Why Your Income Strategy is the Key to Retirement Success

6.13.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

6.13.25: 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's your chief financial adviser? Ford. Stokes.

Speaker3:
Welcome to your retirement results. Result drivers. I'm Ford stokes, your chief financial adviser. Got Sam Davis here with us on the show. He's our senior advisor and co-host. Sam, say hello to everybody. Welcome to the weekend result. Drivers hope everybody is.

Speaker4:
Having a fantastic start to their summer. And Ford just want to give a special shout out to all the dads out there celebrating Father's Day weekend. Shout out to my father who's working hard back in Kansas in the busy season this summer, and shout out to all the dads listening to retirement results.

Speaker3:
Yeah, um, happy birthday to my dad. In a few months, um, he'll be 88. In a few months. Um. My dad. Happy Father's Day to my dad, Mac Stokes, who, um, is a practicing attorney. Still, um, he's kind of taking a step back, finally. But, um, he's doing well hanging out there in Mableton and with my stepmom Carol, and they're doing great. So happy dad's day, dad, and happy Father's Day out there to all the fathers. I will be enjoying Father's Day sitting on the couch watching the US open and getting breakfast. Um, to be able to, uh, you know, right there at the house with the girls and, and Diana. And that's usually my Father's Day getting, like, a really great breakfast with orange juice. You take orange juice concentrate, and they create orange, like, slushies and put, like, a really big strawberry on the edge of the of the highball glass or whatever. It's. It's pretty nice situation. Um, so that's what I'll be doing. Um, and also really cool to see, um, this year's US Open at Oakmont, although, you know, early on the, the players were really getting after that course when it was because the rain and all that stuff, We'll see how it how it goes.

Speaker3:
I'm sure, as it dries out. But, um, if they get three days without rain. Look out! It's it's going to be really fast. Um, so on today's show, we're going to talk about making the switch to Decumulation, because when you when you're working, you're accumulating wealth, you're in the accumulation phase and you're adding assets to your wealth portfolio, if you will. That is your private wealth. It is your wealth. And we're a private wealth management firm here. We're here to help. We're here to help and manage the hard earned and hard saved wealth that you've got out there. So we're going to talk about why your income strategy is the key to retirement success. Um, also overview of today's show. We're going to talk about why you need a plan for income, plus ways to protect your income for life. We've also got a three bucket strategy balancing safety, income and growth for the future. We're talking about truth about the 4% rule. Is this conventional wisdom outdated or still useful? And then accumulation to decumulation making the right changes to your own plan. And Sam, why don't you go ahead and share this week's financial wisdom quote of the week from Earl Nightingale.

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

Speaker4:
As in all successful ventures, the foundation of a good retirement is planning. And Ford. That's what Earl Nightingale said. I have to agree with them. I'm a natural planner. I'm a very detail focused person, and that's really what I like to try to bring to the table. When I'm working with listeners to retirement results, or anyone who stops by the active wealth office to really start crossing that bridge into retirement. And that's what we enjoy helping people do. There's a lot of you out there who are in your late 50s getting close to retirement. You're your early 60s and really starting to think about taking that next step. And, you know, we bring this information every week on the show forward and on the podcast feed. If you missed part of the radio show, you can always listen to our episodes on demand. But we we agree with Earl Nightingale that the foundation of a good retirement is planning, and all it costs you is a little bit of your time to get that planning started and start charting a course to reach your goals.

Speaker3:
Yeah, two of my dad's keys to success is want to show up and finish. You just got to show up and then you have to actually finish the project, finish the job, finish the drill, whatever you're going to do. And the other one is plan your work and work your plan. So what we hope you, you want to do is take advantage of that free $2,500 value by getting a full financial plan with portfolio analysis, RSA roadmap, retirement income gap analysis, and strategic growth ladder bladder conversion, all those. You get all those things. Absolutely. For free from from us. It's a $2,500 total value. And I'll just reach out to us at retirement plan. That's retirement com forward slash plan or call us at (770) 685-1777. And it's really good to be able to understand the risks you're taking and the fees you're paying with your current plan. And we'll help you do all that has nothing to do with us. So if you want to know how successful your current plan is going to be, we can help you do that. That portfolio analysis will give you that expense ratio and also give you a measurement of standard deviation, which is a measurement of risk. We'll do that as well. And then we'll give you our recommended portfolios with a financial plan to your 95th birthday. All these plans go to your 95th birthday by the way. And then we'll give you a strategic Roth ladder conversion as well, so we can help you delete the IRS and be your partner.

Speaker3:
Retirement. And the last thing I'll say is, you know, we'll give you that ask and say roadmap, which is a Social Security maximization report that's going to help you make the right decisions on when to take Social Security income. I'm a registered Social security analyst. There's only 23 of us here in the state of Georgia now, and I'm happy to help you run that plan as well. We just need your top 35 earning years. We get that from your Social Security statement. Hopefully you can give us the XML files. Um, and we'll work through that that you get from SSA. And we'll help you find those and get those to you. All you gotta do is reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 or visit us at retirement. Results.com and Sam, your thoughts on all the planning that we give people on the front end? You you know, definitely you're detail oriented. All of us are here at Active Wealth Management. The active wealth management advisors are the ones that power retirement results. Sam, you're our co-host. Matt McClure does a great job with our roving reporter. Order reports that he does. And, um, and we've got other advisors as well. Just your thoughts on the planning that we provide on the front end so people can make that informed financial decision?

Speaker4:
Well, when you were just given information, letting all the listeners here know what they get when they start working with us completely for free. I thought of a couple teachers, a couple educators that we've actually helped retire so far in 2025, and for what they really appreciated about the analysis and the planning process is we take a look at where you're at now. We get your account statements. We go through your balance sheet, we take a look at your expenses and what your budget is, you know, what are those budget requirements that you need month to month in order to pay the bills, eat and really, you know, make a living, right? And we'll actually give you a grade from 0 to 100 on how likely your current plan that has nothing to do with us is to help you meet your goals in retirement. And we've worked with folks that have received a perfect score on that, and we've worked with plenty of folks who have received a very low score on that. And then what we do with our recommended plans is we give that recommended plan a grade two and compare the difference and look at just a couple of changes. Often is all it takes to really get you from a D or an F, a failing grade up to an A, which is where we like to see everybody at a passing grade. And ideally we get you to that 100% chance of success.

Speaker3:
Also, 100% chance of success really helps people have that peace of mind during retirement. We feel like that's the right way to go. Um, so again, just reach out to us at retirement Results.com or put your information in and we'll get started right away. And now let's talk about the need for retirement income planning and why focusing on growth alone isn't the answer.

Speaker4:
Yeah. What I would say first, Ford, is that, you know, when you're transitioning to retirement, understand that the way that you continue to save money and the way that you think about your money should start to change a little bit. You know, you're not going to be focused on growth alone as you make that transition into retirement. Most importantly, you want to make sure that you're tackling that number one fear that most pre-retirees and retirees have. And that's am I going to run out of money? You know, what can you do to build a strong retirement income plan that makes sure that at the very worst, you're not going to run out of money? And ideally, if you can shore up your income plan in retirement, what that means is that you can afford to take more risks with the money that you do have invested in the market, because you know that your needs are going to be met month to month. So, Ford, we've got a few things that kind of go into what a good retirement income plan is. And the first one there is minimizing risks.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You want to kind of take risk off the table, right? You just really need to make sure that you can identify and address the key financial risks. And also, if you don't know what a measurement of risk is and what your standard deviation is within your own portfolio, you really should give us a call. You really should get a free financial plan with portfolio analysis from us. And we're going to we're going to go ahead and help you understand the risks you're taking and the fees you're paying, but also the correlation of your assets. So when the market goes down, how much your are your assets going to go down as well. And we just encourage you to reach out to us at retirement Plan. We'll get started right away to help you understand the risk you're taking and that measurement of standard deviation within your portfolio. And when we come back to the break, we're going to talk about more about how to determine expenses and income for your income plan. Develop a strategy for investments, income and withdrawals and how to stay on track with your retirement income plan. You're listening to retirement results right here on Am 920. The answer and WW.

Speaker2:
Call (770) 685-1777 to schedule your free No obligation meeting with us today. You're listening to retirement results. Schedule your free, no obligation consultation today by visiting retirement Results.com. Now back to the show.

Speaker3:
And welcome back to retirement results for adult drivers. I'm Fort Stokes chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis here with me, our co-host and and financial advisor, senior financial advisor here on retirement results. Again reminder that, um, you result drivers are just a big thank you again. You guys have made us the number one listen to radio show on Am 912. The answer we're also growing like crazy on one of those folks that are around Gainesville and at the lake. And, um, thanks so much for listening to retirement results. We've gotten a lot of calls from first time callers this past week. I'd encourage you to go and reach out to us at 777. Again, that number (770) 685-1777. If you can't remember the phone number, it's a lot easier just to remember retirement results. Just go to retirement results. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner or just visit Retirement Plan. Submit your information. We'll give you a call and we'll get started right away to helping you get on the right path for retirement. Get that plan, that sound plan that you can count on ready to go. And we're talking about Sam right now, the role of a retirement income plan. We just talked about minimizing risk. We've talked about standard deviation being a measurement of risk. And now we're going to kind of dive into determining expenses and income. What's the best way for folks to do that.

Speaker4:
Yeah. Well it's going to come down to that B word. Right. You got to figure out what your budget is. What do you need each and every month to make sure that you are paying your bills in retirement? You know, all those things like taxes, insurance, food that goes on the table, all those different bills, the fun stuff as well. You know, you want to budget for those annual vacations, those trips to, you know, go see the baseball game with dad if you're headed out there to a ballgame this weekend, Father's Day weekend. Um, you know, for my dad always taught me I worked a lot with him growing up to measure twice and cut once. So when it comes down to determining your expenses, figure out exactly what it is. You know, comb through that budget, look through those statements. A lot of the, you know, bank apps and credit card companies make it really easy to show you exactly what you're spending, and they'll actually do a lot of the work for you to categorize it into different things like bills or groceries. And so figure out what you're actually spending, because as fiduciaries and financial advisors, we're going to need to find a way to help you create that predictable income that comes every month in retirement.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You really want to make sure you start with that positive retirement income surplus and not start with a negative retirement income gap also with expenses and income. You want to start with that positive surplus that we talked about. But you got to be careful on inflation as well because inflation can really eat up the buying power. And we've seen a lot of inflation since 2020. It's getting better. I think that the Trump administration is figuring that out and and getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse. I think that really helps. I think the tariffs are really helping getting money in. Obviously some people would say, well, tariffs are driving up the cost of goods. In some respects they are and in other respects that other countries are eating it. And we're seeing actually drops in prices on certain products. And and also remember when our American farmers get access to more domestic markets where they've been cut out because of low cutting stuff from Mexico or Canada. Um, we're in a lot better shape. Uh, and they're, they're able to sell more and they're able to sell more at a, at a lesser amount. So, you know, whether it's strawberries or eggs or milk or whatever that we're seeing there. I mean, it was very difficult for strawberry farmers to compete in the United States. It was very difficult. Um, and now that Mexico has to pay tariffs on their strawberries, it's a totally different ballgame. And milk in the northeast are dairy farmers couldn't export because there's like 340% tariffs on their milk. Now they're able to find more of a domestic market, because the Canadian milk producers aren't able to really access the market like they used to in the United States. Sam, what's the next part? What's the next role of a retirement income plan? What's that next element we really need to share with the folks?

Speaker4:
Yeah, well, it really comes down to developing that strategy for your investments. How are you going to turn some of those investments into withdrawals? So it's going to be the income that you live on in retirement And for when we meet with a lot of people for the first time, and we ask them kind of what their strategy is, they don't really have a plan in place. They know that they've got their money and their IRA, or if they're still working, maybe it's in their 401 K or 403 B, whatever account they have, and their plan is to simply just dip in and make withdrawals as they need money during retirement. But often that is far from the most efficient way to do things. You could find yourself in situations where you're pulling money out after markets have been depreciated, like we saw at the early part of the second quarter this year, and there are just much better options out there for paying you your money back and giving you a steady income stream. You know, you should have investments. That is money for later and investments. That is more money for now. And a lot of people out there just kind of dipping into the into the bank vault whenever they need the money, and they're leaving a lot of money on the table and losing it. Um, and during that process. Yeah.

Speaker3:
You.. It's really good to, like I said, plan your work and work your plan, but also just getting that plan for retirement up front. Getting a vision for retirement. What are you doing during retirement? Who are you with during retirement? Where are you located during retirement, and how are you going to fund everything you're going to do during retirement? Those are all really big things for you to better understand. If you just want to go play golf, be in a golf community, or be at the lake, or be at the beach. Great. And you don't have, you know, lavish plans for traveling internationally. That's that's great too. If you've got a plan to relaunch and start a new business, or you've got a plan to help out at the church, or help out with your community and do a lot of volunteer work that may cost you some time and money. Um, that's great too. It's whatever your vision for retirement is going to be, but you got to make sure you can fund it. And a lot of that comes down to income and making sure that your income is Outpacing the expenses. And also you want to minimize withdrawals because withdrawals are downward pressure on your portfolio. We also work with a lot of folks that they're trying to figure out when they're going to take Social Security, and it literally is a customized decision, Sam. It comes down to each and every couple or each and every person because they just they might be over withdrawing too much money early from their portfolio to, to fund their retirement without Social Security income coming into the mailbox.

Speaker3:
We want to do a much better job at helping people understand the ins and outs of income for retirement, and also when to take Social Security. It's going to be the number one or number two. Most important decision you're going to make regarding your retirement income is when to take Social Security. And it could be for your entire retirement. And we also want to help you with spousal and your actual benefit. If you're not the breadwinner, trying to make sure that you can maximize your own Social Security benefit and also top it off with a spousal benefit as well. So we're going to help you there. Um, anyway, just getting that plan and a strategy for investments, income withdrawals, there's a lot that goes into it. But decumulation phase is different. If you stay in this, hey, I'm going to be 100% invested in stocks, and you see 2022 happen where you probably lost 15 to 24%, or you saw April, where there was a significant loss and drop in in the markets because of the tariffs. And now it's kind of settled out. And they came back to a great extent, which is great news. But if you're investing 100% in in high risk, high growth stocks when you're trying to accumulate from your portfolio, that is a big deal.

Speaker3:
And you need to make sure that you're not doing that. You need to get a different strategy. And what we recommend is bond replacement, like replace the bonds in your portfolio. There's no reason to have bonds in your portfolio. They're trading at 135 plus. Go forward price to earnings ratio right now. I personally would rather be invested into fixed index annuities where I'm guaranteed to get my money paid back, my principal guaranteed, and I don't have any financial market risk. If you're interested in getting between 15 and 27% in immediate bonus into the account value and or income value, we can help you with that. And also, we've got a product that's paying out 8% guaranteed in the income account each and every year. And we've got clients that are really loving that product. And it's working out great. We're going to we're going to do another annuity product spotlight in segment four. So stay tuned for that. But when you talk about developing a strategy for investments income and withdrawals, it first starts with that budget. And it first starts with hey you've got to figure out a new strategy. Get away from the accumulation strategy. Let's get into the Decumulation strategy and protect and grow your hard earned and hard saved assets.

Speaker4:
Yeah, and I find sometimes that's really hard for some people, for especially the ones who have been really diligent savers, really consistent about building up their retirement savings throughout their career. It's actually difficult for them, sometimes even painful, for them to start paying or actually spending some of that money that they've been working so hard to build up. But, you know, it is a bit of a mindset shift because this is what you have been saving that money for. You've been working hard your whole career, saving money so that you could have income for yourself during retirement. And for a lot of people, just get a real protective over that nest egg they've built up, and they don't want to see it start to go down the other direction. But when we are building a strong income plan, we start with the guaranteed income sources. We've only got about a minute, minute and a half left in this segment. But Ford, you are a registered Social Security analyst and you help people maximize their Social Security, really using that as a guaranteed income source in the cornerstone of your income plan. After calculating what your Social Security income is going to be, we know how much we have left to Phil on the other end.

Speaker4:
We call that a retirement income gap. So the difference between your monthly budget and what your Social security. And if you have a pension, not many people do. But if you're lucky enough to have a pension, we calculate that into your guaranteed income sources. And then we need to find a way to really fill your retirement income gap. And when we come back from the break, we're going to talk about some different strategies for rounding out your retirement income plan so that you can retire with confidence. And don't be so afraid to spend that money month to month. We want to make sure that you're getting those consistent paychecks, whether it be Social Security or a personal pension. Be sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts you can subscribe for free so you never have to miss an episode. And you can go back and listen to any of the topics that Ford and I talk about on the show. You're listening to retirement results.

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

Speaker6:
On the radio.

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

Speaker3:
Welcome back to retirement results. I'm Ford Stokes, your chief financial advisor. Got Sam Davis here with us, our senior financial advisor and co-host. And on the in this segment, we're talking about the benefits of a bucket strategy. And one of the most significant advantages of bucket strategy is the ability to protect against sequence of returns risk. The risk occurs when the market experiences a downturn early in retirement, potentially locking in losses and depleting your portfolio faster by having a buffer of low risk assets. In the short term bucket, you can avoid selling investments at a loss during market downturns. And let's talk about implementing that retirement bucket strategy. So the first step in implementing the bucket strategy is to estimate your future cost of living. Again we talked about this. Just establish that that monthly budget and also have an idea of what you need income to cover those monthly expenses. And you can also consider an expense tracking app or get a clear picture of it. Just put it into a spreadsheet. We do a monthly budget every month at Stokes household. As an example, based on your estimated annual expenses, you can determine how much to fund each bucket. For example, if you need 50,000 per year to support your standard of living, you would fund the buckets as follows. So, and let's say you've got like a million bucks in your IRA. The immediate bucket would be like $250,000 in cash or equivalents, which would be like bank CDs and things you can get access to quickly, or even invest in accounts that are in safer investments like dividend funds or whatever that looks like, and really diversified stuff.

Speaker3:
Intermediate buckets 6 to 10 years, $300,000 based on 40% allocation of the remaining funds. You could invest that into mygas like a multi-year guaranteed annuities. Um, or you can invest that into brokered CDs or bank CDs, whatever you decide to do in that regard. And then and then the third one is a long term bucket where it's $450,000, based on 60% in equity allocation or remaining funds. You can put those into like an S&P 500 or the Q-q-q or things that have got more of a growth aspect to it. And you could also invest a lot of money into fixed index annuities with either longer term horizon or also we have fixed indexed annuities that are available in five years, not just a ten year product. A lot of the ten year products are really attractive. The 12 and 14 year products are really attractive. You're going to stick with them for a long time. The Nationwide Peak ten is one of our favorites. Also Aspida synergy Choice bonus ten. So another one of our favorites, the North American Charter plus 14 is another fave. Um, because they give a 27% bonus that Aspida gives a ten. I mean, a 15% bonus, and the nationwide peak ten gives a 20% income bonus. The Aspida and the and the North American both will put the bonuses into the account value, and it just vests over time. So when Sam, why don't you go through kind of breaking down the three bucket strategy and just talk about the short term bucket, the intermediate term bucket and the long term bucket? Just give us a little bit more color on that on those three.

Speaker4:
Yeah I would say it's just important to understand different time horizons. So think of it this way. When you're young you're first starting your career, you're first starting to save. You're probably going to save a lot of that money into the stock market, something that is higher risk because you have a long time horizon, you have time to make up for any losses, and you're not going to begin withdrawing any of those assets for a long time. So now as you're closer to retirement, or if you are already early on in retirement, you're going to have different time horizons. You're going to have some money that you need to have access to. Now, this year and over the next few years, not just for living expenses, but, you know, sometimes people are anticipating, hey, I'm going to need to get a new car in the next year or two, or I'm going to need to pay for a grandchild's education or summer camp or something like that in the next year or two. So that would be your immediate bucket. Intermediate would be those expenses that are coming up, but maybe they're more like 6 to 10 years away. So this could be if you are a pre-retiree, maybe in your mid 50s, now, you know you're going to retire in about ten years.

Speaker4:
Why not invest in something that it really benefits you to keep that investment in there for about ten years? And there are a lot of benefits that you can see from that forward. You mentioned the bonus, some great participation rates, things like that, and something like an indexed annuity that gives you market linked gains with principal protection, which a lot of people want as they get closer to retirement. And then the long term bucket, even if you are entering retirement this year, there should be a portion of your assets that has a longer time horizon because people are living longer. Many people are living well into their 90s. So your retirement is going to be 20 or 30 years, maybe even longer. So you should have a portion of your portfolio that's really in that long term bucket, and that can be more invested in the market. What we like to do is make sure that people's income is protected, and they're not going to have to worry about paying those expenses month to month. And with the remainder of their portfolio, they can invest based on their own personal risk tolerance and really feel more comfortable as they enter retirement with that strategy.

Speaker3:
Yeah. If this is the first time you've ever heard about a three bucket strategy with retirement and you want to learn more, I would encourage you to reach out to us at 77068517777770685177, or you can call or you just visit retirement.com/plan. That's retirement com forward slash plan or just go to retirement results.com and click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. Again the financial advisors with active wealth management were the ones powering retirement results. And we look forward to talking with you. And we're so glad that you listened to us. And we want you to be a first time caller. So pick up the phone and give us a call at (770) 685-1777. And Sam, let's transition now to accumulation to decumulation making the transition from saving to spending. You've got a great segment of the outline that you wrote for this. And let's go ahead and go through that one as well. But we got like 4.5 minutes left in this segment three.

Speaker4:
So step one would really be assessing your financial situation. And what we do here at Active Wealth Management and Retirement results goes a long way to help you do that. So if you're going to do it on your own, make sure that you're detailed about it. What we do is we take a look at what is your current expense level, what do you need on a month to month basis to pay the bills? What do you need on an annual basis? What are your income sources? What is your whole portfolio invested in? We take a look at all of the different components the risk level, the measure of risk which is standard deviation, the correlation of your assets or your investments moving up together, down together. You know what's happening when the market goes through its ups and downs. And then we'll show you the fees that you're paying as well. Really give you an overall comprehensive look of your current financial standing. And we give you a grade on that as well, from 0 to 100 Start to count those income sources, things like Social Security work with somebody like Ford, who is a registered social security analyst, and come up with a good idea of the best strategy for claiming those benefits.

Speaker4:
If you have a pension through your employer, count yourself lucky, because not many people do, but you'll want to count on the pension income as well and figure out the best way to maximize that. Some pensions have joint payout options, some are individual. You want to make sure that you're considering that. And if your pension plan lets you roll out a portion of your pension and manage it on your own, that could be something to consider as well, because you can actually establish your own personal pension. And often what we're seeing is that the options that are available in the marketplace to all of you, pre-retirees and retirees, the consumers, the insurance companies are really competing for those dollars, and they're offering some really lucrative benefits to those who are entering retirement right now. So find out really where you're standing now. You may know where you want to go in retirement as far as your goals, where you want to be, who you want to be with, how much you want to travel or whatever. But you need to figure out where you're standing now, because that's going to help us chart the course from A to B.

Speaker3:
Completely agree. So on this making the transition from saving and spending you've got number one was assess your financial situation. Number two is managing longevity risk because we are living longer. So we've got that going for us. Number three you really talked about in depth is choosing the right withdrawal strategy. Um it kind of planning for that withdrawal strategy. Make sure your investments were the right mix of of stocks, ETFs and fixed index annuities, which is what we would do. Or even brokered CDs are usually typically pay higher than you would find from a bank CD from a bricks and mortar bank like Bank of America or Truist or Wells Fargo. Those are really low bank CD rates. You want to try to avoid those, um, and consider brokered CDs. They're still SIPC or FDIC insured as well. You want to optimize that investment portfolio to really manage the risk and provide a steady income stream. We talked about fixed indexed annuities that could do that and then just planning for your healthcare costs. It's going to be one of the largest costs you're going to have during retirement. And it's way different than when you're in your 20s, 30s and 40s.

Speaker3:
So let's just get a better plan for that. So those five things are really the big making the transition from saving to spending that you got to consider one. Assess your financial situation two manage longevity risk three choose the right withdrawal strategy four optimize your investment portfolio. And five let's plan for those health care costs. And let's just get a really good understanding on that. One other thing that I wanted to mention when you're dealing with a Medicare or Medigap supplement plan, let's say you didn't want to do a Medicare advantage, which is free, but they limit access. It's kind of like an HMO if you want the more PPO side for Medicare, we can definitely help you do that and get you introduced to a couple of licensed Medicare professionals that we work with. But we can also build an annuity, get an annuity created for you that go backfill everything you need for to pay for that Medigap supplement plan. Listen, you're listening to Retirement Results writer and Am970 the answer come right back. We're going to talk more about the 4% rule. And we've got our annuity spotlight this week for segment four.

Speaker2:
Don't go away. Retirement results will be right back. To schedule your free no obligation consultation, visit retirement results.com.

Speaker7:
The house and everything in it. Keep the diamond ring cause that's how I met.

Speaker1:
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.

Speaker2:
Are you concerned about rising taxes and how that could affect you and your family during retirement? If you have an IRA balance over $400,000, you could save six figures in retirement taxes that you would be paying during a 35 year retirement. Find out how much you could save today by scheduling your no obligation Roth conversion consultation with Ford Stokes of Retirement results. Learn more and schedule an appointment at retirement Results.com. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Visit retirement.com for more information. 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 to retirement results in sport Stoke's chief financial advisor. We've got Sam Davis here with us, our senior financial advisor and co-host of the show, and we're talking about uncovering the truth about the 4% rule. And we'll have our Annuity spotlight Product of the week. There's the Delaware Life target annuity that I think is really interesting. And I think a lot of people are going to have some interest in that as well. Sam go ahead. Let's talk about what's going on with the 4% rule and and how we're trying to kind of update an old tried and true kind of mindset and and also strategy to manage the amount of money you've got to make sure you don't run out of money and make sure that you, your money outlives you versus the other way around.

Speaker4:
Yeah, you've probably heard us talk about the 4% rule on the radio show and podcast before, but if you're hearing about it for the first time, it's really just a widely recognized guideline for retirement spending. It suggests that if you can withdraw no more than 4% of your savings during that first year of retirement and then adjust future withdrawals based on inflation, Then you should not run out of money. But as we have progressed through the years and now we're in 2025 and we've got a new administration in Washington DC and tariffs and things have changed. People are wondering is the 4% rule still a good guideline? Um, you know, if you've got $1 million portfolio, 4% of a million is is $40,000. Between that and Social Security. Most people would be able to make things work on their retirement budget. But there are far more efficient ways to really manage your withdrawals and retirement rather than just, okay, let me calculate what 4% is and take that out this year. You also don't want to find yourself in a situation where if you have a year or two of negative returns, where all of a sudden that the money that you're making in retirement has just gone down, you're letting the market tell you what your retirement lifestyle is going to be like. And I think we prefer our clients to be in a situation where their retirement income is going to be a lot more predictable, if not increased steadily as inflation takes its toll during their retirement.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So we just I really like people to stay to a 4% rule or invest in alternatives with fixed index annuities, so they can get much more of their money from that bucket of money with fixed indexed annuities, where you can get eight, ten, 11, 12 plus percent, depending on how long you defer of your original principal and premium as it grows, both with market growth and also with the income benefit base and the bonus and and the actual 8% roll up that they'll give each and every year into the income account with some a product like the nationwide pick ten. Those are really important as well. A lot of advisors are talking about going down to a 3.2%. Withdrawal rate, and I think that is really too low for people to live on. It's really tough to do. You've got to have a lot of money to live on 3.2% and live a really demure lifestyle. And, um, the, you know, the, the 4% rule is a is a one size fits all approach. It may not suit everybody. I mean, factors such as increased life expectancy, personal health, uncertainty surrounding social security benefits and could all affect the viability of the 4% rule. For instance, if you expect to live longer than the average retiree, a 4% withdrawal rate might be too high. It could deplete your savings prematurely. That's why we like to replace the bonds in the portfolio, um, with fixed index annuities also portfolio composition. You might own a specific portfolio.

Speaker3:
You might be 50% stocks and 50% fixed index annuities or bonds. If your investment mix differs significantly from this, the rule might not be appropriate. A more conservative portfolio with a higher bond allocation may not generate enough returns, but also you've got bond risk as well. So if you if you had more than 50% in fixed index annuities, it's suitable to really have up to 70% for a lot of people in fixed indexed annuities. But it may not give you the same market, high flying market gains. And then also you just got to watch the 4% rule on market and economic uncertainties. I mean, in 2022, if people were withdrawing money on top of losing 24%, that is a really big problem because you're taking away money that could have come back, assets that could have come back in 2023 and 2024, and they're gone because they went into your checking account and you spent it. So let's be careful about changing the 4% rule. Let's also be careful about when we're taking the 4% out, especially in market downturns. And, um, you know, let's let's try to not exceed those, but also look for other ways. Let's take 40, 20 to 40% of your portfolio put it into fixed index annuities and get almost A2X. Withdrawal from your fixed index annuities. That allows you to let the less the. Rest of the portfolio grow. And Sam now let's go ahead and share this annuity. Spotlight.

Speaker2:
It's time for this week's Problem Solver.

Speaker3:
This week's feature is a Delaware Life annuity. And let me tell you, it's like having your own personal market genie. Why? Because it gives you a 90 day rate lock window that works in your favor. When you buy into annuities, your rate is locked in immediately. Good, bad or ugly or different. But with the target growth, Delaware life gives you 90 days before locking in your final index rate. And here's the magic part. Part. If the market drops during that time, your rate adjust down with it. So that means if the rate takes a dip in those 90 days after your deposit, you get to lock in at the lowest point. That gives you the opportunity for the greatest amount of growth. So your index has the best chance to grow from the ground up. There's no timing stress. There's no bad entry points. No regrets. Just let the market settle and you'll automatically get the lowest index starting point from the 90 day window. And here's the they're in their underlying index with Delaware. Life target annuity is a one year point to point or one year protection period with the S&P dynamic intraday index. And they're giving you 80% participation rate. They're giving you an 80% participation rate in how that index performs.

Speaker3:
They're keeping 20. But that's pretty good. You're going to get market like gains. On how the S&P 500 performs in there. They're trading it actively within the trading days. That's why they call it the the intraday. And it's, it is a very dynamic index. And it's going to be a little bit more of a market volatility control which is really nice. And it's paying a very high. It's showing a very high illustrated rate that we cannot share with you on the radio. But if you want to learn that illustrated rate on the Delaware life target annuity with that S&P 500 dynamic intraday with the 90 day lock in feature, then I encourage you to reach out to us and give us a call at (770) 685-1777 against. Again it's (770) 685-1777. Or you can just visit retirement Results.com click that schedule or consultation button in the upper right corner, and we're happy to help you right away. If you want to protect your money, position yourself for growth and take advantage of one of the smartest timing features in the annuity world. Call me today at 51777 and ask about the Delaware Life's target growth annuity and let the market do its thing. You're already set.

Speaker8:
It's the final countdown.

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

Speaker8:
The final countdown.

Speaker3:
Hope you guys enjoy this show. We talked about going from accumulation to accumulation. We talked about the 4% rule. We talked about a lot of different strategies, including the the three bucket strategy. There's a lot of action packed information that came in today's show. If you want any information on this, you want to relisten to this show. You can get it wherever you get podcasts. Just just type in retirement results and we'll show up there. You can also go to retirement Results.com. Click the episodes button and you'll get any of our shows and see the video of this show as well. Just go ahead and reach out to us at (770) 685-1777 to get started with your own $2,500 value free complimentary portfolio analysis and financial plan your 95th birthday with a free RSA roadmap, free retirement income gap analysis and a free Roth Ladder Conversion Plan tool that allows you to delete the IRS from being your partner with your retirement accounts. We're so glad you listened to us here this week on the Retirement Results Radio show. Happy Father's Day to everybody and all of your families. And be safe this week and we'll talk to you next week. 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 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 to item four for additional information.

Speaker3:
Hey, this Fort Stokes with active wealth management and the Retirement Results radio show. Are you worried about outliving your retirement savings? Nationwide's peak ten fixed index annuity is designed to help you feel secure and confident with Nationwide Peak ten. You will receive protection for your principal, keeping it safe from market downturns, growth opportunities tied to market indexes but not invested directly in the market. Guaranteed lifetime income and protection for your loved ones with spousal income options and a death benefit. Call us now at (770) 685-1777, or visit COVID-19. To connect with an advisor and learn how peak ten can help you retire with confidence.

Speaker2:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Guarantees and protections referenced are subject to the claims paying ability of Nationwide Life and Annuity insurance Company. Nationwide. Peak ten is issued by Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio. Neither nationwide nor its other entities are associated or affiliated with Active Wealth Management. Get started on your free portfolio analysis and financial plan right now by visiting Retirement Results.

Speaker4:
Com and welcome to the Retirement Results bonus segment for all of our listeners on were you in in Gainesville, up and around the Lake and all of our listeners on our podcast feed. If you're hearing this on an, you can actually listen to retirement results on demand wherever you listen to podcasts. We'd love to have you subscribe and reach out to us. We love hearing from our listeners. And for during a time like this, it's important that people are diversified in their portfolio, not just with their holdings, but with their income streams as well. And so for this bonus segment today, we're going to talk a little bit about how you can improve your income potential in retirement with multiple income streams.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I'm excited about this bonus segment. And I think it's going to be a great one to be to place on our retirement Results YouTube channel. So make sure everybody checks out the Retirement Results YouTube channel as well. Um, the first one is Social Security. It provides a monthly income to eligible retirees in the United States. You got to have 40 credits. Um, you got to work over ten years, um, or have credits where you're making enough money. That equals the 40 credits. Uh, Social Security benefits are based on your earnings history at and the age at which you start receiving benefits as a registered social security analyst. Um, I'm just really passionate about helping people maximize their Social Security income benefit. Because you paid in for years. You deserve to get the money back out. Delaying Social Security benefits can increase your monthly payments. It's actually going to go up 8% per year. You wait after your full retirement age of 67. And by the way, if you're born after 1967, um, by the way, if you're born after 1960, congratulations, your retirement age is 67. If you're born before that, it's like 66 in a few months. According to the Social Security Administration, Social security benefits make up about 33% of the income of the elderly population in the United States, and that is growing. So we need a good job at maximizing that Social Security income benefit for you.

Speaker4:
Yeah. The next income stream in addition to Social Security is pensions. If you're lucky enough to have one. Pensions are an employer sponsored retirement tool that provides you with an income for life. And like I said, they're becoming less common. With many employers shifting to 401 K plans. We've seen that largely over the last 40 years, that employers don't want the burden of having to pay out income for life to all their employees. They would rather have it be self-managed. So pensions we don't see too often for it. If you do have a pension, you're out there listening. Understand the terms and options for receiving payments. You may be able to take a lump sum on the entire pension, or maybe even part of the pension. That can be a useful tool sometimes, so you can actually diversify with your own personal pension with a highly rated insurance carrier. And in fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only about 16% of private industry workers had access to traditional pension plans. That was in 2019. I expect that number has dropped significantly since then. So if you have pensions, you're a lucky one. If you don't, you may need to look into a personal pension.

Speaker3:
And also, if you've got a pension, I would encourage you to reach out to us. You can get that pension x ray. We're happy to help you check that out. Um, there's a great way to get an understanding of like, hey, wait a second. I could actually get 20 or 27% bonus on the money that I put into a fixed indexed annuity. Those pensions are implemented from employers. Those are single premium immediate annuities. They are not market linked. So you won't get market like gains. You're going to just stay flat throughout the time. And also there'll be no contract value or account value to pass on to your heirs. If you take the lump sum, you're going to have, um, an actual account value that you can pass on to your heirs if the actual growth rate outpaces the withdrawal rate. And we have annuities where that is set up to do exactly that. So I encourage you to go and reach out to us if you want to get 20 to 27% on your pension money in a lump sum immediately and get a larger pension just by taking the lump sum. Reach out to us at retirement Results.com. Click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right corner. We'll get started right away.

Speaker4:
Yeah. So if you want to learn more, that's our next income stream in a personal pension established through a fixed indexed annuity. These are essentially contracts with life insurance companies. And here at Retirement Results we only work with highly rated insurance companies. Annuities can be purchased from these insurance companies with various payout options. They can provide contractually guaranteed income for the rest of your life, no matter if you live to be 90 or 100 or 110, those checks keep on coming, according to the Insured Retirement Institute, investors invested $241.7 billion in annuities in 2020 alone. And that is remarkable for a lot of people are looking for guaranteed income. They're looking to supplement their Social Security with another income stream.

Speaker3:
Annuities. Plus, Social Security is a great way to get all of your income that you need on a monthly basis for retirement all the way done, or that you can let the rest of the portfolio grow. So that's something that I would encourage you to do. Also, it's going to make it where you don't watch the stock ticker as much as well.

Speaker4:
And if you have any questions about how to better diversify your plan for retirement, not just diversifying your assets, but diversify your income streams as well, make sure you have multiple streams of income in retirement. We'd love to help you here at Retirement Results, just visit retirement. Com to get in touch with us and get started. Or give us a call today at 777. That's (770) 685-1777. We're located just down the road. Our headquarters is in Alpharetta, Georgia, and for nine, we'd love to meet with you.

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

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 interests of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest, if any, exist. Refer to our firm brochure, the Advertiser page for for additional information. Any comments regarding safe and secure products and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by BW.

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