Ten Steps You Should Take to Retire in Ten Years or Less

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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:
Welcome to Retirement Results. Result drivers. I'm Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis, our co-host and senior financial advisor here with us on the Retirement Results radio show right here on Am 920. The Answer. And, Sam, we've got a really important show this week. We're talking about what to do when you get laid off, because there's a lot of layoffs that are happening in the Atlanta area. And we're going to talk about the ten steps to get you ready for retirement. Uh, we're going to help you get on the path to a winning retirement, for sure. And I really want to dive into this first segment, Sam, I want to get into the the financial wisdom quote of the week. But also I want to talk about some of the things that people can do that have just been laid off or they've got old 401 CS or old IRAs they haven't done anything with and, and some of the benefits of doing that and just trying to get control of their assets. Also, Sam, before we get started, I want to give a shout out to some result drivers out there. Mark and his wife, um, in Cumming, Georgia. I want to say thanks so much for reaching out and giving us a call. Also, Mike and his wife calling us out of Alpharetta, so we're going right up or right down 400 here. Sam, um, these folks have been longtime listeners. First time callers. Last week we had. A bunch of calls last week, but, uh, those two actually, um, booked appointments with us, and I wanted to just give a shout out to those folks and say, thanks so much for listening to us for such a long time. And, um, and we just really appreciate our result drivers out there soon.

Sam Davis:
Absolutely. Always appreciate when the result drivers give us a call, because we absolutely love working with our listeners, sitting down with them, speaking to them on the phone. Sometimes if prospects or clients want to meet virtually but still meet face to face, we can use technology and video just like we're using right now to record our radio show. We can use the same technology to meet with you wherever you're at, and so feel free to visit Retirement Results.com. Give us a call (770) 685-1777. You can reach us right here in the office. And we're always happy to Answer your questions.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. Again that number is (770) 685-1777. You can also visit us at Retirement Results. Com and also Sam go ahead and give us our financial wisdom. Quote of the week.

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

Sam Davis:
This week's quote of the week comes to us from the Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. And Michael Jordan once said, obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. And I think this is fantastic advice for all of our result drivers out there. Sometimes things can just seem so overwhelming that you keep putting them off, but once you face that challenge, you face that obstacle and find a way to work around it. You realize that it wasn't as challenging as you were making it up to be in your mind.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, and we're going to talk about the ten steps to get you ready for retirement. Uh, in segments two, three and four today. But now I want to share our problem solver of the week.

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

Ford Stokes:
So our problem solver was Bill and Lauren in Roswell, Georgia. Bill is aged 61 and Lauren is aged 56. Bill worked with a company for the past 20 plus years and he got laid off. On Friday this past Friday called our office and they gave him 26 weeks. They capped it. He should have gotten 40 weeks, two weeks for every year, that of a years of service, and they capped at 26. Even though he really was owed 4040 weeks. We gave him some strategies our regarding his separation, some things to ask for, things like to be eligible for rehire, um, potentially even getting a reference letter since they weren't terming him for cause. And we also introduced him to an employment attorney, and he has 1.1 million in his 401 K, he has an inherited IRA from his mom of 220,000, an investment account of 240,000, and a Roth IRA of 90,000, that he started doing contributions early in his career. And when he made more than the over the contribution limit, he just had to watch the the Roth IRA grow. But he really wants to grow that Roth IRA money. He wants to implement a Roth ladder conversion starting next year or even starting this year. And he wants to see if he can just retire because he's he's tired. He's 61, but he's got to get to Medicare age.

Ford Stokes:
Right? We got to figure that out. His wife, Lauren, has a $280,000 for one day, and she's 56 years young, so she's five years younger than he is. Not that 61 is old, especially today. They also have $140,000 in their checking account, and they need a plan for health care for him until he reaches age 65 during his retirement. And also for her, they're going to go on her health insurance. But it's not that great because she works kind of retail area and. His kids are out of college and married. He has. He has a granddaughter and a grandson from his first marriage. And there are those kids are in elementary school. He wants to spend more time with them. And we got laid off. Sam. It was really neat. He he got to go pick up his grandson, who was in first grade from elementary school, on the same day that he got laid off because he didn't have a care in the world. So he wanted to make sure that I shared that part of it. I thought that was really cool. And here are the solutions. And we're going to talk more about these. The ten steps to get you ready. But here are the solutions that we've talked to Bill and Lauren about already. One is doing a bond replacement.

Ford Stokes:
We're trying to replace the bonds portfolio with fixed indexed annuities or structured notes or brokerage CDs, and we talk through the power of those and how we can get more income from the income portion of his portfolio, that 40% of the portfolio, 60% in securities with ETFs, and 40% in a mixture of fixed indexed annuities, brokered CDs and structured notes, also reducing his risk as measured by standard deviation. He didn't know what the standard deviation was within his 401 K. We ran an institutional level Morningstar report for him from a third party, Morningstar. Everybody kind of knows those folks, and it determined what his standard deviation was, which is a measurement of risk. And he also didn't know what an expense ratio was within his portfolio. He actually had a jaw dropping 1.1% Sam in expense ratio in his portfolio, which is usually higher than what we see. We usually see you know, Sam, between 0.7 and and 1.0 on the expense ratio. But he was heavily laden down with mutual funds that he selected years and years and years ago when he worked for this, started working for this company. And we're able to reduce his expense ratio from 1.1% to putting in our managed portfolios to that average of like 0.15 to 0.17. And then also by implementing a bond replacement strategy and replacing the bonds within this portfolio with fixed indexed annuities.

Ford Stokes:
We were able to reduce his advisory and portfolio fees. By 40% overnight, which is remarkable. And also he can generate a significant income from that 40% of his portfolio. So a little over $450,000. And that's income that he and his wife can live on, and he can delay Social Security because they own their house and they've been able to delay. So security because he wants to he wants to try to at least get the full retirement age. And he can let the rest of his assets grow unencumbered by withdrawals. And he was also happy to know because he'd never really had an adviser before, that he was going to get quarterly meetings, quarterly review meetings with me, monthly performance reports on all of his assets. He's also going to get a online real time account with the fixed indexed annuity that he was buying, so he could check and see how that's done. And also he got a link to the index, the underlying index that he works with. So you can see how the index does as often as he wants. And he also got a combination of tactically managed and strategically managed portfolios, with 5 to 10% of their assets in structured notes as a second bond replacement strategy. So that's a significant problem solved now that they brought a lot of money to the table.

Ford Stokes:
And they're also using money from their checking account and their investment account to pay for the Roth conversions. And we're going to convert about $150,000 a year and try to get that conversion done over the next, you know, seven years if we can. And therefore, he's going to have a Roth IRA that he significantly wants to grow. And it's also great for legacy for him, his wife and his kids can inherit a Roth IRA versus inheriting an inherited IRA. So we wanted to share that because there's a lot of people that are getting laid off right now in Atlanta. Um, and I'm sorry to to report that, but it is amazing how many people are companies are reporting layoffs and restructuring. And it's that's in Atlanta is not going to be able to avoid those layoffs because we're a service economy. I would encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com if you have questions, if you've been laid off and you want A4K review, you want to get going on taking control of your IRA funds, go ahead and reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. We come back from the break. We're going to go through the ten steps to get you ready for retirement right here. On Retirement Results on Am 920. The Answer?

Late December, back in 63. A very special time for me as I remember what. I.

Producer:
At Active Wealth Management. We know you've worked hard for your money and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement, Ford Stokes of Retirement Results is passionate about helping people protect and grow their wealth while educating them on all their options so they can choose what's right for them. Visit Retirement Results.com to schedule your no obligation consultation today. It's a $1,500 value provided at no cost to you. Book yours now at Retirement Results.com. Are you concerned about rising taxes and how they 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. You're listening to Retirement Results. And now back to the show.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back. Result drivers to Retirement Results on Ford stocks or chief financial adviser. Got Sam Davis here with us. He's our co-host and senior financial advisor. And Sam we're talking about the ten steps to get our listeners ready for retirement in ten years or less, which I think is remarkable. I think it's a really cool thing to hear. And we got some feedback from some long time listeners are like, you know, Ford, you talk about a lot of stuff and we we really appreciate it. If you could just try to keep it all new all the time, that would be great. And we're like, well, we're trying, but we also want to make sure that we're letting all the people that just find us know about things. Right. But let's get into some new stuff today, and I want to make sure that we kind of go through it. So I'm going to take the first one and Sam's going to take every other one with me. We're going to brother in law this one a little bit. Um, but here's kind of a message to you guys and gals, our listeners, do you really know more than your doctor or lawyer or home contractor? Just you trust other experts in these important situations? We believe nothing replaces a capable financial professional and advisor. Also, we're fiduciaries.

Ford Stokes:
We have to put your needs ahead of our own. We understand that planning for retirement can be a daunting challenge, but you don't have to go at it alone. If you find yourself ten years or less away from retirement. Today, we are sharing ten steps you should take to give yourself and your family the best retirement possible. So number one is diversify for growth. Have you ever heard the saying don't put all your eggs in one basket? A lot of people have. I agree with that. I think diversification is really helpful. Diversification is a way to reduce investment risk by spreading investments across different asset classes. And also listen. If you rearrange your portfolio this way, it reduces the impact of a decline in any single investment or asset class, and to sometimes it'll also reduce a large, precipitous fall when the market takes a big fall as well. Smart investing involves so much more than just stocks and bonds. Every asset class has different risk and return characteristics, and diversification will help stabilize your returns and shield you from market volatility in a single area. Now here, here's what I want to share. You should diversify, not just within. Financial products that got ticker symbols that are on the US financial markets. You should also diversify within financial products ETFs stocks. We're trying to avoid bonds here on this show because we're because they've had a really rough run over the last three years.

Ford Stokes:
And what we believe is the new 60 over 40 portfolio is 60% stocks and 40% fixed indexed annuities, structured notes or brokered CDs or combination of all those. And that gives you a lot more diversification. So I would encourage you to diversify, not just within a financial market, because, you know, there's ticker symbols for stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and bonds out there, right. But I would also encourage you and invite you to give us a call at (770) 685-1777 again, (770) 685-1777. To learn how you can diversify across multiple investment platforms, some of which have 100% financial reserve product as fixed indexed annuities do. Just for a portion of your assets. It's not suitable for you to put 100% of your money in a fixed indexed annuity. That's not what we're saying. And most of what we do here at Active Wealth Management. Is we do tactically managed portfolios and strategically managed portfolios that have ETFs that have a much lower expense ratio. That's a majority of what we do. But we also really believe in making sure the income that you need in retirement, that portion of your assets is 100% safe with 100% financial reserve product. And that's what a fixed indexed annuity is. And we really only like to invest in investment grade fixed indexed annuity companies, which is triple B and above.

Ford Stokes:
We really like working with A-rated carriers that are rated by Standard and Poor's and also rated by a m best. And we also look at financial solvency rates of those annuity carriers, because we want to understand how likely it is that those companies are going to pay you back. And oftentimes it is incredibly high. The probability is incredibly high. But we like to look at those things to make sure that everybody gets paid back their money. We haven't had any, um, annuity companies or life insurance companies that haven't paid back our clients money. So that's really good news. And so I just talked a lot about diversity for growth. But I want to make sure that you do diversify for growth. But I really want to do everything we can to make sure you understand diversify beyond just the financial markets. Please try to get into life insurance based products with life insurance or annuities or both. Also diversify within tax buckets, tax deferred with your IRA and your 4k, but also diversify with Roth IRAs or life insurance, which the only two types of tax free investments out there. Now, Sam, I'm going to pass it to you to give us the number two, which is unbelievably important.

Sam Davis:
The second step to get you ready for retirement is eliminating debt. Because instead of your money being invested with compound interest working to your benefit, your money is in debt, which means the compound interest is actually working against you to your detriment. So do everything you can to eliminate debt, including paying off the family home. Lord, we've mentioned before, a lot of people like to pay off the family home before they enter retirement, because if they don't, that monthly mortgage payment is likely to eat up either you or your spouse's monthly Social Security benefit, and you'd rather be able to use as much of that income as possible to fund your expenses, your lifestyle, those paychecks, and play checks and retirement. So by paying off your debts early, you're actually paying yourself first and improving your financial well-being for the long terme.

Ford Stokes:
It's just good to get rid of debt. Uh, obviously that's something that Dave Ramsey talks about all the time. That's the that's the foundation of his his show. Uh, I will just say this. You know, Dave says also, your income is your greatest wealth generator. Having debt can be the greatest detractor and deleter of assets. And if you think about the rule of 72. So let's say you've got an interest rate on your credit cards. At 10%, which is way lower than what most people have. But then if you divide 72 by ten, your debts going to double. If you just pay the minimum, it's going to double. In 7.2 years. So you've got to do everything you can to pay the debt off. Just get paid off. It's part of the American dream. It really is paying your house off and paying your debt off, and being in control of your own destiny and owning land and owning your home. And we don't have rent to pay to somebody. It is literally part of the American dream, and so do everything you can to pay debt off, please. Number three is maximize your retirement contributions. It may sound simple, but saving money in your retirement accounts now will set you up for success in your golden years, to whatever extent is possible with your budget.

Ford Stokes:
Do your best to maximize your deposit accounts, for example, the Individual retirement account or the IRA. Maximum annual contribution limit for 2024 is 7000 for those under 50 years old and $8,000 for those who are 50 years and older. Additionally, the 41K contribution limit for 2024 is 23,000 plus the matching you'll get from your employer. So it's usually going to be right around $30,500 somewhere around there. At the very least, be sure you are contributing enough to take advantage of your employer match if they offer one listen, we can offer. Good rates of return with. And we try to minimize the risk out there. But I can just tell you we don't see a lot of 100%. Returns in a given year. Well, if you get matched by your employer and your 41K, guess what? That's a 100% growth. On the Monday. They're they're giving you. So let's say they match 100% up to 3% of your of your. Of your salary. If you're setting aside 3%, then you need to do the same thing. And I would just encourage you like crazy to make sure that you're at least contributing up to the match. The match is free money that can double your investing power. And same. You got number four for us.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. The number four step is to maximize your retirement income plan. Knowing your expected sources of income can give you so much peace of mind in retirement. And it's crucial for planning. And you can calculate this by taking every single income stream that you're expecting into account, including Social Security, which you can start as early as 62. But as our listeners know, our result drivers know, because we talk about this, the more you wait, the more Social Security will pay. So if you wait till 65, that'll boost your Social Security income, about 24%. And you can actually max out your benefit by waiting all the way until age 70. So you figure out what Social Security is going to pay you, what you're going to get from your investments and your savings. A lot of people follow the 4% rule, but we try to help our clients beat the 4% rule by using other tools such as fixed indexed annuities, personal pension options. And after you take all that into account, hopefully you're one of the lucky ones. Although there aren't many out there that still get a pension from work and you really focus on maximizing your income plan. A lot of people ask us, what do we need to retire? Do we need half $1 million? Do we need $1 million saved? Do we need $2 million saved? But Ford, as our listeners know, retirement is much more about income than it is about the size of your nest egg. And when we come back, we're going to break into this a little bit more, because the income plan is such an important part of a successful retirement. You're listening to Retirement Results, visit Retirement Results. Com to get in touch with us and we'll be back.

After the break.

Ford Stokes:
Like what you're hearing?

Producer:
Subscribe to the podcast and listen to Retirement Results anytime anywhere. Tune in to Retirement Results to learn how to protect and grow your hard earned money. Retirement Results Saturdays at noon and Sundays at 11 a.m. right here on Am 920. The Answer at Active Wealth Management, we know you've worked hard for your money, and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement. Ford Stokes of Retirement Results is passionate about helping people protect and grow their wealth while educating them on all their options so they can choose what's right for them. Visit Retirement Results.com to schedule your no obligation consultation today. It's a $1,500 value provided at no cost to you. Book yours now at Retirement Results.com.

Ford Stokes:
And welcome back result drivers to Retirement Results on Ford stock to chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis, our co-host and senior financial advisor with us. And Sam just talked about number four of our ten steps to get you ready for retirement in ten years. Number four was maximize your retirement income plan. And to further on with that. Bottom line is, fixed indexed annuities allow you to establish your own personal pension. And believe it or not, those personal pensions are better than the pensions that are available from your companies, because those pensions that are available from companies are actually called spias single premium immediate annuities. Because when you retire, you want to turn that immediate check on right the next month. Well, those products are not index linked. They can't really grow. They they're really good at paying your money back, but they're not really good at growth. And also when you stop getting that pension the assets go away. Whereas with a fixed indexed annuity. Especially if you've got a crediting method and a participation rate that's going to generate a higher interest rate, potentially not guaranteed, but a potential higher interest rate than the withdrawal rate. But if you're unsure what your income may actually look like in retirement, you really ought to just give us a call at (770) 685-1777 or just visit retirement.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner.

Ford Stokes:
And we're happy to help you. We can show you the best personal pension options available. And. Help you maximize that income that you're going to need in retirement, and also allow the rest of your assets to grow. And then number five here in the ten steps to get you ready for retirement in ten years is plan for your retirement expenses. Creating a detailed budget for retirement expenses ensures that you're adequately prepared. A solid budget should account for all major monthly expenses, including housing costs, utilities, groceries, transportation, and insurance. A lot of those would be considered non-discretionary expenses, and the discretionary expenses would be like gifts for the grandkids, uh, eating out, things like that. Your lifestyle will also impact your monthly expenses. Your hobbies, travel frequency, and eating habits will affect your bottom line and significant way. In addition, inflation will raise these costs by 3% every year on average. Here's our cost cutter tip for the week.

Producer:
Ready to save some money? Here's our retirement cost cutter of the week.

Ford Stokes:
You can drastically cut housing costs and save thousands on interest by paying off your mortgage when you retire or earlier if possible. One of the best ways that people pay their mortgage off earlier, and on average, it's done about 12.5 years early, is they pay 13 mortgage payments each year. So they'll double up in December, or they'll or they'll pay in principal over time over the year. And that's something I really would encourage a lot of people to do, especially as we're seeing mortgage rates rise. And Sam, what's our number six step to get folks ready for retirement?

Sam Davis:
Step six is preparing for medical costs. Do you have a plan for covering your health care expenses in retirement? Do you have a plan that includes more than just Medicare? It's often one of the largest budget items for retirees. And keep in mind your medical costs will actually increase as you age. Keep in mind, if you retire before age 65, you'll have a gap in health care coverage before aging into Medicare. So if you can try to work and stay with your employer's health care plan until age 65, or if you or your spouse is going to retire earlier, see if your spouse can get on your health care plan or vice versa to help bridge that gap. We've mentioned these recent statistics on last week's show, but in order to be prepared for health care costs in retirement, recent research estimates that a 65 year old man will need $184,000 to cover health care in retirement, a 65 year old woman will need $217,000, the increased amount due to the longer life expectancy for women. And so that means couples will need as much as $351,000, or even more, depending on how expensive any prescription drugs that they need costs. So it's important to note these estimates don't include services that aren't covered by Medicare. One of the most important things you can do when preparing for retirement is understanding how expensive health care can be.

Ford Stokes:
There's no question about it. I think so many people like kind of what Bill and Lauren were are facing because he's 61 and she's 56. What else is really interesting about that is that they got to get to Medicare. And it's a it's a nine year haul for her to get to Medicare. For him. It's a four year gap that he needs to bridge to. But for her it's nine years. And so that's something that all of us really need to consider. Getting to Medicare is very important. We've seen a lot of people retire early because of Covid, because of age discrimination, because of layoffs, all things that we're seeing. And by the way, if you don't think age discrimination is real in the United States of America, I would beg you to reconsider. It is unbelievable how corporations and the folks that are in power and and even younger people do not respect the experience of folks that have been around a long time and what they've seen, and the creativity that those more seasoned professionals could bring, and how much time and money those seasoned professionals can save companies. We're seeing it.

Ford Stokes:
I mean, I we're getting calls every week. Folks on people are getting laid off. Um, most of them are in Georgia. Some of them are in surrounding states, like in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. I just want to say, listen, be careful out there. Also, if you've got a chance to do your own thing, whether it's running a consulting firm in the industry that you have experience in or something like that, that's another great thing to do. But getting to health care and getting to Medicare and having a plan for health care, also, when you reach Medicare, whether you're going to get a Medicare Advantage plan or a medigap supplement insurance plan, we can introduce you to Bonnie Dobbs with Medicare and other red tape. She's amazing, and she can help you get a great health insurance policy if you're prior to Medicare age eligible at 65. Um, or if you're after Medicare age eligible, she'll help you with either Medicare Advantage or Medigap supplement insurance plan. All you got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. We'll introduce you to Bonnie. She's great and fantastic what she does.

Sam Davis:
All right, Ford, we're working our way through the list of the ten steps that people need to take to prepare for retirement. And we're at number seven. And I have a question for you as our registered Social Security analyst here at Retirement Results and Active Wealth Management, because item number seven is review your Social Security benefits. And what are the things that you're seeing forward as people prepare for retirement? What are the most common questions that people are having about Social Security? And maybe also what are the things that people. Will don't quite understand about their Social Security benefit.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah, I think the biggest concern I have when people are planning for Social Security is they don't know what they don't know. There's over 2000 decision points within Social Security. Most people just think it's an on off switch. I'm going to turn it on or I'm not. And it's even more pervasive of a problem and also an opportunity if you're part of a married couple. Um, we've seen it where, you know, and also for divorcees and widows and widowers that there's. Even more decision points and things they need to do. But the big questions that I get are, hey, are Social Security Social Security going to be around? Good question. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office came out in January of last year and said, you know what? The old Age Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is going to go away and be depleted. By 2033. Which is one year less than it was the year before. So we lost two years in a single year. But what that means is not everybody's going to lose 100% of their Social Security income benefits, but. They will lose 23% across the board, according to the Social Security Administration. So if you're ready and prepared to to make.

Ford Stokes:
Just 77% of what you're currently getting with your Social Security income benefit. Or the estimate that you're getting. If you haven't turned on Social Security income, then that's fine. But if you're not ready and you want to maximize the money you're getting, then I encourage you to give us a call and we're going to run an RSA roadmap for you, absolutely at no cost to you. And it's a significant value. I mean, it's it's well over $1,000 just for that RSA roadmap. And it incorporates everything including your top 35 earning years. So please do yourself a favor. Please reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. I'll personally run your RSA roadmap, which is a Social Security maximization report, as you said, Sam. I mean, I'm a registered Social Security analyst. There's only 15 of us in the state of Georgia, so take advantage of that result. Drivers go ahead and pick up the phone and give us a call or just reach us. Reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com and click that schedule a consultation button. The upper right corner. Get booked directly into my calendar.

Sam Davis:
And when we come back result drivers, we are going to give you the last three steps to prepare for retirement in ten years or less. There are ten steps in total. We've made it through the first seven. Once again, encourage you to visit Retirement Results.com get in touch with us at (770) 685-1777 and Retirement Results will be right back.

Talking away. I don't know what to say.

Producer:
I say fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short terme 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.

Producer:
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 exist, please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV Two-a, page four for additional information. You're listening to Retirement Results. And now back to the show.

Sam Davis:
Welcome back to Retirement Results result drivers. We are in our final segment on the show this week as we work our way through ten steps that you need to take to prepare for retirement in ten years or less. We've made it through the first seven, and step number eight is have a plan for long terme care now instead of doctor visits or hospital stays, Long Terme Care helps people who can no longer care for themselves. Sometimes this involves nursing homes. Oftentimes this means in-home assistance of some kind. And keep in mind that long terme care is expensive. It can sometimes cost upwards of $100,000 per year, but fortunately there are asset based long tum care insurance options. There are even fixed indexed annuities and personal pension options that have riders called home healthcare doublers. So if you don't meet two or more of your activities of daily living, these are things like being able to get in and out of a chair or in and out of bed, or making yourself something to eat, that the income will actually double on these products. So if you're interested in getting a plan together for your long terme care, get in touch with us at Retirement Results. Com because insurance is just one sort of option for long terme care and you need to have a plan. We talked about how expensive medical costs get in retirement, and I wanted to mention and reaffirm that those costs get more expensive as you age. A lot of people talk about that u-curve in retirement, as far as your budget goes, you spend most of your retirement budget at the beginning when you are still traveling, spending a lot of time with kids and grandkids, then it slows down, but then it also picks back up at the end of life, when you may need more help when it comes to long terme care and other health care needs. So step number eight forward is have a plan for long terme care.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. The only thing I'll say on that is if you think long terme care insurance is expensive, just wait til you find out how expensive long terme care is. Uh, so I would just definitely do that. Also try to take advantage of those fixed indexed annuity products that offer the home health care doubler. Um, those things have been a really hot product for a lot of years. And it's also great because there's no medical qualification. You're not going to get, you know, stuck and you're not going to get your blood taken or your blood pressure measured. Um, to get that, because you're going to automatically qualify with your money that you're going to put in the the original premium, that you're going to invest into that fixed indexed annuity. And if you can't meet two of the six activities of daily living, what they call ADLs, your home health care doubler will absolutely kick in and you'll get paid twice as much income as you were getting from that annuity. So it's a pretty attractive product and situation. And we're here to help you as fiduciaries. So all you got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. Number nine is minimize your future taxes in retirement.

Ford Stokes:
And we are going to recap all these during the final countdown by the way. But we want to minimize the taxes you're going to pay during retirement. Tax efficiency is crucial to maximize the longevity of your retirement savings. Here are some common strategies to help you preserve your wealth instead of handing it over to the IRS. Number one is, uh, this is kind of like 9.1 is understand your tax bracket. Knowing your tax bracket lets you make informed decisions about when and how much to withdraw from your retirement accounts is kind of a big deal. Tax brackets determine the percentage of your income that goes towards federal taxes. And also in the state of Georgia, if you're making more than $10,000 a year, your Georgia state income tax is going to be 5.75%. The more income you draw from your assets each year other than Roth IRAs, the more taxes you'll owe. Um, also, 9.2 here is make withdrawals before RMDs, although you can wait for RMD legislation to force you to make withdrawals, doing so will result in higher monthly payments. This scenario leads to potentially higher income taxes. Then, if you take distributions in previous years. Bottom line is, if you wait to start taking RMDs out of your, um, IRA later in life at 73 and older, it's going to be a higher percentage each year that goes up.

Ford Stokes:
You know, after you turn 70.5 years old, the United States government thinks you're going to live 27.5 more years. They they do a uniform application to everybody. They think that's the way everybody's going to live. And then 9.3 is let's consider a tax free state. Some states don't have income taxes. And this can significantly benefit retirees. We have a lot of clients that live in Georgia that lived in. We have a lot of clients who lived in Georgia and moved to Florida. Some of them moved to Tennessee and moved to the mountains in Tennessee or wanted to get near Nashville and then reconsidered. And then also Texas is another one of those states that's really great. And also Nevada. A lot of people like getting the casino buffets and getting access to those. So then, Sam, why don't you go ahead and share number ten with us for each chart recapping all this, the ten steps that people need to take to get ready for retirement within the next ten years.

Sam Davis:
Yeah, the 10th and final step you should take as you prepare for a winning retirement is meet with a licensed financial advisor. Regular consultations with a fiduciary provide valuable insights to help you make sure that you're on track to meet your goals. A lot of people think it actually costs too much to work with a financial advisor for, but we actually help people save money as they work to protect and grow their hard earned retirement savings. And I think it's important for people to keep in mind for that, no matter how much money they have saved, maybe they have half a million, a million, 2 million. Your money is important to you. And that means that when you work with us, it's important to us. And for what do people get when they get in touch with us at Retirement Results.com or pick up the phone and give us a call.

Ford Stokes:
Yeah. So they get a free financial analysis their entire situation. So we give you number one a portfolio analysis with an institutional level. Morningstar report. It's for an independent third party not from us. So you're going to understand the risk you're taking and the fees you're paying and also the correlation of your assets. Number two is we'll give you a retirement income gap analysis where we determine whether you have a positive income surplus or we have a negative retirement income gap. We also give you a retirement plan to your 95th birthday with your current plan, and then one with our recommended portfolios. And number five is a retirement income plan with our recommended portfolios and a Roth ladder conversion. It's the final.

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

Ford Stokes:
I just want to go through the ten steps you can take to get ready for retirement right now. Number one is diversify. Growth number two is eliminate debt. Number three is maximize your retirement contributions. Number four is maximize your retirement plan. Number five is planned for your retirement expenses. Number six is prepare for medical costs. Number seven is review your Social Security benefits. Number eight is make a plan for long tum care. Number nine is minimize your future taxes in retirement with a Roth ladder conversion or life insurance, or both. And number ten is just meet with a licensed financial advisor and we'd love to help you. All you got to do is reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com or give us a call at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. Also, if you want to get ready for to have a great legacy, your family legacy, I would encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com we do have access to an estate planning service that works with licensed attorneys at a fraction of what the cost is, and a lot of people are missing that because they feel like it's just too expensive. I mean, now revocable trust are now 5 to $10,000 or even more in Buckhead and Dunwoody and places like that where we have a lot of clients.

Ford Stokes:
I would encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement Results. Com and book your estate planning session as well. And lastly, listen, Social Security is really important, making the decision on when to take Social Security is going to be the number one or number two most important decision you're going to make during retirement. Let me help you. I'm a registered social security analyst. I'd love to help run your Social Security income report and also run a maximization report with our RSA roadmap. Absolutely no cost to you. It's like a $1,000 value. Just for that alone. The financial planning is over $1,500 value, and we're going to do all of that at no cost to you because your result driver and you listen to Retirement Results right here on Am 920. The Answer. And just remember, when you're seeking information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly, be as aggressive as possible. Get as much information as you can because knowledge is power, especially in retirement. 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 and Active Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

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

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

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

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

Producer:
And she says, contribute to your retirement accounts early and often. So this is from fidelity.

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

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

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