12.4.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

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

Erick Arnett:
Hey, everybody, welcome to Take Point on Retirement Radio. So glad to be here with you today. This is Erick Arnett. And of course, I've got my DJ and producer Sam Davis on here today with us to keep us in line and keep us focused and keep us moving along. It's been a while since I've had a chance to tape and air and air show, and I'm super excited to be back today. You know, we had the holidays and had a little crisis at home with some flood damage and things like that that have gotten in the way. Uh, but, uh, super excited to be here today. We've got a great show. That's as usual, folks. We have a ton to talk about. You as retirees, as pre-retirees, you know, as our retirement warriors out there, you guys are facing a ton of headwinds, a ton of things to think about. And so obviously, this show is educational. It's for you. Welcome to the show. I hope you enjoy it at anything at all. It jumps out at you and makes sense to you. You have a concern. You want a chat, feel free to just give me a shout. You can call me at (352) 616-0511. You can also just jump on my website. A lot of y'all been doing that. It's great. Just go to TakePointWealth.com you can take out your phone right now. Just Google take point. Wealth will pop right up. And in the upper right hand corner you can just click that button.

Erick Arnett:
It says schedule a time with me. We'll get on the phone. Uh, we'll chat for a few minutes, just kind of see what your concerns are and, and what, uh, you know, what it is that you, you need some help with. Because obviously, on this show, if you've listened, we're always concentrating on trying to optimize your retirement plan, whether it's helping you to try to reduce taxes, fees and expenses and then also risk. We've got a lot of risk. We've got a lot of volatility. We've got to understand risk and truly what it is and how it affects your long terme retirement planning. So, uh, you know, uh, welcome Sarasota Tampa, Nature Coast. So glad to be with you guys today. It's it's absolutely free to get a hold of us and have us go to work for you. It's completely complimentary, and you're going to have absolutely no obligation at all to do business with us. This is an educational show. We're here for you. We want to get you on track to a truly a stress free retirement. If you miss part of the show or you'd like to catch up on some past shows, we've got a lot of great content on there. On our podcast channel, you can podcast us on any of those apps on your phone, iTunes, Spotify, you name it. Also, we have our own podcast site. Take point on retirement radio. You can Google that.

Erick Arnett:
You can go to that website there. And we've got years of podcasts on there and you can catch this week's podcast as well. So we've got a YouTube channel if you like. If you like YouTube, just just Google take point on retirement. But by all means, don't don't hesitate to just give us a call. We love hearing from our listeners. That's why we do this show. 35261605113526160511. I am actually standing by to take your call and can't wait to talk to you guys. So with that being said, let's kind of kick off the show. We've got a lot to get through today. Sam. Keep me on track man. If I get bogged down here, we've got, you know, so much to talk about. But, sir, you know, one of the things obviously, uh, right now we're in ADP. That's annual enrollment for Medicare. If you're at that age of Medicare, or maybe not even at the age of Medicare 65, but you have some questions about it. Maybe you're 62, 60. Just kind of want to know, you know, what you can expect or you want to start planning ahead. And that's part of our total retirement planning package. And we put together that freedom plan for you. We look at all of that Social Security timing and maximizing your Social Security benefits, looking at health care costs, you know, looking at potential risks that are out there. Long Terme care. Uh, that's a big one, folks. We got to talk about Long tum care today a little bit.

Erick Arnett:
Rising health care costs. Uh, this is a statistic just came out. I think we're going to touch on in the show that it's, you know, folks can expect three, four, five, $600,000 in health care costs in their retirement. So it's a big thing that talk about it's a big thing to plan for. So let's talk about long terme care. But you know AARP is open right now. If you guys have any questions it's open enrollment till December 7th. Only got about a week to go. If you have any questions, give us a call. We have Medicare experts standing by to help you out. Savvy retirees do a Medicare coverage check every year just in case you have the opportunity. Maybe you can save some money. You know, maybe there's a better plan out there for you. Let's talk about it. And how does your income, Social Security, how does it all work together and how does it affect your Medicare premiums? Also, you know, this is something that we run into all the time. And if you're out there listening right now, you might be in that kind of the zone where you've left work, you've retired, you know, you're in that 60 to maybe 65 range, and you're trying to bridge that gap until you get to Medicare. And so we have solutions for you. We have some plans for you. You know, there's things that we can do to help you.

Erick Arnett:
So just give us a call (352) 616-0511 to answer any and all of your Medicare questions. We're standing by today. You can also visit our website w WW dot TakePointWealth.com. In that upper right hand corner. Just click on my schedule and to save the chat session. Hey Erick I've got some questions about Medicare. Give me a call. We'll reach we'll reach right out to you. Make it nice and easy for you. And of course, it's you know, always be careful, folks. Make sure avoiding scams out there, there's a lot of scams going on. And fortunately and this year's Medicare AEP beware unsolicited contacts. Be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, emails, door to door visits offering Medicare related services. Stay away from those people. Call us. Call a trusted individual. We've been right here in Hernando County over 20 years. You've heard me on this station for more than ten years. You know, we've been here a long time. We want to serve. We want to serve our our county. We want to serve Sarasota, Tampa, nature coast up and down the nature Coast. So give us a call. We're here to protect you and answer all those questions. Keep your Medicare card secure, and make sure you avoid sharing your Medicare number. And don't just, you know, randomly start giving people information over the phone. If they call and say, hey, I'm a Medicare agent, we'll ask you some questions. You've got to vet that out before you do that.

Erick Arnett:
So give us a call. We're happy to help you out with that. So also, if you don't know what a required minimum distribution is by any means, it's time to really, uh, get some information on it, understand it required you may have heard of called RMDs is quickly approaching. The December 31st is the deadline to make those required minimum distributions. If you're 73 and older. Uh, and some cases, you know, you may not have to take it. But if you're 73 and older, they did change the law. It used to be 70.5. Now it's 73. And yes, they may even push it to 75. There's talk there. But if you have an IRA, if you have a 401 K, you have any type of retirement account in your 73 or older, we've got to start taking required minimum distributions. And if you don't there's some penalties. You know the tax man will come and get you. So you know speaking of and also speaking of taxes, we've got some new income tax brackets coming out in 2024 here. Take point wealth. We're always focused on taxes and tax sensitivity. It's super super important. We're teamed up with the local CPAs as well. So you know he's been doing taxes for 30 some long years. So we can get those questions answered answered for you as well. And you know super important the silent killer and retirement. This is taxes. Now. Fees and risks. Those are three things we've got to focus on.

Erick Arnett:
But taxes for sure. You know, I talk about this on the radio a lot. I talk about it in the podcast. You know, Sam, we do, uh, seminars in the local community, uh, educational events. And we're always talking about the tax problem, tax situation. Obviously, our country has a huge deficit. In fact, we are actually having to borrow money now just to pay the interest on our debt. So in a sense, you could say that we're bankrupt, right? I mean, we're in bad shape. They don't talk about it a lot, but we're $34 trillion in debt. I mean, that's an insane number. So taxes have to go up, folks. I mean, there's only two things that can alleviate this fiscal problem. Or, you know, that we have this mountain of debt that we have. It's one the politicians are going to have to stop spending so much money. Right. And that's obviously not a popular thing to do. Uh, all administrations are guilty of this. You know, the current administration is dealing out billions of dollars, like it's just, you know, uh, candy and popcorn. I don't know, I don't understand it. I don't know why they do what they do, but nobody talks about even I don't even, you know, it may be impossible to balance the budget. I don't even know the last time it was done. I think, uh, Mr. Clinton did it back in like the late 90s or early 2000.

Erick Arnett:
But no one's even talked about balancing and budget. But what if we just even get the debt down a little bit, right? Head in the right direction? Because right now our country has already lost its credit rating, uh, has decreased from triple A plus to like, you know, AA still it's still AA rated. But Moody's and S&P, they did even downgrade the United States. And they haven't done that a long time. So super super important. So taxes are going to have to go up I know for sure in 2024. The brackets have changed a bit. You know as an example, if you're single and you're making over $47,150, you're going to be in that 22% income bracket. Uh, if you're married, it's going to be anything from 94,000 for joint filers. And below, you know, if you're if you're over 100,000, you're going to jump into that 24% tax bracket and then 200,000 for joint filers. So if you have questions about those increases in taxes tax brackets please reach out. Give us a call. But super super important folks that a part of your retirement planning. It's got to be you know we don't it's it's one of our main focuses when we put together your plan. So give us a call. We are offering you today a completely complimentary retirement plan. We call it the Freedom Plan. It's the smart plan. You know we'll tell you all about it, but it's completely complimentary. We cover all aspects of retirement planning.

Erick Arnett:
It's super complex, but we break it down and make it pretty easy for you. So just give us a call with any questions that you may have. But like I said on those plans, we're looking to optimize your retirement long terme. We're not just looking at things today, tomorrow, a couple weeks out, you know, a couple of years out. We're looking at and building a 30 year plan. We're looking at what things will look like and what we could expect ten years from now. 15. Be rational, wanting, irrational. And then we're actually testing that plane or stress testing it. Good markets, bad markets, combinations thereof. To see how that plan is going to hold up. Right? Because what's the one thing that we don't want to happen if retirees are pulled? Number one thing, they come back and say is we don't want to run out of money, right? We need income. We don't want to run out of money. So the crazy amount of inflation that rising health care costs, gas prices, home prices, food prices, you name it, right? We've seen it and it's hit us pretty hard over the last year or so. But that doesn't mean it's going to stop folks. That does not mean it's going to stop. So we've got to continue to plan for inflation inside your retirement plan. That's super, super important in order to maintain your lifestyle, a good healthy lifestyle. Two and three time we've got to do this long range planning for you.

Erick Arnett:
We got to do it now. We got to do it today. It's urgent. Please give me a call 3526160511352 I'm going to slow down because I had a guy telling me he couldn't hear my number. So it's (352) 616-0511. Give me a call today so we can start getting you on the right path. I think in 2026 is when the Trump tax Act, the, uh, sunsets. And so we know for sure at the end of 2026, taxes are going to go back to where they formerly were. In order to pay off this debt. You know, with retirees having, you know, over 6 to $8 trillion in four one K's and retirement funds, the government knows that this big pile of money sitting their retirees accounts. Right. And anything you pull out of those accounts, they're going to they have the ability to tax so they can change those tax rates any time. So that's why we got a plan. Now if you're 55, 60, 65, I don't even care if you're 70. Let's talk about strategies in order to try to. Maybe not completely eliminate, but to try to reduce as best we can your tax situation in your retirement years. Imagine if you were in retirement 2030 years and didn't have to pay taxes on your retirement and your retirement income. So we have solutions for you. Uh, ask us when you call us, ask us about the Roth conversion. The Roth conversion.

Erick Arnett:
You need to get educated on the Roth and the Roth conversion. This is an amazing tool. There's a lot of reasons why I think it's a great idea to look at that very strongly for conversion. For the obvious that we know taxes are going to be exorbitant in the future. But also, when you take income out of your retirement accounts, that goes to the bottom line and your tax return. It increases the taxes on your Social Security. It increases your Medicare premiums so it can throw you into another entire tax bracket. So we've got to plan for that. We've got to be mindful. Tax sensitivity is key. Let's try to keep as much as we can in your pocket and not in Uncle Sam's pocket. It's not your fault that the government has been fiscally unresponsible for so many years. They have put the politicians have put us in this position. It's not your fault. And you know what? I've talked to many clients. I don't mind paying taxes. And I know that you don't mind paying taxes as well, but it's where the money is going that really, you know, um, aggravates people, right? Excessive excessive spending and so we've got to get fiscally responsible. Thank goodness there's some new blood I'm hearing coming into Washington that's actually starting to talk about, hey, this is a big problem. We've got to get this under control. So I hope I hope and pray that they do because, uh, it has a lot of implications long tum for our for our country.

Erick Arnett:
That's not good, but I don't I don't as much care about that as I do my listeners. If you're out there listening today, I want to do. Our very, very best to try to keep as much money in your pocket and keep it out of Uncle Sam's. And that's going to create and that's going to require some planning folks, some long range planning and some discussion. And so, you know, the Roth conversion I think is a super important tool. Super excited to talk about it with you. There's a lot of nuances around it. So if you have questions, give me a call. Happy to have an appointment with you, uh, any time you'd like so we can dive right into it. Let's talk about the Roth conversion. Also, uh, the life insurance retirement plan alert. You can utilize life insurance to create a tax free retirement as well. Don't, uh, don't ignore that option. Let's talk about it. You owe it to yourself to really educate yourself and to understand what that is. It may not be right for you. And it may and it may be a great thing for you, but but at least learn about it. It's called the lerp lerp life insurance retirement plan. So a lot of different things we can do to try to mitigate taxes and at least try to, you know, keep them down as much as possible. So please, please, please give us a call. That's super, super important.

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

Producer:
And of course, this week's quote of the week comes to us from another gentleman like yourself who has a financial radio show. Erick. This one is from Dave Ramsey, and Dave Ramsey's got a lot of good financial wisdom. And Dave once said, you must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.

Erick Arnett:
So yeah. So Mr. Dave Ramsey, you know, gives a lot of great advice. And he also has a national radio show. And, and he's always preaching, you must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you. And that that really gets into what we always are harping on here in our show. That's about planning, right? Prior planning pays. I mean, you you can't plan enough. And so planning is gaining that control. You know, not just hoping for the best or just kind of going with the flow of things and and hoping things work out. But you got to diligently plan, and you've also got to reevaluate that plan constantly on an annual basis. That's what we do here at Take Point Wealth with our clients, which we love for our listeners to become our clients because we know what it is that they need and what they deserve. And it's that plan should be reviewed on an annual basis, okay, to make sure you're still on target. But, you know, I love that there's a proverb I love, and it's the plans of the diligent lead, surely, to plenty. But those of everyone who is hasty surely do poverty. Proverbs 21 spot right out of the good book. So Mr. Dave Ramsey is, you know, he probably is it in the sense kind of saying the same thing right here. You know, it's we've got a plan, folks, and that's what this show is all about, prior planning plays.

Erick Arnett:
And if you want that freedom plan, you want that stress free retirement plan completely complimentary. Give us a call today at (352) 616-0511. Completely complimentary. No one's there's no obligation to do anything with us. You can take that plan and do whatever you want with it. Also just Google my website. TakePointWealth.com go right to the website and in that upper right hand corner you can just click on this little box of schedule. Consult with Erick and you'll get right on my calendar. Give me a few notes in there and tell me what it is that you're, you know, looking to discuss. And I'll give you a shout back and we'll we'll knock it out. So, um, super, super important, folks, let's let's start planning. I know I talked to you guys every week, you know, and I hear folks are calling me and they'll say, hey, you know, um, I've been putting this off for a long time, and I know I'm getting up there. I'm pushing 60. I've got to start doing this planning. And with that being said, we're going to talk a lot about, um, we do talk a lot about on the show. It has to start with estate planning. The estate planning is super, super important. The number one thing that we always lead with here at Cape Point Wealth is an estate plan.

Erick Arnett:
Because you can do all kinds of planning. You can hit a home run when it comes to investing, you know, all that's great. But if you don't have a solid estate plan in place, it can be all from nothing, right? So how are we going to avoid probate? What's the difference between a will and a trust? These are the answers that we have. And you owe it to yourself to give us a call and we'll run through it. We offer, you know, estate planning here at Take Point Wealth. We can do all the trusts, the wills, everything for you right at the house. And typically it's going to be a lot less expensive than if you went and tried to do it on your own or went to an attorney. You know, these attorneys sometimes are charging quite a bit of money to do that kind of stuff. So we're happy to do that in house for you. Estate planning. Do you have a trust? If you don't have a trust, give me a call, because more than likely you do need a trust. Call me at (352) 616-0511 to discuss whether you need a trust or not. If you own property in Florida, you probably need a trust. And I have a book. Everyone needs a living trust and feel free to give us a call or shoot me a that text up in the upper right hand corner of my website.

Erick Arnett:
TakePointWealth.comm and we'll get that book out to you free of charge. Everyone needs a living trust. Read that book, highlight it, tear it up, and then let's talk about it. Because don't take just don't, don't just take my word for it. I'm not an attorney, but this book was actually written by an attorney, an estate planning elder law attorney. So it's something that, you know, we feel very, very strongly about here. Take my well is making sure that your assets are protected and making sure that you're going to avoid probate, as probate can be very, very costly. You can spend a couple of bucks right now and avoid that because you're talking about some significant hits, some significant time delays, challenges to your will. The will is not going to protect you from probate. So please, please, please give us a call. We got to get that right. In fact, in Financial Planning 101, it's the first module. The first thing you learn as a financial planner? Estate planning. How important it. So please, please, please reach out to us. Let's get that going for you. We will be right back after this commercial. Sam, I think we're wrapping up here. We gotta gotta get going for the second segment. Yeah.

Producer:
And when we come back, we're going to talk a little bit about an inflation demonstration for the holidays. We've got a bit of a market update. We're going to talk about something that we preach quite a bit on this show. It's how to protect yourself from sequence of returns risk. And all of that is coming up next on Take Point on Retirement. Thank you to all of our listeners. We've been getting a lot of calls over the last few weeks from the Nature Coast, Tampa, Sarasota and beyond in Florida. Give us a call (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. You can find the number at TakePointWealth.com and schedule your fully complimentary consultation as well. And take point on retirement. We'll be right back.

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

Man:
I'm here with Erick Garnett 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.

Man:
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?

Man:
I did not know that.

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

Man:
That's right. You heard him. Folks head on over to TakePointWealth.com today right?

Producer:
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. A clash of.

Producer:
Speed and iron are coming to a streaming service near you this fall. I'm Jim Terebovlia with the Retirement Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. This November, streaming giant Netflix will stream its first ever live sporting event, the Netflix Cup, a golfing competition featuring Formula One racers and PGA tour golfers. Josh Shafer of Yahoo! Finance explains how this new venture makes sense for Netflix.

Josh Shafer:
This is happening the week that F1 is in Las Vegas, and this event is happening in Las Vegas. So for fans to be able to engage with their favorite drive to survive characters, I think is something to think about here.

Producer:
The golfing exhibition will showcase two star studded rosters with names including Rickie Fowler and Lando Norris, who will play a professional eight hole course, with the two top teams advancing to the final hole to determine the winner of the inaugural Netflix Cup title. Meanwhile, the Netflix sports catalog that features hit series such as quarterback continues its upward growth with this new live event and will be charging up to $2 million to secure advertising space. Any advertiser that wants in for the crossover golf event will have to commit to spending $2 million on Netflix ad supported tier. So what does this mean for the live sports future of Netflix? The streaming service has been very timid about producing live sports content, but according to The Wall Street Journal, live boxing could be shown on the platform in the near future. And with the NBA television rights deal up for bidding next year, analysts wonder if Netflix could jump further into the live sports pool in the future for the retirement radio network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Jim Terebovlia.

Man:
I'm speaking with Erick Arnett of Take Point Wealth Management. Erick, this topic isn't always the easiest for people to talk about, but it's important estate and legacy planning.

Erick Arnett:
And it's hugely important. Here's the big question is your legacy important to you?

Man:
Well, absolutely.

Erick Arnett:
Then the next question should be what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? I bet it's not one where your spouse or your kids are going to be shouldering a huge tax burden.

Man:
Are there strategies to help with that 100%?

Erick Arnett:
A Roth IRA is one example, and we can help you make that part of your plan. Also, if you want your wishes carried out like you want and not like the state wants, give me a call or go to TakePointWealth.com.

Man:
Erick Arnett with Take Point Wealth Management. Thanks so much.

Erick Arnett:
Thank you.

Man:
You heard them. Folks head on over to TakePointWealth.com today.

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

Erick Arnett:
Hey, everybody, welcome back to Take Point on Retirement Radio. I'm your host, Erick Garnett, your lead advisor here at Take Point Wealth Management. We've got Mister Sam Davis on here with us today as well. And you know, we're going to talk a little bit about inflation demonstration. Some interesting inflation statistics. Sam, what do you got.

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

Producer:
It's the holiday season, and I'm sure for a lot of people, maybe a few before Thanksgiving and some most of us. In the weeks and days after Thanksgiving. Christmas trees are going up in houses all across AmEricka, but so are the prices. And according to the National and AmErickan Christmas Tree Association, the average price of a Christmas tree is up 10% more than last year, with trees averaging between 80 and $100 this season. And I know that it's definitely more if you're living in a big city like New York or Chicago, the price is much higher than that. Also, artificial Christmas trees will break the bank even more than real trees. Price tags for artificial trees are all across the board, some as low as $85, some $1,000 or more. When you get into those really tall artificial trees. According to the AmErickan Christmas Tree Association, 52% of artificial tree owners purchased a tree for under $200 for artificial Christmas trees. Costs vary depending on the size and all of that. The price hike for Christmas trees is following a recent poll which found that despite 78% of consumers concerned about inflation, 94% of consumers say they plan to display at least one Christmas tree in their homes this holiday season. So, Erick, despite inflation, people are getting into the holiday spirit. But this just goes to show that every year, whether it's the food on the table or the tree in the living room, things are getting more expensive.

Erick Arnett:
Well, what? Number one, I had no idea that you're blowing me away here, that there was an AmErickan Christmas Tree Association. All right there. You know, I didn't even know that that. But I'm. Hey, I'm glad somebody is tracking Christmas tree sales. It's important. Right? We don't want to be cutting down too many trees. I love trees, but, uh. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy, the prices, uh, obviously, you know, everybody's feeling inflation. We've been talking about it for two years now. Uh, inflation just been crazy. Uh, gas prices, food prices. So I can't even imagine what it's going to cost to put, you know, that Christmas meal together and all those goodies this year? Uh, I know the cost of Thanksgiving was up quite a bit as well. And so that's what we're talking about, though. I mean, that's what we're talking about earlier in the segment is it's got to be part of your retirement plan. You know, it's that inflation, those increases in prices. This isn't this isn't going to just stop here. I mean, what's a Christmas tree going to be like ten years from now. You know. So we've got to plan for inflation and we've got to plan plan for. Risk. We've got a plan for taxes, we've got a plan for Social Security, Medicare, all that kind of stuff for the next 20, 30 years. Right. So it's about planning and preparing yourself for those crazy increases that are potentially down the road.

Erick Arnett:
And we've got to, you know, maybe we've got to get more creative. Maybe we got to look at things differently. You know, that cost of living has especially here in Florida. I mean, we're getting hit hard. I know what's coming here in 2024. It's going to be big insurance increases for property owners. You know, property taxes are going to go up drastically as well because property values increased so much from the Covid effect. And so, uh, people are getting hit everywhere, right? From all angles. And we're feeling it. And so that inflation, uh, so, so critical to understand and make sure that we're factoring that in when we do the long range plan, we do your retirement planning pretty you know, we can play with the numbers. We can look look you know take a look at what it looks like. If inflation is 4%, 5%, 6% or 3%, we can play with those numbers. And it does make you you would be you would be surprised if you just change inflation. You know that cash flow purchasing power by 1 or 2% in your plan, how impactful it is on your dollars on the back end, the retirement drastically reduces what you have left. And so we've got to be really, really careful and mindful of that and plan for it. And there are ways that we can do that. And the way that we do that, folks, is it's time to start thinking about putting income into your pockets.

Erick Arnett:
Okay. We we had a we had about a 4 or 5, six year run where interest rates were really, really low. And it was hard for folks going into retirement to get that yield, to get that income that they needed. It was challenging. But we're we have some really nice interest rates. So this works two ways, right? Yes. The cost of living is increased and inflation is is killing us. But the same token, because the Fed's raised interest rates so much to combat inflation, those of us that are going into retirement or already in retirement, we have places to put your money in order to receive a nice income, a nice yield, a much higher yield than we have in the past. So that is exciting for advisors. It's I don't want to say it's become easier, but it's become, uh, you know, a little less difficult to find and create that income that we need where a safe bank, um, to, you know, providing a good, safe, solid income with really nice interest rates for compliance reasons. You know, we can't get into rates. But folks, the rates are really good. I mean, I've been doing this for a long time, and the rates are, you know, it's I've been seeing rates this high and and in a long time. So it's a good time to even capitalize on that and lock those rates in because eventually the fed sometime next year or maybe even into 2025, they'll start reducing rates.

Erick Arnett:
And so let's get locked into some income producing vehicles that are going to provide income and good yields for you and start putting money into your pocket. You know, riding that constant roller coaster of the markets, the bond markets and the stock markets and just having no no confidence, no clarity, the volatility. What am I going to have today? What am I going to have tomorrow. How much income going to we can we can alleviate a lot of those questions and answers and get you some confidence, get you some clarity and put some real hard data and figures together so you can plan and understand and then sleep at night knowing that you're going to have the income that you need to get you. Two and three retirement. So super, super important, uh, you know, uh, with, you know, talking about Christmas trees, I'm glad 94% of people are going to be out there, you know, put trees in their in their house. That's great to hear those 6%, six percenters that aren't doing it. I don't know what's going on there. Bombard on you. But I'm glad everybody's going to put a Christmas tree in. But they're going to be expensive, right? However, like you alluded to, the it's we're coming into that Christmas spirit. We got some, uh, some stats.

Erick Arnett:
Uh, I was actually concerned about Black Friday and Cyber Monday and, you know, leading, you know, the markets and the economy and kind of even consumer surveys where things are looking dismal or people were really concerned about rising costs and the market fluctuations in their retirement income. But what we did see was, uh, Black Friday had a had an outstanding increase. So we're, uh, Black Friday shoppers spent a record, a record $9.8 billion in the US on online sales. So. I was, uh, I was at a meeting last night talking to a gentleman, and he works at Walmart, and he works, you know, the night shift, and he does all the restocking. And you said, man, they said Black Friday was really, really slow this year. And I'm like, I thought to myself, uh oh, you know, maybe we're gonna have some really bad retail numbers. This which, which we like to get because it helps boost the market a little bit and gives us some nice headway going into, uh, uh, going into 2024. But those retail sales were not good in the box stores, but they were really good online. So that goes to show you that people are spending money, but they're spending money online. That whole. A little bit thing where people could only could shop online. I think they just aren't going back and just not going back to the box stores and the crowds and and fighting the customer service and all that kind of stuff.

Erick Arnett:
You can just have it dropped on the front door and sit there and shop online and compare prices. And I know our family does that. I mean, uh, every five minutes someone's knocking at the door and there's an Amazon package being dropped off and we love it. You know, we love that. So I think the world, AmEricka in general is just constantly kind of moving in that direction. But, uh, in saying you were 99.8 billion US online sales, up 7.5% from last year. So even though we're seeing inflation, even though we're seeing, you know, four one KS have been reduced, um, you know, the they're still people are still out there spending online. So that's encouraging. You know, uh, people are still spending however that's the good news. The bad news is that we're seeing credit card debt at an all time high. What's not good. Right. So we're starting to see. Of all time high credit card defaults where people just are paying their credit cards. So that's on a significant rise and increase. And then this was pretty shocking. Car payment defaults hit a 29 year high as borrowing costs surge. So that to me is concerning. That's kind of crazy. And that and those folks, the younger folks or people that are out there working and, you know, they need a car and, you know, they they have to borrow to purchase that vehicle.

Erick Arnett:
Uh, you know, with those high interest rates, uh, it's really I think it's really hit them hard. And I think they got in over their head. And also the prices of vehicles, say, and were like, you know, went up 20, 30% during Covid. I think vehicle sales or vehicle numbers or prices of vehicles are starting to come down a little bit. And I'm starting to see a lot of cars stack up at the dealerships again. So that inventory is going up, which is going to mean rebates and reductions, and things are coming. However, that interest rate being high, you know, I, I'm, I'm guessing to get a car loan that you're paying 8%. And so that's, that's that's significant. You know. So good news and bad news. You know for younger folks that have to borrow money to get going in life to buy that first home or to buy that car so they can get around, uh, you know, it's tough. It's really tough and it's challenging. It's. And but for folks that don't need to borrow money, folks that, uh, are investing their money or folks that can invest their money to receive dollars and receive income in their pocket, it's gotten much better for them because they can capitalize on the higher interest rates. Right? So for our listeners, for most of our retirees, our pre-retirees and our retirees, there's good news for you.

Erick Arnett:
So give us a call. We can lock in some really, really strong, strong rates right now. Uh, you know, the highest higher. I've haven't seen rates this high since like 0708. So super encouraging because now we can create that cash flow, create that income that you need. And also we're locking in a really high rate. And I don't know how I'm not saying, you know, there's this huge sense of urgency, but we need to do it sooner than later because at some point the next move is probably going to be for rates to start trickling downward. And so we want to try to capitalize on these higher rates. So please, please give us a call. Let's run through the different options for you. There's fixed annuities that crushed CDs. Don't even don't even look at a CD folks. Multi year guaranteed annuities the Omega it's a CD on steroids with insurance companies. Let's talk about that. The rates are better. There's some bells and whistles there. Some liquidity. Really good options there for you. Myeg is multi year guaranteed annuities fixed index annuities. You know even you know I hate to say it but even you know bonds are starting to look a little bit more attractive. So let's talk about that. Money markets, you know, high interest yield money markets at I mean we have over 5% sit in money market, right. So that's the good news for you guys that are listening.

Erick Arnett:
And you need to invest your money to get some yield and get something. It's time to stop playing the roller coaster markets and start grabbing that cash and putting that cash in your pocket. It's time for somebody to start paying you the cash flow. So let's talk about that. 35261605113526160511. Or like just go to TakePointWealth.com. That's TakePointWealth.comm in his Google right on your phone right now in the upper right hand corner. Just click on there and jump right on the calendar. And so you know inflation right. We've talked about uh taxes. We've talked about cash flow and income. So let's talk about the other thing which is risk right. Uh volatility the what I call it the wobble factor. This is the three silent killers. Right. Taxes fees and expenses and risk. So the wobble factor if you're a portfolio, if you're seeing wild fluctuations in your portfolio on a day to day basis or a weekly basis, a monthly basis, one month to get your statement, you're up 10%, the next one you're down 10% means you have a wobble factor. You have a very high standard deviation or you have high risk in your portfolio. We want to dial that down right you because often what I see is people have a high risk, high standard deviation or portfolios fluctuating a lot with volatility. But they're not really getting that good of an average return for the risks that they're taking.

Erick Arnett:
So it's about getting that good average return, that good dividend yield, that good income yield and reducing the wobble factor, reducing that that that risk. We want clear, solid, consistent returns. You know, we don't want big peaks and valleys, because one of the things that we talk about all the time and I want to talk about today on the show is, is the sequence of returns. I love this and it's very impactful. We talk about this in our educational events all the time in our seminars, and these slides are super impactful and it's something to think about. Forget about average returns. Folks. Like it. Just let's just stop talking about average returns. You know, if someone's pitching you on average returns or you know, you're looking to invest in something like, well, you know, the ten year average has been 12%. That's an average guess what? If your account goes up 50% one year, down 50%, one year up 30, down 30, you're not making any headway at all. You're just you're just bouncing back and forth, and you're probably still out of the same portfolio value that you had when you started. So we need to protect your portfolio and your retirement from sequence of returns first. All right. What exactly is sequence of return risk? Sequence of return risk refers to the impact of the order in which your investment returns occur, particularly during the early years of retirement when you minimize your contributions and start making regular withdrawals.

Erick Arnett:
So this is called shifting into what we call the decumulation phase. Right? So when you're growing up and you're working and you're saving and you're putting money away in your 4k retirement, you're in that accumulation phase, right? You're growing your retirement assets, but now you're going into that withdrawal phase or that decumulation phase, right? Where you're going to start maybe potentially taking distributions from your income or from your portfolios and your retirement. So it's important to get it right right away off the bat when you're going into retirement, because that first five years of retirement is so, so important. If you have a negative return in your portfolio, on top of the fact that you're taking money out and super, super impactful, think about it. Last year. In 2022, I think the S&P was down like 23, 24%, the Nasdaq close to 40%. The bond market was down like 16%. So we had huge negative returns. And that might be okay. If you're younger and you're still working, you're still contributing, but you're in that retirement red zone. You're getting ready to retire soon, or you're thinking about retirement or if you're already in retirement. We can't have it. You got to get off that roller coaster. As an example, imagine which probably most people, most investors or people that are invested in the markets in 2022 lost probably around 20 to 30% in their portfolios.

Erick Arnett:
So if you lost 20%, it takes 25% gain just to get back and recover your losses. If you lost 30%, it's a 43% gain, right? So you almost have to double your gain to get back out. So how do you get a 43% return? That could take years. Okay. So when you take a loss in the stock market, the gain required for the stock price to recover is much, much higher. That's volatility folks. Those peaks and valleys. That's the silent killer. It's not the average returns like if you're advising well yeah. Hey we've averaged this. No it's it's what what was you know minimizing those losses. It's super super important to minimize the losses in the down years. I really don't care what you make in the up years when the market's going up. Everybody's making money. And it's not really about that. It's about protecting your retirement in the negative years of the down years. And so you can't afford those losses. And if if you're taking money out on top of that and you and you get those negative returns, those double digit negative returns at the beginning of your retirement, it's devastating. Like you're looking at on the back end, rolling out, you know, running out of money. I'd love to show you this illustration if you give me a call. 352616055113526160511. I want to show you this.

Erick Arnett:
I'll run one up together. Run one off for you. Just set it to an email so you can understand the secrets of terms and the impact of volatility on the market. I don't want to hear oh yeah. Well you know the market goes down and the market always comes back. But how long is it going to take. And if you're also pulling money it's going to be near impossible in the beginning stages to get back to where you were and maintain that principal. If you got those negative returns later on to retire later on in retirement, it's not as impactful. But in those first five years, folks, you got to get it right. What can be done to protect your retirement from sequencer terms risk. The important thing to understand is the closer you are to retirement, the less time you have to make up for any investment losses, right? So making the need to place protection around your savings is even more important right now. Ask yourself how much of our retirement savings am I willing to risk? You know, rule 100. We talk about the 60 over 40 plan. I love, love, love that. Take your age. Subtract it from 100. Let's say you're 60. The most you should have at risk in those markets is 40%. The other 60%, the 70%. You should have a solid principal protected product that's paying you income. So you know, and it's going to be able to keep up with those withdrawal rates because if you like, once again, if you go down you dip.

Erick Arnett:
It's it's really tough to get back. So that sequence of return smoothing out volatility, getting off that roller coaster if driving from point A to point B in that horse and buggy, you're still going to get there, right? As opposed to being on that Ferrari of the, you know, on the on the Malibu Highway, you know, and screeching around and going off cliffs and stuff. You know, that kind of vehicle is just, is, is not going to get you where you need to be. So let's take it slow. Let's go with smooth, consistent returns. And let's try to do our best to maintain that principal and not lose money in those down years. Super super super important. Number one, you've got to know what your sustainable withdrawal rate is, right? So you know, many folks follow that 4% rule, which means you shouldn't really take more than 4% from your retirement if you want to maintain that principal over time. So that's super, super important. But I call that financial speed. Everybody has a financial speed. You know, what can I take? What can I not take. How much to return? Do I need to get on my portfolio over time to sustain my lifestyle as a company. So you every single person right now listening to my show, you all have a different financial speed.

Erick Arnett:
And let's determine what your financial speed is today. Give me a call 35261605113526160511. Let's find what your financial speed is. And also let's think about establishing your own personal pension to create another source of monthly income for life. So, you know, it's important, like I said earlier, to have somebody putting money in your pocket on a monthly basis, right. Creating that long terme income where you're not going to have to ever worry about running out of money. That's super, super important. Create that pension. We can show you how to do that. Don't be so quick to take that pension at work if you're retiring. Let's talk about creating your own pension. And if you don't have that pension option, then what better not to do than to create your own right? So don't put off retirement planning. Please get a second opinion. If I go to the doctor, you know, and he says to me, hey, you know, you got to have this surgery or whatever, I'm going to get another opinion. It's important, right? Get 2 or 3 opinions and don't just take my word for it, folks. Get some opinions on what you're doing. Get a second opinion, the third opinion. But don't put off this retirement planning. I'm urging you to get on it and start planning today. According to a recent survey, saying half of AmErickans are do it yourselfers when it comes to retirement, which could lead to overlooking some very critical planning essentials that retirees could do things.

Erick Arnett:
Over 40% of them say they would have started planning earlier. Think about that. That's impactful. So I know we like to try to do things on our own, but I'll show you where you can bring an advisor on board with you on your T. We work for you. We're a fiduciary. So your interests are our interests. You know, we've always put your interest first. And so let's I'll show you where it's really not going to cost you a lot more to have that third party consultant that take point off by your side. And to add that, you know, some of those essential things that you might be overlooking. So working with a financial advisor professional can make all the difference. If you want to be on the right track and avoid costly mistakes in your retirement plan, it's just like having a second set of eyes, professional eyes on what you're doing to keep you on track, to avoid those pitfalls, to find those potential risks, you know, so savvy pre-retirees start to shift their mindset and their money 5 to 10 years, 5 to 10 years prior to the desired retirement date. So please, please, please give us a call today. We'll put together that complimentary retirement plan for you. We want to ease those concerns. Our initial consultation will simply just answer a few questions, get on the phone, chat for 15 20 minutes.

Erick Arnett:
That's all we need to do to get started, folks. We need to talk about what a successful retirement plan looks like to you. What are you doing in your in retirement? Who are you with? Where are you going? What are you? Are you traveling? Are you playing golf? Are you just gardening? What are you looking to accomplish? Do you have any specific goals? How do you plan to create income each month? So please, please, please give us a call. Full retirement plan consultation at no cost to our listeners. And there's no obligation. You only work with us if it's best for you. We will help you analyze your financial situation, discover exactly how much you're paying in fees, help you cut unnecessary costs in your IRA, 400 K and other retirement savings accounts. We can also help with Social Security planning and Medicare. We compare your current situation to what's possible if you work with us. So remember, it's your money. If it matters to you, it matters to us. So thank you. Thank you so much for listening today. I know we covered a lot. Uh, please give me a call. Erick Garnett, take point. Wealth take point. Wealth.com. The upper right hand corner. Just click on there to chat with us and get get your plan going. And that's it for today. We're running out of time. Thanks, Sam.

Producer:
All right, I'll give you the number one more time. It's (352) 616-0511. You can find that number and schedule your free consultation today at TakePointWealth.com and take point on retirement. We'll be back next week.

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. 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 interest of our clients and to make full disclosure of any conflicts of interest, if any exist, please refer to our firm brochure, the ADV 2A page four, for additional information.

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.

Man:
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.

Man:
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.

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

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

Man:
That's right, you heard them. Folks. Head on over to TakePointWealth.com today.

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