Lock In Gains, Not Worries – Smart Planning for Retirees

10.24.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

10.24.25: 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:
And welcome to retirement results result drivers. I'm Ford stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us on the mic. He's our co-host and senior financial advisor with active wealth management. The financial advisors with active wealth management. We're the ones that power retirement results. We're so excited and thrilled and happy. You're here with us on the retirement results show. Thanks for making us the number one. Listen to radio show on Am 920, answer on the weekends. And Sam, say hello to everybody.

Speaker4:
Welcome to the weekend result drivers, thank you so much for tuning in. Happy to have you here. Listening to us on the radio on Am 920. The answer on the Am 920, the answer app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Ford. We love our podcast subscribers. They're the ones that have been following us, whether they get the chance to listen on the weekends or not, they can listen to us whenever they like. Check out all of our past episodes. We've got a lot of great information there, and every one of our episodes, every show we do has a particular focus. And if you want to learn about something specific when it comes to your financial plans and your plans for retirement, you know, whether that be Social Security, whether that be taxes, whatever it is, check out the Retirement Results podcast and we'd be happy to have you there.

Speaker3:
Yeah, we'd love to have you check us out. Thanks for again making us the number one listened to show on Amazon for the answer also. Um, thanks for getting us more than 15,000 podcast listens every month. That's really fantastic. On this week's show, we're going to talk about are you taking too much risk as you approach retirement with all the markets being at all time highs, we are trying to give you strategies on how to mitigate risk. Also, we're going to talk to Tom Williams with Mod Tech Homes. Just check them out. He builds modular homes that are absolutely gorgeous and he uses like welded steel for the framing. It's pretty amazing. He put a he can put a home up in a week. It was amazing. So if you got like an in-law suite something to talk to about that. Also, if you're trying to get your home ready for sale, Tom works in the Atlanta area with his own residential renovation company, so you can check him out at Tom Williams residential.com as well. And we're going to talk about, you know, a lot of things today about how to kind of de-risk your portfolio and try to really help mitigate risk with the markets at all time highs. It's really a concern for folks. And we've seen the market pull back over the last week, week and a half. And I want to make sure everybody's doing a good job at protecting their hard earned and hard saved wealth. And Sam, why don't you share this week's financial wisdom quote of the week.

Speaker5:
And now Folsom Financial Wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker4:
This week's quote of the week comes from author Robert Kiyosaki, and he said it's not how much money you make, but how much money you keep. How hard it works for you and how many generations you keep it for. And I love this quote because it hits every element that you really want to keep in mind as you're planning for the future. Your income. It's not how much money you make, how much money you keep, your savings, how hard it works for you. Those are your investments. That's kind of your rate of return and how many generations you keep it for. That's really that smart legacy and that vision for the future even after you're gone. And so this is a great quote. I love the way he's thinking about it. And this is a lot of how we think about it when we plan for our clients retirements.

Speaker3:
Yeah. And so let's just also make sure everybody understands that money's not just for paying bills, money's for investing and getting it working for you and growing. So let's try to get started on that right away. The best time to start is right now. So reach out to us at Retirement Results comm. We'll help you protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved wealth. And we look forward to helping you and saying, why don't we share why pre-retirees and retirees should really de-risk their portfolio today?

Speaker4:
Yeah. So if you're getting close to retirement, you likely have more saved, especially on this recent market run we've been on for the last six months. You have more saved and therefore more to lose than you've ever had before. And sequence of return risk really applies to those years surrounding your retirement date, those years leading up and those first few years. Um, the years leading up to your retirement date are so important because of what I just said, you've got more to lose than you've ever had before. And those first few years after retirement are important, because that's when you start drawing down assets from your portfolio. That's when you shift Officially from that accumulation phase to the decumulation phase, when you're actually starting to pull money out of those accounts. And that's why it's so important for to reduce risk and make sure that your portfolio is actually aligned with your real risk tolerance. When people come in and get their portfolio analysis, sometimes they're surprised. They thought they had less risk than they may actually have.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You want to kind of look at things like de-risking your portfolio, which reduces sequence of return risk. I want to give you an example here. So losses in early retirement are harder to recover from, especially when you're taking withdrawals from your portfolio. The poor market in the first 5 to 10 years can permanently reduce your overall retirement income. If you do not invest the income portion of your retirement nest egg into, let's say, a fixed indexed annuity. If you don't implement that bond replacement strategy. You really should have a sense of urgency in replacing the bond portfolio with fixed indexed annuities. Those products are being sought after by a lot of pre-retirees and retirees, and we can run an illustration for both of those and see which one best fits you. So you can always reach out to us at retirement results.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner, and we'll get started right away on that.

Speaker4:
Next thing that we want people to keep in mind is locking in favorable rates on safer investments. So if you've been following what's going on with the Federal Reserve, we are starting to see rates come down, which means a lot of the favorable higher rates on a lot of these guaranteed income products, things like bank CDs, things like bonds. You will start to see those come down as well. Now you may also see things like mortgage rates and car loans come down as well. But if you're on the investing side, if you're getting close to retirement, it could be beneficial to lock in favorable rates on some of those safer investments. You know, Ford, you just mentioned some fixed indexed annuities. Those products from highly rated insurance companies give you a participation rate in some stock market indexes. It's a good way to continue to participate in the stock market without having to worry about any losses. It's also a great way to delete some fees from your portfolio, and that's why we're encouraging a lot of people to consider locking in those rates now.

Speaker3:
Yeah, it's a really good idea. It's probably one of the best times ever to invest into a fixed indexed annuity. We need to really consider de-risking your portfolio away from interest rate risk that are associated with bonds. And then also we want to do everything we can to get rid of that reinvestment risk as well. So let's consider replacing the bonds with a fixed indexed annuity. Look, 1952 Harry Markowitz came up with modern portfolio theory that basically dawned the 6040 40 portfolio 60% stocks, 40% bonds. What we advocate is a new 60 over 40 portfolio 60% stocks, 40% fixed indexed annuities. Now the stocks can be in the form of ETFs. Let's try to avoid the mutual funds if we can because of the high expense ratio and high 12 B1 fees. Let's let's try to get more efficient and also more market efficient with our portfolio. And eventually we'll get more tax efficient with a Roth IRA conversion as well.

Speaker4:
All right. Fourth and last thing for people to keep in mind before we go to a break is don't chase returns late in the game. Retirees who try to make up for lost time by staying too aggressive late in their careers or early in retirement, maybe taking some unnecessary risks with irreplaceable capital. It might be a good time to shift your strategy from preservation to income. It might be a good time to shift your strategy instead of chasing returns to more preservation and income. We really like to help retirees, you know, declare victory, if you will, with that portion of their portfolio. Establish a personal pension, and then that gives them the confidence to take some risks with the money that they do have in the stock market.

Speaker3:
Yeah. If you want to declare victory and you want to get an understanding of how much money you could actually earn with a fixed indexed annuity and get paid every single month, and you build that personal pension while also growing your nest egg. I would encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement Comm. Click that schedule at an appointment in the upper right corner or you can go to retirement results. Com forward slash plan. Put your information in. We'll get started right away. That's retirement. Com forward slash plan. But just check us out at retirement comm.

Speaker4:
All right. Forward. And when we come back we're going to have Tom Williams with Mod Tech homes. Stay tuned. You're going to want to hear this interview.

Speaker2:
We'll be back in just a moment to continue helping you navigate your financial journey. Stay tuned for more retirement results.

Speaker3:
Hi, this is Ford Stokes, chief 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 now more than ever. You've been a good saver. You have 500,000, $1 million, or maybe even more. You should feel confident, but you don't. You're worried a big loss will wipe you out. You want to retire, but you don't. You're worried you don't have enough. Any of this sound familiar? It should, because we hear these things all the time from people just like you who are preparing for retirement or 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. Com forward slash plan. That's retirement. Com forward slash.

Speaker2:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Schedule your free, no obligation consultation today by visiting Retirement Results. Com. Now back to the show.

Speaker3:
And welcome back to retirement results on Fort Stokes. Our chief financial advisor got Sam Davis here with us, our co-host and senior financial advisor with Active Wealth Management. We have got a special guest Tom Williams with Mod Tech Homes. That's mod tech. Dot homes is the is the website. And Tom came into our office and we had to learn a little bit about mod tech homes and also his own personal construction business and renovation business. He does a lot of work in bucket as well. But Tom, first of all, welcome to retirement results.

Speaker6:
Hey, good to be here. Thanks so much.

Speaker3:
Tom, I felt like it was really important for us to to talk and to share all the great information and all the stuff that you guys do over there at MedTech homes, and also with Tom Williams Construction as well, for all the folks that are pre-retirees and retirees who are thinking about downsizing or thinking about trying to get an in-law suite at their house, or thinking about trying to help their kids or grandkids get a new home, um, or just try to get in the market on something that's really unique and different. There's been so much, so much talk about, hey, these modular homes are a great way to go, or some sort of smart home or tiny houses or any, any of that stuff. You've got a special development going on in Cleveland, Georgia that's just down the street from downtown Cleveland. It's walking distance. Talk a little bit about that. And also your modular home construction process. We thought it was fascinating.

Speaker6:
Sure thing. So, uh, long story short, uh, we got engaged with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. They've got a rural workforce housing initiative. Uh, and we partnered with them and the city of Cleveland to create this 14 home, two story, two bedroom community. Uh, there's, uh, it's 1.2 acres, uh, 14 homes, three parking spaces per house. And it's, uh, it's designed for, uh, basically the missing middle first time home buyers. Um, the houses are about 800ft². They have a structural steel frame that they start out with, and then we build the house around that. Um, the houses, the units themselves. Each one weighs over ten tons or £20,000. So they're really heavy and they're they're very strong and durable. Um, they bolt together out on site. They weld down to the concrete pad that they're sitting on top of, and then we hook up the sewer and the water and the electric. And typically after about two weeks from the day, we put the modules in. The porches are built and everything's hooked up and you can move in. So it's it's a rapid, uh, construction schedule. Um, if you went on a two week vacation and you came back from it, you would have a backyard with no home to a backyard with a home or a community. Um, you know, we can pre-build these things. And then as the while the site work's being done, as the pads come available, we ship them out and we can set two a day.

Speaker3:
Yeah. It's amazing to me that, uh, you could, let's say somebody's got some space in their backyard for their for their in-laws. And in a week to two weeks, you they could have an in-law suite with very nice finishes. I mean, these are quartz countertops and beautiful flooring and and great looking colors on everything. And the lighting's amazing. And I mean that you've got a two story, two bedroom that you can get in a week. Uh, it's pretty remarkable to me. And they're also really starting because you're welding steel as the really the foundation of the framing for it. Um, also, I just want to share if people are looking to get more information, they ought to check out mod tech. That's mod e h o e. That's mod. Uh, we thought it was amazing, especially when people are trying to downsize. I feel like if you're looking to downsize, it's a great way to get in for a lot less and still have enough essential, uh, space for you to live and really enjoy it. And you can also walk to restaurants and things like that. Uh, you're looking to put in put these up at, in and around a lot of walking within walking distance of restaurant districts and things like that too.

Speaker6:
Yeah. The ideal location is within, you know, a half a mile from the center of town. If you're if you're doing that, we're currently, um, hopefully going to be working with the city of Atlanta and putting some of these in also for attainable homes, for the missing middle, as they call it, the teachers and firemen and policemen, um, that work and serve in these communities, but they can't live there. They've got to drive, you know, an hour or two into work because, you know, the affordable, attainable housing is just not there. These are these are super nice homes. I mean, I use I finish these things the same as I do. I do a lot of custom homes and high end remodels and Buckhead. Tom Williams Residential is my, uh, residential construction company, and these things are finished just as nicely as those houses are. So. And it's all foam insulation, um, really, really energy efficient, um, good looking stuff.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So for people that are just showing up to this interview and they're hearing us on the radios or driving around going to Publix or Home Depot or Lowe's or Kroger or wherever, I would just tell you that there's two things you ought to get from this interview. Number one is, Tom give you a modular home in a week. So with Mod Homes, um, and all you gotta do is call him or and reach out to him. Just go to.com. Mod homes is the website mod dot H.o.m.e.s mod homes. And the second one is if you've got if you need residential renovation help in bucket or anywhere where am nine one, the answer can reach in or inside or outside the perimeter. It's a really good idea. Cost effective way to do it. Bonded and insured. Check out Tom Williams residential.com. That's Tom Williams residential.com. Tom, what some of your advice for some of the people that are that are looking to downsize or they're looking to get their house ready for sale, what would you say if they're retirees, they're that are trying to make a move. Take some of that equity out and try to do something different. What are some of your recommendations, either from a renovation perspective, getting a house ready and then also going to the next move when they downsize?

Speaker6:
Well, bathrooms and kitchens are are in closets are what motivate people usually to buy a home. Um, you can have ten houses, but one home has an updated really nice kitchen. And typically that's the one that's going to sell. Um, years ago when I was trying to get well, I did. I got my real estate license in Virginia. Um, I remember the teacher held up $2 bills. One was brand new and one was dirty and crinkly. And they said, which one of these would you rather have? Of course, everybody pointed to the new $1 bill. And he says, which one is worth more? And they're both worth the same. And it's the same thing with houses. And, you know, you do that kitchen or that master bathroom or, you know, you take some space and reclaim it as a master closet, a master bedroom suite. You know, those are those are always good things to do. Um, it's always a good idea to, you know, talk to your realtor as well and see what kind of recommendations they, they, they will make. And, you know, what are the other houses in the neighborhood doing? You know, what are they like? Um, that's that's always a good way to go as well.

Speaker6:
The other way is say you're you want to downsize and you've got, uh, children maybe that have just started a family. Um, they work kind of nearby you or whatever. And you want to put an Adu up in the backyard and move into that and let your kids have the House. Uh, Congress, the Senate and the House are working on some, uh, laws right now where if you put one of these ADUs in your backyard, you can get a mortgage on it, because these are industrial, uh, International Building Code compliant homes. You get mortgages just like anybody else does with them, any kind of mortgage. Um, and they're making it. So if you've got a really good mortgage rate, which, you know, 3% or so during Covid, uh, you don't have to refinance the whole thing to put this in your backyard. You can get a mortgage to do that. Now. It's not gone through yet, but those are the kind of creative things that the federal government's trying to do. Uh, to answer the call to a shortage of housing, but also help people to keep their, uh, their low interest rates that they've gotten over the past four, 4 or 5 years.

Speaker3:
That's really great coaching. You've got a contact us button on my tech homes. Um, so that's something to check out, too. I just think it's a no brainer to kind of really get a look at doing some sort of downsizing to this, um, it's a really good idea. And talk a little bit about your development in Cleveland, if you would.

Speaker6:
Okay. Well, it's, um, it started out it was a, uh, a lot, um, that was zoned highway business, which is a dead end residential street. I don't know how they zoned it highway business, but it was from a long time ago. So, uh, the city of Cleveland, uh, they worked with me. Uh, they, uh, we were able to rezone the property into a planned urban development, a pud. Uh, they also, uh, gave me three other variances that gave us more space to put these things in, allowed us to put an 800 square foot home in, um, uh, and the their big caveat there is they, they want to make sure that there's lots of parking. So there's three parking spaces per unit plus three extra ones. So two people can live in one of these and you can have a guest over and there's there's plenty of parking. And just park there and walk down into into Cleveland and get some dinner or do whatever. Uh, it's in.

Speaker3:
The name of development. Can you share that with us?

Speaker6:
West Girard Village. And it's right at the end of West Girard Street. And literally it's a three, 3.5 minute walk, uh, into into the center of town.

Speaker3:
Great. Well, Tom, thanks so much for being with us today. Um, I just wanted to share this for people that are looking to downsize pre-retirees retirees, um, just different ideas. And also if they're looking to sell their house and update it. You know, Tom Williams residential. Com is a great place to start. But also check out mod tech. That's mod mod tech. Tom we really enjoy working with you. We're we are big fans of what you're doing and we want everybody to check out mod tech homes. I think you're really going to be glad you did. It's really innovative, neat, modular homes that can be put up in a week to two weeks. And if you're looking to do an in-law suite, great idea. If you're looking to downsize, great idea. If you're looking to just update your homes, check out Tom Williams Residential as well.

Speaker6:
And retirement income too. I mean, you could put one of these up in your backyard. Depending on where you are, you can, you know, you can get a pretty decent amount of rent for it. So that's awesome.

Speaker3:
Yeah, That's that's a great call as well. Again, Tom, thanks for being with us. Everybody check out my tech. You'll be glad you did. We'll be right back.

Speaker2:
Schedule your free, no obligation consultation now by calling toll free at 888140304.

Speaker7:
Okay, I'll do what I want. If I choose, I can take the fall as a choice.

Speaker2:
Get started on your free portfolio analysis and financial plan right now by visiting Retirement Results.

Speaker3:
And welcome back to Retirement results. I'm Ford Stokes, chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here with us, our senior financial advisor and co-host Sam. I thought that was a great interview with Tom Williams with Mod Tech Homes and Tom Williams Residential. He's just a great guy, and I've just encouraged all of our listeners to, if you need to update your home and renovate your home, I would reach out to him at Tom Williams Residential. Com and you ought to check out his places over at um in Cleveland, Georgia. But you can also just check out Mod Homes. And if you want to put an in-law suite in your backyard, that's a great way to do it. If you want to build any kind of structure in your backyard, he can do it too. I would, I would just encourage you to reach out to him at Mod Homes or Tom Williams Residential. Com.

Speaker4:
Yeah, it was a very cool interview. Cool to see what they've done in Cleveland, Georgia. And that website is really cool to look at. Um, if you check out the video on our YouTube channel, then you'll be able to see us kind of go through that website with Tom and yeah, get your get your mind turning about some possible opportunities of a beach property or mountain property or that in-law suite like you mentioned. Ford. Um, very cool interview. We love featuring a local business owner like Tom. Um, now we're going to get into this retirement checklist. We've got some essential steps for a smooth transition. Um, for we hear from so many people that say, all right, I'm getting close to retirement. I'd really like to retire sometime soon, but they really don't know where to start. And I would say that, you know, there's no one way to go about it. But we have a checklist, and we think this is a great way to go about it ourselves. And step number one has really nothing to do with your finances. It's have that smart vision for your retirement.

Speaker3:
Yeah. We want to kind of have an idea of like, what are you doing in retirement? Who are you with and how are you going to fund it? So what are you doing in retirement? Who are you with and how are you going to fund it? Are you going to spend more time with your kids and grandkids? That makes sense. You spend time with your spouse, traveling all over the place and having a ball. Let's do that. Oh, sure, let's do that. That sounds great. But some of that takes money. So we need to figure out how to do all those things. Um, you just really want to have that clear goal. I mean, every successful plan starts with a clear goal in mind. Retirees are soon to be retirees. This means having an understanding about what you want to do in retirement again, where you want to live and who you want to spend your time with. And most importantly, how are you going to fund all of it? So some people struggle with identity after retiring, knowing what your retirement is for and whether it's for travel, hobbies, grandkids, part time work will help guide you and your financial decisions. And you won't struggle in retirement.

Speaker4:
Yeah, you definitely want to know those things, you know. What do you want to do? Who do you want to be with? Where do you want to be? And that will kind of lead you to number two, which is assess your current expenses. So you want to take a look at, hey, what's my budget now? Um, a lot of people get to this point forward where they're about to retire and they've never really had a budget before. You know, maybe if they're a business owner, they have a budget for their business, but they don't even have one in their own household. So you want to really assess, okay, how much money is coming in and coming out of the house each and every month. And a good way to do that is just to take 2 or 3 months in a row and divide by 2 or 3 to come up with a good average. And that will help us start to determine, okay, how much income are we going to need to make sure that you have every single month of your retirement so that you can make that smart vision a reality?

Speaker3:
I'll give you a perfect example. Just take August and September, add those two months together. Divide by two. But you got to count everything you're spending. What's going on? The credit card, what's going on, the check card, what's going on coming out of the checking account in auto debits, things like that. You got to add it all up. Divide by two. And that'll give you an idea of what you're really spending. And I think you're going to be shocked at how much you're really spending. That includes one month is the 31 day month, and one month a 30 day month. August is 31 days. September is 30 days. I promise you, you're going to really be glad that you did that work to assess your current expenses.

Speaker4:
Yeah, you also want to address major expenses before you retire. That's number three on our list. These are large one time costs, like paying off debt. Maybe you've got a little bit of money still left to pay on that mortgage. A lot of people come in, they've still got, you know, 30 or 50 or 100,000 left to pay off that family home. Maybe you're considering buying a second home. We see that as well. Uh, people helping their kids with college tuition, possibly weddings. If you've got those major expenses that you know are coming before retirement, let's make sure that we're factoring those in, because that's really part of your smart vision. As you start to make this transition to retirement, we want you to see those visions come to life as well. And Ford, one thing that you often suggest to folks is consider downsizing and relocating as you retire. Maybe a lake house, maybe somewhere on the beach that can help people get to a place where they're spending more time with their loved ones.

Speaker3:
You really want to understand what are the big ticket items, the weddings, the helping out with college, things like that. And you want to make sure that you're putting the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others. You want to stay financially strong and sound in what you're doing, so you don't have to go back to work. Things like that, and you can help the family out, but really have an understanding of, hey, what are the big. What are the big bogeys that we're anticipating here.

Speaker4:
And the next board? You've been helping people with this every single week for well over a year now. And that's planning your Social Security timing. This is one of the first things that we do for folks. You're a registered social security analyst. So is Matt McClure, who's an advisor here with retirement results and active wealth. And through those RSA roadmaps their Social Security maximization reports. That is such a helpful piece of critical information to help people make that best decision on when to turn on benefits they know they're going to get Social Security. You may or may not know that you actually get more the longer you wait to turn on benefits, but at what cost? What's the best, most ideal time to start taking those benefits? That's what that report that you put together for people helps them decide.

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean, you've got it's going to be the number one or number two source of income during your retirement, your which is your Social Security check. So we're in a much better situation if we can maximize that check. And so what I encourage people to do is reach out to us, give us your XML file. It's XML x ray Mary Lima is are the three letters XML. It's the link right underneath your the pdf on SSA gov link. So you go to Ssa.gov sign in and then where you've got your your PDF statement, there's an XML statement. We're looking for the XML so we can put it into our system and help you maximize your Social Security income. That allows us to get your top 35 earning years. So go ahead and reach out to us on that. We can help you with that. You can also call us at (770) 685-1777. And we're happy to walk you through how to do that. But let's start there. And it's also really important for both members of a couple to plan their Social Security. Because especially if somebody, let's say the wife stayed home and worked harder taking care of the kids, I would encourage you to make sure that you're taking care of your spouse by both of you, maximizing your Social Security income. And that includes a plan that includes both of your Social Security statements and your and your top 35 earning years for both of you, including spousal benefits and survivor benefits as well.

Speaker4:
Step number five on our checklist as you start to prepare for retirement is start thinking about taxes a little bit. You know, we've got these different tax buckets with your various retirement accounts. If you have a 401 K through work, maybe a 403 B, maybe your own IRA, those are tax deferred accounts. So when you inevitably get to retirement and start taking money out, you're going to owe taxes on those withdrawals. You also have the Roth account, which is one of the only two tax free investments available to Americans. Those are tax free gains and tax free distributions out of those accounts. And then you've got brokerage accounts as well. And Ford, it's really important that people have an understanding of their tax picture as they retire as well, because those aren't going to go away. Just because you stop receiving a paycheck from work doesn't mean that you're not going to see the taxes take a hit on your monthly budget.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You want to make sure that you've got an understanding of, hey, what are the taxes I want to pay when I take these withdrawals out of my IRA? We'd like to try to get a Roth ladder conversion going. Where we're converting money from your IRA to your Roth IRA, because you may be interested in deleting the IRS from your retirement accounts. I know we are interested in doing that for you. All you gotta do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to get started right away on a strategic Roth ladder conversion that may take 5 to 10 years to complete. You want to get it done before you turn age 73 when required. Minimum distributions kick in because your RMDs and your conversions, your conversions do not count as your RMD. So we want to make sure we're not double you know paying in those years. We're trying to do conversions. We're also required to take an RMD. We kind of want to be done with those raw bladder conversions before they start taking RMDs.

Speaker4:
When we come back, we're going to give you the last two items on our checklist. If you're looking for a smooth transition to retirement, we're also going to tell you why you need a comprehensive plan for your retirement and what that means. You're listening to retirement results.

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

Speaker8:
At the New Amsterdam. Down at this yellow haired girl, Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation with a black head.

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 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 Complex. That's retirement complex.

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 to retirement results with all drivers. I'm Ford stokes, chief financial advisor got Sam Davis here with us, and he's a senior financial advisor with us and our co-host. And Sam, we're talking about this retirement checklist, essential steps for a smooth transition. This was we've had a great article that we kind of recap from Morningstar. And this article came from Forbes. Go ahead and recap what we've talked about so far in this smooth transition checklist.

Speaker4:
If you're listening to us on the radio, or if you missed the first part of this segment that we're doing, definitely check us out. Wherever you listen to podcasts, you can listen on demand. But to catch you up, number one on our checklist was have that smart vision for your retirement. What do you want to do in retirement? Where do you want to be? Who do you want to spend your time with? Those things are part of your smart vision. Step two is assess your current expenses. What does that budget looking like now? If you don't have a budget before retiring, it'd be a good idea to have a good, accurate account of what those current expenses are. Tsar number three. Know what those major expenses are? That could be coming up pre-retirement. Like paying off the mortgage, helping kids or grandkids out with tuition, maybe a family wedding. You want to be strategic about those costs. Step number four was plan your Social Security timing. Part of that is making sure that you get a Social Security maximization report, preferably one prepared by a registered Social Security analyst. And we have two of them in our office here in the Atlanta area. Number five is be smart about taxes. Understand the tax consequences of your various accounts and have a plan for that. And that brings us to step number six forward. We've got two more to finish up this list. Step number six is turn your portfolio into an income generating machine. Now most people leaving the workforce today are not leaving with a pension. It was much more common in the past. But people want that predictable lifetime income that they can count on and that their spouse and their family can count on for them throughout retirement. And so we help people set up personal pensions for their retirement to close that gap between what Social Security pays you and what your actual monthly expenses are in retirement, so that, you know, no matter what's going on in the market, that you're going to have that income coming in to take care of what's necessary.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I mean, I'll say this, the personal pensions we can help people generate on their own with products like fixed indexed annuities with nationwide or with Aspida or North American or other really great a minus and a plus rated annuity. Cares is far superior to the pension that you would get from your workplace, because the pension you'd get from your workplace. Usually the money goes away when you and your spouse pass away. Our goal is to actually get your money into at least the income portion of your assets. Let's say it's 40% of your portfolio. We want to take 40% of your portfolio. Put it into a fixed indexed annuity. And hopefully that fixed indexed annuity is growing at a greater rate than what your withdrawal rate is. And so therefore your account value continues to grow while you're also getting withdrawals. That's our goal. We we set out to make sure we are investing in products that illustrate that way. That looks like they're going to start out that way on the front end. And we've had some really good success with that. So I would encourage people to reach out to us. If you want to get an income that you can never outlive from your own personal pension, but also have money left over to give to your heirs from that same personal pension product with that fixed indexed annuity. We can make that happen. Or you just reach out to us at retirement Results.com.

Speaker4:
And that brings us to the last item on our list, which is prepare for market and longevity risks. Now, if you're establishing a personal pension with an FIA, you're going to take care of both of those things market risk and longevity risk. But this is really all about making sure we're eliminating any fear that could possibly be left of running out of money and letting potential or expected financial downturns, you know, really damper your retirement. That's not something we want to happen. We know the market is going to have its ups and downs, but we want to make sure that you have the income you need and that you're protected.

Speaker3:
Yeah, we're we're happy to make sure you can protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved wealth. And one of those is just trying to replace the bonds in your portfolio. Let me ask you, why are you paying advisory and portfolio fees on bonds that aren't built to grow? They're just built to give you income. Why not get income from a fixed indexed annuity? Replace the bonds. And also we'll manage the rest of the portfolio with tactically managed portfolios and also strategically managed portfolios with ETFs and equities and things like that. We've got our bccm basket of growth stocks, our bccm basket of dividend stocks and then also portfolios like our Ray star moderate aggressive portfolio is one that we use a lot to implement some of our portfolios. We will use Q-q-q and a few other um, portfolios out there as well. So I would encourage you to reach out to us to better protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved wealth. Let's get going on that. Just reach out to us at retirement. Com click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Also I want to quickly share there's two signs you're more financially savvy than the average American. Number one is you seek out the highest, um, apys and the best interest rates, um, out there.

Speaker3:
And you could do that with various products like fixed indexed annuities, migas and money markets, or bank CDs or brokered CDs. Even so, a lot of consumers settle for rates as low as 0.01% APY when they can secure rates that are much higher. We have got a Migrate that is offered by revel one, and they're a triple B plus rated annuity carrier that's offering 6%. If you want to get 6% on a five year myga, you gotta leave your money in there for five years to get the 6% each year, and you also get deferred growth. We're going to have a representative from revel one on our on next week's show, so we're excited about that. But it is a big deal to try to just get 6% guaranteed interest versus all the stuff you're doing with 4% or 3.5% or lower on the bank CDs out there. And then the number two thing we do that will make sure that you are definitely more savvy than the average American investor is. You take time to plan and budget. So let's do that. Let's add the two months together, divide by two and really understand what you're you're spending. And let's try to start with that retirement income surplus not a negative retirement income gap. Let's take the time to budget.

Speaker9:
It's the final countdown.

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

Speaker9:
The final countdown.

Speaker3:
On this week's show, we talked about getting retirement results. We talked about, hey, are you taking too much risk with your own retirement and also your approach to retirement? We discussed why Pre-retirees and retirees should de-risk their portfolios, and we went into a lot of different aspects of that. We also had retirement checklist that are the essential steps for a smooth transition. That included having smart vision for retirement, assessing your current expenses, addressing major expenses. Pre-retirement. Also number four was planning your Social Security timing. Number five was planning tax smart withdrawal strategies. Number six was turning your portfolio into an income generating machine by replacing bonds with your fixed with fixed indexed annuities to maximize that income. And then number seven was preparing for the market and longevity risks and trying to de-risk your portfolio with fixed indexed annuities at least up to 20 to 40% of your portfolio. We also talked to Tom Williams with MedTech homes and Tom Williams Residential. If you're looking to downsize, you're looking to get your house ready for sale and encourage you to go ahead and reach out to Tom Williams at Mod. That's mod Dot homes or Tom Williams residential.com. Listen, if you're looking for information about retirement and you you want to retire successfully, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Be aggressive about that. Seek more information. Make sure you're listening to Retirement Results Podcast. This is our second to last radio show on Am 910. The answer ever. We've been on almost six years now and make sure you subscribe to retirement results, the podcast, wherever you get podcasts. I think you're going to be glad you did. We have so many folks that have transitioned over to our podcast or listening when they're in the in their cars, driving to and from work or, or when they're going out to their, their kids and going to help take care of their grandkids. Go ahead and check out retirement results anywhere you get podcasts. And 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. Bcm and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

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 advertised item for. For additional information. Fixed annuities, including multi-year guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees, and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

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

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

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