On this week’s show, Erick welcomes Susie Carey to discuss the importance of having a legal plan for you and your family’s future. In segment two, Erick explains how to defuse the retirement tax bomb inside your portfolio and details how to convert money into tax-free accounts.

Call Erick today at 352-616-0511

Book a free consultation here.

3.3.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

3.3.23: 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:
So, hey, everybody, welcome back to Take Point on Retirement Radio. I can't believe another week has passed us by. Oh, man, the weather's beautiful out there. Thank goodness for that. February weather and March is rolling in. And just wanted to give a shout out to our audience. Thank you so much for listening. Welcome to the show. This is Take Point on Retirement radio. It's your educational show from everything from A to Z when it comes to retirement and retiring successfully and stress free today, I think we have an awesome show action packed and we even have a special guest. So I'm super excited about that. And our guest today, we're going to be continuing our estate planning series. If you caught the show last week and the week before, we've been talking quite a bit about estate planning. If you happen to miss the show, that's okay because you can catch us anytime on Spotify, on iTunes, any of your podcast channels, just Google Take Point on Retirement or when you're in your podcast app, you just can go ahead and put in the search engine there and take point. On retirement. You can pull up any of our past shows. You can also visit our radio website. TakePointonRetirement.com.

Erick Arnett:
That site also has all of our podcasts. So I often hear from folks that it's tough to catch the whole show. I caught a few minutes. I caught 20 minutes. This kind of sparked my interest. So we have a wealth of information and you can go back and listen to any show you'd like. Also, we have a YouTube channel That's great. You can check out our YouTube channel and subscribe to see our weekly video highlights and any special content that we have. A special shout out to all of you. And Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa and of course, our nature coast right here. And I want to introduce Miss Suzy Carey. She is with the Absolute Law Group. We're so excited to have her here today. I have been working closely with this group for a while and they handle all of my clients elder care needs. They're super, super great, fantastic. It's a white glove service. And so, you know, I just want to say, hey, Susie, how are you doing today? And then we'll jump in and just kind of have a conversation about what we think is impacting our elders and our retirees. But with that being said, how are you doing today?

Susie Carey:
Well, good morning. Hey, Erick, how are you? Thank you so much for having Absolute Law Group and myself on the show today. We're really excited to be a part of this and providing the education, continuing the education that you've been providing through your show. So thank you so much for having us.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I really wanted I was excited to have you on the show because, you know, we're at Take Point Wealth management. We're seeing this more and more. And of course, this is what you guys do every day. And I just felt like it was a really important message to get that out there to folks. You know, some of the things that we're seeing obviously, are retirees and pre-retirees folks that are planning for retirement. And even if you're in retirement, maybe your parents are retired and they're getting up there in age. And we see a lot of you know, we have a lot of concerns. We see a lot of pitfalls and things that could be facing our retirees and pre-retirees when it comes to elder law planning and planning for what we call that end of life or and even we call life call it life planning. Right, Suzy? I mean, it doesn't have to be about death, right? It's about life and what's going to happen to you while you're living.

Susie Carey:
Absolutely. And that's a great point. In fact, most people feel like that they've planned everything if they've planned for their passing, meaning they've done their last will and testament, they've made their pre-arranged, their funeral and things like that. All of that is great and we really support that and our advocates for that. But what we really are not seeing is people who are pre planning for those life events. You know, life always happens. And then what do you do when life happens? But it causes disability or you have major medical concerns and issues that are affecting your daily life. And that's really when you think, gosh, what am I going to do through health care costs? I mean, we all know the rising cost of health care is just in front of us every single day. As you know, as a financial advisor, you're really key to the success of people preparing and really helping their assets continue to grow through retirement, not just for the fun that retirement gives us, right? We all want to plan for the golf days and the sunshine in Florida, which is why we have such a high population of retirees. But what we're not really planning for is, of course, the physical disasters that affect our lives, certainly as we continue to age.

Erick Arnett:
Here at Take Point Wealth and and I and I know you guys have the same approach at absolute law when I sit down with somebody and we're building that retirement plan for them and by the way, folks that full blown retirement plan, if you call in today, is absolutely free. It's a free consultation and you can get a hold of us at 35261605113526160511. For any estate planning questions Medicare, Medicaid. If you have questions about qualifying, things like that, we have we have a great partner on board now with absolute law and we can get your questions answered. But everybody that comes in, they have to have some some type of estate planning. And most people put that off, put that off. I mean, we'll plan for vacations. We'll we'll plan, you know, weddings. We'll put all kinds of time and effort into planning the fun stuff. Right? And we tend to kick this can down the road and getting the proper estate planning documents in place. And it can be done at a reasonable cost now. But if you wait and you don't get it done and then it kind of sneaks up and bites you, then it can be very costly, it can be very difficult to navigate. And so taking that time now and even exploring the cost associated with that, you know, is really important because yeah, I mean, Suzy, we talk about it on every show.

Erick Arnett:
One of the major things that is facing our retirees and our retirees is the rising health care costs. It's it's astronomical and it keeps going up and up and up. The average couple out there will spend anywhere between 20 to 30, maybe even $40,000 a year in medical costs. And so, you know, where you guys are super, super helpful is also coming in. I know you do a lot of triage work, Susie, and you work with folks that are kind of come to you and they're like, wow, you know, this is this kind of end of life thing. Or we've had, you know, maybe someone in the family has gotten ill and we've had this kind of, you know, situation right in our face right now. But what are some basics that you could give folks that might help them pre-plan for this? And what do you suggest, you know, for, I guess, that average couple or that individual that might be sitting out there that's 60, 65 and they've kind of put this on the back burner and they don't think about it much. What would you say to them?

Susie Carey:
Yes, you make such great points, Erick and we surely appreciate Take Point Wealth having us on on today so we can explore those exact questions and answers. And the first thing I'd like to say is, is we get asked quite frequently what is an elder law attorney and and really, by true definition, an elder law really is the legal practice that specializes on issues that affect our senior population. And really, the purpose of what we do is to prepare our seniors for financial freedom, which is where, of course, take point comes in. But the autonomy to make really good choices and proper decisions regarding their financial and long term care planning. And one of the things I like to to talk to our clients about, especially when people are unsure of when is the right time to make that phone call to an elder law firm is I use this analogy and I'm happy to use this on your show today is is because the great state of Florida is wonderful with weather beaches, all these wonderful retirement communities that support people moving into our state. And we're so grateful to it. But what we also have is called hurricanes, right? That's a natural disaster. And so in a true Floridian, right. I was born and raised in Ocala, Florida, and I've been around the hurricanes for, gosh, I won't date myself, but let's just say many, many years. And it's interesting that I see people prepare so heavily when the alerts go out.

Susie Carey:
We're all watching the Weather Channel. We know a hurricane is coming and people will go out and spend 45 minutes in a gas line, will buy extra supplies. We'll go to Home Depot. We'll buy a generator, all to protect life and limb and our stuff. Right. We have a house full of stuff. We don't want a hurricane to blow it away. We don't want our loved ones to be harmed. And by gosh, we don't want to be without air conditioning, especially if it's a hurricane during the summer. Right. So we take all those efforts to plan for those hurricanes because it's a natural disaster. What happens when we have a medical disaster? And that's, of course, segwaying into what you were asking me is, is what happens when people are in what we call a crisis mode. And that's actually when we do get clients that are right in the throes of maybe a stroke. A heart attack could have been a simple as a fall that that caused a traumatic brain injury, for example. All of those things don't take the life of the individual, but does impact their ability to to do their activities of daily living. And, of course, then the family is thrown into the financial issues and also the legal issues. So the question becomes, well, when do I call and how do I know if I should call an elder law attorney? I'll tell you, it doesn't mean you have to have wealth.

Susie Carey:
And I think that's where people get confused, is they feel like having an attorney or even a financial advisor such as yourself and take point Financial. You feel like you have to have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in the bank, and that's just simply not the case. Here at Absolute Law Group, we take everything into consideration and we treat each of our clients on a case by case basis based upon what their circumstances are and what they are going through. So like you said, that age population 65 years and older, our focus for Absolute Law Group is to help educate, which is why we do a lot of free education, such as you inviting us on the show today to our communities to help people know when to make that phone call. But it's much better to prepare now, just like you do for those hurricanes, right? Prepare now for the future. Know that you've got all of your legal documents in a row, such as a durable power of attorney, such as your living will documents. We call those incapacity documents because that's generally when people start to use those legal documents. So as you can see, there's a lot to discuss. When we have our clients come in, we thoroughly vet them and we we really just try to make sure our clients are cared for, like their family would want us to care for them or that they would care for their own family.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, great, great advice. And you know, I will just sound the alarm on some of that. I, you know, as a financial advisor and a retirement planner, I'm meeting with, you know, a bunch of people on a weekly basis. And it's it's shocking to me, but not so shocking because I've been doing this 25 years and I've seen it quite often, is that I sit I sit down with a lot of family families and couples and individuals, and they have not done or have the proper documents in place. Just having that most important document, I think, is that durable power of attorney, right? Absolutely. A very powerful document in the state of Florida. And correct me if I'm wrong, I mean, the durable power of attorney is basically that person that you're giving that power to can act on your behalf when it comes to all of their financials, correct?

Susie Carey:
Absolutely. Those durable power of attorneys, everybody. I believe there is this misnomer or myth that because you are married, that someone can act on your behalf. And we also get commonly well, my banking accounts are joint and all of those things and they have access to this and that. The reality is, is not all things can be conducted just because you're married, especially as it relates to health care and other provisions that you're going to need somebody to legally want to act on your behalf. And so you're absolutely right that that durable power of attorney is really the first key. And I think you and I both have a mutual client that we share that has gone through some very difficult times. And it's important for us to tell the audience, don't wait until something happens to make those phone calls. And that's where that preparation of a durable power of attorney comes in. And and just to clarify for the for the audience. A durable power of attorney is your financial document really? And it's the one that allows someone that you trust. And it very well could be your spouse as your durable power of attorney. And we also recommended absolute law group that you have a successor power of attorney. So in case your spouse is unable to act on your behalf, you have a backup so that you don't have to go back and and read those, redo those documents.

Susie Carey:
But the question then becomes, what happens if I don't have the durable power of attorney and something significant happens to, let's say, my my partner, right. My wife, my husband, my my partner, my partner in crime is the only other option becomes a guardianship. And that's where you are really basically stripped of your rights. And we we try to avoid that as much as possible. We we don't like having to go through the guardianship process, but it happens and it happens when someone has had a significant or catastrophic health event that would result in the loss of their capacity or their ability to make good, sound decisions. And again, there's that myth that, oh, my, my, my partner, my spouse can do that for me. Well, not really. Not all transactions can be conducted just because you're married, right? So that's where a guardianship can be, which can be very costly, very time consuming. But on top of that, it's extremely stressful for the healthier spouse. And now you're making really important decisions under duress and stress. So you're absolutely right. Having those basic legal documents are really the key to avoiding a lot of that.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I've learned so much working with the Absolute Law Group as an investment advisor, you know, and if if if you're out there listening today and, and you haven't been talking about this stuff with your advisor, you know, please give us a call. (352) 616-0511. You can also go to our website TakePointWealth.com You can just Google it right on your phone and in the upper right hand corner of my website, you can click a button and that's a chat. It'll just open up a discussion and you can actually go in there and ask me a question or get the get the chat going. You might have a specific question about your unique situation, but I have to go back and kind of elaborate, You know, everything that I've learned with Absolute law and I've learned a lot from just working with this one mutual client, because even really, I think as an advisor, we take this for granted and I know a lot of our listeners do the same. In fact, I'll just point the finger at myself, even my own wife. I've been recently remarried and and it took us a long time to actually get in and get our stuff done. So I was even, you know, I was even guilty of it. And it's this one this one particular couple was married for a very long time. And they had, you know, obviously a long life together and had assets together. And and this particular individual had IRAs. And I think we think, well, if I just you know, I've got my wife on there as a beneficiary or a trusted contact or, you know, you know, she's my wife.

Erick Arnett:
So she is, you know, for sure she's going to be able to call on my behalf and withdraw money and pay bills and all that. Right. I mean, we've been married 40 years, So folks, imagine that if you don't have the proper documents in place and you have not done the proper planning, this person could not even access her husband's. Funds in order to help pay for their for all the medical costs and and different challenges they had coming at them financially with this change in life that they had to get started on by, you know, setting up an assisted living facility and all this kind of stuff. And so extremely and it was painful for us to to walk through this with this client. And because she's so stressed out and is going through so much and now on top of this, having to wait all this time and have to go through the court systems to get appointed as her own husband's legal guardian and all the money that that's cost and all the time and the aggravation and the stress. So that really compelled me to get you on the show because that's what we do here at Take Point Wealth. And I know that's what you guys do at Absolute Laws. When we sit down with a family or a client or a couple or whatever it is, we want to put that total bubble around them. We're folks, we're looking for every potential risk that could be coming at you in your retirement. That's what we do because we've been doing this for so long.

Erick Arnett:
So we've seen the mistakes, we've seen the pitfalls, we see the things that have happened. And they can easily be avoided with just with some proper planning. And it really doesn't even take that much of your time. And so that's why we're so passionate about this today is and I was just I was just sitting yesterday with a couple and they were younger. You know, they were in their late 40s and but they been together for a long time, married and had no durable power of attorney on each other. And I said to them like, guys, what are you doing? You know, I said, I said, you know what? We got to stop everything right now because I was doing a full blown financial plan for them like this. They don't even have an estate planning package. No living wills, no durable power of attorneys, no will, no trust, no nothing. And so I'm like, okay, we got to stop right there. First and foremost, this is the number one priority. This has to be done. And so if you're out there listening and this might be something that you have maybe kind of put on the back burner and that's okay. I totally understand that. We're urging you to act now, like reach out today, give us a call, get on our website, set up an appointment. We will we will help guide you through that and we'll help handle all that for you right here at Take Point Wealth. We can help you do your estate planning with the Partnership of Absolute Law. You call it the end caps.

Susie Carey:
We call them capacity documents simply because and you touched on a great a great point there with your your living will. And many people in the state of Florida might remember a very significant legal case many, many years ago involving Terri Schiavo, which she had a debilitating health issue, some something medically had happened to her that put her into a coma. And long story short, there was a very lengthy court battle between her spouse and her parents as to what her wishes were. Did she want to be kept alive through artificial means or what would she have wanted? But because even in her young age, again, you don't plan for those sudden events. That's why they're called accidents, right? We don't plan for them. So in her case, there was no predetermined this is what I want should this happen to me medically. So I think take point. Wealth really is doing a great job by a hosting a radio show to even try to put out mass messaging to people to say, take heed this. This can happen to any one of us. And if we learned anything during 2020 and I'll be honest, I hate saying the word pandemic and I hate saying the word COVID because I'm pretty well over it, as I'm sure many of our listeners today are right. We are so tired of hearing it. But we learned something. We learned something valuable that says it does not matter what age you are, you could be that person. And I lost very, very dear friends of mine that were not even 60 years old to Covid normal. Seemed like every seem like everybody else.

Susie Carey:
Everybody's healthy, we're all doing well. And it took the lives of so many people that we weren't ready for them to go yet. And then what did that happen? But even more importantly, what happened during during that time frame. And it still happening, but people were becoming hospitalized for lengthy amounts of time and they weren't able to conduct their life affairs. They weren't able to make sure everything was going well. And then you have that really that that aha moment of, oh my God, what am I going to do? I didn't plan for this, right? I planned for my passing. I know I'm going to have a great funeral. They're going to tell everybody how great I am, do my celebration of life. But wow, what if I what if I can't go back to work? What if I'm in the hospital long term or even worse, as you age? What if you need to go into a nursing home? And how do you protect those dollars? Well, I want your listeners to know that, A, the state of Florida is extremely friendly to our seniors. It's why we don't have a state tax. We have wonderful shelters and legal vessels for us to help protect assets. I would definitely reach out to, again, your listeners contacting you on that. (352) 616-0511 number. And I will tell you Erick and Take Point Wealth will get you connected to absolute law group. We can provide services throughout the state of Florida. We have many clients where we we go to their homes. Erick we go and visit people at their assisted living community. We go to the hospital.

Susie Carey:
I had a client visit yesterday at the hospital. She was in a ICU stepdown. So when I tell you we are a white glove service, we really take the initiative. I don't know how many of you know how many attorneys offices will actually send their team members out, wherever they're at. And I know you do the same. You've come up all the way to Crystal River, Erick. And I will tell you, having people who are that invested and I love that word investment, right? So you take care of that financial investment, protecting them, protecting their retirement, protecting their legacies, really. And and we are a great partner to that. And that's where we really try to hone in on a case by case basis. We do the advocacy work. We are truly the advocates, which means we are pleading on behalf of another to make sure that they are well cared for. We make sure that our clients, if they need assisted living, which one is the right one? I have many, many years of overseeing assisted living and in skilled nursing admissions, so we don't just do one thing right. We focus solely on our clients just like you do there at Take Point Wealth. And we just want your listeners today to really hear this message, know that it's it's the what ifs that gets us caught. Right? It's those what if moments and we're here to tell you we're the ones we're the solution. Investing in your legal health is just as important as making sure your your stock market investments are in line. Your legal investments need to also be in line.

Erick Arnett:
No. Oh, man. Boom. You hit. You hit. So every once in a while on the show we have these aha aha moments and we call it the boom, the boom moments. And that was a boom right there. Because what you said was was huge. And I think I want to I just want to reiterate it. You know you guys actually go to the. Oaks homes and the assisted living facilities. And I know we have listeners living in those type of situations because there's a couple people out there. You're listening to the show right now and you know who you are. And I actually come right to you at the assisted living facilities and service you. In fact, it was kind of cool the other day. I was at a gentleman's home down there in Port Charlotte, and we were in the elevator and we were going down and there were some other folks in there and there was another lady in there and he introduced me and she said, Oh my gosh, that's your financial advisor. He actually comes right to you. And he's like, Yep, he sure does. And that was kind of cool. It was. It was kind of a gave me a goosebump a little bit because I thought that was really cool because I know there's not a lot of professionals out there that are going to go that extra mile for their clients. And we, you know, our clients become our family. I know you guys treat him the same way. And that's the big, big difference.

Erick Arnett:
And that's why I've partnered with Absolute Law Group, because I've seen the way that you guys provide that white glove service for your clients. And that's huge because for our listeners out there, it's really hard to find. In fact, we were talking to a gentleman the other day and he's, you know, kind of alone. He's in his 70 seconds and he's like, What if something happens to me? I don't really have anybody to step in. And, you know, we actually will come in and we'll we'll be that person, that team for you. And it's about surrounding yourself with a team of professionals that truly care and truly have passion. And folks, if something made sense to you today or you have a concern, please reach out to us. You can call us at (352) 616-0511. It's 100% free consultation. The only thing it's going to cost is your time and we will get you on the right track and help guide you there. Once again, that's free absolute free consultation to get you on track and answer those questions for you. So with that all being said, Suzy, thank you so much for being on the show. We are absolutely going to have you back on because we did not even scratch the surface when it comes to elder law planning and elder law care and what's potentially facing our retirees out there. But I'll kind of let you wrap up real quick and say your goodbyes and thank you so much for being on the show.

Susie Carey:
Gosh, I just want to say thank you again, Erick. And to Take Point Wealth. You guys are pretty awesome to work with and I know you care very deeply for your clients and and we appreciate that. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you in any of your listeners today and to be a part of this. And yes, we have barely scratched the surface. And again, Absolut Law Group is an elder law firm, and we do specialize in everything to support our seniors. We do everything from estate planning, probate to further that. We also specialize in dementia and Alzheimer's care as well. So I can't wait to come back on the show. Share even more to your listeners and if anyone wants a part of that free consultation, absolutely. Please again, call the number (352) 616-0511. Erick and his team at Take Point Wealth will make sure you get connected to absolute Law group and thank you again Erick. We really appreciate it and look forward to another show.

Erick Arnett:
Thank you so much for being here. And we'll be right back with Take Point on Retirement.

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

Erick Arnett:
So hey everybody welcome back to this is segment two on Take Point on Retirement radio. Happy Saturday to you. Happy Sunday to you. I think we're also on Sundays down there in the Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte area. So happy weekend. It's beautiful weekend out there. But just, you know, first segment of the show, Sam, we had a great guest on Suzy Carrie from Absolute Law Group and really stressing the importance of that planning. We've we've said this before. Prior planning pays. It pays a lot. You know, I've seen this one couple almost go through complete devastation and they're having to spend down all this money and time. And because they just didn't have a few directives in place, what they call the end caps or the end of life documents or even, you know, when you become incapacitated, you may even you know, you may even make it out of it. You may just be sick for a while or held up in the hospital. You got to have somebody that can handle and take care of those financial decisions for you. And you also have have to have a team around you that's knowledgeable and that's absolute law group and Take Point Wealth where by your side leading you every step of the way so just super excited to have them on the show if you have questions concerns there was something that jumped out at you and you're like, Wow, I need to get rolling on this.

Erick Arnett:
Then please give us a call at (352) 616-0511. Folks, it's absolutely free. No one's going to hold a gun to your head. You don't have to write us a check. It's not going to cost you a thing. This show is purely educational. You can feel free to give us a call and we're going to help guide you and bring you and get you on your way so you don't have to worry about this stuff. And you know that you can sleep at night with some confidence, some clarity, and you know that your everything in your ship is tight and you're ready to go and face no matter what comes your way. Because it's sad to say and it's sad to talk about and I know some of our listeners know that my wife is a health coach and physical fitness trainer, and she's very big into the homeopathic health and eating right and all that good stuff. But one thing that she's been studying a lot is this COVID, and whether you had the whether you had COVID or you had the vaccines. Going forward, our health is going to be challenged. It's just it's plain and simple. And so, you know, not only do we have to take care of ourselves to fight those potential health pitfalls that could sneak up on us, but we have to have the right documents in place so our family members and our loved ones don't have to be stressed out and you don't have to hurt your state.

Erick Arnett:
Super important just to do that prior planning. So please give us a call. (352) 616-0511. You can also just go right to my website TakePointWealth.com. In that upper right hand corner there's a little box. You all know where it is. Some of you have used it. Just click on that little box there and you get right into my calendar 15, 20 minutes. Let's get you on the right track and let's get get all that stuff wrapped up for you so don't have to worry about it anymore. And if you're alone, maybe you're alone. We have a lot of listeners that don't have some loved ones nearby. They don't have family nearby. I'm talking to a guy the other day and he he doesn't even really have any close friends or anybody that he would trust to be able to do this kind of stuff for him. So as a fiduciary, a fiduciary and a financial advisor, it is our duty, it's our honor to take that burden from you and to help you make sure that you have all those directives in place where you don't have to worry about that stuff. And you can sleep at night knowing that you're going to be taken care of and all that hard work, all that money that you've worked so hard for to save up, we can protect it.

Erick Arnett:
There's a lot of asset protection strategies here in Florida, and that's why we partner with Absolute Law Group so we can bring those strategies to you to protect your assets should something like that occur. So please, please, please get out in front of that and do some do some planning. So with that being said, you know, gosh, Sam, we got this awesome outline that you put together for us every week and we've got so much to talk about. We might not get to all of it today on today's show. But one thing that I really do love and I want to talk about is heading back to work. I get this question all the time, Sam. You know, a lot of my retirees, they sit down or even they retire for a year or two and they're like, you know what, man? I am bored stiff. I've got to do something. I get back to work. And so there's some things that you got to potentially plan for if you're thinking about doing that. So we've got some important things you need to know before you retire, we'll call it right. What are some of those things that you think that are important? Sam I know for our retirees heading back to work.

Producer:
Yeah, well, you know, I know that even my dad, you know, he was telling me the other day, he's like, Man, the closer I get to retirement, the more I think that I can't stop working because I need it for the rhythm, you know, more than I need it for the money. And, you know, there was a study by a group called Paychex and they cited the top reasons. Why some retirees are choosing to go back to work. 57% said personal reasons, 53% said needing more money. Of course, inflation has been tough the last couple of years. 52% said getting bored, which is hitting on that point that you just mentioned, Erick, 45% feeling lonely. Makes sense. Feel good around your coworkers and and 45% said inflation. So there's a handful of big reasons why people are choosing to go back to work. But there are some important things that you need to consider so that you can actually make going back to work worthwhile.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah. So some big implications there. Taxes, Social Security, you know, cost of Medicare. So we're going to get into some of those important things that could be affected. If you do make this decision. We get the reason why you want to do it. But give us a call. Let's discuss it before you do that or before you make any major changes. Or maybe we got to make some tweaks or some changes to your retirement plan in order to optimize that new strategy of yours. So please reach out at TakePointWealth.com in that upper right hand corner click and we'll have a little chat session or you can call me at (352) 616-0511. We're standing by to talk to you today about hey are you thinking about going back to work and what are the implications? One of the number one tips, if you don't need income, then consider a low stress job. Right? We're talking about health and stress. And don't go back to work at at your age. If you're in your late 50s, early 60s, you might even be 70. I've got guys in their 70s that are still working. By all means, don't go and create more stress for yourself. So, you know, if you're considering work and it's not really a financial thing, you're not alone. I know you're maybe bored. You know, you just want to get back to work the interaction with folks.

Erick Arnett:
So if you're seeking work fulfillment, it's worth considering a job, that it's low stress and provides you some flexibility whether you need income or not. It's also important to know the impact it can have on other parts of your financial picture. For one, extra pay can shrink your Social Security for early claimers. So this is important. If you tapped into Social Security early prior to your full retirement age, which for most of us that's going to be somewhere between 66 and 67. So your full retirement age is going to be that 66, 67 number. So if you take Social Security prior to that, then you're also not only are you going to have a reduced benefit, but the there's income thresholds and there's income calculations that the IRS are going to use in order to tax your Social Security. Okay. So this is super important. You don't want to be giving back a bunch of Social Security. I know my own father did this, unbeknownst to me. You know, he this was years and years ago. He was like, you know, I'm not going to live forever, so I'm going to go ahead and turn on my Social Security at 62. But he was still working full time when he did it. And I had no idea. And I'm like, what did you do? And so he had to actually go back and unravel it a year later because they literally took 50% of his Social Security away.

Erick Arnett:
So what was the point of turning on an early benefit to give back half of it while you're still working? Right. So don't do that. That's a big mistake. So, you know, give us a call part of our full retirement plan consultation that's absolutely free to you as we're going to do a Social Security maximization report for you. We're going to tell you exactly when is the right time for you to take Social Security and then what are the implications of of it when you do take it higher taxes, potentially, maybe higher Medicare costs for you Potentially. So you've got to be really, really careful that you don't hurt yourself by doing that. So, you know, full retirement age, 66, 67 wage income could temporarily reduce your benefits. So depending on your birth year. So be very, very careful. So while delaying that Social Security for as long as possible means a higher monthly check, many people take it as soon as they can at age 62 or soon after. I know you're just anxious to kind of grab that and have a lot of people tell me like, well, I'm not going to live forever. I said, You know, you don't really know how much you're going to live and why give so much of that back to Uncle Sam? And why increase all of your living expenses? You could really hurt your your cash flow.

Erick Arnett:
And typically, these are decisions that you have to get right in those early stages of planning. So that's why we always talk to people. It's never too early to start planning for this stuff and asking these questions. If you're 50, 55, 60 and you think, oh, 65 is way off in the distance, or when I get 62, I'm definitely going to turn on my Social Security. Please stop and think about that first and give us a call and let us walk you through it. And let's do let's do a full blown retirement plan for you, first and foremost, to see if that makes sense. So, you know, even if you have pensions involved, you could potentially be taxing your pension much higher as well. So. Uh, real, real important. If you start getting those monthly checks early, there's a limit on how much you can earn from working without your benefits being affected. So for 2023, I believe that cap is 21,000, around 21,000, 21,240, something like that. So for every $2 over the limit, one is going to be withheld from benefits. So that's real important if you're going to go back to work and you're already taking Social Security prior to your full retirement age, you got to be careful about those income levels because, man, if you pop up above that 21,000 level, bam, you're going to do some serious damage.

Erick Arnett:
I was talking to a gentleman the other day and he was shocked. He got his Social Security statement and they raised his Medicare premiums like big time, like 50, 60%, because this is crazy. This guy is in his 80s. Right. And he had a portfolio and his advisor sold some stuff which created a big capital gain over 200,000. Well, guess what? That capital gain, folks, goes right to the bottom line as income. And they raised all of his taxes on his Social Security and they increased his Medicare premiums. So you got to be super careful about and be mindful of, you know, even when you're selling stuff on your portfolios and how that's going to impact your income. So one thing that we love, love, love is that we're also partnered with Suncoast CPA Group. So Take Point Wealth has in House CPAs tax advisors. They've been doing this for 25, 30 years. So give us a call, folks. We are the right shop for you. The one stop shop. We've created this boutique firm for you that handles all your needs. You know.

Erick Arnett:
(352) 616-0511. And we can handle all those needs for you. And these are really, really important questions. And, you know, like, obviously we've talked about Medicare and Medicaid and all those big costs that could potentially be facing, you. And and one thing that we do in your retirement planning is we'll do a health care cost analysis so we can also set you up with your Medicare. We can set you up with the Medicaid planning, all that right here at Take Point Wealth because we want to have our hand in that. We want to be the one stop shop and the total planner. So we know that our clients aren't going to be making any of these mistakes or hitting any of these potential pitfalls so we can provide that Medicare planning for you, that health care plan. Maybe you don't know what health care cost is going to be like for you. We can actually sit down, locate where you are geographically, whether you're married. We go through, you know, what kind of health care costs you need. We can actually come up with a plan that's best for you in your area. So super, super important. But you know that income from that job could potentially be pushing you into a much higher tax bracket. Right. So that is also going to trigger additional costs for Medicare.

Erick Arnett:
Your Medicare is based on income, folks. I know a lot of people out there, most in a lot of younger people, they have this misconception like, oh, if I get to 65, my Medicare is free, my health care is free. No, it's not the case, folks. Unfortunately, it's still going to cost you quite a bit of money. You know, anywhere between 20 to $30,000 a year for that average couple. So basically, if you're a high earner, you're going to pay a premium surcharge for Medicare Part B, which is your outpatient coverage and Part D prescription drug coverage. So those extra charges start at income above 97,000 for individuals and 194,000 for married couples who file joint returns. So you've got to be real, real careful. There's some strategic planning that you can do as a couple, as a family with us here at Take Point Wealth and Suncoast CPA Group in order to alleviate that. And so you don't run into those potential pitfalls. So super, super important to get that free financial consultation today. Call us at (352) 616-0511. That's (352) 616-0511. Reach out to us today and we will do that free consultation for you. And one thing that, Sam, I think is super important, if there's folks out there listening, is our business owners, right? I mean, our self-employed folks, we see those. A lot of concerns there as well.

Producer:
Absolutely. You know, my wife herself is self-employed. She's an actor. So this time of year, you know, we start stacking up all those tax documents, those.

Producer:
1099, those W-2s, you know, everything that could come from work. It could be a 1095 C, you know, interest paid on your mortgage, and it really starts to stack up. So it's great.It's such a good.Tool to have, you know, tax experts right there in your office because especially when it comes to business owners.

Producer:
They put so much time and effort and energy into running their business that often what we see is that they're overlooking their own retirement. And it's it's so important to.Pay yourself.First.

Erick Arnett:
No, I mean, that's huge. I think we see we were talking about this earlier with our business owners and our self-employed. And even if you're a retiree or and you're thinking about maybe going back to work and starting your own little business and you're going to get paid on a 1099, there are some specific strategic planning that we can do for you to optimize that plan for you and optimize your cash flow. Because you know, it's little questions like, Do I open up an LLC? Is it an S Corp, a C corp? How is that going to be taxed and how is that income going to tax my Social Security? Is it going to increase it, lower Medicare costs? So a lot of a lot of those questions and concerns that if you get with a financial advisor and someone that can help you navigate all those unique challenges and and especially if you're a business owner and, you know, even if you're still out there currently working as a business owner, we have a lot of strategies that we can help you that are specific for business owners that aren't available to others. So, you know, we recommend, of course, forming that LLC and paying yourself first each month before you go out and buy all that equipment or before you go out and make that purchase.

Erick Arnett:
You know, maybe someone said, Oh, if you buy this truck, you know, you can write it off and it's going to save you on taxes inside your business. What about saving for your retirement? First and foremost, there are some really great regular contributions and some some into some tax advantaged retirement plans that you have available to you that other folks don't. So we'd love to walk you through that. You know, the bottom line is, if you're a business owner, you need to be consulting with a financial advisor, a professional, a tax team, a legal team, and we can provide all that for you because operating your own business is challenging enough. We need to help you chart a course for your retirement and start setting up your retirement income plan. And it's very specific and strategic to being a business owner or if you are deciding to go back to work as a retiree and unretire, let's say, and I do hear this all the time from my my clients and folks that I sit down with, you know, they're wanting to maybe retire and get away from that stressful job. But they do want to create a little side business and do something that's fun for them. And it's not necessarily to make money.

Erick Arnett:
It might be to supplement income a little bit and pay some bills. Yeah, but it's for enjoyment and we get that because today's retirement is very different than our than our grandpa's retirement. Right. You know, I mean, you would work 40 years and you'd get this nice big pension and then a watch and you'd retire at 55 and everything was paid for and you had your medical costs and, you know, you didn't have health care concerns because the corporation paid for that. You had a nice big pension. Those days are kind of over, folks, and I think you all know that and they're feeling that. So you have got to be the chief financial officer, the chief tax planner, the chief financial planner in your family. You've got to step up and say, hey, I'm going to surround myself with a team that knows what they're doing. You know, it's a one stop shop. They can help me pull all of this stuff together. There's so much that we can help you pull together, get organized, and get on the right place and optimize your retirement plan and optimize that stress free retirement. I can't stress it enough. Stress free, right? We want to create that stress free retirement for folks.

Producer:
Yeah, it's such an important tip, especially for the.Entrepreneurs and business owners out there. You know, it's never too early. o get started because if.

Producer:
You know you're still working and your 40s, 50s or whatever, you know, you've got compound interest to use as a weapon on your side and really, you know, start making those retirement contributions. Now let that add up. And if you're getting closer to retirement, it's super critical because, you know, maybe you have some rental property that you're deriving some income from. If you choose to sell one of those off as you enter retirement or you get close, that's going to create a big taxable event that could affect your Social Security. If you're taking that, it could affect your Medicare surcharges. You just want to make sure that you have a plan before you start taking action.

Producer:
So shout out to all the business owners.

Producer:
Out there listening to Take Point on Retirement. You can find more information about.

Producer:
Erick at take point.

Producer:
Wealth.com.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah and if you're out there and you're and you're maybe you're being forced even to take a pension you decide to take a pension I think. That's important to talk about here real quick, too. You know, you could be taking a pension and we can and you don't really need the money. You've been forced to take it. And it's creating some taxes and some concerns there. So let us evaluate that for you. We have more options than you think and we can help you make the most of it. Get in touch with us and we'll talk about Index universal life, the Roth, the SEPS. You know, there's all kinds of different strategies for folks out there, and we want to try to help you alleviate and reduce those taxes as best we can. Tax free is very important. And 95% of folks that I sit down with have nothing in their tax free bucket. So it's real important that if you're taking a pension, we can utilize that pension to really create some really excellent strategies for you to protect you from these big tax bombs that you could have in the future. And looking at, you know, whether you want to leave a bigger legacy or even create some tax free retirement dollars in the future. We have an awesome strategy for you there when it comes to pensions and funding life insurance. And it's called a life insurance retirement plan, and we're super excited about it. So you owe you owe it to yourself to just give us a call to learn about that as well.

Producer:
Absolutely. And Erick, there's a lot of people out there who may have a retirement tax bomb.

Producer:
And they don't even know it. And sometimes you don't even.

Producer:
Learn that you have one.

Producer:
Until it's too late and the taxes are due. And it's some important things to keep in mind. The national debt is at 31.6 trillion unfunded.

Producer:
Liabilities, which.

Producer:
Is, you know, amounts due.

Producer:
To Social Security.

Producer:
Recipients, military pensions and federal employees.

Producer:
Unfunded liabilities are at $182 Trillion.

Producer:
Well, how do you fund that sort of thing? You either increase revenues or cut expenses. And our government isn't too good at cutting expenses and they derive.

Producer:
Revenue by.

Producer:
Taxing the people. So something to keep in mind that.

Producer:
Taxes are likely headed up in the future.

Producer:
That's what most experts tend to believe. I'm sure if you're driving around listening to the show, you probably expect taxes to go up in the future as well. So if you want to prevent future tax risk, a Roth conversion is a great tool. And Erick, how can people take advantage of that?

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, I mean, I, I have kind of two types of clients when it comes to tax time and required minimum distribution time. I have the grumpy client and then I have the happy client. The grumpy client didn't get a chance or didn't do that prior planning years ago to get money converted over into that Roth and into that tax free bucket or, you know, utilizing whole life to build a tax free retirement for yourself. And they're now required to take that big distribution every year or their or their IRAs and boom, it's creating this big tax burden and they're paying all these taxes. And and so it's super, super inefficient. And, you know, if we would have been able to get out in front of them and do a little better planning, my happy clients are those that we've been doing that planning for for years. And we've got money converted out of their traditional IRAs and their 401 K's into Roth, and now they're enjoying a tax free growth on their money. And they can go into that and take money out any time they want tax free, which is huge. And there's no gun to their head every year saying, hey, you've got to take 30, $40,000 of this out so we can tax it, which is also going to create a higher tax on your pension. Oh, by the way, it's going to create a higher tax on your Social Security.

Erick Arnett:
And oh, by the way, it's also going to increase your Medicare premiums. So we've got to get out in front of this. And so those folks that are like, hey, I don't have to take a requirement and distribution this year because I'm in a Roth or if I do need money, it's not going to be taxed anyways. So it's not going to cause all those other triggers on all those other flows of money that they potentially have. And so huge, huge, huge weapon and huge tool that's available to you in your arsenal. You just got to take take hold of it and get to work and just make that first call to us here at Take Point Wealth. And we'll get you started on that strategy because, Sam, our government is licking their chops because they know that our retirees have trillions and trillions of dollars in these deferred tax retirement plans that they know that they have to take out. And there's going to be that steady stream of income for Uncle Sam and those taxes. So they they are well aware of that problem that's been created. And, you know, so and that's maybe why they're not so worried about the deficit. But we need to be worried about it because that's going to mean higher taxes on us in the future.

Erick Arnett:
And taxes can be that silent killer and really, really, really affect, you know, having that optimal plan and that stress free retirement plan. So you kind of have a few windows for these Roth conversion times. So it's super. Super important to get ahold of us at (352) 616-0511. And or you can reach out to our website TakePointWealth.com and just an upper right hand corner you can get a chat session with me but Roth conversions you know there's there's there's years before enrolling in Medicare there's there's a little window so recall that Medicare has a means test to it which is a two year look back. So your income at age 63 determines your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums when you're 65. So I don't think a lot of people knew that. So I'm going to repeat that. Medicare means testing has a two year lookback. So your income at age 63 is going to determine your Medicare Part B and D premiums when you're 65. Super important. So you have this prime window for a Roth conversions between retirement and age 62. So if you don't end up triggering so you don't end up triggering those Medicare means testing for a year or two or while you're doing your Roth conversions, you might find it's worthwhile. So I think that's super important. Great, great, great tidbit there for our listeners.

Producer:
Absolutely. And we've had an action packed show.

Producer:
If you missed any of the.

Producer:
Show, check out our website TakePointWealth.com. You can also.

Producer:
Find the.

Producer:
Show wherever you listen to podcasts, just search take point.

Producer:
On retirement. And Erick, I'll.

Producer:
Give you the last word as we send the folks off on their weekend.

Erick Arnett:
Yeah, no, I mean, appreciate that, Sam. That's great. I just want to say, hey, everybody, have a great weekend. Thanks for listening to the show. Tune in next week as well. Same time, same channel or get on our podcast and you can catch any show that you perhaps missed or if you missed something today and you want to go back and hear it again. But thanks to our listeners, Hey, we're standing by. We're ready to help you out. Give us a call. (352) 616-0511. Enjoy your weekend, folks.

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

Producer:
Is your house too big for your current needs? What about your current budget? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife. As our circumstances change, so do our needs In retirement, it's likely you'll no longer need the five story, two bedroom home you've lived in since your kids were all in school. But it's not just the size of the home that can be a consideration in deciding whether to downsize.

Sandra Rinomato :
Some people are living in a situation where the house needs a lot of work. It's time to renovate the kitchen. It's time to put on a new roof. And they they think, do I spend that money? Do I have the energy to do that? Maybe I should just move instead.

Producer:
Real estate expert Sandra Rinomato told CBC News that selling your home and moving into something smaller can be a good way to free up cash in retirement.

Sandra Rinomato :
By selling the house that liquidates gives you the money to live a lifestyle that you've dreamt of your whole life.

Producer:
A smaller place is also cheaper to heat, cool and maintain. Moving into an apartment or living with family members is another way to potentially save money on housing expenses such as lawn care and maintenance, experts say. To maximize your profits on the sale of your old home. Keep your real estate agent's commission as low as possible. And there are companies out there that can help if you decide downsizing is right for you, So could cutting the size of your home help keep your retirement budget in check? That's a key question to consider. And it's one of 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure.