Planning Ahead for Taxes in Retirement

2.9.24: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

Producer:
Welcome to 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, an author of multiple books on retirement planning. Here's your chief financial advisor, Ford Stokes.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome to the Retirement Results, folks. My name is Ford Stokes. I'm your chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis, our co-host and financial advisor with us. And we've got a really special segment I'm gonna tell you all about here in a second that we do every year. But, Sam, say hello to everybody.

Sam Davis:
Welcome to the weekend result drivers. And welcome back to Retirement Results. This is your show. If you're interested in winning with your money and planning for retirement. We've got many more great tips for you this week. And we've also got a very special inflation demonstration because this weekend, this very weekend marks the end of the 2023 2024 football season with the big game out in Las Vegas. Yeah.

Ford Stokes:
So every year, um, Sam gives us an inflation demonstration on the big game every year. And I can't wait to hear how things have inflated and how prices have gone up again for those Super Bowl parties, and also for the tickets and everything else. Um, especially with the Super Bowl being in Vegas. It's crazy, um, how expensive it's been. Interestingly enough, I think, um, for the big game, I think it's going to rain. In Vegas this weekend. I that's that's rare usually there whether is um is wind. Uh so that was an interesting thing there, Sam. But here's what we're going to talk about in today's show. We're going to talk about, we're going to ask you, hey, do you have a retirement tax bomb with your IRAs, with the government being your partner in retirement with that, with the IRS being your partner with their hand out every time you take a withdrawal from your IRAs. And would you like to delete the IRS from your retirement account? So we're going to help you do that. We're going to tell you how to do that on today's show. We're also going to talk about kind of the ten ways to improve your finances. We're going to talk about also four ways to help you improve your savings. But first we're going to get started a little bit with a national debt update. And also Sam you've got our financial wisdom quote of the week.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Sam Davis:
This week's quote of the week comes to us from Roger Babson, the American entrepreneur, economist, and business theorist. In the first half of the 20th century. He founded Babson College, and Roger Babson once said, more people should learn to tell their dollars where to go instead of asking them where they went.

Ford Stokes:
Amen. And pass the turnips on that. Listen, when you're starting out with retirement, let's say you're within five years of retiring or five years after retirement. We call that the retirement red zone. Those five years before retirement, the five years after retirement. I would strongly urge you to get a plan. And the best way to get a plan is to reach out to us at Retirement Results.com and go ahead and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. That's Retirement Results.com. You can also dial pound 250 and get put directly into our phones here at Active Wealth Management. Uh, Diane and Deborah and our team are standing by to take your calls on the weekend so you can reach out to us anytime you want. Over the weekend. We're on the John Fredericks Radio Network three hours every single weekend. We're so thrilled and privileged to be able to have that ability to to come to you and help you protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved wealth, um, through this show and try to educate you, but I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us. If you want to delete the IRS from being your partner in retirement. We're talking more about that, um, after the break, we're also going to have this inflation demonstration that is world famous and happens every year. The the big game comes around. That last NFL football game comes around. We're going to make sure that Sam does a great job and gives us some really cool information at the beginning of segment two.

Ford Stokes:
But Sam, you've also got some updates and information on the national debt. Also, what Jerome Powell said about the national debt and also what President Trump said about what's going on with the national debt and what he would do to reduce our national debt as our 47th president if he's elected this time around during the 2024 elections, in his incredible interview that John Fredericks, you know, how did this network had with him on Thursday from the US Virgin Islands? Credit to John for going down there to make sure that Nikki Haley and and the Rhinos couldn't just steal that, um, you know, those electoral votes and and those delegates, um, so that Nikki Haley and the Rhinos couldn't steal those delegates on the US Virgin Islands and that interview that you're going to hear in just a second that John Fredericks did with President Trump, also aired across all of the US Virgin Islands on multiple stations, including this network with over 17 stations on the John Fredericks radio network on Thursday morning from 840 to 9 a.m.. And I just want to give credit and shout out to, uh, you know, our family member, John Fredericks. Great job, John, on that interview. And, uh, thanks for fighting for us out there. And, um, Sam, go ahead and play that clip as president.

Bye:
What are you going to do about this out of control federal spending? How do you stop it? Well, I just heard he said that that's a strong statement for somebody to make because it's, uh, it's something that, you know, we've got high debt and we have to get it paid off and we have to get it reduced, at least, you know, pretty quickly. And we do that very simply. By cutting costs, we can cut costs. We have massive amounts of costs. We can cut in things that won't affect people. If you take a look at Biden, they're jeopardizing everything. They're jeopardizing Social Security. They're jeopardizing so many. They want to raise taxes on everybody. I want to leave Social Security alone. We can do other things. We can do many other things. One example is drill, baby, drill. We have tremendous worth. We have tremendous money laying in the I call it liquid gold. Under our feet. And we don't take advantage of that. We're not taking advantage of that. We have more than Russia, more than Saudi Arabia. And John, we don't take advantage of it. There's so many things we can do to increase income and also cut costs. We got credit for the economy. We got credit for the military. We got credit for knocking out ISIS. We got a lot of credit, actually, but we were, uh, starting to do that and we were going to pay down debt and we were going to lower taxes, because when we lower taxes, we actually took in, we gave the biggest tax decrease ever in our country, bigger than the Reagan tax decrease. We cut taxes more than any president in history. And yet we took in more income. Think of it. We cut taxes way down, and yet we took in more income than we ever took in as we broke every record. So we were going to do more of that and we were going to get things straightened out.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. I mean, it's I think President Trump is exactly right. I think we are the. Arabia of the natural gas world for sure at least. Plus we've got a lot of oil reserves offshore. Just ask the folks in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Um, you know, right there in the Gulf of Mexico. And so I just. Want to say go President Trump on that one. And also if that helps pay for the national debt. And about time somebody started talking about balancing the checkbook and balancing the national budget. So we don't have growing debt where and you've got an update on the national debt, but we do need to make a lot of cuts and a lot of cuts that aren't going to affect every, every American's daily lives. And I was just great to hear that from President Trump, amongst a lot of other things that he and John talked about. And I just, you know, want to again congratulate John Fredericks and, you know, the leader of this network and the guy that's on every single, uh, weekday morning and also on, on Saturday mornings, I just want to congratulate you on an incredible interview. There's not a lot of radio networks, especially independent news, talk radio networks, that can just get President Trump on the line like that for 20 minutes. Um, I just think it was impressive. And your thoughts, Sam, on all that?

Sam Davis:
Yeah, well, really appreciate hearing a candidate actually comment on, you know, some fiscal responsibility. Um, the national debt is a growing concern, and Social Security could be in some serious trouble as well.

Ford Stokes:
And Sam, you have a US national debt clock update as well.

Producer:
The clock is ticking. The debt is growing. It's time for your Retirement Results. Debt clock update.

Sam Davis:
The national debt is now sitting at $34.213 trillion. That's $34.2 trillion. We reported a few months back that the annual interest payments on the national debt are now over $1 trillion. That's just the interest payments annually on the national debt. This is a huge problem for future generations and for when it comes to solving these fiscal issues in Washington, they've only got a couple solutions. One would be to cut spending, the other would be to increase taxes. And I believe they're going to have to do a little bit of both to resolve this issue. Absolutely.

Ford Stokes:
And plus you you know, you got to tighten the belt up for sure. And you're probably going to have to raise more taxes and raise more tax revenue. And President Trump, in that interview with, with John Fredericks, mentioned that he cut taxes. It was the greatest tax cut, even more than the Reagan tax cuts. And they brought in more revenue. It's not a surprise when the country is thriving. The country brings in more tax revenue. And they've tried over the last couple years to inflate some of the debt away. And we've all seen how that's gone with all of our lives where we're paying 35% more at the pump, according to President Trump and all that kind of stuff. So, um, also, you don't have to take my word for it or Sam's word for it. Take Jerome Powell's word for it. He said that the US national debt is not sustainable. So we come back. If you're concerned about future tax increases and generating tax free retirement income, we have the solution for you. All you've got to do is come right back and listen to us here on Retirement Results, and also reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com to book your own personal financial consultation. We'll be right back with Retirement Results right here on the John Fredericks Radio Network.

Late December, back in 63. A very special time.

Producer:
So you know where you are now and where you want to be in retirement. So how do you plan to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network, powered by Amera life.

Jack Nicholson:
Do you have any other questions for me? Counselor, there.

Producer:
Are a lot of questions to ask yourself when you start your retirement plan. Questions like when should I retire? How much money will I need? When should I claim Social Security? What about health care costs and taxes in retirement? This complicated puzzle means you're probably going to need some help coming up with a smart retirement plan.

Ford Stokes:
If you want to retire successfully, you really need to plan early. You know inspectorj you expect and get prepared. Putting a plan in place now while you're still working is a great idea.

Producer:
Ford Stokes is founder and president of Active Wealth Management. Once you find a financial professional you want to work with, they can help you answer all the questions you may have.

Ford Stokes:
Back to what Warren Buffett said, if you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you're going to work until you die. So we need to do everything we can to figure out a way to make money while we're sleeping. We talk about this human capital versus actual capital. When you're young, you have a lot of human capital. You've got a lot of left, a lot of room left, a lot of capital left in your career. Right? But at the same time, a lot of people that are older, let's say you're 65, 70 years old, you don't have a lot of human capital left, but you should have a lot of capital that is making money while you sleep. And if you don't, then you didn't make the right decisions.

Producer:
There are also some retirement costs you may not have considered yet. Long Terme care, for example. Did you know it's not covered by Medicare? What about home renovations? If you decide to stay in your home instead of moving into a facility, your home might need some updates to ensure you're safe and comFordable. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. So do you have a fiduciary, financial advisor, or professional to help you wade through the complicated retirement planning process? That is a key question to consider if you want to make the most of your hard earned money with a retirement radio network powered by Amira life. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
You're listening to Retirement Results. And now back to the show.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back to Retirement Results. I'm Ford Stoker chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis, our co-host and senior financial advisor here on the show with us. And Sam, you do this every year. You've got our inflation demonstration for the big game every year. And here it is, folks. We are going to provide the the ultimate inflation demonstration this week, which is all about this big game for this weekend, and how much items have gone up for the Super Bowl and also for Super Bowl parties.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Sam Davis:
So, Ford, this is our super inflation demonstration for Super Bowl Sunday, which is this weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49 ers are going to play in the first Super Bowl to ever be held in Las Vegas. Super Bowl 58. And that is Sunday. And that is coming up at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. And the halftime show usher the national anthem for it. I'm excited for this. Reba mcEntire I'm going to be tuned in so I can enjoy the national anthem sung by Reba. And how about tickets? You know, everybody's always talking about how much Super Bowl tickets are costing. Well, let's go back to 1967 for just a second. Super Bowl won the Chiefs and the Packers. The face value of a ticket was only $12, adjusted for inflation. That's about $112, but a face value ticket for the first Super Bowl super Bowl won only $12. Fast forward to today and Super Bowl 58, the face value of a ticket was $6,300, but good luck getting a face value ticket for the Super Bowl. It's one of the most in-demand sporting events of the entire calendar. Taking a look at all of the secondary retail markets online, that's StubHub, SeatGeek, Ticketmaster. I'm seeing the lowest price that you can get right around $7,000, and that's before any fees and the most expensive ticket you could get coming in at $89,000. I've also seen that sweets for the big game can cost you a pretty penny. Over seven figures, just over $1 million for the cheapest sweet at the Super Bowl. So the price is for the big game have certainly gone up. Commercials are more expensive than ever before. It's the big game forward and it's always going to have a big price tag attached.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, it was when it's in Vegas, it's even more of a high price tag for sure. But it is remarkable how much everything is, how much more everything costs. You also have some information, right, on how much items for Super Bowl parties are as well, right?

Sam Davis:
Yes, for most of us will not be watching at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Most of us will be watching at a Super Bowl party, maybe at a home, maybe at a family member's home. And the prices for items that your Super Bowl party have skyrocketed since the Covid 19 pandemic. Taking a look at the price differences from December 2019 to December 2023, and how inflation has affected Super Bowl party items, we can just pull out a few here. Eggs. Eggs are in so many things that get made for the Super Bowl, up 63% over the past four years. Bread is up 49% over the last four years. Potato chips up 41%. Ice cream. That's a great Super Bowl. Maybe halftime treat up 27% over the last four years. I don't need to tell you how expensive food has gotten, especially since Covid, but it's going to be affecting the Super Bowl parties as it has for pretty much the last half decade.

Ford Stokes:
No question about it. It's just remarkable to hear how much more expensive all those items are for the Super Bowl party. So when somebody is hosting a Super Bowl party and you're bringing your your dish or somebody else that somebody's giving you a full spread, just have that much more of appreciation for what they invested for you to have a great time at their Super Bowl party, for sure. And Sam, also, I'm really looking forward to Reba singing the national anthem. I usually have an over under on how long the national anthem is. I was like usually like 2 or 2 minutes and 43 seconds or something like that. I wonder whatever that over under is. I bet you as a country singer she might go over, uh, it'll be interesting to see what happens. We'll we'll report back. And, uh, maybe we can also give that information over to John Fredericks and his Godzilla show, um, on his picks on Saturday mornings, too, that come right after this show. Sam, we're also going to transition here a little bit and talk about if people have a retirement tax bomb, uh, because they offer tax free qualified withdrawals. Roth IRAs and Roth conversions can be a critical strategy for diffusing the retirement tax bomb that traditional IRAs for drinks and other pre-tax savings accounts can set you up for in and during retirement. Why does this matter? It can protect you from future tax increases by the federal government. It just really can. Sam, can you also give everybody what was what's the national debt right now and counting again, as you talked about in segment one?

Sam Davis:
Yeah. If you missed the first segment, the national debt clock is at $34.2 trillion and counting. And it is just so difficult to fathom. Even how big of a number that is.

Ford Stokes:
And the debt service on that debt is now over $1 trillion a year. That's a lot of money, folks. That is a crazy amount of of interest you got to pay. Now, here are three windows you want to consider for Roth conversion. The first window for Roth conversion is the years before enrolling in Medicare. But. Recall that Medicare means testing has a two year lookback, so your income at age 63 determines your Medicare Part B and part D premiums when you're 65. A prime window for Roth conversions is between retirement and age 62. If you do end up triggering Medicare means testing for a year or two while you do Roth conversions, you may find it's worthwhile and you may be able to appeal. Medicare means testing surcharges through the IRS form SSA 44. So that's SSA 44. If you're looking for that form, if you go to Irs.gov, you can find it. The second window for Roth conversions is between retirement and when you start taking Social Security or pension income, at which point your income may be significantly higher and you may be able to do smaller Roth conversions. This is an additional argument for deferring Social Security benefits for several years, although be careful because Social Security, the OAC trust fund, is set to be depleted.

Ford Stokes:
As we've reported on this show before, by 2033, which would mean a 23% across the board cut for all Social Security income recipients, you'd go from making 100% of your social income benefit to in 2033, you'd make only 77% of your Social Security income benefit, and the third window lasts until required minimum distributions begin, or RMDs begin at age 73. If you're still sitting on a retirement tax bomb at that point, the conversion window has probably closed, or it's going to be much higher in taxes because your conversions do not count towards your required minimum distributions. They are in addition to, and you'll have to pay taxes on both the conversion and the RMD. Based on your effective tax rate, and both of those combined would likely take you up into the next tax bracket. We come back from the break, we're going to talk about more, what all this means and what you can do. Um, for all of our listeners, we're so glad you're with us here on. Retirement Results. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the four ways that you can start improving your savings in 2024. And in segment four, we're going to talk about ten ways that you can improve all of your finances in 2024 as well.

Producer:
The national debt clock is ticking, but your retirement clock is two. It's time to take control of what you've worked so hard for. Schedule your free financial consultation now by dialing pound 250 from your cell phone and using the keyword Retirement Results. That's pound 250. Key word Retirement Results. Nationwide's peak ten fixed indexed annuity is designed to help protect and grow your savings to generate income you can never outlive. Peak ten also has an optional rider that offers an immediate 20% bonus based on your principal. Apply to your income benefit base. Dial pound 250 and use the keyword Retirement Results to connect with a qualified advisor. Now. Indexed or fixed annuities are not designed for short terme investments and may be subject to caps, restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Any bonuses mentioned may be subject to additional restrictions and regulations based on the offering annuity company. They may include higher surrender charges, longer surrender charge periods or lower caps. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Guarantees and protections referenced within are subject to the claims paying ability of Nationwide Life and annuity insurance company nationwide. Peak ten is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio. Neither nationwide nor its other entities are associated or affiliated with Brookstone Capital Management, LLC. Like what you're hearing? Subscribe to the podcast and listen to Retirement Results anytime, anywhere.

Sam Davis:
And welcome back to Retirement Results. I'm Sam Davis, your co host and senior financial advisor. I'm here with Ford Stokes our chief advisor and registered social security analyst and contributor to the Forbes Finance Council. Ford before the break, we were talking about Roth conversion and how that can be a great strategy for Pre-retirees to eliminate future taxes that they would be paying in retirement. In fact, if you have an IRA balance over $400,000, a Roth conversion could end up saving you six figures in taxes that you would be paying over a three decade retirement. So, Ford, we talked about the reasons why people should consider a Roth conversion in the first segment. We're very concerned about the national debt, where federal spending could be headed, where federal tax increases could be coming, but why does this matter? For those who are preparing for retirement, is it really worth it to go through the Roth conversion?

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, it really is. I think on average, if you want to look, you're going to save six figures in retirement. Like Sam said, like you said, Sam, you're you're going to save over six figures in retirement, hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least over 100 grand. If you've got over $400,000 sitting in your in your IRA over a 30 to 35 plus year retirement. Also, the CDC came out last year and said that, you know what if. Both members of a married couple make it to age 65. There's over a 50% chance, actually, it's closer to 60%, that at least one of the spouses are going to live to be over 90 years old. And also, if you're worried about if you're saying, well, I'm not going to live that long. My grandparents, my parents didn't live that long. Uh, I can't control family history and all that stuff. I don't have a crystal ball or a fountain of youth. But I will say this. You'd probably need to count on living longer and understand that you have longevity risk. We do not want you to outlive your money. We want your money to outlive you. We can best help people that have over half $1 million or more, but specifically, that $400,000 threshold is a great place to start. If you've got over $400,000 in A41K, an IRA, a 403 B, a 457 a Sep, IRA, a simple IRA, we can help you. We can actually do a great job and help you. But yes, it is super important for us to kind of get a handle on how to save. And you've heard all of you've heard me talk about this before. But Thomas Jefferson said the best time to save money is when you have it. And we want to give you these four great tips to boost your savings in 2024.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. And the last thing I would say on that Ford is you're already going to be paying so many taxes in retirement. A lot of people think that they're going to get away from taxes a little bit in retirement because they're not working as much. They're not going to the office, they're not going to the job site, they're not hitting the road if they're a trucker across this country, but you're going to be taxed on your Social Security benefit. You're going to have Medicare surcharges. If you own your home, even if it's paid off, you're going to have property taxes on that that are due every year. So why not take a sizable portion of that nest egg, convert it so it can be tax free income for you in retirement. And if you have questions, just visit us at Retirement Results.com. Or if you want to talk to us on the phone this weekend, we can put you right in our calendar. Just dial pound 250 and use the keyword Retirement Results to get in touch with us now.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. And so this number one of the four tips. Number one is you want to understand the cash flow that you've got and be willing to adjust at any age. It's important to assess what goes into your fixed or what we call your non-discretionary expenses. And these are expenses such as mortgages, bills and basic living expenses like your electric bill, your your gas bill, your trash bill, maybe even your cable bill. Although you can probably alter your cable bill down a little bit, maybe unplug and get Netflix and all that kind of stuff. This helps you get a handle on spending and saving habits, and puts a spotlight on excess cash that you could likely shift from the discretionary bucket into the retirement savings bucket. As you get closer to retirement, it may be time to double down on spending and savings habits. For example, for empty nesters, it may make financial sense to downsize a home a few years before entering retirement to provide a cushion of additional assets. Relocating to a cheaper housing market in some instances can potentially unlock assets in home equity, further aiding in retirement readiness. Also, if you do that, want to make sure that you're staying in a safe neighborhood because, you know, retirees get preyed upon. And we want to make sure that you're staying safe out there.

Sam Davis:
The next tip forward is to make small yet meaningful increases. Vanguard's annual How America Saves report recently highlighted that in 2022, a quarter of workers were saving at least 10% of their income, but the average deferral rate for retirement savings remained at 7.4%. Many Americans are on a solid track. There's a lot of good savers out there. We could help those good savers become better investors and, if possible, try to save 12 to 15% of your income each year towards retirement savings. If you're currently contributing 5% to your 401 K, see if you can bump that up by a percent or two each year to get to that threshold and forward. Something that I always tell people that regardless of how much money you're making, I don't care if you're making $100,000 a year or $1 million a year, a part of your monthly budget every month should go to saving for retirement so that compound interest can work for you, and also extra debt paydown that's not paying the minimum on your mortgage, not paying the minimum on your car payment or any outstanding debt, but actually extra debt pay down as well. In addition to saving for your retirement, make sure that you take advantage of all the time you have available so that compound interest can be your friend. No.

Ford Stokes:
Question number three is you want to consider catch up contributions intended to help investors who are age 50 and older. Catch up contributions are offered in eligible retirement vehicles such as IRAs. For one k simple IRAs and simple for one CS for those who need to make up for missed investment opportunities. And if the extra savings efFord is within the budget, catch up contributions can ultimately bolster savings efFords. In 2024, the standard annual IRA contribution limit is 7000 for those who are younger than 50 years old, but for those who are age 50 and older, can make a catch up contribution of an additional $1,000 to equal up to 8000. But also your 41K has got a significant jump. Um, you can get up to like $30,500 in your 41K for 2024. If you're over age 50, that's something you really ought to consider.

Sam Davis:
And our fourth and final tip if you're looking to boost your retirement savings, is don't let market volatility scare you. Quite simply, don't let emotions get in the way. You don't want to be an emotional investor for so many people. During the market crash of 2008, got scared and converted a lot of their investments into cash, and they didn't take advantage of that full ride back up as the markets recovered over the following years. So don't let market volatility scare you. If you've got a shorter time horizon, work with a financial advisor like us so we can help you plan successfully for your future retirement sequence of returns. Risk is a big risk that you want to consider as you get closer to retirement. You can't really afford to make up those big losses because you only have a few years left before you enter that decumulation phase and start drawing down your accounts. So don't be afraid of market volatility. And if you're looking to put a bit more of your hard earned money into smart, safe investments, we can help you with that as well.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. And again, if you want help with your retirement plans or if you want a 401 K review of your existing 401 K, I would encourage you to reach out to us by dialing pound 250 and giving the keyword Retirement Results, and you'll get dialed straight into our office. And Diane and Deborah are standing by to help you. We're also best able to help people who've got $500,000 or more in investable personal assets. That includes your IRAs, your four on K's, four three B's, but also your investment accounts. If you've got savings account money sitting on the sidelines, you want to do something with it. We can help you do that. I would also encourage you to just call us if you want. Just call our toll free number at (888) 814-0304. That toll free number again is (888) 814-0304. But we wanted it to reduce the number of digits you got to dial. So all you got to do is dial pound 250 and get the keyword Retirement Results. You get put straight into our office.

Sam Davis:
And when we come back we're going to talk about some ways to improve your finances this year. Some tips for improving and winning with your money in 2024. Get in touch with us for your complimentary consultation and Retirement Results. Will be right back.

Producer:
How much risk are you willing to take with your investments? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network, powered by Amara Life. Who. If you're a thrill seeker, you probably enjoy the adrenaline rush of jumping out of a plane, bungee jumping off a high cliff, or kayaking down a raging river. But when it comes to your finances, do you still find a lot of risk exciting? Or does the danger of losing your hard earned money change your perspective? Think back for a moment to the 2008 financial crisis. Thanks to market risk and some shady Wall Street deals, the S&P 500 fell more than 46% between October 2007 and March 2009.

John Mack:
If you go back and look at the risk that we took 25, 30 years ago, and it was kind of way out there, and a lot of these firms, including some of the things that happened at Morgan Stanley, we were so mesmerized by the great traitor and the money they made that they got more and more autonomy until it was too late. We had huge losses.

Producer:
That's former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack speaking with Yahoo News. So how do you protect yourself if we have another year like that, or even another 2022, when the markets had their worst performance since 2008? Financial advisors will tell you that to maximize your investment growth, you need to take some risk with your money. Just be smart about it.

Ford Stokes:
You want to have an actively managed portfolio strategy. You just do. It involves shifting investments in your portfolio to take advantage of pricing anomalies and strong market sectors. You want to reduce the risk. You want to have smart risk as part of your portfolio. You want to increase returns and you want to truly diversify your portfolio.

Producer:
Active Wealth Management founder and president Ford Stokes says smart risk investing is based on the concept that all investments carry some amount of risk, and that the only way to reduce that risk is to diversify. This means investing in a variety of different asset classes such as stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities and other financial instruments. Everyone's situation is different, and that's why it's important to work with a fiduciary financial advisor to get the most out of your hard earned and hard saved money. So how much risk are you willing to take with your retirement? That's a key question to consider as you invest for the future. With the Retirement dot Radio Network powered by AmeriLife, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
While Washington's spending keeps growing, your retirement doesn't have to shrink, protect, and grow your hard earned money today by dialing pound 250 from your cell phone and using the keyword Retirement Results, that's pound 250. Keyword Retirement Results.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back result drivers I'm Ford Stokes of chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here with us who is our co host and senior financial advisor. Sam. We're talking about the ten ways to improve your finances in 2024. We want to help all of the result drivers out there really understand how to get started. It's tough to be aggressive when you're confused. Don't want to make sure they're as aggressive as possible. Again, we always remind people, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly about your retirement. Just try to learn as much as you can about your retirement and understand what's going on with your investments. What's going on under understand? Hey, here's what's going on with my expenses. Here's what's going on with my Medicare, my health care, all that kind of stuff. Um, we're dealing with some of this stuff with my dad right now who's who's an attorney. He's 86 years young and, um, just trying to deal with all his Medicare because he just got admitted to the hospital and and just trying to see how that affects his finances. And, um, he's got a Medicare advantage plan that's got, you know, a 67 and $90 deductible that he's going to have to pay, that he and my step mom's got to pay. And and so you really need to have a good plan both short tum and long terme. But there's a lot of things that go into your retirement plan. It's a lot more than just rate of return on what your IRA is doing. So let's start out with short tum financial goals that are achievable within this year. Within 2024. Number one is perform a financial checkup to review the past year and set goals for the current year. And I would encourage you, if you want help to do that, all you got to do is reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Or just dial pound 250 and give that keyword Retirement Results. And Diana Deborah will take your call and get you booked into our calendar. Sam, what's number two?

Sam Davis:
The next tip that can be achieved this year is take a look at your credit score. You can pull your free credit reports for accuracy and planning. Maybe you're looking to downsize or relocate as you enter retirement, and it's always good to monitor your credit score for any errors. I've found some errors on my credit report before, and if you have any of those, you'll want to get those fixed.

Ford Stokes:
Right. And then number three is you want to create a timeline for goals, balancing competing objectives and prioritizing based on available income. Look, if you've got things like, well, we need to help them help the grandkids with with college or we need to pay off the the home or whatever that looks like, you need to take all of those into account, but also just kind of create a timeline over the year. Just go January all the way through December and get an idea of when you're going to pay off, what and or what are you going to invest in. Also, please remember that your money is not just for paying bills. Your money should be there for investing the number four. Sam.

Sam Davis:
Yeah, the next tip is to reconfigure your budget by reviewing all of your expenses and make sure that your spending is actually aligned with your values. You know, too often we find we're taking a look at our statements. We're wondering why we spent this on that. And it's good to identify those areas where you can cut expenses. Don't just set a budget and forget it. Make sure that you're reviewing it each year and monitor those expenses. Because especially when it comes to recurring fees and subscriptions, you want to make sure that you're actually using the things that you're paying for.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I would say the number one thing on that is just subscriptions. If you went and got a Paramount subscription, an HBO Max subscription, you went and got a Disney Plus subscription, you got a Hulu subscription, you got Netflix subscription. Just that's just on your entertainment, and you're not using some of those. You need to go ahead and 86 those. And then number five is you want to review and adjust the investment strategy at least once a year to align with goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. We give quarterly reviews for all our folks. We also send them monthly updates on on how their assets are performing. And if your advisor is not doing that, then I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us and just dial pound 250 and use the keyword Retirement Results. Again, we can best help people who've got over $500,000 of investment personal assets. But no matter how much money you have, we're here to help you. Because you know what? How much wealth you have. I would imagine it's important to you. So therefore, it is important to us.

Sam Davis:
Taking a quick switch into some long terme financial goals. The first one is to make sure you build that emergency fund over time. Again, this just comes into something you should do every month, is make sure that you're contributing a little bit of your monthly income into savings. That can go into an emergency fund. That way, you don't have to dip into any of your retirement savings when these unexpected expenses do come up.

Ford Stokes:
Just staying on that long. Terme financial goals trend number two within the long Terme financial goals is we want to increase retirement savings by adjusting monthly contributions to IRAs, workplace retirement plans or even fixed indexed annuities. We have some incredible accumulation annuities that our 40 and 50 year old people are taking advantage of, because they're going to defer till they retire. Higher in their 60s and there they cannot believe what those illustrations are showing and how much money they're going to have when they want to turn on income, or they want to take that entire lump sum withdrawal and then invest it into other investment vehicles when they turn 65 or 60 7 or 62. I would encourage you to take advantage of those and do yourself a favor and dial pound 250 and give the keyword Retirement Results. We're happy to help you.

Sam Davis:
The next quick tip for your long tum financial goals is to prioritize paying down debts, particularly credit card debt. Do not, do not, do not carry credit card debt. Month to month credit cards can be a great tool if you enjoy traveling. There's some airlines and some hotel companies out there that prioritize you and will give you some loyalty benefits. If you do use their credit card, but do not carry a balance month to month, those interest payments are just way too high. So if you have credit card debt, pay that down. And if you have other debt, make sure you're making regular payments on that every month.

Ford Stokes:
Amen. What's interesting about that is Dave Ramsey said, you know, you can't ever take SkyMiles or bonus points with hotels to the bank. So I agree with that 1,000%. Number four, under the long Terme goals is increase earning potential by exploring new job opportunities or side income, updating LinkedIn profiles, and gaining more skills. One thing that Warren Buffett says during an inflationary economy, what he was asked what can you do to combat inflation? And how do you operate within an inflationary economy? What he says is improve your own personal skills. Invest in yourself. I would say definitely do that. If you want to learn how to build a or get going with an Amazon store and you have trust in in the vendor, try that. If you want to potentially invest in a franchise where you have an interest area, it's almost like a hobby for you. That's something you could consider, but also investing in fixed indexed annuities that can give you a retirement income you can never outlive is another way to do that, without you having to put your hard earned time into it and sweat equity into it. So again, all you got to do is dial pound 250 and use the keyword Retirement Results. We're happy to help you with that as well. And Sam, you've got one final way to improve your finances in 2024. That is part of that long terme financial goals. What's that one.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. That last one is to identify any long terme personal financial priorities. Maybe you want to save for a down payment on a new home. Maybe you're looking to build a college fund for your grandchildren. Whatever it is, figure out what those are. And Ford, I think the most important thing that people can do, you know, we've given all these ten tips is partner with a fiduciary advisor, someone like ourselves who's going to fight for you, who's going to put your needs ahead of their own? Because that way you can ask as many questions as you want till you're blue in the face, and you know that you're going to get an answer that is in you and your family's best interests.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, Sam and I and all of our advisors are here at Active Wealth Management to fight for you and to fight for your retirement, but mainly, primarily, is to fight for great results and a successful retirement for you and your family. It's the final.

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

Ford Stokes:
And on today's show, uh, Sam gave us a great financial wisdom quote of the week, which came from Roger Babson, which was more people should learn to tell their dollars where to go instead of asking them where they went. We also discuss if you have a retirement tax bond with your IRAs, your foreign CS. Is the IRS still your partner in those retirement accounts? And we discussed three windows on how a Roth ladder conversion could help you defuse it. And again, if you've got questions about how you can implement a Roth ladder conversion to minimize the taxes you're going to pay during retirement, all you got to do is reach out to us by dialing pound 250 and the keyword Retirement Results. Again, anyone who's got over $400,000 in an IRA, they're going to be able to save six figures plus in retirement by implementing a strategic and really smart Roth ladder conversion. And we do that all the time. We're happy to help you. We also talked about four ways to improve your savings in 2024. And we just cover the ten ways to improve your finances in 2024 as well. And we played a little bit of that interview that John Fredericks had with President Trump on Thursday from the US Virgin Islands. And congratulations to President Trump on continued doing great in the primary season and pulling in the win from the US Virgin Islands. And credit to John Fredericks for being on the front lines and being on the ground at the US Virgin Islands. To go ahead and take that interview and make sure it was aired across all the US Virgin Islands. Just great job, John. Again, if you're seeking information about your retirement and you haven't worked with a financial advisor, you feel like you could improve your current financial situation by talking to a licensed fiduciary and financial advisor. I would encourage you to give us a call. Just dial pound 250, give the keyword Retirement Results, or visit Retirement Results.com to schedule your free financial consultation. Have a great week everybody.

Producer:
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 free financial consultation, dial pound 250 on your cell phone now and use the keyword Retirement Results to connect with a qualified advisor. That's pound 250 key word Retirement Results. To learn more about our mission and our team, visit Retirement Results.com Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, BCM, a registered investment advisor. Bcm, an 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. 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 disclosure of any conflicts of interest, if any exists, please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV Two-a, page four for additional information.

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