Improving Your Retirement Income Plan

2.28.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Speaker1:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

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

Speaker3:
Welcome to retirement. Results. Result drivers. I'm Ford stokes, your chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis here with us on the mic. He's our senior financial advisor and co-host of retirement Results. Sam, say hello to everybody.

Speaker4:
Welcome to the weekend result drivers. And welcome back to retirement results and Ford. It is March. The first two months of 2025 are already behind us. We're meeting with some great clients lately and some great result drivers who have given us a call and come in to see us in our headquarters in Alpharetta and starting to get to be tax time. And we've got a lot of good information on today's show. If you're thinking about taxes, if you're thinking about trying to invest more wisely, this is a great show for you today.

Speaker3:
Yeah, and welcome to March Result Drivers. And also welcome to just past one month of the Trump administration. I want to give a shout out to Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk, all the cabinet members. That was really neat to see on Fox News. Basically the entire cabinet meeting, uh, broadcast live that we had that on in the office. That was pretty cool to see. Didn't see that kind of transparency with the Biden administration, I can tell you that. So just super excited to see what's going on. Hopefully they can save $1 trillion and start balancing the budget and also paying down the budget. That would be fantastic. One interesting thing that one of my relatives told me, he's like, you know, we're the richest country in the world and we're the most indebted. Like, how is that possible? Well, the reason is because of all the fraud, waste and abuse. And I'm glad that they're addressing that. That also should help, um, for your own retirement. One other interesting tidbit, and it's more than an interesting tidbit this week, uh, the House passed their budget. They have to reconcile back with the Senate. But what's really interesting about that is it included no tax on Social Security. No tax on tips. And all the campaign promises were in there for Donald J. Trump also. Sam, you just brought up the Doge clock. You want to give an update of what's going on on, uh, US debt clock or what's going on there?

Speaker4:
Yeah, just taking a look at the latest numbers as of the show here, $36.5 trillion in US national debt. The Department of Government Efficiency. The Doge clock is reporting $143 billion in savings thus far. I thought it was really interesting, for I was actually seeing some reports about some discussions about a possible tax refund to American taxpayers if they can save enough money, but, you know, we don't know what the future will bring. But if they're able to make things more efficient and balance their budgets the way we have to at home here in Georgia or wherever you're listening. I think that would be a great thing.

Speaker3:
To talk about on today's show. How to improve your retirement plan. That's what we want to do. The title of this show is How to Improve Your Retirement Plan. Our portfolio analysis and planning sessions can help you get started on that right away. It's a $2,500 value. All you've got to do is reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results.com/plan or just go to retirement results.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. You can also call us at (770) 685-1777. Again that number is (770) 685-1777. And let me just talk to you about how we're going to help you today. So the interview today show we have four things that go away when you retire and how to be prepared for these changes. Next is why you shouldn't try to time the market. Why consistent plan brings better results. Things like dollar cost averaging is a really good idea. Also, number three, and the topic that we're going to work on today is how much are you paying in fees. We want to help you reduce that expense ratio. We're going to help you find out how much you can save in fees just by getting your free portfolio analysis done, just by reaching out to us at retirement results.com/plan. Just put your information in, we'll give you a call and we'll get started right away on that free $2,500 value. And then number four today what we're going to try to talk about is are your retirement savings tactically managed. Implementing a smart risk plan for you and a smart safe plan together and getting truly diversified within your portfolio, not just diversified within stocks and bonds that are traded on the same stock exchanges, but really trying to diversify your assets between stocks.

Speaker3:
Etfs some bonds try to minimize those if we can, and then also do a bond replacement with fixed index annuities or life insurance products. And you know, also if you wanted to do, you know, real estate and things like that, just truly diversified with your overall portfolio for your wealth. So let me just cover those four things that we want to cover today. Number one is four things that could go away when you retire. Number two is why you shouldn't try to time the market. Number three is how much are you paying in fees specifically as measured by an expense ratio? If you don't know what an expense ratio is within your own portfolio, I'd encourage you to reach out to us at retirement Results.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner, and we're happy to help you figure that out with a free portfolio analysis. We do an objective portfolio analysis. We work with an institutional level Morningstar report that is not subjective. It is objective. It is very metrically driven. And it will actually give you the cost of your expense ratio as a percentage of your overall portfolio. As an example, Sam, we see so many folks that come in that with, for one, that have got an expense ratio that's north of 0.7, 0.8, all the way up to over 1% that are coming out of their portfolio each and every year. And there's a huge savings when you work with us, because our expense ratios are between like 0.13 and 0.17, because we use ETFs to implement our portfolios, whereas a lot of folks are implementing portfolios with mutual funds.

Speaker4:
Simply put, you want to take control of your assets. You want to dictate how much you're paying in fees and really open up the world of investment options for yourself as you continue to prepare for retirement.

Speaker3:
Yeah, and that fourth topic we're going to talk about today is are your retirement savings being tactically managed. So you can have strategic management, which is basically kind of holding on to it once a year or every 13 months. And then tactically manage is something where we're rebalancing much more often that sometimes as often as on a monthly basis, or even more often than that. So I'm trying to reallocate and make sure that we're looking at the asset classes that are going to perform the very best over the next six months, each and every month. And so you're not riding the lowest of the lows of the market. And so it's just something to really consider. Listen, I love getting quotes of the week from this quote author. I'm a huge Charlie Munger fan. So, Sam, why don't you share this week's financial wisdom quote of the week?

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

Speaker4:
Charlie Munger's quote. Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant. And I think that this really touches on our role as fiduciaries for when we sit down with people to help them analyze their portfolio and really inspect what they expect with their retirement plans and understanding that knowledge is power, and once they have all the information in front of them, they can make the best decisions for them and their family and retirement.

Speaker3:
So we're going to talk about next the four things that disappear after you retire. And are you prepared to lose them all? Uh, this is from a Yahoo Finance article we thought was really good. Great. Great to share. Come right back after the break. You're listening to retirement results.

Speaker2:
Retirement results. We'll be right back to learn more and schedule your complimentary retirement consultation, visit retirement Results.com.

Let's stick together. Honey, honey, me and you.

Speaker1:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

Speaker6:
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Speaker7:
We feel great about the quarter, well in excess of expectations and, most importantly, broad based growth.

Speaker6:
Despite the number of ESPN plus paid subscribers falling 3% to 24.9 million. Disney owned ESPN posted domestic revenue of $4.4 billion, up 9% year over year in Disney's fiscal quarter two. The final three months of 2024. Furthermore, the network's revenue growth was due in large part to a 15% jump in domestic ad sales revenue to $1.3 billion, mostly from an increase in ad rates. Disney CEO Bob Iger, speaking on an earnings call in early February, addressed the plans to launch the ESPN flagship direct to consumer product in the fall of 2025. A personalized product with integrated features like betting and fantasy. Iger went on to say, quote, if you're a sports fan, it's not about one boxing event or one day of football. It's about sports every single day of the year, every hour of the day. Sports viewership and a revamped content strategy has proven successful for Disney and ESPN. And after a period of struggle, the reports show that ESPN is bouncing back strong in 2025 for the Retirement Radio network powered by Amaro Life. I'm Jim Pterobranchia.

Speaker1:
Any bonuses mentioned may be subject to additional restrictions and regulations based on the offering. Annuity company you may not receive the bonuses if the contract is fully surrendered, or if traditional annuity 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, or other restrictions that are not included in similar annuities that don't offer a bonus feature.

Speaker2:
You're listening to retirement results. And now back to the show.

Speaker3:
Welcome back. Result drivers to retirement results on Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis here with us as our senior financial advisor and co-host. Sam, let's share the four things that disappear after you retire. And let's try to get people prepared to lose them all. So the big idea here is the idea of finally having full control of your time is appealing. For many, it feels like the finish line to a long race. Here are four things that tend to disappear in retirement, and what you could do now to make sure they don't take you by surprise. Sam, why don't you go through these one by one?

Speaker4:
Yeah. So the first thing that's really going to change and disappear after you retire. That's going to be most evident to you. And this is what we're helping people plan for. For that is the financial safety of your regular paycheck. You know, so once you step away from the office, you're not going to be getting that direct deposit every couple of weeks or once you, you know, sell your business, you're not going to be bringing in that income as regularly. So what you need to do is build a plan for continuous, guaranteed, lifelong streams of income. Now you'll have one in Social Security. And for your registered Social Security analyst, you help people prepare for that and make the best decision. But you need to understand that for decades, your income has arrived like clockwork every couple of weeks. And now you would need to manage different withdrawals from accounts. You know, if you're lucky enough to have a pension, that's great, but a lot of people don't. So they need to establish a personal pension to really get that income stream. And you want to diversify your income streams as well. You know, Ford, we talk a lot about diversifying investments but diversifying your income streams is a really good tip if you're looking for a great retirement.

Speaker3:
Yeah, it reminds me of the joke we've told on this on this show several times. You know, why are farmers hats beating on the sides? It's when they're looking to the mailbox for the subsidy check. So a lot of us are looking for that mailbox money. And we want to help you get that mailbox money, build that personal pension that actually is going to grow over time and not just stay flat. And also where you would be losing purchasing power throughout your retirement. And you've got questions about that. I would encourage you to go to reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results.com/plan. And we'll get started right away on helping you build that personal pension. We can even give you an illustration of what your personal pension looks like the same day that you reach out to us. So I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. We'll even run it for you this weekend if you want. A lot of folks just like, oh, I'll get in touch with them on Monday. Or, you know, I've been a long time listener.

Speaker3:
Having been a first time caller, I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us. We appreciate you listening to retirement results and making us the number one listened to radio show on Am 980. The answer. And also, Sam and I have been blown away by the response that we've received from all the listeners on WGN. Thank you so much for listening to us around the lake in Gainesville. And kind of that North Georgia part of, um, that radio listenership. Thank you so much for everything you're doing. And we're only just a few weeks in here. We're just getting started on one. And when I mean, we're just getting started. We're just getting started to help people. We're just starting to be able to really help as many people as possible, help them get more tax efficient, more fee efficient, and more market efficient with their portfolios, and also build those personal pensions they've been looking for. That is a supplement and usually greater than what they can get from Social Security as well.

Speaker4:
Yeah, absolutely. Very excited to help all those folks around the lake. Here's the next thing that may disappear after you retire. And Ford, I think we noticed that this change is for a lot of people as they get close to 60 years old, 65, and they start to think about retirement. And that's your risk tolerance. Your risk tolerance is really going to go down. If not go away entirely. You know, think you've been working for decades. You've saved, you know, three, $400,000, maybe even $1 million. You've got saved up and now you've got more than you've ever had before to lose. And so for a lot of people, the risk tolerance goes down. You know, they can deal with those stock market ups and downs when they're in their 30s and 40s, they're accumulating. But as you get close to that decumulation phase and you're thinking, well, I'm going to have to start pulling some of these assets soon to live on in retirement, you don't want to take as many big swings in the market, and your risk tolerance is really going to go down.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I'll share this. I've got a close friend and he's also a client. He works for a major manufacturer here. He used to work for Goodyear. He was he worked for Goodyear for literally 28 years. He was 28.5 years. He was close to 30 years and then transitioned over, got recruited away to go work for a major manufacturer here in Georgia. And what he's done is he's got about 1.8 million. But at the time he had literally right around 1.4. And, um, it's just a few years ago and he took $600,000 and said, you know what, I'm going to take 600 grand. And he was, you know, at the time he was 55. And I'm going to take $650,000, and I'm going to put it into a personal pension with you guys. And that personal pension has grown and grown and grown already, and he hasn't touched it. He hasn't turned on any income because he's still working. He's going to work until he's 65, but his income is set for life. And by the time he turns on income at 65, he's going to be getting over $120,000. There's over 20% of his original investment. It's like right around 130 plus thousand plus his Social security for he and his wife. And he's going to be able to let the rest of the portfolio grow. So he's got over 1.2 million now that's sitting in investment accounts. And he's got another 100 grand. That's in his 4k since he started work there a few years ago at the new employer.

Speaker3:
He took advantage of that deferral period because he was younger and he could and he could go a long time. He's going to go over ten. He's going to go right at ten years where he turns on income. So that really made it work. And so I would encourage you if you're if you're trying if you're dealing with risk tolerance, he was like, you know what? I'm not willing to risk the income part of my portfolio. I'm no longer willing to do that. And he made that decision in, like 54 or 55 years old. That's a big deal. And and he was able to implement a, a rollover that did not there was no tax event. He was able to roll over for his for his old IRA or his old 401 K into an IRA. And they rolled it over into this fixed index annuity and build a personal pension that is IRA based. It's got the exact same tax treatment tax deferred growth and ordinary income of what is withdrawals are. He's also implementing Roth ladder conversions little by little each year. And his Roth is now over $400,000 of that overall, 1.8 million plus the 100 grand on the 400 K start taking advantage of that deferral period. If you don't think you're going to need income from your retirement portfolio for 2 to 4 years, now's the time to act, wouldn't you say?

Speaker4:
Yeah, just thinking of you. You know, give that example forward of that client. I'm just thinking of so many others that, you know, people who are in their 50s or in their early 60s, still a few years away from retirement. But we're able to start implementing that plan early enough to where they know. Well, hey, at 62, I'm going to start taking income from my personal pension. I'm going to turn on Social Security a few years after that, and they know when they're going to retire. And the feedback that we're getting is that people are going back to work kind of reinvigorated and re-energized, knowing that they can see the finish line up ahead. And by implementing that income plan far enough in advance, it can give you that peace of mind. It can also be really, really rewarding on the return side, when you're able to take advantage of of things that can give you like a 20% bonus. Or just for an example, with the nationwide peak ten, you get that 8% simple interest roll up for the first ten years or before you take that first withdrawal. That's a great tool for people who are in that situation. Um, and Ford, we're going to keep this conversation going. When we come back. We've got two more things that are going to disappear and change a little bit after you retire. We talked about the first two, the financial safety of your regular paycheck that goes away when you retire. And number two, your risk tolerance. That can really go down when you've saved up so much money and you've now got more than you've ever had before that you could lose and you want to protect it. So keep listening to retirement results. We'll be right back.

Speaker2:
Learn more at retirement results. Com or by calling us today at (770) 685-1777.

Speaker1:
Hi. This is Matt McClure, senior financial advisor with retirement results. You've saved your whole life so you wouldn't have to worry about your money when you retired. But you worry more now than ever. You've been a good saver. You have 500,000, maybe $1 million or even more. You should feel confident, but you don't. You're worried a big loss will wipe you out. You saved so you could spend during retirement, but you don't. You're worried you'll run out of money. You want to retire, but you don't. You're worried you don't have enough. Does any of this sound familiar? Well, it should, because we hear these things all the time from people just like you who are preparing for retirement or even already retired. So why do you worry so much? It's because you don't have an actual plan in writing. Nothing to guide you through retirement. Retirement results helps people just like you. You'll get a free, customized written retirement plan. That's right, free and no obligation. Schedule your meeting now at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results.com/plan.

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

Speaker1:
When it comes to retirement planning, focus more on income than building a big nest egg. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network, powered by Amira life. It may sound counterintuitive, but that big nest egg number you probably have in your head means a lot less than the income you'll have each month in retirement.

Speaker8:
The math has all changed here, but the bottom line is time is your superpower. Save as much as you can.

Speaker1:
Nbc news senior business correspondent Christine Romans recently said on The Today Show that you should not just rely on Social Security in your retirement years.

Speaker8:
Social security alone is not likely to support you in the manner to which you are accustomed. Right. You want to wait as long as possible to get that maybe 70. If you wait till you're 70 to collect Social Security, you'll get the biggest check.

Speaker1:
And she says, contribute to your retirement accounts early and often.

Speaker8:
So this is from fidelity. They say at age 30 you should have one time your salary in a retirement account when you're 30. So think about what your salary is at age 30, and that's how much you should have in your entire retirement account. By 50 it should be six. This is where I start to freak out, because I know a lot of people can't and don't do this by age 67, it should be ten times.

Speaker1:
A personal pension. Using a fixed indexed annuity is also a great option for many pre-retirees and retirees to consider. It offers protection from market volatility and a guaranteed stream of income that will last the rest of your life, no matter how long you live. Having a big nest egg may sound nice, but focusing more on income will set you up for success in your golden years. So, do you know where your paychecks and paychecks will come from each month when you leave the workforce? That's a key question to consider as you plan for what's ahead with the Retirement Radio network powered by Amira Life. I'm Matt McClure.

Speaker2:
While Washington's spending keeps growing, your retirement doesn't have to shrink. Protect and grow your hard earned money today by calling us at (770) 685-1777. That's (770) 685-1777 to connect with a qualified advisor.

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers on Fort Stokes. Your chief financial advisor got Sam Davis here with us. Who's our senior financial advisor and co-host on retirement results. So, Sam, we're talking about the four things that disappear after you retire. And we're trying to get people prepared to lose them all. We've gone through the first two you shared. The number one was the financial safety of your regular paycheck. Then we also talked about your risk tolerance is going to go down and or disappear, because you're not going to have a lot of risk tolerance if you're not working and putting that money in the account each and every two weeks with matching, by the way, on 41K contributions from your employer. And number three, let's go ahead and share. What number three is that. What can disappear or will likely disappear after you retire.

Speaker4:
Yeah. Well, speaking of matching, one thing that will go away once you retire is any employer sponsored benefits. So losing a paycheck is one thing, but losing your benefits that you were getting through your work, especially health insurance, that's the biggest one on the financial side. That can be a big shock. You know, Keep in mind, if you're retiring before 65, this is something that we're letting people know all the time for, you know, if you can retire early, that's fantastic. And we want you to do that if it makes sense for you. But if you can get to 65, you're going to save some money because that's when Medicare kicks in. And even then, you know, coverage gaps can lead to some unexpected expenses. Um, and Medicare doesn't cover everything. So you're going to lose those employer sponsored benefits if you're retiring before 65, understand, you're going to have to pay for health insurance out of pocket. Um, and it's not the cheapest thing in the world to insure someone in their early 60s on the health side. Um, and even once you get to Medicare, you know, healthcare is expensive. It's something that's really rapidly rising with inflation even more than other sectors. So just understand that.

Speaker3:
Yeah, for sure. And the employer sponsored benefits, you know, you need to make sure that you can try to get to 65 years old on Medicare. Um, because that's going to be pretty expensive. Health insurance can be expensive. You don't have employer sponsored health insurance. If you've also been using employer sponsored life insurance, you need to probably address that. If you've got disability insurance on that and you're let's say you're entrepreneurially going at it and you're doing more of a relaunch than retiring, you'd have a conversation about that as well. Um, but also dental. You really do a great job. You need to do a great job at taking care of your teeth, and you need to walk consistently. If you do a good job with those two things, you're likely going to avoid a lot of cardiac problems. I'm not a doctor. I don't play one on TV, but I will tell you this or play one on the radio. But the number one consistent element of people that have lived to be 100 years old, they all started walking in their 60s and they walked every day. And so I would encourage you to do that, but also make sure you're your dental vision and hearing are all taken care of. So your quality of life is strong too.

Speaker4:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, I find for me, and I think a lot of other people would agree with this as well, that you need to stay active. And one of the easiest ways to stay active is have those activities that you really enjoy doing. So if it's going on a walk with your spouse or your grandkids, or going out to the golf course and hitting some balls, get your body moving. Whatever it is, just make sure that you get your body moving. And it really does do the body good. Um, the next thing, uh, number four, in the final item on our list that's going to go away after you retire is possibly a sense of purpose. So when people leave the office, you know, this is another employer benefit. You know, it provides routine social interaction, a sense of accomplishment. You know, don't retire too soon if you're still genuinely enjoying what you're doing. Um, a recent study in the National Library of Medicine linked a lack of purpose in retirement to increased health risks, including depression, cognitive decline, even verbal memory function. And Ford. You know, this is another reason why we often recommend, you know, don't just retire relaunch, you know, find that next chapter for yourself and what that's going to be. Yeah for.

Speaker3:
Sure. And there you can do things like help out a church or, you know, volunteer or just make sure you're around to make sure you can help pay for college for kids or rehearsal dinners and weddings and, and be there for your family and spend more time at the beach or at the lake with your family. Uh, we see a lot of people that consolidate to one car and consolidate to one house, but the people that consolidate to one house are consolidating down to, um, a house that's on a body of water, whether that's a lake or a river or a beach or like the ocean. And they've got more kids coming to see them. And so just being able to spend that time, you know, many of you have heard many times on this show, in our family, we spend love time. We spend time together. And if you invest that time in your kids, they're going to invest back in you. And also sometimes you need to make it a little bit easier and more fun for them and try to get get on a body of water somewhere and live there and have them come visit you. We've got neighbors at the lake on Lake Martin that I talked to this lady. We were both waiting to pick up some takeout at nippers, which is a sports bar in, um, in Dadeville, Alabama. And. And she was like, I can't get my son to stop visiting us. And my daughter in law is pregnant, and she's about to have a baby, and she's like, you know, I'm going to have attorney leave all summer. So now she's going to be living with us down here and we're I'm going to be exhausted. She goes, but I'd rather have it like that than not be able to see them. So it was pretty funny. She was like, oh Lord, I can't believe I'm. My entire summer is going to be spent helping my daughter in law take care of this baby and the other little one. I'm going to be exhausted. It's pretty funny.

Speaker4:
Yeah, I love that. Absolutely love that story. So to recap the four things that may disappear after you retire. You want to be prepared for the financial safety of your regular paycheck. That is something that could go away. Your risk tolerance that could be severely decreased after you retire. Your employer sponsored benefits. Once you step away from the office, you're not going to have those benefits anymore and try to maintain that sense of purpose. Some people can lose that after they retire. Try to relaunch instead.

Speaker3:
Listen, we appreciate all of you listeners listening to our radio show. Hopefully you're learning a lot from our shows. I mean, this show is action packed with I mean, those are four things that absolutely are going to go away during retirement. You're looking at, you know, financial safety of your regular paycheck when you retire. You don't get that. Number two is your risk tolerance does go down considerably. You don't really want to take as much risk because you're not getting that regular paycheck, and you're not putting in money in your account or 403 B account every two weeks with employer matching. And then number three is your employer sponsored benefits are going to go away as well. So got to make sure you get to Medicare. And I would encourage you if you want to get a plan with healthcare, health insurance and and Medicare, I'd encourage you to reach out to us. We'll put you in touch with Bonnie Dobbs with Medicare and other red tape. Um, she's fantastic. And their team is fantastic. She's got like, seven advisors there now, um, that that do nothing but Medicare, Medigap supplement insurance and Medicare Advantage plans. Um, so I would encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777, and we'll get you in touch with Bonnie Dobbs and Medicare and other red tape and get that going. And then and number four was just sense of purpose. Make sure you've got some sort of sense of purpose where you're helping out with a charity or a church, or with your family and your kids, and spending more time with your family that will help lengthen your life as well.

Speaker3:
But let me just tell you what people can expect when they meet with us. So when we've got the advisors here at Active Wealth Management, we're the ones that power retirement results. Retirement results is the name of our radio show. Uh, active Wealth Management is the name of our private wealth management firm. And here's what you can expect when you meet with us. We're you bring in your statements. You bring in your XML file from Tsa.gov. You're actually email that to us. We don't want you emailing your financial statements. We've got a workbook at Active wealth.com/workbook that you can upload your statements to us through a 256 bit encrypted secure interface. That's an API bridge into a service called Sharefile. Um, but we'll take all your statements and we'll understand what your expenses are. We'll also do a portfolio analysis so you can understand the risk you're taking, the fees you are paying and the correlation of your assets. We'll also give you a Social Security maximization report that is in the form of what's called an RSA roadmap. I'm a registered social security analyst. There's only 15 of us in the state of Georgia, so it's a good idea to maximize your Social Security income benefit. And what Sam and I always ask is, why wouldn't you want to maximize your Social Security income benefit you've paid in? You deserve it.

Speaker3:
And also, if this budget goes through what the House just passed, we've got a real chance, folks, to have no taxes this year or next year on Social Security income, which would be a huge help for so many retirees out there. It's either going to be the number one or number two source of income during retirement. Right. And then we've got like a minute left here. We're going to give you a financial plan to your 95th birthday with your current plan. That has nothing to do with us. So that way you can understand, okay, how's it going or not going? And then the last is we're going to give you a financial plan to your 95th birthday with our recommended portfolios and then also with a strategic growth ladder conversion plan. This all of this planning that's done is a $2,500 value. It's a $2,500 value. We're going to give it to you absolutely at no cost to you, because we want you to make an informed financial decision. When you make a choice to work with us at Active Wealth Management, we appreciate you listening to retirement results. We'll come right back. We're going to talk more about how you can stop trying to time the market, what else you can do with smart risk and smart safe investing. Thanks so much for listening to retirement results. We'll be right back.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to retirement results. Schedule your complimentary financial consultation now at retirement results. Com.

Listen to her how to love.

Speaker1:
Hi, this is Matt McClure, senior financial advisor with retirement results. You've saved your whole life so you wouldn't have to worry about your money when you retired. But you worry more now than ever. You've been a good saver. You have 500,000, maybe $1 million or even more. You should feel confident, but you don't. You're worried a big loss will wipe you out. You saved so you could spend during retirement, but you don't. You're worried you'll run out of money. You want to retire, but you don't. You're worried you don't have enough. Does any of this sound familiar? Well, it should, because we hear these things all the time from people just like you who are preparing for retirement or even already retired. So why do you worry so much? It's because you don't have an actual plan in writing. Nothing to guide you through retirement. Retirement results helps people just like you. You'll get a free, customized written retirement plan. That's right, free and no obligation. Schedule your meeting now at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results.com/plan.

Speaker2:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Miss part of today's show. Retirement results is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at retirement Results.com.

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers on Fort Stokes. Your chief financial advisor got Sam Davis here, our senior financial advisor and co-host Susanna, we're talking about all your retirement savings being tactically managed. Um, the big idea here is you may think you're being strategic with your retirement plan, but let's take a look at the difference between that and a tactical approach. So with strategic asset allocation you've got a hands off approach kind of a buy and hold strategy. It's good for long term time horizon say north of 13 months better for emotional investors. Just kind of set it and forget it. And also works for newer investors as well. Um then with tactical asset allocation you've got active management. It involves trading often usually we're kind of rebalancing and reallocating to the asset classes that we think are going to do the very best over the next six months, each and every month. So we're rebalancing and reallocating doesn't mean we're going to do wholesale changes. But if we feel like you know what, the tech sector is probably going to do better over the next six months, we're going to have to go a little bit heavier on that, and we might go a little bit less on manufacturing or something like that or the Dow. It's really good for short or medium term time horizons. That's a really good idea there. And it also requires a degree of control over impulse trading and demands more investing expertise. That's what we do. We implement a combination between strategic and tactical asset allocation within our portfolios, usually about 50 over 50. But if we had to err on the side of caution, we'd err on the side of tactical asset allocation that's going to rebalance. You're not going to ride the lowest of the lows and down to the bottoms of the market. Now where they overlap is you've got low level of risk and focus on diversification between those two strategies together. That's a really good overlap there. So Sam we've got kind of seven reasons to consider a tactical approach. Your retirement savings. Can you go through those real quick?

Speaker4:
Yeah, we can hit each one of these pretty quickly. The first reason to consider a tactical approach is increased protection from market declines. We talk a lot about, hey, what's the risk level in your portfolio when we're doing the analysis for anybody who gives us a call listening to our radio show or visits our firm's website, active Wealth.com Tactical Management allows for adjustments in asset allocation that can reduce your exposure to volatility. So if you're planning for retirement, this is something that helps you avoid sudden and drastic declines in your portfolio's value. This can give you a bit more of a smoother ride during times when consistent income is crucial. That's why we do plans that include a guaranteed income component. So that portfolio, that portion of your portfolio is growing almost like stair steps. And the managed portion of your portfolio can really be designed based on your personal risk tolerance. And so if you still want to stay in the market and stay invested. You know, this tactical approach can give you some protection from potential declines. Another good thing about a tactical approach is that it helps you avoid emotional investing. So behavioral biases can impact investment decisions, especially during times of market volatility. It's hard to not get caught up when you see these big swings in the market or any other, you know, specific investment. A tactically managed portfolio with a well-defined strategy will help you stay disciplined and avoid making impulsive decisions. And I find that a lot of people for, you know, just when they get to that retirement age, they don't want to be looking at the stock ticker every day. They don't want to feel bad when they see down arrows in red, and they don't really feel that good when they see up arrows in green. They really just have a sense of relief. And, you know, as people enter retirement, they want to find someone they can trust and work with a fiduciary that can make sure that their plan is going to be working for them in retirement.

Speaker3:
You know what tactical asset allocation you can receive? The income you need. Retirees often rely on their investment portfolios to provide a steady stream of income. We recommend a 4% withdrawal rate. Try not to withdraw more than 4% each year and you likely won't run out of money. Tactical management can help ensure that the portfolio is positioned to generate income while minimizing the risk of income disruptions. If your advisor or it's definitely, it's likely that your 41K plan is not implementing tactical asset allocation. You're kind of missing out. And it's especially with any of those orphan four one K's. If you've got an orphan 41K that came from a previous employer, don't roll it over into your new 4K. Go ahead and reach out to us. Give us a call at (770) 685-1777, and we'll get started on trying to help you better manage that and more actively manage it and help you get your higher rates of return, and also try to minimize the expense ratio and reduce the fees as well. Um, next on this, of the seven reasons to consider a tactical approach for your retirement savings is to avoid the number one fear of retirees, which is running out of money. Retirees often need their investments to last for several decades. A well-managed portfolio can strike a balance between generating income and allowing for growth. To ensure that the portfolio remains sustainable throughout retirement.

Speaker4:
And the last few here, Ford, you know, it's important to understand that inflation can erode the purchasing power of retirees savings. I mean, could you live today on what you were making 20 years ago? I expect the answer is probably no. And that's why you need that retirement income plan that can provide you increasing income over time, because you're probably going to be retired 20, 25, maybe even 30 years or longer. So you want to be able to outpace inflation. You want to be able to manage risk over time. So think of a period that's 20 to 30 years or longer. You're going to have some ups and downs in the market. Just take a look at the past 30 years and all the different corrections that we've seen. And a tactical portfolio is designed with you in mind if you're investing through your workplace plan, if you're investing in target date funds first, please don't. Maybe you have a target date fund. Those are one size fits all, and those do not fit very well. You want something that's really tailored to your specific situation because every household is different.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You want to manage the risk over time. As individuals approach retirement or already retired, they often have a reduced ability to recover from significant investment losses. This is what we're talking about when we discuss the rule of 100, which is you take 100 and subtract your age. Let's say you're 60 years old. That means 40% of your assets should be exposed to financial market risk. Most of you are dealing with an 80 plus percent, um, risk level with stocks, bonds, equities, things like that. A tactically managed portfolio can help mitigate risk by adjusting investment allocations based on current market conditions and other potential risks. I'll just give you an example here. At an 84 year old couple that came to me in 2022 and they lost 24% just from bonds, and they didn't take the risk off the table. By investing some of those bonds into fixed index annuities, we were able to get them into some fixed indexed annuities have turned on income. They're much happier and they're excited for the future, even though they're, you know, 86 years old now. Um, next is you want to make sure that you're doing tactical asset allocation because it is designed with you in mind. As Sam talked about, each retiree has unique financial goals, risk tolerance, income needs a tactical approach, allows for customization to align the portfolio with with your specific circumstances. It's the final.

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

The final countdown.

Speaker3:
So on today's show, we talked about how to improve your retirement plan and how our portfolio analysis and planning sessions can really help you right away. All you can do is reach out to us at retirement Results.com. We talked about four things that go away when you retire and how to be prepared for those changes. We also talked about why you shouldn't try to time the market, and why a consistent plan can bring better results. We also shared how much you're paying in fees with expense ratios and advisory fees and portfolio fees. And also if you own a variable annuity, you really should reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. And we can run an illustration for you to replace that variable annuity with a fixed indexed annuity and get you a much greater rate of return with a lot less risk. And it would be better for you over time, in my opinion, because you're going to avoid 3 to 6% in fees and avoid financial market risk because a variable annuity is a security. And then also we talked about retirement savings and tactically managed versus strategic management of your portfolios. Listen we're so glad you're with us. So thank you so much for listening to our show. Hopefully we're helping you better understand how to get more tax efficient, more fee efficient, and more market efficient with your portfolio. If you're seeking information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Be as aggressive as you can. Trust your instincts, and we look forward to helping you build that successful retirement and helping you protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved assets here at retirement Results, powered by the advisors at Active Wealth Management. Have a great week everybody.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to retirement results. You deserve to work with an independent team of fiduciary advisors that will strategically work to protect and grow your hard earned assets. To schedule your complimentary financial consultation, call us now at (770) 685-1777. That's (770) 685-1777. To connect with a qualified advisor. To learn more about our mission and our team, visit retirement Results.com. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor and Active wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through Vkm, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure, the Adv2 to item four for additional information. Hi, this is Matt McClure, senior financial advisor with retirement results. You've saved your whole life so you wouldn't have to worry about your money when you retired. But you worry more now than ever. You've been a good saver. You have 500,000, maybe $1 million or even more. You should feel confident, but you don't. You're worried a big loss will wipe you out. You saved so you could spend during retirement, but you don't. You're worried you'll run out of money. You'll want to retire, but you don't. You're worried you don't have enough. Does any of this sound familiar? Well, it should, because we hear these things all the time from people just like you who are preparing for retirement or even already retired. So why do you worry so much? It's because you don't have an actual plan in writing. Nothing to guide you through retirement. Retirement results helps people just like you. You'll get a free, customized written retirement plan. That's right, free and no obligation. Schedule your meeting now at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results.

Speaker2:
Comp plan investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Get started on your free portfolio analysis and financial plan right now by visiting retirement Results.com.

Speaker4:
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Retirement Results. Back here with Ford Stokes. I'm Sam Davis, your senior financial advisor. And Ford, we've got a bonus segment for our podcast listeners and our listeners on W.D. Wynne. And just a reminder, if you missed part of today's episode of retirement Results or if you missed last week's episode, if you're one of those new listeners on WD one and you want to catch up, you can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, you can go to your preferred podcast platform. You can go to Spotify, you can go to Apple wherever you like, or you can visit retirement Results.com. We want you to be able to listen to all those past episodes and get the information we want to share. Just a few things forward before we close out today about smart legacy planning and you've worked so hard to save for retirement, plan for retirement, implement a plan and really what's next. And it's that smart legacy. So for what should people know about that.

Speaker3:
So you really want to get a plan for how you're going to pass your assets on to your loved ones when you pass away and when you go to heaven? Um, and you also most people, their goal is, you know, what they want their kids to say. You know, Mom and dad were really on it. And specifically the the dads want to make sure because they likely are passing away first. Generally as as guys, we pass away first. What they're saying is, hey, I want to make sure that I'm doing a great job taking care of my wife and make sure that she's covered. So what what we try to do is help people avoid probate, or at least make sure that the probate process goes well. We work with licensed attorneys through a service that we have available to us. We We were shocked in 2020 of how much a state attorneys were starting to charge, because they got a lot of business in 2020, and it became a supply and demand thing, and they just started charging like 5 to 10,000 plus dollars for a revocable trust, or they were charging thousands of dollars for just a simple will that used to cost $300. And we're able to do like the wills at like $600. We're able to do a revocable trust like 2400 to $2800. And so it's much lower cost than what we've seen. And if you want your kids to avoid probate all the way, you can just set up a revocable trust and place your assets inside of the revocable trust.

Speaker3:
And then it's called funding the revocable trust and funding the trust. And you're going to find what there's no probate process. It will immediately just go and and go into the trust. And then the trust will distribute the assets. If that happens and your kids don't have to go through a multiyear or at least multi-month process with probate, the probate process, how much better off are you going to be or your kids going to be? I should say if they're going to go through that with a revocable trust and avoid probate altogether. And also remember, it's likely when you are passing your assets down to your heirs, especially if you've got like an IRA when you're there, having to take RMDs off of that inherited IRA, you're looking at significant tax dollars that are going to have to be paid during the prime earning years of your kids. Now, you're not going to be able to avoid the taxation on IRAs. You can do a Roth ladder conversion, which we help people do all the time, and you can delete the IRS from being your partner with those retirement accounts, the IRAs for three BS, the four CS, etc. by implementing a strategic rope ladder conversion. And what you do is you move money from your 41K, roll it over into an IRA, and then you take money from your IRA, pay the taxes on it that within that quarter, and then it moves into the Roth IRA.

Speaker3:
The big hint on that one is, let's do a great job at being tax efficient. With that. Let's take tax taxable money like in our checking savings accounts or investment accounts. Let's pay the taxes on that. Um, and so the money moves from your IRA to your Roth IRA. Dollar for dollar. We feel like that's a really good idea. So that way you can maximize the tax free money that's in your Roth IRA and minimize the tax taxable and tax deferred money. So but the bottom line is, if you want to get more fee efficient with your legacy planning, and you want to get a revocable trust or irrevocable trust or a will done at lower than what you're seeing out there in the marketplace, especially when you're looking at Buckhead attorneys and everything else. I would encourage you to reach out to us at Active Wealth. Com. Uh, we're happy to help you. You can also call us at (770) 685-1777. And your revocable trust or will that's done by our service will be done by a licensed attorney. We don't share fees with attorneys either, because we're not attorneys. But we're here to help you get better planning and lower cost legacy planning done. And it's good to just get it done once and for all.

Speaker4:
Yeah, absolutely. Ford. And for those listeners out there on one, we're just off highway nine in Alpharetta. Give the good advisors here at Active Wealth Management a call. We really look forward to meeting with you. One of the most fun parts of our week is whenever we get to sit down with a radio listener and start to help them plan for their retirement. So once again, that number is 6851777, or you can visit us online at active Wealth.com. Thanks so much for listening to retirement results.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to retirement results. Schedule your complimentary financial consultation now at retirement Results.com.

Saying all the things that I know you'll like. Making good conversation. I got a handle. You just right.

Speaker2:
At active wealth management, we know you've worked hard for your money, and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement. Ford Stokes of Retirement Results is passionate about helping people protect and grow their wealth while educating them on all their options so they can choose what's right for them. Visit retirement Results.com to schedule your no obligation consultation today. It's a $1,500 value provided at no cost to you. Book yours now at retirement Results.com.

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