TPOR 7-1-22 FULL SHOW.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

TPOR 7-1-22 FULL SHOW.mp3: 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 Tech 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 Erickk Arnett.

Erick Arnett:
Well, hey, good morning, everybody. Or good day or whatever time it is where you're at and what time you're listening to the show. And welcome Tampa Bay. Welcome Nature Coast. Adventure Coast. Welcome to Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda. Glad you guys are all listening today to take point on retirement radio. And we are back doing a fresh new show for you this week and have a lot of good stuff to talk about. But we also.

Erick Arnett:
Have.

Erick Arnett:
Mr. Randall Woodruff with us here today, CPA extraordinaire. We've got Mr. Sam with us, our excellent host and DJ extraordinaire. It's going to keep us on pace. And and so it's just great to be here with you guys and happy 4th of July weekend. Hopefully everybody is getting the suntan lotion on and getting the pool ready to go and getting the barbecue all situated. And please enjoy your weekend. Be safe. But it looks like the weather's going to be decent. And so with that all being said, good morning, gentlemen.

Sarah Baldwin:
Good morning, Erick. Good morning, Sam. And good morning to our listeners. And as Erick mentioned, happy 4th of July upcoming weekend and hope you guys have lots of great plans and take time to get away and get outside and enjoy the great outdoors.

Sam Davis:
Morning, guys. Just want to remind the listeners that they can always find the phone number to your office and learn more. Take point on retirement. Okay. So, Erick, what are we talking about today?

Erick Arnett:
Well, yeah, I mean, please give us a call any time for that free consultation. We're happy to chat with you and see what's on your mind so you see where you're at and, you know, answer any of your questions or concerns. The phone is always open and like Sam said, just go to our website and you can click on upper right hand corner and get schedule a little free consult. So and then we also have the podcast. If you missed today's show or you can't listen to the full show or you maybe missed out on some previous shows, go ahead to take one on retirement, our podcast station, and you can get any of our older shows there. So with that being said, let's open up today's show, of course. Let's let's let's talk about the markets a little bit and give a market update. And, you know, what's affecting the markets this week? In the last couple of weeks, we know that the gas prices have actually come down a tad, which is good news. And I think that, you know, local governments, county governments, state and federal governments are attempting to relieve the pressure as best they can with some tax cuts. But, you know, I was all excited, guys, when I went to the pump the other day and I wasn't paying $6 for diesel. I was only paying like 569. So so start. They're starting to train me. Well, I remember we talked about this years ago when we had the big we had a gas hike like, oh, I think it was like 070809 time frame somewhere in there.

Erick Arnett:
And gas prices went really high and everybody really had to tamper things down quite a bit. But I remember it's like when they got up there for a while, you were almost conditioned that, Hey, this is just the way it is. So we made those adjustments, but we certainly aren't happy about these high gas prices. But we think that things are getting better. We think that they've peaked and hopefully that is the case. A lot of the data that we look at is even suggesting that inflation has peaked. So we're keeping a close eye on that every every week and every month to get those inflationary numbers and data in. But it looks like things have peaked and are even slowing down. So what the Fed has set out to do, they are accomplishing, which was to put the brakes and really slow down the housing market, slow down inflation in general, people are already spending less. We're seeing the consumer cut back and those housing starts and housing sales have slowed, which typically happens in the summer months anyways. So it's not some kind of major panic sign like things are dropping out of the bottom or anything like that. However, that was what the Fed set out to do, which will also help inflation as they raise rates. It's going to slow demand and that should also increase supply.

Erick Arnett:
We are hearing of some of the supply chains are improving. China is opening up and so that's a good sign there as far as alleviating supply chain concerns and wherever we have choke off points. And so things are actually improving. I know in our everyday life it's hard to see, but as we go month to month, we do feel as though the inflation has peaked, you know, so we're we're obviously in a bear market, guys. I mean, there's no doubt about it. We just had the revisionary number released for the first quarter growth and it was revised down even further. And so it was kind of came in at about 1.6 or so as far as GDP growth in the first quarter. So that was down considerably from what the initial number was. And more than likely here in the second quarter, we've completed the second quarter just about here a couple of days away from it and we're actually gearing up for earnings to come out. S&p 500 earnings and earnings are big companies will start releasing earnings here for the second quarter and we're expecting that those earnings are going to be down as well. So that puts us in already, guys, a six month recession. And typically, it's important to point out that recessions usually last on average about ten months. And so we're already probably six months into this as we speak. Now. And so it's when we're in these bear markets, it seems very painful.

Erick Arnett:
There's a lot of volatility. We have these big days where the market kind of bounces up and we get all excited. Then it sells off deeply again. And and that's usually the pain and the confusion and, and what we feel in when we're in the midst of a bear market. And typically your bear markets can last up to a year and a half. And so we're in a we're about probably 6 to 7, almost eight months into the bear market now. So those are typical kind of average statistics. So we really are probably through I certainly hope we are. And some of the data is leaning this way that we're probably through the worst. You know, it's a great time to really sit down and refocus on what your long term objectives are. Do you have a long term objective? Do you have a financial plan? Do you have a retirement plan? It's time to re-evaluate those objectives, reevaluate those goals, be patient with the market. If if you're already fully invested in the market and you've been riding this kind of roller coaster and you've been feeling the downward pressure and the downward pain, you know, you've probably been through the worst. So just be patient. We typically feel horrible and during these periods of time, but we've seen historically any time the stock market is down 20% or more, the following year is usually substantial or strong double digit returns 70% of the time. Actually, we see double digit returns with 90% of the time we see significant upside, significant returns in a 3 to 5 year period following the fall of the stock market.

Erick Arnett:
So we're probably in the middle of this pain right now. But a lot of what we look at, what we're looking at is and what we pay attention to is analysts are saying that, hey, we're probably the worst is is peaked or the worst is behind us. And now we've just got to kind of work through this and it's going to take a while. But I believe that even oil and and gasoline prices, that pressure on that demand will hopefully decrease as well and continue to drive down costs. So there are a lot of good signs out there that things are starting to settle down. So take this time to think about what you're doing with your current retirement plan or current portfolio. Maybe it's time to get back in the market. If you got out of the market and there's a way to do that, we have a strategy, a specific strategy for that. So you got to be cautious. You can't just jump all in, so you've got to have a strategy. And we have that strategy for you. If you're still in the market and you're kind of not sure you saw a lot of volatility in your portfolio. Perhaps your portfolio wasn't set up properly or diversified properly or really in line with your goals and needs. So it could be a time to rebalance and certainly it's time to get bonds out of that portfolio.

Erick Arnett:
If you haven't already, you're a little bit behind the curve because bonds have substantially been beaten up here over the last year, 12 to 15 months. So but you still shouldn't have a large bond portion in your portfolio. And we're going to dive into that in greater detail as we go on later on in the show. But we've definitely got to take a look at what you're doing. And so we do a completely free evaluation. All it takes is a little bit of time on your part. It's over a $1,500 value. We do a full blown retirement plan that's going to take into account estate planning, insurance, taxation, investment management, retirement planning, you know, getting a specific retirement plan in place and then testing that plan, over 1000 scenarios are thrown at to bring back confidence and clarity on that plan. So I encourage you, if you're listening, take the time. I know it's summer or busy or having fun and nobody wants to talk about finances in the summer. Right. But take the time to sit down and do that inventory and kind of evaluate what you're doing and and and see how you feel. We're going to give you a lot more tips throughout the show in order to save some money and reduce taxes and fees and risk inside your portfolio going forward. So the three things that we focus on here at tape point.

Sam Davis:
Erick, I think this would be a good time to talk about annuity 360. We've got a book offer for all of your listeners today. Just by getting in touch, you can visit the website, take point on retirement dot com or give us a call 3526160511. That's 3526160511. Erick, tell them a little bit more about the book and then. We'll actually play a sample chapter that will kind of tell the folks a little bit about how they can reduce risk in their portfolio with annuities.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So utilizing the index annuity is has multiple benefits for when we're building out retirement plans. And one is that it's going to reduce fees on your overall plan. And so nine times out of ten, we're looking for indexed annuities that have no fees or very low fees. And so if you're in a regular traditional portfolio of mutual funds, which we're going to talk about mutual funds to, I'm not a big fan of those, but if you're just in a traditional blend of mutual funds, typically you're probably paying some higher expense ratios, but you also probably have fixed income in there or bonds and you don't even know it. And so on that portion of your portfolio, you know, it's those bonds are being devalued as interest rates go up and at the same time you're paying a fee on top of it. So just utilizing the index annuity right there, we're going to be able to reduce fees. We're also going to be able to provide you further diversification. And it's also going to lower the overall risk or standard deviation of your portfolio as well because of the principal protection feature that's built into the index annuity. So a lot of great advantages. And so we talk a little bit about, you know, how to patch up leaks in your overall ship, right? So we all have little expenses and and little things that could potentially be eating away at us. You know, there's a great quote here by Mr. Benjamin Franklin that says, Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship. And that's that's that's pretty true. You know, you just have one of those small, small leaks like like Randy. I mean, you work with folks all the time. How many times when they come to you and you do it on valuation, on their taxes, you see that they probably maybe have been doing things wrong. I know you've helped me with that a bunch of times.

Sarah Baldwin:
Yeah. I'll share with you a personal experience. Not a big leak, but it's a small leak. I had a storage shed for three and a half years and I was paying started out paying 110. Got to be about 150, $60 a month. And when I finally went over there, opened it up. Nothing in there I needed for the last three and a half years. But here again, it was just easier just to not go clean the thing out and get rid of that small leak. And once I finally did again, $130 isn't a lot of money, but it's little leaks like that. $50 here, $100 here. But the money over there, it adds up to 500 or 1000 a month that that's leaking out of your state portfolio, out of your checkbook, out of your finances, out of your other disposable income. And you could be using to pay for pay for pay for trips and pay for things that you actually enjoy. So I'm at the point yet we work with the clients over the years and so often we talk on this show about not having how how important it is to have a good retirement plan, how many folks don't have a plan. The same thing is true with the budget. Most folks don't have a budget, whether it's their personal budget or small businesses. Even the medium sized businesses sometimes don't have a really good budget they stick to. Growing up, I my parents taught me budgeting at a very young age and we had so much every year, so much set aside for clothing growing up.

Sarah Baldwin:
And if if you you got to pick what you wanted to spend your money on in terms of what you wanted to buy. And if you if you spend too much money on a brand new pair of shoes or this or that or the other and the money, you had to go out and work and do chores and run neighborhood to raise money to buy clothes. So if you buy to buy things you wanted. So if parents or grandparents, if you have kids, you know, teaching, budgeting can't ever start too young. And even as we get older, it's something that we need to remind ourselves of. Me, myself included, I find myself sometimes not following my budget like I need to and staying on top of it. So it's easy to get in the habit of especially when money is flowing in, money's coming in good and easy. You kind of don't really pay attention to what's going on because so much is coming in. But back to the point Erick made from Ben Franklin, those small little leaks will take a great ship, so everyone needs to sit down on a regular basis and read. There can be every three months, six months, at least a year and just go through the money that you're spending and know what you're spending it on and make sure that you actually are getting the value for what you're spending.

Erick Arnett:
No. Great, great, great points there. And, you know, I think about now more than ever, no matter where you're at in life, if you're a young family, you know, you're in your fifties or sixties or even if you're up in you've already retired well into your seventies with this. Increase in costs and high inflation that we experience more than ever. Now is the time to sit down and rework that budget and reevaluate retirement. There's a lot of things that are coming at you folks, so we've got to invest with income in mind. The number one thing that folks don't want to do is run out of money. And so, you know, we're doing our planning out 30 years up to age 95. And and so we're taking into account this long run ten, 20, 30 years of increasing costs. And so, sure enough, we've been talking about it for a long time. Sure enough, in this past couple of years with the pandemic effect, we've had a massive increase in inflation. So if you weren't prepared for it, it could be biting you right now. So, you know, so one thing, just a little some little tidbits. You know, you might look at reducing expense ratios across the board in your portfolios. And really that's when you come to take point. The first three things that we look at are fee reduction, taxation, efficiency, if we can help reduce taxes in some way and then also reducing the risk and optimizing the return for your getting for the amount of risk you're taking.

Erick Arnett:
So a lot of folks out there might be taking too much risk and not even getting decent returns. So one one thing you could do real easily is just switch from mutual funds to ETFs. If you don't know what an ETF is, give us a call or Google it and find out. But ETFs typically are going to offer that diversification that you need, but with a much lower expense ratio. So take a look at ETFs. Or if you don't have ETFs, not sure what they are. Give us a call. Happy to consult you on that. And we're pretty adamant about keeping costs down. That's because that's one of the silent killers. If you're paying one 2% more a year, maybe. I've seen folks that come in, they're paying two, three, four, 5% inside their investments and they had no idea. You're just not going to be able to to maintain, get ahead and keep up with inflation, you know, and you've got those kind of expenses in your life. So that's the most important thing we've got to look at is expenses. And then, of course, we harp on replacing your bonds with index annuities is going to eliminate all the fees on their safe money side of your portfolio.

Erick Arnett:
So that's just right there to two different things we can do right there. And you can still reach all your goals and have a great effective portfolio long term, but reduce your expenses right there off the board potentially by a whole percent or 2%. So super, super important. So you can cost yourself a lot more by even trying to manage all this for yourself. What we typically show people is when we review what they're doing and then we optimize it, we show them that you can have the optimal retirement plan, have somebody working with you on your side, sitting on your side of the table, watching it, monitoring it, constantly evaluating it with you, making changes for almost less, or if not the same than what you're currently paying now to do it yourself. So I know there is a control issue out there and a trust issue, and but that's the most important thing to us. And we take great pride and passionate is building that trust, building that relationship. And it takes time. But you've got to start somewhere and you've got to find somebody who's got the knowledge, the experience, and also is a licensed fiduciary who truly cares about you and your family and your finances and sits on the same side of the table as you.

Erick Arnett:
I don't like Wall Street, can't stand it. I don't like them. I like Main Street. I love working for my clients and taking care of them and helping them achieve their goals and dreams. And then what's nice to me is the fact that we're I had a client the other day. It was it was I just loved what he said. It was like, you know, I don't want to be thinking about this stuff. I want to you know, I've been working my whole life. I'm getting ready to retire here and I want to go enjoy myself and not have to worry about these things anymore. And yeah, you know what finances the stock market, retirement index, annuities, taxes, all this stuff. I mean, they can cause stress. So if you can hand it over to a team, you know, full service team that's going to take care of everything for you from A to Z. And it's probably not going to cost you anything more than what you're currently paying. Then I think you owe it to yourself if you're out there listening to take the take the first step and just to give us a call and we can walk you down that path. You know, I'm close to 25 years in the making doing this, Randy. I mean, you've been doing taxes for how long now?

Sarah Baldwin:
Just at 28 years. 28 years. This month was in month of June. I want to touch on something that you said about being in retirement and not having to worry about stuff. I remember that client saying that. And one of the things. We work as we work with retirees. You're now retired and now you have a lot of free time. And sometimes if you don't have a lot of free time, if you don't have a lot to do and you have a lot of free time, guess what? You are going to start to worry. And so I encourage you to come in and you have free time, educate yourself, come sit with Erick and I, because we want to teach you, we want to help you understand these topics and we'll go through and explain things with you because here again, you have a lot of free time and you're going to start to worry. Plus, you're not working anymore and the money that you have has to last you in retirement. Come see us. We can help you do that. Yeah, I mean.

Erick Arnett:
Great points there. And one thing that we see when we sit down and do these plans for folks and we truly optimize everything across the board. So you could be just costing yourself a whole lot of money just by trying to manage all this yourself. You know, there's a study out there. You don't have to take my word for it. It's called the Dale Bar Study. Dale Bar, you can Google. It comes out every year. And this is a study that this certain group does on retail investors, investment, all clients, people out there kind of investing on their own and they underperform the market by more than 50% every year. And so this year it even got worse. During 2021, it was it went down another -10% as far as far as how much people are lagging behind the S&P 500. So that tells me that there's people out there making a lot of mistakes and they're also making timing shifts, jumping in and out of the market or they just they don't have the right broadly diversified, actively managed portfolio. One other thing that's concerns me is most people I talk to, they don't even have their estate plan in place. What happens if you pass away? You know, so we'll review that. We'll make sure, do you need a trust? You don't need a trust. You need a will. How are your assets titled? What is your what is your legacy? How are you planning on passing your estate? And there's a lot of ways that you can save money on that as well. And so, you know, there's so many ways we're working with a professional team that you're going to save yourself money and in the long term.

Erick Arnett:
So work with somebody who's on the same side of the table as you. So what's important is there's so many different kinds of models out there when it comes to investment advisors and financial advisors and brokers. There's all kinds of different investment models out there or business models, and we feel very strongly that super important to work with a fee based only financial advisor, you know, a fiduciary, a licensed investment representative that works for you and has to put your interests first. And we're held to that standard. And so that's super, super important. And so we're proud of that. And we think that it makes a lot of sense for for our listeners. But more than happy, just give us a call. 3526160511. That's 3526160511. Give us a call or just go to our website. You can just Google take point wealth on your phone and you'll see our website come up. You can click a little button in the top right hand corner and you can set up a free consultation and we'll reach out to you and and just have a chat and see where you're at and see how we can help you. And so work with someone who's on the same side of the table, super important. And, you know, if your portfolio or your retirement plan assets increase, then so does our compensation. So we're directly aligned with your success. Your success means our success. And that's super important, I think, to be with a team that is set up that way.

Sam Davis:
And Erick, coming up here in segment two, we've got just a few minutes left here in the first segment, but in segment two, we're going to talk about making sure that people have a smart health plan as well, because that's something that people don't always consider. But health care is one of the largest expenses for retirees. So we're definitely going to get into that into segment two. But can you talk a little bit about the importance of having that health care plan and how you're able to offer this comprehensive plan from taxes to assets under management to to Medicare and more?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, great point, Sam. I mean, obviously, medical care and medical costs are one of the number one challenges facing retirees. And so, you know, it's it's a known fact that those expenses are going to increase. In fact, you pulled together for us a nice little piece of data here. It says, According to the Fidelity retiree health care cost estimate, an average retired couple age 65 and 2022 may need a. Similarly, 315,000. Let me say that again, 315,000 saved after tax to cover health care expenses and retirement. So this is profound and this is why, you know, we feel it's so important to include all this in our comprehensive plan. And what kind of Medicare do you have? What kind of supplements do you have? That's so, so important. We can also be a resource for you here. Take point wealth if you're not quite sure if you need to reevaluate your Medicare Medicare supplement supplements and those costs, we can help you walk through that and reevaluate that and even set you up with a with an agent that can help you pick the right plan for you and hopefully potentially save you some costs. But, you know, Medicare is going to help cover about 80 to 80%. But then you've got to have these med sub plans that can tend to be expensive. And a lot of times they're based on what type of needs you have, but also what type of income you have. So it's important to do that planning as well. And so, you know, there's even ways that we can invest your money in order to cover those costs. And I think we'll get into that into the second segment. But super, super important is to factor in how much am I going to need for health care costs and retirement. And we can help you walk through all that as well. And it's very important to get that Medicare correct.

Sam Davis:
So we're going to step away for a break. And while we're gone for just a couple of minutes, take the time and visit, take point on retirement. That's take point on retirement. If you go to the upper right hand corner, you can click a schedule a consultation button, schedule an appointment with Erick, and you can always give them a call at 3526160511. And you can get yourself a copy of that Annuity 360 book as well and start reading for yourself, educating yourself because here at Take point on retirement, we're all about empowering people, educating people. When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit about how energy costs. Take a listen to a vignette, an audio story that you'll hear over this break. We're going to talk about how your 4th of July cookout might be a little bit more expensive this year. Inflation is hitting us across all areas, even in the cookout. Take point on retirement. We'll be right back.

Erick Arnett:
You're listening to Take Point on retirement. To schedule your free no obligation consultation visit. Take point on retirement. 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 tape point wealth.

Producer:
The heat is likely. Not the only thing making you sweat this summer. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network. Powered by a micro life. With energy prices soaring and record breaking heat waves across the country, the cost of cooling your home could set you back a pretty penny this year. The Wall Street Journal reports the average AmErickan household will pay $540 in electricity bills during the summer months, up $90 from a year ago. An air conditioning can make up a big chunk of that total, especially in hotter and more humid areas of the country. Sarah Baldwin is with the think tank Energy Innovation.

Sarah Baldwin:
Because we have a confluence of factors, the increased price for both gas and oil, as well as natural gas in homes and buildings and a an extremely hot summer and likely to be record heat all over the country as well as the world, largely due to climate change. We're feeling the pressures on both sides.

Producer:
But if you think there's nothing you can do to ease the pain, you'd be wrong. Baldwin says there are some things you can do that will cost you only a little, if anything at all.

Sarah Baldwin:
Paying attention to when you're turning on appliances, when you're turning on the AC. If you have a thermostat that you can program setting that thermostat to a modest temperature instead of going straight to really, really cold, looking at what kind of window coverings you have.

Producer:
Other improvements may be a bit more costly.

Sarah Baldwin:
Update your air conditioner to the most efficient unit. A heat pump. Air conditioner is going to be your best bet. You can also look at replacing windows and doors. Those can be a bit more costly but can have huge benefits in the long term.

Producer:
And don't overlook your power company. It could have some programs or incentives to help you cut back on energy use and save yourself some money in the long term, Baldwin says renewable energy is the way to go since prices are much less volatile than things like oil and gas.

Sarah Baldwin:
The sun, the wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, other carbon free sources like nuclear are all generally very cost stable relative to their more volatile and spiking fossil fuel counterparts.

Producer:
So how will you survive the summer heat and its impact on your wallet as you plan for retirement? That's a key question to consider as the mercury and inflation keep going up with the retirement radio network powered by a metro life. I'm Matt McClure.

Erick Arnett:
Welcome back to take point on retirement schedule your free financial consultation now at take point on retirement.

Sam Davis:
And welcome back to Take Point on retirement I'm Sam Davis joined by Erick Arnett Randy and the team over there at take point wealth management you can visit them online at take point wealth dot com and you can always give them a call at 3526160511. Now, during that last break, you heard a story about rising air conditioning costs, rising energy costs. It's hot this summer, but inflation isn't just hitting you at your electric bill and with your air conditioning costs. It is also affecting your summer cookouts, including your 4th of July cookouts this weekend. So, Erick, we've got some information about how inflation has hit us and hit our pocketbooks with regards to our cookouts. So tell them what we got.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. I mean, you know, obviously, this is the topic of of the year and this is inflationary number, but it's real. It's hitting people in a real way. And if you haven't prepared for it and that's one thing I take point that we make sure we do prepare for and prepare our retirees for. So and that's, you know, through our planning, we actually factor in in our 30 year plan for our clients inflation and big, big years of inflation like this. And when we have reductions in the markets, we've we've planned for all that ahead of time. But more than likely, you know, these costs are are going to be sneaking up on folks. And unfortunately, they're starting to feel the pain now. And yeah, I did actually see an encouraging story that some may or may not know is that they're looking at a significant increase in the COLA for Social Security in 2023, for 2022 and 2023. So as high as 10% increase in Social Security. So might be nice for folks to get that relief, but it's going to come probably a little bit late. People needed that a lot sooner. But gosh, man, we did a we did this little piece here. We pulled together on what a 4th of July cookout would cost you this year versus last year. And it came out to be 20% higher. And so just little things, you know, half gallon of an ice cream is not going to cost 744 compared to $4.69. That's a it doesn't seem like a lot, but that's a 58.6% increase in ice cream. So 60% increase, it's pretty crazy. A pack of eight hamburger buns are going to cost you 55% more than it did last year.

Sarah Baldwin:
Wow.

Erick Arnett:
You know, £2 of boneless chicken breasts increased by 40% to 948 a pound. And trust me, that's not if you're shopping at a certain store that we all know in Florida, that's not there. Their prices are even higher. I don't even want to mention names because, you know, I like all my people out there and working in the different grocery stores, but golly, you got to be careful with where you're shopping these days, too, and still trying to find quality food. But two and one half pounds of potato salad increased 36%. Now, I love my potato salad, man. That's important to me. And I actually make my mom make me fresh, homemade potato salad every year. So I don't know if I have to help her out with the purchase of the potatoes and the mayo.

Sarah Baldwin:
But subsidizes.

Erick Arnett:
Subsidize this year she might come at me and be like, Hey, I can't afford these taters, but I love Mom's homemade potato salad. Mom, if you're listening, make sure you get out there and get them potatoes and start balling them, because I'm definitely looking forward to that. So and then oh, this is kind of crazy too. A pound of sliced cheese, 23% more expensive. So whatever you're planning on cooking up this year for your your favorite cookout foods, you're going to be spending about 20 to 30% more. So it might be where instead of us hosting, we get the folks to come in and chip in and bring a dish. Right. So I know I typically host all of the family events. I might have to be charging a door entry fee at this point. You know, I mean, what do they call that? Used to be in the bar business door we call overcharge. Oh, yeah. Cover, charge, cover, check, charge.

Sarah Baldwin:
Charge to get in. And if you have to have a different price for adults and children too, and and, you know, they can't take the doggy bags home with them. Don't take your food home with you. So that way you can have some leftovers. That's as expensive as everything is.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So in all seriousness, drug price and. Inflation, air conditioning costs, seniors really getting hit pretty hard with inflation across the board. And so now more than ever is the time to kind of reevaluate things and get in here and let's get a plan in place. Because more than likely, that income retirement gap that we've talked about in the past and we probably need to revisit here, is that income retirement gap has definitely, probably increased this year. So we need to account for that. One thing that we do at take point on retirement is even though we put a plan in place, it doesn't mean it's just going to be in place forever and never make any changes. We have to adapt. We're constantly reviewing with our clients and adapting and changing them and making sure that we're changing with with the markets and with the economy and everything else. And so more important than ever is what are you going to use? Because you've got to be increasing your income somehow, right? If expenses are going through the roof, drug care cost, Medicare costs, all that stuff, you know, you're getting pinched. We've got to find ways to increase income. So whatever is not if it's not working for you currently or you're concerned about that, give us a call and we can hopefully figure that out for you.

Erick Arnett:
But the retirement income gap, super, super important. You know, it's the difference between your retirement living expenses and the income from guaranteed sources such as your pension, Social Security or annuities. So it may be time to put another annuity in place if you've got money just sitting around in the bank or you took money out of the stock market and it's just sitting there, let's look at potentially taking those funds and utilizing an index annuity that's going to provide you with a guaranteed income. There's even some out there that will increase income with inflation. They have like a COLA adjustment. So there's a lot of things we can do, but we've got to fill that income gap because more importantly, you want to keep that roof over your head, food on the table, be able to pay those medical costs and maybe the pension, maybe the Social Security is coming up a little bit short. So if you need $5,000 a year to live on and your guaranteed sources are only giving you three or four, then we need to fill that gap with something that's going to give you that guaranteed income for life and potentially increase as inflation increases. So super, super important to take a look at those options if you haven't thought about them before. And so take your monthly expenses, subtract your expense expected monthly income, and the resulting number is your is your gap.

Erick Arnett:
Or maybe you have a surplus. Gosh, I hope you have a surplus in your income. And if you do, then let's look at ways that we can invest that surplus to cover rising Medicare costs, cover drug care costs, or even to take a look at how do we beat inflation so we can provide you that free retirement income gap analysis. We put a lot of time into a lot of effort. Our team here at take point puts a lot of time and effort into those and $1,500 value. So please take advantage of that and give us a call. Even if you're sitting by the pool right now, you're getting ready to fire up the grill and you're listening to the show. Just take a second and write down our number on a piece of paper. It's 3526160511. That's 3526160511. And if you can get us a call this weekend, give us a call this week coming up, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We're happy to answer the answer your calls. And so with that being said, you know, what's it what's it like to work with us? Randy, you've you've you've been a witness to a lot of your clients, even, I'm sure, folks out there listening or wondering what is it like to work with us?

Sarah Baldwin:
That's a great question. And a lot of people come to us, they've had financial advisors in the past, and it's more or less a I'll say, a passive relationship where the advisor puts them in a handful of mutual funds. They think they have diversification. They really don't. And that's where I like. That's why I wanted to work with you for years and we're now working together is because I know that when you and I get together, we work with clients in a very active, active way. We put together strategies that we're just not setting it and forgetting it. We're we're putting together a strategy with the client. We do a very in-depth, I'll say, analysis or profile or or fact finding question that we go through to make sure that we know exactly where you're at in life. And when you find out where you are, what your risks are, what you're interested in, what you want your retirement to look like. And then we begin to put together a strategy to help you reach those goals. And so and then we monitor on a regular basis, we sit down with our clients on a regular basis and make sure that as their life changes, we make sure we change their portfolio to accommodate those changes. So one thing I hear you like about working with you, my clients working with you and I trust my clients working with you is, is the active management and the act. The strategies and the communication that they get. And here again, we're we're independent, we're fiduciaries. We're not just pushing the latest say product. That's that's Wall Street's pushing. We're pushing the latest IPO to get into your portfolio. We're looking for strategies and solutions that are not just going to be good for a three week, a three month or one year hit. To balance your portfolio, we're looking for good, stable, long term solutions that are going to provide good, steady income trains for you today and throughout your retirement.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, good stuff. I mean, you know, whether you're. Whether you have a plan already in place and you know, you may be happy with it and it's working, why not let us give it a test? Let's test it out and have some other eyes look at it. It makes sense to me. If we go to the doctor, we go for any other type of service, we'll have multiple opinions. And I think if anything, get another opinion or another set. A set of eyes on things makes a lot of sense, especially in a year like this. And one thing that we talk about so much is and we're going to focus on 100% is how are we going to save you money in retirement? And so we talk about this all the time, but we've got to get it in. Sam is the Roth IRA versus the traditional IRA? This is still something that is completely, I think, under under looked at. You know, it needs to be looked at much closer closely by everybody in every family out there. If you have a traditional IRA or even a401k, you can you have the option of investing into a Roth. And so give us a call if you want to talk about that. And so some of the biggest reasons why we love them is you're going to divest the IRA from being a partner in your retirement accounts. You know, and that's the biggest thing that people get excited about is, you know, if you have your if the bulk of your nest egg is in a retirement account, then guess what? The bulk of your nest egg is also got a partner and that's called Uncle Sam.

Erick Arnett:
He's going to he's about a 20, 30, maybe even as high as a 40% partner in your retirement. So we've got to get him out of the equation the best we can. So we've got to get started on that right away. No RMDs, no required minimum distributions. That is super powerful, folks, because if you have an IRA or a41k and when you turn 72, you have to take a distribution out of it, well, guess what? That's taxable income. And that's also going to increase the taxation on your Social Security. It's going to increase your Medicare costs because they're going to increase your Medicare premiums. And so a double edged sword there and multiple, multiple ramifications. So not having to take that RMD is super powerful and is also going to keep taxes lower on the other portions of your income, whether you have a pension, your Social Security or even other annuity income, you're going to reduce that income if we can get rid of that RMD or that taxation, if we can get rid of that RMD. So, you know, and it leaves a tax free. Now when you leave the money inside a Roth to your family or your beneficiaries, it's going to go to them tax free. And guess what? They also don't have to take RMDs. That's huge. So that's huge. I mean, Randy, when you've been doing this for 30 some odd years and working with clients with substantial money and you're involved in your state plans, you know, one thing that you probably see is some heavy, heavy taxation with improper planning.

Sarah Baldwin:
Yeah, we had we've seen quite a few clients. To your point about improper planning, I can't tell you how often I've sat down in the last ten or 15 years and talked to people and their pre-retirement, I'll say, in their forties and fifties, and I take a look at where they're at. I don't really have much saved up for retirement, so it's very important that that I kind of get off topic there. But I wanted to kind of say that to let people know that if you're saving and there's point the IRS, if it's not in a taxed tax free investment like in a Roth IRA, the IRS is going to be your partner in that and that investment. And people don't think about that nearly often enough. You think their portfolio, their wealth is they do a personal balance sheet. And I don't know if my net worth is for even a 4 million, 2 million, ten, whatever it is. And a lot of that hasn't been taxed yet. It's not cash, it's it's assets, it's money in retirement accounts, it's real estate, a lot of real estate. We've all you've been in Florida the last two or three years. We've all had a significant increase in our net worth due to real estate.

Sarah Baldwin:
So don't get don't get comfortable thinking when you look at that, at your net, your personal financial statement that you have, that all that money is yours and to heirs point, you know, if you can and you need to be shifting as much money as you can as you can into Roth IRAs. Because as we've talked on the show many times, we think tax rates are on sale and with a $3 trillion deficit and timing. And does it seem like Washington has much of an appetite for decreasing spending or balancing budgets? That number is just going to continue to increase. And we've all heard the expression, can you get out of a. Well, the same thing is going to come true when it comes to paying taxes. The people that have money that have excess cash and excess cash can mean different things to different people. But more than likely, the government is going to think you have more excess cash than you do when it comes to raising taxes. It's actually more so. As soon as you can start looking at Roth IRA, start putting together a strategy to shift as much money that's in tax deferred accounts into Roth IRAs for the future.

Sam Davis:
That's a great point, Randi. And I think that leads us to the biggest mistake that we see people making when planning for retirement. And you kind of just touched on it. You know, people have their their designated retirement plan through work and they're like, hey, I've got $1,000,000 in my 401. K. So I feel like I'm I'm prepared for retirement. But when you have that money in a tax deferred vehicle like a 401. K, you know, the government hasn't taken their cut. So it could be 22, could be 24, it could be 30 or more percent of that. That is not even yours yet. And so that is why retirement is more about income. And we were talking about filling any income gaps than it is about building that one big nest egg, right?

Erick Arnett:
Erick Yeah, you're right. And whatever we can do. To get your money into a tax free bucket for the long haul is going to be massive. And so I can't stress that enough. And we have the strategies here to be able to implement that for you. You know, just little things like life insurance. These are great ways to tax shelter your money. You know, you can put your money into a life insurance policy. The principal is going to be protected. You can get good growth on it. And any time that you take the money out, it's going to be tax free or when it passes to your heirs tax free. And so another great tax shelter, there's not a lot of them out there, but there are some creative ways. And, you know, one thing I was sitting here listening to Randy talk and it came to mind is like, you know, he's got close to 30 years experience. I've got over close to 25 now. We're talking like almost 60 years of experience. And guess what, folks? We work five, six, seven days a week meeting with three or four people a day. So you think about how many people we have met and helped over the last 60 years combined.

Erick Arnett:
It's huge. And one of the things that we do is we solve problems, right, Randy? I mean, we we we have learned from all of the mistakes that we've seen day in and day out. And so if we can help you avoid those same mistakes, then please give us a call. All it takes is a little time. You can still be in control. You can you can build trust with us. We don't care how long it takes to build that trust. But give us a call so we can we're so, so passionate. I mean, it sounds kind of crazy, but sometimes I sit in bed wondering about all the people out there that need our help and that we can't reach and help, or they just won't take that first step, whether it's pride or or control or whether it's some people are even embarrassed, you know. But don't be. I had a guy come in the other day called off the radio show and he was right up front. He's like, Erick, I know I haven't saved enough for retirement. I'm in my fifties. I'm way behind the eight ball here, but I'm going to do what I can now to make it better.

Erick Arnett:
And yes, I applaud that. There's still time for everybody out there listening to get this thing on the right track because we're living longer. Folks, I know you might be in the sixties or even in your early seventies, and you're sitting there listening to me. It's like, Oh, you know, my dad passed away at 75 or whatever. I'm not going to be around much longer. I don't really this doesn't really matter to me. Well, guess what? People are living into their nineties. We have folks pushing 100. And so with the increase in medical and scientific breakthroughs that they have, we're living longer. And, you know, so you've got to prepare for that long haul. Stop thinking about just today and stop thinking about yesterday. Let's think about the future. That's what keeps me up at night, is how many people are out there that need our help. And so 60 years of combined experience where we've seen mistakes day in and day out. So let us apply that knowledge and help you guys, the listener, the retirement warriors out there, the veterans. If you're out there listening, please give us a shout. We'd love to help you out. Love, love, love to help you out.

Sam Davis:
And I think it's great speaking to your experience, guys, 60 combined years of experience, meeting with a dozen or more clients each and every week for for those 60 combined years. And no two clients are the same, right? Each person, each family has their own individual set of goals, needs and a specific approach to to accomplish those goals. Right. Because it all starts with answering those questions. What is retirement look like for you? What are your goals? And then the challenge is how do we fund them? And that's where you guys come in with your custom plans.

Sarah Baldwin:
You know, Erick, you bring up a great point and you do as well saying about its bad experiences. And you know, Erick and I 60 years of combined experience and we've sat over the years thousands of clients that sat in front of us and and we've seen countless different scenarios, countless different situations play out. And and so you really you owe it to yourself, Kevin, to talk to us because you could benefit from what we've not experienced ourselves or maybe we have experience. So we're just witness other people doing things that work well, things that don't work well. I'm trying to give you lots of options and ideas you haven't thought of. So yes, definitely take it to yourself to come in and have a conversation with us and also to bring up a good point about living longer. And it is we're we are living longer. I sit on a hospital ward and I got to witness being on the board. We get to go into a surgery and watch a hip replacement and knee replacement surgery. It was a violent process. What they do to getting that, having a hip replaced. I didn't know until until during the surgery, but the patient was awake during the surgery talking to the anesthesiologist. He had a local epidural from the waist down to numb the pain. And then he went home the next day, maybe even that night, the next day. And so it's amazing the breakthroughs that we're having in in technology and just the all the different diagnostic work that's out there now that these doctors can see the detail and the scans and the testing and find things earlier and earlier to prevent. So you owe it to yourself to come in, sit down with Erick and I, and make sure that you're not going to run out of money in retirement because you are going to live longer, more than likely than you think you're going to and you don't want to run out of money.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, the key word is optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize. And what you're currently doing might be working and but guess what? We could, we might be able to make it work even better. So you can always improve things and optimize things. And that's what we that's what we aim to do here at take point on retirement.

Sam Davis:
Yeah, we got just a couple of minutes left in the show, guys. We've talked about a lot of different things today. We've we've updated folks on the markets. It sounds like we're feeling like we found something close to the bottom. You know, earnings are coming out in the next couple of weeks. And so we'll see how the market reacts to that. We've gotten a little bit of relief with gas prices. We talked about how your 4th of July cookout and the rest of your summer cookouts could cost 20% more or higher this year. And we gave some examples and we hope everyone has a great Independence Day weekend. Happy 246th birthday to the United States. Time flies, right?

Erick Arnett:
Oh, man. Good stuff. That's awesome. And the word independence, it's great to have your independence, but when it comes to financial planning, it might make sense to not be so independent and have that planner by your side.

Sam Davis:
That's exactly right. And you can schedule an appointment now. It just takes a few clicks, a few taps visit, take point on retirement and schedule a consultation there. Or you can give them a call. The numbers on the website take point on retirement. Or here's the phone number 3526160511. That's 3526160511. We've come to the end of our show, guys. I'll give you the final word.

Erick Arnett:
Hey, Sam, thanks so much for hosting today. Randy, thanks for being here. Thanks to all of our listeners. Have an amazing 4th of July. Enjoy. Enjoy your independence and be safe.

Erick Arnett:
Thanks for listening to Take Point on retirement. You deserve to work with a private wealth management firm that will strategically work to protect your hard earned assets, to schedule your free no obligation consultation visit, take point on retirement, or pick up the phone and call 3526160511. That's 3526160511. Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC become a registered investment adviser and take point. Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Producer:
Fixed annuities, including multi year 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.

Erick Arnett:
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 tape point wealth dot com.