AWS #132 Transcript: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

AWS #132 Transcript: 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 Forde 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, this special edition, Memorial Day weekend edition of the Active Wealth show. And we’re going to talk a little bit about patriotism today. We’re also going to be talking about the new structure note that we have available for June. And we’ll also talk about a little bit about bond replacement today and some ideas that you should be considering for bond replacement. But first, I want to I want to share that I was on a panel. Were they not on a national webinar? I was the host of a national webinar where Laura Ingraham was the keynote speaker, and we got I got a chance to interact with her quite a bit. We’re going to share a few excerpts from her. She’s got a great story on patriotism that I thought was really important to share. We’re going to share that here in this first segment as well of the show. But I want to kind of give you an idea on the history of Memorial Day. So originally called Decoration Day from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country. It was widely observed on May 30th, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers by proclamation of General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former union sailors and soldiers.

Ford Stokes:
During that first national commemoration, former union general and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5000 participants helped to decorate the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who are buried there. This national event galvanized efforts to honor and remember fallen soldiers that began with a local observances at burial grounds in several towns throughout the United States. Following the end of the Civil War, such as May 1st, 1865, there was a gathering in Charleston, South Carolina, organized by freed slaves to pay tribute and give proper burial to union troops, which I think is awesome. In 1873. New York was the first state to designate Memorial Day as a legal holiday by the late 1800s. Many more cities and communities observe Memorial Day, and several states had declared it a legal holiday after World War One. It became an occasion for those honored who died in all of America’s wars, which was then widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States. In 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and established that Memorial Day was to be commemorated on the last Monday of May. Several southern states, however, officially commemorate an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead, sometimes referred to as Confederate Memorial Day, January 19, in Texas, third Monday in January in Arkansas and etc. through other southern states.

Ford Stokes:
Memorial Day is commemorated at Arlington National Cemetery each year with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Traditionally, the president or vice president lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5000 people attend the ceremony annually. I you know, for me, Memorial Day means a lot. It also means a lot that the men that I’ve known in my life. Who have served in the military. My two uncles, my dad, and then also my brother in law and others. They’re still alive. I have one uncle who did pass away this year, and so I’ll really be thinking about him. You know, he was an incredibly successful attorney out of out of Nashville. And Uncle Ogden, we’ll miss you. But, you know, my dad was the chief navigational officer on the Coral Sea. It’s an aircraft carrier that’s now steel girders and and razor blades and stuff because they’ve they’ve broken it down and for scrapped it for parts and for metal. And and then also, you know, I’ve got a brother in law who flew the F-18 growler for the US Navy and he’s now a pilot with one of the major airlines. And my uncle John Ford, was actually a medic in Vietnam, and he doesn’t talk about it very much. But I’m incredibly proud of all those guys. Extremely close, you know, obviously to all of them.

Ford Stokes:
Big fan of my uncle John Ford. And shout out to you, John, if you’re listening. I just want to recognize everybody on Memorial Day specifically think about my uncle Ogden this year because, you know, we can actually put a flag on his you know, on his grave. His daughter’s doing that this this weekend in Nashville, who’s my cousin. And, you know, we just need to recognize and and understand this is a there’s a great quote on this from James Garfield that he said in May 30th, 1868. He said, We do not know one promise. These men made one pledge. They gave one word, they spoke. But we do know they summed up and perfected by one supreme act the highest virtues of men and citizens for love of country. They accepted death, thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue. That was James Garfield and May 30th, 1868, on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. That’s what Memorial Day means to me. It’s more than just a day at the lake. It’s more than just a day at the pool. It’s more than just a trip with your family. It it is really there to recognize and think about those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice. And Sam, you had an interesting story that I think all the folks would like to hear because it was a it revolves around a pension check.

Executive Producer Sam Davis:
Yeah. Yeah. So I thought this kind of tied in well to what we talk about every week here on the Active Wealth Show and what we’re trying to recognize this week on Memorial Day weekend. So I found this story. I, I looked it up. A woman by the name of Irene Triplett, who lived in North Carolina until 2020. She was the last living recipient of the Civil War pension. A check came every month for $73.13. She was the daughter of a man by the name of Mose Triplett, who was a private in the Confederate Army before he defected to the Union. And he had her when he was on his second marriage, and she had some impairments that qualified her for that pension. So I just thought that was an interesting story that someone in 2020 was receiving a check from the Civil War pension.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, that’s remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. So we just wanted to recognize everybody and all the all the family members of the people who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice for our country and for our freedom and for keeping us free. We also need to vote that way, too. We’ve got to keep it where we’re not going to accept anything other than actually accurate and free elections. We are not going to. We’ve got to vote that way. We have to make sure that there’s not election fraud. We’ve got to recognize those people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for us and keep our country free. And we need to vote that way. We also need to vote for less government, in my opinion, and less taxes, because that’s going to affect retirees as well. And for now, what I want to do is I want to send this to the story that Laura Ingraham shared when she was going to interview President Trump on the beaches of Normandy. And she’d been up all night, had to sleep in a car. She was feeling down about that. And then she met this gentleman. It’s a remarkable.

Laura Ingraham:
Story. Patriotism to me is 5:00 am in the morning of the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landing. And I was it was 5:00 in the morning. And I had to get through security because I was going to interview President Trump a couple of hours later. And I was with my friend Debbie. And it’s a long story, but we had to sleep in the car. It just happened a few years ago and I couldn’t sleep. I was pretty little nervous about set up and 75,000 people were going to be at the ceremony. But I was interviewing the president before that and I hadn’t slept a wink walking in as the sun was rising. Over the gravestones of 9000, 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds, so many of them so young and seeing a 98 year old man. From Nebraska. Who himself had spent three weeks in Normandy, 75 years earlier as a young paratrooper. He was with his great, great granddaughter. And he had a look like kind of a mock up of his old uniform. I think it was one of his old uniforms, but he had a lot of his medals on his chest and the World War Two cap. And I think he was going to be interviewed by somebody shortly thereafter and he had a walker and it was getting through the dewy grass. And I stopped him and I said, Sir, I introduce myself and and he was crying. He said, you know, people don’t realize what it took. To secure our our freedom. People don’t realize. They honor us every so often. And we have Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. But they don’t they don’t realize what. What happened here. So much death happened here. He said. He said he’s still. Heard the cries of. You know the men who didn’t make it. That’s what patriotism is. It’s a living narrative of sacrifice and an ability to remember who paid the ultimate price on a day as glorious and horrible as that one was for the world, for for freedom.

Ford Stokes:
That was very moving. I teared up when she was talking about on that national webinar. So it was just great to have Laura on and it’s also great to have Laura’s voice on this show. She’s a great American. I appreciate what she’s doing to protect our freedoms as well. For the rest of the show, we’re going to talk about our structure note for June, and we’re also going to talk about the two types of truly tax free investments in the United States. And we’re going to talk about how to generate tax advantaged income during your retirement years. And we’re so glad you’re with us here. We’re going to also talk a little bit about senior travel and the increasing costs of travel for retirees. And we’re going to do everything we can to help you build a tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio, starting with this show. And when we come back from the break, we’re going to get into all of that and more. You’re listening, Active Wealth Show right here on AM 921. The answer, come right back.

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.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back activators the Active Wealth Show. I’m Ford Stokes Chief Financial Advisor and I’m joined by Sam Davis, our executive producer. And I want to just say, hey, if you’re if you’ve got questions about who’s an activator, what’s an activator? And activator is somebody who listens to this show. It’s somebody who wants to build a successful retirement, somebody who wants to save more than they’re spending. Somebody wants to build a tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio. They want to keep their fees down. They want to try to build tax advantaged investing. And we’ll talk about that in segment three and four. And there is also somewhat there are folks who love America. And on this Memorial Day weekend, we want to make sure that we gave proper homage to all the people who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country and keep us free. And happy Memorial Day, everybody. And Sam, just your thoughts on Laura Ingraham’s story about patriotism in the last segment. And also, you’ve actually visited Arlington National Cemetery. So have I. And I wanted to get kind of get I’ve also been to the the ceremony with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It’s a remarkable situation. It’s not a place to be taken lightly. It’s not a place to sit there and laugh and cut up. It’s a place to be very solemn and silent and really get it, understand and feel the weight of the sacrifice of the unknown soldier has given us.

Executive Producer Sam Davis:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Listening to Laura’s story in segment one. And if you didn’t catch her story, the Active Wealth Show is available wherever you listen to podcast, so you can download it on demand and listen whether you have an iPhone or an Android or you’re on Spotify, you can catch this episode if you miss the first part of it. But when she was describing visiting Omaha Beach, the site of of D-Day and where so many fell and did not make it home after that battle, it really made me think of when I visited Arlington National Cemetery for the first time. I was just starting high school. My dad took me and my sister there, and it’s so humbling walking through just fields and fields of those white tombstones. And you make it to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And that changing of the Guard ceremony is something to behold. Very, very special. And yes, the president usually does a ceremony there at least a couple of times a year. So you may recognize it if you see it on on the news or something like that. But just to recognize all those tombstones and that each one of those represents someone who didn’t make it home. And then to think of how many people that they left behind who remember them to this day and their families, it’s just very special. So while you’re at the beach or barbecuing in the backyard or on the golf course this weekend, just remember why all those people made that sacrifice so that we can continue to enjoy America and all that it offers. I fortunately have not had any loved ones die in combat, but I had both my grandfather serve my mother, handful of uncles and just appreciate their sacrifices, you know, serving. And I appreciate the sacrifices of all those who are in Arlington and wherever they are in the United States now.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, no question. Also, just the time the time sacrifice is amazing. You know, my brother in law, he got to see my sister. One weekend over an entire year when he was deployed on an on the aircraft carrier H.W. Bush in the Middle East and outside the Middle East, and that was in Southeast Asia. That was a remarkable thing. I just couldn’t believe it was just a new sacrifice for our family to to witness. And we all stayed close to our, you know, my sister and and made sure that we, you know, flew her in or we flew out to her. And my wife and my girls went out to Seattle because he was stationed at Whidbey Island out there and in Washington state. And it was. That was when. That’s where he was stationed out of. But he was on an aircraft carrier for a year, almost a year and a half. And it was I mean, it was something else. So the sacrifices that that our men and women of the armed forces make, it’s just nothing short of remarkable. I also kind of want to want to get into the emotionality piece that we’re all feeling with with the markets and obviously with the current leadership in the White House, which I am not a fan of.

Ford Stokes:
I am definitely a conservative and I’m a constitutional conservative. And I just do not believe the current mindset or the current policies from this White House is the way to go. I think it weakens America. And I’m going to you know, some people say, hey, Ford, why don’t you just fence ride and just kind of play between the of them? I’m not going to do that. I would rather work with, you know, the people I want to work with, clients I want to work with than anything else. I that’s just what I would rather do next is. I want to kind of talk about the emotionality, what we’re seeing in the marketplace. And Laura talked about that on that national webinar that I hosted and. I wanted to make sure we played that excerpt about what what she sees. And and also, you know, listen, the less emotional you are, the more money you’re going to make. Because if you can stay invested, you’re likely going to do better. You’re going to be invested when those big trading days come up. We had some positive days this past week, which was very helpful. And so go ahead, Sam, and play that clip about what Laura is talking about with this current volatile market conditions that we’re seeing.

Executive Producer Sam Davis:
This is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs and smart entrepreneurs. I was talking to one of the most successful investors of our time, and there’s probably five of them. You probably know a couple of them well, and I’m not going to tell you who it is, but he has a home in Palm Beach, and I had the chance to talk to him. This was maybe. Four days ago. And he said, Laura, buckle up. But you could make a lot of money right now. A lot of money. And of course, I’m I’m the the worst I’m the worst investor because I’m too emotional about it. Don’t get emotional. Get smart. And I and I’m remembering that today, as you know, the markets are crashing or going down and signs of distress for potentially years. But what he told me and I’ve given away is his gender, but he told me is that this is one of the best opportunities I have to grow my business and my brand. And it sounds counterintuitive, especially in the financial world, because I’m not doing anything now. No, no, no, no, no. This is the best opportunity you have. To become rich. That you’ve had, I would say, in a very long time. And whatever your business is, if you’re smart.

Ford Stokes:
So we just heard Laura talk about the opportunity we have as investors. And honestly, I would say that would be to stay invested. We’re going to play another clip in the next segment about seeking counsel and why that could be a really good idea. And listen, we’re I’m a fiduciary. That means I’ve got to put your needs ahead of my own. That means I’m here to be on that wall, to be less emotional for you, and to make sure that we stay the course and we stay invested. We also try to take advantage of the up trading days when we have them and to make sure that helps net a positive. And also, just remember, you’re not going to realize the losses and until you sell and you know, they’re not just paper losses, they can be real losses in your account that you’ve experienced this year. But at the same time, it also has the ability to bounce back. And we’ve got to do everything we can to be less emotional and stay the course. And there is no greater market, financial market to invest in than the US markets. There just isn’t. We’ve got the best military, we’ve got the freest country, we’ve got the freest citizens and therefore we’re the right markets to invest in and therefore we’re going to get uplift from other international investment and you can benefit from that as well. So when other foreign governments or other foreign business folks and in other capital comes in, comes into the market, it will lift up your investment as well.

Ford Stokes:
So I would encourage you to stay invested. Yes, we’re in a difficult time. Yes. The S&P 500 is much lower in valuation. It’s in that 15 to 16 times, potentially even 17 times earnings, which is you get into that 14. Percent range, a 14 times earnings range that’s getting close to capitulation. So we just need to stay invested and but also have a plan. I would encourage you to consider a bond replacement plan. And we’re going to talk about our structured note for next month for June here. Right. Right. As we come back from the break in segment three and. You need to have a plan. You need to implement like a structured note ladder to further protect your hard earned and hard saved money. You need to consider a fixed indexed annuity to replace your bonds as well. That’s something to consider also if you’re in their thirties, forties and fifties. You might want to consider life insurance because that is one of the only two tax free investments out there. I mean, number one, the number one tax free investment is a Roth IRA. We’ll talk about Roth Ladder Conversion segment three and four and then also. You know, the second one is life insurance. So there’s only two types of tax free investments.

Ford Stokes:
That’s the ones that don’t contribute to additional taxes on your principal. Additional taxes on your gains also doesn’t contribute to additional taxation on your Social Security income benefit when you start taking it and after you start taking it, when you’re already taking it ongoing. And then also number four is it does not contribute to additional Medicare surcharges. So that is an important thing to look at. And even municipal bonds can’t do that. So we’d ask you if you want to get in touch with us and you want to get a free financial plan that is tax advantaged and tax efficient, i would encourage you to reach out to us at www.ActiveWealth.com. That’s www.ActiveWealth.com. You can click that schedule a consultation in the upper right corner. We’re happy to talk with you. You can also call us at (770) 685-1777 at (770) 685-1777. Debbie and her team are standing by on this Memorial Day weekend to take your calls. And we’re happy to help you any way we can. And when we come back from the break, we’re going to talk more about smart investing and how to build a smart financial plan. We’re going to talk about tax advantaged investing with Roth IRAs and life insurance. And we’ll play more excerpts from my interactions with Laura Ingram right when we come back from the break. You’re listening, Active Wealth Show, right here on AM 920. The answer.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back activators the Active Wealth Show. I’m Ford Stokes chief financial advisor and I’ve got Sam Davis on the board as our executive producer. And as promised, we’re going to talk about our structured note for June and our American style structured note that is offered by Citibank is available. It is the payment terms on it. The coupon, the minimum coupon is 15.25% annualized. That’s over the next 12 months. But let me talk to you about the underlying indexes and how this thing works. So there is a level of principal protection. The principal is protected up to the downside barrier or level of the underlying equity index is called an American style or daily. Structured note If a breach of the level of protection occurs, principal value will then be linked to the performance of the lesser performing index at maturity. This note is callable at full principal value after six months at the issuer’s discretion. If all three underlying indexes are at or above their initial level. So in other words, they cannot call it. If any of your three indices are below the level in which you bought it. And what I recommend people do is. They should do a structured note ladder with five different notes in five consecutive months. With five different starting points on the indices. So let me just tell you, these indexes, the underlying index is on this note, and most of the notes that we that we market and sell and we don’t we don’t get commission dollars on the structured notes on the sale of the structure notes.

Ford Stokes:
We just it’s just an investment sleeve and allocation sleeve within our portfolios. And what we do is we invest in structured note ladders with five consecutive notes, with five different banks and five different starting points in the indexes. But the three indexes we’re talking about here are the S&P 500. The Nasdaq 100 and the Russell 2000. So. Those are the indexes that are tied to these notes. As long as those three indexes do not lose 30% of their value from the time you buy the structured note. Then what’s great about this is your principal is 100% protected. So the markets got to lose 30%. For your principle to then ride the market until the maturity date because they can’t call it a negative position either. So it’s not like the index would go below 30% and all of a sudden the bank would call it that doesn’t do them any good either. So they they have to not call it until all the indexes are at or above the level or until the maturity date from 12 months from the time you purchase it. To further protect our clients. What we do is we invest in structured note ladders of five consecutive notes in five consecutive months with five different starting points of the indexes.

Ford Stokes:
So example, let’s say you’ve got $200,000, you want to invest into a structured note ladder. We would take 40,000. Each of the next five months, and we would invest $40,000 in a different structured note. So we’d take one and invest it in this Citibank structure. Don’t. In June. And then whatever note comes out in July, August, September and October, those notes, we would invest 40,000 each of those next months. Into different structure notes. So the thought is if one of those notes loses 30%, it’s more than likely that the other notes are going to go down an additional 30%. And so it’s that’s just ostensibly why we invest in the structure note ladder to diversify your risk. That’s seeking counsel that that is giving you kind of what private wealth management firms do. That’s doing something different that you may not have heard of. Also, our structure notes are different because they’re advisory. Structured notes. They’re not brokerage structured notes, brokerage based or brokerage focused structured notes. Pay less because you have to pay the the brokerage commission to that stockbroker that’s going to buy and sell your structured note for you. We’re doing it with a discount broker using td ameritrade or custodian to buy and sell here. So we’re it’s we’re taking the trading fees out of it and we don’t get paid any trading fees.

Ford Stokes:
I’m actually. Don’t get any additional commissions by doing an investment sleeve of structured notes, but I do it to further protect and grow my clients assets because it’s nice to at least have some principle buffer in this market. It is volatile market environment. So we think that’s just the way to go. Again, structured notes are securities. They they do involve market risk. They should not be considered as comparisons to bank CDs. But also they’re making a whole lot more money. And a whole lot more interest. I mean, my structure note for the month of June is paying 15.25%. That’s a lot of interest over the next 12 months. And that interest is guaranteed by the paying ability of that bank. And we only work with large A-rated banks like Citibank or Bank of America or Jp morgan or Truist or Bank of Montreal and others. So if you’ve been listening to this show for a long time. And you’ve never you haven’t called us yet, and you’re like, you know what? I need to go ahead and call forward. I need to get him to help me and give me a free financial plan and a free Roth Ladder Conversion plan and a free structured note ladder for me to consider. Just on a planning perspective, give me the strategy and also help me get more tax efficient, fee efficient, market efficient with my portfolios.

Ford Stokes:
And I want to take advantage of, hey, I need to take advantage of the lower advisory fee and portfolio fee that he gives for Active Wealth Show listeners. Then I would encourage you to pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Again, (770) 685-1777. Or just visit www.ActiveWealth.com. One other thing is, if you want to hear other shows like Sam talked about, definitely go to Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or iTunes. But the best way to do it, if you want to see videos of this, because I’m actually wearing my red, white and blue Braves shirt, I mean, it’s blue with red, white and blue logo with the Braves on just also, the Braves are doing better against the Phillies this week, so that’s good. We’re pulling for the Braves and good luck to him this weekend during the Memorial Day weekend. But we are. Here for you. We’re here to give you the information. So we even transcribe each show and we also put the video out of each show. So that way if you go to www.ActiveWealthShow.com, you can see any episode that we’ve done. And we’re now. Over two years in here on the Active Wealth Show with Sam. It’s been great and fantastic. Now what I want to do is I want to play Laura’s audio on seeking counsel.

Executive Producer Sam Davis:
Because when you think about times of upheaval, real upheaval, and let’s break it down to our personal lives. Right. Or your professional life. But we understand our personal lives because intimately part of us. Whose council do you seek out now? From my perspective? The friends and the the the pros I reach out to in these moments he’s. Scary moments. We all have them. They all have key qualities in common. And some of the adjectives that come to mind and I’m thinking of the one person that I go to in distress. And there’s other than the Almighty. And he’s sick of hearing from me at this point, but he is the one person I go to and we all have a go to. If you don’t, you should find one. These are the adjectives steady, calm, confident, pragmatic, forward thinking and yes, optimistic, but not in a goofy optimist, a reality based optimism. So some other other people don’t see these these qualities. Right. If you if they don’t see these qualities in you as a person. You’re not going to be the go to friend. In fact, they’ll stay away from you. Why? Because you’re a walking maelstrom of trouble. Or you wear all your problems on your sleeve. So I don’t want to. I don’t want to bother you with my problems, or you haven’t given me the best advice in the past too often. And although I love you, I’m not going to seek you out right now. So you know what I’m saying there? You have trusted people. Same thing, right, in the investment world.

Ford Stokes:
It’s great to get that advice from Laura. I do think we all need to seek counsel, especially in difficult times. And if you’ve seen what’s going on in the market since January and also what’s going on with US policy from the White House and everything else, I would encourage you to seek advice and seek counsel from people who are licensed and are held to fiduciary responsibility. I’m held to a fiduciary responsibility, and I’d love the opportunity to help you. I’m a serious 65 licensed adviser with the SEC and FINRA. I’m also life and health licensed in a whole lot of states, and I’m registered with a whole lot of states with my series 65 licenses as well. And I’m an author of a couple of books I knew 83, 60, and also taxes are on sale. And if you want a free copy of my book, either of my books, you can visit www.annuity360.net. To get my annuity 3060 book and then also www.TaxesAreonSale.com and you can learn about how to get more efficient with your portfolio from a tax perspective because right now we’re at our taxes are really an almost all time lows since 1913 to today it’s they’re pretty low we’re the average top marginal tax rate is 58.4%.

Ford Stokes:
And right now we’re at 37%. So we’re. 21.4% below the average top marginal tax rate, which is the high marginal tax rate, basically means the highest tax rate, and we’re even 1% lower than the average. Lowest tax rate because we’re at 10% and the average low is like a little over 11%. So we come back from the break. We’re going to talk more and more about tax advantaged investing. The two types of tax free investments out there, which is Roth IRAs and life insurance. We’re going to try to help you get more tax efficient, at least on this show. And we are pleased to be playing some excerpts from my interactions with Laura Ingraham on a national financial webinar that I hosted, and that was a lot of fun. And we’re also just recognizing the great Americans who have kept us free. Thank you so much, veterans out there for your sacrifice of time and for those who’ve given up their lives. Thank you to all the family members for your loved ones keeping us free. And we come back from the break. We’re gonna talk more about tax advantage investing. It was the 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 every where you listen to podcasts, including Spotify.

Ford Stokes:
And Welcome Back Activators the Active Wealth Show. I’m Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. I’m joined by Sam Davis, our executive producer. And Sam, I want to play that clip from Laura talking about self care. Listen, I’m going to overstep my bounds right now as a financial advisor with you. And I want you and I and if you’re driving, don’t close your eyes. But I want you to consider what your vision is for retirement. I want you to think about what are you doing, who are you with, what are you accomplishing, and how are you going to fund it? And. Also, how are you spending your time? How are you enjoying your life more and. Laura talks about self care and this in this little excerpt. And I think you’re really going to like it, especially for those who are still working. There’s a lot of really neat things that she’s doing. One is she’s making sure she’s getting 7 hours of sleep. She even does breathing exercises. She does things that are different. She’s also eating better. And I think all of us can do that because we want. Listen, in our family, we spell love. Timmy and I want to do everything I can to help you spend more time with your family. And that’s taking care of yourself, too. And if you’re headed towards being a type two diabetic, get out and walk. I have now over a month and a half. I’ve gone a month and a half without drinking Coca-Colas and I’m down £13. Shows you how much I was drinking and Coca-Colas every day. But I’m also getting a lot better. And I’m feeling better and I’m walking more. I wasn’t crazy, obese, overweight or anything, but it was it was an important thing for me to give up. And and I’m sure you guys probably saw the Coke stock when when it was announced that Ford Stokes stopped drinking Cokes. Just kidding. But I. But self care. Go ahead and play that clip, Sam. I want them to hear it.

Laura Ingraham:
People ask the same thing of me. How did you do it? How did you get a TV show? How did you write all these books? How did you do a radio show for 17 and a half years? How did you start your podcast? We must take the time to answer those questions. We’re in a rush. We feel we have a sense of urgency to do the next thing. But stop. Take inventory of you as a person, your life, your family, your strengths, your weaknesses. Sometimes do it out loud, maybe with only your in the beginning, with only your trusted friends. And then you’ll see the magic that will follow part of this magic. And we all have it. Sometimes we don’t feel like we do what we do. Part of this magic and again, the living our lives we’re brand building as we live our lives. Sometimes we go off brands, sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes we veer back to our what we know best to do this well. I think you need to take care of yourself personally. And I sound like a like a fitness wellness guru here. But bear with me. Simple things be healthier if you don’t believe in prayer.

Laura Ingraham:
I do. If you don’t meditate. Great apps about breathing. Breathing exercises. I used to laugh about it. I used to think it was stupid, believe me. Oh, I don’t have time for that. Make time for that. 10 minutes a day. It’ll change your change your perspective. Promise me it did mine. Eat better, put down the donuts, sleep 7 hours a night. I can get away with five. Well, I do a lot. It’s not good. It is not good. Put away your devices before bed. Watch my show. Try to if you can, but try the devices. Blue light, try to put it away, have a clear workspace. Be good to good to the ones you love, pray or meditate for the ones who don’t love you. Laura, why are you talking about this? This is brand building. We’re building our business. Why are you doing Oprah on me? I’m not doing over on you. I promise you. This is part of the whole package making strides and positive directions in your personal life. I promise you will pay dividends in the moneymaking part of your life.

Ford Stokes:
All right. Now let’s talk about life insurance and Roth IRAs, because I promised I would this whole show, number one, is I’ve shared. A story about Lisa. She is a marketing executive here in Atlanta. She came to me when she was in between jobs. She’s now fully employed and doing great. And she’s a grandmother as well. But she’s a young grandmother. She’s she’s 50 years old. 50 years young. So she’s a young grandmother. She’s 50 years young. And she’s investing $2,000 a month. That’s $2,000 a month. Into an index. Universal life policy called a ten peg. She’s paying it for ten years. So 24 grand a year. 240 grand total. Not a crazy amount of money over a ten year period. But when she retires at age at the age of 65. That index universal life policy is illustrating to show that she’s going to likely be able to withdraw 40, $42,000. She’s going to be able to withdraw $42,414 a year tax free. And the reason she can do that, that is a loan against the policy. And there’s no income tax or ordinary income tax on loans. So that is really good in society benefits from life insurance because I have life insurance and if I were to pass away, my wife and children get. Get a tax free death benefit. Therefore, my kids and my wife wouldn’t be wards of the state, although my wife also works.

Ford Stokes:
But we think that’s a pretty big deal. And so if you are in your thirties, forties or fifties, the cost of life insurance is likely low enough where you can build a tax advantage or even tax free life insurance. Income. And just for your retirement years. And we think that’s a big deal. The next is a Roth Ladder Conversion. And the hint here is start when you’re when you stop working or when your income is down, start moving money from your IRA to your Roth IRA dollar for dollar and pay the taxes with your taxable or investment account or savings account or checking account. So therefore, you’re moving money out of your tax deferred bucket into your tax free bucket. Using your taxable dollars in your investment account. That’s a really good idea because we want to try to divest the IRS out of being your partner in retirement. And we’ll talk more about that in the next show. We’re going to talk in detail about how to build an entirely smart financial plan and a smart retirement plan that includes smart risk, smart, safe and smart health decisions, and also smart tax decisions. Be sure to tune in to the Active Wealth show next weekend and we’re going to go in depth in detail about a smart financial plan. I think you’re going to like it. It’s the final.

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

Ford Stokes:
So on this week’s show, we played a lot of really good advice from Laura Ingraham. We recognized our men and women of the armed forces and also the the people and the family members who have given so much to keep us protected and free. On this Memorial Day weekend. And we really appreciate you all. And we care about you. And we are here to recognize the ultimate sacrifice that so many have made in our wars to protect us and keep us the home of the brave and the land of the free and. We love you all. We absolutely do. And we also appreciate our activators who are listening to us, who understand that, hey, it’s important to try to get to a tax advantage, invest. And we talked about that and we talked about the only two tax free investments out there, which is Roth IRAs and life insurance. And we’re just really wanting to give tribute to our men and women in the armed forces here in this Memorial Day weekend. Next week, we’re going to talk about in detail, we’re going to go section by section of my webinar, which is all about tax advantage investing to it’s basically our retire well how to reduce taxes and grow assets. And if you want a copy of that you can always reach out to us at www.ActiveWealth.com and we’ll send you a link to our the video of me giving that presentation. And we’re happy to help you any way we can. But you’re going to want to come back and listen to us next week on the Active Wealth Show when we’re talking about how to build a truly smart. Retirement plan. Hope everybody has a great week. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. Everybody, please have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Wish all the best will be right back next week with the Active Wealth Show talking about a smart retirement plan.

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 Active Wealth. Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC. Become a registered investment advisor. Bcm and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BC, 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:
A purchaser should evaluate and understand all of the risks and costs of an investment in structured notes or sions prior to making any investment decision. A purchase of an RSN entails other risks not associated with an investment in conventional bank deposits. A purchaser may not have the right to withdraw his or her investment prior to maturity, or could incur substantial penalties for an early withdrawal if permitted. A purchaser should carefully read the disclosure statement and any other disclosure documents for a structured note before investing. An investment in SNS is not FDIC insured and is subject to credit risk. The actual or perceived creditworthiness of the note issuer may affect the market value of SNS. Sns will not be listed on any securities exchange. Even if there is a secondary market, it may not provide enough liquidity to allow purchasers to trade or sell SNS. As a holder of SNS, purchasers will not have voting rights or receive cash dividends or other distributions or other rights in the underlying assets or components of the underlying assets. Certain built in costs are likely to adversely affect the value of SNS prior to maturity.

Producer:
The price, if any, at which the notes can be purchased in secondary market transactions, if at all, will likely be lower than the original purchase price at any sale prior to the maturity date could result in a substantial loss. Sns are not designed to be short term trading instruments. Purchasers should be willing to hold any notes to maturity. The tax consequences of SNS may be uncertain. Purchasers should consult their tax advisor regarding the US federal income tax consequences of investment in SNS. If a structured note is callable at the option of the issuer and the SN is called, the holder will receive only the applicable redemption amount and will not receive any coupon payments that would have been payable for the remainder of the term of the SN. Sns are not FDIC insured, may lose principal value and are not bank guaranteed. This material is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities. All data believed to be reliable but not guaranteed or responsible for reliance on this data.

Producer:
We have Ford Stokes, author of two important personal finance books, Annuity 360 and taxes are on sale here on AM 920. The answer. That’s the host of the Active Wealth show Saturdays at 12 noon and Sundays at 11 a.m..

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