Volatility Happens – How to Protect Your Retirement

2.7.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

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

Speaker3:
Welcome to retirement results. I'm Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us. He's our senior financial advisor and co-host on the show. But Sam is playing hurt today because Sam had a little bit of dental surgery or orthodontic or periodontal surgery. And, Sam, we really appreciate you being here just a couple of days after you got dental surgery done. And you know, you are always there for those drivers to make sure that they're learning more about how they can protect and grow their hard earned and hard saved wealth. And thanks for and we welcome you to the show this time.

Speaker4:
Well, thank you so much, Ford, and welcome to the weekend result drivers. Apologies if my voice sounds a little different this week, but I didn't want to miss any opportunity to speak to the result drivers. And shout out to doctor Lee periodontal surgeon here in the Atlanta area. Um, he's going to help me out and I should be all healed up in a week or two.

Speaker3:
It's great. If you need periodontal surgery. You can reach back out to Sam at wealth.com. That's Sam at Active Wealth.com and he'll refer you over if you want want to talk to him about that. So we're going to talk about how volatility happens. Um we saw some volatility with the Trump tariffs that were on and then off. Thank goodness. Um great job by President Trump to get our border safer because of um the tariffs that he placed on Canada and Mexico and also China that the 10% tariffs on China are still there. And we're we've got a seven minute segment from Aaron Kennedy who's with our retirement radio network and retirement results. She's interviewing Mark Diorio, who's our chief investment officer. He's our CIO with Brookstone Capital Management, which is our Ria. That's got over $8.5 billion in assets under management. And those are that's the RA that implements the portfolios for our clients, and we think we can do that for you too. All you have to do is reach out to us at 770685177777706851777. We're going to go ahead and play that interview at the beginning of segment two. So this next segment you're going to be able to hear that important, um, segment from Mark Diorio, the chief investment officer with Brookstone Capital Management, talking about the impact of US tariffs. We've also got two great, uh, graphs. One came from the US Census Bureau and one came from Statista. And we've got those available to you that Mark is going to reference in his segment.

Speaker3:
All you have to do is reach out to us, and you can just send me an email at Ford at com, and I will go ahead and email you those two graphs so you can follow along as well. So today Sam, we're going to talk about understanding market cycles, how to navigate the ups and downs during retirement. We've also got that interview with Marc Diorio. As we talked about regarding US tariffs and and also the strength of the US dollar, they're looking at what happens if the US dollar gets too strong. Um, that's a pretty interesting, um, dialogue that Mark's going to have at the beginning of next segment. We're also going to talk about a brief history of stock market crashes, a look at major corrections to the years. And also, are we due for a correction in 2025, what some economists are concerned about. And then also protecting your retirement from chaos and sharing our best strategies for success. Uh, I think we're in a lot better footing. I think Donald Trump. We're going to talk about what the Wharton Business School talked about, which is Trump is likely not going to do anything that's counter to the economy, because it would show up almost immediately in the US market. So we can be excited about that. But Sam, go ahead and share our financial wisdom. Quote of the week.

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 one of our favorites, Warren Buffett and Warren Buffett. Once said, risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.

Speaker3:
Yeah, the best thing to do is to try to work with a licensed financial advisor. All you do is reach out to us at retirement. Com that's retirement results.com. We've got a special page for you to sign up. You can go to retirement plan. That's retirement results.com/plan plan and just put your information in. We'll give you a call and we'll get started right away. Um also we've got a lot of people that are reaching out to us and just going straight into our financial workbook by going to which they're going to active wealth. Com forward slash workbook. That's active wealth. Com forward slash workbook. And they're putting their information in. It's 256 bit encrypted. Um, and they're submitting their information so they can get started right away. Um, on a free financial plan. Listen, if you've been a long time listener and you've never reached out to us, you've never actually gotten that consultation. First of all, we appreciate you listening. And also, thanks for making us the number one listened to radio show on Am 920. The answer on the weekends here in Atlanta. We really appreciate it. Also, thanks to the 20,000 plus, um, folks who have downloaded retirement results as a radio show in the last 12 months. We really appreciate you, and we're here to help each and every one of you that listens to this show, whether it's on the radio or via podcast or just by going to retirement. Com and clicking that episodes button and just listening to the episode there. But wherever you get podcasts, Sam usually talks about it wherever you can get podcasts like Stitcher, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, wherever.

Speaker3:
All you got to do is do is search for retirement results and we're going to be there. Thanks to our distribution partner in Cars.com. They've distributed our podcast everywhere you can get podcasts. So thanks so much to them for doing that. And we really want to talk about understanding market cycles now. So markets don't move in a straight line. They move in cycles. Understanding these cycles can help you stay calm and make smarter decisions. The four phases of a market cycle. You've got the accumulation phase, which basically happens after the market hits rock bottom. Large institutional investors see opportunities to buy shares at lower prices. Prices may fluctuate but remain relatively stable. Smart investors start accumulating shares cautiously. They do it a little bit at a time, not all at once. Then number two is a markup phase. The market begins a steady climb as confidence returns. More investors, including those who are hesitant, jump in, prices rise rapidly and Rapidly and market optimism continues to grow. This phase often sees the biggest gains in the shortest amount of time. You've also got the distribution phase. It's the peak of the cycle. Investors begin selling their holdings as prices level off. Market sentiment is mixed, with some expecting continued growth, while others anticipate a downturn and you've got a marked down phase. The decline begins as more investors start panic selling. Fear spreads, causing downward momentum. The market falls sharply and sometimes due to external triggers like geopolitical events or economic shifts. You know, we saw a little bit of a of a sell off, a little bit of a markdown that happened on Monday of this past week, but they quickly recovered and corrected.

Speaker3:
And you saw the markets actually rebound and start to rebound even before the market closed on Monday, when both Mexico and Canada announced that those Trump tariffs of 25% were off because they chose to protect the border and also make sure that fentanyl was not going to come into our country, and they were going to not be as lax as they've been. It was interesting that Trump was able to take an economic decision and an economic effect, and really help out the lifestyle of the citizens of both Canada and the US, but also the citizens of Mexico, too. I just found that to be really interesting. You know, Canada is about 1.2 to 1.5% of GDP with us on our exports and imports. That's not a ton. Whereas we're like 22% of theirs, we're 27, 28% of Mexico's GDP. So they don't survive without us. And they've got like seriously almost, you know, 15 to 22 times the problem that they're going to get into a tariff war with or trade war with the US. It's just not going to work out well for them. So it was good to see that. Um, but that's really kind of what you see when you've got the different market cycles. So I want to just go over these real quick. Again, the four phases of a market cycle accumulation phase, markup phase, distribution phase and markdown phase. What this means for you is every market cycle includes ups and downs.

Speaker3:
Being prepared can help you avoid knee jerk reactions and emotional decisions that could impact your future in retirement. We've got several clients that used to manage their own money, and they got tired of doing it during the Biden years, they just felt like it was just too much counterintuitive to what they were doing. And it just came on with us in the last couple of months. And he's like, Thank God I'm with you guys because one, my, you know, my accounts are doing well. But also we we got the income portion invested into a fixed index annuity, that is, that paid me a 20% bonus. That kind of helped backfill some of the losses that I had, um, into the income account. And then also, um, I've got 8% guaranteed interest roll up in each year into my, um, you know, into the income account as well. And then I've got a chance at making 310% on how, um, the BNP Paribas Global H factor index does. That's just what we've we're going to be talking about several new fixed index annuities that are available, but that nationwide pick ten is the one we're talking about. This gentleman invested in is still doing extremely well. And we're huge fans of that one as well. Listen, you're listening to retirement Results right here on Am 900. The answer come back for that important interview with Marc Diorio, chief investment officer with Brookstone Capital Management, talking about the impact of US tariffs on the economy and a market outlook going forward.

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

Speaker6:
Now, if you feel that you can't.

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

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers I'm Fort Stokes chief financial advisor I've got Sam Davis here with me playing hurt a little bit after periodontal surgery. So having a little bit of dental surgery there. Um so we're talking about the impact of the US tariffs. And we've got a couple graphs that we've got available if you want to get those graphs, um, from the US Census Bureau and Statista, go ahead and reach out to us and you can send me an email at forward@active.com. That's f o r d and active.com. And I'll send those to you no questions asked. Um, Marty is talking about the impact of US tariffs on the markets and the economy. And also what happens Potentially if the US dollar gets too strong, because with the US dollar and us hopefully getting rid of a lot of waste, fraud and abuse with the Department of Government Efficiency and also with potential tariffs going. The US dollar is going to get stronger and stronger, folks. Um, so he does talk about they're looking at that. So it's an important interview to listen to. I'd encourage you to give it your full attention. Also, this interview will be available and posted on our website in the episode section for this radio episode and podcast episode at retirement. Com forward slash episodes. So go ahead and just check out retirement. Com just click the episodes button and you'll be able to see this, um, in real time. We'll get this up by the time that hopefully this airs. By the time you're listening to this, you can see it as well. And we'll try to put these, um, these attachments there too. But just send me an email at forward at com and I'll get the get the attachment to you because he does reference these. Sam, go ahead and roll that interview with Aaron Kennedy interviewing Mark Diorio, the chief investment officer with Brookstone Capital Management, who manages over $8.5 billion in assets under management with Brookstone and also implements the portfolios for our clients here at Active Wealth.

Speaker7:
Mark, very good to see you. We are diving into the headlines today talking through the Trump tariffs and the market impact. The latest round of tariffs imposed by President Trump has reignited debates about trade policy and its impact on the markets. Investors are watching very closely right now to see how these trade barriers might affect economic growth, corporate earnings and of course, the financial markets. So how significant is international trade to the US economy. I want to talk through the share of GDP that is attributed to US exports and how tariffs have historically affected GDP.

Speaker8:
Well, if you look at the data exports for the US is not really that high of a percent. It's about 8% of GDP overall. Not with any one country. That's with all countries. But if you contrast that to exports as a percent of GDP to the US on the right hand side of this chart, for Mexico, it's 28%. For Canada, it's 20%. That's just to the US. So it's extremely important. And you see Vietnam in the middle there and a couple of other the Southeast Asian countries. And then all the way to the left. You can contrast that with China, where we all think that China is a big exporting nation, and it's a very small percent, less than 5% of their GDP. So for Canada and Mexico, this is actually is a pretty big deal and pretty impactful to their overall economy.

Speaker7:
And so of course we had heard about tariffs against Canada and Mexico and China, although there's now a pause on the tariffs against Canada and Mexico. How might though this reshape the global trade relationships?

Speaker8:
Well, it's very interesting. And the chart on the left shows that really since about 2015, 2016, in that region, China's trade with the US has actually declined and our trade deficit with China has declined quite dramatically. At the same time that our economy has grown quite a bit in those ten years. And then you also see that there's been a big jump or an acceleration in the trade with China or with Mexico and Canada. So Mexico and Canada have been big beneficiaries over the last ten years, expanding trade with the US. And then on the right hand side, you can just see our exports to those countries Canada, Mexico and China. And then in the orange there are imports from each of those countries. The difference would be the trade deficit with each of those countries. So you can see that it's it's pretty pretty impactful as a as a As a percent. And if you drill down our percent with Canada or Mexico, it's about 1.2% of our overall economy. So much smaller than that, 20 to 28% for Canada and Mexico, respectively.

Speaker7:
I see. So of course we have to ask about how this affects the US dollar. How do tariffs typically impact the value of the dollar and what does this mean for investors?

Speaker8:
Well, I get asked this quite a bit about the dollar and that other countries stop using the dollar and so forth. The reality is that 88% of foreign exchange market trades are have the dollar in them. The US dollar who has lost out has been the euro and the Japanese yen. China has grown. But that was actually taking over kind of the Swiss franc role in the major currency pairs. So the risk is not really that the dollar declines. It's that the dollar gets too strong and that. And so that would cause Is kind of the international positions in our equity and bond markets. They'd have to sell those positions because the dollar is too strong. Something we're watching on watching is can the dollar get too strong rather than too weak? So we, uh, it's one of the risks that we're watching this year.

Speaker7:
Okay, Marcus, of course, don't react to policy itself, but also to the uncertainty surrounding it. How is this uncertainty affecting investor sentiment?

Speaker8:
Well, with, uh, the second term of Trump, at least we have a first term to take a look at when, uh, whatever the agenda was, whether it was tax focus, which was 2017 or tariff focused in 2018. What this chart shows is what are called cyclicals versus defensive or shut sector staples, utilities, healthcare, utilities, traditional telecom. What it says is when the line is heading up, the growth sectors of the economy are outperforming Offensives. And if it's tax focused you have growth sectors outperforming defensive sectors. But in a tariff focus like 2018 you start out where maybe the tariffs aren't that big a deal. You kind of ignore it. And growth sectors are outperforming. But all of a sudden in the orange there when the line starts heading down it's the defensive sectors that perform better. And if you think about it staples, healthcare, utilities, traditional telecom those are domestically focused industries. So they have much less kind of action in that global trade market. So that's what we're watching for. It might be reversed this year, where maybe 2025 is a tariff year and 2026 might be a tax focused type of year.

Speaker7:
Okay. So in talking about cyclicals and sectors, do the tariffs affect your market outlook.

Speaker8:
So for those dedicated watchers they know that we like historical analogies and how history Has operated. So we use these as a guide. And we're looking here at the four year presidential cycle. And what it tells us is for 2025 is typically there's a honeymoon period in the first half of the first year of the presidential cycle, and then by the second half of the year, maybe you've gotten to a position where you're overvalued and the market starts to rethink the valuation. Maybe some challenges pop up and so forth. So this could be where, you know, maybe everything doesn't settle. And the tariff issue kind of lingers in the back half of this year. It's just something that we're mindful of. And it would be very normal to kind of, uh, start to weaken at some point. So, uh, we'll be on the lookout for that. We're in the third year of this bull market. So you have muted expectations, still positive returns, but maybe the back half of the year we start to see some challenges. And maybe that's uh tariff related.

Speaker3:
So yeah it was just an interesting perspective from Marc Diorio on with tariffs and things like that. And also the defensive sectors could do better and outperform tech sectors. Um, over the short run, I think. But you're going to have, you know, China's tariffs will still be in force at 10%, but with a 30 day reprieve. I think that also gives a really good leverage handle to the United States. Um, to try to get this a little bit of a more balanced situation, um, because there's a pretty big trade imbalance between Canada and the US and also Mexico and the US. So I think there's a real opportunity to see how we go from here, but I just wanted to at least share those important insights from Mark. I felt like it was really important that our listeners just understand these are the things that a chief investment officer is looking at. And also So if you notice the difference in how he communicates and how balanced and calm he is compared to what you might be as an individual investor, it's a stark difference. And so that's why you really do need, um, a chief investment officer on your side. You've got that with Mark Diorio, um, and our team here at Active Wealth Management and Brookstone Capital Management. All you've got to do is reach out to us at retirement. Com that's retirement results.com.

Speaker3:
And you can also call us at 770685177777706851777. And reminder um, we've got some really interesting things to do to help you protect your retirement income as well, so that you could be you can retire a lot more peace of mind. So you're not going to be worried about how much money you're going to be able to withdraw from your accounts, to be able to fund your retirement. We're also going to help you understand and get a better idea through a retirement income gap analysis. Are you starting with a positive retirement income surplus? Or do you actually have a negative retirement income gap that is over withdrawing and overburdening your portfolios? Also, if you want to get more than 4% of a traditional withdrawal rate, I would recommend you give us a call. You can go ahead and reach out to us again at (770) 685-1777. Also, when we come back, we have recommendations for navigating Trump's second term with your investments. Thanks so much and thanks for making us again the number one listen to radio show on the weekends on Am 920. The answer we appreciate all of our result drivers who are looking to build and protect and grow their hard earned and hard saved wealth for a successful retirement. Come right back. We're talking about more recommendations on how to navigate for Trump's second term with your investments.

Speaker2:
Schedule your free, no obligation consultation now by calling toll free at (888) 814-0304 Lakewood Drive.

Speaker9:
And you keep on riding till you're out of the city. Where the air is fine with.

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

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

Speaker3:
And welcome back all drivers on Fort Stokes chief financial advisor I've got Sam Davis here on the board with us. He's playing hurt after dental surgery. So we're we promised we would talk about. Hey, here's what you need to do to invest during Trump's second term. We're going to give you some strategies to avoid emotional investing. We're also going to talk about what to do with the retirement income portion of your portfolio. Also remember you ought to implement some tactical asset allocation managed portfolios and some strategic managed portfolios. Um, tactical asset allocation means you're going to rebalance at least once a month and you're going to try to look for those, um, allocations. Those asset classes are going to do the best for the next six months each and every month. That's what we do with a lot of our portfolios. And the other half of our portfolios will implement strategic asset allocation, where we'll rebalance about once a year. We'll select um, here's the allocations and the asset classes we think are going to do the very best over the next 12 months. And we'll go ahead and implement those. So just remember try to implement with ETFs and not mutual funds. Etfs are exchange traded funds and they are a far superior product to mutual funds because they're just lower in fees and still give you the same diversification that you get with mutual funds. What else is nice about ETFs and exchange traded funds is that they can be traded within the day, within the trading day, intraday versus being traded after the trading day where you with mutual funds, they have to get a net asset value of what a share of a mutual fund is.

Speaker3:
And then you can then put something on the market if you want to sell a share of a mutual fund or not. So I would encourage you to implement your portfolios with exchange traded funds. And then also we're going to give you some strategies here to avoid emotional investing. So we're also trying to with those exchange traded funds we're trying to minimize the expense ratio for you within your portfolio. We're also going to try to reduce the standard deviation for you as well. When standard deviation is a measurement of risk. So here are some strategies to avoid emotional investing. Uh, number one you want to stick to a long term plan. Having a solid investment strategy based on goals, risk tolerance and time horizon helps weather market fluctuations. So it's just a good idea. Just plan your work and work your plan. Just stick to the long term plan. Don't just change because Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico in one day. You want to just stay the course. And also this came off in the same day which is great news. Investing a fixed amount at regular intervals reduces the impact of market volatility and removes the pressure of timing the market. If you dump all of your money in at one time, and then all of a sudden the market corrects that next month, it's a lot worse than if you just put in, you know, one tenth or 1/12 every month of that, of that money, you would be able to kind of average out and smooth out your risk level.

Speaker3:
That's kind of what you see a little bit with four K's, because you've got money going in every two weeks, because you've earned money and you're setting money aside. So and your money's growing tax deferred as well. So it's not you don't have withdrawals going, but you also got dollar cost averaging because you got money going in each and every two weeks into the portfolio. Number three is rebalance your portfolio regularly. Periodic rebalancing ensures that your portfolio remains aligned with your long term objectives, rather than being dictated by short term emotions. Are you a perfect example of this? So many people will select an allocation when they first start a job, and let's say five years later, they're still in that job and they haven't rebalanced and reallocated their portfolio, and the portfolio or the For1 K may be growing a little bit, but it's growing because of your contributions. It's likely that your money is not working as hard as you are. So if you want your money working as hard as you want it to work and as hard as you're working, then I encourage you to reach out to us at retirement. Com forward slash plan. That's retirement. Com forward slash plan. We will give you a free 401 K analysis.

Speaker3:
Free portfolio analysis. Absolutely no cost to you. All you got to do is reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. And then number four is you want to consider professional advice. Working with a financial advisor like us can help remove emotional biases from investment decisions and keep your strategy on track. So many men in a relationship, they start managing their portfolio, especially after they retire in the first year or two. It gives them something to do, and then all of a all of a sudden they have some losses and then they are like, you know what, I'm going to get a professional to do this. And then they're really happy and they're able to enjoy retirement more. They can they can play golf more. They can do all kinds of different things. Um, and it's pretty exciting. So I would I would encourage everybody just to seek professional advice. And we're fiduciaries. We got to put your needs ahead of our own anyway. Um, and we're contractually bound to that. I mean, just based on our licenses, we're bound to do that with Finra and the SEC. We're held to a fiduciary standard. All you got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to schedule a meeting with us. We're happy to give you a portfolio analysis and a free financial plan. Your 95th birthday. At the end of this, we're going to go into all the things you get when you work with active wealth management.

Speaker3:
And then number five of the strategies to avoid emotional investing is focus on the on the fundamentals, not the noise. Instead of reaching and reacting to daily market fluctuations, focus on the fundamental value of your investments and the long term potential. So, I mean, if you're invested in something like Nvidia and you've got, you know, you know, you've got this deep sea thing that comes out a couple Mondays ago, chances are Nvidia is not going to close their doors, folks. So yeah, there might have been a correction. But guess what. You know Nvidia went up $8 on Wednesday. So you need to stay the course and stay invested into companies and ETFs that have got real companies invested and real companies that have quarterly earnings. And they've got employees. They've got um, they've got intellectual property, they've got brand equity, they've got all kinds of things that help that stock be propped up. And that common stock continued to grow. So I would encourage you to consider sticking to the fundamentals and not listen to just the noise that happens within a single day. Here are the strategies to avoid emotional investing. Number one is stick to a long term plan. Number two is use dollar cost averaging. Number three is rebalance your portfolio regularly. Number four is consider professional advice. Number five is focus on on the fundamentals and not the noise. And also we encourage you to start working with us on a safe retirement income plan today. And here's what we do when we take a look at your portfolio and your assets.

Speaker3:
We discuss your financial goals and your vision for retirement. Like what are you doing? Who are you with? How are you going to fund your retirement? Number two is take we take a look at your current plan and your portfolio of assets. And we will actually do a portfolio analysis for you so you can understand the expenses And the fees you're paying, the risks you're taking, and then also the correlation of your assets. We'll also walk you through our recommended financial plans. Your 95th birthday. Here's another really cool thing we do. We'll give you your financial plan. What's currently going on to your 95th birthday. So you can understand, hey, how does my plan score between a zero and 100? Am I going to be successful and not run out of money or not? All you got to do is reach out to us at retirement.com. We'll help you do that. And we'll also answer as many questions you have about your retirement, including when to take Social Security, when to take Social Security is going to be the number one or number two. Most important decision you're going to make regarding your retirement income plan from now until you turn 95 years old. So if you want to get paid more money from Social Security and all the hard earned and hard saved money you put into Social Security at 6.2% a year, and your company invested 6.2% a year.

Speaker3:
Or if you're self-employed or were self-employed, you're putting in 12.4% every single year of what you made. That's a whole lot of money. You really need to make sure that money is working for you and delivering a retirement that you can never outlive. Now, Social Security may not do it all, so if you want to build that personal pension, we can help you do that. But also if you want to have assets growing so you can grow that nest egg to pass it on to your heirs and also get increasing income as the years go by during retirement, and also minimize the taxes you're going to pay, then I'm going to encourage you to just to reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan also on retirement.com. They've got a schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. We can go ahead and schedule directly into my calendar. You can just do that right away. And listen if again if you've been a long time listener, and you've never been that first time caller. I would just encourage you to go ahead and call us at (770) 685-1777. And also, I mean, if you live out of state, you can call us at (888) 814-0304. That's (888) 814-0304. And that number is absolutely 100% toll free. When we come back from the break, we're going to talk about protecting your retirement from volatility. And you're going to like some of these great stats we're about to share. Come right back. You're listening to retirement results on Am 920. The answer.

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

Speaker9:
On the mountaintop was burning like a silver flame.

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

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

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers I'm Ford stoker chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us who's playing hurt after dental surgery. And so I'm carrying the mail here today guys. So hopefully you're not hating. Hear my voice too much. But we're we're talking about protecting your retirement from volatility here in this segment for here's the big idea. The big idea here is the market volatility is just basically inevitable. But it doesn't have to derail your retirement a solid diversified plan where you really, really have true diversification between, you know, stocks bonds, ETFs and then also, um, insurance products like fixed index annuities or any index universal life insurance. Um, those are the great ways to diversify. Also diversifying your portfolio with tax deferred, taxable and tax free bucketed money is another great way to diversify your portfolio as well. All that can help you navigate the ups and downs that are sure to come. So here are some key strategies for protecting your retirement. Number one is guaranteed income solutions. Annuities provide a reliable stream of income regardless of market performance. So but it also allows you to stay invested which is great. Then also delaying Social Security benefits can increase your monthly payouts. Here's a source from Blackrock. Um, 88% of annuity owners say their annuities help ease worries about the possibility of a stock market downturn. I've got several clients over the last six months who have invested 40% of their portfolio into a fixed indexed annuity, and they are thrilled with it because they also know that their principles protected of what they what they gave us and what they invested in that product.

Speaker3:
And they're going to get market like gains. And they were also super excited about the 20% immediate bonus they got into the income account. Um, some with some products, they got 15%, um, into the income account or actually into the actual account value as well. Just a different product there. But I would encourage you to reach out to us if you want to get an idea of, hey, which type of fixed index annuity could be right for me. If you want to see some illustrations, like okay, Ford, if I invest 300,000 or $400,000 or even $200,000 into a fixed index annuity, what kind of income can I get? What kind of bonus can I get? What kind of guaranteed interest rate can I get? Sam and I and our advisors here can help you do that. Matt McClure is based in our Midtown office. He can help you. Uh, we're based out of our Alpharetta office. Uh, Sam also lives in Tucker. So all of you of you folks shout out to the folks in Tucker. Um, you're Sam Davis's neighbors. Um, so we can help you get going on getting those guaranteed income solutions with a fixed indexed annuity. Number two is on the key strategies for protecting your retirement is risk management strategies. Adjust asset allocation based on your risk tolerance and retirement timeline. If you're already retired, you need to be very careful because you don't want to go back and have to go back to work and say, hey, welcome to Walmart or stack shelves at Walmart or something like that.

Speaker3:
You want to be able to, you know, enjoy retirement. A lot of folks who've retired and they try to go back 2 or 3 years later, they find that they can't get the same kind of job where they're making the same kind of money. Then also underneath that risk management strategy, you want to utilize stop loss orders or even hedging strategies to limit downside risk. Number three, which is the number three key strategy for protecting your retirement, is tax and is tax efficient retirement planning, which draws strategically from taxable and tax deferred accounts to reduce taxes. Roth conversions can help create tax free income streams. And here's a bottom line A strategic Roth ladder conversion over 5 to 7 years is going to help you delete the IRS from your retirement accounts, or at least a large portion of your retirement accounts. You want to get that done before you turn 73 years young, because that's when RMDs kick in. That's required minimum distributions for those of you playing at home. It's really important for you to get more tax efficient with your portfolio. A lot of you've got a million plus sitting in your IRA or your 400 K. I have great news for you. It's great news that you're likely not going to run out of money.

Speaker3:
But the bad news is that the IRS is your partner in that account. So we need to do a great job of trying to delete the IRS out of that account. Here's why an income plan matters. Do you want to just wait and see what the what the market is like when you decide to retire. Or do you want to get the guarantees and start planning what you're doing and what you're going to do with the paychecks and paychecks that you receive every month? I've given this joke several times on our show, but do you know why farmers hats are bent in on the sides? It's when they're looking in their mailbox or their farm subsidy check. And a lot of you are laughing because it's true, right? So many retirees are also looking for that mailbox money, and it's great to be able to get that annuity money coming in every month, or coming in once a year or quarterly or whenever you want. How often you want to get it. But when you couple that with your Social Security income, it starts adding up to real cash. And if you want to sit there and if you don't want to just be concerned about money and hey, do I have a negative retirement income gap or do Or do I actually have a positive retirement income surplus? I would encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to get that retirement income gap analysis done.

Speaker3:
One other thing I want to volunteer is I'm a registered social security analyst. I'm one of 15 in the state of Georgia. I need to do a count on how many we've got now in the state of Georgia. Hopefully we've got a few more, but I've been really busy running these RSA roadmaps, which are Social Security maximization reports, and people love them. They actually love seeing the what if scenarios, the break even analysis on their Social Security plans. And they understand the longer they wait, the more they're going to make. But there's also things that married couples can do where, you know, the female may have worked some or not as much, and she may be able to file her own Social Security at 62.5 and then turn on at 67. Her spousal benefit, where the spousal benefit is actually higher. But they got it. Enjoy the income from 62.5 to 67. So it's just something to consider. I would encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to get that RSA roadmap. Um, I'm a registered social security analyst. I'm here to help you. And we'll do that absolutely for free. All the financial planning that we do is literally worth $2,500. From the RSA roadmap to the portfolio analysis to the financial plan, with your current plan to your 95th birthday, to our recommended plans, uh, to your 95th birthday with our recommended portfolios that also include a strategic Roth ladder conversion plan. All you got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to get that right away.

Speaker3:
All right. The title of this show was Volatility Happens. And we were trying to help protect your retirement from market uncertainty. A lot of lot of people had some uncertainty and some questions that we got into our office from our retirement results radio listeners, our result drivers, and we want to make sure we at least covered that. We did play a great seven minute segment from Mark Diorio talking about the impact of US tariffs. And the last time it happened was 2018. And and he was really eloquent and kind of helped everybody kind of better understand the impact of that and also how they're studying what happens if the US dollar is actually too strong and how does that impact the US market economy? Um, we also talked about understanding market cycles. We went through all of those. And here's here's a brief overview on those. The four phases of a market cycle. We had accumulation phase mark up phase, distribution phase and mark down phase. And we also talked about how to protect from market volatility and protect from the chaos. And we gave you five strategies to avoid emotional investing, including one. Stick to a long term plan. Two. Use dollar cost averaging. Three rebalance your portfolio regularly. Four consider professional advice. And five focus on fundamentals and not noise. And in this segment we went through how to protect your retirement from volatility and also how to really, truly get diversified with your portfolio from not just from stocks and bonds, but diversify with insurance products like fixed index annuities or indexed universal life products.

Speaker3:
And we also talked about tax diversification by having some money in your taxable bucket, your tax deferred bucket. And believe it or not, a tax free bucket with Roth ladder conversions with a Roth IRA, you really can get to some tax free money that's going to grow absolutely tax free for you. If you've got questions about any of this, we can help you. Listen, if you're if you're looking for information about retirement and how to invest properly. I would encourage you to reach out to us at (770) 685-1777, or visit us at retirement results.com, and we're happy to help you. You can click that Schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner of Retirement results. Com. Remember, Retirement Results is powered by the financial advisors at Active Wealth Management. We are fiduciaries. We're here to put your needs ahead of our own. Your retirement matters to us. Your money matters to you. Therefore, it really matters to us. We're here to protect and grow your wealth. If you're seeking information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Thanks so much for listening to retirement results each and every week. Thanks for making us the number one listen to radio show on Am nine 200. The answer on the weekends. We appreciate you. All drivers and have a great week everybody.

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

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV Too.a item for for additional information.

Speaker10:
Dark and tumultuous times have led to a variety of questions about ESPN's future, but a recent Disney earnings report is shining a spotlight on a potential comeback for the worldwide leader. I'm Jim Tarabukin for the Retirement Radio Network, powered by Aerolithe. Despite a small decrease in streaming revenue, Wall Street came away impressed with Disney's recent quarter two fiscal earnings as profits and revenue topped expectations. Disney's CFO Hugh Johnston telling CNBC these quarterly results have given the company a positive outlook.

Speaker11:
We feel great about the quarter, well in excess of expectations and, most importantly, broad based growth.

Speaker10:
Despite the number of ESPN plus paid subscribers falling 3% to 24.9 million, Disney owned ESPN posted domestic revenue of Revenue of $4.4 billion, up 9% year over year in Disney's fiscal quarter two. The final three months of 2024. Furthermore, the network's revenue growth was due in large part to a 15% jump in domestic ad sales revenue to $1.3 billion, mostly from an increase in ad rates. Disney CEO Bob Iger, speaking on an earnings call in early February, addressed the plans to launch the ESPN flagship direct to consumer product in the fall of 2025. A personalized product with integrated features like betting and fantasy. Iger went on to say, quote, if you're a sports fan, it's not about one boxing event or one day of football. It's about sports every single day of the year, every hour of the day. Sports viewership and a revamped content strategy has proven successful for Disney and ESPN. And after a period of struggle, the reports show the ESPN is bouncing back strong in 2025 for the Retirement Radio network Powered by Life. I'm Jim Tarabay.

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