On this week’s show, Erick explains why there has never been a better time to invest in a fixed indexed annuity and strengthen your income plan for retirement. You will learn how interest rates affect you and how working with a financial advisor can save you significant money on fees.

Is your hard-earned money safe and protected from loss?

Call Erick today at 352-616-0511

Book a free consultation here.

11.2.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

11.2.22: 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:
Hey, everybody. Welcome to Take Point on Retirement radio or so thankful that you're here listening today. We have a great show for you today. Of course, have our host, Mr. Sam Davis, extraordinaire. Thank you so much for being here today, Sam. And you always make the show a little bit better and smoother and flowing. Nice. So we appreciate you being here today. But the topic of today's show is how much more are you willing to lose? So it's a time of uncertainty for sure. And that's why we have so much turmoil and volatility out there. But I think more and more folks out there today, if you're listening, I know you're looking for answers. You need some solutions. What you've been doing hasn't been working. But keep in mind that there is a solution for you and put on a smiley face and pick up the phone and give us a call. We can help you. There's there's no matter what's going on in the world. I mean, my wife brought this up the other day. We were talking we were driving down the road and she was like, you know, going back to the beginning of time that we could even remember from the time we were little kids. There's always some kind of turmoil in the world. There's always some kind of major event happening.

Erick Arnett:
And people think and tend to say and they're worried like, well, these times are much different than they ever been. And they're really not. It's, you know, we've been hearing since we were little kids, you know, I'm 51 years old, my wife's 46. And we've been we were talking about it's like, you know, we've been hearing since we were little kids that the end of the world is coming somehow, some way. You know, you've always got these media pundits and these theories and these rationales and and things that are always being thrown at us. And it's really just to create fear. And when fear is the highest and the uncertainty is the highest is typically when people panic, they'll make moves or changes that they shouldn't. And or they'll just have this kind of fearful attitude that tomorrow is just not going to be a better day, that the bad things are coming. So and we just feel very differently, you know, And that's why you want to work with a good investment advisor or a fiduciary. We've been doing this for 25 years now and there's always an opportunity somewhere. So yeah, it might not be that having 100%, 50%, 60%, 40% of your portfolio in the stock market is a good idea for you. You know, that might not be the right thing for you, but and of course, the stock market is being impacted in a big way with rising inflation, which we now have rising interest rates because of that and market volatility.

Erick Arnett:
So it's had a negative effect on portfolios this year. But that doesn't mean that there isn't some opportunity somewhere else. And and that's why we're so encouraged. We're going to share some information with you today that I think will really brighten your day, change your outlook, and we're going to bring real solutions to the table and not just talk about hypotheticals. We have real solutions here at Tape Point Wealth. And so stay tuned to the show. Are so glad you're here today. You know, we are fiduciaries first and foremost. And we want to sit down with you and build a better plan. Maybe you have a plan in place, maybe you don't, but you need a plan, a complimentary consultation today. Reach out to us. You can either call us at 352 616 0511 , or you can go right to our website. Take point wealth dot com. In the upper right hand corner you can select a appointment time with me personally right there and get on my calendar. And it's just really going to be about a 15 minute chat on the phone just to see if there's something that we can do or or something that potentially you're concerned about and we can discuss whether it's a good fit for us to work forward.

Erick Arnett:
But please reach out to us. We love hearing from our listeners. We know you're out there, we know we've got some listeners and some people that listen religiously to the show. Reach out, give us a call, send me an email. I'd love to answer your questions. I mean, that's the reason. We have this show is just to educate, educate, educate. But today, I want to stay focused on solutions and real ideas. And and Sam, there's some really bright opportunities and some great strategies out there for clients right now, even in this environment. And we're going to talk about that quite a bit today. So want to get to that. If you don't catch all of today's show, go ahead and listen to our podcast. You can get it on any podcast site, Spotify, iTunes, pod pod buying wherever you listen to podcasts. But you can also just go right to our podcast website, Take Point on Retirement, Radio.com And we have all of our shows there so you can catch up on Nature Code. Pasco, Hernando Citrus, Sarasota, Tampa. Thank you so much for listening. And let's let's with that being said, Sam, let's kick it off. What are we what are we getting into today?

Producer:
Well, Erick, let's get it started with our financial Wisdom quote of the week and.

Producer:
Now of wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Producer:
The quote of the week comes from Alice O'Connor, who said, Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as a driver. What do you think about that?

Erick Arnett:
Money is only a tool that will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as a driver. I mean, this is something that you and I were talking a little bit about before the show is, you know. People get tied up in thinking that just utilizing a tool to get them to retirement, like, for instance, the stock market, if I just keep putting my money in the stock market while I'm working and I just somehow I get to this magical number in my head, you know, I've got to reach a million or 500,000 or 2 million and then I'll be okay. Yes, the stock market might have been a good tool to get you to where you are currently. However, it says nothing about you and it says nothing about what your true needs are. You know, it says nothing about what does your retirement plan look like? What are your goals? These are specific to you. So I like that. Pretty, pretty, pretty good one.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, we are recording this on Wednesday morning, so we don't have official word yet, but just a little bit of a market update. You know, we're expecting the Federal Reserve to announce another bump in a rate hike. Maybe it'll be, you know, 50 basis points, maybe it'll be 75 like they have the last few times. But, you know, just your thoughts a little bit on what a rising interest rate environment means to listeners, particularly ones that maybe are holding bonds in their portfolio.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So, you know, obviously, we've been talking about this all year. I mean, the Fed is aggressively raising rates and they're meeting today or no tomorrow actually, which well, their meeting is the first and the second. So they're actually meeting. So we'll probably get some news or some leaks out today on Wednesday. But of course, they're going to raise interest rates probably 75 basis points and maybe another 75 basis points in December. This is already baked into the market. The market already knows it. So it's no shock. You know, the the reason that they're continuing to raise rates is, quite frankly, the economy is still pretty strong. And we just had a number come out yesterday, the jobs number where people there was there's there's like two jobs for every one person looking for jobs right now. So there's there's millions of jobs available, but we don't have enough people to fill them. And so that's says that there's a really strong job market. And so the Fed, they're probably going to continue to raise rates. So that theme is not going to change. It's it's going to stay the same well into 2023. And, you know, I've heard people talk to me about, well, I'm going to wait until I see what the Fed does or I'm going to wait until see what the midterm elections do, you know, this and that.

Erick Arnett:
Listen, that doesn't matter, folks. You know, the time is now. It's never a better time to get your plan in place and to get your money moving and to get your money working for you and your retirement. You know, all these things are going to continue to always be happening, but there's never a better time than now. And, you know, the economy is still strong. Sam, We had the the we had the largest increase, monthly increase in the Dow since 1976. In October, the Dow finished up over 14% in one month. And so, you know, and that's because your value stocks, your your your value type companies are still reporting really good strong earnings. And so the Fed still isn't seeing the economy slow down like they like. So that's no surprise. They're going to continue to raise rates, which is going to continue to put a lot of pressure on bonds and why we continue to harp on the fact that that conventional 6040 portfolio that you're probably in, if you're listening to me right now, you've got 40% in bonds, you've got 60% in stocks. I sound like a broken record, but I on every show, if you go back and listen to my podcast, I'm going to urge you, if you're listening right now to my show. Hi, how are you doing? It's Erick.

Erick Arnett:
I'm so glad you're here, but I would like for you to once the show is over or just pause, pause it right now and you can catch the rest on the podcast. Go to your computer, pull your statements In most of your statements you can download right off your computer. You'll see a little pie chart and it's going to show you how much you have allocated to fixed income. And then I would like for you to email me, call me, let me know what that percentage is, because that is the percentage that's killing retirees right now. And we've been talking about this for well over probably I don't even know it's maybe two years that that conventional 6040 portfolio stocks and bonds is not going to work. It's no longer going to work for you going forward. And if. Your advisor or your current investment management team or wherever you get your money. Maybe you're managing your own money. You've got to make a change, folks. You've got to you got to give us a call. I'm not even saying you have to move all your business to another advisor or whatever, but we will do a free, comprehensive portfolio analysis, a free total comprehensive retirement plan called Results and Advanced Planning. And it's going to be a goals based plan, first and foremost going to. You know what we need to do to get you to and through retirement and to build a successful plan for you.

Erick Arnett:
And, you know, it may not be 60, 70% in stocks. And folks, I'm going to tell you, I've been doing this for almost 25 years. There is never been a better time. I'm going to say it right now. There's never been a better time to look at indexed annuities. And here's why. Number one, first and foremost, Sam, we were talking about it earlier before we kicked off the show that. That magic number that that you may have may try you may have tried to get to, and now it's even reversed on you. So you're like, oh my gosh, my magic number to retire was $1,000,000. And I just lost 30% in my conventional portfolio because bonds are down like 15% this year and stocks are down 25, 30% this year. So you've lost a ton of money. You might be sitting on 700,000 in your portfolio and you think to yourself, well, man, I'm just not going to be able to make it now. I've got to work longer. That might not necessarily be true because. Because of the fact that interest rates have increased so fast and so sharply in such a short term that front end of the yield curve has never been yielding. Better interest and better earnings and better income than I've seen in almost my 20 year career.

Erick Arnett:
And certainly I've been recommending index annuities for about ten years now because I just really got educated on about ten years ago. There's never been a better time. And in the ten years that I've been promoting these and looking at these four clients than right now because. I'm going to give you a little insight. It's pretty simple. Indexed annuities in these insurance companies, their earnings and their profit is fueled by short term interest rates. So all they do, folks, is they take your money and by law, compliance regulations, they have to invest almost 90% of that money into short term US treasuries. And guess what they're paying? They're paying like 4% right now. So these index annuity companies less than a year ago were only making one or 2% on those treasuries. Now they're making three, four, 5% on them. So they're able to enhance these strategies like never before. And so the participation rates, the fixed rates, the income that they're guaranteeing you for a lifetime has never been better. So it's not about reaching that magic number in the stock and bond market, like, hey, I got to get to $2 million and then I'll be okay. There's so much more to it than that. So let us walk you through it. I don't care if it takes us five months, six months, six appointments, one appointment.

Erick Arnett:
Let's walk you through it slowly so you truly understand it. And you're truly educated. And I'm telling you, it's going to change your life. You're going to be able to relax. You're going to have a stress free retirement and you're going to take that volatility out of your portfolio. You're going to reduce your fees. You're going to reduce your expenses, potentially reduce your taxes, and tax sensitivity is going to be much better. But there's never been a better time to look at these index annuities. And if you're working with a current advisor or current firm or whatever, and they're not bringing these different strategies and ideas to you, then you owe it to yourself to pick up the phone. Please give us a call. 352 616 0511 or just go to my website, take point WorldCom and set up an appointment. But Sam, it's about income, right? It's not about. So if we get to 2 million, that's great. That's fantastic. You did a great job saving. It's about what kind of income are you going to be able to now get on that 2 million, Right. So you can have $2 million saved up. But what good is it that going to do you if you're not generating a good, stable, consistent income for your lifetime on it? Right.

Erick Arnett:
I mean, it does no good to have that. So we've got to look at really flipping things, flipping your brain, looking at things from a totally different perspective because, yeah, these times are different and that's why you need with you need to be with a fiduciary and an advisory team that knows how to move and transition with the times and with the current strategies and current elements and events that are being dealt to us. So the amazing thing about the index annuities as well, that's so much different than fixed income and bonds is you have no interest rate risk. You know, your rates are locked in. Heck, I saw one the other day, you could just put it in fixed income for one year and make 4%. And I've never seen them any better than I than I than I have now. So let us let us take a look. Let us run an illustration for you. Let's do a plan for you. Never been a better time. Please reach out to us. Let's produce income. Let's not get tied up on that magic number like I've got 600,000. I got to get to seven. I got a million. I got to get to 2 million. It does not matter because it matters what kind of income you're going to be able to consistently produce on that portfolio. Makes sense.

Producer:
That's absolutely right, Erick. And if you're listening to the show today, if you're listening to Take Point on Retirement, on the radio or maybe on the podcast, you can take advantage of the free offer for that complimentary consultation. You can meet with Erick, ask him as many questions as you like. That's completely complimentary. You can schedule an appointment at take point wealth dot com that's take point wealth dot com or you can just call 352 616 0511. Again that number is 352 616 0511. And Erick, you actually have another offer for all of the listeners. Anybody out there who's looking to learn a bit more about annuities because you know, they're not the most simple thing to understand. There's a little bit of reading, a little bit of homework you can do and you'll definitely understand them better. You want to tell the listeners a little bit about Annuity 360 and how they can learn a bit more about annuities.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we've had great success with this book. Our listeners are asking for the book. We get it right out to you. It's free of charge. We cover that cost for you. Great book annuity 360 written by a colleague of mine. Just a simple read. It's a great educational tool. You can get right through it in an hour or so. And we actually had a gentleman read this book eight times, one time. He was fearful of annuities, didn't know much about them. And he read this book and basically put a majority. He followed that 6040 conventional wisdom in the past and he was just getting hammered and he couldn't understand why. It's like this portion of my portfolio that 40% of my portfolio is supposed to be the safe part. It's supposed to be providing income, it's supposed to be hedging against the stock market. Why is this not working? And. And so that led him to look for other alternatives. And and he happened to be listening to the show. We sent the book out to him. He read it eight times, highlight it, and he ended up making a change. And I tell you what, that man has never been happier because he's sitting at home. He doesn't worry about the volatility in the stock and bond market anymore. He knows exactly what to expect. And so it's about reducing that stress, man. If you look at your if you're in retirement or you're getting close to retirement and you're looking at your portfolio values and they're up and down all around every day, I mean, that's going to create stress, right? So great book.

Erick Arnett:
Reach out to us. We'll get it to you right away. Annuity 360 And I think, you know, it's really never like before because of rising interest rates. It's because of the bond yields in the bond portfolios getting hammered. There's never been a better time to get this book. Educate yourself and then give us a call. Reach out to us. We'll follow up with you and chat about it. And perhaps, you know, perhaps it's just a good time for you to do that. And and there's no obligation to work with us folks at all. We're trying to get as much information as as possible out there. It keeps me up at night, honestly. You know, the Federal Reserve, you know, they're going they're purposely hammering you right now to take out some of your wealth and to slow you down as far as the consumer and to hit us in the wallets and we can defend against. We have to. And so if you're if you're near retirement, you know, you're five years out or if you're if you're currently retired. Absolutely. A must-read. Please, please, please reach out to us so we can get you this book. Let's play a little bit of audio on the Fed interest rates and how they affect you.

Producer:
Yeah, we're going to go ahead and play that after the break. We also want to go ahead and play an audiobook chapter from Annuity 360 about how you can use an annuity to create your own personal pension, because we know pensions aren't as widely offered in the workplace these days, but you can actually use an annuity to provide that income in retirement that so many people out there want. So go ahead and listen to this audio book chapter. We'll take a break. We'll listen to that news story on Fed interest rates and 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 Take Point on Retirement dot com.

Ford Stokes:
Chapter nine. You can create your own personal pension. Big idea Using an annuity to create a personal pension helps you create a lifetime income stream, but it also helps you leave a legacy for your beneficiaries. All annuities can create annuity income to supplement the income you need before or during retirement. Those who are approaching retirement are afraid that they will run out of money. But an annuity can help make sure you have an income you can never outlive. An annuity can be a great investment for your portfolio, but encourage you to be careful that you don't overpay for your annuity When you put your money into an annuity, the annuity company will pay you your money back at a date you specify you don't want an annuity company to charge you too much to simply pay your money back to you. I'm confident that leaving a remarkable family legacy is important to you. You likely want to have money left over when you pass away to leave your beneficiaries. The goal of a personal pension is to generate lifetime income with no risk that grows your money and allows penalty free withdrawals. An annuity can create a lifetime income with market like gains and no market risk, while also allowing you to build enough wealth to leave for your beneficiaries when you pass away. Don't give the annuity company fees for doing nothing. We prefer fixed indexed annuities for our clients that do not have an income rider fee, but you can still create a personal pension without an income rider on your annuity.

Ford Stokes:
If you get an annuity with an income rider but don't utilize the features of that income rider, then you are not getting what you paid for. You are literally just paying the annuity company 1 to 2% each year. You defer annuities in your annuity without receiving a single benefit for that annual fee. This income rider fee will also draw down your account value or principle, depending on how that index is performing. The growth on your entire account value could be significantly and negatively impacted. Some accumulation focused annuities are built to deliver increasing payments without an income rider. You should consider the features your income rider is providing you before deciding to purchase it as an add on. Make sure you utilize the features you are paying for more ways to get the most out of your annuity. The longer you wait to turn on the annuity, the more you'll receive an annual payments. This is because your annuity will spend a longer time in the accumulation phase, meaning it will spend more time building up your account value. Your annual payments will grow as your account value grows. Believe it or not, you can generate your own personal pension by distributing no more than 5% a year with penalty free withdrawals from your accumulation based annuity policy. Many accumulation annuities are set up to be RMD friendly, so you won't suffer a penalty when you have to take your RMD. It would be silly for you to be penalized for something you are required to do. Annuity companies take this into account by creating products that make taking your RMDs easier.

Ford Stokes:
Inspect what you expect with any annuity. Don't just go with what the annuity agent or advisor tells you. Read it for yourself. Specifically, you should read the annuity illustration guaranteed and non guaranteed tables included within the annuity illustration. Also, please remember that annuity policy is a contract between you and the annuity company. So caveat emptor or buyer beware applies here. Be aware of the annuity you are buying and choose an annuity that works best for you. They will help you build a successful retirement and they'll offer you peace of mind whether you choose to generate income through penalty free withdrawals or invest annually in an income rider. Know the consequences of both. This is a decision you will make at the beginning of the investment process. One poor decision here can cost you 1 to 1 and one half percent of annual growth over a 30 year retirement. This could come out to be a significant loss. Educate yourself on your options and the specifics of each option you are considering. Making the right decision up front will save you a lot of frustration in the long run. Also, please remember that if you withdraw too much annually, say 10%, you will run out of money in 10 to 12 years. Make sure that you're working with an advisor who can help you choose the appropriate withdrawal amount so that your money lasts for your entire lifetime. As discussed above, we recommend no more than 5% be withdrawn each year from your account.

Producer:
The Federal Reserve keeps raising interest rates to combat inflation, but how could it affect your retirement? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement dot radio Network. Powered by Amerilife supply chain issues. The pandemic, energy prices and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have all been contributing factors to the runaway inflation to fight rising prices. The Federal Reserve has been using one of its most powerful tools raising interest rates.

Tibor Besedes:
So they started increasing the interest rates about, I guess, two meetings ago. So about three months.Ago when.When they had the first increase of three quarters of a point percentage points.To 75 basis points, which at that point was the largest increase in about. 30 years.

Producer:
Tibor Besedes is an economics professor at Georgia Tech. He says it's surprising that the August reading for inflation did not see a decrease, especially given gas prices have been plummeting from recent astronomical highs.

Tibor Besedes:
Inflation is not going to stop all of a sudden. But what one is hoping for is that these increases start to decrease so that we start getting to levels that are sort of more manageable and more pleasing to the eye. If nothing else, it was very surprising.

Producer:
That's why. Besedes, says many analysts now expect the Fed to be even more aggressive with interest rate hikes in coming months. So what does this mean for you? Potentially higher payments on mortgages, other loans and credit cards.

Tibor Besedes:
Securing any sort of balance on any loan that doesn't have a fixed interest rate, it's going to become more expensive.

Producer:
Besedes says it's important for consumers to cut back where they can to lessen the blow of inflation and interest rate hikes. And if you're in the market for a new home, it could be good to delay the purchase until rates or home prices come back down. So how do the Fed's actions on interest rates affect your wallet? That's a key question to consider as higher costs. Eat away at your hard earned money. With a retirement dot radio network powered by Amerilife, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Welcome back to Take Point on Retirement. I'm Sam Davis with Erick Arnett, the owner and founder of Take Point Wealth Management. And we're going to get the second segment started off with right or wrong.

Producer:
Come on down as we test your financial knowledge in right or wrong.

Producer:
All right, Erick, first item on right or wrong, we're going to read a statement and then you're going to tell us if it's right or wrong and then explain to kind of help me and all the other listeners understand a bit more about these topics. So here's the first one. It's too expensive to work with a financial advisor and you will be better off managing your money on your own. Do you think that's right or wrong?

Erick Arnett:
I mean, absolutely wrong. So I'm a financial advisor. I've been an advisor for 25 years and I can tell folks when I retire I will seek another advisory team to help me manage my money because the value there is it's exponential because financial advisors can help you truly save and keep more of your hard earned money. It's important to work with a licensed professional that can help the spouse and the family in case of failure. I was doing who was doing the financial planning passes away. Even so, think about it. Typically in a household, one person is kind of doing the financial planning or financial management. And I understand people trust is at an all time low and people like control and and you can have as much as control as you like, but having that extra person on your team is going to is going to maximize your money. And it's really it's it's exponential. I mean, what you can make with an advisory team, if they're truly doing what they're supposed to be doing. I mean, we're going to I just spent almost a month on the road traveling, going to different events, bringing solutions, learning new ideas, you know, and bringing those to my clients. And so we're we're we're truly students of the game were involved every day in this. And it is super important to us as fiduciaries to grow your retirement. And so you know and typically what we find is that nine times out of ten, you're probably paying the same, if not more, to do it on your own or with somebody else or some other way or strategy than you would with us as a fiduciary.

Erick Arnett:
So, you know, just having that added extra person on your team, we've been doing this for over 25 years. So it's I think I if if I was getting close to retirement, even if I was retiring, I would want to seek out the best and have them help me to continue to make sure I'm doing the right thing. Just things like we were talking about on the show today. I mean, if you're out there managing your own money or somebody else is managing for you and they just kind of have you in a model portfolio and they're just you just kind of stuck in that conventional portfolio and haven't bought any new years and not tactically making changes in your portfolio, then paying somebody 1% if they're going to save you five, ten, 15% potentially make sense. Right. So you've got to have even if you're if you're running a business, if you're building a home or, you know, going to doctors or whatever you do, you always want to seek other opinions and try to. Seek out, you know, new ideas and what's new in the latest and the greatest out there. And like I told people in the first segment, just because things seem pretty rocky right now does not mean that there is an opportunity. Money is always moving somewhere and turmoil changes things that we're going through. Rising interest rates create opportunities. And actually, actually these opportunities are enhancing for our retirees and our pre-retirees because there's never been a better time to look at conservative, more conservative strategies like indexed annuities, changing that conventional wisdom, changing that conventional portfolio, getting away from that 6040 portfolio, 60% stocks, 60% bonds and changing it to stocks and index annuities.

Erick Arnett:
There's never been a better time to do it, and that's because of the changes that we've had in the economy and the rising interest rates. And so you owe it to yourself to educate yourself on it. No one's going to hold a gun to your head. We're not high pressure salespeople by any means, you know, would just love to deliver that information and educate. And when I see light bulbs go off and I see stress levels come down with our clients and the prospects and the new people we're working with, it gives me goose bumps. I mean, because that's really why I do what I do. And it keeps me up at night that people are just kind of stuck like a deer in the headlights and not doing anything. Or you might have been you may have recently sold out of the market just sitting in cash. Sitting in cash, sitting in cash while inflation is is eating you alive. You know, you've got to make a move, folks. You can't just sit there on the sidelines. We've got to make it happen. So we have real solutions. We have real strategies, and you owe it to yourself to give us a call. So. So I guess there was a long-winded answer to your question, Sam, but I'm obviously a big proponent of a brainer there, of people seeking out advisors and know it's not going to cost you more. Most of the time we're saving people money, we're saving them fees.

Erick Arnett:
So think about it. Just in that 6040 conventional portfolio, you're paying fees on 40% of a portfolio supposed to be hedged against the market, supposed to be providing you income and safety, and it's gone down 15% and you're probably paying a 1% annual fee on that portion of your portfolio. So just moving that portion to an indexed annuity as your safe money, as your income producing side of the equation and as your safe side of the equation, you're going to we typically find index annuities that have no fees and expenses to them, and the participation rates are outrageous. They're crazy right now. I can't even believe what's going on. I can't really name companies specifically and because of compliance and stuff until you call me and we sit down and we can talk about this specifically, but the participation rates in the in the rates that these companies are now offering are pretty, pretty amazing. So there's never been a better time to call us. There's never been a better time to make a move. There's never been a better time to work with a fiduciary financial advisor and there's never been a better time to work with take point wealth management than now. So please, please give us a call. I urge you if you're listening, just pick up the phone, give us a call and we'll start the chat session right there. 352 616 0511. I can't wait to hear from you. And it's all complimentary. It's a complimentary, complimentary consultation with over $5,500 value. It's called results and Advanced Planning. Give us a call.

Producer:
Erick. And I love that you said that when you yourself are entering retirement that you're going to seek out help because I can't imagine too many people out there. You know, they've worked hard their whole life. They enter retirement. I don't think those people want to start each day by looking at the stock market, sweating over how much they've lost the day before or gained the day before, managing withdrawals, switching around investments. You know, they haven't spent their whole life doing these sort of things. You know, if a financial advisor and a fiduciary like yourself, I mean, you've spent almost three decades in the business or more. So, you know, you really want to trust an expert. If you were sick, you wouldn't try and diagnose yourself and figure out how to treat yourself best. You know, seek out the experts and and spend your retirement doing the things you love to do. You know, spend time with your family, go on vacations, you know, go fishing, you know, hit the beach, hit the golf course, whatever it is that you truly want to do. So definitely a great value. And you can call Erick at 352 616 0511 or visit take point wealth dot com and get started today. All right next item on right or wrong, if your employer does not offer a pension plan, there is no other way for you to create. A personal income stream that you can never outlive. Erick, is that right or wrong?

Erick Arnett:
It's absolutely wrong. And that's exactly what we're talking about on today's show, is annuities. And trust me, there's a lot of annuities out there and there's a lot of them that we don't like. So you've got to be very careful as a fiduciary. You can have confidence that we're bringing the best strategies forward for you. But we love indexed annuities right now particularly. And so, yes, you know, annuities allow you to protect and grow your wealth and establish a stable income stream that you can never outlive. And I'm thinking of this one particular company. They actually have a joint income. Typically when you do a joint income, they drop that income level down considerably. This company doesn't drop it more than ten basis points. So you're almost getting the same income jointly for you and your spouse for the rest of your life. Don't have to worry about stock ups and downs and turmoils and you're basically kind of getting in and locking in probably the best time in our nation's history for these products. So absolutely great time to create that guaranteed pension for yourself. And the rates are I can't quote them because of compliance, but please give me a call and we can talk about it. They're really strong. They're really strong. The strongest I've ever seen them. And and so you owe it to yourself to give us a call.

Producer:
All right. Third item on this week's right or wrong, Here it is. You won't learn much in a first appointment with a financial advisor. What do you think, Erick?

Erick Arnett:
So absolutely wrong. I mean, once we get a hold of your financial statements, we can show you the risk you're taking. Number one, because most people don't even realize how much risk is in their portfolio. And just like we've been talking about, most people thought that 40 to 50% of their portfolio wasn't at risk at all. And that was a big eye opener this year and something that you had to get out ahead of a year or two ago. And we were talking about on this radio show two years ago to get out of fixed income, to get out of bonds, but also the fees you're paying, you know, you're paying fees on that total portfolio. I've had folks come in. There's these evil kind of annuities out there that I really don't like, and they're paying as high as three or four or 5%. So how are you ever going to get ahead paying that high a fee? So we'll actually do a free part of your comprehensive results in advanced planning that we're going to do your comprehensive retirement plan. We'll actually do an annuity stress test on the current annuities that you have. There's probably never been a better time to make some switches and changes there as well. So you owe it to yourself to have the annuity x ray done.

Erick Arnett:
We do that completely free. We'll pull apart your current annuity and it's all comes in bullet points. You know exactly what your risk are, the fees that you're paying, the returns that you've had, the income that it could potentially provide for you. And we pull that all out for you in a nice little summary. So you owe it to yourself to to to to educate you on what you currently have. If you own annuities and and what might be out there, that's much better. So what the increase in rates. I'm pretty confident that there's some better options out there for you so but and then correlation of your assets you know are your assets all alike. You know I've talked to people where, you know, they've got all their money in the S&P 500. Those are all large cap kind of growth stocks. So if large cap growth is out of favor, then your portfolio is going to be dragging or if not going down. So this this year is a perfect example. Sam. We were telling people and we were moving our clients, our current clients out of growth stocks and into value stocks. The Dow stocks are dividend paying stocks and they have the spread on those.

Erick Arnett:
The outperformance in one year's time is huge. It's like ten, 15, 20% that those have outperformed. So that's a perfect example of how you have to be tactical, you know, where there's opportunities. So growth stocks are going to get hammered and they'll continue to get hammered. But good solid value stocks are the Dow. It's crushing the Nasdaq, it's crushing the S&P 500. So the performance there has been really strong versus those other two markets. And so a perfect example of, you know, if you if all of your assets are just correlated the same way and they're out of favor, then your portfolio is going to be out of favor. And there's opportunity. And trust me when I say this, folks, I don't care how bad you think it is out there, how bad it's going to get and how fearful you are. Money is moving somewhere. Money is always constantly moving. And yeah, you know what? When the stock market was just going up and up and up for 12 years straight and technology stocks and those high flying growth stocks were because we're taking off, because interest rates were at zero, these companies could borrow money and grow their company with basically no recourse or no risk. I mean, but that's all changing now and it's not going to get any different for a long time.

Erick Arnett:
It's back to like when I first started in this business where you have to find quality, you have to find companies that are going to have good strong earnings in good times and bad times. So you've got to look at your assets and make sure that they're not just 100% correlated. You have non correlated assets. Assets are going to perform differently in different times, in different periods in the economic cycle. So we will show you how you can protect and grow your money without investing in the stock market. We feel like all of you listening right there, right out there right now, if you're listening right now, you deserve to know how much you're paying in fees. You deserve a retirement that you have worked so hard for. So please give us a call from a fee perspective. Etfs, exchange traded funds are far superior products compared to mutual funds. That's just one little tip right there. So you've got to you've got to look at this at a different way and you've got to be active, you've got to be tactical. And now is a great, great time. It's never been better to make those changes.

Producer:
All right. And that completes this week's Right or wrong. And Erick, I think that's some great advice, maybe some good homework for all of the retirement warriors, the listeners to Take Point on Retirement out there. You know, log in, find your statements, figure out how much you have invested in fixed income, and then give Erick and his team a call. 352 616 0511. You can learn how to delete the fees that you're paying on that bond portion of your portfolio and replace it with something that can pay you an income that you can never outlive, which is something that everyone out there listening, I'm sure would love to have as a part of their retirement plan. All right, Erick, we've got a problem solver this week, kind of a story about helping clients. You know, you've been helping clients for years in this business. We've got a little example about Mark and Linda. Do you want to kind of walk the listeners through that and how you helped them?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I mean, it's all kinds of tie to ties together, you know, in today's show and how we really been talking about the misconception about retirement. You know, too many people believe retirement is just about saving money and reaching that one big number. Right. But the reality is, is more about the strength of your income plan than the size of your nest egg. You know, there's probably people out there that have $1,000,000 portfolio and they potentially can produce more income for retirement than that guy who's got the 2 million portfolio. So if you're listening right now and you don't have an income plan in place for your retirement and I'm talking about 20, 30 year retirement plan and income plan, we think you could really use our help. We can build you and your family a plan that has your money working as hard as you have worked for it. So give us a call today, please, or visit our website. But free, free consultation, it's totally comprehensive, no cost to you and our listeners. It's probably like $55,500 value. There absolutely no obligation to only work with us if we can do better for you. 352 616 0511 or you just go to take point wealth dot com and in the upper right hand corner you just click and book a consult with me and you'll get right on my calendar. So we'll we're going to analyze your specific and unique financial situation. We will discover exactly how much you're paying in fees and help you cut unnecessary costs in your IRA for one K and any other retirement savings.

Erick Arnett:
So but yeah about the the problem solver you know so perfect example for for transparency and privacy. We'll just call these people Mark and Linda they came to us they had about a one point. 1 million in retirement savings. And there are business owners. They operate in a nice little business and they saved very well and they made a good living. But as it got older, it was more difficult to run the business. And and so they were kind of looking towards retirement and. And through their working years, they saved consistently, but they really had no plan in mind. Right. So that's I think, Sam, that's probably like 95% of AmEricka. That's 95% of our listeners, you know, they just think I got to save, save, save, and I got to get to this magic number. When I talk to my wife about retirement, I never talk about a number. I talk about income streams. The biggest thing that we don't ever want to happen to us is we don't want to run out of income and we can see portfolio values go up and down all around. I was talking to a guy the other day who's lost $1,000,000 in his portfolio this year. Think about how hard it was for him to earn that money and how much income he has lost now potentially on his retirement because he just didn't make a change.

Erick Arnett:
It was kind of stuck in that conventional wisdom. But getting back to to to Marc and Linda, they were kind of risk adverse, you know, their whole time. So they just kind of kept putting money away, put money away, and that caused them to really lose a lot of value over time. So they were they knew this and they were kind of beating themselves up and they didn't know. There are that there were out of market options to protect and grow their money. They thought they had to be in the market. Therefore they were scared and they're like, We're not going to go into the market. We're just going to keep our money in savings accounts and keep growing it and try to save it. And guess what? Shocker. Banks and bonds and everything else weren't paying anything. So inflation now has eaten them alive. But they're still they were still very risk adverse. And all of a sudden, you know, they're in retirement and we're looking at their Social Security and everything. And and the cost of living is much more than they ever expected it to be. So their expenses were around 5000 a month and their combined Social Security would pay them about $4,000 a month or so. And but if if Mark or Linda passed away, the other would lose 50% of that Social Security income. Right. So that's huge.

Erick Arnett:
So if you know, if they have about 4000 a month coming in, their expenses are 5000 and God forbid one of them passes, which is going to happen. Right. It's inevitable. Somebody's going to pass away. They're going to lose over 50% of their income. So they go down to 2000 a month. And so that's going to that would create a huge income gap for them and a huge hurdle to overcome. So they wanted to enjoy their retirement. They wanted to travel while they were still young and enjoy a nice lifestyle. So we had to come up with a solution for these folks. And so and I think that there's a ton of people out there that are in the same predicament or same situation as Mark and Linda, and they feel like they have nowhere to turn and they've been beat up by the stock market. They've been beat up by the bond market. Like, what do I do? There's no place to go, you know, I guess now I'll just keep my money in the bank, you know, because now CD rates might be 3% or 4%, and at least I'm getting something better than I did a year or two ago. Or I could buy short term treasury and it's paying like three or 4%. But guess what, folks? Inflation's still running at 8%, 9%. And so and we don't we don't know when that's going to change. So we've got to do better than that.

Erick Arnett:
We've got to get your money out of the bank. We've got to get it working better and we've got to implement a smart risk plan that includes a bond replacement strategy, a strategy that eliminates the fees on your bond and establishes income. And talking about on the show all day long, income that you can never outlive, it keeps on coming. That check comes in the mail every month. And you don't have to worry about the stock market anymore and have to worry about the bond market anymore. You know, we can build a solid plan for you and get you to and through retirement to where you get that guaranteed pension, that guaranteed income. So getting back to this couple, you know, we advisor we did about 50% in fixed indexed annuities, total bond replacement. We did a little bit in stocks for these people and a tactical asset portfolio rebalancing it monthly, changing from value to growth and eliminating dogs in the portfolio and moving with with what's working and momentum. And so we were able to bring a solution to these people to to fill that income gap for life. And guess what? So yeah, they didn't have two or 3 million to retire on, but at least now they had a solution with their 1 million to provide that income and provide that income gap so they don't have to ever worry about income and it's joint income for life. So if one of them passes, they're still going to get that income.

Erick Arnett:
And so I think that that was a super exciting thing for us here at Tape Point to help that couple. I love it when we first met with them and they were just like, Man, we just we don't know what to do. We have nowhere to turn. We're kind of lost and we don't think we can even retire, but we know we have to because we're getting older and we can't keep up with this pace in this business and we're able to offer them a solution. And now they're going to be able to retire. They're going to be able to retire stress free and enjoy the things that they want to do and travel and and turn the TV off, turn the Facebook off. Turn all that noise off and just. Go out, enjoy the rest of the time that you have on this beautiful planet. You know, we can't keep worrying and stressing, particularly at these ages. We've got to enjoy life and get out there and enjoy the time we have left. So, you know, and keep in mind, we don't make money on rebalancing. But brokers out there are going to charge you high fees, so be careful when you're rebalancing your investments. We don't make any commissions on rebalancing. We're just fee based only fiduciary advisors. So you owe it to yourself to kind of learn about that as well and how we're different.

Producer:
All right, Erick, we've got just about a minute and a half left in the show. So I want to remind people one more time how to get in touch with you. First off, the listeners can visit Take point wealth dot com. It's as simple as that. Takepointwealth.com If you missed part of today's show or if you want to go back and listen to past shows, Take Point on Retirement is available wherever you listen to podcasts. So no matter if you've got an iPhone or an Android phone or whatever you can find, Take Point on Retirement. Wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also give Erick and his team a call at 352 616 0511. Again, that's 352 616 0511. Schedule a time with Erick. It could be as simple as a 15 minute chat and get started on a retirement plan today because we know everyone out there listening is interested in having a stress free, enjoyable retirement for them and their family, and Erick and his team can help you get started with that today. Erick, any final thoughts as we wrap up the show?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I was going to say a couple of announcements. Please join the Take Point Wealth family. I mean, you don't have to move your money to us and we have to be your money manager. But you can you can follow us on Facebook at Take Point Wealth on Retirement. You can become a part of the family. We always have great information that we're always sending out to our team and our listeners and our retirement warriors through all different mediums, social media, the radio. We have a great event November 15th at Pasco Community College coming up. Still have time to register. If you give us a call here at the office, we can get you in. It's going to be an educational college course at Pasco Community College. Results in advanced planning. It's going to be a lot of the stuff that we talk about on the radio we're going to be delivering in person to folks. So that might be something you want to see if you want to kick the tires and come meet us. So that's November 15th at 6:00 at Pasco Community College here in Springhill. I'll put that out in the next couple of shows.

Producer:
It's this Week in History.

Erick Arnett:
November 6th, 1980, 1984, Mr. Ronald Reagan was was one. His reelection in a landslide victory over the Democratic challenger, Walter Mondale. Reagan won 525 electoral votes and 58.8% of the popular vote. So no other candidate in US history has matched Reagan's electoral vote in a single election. So we know elections coming up here real soon. Please get out and vote, folks. We need your votes. Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. But thank you so much for listening to the show. Love, love, love that our retirement warriors are out there listening. But give us a call. Email us. Get on my calendar. Let's. I really want you to become a part of that a part of that wealth management team here at Retirement Wealth Advisors.

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 dot com or pick up the phone and call 352 616 0511. That's 352 616 0511.

Producer:
Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC BCM, a registered investment adviser and Take Point Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

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.

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.