How to Start Planning for a Successful Retirement

Erick shares some important information about the debt ceiling and why it matters for current and future retirees. Is your retirement plan accounting for future tax increases?

Plus, we detail some critical steps you need to take before you retire or start taking Social Security.

Call Erick today at 352-616-0511

Book a free consultation here.

5.19.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

5.19.23: 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, welcome, everybody. To Take Point on Retirement radio. I'm your host, Erick Arnett, and I also have Mr. Sam Davis with me today and host extraordinaire to keep us in line. It's so great to be back with you guys. Had to take a couple of weeks off and but I'm back at it and very excited. Thank you so much for listening to the show. Welcome all the way from Punta Gorda up to the Nature Coast covering the entire Gulf Coast. We're super excited to be with you today. This is your show, so please take notes. I'm going to offer an opportunity to chat with me time. So we're going to get get going wide open here. Just a shout out to all our listeners. If you hear something today that makes sense to you, we're going to give you that information just to schedule that that free consultation. Also, we have a podcast. Sam does a great job of maintaining that for us. We got a podcast that TakePointOnRetirement.com You can also get that podcast on any of your favorite podcast channels and apps. We of course have the YouTube channel. If you if you're a YouTube person, please go ahead and subscribe to that Today show. We've got a lot to cover, a lot going on, obviously, you know, still getting some market volatility changes in interest rates. We got we're up against the debt ceiling here. So we got a lot of stuff going on, a lot to talk about, but don't hesitate to give us a call. We love reading your emails. We love hearing from you. Our number is (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. We also have a pretty cool handout if you guys are interested in that. For our listeners, get in touch with us to receive your free report on our 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023.

Erick Arnett:
That's 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023. If you reach out to us, you can actually go to our website if it's easier for you just to Google right on your phone. Just Google TakePointWealth.com. We'll come right up there and jump on our site. In the upper right hand corner, you can just hit a chat session with me. You can get on my email calendar and we're happy to get that out to you. The 23 Retirement Cost Cutters. So a little overview of today's show. I mean, of course, always Love Sam comes up with these quotes of the week, which are some financial wisdom we're going to have. We're going to go over that. We've got a market update on the debt ceiling and why does it matter to you as a retiree or a pre-retiree? We're going to talk about inflation, of course, because inflation is still around and that's Social Security Cola forecast for 2024 and the health of Social Security. We're going to talk about that, the household debt update, some concerns there was consumer debt reaching an all time high. And if you're planning to retire in a few years, we'll share some tips to prepare you for that future. It's time to think about it. It's time to sit down with your spouse, your partner, whoever it may be, and chat about what are you doing in retirement and Memorial Day weekend travel update, of course, if we can get to that. But Sam, we got a lot going on today. But I love love and I kind of like this guy. He's he was an interesting character to grow up watching on the basketball court. Mister Bobby Knight, What's our quote of the week there, sir?

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

Producer:
Yeah, Erick, our quote of the week for this week comes to us from retired basketball coach and former Team USA Olympic coach Bobby Knight. He was known for his intense coaching style. I think I've seen a few different videos of him throwing chairs across the court and stuff like that. He spent the majority of his career at Indiana University, where he led the Hoosiers to three national championships, 1976, 1981 and 1987. And Bobby Knight once said, The will to succeed is important. But what's more important is the will to prepare.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. Boom, right there. I mean, this is what we talk about for, you know, on the show all the time. Right? And we've talked about for years and years and years. It's that preparation. You know, we do seminars, educational events. We have this radio show. We're always reaching out to people, trying to educate them. Give them all kinds of great information, but if you don't act upon it, you don't prepare for your retirement. You don't put some of these practices in place. It's you know, it just goes to the wayside and success is a little bit more challenging. So in order to have that successful stress free retirement, it does take some planning. It does take take some time. You got to dive in. And that's something we do right here for you. At Take Point Wealth. We'll do most of the heavy lifting for you. You know, it's all about you and your time and just a little cooperation. And we gather all that data for you and we will put together a comprehensive, stress tested retirement plan for you right now. Right. Right here. Right today. Give us a call. (352) 616-0511. It's an easy process. We just start a little phone call, we'll chat a little bit, exchange some data, some information, and then we will go to work for you and build out what we think is the optimized retirement plan for you. Covering everything, all aspects from A to Z. You might have concerns about Social Security, timing.

Erick Arnett:
When do we take Social Security? You might have concerns about long term health care and the rising cost of health care costs. Let's talk about that and plan for that. Let's talk about, you know, what kind of buckets of guaranteed income do you have? Do you have any guaranteed income at all? Let's talk about where you're going to get your income from cash flow. Is it going to come from the IRAs, the Roth IRAs? What is that going to do for taxation? Do you have a trust? Do you have a will? You know, a complete estate planning? We wrap the entire plan around you, a comprehensive plan covering everything from A to Z. Then we will actually test the plan for you to see how that plan is going to hold up over 30 years and give us a great degree of probability of success. So maybe you're sitting there thinking, Hey, my plan's great, I'm pretty comfortable with what I'm doing. Maybe it just takes a little time and you get that second opinion and you feel a little bit more confident about what you're doing. So we offer that to you completely free of charge, a $1,300 value. We put a lot of time into it and we're going to build you a solid plan covering all aspects of retirement the taxation, the fees, the expenses. How are you? How are your investments set up? Are they going to get you to where you need to be? Are you going to run out of money? We can answer all these questions for you and it just takes a little bit of time.

Erick Arnett:
So please, please reach out to us. TakePointWealth.com. You can click on that upper right hand corner to get an appointment scheduled with me ASAP. Or hey, I'm standing by on the phone today. Just give me a call. Write this number down. (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. I'm standing by to answer your questions now and get you started and get you to and through retirement successfully and stress free. So with all that being said, you know, there's a lot of talk, Sam, out there. Obviously, you know, it never a dull moment when it comes to retirement planning and preparing for retirement. The big thing we've been concerned about is inflation, Right. We that's all we've talked about probably for a year now. And the rising interest rates, the Fed raised rates at a unhistorical pace, 5% or more over ten rate hikes. So it's been extremely crazy and aggressive and that, you know, that really shocks the system and there's been some adjustment there. But you know, what I tell people all the time is, you know, don't be so concerned about, you know, what's actually going on outside of the markets, you know, because there's always a little bit of a disconnect despite all the things that are going on. And, you know, maybe even people deem these negative, the markets are actually up this year and have a positive, you know, double digit return year to date even with the volatility that we've had.

Erick Arnett:
So the markets are trying to grind higher. The markets are trying to push forward. But now we're faced with the debt ceiling. The same old story up there in Washington. Right. It seems like, what, every two, three years we go through this where, you know, the politicians up there, the Dems and the Republicans are kind of beating each other up on the debt limit. And so what does that mean to you? The debt ceiling in the United States is just a statutory limit on the amount of debt that the US Department of Treasury can issue to cover the existing obligations of the federal government. So it's a it's essential. It is essentially a cap on the total amount of money that the government can borrow to fund its operations. And so they're they're fighting over that because once again, you know, we continue to spend, spend, spend, the debt goes up. And so they got to keep pushing this debt ceiling up in order to pass the budget and get money rolling out to where it's going to go. So, you know, the the US hit its debt ceiling or debt limit in January. So that put us in this time crunch. I think we have until June 1st for them to figure out what they're going to do. And I know they're up there in Washington chit chatting and trying to battle it out, but.

Erick Arnett:
You know, the nation may or may run out of money to pay all its bills as soon as due on June 1st. So. So this so-called X date is June 1st. And, you know, you know, typically what happens in these situations is, you know, in the fourth quarter, they'll come up with a solution. They'll agree. However, it's a little bit nerve racking up to this point. And so, you know, the government just wouldn't be able to pay everyone on time. It would most likely prioritize payments to investors holding Treasury bonds. So we don't technically have a default, which would be devastating to the global economy. It would be devastating to the US economy and to our credit quality. We might see, you know, quite a hit there. We've seen this in the past, Sam, where, you know, we've been up against this debt ceiling and and and we've even seen a couple of times in history where they did not get it done prior to the deadline. And yes, the market corrected the market. You know, went down ten, 15, 20%. But within a couple of weeks, once they agreed on things and got things passed, the market came roaring back. So we potentially could have some some you know, we could have some volatility here coming up soon. But if your if your portfolio is positioned correctly, if your retirement plan is properly managed and you have an active strategy, you have safe money in place, you know, hedging against the equity or the risk part of your portfolio, you'll weather all storms just fine.

Erick Arnett:
It's where people get a little bit too allocated to maybe growth or all stocks or they're taking too much risk. You know, they don't have a well-diversified portfolio. Real estate, gold, commodities, bonds, stocks, structured notes. If you don't know what structured notes are, give us a shout. We'd love to educate you on those. Maybe you have some index annuities as your fixed income portion providing you income. If you have a well balanced, diversified portfolio like that, you have nothing to worry about. You'll weather all storms. But if you're playing that market and you've got a lot in the market, you know, and you're kind of you're aggressive there, you know, we could see some volatility. But don't worry, things will bounce back like they always do once they get this thing figured out up there. But, you know, payments such as Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds, military salaries and others would likely be delayed. So that, you know, that would be devastating if people aren't getting paid. And if we don't get our Social Security payments and our pension payments, it could be a little bit scary. I believe that they'll reach an agreement. I do believe that they'll raise or suspend the debt ceiling. And to avoid that outcome. However, let's keep our fingers crossed. You know, these guys up there are a little bit a little bit more divided than ever Where Sam.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And I know you're right. We've been dealing with this, it seems like every 2 or 3 years. Remember when I was in college, I had a job on campus, which was funded by the state. And when there was a budget issue similar to this, a bunch of the state employees got furloughed. So right there in the middle of the summer, I'm working to pay bills for the next semester of school and we don't have a job anymore. So this is a challenge. It's very frustrating. I understand dealing with politicians and stuff like that that's going up in Washington, D.C., affecting a lot of the pre-retirees and retirees out there. But when you have a good plan in place, you can manage to get over these bumps in the road without too much trouble.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. And this you know, I was having I had an appointment the other day and it was really refreshing. It was with a new prospective client that came in and I started to talk to them about Roth conversion and, and what we can do to kind of, you know, not eliminate, but at least alleviate and help with some of the potential tax burdens and increases that retirees will have in the future because laws can change. You know, right now, if you have a regular traditional IRA or 401. K when you reach the age of 73 now, I believe they've moved it to and I think they're going to move it to 74 here in the future. Once you hit that age, you've got to start taking money, which is called required minimum distributions out of your portfolio. And that's kind of concerning if you're looking ahead. You know something I think about all the time, I'm 52, so when I'm 72, 74, 20 years from now, you know, if if my retirement and the assets that have my retirement continue to grow, you know, I'm going to have this big tax bubble in the future, we're going to be required to take out 4 or 5% of that portfolio every year and pay the taxes. So who knows what the politicians up in Washington will do to future tax rates on your retirement. They know that there's trillions of dollars sitting there in in retirement accounts. So they know that they've got a nice, you know, nest egg there that they can tax.

Erick Arnett:
And so we've got to be mindful of that. So what can we do to at least head that off at the pass? Maybe not alleviate, not eliminate it, but at least alleviate some of that. And that's why the Roth conversion is so important if you don't really know what it is. You know, you got some questions about it to see whether you qualify or see whether it makes sense for you. That's why we do this total comprehensive retirement plan that covers everything from A to Z. We're going to dive into what your taxation is going to look like. What is your taxation going to look like on your Social Security, your pensions? What is that going to do to your Medicare premiums and Medicare and health costs? So we've got to look at all of this and see how we can be tax efficient. And if you have an advisor out there or you're working with a broker or an insurance guy who sold you some annuities or whatever it may be, whoever you're working, working with in what no matter what service channel they're in, if they're not talking to you about long term strategies to eliminate the potential tax burdens in the future, then you owe it to yourself to give us a call and get that information. It's (352) 616-0511. If you don't do anything today, just write that number down. Give me a call and I'll you know, we'll talk about this. The Roth conversion makes sense for you because it's a big, big concern with this debt ceiling, a big, big concern with our national debt.

Erick Arnett:
I think Miss Yellen was on the TV the other night, kind of caught my attention. She actually said that, you know, we just we are not collecting enough tax revenue to pay for our obligations. We're falling way short. And so what are they going to do? They have to raise taxes, folks. So they're looking at all different ways. There's you know, there's there's committees in Washington working every day to figure out how can they strategize to increase taxation so they can start paying for this debt, this this this wild spending that we have going on. And so who are they going to come after? You know, it's it's you guys, our listeners, our retirees, our pre retirees, our baby boomers, those folks in their 50s, 60s and 70s that have saved money. Okay. That's where all the money's at. Right? We've got the savings and they know they've got to come at it somehow, some way. So we have strategies using life insurance, whole life, using the Roth conversion, using different types of vehicles that we can eliminate or at least help not eliminate, but at least help alleviate some of this potential tax burden and maybe even, you know, imagine if you're in a 20% tax bracket, 30% tax bracket, believe it or not, I've seen it where with the proper planning, we can get you down into that almost a zero tax bracket. So, you know, not for everybody, but, you know, you owe it to yourself to at least go through that exercise and see what it looks like for you and put put a long term strategy in place.

Erick Arnett:
If you got five, ten, 15, 20 years, let's start doing some of those conversions now. Let's start talking about those strategies now in order to head off that potential, you know, issue that you're going to have in the future. And once again, you know, Uncle Sam, the IRS, they're going to come after us for those tax dollars. So we've got to utilize what's available to us. We've got to utilize the tools that are available to us. And and so another thing that, you know, we need to talk about today a little bit, too, is very concerning is that, you know, with the health of the economy is actually the numbers are pretty good. You know, our our debt levels aren't good. Obviously, the job market is strong, very robust. We're at a very low unemployment rate, which is great. Wages have crept up a little bit, which is great. You know, however, that's, you know, had a direct effect on the inflation. But what is concerning is not only is our national debt out of control, but for the first time, AmErickans debt has surpassed $17 trillion. So that's insane because remember, during the pandemic 3 or 4 years ago, those debt levels were way down and it was almost encouraging. So what's happening here? Like, how did we go from debt levels were lower and looked really good to over within a 3 or 4 year time frame.

Erick Arnett:
We're back to record household debt. So something is going on here that's not good. People are continuing to borrow, continuing to spend. I think that stimulus, you know, some of that stuff that that the government was throwing at us during Covid and during the pandemic has evaporated. Right. So people maybe, okay, they've gone back to work, but they've incurred debt and they're still spending at a rapid pace, maybe because they have a good job, they think they can, you know, continue to spend and rack up debt. I don't know what's going on. It might be a direct correlation to the high unemployment rate. However, it is concerning that, you know, the debt is so high on AmErickan households. And it's continuing to climb to new heights at a time when economic conditions are starting to become a little bit less than stable. You know, earnings have been pretty good. The S&P 500 are like 95% of all companies have reported for the first quarter. And earnings were really good. They were strong, although analysts had guided estimates down. You know, last year and in January and going into earnings season and a lot of companies beat that. So, you know. The economy is still good. It's still strong. You know, the the corporate earnings are good. Jobs are good. But the debt thing is a little bit concerning. So 17 trillion during the first quarter growing 148 billion or almost 1% from the quarter of last year. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported money that the debt load has spiked by 2.9 trillion since 2019.

Erick Arnett:
That's that's some crazy numbers. So during the first quarter, the increase in debt were seen across practically all categories with larger and rec and record balances for mortgages, home equity lines, credit auto loans, student loans, retail cars and other consumer loans. And so, you know that inflation, those higher interest rates, people still out there trying to find homes, the student loans, interest rates have increased. So, yes, you know, it's it's not only has the debt level increased, but the rates on that has increased. So we've got to keep an eye on that. That could be concerning. And of course, you know, our own government is not a good role model for us. Of course, you know, all of AmEricka sees that the government just spend, spend, spends, and then, you know, what are they going to do? They just write it off or print print more cash. And unfortunately, I think that, you know, AmEricka in general, you know, has learned this through osmosis. So a little bit of concerning stuff going on. They're not quite sure what's causing it other than, you know, probably. Well, home values, Let's think about it. I mean, home values prior to Covid were, you know, let's say your average median home was 252 85. Now it's 400, 425, 450. You know, so that right there probably is the cause of it, the rapid increase in cars. My gosh, a regular old car, you go there, it's like, ah, man, when's the last time you went and shopped for a car?

Producer:
Sam Actually, we just had to replace my wife's car two weeks ago, so.

Erick Arnett:
Oh, man.

Producer:
So yeah, I can speak from this firsthand. And. And you're right. It's the same thing that's going on with mortgages right now. With the way interest rates are right now. You don't want to take out a loan that much because while you're paying down the principal, you're just keeping your head above water with some of those interest payments. So when we were shopping for a car, we set our budget and decided, hey, we're going to pay for this thing outright in cash and get it done because the interest rates are just too high to to deal with that. But, you know, I was thinking of this, Erick, we talked a lot about having a budget, having a plan on this show, not living paycheck to paycheck. But I think our government up in Washington, D.C. has been living paycheck to paycheck for decades.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah.

Erick Arnett:
Exactly. I mean, it's like, you know, they set the worst example for the country. And so, gosh, I like the fact that, you know, I want to get political on this show at all. I mean, but I like the fact that you know, somebody is at least standing up and saying, hey, you know, let's let's at least pay attention to this and let's try to put the brakes on it. We've got to find a way to reduce spending on all these frivolous, you know, government programs, the mandatory stuff we need, folks, you know, we've got to have Social Security. We got to have Medicare, Medicaid. We've got to have defense spending. You know, we've got to have Social Security payments. We've got to have that stuff. There's no doubt about it. And we can afford that. But all this other stuff that's going on and all the money that that was just blown during Covid, you know, we're paying for that now so we can see that. So but yeah, it's it's right back to what you said. You know, just because our government is going nuts and, you know, out of control doesn't mean that you have to. And if you're in that age category where retirement's starting to kind of loom or you're even in retirement right now and maybe have some debt, let's talk about it. Let's talk about some ways, some strategies. Let's get you back on track because you might be sitting there thinking, well, I'm 60, 65, 70, you know, I'm not going to live forever. But guess what, folks? People are living into their 90s. So we've got to it's not too late. It's not too late.

Erick Arnett:
Let's put a plan in place now. Let's get on track. Let's evaluate everything. Your expenses. Okay. Let's see if we can cut expenses not only in your investment portfolios and what you're doing, but also what you're doing in your budget. And like you said, Sam, let's put that budget together. You know, let's work on it together. Let's build that solid budget for retirement, two and three retirement. You know, what are you spending now while you're still working? What are you going to spend in retirement if you're already retired? Let's take a look at that budget. You know, unfortunately, I think I've talked about this a lot on the show is like 95% of folks that come in, they don't even have a budget. So that's where we have to start, folks. You have to have that discipline. You have to have those. Tough conversations. Let's get that in place first and foremost. You know, a couple of quick, quick tips to avoid debt and financial stress. You know, have an emergency fund, got to cover 3 to 6 months of expenses and establish that household budget and stick to it. Let's pay off those high interest cards as soon as possible, and then let's make regular contributions for your short term and long term savings goals. So let's get you back on track. It's not too late. Let's put some strategies in place to beat, beat taxes, beat the government and get you to and through retirement successfully and stress free. So we've got to take a break, folks. We'll be right back with our second segment. So glad you're with us. Stay tuned to Take Point on Retirement radio.

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

Producer:
Are you a responsible credit card user, but your card doesn't pay you back. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife. If your credit card charges you an annual fee but doesn't provide you with any additional perks, it may be time to find a better option. Rewards Credit cards are everywhere these days, it seems. But how do you know which one is right for you? Cnbc senior finance correspondent Sharon Epperson recently reported on how many of them work.

Sharon Epperson:
With a cash back card. You're going to get a base amount for every purchase, maybe say 1%, maybe more. And then you're also going to get maybe more back for certain categories of spending on groceries or spending at gas stations.

Producer:
Some will also reward cardholders with travel points, and you can use them wisely to earn extra money.

Sharon Epperson:
So if you do a ton of grocery shopping, you're not traveling that much. You got a lot of small kids, you got a big, big family to feed. Then you probably want to get that cash back card. But if you're a frequent traveler and you are going to rack up a lot of points for a lot of miles or whatever, then you may want to get the travel card.

Producer:
As with most things, you have to watch out for those fees. And travel rewards cards tend to have the highest annual fees around. Plus, Epperson says you'll want to make sure you pay off your balance in full every month.

Sharon Epperson:
You want to get those rewards, but you're not paying your bill in full every time it comes. And so that doesn't make any sense because the average credit card interest rate is 17%. But for rewards card, it could be 24% or higher.

Producer:
So does your credit card have perks that actually help your wallet? That's a key question to consider. And it's one of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Call Erick today at (352) 616-0511 or visit TakePointWealth.com to get your free copy of 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023. Remember all of Erick's listeners receive a free consultation just for listening to the show visit TakePointOnRetirement.com today.

Erick Arnett:
Hey welcome back to Take Point on Retirement radio. I'm your host Erick Arnett Financial advisor, investment advisor whatever you want to call me, I am your retirement planner and your financial quarterback. I've also got Mister Sam Davis here with us. So glad Sam is with us. This is segment two. We're so glad you're with us today. Still got a lot to talk about getting you getting you to and through retirement and keeping you on track. And Sam, it looks like we've got some information on Social Security Cola forecasts for inflation.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. But first, don't forget, Memorial Day weekend is coming up. The unexpected start of summer. I cannot believe that summer is already here. Triple A expects 42.3 million AmErickans to travel 50 miles or more from home over the holiday weekend. That's a 7% increase over last year. Almost 3 million more people will be traveling this year compared to last year. Triple A says it's an early sign of what travelers should expect throughout the summer. Also, air travel expected to be up by 11% over last year. That's almost three and a half more million people traveling by air. I thought this was interesting, Erick, Triple A says that this coming Memorial Day weekend could be the busiest at airports since 2005. That's the busiest airport weekend for Memorial Day in 18 years. And the best advice that they give is to plan ahead, knowing that you could potentially run into delays or cancellations at the airport or even on the road. So I would say to all the retirement warriors out there, if you and your family plan to hit the road this Memorial Day season, I know that I will be hitting the road to go to a friend's barbecue, maybe a couple of friends, barbecues over that weekend. So drive safely and consider leaving a bit early to avoid the traffic.

Erick Arnett:
And that's.

Erick Arnett:
Crazy. I can't believe, like you said, a memorial Day. We're talking about Memorial Day weekend bazaar. How crazy and fast this is going by, folks. And that's why, you know, time is flying by. We got to get you on track, get you the retirement plan in place. Let's have a conversation. You can reach out to us today. (352) 616-0511. You can also just Google TakePointWealth.com and in the upper right hand corner you could click on there you can send me your questions. You get right on my calendar and I'll reach out to you and we'll chat about what your concerns are. But yeah, you know what kind of crazy with the air travel and the fact that you're saying this is going to be the busiest memorial weekend in in 20 years, we just had to book some airfare for a trip that we're having. I got to go out and see my nephew. He's graduating in Texas from from Air Force boot camp. And so we went on there to book some flights. And I could not believe the prices. It's insane. And so not only the the prices are really high, but the travel is, you know, everybody's out there traveling. These high prices aren't diverting people from spending the money and traveling on these high airfare tickets. So that's kind of crazy and concerning. I'm wondering where people are getting that money. And what's interesting is it's and it's all walks of life, you know, traveling in the airport. And what's interesting, Sam, is I never. You seen this before? But when I was booking my airfare. Right on. I'm not going to name the company, but right on their app.

Erick Arnett:
I was booking on the airline and they have now, when you go to put your credit card information in to purchase the tickets, they ask you if you want to finance it. You don't have to. You can you can pay for your airfare and payments. So I'm like, aha, this is why we're having the airports are just crammed. It's because people are now also kicking the can down the road and financing their travel. This has got to be why? I mean, because honestly, like I'm looking at, you know, the airport and it's like all walks of life and, you know, it's like poor people, wealthy people all in between. But it's just interesting to me. It's like, where are the people getting all this money for these, you know, I couldn't believe it. It's like three and four times more to fly just a domestic flight than it was a few years ago. So and that that really jumped out at me. I was like, aha, this might be why. Another reason why our debt levels in our credit card levels are skyrocketing. So I hope I hope folks are being careful with that. And but interesting stuff. Interesting stuff. So if you're going to be out there flying or in the airport, you know, make sure you're maybe taking a later flight. I would maybe not check a bag. You know, prepare for that because it's going to be crazy. It's going to be mayhem. I will not be in the airports. Thank the Lord. I will be hanging out on the water on the boat right here in Hernando Beach, Florida.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Erick Arnett:
We've got to talk about this stuff that looks like Social Security has got a Cola forecast for 2024.

Producer:
The Senior Citizens League, they what they do is they take a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the consumer price indexes to come up with estimations on upcoming Cola increases. And they're looking at about 3.1% is what they expect for the 2024 Cola. You know, last year's increase was 8.7%. It was the largest cost of living adjustment for Social Security recipients in over four decades. That was partially thanks to supply chain disruptions, which fueled soaring inflation amid the pandemic. The Senior Citizens League also says that a lot of the items that older AmErickans are purchasing more frequently are not things that are measured by the consumer price Index. So they're concerned that those retirees out there are hurting because things like prescription drugs, food, housing, dental services, all things that retirees spend their money on, aren't measured quite as closely in that consumer price index. Another interesting statistic, and I think everybody retired or not, can relate to this one, the Senior Citizens League says for every $100 a retired household spent on groceries in the year 2000, that household can only buy about $64 worth of groceries today. Another way to think about that is if in $2,100 got you six bags of groceries, now it's only going to get you four. That is definitely something where I think a lot of AmErickans are feeling the sting of inflation. Erick.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I mean, that's the you know, I see that in the grocery stores and it's, you know, it's just the, you know, this pandemic that we went through. You know, this this historical event or whatever you want to call it. I mean, it's it's it's done some damage and it's going to continue to do damage to not only our nation, but the world for for quite some time. And and I see it all the time. And and my wife and I talk about it all the time too. It's the health. You know, people are now have they can't afford even good, clean or healthy food. They're buying this, you know, processed cheap stuff, you know. And so, you know, it's really devastating to families and even long term health wise. So a big, big concern there. And and, you know, and that's and that's something that, you know, when we talk to retirees, you know, hey, you may think, well, going into retirement, I'm probably going to maybe spend a little less going to eat a little less, maybe we'll eat in some more, you know, than than we normally do. But we've been talking about it for years. And it finally reared its ugly head about people weren't really thinking, you know, when they were doing their retirement planning or, you know, basically just, you know, playing with some numbers that we were going to have this type of massive inflation.

Erick Arnett:
And it doesn't mean that we can't continue to have more folks in in the future. And so that's why we've got to continue to plan for that. We've got we got to make sure that you don't run out of money and you're keeping pace with inflation. And we've talked about this before, just about you know, I had a guy call me the other day that listens to the radio show, and I was so thankful that he called because we had a great conversation. Man. We're on the phone for about an hour. And and he was like, man, thank you so much for, you know, some of these ideas and tips. He said, I had no idea. You know, it's it's just people are like, get excited about, you know, maybe parking their money now in a money market account or a CD at the bank and like yeah because we were at zero rates to two years ago now you can get 4% 5%. But guess what, folks, by the time you pay the taxes on that, you're still not beating inflation. So, you know, we've got to continue to grow your funds. Don't be too conservative. Don't get lured in by the banks and these teaser rates and these deposit rates. Yes, it's nice to be able to park your money in something safe now and get 5% or whatever you're getting. And that's great.

Erick Arnett:
But guess what? It's still not beating inflation. So we've we can't run out of money in retirement. So please, please give us a call. (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Or just go to TakePointWealth.com. Get on my calendar in the upper right hand corner and we'll get you on track and we'll start talking about these things and build you a solid plan to keep up with this inflation. Because you know, the government, you can't you can't rely on them to keep bumping up your cola every year either. So we've got to factor that in. And so it's very it's very concerning. You know, a lot of our retirees would probably be in that middle class. I was listening to a gentleman on the on the radio the other day, and he was talking about how the middle class is shrinking. It's harder and harder for the middle class to make it because of all these rising rising costs. And so, you know, if you've saved some money for retirement, that's great, but let's make sure that we're optimizing it, protecting it from tax. Is protecting it from fees, protecting it from downside risk in the markets. You know, you can't you can't take a big hit in that first five years of retirement, folks. It's critical, critical that you get it right in the first five years because if you take a hit plus you're taking money out of your account to live on, it can be devastating and it can certainly, you know, run out of money long term.

Erick Arnett:
So we've got to got to get that stuff in place. And so, you know, if you're if you're planning to retire in a few years, you really got to do these things first. Okay. Number one is just meet with a financial advisor, a professional, you know, stop trying to do it on your own. There's no need for that. You can surround yourself with a team of experts and still be in control. You know, some people don't like to give up that control. Some people don't trust. Some people may have been burned, have had a bad relationship in the past with an advisor of some sort. Don't give up on that. You know, there's a lot of great advisors out there that are standing by ready to help you out and get you on track and and make sure that, you know, you have a solid, solid plan. So that's the first thing. Stop trying to do this stuff on your own. I tell people in my in my seminars and my workshops that I do all the time, I have a whole slide on it. It's like somebody in your family right now needs to step up and become the chief financial officer. You need to run your household like a business. You know, someone's got to step up and take that control and lead.

Erick Arnett:
And so that's the first thing you got to do. And and so when you're leading a company or you're leading a corporation, you're leading your household, what are you going to do? You're going to go out and hire the best people that you can find and surround yourself that have good ideas, things that you can bounce things off of, you know, give you second opinions. And so and we what we do is we show people very often that, you know, the other thing is that, well, I don't want to pay for a financial advisor. You know, we show people every day that you might work with a financial advisor and actually save money. You might not pay that much more money. That just you might end up adding that professional to your team for free. And why wouldn't you do that? So let's look at what you're spending when we do our financial x ray and we build out that blueprint, we build out that retirement plan for you. We take a solid, close look at all your expenses. You know, I can tell you one time we were working with this lady and we found out she was paying close to 5 to 6% in expenses. How is she ever going to get through retirement successfully with those kind of expenses? So let's look at let's extract, you know, what? You're really paying for those investments internally.

Erick Arnett:
Okay. And so schedule a meeting with us today. This is what we do. We do it every day. We can help answer any initial questions and get you started on developing that smart retirement plan. Smart retirement plan. You're gonna have smart, safe money and smart risk. You got to get that together, people. So please, if anything, just today, just give us a shout. Get on our website. Start with a financial professional. Surround yourself with a team. One thing you know it take point. Wealth is we have a team around us. We have financial planners, certified financial planners. We have CPAs. You know, we have, you know, we have Medicare experts. We have we've put together a solid one stop shop for you in order to provide estate planners, tax attorneys. We can even help you develop your estate plan in-house now. So a lot of good stuff going on and you just need to take advantage of it. That's why we're here today. That's why we're on this show. You know, it's your show, folks. This is your education and it's free to get started. It's not going to cost you a thing other than your time. So please, please schedule a meeting with us today, Get your smart retirement plan on track today. And you know, the other thing is really take the time. You know, people don't just sit down and do the budget and people don't take the time to assess their current financial situation.

Erick Arnett:
I know that. You know, we were laughing about this the other day that people will sit down and they'll they'll spend hours planning that vacation. Right. They'll spend hours, you know, putting together a plan to buy that new car or to have fun and, you know, go on vacation and all this kind of stuff. But they won't plan for their retirement because sometimes it brings up difficult conversations. But these are difficult, difficult conversations that you need to have and get on track and then we'll take it from there. And so when you retire, you don't have to worry about this stuff. We'll take care of it for you so you can have that stress free retirement. Hey, we're in Florida, folks. You don't want to be sitting there worrying about and managing your money and managing retirement. You know, get with a good team, a good firm that's going to do that for you so you can go out and have fun and enjoy your retirement. Enjoy Florida, enjoy that sunshine. I can tell you this might sound crazy. I'm a financial advisor. Been in the business almost 25 years. When I retire, I'm not going to manage my own money. I don't want to deal with it. I'm going to be out. I don't I'm going to I'm going to be out doing what I want to do in retirement.

Erick Arnett:
I'm going to have somebody else doing it for me. And, you know, because I don't want to be bothered with it. I want to enjoy my retirement. So, you know, you got to find someone you can trust. You got to find somebody that has the knowledge, has the team the experience and build that trust with somebody. Start today and you'll find I think it's very, very rewarding and you'll enjoy your retirement much, much more so. But you got to you got to assess that financial situation. You got to consider your income, those expenses, of course, your assets liabilities to evaluate your retirement readiness. That's what we talk about all the time. And I just said, when you're a chief financial officer of your company or your family, you've got to put together a balance sheet. Okay. And your balance sheet is your assets versus liabilities. Let's see where you're at. We got to put together a cash flow statement. A cash flow statement is nothing more than your income and your expenses. What do they look like? Let's factor in inflation, Let's factor in some potential rises and costs. Let's see what that's going to look like year two, year to year to year while you're in retirement and then test it to make sure that it holds up and you have the complete confidence and the complete clarity in a feeling of, you know, I have a successful I have a high probability of reaching my goals in retirement.

Erick Arnett:
So, you know, set some set some realistic goals. You know, we can, of course, help our clients establish and reach those achievable financial goals based on their assets, desired lifestyle and timeline for retirement. Like these are all the factors that you got to start talking about. And so let's let's get going on that today. TakePointWealth.com get up in that upper right hand corner just click it You get right on my calendar and we'll get started. We'll start building it out for you. Doesn't cost you a dime, folks, because you're listening to the show today. This is offered to you completely free. It's a thousand hundred dollars value. We put hours into this. We have a team of professionals that are going to be going to wrap around you to build that solid, solid plan and then we're going to test it. Don't just take our word for it. Let's test it with probability statistics over time to see if it's going to hold up. Maybe you have an idea. Maybe you have a plan in place. Now let's test that and see how it looks. Let's optimize. I love the word optimize. I use it all the time. It's my favorite new word. I have a retirement plan. Sam, you have one? Your neighbor has one.

Erick Arnett:
Everybody out there listening, I hope has some type of retirement plan. But how do you know if it's truly optimized? I take a look at my own retirement plans and I run them through this optimization software planning just to make sure that I'm on track. So why wouldn't you? Right? Everybody has a plan. If you don't have a plan, it's time to get one. So give us a shout. (352) 616-0511. So, you know, after these stress tests, maybe you got you need to make a little bit of an adjustment. I'm not talking about making wholesale changes, but maybe we need to tweak a little something here or there, look at some different options. If you haven't looked at some different options while you're still in that same old mutual mutual fund portfolio that you've had forever. Guess what? It's time to look at some different options, folks. There's so much better out there, you know? So after some stress tests and analysis on your current investments and retirement plan, we will present different options to consider based on your goals and your risk tolerance. Diversify your investments. We will help you find a comfortable balance of both smart risk and smart investments. You have to have some risk, right? But you also need to have safe investments that are going to shore up your income. So we want you to have a good offensive course.

Erick Arnett:
To beat inflation, to still grow your money. But we also got to have that great defense in place, right? You got to have that great defense. And so just having that regular old portfolio, you can see where it didn't work out for you in 2022. So we've got to make some changes. We've got we've got some ideas here that we'd love to share with you that we're using with retirees. We've been building retirement plans for a long, long time. And, you know, we want to deliver that to you as well, completely free of charge. So consider consider implementing that Roth conversion we talked about. If your retirement savings is mostly sitting in tax deferred accounts, this will help you avoid those future tax increases that we probably have coming down the pipe and generate tax free income. Let's look at ways we can, you know, potentially generate that tax free income. Also, with the Roth IRA, there are never any required minimum distributions. I love this. So you don't you don't have to make those distributions. You don't have to pay those taxes in the future. And that money is going to pass to your heirs tax free as well. So it's a great estate planning tool. So many things, so many things to to work on. So, listen, folks, if you're if you're out there listening to me right now, thank you so much. I'm happy you're listening to the show.

Erick Arnett:
If you're interested in maximizing your retirement savings and learning what a Roth could do for you, then please get in touch with us. It's TakePointWealth.com. Just go to our website and you can get right on our calendar. Also, just give me a call. I'm standing by right now if you want to give me a shout. 35261605113526160511. If I don't pick up, please leave me a voicemail. I'm probably on the phone with somebody else. We get a lot of calls. I will get right back to you. I get a lot of phone calls on Saturdays and Sundays when the show is running and people just hang up. They don't leave a voicemail. So I know you're calling for a reason, so just take that five seconds and leave me a voicemail because it's super important to me that I help you and it's super important that I get in touch with you. And so please just leave me that voicemail so I can get back to you. Our phone does not have caller ID. I think a lot of people, Sam, think if they call, you know, I'll be able to call them back. But our phone does not have caller ID, so please leave me a voicemail and I'll get right back to you. Your call is so important to me, but if I'm on the other line, I'm just talking to somebody else trying to help somebody else out.

Erick Arnett:
So (352) 616-0511. We're going to get you on track. So, you know, you got to be you've got to maximize your retirement. Let's optimize it, you know, schedule it to schedule your appointment today so we can build and and start to get to work on building that retirement, that winning retirement plan for you and your family. All meetings are complimentary once again. They're complimentary. You know what? You know what it's going to cost you folks your time. And it's not a lot of time either, because that first call is going to be about 30 minutes to get started. So you and you only work with us if it's best for you. No one's going to hold a gun to your head and say you have to work with us. There's no high pitched, you know, sales, there's no pressure selling. I'm probably the worst salesman on the planet and I don't want to be a salesman. Never have been. I just want to educate folks and help people. That's what love. That's what we love to do. There's nothing more exciting than when I help a retiree or a family build a clear, concise, solid plan that's been tested and I know is going to hold up two and three retirement. So, you know, we're going to provide you with that Social Security maximization plan to help you get the best benefits for your needs.

Erick Arnett:
Don't just rush in and start taking Social Security. Please get with us first so we can look at those strategies, especially if you're married, because there's some different strategies there. You know, we're going to consider all other retirement income sources, pensions, annuities, your rental income and other part time work. We look at it all. We're a tax office as well, folks, So we're well versed in the tax situations. We're going to help you establish your own personal pension. Okay. Imagine don't take that lump sum pension. Don't or don't take that pension. Take the lump sum. Let's establish your own personal pension that you have control over to provide you with the income you need for life. Okay. Bottom line is this You owe it to yourself. You owe it to yourself to work with a professional team. You deserve the best. And you know, and we want to provide that for you to get you to and through retirement successfully and stress free. You're in Florida, so let's enjoy our retirement, folks. I think we're running out of time. Sam's kind of waving his hand. Give me the thumbs up. We've got to wrap up, unfortunately. I just want to thank you so much for listening to the show. Please give us a call. (352) 616-0511. We're standing by to help you today. Once again, Take Point on Retirement. So glad you're with us today, folks. Have a great weekend.

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.

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 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 index 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 annuity using your annuity without receiving a single benefit for that annual fee. This income rider fee will also draw down your account value or principal, 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 that 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 1.5% 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 are 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.