Randy and Sam discuss the basic principles of a smart retirement plan, while offering strategies and solutions to help you reach financial freedom.

Call Erick today at 352-616-0511

Book a free consultation here.

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Producer:
Do you have a vision for what you want your retirement to look like? I'm Matt McClure with a Retirement dot Radio Network powered by AmeriLife planning for retirement can be overwhelming. A survey from Gobankingrates shows that one third of Americans don't think they know enough about retirement. And they're probably right. So if you fall into that category, how do you know where to begin? Well, you've got to know where you want to go before you start planning how to get there. That's where having a smart vision for your retirement comes in. Whether you want to be a jet setter during your retirement years. Want to take it easy in a quiet cabin in the woods or start a new adventure by opening your own business, you should set that goal and keep it in mind throughout your working years, retirement expert Dean Waguespack said during a recent TEDx talk.

Producer:
I want to challenge all of us to redefine retirement away from depart, remove withdrawal to a new definition, a blending of pay, passion and purpose.

Producer:
Still, retirement looks different for everyone. Sit down with your spouse and talk about your retirement goals. That will make it easier to determine how fiscally responsible you need to be now and how much income you'll need to make it happen after you retire. That's right, I said. Income. More and more retirees are finding that cash flow is more important than one big nest egg number.

Lee Baker:
That's when you want to say, Hey, listen, I want to start thinking about all of this accumulation that I've done through these decades of working. How do I begin to think about turning.What I've saved.And what I've accumulated into paychecks after I retire?

Producer:
That's Lee Baker, president of Apex Financial Services, speaking to CNBC. He says annuities are a great option for most retirees to generate an income you can never outlive. That's especially important since life expectancy has grown over the years. So you'll need to plan for a longer period of time than you may think. So do you have a smart vision for your retirement years? That's a key question to consider as you start planning how to get there. With the Retirement dot Radio Network powered by a Married Life, I'm Matt McClure. 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. Eric is a fiduciary and licensed financial advisor who always places your needs first. The experienced team at Tape 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.

Producer:
And welcome to take point on retirement by Take Point Wealth Management. I'm Sam Davis and I'm joined this week by Randy Woodruff. Randy, a valued member tax expert over there at Take point wealth Management. Randy, how are you doing today?

Randy Woodruff:
Great, Sam, how are you doing today?

Producer:
I'm doing great. And to all the retirement warriors out there, Erick Arnett is busy meeting with some retirement warriors today, so he was unable to make our scheduled recording. But as they say in show business, the show must go on. And so, Randy, you and I decided to hop on a little early and and do a show for the people, right?

Randy Woodruff:
You are correct. Yeah. The show must go on. And I guess there's another saying in show biz, go break a leg. Hopefully we don't break any legs today on the show or make any make any big mistakes. But Eric here to guide us along. I'm sure we'll still be okay, though. He's he's taught us well so we'll follow in his footsteps to put on a great show for everybody. And welcome to the show today, everybody. And we got a great show plan for you. And as Sam mentioned, Eric cannot join us. As you mentioned, my name is Randy Woodruff. I'm a partner with Eric at Take Point Wealth Management. I'm also owner and partner in Suncoast CPA group and doing taxes almost 30 years now here in the nature coast. My parents started the firm back in 1974 and I came on in 94 from college and been there ever since. We, Eric and I, office together. So we have offices for the CPA firm and take point both in Brooksville and Spring Hill, and we're looking for offices and other other areas of the Nature coast as well. So more to come on that on later shows.

Randy Woodruff:
But I'm going to dive right into the agenda we have today or the outlines start talking about it. So before we we do get going too far, we want to make sure everybody knows how to get a hold of us on the phone at 3526160511 or take point wealth dot com on the website you can you'll see a calendar link up there just click on that calendar link and you can schedule some time with Eric or I to come in and have a consultation and share with us what you're thinking, what your, what your goals, what your plans are, what's keeping you up at night as it relates to your retirement and your and your wealth management goals and dreams and ideas. And we can help walk you through that. Eric's been advising clients for almost 30 years, as well as a trust officer and a financial advisor. So a lot of experience between the two of us so we can put that experience to work for you. So please give us a call. We'd love to help you out.

Producer:
Yeah, you can. You can call them at 3526160511 or conveniently schedule a quick chat with Eric, Randy and the team over at Take Point Wealth just by going to take point wealth dot com. And so coming up on today's show we're going to have a quote of the week. We're going to talk about why you need a. Retirement plan. And we're going to talk about the first few components of what we believe makes up a smart retirement plan, which will include smart vision, know, kind of looking ahead and actually having a vision of what you want that retirement to look like in your future. Smart inspection. Taking a look at what assets you may currently hold, what fees you may currently be paying, what risk may currently be on the table that you may not know about. So we'll look at smart inspection and we'll get started with smart planning as well. And we'll talk in depth about tax planning as well, because we've got Randy, the tax expert on today's show. We'll have an inflation demonstration. You're probably shelling out a bit more for this grocery item. That's a bit of a tease and we'll talk about that later in the show. We've got some this week history, some this week in history items and a whole lot more. But before we get started, I want to mention that if you missed part of today's show or if you've missed part of any of our recent shows here at TIG point on retirement, you can find take on retirement wherever you listen to podcast. So no matter if you have an iPhone or an Android or you're just on your computer, just search. Take point on retirement and you can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Well, Randy, let's get started with this week's Financial Wisdom Quote of the Week.

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the Quote of the Week.

Producer:
This one comes from literary legend Mark Twain. And Mark Twain said the secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and then starting on the first one. Of course, Mark Twain, his his was his pen name. Samuel Clemens was, I guess, his government name, but he was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, lecturer. His novels include, of course, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both released in the later part of the 1800s and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, often referred to as the Great American Novel. But, you know, diving into this quote, Randi, you know, taking a look at these complex things that we all have to manage in our lives. And and Mark Twain says, Just break it down into simple tasks and get started on the first one. So what do you think about that quote?

Randy Woodruff:
You know, it's interesting that I've had this conversation with people over the years and it's amazing how much more complex our lives have become. As you look back over time and by time, I mean, since our country first started, you know, back when we first started as a country, basically all you had to worry about was staying alive. Make sure you had enough food and clothing and shelter and other things. But life wasn't all that complicated. And it's amazing how much more complicated life has gotten today. So, you know, this quote you mentioned his his lifespan from 1835 to 1910. I'm not trying to apply things for simple back then, but I think things were a lot simpler back then than they are nowadays. So imagine and Mark Twain coming up with that quote, let's say in, say, just 1875, just just to pick a date that's about halfway through his lifespan. 1875 Let's just say he made that quote. Imagine what he would say today in terms of how complex things are. And so this quote is probably let's just say it's 150 years old.

Randy Woodruff:
And so if Mark Twain was, I would say, you know, commenting on on how complex overwhelming task can be and the need to break them down 150 years ago, this quote is way more relevant today in terms of the need to take all of our complex, complex tasks, information. We have to manage all the data and information that's out there and trying to break that down into into information that we can use and we can put a plan together to to help us live and manage our life, not just today, but as we as we as we make a trek towards retirement. So great quote. And as time goes on, this quote, in my opinion, becomes more and more relevant and more and more meaningful. And as it relates to trying to break things down into into small bite sized pieces. We've all heard the expression, how do you eat a pizza one one slice at a time? And and that's that's another way of saying what Mark Twain said. So great quote. And we all need to do our best to live by that.

Producer:
Yeah. Kind of just going through the quote, I loved that first initial statement. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. I mean, that could be a quote in itself. And, you know, so many people out there, whether it's retirement or fitness or whatever goals they may have in their life, you know, sometimes the secret of getting ahead is getting started. So if you're trying to lose weight, sometimes the hardest part is just getting up in the morning and putting on your shoes and not actually getting out and going on that walk or that run. So, you know, for anyone out there, the retirement warriors listening to take point on retirement this week, we do believe that the secret to getting ahead is getting started. And if you just get started, you're going to be way ahead of everyone out there That's still kind of twiddling their thumbs a little bit. And yeah, break down those complex tasks tasks into small, manageable ones. You know, Randi, I don't know about you, but in my life I like to make lists to get things done. I imagine that you're probably the same a tax guy, but more of an analytical mind. And, you know, sometimes when you just get those five or six things down on paper that you need to do, you can really start just tackling them one at a time, build momentum and and all of a sudden a complex ordeal. It becomes pretty.

Randy Woodruff:
Simple. You're so true. And I notice also, too, in terms of making lists and just getting things done, you know, we all have we all come across those things and whether it be day to day or once a month or once a week, whatever the timelines were, something new we have to tackle because it's something new. We tend to put it off because it's maybe something that we haven't done before we don't want to do, so we don't enjoy doing. And I can't tell you how many times where I've, you know, in my mind or intentionally push those things off when I actually got into it and got them done time and time again, I'm like, why did I wait? Why did I push this off? This is no big deal, you know, So so to your point, you know, sometimes the hardest part is just getting up in the morning. If it's fitness and putting on your shoes. And once you get your shoes on and get moving, it's like this was no big deal, you know, So so getting started in every area of our life and just just shaking that, whether it be fear of the unknown, whether it be something that you just attached, that you don't want to do, whatever the case may be, just getting started. Once you get that momentum going, you push your way through it most of the time. So yeah, a great quote has so many applications. In our everyday life. Speaking of getting started, and I think we talked about this quite often on our show is the need to put together retirement plan and a smart retirement plan, not just any retirement plan, but something that's smart and something that's custom made for you.

Randy Woodruff:
There's no here take point and it's Suncoast CPA Group as well. We're not a we don't give out advice on a one size fits all mentality. We take we take it. Take a look at everybody's situation. Take a look at where you're at in life, how much money you have to work with, what are your expenses, what are there other challenges you have that you're going to deal with as you as you get closer and closer to retirement? In retirement, put together a plan that's going to help you meet those challenges, overcome those challenges, and live a stress free retirement. And so here again, putting together a plan, a smart plan that help you do all that. And starting the plan like like Mark Twain said, just start and break those complex tasks down into small, meaningful tasks that can be handled one at a time. And usually if you break them down into small tasks, you can you can you can wrap your mind around and wrap your arms around them and just knock, knock them out one at a time. And you will and you will. You'll see some results and you'll see some success. It'll get you excited as you start to see results in success or get you motivated and get you more and more excited about doing more of planning and being involved in your retirement. I've said on this show several times that it's unfortunate that most of us spend, let's say we take a week or two vacation every year depending upon which time we have.

Randy Woodruff:
We're going to spend 20, 30 years in retirement and most people spend more time every year planning their vacation than they do planning retirement. They're going to spend a couple of decades in. So, you know, you don't have to sit there and watch the market all day to plan for retirement. But you do need to educate yourself. You read some books, you read up on different retirement options. You understand what annuities are. I understand what life insurance is. I understand what disability insures, understand Social Security. How is that going to impact you? Should you wait to take it, Understand Medicare, really understand if you're we're all going to be on Medicare one day. Maybe you're on it already in your listening. Understand your Medicare options, understand what the different policies that you that you have available to you, what they're going to cover. Because in retirement, most people live on a fixed income. So it's very important to understand and have a grasp on what your expenses are going to be. And if you understand the decisions that you're making, you understand all the factors in those decisions, the fewer surprises you're going to have. And that's and if you are surprises you have, that's going to take less of a toll on your retirement savings in terms of you have those surprises that you didn't plan for or you made a bad decision. It's chipping away at your retirement unnecessarily and you're having to pay for mistakes that you made because you didn't put you didn't invest the time upfront into learning the things that you need to know to have a stress free retirement.

Producer:
Yeah, And the good news is, is when it comes to planning for your retirement, you don't have to do it alone. In fact, I would suggest put this down on your to do list. Get in touch with us at take point wealth dot com that's take point wealth dot com. You don't have to do it right now especially if you're driving but you can give us a call at 3526160511 and give us a call and let's get started. It'll just start with a 15 minute chat with you and Erick Arnette and then Randy will get folded in with the tax planning and and pretty soon you'll be well on your way to a happy, healthy retirement. Before we dive into the Smart Retirement Plan segment of our show today, Randy. Just a message to all the listeners out there. You know, do you really know more than your your doctor or your lawyer or your home contractor? And, you know, just as you trust the experts in these situations, you know, we at take point wealth management believe nothing replaces a capable financial advisor and we're still in January. Randy So the start of a new year is a great time to re evaluate your retirement plans, whether retirement still a few years away for you.

Producer:
Maybe you're still in your fifties or or if you've already been retired for a number of years, it's not too late to take a look at what you've got. You know, even if you're retired, maybe you're in your late sixties, you're already on Medicare. You know, you've still got decades of life ahead of you. So let's get that plan buttoned up and make sure it's good to go as you move forward. And you know, Randy, I don't know about you like we have some bathroom remodeling that that we've been putting off for a while. And I know that if I try and do it by myself, my wife's not going to be too happy with the way it looks. So when it comes to something like that, that I have some questions I don't know too much about. I'm not familiar with the tools, if you will. You know, I'm going to trust a contractor, a licensed expert when it comes to something like that, when I need good results.

Randy Woodruff:
I agree with you. When it comes to home repairs and even vehicle repairs, I, I know my limitations and I could probably at some point figure it out. But the time I would invest, trying to figure it out and probably not figure it out all that well, my my time is much better spent seeking the advice of a professional. And just like you said. So when it comes to retirement planning and having a plan, Eric and I have been planning with our clients almost 30 years, both of us, each of us, almost 30 years. So we have years and decades of experience. You really should think about letting us put that experience to work for you. You come in for a no consult, no fee consultation. We'll put together a plan for you if you choose not to implement it, you know that that's fine. But just give us an opportunity to meet with you. You know, we've been doing this. For 30 years. We do this all day, every day. So I'm sure there's something that you can learn from us and you have to come in and see us to to do that. So let's jump into the basics of a plan. You know, one of the first things you want to do is create a budget, you know, and so many people don't create a budget even if you're in business. I can't tell.

Randy Woodruff:
Many business owners don't have a budget. And the same is true in our in our personal finances. And, you know, especially as you as you get towards retirement or you're in retirement, you have that you have basically a finite amount of resource to live on for the rest of your life. Having a budget, making sure you stay within that budget is very, very important because especially right now, there's a lot of volatility in prices. We've all seen inflation spike over the last year, year and a half, and it seems like it's coming down to some degree. And I heard something very promising on the on the news this morning that some of the inputs that go into the overall cost, like the raw materials and transportation, have come down significantly. So I think as that begins to work its way into the overall cost structure of goods and services, we will see some continued reduction in inflation, hopefully, and hopefully that's that's the parents going to take. So but regardless of inflation, whether it's going up or going down, you as a consumer need to put together a budget and you need to monitor your budget. You know, there's an expression I've heard and I love the expression what gets measured gets done. And so just putting together a budget doesn't isn't is not good enough. That's just that's just step one.

Randy Woodruff:
That's just step one that you should do at the end of the year going into the next year, or at the very least, at the very beginning of a new year. And then as you spend your money throughout the year, you need to accumulate that, tabulate it and compare it to what you actually budgeted and see if you're over under. Because it's it's amazing how how easy it is for expenses to get away from this. There's an expression that we use here at the accounting firm as we're working with a client and they come in and they and they talk about what they want us to do for them. And we define the engagement, we define the scope of the engagement. Then all of a sudden we have something called scope creep. That means that what we originally intended to do for the client, they've asked us to do more and more work over time that we didn't put into our original budget in terms of time. So the same thing happens with your with your budget. We'll call it expense creep. We have expenses that that you that basically you planned on being a certain number because of inflation, because of of adjustments or because just things that you had to change in your personal life. These expenses creep up on you, the numbers creep up on you. So having a budget, putting it in writing and then monitoring it on a monthly basis so you can monitor how you're doing with what your actual plan was supposed to be will help you make those adjustments, those subtle adjustments that you need to make throughout the year as opposed to major adjustments at the end of the year going into the new year.

Randy Woodruff:
So definitely recommend putting together a budget and also recommend saving regularly, especially if you're if you're younger and you're saving for retirement. And we've all heard about the benefits of compounding interest. You can't can't start saving soon enough in life, you know, and some of my clients have put together savings accounts for their children as they're born or grandchildren as they're born. And over time, that money is going to grow with with compounding, and it's going to be a nice sizable amount by the time those children are grandchildren get to retirement. But it doesn't matter if you had something started for you when you were young. There's it's never too late to start saving. And at the same time, if you didn't start early in life, that means you need to get honest with yourself about where you're at in life, honest with yourself about what you want out of life and out of retirement, and make sure that you now commit those dollars today. It may be painful for some of you may have to give up some things, stop doing some things, take less vacations, less trips to Starbucks, less less trips to the to the you know, whatever your your I enjoy getting massages.

Randy Woodruff:
I love getting a massage. So if that's something that if I was if I had not been saving enough, I would have to give up massages because that's something that's not a necessity that I should be willing to give it up to save for retirement. So all of us need to make those tough decisions. And it's amazing the clarity that you get by writing things down, whether it be your goals, but definitely your budget and monitoring it and looking at the variances that you have, You can't begin to describe how important and valuable that is. So next up, we have avoid debt, you know, and there's different people will talk differently about avoiding debt. I mean, again, our younger years, we have to take on debt to buy a house or maybe we take on debt to buy investment properties, You know, leverage wise, leverage back up using leverage wisely can be very beneficial tool as you build wealth. But I've seen so many people that don't use leverage wisely. You know, they invest in assets that they don't know anything about. They invest in assets basically at the wrong time because they don't understand the market and how the market moves and the trends in the cycles.

Randy Woodruff:
And so so debt is debt can be a very valuable tool, but can also be a very destructive tool as well if you don't use it properly. So but as we as a general rule, as a general say, point of advice for retirees, as you begin to get closer and closer to retirement, you want to begin to clean up your balance sheet of all that debt. You have cars, homes, credit cards, especially all those things. If you have investments like, for example, commercial or residential real estate that your. It's an investment in rental property. It'd be nice to have all that paid off. But, you know, it's that is probably an example of as long as you bought the property right, as long as you're not over leveraged, that's an area where leverage can help you acquire more assets. And as long as there's no significant interruption to cash flow from vacancy, you can do very well within with investing in real estate and using leverage as sure as long as you use it wisely and appropriately and don't overleverage yourself. Speaking of investing, the next thing you want to do is invest wisely. It's easier said than done. That's why you need to come see us here. Take point. You know, it's easy to say invest wisely. We all want to do that. But with as much information out there, with as many options as there are out there, with as many influences on the market as there are investing wisely, is it is it easy as it once was? I'm going to share with you a quote I had from a client of mine probably 25 years ago.

Randy Woodruff:
This gentleman was probably in his eighties when he made this quote to me. We were talking about the market and he goes, Randy, you know, he'd been he'd have been he had been investing since the forties. And back in the day you would invest in a company and there wasn't the Internet, there wasn't all this, there wasn't social media, there wasn't all these influences. You basically went to your stockbroker and you said, I want to buy back in the day, it may have been General Electric, it may have been Kellogg's, it may have been one of those AT&T. One of those back then was was AT&T was a mall bell. I'm not sure what it was back then. And know they split up in the eighties, but whatever it was, there was those American institutional companies that people just believed in. They invested and they held them for the long term. You know, I'm not saying it was easy back then, but with all the options and everything that's going on nowadays, I say options. I mean, options to invest in with all the available options are to invest in, it's become more difficult.

Randy Woodruff:
So more and today, more than ever, you need to have the advice of an advisor that can help you. One start to put together your goals and then when you got your goals, we can help you invest wisely to help you meet those goals. Next thing you want to do is stay insured. You know, you want to make sure you have adequate car insurance, make sure adequate homeowner's insurance, Make sure you have adequate life insurance, especially life insurance. You know, especially depending upon what your wealth is. You know, if you have an unexpected and untimely death, either of you or your spouse, that could put the other person in significant financial risk and make them have to be dependent on kids or friends or family or put them into uncomfortable financial situations later on in life. So make sure that at your loved ones are protected upon your untimely demise and make sure they have a clear path forward. So even though you're gone, unfortunately, you still want them to have a a happy retirement even without you here. That's what we should all do for our family if we love them. So definitely make sure you stay properly insured and then stay informed. And stay informed is is easy to say, but you want to make sure you're staying informed with the right information.

Randy Woodruff:
There's so much information out there that we're getting, say, bombarded with. And, you know, it's unfortunate that that so many of these reporters nowadays are becoming activists as opposed to reporters. And so, you know, be careful. When we when I say stay informed, I highly recommend staying informed, but stay informed information and from sources that report the news and don't, I'll say, tainted with anybody's anybody's preferred outcome as to what they want you to do in life. Make sure you get the news, the facts, make sure you seek them out and actually do some of your own due diligence. You know, things you hear on on the news, on the radio, on TV. Do some of your own research. Spend time where you go back to educating yourself. You spend time, you know, hearing things, understanding things that that you hear and understand how to process them properly. So as you go forward and as you begin to build your retirement and the retirement plan, as you come in and meet with Eric and I, you're not just sitting there with a deer in the headlights look. You can actively engage us in a conversation. We like it when our clients come in and they're informed and they understand what we're talking about. So highly encourage you to to be able to be in a position to ask questions.

Producer:
Absolutely. And we hope that we're helping you stay informed by bringing you take point on retirement every single week. If you missed part of the first segment of this show, then you can find us wherever you listen to podcast, just search, take point on retirement and don't forget to give us a call at 3526160511 or visit us online at tech point wealth dot com to book your free no obligation consultation today Get started on your retirement plan today or get your retirement plan looked at. Let's test the strength of your current plan. When we come back, we're going to have an inflation demonstration and we're going to dive back into what makes up a smart retirement plan. Take Point On Retirement. We'll be right back.

So. Twist and shout. Twist and shout. Come on, baby, baby.

Producer:
You may already know what you want your retirement to look like, but do you know how to start planning to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement dot Radio Network powered by Emeril Life.

Producer:
Where am I? I don't know.

Producer:
That's a question you must ask yourself before you start plotting out your retirement planning journey. After all, if you don't know where you are, it's pretty much impossible to get to your destination. Step one is keeping track of money that's coming in and what's going out, otherwise known as a personal budget. It's an important thing to have, but a Gallup poll from 2016 found only 32% of couples keep a written budget of any kind.

Speaker5:
A lot of people tend to think of budgeting as prediction, estimating what you'll make in future months and how you'll want to spend it. But the most effective budgets work exclusively with present dollars. After all, you can't give orders to soldiers that don't exist, so the size of your army is only how much money you currently have in your bank accounts. And as general, your role is to give every last one of those soldiers a job to do.

Producer:
That from PBS's $0.02. Now, once you have a basic idea of what you're dealing with, reach out to a financial advisor or professional who can go more in depth.

Producer:
We want you to do a financial checkbook checkup. It's just like getting a checkup at the at the doctor's office.

Producer:
Ford Stokes is founder and president of Active Wealth Management. He says getting a smart inspection of your finances is essential.

Producer:
You want to review your accounts, you want to look at your IRAs, your four one. Anywhere you hold assets, including cash, you want to check your balances, you want to review rates of return over the last 12 months, three years and five years. You want to answer this question, Do you have an income gap or do you have an income surplus?

Producer:
Understanding where you are now will help you plan for the retirement you want, leaving your future in your hands instead of the hands of the market or the IRS. So are you ready to reach out to a financial advisor for a smart inspection of your current situation? That's a key question to consider before you start your retirement journey with a Retirement dot Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Welcome back to Take point on retirement schedule. You're free financial consultation now at TakePointOnRetirement.com.

Producer:
Welcome back to take point on retirement you can find us online at take point wealth dot com. I'm Sam Davis joined by Randy Woodruff and Randy I want to get things started here in segment two with an inflation demonstration.

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

Producer:
You know, I noticed a couple of weeks ago, Randi, I was doing a usual weekly trip to the grocery store. And one of the items that's on the weekly grocery list in our household is eggs. And I'm sure a lot of people out there are picking up a carton of eggs or two every time they go to the grocery store. And what I noticed first, Randi, was that the shelves, like they have been kind of for the last couple of years, were pretty spotty and pretty bare in spots. So when I got over to the egg section, there was only one variety of eggs left to purchase, and that dozen eggs was priced at $8 a dozen, which really shocked me. I was like, Pretty soon we'll be paying nearly $1 an egg if this if this keeps going up. So, you know, how about this inflation demonstration? So supply chain issues and a severe bird flu outbreak have caused egg prices to hit levels never seen before. So let's hop in a time machine for a second and go back to 1980, when the average price of a dozen large grade-A eggs in US cities cost $0.84. So in 1980, you're paying $0.84 for a dozen eggs. Now, fast forward to the year 2000. The same dozen eggs cost an average of $0.91. So not too bad. In 20 years we only went up $0.07. But today, a dozen eggs cost an average of $3.50 for standard grade-A eggs in US cities. And if you're purchasing free range or organic or or any of those other varieties, you are likely paying a whole lot more than $3.50. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics says eggs are nearly 60% more expensive than just last year. And I like this quote from Yogi Berra A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore. And that's kind of that's the case when it comes to eggs. So, Randi, have you noticed egg prices lately?

Randy Woodruff:
It's funny you mentioned eggs, because I was actually at the grocery store last night and I usually I tend to eat very healthy and try to get organic. Or so when I do my eggs, I usually get the free range or the the organic eggs. I looked at the prices last night and they were 7 to $8 for a dozen eggs. And I hadn't really paid much attention to eggs ever when I buy them. But I last night I was I was shocked. And so it's interesting that we're having this this on the show today about egg prices. And unfortunately, I don't think things have gone up 60% like they have with eggs. But there's a lot of things and in our in our budgets that even though inflation is up, whatever it is these days, I think it's last out it was six something, six, seven something, but it's as high as eight or nine or more, maybe higher than that even. But some of these things that we that we have in our budget are way more than the average inflation. And depending upon there are people out there who eat lots of eggs because they are healthy. And for some people they're not because of cholesterol, but I want eat lots of eggs. And so now all of a sudden noticing that, well, egg prices have really shot up. And so it's unfortunate that we're seeing that in our in our food budgets and hopefully the supply chain issues and other factors are going to bring those bring those costs back down soon.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And we'll keep an eye on that. For all the retirement warriors we kind of like to touch in and and see where inflation has impacted different parts of our lives the most. And over the last couple of weeks, what we noticed was it's at the grocery store in particular back there where the eggs are sold.

Randy Woodruff:
So back to planning, you know, it's we all wonder as we make a plan, what's our retirement going to look like? What do I need to do to get ready for that retirement? So one of the one of the interesting stats that we just came across, and that is 37% of Americans feel they need more education on retirement planning. And I think the number of 37 is really low. I think it's probably more like 57 or 67, in my opinion, with people. And here again, I don't know the the who asked the question what vein they asked the question and how it was worded. But I think that there's so many things to consider in retirement. There's so many options out there, so many things to be aware of that I think that people need to be educating themselves more. And I think it's way higher than 37%. Also, 52% of Americans wish they had more education. How to invest here? I think that number is probably low as well. I think if you go back 50, 75 years, I think things were simpler back then. But nowadays things become a lot more complicated. And all the reason that you need to hire an investor investment advisor that understands all these complications and has deals with them every day and can help you get through them as well. A few of the complications that we talk about with our seniors and retirement and things they need to think about are.

Randy Woodruff:
And one of those things is Social Security. We we've all been hearing in the news over the last several years that Social Security is going to go bankrupt. It's not going to be around. We're not going to have it when we get to retirement. And so, you know, I think that. I think that it definitely does have its challenges, so security does. This is just my opinion. I think that Social Security, depending upon your age, will be there for some of you. If you're very young, I think it would still be there. But I think it's going to have a modified look over time because either we're going to have to raise taxes, Social Security taxes that we pay as employees to cover the shortfall. And we're going to have to make modifications to the amount they get paid out. So those are things just to be here. Again, not trying to make any predictions. Those are just, I'll say some common sense things we need to be thinking about, especially as you're younger. You know, your parents and grandparents can plan for Social Security and it was a nice check coming every month. But expenses have gone way up. Inflation has taken its toll. And and so and here again, if you're if you're definitely in your twenties and thirties, maybe even forties, you don't need to be planning on Social Security as the larger part of your retirement income.

Randy Woodruff:
It needs to be a smaller supplement as opposed to the major source of income and retirement. We also talk in the show about taxes and how we think that that taxes rates are probably going to go up in the future. Don't know when they're going to go up, but we think that they are going to go up. And a lot of other financial advisors believe this as well. Why do we think this is true? Well, we're 31 and one half trillion dollars in debt and climbing. We're not we're not going down. We're going up. And there really is no there's no end in sight. But it seems like there's no end in sight. And so we definitely want to make sure that if you if you have a lot of money sitting in tax deferred accounts like IRAs and four one K's just be planning that you may have you may have $2 million, you know, that you're going to be retiring upon. But of that $2 million, 1.5 of that could be in retirement accounts that you have to pay tax on. So you're really your true nest egg is at $2 million. It's $2 million minus whatever the tax bill is. That's your true nest egg to retirement on. So just keep that in mind. Your taxes are always we call it one of the silent killers in someone's portfolio. So let's talk about Medicare. Medicare is a it's a great plan. It was a much greater plan.

Randy Woodruff:
Years and years ago, but that's come under a lot of financial pressure as well. You know, the federal government is outsourcing a lot of the Medicare administration of their dollars to insurance companies. And so so now Medicare is almost like it's being rationed. You know, if you if you have a medicare HMO plan, you probably feel like that when you need to see your specialist, you get to go and see them as quickly as you would like to. You got a problem today that needs specialist attention and you may be put off for a month or two. So just keep that in mind that if you're in retirement and and we're all going to have health care problems in retirement, we're going to be on Medicare. You want to make sure that you if you want if you value your health care, if you value being able to go see the doctor when you want to go and go see who you want to go, you may have to pay some more money out of pocket. You want to make sure you get money set aside for that as well. Also, life expectancy. You know, it's no secret that life expectancy has been going up, up, up and up. I think during COVID, it ticked down a little bit, maybe a half a year or two year or so. But overall, life expectancy is going up thanks to modern medicine.

Randy Woodruff:
You know, modern medicine has made it made it an opportunity for for those of us that are in towards the end of life and have what we all call life threatening diseases or illnesses or ailments to be able to medicinally have those taken care of and get a new lease on life, they extend your life by five or ten years. I'll share with you a common one that I see happening a lot is hip and knee replacements. You know, being mobile and being able to get your your blood system and your lymphatic system moving in retirement, keep you healthy, keep you keep your keep your cardiovascular system going. Good. You know, being mobile is so important to that. So if you've had knee problems that hip problems now you get up, move around. It's going to have a major impact on your life, not just your health, but your mental attitude as well. Getting up and being mobile is going to going to get you in a good frame of mind as well. So life expectancy is going to go up. So here again, we talk about here take point. We help our clients plan for to live to be 95 years or more. So we're going to put your plan to put your plan through a series of analysis to see if you can make it to 95 and beyond. And what you have to do to make sure your plan allows you to do that.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, Randy, what I've noticed is it's not so uncommon to to have family members that are living well into their nineties. You know, my grandfather's going to turn 90 this year. I have a number of great aunts and uncles that are living in their nineties and are still active and living pretty much normal lives that like they were living when they first entered retirement. So, you know, we do need to plan. I think this is fascinating. Life expectancy rates in the US have more than doubled over the last 200 years. So, you know, between industrialization and modern medicine and just the way we live our lives now, we're living so much longer. And you know, so you need to think, how am I going to fund my retirement if I'm going to have an extra decade on the end of it, between 90 and 100, you know, more and more. Americans are living to be over 100 years old. I saw that centenarians are growing in numbers faster than ever before. So really having a plan to 95 and older is a really pragmatic thing to do. And if you don't make it to that 95 and older, you know, we'll have a have a way to help you pass that on to your loved ones.

Randy Woodruff:
Yeah, we do have some great retirement tools that will, as you mentioned, passing it on that will help you have that money available for you in retirement. But we do have some options here and some plan we can do to help you pass that on to your loved ones in a very efficient way. Tax efficient tax tax efficient way, and also a, I'll say, estate transfer efficient way as well, avoiding probate as much as possible and those kind of things. So. You know, one of the things that we talk about back to Social Security is when to take Social Security. You know, should I take it at 62? Should I take it at full retirement age or should I wait till 70? And there's no here again at take point. We don't just give out cookie cutter advice. It's not a one size fits all type approach. We talk to you, talk to you about what do you need? Do you need the money today? Some people can't wait till they're 70. They have to have the money today. They may be in a job that you know because of its. Demands they can't work past 62 or 63. The job is physically demanding. They're not physically able to do the job anymore, so they have to retire. So people have other issues where they need to retire early, so people just want to retire, really. That's always a good reason as well to want to retire early and be in a position to do so. But when you take Social Security is a big decision. One of your bigger decisions in retirement. And so you want to make sure you take it at the appropriate time. One of the things. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Producer:
Yeah, Well, I mean, just if you can manage to delay Social Security and you get that about 8% bump every year, you delay up to age 70. We just think that's a really smart thing to do because there's not too many places out there where you can go and invest and feel comfortable that you're going to get an 8% return per year. Right. So so why not? So why not delay that Social Security as much as you can and get that growing, especially if we're all living longer and this is going to be AmeriLifelong benefit. And, you know, talking about people living longer, this is from a 2022 article from The Courier Journal. The fastest growing age group in the US is people over the age of 85, but the second fastest group is people over 100. Experts predict a 12 fold increase in centenarians by the year 2060. And a ten year old child alive today has a 50% chance of living to be over 100 years old. So think about that. The next time you drive by an elementary school or a playground that those ten year olds have a 50% chance of living to be 100, according to this study. Wow.

Randy Woodruff:
That's going to put a lot of stress on on our health care system. Medicare, Social Security, mean think you get Medicare at 65. Think about people being on Medicare from 65 to 100. That's 35 years of being on Medicare. So back to our conversation earlier about these the challenges these federal programs have, that study highlights the fact that those programs are going to have some challenges. So one of the things that we do, we also like to talk about difficult things with you. So one of the things as you come in to talk about Social Security, we're going to ask you and this is an uncomfortable conversation, but what is your health? Do you really think you're going to live past 70 or 75? And you you have a history of of not taking care of yourself. Have you had weight issues? Have you smoked a lot? Drank a lot? Have you had AmeriLifestyle that doesn't lend itself to to longevity? So we're going to have that type of conversation with you because that's a factor in making that decision as well. In terms of should you take Social Security earlier or later.

Randy Woodruff:
So here again, we're not we're here to take point. We're here to help you plan and even ask difficult questions and make those difficult decisions. So and let's talk about taxes on Social Security briefly. One of the things I get here at my CPA firm is I'm on Social Security now. I shouldn't be paying taxes or why are my Social Security? Why why is my Social Security taxed? Well, it don't have a good answer. And then the government said so that's not a good answer, but that's the only answer. That is the answer. So so basically, if you make if you make what the government thinks is too much money, they begin to tax your Social Security first at up to 50% of your benefits at whatever tax bracket you're in, then up to 85% of your benefits, whatever tax bracket you're in. So just keep in mind that that you will be if you're making if you have significant retirement assets, you will be paying taxes on your Social Security and retirement. So you need to plan for that as well and not let that sneak up on you and surprise you.

Producer:
Now, one thing we want to talk about, Randi, is when people come to work with take point wealth management, that's when smart inspection comes into play because people come in with certain accounts, certain savings. Maybe they already have a retirement plan in place. Maybe they're currently retired already. But Smart Inspection is taking a look at what your current situation is and what tweaks can be made to make the most of that situation. So, you know, in order to achieve your vision. So we talked about smart vision, knowing what you actually want to achieve in retirement. You know, smart inspection kind of starts to take account for, okay, how are we going to fund that vision, Right. So we can help you do this? Smart inspection tools. You really need to understand where you stand. You don't want to leave your family's future in the hands of the stock market or the IRS. So, you know, really getting to the guarantees as much as we can and managing risk as you get older and when you work with take point wealth. And Randi, you can speak more to this. You know, Eric does a full portfolio analysis. He likes to test people's plans. He talks about the Monte Carlo simulation where they throw 1000 different situations and scenarios at a plan to test how your plan will hold up in good markets, bad markets, high inflation, no inflation, deflation, all these different things that could happen. And what your plan would look like in that case. And, you know, speaking more about Social Security, taking a look at how we can maximize Social Security for you and your situation. And obviously, taxes, Randi, are a big part of that question. You know, you mentioned a lot of people don't consider that they they may have $1,000,000 nest egg, but it could be all in a tax deferred account. And they're not considering that maybe the government's going to get a quarter of a million of that or more. Right?

Randy Woodruff:
True. And unfortunately, as we mentioned, we think tax rates are going to be going up over time and. I'll share with you personal example. Know, I have I've got some real estate that I bought back during the Great Recession. So I got really good, really good prices on them. So I still have it. So I'm looking at my portfolio thinking, okay, I've got a significant amount of wealth here and I significant, but I get enough. If I, if I keep growing my retirement, I'll be in good shape. Well, I a lot of my stuff is low basis, so I have a lot of taxes to pay down the road one day. So I'm looking at my portfolio going, well, you know, one of these days I'm going to have to either sell this stuff off and when I think I have X number of dollars to retire on, I've got X minus the tax bill on a lot of my portfolio. So I've done what we're recommending you do in terms of doing an analysis. I've done the same thing on my own and I understand where I'm at tax wise. I understand the, the, the, the, the I won't say challenge, but I understand the risk that I have to my overall net worth as I begin to convert some of these assets to cash. And the tax that I'm going to take on those. But again, that's all part of planning. We live it here at Take point every day and we can help you do the same thing. You know, as Sam was mentioning you, we run run your portfolio through this Monte Carlo simulation into 1000 different scenarios at it.

Randy Woodruff:
One of the things that we regularly find that I just find so interesting is we have clients, new clients come in that have been with the financial advisor and and they think they have diversification because they've got some of their money in Vanguard. They got some of their money in Putnam, they've got some of their money in Fidelity and they've got a bunch of different four or five different different family of funds that they have their money in. And we we break down the underlying assets, the underlying stocks that make up those funds. They don't have any diversification. They basically have the same stocks across the across these multiple family of funds. They don't have any diversification at all. So it really is important to to sit down and don't just take a haphazard approach to retirement planning because you're going to spend so much of your probably potentially a 30 year life in retirement at 30 your life and retirement, and basically the first 15, 20 years of your life, you really were just trying to grow up and become an adult and figure out what you're going to do in life. And then so, so much of your life is going to be spent, your adult years are going to be spent in retirement, and you want to make sure you have enough money to enjoy those years. And here again, proper diversification, proper inspection of your portfolio to make sure is properly diversified is very, very important.

Producer:
It doesn't cost a thing, Randy, to figure out where you stand now and you and Eric and the team over there can extrapolate what people hold. And what I think you're saying is, you know, people could be holding a handful of different mutual funds, but when you extrapolate all those holdings, you see the same 15 to 20 stocks at the top of each one of those things. So when one goes up, they all go up. When one goes down, they all go down. And that's not good protection.

Randy Woodruff:
It's educating yourself and coming in and meet with the advisor, letting us show you, explain to you how just because you have your money spread out over different four or five different mutual fund families doesn't mean you have diversification. What is real diversification? It's not just diversifying your portfolio among different, you know, Vanguard or Putnam or whoever. It's actually diversifying over sectors in the economy that that basically one sector may be going up and experiencing a bit of a growth spurt. Other other sector may be going down or maybe flat, but at least you're not have all your so many of our clients realize they had so much of their of their stocks when they come in in growth stocks that didn't even really realize it. They didn't want to have they they didn't want to be in those risky categories yet yet they found out that they were. So you get educating yourself, spending time with an advisor to make sure that you are doing have a smart plan in place.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And with a few minutes left in today's show, Randy, we just want to let people know one more time what it's like to work with take Point wealth management. We provide comprehensive consultations at no cost to the listeners, so it costs you nothing to get started. You can just go to take point wealth dot com. You click that schedule a consultation button in the upper right hand corner. Pick a time that's convenient for you and you'll get started with a 15 minute chat with Eric and Randy and you'll get started on building your plan that way. Or you can give them a call at 3526160511. Again, that's 3526160511. They can help you cut unnecessary costs in your IRA 401 K Any other retirement savings account. Randy, you want to speak a little bit about what you can help people with on the tax side?

Randy Woodruff:
Sure. Yeah. As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of hidden tax traps. I mentioned that on my own, my own situation. I have some highly appreciated assets that I bought in depressed times. So understanding where you're at tax wise, if you think you have a million, 2 million, $3 million portfolio, it's good to know what the tax consequence of that portfolio is. Are you going to have to pay out a significant amount of that in taxes once you begin to liquidate it, because so much of it is is at a real low cost basis? We can talk about taxes, as I mentioned, on Social Security. We can talk about Eric and I like to be able to talk to our clients about doing a Roth IRA, especially earlier in life, to transfer some of those assets for one case or IRAs, but some of that money into a Roth IRA. So as tax taxes go up like they're going to in the future, you know, part or all of your retirement savings are not are not in taxable accounts have been converted over to tax free accounts. And so that gives us more planning opportunities as we're planning about how to structure your income in retirement, how to keep you below certain tax brackets. If we have different buckets of income to pull from, we can do this in certain years to basically not only give you a good efficient retirement and wealth management plan, but also a good, efficient tax plan as well.

Producer:
Fantastic. And one more time you can get in touch with them online at take point wealth dot com. And Randi let's finish today with some this week in history.

Randy Woodruff:
Great idea. I went through some of this stuff and I like some interesting to see some of these things that happened.

Producer:
It's this week in history.

Producer:
Of course multiple former presidents sworn in on this date. Whenever inaugurations happen, they happen in January around this time. So in 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in and walked back to the White House along with the first lady, Rosalyn Carter. I did not know that that happened, Randi. And I saw some very cool pictures of them walking back to the White House after the inauguration. I thought that was a really powerful gesture for sure. In 1981, Ronald Reagan was sworn in. At the same time, 52 American hostages were released from their captors in Iran. So an incredible intersection of two historic events there. And how about this for all the golf fans out there this week in History, 1940, Jack Nicklaus was born nicknamed the Golden Bear. Nicklaus has won 18 major tournaments. That's the most in golf history. And three more than Tiger Woods 15 major wins. Nicklaus has helped design more than 400 courses and 45 countries. I know he's got a handful of fantastic courses down there in the Sunshine State. So happy birthday to Mr. Nicklaus, born in 1940 this week.

Randy Woodruff:
That's impressive to to be have helped design 400 golf courses in 45 countries quite a mark. Another thing to for those of you that like music and I remember some of the eighties bands on this date, 1983 rock band Def Leppard released their third studio album, Pyromania, and this album featured the debut of guitarist Phil Collen, and this album sold over 10 million copies in the US alone. So great, great band and a great album as well. And this album was a little bit of a shift from their traditional heavy metal roots to a more, say, radio friendly sound, and it had a much more mass appeal. So congrats to Def Leppard on their release of Pyromania 40 years ago.

Producer:
All right, well, thanks for listening. To Take Point On Retirement this week, you can get in touch with us online at Tech Point wealth dot com. Randy, thanks for being with us today.

Randy Woodruff:
Thank you, Sam. Have a great day.

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 to check point on retirement dot com or pick up the phone and call 3526160511. That's 3526160511. 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 BCA, 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:
So you know where you are now and where you want to be in retirement. So how do you plan to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement dot Radio Network powered by a MetLife.

Producer:
Do you have any other questions for me, counselor?

Producer:
There are a lot of questions to ask yourself when you start your retirement plan. Questions like When should I retire? How much money will I need? When should I claim Social Security? What about health care costs and taxes in retirement? This complicated puzzle means you're probably going to need some help coming up with a smart retirement plan.

Producer:
If you want to retire successfully, you really need to plan early. You know, inspector gets back and get prepared. Putting a plan in place now while you're still working is a great idea.

Producer:
Ford Stokes is founder and president of Active Wealth Management. Once you find a financial professional you want to work with, they can help you answer all the questions you may have.

Ford Stokes:
Back to what Warren Buffett said. If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you're going to work until you die. So we need to do everything we can to figure out a way to make money while we're sleeping. We talk about this human capital versus actual capital. When you're young, you have a lot of human capital. You've got a lot of left, a lot of room left, a lot of capital left in your career, Right? But at the same time, a lot of people that are older, let's say you're 65, 70 years old. You don't have a lot of human capital left, but you should have a lot of capital that is making money while you sleep. And if you don't, then you didn't make the right decisions.

Producer:
There are also some retirement costs you may not have considered yet. Long term care, for example. Did you know it's not covered by Medicare? What about home renovations? If you decide to stay in your home instead of moving into a facility, your home might need some updates to ensure you're safe and comfortable. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. So do you have a fiduciary financial advisor or professional to help you wade through the complicated retirement planning process? That is a key question to consider. If you want to make the most of your hard earned money with a Retirement dot Radio Network powered by AmeriLife, I'm Matt McClure.

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

Producer:
Remember, all of Ericks listeners receive a free financial consultation just for listening to the show visit TakePointOnRetirement.com to learn more and schedule an appointment. Thanks for listening to Take Point On Retirement and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.