12.22.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

12.22.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Producer:
Welcome to Take Point on Retirement with your host, Erick Arnett. Erick is a fiduciary and licensed financial advisor who always places your needs first. The experienced team at Take Point Wealth Management takes pride in knowing they've helped so many pursue the financial future of their dreams, and they can help you, too. And now let's start the show. Here's Erick Arnett.

Erick Arnett:
Hey, everybody, welcome to Take Point on Retirement Radio. This is Erick Arnett, your investment advisor today. And also got Mr. Sam Davis with us today. I do and Sam doing great.

Sam Davis:
Erick happy to be back on the air once again. It's the holiday season here along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Hope everybody is enjoying the holidays and continuing to bring everybody listening. Some great information as we wrap up 2023 and look ahead to 2024. We want to make it a great year with Take Point Wealth, and we want to make it a great year for all our listeners. So really appreciate everybody who's getting in touch. A lot of interest in getting a trust put together. We love hearing from people on that, and we just want to continue to provide fantastic information as we flip the calendar to a new year and appreciate everybody listening.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So just a shout out to our listeners. You know Merry Christmas, happy New Year. Got a lot of great tips and ideas here for you today. I just want to thank, you know, all of our listeners in Sarasota, Tampa, the Nature Coast. My name is Erick Arnett. I am an investment advisor, host of host of the show. And, you know, we we we are a full investment management firm. So we also do financial planning, life insurance, insurance, estate planning. You know, we brought everything under roof. We do Medicare. So I'm I'm offering this to you as our listeners. Just pick up the phone, give us a call. And I'm happy to stand by here today and answer any of your questions. Absolutely no obligation. Everything is free. No one's going to hold a gun to your head and tell us, oh, you got to do business with us or write me a check. It's absolutely free. This show is for you and completely complimentary. There's a lot of different ways you can listen to us. If you happen to have to jump off the show today and you want to grab, you know, just the podcast version you can on any one of your podcast apps on your phone. As all of our past shows on there. We have a YouTube channel, so please, please don't hesitate to call us. Ask us any questions. We have some great books that we can give out purely here to educate and we love our listeners. So with that all being said, let's get started. What do you say?

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Sam Davis:
And this week's quote of the week comes to us from Will Rogers. Will Rogers, the American vaudeville performer, actor and social commentator. He is from the Cherokee Nation, actually now part of the state of Oklahoma. And Will Rogers once said, too many people spend money they earned to buy things they don't want to impress, people they don't like.

Erick Arnett:
This quote here. It's interesting. It basically gets down to discipline, right? I think there's there's people out there. I mean, I've been in the I've been in the business 25 years, I mean, all kinds of people every day. And there's a distinct difference with the people that I sit down and talk with. There's people that have a discipline and they've thought about retirement from from the very beginning. They've been disciplined in the back of their mind. They kind of had a plan. They know that they got to save, and they're always kind of planning for the future, you know, and and it takes a discipline to put the right that budget out. Right. You're not just wisely spending money on things that you don't need. And then there's other folks that just kind of. Go at it and fly by the seat of their pants and say, hey, I'm making good money or whatever. I'm just going to enjoy life. And and unFordunately, the next thing you know, they're hitting their 50s and are pushing their 60s and they're like, oh, I don't think I have enough for retirement or I don't even have a plan for retirement. I know what I'm doing. I don't even know what's in my 401 k. I don't know how it's working. I don't I don't know what the fees are. I don't know what my investment plan is. So, um, that's that's good for us that take point wealth management because we're looking for folks that don't have the time, inclination or the knowledge and they don't want to they don't want to manage their money.

Erick Arnett:
So we're looking for those clients that need somebody to help them out. Uh, so just a great quote. And obviously, you know, you got to have that discipline. You got to budget. The first thing that we sit down and talk to folks in that very first meeting, folks, if you give me a call today, (352) 616-0511, that's (352) 616-0511. If you give me a call today, I'm standing by to answer any one of your questions. But we'll you could have a multitude of questions and just feel free to ask anything. We're here for you today. And and it's all about that education and getting disciplined, starting to talk about putting a plan in place. You know, you you have to have I think we talked about this last week. I mean you have to have a plan. You just can't be going at it and hoping for the best. And some people are afraid or intimidated. You know, they like to do things on their own or they don't want to talk to an advisor. And that's okay, I understand that. But, you know, you got to take that step. There's there's somebody out there you can trust. And we feel like here at Take Point Wealth Management, we've been doing this 25 years. We take our relationships with our clients very seriously. We're very passionate about it. And you know, we're here to put some put some arms around you and to get you to and through retirement.

Erick Arnett:
And it doesn't have to be an intimidating and intimidating thing. It's, you know, we want to walk you through what to slowly educate you. And you can be involved as much as you want. I have clients that are in it all the time and always involved. I have other clients that say, Erick, you know, do what you got to do and call me in a year. So everybody's different. But it gets back to that. You know, having that financial wisdom really starts with you picking up the phone and taking that first step. You know, everything from estate planning. Do you need a trust or do you need a will? You know, we can do all that right in house for you and we can provide you all that guidance. So if you don't know the difference between a will and a trust, give us a call (352) 616-0511. You can also in the upper right hand corner of my website you can just go to take Point wealth.com. Just pull out your phone. Google take point wealth. You'll come right to our website and in the upper right hand corner you can click on there and get right on my calendar. A lot of folks have been doing that and they've been utilizing that. It's working well, and that's super easy for you to just get right on my calendar for 15 30 minute chat session and within 15 to 20 minutes with just chatting with you, I'm going to know exactly.

Erick Arnett:
What it is that you need, or where you need to start to get back on track and create a plan, right? Create a plan. We need to know you know what is your financial speed, what type of returns you need to be getting? What type of income do you need? When am I going to take Social Security? Do I have insurance in place? What am I? You know, how much is Medicare going to cost me? I mean, do I need a will? Do I need a trust? You know, I have an IRA. I have a set buyer. I have a 401 k. I mean, there's so many questions, so many things to get right. And so what we do is we just act as a consultant to help you bring that all together in a clear, concise plan, meeting your expectations. And then guess what? Once you have that plan in place, you've got to take the emotions out of it and and stay the course and continue to evaluate that plan and potentially make changes. But at least stick to the plan. Right. And that helps kind of rule out emotions and wavering back and Fordh between investments. You know, this year, the last year and a half, two years, I think there's been a lot of people, uh, they call me all the time timing the market. You know, there's a lot of mistakes being made right now. And unFordunately, that can cost you, uh, that can cost you your cost, you a lot of money and potentially could run into the situation where you may run out of money in retirement.

Erick Arnett:
So we've got to be super, super mindful of that. So just kind of the basics. Give us a call (352) 616-0511. Happy to answer any of your questions today. So a couple of things. You know one I think it's super important here at year end shows, Sam is just to remind everybody about the required minimum distribution. I know most of you all out there are aware of it. Uh, the law did change. You have until December 31st of this year to make sure you're taking your required minimum distribution out of your IRA, your 401 K, your Sep, whatever type of retirement account you have. If you're hitting 73, you've got to take some money out. So if you have questions about that, please give us a call. And we're happy to kind of guide you through that. You know. And that's one thing too, here at Take Point Wealth is we're proactively doing this with all of our clients, you know, so we're always going to make sure that we don't get into that predicament. We're always going to be taking those distributions when we need to. And so we're not missing any deadlines because if you do miss the deadline, it could result in some significant penalties. So we want to make sure that that's being done. And then some of you might be thinking, I know there's a lot of people out there.

Erick Arnett:
Uh, you know, I don't I don't even like I know I have to take my retirement distribution. I don't even need it. I don't like it. I gotta pay tax on it. You know, uh, it increases tax on my Social Security, my Medicare premiums going go up. So if you if you're in that situation where you, you don't want to take your RMD or you wish you didn't have to, and there's also some solutions there. You don't just have to drain your retirement account over time and pay taxes. There are strategies we call the RMD buster strategies here. There's certain things that we can do to make it. I want to say fun, but make it worth your while to take that RMD and then do something much better with it to create value in your estate or to to protect some type of potential risk that you may have. Long tum care, life insurance, whole life creating tax free income for you in the future. You know, there's a lot of different strategies there. You know, here at Teak Point Wealth, we always talk about it. The three main things that we're focusing on is tax sensitivity, tax strategies. We've got to look at cash flow. You know we've got to look at where you're getting your income, how much income you're taking. You know being mindful and careful of well hey, you know, I just took all this money out of my IRA and I didn't really need to take it out.

Erick Arnett:
I wanted to give little Johnny or Little Susie a birthday gift or buy a car, and then all of a sudden, it jumped us up into a new tax bracket, right? It increased our Medicare premiums. It caused taxation on our Social Security. So the tax brackets are always changing. Making sure that you're on a tax efficient retirement plan as well. Or what would be awesome is if at some point in time, utilizing the Roth conversion, we could get you to a tax free retirement. Imagine, imagine being in retirement for 2030 years and being able to take that income tax free, not being required to take a distribution if you don't want to. Being able to pass that money on to your heirs and leave a legacy tax free. So many advantages to the Roth and doing a Roth conversion. If you've thought about it in the past and you just didn't get it done, or if you're considering it or you just don't even know what it is, give us a call. Let's walk you through and see if it makes sense for you to do that today. So it's (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. We have locations to meet you up and down the Gulf Coast from Sarasota, Tampa to Nature Coast. We'll come to you, give us a call. We're happy to meet up with you to today and get you on the right track and answer any questions that you have.

Erick Arnett:
So make sure you're taking those, uh, required minimum distributions. And just a heads up, too. On inherited IRAs, the IRS is waiving some penalties for RMDs. For some beneficiaries of an inherited our inherited IRA. According to Kiplinger, the IRS will waive penalties for RMDs missed in 2023 from IRAs you inherited in 2022. So that's kind of important where the deceased owner was already subject to RMDs. So one thing they changed the rule to a lot of people aren't aware of this is if you inherit an IRA, you only have ten years now to take the money out of there and pay the taxes on it. It's not they they took away the stretch, IRA, where you could just basically stretch it out for your lifetime. And the rules are different as well. If you are if you inherit an IRA and the person that left the IRA to you, the grantor was already taking RMDs, then you've got to stay on that RMD schedule. So there's some nuances there. There's some different things with RMDs that you got to be mindful of. But more importantly, think about this for a second. You might be out there listening to the show and you inherited a big IRA and it's causing a problem because you've got to take out these distributions and you're making good income, and it's like it's killing you in taxes. So imagine like you want to make sure you don't. You're not creating that same problem for your beneficiaries in the future.

Erick Arnett:
So let's get on schedule I don't care if you're 60 6570, 50, 55. Let's get on a schedule. Let's act today. And let's really look strongly at that Roth conversion. And also, if you're still working, maybe you're still contributing to a 401 K. We need to talk because you got to be mindful of maybe it's not even making sense anymore for you to contribute to the 401 K, maybe you should be contributing to a 401 K Roth. Maybe you need help managing your 401 K if you feel alone. And because for years you've been trying to manage your own 401 K, and that's pretty much what people have to do, right? I mean, it's kind of a crazy system. You could be a nurse, you could be an auto mechanic, you could be an attorney, you could any type of discipline or whatever you do for a job with no experience or no expertise in investing, and you're expected to pick your own investments. It's a crazy it's a crazy thing. And it really sets people up for failure. And it's tough because a lot of times I'll get a hold of somebody for one K or portfolio and I can look back and kind of see what they've been doing over the last five, ten, 15 years. And it's like, oh my gosh, they cost themselves so much money. And they, they, they basically, in a sense really hurt their retirement dollars because they just didn't know what they didn't know.

Erick Arnett:
They weren't making the right decisions to that, to, to to create that wealth and to create that 41K in that retirement, a lot of emotions get involved or that people get intimidated. They have no idea what to pick or, you know, how about this. You know, you're sitting at your desk and you just ask the guy next to you who's not an expert. All hey, hey, Joey, what do you put your money your 401 K in? I'm doing the growth fund, blah blah blah or the the retirement 2045. Oh, that sounds good to me. Okay, I want to do that too. I mean, that's really I've seen it internally in corporations. I go and visit corporations all the time and help them build up their, their retirement plans in four KS. And I see, like, this is the mentality of a lot of the investors and a lot of the folks, I mean, even I've seen guys in their 50s while I'm in their. In the companies giving guidance and talking to them, maybe the owner of the company. And oh yeah, I just asked my friend Joe in the next desk for his investment advice. So it's we can help you as as a third party advisor, we can also help you with your 401. So don't feel like you have to go it alone. Give us a call. Help you. We'll take a look at your 401 K's and make sure that you're properly invested to meet your goals.

Erick Arnett:
So a lot of different things out there, but be mindful of the more money you put into that 401 K that IRA and you keep building up to get that, that, you know, you're just creating that big old tax bubble for you in the future. And where a tax is headed, folks, I mean, this country is in a big, big deficit running huge deficits, basically borrowing money to pay interest. You know, we're not even coming close to being able to ever pay the principal back. So it's a concern. So more than likely with retirees and pre-retirees, you know, folks out there, we've got about $7 trillion just sitting in IRAs and 401 K's. So the government knows, like, hey, you know, we can tax that money when it starts coming out. So let's put together a strategy and a plan to, you know, we might not be able to eliminate it completely, but in some cases we can eliminate. But there might be some cases where we can at least alleviate that and put some strategies in place that will alleviate those taxation, that taxation. Sam, I just met with a guy yesterday. Same situation. You know, we were told they were told I mean you from the time a little kid go to work, work hard. Make sure you contributing to that 401 K getting that match, all this kind of stuff. They just keep going making more money. They're doing they're thinking they're doing all the right things. And all of a sudden they retire and they get this massive tax bubble, right.

Erick Arnett:
They have this huge tax deferred account. So Uncle Sam is a partner in that account, folks. He's just sitting there licking his chops. I mean, he's going to get 20 to 30%, maybe more of that money coming out of that 401 K. Let's take action today. Let's try to put some strategies in place to at least try to alleviate that. Some (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Schedule your completely free, no obligation consultation. Standing here today standing by to take your phone call. And so jumping from that you know we want to talk about you know even if these are great rules, even if you're trying to manage your own money. I was talking to a guy this morning, called in off the radio show from last week, and he was pretty savvy guy. He's been doing his own investing for years. However, at a macro level, there's probably a lot with all those different accounts. It's not just about picking the right mutual funds and kind of monitoring your performance. It's about what are the strategies with those accounts on a macro level, what are we doing with those accounts? And you know, you have tax deferred accounts, you have taxable accounts. You have tax free accounts. You know, how are you invested? How are you allocated? Is I do 100% stocks. Are you 30% bonds? You know. So I think some really great rules to follow. We're going to get to some of them now.

Erick Arnett:
Probably have to take a break and get to some of the second segment. But I want to give you some smart rules for investing. And you, if you're trying to manage your own money or you're kind of tinkering and you manage your own for one K, or whether you're with an advisor or need to be with an advisor, I think these are great rules to follow. And so one, just to jump off here, rule 100. Just from a simple standpoint, the rule 100, I love the rule of 100 because it keeps people out of out of trouble, keeps their expectations alive, manages their volatility, and it's simply this you just take your age and you subtract from 100. So if you're 60 years old and you subtract from one, you're going to get 40, right? So really we feel pretty strongly based based on historical data, historical performance, in order to be safe and take the volatility out of your portfolio at this stage of the game. And so you have a smoother, uh, kind of, uh, path to and through retirement. And, and you're not, you know, experiencing the ups and downs of the market, pulling money out, you know, in the markets down. I mean, you can you could run into some serious problems there of running out of money too early in retirement. And so I love the rule of 100. It kind of keeps you out of trouble, you know. So and in the example of the 60%, you know, about 60% in, uh, fixed income or safe investments.

Erick Arnett:
We like we like to use index annuities, fixed annuities here. We like to utilize that as a replacement for fixed income. We're not big, big fans on fixed income and bonds. And so if you have questions about that there's a reason behind that. Give us a call. We're happy to kind of explain to you. Well, and we'll probably get into it in some other shows, but. We really like the flexibility because it lowers your risk, lowers your expenses, and it can lower your taxes as well. So there's great strategies to implement there. So you really shouldn't have more than 40% at risk in the stock market. And even if you do have money in the stock market, it's got to be properly managed. Tactically, you can't just hope for the best. You've got to be able to make some changes to the portfolio, not wholesale changes, but tactical changes on a on a monthly basis on a semi annual basis, you know, whatever it may be, uh, rebalancing the portfolio, super important. So you got to be in it every day. And that's what we do here at Take Point Wealth. We're looking and monitoring our accounts every day for you. We're actively managing. There's a difference between passive and active. And so rule 100 are a great one to jump off on. And uh, I think when we come back, Sam, we'll get into some of the other smart rules.

Sam Davis:
Yeah, absolutely. Coming out of the break, we'll talk about the 4% rule, which will help you manage your withdrawals throughout your retirement. We'll talk about the rule of 72, which can be a pretty interesting tool when it comes to planning for your investments in the future. And we've got a whole lot more coming on. Take point on retirement this week, Erick. It's a great time for all the listeners to be thinking about this stuff. If they want to get on your calendar, all they have to do is go to take point wealth.com. That's take point wealth.com. You can click the button in the upper right hand corner and pick a time. Pick a time for the end of the year. Sometime in January, get on Erick's calendar and meet with him on the phone in his office and get started on your plan. And all it's going to cost is your time to get started, and it's a great investment of your time to learn what it is that you have and how you can move forward in a positive direction. So take point on retirement. We'll be back in a minute.

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

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

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

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

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

Interviewer:
I did not know that.

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

Interviewer:
That's right. You heard him. Folks head on over to take point wealth.com today.

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.Radio Network powered by Amira Life.

Jack Nicholson:
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.

Ford Stokes:
If you want to retire successfully, you really need to plan early. You know inspectorj you expect 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 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 Terme 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 comFordable. 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.Radio Network powered by Amira life, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short terme 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. Registered investment advisors and investment advisor representatives act as fiduciaries for all of our investment management clients. We have an obligation to act in the best interests of our clients and to make full disclosures of any conflicts of interest, if any, exist. Refer to our firm brochure, the ADV Two-a, page four for additional information. Any comments regarding safe and secure products and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by BWA.

Interviewer:
I'm here with Erick Arnett of Take Point Wealth Management. Nobody likes paying taxes, but they're a fact of life. Is there any way I can prevent myself from paying more than I need to?

Erick Arnett:
We help people with strategies like that every day. One thing we recommend as a hedge against future tax increases is the Roth conversion.

Interviewer:
Roth conversion? I've heard that before, but I'm not all that sure what it is. Could you help clear it up for me?

Erick Arnett:
In a traditional IRA or 401 K plan, your money grows tax deferred. That means you haven't paid taxes on it yet, but you will when you make withdrawals in a Roth, you pay the taxes up front and take tax free withdrawals in retirement.

Interviewer:
Hey, that sounds great. How can listeners learn more and get started?

Erick Arnett:
Just head over to Take Point wealth.com. Click that button in the upper right hand corner and schedule a free, no obligation consultation with me today.

Interviewer:
That's right, you heard him. Folks, head on over to take Point wealth.com today.

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

Erick Arnett:
We're in segment two. We got about another 30 minutes to go. Welcome back to the show. Thanks for listening. I'm Erick Arnett, your advisor, coaching, teaching, educating retirees and pre-retirees all the way up and down the Gulf Coast. If you're listening today, thank you so much, Sarasota. Thank you so much. Tampa. So thanks for listening to the show. Thanks for making us the number one listen to financial retirement show in Tampa Bay. Super proud of that. Super proud of what we do. And just just here to educate you. There's there's no obligation. Everything we talk about on this show is completely open to you to give us a call and just ask questions. Free consultation, no obligation. In fact, we will actually put our team together and put our best foot forward for you. We actually build out a complete retirement plan for you from A to Z covering all aspects. We put a lot of time into it. Folks, we're offering you as the listeners. This isn't even a Christmas present. We're offering this to you as listeners today. Get a more clear, concise, confident understanding of where you're at right now and where you're headed. And, you know, the most important thing is that we just don't want you to ever run out of money in retirement. And that's the number one concern for us. And I'm sure that's also your number one concern. So let's make sure we're doing everything we need to do to to to build that successful retirement plan.

Erick Arnett:
So getting back to what we were talking about, just some rules. You know, it's kind of the year end planning. You know, we're fast approaching the end of the year here. So super important to do some year end planning. But just kind of talking about the basic rules of retirement planning and having a plan. Right. So one of the books that I wrote which happened to get a copy, you can get an electronic copy on my website. It's called what is your financial speed? And it kind of encompasses what we're talking about today, all these rules and numbers. Right. We talked already about earlier the earlier segment where we talked about the rule of 100. You know, you take your age, you subtract it from 100. You know, that's probably the most you should have at risk in the markets, you know, taking risk with your investments. And the other portion we've got to find safe, you know, principal guaranteed investments that are going to provide you with that hedge on the stock market. The lower your risk of your volatility, but also to potentially provide that income and that safety that you need. So one thing we found out is unFordunately we found out the hard way in 2022 and in most of 2023 that the bond market didn't help you out at all. I mean, the bond market was down double digits in over the last two years, down double digits, 16, 17, 18%.

Erick Arnett:
So, you know, you had that part of your portfolio that was supposed to provide that safety net. And I think we just blew we I think we finally now have just blown out that whole conventional wisdom. They were 95% of AmEricka's in that kind of that scenario where they sit down with an advisor or if you're trying to manage your own money at one of the big shops, they give you, like this little thing on the computer to go through and answer a few questions. And they give you this magic portfolio and says, okay, based on the questions you asked, you're a moderate, you're a moderate investor, so you should be in a 60 over 40 portfolio, which means we're going to play you 60% stocks and 40% bonds. And the bonds were supposed to be the the safe part of your investment, right. And supposed to mitigate volatility and mitigate risk. But what did it do? It added to it, exacerbated it. I mean, most portfolios got smoked. And even if you had some good stocks in your portfolio, the bonds going down double digits completely dragged down your performance and really put you behind the eight ball. So super, super important. We don't believe in the traditional way of investing that 95% of AmEricka are probably in that kind of model, that conventional model. That's great for Wall Street, and they make a lot of money on that. But it's not great for Main Street, it's not great for our listeners.

Erick Arnett:
And maybe what you're doing isn't the right way, right? Maybe there's a different way or maybe there's a better way. So you owe it to yourself to at least investigate that. No one, no one's going to make you make any changes. And in fact, when we do this full blown retirement plan for you, we're going to look at what you're currently doing. We're going to test it. We're going to show you how your current plan looks and whether it's going to hold up in retirement and give you the returns that you need and provide the income that you need and all of the above. So we're going to test your current plan. And what I've shown you. And you may not. You may not have to make any changes. Maybe some small little tweaks. You don't have to. You may not have to make a wholesale change. Some of you might need to make some big changes. I don't know, but you know, at least go through that exercise. Take point. Wealth is standing here today. We're passionate about what we do completely free. As a radio caller. Just take advantage of our time. All it requires is a little bit of your time and sharing some information with us, and then we'll go to work for you and we'll we'll build out what we believe is the most optimized plan for you. And having that plan in place is super important.

Erick Arnett:
So rule 100 great, great kind of, you know, I think, you know, great rule to live by. And then, you know, also when you're talking about what your financial speed is, I mean, everybody's different, you know, um, you some people that sit down with us, they meet, they meet, they may need to get six, 8% returns to meet their goals. I have some people that don't need any return to meet their goals. I have some people that need to make three 4% to meet their goals. So you need to find out first and foremost through our planning process, what is it that you really need to get you two and three time? What's your magic number? What's your financial speed? Right. And then it's important, uh, I think, you know, to not overtax your portfolio over tax, your retirement. So there's the there's the 4% rule. I think a lot of us have heard about the 4% rule. It's kind of a popular rule of thumb for retirees to follow when they're managing their money. And it kind of suggests that you shouldn't withdraw more than 4% from your retiring retirement savings at any one given year. Right? So if you start to run 56789 10%. You're really kind of potentially overtaxing the portfolio. And and what I see a lot of times people might have a portfolio of Sam and it's set up to maybe have expected rate of returns of around 4 or 5%, but they're taking out 7 or 8.

Erick Arnett:
You know, so this is a problem. Um, so we need to really take a look at everything and make sure we're mindful of that 4% rule. Super, super important, you know, and some people have to take 6%. I mean, I've got clients that have to take 8%. You know, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, but at least knowing what you're facing and then be able to see it with some confidence and clarity. When we deliver these plans, it comes out of 2 or 3 pages. They're not really over complicated. We can kind of show you what you can expect. Okay. So, uh, you know, maybe you're going to run out of money at 85. Maybe you run the money at 75, you know, 65. I hope not, but, you know, at least you know where you stand and maybe what you need to do. Maybe you need to work a little longer. Maybe we need to reduce that budget. You know, maybe we need to save a little bit more, be a little bit more aggressive, you know, maybe cut out some expenditures. You know, we've got to get you on target and get you on goal and have that clear, concise plan. First and foremost, because most people out there that don't have a plan, which is a lot of people, unFordunately, they think they have a plan, but they don't really have a plan.

Erick Arnett:
And they're just kind of hoping for the best, you know, just kind of, oh, you know, my returns are up, my returns are down, I'm putting this money in it. I'm going to buy some real estate. I'm going to buy some rentals. You know, all this kind. Yeah. You need to know, you know, what is the success rate of that? And we'll test it. We'll throw a thousand scenarios at it. Good markets, bad markets, high rates, low rates, combinations thereof to see how is that portfolio going to hold up under stress. And wouldn't it have been nice to have that prior to 2022. You know, how was the portfolio going to hold up, you know, under stress. And unFordunately, I think a lot of people stressed out in 2022 and they bailed and emotionally went to cash or like, yeah, I'm I'm fed up with the market, I'm going to go buy real estate or I'm going to, you know, do something else. Or they made some kind of investment decision and went into some kind of other investment. They jump from one fry pan to another, you know, uh, and that's because you didn't have a plan. And that's because emotion is kind of wagging the tail right now. So we've got to have a plan in place. We got to take the emotion out of investing and keep you on track the same time, meeting your expectations, meeting your goals.

Erick Arnett:
And by the way, when's the last time, if you if you're working with an advisor or if you're not working with an advisor, when's the last time you looked at your investments, your 401 K, your IRA, whatever it may be, and looked at it. Versus the benchmark. If you don't know what the benchmark is for your portfolio, you need to know, because that's going to be the true test of whatever you're if what you're doing is actually working or not. As an example, if your benchmark is the S&P 500. Then you have to have a portfolio that you know is closely aligned or is going to at least perform similar to the S&P 500, right? And so if your portfolio is getting 8%, the S&P made 1,015%, then something something's not working. We've got to beat the market right. You know at take point wealth we take great pride I mean we we try to beat the markets for the upside and the downside. And so super super important to know that and be mindful of that rule of 4%. You know, some people there's a lot of experts out there say only taking 3% is considered much safer if you think about it, Sam, I mean, most of your people that are pre-retirees or. Retired already. That might have a little bit of risk aversion. They're probably in that blended portfolio anyways. You know, 50, 50, 60, 40, 20, 80, you know, where they they've only got about 40 or 50% stocks.

Erick Arnett:
They've got, you know, the rest of it in bonds and fixed income. And that type of portfolio. If you go back historically and you look at a blended portfolio and you take out the fees and the expenses, you're maybe going to average 4%, 5%, 6%. And then think about if you're only making 4 or 5%, but you're taking out 4 or 5%, there's going to be years where you're really taxing that portfolio, or you're not getting the growth that you need to want to keep up with inflation. And two, to just keep driving that retirement. Right? So super, super important that we got to get all those numbers right. And then we got to educate you on so you understand them. It's your money folks. You got to take ownership of it. You got to understand it. You know, it's not just the advisors and the brokers and the investment managers responsibility. It's your responsibility. It's your money. So you've got to know. And when people sit down with me in my office, I tell them, I said, you know, by the time we're all done with this and, you know, a couple of years down, I want you to be an expert. I want you to feel confident and be able to sleep at night and feel like you're the expert. You really need to know that when it's you're managing your own money. So, you know, another rule that comes to mind is that when we're talking about financial speed is that rule of 72.

Erick Arnett:
And so pretty simple. You know, it's really based on how how often your money should double. So it's almost like kind of a barometer as to how you're doing. And so if you've got money in the markets and you're averaging 8% as an example, if you take eight and subtract and divide it by 72, you're going to get that, you're going to get ten that nine years. So it's going to take it takes about nine years to double your money at an 8% return. So you can kind of tell if you're on pace, you know, if you're if you're only averaging 4%, then it's going to take it 20 years to double your money. Right. So super, super important to kind of know rule 72. And how is your portfolio doing that? If you had $500,000 in your portfolio ten years ago and you still only got 5 or $600,000 in it, ten years later, something isn't working. And especially now you got to get it right. As you're getting into those retirement years, you're approaching 60, even 70. We've got to get it right, because in those first five years of retirement, if you don't get it right, it can be devastating. As an example, you know, if if you are taking out money out of your portfolio at five, 6% and then the portfolio goes down 20%, you know, it's going to be pretty tough to recover from that.

Erick Arnett:
So it's super, super important that you know that. Rule of 72. What kind of pace you're on, what kind of pace you need to be on. So just kind of just kind of another quick rule for people to live by. So um, so if you know, if you're out there and you're kind of investing on your own or if you have somebody that's helping you, your worker, that advisor, it's time to like, in a sense, sit down with them and call them out and say, hey, how have I been doing, you know, over the last five years, you know, over what what do things look like from you over the next 5 to 10 years, you know, how are we invested? Uh, you know what? Talk about some of these rules. Are we on pace? So all you need to do. But if you don't have that guidance, you want a second opinion? All you need to do is just give us a call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Or you can just go to my website. Take point wealth com in that upper right hand corner, you get right on my calendar for 15 30 minute chat session. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you have set up, that consultation get you going so we can build that clear, concise retirement plan for you. So super, super important to kind of just, you know, reevaluate all those rules.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. And there's only about ten minutes left in this week's show. Erick, we just want to talk a little bit more about what it's like to work with Take Point Wealth because we come on the radio every weekend with different topics, trying to educate the people, the pre-retirees and the retirees out there. I mean, we've been doing it for years, but in order to get that truly tailor made, customized plan, you've got to sit down and have that one on one with someone you can trust. And that's why you can head over to take Point wealth.com and book a consultation. Get that private white glove attention that you deserve when it comes to your retirement, and get that plan in place. I know we talk about it on every week show, Erick, but I mean, you've got to have a plan. I know you've talked about your background, being a veteran, how important it is to have a plan for any operation to be successful. And and you guys take retirement planning the same way?

Erick Arnett:
No. Absolutely. Great point. So glad you brought that up. And it's you know, it is super, super important to have that game plan. I mean you're going into battle. It's not easy right? So you've got to have that game plan. We got to have that battle operational plan. And you know there's a lot of things that need to be done. It's not something that you can take lightly. And you know, at Take Point Wealth. I mean, we've been doing it for a long time. We take it seriously. We're passionate about it. We're fiduciaries. Uh, we're a fee based only advisor, so we don't make money unless you make money. If your account's going up, our accounts are going up. If your accounts are going down, our accounts are going down, and we're not happy, so we're constantly vigilant. You you deserve better. You deserve a team. You deserve somebody by your side, you know? And and when I tell people, when I show people a lot of times is, um, it's it's it doesn't even cost you anything more to work with us. A lot of times you might even save money and have an advisor on your team. So super, super important. But, yeah, I mean, working with us. It's. You said it, Sam. You nailed it right on the head.

Erick Arnett:
It's about getting customization. They've done a good job at creating a mirage. These big companies have created a mirage to make people think that they're doing well and they're doing okay, and that they're in control and that, you know, but they're really not. They don't have a plan. They're not meeting their goals. Um, it drives me crazy. I got to be honest with my listeners. I mean, I get calls all the time. These people, like, they'll call me. They're all excited, like, I need help, and then they just won't take the steps to get me the information that that I need to help them. And they're, they're they're managing their own investments, you know, significant amounts of money. And just in talking to them over the phone for a few minutes, I'm hearing all kinds of mistakes being made. Little things like there's a folks I mean, there is a difference between somebody that's been working in it for 25 years, every day of their life, versus you trying to kind of map it out on your own from some computer software system or, you know, these big shops, you know, make you feel like, oh, I just answer a few questions and I go this passive portfolio and they should be good.

Erick Arnett:
And I ride the market up and down, all this kind of stuff. No, you you need and you deserve a tailored, customized plan for you. And that's really that's really why. And there are independent investment advisors out there in your hometown, in your marketplace. There's a lot of independents out there like myself, and they offer that customization. They offer that relationship, they bring you in, they make you part of the family. That's what we do. I mean, when you become a client of Take Point Wealth, I mean, you're a family to us and, and, uh, and and yes, I was I was in the military for years and I was a leader and I that's, that's my that's a natural thing that I love to do. I'd like to lead I like to help people. That's why I called my company take point. I'm going to take the lead. I'm going to take the point. And I'm going to get you to and through retirement the best I can. So have somebody on your side have a teammate and guess what? It's not going to cost you that much. In fact, it might cost you less than what you're currently doing. I've I've done portfolio analysis before. You take out their fees and everything and you look at what they're invested in, it's like, hey, you know, like by working with me.

Erick Arnett:
You're not even you're not even going to increase your expenses. So why not have that third party expert by your side and get that customization that you deserve? Thanks for bringing that up, Sam. That's super important. The tailoring something for you and you only not some plain vanilla portfolio or mutual fund that everybody in the country is in regardless of, you know, what your goals and needs are. So everybody's different. It's not about, oh, I just want to invest my money in something that's going to give me the biggest returns or potentially the biggest. That's not that's not investing, folks. That's not having a plan. That's just that's just, um, guessing. So super important, you know, and having that. We call it smart adjustments, but having somebody constantly meeting with you, reviewing with you, and even behind the scenes, launching that portfolio, monitoring markets, large monitoring, monitoring economic developments, making shifts in the portfolio that make sense to us to to smooth out volatility, to reach your goals and needs. And it's customized. I have hundreds of clients, not one client that are in the same portfolio. I mean, they're all customized. So super, super important. I'm so glad that you pointed that out.

Sam Davis:
Yeah. And it has to be tailored. I mean, just think of it in other aspects of life. What's going to fit you better that off the rack shirt or suit or the one that is specifically measured and tailored to meet your needs and your specific life? Um, and unFordunately, retirement's way more important than how your suit fits. And so it's so, so important to get it right. You've been working for decades to save this money, to get ready for retirement, and now you're ready to enjoy the remaining decades of your life with your family, your friends, your loved ones. And you want to make sure that you can live the lifestyle that you've planned on all the years that you've been working. So with the few minutes we have left, I want to kind of go through one more last segment. Erick, we've got a problem solver for the people.

Producer:
It's time for this week's Problem Solver.

Sam Davis:
This is relating to 401 KS. A lot of people with 401 KS out there, maybe you've got a different sort of retirement plan through your employer. But just for the sake of this conversation, we're talking about 401 KS because so many people out there have them over the last few years. A lot of people have changed jobs, and sometimes they end up leaving that 401 K behind. And we can call that a stray 401 K. Sometimes that's called an orphaned 401 K. But the issue there is that many people are neglecting to roll over those funds from that previous employer's retirement plan. So they're leaving those funds in that original plan, which may not be in the right investments for you. They may not have the right allocation. You may be paying way too much in fees for that money that's just sitting there in that employer. You can actually roll over those funds into a new plan where you're going to have a lot more control over the investment options in it, and you can even start to make some specific choices about the tax consequences with that money. So, Erick, for anybody out there that's got a 401 K or some other sort of, you know, qualified retirement plan with a previous employer, you know, how do you go about managing that when somebody comes to you with those sort of accounts?

Erick Arnett:
I see this all the time. You know, people change jobs, right? And or maybe they have even retired. This drives me crazy because that that is a completely orphaned account. I mean, it's a static account. It's passive. Who knows what it's invested in. Uh, you don't have control over it. There's expenses there that you can't see. You know, we we've worked with numerous people over the years and improved their situation by just rolling out that 401 K into their own personal IRA. Now we have complete control. We have the whole open architecture of investments. We can tailor the portfolio for them and even complement what they're currently doing. So, um, you know, it's super easy. I mean, we take care of everything for you. If you get those orphan 401 K's, let's just consolidate it into one IRA and then put it into your plan and make sure it's cohesively working with what we need to do to get you to and through retirement. So super important not just have that orphan 401 K lying around. Let's roll it over. Maybe, maybe it makes sense to take that and roll it into a Roth and pay the taxes on it. I don't know, but it's important for us to get control of that. Let's see how it's been performing. You know, what is it invested in? I mean, so many people, it's kind of crazy. I mean, almost 95% of people that come in and sit down in my office and they have these four one K's, they have no idea. They have no idea what it's invested in. They have no idea how it's done, what the expenses are. Um, you know, they've kind of forgotten about it even in the sense.

Erick Arnett:
And they just kind of look at the value. Or I had one client come in a few weeks ago and they're like, yeah, I get this 41K, I left this company and I just, I get this statement every once a while and then the, the account literally hasn't moved in like ten years. And I'm like, well, what's an investment? Let me see the statement. And I'm like, oh, you're sitting in cash. Like, you know, so just little things like that that jump out of me. But you know, let's, let's, let's avoid that. Let's get that foreign K rolled over into your own IRA and put it, put a plan in place, a solid plan that kind of complements your retirement plan and gets you, you know, get you where they need to be, you know, setting it and forgetting it. It's it's just not a good strategy. Folks here at Take Point Wealth Management, we take great pride in helping people manage their hard earned, hard save money every day in a more efficient way that fits their needs. So let us take control of your time and plan by rolling over your old work plan into an IRA or even maybe a Roth IRA. So just give us a call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511 or go to take Point wealth.com and get right on my calendar in the upper right hand corner. But if you've got some 401 s out there or some old steps or whatever they may be, let's let's take a look at those and make sure that we're, you know, we're we got those optimized. They're really, truly working for you.

Erick Arnett:
And they're set up in the right investment. Those target return funds by the way. Oh I'm going to read 2045 funds with don't like him hate him. They're horrible funds. Please call me I'll explain to you why. Um, they're just totally inefficient and they're not doing any justice. Uh, it's just it's kind of a crime. I I'm highly against them. And so if you got some questions about that, just give me a call. I'm happy to chat with you about it, but, you know, review your performance, whether you work with us or whether you work on a loan or you work with an advisor, you've got to review your performance of your investments on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. Ensure you're staying on the right track to meet your goals, especially after what just happened in 2022. You know, so we all need to retire someday, right? So that's why we want to help people retire better. So that's what we do. We focus on building those solid plans that take part in retirement and helping folks retire better and getting you to and through retirement successfully. Folks, thank you so much for listening to the show. Love love, love my listeners. Give us a call today. 35261605113526160511. Stand by. Take your call today for your free consultation and also to answer those estate planning questions. Do you need a will? Do you need a trust? And I'll get that book out to you that we talk about on the show. Everyone, and I mean everyone needs a living trust. So call me and ask me why. Thanks so much folks. Have a great holiday season and we'll see you soon.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Take Point on Retirement. You deserve to work with a private wealth management firm that will strategically work to protect your hard earned assets. To schedule your free, no obligation consultation, visit. Take point on retirement.com or pick up the phone and call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, BCM, a registered investment Advisor, BCM and Take Point Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

Interviewer:
I'm speaking with Erick Arnett of Take Point Wealth Management. Erick, everything is more expensive these days and health care is no different.

Erick Arnett:
That's right. Just put it into perspective. A fidelity study found that the average retired couple may need $315,000 just to pay for health care expenses in retirement. If you don't have enough, you could find yourself choosing between treatment and putting food on the table.

Interviewer:
And I bet those costs are not expected to go down anytime soon, right?

Erick Arnett:
Again, health care is projected to get more expensive, with 75 million people retiring between now and 2030.

Interviewer:
So what should people do?

Erick Arnett:
Bottom line is you got to have a plan and you can get started at take Point wealth.com.

Interviewer:
Erick, as always it's been a pleasure. You heard them folks head on over to take point wealth.com today.

Producer:
Schedule your free no obligation consultation now at take point wealth.com.

Producer:
Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Wealth Advisors LLC. Bwa, a registered investment advisor and an affiliate of Brookstone Capital Management LLC, BWA and Take Point Retirement are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BWA, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.

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