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7.21.23: 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:
Hey, everybody. Welcome to Take Point on Retirement radio. So glad to be here. Happy Saturday. Happy Sunday. I don't know what day or what time you're listening, but so glad you could be with us today. Of course, we've got Mister Sam Davis with us today. Of course. How are you doing today, mister Sam?

Producer:
Happy to be here on Take Point on Retirement. We had a great episode last week, Erick, where we talked to Sarah from Absolute Law Group. I learned a lot about estate planning and trust, and we're going to share another interesting story kind of in that category later on in this show.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, that's a great that's a great point. We're so blessed to have Sarah on the show last week and we're going to have her back. It's good to have attorneys that are working every day in the field to help protect assets and set people up for Medicaid and and answer all those questions that people have on that. So if you if you miss that show, we're going to talk a little bit more today about estate planning. Really make planning almost every show. We have an hour long show and want to get 15, 20 minutes in every week to talk about it. So if you're out there listening, please tune in. And you also, if you missed last week's show, of course, you can go to our podcast website, Take Point on Retirement Radio.com. You can go there and catch past shows. You can also go to any one of your apps on your phone that plays podcasts, Spotify, iTunes, you know, whatever podcasts app you use. Pretty easy to get on your phone and go back and listen to past shows. The information and the discussion that we had with Sarah was was fantastic. And so we also I think we're on YouTube channel now. If you go if you Google or if you go to YouTube and you Google us, search for us, Take Point on Retirement, we'll come up there as well. So please go ahead and catch up on past shows if you missed that.

Erick Arnett:
But if you have questions or concerns or you're not quite sure where you stand with your estate plan, which is basically, you know, what you plan on doing with your assets in the event of your passing, but also, you know, making sure that your spouse is set up properly to avoid probate and to avoid, you know, additional costs that they, you know, just aren't necessary. So we're going to talk a lot about that today. I want to dive into that. But so glad you got you could be with us. This is this show is about helping you and educating you. And we're here to lead you every step of the way. That's why we put this show together. Take Point on Retirement radio. I'm Erick Arnett with Take Point Wealth Management. I'm standing by to take your phone call. If you're listening today and you just have a question that pops in your head or a concern, give me a call. It's 352 616 0511. I actually answer the phone. It's me and I'm standing by to take your call. I'm excited to take your call and look forward to helping you out. So with that being said, we've got a jam packed show here today, Sam, so we've got to get right into it. We you know, we've talked about this in the past and I'm really it's something that just constantly in a in a sense is on my mind and haunts me.

Erick Arnett:
And it's it's it's getting the message out and getting in front of people and helping people with their portfolio management and their plan design. So, you know, retirement planning is what we're all about predominantly. Our our clients are in that what we call retirement red zone that 55 to 65, you know, even sometimes 70 years old. And I really enjoy that. I mean, that's really the sweet spot because it's it's it's kind of in a sense, I'm sharing some personal stuff with folks here. It's kind of a it's kind of an internal thing, like when you're I've been in the business 25 years. I've been right here in Hernando County almost that long, 25 years working with families, individuals and business owners right here in our in our community for a long, long time. And, you know, you you meet all kinds of people and you work with all types of people, all different ages. And quite frankly, you know, when you're younger and you're just working and you're grinding away and you're saving money and you're, you know, you're just putting money into your 401. K or you maybe have that IRA or that Roth IRA and just saving and you're trying to make it right. You know, it's tough. You know, you've got you got family. You got to buy homes. You got to buy cars. You know, you got all these bills to pay. And it's really challenging for those folks to to save for retirement.

Erick Arnett:
And that number one vehicle that, you know, they're typically putting all their money into what they can save is that 401. K at work. And so. It's kind of crazy that we expect. Folks and people in general, too, to be investment experts. With their 401. Plans and they're expected to pick their investments and and, you know, and manage their own accounts. And, you know, I wouldn't I certainly wouldn't, you know, conduct my own open heart surgery, you know, or I mean, I'm just trying to think of a goofy analogy. I mean, there's a million of them out there. Right? But, you know, you just can't take this on by yourselves and. Um, you know, that's what I. That's what I love. I love my job because I can help folks navigate that insane minutia of noise and. And it's so difficult, right? You don't know where to turn. And so hopefully this show has an impact and folks learn a little bit. But but but give me a call because I really want it to be that partner with you and work with you through every phase and every step of the way. And, you know, getting back to what I was originally starting to say is I really enjoy working with people in that retirement red zone because building that retirement plan, that solid retirement plan. It's so critical and so crucial to get it right in that time frame.

Erick Arnett:
You know, this time frame we're talking about that retirement red zone. It's super, super important. And I don't want to say it's not important when you're younger and just kind of grinding and saving money and growing and working. But. In a sense, it really isn't because you're putting money away. You're saving, you know, your dollar cost averaging into the market. You know, you're picking these long term investments, maybe some mutual funds. And, you know, over time, time is on your side, right? So if you're young, you're going to see these waves in the market's ups and downs. You're really not even going to notice it because you still see your account value going up because you're adding a paycheck in there every month. And as long as things are moving upward, you kind of feel okay about it, you know? But this this job, this industry, it's so, so intricate. Now, I've been doing this 25 years, and every day I'm learning new things, okay? And I have to be in the game every day. I have to be a student of the game. I mean, this job, this life consumes me, you know, because I really take a great deal of pride in helping folks and I almost treat the money like it's my money. You know, what would I do if I was in their shoes? I would just meeting with a lady yesterday here in the office.

Erick Arnett:
You know, she's about 60 years old, recently lost her position at work and she's, you know, not ready for retirement yet. She hasn't have had the ability to set some ups and downs and she hasn't had the ability to really save for retirement. So she's still got to work ten more years. And so, you know, we're kind of looking at a ten year time frame or a goal for retirement, but it's so critical that we get things right in that time frame because she doesn't have a second chance. She doesn't have time on her side, you know. Um, I think of myself as a young guy. I mean, I started putting money away in IRAs and 401. Ks when I was in like my 20s Right. And I didn't really care too much what the markets were doing. I mean, honestly, it was just like retirement to me was like, never going to happen. I mean, it's I'm 52 now. It still seems like, you know, eons away. So it just wasn't that important as long as my accounts were going up and I was, you know, growing my retirement assets in a sense, over time, I was okay. And I had a ten, 20, 30 year time horizon at that point. And so younger folks, even if you're in your 30s and 40s, you have a lot of time. You still got to do things right. Don't get me wrong, but. When you're in that retirement red zone, you know, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, you know that that zone there, I guess I guess it would be like kind of that 20 year window.

Erick Arnett:
It's super, super important. It gets even important with this lady who's in her 60s to get it right. And this woman, you know, she was impacted a great deal because she just lost her position at work. And now she's going to go find another job, start another business. But I spent three hours with her. Last night. Okay. Three hours and. It was. It wasn't. It wasn't a large portfolio. It wasn't a large account. And, you know, but I still felt compelled to help this woman to get her on track. And that was just the right thing to do. And, you know, there's there's a lot of companies out there, the banks, the advisors, you know, different companies that won't even give that lady the time of day. You know, she's not worth their time. And, you know, being a small firm, a small practice, you're going to work with me. You know, I've been I've been doing this 25 years right in this area. I've been an analyst. I've I've picked stocks for mutual funds. I've been a portfolio manager. I've been a business development officer. I've worked in hedge funds. And I've little Erick Arnett. I've been right here in this in this area for almost 25 years. You know, the nature coast.

Erick Arnett:
And so. I've learned a lot and I've seen a lot of mistakes and I have a lot of gray hair now as well. You know, I had a guy call me the other day and he's 65 and he was listening to this. He's been listening to the show for three years here in Hernando County, and he's 65 years old. And he's like, you know, I've been listening to you for like three years, but I really needed to start doing this planning and start thinking about this stuff maybe five years ago. Erick I'm behind the curve. And you know, and quite frankly, you know, so many and I just look at there are there were some mistakes made there, you know, and it wasn't the fault of the client. It's just the fault that they're just busy working hard. They they don't have anyone to turn to or like know and trust. And so I hope that I can earn folks trust. You've got to. You've got to take some time, though, and invest in yourself. And it's just going to take time. That's it. We will do everything. I will do everything for you. I need you to help me out. I need you to call me and I need to take some time. We need to gather the data, gather the information that I need, but then I will go to work for you. I will be your partner. I'll stand by your side.

Erick Arnett:
And wouldn't it be nice to have a third party consultant or an advisor by your side? To help you kind of guide you and make those decisions and to set up what I believe is an optimized retirement plan. And folks, it encompasses a lot. And I don't want to, you know, say a lot of things that to to to kind of, you know, distract you or to make it sound complicated. But it is complicated. I mean, we have to get Social Security timing right. We've got to get your income sources right. We've got to get the taxation right. We've got to look at your fees and expenses. I mean, what are your if you're sitting out there listening to me right now and you have a let's say you just have a 401. K somewhere at another company or you've got some investment accounts, you know, laid out at another company, whatever. Do you know what your expense ratio is? Do you even know how to find your expense ratio? Do you know what your management fees are and how those have impacted your portfolio over the last five, ten years? You know, little tiny things that we're going to provide for you through our x ray technology. I mean, we do a deep dive. We we put an x ray that pulls out multiple data points on what you're currently doing and we can really show you the mechanics of it and whether or not we feel like this is something that's going to get you to and through retirement.

Erick Arnett:
And by the way. You know, risk. How much risk are you taking? That's a big, big, big, big problem that I see every day in my practice when working with folks is the amount of risk that they're taking and the returns that you're achieving over time. So one of the things that I really want to hammer home today, Sam, is so I'm going to expect you to keep me on point because I just got a little emotional there and I started rambling, you know? Um, and so it's my show. I can do that, right? I can come on here and ramble every once in a while, but. You know, I want to really talk about estate planning. What is probate? You know, how do I avoid probate? Do I need a will? Do I need a trust? You know, simple question like that. I've been doing some estate planning seminars where I go out and I invite people at the local colleges to talk about estate planning. And I'm going to tell you. Easily. 95% of those folks that come to the seminars don't have their estate plan in order. And I don't say that to to beat people up. It's just it just is what it is. We're busy working. We're busy raising families. We're, you know, these are the things that we just don't like to talk about, Right? You know, when we die, what happens to our money? You know, I mean, we don't even like talking to our spouse about what we're doing with our money currently.

Erick Arnett:
Never mind, you know, what it's going to look like after we pass or after one of us passes. So we really got to talk about probate and estate planning. And we have our we have a really cool option now for our clients. I'm super excited about it. And even future clients or even if you're out there listening to the show, you know, and you're interested and you'd like to talk to me about estate planning and kind of review your estate plan. I worked here also in this community for a long time in some of the local trust companies. So that's where I grew up, was in the local trust in the banks, and I managed trust portfolios and I managed trusts and so I know enough about them and we have an in-service. Estate planning tool that we can use right here in our office now. And I'm super excited about it because I can do all the estate planning in office. It then goes to an attorney that you actually do get a Florida bar attorney that specializes in estate planning through our system and we can do everything in house okay for like 50%. Cost reduction as opposed if you just went out to an attorney out on the street.

Erick Arnett:
And so what I like about that is you could go to 50 different attorneys and you're really probably going to get ten different opinions. And there's some key insights as to why attorneys will maybe recommend things as opposed to others. But I want I don't want you to take my word for it, but I feel very strongly, especially here in Florida, with everybody that I've worked with. And I've seen that everybody needs a trust. And I know like, okay, the name of my company is Take Point Wealth Management. So that word right there, wealth sometimes alienates folks like you think you don't have any wealth or you're not a wealthy person. That's not important, you know? I don't care if you got 50,000 or 50 million. It's important to you. Right. That's your money. And it's important to me to make sure that that's well taken care of. And we reach all your goals and needs. So that aside, I think everybody needs a trust. So. But don't take my 25 years of experience in working in trust departments for it if you don't want to, because I could just be some blowhard here on the radio just talking and gabbing and. I found a book. It's a free book. I want to give it to you. I did not write the book, but it's called Living Trusts for Everyone. And it was written by an attorney. And so this attorney does a deep dive in and kind of exposes the industry and kind of shows you the internals of it.

Erick Arnett:
And I love this book. If you call me today or if you go to my website, just go to your phone. I know most of us out there just have that smart phone sitting right by our side or in our lap. So let's grab that phone. Just just type in, Take Point wealth in your search engine and my website will come up. And in that upper right hand corner, you'll see click on my calendar and you can click on there and you'll get right on my calendar. And you can even put some notes in there and ask me some questions. By the way, I love questions and if you send me questions. In concerns. I'll put them on the radio and we'll talk about them because I can you know, we come up with these shows and we kind of come up with these outlines to chat about things, but I might be chatting about stuff that you don't even care about. So I'm asking for your participation. If you're listening to me, help me out. Write back to me. Go to my website, click on there and write me some notes and let's chat and tell me what what's on your mind and what what's what's working for you. What maybe isn't working for you, what your concerns are? What is a stress free optimized retirement plan look like? Erick And how do I get one of those? Well, I'm going to share it with you and show you how.

Erick Arnett:
And by the way, if you call. Or if you go to our website because you're a podcast listener and a radio show listener. You win a big prize and all you got to do is take advantage of it. You actually get a total comprehensive retirement plan. We call it the Freedom Plan. We call it the retirement red zone plan, whatever you want to call it. It's a very important plan for you to get and get right. And it covers all aspects of retirement planning. And guess what? We do it for free. We give you our time and we do it for free because we love what we do and we're passionate about it. And we know that there's so many people out there that are getting bad information. You're getting bombarded by news and noise. Heck, on this one radio station, you know, there's multiple advisors on there with different messages, right? So it goes back to who do I turn to? Who can I trust? You know, who has who has the right service for me. And so what I will tell you is that when you work with Take Point, you will work with me. Erick Arnett. You'll know me. You'll work with me. You'll have my cell phone. We we we feel like our clients are like family.

Erick Arnett:
And so we build relationships first and foremost. I feel like, you know, most of the public and at these big companies and and they kind of get lost in the shuffle. And that's why I created Take Point Wealth Management folks. I used to work for one of those big companies and I saw you were just a number. Nobody cared. With us here at Take Point Wealth, your family and and it's super important for us that we get it right and we work hard every day to make sure that we're doing the right thing for you and getting you to reach your goals. So with that being said, estate planning. It's so, so important, folks, if and that's why I want you to go back. If you're listening today, please go back to last week's show if you can, because we had Sarah on there from Absolute Law Group, which was fantastic. And she is an attorney and she had some great stories. And I could sit here all day long and tell you about these stories, folks of real world things that would scare you. But I'm not going to use the scare tactics. You just owe it to yourself. You if you're listening to my show right now, I don't care if you're wealthy or if you think you're wealthy. If you're not, I don't care how much money you have. Do you own a home? If you own a home, whether it's paid for or not, you could still have a mortgage.

Erick Arnett:
You need a trust, and that's my opinion. But don't take my opinion. Call me today. (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Or just go to my website. TakePointWealth.com. In the upper right hand corner you can click on there. Get right on my calendar. You can also type me some notes and some questions there. But. And I'll get you this book for free. I'll send it out to you for free, because that's how important it is to me for you to read this book. And then let's talk about it. Let's talk about how does that book apply to you and your specific situation? Because guess what? I could get 20 phone calls and everybody's going to be different. Different situations. Actually hate how our industry in other industries just make this broad swath and just paint everybody the same. That's why we created Take Point Wealth Management because you deserve a customized. Actively managed. Ongoing designed portfolio and retirement plan for you. You don't deserve to be in just some mutual fund model or ETF model or some annuity that you haven't heard from somebody in three years. You don't deserve that, folks. In fact, you deserve way better than that. I mean, we we even use we use individual stocks in even our small portfolios. You should have individual stocks. You should. You deserve the same wealth management that the high net worth folks in this country deserve or get.

Erick Arnett:
Okay. And that's why we created Take Point wealth. We don't discriminate. I want to help everybody. And that's why I spent three hours with this lady yesterday. You know, quite frankly, I mean, I'm not going to make a lot of revenue. If anything, I might even break even or lose money on this particular client. But I still felt compelled to help her. And I will help her and I'll lead her every step of the way. And I don't shut my door on anybody. So please call me. Get this book. Living trust for everyone. Everyone out there needs a trust. And by the way, here at Take Point Wealth. I've been looking for this for years because I used to work in trust and we used to basically. And for years I just outsourced or referred somebody to a local attorney to get their wills and trusts done. But we can do all that in-house now with a Florida attorney for half the cost. So that's super exciting. That's savings. Like that's a cost buster. Folks like everybody out there needs that right now with inflation and everything that's going on, it's so expensive to do anything. I mean, it's just so crazy expensive. It doesn't matter what it is. Your jaw will drop when you when you get a quote on something. I don't care what you're buying. It's crazy. So I am offering right now a real world savings that everybody out there listening needs.

Erick Arnett:
And it's a big savings. Huge savings. So please give me a call and take advantage of that. You can take advantage of everything. You can take advantage of the of the cost savings on estate planning. You can take advantage of our free retirement plan that we build out for you. And guess what? We'll sit we'll sit and deliver that plan to you personally and go through it. A to Z, And there's no obligation to do anything with us. Okay. You don't have to work with us. You don't have to pay us a dime. You take that plan, you can do whatever you want with it. Okay. So I think that's. Huge. I think that's exciting. I think that's why we do what we do and that's why we do this show and that's why I Take Point. Wealth is in fruition, and I know a lot of my current clients out there listen to this show and and I want to say thank you. You know, I want to say thank you to my current clients for for helping build Take Point wealth. And I'm looking for more clients like you. So if you're listening, please, you know, refer some more business to us, more clients to us, because we're we're here working hard and passionate and we're ready to help more people. So we got to take a break, folks, and we'll be right back.

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

Announcer:
I'm here with Erick Arnett of Take Point Wealth Management. Erick, these last few years have been a time of change for a lot of people. Some have left their old jobs and started new ones. What if they still have a 401. K or other retirement plan from their old employer?

Erick Arnett:
That's a great question. If that's you, you've got options. A lot of work based retirement plans come with high fees. We can show you options that are a lot more affordable and don't eat away at your retirement savings and investments.

Announcer:
What about if I'm getting close to retirement? Do I still have options?

Erick Arnett:
Yes. And this goes for anybody with an employer based retirement plan. You have more options than you think. Did you know you can roll over some of those funds into an IRA with more favorable investment options and lower fees?

Announcer:
Did not know that.

Erick Arnett:
Now you do. We can help you navigate it all. Just go to TakePointWealth.com and schedule a free no obligation consultation with me today.

Announcer:
That's right you heard him folks head on over to TakePointWealth.com today.

Producer:
Welcome back to Take Point on Retirement. Schedule your free financial consultation now at TakePointOnRetirement.com.

Erick Arnett:
Hey everybody welcome back to Take Point on Retirement radio segment two. Thanks so much for being with us today and listening. We're always here for your questions and your phone calls. You can reach out to us at (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. I am personally standing by to answer the phone for you. By the way, if you get the voicemail. Uh, leave me a message. I'll call you right back. I'm just on the phone or I'm on the phone with somebody else at that moment. So, uh, have a little patience with me and leave me a message and I'll get right back to you. Because I notice a lot of people say them call and they just hang up, you know, because if I don't pick up right away or I'm on the other line, so I know you if you're calling, you got you have a question. You have something that's concerning you. So just, you know, leave me a voicemail. We were talking in the first segment about estate planning and we had an attorney on last week. And so this is just paramount in my brain because I'm concerned about it. I see just about everybody I come in contact with. I mean, gosh, I would say 95%. But now I think it feels like more like 98% of everybody I see and talk to and meet has has no will or trust or or has one or the other.

Erick Arnett:
They're messed up. They're not right, you know, or they came from a different state, whatever. But super. You know, Sam, I got to tell you this, you know, and for our listeners, Sam helps put together these outlines. So we kind of have a framework to to walk through in the show because Erick tends to talk too much and likes to talk too much. So you got to keep me on track. But this is super cool because we're talking about Aretha Franklin and her will was found. Okay. And what's interesting about this is when I do my website, I do I do workshops, folks estate planning workshops, because I feel this is super important stuff. And in the workshop, one of my slides has pictures of all these stars. Aretha Franklin's on that and she's part of my presentation and Prince is on there, Michael Jackson's on there. All these folks, they didn't even have a will. Okay. So they were worth millions, millions and millions of dollars and didn't even have a will in place. Can you imagine that for a second? Does that make any sense to you? I mean, Sam, does that make any sense to you that these people of this wealth category, with all these advisors around them and attorneys and agents and all this stuff, never told these people to put a will in place? Yeah, we've.

Producer:
Talked a little bit about it already on this show and Sarah was talking about it on last week's episode, which if you didn't get a chance to listen to go to TakePointOnRetirement.com or check out our podcast and listen to that episode with Sarah. But you don't have to be wealthy to have a will or a trust, but if you are wealthy, it would be a very good idea to do so, especially if you're someone like an artist or a creator. Where I imagine, Erick, that people will be listening to Aretha Franklin's music and her voice for generations to come, which means that there's a business there, there's monetary value there. And so Aretha passed away in 2018, and folks, that was five years ago. So the fact that it's just now, half a decade later, starting to be, you know, doled out legally, that takes a long time. And I'd say five years is a long time. But it's not uncommon for everyday folks to deal with two, even three years of probate time in court. Lawyers don't exactly get paid to get a job done. They get paid to work. And so the legal fees can definitely add up if you're if you're stuck in probate for a while. But here's the story with Aretha Franklin. She passed away in 2018. They found a handwritten will in a spiral notebook that was wedged between couch cushions. They found that will just a few months after Aretha passed away. And just last week, we wanted to talk about this on the show with Sarah, but it was such breaking news. We had to sort through the details. But just last week, a jury in Pontiac, Michigan, has decided that that will found in the couch cushions is the legal one.

Producer:
And they had to figure this out because there were three informal wills found in her home and they had to figure out which one of these informal wills just jotted down on the back of a napkin basically was going to take precedence over the others. So now we've determined that the will found in the couch is the rightful will. As a result, that four page document is going to guide the multi-million dollar estate and the royalties which will be distributed among her heirs. Now, Aretha has four sons, and you can imagine how this played out. You know, one of the wills was a bit more fair. One of the wills was a bit more favorable to one son or the other. And so all of this arguing in these legal battles ensued. But this just goes to show, Erick, that it is so important. It doesn't take too much time, get this in place. And it's, you know, a little bit of fee on the front end is going to be nothing compared to what you could pay in probate. And remember, you shared a story, I think it was on last week's show about a business owner in Florida who, you know, died just a little too soon. And and now his wife is struggling to make ends meet because all of the money was tied up in the business. So very, very important to get this thing lined up so that when you do pass away, it's you're right. It's not something we like to talk about, but it is something that's going to happen. And when you do pass away, you want to make sure that that money gets to your loved ones the way that you want.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, well said. And this is crazy stuff to me. Can you imagine a person of this prominence? Had a will on a legal pad stuffed in a couch somewhere. Mean. And by the way, folks like I will ask to be signed by two witnesses and witnesses and notarized here in the state of Florida to for a judge to consider it. So. What is this? So. So I guess I'll have to take her off my slide because she was someone that didn't have a will. But they did. She did have a will. You know, she just didn't file it in the best way. It was filed in her couch cushion. But see what, five years of probate. Okay. Because of this. Okay. This is what we're trying to stress here. Probate is a dirty word to me because guess what? Five years, guess who made a ton of money and basically really tapped into that estate and that was the attorney fees. Okay. There. And then also, you know, it creates fighting amongst amongst the children, the brothers and everything else. And guess what? You got to sit there and ask yourself. Do you want to decide? Do you personally want to decide and be in control of what happens to your assets? Or do you want some local judge deciding what happens to your assets? So and by the way, this is just one kind of fun story to talk about. And Sam, you talked about the story or the example that I gave on last week's show.

Erick Arnett:
That was just one example. Like, I run into these horror stories all the time, especially when I do these workshops and I'll get 50 or 60 people in the room and I always hear these crazy horror stories of. You know, because guess what, folks, This is this is this is the one thing you got to keep in mind is a will, which most people think it does, but it doesn't. A will does not avoid probate. Okay. The only the only thing that avoids probate is a trust. Okay. The trust avoids probate. And we'll talk about the reasons why you need a will and a trust and maybe just a will or just a trust or both. We can talk about all that, but we have to you know, that's what I'm talking I was talking about earlier. We just can't make these broad swaths and say, okay, everybody needs a trust. Everybody needs a will. We've got to look at your own individual situation, your assets, how they're titled, where they're at, Are they in IRAs? Are they in annuities? Do you have transfer on death? Do you have a backup? Do you have do you have a somebody, a child or whatever already on your deed? I hope you don't please don't put your kids on the deed yet and call me and I'll tell you why. (352) 616-0511. If you have your kids on your deed, we got to talk now.

Erick Arnett:
Okay. Um, there's also such a thing as a ladybird deed, and I used to think this was kind of a pretty cool tool, but if you have more than one beneficiary or more than one child or, you know, more than one person that you're leaving your property to, I don't recommend this. I think it's important that you have a trust. Okay. So. If you own property. Listen, I'm not I'm going to confess. You know, I'm not some ultra high net worth wealthy person, okay. But I have some assets. I have some properties. I have some different accounts. I have a trust, okay? And I have a will. I have durable powers of attorney for my wife and I. I have a living will. I have a health surrogate in place, which is my power of attorney for health decisions. This is the basic package. You have to have this, folks. Like it's so, so important because if you don't, yes, you know what? You're going to be dead and gone and. You may you probably at that point won't care too much about what's going on on here on Earth. Right. But you're going to leave your family in this really difficult position, turmoil. And I've seen it, you know, in that one horror story I talked about this one lady, you know, the bulk of their money was tied up in a home. Okay. Now imagine this. Your husband.

Erick Arnett:
Kind of passes. You know, passes away. Young And the the almost $2 million home. And by the way, the wife didn't work. You know, he was the main breadwinner, owned a business, two businesses. The wife of I think 30 some odd years they were married. Kid Two kids. Wonderful kids. Um. Didn't even didn't even own the home. She she was living in a home that she didn't even own. Okay. So she's in a $2 million house. Can't sell it, you know, can't do anything. She had they had those two businesses. She couldn't own them. She couldn't make any decisions legally. So it took her two and a half years of probate. Because guess what? When you when we talk about these statistics, we're 95, 98% of people don't have a will or a trust. Guess what? The probate courts are full. Their docket is full. It's not like they're getting to your case anytime soon. So, number one, you've got that to deal with where your case is. Just going to sit on the judge's desk for years. And number two, you've got all these creditors, you've got liability issues, and you have family members that are going to step up and can challenge the will and probate. And that's what happened with Aretha Franklin. You get 3 or 4 sons and none of them agree. So they're fighting it, fighting, Right. And so eventually a judge has to come in and make a decision.

Erick Arnett:
Okay, who knows if that last will she put together was the one that she really wanted to or maybe she was just in a mood that day. Who knows? Right. Um, and so one of the kids or two of the kids were left at more of a disadvantage than the other, I guess, when this all panned out. But this is, you know, this is crazy stuff. It's super interesting to me. But, um, so call me to get that book Living Trust for everyone. I think everybody needs a copy of that. Read that book. You can call me at (352) 616-0511. I'll mail it right out to you and. I don't want to talk about it. And then and let's talk about it. So this is purely education. I want to guide you through that. But you can have the best. Okay. You could be out there listening right now, Sam, and they could have the best retirement plan on the planet, right? I mean, they're saying you crushed it and you work. Maybe you're working with another advisor and they've done a great job for you or you've done it on your own, whatever, and you got a solid plan in place. But guess what? You can have the best plan in place in your and you're doing well with your money. But if you don't have that estate plan in place, guess what? It might be all for nothing because we're talking about I've seen where I was.

Erick Arnett:
I was working with a gentleman about a year or two ago. His mom passed away. He was he was the there was two boys. There was there are adults. They're in their 60s. But, um. Mom passed away, and it took this gentleman, I think it was two and a half years. To get the assets that were due to him that his mom left him because the attorney. You know, they have a lot of work. I mean, I'm not beating up attorneys. I mean, these guys just have a lot of work on their desk. I mean, they've they're working a lot of cases because nobody has properly planned and they love that. I mean, you know, so more power to them. But they're busy. And so they're not just going to be able to come in and rapidly close your case like that and you're done and everything's hunky dory. And there could be a lot of fees, there could be taxes to pay. I mean, all this kind of stuff. So super, super important that the wealth transfer is thought about and thought about very methodically. I mean, there's even ways we've talked about like the Roth IRA, we've talked about life insurance, incorporating these things into your retirement plan. There are great ways to efficiently. Efficiently cost, effectively pass your money on to your heirs, your wife, your spouse. Think about your partner or your spouse. You know, it's like. Leaving them in that kind of situation.

Erick Arnett:
Actually guilty of this for a while, to be honest with you. A true confession? Sure. I am on the radio talking about all this stuff and preaching. Right. But, um, you know, I was remarried about three years ago, and just being the busy guy that I am helping people and working every day in my practice, it was. It was in the back of my mind. I was like constantly I was like, gotta get this done. I got I had to redo my whole estate plan, right? And from from soup to nuts, everything, you know, my trusts, my wills, everything was invalid at that point. I had to redo everything and make sure the ownership of the assets was proper. And I put, you know, I. I put it off. I procrastinated. And I was lucky that something didn't happen to me in that timeframe because it would have been a daunting and expensive task to get the assets transferred to my wife properly. And so there's I know there's a lot of people out there listening that need this done. And so I'm compelling you to let's get going on it. Let's let's get moving. But, you know, it kept me up at night. Thinking about because I knew all the horror stories working in this profession. It kept me up at night to think, Oh my gosh, like, I got to get this done because I don't want my wife to have to go through this, you know? And so finally got it done.

Erick Arnett:
And I feel so much better. It's like a relief. It's a total relief that I have that done. And I know when my head hits the pillow at night, if something is to happen to me, my family is all set, all taken care of. Attorneys. Aren't going to be butting in and getting their hands into it. Judges aren't going to be deciding what happens. My wife is going to be in control. Okay. And so you got to get the control and you've got to own it. And so. The first step is just giving us a call. We'll put it all together for you. We'll do the work for you. It doesn't have to be a difficult thing, a a long, timely thing. But give us a call. 352616. 0511. Or you can go to my website. Take Point Health.com. Upper right hand corner. Just put there. Hey, Erick, give me a call like I got to get this done and I'll call you and we'll get on it and we'll do it for you. We'll get it all done for you. And I'm telling you, it's it's spend, like you said, early spend a little money now. And by the way, what we're doing, what we're offering is like a huge savings compared to what you would do it out on the street with a with a local attorney or whatever. And I love our local attorneys, don't get me wrong, but we found a way to save our clients a lot of money.

Erick Arnett:
And so we're excited about that. But give us a call so we can get going on this because, you know, you could be a rock and roll star when it comes to managing investments and stuff and you're just crushing it. But if you don't have that estate plan in place, it's all for nothing, folks. It's all for nothing. So not to bore you anymore with that. And we could talk about story after story after story and and but, you know, schedule your complimentary free financial retirement consultation and give me a call. Let's get going on that. And the number one thing that we're going to start with, folks, before we even get to Social Security timing, before we even get into income planning, before we even get into risk. If you're doing a financial plan or you're working with a financial planner or you're working with an investment advisor or a broker or an insurance guy, I don't care where your money is at or who you're working with, what kind of model you're in, business model. If they haven't talked to you about estate planning, then you owe it to yourself to to give us a call so we can get on that for you. So please, please give us a call. Let's get your estate planning. Go. Also call us for that free book. Living Trust are for everyone. Super, super important.

Producer:
It's a great cost cutting idea to go ahead and get in touch with the folks at Take Point Wealth and get started on that. Save some money, save some headaches. You don't want to spend years in probate. You definitely don't want your family to be doing that after you're gone. But we want to take a look at some other ways to save money when it comes to people's retirement and the end of life expenses and taking a look at expense ratios, which is simply, you know, what are you paying to have your money looked after? What are the total amounts of fees that are going on? A lot of these companies, you know, we've we've talked before, Erick. You know, they don't build those skyscrapers with their names on them by being nice. There's some fees in there that help them accomplish those great feats. So what are some other ways that people can save some money? I know that there are certain asset classes, like bonds that can sometimes be piled with fees.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, no, awesome. I mean, let's let's keep hammering this home. I'm like, we got to save our we got to save our retirees money. And one of the silent killers that we talk about all the time is fees, fees, fees, fees. You have to know what you're paying in fees, folks. You got to know what your expense ratio is. And I don't want to hear I don't pay any fees. Erick Yes, you do pay fees. Okay. Nobody's doing this for free. Even if you're doing it yourself and you have an ETF and you're managing your own money, you have costs, you have fees, you have expenses. So we will do a free expense report for you. An x ray will pull out all the expenses no matter what type of investment you're in. If you're in a variable annuity indexed annuity, if you're in an investment management portfolio, you're just a Bond guy. By the way. There's a lot of inefficiency in bonds, a lot of mark up in bonds. Everybody thinks, Oh, these are super safe and there's no fees, No guess what? They're taking fees and commissions whether you know, let me explain to you how that works. Give me a call. I'll do a complete analysis on what you're doing.

Erick Arnett:
If you're if you're in a managed portfolio where someone's managing your assets, do you know what you're paying in fees? And there's a there's an investment model out there that I don't follow, but it's kind of the brokerage model. Guess what? Brokers, FINRa, broker models, they can they can charge you a management fee and the funds that they're using, mutual funds internally also have their fees. So you can be paying as high as two, 3% in expenses and not even know it. Okay. And so this is a silent killer on your retirement. If you're, you know, think about it. If I could just save you 1%, 1.5%, which may not seem like a lot to you. Right. But that multiplied over a five, ten, 15, 20 year time horizon. You could potentially be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. Okay. And so we've designed what we think is a really market efficient strategy and a fee efficient strategy. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say if you if you give us a call and I do this analysis, I'm going to show you how we can cut your fees pretty much in half.

Erick Arnett:
Okay. Maybe more than half. Okay. So not giving too much away, but, you know, talking about the traditional 60 over 40 portfolio, that traditional 60 over 40 portfolio that everybody out there is probably in right now, if you're close to retirement, 60% in stocks, 40% in bonds. Okay. Well, let's talk about that portfolio and what that portfolio did last year. That portfolio was down a -9% last year. I'm just looking at IFA index chart where it takes in all the 60, all the indexes that are out there and stock market, all the indexes, the bond market. It says if it's a great barometer to kind of put your portfolio up against. But you know in the universal portfolio, 60 over 40 stocks was down 9% last year. So how did that work out for you? And by the way, you are paying fees on those bonds that were getting hammered. So we have a strategy to eliminate that, and I'd love to share it with you so that traditional 60 over 40 portfolio just isn't going to work for you anymore. We have what we call the Smart portfolio where it has smart risk. Yes, you still have to have a percent of your assets.

Erick Arnett:
A in a risk adjusted portfolio. That's going to, you know, get some higher returns and kind of beat inflation. But you also need the safe, the smart, safe part of your portfolio. Right. That other 40%. So we do rule 100. We subtract your age. If you're 60, you know, you should have only about 40% in stocks at about 60% in safe money, fixed income type assets, utilizing indexed annuities or annuities to create a pension, a guaranteed income. Let me help you educate you on annuities. Have a have a great book called Annuity 360, by the way. I'll give that to you for free too, if you give me a call. But we need to talk about how your smart side of your portfolio or the safe side of your portfolio is actually truly safe and guaranteed and can't lose value. Okay. So if you are in, you know, that 6040 portfolio last year, you lost money. Yeah. And this year if you're in the 6040 portfolio, still the markets are doing pretty well and they rebound nicely. But that 40 that that percentage that you have in bonds is dragging you down like an anchor. It's like a it's like a noose around your neck. You're not going to get above water with it. So we've got to talk about ways to strategize and eliminate that. Listen, historically, okay, the 6040 portfolio going back all the way in time, if you had a 60 over 40 portfolio, it's only averaged about 8% after fees and expenses.

Erick Arnett:
But you had to take almost a 10% standard deviation risk to get that. What that means is you you could have some years with negative returns and now you're in the retirement red zone. You cannot have negative returns, especially with your safe money. We've got to look at what your income needs are so you don't run out of money. And we had to sure that up first with a smart, safe plan. And it's not utilizing bonds, folks, I hate to tell you. Yes, bonds have a certain need and a certain they do serve a certain purpose in portfolios, but the bonds are still risky. And that's on the risk side of the equation, not the safe side of the equation. So our smart plan has smart risk and smart, safe money, and you owe it to yourself to give us a call. And and we'll we'll we'll walk you through it. We'll show you how we do it and why it works and why we feel so passionate and adamant about it that traditional old 60 over 40 portfolio just isn't going to work for you anymore. Give us a call. (352) 616-0511 or go to TakePointWealth.com in that upper right hand corner and just put in the notes and say Erick I think I have a 60 over 40 portfolio what do I do.

Erick Arnett:
And we'll take it from there and I'll give you a call. We'll start chatting and it will help you out. But super passionate, super adamant about this, folks. I've been doing this 25 years, okay? I've seen it all. But in all aspects of the business, that 60 over 40 portfolio just isn't going to work for you when you're in that retirement red zone. Just wrapping up here. I hope you enjoyed the show. I think we had some pretty good cost savings for retirees, which is super important because I know how expensive things are and how things are really, you know, eating into you, into your savings and into your expenses. And I know how challenging it is, especially here in Florida right now. Everything's going up. Insurance is everything. So we had some good cost cutters today. But guess what, folks, you got to call me so we can put these in place and get going on them. So we ran out of time. It was an hour long show and I feel like, you know, we didn't cover a whole lot, but we got some good stuff out there and we got to wrap up, folks. And it's so great being with here with you here today. Enjoy your weekend, but give me a call this weekend. (352) 616-0511 so we can get you started on that freedom plan, that retirement red zone plan and cut your costs.

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. Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, BCM A registered investment advisor. Bcm 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.

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