We say, hey, I want you to. Close your eyes. Not while you’re driving, but I want you to close your eyes and imagine your retirement. I want you to imagine. Who are you with? What are you doing? And then I want you to imagine, how are you going to fund it? A lot of people it’s about time. And we spell love and our family time and we try to spend as much time and quality time with our family as possible. And sometimes that that takes money, that takes owning a lake house or takes owning a beach house or takes going on trips to Disney World or Disney going or going on trips up to the North Georgia mountains or going to Asheville and, you know, or going cross country with the family or traveling abroad or going to the beach, whatever that is. And you need to have that in your budget. Step three is you want to track and categorize your expenses.

Ford Stokes:
You want to keep track of your expenses diligently for at least a month. What we like to do is say, Hey, take two months, add both of those together and then divide by two, and that’ll give you a really good idea of what your run rate is. You want to categorize expenses into broad categories such as housing, transportation, groceries, entertainment. Et cetera. You also want to identify patterns and areas where you can potentially make adjustments. Number four is you want to allocate your income. Prioritize essential needs first, such as housing, utilities, groceries and debt payments. What we what we would call non discretionary expenses. Then you want to set aside a designated amount for discretionary spending while maintaining balance. And then number five, step five is work your plan and review and adjust regularly. Frequently check in on your budget to ensure it aligns with your goals and financial circumstances. Identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments. Also adapt your budget as your life evolves, embracing new opportunities and challenges. Following these steps, these five steps will help you gain a clear understanding of your finances and set meaningful goals. Make informed decisions to achieve financial stability and pursue your aspirations. We come back from the break. We’re going to talk about why your retirement nest egg might be 15 to 37% smaller than you think. You’re listening to Active Wealth Show Writer on Am 920 The Answer And we hope those five steps to mastering your cash flow and creating a budget really helped you guys out. And if you want this free report, all you got to do is send me an email at Ford at ActiveWealth.com.

Producer:
A new payroll tax could be coming to your state. I’m Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife.

NPR:
Failure as a country to provide comprehensive insurance for long term care.

Producer:
America has a long term care problem, NPR reports. 70% of people who turn 65 will need some type of long term care, ranging from in-home care to a full time nursing home facility. And the costs can be astronomical. A Genworth study in 2021 found the median cost for home health was more than $61,000 a year. If you want a private room in a nursing home, the median cost there more than $108,000 annually. And Medicare won’t cover the costs.

NPR:
Medicare pays for short term post-acute care If somebody’s been hospitalized or has other kind of short term medical needs, it doesn’t pay for the kinds of things that we think about as long term care.

Producer:
Allison Hoffman is a professor of law and deputy dean at the University of Pennsylvania, Carey School of Law. She tells me relatively few people in this country have long term care insurance. Washington State was the first in the nation to try to bridge that gap.

NPR:
And what Washington state has done is it’s done a payroll tax, 0.5, 8%, that is, for all W-2 workers or full time workers that comes out of their payroll. And then so long as they pay in for a certain number of years when they have a benefit that they can use for long term care up to a certain amount.

Producer:
But it’s not a cure all for the problem.

NPR:
It is a little patch. I think the total benefits in Washington state are like 36,000 and they increase with inflation over time. But the cost of a nursing home in most states is three times that for over the course of a year. What it is, is the state’s trying to come up with a tool to fill in some of some of the gaps.

Producer:
Now, states like Pennsylvania, New York and California are looking to Washington’s plan to implement their own solutions. Professor Hoffman says tax payers can opt out of the payroll tax in some cases, such as those who have their own private long term care insurance.

NPR:
So why would somebody want to opt out? Well, somebody might want to opt out because they’re already contributing dollars towards towards long term care and they think that that’s sufficient enough. But people also might opt out because they don’t value it as a form of insurance.

Producer:
So could a program like this be coming to your state? If so, how could it affect your wallet? And what about your own long term care plans for your later years? Those are all important questions to consider as time continues to tick on by with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. I’m Matt McClure.

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 920 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 920 The Answer

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

Producer:
We have Ford Stokes, author of two important personal finance books. Annuity 360 and taxes are on sale here on Am 940. The answer, as the host of the Active Wealth Show Saturdays at 12 noon and Sundays at 11 a.m..

Kevin O’Leary:
Any bonuses mentioned may be subject to additional restrictions and regulations based on the offering annuity company. You may not receive the bonus if the contract is fully surrendered or if traditional annuitization payments are taken and if the policy is partially surrendered, it could result in a partial loss of bonuses because these are bonus annuities. They may include higher surrender charges, longer surrender charge periods, lower caps, higher spreads, and other restrictions that are not included in similar annuities that don’t offer a bonus feature.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back. Activators, the Active Wealth Show on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor and got Sam Davis. With us is our executive producer. And want to recap that last segment. Here are the five steps to Master Cash flow and create a budget. Number one is assess your financial landscape. That’s step one. Step two is set clear financial goals. Step three is track and categorize your expenses. Step four is allocate your income, and step five is work your plan and review and adjust regularly. So again, that’s the five steps to master cash flow and create a budget is number one is assess your financial landscape. Step two is set clear financial goals. Step three is track and categorize your expenses. Step four is allocate your income, and step five is work your plan and review and adjust regularly. Also, we’re getting we got a lot of questions and a lot of calls from our interview, my interview with Josh Leumi, with a mer life and vertical vision financial marketing about the nationwide Peak ten fixed indexed annuity, and we have posted that interview separately on the episode section in Active Wealth, and we’ve also uploaded it separately wherever you get podcasts. Again, it’s detailing the nationwide Peak ten, and I would encourage you to go ahead and listen to that interview. You can visit Active Wealth Show.com and just click the episodes button and it’ll that episode will be pretty high on the list there. We’re just got a lot of questions about that and I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us if you want to get a free annuity x ray so you can understand what kind of income you could generate beyond just a typical 4% withdrawal of your portfolio.

Ford Stokes:
If you’re looking for more income during retirement, we can help you do that from your assets and hopefully help them. Those assets continue to grow. And again, we’re here about protecting and growing your wealth and also trying to minimize the fees. If you’re really interested in reducing 40% of the fees you pay in advisory and portfolio fees in a single day with a single investment into a fixed indexed annuity, I’d encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 again (770) 685-1777. And the way we can accomplish that is by replacing the bond portion of your portfolio and investing that into a fixed indexed annuity where there are no advisory and portfolio fees. Also, we have actual annuities that are very low in fees or even some have free income riders where there are no income rider fees. You want to be careful about the fees you’re going to pay within a fixed indexed annuity as well, and we can help you do that and we can select a lot of products for you to actually choose from. So if you want to look at the shelf of fixed indexed annuity products that are available to you, all you’ve got to do is reach out to us at ActiveWealth.com or call us at (770) 685-1777. And now Sam why don’t you talk about why your retirement nest egg might be 15 to 37% smaller than you think? Yeah.

Sam Davis:
Ford So too often I think people start planning for retirement. And when they start learning a bit more about how their retirement savings is going to be taxed, they learn that almost all of their retirement savings is in tax deferred accounts. So that’s either a 401. K or a 403. B could be a 457 or just an IRA you set up for yourself individually. Tax deferred means that that money has been invested without taxes paid. And so the government kind of gives you that gift in the meantime, because truthfully, they’d rather tax you on the harvest rather than taxing you on the bag of seed. Right. Because the the big number is going to be much bigger than the little number. So don’t forget to account for those taxes that you haven’t paid to the IRS and the US government. Also, keep in mind your Social Security income is going to be taxed as well.

Producer:
It’s time for an act of wealth Roth Converter.

Ford Stokes:
We would like to encourage all of our listeners to schedule an appointment with us so we can provide you with a free Roth conversion plan. This plan will outline how you can convert your money that is currently in a tax deferred bucket, i.e. your IRA, and place it into a tax free bucket, which would be a Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is only one of two tax free investment options for Americans. The other one is life insurance. With your money in a Roth IRA, the funds will be allowed to grow tax free and the distributions will be tax free as well. Additionally, your Roth funds won’t be subject to required minimum distributions when the government forces you to start taking withdrawals from your accounts so that they can get the taxes that they are owed. You know that death and taxes thing is real, folks. They definitely want to collect on the retirement dollars that are in these IRA accounts and 403 B’s for 401 K’s 457 Sep, IRAs, simple IRAs, et cetera. A Roth IRA also protects your money from future tax increases and future changes to the US income tax brackets. This. If you’re interested in maximizing your retirement savings and learning what a Roth can do for you, get in touch with us at ActiveWealth.com. Or just give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. You’re also schedule today so we can get to work on building a winning retirement plan for you and your family. Diane and Deborah are standing by and our team standing by to take your call at (770) 685-1777. And all meetings are complimentary and you only work with us if it’s best for you.

Producer:
It’s this week in history.

Sam Davis:
Right forward on This Week in History 1944, American film director, producer, screenwriter and entrepreneur George Lucas was born. Lucas is best known for creating both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. Lucas’s films are among the highest grossing movies at the North American box office, and Lucas himself has been nominated for four Academy Awards.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I’m a huge Star Wars fan, an Indiana Jones fan. And, you know, George Lucas is a very thoughtful gentleman. And he was pretty smart to sell out the Star Wars franchise to Disney as he was getting a little bit older. And he just felt like he wanted to do other things. He didn’t have the energy to keep going on all that stuff. And, you know, I love being able to get Mandalorian and also see. Other different series and different movie stuff from the Star Wars series. And I just want to say, George, thanks for entertaining us for so many decades.

Sam Davis:
Yeah, Also a fantastic entrepreneur as well. He was able to hang on to the licensing rights for quite a bit of the Star Wars franchise. And so a lot of those toys and different Star Wars products that you see sold. George Lucas is definitely making a nice profit from that. Also on This Week in History, in 1998, American singer and actor Frank Sinatra passed away at the age of 82.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. Mean Sinatra is considered one of the most popular entertainers of the 40s, 50s and 60s and is among the best selling music artists ever, having sold an estimated 150 million records. And you know, the the song that my wife and I danced to at our wedding was the best is yet to come. And we just appreciate you Frank.

Ford Stokes:
Also shout out to my uncle John Ford who let me borrow his BMW M roadster to to take my girlfriend down to Savannah and get engaged. 22 years ago. And we now have 16 year old twin girls. And during that trip, we listened to a double Best of the Greatest Hits CDs, Frank Sinatra, the whole way down, the whole way back and shout out to old blue Eyes. It’s the final.

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

Ford Stokes:
So on this week’s show, we talked about Milton Friedman’s quote, The government’s solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. We talked about how to kick the government out of your retirement plan by implementing a Roth ladder conversion. And if you want to, all you got to do is pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. And we’re happy to help you with a Roth ladder conversion plan. We also gave you a little bit of bad news on what’s going on with the US national debt at 31.7 trillion. We also gave you a little bit of bad news on hey, right now, don’t count on Social Security as your retirement plan because it looks like the Social Security trust fund is going to run out of money in 2033 or 2034. We also gave you five steps to master your cash flow. We also went in depth and in detail about a little bit about how to implement a Roth ladder conversion plan and how you can get started just by reaching out to us at ActiveWealth.com and clicking that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. And of course we want to give a shout out to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars and also the guy over the Indiana Jones series.

Ford Stokes:
And then also. On This Week in History. Old blue eyes died with Frank Sinatra dying. And, you know, we really appreciate those folks entertaining us throughout a lot of our lives across the decades. Listen, if you are looking to build a retirement plan, you want to seek knowledge as much as you can. If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly, be as aggressive as you can about getting as much info as possible. That’s getting more tax efficient, more efficient and more market efficient. And I encourage you just to give us a call at (770) 685-1777. And on next week’s show, we’re going to talk about really how to implement a smart retirement plan. We’re going to kind of kick start that series again a little bit and get going on it because we feel like it’s more important than ever for people to invest in smart risk investments, smart, safe investments and smart tax investments and have a really good plan and budgeting plan for it as well. You’re listening to Active Wealth Show right on AM 920 the Answer and I hope everybody has a fantastic week.

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

Producer:
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 interests of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. If any exist. Refer to our firm brochure the ADV to a page four for additional information. Any comments regarding safe and secure products and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by BWR.

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