Estate Planning is For Everyone with Sarah Elyaman

On this week’s episode of Take Point on Retirement, Erick is once again joined by legal expert Sarah Elyaman to help explain how estate planning is for everyone, not just the rich.

Call Erick today at 352-616-0511

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7.14.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

Producer:
Welcome to Take Point on Retirement with your host, Erick Arnett. Erick is a fiduciary and licensed financial advisor 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:
So, hey, everybody, welcome to Take Point on Retirement radio. So glad you could join us today. Beautiful weekend here in Florida. A little bit hot, but as long as you stay in that water and get out on those jet skis and boats, you should be good. We have a great show today. Are you in the retirement red zone and how can you take control of your financial future? So a lot of good stuff today. I don't know if we'll get to it all. We also got Mister Sam Davis with us. Of course, he kind of keeps us in line and he's our DJ and producer extraordinaire. How are you doing today, Sam?

Producer:
I'm doing fantastic. Erick and was actually down in the Tampa Bay area this week. So a lot of people outside enjoying the great outdoors and it's just a fantastic time of year to be in Florida.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, you just got to dodge those showers. And as long as you can dodge those thunderstorms, you're good to go. We're in that. We're in that summer rain pattern, which is pretty cool because we definitely need the rain for sure. But. I just wanted to give a shout out to our listeners and all our local areas. Thank you so much. Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Tampa and of course, our nature coast covering all the way up to Citrus County. We have we have offices in Citrus County, Brooksville. We have offices in Spring Hill. We also have offices in Tampa, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, where. Well. And we will come to you. So give us a call if you think something on this show today makes sense to you, Get some concerns. This is your show, folks. It's all about education. No pressure. You're going to get, you know, all kinds of information education. If you happen to miss our show. Of course, we'd love for you to take a look at Take Point on Retirement radio website that's Take Point on Retirement. It's our podcast. We have all our past shows on there. If you want to catch up and listen to some some past shows, also our podcast app is available on any podcast really Spotify, you know, iTunes, you name it. Any one of those podcast apps you can find us just Google take point.

Erick Arnett:
Are not Google but search for take point wealth and also our YouTube channel. Check us out like us. Go there for these radio shows and videos and all kinds of educational content. But please don't hesitate to call us with your financial questions. We love hearing from our listeners. This show is all about you, all about your education. Write down some notes. Give me a call. I'm actually standing by right now. Today, I'm ready to pick up the phone and answer your questions. (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Also, if you just Google take point in your phone and you go to our website, in that upper right hand corner, you can just click on there and you'll get right on my calendar and you can schedule yourself a 15 30 minute chat session. There's a way that you can put some notes in there and address some of the concerns you have. But this is all about your retirement, your retirement red zone. Those folks that are kind of in that red zone, you could be 50, 55, 60, 65, somewhere in that zone. And you're thinking about retirement. It's time to get a plan in place. We can do that for you. We're also offering right now a free informational report on bond replacement to all our listeners. If you still have bonds in your portfolio, you've had bonds in your portfolio.

Erick Arnett:
They certainly have been underperforming. They may continue to underperform based on market conditions. We we've been talking about this, Sam, for years now. I think going back, gosh, I can remember when we started talking about this four years ago, getting bonds out of your portfolio or replacing them. I want to talk a little bit about that more in depth. It's all about, you know, we've got to talk about where are you going to get your income, where is your safe money, where should your safe money be? And what we found out with bonds is, you know, bonds were supposed to be where our safe money was and it wasn't so safe there in 2022 because the aggregate bond market was actually down almost 15% the first time in a long time. So we need to be cautious and careful of where we're putting our safe money, our our our assets that are going to produce income for us, get in touch with us to get that free informational report on bond replacement. Also learn how to delete fees 50% or more from your portfolio today. So when we do these smart plans, these retirement red zone plans, these free consultations for our clients, it's a total comprehensive retirement plan, covers all different aspects of financial planning and retirement planning.

Erick Arnett:
But it's really super important to focus on what are you paying in fees. You know, a lot of investments, a lot of strategies have hidden fees. I've heard it so many times. Hey, Erick, I'm not paying any fees on this. And I said, wait a second. You mean they're doing all this for free on Wall Street, built all those skyscrapers and big old offices and towers for free? I don't think so. There's got to be some fees there somewhere. Someone's making some money. So let's dive in and truly find out what are you paying in fees? So our strategy, when we implement that, if we can implement that bond replacement strategy, you're automatically cutting your fees 50%. So when you're saving on costs like that over time, over five years, ten years, 20 years, 30 years, that half percent or 1%, hell, you could be paying 2 or 3% inside of your portfolio and not know it. That is a major drag on your retirement dollars and your cash flow. So we've got to be super, super mindful of that. We talk about it on the show all the time, focusing on fee reduction, where we can focusing on risk reduction, where we can, you know, what is your financial speed, What what type of portfolio do you need to have that's in line with your risk, your goals and your needs long term? And is it going to produce the return that you need in order to reach those goals long term and to never run out of money? Biggest fear that we have is we don't want our clients and our retirees to run out of money.

Erick Arnett:
So super important fees. Risk control. And also, of course, we talk about all time tax and tax management. Tax sensitivity. Are there strategies out there that we can implement to reduce taxes the best that we can? And there absolutely are. And you owe it to yourself as a listener to this show to dive in and take another look. Take the time, step back, get this free report. Also take advantage of our free comprehensive financial plan. It's pretty simple, folks. The way it works is you're just going to get a hold of me, either calling me at (352) 616-0511 today. We'll get on the phone, we'll chat a little bit, get to know each other. We'll start gathering that data and information that we need. That's where you come in. You know, it's really just going to cost you time and a little bit of effort to gather the data, the information that we need. And then my team is going to take that and and go to work and optimize and build out an optimal retirement plan for you.

Erick Arnett:
So super, super important. And guess what? We're going to do that all free. As a as a caller on the radio show, this is given to you completely free and complimentary, probably over $1,500 value or more with our time. So please, please, please give us a call. You owe it to yourself to get to get involved, to get in the game, to reevaluate things. It's a great time. We're going to if we have some time today, we're going to talk about the market, the market, the market matrix. It's a good time to get back into the game, folks. Things are things are looking good from a market standpoint and an economy standpoint. So hopefully we can get to that. But just, you know, super, super important. Let's focus on that plan. Let's get one in place. I know that the majority of our listeners out there, you might have a plan and you think to yourself, you know what, this plan is working pretty good. Why not have a second set of eyes, take a look at it and give you that confirmation that you need that confidence, that clarity that you're going to reach all your long term retirement goals and needs. And guess, Sam, that comes to like our kind of our favorite time of the show.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the Quote of the Week.

Erick Arnett:
I like when you jump in here and give us the old financial wisdom and quote of the week. What do we got this week?

Producer:
This week, Erick, we have a quote from a former US president and we're going to have to go back many, many presidential terms ago because this one is from Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. An Honest Abe once said, the best way to predict your future is to create it.

Erick Arnett:
Boom. So this is what we talk about, you know, as far as planning and, you know, just hoping for the best is probably not going to be the best plan or the best strategy. You know what? Just sitting back and listening to whatever your current broker or financial advisor is telling you might not even be the best strategy either. You know, I encourage folks, I encourage clients. We do, at a minimum, an annual review with our clients, sometimes semiannual, sometimes quarterly. It just depends on what the client's needs are and and their desire there for communication. But if you haven't heard from your advisor in the last year, with all the major changes that are going on, you know, it might be time to have a second set of eyes, a second opinion, look at things. And that's all we're offering here. At the end of the day, you don't have to make any changes. You can take our plan, you can take our ideas, you can take our optimization, and you can do with what you please. But we really, really, really think that it's super important to constantly look at things. You got to constantly massage things. Things are always changing interest rates, the markets, taxes, tax rates and everything's always changing. It's an ever dynamic flow. The markets are changing the dynamics of the markets. You know, do we should we be in value stocks right now? Should we be in growth stocks right now? Should you know, what are annuities all about? What's the difference between an indexed annuity, a variable annuity, an immediate annuity, a fixed annuity? You know, all this confusion out there and and that that actually brings to mind, Sam anytime you know we have free giveaways.

Erick Arnett:
If you folks are out there listening you're just not sure tired of hearing all the noise about annuities. Make your own decision. Educate yourself. We've got a book called Annuity 360. A completely unbiased. It was written by a colleague of mine, a good friend of mine, Ford Stokes. We'll be happy to send this book out to you. Just get a hold of us at 35261605113526160511. Also just pop on my website. Go to the upper right hand corner, hit on my calendar, send me a little note. Hey, I'd like to get this book annuity three 6360. You know, do do this on your own. Like, don't take anybody else's word for it. Read the book and make up your own decision. Is this a is this appropriate for you? I think later on the show in the second half, we're going to talk about annuities and annuities statistics. And I'm really tired of hearing all the noise out there. Everybody's got an axe to grind. You know, everybody's marketing something. And unfortunately, folks, I'm sorry, you're constantly being marketed to and bombarded with all this noise and all this information.

Erick Arnett:
And and really what it does is it just confuses folks. And you don't know where to turn. You don't know what you don't know what questions to ask anymore. And it's almost kind of like what's going on in politics today. You know, you just don't know what's true. You you don't know what to believe anymore. So unfortunately, folks, you've got to you've got to educate yourself. You've got to take the time to dive in and not take somebody else's word for it. And that's what this show's about. That's why we always are offering the free bond replacement report. We're offering the Annuity 360 book. This is all free to you folks. You just got to reach out and grab it and we'll get it to you right away. And super, super important to educate yourself and make your own decisions. You know, of course, take point. Wealth wants to be by your side to help you manage and guide you to and through retirement. But it's really super important that you that you understand, you know, what's out there and how different things can affect you. I think later on we're we're talking about, you know, annuity sales. And I'm not plugging annuities. They're not appropriate for everybody. Some people they are, some people they're not. But I think, you know, we're seeing record sales in annuities right now.

Erick Arnett:
You know, so there's something going on there where America likes these and they're they're fitting nicely into their plan. You certainly don't want to put everything into an annuity. You've got to have a balance. You've got to have your safe money and most of your annuities, like an indexed annuities 100% protected, your principles protected. And that's the big attraction to them, quite frankly. And there but there also can be put in place to provide income for you, you know, with interest rates the way they are. You've got to be careful because when you buy an interest rate vehicle, it's susceptible to price or the value is going to be susceptible to what we call interest rate risk. So interest rates move up and down all around, and that affects the value of your portfolio. But if you have a guaranteed product, you're taking away that interest rate risk where your principal is not going to fluctuate. Now you have to be careful. We love indexed annuities that don't have fees. You know, you got to be careful with fees. You got to be careful with these teaser bonuses and these roll up income rider guarantees. You know, there can be some confusion there. That's why you owe it to yourself to read this book. Reach out, get it today. Annuity 360. Would love to get it to you.

Producer:
And Erick, one of the main factors that's really affecting the upside benefits of annuities is what's happening with interest rates in the economy. In June, US employers added 209,000 jobs, despite inflation, rising interest rates and the continued recession fears. You know, the Fed is signaling potential hikes later this year. At this most recent meeting, the Fed decided to hold off, but they did signal some hikes later this year. And when those interest rates go up, it gives these annuity companies more room because they're investing your principal in safe investments such as the ten year US Treasury, which is generating more interest than ever before.

Erick Arnett:
We've been 100% focused on what's the Fed is doing. And really, that's the main thing that's been affecting the markets here in the US and globally is, you know, we've had ten rapid rate increases by the Fed. Good news came out today, which was fantastic that the core inflation number has come down again substantially June over June, we are now at 3%. So we're almost to that Fed target of 2%. So we've come as high as 9% inflation down to 3%, which is very encouraging. And I'm sure we're seeing big market rallies this week as we're speaking because of it. We've been talking to you folks about this for a long time to prepare for this. I said once the Fed was done with their their tightening and once they started to ease off, you'll see these markets take off. And sure enough. We've seen that. Just to share a little bit of market data, because it's kind of it's kind of interesting. I still hear rumblings and people out on the street like, oh, you know, things are so bad, the market's so bad. Well, you know, I got to stay away from stocks. Well, you know, guess what? If you have a contrarian viewpoint, when stocks were at their worst and getting beat up over the last 3 to 6 months, that's the time to buy.

Erick Arnett:
Folks, that's the time to get in the game. Stay in the game. In fact, if you have a well-diversified portfolio actively manage, you weathered that storm nicely in 2022 and we're off to the races here in 2023. So, you know, S&P 500 is up 16%, the Nasdaq up 32%. You know, the Ifo, which is your international index, up 15%. So, you know, the markets have recovered. The markets are grinding higher. And so it's time to get back in the game. If you had some fear and you kind of got to the sidelines and you didn't know, you know where to turn because of all the kind of turmoil and market noise and what was going on in 2022, you know, reset, refresh, get a new plan, get back and get back together, Get in front of us. Let's talk about the smart plan. Let's talk about this retirement red zone plan and get back in the game. You know, utilizing index annuities, utilizing structured notes to manage risk. If you don't know what a structured note us, give us a shout. You know, utilizing the active portfolio management, you've got to have somebody actively managing that growth or that risk portion of your portfolio. So buffered notes, you can actually get upside in the market and buffer your downside. So there's a lot of you know, these days it's been very challenging to build a portfolio that's one going to provide some some income, but also to provide some safety and some diversification.

Erick Arnett:
So we've had to gotten creative. And that traditional portfolio that you've been utilizing or your brokerage has been sitting on that model of stocks and bonds. It's not working, folks. So you've got to have some alternatives. You've got to dive deep and you've got to look at some different things. So structured notes have some really nice high guarantees on them. One year maturities, you don't know what a structured notes is. We can give you a white paper or just give us a call, educate you on that. Buffered ETFs, you know, protecting the downside with a buffer, but capturing the upside of the markets and then having actively actively managed growth side of the portfolio. Do you have value? Do you have growth in your portfolio right now? Do you have a 5050 mix? You know what? What is trending and what's not trending? So great, great news in the market. That's why the market's rallying this week is super, super great. Inflation is coming down. Even the job market, which has been super, super hot and that's kind of what the Fed's been watching, is also starting to cool down a bit, which is encouraging. I think that the Fed may look at this data and ease up.

Erick Arnett:
We might get another quarter point hike this year. And then I'm very encouraged that if we're going to see a very mild, if any, recession at all, it looks like right now, if the Fed can look at this data and say, okay, let's let's let's ease back right here and just kind of look at things for a couple of months, I think they might see what the ten right hikes have done for them and have done for the economy. And I think they might be happy with where it's at. And so they still want to get to believe it or not, only 2% inflation, which is a challenge, but to have that 3% number come in this week was phenomenal. And and of course, we're seeing it in the markets. And when you have high interest rates, these index annuities, these fixed products, they're they're they're increasing their rates. So they're very attractive now. So we we're it's it's it's getting easier to meet those goals with safe money and create the income that we need to create a lot going on but a lot of positive things. So if if you're if you're tired of sitting there and worrying about your future and you're ready to chart a course for a tax efficient retirement, a stress free retirement, a reduced risk, a reduced fee retirement, simply pick up the phone and give us a call.

Erick Arnett:
We help pre-retirees and current retirees with this all the time. This is what we do at take point. We're all about delivering that high end financial planning wealth management that you as well you as the listener deserves this as much as that ultra high net worth client does. And that's why we created take point to deliver that quality, to deliver that excellence to everybody out there. We believe that everybody deserves that. So that's the difference. We don't have account minimums. We don't say to you, Oh, if you don't have half $1 million, we don't have time for you, you know? So everybody deserves that. That's that's the mantra behind take point wealth. So we want to take point. We want to take lead. We want to help you to and through retirement. So give us a call today. 352. 6160511. So we can get started for you today. You can visit my website, Schedule a no obligation consultation right now. We will compare your current plan. Maybe you have a plan to your to what your retirement could look like if you worked with us. And then our goal is to create the best plan possible. You owe it to yourself to just get that second opinion.

Producer:
Absolutely. Erick And I would definitely ask people driving around listening to the show, maybe they're listening on the podcast, maybe they're watching some of the highlights on the YouTube. Ask yourself, you know, how confident am I that my plan is going to get me where I need to go in retirement? And maybe you're very confident and that's great, but it never hurts to get that second opinion, just like you would with a major medical concern when it comes to your finances. Mean your health and your wealth are these two very important things that we're all maybe a little bit nervous to ask for help when when we need it. So give Erick a call. (352) 616-0511. Whether you're very confident or you're not confident at all and you need some help, Erick and the team over at Take Point Wealth be happy to help you out. And Erick we were talking just a bit about annuities early on in the show. There's some interesting data coming out from Limra, which is the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association there. You know, as pre-retirees and retirees are looking for more guaranteed income solutions, they've actually broken records again by purchasing more annuities than ever before. So coming off of a record high of sales in 2022, we're seeing a 47% increase from last year. And Erick, you know, you're meeting with people who are preparing for retirement and think more people are just looking to get to the guarantees. They want to take some money off the table of the Wall Street casino and and start getting those paychecks and play checks that they're going to need in retirement.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, listen, everybody out there listening right now has a different situation. They have a different timeline. They have different goals. They have different needs. And so I want to you know, I want to preface that first before we get all excited about talking about annuities. Annuities might not be for everybody, but I'm really tired of hearing these supposed folks and experts on the radio and TV talking about marketing against annuities and talking about, Oh, you know, I wouldn't sell annuity to my mother. This is foolish. It's it's it's it's bad marketing. That's all it is, folks is is marketing these absolutely can fit a really a big need for folks and that's to to create income guaranteed income. We have to find that income gap. You know maybe your guaranteed income sources are bringing in X but you need another $2,000 a month to to provide that income. This is a great tool to give that guaranteed income. So we've got to put a portion of your money either, you know, if you don't like annuities and we'll look at other things like bonds and things like that, but you've got to have some money in the fixed income side or the fixed annuity side or the fixed indexed annuity side in order to create that guaranteed income and that kind of that guaranteed floor that you need. And then and then yes, of course we're going to put money in the markets as well to get that upside and to beat that long term inflationary risk. But super, super important. And I guess like if it's hitting record highs and we've seen these kind of increases that it's working for folks out there. And so you owe it to yourself to educate yourself. You know, some of the key takeaways, you know, these market conditions, you know, continue to drive the investor demand for annuities.

Erick Arnett:
You know, obviously market volatility. People just start to get tired of all that. Also, with interest rates increasing, these annuities are very, very attractive. And there's and they're really starting to fit that need nicely to provide that income and that upside protection or upside even upside growth that you need. So every major fixed annuity product line experience, what does that say? I'm sorry. Every major fixed unit product product line experience at least. Okay. So yeah, so market conditions continue to drive the demand for these annuities. Every major market annuity product out there experienced at least double digit year over year growth. Fixed indexed annuities, fire sales also had a record breaking quarter. Fire sales were up 42%, 42% from the first quarter of 2022. So economic conditions remain very favorable, favorable for annuities, and you owe it to yourself to get this book annuity 360 or just give me a call. I'll walk you through or answer all your questions. Nobody's going to hold a gun to your head and try to sell you an annuity. We just want you to know that, you know, these are thriving. These are great investment tools. And unfortunately, when you're just out there chit chat and people have some negative opinions or connotations because they truly don't understand how they truly work. So a lot of different ones out there, we really like the indexed annuity with no fees and some really good participation rates. We we work with one of the leading companies in the nation. You owe it to yourselves to give us a call and to educate yourself and learn more about what a fixed indexed annuity really is.

Producer:
Give Erick and his team at Take Point Wealth a call (352) 616-0511. When we come back on Take Point on Retirement. We're going to talk to our friend Sarah from absolute Law Group. Take Point on Retirement. We'll be right back.

Producer:
You're listening to Take Point on Retirement. To schedule your free no obligation consultation visit. TakePointOnRetirement.com.

Producer:
New rules across Major League Baseball have shown their effects both on and off the field. I'm Jim Tarabukin. With the Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife in 2022, the MLB Players Association agreed to a handful of new on field rules, with the goal to increase the pace of play. A pitch clock was introduced prior to the season, eliminating downtime between pitches. The numbers are in and game times across baseball are down an average of 31 minutes this season. But the new on field legislation has led to necessary changes off the field. President of Life Flip Media Erick Mitchell, explains the controversy.

Eric Mitchell:
Further, it's controversial because everybody is so used to the seventh inning. That was it, right? Beer sales are shut off, so games are shorter. Beer sales are you know, it's important. They're also major sponsors of the teams.

Producer:
Mlb teams aren't governed to a league wide alcohol sales policy on how long into the game beer can be sold, but the seventh inning has traditionally served as that cutoff point. But according to the Associated Press, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Texas Rangers are two of five teams that will now sell alcohol through the eighth inning of their home games. Milwaukee President of operations Rick Schlesinger talked to MLB.com about his team's revised policy, saying, quote, If it turns out that this is causing an issue or we feel that it might cause an issue, then we'll revert to what we've done previously per the same report, the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets will halt their sales after the conventional seventh inning timestamp, but aren't ruling out potential changes in the future for the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. I'm Jim Terravecchia.

Producer:
At Take Point Wealth Management. We know you've worked hard to earn your money and you've worked even harder to save it. When it comes to wealth management and planning for retirement trust, Erick Arnett and his team of experts who have been helping individuals, families and business owners find financial freedom for more than 20 years. Let us help you protect and grow what you've worked so hard for. Schedule your free no obligation consultation now at TakePointWealth.com. Welcome back to Take Point on Retirement. Schedule your free financial consultation now at TakePointOnRetirement.com.

Erick Arnett:
So, hey, everybody, thank you for listening and welcome back to Take Point on Retirement Radio. This is segment two. So glad to have you with us up and down the nature coast all the way into Port Charlotte, Tampa, Sarasota, Pinellas County. Thank you for listening and thank you for your calls. We're standing by today. Give us a call if something on the show that you hear that makes sense to you or creates a question or you have some type of concern, please feel free to reach out and give us a call. We're here to answer your questions and help you out. Super excited, though. Segment two here is I really want to dedicate what I think is super, super important. Talk about estate planning, talking about probate, talking about, you know, potentially planning for Medicaid. All of these questions that I know you have out there, caregiving, long term care, all this kind of stuff is a huge part of, you know, aging and retirement planning. And that's one of the things that take point. Wealth management that we do we do focus on number one is that estate plan first and foremost. And so super excited, super thankful and blessed. We have Miss Sarah Elliman here from Absolute Law Group. Sarah, how are you doing today?

Sarah Elyaman:
Erick I am fantastic. Had a wonderful 4th of July. It was great. I hope everyone out there had a great holiday as well and just trying to do my thing and get up here and tell everybody why I really, really believe it's going to make a lot of sense to you and your family to make sure you get this thing called estate planning done. Because I know y'all out there just think, you know, I don't got an estate. I don't need to worry about this. I don't need to focus on all of that Debbie Downer stuff no one wants to talk about. But let me tell you, I am here today to say, first off, it doesn't all have to be Debbie Downer. Just remember, you're protecting your legacy, you're protecting your family. And on top of that, you're making sure in the event, heaven forbid, something happens to you while you're alive and you get sick, you and your family are covered. So estate planning isn't just focused on, Hey everybody, what happens to my stuff when I'm not here? That's all super important. We need to make sure that it gets done. We need to make sure we avoid this probate thing, which in layman's terms, all all that means is making sure your stuff doesn't have to go through the court system to get to your family. Because believe it or not, you can completely avoid all that. And I want to remind you, if you have a car or if you have a house, if you have a bank account, guess what? Congratulations. You have an estate. That is really all it takes.

Sarah Elyaman:
You know, if you have stuff that you want to make sure gets your family. Guess what? That's an estate. So it's just really important to remember that you may not think you have a whole lot to to pass down, but guess what? If we don't make the plan to get it there, none of it's going to get anywhere. So that's really important. But on top of that, Erick made a really great point. You know, I was listening to his previous segment on the show talking about just the market and all this hard work that you and your families have put into, you know, even accumulating any type of wealth and then wanting to be in a position that you can pass it down. What can we do now to make sure that we're protecting all that hard work so it doesn't just, you know, kind of disappear in the event you have some type of medical crisis that happens, then what can we do to make sure that you're not paying everything to someone like me when you pass away just to get it to your family? Because let me tell you, everybody, probate is not cheap. I make a lot of money off probate. I'm not ashamed to say it. And I can tell you now you can avoid it pretty easily. Should you just do a little extra work while you're alive to make sure you don't get to that situation? So, Erick, you know, you know me, I could talk a lot. Where should we start? You thinking this onion of a problem that we're discussing today?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. You know, so obviously estate planning is a very broad and in-depth topic to discuss. And there's so many different things we could discuss here. So I want to I guess we need to try to keep it simple and keep it at the, you know, the 300 we used to call the military the 300 foot level. And so, you know, I think that it's so important. That's why I'm talking about it. That's why I have you on the show today And really, honestly, why we really changed Focus is here at Take point retirement take point Wealth management years ago is because it doesn't like you said it doesn't it doesn't matter. You can have the best plan and just kick butt and rock and roll and just have a great retirement. You know, you've done well with your asset management. You've grown your nest egg. You know, you could have the best plan in place for retirement and the management of that retirement. However, like you said, if you don't have the proper estate planning in place, all that really can get hammered or be all for nothing and lose a great deal of that wealth in that probate process. That's the dirty word we're talking about probate and how do we avoid probate. And like you said, it's a pretty simple, pretty inexpensive task. And once again, it really like we talk about all the time doing the proper planning just takes your time, folks.

Erick Arnett:
We're standing here today and talking about this and we're standing by to take your calls to get you started to help you build that solid estate plan to avoid probate. Because we've seen what it's done to. You know, some of the folks are potential clients and even some of our clients that we've had that haven't done proper planning. You know, I've seen where it's just been I don't want to say destroyed people's lives. I mean, that might be a little dramatic, but just create an amazing amount of stress and amazing amount of cost that was not necessary. We had I just had a lady in the other day, nice lady, you know, in her late 50s, and her husband had two businesses. They also had some nice assets, nice home. They were married, I think, 30 some odd years. Her husband passed away kind of suddenly. And I remember even he was a he was a kind of a friend of mine. I knew him through some channels and networking. And I remember talking to him specifically about, hey, man, you know, your health, you know, is kind of catching up with you here. It's super, super important with what you have come in and see me so we can get these estate planning documents done and get everything in place to protect your wife and your kids in the event of something happening.

Erick Arnett:
Unfortunately, you know, we just keep kind of kicking that can down the road. He never got to it because he was just so busy in life running his companies and running his businesses. But the sad part of the story is, is it took her two and a half years, two and a half years of probate before the judge finally ruled in her favor to transition the assets to her and get them into her name. Most importantly, these two businesses that were worth quite a bit of money. And so this lady had to sit there for two and a half years, you know, with no. Without that asset, without that money created quite a hardship for her. Also was stuck running the businesses that she didn't know anything about. So the business sales went down. She she wanted the goal was to sell the business, but she couldn't because she didn't own it yet. So she had to wait two and a half years before she actually owned the business. Now she has the businesses on on up for sale on the market, but she's lost so much money, so much time. An amazing amount of stress. I mean, this poor lady is just wore out. And simply because they did not come in and see us for about an hour or two and get the ball rolling and get their documents in place, folks, we're we're going to make it We're making it super easy for you.

Erick Arnett:
You can we'll do all the work for you. We can do everything in house. You can come right here to my office and we'll get the ball rolling for you and get that questionnaire started and get you on that path to estate planning will follow through with you. We'll get you all the way through the process, get things signed, get things in place, and and so you're protected because we can talk about all this wealth management, all this planning, and it does no good if we don't have that number one thing in place in place, and that's estate planning. And quite frankly, when we go through the certified financial planning process for the CFP designation and for a lot of the other designations that we get in this industry, the number one thing we start with, the number one thing is estate planning. You have to start there first, right? And then and then once you have that solid estate plan in place, then all the pieces kind of come together and you and you can sleep at night. And yes, we do these seminars and these educational events like like Sarah said, it it's not about, oh, you know, I'm not a wealthy person, I don't need estate planning. I here about this estate planning and even, you know, the name and my company management. What's that?

Sarah Elyaman:
The word estate automatically just sounds like a fancy people. Yes. Yeah, that's what it is. It's a listen, y'all. It's a branding thing. It sounds like a fancy word that doesn't apply to most people, but that's really a huge misnomer because just like Erick said, I mean, I think it's story time this morning to keep you guys entertained for a minute. But really, like when I see what he just said, that happens to me every single day, quite honestly, I had a lovely lady move here from New York, from, you know, to the villages, one of our villages locations. And I want to tell you, like, I left that appointment and cried because it was so heartbreaking to me. You know, they planned their entire retirement to come here. You know, it was it finally they had retired. They were in their 50s. They had worked very, very hard to get to the point that they could retire early and live their life. You know, they move here and the husband has a brain aneurysm. And the next, you know, their retirement is pretty much she is taking care of him. They were not obviously planning that. They had all these travel things they were going to do. And now that she's spending an exorbitant amount of money on just care expenses just to take care, you know, just for the basics for what he requires. So that level of care. And she was basically coming to me figuring out like what can I do to afford what he needs and not lose my house in the process? These are real stories of real people that your neighbors, the people at your church, people at wherever you worship, where these are, you know, the community that you meet.

Sarah Elyaman:
These are all we're all kind of in a situation. It could happen at any of us. Um, and what's really important is. Is to remember, you know, unfortunately, illness does not discriminate. It doesn't matter what you got in your bank account, it can happen to any of us. Stroke is the number one cause of death and disability in our country right now. And I get stroke victims all sorts of ages. It's not necessarily just this thing that could happen if you have pre-existing conditions or whatever, which is why this is a whole other topic. It's real important to take care of ourselves. Right. Uh, but that, you know, it's a process. So what can we do here together to make sure. In the event that something like this happens, it doesn't completely devastate your families. And I say this, you know, over and over, and we do a lot of this education because a lot of what my life entails is cleaning up messes that were perfectly preventable was just a little uncomfortable conversations, you know, and then getting those uncomfortable conversations down in a way that are legally binding in the that some of these things happen.

Sarah Elyaman:
So in that situation that we talked about earlier, we ended up having to do some Medicaid planning, do some asset protection. So the wife was able to afford her home and continue to live really to live. We're not talking about crazy exorbitant lifestyles here. This is just to live and afford to to also maintain her expenses. And we and we were able to get the husband's care almost completely covered so she could maintain a life of some kind, because ultimately, when we look at a caregiver and someone that, you know, has an illness of some kind, we have to really make sure that both people are taking care of caregivers, you know, are some of the most amazing, resilient super hero like people I've ever met because they're so constantly focused on making sure the person they're caring for has all the attention. But then we neglect the caregiver in the process. And actually 66% of caregivers passed away before the person they're caring for. Wow, that is a real thing. And whenever people come in, we got to look at the caregiver, what their needs are and also the person that needs care. And there are things that can be done to make sure, again, you're not losing everything in the process to afford care. Just like Erick said, all this stuff about the market, all the, you know, all of these different financial products, they're all great.

Sarah Elyaman:
But what is the point if the second to help if that happens and all of it is just. So it is definitely one of those situations that we don't like to think about. Nobody wants to speak it into existence. And let me tell you, us together right now, we're not doing that. We just want to make sure that we're bringing these to the forefront of your mind, because I can guarantee, you know, a neighbor, you know a friend, you know, a loved one that has gone through this. And if the only takeaway you get from my conversation with you all today, you know, please just remember, there are ways to make sure and prevent a lot of that heartache. But it does involve a lot a little bit of proactiveness on your part and maybe hearing things that kind of sound a little scary because ultimately no one wants to think about what will happen should something happen to them or someone they love and care about. It's, you know, it's terrifying, really. But what's worse, you know, thinking about it now and coming up with a plan or being completely blindsided by it and then really not knowing where to turn. And that's really where Erick hit it on the nail. We want to be a resource to you all. You know, there's ways, you know, even if him and I can't help you, we'll point you to the right direction of where to go.

Sarah Elyaman:
Because ultimately, you know, the time that we spend doing these things, we want to educate you. We want to make sure that should you be in crisis, you at least have some sort of idea of where it happens next. And if I can say one thing, I really more than anything, I think I touched on a little bit on our last conversation together. But if there's a number one thing that you guys need to make sure you have in your state plan today would definitely be your power of attorney documents and would make sure that it's somebody that you can trust and rely on to do the right thing by you. Because remember your financial power of attorney. You know, you're giving them all of your basically financial rights in the event that you can't exercise some of yourselves, even though in Florida it is valid the day you sign it. People don't realize that. But it is. Um, but if you don't designate this person and you are incapacitated, then guess what? A judge designates that person for you. So either you can make the decision on your own or someone makes it for you. But that person, because you're giving them so much authority, they could technically bankrupt you. So you need to make sure that you, you know, you really have a lot of trust. And if you're not in a situation that you're ready for them to do things for you, just don't give them the document.

Sarah Elyaman:
Hold on to the document until you are truly in a situation. You want that person to act. Because if they don't have the document, they can't do anything. Just remember that, you know, you can't really walk into the bank and say, I'm Erick Arnett's power of attorney and not have it in hand. No one's going to listen to you. Right? So just, you know, make sure those are. I'm a control freak, too. I don't want someone in my business unless I am incapacitated and can't do it myself. So I completely relate to people who feel that way. But I also know doing what I do. If I'm not making that decision, someone else is going to make it for me. And that also triggers my control freak tendencies. So I want to make my own decisions and I want to do what I can to prevent, you know, a court of law making it for me. So that's why the financial power of attorney, the health care power of attorney, who do you trust to make health care decisions in the event that you can't? Because remember, guys, that person can technically pull the plug on you. So they need to understand what your wishes are, especially in the light, and preferably if they like you. That's great too, right?

Sarah Elyaman:
You know, it's super important and I make light of it. But it's also all very true, you know, because these documents, people haphazardly download them off the Internet and they just put people's names on them. They don't think about the ramifications of what they can do for you. It's a big deal. It is a big deal who you appoint in these positions. And you need to make sure that these documents aren't just stuff that you pulled off of the Internet. If you're a new resident to the state of Florida, guess what? Florida doesn't like out of state power of attorneys. We need to make sure that it is compliant with what the state of Florida says needs to be in there. And those are the documents that really will protect you in the event you're incapacitated. That gives your little, you know, we had a situation that Erick and I worked on together, that we were in a guardianship because the power of attorney was no good for her husband. These are people that were married for 50 years by the time they met me. And now he's incapacitated and she can't access any of their money because it's a joint account. And in that situation, you know, she needed his approval to do certain things and he couldn't give it to her because he was incapacitated. We had to get a court of law to do that. Technically, with joint accounts, it gets tricky of how that works. Or there were some accounts that were just in his name, actually, and she couldn't access it, even though she was his wife of 15 years with joint accounts.

Sarah Elyaman:
A lot of time you can, but there are certain institutions that require both parties. So it gets really tricky. And people don't think this doesn't apply to me, you know, and me and my husband have been together for 60, 70 years, five years, ten years. It doesn't matter. Being married doesn't automatically give you. Finance the legal ability to make some of these decisions if you don't have the documentation to back it up. If that you know, that's just when it comes to incapacity. And also, if you don't have the right documents in capacity, you know, then we can't do some asset protection. Like that circumstance that I talked about earlier with us being able to get Medicaid for the spouse and do asset protection for the wife so she can rely on those funds if we don't have good power of attorney documents, guess what, everybody. We end up in court. Plain and simple. Because we would have to end up getting a guardianship if that person cannot consent to signing power of attorney documents because they're not with it. I start there. To me, that is the first layer of the onion. And then you peel downward because ultimately your will very important. It's basically what says where you want your stuff to go into who it's, you know. So that's protecting your legacy at death, but want to make sure that you have a legacy behind left Behind at that point. And the only way we're going to do that is to make sure that you're protected while you're alive as well.

Erick Arnett:
Sarah. I just did. You know, we we do. We do a lot of state planning seminars. And folks, if you go to our website, take point, wealthmanagement.com or you get on my calendar, I'll show you. We'll have some more workshops coming up. And overwhelmingly, these workshops are packed. So I know that a lot of people out there have these questions, these needs, these concerns. I also would guess everybody, just about everybody that's listening to this show right now, because I know the statistics behind it, there's a good chance that you don't have the proper estate planning documents in place. And when we say that, what does that mean exactly? You know, what are all the documents that make a solid estate plan? We're going to share that with you. But I want to share one thing is, you know, I recently did all this for myself and my my wife. I've been I was remarried and actually remarried three years ago. And we just got to that after about a year and a half of being married.

Sarah Elyaman:
Better late than never.

Erick Arnett:
Erick Yeah, I know. And I was like, shame on me. But I understand the challenges of getting there and getting it done. But once I just made it a commitment and made the appointment and put it on my calendar and put it on my wife's calendar, then we were off to the races and it was and guess what? It was actually, I might be a little weird and a little nutty, but it was actually a fun process for me. I don't think estate planning has to be this morbid.

Sarah Elyaman:
Or a little weird.

Erick Arnett:
It just. But it doesn't have to be this morbid kind of, you know, doomsday kind of dreary conversation. And. And, you know, you don't have to think about all this negative stuff. It was actually fun for me because, you know, I got that time. My wife and I came together. We got on the same page with everything we have Split family. You know, she has kids, I have kids. We have different assets, property, all this kind of stuff. And like, once it was all done and we had everything ironed out and we knew that everything was, you know, titled properly and in the in the trust and all this kind of stuff. It was just like a relief. It just it feels really nice to have it done. And and I think the one question and so I know people out there, I know everybody out there listening needs to give us a call. Like you need us to give us a call, at least evaluate what you do have in place if you're out of state, if it's old, it's past. You know, it's been ten years since you've done something. So 35261605113526160511. We're here to answer all your questions about estate planning. The one thing that I hear all the time, I know we're running out a little bit. We're running out of time, but we got to get you back on the show because we just love talking about this stuff. But we've only got about five minutes left. But the one thing that I hear all the time, Sarah, that I would like for you to kind of close up for with us is it's just simply a question I get all the time. Is it? And it's will or trust. What do I need, will or trust?

Sarah Elyaman:
Oh, boy, is it a question, right? And I'm going to be that super annoying attorney that says it depends. Erick Right, right. Just just the really quick and dirty bullet points. Wills on its own, on their own. Excuse me. Will not avoid probate. That is a huge misconception. People think if I have a will, I avoid the probate process. That is not true. Your will is a roadmap that says, Hey, judge, this is who I am, this is my family, this is my stuff, and I want to make sure it gets to them in these amounts. This is who gets what. It's basically a roadmap that tells a judge, This is what I want to happen with my estate. Again, it's important because if we don't have that roadmap, you pass away in a situation that's called intestate, which is a fancy word for saying, hey, the Florida law determines who gets your stuff. So the will basically bypasses that. If you have a will, you die? The fancy word is testate, meaning that you say where you want your stuff to go. You don't have a will. You die intestate. The judge and the Florida statutes decide for you still important to have, but it doesn't avoid the process of going through the court system a trust.

Sarah Elyaman:
On the other hand, think of it like you're creating your own little corporation. And as long as and you're in charge of it, and then you can designate who is the manager of the assets when you pass away, that's called your trustee. And then as long as we get all your stuff into your corporation while you're alive, when you pass away, they manage your the corporation basically passes, passes all the stuff out from that corporation to your family. Very simple. It bypasses the court process because everything's inside that corporation. However, if you don't put the stuff in the corporation literally, and it's an empty shell, we still have to go through probate. So there's a little bit of extra work attached to making sure a trust works. And having a trust on its own doesn't bypass probate in the sense that you still have to move your assets into the corporation. But once you do that, it's a bucket that passes. The outside of the core process. It's very simple. You can have things held in the corporation for those family members that have special needs, maybe substance abuse problems, maybe money problems who aren't very good with spending. You know, you don't want them to blow it so quickly.

Sarah Elyaman:
So those funds can actually stay in the corporation and that manager can give them money as needed. So it trusts I love trusts. They're super useful. One of my law school professors used to say, Thou shall hold everything in trust. Like that's the 11th commandment I, you know. But then again, I've met some people that look at their situation and a will honestly can work fine with some additional planning. Like let's say there's beneficiary designations that we can do or or something with their property to make sure we avoid probate, because probate can get very costly and it takes a really long time. So that is the quick and dirty answer. But when I say it depends, I'm a very much I look at your situation and determine what's the best route because you know we you may not need a trust, but trusts are great for a lot of people. And then there are some people that will can work just fine as well, as long as we just take some additional precautionary measures to avoid probate. But the most important thing is we got to pick one of them and we want to make sure that it's the right one for your situation.

Erick Arnett:
Sarah, thank you so much. Just a little teaser for our listeners. There is a whole nother subject I want to get into and I'd like to have you back here pretty soon. But the other big question, we don't have time, unfortunately, to answer it, but a lot of people are concerned about that asset protection. And I get that question all the time with my clients. You yesterday and this older gentleman was like, Hey, I'm really concerned about making sure if something were to happen to me and I was incapacitated, what would that mean financially as far as my care and long term care facilities and assisted living, you know, And how is that going to affect my wife? I'm really concerned about, you know, our assets being depleted and her not being able to, you know, live comfortably. So, folks, we have all these answers for you. We're standing by (352) 616-0511. We want Sarah and I want to answer your questions, get you started on the proper estate planning. Now, it's it can be confusing. It doesn't have to, but it doesn't have to be difficult. And it doesn't have to be boring or sad. You know, we're standing by. We'll get you to and through the whole process and whether you need a will or a trust, I mean, you know, all those different questions, you know, do you need asset protection? What's going to happen if one of us passes away? And then the other thing, too, is like, there's a lot of folks out there that listen to our show, Sarah, that are all alone already. They might they have some assets, but they don't have a spouse and they really don't have anybody to step up and be that caregiver. So I want to really talk and address that the next time. That's all we have time for. And fortunately today I want to thank Sarah from Absolute Law Group. Sarah, just real quickly, you know where you're located, how folks can get a hold of you.

Sarah Elyaman:
Sure. So we honestly service the entire state of Florida. Our physical locations are in Citrus County, the Villages area in Ocala. And you can definitely get a hold of us by calling (352) 205-4455 or visiting absolute law group.com.

Erick Arnett:
Folks, thank you so much for listening to Take Point on Retirement radio contact Sarah (352) 205-4455. Or get a hold of us at (352) 616-0511. Or just go to our website take point wealth in that upper right hand corner click on there and just put Erick I need estate planning and we'll take it from there. We'll get we'll get it started for you. So folks, thanks so much for listening to the show. Have a great weekend. I'm Erick Arnett. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Sam.

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. TakePointOnRetirement.com or pick up the phone and call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511.

Producer:
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Producer:
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