Sunny Money: How to Improve Your Financial Outlook this Summer

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

Speaker3:
And welcome to retirement results result drivers I'm Ford stokes your chief financial advisor. Welcome to the show. And we've got Sam Davis our co-host and senior financial advisor with us. Say hello to everybody. Sam.

Speaker4:
Welcome to the weekend result drivers. Thank you for once again tuning in to retirement results. Ford. It is summertime here in the South and it is starting to heat up. I'm starting to feel those humid mornings where you walk out and you start to feel that sweat on you before you know the sun's even up in the sky and kids are starting to let out of school. I'm seeing a lot of kids running around in the afternoons, and, um, it's a great time of year. A lot of excitement, great time to, you know, start getting those plans together for retirement. Take a look at things. Now that we're a bit separated from tax season, you know, start to get your ducks in a row. And we're here to help all of our listeners with that when it comes to getting the retirement results they deserve on today's show.

Speaker3:
All right, here we go. We're going to. Talk about the Overview Today show. We've got a really fun show for you today. We're going to talk about Sunny Money. We're going to talk about how to improve your retirement outlook for this summer. Um, plus we're going to answer more of your listener questions. We've got an important problem solver I think a lot of people are going to hear. And here's the overview of today's show. We're going to talk about how much your nest egg has grown. We share some to do's. Once you have reached $500,000 plus in save slash invested wealth for your retirement nest egg. And then also we've got an inflation demonstration. Believe it or not, target is actually lowering prices and how inflation has increased under Biden. I think the executives of target are realizing that their sales have gone down because they've just gotten too expensive. And people they like to value shop at Target and Walmart, and they realized that they went a little too far on the pricing. And then we've got questions from our listeners. We're gonna answer more of your questions on this week's show. And, Sam, you've got a financial wisdom quote of the week that that ties back with our Sunny Money theme here.

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

Speaker4:
This week's quote of the week comes to us from former President John F Kennedy, and JFK once said, the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. And I think this is a great quote for this week as we kick off summer. And when you're in that place where you're feeling a bit more financially secure and a bit more stable, that's the time to really make sure that you've got things in order and you've got things optimized, because if you wait until there's market volatility and there's a lot of chaos going on in the economy, then emotions start to play into things a bit more. And it's tough to get organized and get tactical and really have that plan. But Ford, what do you think of this quote?

Speaker3:
Yeah, I like the quote. I think it makes sense. Um, you know, we've had, you know, we had a rough time in the markets in 2022 and many people saw where they lost 20. Plus percent in the markets. And then it came back. But again, also I want to remind everybody about the sequence of return risk. You know, if you lose 20 to 24% of your nest egg in the value of your nest egg and you come back 24%, you're not going to have the same money you haven't gotten all the way back. You kind of need to get double that amount to get back, almost, because you're looking at growing a lower base. So let me give you an example from March oh eight to March oh nine. The S&P 500 lost 50.1% of its value and. That meant 100% growth had to happen to come all the way back. And so I would just encourage all of our listeners, if you've had a little bit of a run up and you feel like you just finally got back to where you were in pre 2022 levels. You really need to plan for that. Just don't lose the money side of. Your portfolio strategy. Um, we really should follow what Warren Buffett says as rule number one is just don't lose the money. And rule number two for him in investing is don't forget rule number one. So I would say, yeah, if you've had a good run up back up in the market and you've gotten back to pre 2022 levels.

Speaker3:
I would strongly encourage you to get some sort of plan for retirement income and also a plan for protecting. The nest egg that you've achieved back up to that level. Because remember, it is your hard saved and hard earned money. I mean, it's it's probably more it's probably harder to save the money there was to earn it. Right. And it's tough to live within your means. And I would encourage everybody to try to do that, especially if you're trying to downsize or you're trying to get ready for retirement. If you're in that red zone of retirement of five years before and five years after retirement, I would really get a plan to protect your money first. That's what I see. And and here when you talk about that quote from John F Kennedy, I mean, John F Kennedy was a sharp guy. You know, obviously I'm a Republican, so not that huge of a JFK fan, but I and also taxes were actually pretty high during his tenure in the presidency. Uh, it's tragic what happened to him. And I'm kind of with some of the conspiracy theorists out there, really had a lot of questions to wonder about what happened and why. Um, and why he was killed. And, uh, uh, you know, I just, I don't know, I feel like. It's just something we got to be concerned with on the on the taxes side too. When I think of John F Kennedy, I think of the current 24% bracket. Was actually 56% in tax rate.

Speaker3:
So if you don't think taxes are going to go up. I would urge you to strongly reconsider. I mean, 56% where the current 24% bracket is, that is 8% higher than two x of where we are right now. So we've got to make sure that we get more tax efficient with the Roth conversion or buying life insurance or both. Um, just trying to get more tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient with your portfolio. I know, Sam, that was a very, very long answer to what do you think of the quote? But when when I hear a quote from John F Kennedy, there's a lot of things that come up. But number one is that those high tax rates during his presidency, and it's also within a lot of people's lifetimes, um, here, um, with folks that listen to our show retirement results and also folks that are just prospects or clients of active wealth management. And, and so I want to make sure that everybody understands that taxes can go up in the future, and they may go up really quickly because the Trump tax cuts are going to be cut in 2025. Those things sunset in 2025 and hopefully. The right man will win the job in the white House this November. We're always pulling for the Republicans, and we're also pulling for Donald J. Trump, our 45th president. Hopefully he'll be our 47th president as well. So that is a long answer to what I think about that quote, Sam. Yeah.

Speaker4:
Well, no, it's a great point because we are in historically low tax times. And if you're looking to delete the IRS out of being a significant partner in your retirement, that is something that is possible through the Roth conversion and Ford, when people get in touch with us either online at retirement results.com/plan or giving us a call here in the office, that's one of the things that we provide to anyone who reaches out and gives us a call. You know, you've been doing the show for five years. I've been with you for most of that time. And, you know, I think it's a good time here. We've got a just a minute and a half left in this first segment. Let people know, because we've had a lot of long time listeners and first time callers over the past couple months. And what do people get when they get in touch with us here at Active Wealth Management and Retirement Results? And what can they expect before they even start working with us?

Speaker3:
Yeah, so they bring in their statements. We'd like to look at their Social Security statements. So we try to get their XML files from Tsa.gov. So if you haven't done that I would go to I'd recommend you go to tsa.gov and download your XML files and get those over to us. And we can plug that into our RSA roadmap software. I'm one of 15 registered Social Security analysts in the state of Georgia, and we'll run a Social Security maximization report that's called an RSA roadmap for you. So you'll get a retirement income gap analysis. You'll get a Social Security maximization report. You'll also get a financial plan to your 95th birthday at no cost to you with your current plan. That has nothing to do with us. So that way you at least know where you stand. You also get a portfolio analysis that will show you your expense ratio. Also show you your standard deviation, which is a measurement of risk. And then we'll also give you an idea of the correlation of your assets with that portfolio analysis. And then the last thing we'll give you is a financial plans your 95th birthday. That also includes a strategic Roth ladder conversion plan that will delete the IRS from being your partner within your retirement accounts. Those IRAs, uh, four, three B's, four CS, 457 simple IRAs, and Sep IRAs will help delete the IRS from being your partner of retirement. It's a $1,500 value, Sam, and all people need to do is visit retirement Results.com slash plan. That's retirement results.com/plan. And we're happy to get started with you.

Speaker4:
And when we come back on retirement results, we're going to get to our problem solver segment. And we're going to give you that list of six things you should do once your nest egg reaches $500,000. Thank you for listening. We'll be right back on retirement results.

Speaker2:
The national debt is out of control, but your financial future doesn't have to be. Our listeners can schedule a complimentary consultation now by dialing (770) 685-1777.

Have you been beside a man? You don't know what he wants.

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

Speaker3:
And welcome back to retirement results. Result drivers I'm Ford Stokes your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us co-hosting and he's our senior financial advisor. Sam, we've got a really important problem solver. Let's let's cue the music on this one.

Speaker2:
It's time for this week's problem solver.

Speaker3:
We've got some new clients that are now working with us here at Active Wealth Management that have been on the show for a long time. The first came in and met with us, um, in March, and then they chose to go ahead and move forward with us this past week. And I wanted to kind of detail what's going on with them and what we did to kind of solve some of their problems. But. So we're going to name these folks Keith and April. We're going to change the names to protect the innocent here. So Keith and April have a little bit over $3.1 million. And here's what their situation was. They just downsized and they kind of got into. A family, kind of almost like a compound, and they downsize. They had a home in the Dunwoody area and did very, very well off of that, and they ended up buying kind of a compound over at a local lake. Um, in the state of Georgia. And. They got a couple of lots, and they also were able to build a house over on this lake. And that's one of the reasons why I took them a while to kind of get back with us. And they had $630,000 left over from the sale of their home. And. They did not want to lose any of that money. They wanted to make sure that money was safe. And then they've got $2.1 million in IRAs. So they do have quite the tax problem. But it's a great problem to have because they've got $2.1 million. Uh, they're making $57,000 in joint household Social Security income.

Speaker3:
Uh, they're they've got $300,000 in a Roth IRA. Their expenses are about $84,000 a year, and they've got about $70,000 in checking. And the thought there is. Okay. One, they wanted to be able to generate income and leave the rest of their assets kind of unencumbered. And they said, hey, what can we do with the $630,000? So what we did is we took the $630,000, which is. You know, a little bit over just barely over 20% of their overall portfolio. We invested into the nationwide peak ten. That's a fixed indexed annuity that's offered by nationwide. Only 1% of advisers, Sam, as you know, have access to that. And both of us do. We've got they're getting a 340% participation rate in the underlying index, which is index happens to be the BNP Paribas Global H factor index. Then they get an 8% guaranteed interest. On their original principle. So and they're going to delay it for years. So each year that they delay they get 8% guaranteed. And a lot of you are thinking about doing bank CDs. And you might want to consider investing into a fixed indexed annuity like this, because 8% is higher than the typical 4 or 5% bank CD rate. If you're getting that from an internet bank, if you're looking at a Brooks, if you're looking at a bricks and mortar bank, you're looking at a much lower rate. So it's much better to consider a fixed indexed annuity or a multi year guaranteed annuity. And they're also getting a 20% immediate income bonus.

Speaker3:
Um, and so they're going to invest 600,000. They're going to take 30,000 and put it in their checking. So they're going to have $100,000 in their checking. Here's what that ends up. That $600,000 ends up doing. So they're going to turn on income at the at the end of year for the beginning of year five. And that is going to equal $83,728 in income for that year. Then two years later, um, in year six, they're going to be generating, according to the illustration of the estimate, is they're going to generate 96,639 USD in that year. But what's interesting is their original principal, Sam, that's invested of $600,000 is estimated to grow to 1.314 million. That's $1,314,151, according to the illustration from nationwide. That's remarkable because they've got significant growth every two years and their two year protection periods. This is incredibly attractive because this is allowing them to outpace their needed expenses. They can let the rest of the money grow. They can let their 2.1 million in IRAs grow. We can also implement a Roth ladder conversion that we're going to start next year. And then they've got $300,000 growing in a Roth IRA two. And he's going to retire here in the next, um, in the next year. And so he's kind of really ready to go, but. Isn't that remarkable that you can start generating? 83 to $96,000 in a single year from 600,000 bucks, which is well over 10%. It's 12 plus percent of their original principal. That's a lot higher than a 4% withdrawal rate.

Speaker4:
Yeah, and what's fantastic, and what I think a lot of people really appreciate about this strategy is with an appropriate portion of their portfolio secure and protected from loss, and also serving as the income portion of their portfolio and paying them that guaranteed income for life. They can now sleep a little bit better at night, knowing that the rest of their money is invested in the market. It may go through some ups and downs, but that's not something to worry about because with strategic and tactical asset allocation. They should see that steady growth over time, while the FIA from nationwide pays them that income that also grows over time and that they can never outlive.

Speaker3:
Yeah, we're we're working really hard to protect their the income portion of their portfolio. Sam and completely agree. They're also with tactical asset allocation. We're trying to better protect as well and not ride the all the way down the downward side of the markets. Or we're going to try to rebalance on a monthly basis, at least 50% of what that portfolio looks like. And and just try to reallocate to the asset classes we think are going to do better over the next six months, each month. So just that kind of rebalancing also helps better protect and grow your assets. The goal with tactical asset allocation, as you mentioned, is, you know, capture about 70% of the gains, but only 40% of the losses and trying to make it for a smoother ride in retirement. But with a fixed indexed annuity, you've got no exposure to financial market risk, and you're able to really protect that income portion of your assets. Plus, they're going to reserve 100% of the money you give them in the ten year US Treasury. And the ten year US Treasury is yielding higher than it's yielded in most of my career. Uh, they're looking at, you know, looking at 4.5 to 4.6% yield on the ten year US Treasury. That's remarkable. And that gives the insurance company this in this one is nationwide gives them three times more money to go buy options in the BNP Paribas Global H factor index and therefore can get you that 340% less, a 1% spread rate and a net of 3.3 times how that index performs. So if the index performs at 10%, you're looking at 33% growth in two years.

Speaker3:
And we are seeing now that the nationwide PE ten has been around a couple of years. We we're seeing the rates hold and we're seeing interest credited to these accounts. Whereas other annuities, when people are bringing in annuities to get their annuities analyzed. And I would encourage anybody to get up an annuity x ray from us. Um, I would encourage you to go ahead and reach out to us at eight, eight, 88140304. That's (888) 814-0304. If you've got an old Allianz policy or got an old American equity policy, or you've got any of these older policies, uh, from Athene or Aviva or North American or even Silac, which is a more recent carrier, and those have returned 0% growth over the last couple of years because 2022 was tough in the markets. And it was also tough on indexes. I would encourage you to reach out to us to get that 41K review. All you've got to do is visit retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results. Com forward slash plan plan. Um and we'll get started on A41K review for you I mean Sam what are your thoughts on how important it is to get A41K. And also a in a fixed indexed annuity x ray. Just kind of get that review done so you can understand where you're standing whether it's expense ratio fees within an annuity also. You know, the performance of those annuities and how they could get potential bonus to make up for any surrender charges, things like that. Just your thoughts on how important it is to get that annuity x ray or 41K review.

Speaker4:
Yeah, the 401 k review is especially important for because most people out there are doing a great job saving every two weeks that money's coming out of their paycheck pretax going in there. And as long as it's allocated somewhat correctly, they should see steady growth over time. But mostly that's because they're continuing to put money in every two weeks. We could definitely help you adjust that investment allocation to really maximize your results. It's great that you're staying consistent, but people simply don't know all the fees that are going on inside those 401 k's. Those mutual funds sometimes have even layers of fees going on within them and those indexes. So that's something you have to watch out for. And as far as the annuity x ray goes, if you have an annuity that's underperforming and you want to take a look at some of the options that are currently available in the marketplace, because with where interest rates are right now, these top rated companies that we're working with, like nationwide, have some really attractive product options for you as you start to plan for your retirement.

Speaker3:
No question. And we're really proud to have a great partnership with nationwide. It's also great to be able to work with a product like the nationwide Peak ten that is, you know, available to only 1% of financial advisors out there. And so we're super excited to be able to offer a great product like that. It's got an 8% guaranteed interest. Um, and then also offers a 340% participation rate right now with a 20% income bonus. That is an immediate income bonus applied to your income account. Go ahead and reach out to us at Retirement results.com/plan, and we'll come back from the break. We're going to talk about the six things you should do when your nest egg reaches $500,000 or more, you're listening to Retirement Results Radio.

Speaker2:
Our listeners can schedule a complimentary consultation now by dialing (770) 685-1777. That's (770) 685-1777.

Life was sweet. Used to think we were so fixed.

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

Speaker2:
Fixed indexed annuities can help protect your retirement savings against market ups and downs. Nationwide's peak ten can help protect against market risk and provide guaranteed income for life. Peak ten also has an optional rider that offers an immediate 20% bonus based on your principal. Apply to your income benefit base. Call us now at (770) 685-1777 to connect with a qualified advisor. 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.

Speaker3:
And welcome Back to Retirement. Results result drivers. I'm Ford Stokes, chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis our senior financial advisor and co host here. And Sam I'm going to just tee you up because I think you've got six great things to share of what people should be doing when their retirement nest egg, those IRA accounts, the 4k accounts things like that reach the $500,000 level.

Speaker4:
Yeah. So if you've done a great job saving and a lot of people who give us a call after watching our radio show or television show or watching our videos online on YouTube, um, they've done a great job saving, but they're not really sure what to do next. So here's six things you should do once your nest egg reaches that $500,000 mark. Number one is make sure you're using the proper accounts to save for your retirement, so you're more than likely investing for retirement in a work based plan, such as a traditional IRA, a 401 K, possibly a Sep or a simple IRA. But take a look at diversifying beyond just those job related programs. You can, uh, invest in a Roth IRA. That's something that we'd really like people to consider. And there's also tax advantaged accounts like health savings accounts that you can look into as well. Um, but for this is really just step one. When people come in, they've done a great job saving, but we kind of want to help them diversify the accounts that they're actually investing in. Yeah.

Speaker3:
You want to get kind of your tax deferred buckets, try to get to a tax free bucket with a Roth IRA. And then also you can do taxable as well. What strikes me is I want to I get this question a lot like forward. How many accounts do we have? What kind of accounts should we have for a married couple? We like to see five accounts. We like to see an IRA for him and her. We like to see a Roth IRA for him and her. And we like to see a joint investment account for a married couple if you're a single filer. Then we'd like to see an IRA. A Roth IRA and an investment account. You really want to diversify because you want to have the freedom to be okay. You know what? I do have an emergency. I want to take some money out. But I really don't want to spike up my ordinary income for the year. We're dealing with a lot of these questions right now, especially as, um, people are concerned about the Trump tax cuts being sunsetted in 2025 and where they should be taking money from. And also a lot of people are nearing retirement, but they've got some pretty high income in the last couple of years of retirement, and they just don't want to start doing conversions yet. So we're just seeing a lot of things that are coming up where a lot of questions, should I take money from a taxable investment account, or should I take it from my Roth IRA? Knowing full well, though, Sam, that the Roth IRA dollars are the most precious dollars out there, we want to try to minimize the withdrawals of those, at least during the first five years before retirement.

Speaker3:
The five years after. If we can. Um, we're also seeing some people, like. You know what? I just want to pay my house off. But I don't want to spike my ordinary income. I've got a nagging 60 $60,000 left on my mortgage, and they may take it from their Roth IRA. That's grown over time. If you've got questions about that and you want to get to true tax planning versus tax prep. I would encourage to go to reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. That's retirement results. Com forward slash plan. Or you can go to retirement results and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. And or you can always call us at 1-888-814-0304. We're talking a lot more people from the Huntsville and Columbus, Georgia area, thanks to our television show and our radio show in Huntsville. Two, um, super excited to be on television in Panama City, Destin, um, on the Fox 28. Channel down there. Um, we're going to be right there right after Fox News Sunday. So we're super excited on that as well. So if any of you are also listening to us on podcasts across the country or even internationally and you're an expat or you, you know, you you've got some retirement accounts and you're trying to figure out what you're going to do and how to diversify your money. I would encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan.

Speaker4:
Yeah. So if step one is to make sure you're using the proper accounts and diversify beyond just whatever your workplace is offering you as far as a retirement plan, step two is be mindful of taxes and how they will affect your future. So one, we've talked about this a little bit on the show already, but plan for future tax brackets. Understand how withdrawals from your retirement accounts could place you in a higher tax bracket during a retirement, because as you're pulling money out of those tax deferred accounts, maybe you're following the 4% rule that is going to contribute to your ordinary income level, and you'll want to be mindful to make sure that doesn't knock you into a higher tax bracket. You'll also want to balance your tax brackets. We find that too many people are mostly invested in those tax deferred accounts, like a traditional IRA or a 401 K, possibly a 457 if they work for a county or something like that in government. Um, you want tax deferred, but you also want taxable. That's your investment account. Like Ford mentioned, possibly that joint investment account with your spouse, but also tax free. So this would include some investments in a Roth IRA or using life insurance. Because remember, Roth IRAs and life insurance are the only two types of truly tax free investments. So step two things to do when your nest egg reaches 500,000 is be mindful of taxes and start having a plan for that. Because if you've got half $1 million saved and the government is a partner in your savings there, that is a significant amount of money. I mean, a Roth conversion, we could be talking six figures of saving if you could just convert that 500,000.

Speaker3:
Yeah. If you've got over $400,000, you're going to save over six figures. Bottom line, it's just a straight math of it. If you do a full Roth ladder conversion of that 4 or $500,000 plus in your IRA or sitting there in your 400 K, you're eventually going to move to an IRA. Then you can do the conversions. It's important to get your 41K working as hard as you do. We invite you to call us and receive a free 41K review so we can analyze the fees you're paying, the risks you're taking, the overall performance of your portfolio. All you've got to do is reach out to us at retirement Results.com forward slash plan. That's retirement Results.com forward slash plan. You can also just call us at (888) 814-0304. That's (888) 814-0304. And we look forward to talking to the folks in the Huntsville Decatur area. Also in Atlanta are long time listeners on retirement results and the Active Wealth Show. This show has been going on for over five years. We appreciate all of our partners over at Am 920. The answer? Um, actually pretty cool story there, Sam. Uh, we got some free tickets from Am 920 answer from our radio family, and we were able to take the girls and a friend of theirs over to the Braves game, and they won that day, which was great. And we were able to the girls were actually on the jumbotron for the first time ever. We got pictures of that and it was pretty good stuff. So, um, shout out to Jason and everybody over there at Am 920 answer for making that special family event happen for us. And we really appreciate you and Sam. Let's go to the next one.

Speaker4:
Yeah. Step three is diversify whenever possible. So make sure you are including various asset classes, things like stocks fixed indexed annuities, migas. We talked to Josh Leumi recently on retirement results. And he talked about some mega options. Also brokerage CDs which will offer better rates than your traditional bank CDs and structured notes in addition to real estate. And this is really just managing your risk. Remember the saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket. The same is true when you're investing for retirement. So when you diversify your investments, you reduce your overall risk of loss.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I would say diversify your investment, but also in diversify your types of accounts that we talked about in number two. Get some tax deferred money. Get some tax free money. So tax deferred would be IRAs. Your 41K 403 be tax free. Money would be Roth IRAs or life insurance. But let's just focus on the Roth IRAs considered implementing some Roth ladder conversions. And also if you're below the income thresholds and you can you're you're allowed to contribute to a Roth IRA. I would encourage you to do that at 7 or 8000. If you're younger than 50 years old, you can invest 7000 in your Roth IRA each year. Or if you're older than 50 years young, you can invest, um, $8,000 into your Roth IRA. Also, remember, you can you going to have to pick between an IRA or a Roth IRA? Not do both. Um, because you can only do 8000, but that doesn't necessarily. But that does mean that you can also invest into your 400 K or your 403 B, or 457 or your Sep-ira. So just consider doing both of those. Don't miss that opportunity to get that money working hard for you as hard as you're working.

Speaker4:
And Ford, when we come back from the break, we've done three. We're going to give all of the listeners the next three things they should do once their nest egg reaches that $500,000 mark, in order to better prepare for retirement and help them get the results they deserve. You're listening to retirement results.

Speaker2:
Money questions, money answers. You're listening to retirement results.

Holding back these. Thinking of the fear I've had.

Speaker2:
Are you concerned about rising taxes and how that could affect you and your family during retirement? If you have an IRA balance over $400,000, you could save six figures in retirement taxes that you would be paying during a 35 year retirement. Find out how much you could save today by scheduling your no obligation Roth conversion consultation with Ford Stokes of retirement results. Learn more and schedule an appointment at retirement Results.com Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Visit retirement Results.com for more information about active wealth management. We know you've worked hard for your money, and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement. Ford Stokes of Retirement Results is passionate about helping people protect and grow their wealth while educating them on all their options so they can choose what's right for them. Visit retirement Results.com to schedule your no obligation consultation today. It's a $1,500 value provided at no cost to you. Book yours now at retirement Results.com. Thanks for listening to retirement results. Schedule your complimentary financial consultation now at retirement results. Com or by calling toll free at (888) 814-0304. That's (888) 814-0304.

Speaker3:
And welcome back to retirement results I'm Ford stokes chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us our senior financial advisor. And Sam we're still going through the list here. Of the six things you should do when your nest egg reaches 500,000 USD, go ahead and let's go to the next one.

Speaker4:
Yeah. Step four is incorporate steady income sources. Because when you're retired, you really need to find a way to beat that paycheck that you were receiving during your working years or at the very least, replace that paycheck. So if you're going to incorporate steady income sources, annuities are great for that. Keep in mind that some annuities, such as variable annuities, have given this type of retirement planning tool a bad name. We recommend that people consider fixed indexed annuities. The ones that are available today, such as the one we discussed earlier in the show from nationwide, the nationwide peak ten. These are sophisticated investments that can give you that stable income, reduce a percentage of your portfolio's exposure to market risk and fluctuations, but also give you that growth and allow you to lock in gains with those two year protection periods. Also, explore multiple income streams for your retirement. So if you're building a solid income plan, you'll want to start considering all of those income sources. So if you have a pension, fantastic. You want to consider that along with Social Security. If you don't have a pension through your workplace, you maybe want to look at considering establishing a personal pension with fixed indexed annuities. You can also get income in retirement from part time work, things like rental income, but you want to have multiple income streams in retirement because those expenses don't go away forward just because you've retired.

Speaker3:
No question, no question. All I, all I want is almost like a mini problem solver. But I'm going to call this gentleman Alan. He owns about 20 acres near the Atlanta motor Speedway. And he's it's farming. And so he's got actual pasture land that that he's got some rents with, um, a rancher down there and. He works for the government. He has done a great job. He's he is 68 years young and he's about to retire here in the next year. And he's got two annuities that total about $300,000 between the two. But they're variable annuities. And he wants to get out of them because he feels like he's getting these are his words, not mine. He feels like he's getting bled dry by the 3 to 6% he's paying. And one of them he's paying about 3.5. And the other one, he's paying like 5.5% a year because variable annuities are mutual funds wrapped in annuities. So you've got fees upon fees. And he's going to move it over to the nationwide peak ten, because he can count on the bonus that's going to help him with the surrender charge he's got on the on the two variable annuities. And he's also going to buy the bonus plus income rider so he can still have that income, um, that he's looking for during retirement too. Because, you know, having worked for the government, he wants something safe. I just think that is a remarkable decision to make. But it is a real life problem solver thing that's happened where he's like, I just cannot keep doing these variable annuities because the fees are just so high.

Speaker4:
Yeah, it's absolutely right for, you know, not all annuities are right for you, the same as not all stocks or mutual funds are right for you. You want to find the right thing that fits your situation. We believe in fixed indexed annuities and how they can help you delete fees, delete risk, and also give you that guaranteed income for retirement. Step five is protect yourself against inflation. So make sure you're regularly adjusting your portfolio. You want to have that rebalance periodically to maintain your desired allocation. Also stay invested. Some people fear market fluctuations and resort to really conservative strategies. We see some people give us a call and they've got a lot of money in cash or most of their money in bank CDs. You should really stay invested to protect your future buying power. And if you want to protect a portion of your savings with something like a fixed indexed annuity, you can let the rest of that portfolio stay invested so it has the potential to grow over time.

Speaker3:
Absolutely. You got to keep pace with inflation. You need to stay invested. We've seen inflation rear its ugly head over the last couple of years. We got to stay invested so you can keep pace and keep that purchasing power going and growing as well. And number six Sam.

Speaker4:
Yeah the last thing is making sure you're working with a financial advisor and a fiduciary who can really help you. You want to make sure you have your investment strategy reviewed. Also have a retirement budget. A budget is not the most fun thing to make, but it's really a fundamental when it comes to building a successful retirement plan, because you have to know what your expenses are. If you're going to build a plan that's going to be able to fund them. Also, set clear goals. So when you're working with your advisor, make sure you've got specific goals in mind for your retirement. We talk about what are you doing? Who are you with, how are you spending your time in retirement and how are you going to fund it? And when you have those clear goals in mind, a team like us over here at Retirement Results and Active Wealth can really go to work and do the hard work to make sure that we build a plan that meets those goals.

Speaker3:
Yeah, we're happy to help you here at Active Wealth Management. All you got to do is reach out to us. We've got a site that ties right back to the show. It's called Retirement Results Comm, and we encourage you to visit retirement results.com/plan and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Or just visit retirement results. Com slash plan. Put your information in and we'll get started on building your successful retirement right away and saying, we've got questions from our listeners and I'm going to let you give those to us one by one, and hopefully we'll come up with some great answers for everybody.

Speaker4:
Question number one, this is from David in Roswell. And David asks, what are the most common mistakes you see people make when planning for retirement, and how can I avoid them? I've worked for the past 30 years to build our nest egg, and I'm worried about potentially making a mistake.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I'd say the number one thing that we see is that people don't have an idea of what their retirement budget's going to be, and they start out with a little bit of a negative retirement income gap. And that gap widens over time with inflation. So you've got to be careful to make sure you've got a good budget in line first. The second one and it's a big one is they've got too much of a tax bomb. So majority of their assets are invested into their 4k, their 43B4 57. That transitions over to an IRA. And unfortunately the US government is their part of retirement. And the US government's really excited to get taxes on the harvest rather than the seed. You got to take care of that retirement tax bomb and implement a Roth ladder conversion strategy between now and when you turn 73, because unfortunately, your conversions don't count as a required minimum distribution either. And so what you need to do is try to get all of the money you want to convert from your IRA to your Roth IRA. Done. Before you turn 73in the RMDs kick in. All right.

Speaker4:
Our next question is from Linda, who is in Sandy Springs, and Linda says, I'm considering early retirement. I work as a registered nurse at a major hospital in the Atlanta area, and I can feel it taking a toll on my own health. What are the financial implications of retiring at 55 instead of 65?

Speaker3:
Well, as Dave Ramsey says, your greatest wealth generators, your personal income. Linda, I would encourage you to stick out a little bit longer if you can. But I will say this. There's a lot of females that we're seeing that get really tired in their mid 50s and don't really want to work all the way into their mid 60s and beyond. And we understand before you do that, before you retire, before you withdraw from working, I would encourage you to make sure you've got a full retirement income budget in place and a retirement plan all the way to your 95th birthday with and without your spouse, because it's also likely, Linda, that you're going to outlive your partner. If you've got if you're married to a man, you're going to likely outlive your partner by seven plus years. So let's have a good plan for that as well. It's the final.

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

Speaker3:
So on today's show we talked about sunny Money, how to improve your retirement outlook this summer to get started this summer, and we're only able to answer about two of your listener questions. Sorry. It was an action packed show today. We talked about what to do literally the six things you should do when your nest egg reaches over $500,000. Hopefully you found that informative and if you did, I would encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results. Com forward slash plan and we're happy to help you. We also gave you an inflation demonstration with target actually lowering their prices because they've seen a 16% decrease in year over year sales. They realized they went too far I think in pricing. And then also we gave you a great problem solver with folks that have downsized their home and Dunwoody. And what to do with that additional money and how to generate an income where they don't have their other assets encumbered by consistent withdrawals. They want to let the rest of their assets grow. Hope you found this show really helpful. We really love working with all of our result drivers. Thanks for listening to retirement results. Remember, if you're going to seek information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Reach out to us too at retirement results.com/plan or call us at (888) 814-0304. 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. 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.

Speaker1:
Any bonuses mentioned may be subject to additional restrictions and regulations based on the offering annuity company. You may not receive the bonuses if the contract is fully surrendered, or if traditional annuitization payments are taken, and if the policy is partially surrendered, it could result in a partial loss of bonuses. Because these are bonus annuities, they may include higher surrender charges, longer surrender charge periods, lower caps, higher spreads, or other restrictions that are not included in similar annuities that don't offer a bonus feature.

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