How to Build a Better Retirement Transcript: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

How to Build a Better Retirement Transcript: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges, as described in the annuity contract guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer. 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 project the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Producer:
Welcome to Take Point on Retirement with your host Erick Arnett. Erick is a fiduciary and licensed financial adviser who always places your needs first. The experienced team at Take Point Wealth Management takes pride in knowing they've helped so many pursue the financial future of their dreams, and they can help you too. And now let's start the show. Here's Erick Arnett.

Erick Arnett:
Hey, everybody, welcome to Take Point on Retirement radio. My name is Erick Arnett, and I'm joined today by my producer, Sam Davis. Sam, welcome today and happy weekend to our listeners out there and super excited. We are now broadcasting in Tampa, right?

Producer:
Yeah. Thanks, Erick. I'm so happy to be here today. We're bringing some important information to all your retirement warriors out there. I know you've been hosting the Take Point on Retirement radio show and podcast for years, but this episode is definitely a special one because today we're broadcasting on some new stations in the Sunshine State. So Erick, what do you say? We help everyone get to know you a bit better. Who is Erick Arnett? Tell me a bit about yourself, your personal history, and then we'll get into what you do in your business.

Erick Arnett:
Yes. Yes, absolutely. It's so cool to be broadcasting throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Super excited about that. And, you know, trying to reach more people and help them with their retirement planning is what it's all about, but don't like to talk about myself too much, but a little bit about myself. And I'm sure most folks, you can google our website, Take Point on Retirement, or you can also Google Take Point Wealth management. You'll see everything about me and my team there, but basically I've been in the Tampa Bay Area. Twenty two some odd years, I've been here for a long time, helping folks in the Tampa Bay Area, predominately in the Nature Coast. Twenty two years, so take point. Wealth management just came about probably a little over 11 years ago. I've been in the industry for a long time, of course, and I decided that I wanted to go out and start my own practice, my own firm. I wanted to take care of clients the way I thought they needed to be taken care of. I was kind of in a box working for some of the larger firms out there. I'm not going to mention any names, but, you know, working for some of the larger institutions out there, you kind of put you in a box and they kind of delivered to you, hey, go out and pitch these products to your clients and prospects.

Erick Arnett:
And that, for me, just started to become very uncomfortable because I knew there was a lot more out there for my clients, a lot more options. And to have complete open architecture now is what is fantastic. So there isn't anything that we can't do at Take Point Wealth management. We have complete open architecture, so it allows me to really customize and design investment plans, retirement plans, financial plans or whatever you may call it, to my clients individually and really tailor that for each specific family and what their needs are. So twenty two years in the business been doing this a long time. My team super excited. We have an awesome team here at Take Point Wealth Management. We have CPAs, we have certified financial planners, we have administrative assistants, we have a back office that's second to none, all kinds of research. So it's not just me out there in the front lines. We're really backed by Brookstone Capital Management, that is my parent company. And so we have attorneys, we have over one hundred employees at Brookstone Capital Management, Big Big Firm behind us. But it allows me on the front lines to be an individual and they support us to basically have that complete open architecture to help our clients. And that's what's really, really exciting.

Producer:
You know, you get the small business experience when a client comes to you, they get to work with you and your team directly, but you also get the backing of that larger team with Brookstone Capital Management that has so many assets under management and kind of the safety and protection of having that big team behind you as well.

Erick Arnett:
No, exactly. You nailed it. So compliance, you know, it's very important today. So, you know, we have a compliance office that keeps everything together and tight. And you know, having that big team behind you is so important. The reason I named my practice take point. I served Active Duty Army. I'm a disabled combat veteran. I was in Active Duty Army for six years. Several deployments combat veteran and when you're out there on a mission, there's always somebody that really kind of has to step up and take the point. And we always would. It was just a, you know, a slogan like, Hey, take point. You maybe heard that in some war movies at some point in time, but. Somebody's got to step up and lead the troops or lead the platoon or lead the squad and kind of be the eyes and ears, the recon, so as a way to kind of pay homage to my past military experience as well as all the veterans out there who, by the way, I love, love, love veterans, obviously, first responders. Please give us a call. (352) 616-0511 or go to our website and you can click up on the top right hand corner and just set up an appointment or a live chat with me. We love first responders. We love veterans. Everything is absolutely free analysis for you guys out there for all listeners, really. If you call in off the radio show or the podcast, you're going to get a complete free analysis. And I think we're going to go into all that a little bit later, but just wanted to give that shout out to all my fellow vets out there.

Erick Arnett:
I still have a true inner commitment to doing what's right, you know, honor duty and we've seen over the years. I mean, obviously, I've been doing this twenty two years helping folks build their wealth and retirements, and we've seen a ton of mistakes, right? So all I do is really, you know, evaluate everybody's plan and try to find mistakes or holes or something that I can improve. And if I can improve that great. But you know, I feel like, you know you as the listener out there, you know, you may be an auto mechanic, a truck driver. I don't know a banker or a nurse, whatever. You know, you weren't trained to build and grow and protect your retirement, but that's all I do every day. That's all we do here at Take Point Wealth Management. That's all we do at Brookstone Capital Management every day for twenty two years. So I want to get out in front and I want to lead you. If you're out there listening now, I want to lead you to and through your retirement. I want to help you. If you're a younger guy, I want to help you build your retirement, then I want to protect your retirement. I want to. And then we got to continue to grow it right. We're going to talk about inflation later. So those are the three key things. It's like first, you got to have a plan. So we've got to build that retirement. Once we build that retirement or if you're close to retirement, we've got to protect what you've what you've earned and what you've worked so hard for, right? And then we've got to go out and and continue to grow that because inflation is really, really a concern right now and is growing at a faster pace than what we've seen in probably 30, 40 years.

Erick Arnett:
So super, super important to also continue to grow your retirement. And sometimes I see that folks kind of get entrenched fear builds up whatever it may be, and they stop looking forward, they stop investing or or whatever it may be. And that's the wrong answer, because inflation fees, taxes, all that stuff is going to slowly eat away at your retirement dollars and your purchasing power could really be hindered 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now, you know, so when we build a plan, Sam, we build it out for 30 years. Wow, OK, so you know, and we test it, we throw a thousand different scenarios at your retirement plan and we stress test it. And that's the key difference between what I think most advisors out there are doing and what we do here at Take Point Wealth Management is we we we take the plans. Hey, you may even have a good plan. I don't know. Let's look at it. Let's test it. Let's throw a thousand scenarios at it. Good markets, bad markets, high inflation deflation, high taxes, low taxes, combinations of thereof. Ok, and let's throw all those scenarios at your plan and then let's see if it's going to hold up.

Producer:
I think it's so important to do that because we're living in such uncertain times. And you know, we're speaking to Erick Arnett with Take Point Wealth Management. You can visit them online at at Take Point on Retirement schedule. Your free consultation today. No obligation. And I love how you kind of explained you've got a meaning behind the name of your business. Take Point, and I think that kind of hits at the heart of what a fiduciary is. Could you help explain to the people listening? What is a fiduciary? What is what is having fiduciary duty? What does that mean for you as you run your business day to day? And what does it mean for the clients who work with you?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So fiduciary is a big word, right? And it's used a lot in our industry and it's thrown around almost as a marketing tool. You know, every advisor out there that sits down with you, OK? Whether they're an insurance guy, a broker, a broker, an investment adviser, whatever they are, you know they should be doing what's best for you, not what's best for them and what's going to pay them the highest commission, right? So a fiduciary is a in state of Florida, where licensed sixty five investment advisors and we are fiduciaries and we're held to the highest standard by the state and also by the SEC, which is our federal regulatory. Everybody. So every year, we've got a sign of commitment that says, you know what, we have to put our clients interests first. And so I've been a fiduciary since I started in the business. I started in the banking world and we were fiduciaries. I've always been a fiduciary. I've managed and run trust and trust departments and trust trust companies, and we are always a fiduciary. So I've always grown up in this culture. But you have to be careful because there's a lot of people out there that call them advised call themselves advisors, but they may only be insurance licensed. And so they're only going to pitch insurance products or they may be stock brokers out there that are only licensed to sell securities and they're only going to pitch securities. So we have all the licenses here, so it doesn't really matter to us. We don't have any ax to grind, we don't have any.

Erick Arnett:
And honestly, that's really why I left. The big firms like I said earlier is I don't want to be beholden to one product or one solution or whatever the firm is telling me. I've got to go out there and sell, you know, love. I have the fact that I'm independent. I have complete open architecture so we can do anything and everything. And that's what I love about what we do and what Brookstone Capital helps us do. But that's kind of what a fiduciary is. I mean, basically is we have to put your best interests first. So, you know, always ask that question when you're sitting down with someone, are you a licensed fiduciary? And you know, more than likely they are just, you know, because of the way the industry is. But there is a lot of people out there that aren't. And so that's really, really important. And you know, Sam, not only is that word fiduciary, it's important. But ask the question when you're talking to advisers like, how are you compensated? You know, how do you make earn your fees or how do you make a living? And you know, they have to tell you and disclose that to you. And so, you know, hear it. Take point, wealth management. There's a lot of different ways we get compensated. So if you buy an insurance product or an annuity or life insurance or anything like that, you don't pay us a dime. We're paid by those insurance companies, a commission, right?

Producer:
And I think it's great that that your business has this sense of fairness and transparency when it comes to something like fiduciary duty. It makes me think, wouldn't it be nice if other industries like mechanics had to have a fiduciary duty and always do what was best for you? You know, we know everyone out there is working so hard for their money, and oftentimes it's even harder to save that money. And once you're invested, you know, one of the biggest forces working against you is inflation. And that's a word you're hearing a lot in the news, especially over the last couple of years. You know, it's one of the effects of the you know that we're dealing with and the fallout of the pandemic. Erick, what is inflation, you know, in layman's terms, explain it to the listener. And why are AmErickans losing buying power right now?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, you know, great question, Sam. I mean, we've been talking about inflation and for a long time, many, many years and the potential for that to start to pick up because we've almost historically for a while been in almost a deflationary or just a static kind of environment. But all of a sudden boom, right? We have this thing called the pandemic hits and kind of changed. Everything changed the entire world. And so a lot of things happened all at once, almost like the perfect storm for inflation. I'm probably not telling our listeners anything that they don't. They don't already know. But no one, you know, is the fact that you have a ton of money in liquidity and stimulus being put into the economy. So people are just getting money, they're getting checks right. Even wealthy people, I mean, it's absolutely crazy. I've I've have no people, clients that may own businesses or whatever, and they got hundreds of thousands of dollars of stimulus money. And so all that money is going back into the economy, right? They want to when you get a bunch of money, what do you want to do, right? You want to spend it. You know, however, keep in mind, too, this is an interesting topic that we talked about a little bit earlier in another show is that for first time in a long time, AmEricka savings rate is the highest it's been versus their debt. So that's exciting, right? Encouraging. But the fact is that everybody has a lot more money to spend. And what do we want to do as AmErickan consumers? We want to spend that money. So we want to go buy the new boats. We want to remodel the house, get the new refrigerators, you know, we want to maybe buy a new house and take advantage of those low interest rates.

Erick Arnett:
So all of a sudden you have everybody rushing to the grocery line, you know, to buy groceries all at once, and there's not enough groceries there to supply the demand, right? So now on top of that, we have the supply chain breakdown right from COVID. And so a lot of people just weren't back at work and the demand hits so. Quickly that, you know, in order to, you know, the truckers in order to pick up the goods at the shipping yards and get the stuff out to all the stores, whatever you know, I'm not telling people anything they don't know, but that's been broken down because of COVID. And so that creates a huge supply issue. So if you have low supply, high demand boom, you're going to have inflation. And it's not like we're just seeing inflation in certain industries, it's across the board. It doesn't matter what it is you're doing or trying to do. It's absolutely insane. I'll share our personal story just from myself. I decided to buy a home about a year ago and I decided it was, you know, it wasn't a real expensive home as a fixer upper. So I decided I'm going to fix this home up and I don't know if I'm going to sell it, flip it, stay in it or whatever I'm going to do. But you know the cost every month. On where we were in the project to remodel the home went up every month, it just kept going up and up and up. So we're chasing these higher prices. And also, I had that home appraised eight months after I purchased the home and the value increased over three hundred thousand dollars in state of Florida here. So that that is outrageous inflation, right?

Producer:
Yeah. And I think it's important for people to understand, you know, inflation is one of these natural forces in the economy. It's something that's that's always been present, right? It makes sense, you know, as you as your population grows and you have more people, the cash supply is going to going to have to increase some. But I think it's also important to keep in mind that you can't just change one thing about the economy, especially something as important as the cash supply and the cash on hand without thinking it won't affect everything else that's going on. The economy itself is a big organism, so if one thing changes, you know, everything else is affected in a way. And you know, we have some examples just over the last 30 years from nineteen ninety one hard to believe that's 30 years ago, but nineteen ninety one to twenty twenty one. And you can kind of see how prices have changed. So a gallon of gas. Dollar fourteen. When was the last time? Man, I've never seen a dollar fourteen in my life. It's about three twenty. It's about three, 20 a gallon now. And this is for regular folks. So if you're buying premium, it's going to be more than that.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I've seen I'm a diesel guy and even the wife has one of those cars that you got to put that expensive premium stuff in. We're seeing sometimes $4 a gallon. So, you know, and for some people. You know, that little increase in gas really doesn't make a big difference or we don't even think about it. But that trickles down all the way and hits every aspect of our economy because the guy that's out there having, he's got four or five trucks and he's got a landscaping crew and he's got lawn mowers and all that kind of stuff that's really hitting that guy hard, right? And then that truck driver who has his own independent trucking business and he's not reimbursed for gas, he's just paid for the haul that's hit in his pocket. And so they've got to increase the price for what they're doing, right? So. So now, all the way down the line, prices just have to go up in order to keep their margins. And let's get this straight. You know, companies and corporations are always going to protect their margins. They're not worried about us, they're worried about their margins. So. And you know, Sam, we've been out talking about this for years. We do seminars all over the Tampa Bay Area. Unfortunately, COVID kind of shut those down, but we're hoping to get back out there and see people again personally and talk to them about it. But you know, we we put it right up there on the screen.

Erick Arnett:
I mean, gosh, I was doing this four or five years ago and talking about the potential for inflation and how it would impact retirees and everybody just kind of shrugs it off or whatever. And oh, let's get on to the next topic. But now we're seeing it right and it has a massive, massive impact on your retirement and how far your retirement will go. I mean, health care costs are rising, your grocery costs your gas costs to go, take a flight to go see your grandkids, whatever it may be. You know, we've got a plan for this and we've got to get out ahead of it because, you know, we don't know. We don't know when it's going to stop, to be quite honest with you. I mean, inflation could continue. I gosh, I hope it doesn't. Some of the things we're hearing and seeing in 2020, too, that they're hoping that it's going to kind of taper off, but we don't know for sure. And so, you know, the last thing I want to have to say to a prospect or somebody that I'm going to be working with when we do their retirement plan and we build out this retirement plan. And by the way, with our retirement plans, we look at soup to nuts. I mean, everything from A to Z. You know, we're looking at your Social Security, when to take it, how much you're going to need and how much you're going to take and what kind of strategies multiple strategies out there for Social Security, by the way.

Erick Arnett:
So give us a call six one six (352) 616-0511 or just click up on that right hand corner and we'll talk about Social Security. Ok, but multiple strategies to take your Social Security. You know, our our retirement plan is going to look at health care, health care costs and rising costs. Do you have long term care? Do you have life insurance? You know, how are your assets positioned? Are they growing enough to keep up with inflation, when to start taking money and what bucket do I take it from? Do I take it from my 401k? Do I take it from my Roth IRA? Do I take it from my annuity? Do we turn on the pension? Do we not turn on the pension? I mean, every single question that you may have in your head right now that you're not quite sure about. Please, please give us a call. We've been there, we've done that and we can help you. And and that's what we love to do when someone comes to us with a question and a concern, and we can turn it around for them and optimize it. We're super happy hour days complete and we can go home and put our head on the pillow with a big smile. So, you know, that's kind of that's kind of things in a nutshell there for you.

Producer:
Yeah. Speaking with Erick Arnett with Take Point Wealth Management and Take Point on retirement visit, TakePointonRetirement.com. Schedule your free no obligation consultation. We're talking a bit about how you can combat inflation, one of the biggest forces and headwinds, if you will, working against you, as you know, really everybody. But especially for retirees, you know, people that are looking to live on a bit more of a fixed and stable income and a bit tighter of a budget. You know, we mentioned the gallon of gas dollar 14 to to three dollars and 20 cents over the last 30 years, something like energy that's really going to have a trickle down effect, as we mentioned new pickup truck over the last 30 years, and I'm thinking these are four standard no add on prices and new pickup truck 30 years ago. Fifteen thousand today you're going to be paying at least thirty thousand dollars for a truck, and I think it'll probably be a bit more than that, especially when you're considering, you know, the shortages that we're dealing with right now.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, that data might be a little outdated, but just because how fast you know, the inflation is grown on the on the purchasing side to purchase a vehicle. But yeah, the trucks are insane. They're just not coming off the assembly line. And guess what, Mr. Joe Smith, who owns that business that needs five new trucks this year, he can't get them. So he's desperate and he's paying whatever it takes to get him and get his employees back on the road and get back to work. So that's driven truck prices through the roof. Never in my life. This is how crazy it is, right? So never in my lifetime and probably not in yours, Sam, have you seen I purchased a truck in two thousand? 19. And I'm actually getting offers, you know, way above and beyond what I paid for that truck in 2019 for my vehicle. I've never experienced that. It's that's how bizarre it is and how it kind of makes makes you stand up and think, OK, something is going on here. And when is it going to change? You know, every time I've ever bought a vehicle, it's always depreciated, right? Or a boat or a luxury item. They drop like rocks and RV, whatever. But all those things have actually gone up. So I used vehicle, used RV, a used boat. You're almost getting the same thing you paid for them years ago, if not more.

Erick Arnett:
And so that we've never seen and that just goes to show you that people are desperate and not necessarily desperate but emotionally desperate. I say like someone has $50000 sitting in their checking account like, Hey, I've always wanted to have that boat there. They're like, I don't care what it costs. I want to get on that boat and go out and do it in fish and have a good time with my family. So they'll pay whatever you know, so they're paying above and beyond because they're just desperate for that. And it's the same thing with the trucks and everything else. And I really hope that things start to cool off a little bit. But right now, we're not seeing much of any end in sight. So how does that translate to our retirement warriors out there? And by the way, if you're a retirement warrior, you're someone that's seeking the education and the knowledge to make your retirement market efficient fee efficient and tax efficient. Those are the keys right there, and I want all my retirement warriors to give me a shout. (352) 616-0511 or go to my website, Take Point on Retirement wealth, click up on that right hand corner and set yourself an appointment.

Erick Arnett:
Let's talk about it. A 15 minute chat is all it takes. Let's just chat a little bit about it. Are you prepared for this inflation? Are you going to have to work longer? You know what? What are you doing a year from now, two years now, three, four, five years from now? Let's talk about it because you've got to have, I call it financial speed. Everybody has a financial speed, Sam. I wrote a book about it, and people can get a copy of the book if they want on the website. And it's what is your financial speed? And I just came up with this slogan a term years ago because I felt like, you know, everybody out there listening has a different need and financial speed. So some people don't really need to grow their assets at all to get to their retirement goals. Some people need a 10 percent average return to reach their retirement goals. Some people have a long time horizon. Some people have a short time horizon. You know, everybody's kind of got that own individual need and financial speed. So you may have an investment account that's sitting there and it's only average in three or four percent, but you need five six seven eight percent over 10 20 years to reach your goals. We've got to change that.

Erick Arnett:
We've got to get that portfolio more efficient to where it's going to bring the returns that you need to meet your retirement goals. So, you know, I use this example all the time, Sam, because and one of the reasons I got in the business is kind of one of my whys is my grandmother. Years ago, my grandfather passed away and left her a sizable chunk of money, plenty of money to get her through her life. And but what she did was she never changed. Never, ever, ever. Over a 20 year time frame, my grandfather passed young and she never changed the allocation of her portfolio. She kept her portfolio and bonds the entire time just because, well, that's what she knew, and that's what the guy was telling her to do, and that's what my grandpa did. So she never wanted to change it. Well, those bonds weren't yielding enough return to combat inflation over 10, 20, 30 years, and she was spending her money way too fast. And, you know, home health care, she went to an assisted living facility. It was like five six grand a month. So over time that eroded her retirement and she ended up having to come home and live with my parents at the age of, like eighty two years old. And and, you know, all of a sudden my parents turned into caregivers, right? And that didn't go over too well.

Erick Arnett:
It wasn't a good experience for our family. And so with the proper planning prior years and years prior, we could have alleviated that. And I was a young kid at the time and I witnessed all that and I thought to myself, what happened here? And I remember even talking to grandma like she was, she had like these Tennessee Valley bonds, you know, and that's all she knew and and some of them were just not paying that great. And you know, and let's face it, three or four or five percent back then, you know, might have seemed like it was decent, but it wasn't going to keep up with inflation. And I don't want folks out there listening to ever, ever, ever have to come home and and live with their children. I want you to stay in the. I want you to have the freedom to make your own choices, to be in control of your future. And and that's why we we more than ever today stand with what's going on in our country and our world, the inflation, everything and the impact that it's having on our retirements. We've got to sit down and we've got to put a plan together and we've got to get going on this now.

Producer:
We're speaking with Erick Arnett with Tech Point Wealth Management and Take Point on Retirement. You're listening to Take Point on Retirement. Visit him on the web at Take Point on Retirement. Schedule your free consultation today. It's never too early to get started. It's never too late to make a difference. When we come back, we're going to talk about the five important things you want to own during retirement. We know assets are important, but these are five other important things to own during retirement. We're also going to answer some questions that we're getting all the time. We'll be right back.

Producer:
You're listening to Take Point on Retirement to schedule your free no obligation consultation. Visit Take point on retirement.

Producer:
And welcome back to Take Point on Retirement, I'm Sam Davis, joined by Erick Arnett with Take Point Wealth Management. Erick, how are you doing today?

Erick Arnett:
Hey, great to be back with you, Sam.

Producer:
We know that owning a well-balanced portfolio of assets is essential for any retiree. But we've got a list of five other important things to own during retirement that you may not be thinking about. And the first one we'll just get started is a reliable vehicle.

Erick Arnett:
We need transportation, right? It may seem unimportant, but obviously that's a key thing, right? You know, and we need to plan for that. Are you going to be purchasing a new vehicle in retirement? Is your vehicle paid for? How reliable is, how old is it? And that's what we're talking about here at Take Point on Retirement is we look at every little single aspect of your plan. And so, yeah, I mean, that's one that jumps right out. It's a great point. I mean, do you have a reliable vehicle and how long is it going to last? Because those things are super expensive, right? And even the maintenance on them. So absolutely you don't you certainly don't want to have to rely on somebody else for rides or uber, right? So.

Producer:
Correct. Yeah. And you could be you could be driving 30 plus years during your retirement now. I know most vehicles don't last 30 plus years, so you may need to consider that you're going to need to make vehicle change at some point.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, absolutely a great point, because one is, you know, you probably don't want to be taken on a lot of debt in retirement. And so do you have the assets or the money set aside? And that's what Ford planning is in future planning and looking ahead 10 years from now, your car may be broken down or not doing so well and you've got to. Or maybe, maybe by then we all got to get one of those little electric vehicles. We've got a plan for that future purchase, and that's just an example of a big future purchase that we've got to make sure we're planning for and set aside dollars for that. So let's talk about let's talk about it.

Producer:
Definitely an important thing to own and, you know, also can be a fun thing to own. You know, during retirement, you've got so much free time. Why not, you know, make those road trips, see the family, see the grandkids, go to the beach, you know, travel to visit those national parks that you've always wanted to see, but haven't gotten the chance to so reliable vehicle first one on our list of the five other important things to own during retirement and number two, maybe the most important on this list is is a home.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So that's I think that's everybody's biggest concern, right? Is am I going to have shelter a roof over my head to and through retirement? And so there's a lot of key planning that is involved in that. You know, we get the question all the time, even by some of our pre retirees. Hey, Erick, you know, I've got a hundred thousand sitting over here in my savings account. I want to pay off my home because I just don't want to be making that mortgage payment anymore. I don't want that hanging over my head. I'll sleep better at night with having that mortgage paid off. And you know, that's all well and good, and that's OK. However, stop and think and ask and talk to somebody prior to doing that, because it actually may not be the best strategy to pay off your home right now. It may be. It may be a much better strategy to actually use your savings to convert some of your 401k to a Roth so you don't have future taxation, right? Because taxes are at an all time low right now, so maybe you don't pay off the home, but it's a personal preference. I mean, I talked to some people, and if they have the ability to do so, they just tell me like, Hey, it's just a personal preference. I'll sleep better at night. I actually like utilizing super super low interest rates right now. You know, if you got good credit, you can borrow at two and a half three percent on a 30 year mortgage. So you can always your capital is always going to be probably better used in the markets or in an annuity or in something to generate more income, even if you can generate income at four percent or five percent.

Erick Arnett:
You're getting a nice spread on that money. So it's important, I think, to have that mortgage paid down or to have an affordable mortgage payment. You know, that's one thing we look at like, Hey, if you're paying twelve hundred bucks a month for a mortgage and that's more and you have enough income coming in retirement to meet that need, it's not necessary to just jump out and pay off your home. We might be able to utilize your capital in a much better way to make your portfolio market efficient. And number one, tax efficient. Let's look at Roth IRAs. Let's look at IALL policies whole life, things that you can take that money and really make a difference on the back end more than just paying off your home. So great question, and I know why they bring it up here, but that's just a typical question that I get all the time is what about the home? And then again, you know, that brings up a key, too. We do estate planning here, too. We'll help our clients with estate planning. Do you put the home in the name of your kids? Do you do a Lady Bird deed here in the state of Florida? Do you feed it to your trust? What do you do with the home? So that's important too as well. Great question, Sam.

Producer:
Yeah. So a home, you're going to be spending a lot more time at home, likely during retirement, you want to make sure you're safe, you want to make sure you're near the family if that's what you want near the beach or near the golf course, if that's what you want a home and a reliable vehicle, the first to on our list of the other important things to own during retirement, you're listening to Take Point on Retirement. Speaking with Erick Arnett of Take Point Wealth Management and the next thing on our list is an emergency fund. Erick, tell us about the importance of having cash on hand to cover emergency expenses.

Erick Arnett:
Absolutely. Super, super important. So a big part of our retirement planning and is is absolutely have to have an emergency fund. So before you go investing your money in an annuity, a life insurance, long term care, paying off that home, buying that new vehicle, you know, investing in a mutual fund or an ETF, whatever it may be that you're thinking about, might be the right thing for you to do is really step back and say to yourself, Do I have that emergency fund set aside? And that's the first thing we talk about is in retirement planning is OK, how much cash do you have and how are your other assets allocated? And do we have enough cash for emergencies? And so the rule of thumb is obviously everybody's probably heard it. You know, you should have three to six months of whatever your living expenses are on hand in cash. And the reason for that is if if you. I always tell people, Look, if you have an investment in your 401K or your IRA or a trust or just a brokerage account or you have an annuity or a life insurance policy, really, the last thing you want to do is have to go into that and break that up in a short period of time when you just implemented it.

Erick Arnett:
I tell people, if you're going to invest your money, you've got to think about it like this. That money needs to stay. Where it is for at least five to 10 years needs to stay invested because it's all about timing. What if you invest in something and sometimes it takes a while for that to come to fruition or that plan to play out? You can't just jump in there and break it up and sell it a loss or, you know, really disrupt your retirement plan to to pay for an emergency like maybe your roof needs to be repaired. Maybe the AC goes out, whatever it may be. We've got to have adequate funds set aside for that. And sometimes, Sam, that's just like, what's comfortable? You know, I ask people, Hey, is there a number in your head that you're just comfortable with having and savings? I know for me, I have this number. It has to be there all the time or I get nervous, right?

Producer:
So I'm I'm the same way. If I if I see it drop below a certain point, I, you know, I feel that little bit of anxiety. Maybe I'm not sleeping as well as night at sweet sleeping as well at night, you know, something probably won't happen, but I just want to be prepared if it does.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, absolutely. And that's and that's your little guy in there telling you, Hey, you know, that's your little cautious guy in there saying, Hey, you know, we don't know what's coming, but we know something probably is going to come in the future and we've got to be prepared for it. And you don't want to have to call up your investment adviser or your insurance guy or maybe and say, Hey, I got to pull money out of this investment and you're going to be selling it at a time that's not probably the most optimal time. Hey, if you made a bunch of profit in it, that's a little bit a little bit different story. We can talk about that. But whenever we sit down and we do our retirement plan analysis with folks, we basically kind of break it up into three buckets. You have your now bucket of money, and that's the money that you're going to need right now. Or you could need in the next three to six months, then you have your later bucket. This is money that you might need five years from now, three years from now, 10 years from now. And believe it or not, a lot of us have a bucket called the never bucket. This is money that we're just probably never, ever going to utilize or get to or spend, and it's probably going to pass to our children or heirs or our beneficiaries or charity or something. And so we really analyze that and look at that and say, how much do we really need? And you're now you're later, and you're never bucket.

Producer:
Yeah. So an emergency fund, very important when you consider how you want to be prepared for risk and kind of building off of that. And the next thing on our list list is insurance. You know, insurance helps you be prepared for even larger risks than what an emergency fund can cover. So, Erick, tell us about the importance of owning some insurance during retirement.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, so super, super important. I'm so glad that you brought up this topic, and it's not only because I'm in the business of helping people insure their risks that I say this, but I truly am passionate about it. And it almost sometimes bothers me when people are closed off to say, Well, you know, that's insurance. I don't need that insurance. You know, what am I going to do that? Well, what about we pay every month? We pay homeowner's insurance, right? We pay car insurance. You may be paying some life insurance. You we pay insurance on everything, right? And it's OK to put it on your home and your car. But what about yourself? What about insuring yourself, right? What about insuring against those super high medical costs that could come in the future? You know, what about insuring your life to protect your loved ones if in the event of a tragedy, right? Or what about utilizing insurance just as a great tool for wealth transfer? So there's so many different things that we can utilize insurance for, and the amazing thing about insurances is the word leverage leverage. You can take X number of dollars today and place it into an insurance vehicle, and it's going to give you a benefit in the future. That's compounded, you know, four or five, sometimes 10 times.

Erick Arnett:
Ok. And so you're going to see an instant increase in your wealth and your assets, right? Just by taking on that, that policy, so it could be long term care. You know, let's look at long term care and potentially what the costs are going to be in the future. And do you do you need to put some of that insurance in place now? There's a lot of great products out there that will provide for long term care, life insurance and even pay you an income like an annuity. They're called hybrid products, right? These are amazing products that you can utilize in your in your retirement plan. So super, super important annuities. Annuities are a great vehicle for some of your money to provide insurance on your income. Where else can you place your money in an insurance company to say, You know what? We're going to guarantee you income for life. And so we utilize that to supplement Social Security to supplement pensions in order to create that security that, hey, I will never run out of income and I'll always be able to pay my bills and at least keep a roof over my head and and even eat some Beanie Weenies, if that's what it comes down to. But we've got to eat, we've got to have shelter and we've got to have health care.

Erick Arnett:
I mean, those are the kind of the, you know, pillars of the three main things that we need. And so we've got a plan for that. And so I was talking to a guy the other day and I was taught and he was the perfect setup for what was needed and some wealth transfer and utilizing life insurance. And he was like immediately closed off and he was like, you know, well, my dad had these policies way back when it didn't quite work out. And I understand that. But that was fear of something that happened 20 30 years ago that was hindering him from making the best decision for himself and his family. So he's still open to it and we're educating. We're walking him along the path of learning more about it. But it's so, so important. Please don't close my eyes, close yourself off to insurance, and we'll do that for you. At Take Point on Retirement, we'll do an evaluation of your current policies. There may be some policies out there that you can get and beat what you're lowering your premiums right now and get a better benefit. So it doesn't hurt to do an analysis on that, right? So. Great. Great question.

Producer:
Yeah. Visit Erick online at www.TakePointonRetirement.com schedule your free consultation and he can talk to you about your insurance needs. And what I love about annuities, Erick, is that if you have that protection, that insurance with an annuity, you don't have to wake up and turn on Fox Business and be watching the stock tickers every day wondering how your assets are doing. Because when you plan carefully with Take Point on Retirement, you go see Erick Arnett through an annuity. He can help make sure that you have that income that you can never outlive.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. And let's and let's make sure that we're clear here there are a ton of different annuities out there, so you have to have to have to educate yourself on all the different ones out there. And I've seen this throughout the years of my practice. People come to me in the wrong annuity or the wrong product has been implemented for them. That doesn't really suit their needs or their long term goals. So it's super, super important to review those as well. You may have one that currently might not be the best one or it might not be working for you. So let's review that. Or you may be a great candidate for implementing a portion of your assets to an annuity of some sort to meet your goals and to fit that overall retirement plan. And so, yeah, absolutely super, super important to educate yourself on all the different annuities out there and well, and that's why people need to stay tuned in right here to Take Point on Retirement in our in our podcast and our radio show because we talk about this stuff every weekend.

Producer:
Right now, we're talking about the five other important things to own during retirement. We've come to the last one on this list just to recap so far a reliable vehicle you want to get from place to place safely, a home. You know you don't want to move in with your children someday you want to have that valuable asset. A home also very important an emergency fund and also insurance. And then finally, your schedule, you know, this one's a bit more fun, but you know, retirements about enjoying that life that you worked so hard to build. Erick, talk about owning your schedule and you know, this is the fun side of the business and what you do, at least for the clients. It is, you know, enjoying their retirement.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. You absolutely nailed that, Sam, you nailed it, because that is what. And in fact, I'm not kidding you right now. If you could see me, I got goose bumps, so it gets me excited because that's the most important thing and gives us the most pleasure in the most excitement when we're sitting down with folks and building a retirement plan for them. It's it's their time, it's their schedule. And the first question, the first question I asked folks, I don't want to talk about investments and dove into all that stuff in the first appointment. I just want to get to know folks in the first question I ask them is what are you doing in retirement? What does retirement look like to you? So if you're out there listening right now, I don't care if you have to pull off the road and you're at the you're on the causeway overlooking the ocean or whatever it is that you're doing, are you and your wife are together and it's the weekend pull over and have lunch or whatever and sit there and ask this question to yourself and to your spouse, or if you're just, you know, a single person, that's fine, too. But ask question and picture in your mind. Get a vision and vision. What are you doing in retirement? What's bringing you happiness? What are you doing 10, 20 years in retirement? And that's the key, right? And so then we can build and tailor that plan to create and protect that vision of what retirement looks like to you.

Erick Arnett:
I think about it all the time. I have my vision. I know exactly what retirement looks like to me and what I'll be doing in retirement. And it's kind of funny, Sam, in a sense. And it's it's a it's kind of great at the same time when I have a couple sitting across from me and I ask him that question, and sometimes they look at each other and they're like, There's no answer. Like, they don't know. They haven't talked about it, you know what? And maybe in one person's mind, they have this vision, and then the spouse might have a completely different vision that they've never talked about. It's really, really it's really exciting to see and watch that play out. And I just say to him like, Look, I don't even want to move forward with retirement planning right now. I want to just really talk about this guy is like, What are you doing in retirement? Are you gardening? Are you at the beach? Are you with your grandkids or you're fishing? Are you traveling? Because guess what, if you're traveling, got to have that travel budget in there as well, right?

Producer:
I think it's important to have that vision, whether you're five, 10, twenty five years from retirement, having that vision and know what you need to plan for. It's it's important because, you know, that's part of the information that you take into account when you meet with people. I also think it's important to keep that vision in mind to keep you motivated as you push through those those last working years and getting ready for retirement.

Erick Arnett:
Absolutely. You know that. I mean, whether you're in retirement, close to retirement or even young guys like you and I who are quite a ways from retirement, we still have. You got to have that vision, right? Because you're right, that's what motivates you. That's also what's going to get you to and through retirement. But more importantly, do we have enough money to do what we want to do, you know? And how are we going to plan for that? And so love, love, love that question. My favorite question. I mean, gosh, we could talk about that and spend four shows on that. I mean, I love it. So thank you so, so much for bringing that up.

Producer:
Yeah. And you know, we've got about eight minutes left in the show, but we've got a number of questions from retirees and pre-retirees. These are questions we get all the time in. The first one is where will my retirement income come from? And I think this is a great question. I'll let you expand on it. But a lot of people think that retirement is about stacking up as much gold in their vault as they can. It's about that one big nest egg, but really, when it comes down to it, retirements more about income, right? So where does that come from?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, great great setup there, Sam. And I love the question because so often most people out there think preparing for retirement and getting ready for retirement and even in retirement is how much return am I getting on a specific asset? Or I'm going to chase gold and try to get a return, or I'm going to time this and buy this ETF or I'm going to, you know, if I buy this technology company like Google or Microsoft, it's going to grow 10, 15, 20 percent a year and I'm going to have all this money and people just get focused on trying to pick the best investment. Well, let me tell you something. The very best investment pickers in the world are only right, maybe 50 percent of the time. So it's not about picking the right investment or the best investment, because if you're going down that path, good luck. It's not easy. Ok, so what is important and what's the most important thing? And then when you and I think what you're alluding to, Sam here, Sam here is when retirees and pre-retirees are polled, the number one question that they come back with is. Is am I going to have enough income and the number one fear is running out of income and retirement? So what type of investment vehicles do we put in place in order to generate that income? And that's so, so important? And where are we going to get that income from? Could be annuities could be Social Security, it could be pensions and what kind of impact it's going to have on taxation. So we've got to put a plan in place to make sure that you never, never, ever, ever, ever, ever run out of income. Yeah.

Producer:
You want to make sure that your money outlives you and not the other way around. And you mentioned taxes there, and that kind of leads us to our our next question. A lot of retirees are asking, you know, Hey, now that I'm going to be not working anymore. Won't my taxes be lower? A lot of retirees are anticipating their taxes to be lower during retirement, but that's not necessarily the case, right?

Erick Arnett:
No, no great. Great. Great question and big misconception. And more often than not, folks will find themselves in a higher tax bracket. And also, there's this little thing called the provisional income formula. So if you call me or come in and see me or we just do a chat, I'll educate on it. And that's how your your Social Security is taxed. So Uncle Sam has a cute little way to tax our Social Security, and it's called the provisional income formula. So if you have pensions, you know you have RMDs or you or you have, you know, money coming out of your investments or whatever it may be that goes into the provision income formula. And then they then that creates taxation on your Social Security. Sometimes up to eighty five percent of your Social Security will be taxed if your income buckets aren't properly set up and disbursing. So yeah. Super, super important there

Producer:
A lot of people kind of building off that are also asking How can I safely and legally reduce my income taxes during retirement? Is that possible?

Erick Arnett:
Absolutely. And the question is, get in here now or talk to me now so we can get out in front of it because we've been out talking about this for years and our seminars and our radio show with all of the things that our government is doing right now and all the spending, which is astronomical trillions and trillions of dollars. And it's kind of funny, like we're just numb to it. But when when the government says, Oh, we're going to issue checks for four trillion dollars and people think, Oh, they just hear the number four, right? And oh, four is not a big number. But look up and educate yourself on what a trillion dollars is like. I think I saw one time was like a trillion dollars would fill up like the entire Empire State Building or something crazy like that stacked in dollar bills or something crazy, like for Empire State Building. But just look it up and Google it, it's kind of cool to research and really understand what that means and the impact that it means. It's insane. It's almost unfathomable. And our debt is like $30 trillion. And that's not that's not what we owe. That's just what we need to spend to service the debt.

Producer:
Yeah. Important to reduce your income taxes as much as you can during retirement. Erick Arnett and his team at Tech Point Wealth Management can help just visit Take Point on Retirement, Take Point on Retirement schedule your free consultation. It's a perfect time. It's never too early. It's never too late. And we've also got twenty twenty two right around the corner. So get a head start on that New Year's resolution and make that appointment and it'll make a big difference in your life. And just a couple of minutes left Erick. People are asking, Why should I pay more to invest? I hear and read about people who do their own investing at a lower cost. So so why should I pay more?

Erick Arnett:
It's important to be fee conscious. It's important to do that fee analysis on what you're currently doing or where your investments at. And that's one of the key things that we pull out in our reports. When we build out a retirement plan and we test what you're currently doing in that free analysis is we'll show you exactly what the hidden fees, hidden costs and what you're paying and how that's impacting your retirement. So fee being fee conscious is super, super important. A lot of people think, Well, if I just do it myself, I can save a bunch of money. However, we have proven and shown people you can have a partner by your side helping you like I call it, like, you know, it's like anything you do in life that you're not an expert at. You kind of want a third party consultant to kind of help you along the way, right?

Producer:
Yeah, especially as something with something as important as your finances, because no matter how much money you have your finances and the money you have is is one of the most important things to you.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. And we've shown people that you can add us to your team and have us on your team helping you manage your retirement and for little or no fee increase at all as to what you're currently trying to do on your own. So why not have another person on your side or on your team helping you get to your goals and just be that that third party to bounce things off of? I love that. I think that's a great relationship. And, you know, everybody's different like some people have relationships where like, Hey, Erick, I don't want to ever look at this stuff. I trust you 100 percent. You do it. I want to go golfing and fishing. I have other guys that kind of want to be involved and kind of know what's going on and then have other guys that really want to have more control. And that's the cool thing about the open architecture and the way we've designed our practice here at Take Point Wealth management. We can help and service anybody and no matter what kind of your feelings are on that. But what's funny is when we do that fee analysis I usually show people is like, Look, you're actually paying more than what it would cost to work with us. So why not have that third party consultant? I mean, I just got done remodeling a home and I had to hire a contractor. You know, I had to have that guy beside me each step of the way, you know, helping me bounce ideas and show me what's best and different products, you know, should I put this sink in that sink, that towel versus that towel? So I would never try to do that on my own. If you're not a financial expert and you don't live and breathe and work in this environment every day. Then why not have an extra person on your side to help you out?

Producer:
Yeah, and that's a great example. I know in my life, my wife just asked me, Hey, can we remodel our master bathroom? And I know for sure I'm not going to try and do that myself because she's not going to be happy with the final result. So why would I plan our retirement and my finances myself? Because I'm not an expert in that either. So if you're if you're thinking about, you know, taking care of your own retirement all by yourself, ask yourself these questions. Am I knowledgeable enough about the investment markets? Am I an expert in this field? Can I do my own financial planning? Do I have the time? Or do I want to take the time to commit to these tasks? Will I enjoy it? And is the potential savings really worth the potential risk of what I could miss out on? And if you're answering no to a lot of those questions, visit Take Point on Retirement schedule an appointment with Erick and make an appointment today. You'll enjoy working with him. We've been hearing them for the last hour here on the show. Thanks for joining us on the show here. Today you've been listening to Take Point on Retirement. We'll be back same time, same place next week and don't forget to visit Take Point on Retirement to schedule that appointment today. Thanks, Erick.

Erick Arnett:
Hey, thank you so much, Sam. And I look forward to next week.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Take Point on Retirement. You deserve to work with a private wealth management firm that will strategically work to protect your hard earned assets. To schedule your free no obligation consultation, visit, Take Point on Retirement or pick up the phone and call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Investment Advisory Services offered the Brookstone Capital Management LLC. Bcm, a registered investment advisor, BCM and Take Joint Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through VCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Producer:
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