Ford Stokes shares some updates on where the U.S. economy stands as we prepare for the next administration to take control in Washington D.C. – now is a great time to revisit your investment strategy for retirement! Then, Ford & Sam discuss Social Security, the future of the program and how to determine the best time to start taking your benefits.

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About Retirement Results:
Welcome to Retirement Results! Each week, Ford Stokes and his team of fiduciary advisors help educate pre-retirees, retirees and business owners on ways to better protect and grow their hard-earned money.

With $36 trillion in national debt and counting, many economists believe that taxes are likely to increase in the future, affecting retirees for decades to come. Ford and his team will help you build a smart plan that is TAX-efficient, FEE-efficient and MARKET-efficient. Listen to the show every weekend on WGKA AM 920 The Answer in Atlanta, Georgia & subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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1.17.24: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

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. Result. Drivers. I'm Ford stokes, chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us on the mic. He's our senior financial advisor and co-host. Sam, say hello to everybody. Welcome to the week end result drivers. So happy to have you back with us once again for another episode of Retirement Results. This is the last episode of retirement results during the Biden era. The next time you hear our voices, we will have a new president in the white House. Yeah. Amen. Amen for that. I want to kind of go through a lot of people have been asking me, and I've kind of been asking us. I've been reaching out to both you and me. They've been like, you know what's going on with the markets? Should we be bullish? Should we be bearish? You know what surprises the Democrats have for us? Um, and I just kind of want to give you a kind of an overview from my CIO that I that I like and trust. He's he's, um, with a research company that researches stocks. And this is kind of what he said. He said, you know, obviously, um, there's there's big reasons to be bullish, but obviously there's the Joe Biden era. And the Joe Biden years will not be remembered fondly by millions of Americans. The humiliating US withdrawal from Afghanistan, highest inflation in 40 years, 8.1 trillion in new debt, and unwillingness to staunch the flow of millions of illegal aliens across our southern border, and a virtual conspiracy to hire to hide his cognitive decline made a strong impression on voters.

Speaker3:
And that's why you have Donald J. Trump, being the 47th president of the United States, will get inaugurated on the 20th of January. Thank the Lord above. But I wanted to kind of share. Here's what the state of our economy is. There's so many people that are asking us, hey, Ford, give us the reasons to be bullish. Give us the reasons to stay invested. Also, for those of you who are wondering, there are ways for you to stay invested safely. You can invest like the income portion of your portfolio into, you know, fixed indexed annuities. You can get market like gains without market risk. I would say for 20 to 40% of your assets. The rest of it, I would encourage you to invest in tactically managed portfolios that utilize ETFs like ours. Do try to minimize the fees you're paying. Minimize the expense ratio. Also minimize the standard deviation so you can get that diversification to better protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved assets. And then also just get more market efficient. Uh, you know, we're just trying to make sure you're market efficient, fee efficient, and of course, tax efficient with Roth IRA conversions. I know I just threw a lot at you, but let me give you these 17 reasons that this specific CIO is bullish on the state of our economy. The US economy is the envy of the world, growing at 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter. And number two is the US is the only major world economy that is growing faster post pandemic than it was pre-pandemic.

Speaker3:
Number three is jobs are up, wages are up, and inflation, while still too high, is only a fraction of a point from the Federal Reserve's 2% goal. I disagree with them a little bit there. I think the real rate of inflation is much higher, especially if you consider what John Williams perspective from Shadowstats.com, who thinks we're closer to double digit growth on inflation. But number four is unemployment is near a 50 year low. Number five is the US manufacturing sector has more jobs than at any time since the administration of George W Bush. And by the way, China's got like ten years left because they don't really have millennials because their one child policy. They've got a birthrate problem that is of epic proportions. They're about ten years away from having people that are too old to be in manufacturing. So a lot of those jobs are already coming back here. Number six is there are no U.S. troops at war overseas right now, which is a really good thing. Number seven is Sweden joined NATO last year and Finland joined in 2023 making our alliance stronger. Number eight is two world troublemakers. Russia and Iran are struggling badly. Russia is losing about 1500 soldiers a day in Ukraine. Iran has seen the devastation of two proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, and the fall of another ally, Bashar al Assad, in Syria. Number nine is, despite what you see on cable news, the US has the lowest violent crime rate in over 50 years.

Speaker3:
I'm not sure I completely agree with that, especially in the major cities looking at like Chicago's murder rate, etc.. Number ten is drug overdose. Deaths have fallen for the first time in years, plunging 17% in 2024. I think they've gotten a handle on the fentanyl problem a little bit. Number 11 is youth vaping is at its lowest level in a decade. I think there's more education going on about vaping. And we're seeing less vaping from our kids friends, which is great news. Um, number 12 is the obesity crisis plateaued with the introduction of injectable medications for weight loss? Yeah, semaglutide is definitely had helped some people shed some pounds. Number 13 is I is already starting to lower health care costs, improve test results and speed up drug discovery. I think there's more work to be done in reducing health care costs. Number 14 there have been several medical advances recently. The FDA approved donanemab a new treatment for early Alzheimer's disease. Thank God for that. A new cervical cancer treatment shows promise, which could be a major lifesaver for a lot of women. And the world's first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine entered clinical trials. Number 15 global life expectancy continues to increase. Number 16 is the extreme. Global poverty has decreased from 36in 1990 to just 9% today. And number 17 the US carbon emissions continue to decline. They are now 17% below 2005 levels. Thank you Elon Musk and other manufacturers of making electric vehicles. Um, you know, obviously there's more work to be done there. I drive a combustion engine truck, and I'm going to continue to do that because I need the range.

Speaker3:
But I think there are more electric vehicles on the roads, and I think that's a good thing. Um, but as an investor, you need to balance the bad news with with an understanding of the positive trends as well. It doesn't hurt for Westerners to stop occasionally and recognize that we are living longer, safer, richer, and freer lives than any other people in the history of the world. And I think we're about to get a lot more freer and a lot more richer with Donald J. Trump being our president. Americans have much to celebrate, especially on the economic front, and specifically that the election was too big to rig. I mean, way to go, Donald J. Trump. And also the mandate that you receive by getting Senate having control of the Senate and the House, that's a big deal as well. And we've got supposed control of the Supreme Court. And we'll see how, um, those Supreme Court justices vote. The Federal Reserve reported last year that median household income hit a record. So did median household net worth. There were a record number of American millionaires. Corporate sales and earnings are up. So are profit margins and so are our share price. The S&P 500 had 57 record closes last year. Um, listen, we're all prone to grumble about things that are wrong with the world, but but if you're going to risk your hard earned and hard saved capital in the stock market, you need to appreciate the positive developments as well.

Speaker3:
There have always been serious problems in the world, and there will always be serious problems in the world. Yet in many ways, the trend is really our friend. But you have to realize if you want to take advantage of it, you need to stay invested. And I strongly encourage you to take some cash that's sitting on the sidelines, invested at least into fixed index annuities so you can get market like gains without market risk. We have clients that are going to be making 44 plus percent in this upcoming year over the over the last two years from fixed indexed annuities that two year protection periods, as long as the market just stays even flat of where they are right now. So if you've got interest in learning how to do that, I encourage you to reach out to us at retirement. Com that's retirement results.com. And you can also call us at (770) 685-1777. Again our number is (770) 685-1777. You really do need to stay invested. You really should be invested to keep pace with inflation. And you really should try to at least get market like gains without market risk. And you can also get market gains with some market risk, specifically smart financial market risk by being tactically managed with your portfolios, also minimizing the expense ratio within your portfolio and also trying to reduce the standard deviation in your portfolio, which is a measurement of risk. And we help our clients do clients do that each and every day. And, Sam, I'll let you take us out. Yeah.

Speaker4:
I think anybody listening to that great summary from that chief investment officer can feel really encouraged and hopeful about what's to come in the next week and the next four years that the new administration, hopefully we can further amplify that positive trajectory. We know a lot of our listeners are pre-retirees. Many more are retirees who are really looking to protect and grow their wealth for the next 20, 30 years so that them and their spouse and their family and loved ones can be safe and protected and really flourish in retirement. And we're going to continue to give actionable advice and some tips today on the show. When we come back, we're going to have a lot of great information about Social Security on this week's show, the quote of the week, and why you can't prepare for retirement the same way your parents and grandparents did. All that's coming up next on retirement results.

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

Speaker5:
I don't know.

Where to go to. Why don't you go where fashion sits?

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

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers. I'm Fort Stokes and chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here with us, our senior financial advisor and co-host on our financial radio show that's called Retirement Results. And again, if you're wondering who a result driver is, it's somebody who's trying to build a tax efficient, fee efficient and market efficient portfolio so they can build for a successful retirement. We're here to help you protect your hard earned and hard saved wealth. Uh, you know, I'm sure it was tough to to make the money, but I'm sure it was even harder for you to save it. And we want to help get your money working as hard as you did or as hard as you were still working. Uh, also, if you can stand it to work an extra six months to a year and just bank and save that money and get used to working and living on that retirement income and really minimizing your expenses and also chucking some more money into your retirement nest egg, and also building that own personal pension that you probably are looking to do. Uh, I would encourage you to do it. You can also give us a call. We can help you plan for that retirement future. All you've got to do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. Now, Sam, you've got some Social Security updates you want to go through. And kind of the current state of Social Security. And also you've got a great financial wisdom quote of the week for us.

Speaker4:
Yeah. We're kind of talking about government and their role in your retirement today. You know in segment one we talked about, you know, all the positive momentum that we see as Trump prepares to take office for his second term. And we're going to talk a little bit about Social Security as well, because we want to make sure everybody out there is making the most of their benefit. So let's get started with that quote of the week.

Speaker6:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker4:
And this week's quote of the week comes to us from Paul Craig Roberts. And he said he's an economist. He said the real Social Security crisis is that the government does not have the money to redeem its IOUs. And we've been talking about this for the last year or two on our radio show that, you know, the OSD Trust Fund and that Oasi Trust fund that stands for old age survivors and disability insurance and old age and survivors insurance. Those are two different trust funds. Uh, one. The SDI is expected to pay full benefits until only 2035, so only about ten more years where that fund is expected to pay full benefits. And the Oasi trust fund is expected to pay full benefits until 2033. So only about eight years left on that one. So what that means for you potentially, and your Social Security income benefit is that after that projected trust fund reserve depletion in 2035, which bear in mind, that is less than ten years away now, we will be in the mid 2030s. Continuing income would only cover what they expect is 83% of program costs, further declining to 73% over the next five decades or so.

Speaker4:
So all of those out there who are planning on receiving Social Security, who think they'll depend on Social Security as a big part of their income plan, really need to consider that one. It's not keeping up with inflation the way we feel it should. And two, the. The Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Administration is coming out now just fewer than ten years in advance and saying, hey, we may not be able to pay full benefits. And, Ford, you're a registered social security analyst in our office. You prepare these maximization reports for not just our clients, but any one of our radio show listeners who actually picks up the phone, gives us a call or goes to our website to schedule a consultation, we can get them started on making the best decision for them when it comes to their Social Security benefits. And Ford, you get a lot of questions about these benefits. So what's that been like over the last year or so, working with people specifically on Social Security? And how do you think we here at Active Wealth can help?

Speaker3:
Yeah, it's incredibly gratifying to see people make 8%, 16%, 24%, sometimes 48% more as a household by getting that RSA roadmap. Now, obviously more with Social Security. The longer you wait, the more you're going to make. In fact, each year that you wait after your full retirement age or Fra, which is usually right around 67, for folks that are born after 1960, it's like 66 and a few months for folks that were born before 1960. It's a good idea to wait as long as you can. What I would encourage you to do is to definitely don't take Social Security while you're still working. If you can stand it because you've got an opportunity to really kind of let that money grow. And you really, with what the industry calls, you get an 8% roll up each year that you wait, um, especially after your full retirement age. But there's more things that that married couples can do. Uh, we've got one couple that that we've worked with since February of 2024, and they own a business. And, um, Cherie, she actually will. She's filed for her own benefits. She's 63 years young, and she's going to go ahead and file, and she's going to make about $15,000 a year on her number. Then the husband, Jim, is going to file. Um, he's going to wait all the way until age 67 or 68. He's 62 now, and she's a little bit older than he is.

Speaker3:
And then when he files and then she files the spousal, they're going to grow from 15% to well over $50,000 because he's going to get quite a Social Security benefit, and then she's going to get half of his as a spouse. And so he's going to make about 40,000 a year, and she's going to going to get half of his and she's going to get about 20,000 a year. So it's really close to 60,000 actually over her original $15,000 individual benefit, because she worked a good amount of her life, but she hasn't worked over the last ten years, really. And so I just strongly urge you to consider, you know, getting an RSA roadmap and reaching out to us at retirement Results.com. That's retirement. Results.com because they would have missed the $15,000 a year between now and when Cherie turned 67. They would have missed four years of it. So, I mean, that's 60,000 bucks that the household would have not gotten had they not reached out to us. So if you're curious on how much you could make between filing as your own for your own Social Security income benefit, and then also waiting as a spouse to file your spousal benefit, That I would encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement results.com and put your information in at retirement.com/plan. That's retirement results.com/plan.

Speaker4:
Yeah. And if anybody out there wants to get started really step one would be to go to Ssa.gov and create an account if you haven't already. Inside that Ssa.gov, it's an official government account that will be tied to your Social Security number. You can look at all of your taxable earnings history back to when you first started paying taxes. Maybe you got your first job at 18 or 19, and that's when you'll see those records go back to and what we need from you. If you'd like an RSA roadmap to get this Social Security maximization report, there are two different types of files you can download. One is a PDF file which you may be familiar with. That's not the one we need. We actually need your XML file. That's XML and you can download that directly from your SSA gov account if you send that over to us, Ford can put that together for you. As a registered Social Security analyst. You can get that put together quickly, and we can start to answer questions specifically about your situation. So you really owe it to yourself to, you know, figure out those answers. Because Ford people's lifestyle in retirement is really based off of how much dependable monthly income they have coming into the household. I mean, in that situation you just described, I mean, that's thousands of dollars difference in their budget that buys a lot of groceries, that buys a lot of extra memories with the grandkids, whether you're taking them to, you know, Six Flags or the movies or headed down to Disney during the summer, um, we want people to have that freedom and flexibility in retirement, which is why we put so much stress on income planning in our practice.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So the biggest two components of an income planning, well, there's really three really big ones. So number one would be maximizing your Social Security income benefit. It's benefit. It's going to be the number one or number two most important decision in retirement about when you take Social Security. That's not my words. That's coming from Tom Hegna, who's one of my retirement planning heroes out there. Um, he's a former lieutenant colonel in the Army. Um, just helps people retire. He's helped, uh, hundreds of thousands of people retire successfully. Big fan of Tom Hegna and his work. He's all over LinkedIn if you're ever looking for him and some of his content. But the second one is, is trying to build your own personal pension and taking like 20 to 40% of your portfolio and investing it into the nationwide peak ten fixed indexed annuity, or the Energy Choice or North American fixed indexed annuity product. Those three products, out of the hundreds of different annuity products that we have available to us, those seem to be the best that are paying the most or doing the best work and that are giving people the greatest rates of return and the greatest amounts of income. Come right back. You're listening to retirement results, and we're talking about the top three components to important retirement income. So you can enjoy your retirement years.

Speaker2:
You're listening to retirement results where we help you protect and grow your hard saved money.

I wear my sunglasses at night, so.

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 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. Visit Retirement Results.com to schedule your free, no obligation consultation today. And now back to the show.

Speaker3:
And welcome back result drivers I'm Fort Stokes, the chief financial advisor. I've got Sam Davis here with us. He's our senior financial advisor and co-host. We're talking about the three most important components to your retirement income plan. So number one is maximizing your Social Security income benefit not just for you but also for your spouse. And there's things that you could do as a married couple that single filers can't do. And I would encourage you to reach out to us at retirement. Com forward slash plan. That's retirement results.com/plan. So also Sam was talking about getting your XML file. The way you can download that is you go to Ssa.gov and you click the blue text link right underneath the download link for the PDF. We don't necessarily want your Social Security statement PDF because they're aggregating decades right now, and they're off about 5% to the negative for you. And we want to make sure that we're planning it correctly. So you can point that out when you meet with Social Security Administration. Doesn't mean they're bad people. It just means that you need to get your top 35 earning years into an RSA roadmap, so you can understand all of the benefits that are due to you and your spouse. This is a big deal, Sam. I don't know how to make it more important for folks to reach out to us.

Speaker3:
And also they really should try to reach out to us at via also RSA. Com forward slash QR. That's rsa.com/qr stands for Quick Retirement Report. Go ahead and check that out and put your information in. And also get your XML file to us. And we'll get you going on a free registered Social Security analyst roadmap, which is a Social Security maximization report. Sam's actually brought it up here. If you just go to RSA, QR, that's a great place to get started on that Social Security one. So we're talking about these three anchors of retirement income plan. So number one is get an RSA roadmap to maximize your Social Security income benefit. So you know when to file and know when to file for individual filing. And also so the spouse or your wife knows when to file for spousal benefit because she can file both, especially in her 60s. So you ought to reach out to us about that. Number two is you really should try to build your own personal pension. We like for people to consider building their own personal pension with fixed index annuities with 20 to 40% of their portfolio. And I'm going to give you an example. So we've got a gentleman who is a physician and he's fantastic. He called us last week and he's got $7 million. He's got $1 million with an annuity that is offered by Merrill Lynch.

Speaker3:
And he could not believe the benefits and how much greater the growth was and the guaranteed interest growth with the nationwide Pac ten compared to his product. And he's going to write $1 million with us on the nationwide Pac ten because he just wants to get he's going to defer up to ten years. He's going to get 8% each year that he defers. He's going to get a 20% immediate bonus into the income account, and he's getting 290%. On how the BNP Paribas Global Factor Index performs. That's averaging kind of between 4 and 5% a year. So every two years you're getting 10% times 2.9 less than 1% spread rate. So if the if the index goes up 10% over two years total, you're going to get 29% growth in your account value, less a 1% spread fee. So you're going to get 28% net to you. That's what it's illustrating at. That's what it estimates. The growth is based on the last ten years of performance of that BNP Paribas Global Factor index. And that's just one annuity. That's just the nationwide P ten. Now granted only 1% of advisors have access to it. And Sam, you and I have access to that product. You've you're putting people in that product that are even 45 years young. We're seeing real solutions here with that nationwide pick ten product.

Speaker3:
Also the SPDR Synergy Choice, if people want to get 85% of the growth of the Invesco Q index without any downside market risk, without their money being invested in the financial markets, but there the interest is invested into options. So that allows you to grow. And your principal is 100% protected by your contract with SPDR. And there an A minus rated carrier. So they're a highly rated carrier. That's another option, another avenue to go. We've got other options from, you know, A+ carriers like North American that are offering, you know, 15 to 26% immediate bonus on that. It's a pretty good stuff there. But so number number one is let's maximize that Social Security income benefit. And let's get that RSA roadmap going. And let's go to RSA. And get started. Number two is let's get going on a personal pension. Let's reach out to us at retirement Results.com. That's retirement Results.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner or visit retirement Results.com plan. Submit your information. We'll get started right away. And then number three is you want to get a get a budget, you want to understand what your retirement income budget is, what are your expenses versus what are your income sources. And let's start with that positive retirement income surplus and not a negative retirement income gap. Let's do that. So the three things we're talking about today to maximize your retirement income is number one, get an RSA roadmap to maximize your Social Security income benefit over time.

Speaker3:
Again, reminder that when you choose to turn on Social Security, it's going to be the number one or number two most important decision regarding retirement income you're going to make throughout all of your retirement years. Number two is let's consider building your own personal pension and also outpace the withdrawal rate so that your account value continues to grow while you're also getting withdrawals without market risk. And oh, by the way, here's one more hint. With a fixed index annuity, there are no advisory and portfolio fees because we as financial advisors cannot double dip. We can't get paid a commission from the insurance carrier or the annuity carrier, and then also charge a management and portfolio fee and advisory and portfolio fee. So if you want to delete 20 to 40% of your advisory fees and portfolio fees, then I encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results.com. And number three is let's get a retirement income gap analysis. Let's make sure we start with that retirement income surplus not a negative retirement income gap. Sam your thoughts on all of this I want to make sure that people understood. There's three really important points regarding building a retirement income plan for all their retirement years.

Speaker4:
Yeah. Just would really encourage people to get started. I mean, it's January, it's the start of a new year. It's about to be the start of a new administration in Washington, DC. And it's it's time to get that new plan in place. And all it's going to cost you is a little bit of your time. You know. Get those statements pulled together. You're going to be doing any of all of that anyway here pretty soon with tax season right around the corner. So get those statements pulled together, you know, visit active Wealth.com. That's actually our practice website. Visit active Wealth.com. Poke around, learn a little bit more about us and actually submit your financial workbook. We can get started on your plan right away and forward. We've got offices in the Atlanta area. We enjoy meeting people in person, but we work with a lot of people who we work with virtually as well. So if you can't make it to the office every time, that's completely okay. We can get started on your plan. Just visit active Wealth.com to learn a bit more about us, or you can visit our show website. Retirement. Com listen to this entire episode. So if you missed the first part of this episode, you want to go back and learn more. You can find our show wherever you listen to podcasts. And on either one of those websites, you can give us a call or request your complimentary consultation. And Ford, it's a $2,500 value. I think people just spent quite a bit of money over the holiday season. I would love to provide all the folks out there listening with some value, $2,500 value, and you want to go through, you know, with a couple minutes left here in this segment what all that includes.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So what you get is and it is absolutely a $2,500 value. Number one is you get that registered Social Security analysts roadmap. You get that RSA roadmap from me. I'm one of only 15 registered Social security analysts in the state of Georgia. So we're here to help you do that. And also we work with people in all 50 states. So if you listen to us on the podcast, we're happy to help you. No problem. And thanks to the 20,000 plus listeners who have downloaded and listened to our podcast over the last year, thank you, thank you, thank you. And also just shout out to the result drivers out there. Thanks for making us the number one listened to radio show on Am 920. The answer here. Um, so you're first you're going to get the RSA roadmap. Number two is you're going to get a portfolio analysis of your current portfolio so you can understand the fees you're paying and the risk you're taking. So we're going to give you a metric measurement of your expense ratio, a metric measurement of the risk you're taking as measured by standard deviation. And we're also going to help you understand the true correlation of your assets. Those are three things you probably aren't aware of within your current portfolio. So I encourage you to reach out to us at retirement results.com. So that's number two. Number three is we're going to give you a financial plan, your 95th birthday. That has nothing to do with us. It's going to be everything to do with your current plan. Number four is we're going to give you a retirement plan to your 95th birthday with our recommended portfolios. And number five is we're going to give you a retirement plan to your 95th birthday with our recommended portfolios.

Speaker3:
That also includes a Roth conversion plans. You can delete the IRS out of being your partner in your retirement accounts, if that's of any interest to you. Most people are extremely interested in deleting the IRS from their retirement accounts, for sure, so I encourage you to reach out to us at Retirement results or active wealth.com will get started. One other bonus thing in there of those five will also give you a retirement income gap analysis, so you can understand if you're going to start with a positive retirement income surplus or a negative retirement income gap. Sam, I'm so glad you mentioned that. We are seeing companies and wirehouses charging. They've got advisors and also those drive up brokerage houses like Edward Jones and others that are charging $2,500 just to do annual reviews or just to do financial plans. We're including Social Security roadmaps. We're including retirement income gap analysis. We're including retirement income planning all the way through, plus the Roth ladder conversions and that strategic Roth IRA conversion plan to minimize the taxes you're going to pay when you convert from your IRA to your Roth IRA. So it's actually even more than $2,500 of a value. I would encourage all of our listeners, especially if you've listened for a long time. We've had so many long time listeners that have actually called us this year. It was in their New Year's resolution to reach out and call us. I'd encourage you to call us at (770) 685-1777. We want you to come right back for segment four. We're talking more about how to build your retirement income, how to maximize your Social Security, and also how to implement a little bit of smart risk investing as well. Thanks so much for listening to retirement results right here on Am 920. The answer.

Speaker2:
Retirement results. We'll be right back.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo. The first time I saw.

Speaker2:
You miss part of today's show, retirement results is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at retirement results.com.

Speaker3:
Welcome back. Result drivers. I'm Ford stokes, your chief financial adviser got Sam Davis here with us, and he's our senior financial advisor and co-host. So, Sam, you've got quite the list on why people cannot prepare for retirement the same way that their parents and grandparents have done.

Speaker4:
Yeah, that's right. We've got a number of different items to consider as you're thinking about your own retirement plan. You may find yourself thinking about your parent's retirement or your grandparents retirement back when you were younger. So we're going to go through each one of these reasons why planning for retirement today in 2025 is different, and you need to have a modern plan and a modern solution to the problems that retirees are facing today. And and number one is a changing retirement age. Now, in the past, many retirees expected to stop working at a particular age, often around 65, they got to 65. They got that gold watch from their employer that they had been with for 30 or 40 years. They got the pension and they headed on into retirement. But nowadays retirement is different. That retirement age is more flexible. You know, if you want to work longer, that's an option. And others, you know, choose to retire early. Or maybe they run a business and they sell out and they decide to retire a bit earlier. So the age is different these days. Ford.

Speaker3:
It is. And we've seen it kind of all over the board. I think Covid made a lot of people retire early, and some of them wish they'd kept working. Um, some of them, if they've gotten a little bit longer, they've been able to kind of work from home and they've been able to kind of delete the commute out of it, which in Atlanta is a big deal. But at the same time, I really like to see people. Not that I'm a slave driver, but I like to see people work at least 6 to 12 months longer so they can really stockpile, but also get used to living on that retirement income because it can be a shock. Uh, you know, it's it's a real shock when you're living on fixed Income after that. Also, a lot of people feel like, well, I'm only going to be able to take out 4% of my assets and there's no other way to do it. And Sam, you and I are here to tell them there actually is a different way to do it. And I would encourage you to consider reaching out to us at retirement plan. That's retirement results.com/plan. And we can help you plan for when you're going to stop working and really start those retirement years and really enjoy those retirement years.

Speaker4:
Yeah, it's not something you'll want to rush into. In fact, Ford, I was having a conversation with one of our clients just last week about this. You know, he's a teacher, he's in his mid 60s, and he's starting to think about retirement. Um, very passionate about what he does, you know, working with kids. And he also has the opportunity to coach on the football team. So he doesn't want to step away too quickly. You know he's feeling ready for retirement but knows that once he steps away, that's a big shift in his life and his lifestyle and and what I recommended to him, and what I recommend to a lot of people is, you know, if you retire too soon, that's going to create a little bit of a problem. It's kind of hard to retire too late for it, because you'll know when that time's right. If you make it to 68 or 69 years old and you're like, all right, I've worked a couple years longer than maybe I wanted to, but now's the right time. I would recommend people err on the side of retiring, maybe a year or two late, rather than a year or two early. Give yourself the opportunity to save and just a bit more runway. What do you think?

Speaker3:
Yeah I agree. Completely agree with that. Also, you know we've got people living longer as well.

Speaker4:
Yeah, longer life expectancy. This is another reason why you can't prepare for retirement the same way as your grandparents. People are living longer. That means retirement savings have to last longer. And that's why we put so much of a focus on income planning, because that's what dictates your lifestyle. It's not the size of your nest egg, because at this point you don't know how long you're gonna live, but you do know that you're going to need regular, guaranteed lifetime income that's going to last as long as you do. And that's why the strategy needs to change.

Speaker3:
Yeah, for sure. You're going to have to you're going to have to plan. Because believe it or not, longevity risk is a real risk because you don't want to outlive your money. You want your money to outlive you. We also want you to live for a really long time. So we've got to make sure that your money lasts, but also so you can enjoy your money too. What we like to do is we like to invest like 20 to 40% of people's assets into a fixed indexed annuity. That is where the annual rate of return and the guaranteed interest rate that goes into the retirement income account is 8%. That's one. Number two is we want to make sure that the actual rate of return is outpacing the rate of withdrawal, so that therefore, your account value continues to grow even when you're getting withdrawals. So therefore, you know, a lot of variable annuities that have, you know, income riders that get sold by banks, those things, those account values go to zero because they're securities. They're at risk. They got 3 to 6% in fees every year. We call those variable don't do annuities. We don't like doing variable annuities. We don't sell variable annuities here at active Wealth Management. Fixed index annuities are a way to go. And they're a great way to plan for that longer life expectancy. So because you can't outlive your money. So that's a that's just another good hint today that people should write down and remember and also reach out to us at retirement results.com.

Speaker4:
Yeah. The next reason why you can't prepare for retirement the same way your parents or grandparents did is pension decline. I mean, 30 years ago, a majority of those of you listening to the radio may have had pensions, but that is just not the case these days. What you're more likely to have is a work sponsored retirement savings plan, like a 401 K or a or a 457, or maybe a 403 B, and if you don't have a pension, you should seriously consider establishing one for yourself. And a lot of people don't know that that's something you can actually do. But with the highly rated carriers that we work with for, that's exactly what we help people implement in their plans every single week.

Speaker3:
Yeah. It's uh, here's another great hint. Believe it or not, you can generate your own personal pension. That's better than what's offered by employers right now. According to US News and World Report, there's only 16% of all S&P 500 companies still offer a pension. Believe it or not, a majority of those that we work with, AT&T is one of those employers in town that that offers one. We're seeing almost 100% of those people taking a lump sum and investing into their own personal pension, or so they can get a bonus on that money, and then also so they can get greater rate of return. A lot of those pensions are flat that the old school pensions. Whereas you want to have a market like gains with your fixed index annuity. So you can build that personal pension that's going to grow over time. So the income will grow over time and the account value will grow over time. If you're curious and you think wait a second, that sounds almost too good to be true. I promise you it's not. Go ahead and reach out to us at retirement. Com or give us a call at 770685177777706851777. It's the final.

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

Speaker3:
On today's show, we talked a lot about Social Security and how to maximize your Social Security income benefit. We talked about that. The OAS and the OAS, OSD, both of those are looking to sunset in 2033 and 2035, which It could mean like a literally a 23% across the board. Cut to your Social Security income benefit if Congress doesn't do something. So you need to have a good plan for your own Social Security as well. Uh, these are all real facts. You can look them up at SSA. Gov. And also the Congressional Budget Office at CBO. Gov. We've also talked in depth about how to build that retirement income plan. And also we're offering a $2,500 value with financial planning to your 95th birthday. Roth conversion planning to delete the IRS from being your partner in retirement. And then also just giving you that RSA roadmap and helping you understand the fees you're paying, the risk you're taking with a complete metric financial portfolio analysis. Um, I think that's something that we can really help you help you do. Um, all of that together is a $2,500 value. You really should take advantage of it. We know you've been a long time listener. So many long time listeners have made us the number one listened to radio show here on Am nine two, and the answer on the weekends.

Speaker3:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing that. But we also want to help you. We want to repay the favor. Go ahead and reach out to us at retirement Results.com. That's retirement Results.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner, or call us at (770) 685-1777. Again (770) 685-1777. And we're happy to help you get started right away and planning for that successful retirement to help minimize the fees you're paying, minimize the risk you're taking, and help you maximize the growth of your money. Again, what we say all the time is we're here to first protect your money and then grow your money. And remember, if you're seeking information about retirement, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly. Do everything you can to get as much information as possible. Go ahead and reach out to us at retirement Results.com. We'll give you a free financial consultation that is that $2,500 value, absolutely free at no cost to you. And again, reach out to us at retirement results.com/plan. Listen I hope everybody has a great week. And next week we're talking about more about smart risk and smart safe investing for you in this new era with Donald J. Trump will be your 47th president of the United States. Have a great week, everybody.

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

Speaker1:
Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interest of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest. Please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV Two-a item four for additional information. Fixed annuities, including multi-year guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees, and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

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