1.20.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

1.20.23: 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 Financial Freedom with your host Safe Money Bob. Get set for a full hour of financial information and economic news you can't afford to miss. Bob works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the Financial Freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you too. So now let's start the show. Here's Safe Money Bob.

Producer:
Good morning. Happy weekend. Thanks for joining us for another edition of Financial Freedom with Safe Money Bob. I'm Jim alongside Safe Money Bob. Bob, how are you?

Bob Loss:
Hey, good morning, Jim. How are you doing?

Producer:
Well, here we are, Bob. Another week. And coming up on today's show, three vital examples of why you need a smart retirement plan. Plus, Bob's financial power tip of the week. And hey, if you've lost more than you're comfortable with in your portfolio last year and are looking for some answers and if you did, I'm sure you are. Well, we would love to provide you with a free, complimentary consultation call Bob today or visit the website to get started on your retirement income plan. Call us at 9083592861 or send us an email at SafeMoneyBob.com.

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

Producer:
American writer, humorist, entrepreneur and lecturer Mark Twain. The center of today's Quote of the Week. And Twain says, quote, The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable risks and then starting on the first one.

Bob Loss:
Absolutely. So when you break things down, it can be daunting when you say, okay, maybe I should look at my entire budget, look at what's coming in and look what's coming out income wise, expense wise, unpredictable expenses, standard expenses. Got to pay expenses. So if you can break it down and say, okay, you know what I'm going to do this weekend, I'm going to look at this, a little hint because it will be part of my power trip. But look at the things that automatically get deducted from a credit card monthly or a bank statement and really figure out if you need to pay those bills or continue those services. Again, I'm kind of going ahead of myself a little bit, but it's something that I do and I do it right around this time of year every year.

Producer:
All right. Well, when it comes to planning and even talking about retirement, there's more layers to that than you think. And today we promise to try and consolidate that information with three important factors when it comes to smart retirement. First, though, let's peel back the layers slowly and outline the basics of a retirement plan. Bob, Retirement planning. Retirement is one of the most important times of anybody's life. It marks the end of one era and the beginning of the next. And while retirement can be a time of great joy and relaxation, it can also be a time of great financial strain.

Bob Loss:
Absolutely. So, Jim, unfortunately, studies have shown that many Americans are not as prepared for retirement as they would like to be. There's factors such as savings, high levels of debt, which we've talked about that week after show after show. Debt is definitely a detriment, especially high debt and uncertain Social Security benefits can contribute to these feelings of unpreparedness. Additionally, ongoing effects of COVID 19, which just keeps lingering and linger and variant after variant have greatly impacted the economy and financial stability for that matter of many pre-retirees and retirees. So Fidelity Investments to 20 2022 kind of state of retirement planning study. So here are some some tidbits and facts for you out there. Again, thanks for listening. 71%, more than two thirds. Of Americans are very concerned about the impact of inflation on their retirement preparedness. It's a big concern. I mean, things cost so much more than they did even a year ago, year plus ago. 31% of you do not or they do not know or don't know how to make sure the retirement savings can keep up. So, again, it's something that we can help you with. Reach out to me at WW Save money, Bob, and just book a call with me 1530 or 60 Minutes, whichever you choose.

Bob Loss:
And then also go you can call 9083592861 and just leave a message 20 471 of my team we'll get back with you and set up a time to speak at works for both of us, approximately. Back to some statistics here. Approximately half of Americans are at risk of not being able to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living after they stop working, said Angie Chen, who's a research economist at the Center of Retirement Research at Boston College. Just let that sink in a little bit. People are more worried about living the way they live while they're working. During retirement. Who wants to have a lower lifestyle? I don't raise your hand out there. You know I can't see it. I don't have a lower lifestyle. I want to have equal or better lifestyle, and I want my clients to have an equal or better lifestyle when they retire. And we have to plan for that. In a 2020 survey from Charles Schwab of Current. I'm currently employed for one K plan participants. They found that saving for retirement is a leading source of significant financial stress for all generations. Participants also believe that COVID 19 pandemic will impact their retirement savings. And they're absolutely right. And we're seeing we're seeing it now not for people near retirement or just retiring or have been retired.

Bob Loss:
It affects everyone. It could be 30, 35, 40 years old. And you'll be looking out and saying, wow, how much do I really need to save? 41% had to make changes to their 41k because the pandemic, a lot of that could be asset reallocation. Try to sell some of the stuff that actually was up or not smashed, just like the other sectors were. And then vice versa shift into the stuff that the portfolio portions that were hit pretty hard. Only 21 25% of respondents said they had consulted a financial advisor or other financial professional. So to me that's just absolutely ridiculous in most cases. Any of you out there for one K participants, people with IRAs, bank products, annuities manage money. There's no reason not to consult a financial professional. There's none. In most cases, we do not charge you or cost you a dime. And in other cases, if you're already paying for them to watch your money or watch over your funds and your future. Darn it. You got to talk to him. You can't just be out there on your own trying to make these decisions without getting the most important up to date information as possible.

Producer:
Yeah. And what you'll also discuss, too, when you work with an advisor like Bob again, save money popcom or call bop 9083592861 Bob. And we're going to go over here now, but you're also going to go over that person's individual plan and the basics of that smart plan.

Bob Loss:
Absolutely. Yeah. What we do normally is we'll have our initial call. First of all, get to know each other a little bit. And then from there we will discuss like kind of like what your motivation was, What was your pain that caused you to want to speak with me? Myself and my team will then help you, help you gather all your pertinent information on our RFQ, which is a client financial questionnaire. It's only like three or four, maybe five pages would get a great snapshot of everything that you have. And from there we can take that and put it into a one page lifecycle model, which we'll then review with you. And then from there, if we're comfortable, you want to work with me, Great. If you got to think about it, great. If we don't work together for some reason, that not not necessarily usually the case, but if it does happen, I will not hold your LCM lifecycle model hostage. I will provide it to you. We will provide it to you as a as a resource for you to kind of get a clear picture of your situation. And if you want us to help you improve your situation, we're more than happy to help you out.

Producer:
Yeah, and there's six basic things. Basic elements of a smart plan.

Bob Loss:
Mm hmm. Yes. So, element one, we're going to go create a budget. Hmm. It's funny. We're kind of just talking about checking our expenses out, Right? And you can actually do that quarterly. You don't have to just do it once a year. I generally know what's going on just because my mind is like a human calculator. But you want to tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. So you want to calculate your income and go over all your monthly and yearly expenses, especially the reoccurring expenses that just get charged. You see a balance. You pay your card, your bank account, you put your money in it, you know, your balance kind of where it is every month to month. So you will likely discover some areas where you can cut back or eliminate some cost entirely every year. I do it every year I'll find something, something usually more than one. You say two or three, where either my rate increased. Let's see my newspaper online, my Comcast package, that's to top my head for myself. So you can definitely cut costs there. Now you want to save regularly? I've in probably ad nauseam, I've said pay yourself first. I pay myself first. I look in the bank, money's going out to my various insurance policies for one before I'm even hitting a button to pay the mortgage, which I like to hit a button for that.

Bob Loss:
I just don't like that going out automatically. But you know, you want to save regularly, pay yourself first and continue saving, even even in your golden years, even while you're retired. If you can still have a positive cash flow and set money aside for different things, it's a great feeling. You know, you want to set up automatic savings plans like we just mentioned. Of course, I use high cash value, specifically designed life insurance. And don't be discouraged. You could still do the same things that I'm doing, even if you're into your sixties. Doesn't matter. Even if you have bad health, it doesn't matter. I could still set up places to put your money for for your usage, either now or in the future. Regardless of your age, you want to avoid debt again. Something I've harped on. Debts can be a huge, huge burden in retirement and can significantly reduce the amount of money that you're able to save. You try to pay off any existing debts before you retire. Obviously, that's a goal unless your mortgage rates like 2.2% and it's not bothering your budget and you want to avoid taking on any new debt, you don't necessarily want to go and finance a car.

Bob Loss:
Actually, a little tidbit you may want to lease the car if you don't drive much and go low mileage and don't get anything too fancy, you'll find that you may actually be better off doing it that way. And I could do a whole segment in a show about buying versus leasing. If I think we might have to throw that in their gym at some point. Moving into the future, we'll figure out when the big car sales are and we can touch upon that in a segment someday. But you want to prioritize your high interest debt, pay off high interest first, and then the next one, then the next one. The longer you leave your high interest debt sitting, the more money you'll end up paying in the long run. I mean, you've ever looked at a credit card statement and it says if you keep paying the minimum, you'll be paying this for 38 more years. Like that's no joke. Like scary. So you want to always take the highest rate or in some cases the smallest balance. First, pay it off, pay the minimum, and the other ones go to the next highest or next highest balance. Boom. Pay that off. If you have an exorbitant interest rate on one year cards and they have to be a higher balance, then get that out of the way first, then go to the the next lowest balance and so on and so forth.

Bob Loss:
So you knock them out kind of like a ladder. It's like it's a ladder approach and knocking out debt, you obviously want to invest wisely, right? We all want to invest wisely. Wisely Investing can be effective way to grow your retirement savings. But in. Important to understand that there can be risks associated with your investments. Obviously, we have seen that, especially in 2022. So you want to consider consulting with an advisor like Safe Money Bob to help you make informed decisions and help you reach your goals. You also want to stay insured and there's a lot of information, so you have to go back and listen to the recording so you can take notes again. That's cool. You can always find those on Safe Money Bob dot com my previous episodes. So when you stay insured, what does that mean? So you want to have adequate insurance during retirement? Health insurance, obviously Medicare B mix up policies. We've spoken about that. Life insurance. Life insurance can be to bury yourself. It can be to create a legacy. It could be to create a tax free income stream as well. It could be all three as well as provide living benefits if you do need help, such as long term care.

Bob Loss:
A lot of the policies today are like like a how do you say it? A tool with many uses, kind of a jack with all trades, but they definitely help out. Without adequate insurance coverage, you could be risk risking your financial security. You do not want to have a long term care event on a spouse. Wipe out most of your retirement savings. That would be sufficient for both of you. And that's when an unexpected illness or injury could. Do. You want to stay informed by listening to Safe Money Box? You want to stay informed, read articles, go to my go to Look out podcast and so forth, and you stay informed. You know, you help educate on the latest developments in the financial world. Retirement landscape is constantly changing and it's important to stay up to date. Laws change, regulations change, financial products that can help you or are always evolving for the better for the consumer. So again, reach out to me at 9083592861. Leave a message. One of my associates will get back with you. Set up a call or go to w w w dot safe money box book a call 15, 30 or 60 minutes, and we'll try to help you out as well as we can.

Producer:
And we're going to go more in depth on this topic throughout today's show. And if you missed any part of today's program, we do invite you to go back and listen to our podcast catalog for today's show and previous episodes as well. Subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up, helping you prepare for what's to come in retirement. Plus Bob's power Tip of the week. Stay with us. This is Financial Freedom with safe money, Bob. We're back after this.

Producer:
Helping bring you one step closer to Financial Freedom. You're listening to Financial Freedom with safe money, Bob. Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes, economic uncertainty, and how it all could affect your future in retirement? Then tune in to Financial Freedom with safe money, Bob, to learn how you can protect and grow your hard earned money. Financial Freedom Weekends at 8:00 AM right here on WB AM 1490 and 107.3 FM. Protect your hard earned money today and schedule a free consultation now at safe money Bob dot com. You're listening to Financial freedom with safe money Bob 107.3 week.

Producer:
Welcome back to Financial freedom with safe money Bob Last week we had a great show and we discussed deleting fees from your retirement, among other things, important information as well in that episode. So again, if you missed it, go back in the archives and listen to the program and podcast form Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Continuing on from our discussion prior to the break about smart retirement planning. And I think with everything going on, the pulse of the people in that or nearing that retirement age bracket, Bob, are unsure about what retirement will actually look like in the future. With all of the questions surrounding us financially in the early portion of 2023.

Bob Loss:
So you want to have a smart vision here. What will we what will your retirement look like in the future? So you don't want to wonder. You don't want to wonder what it's going to look like. You want to have like a picture already painted, not only literally a picture, but like on paper. How is it going to look? So what you are doing today or what you're going to do during your retirement years? What are you doing? Who are you with? Who you're taking, who your taking care of you, or who are you taking care of? What are your goals? How do you plan to fund these final decades of your life? And you want to plan ahead for that. So if you don't start with a clear vision and set goals for your retirement and this is for any point in life, your kids, your grandkids, as they get older, you want to they want to have a plan. You want to have a path. Like I said, people don't plan to fail. They fail to plan. So you could experience a lot of unknowns down the road if you don't do this. So 37%, some percentages here for you. 37% of Americans feel they need more education and retirement planning and it's all over the place. It could be overwhelming. You can go online, you can listen to me. It's just it's all out there, but it's there. So try to access it. And again, work with an advisor like myself that can help guide you. That's what we're here for. All right. And also, 52% of Americans wish they had more education on how to invest.

Bob Loss:
So again, reach out to me w w w save money. Bob dot com book a call now call me at 983592861 and leave a message there within 24 hours. Unless it's on a weekend you'll get a call back from an associate to set up a call with me. And we definitely recommend you sit down with your spouse or family and consider some factors that will affect your golden years. I mean, the factors such as Social Security, right? Many seniors assume that Social Security will cover the bulk of their retirement financial needs. And unfortunately, way back in the day, many people I met in my early career, that's what they lived on. And that's not the way it was meant to be when it was created. Originally, it was supposed to be a supplement to retirement, not your retirement income solely. So I just thought I'd bring that up. It's a little history there, but unfortunately, like I said, it's not the case. Social Security will generally cover one third, you hope one third of your expenses. Some I've seen some clients of mine. We've been able to manage it where it's like maybe 40, 50%, depending on your situation. And then that takes a lot of stress off of their other assets. For those that don't have pensions that work with me, while people commonly assume that they are stuck with a predetermined benefit, you can increase your payout or delay it. When you take this benefit, there's there's planning involved. Just walking with someone who's a friend of mine now neighbor, we were just talking about kind of like, what should he do? He's 62, his wife 62.

Bob Loss:
It's kind of a little tight. You know, they want to live how they want to live. I said, well, we don't want to make decisions that will affect your long term based on a short term situation. So that's just some food for thought for you, for everyone out there. You know, taxes, we're always dealing with taxes, Right. The common tax misconception is that your tax rate will dramatically decrease when you stop working. I heard I heard that back in the nineties when I was still wet behind the ears. Learned in the business you cannot count on a tax rate decrease. You can't. Did you know from 1960 to 1963 the current 24% tax rate was actually the 56 tax rate. Believe that. Imagine getting taxed more than half of your money. It's insanity. And you have to plan for tax rates changing during retirement. Nothing's static, right? You see the tax tax brackets, the ranges, the the rates. They change even without a change in Washington almost. Almost annually. So you want to plan for that so that you can keep more of your hard earned money. And that's what we try to do here. Safe Money Bob Tries to accomplish with his clients Medicare. Some retirees assume that Medicare covers everything from hospital stays to regular doctor visits to long term care. That's not true. See, basic basic Medicare plans cover hospital stays and physician visits. You can also add prescription drug coverage in a couple of different ways. But there is no. It's very, very limited to only say no, but very, very limited long term or Medicare coverage that covers long term care.

Bob Loss:
So as you get older, it's likely you will have more health care needs than when you were younger. So just remember, Medicare does not solve a long term care financial situation. Long term care, financial situation, as we mentioned earlier, can definitely derail one's retirement, especially a couple. Then there's your life expectancy, right? And life expectancy rates in the US have more than doubled in the last 200 years. However, many couples are not building their plans to last past 90 years of age, so it's becoming much more likely that you and or your spouse will live until 90 or older. If your finances aren't going to last their entire life, you may need to sit down with an advisor and a professional. Consider your options. You. You want to. That's what we're here for. That's why we're doing this radio show. It's why I'm sharing valuable information with you. I don't think you can take. We owe the car alone. I want to help you. I want to help drive the drive the car down the road for you. So reach out to me at 9083592861. Leave a message. 24 seven. Someone will get back to you. Set up a call with me or go to WW W save money, Bob and you can book a call there. So just. It's so much. So much. Those points are all important and you really need to consider them all. And I strongly suggest whether it's myself or another professional, that you consult someone to make sure you're on the right path.

Producer:
All right. Well, coming up, Bob's power tip of the week. Plus, making the most of your current financial situation. And as we go to break, we hear from Matt McClure on smart planning in retirement. Financial freedom continues in a moment. Stay right there.

Producer:
You're listening to Financial Freedom with safe money, Bob, to schedule your free no obligation consultation visit safe money Bob dot com.

Producer:
So you know where you are now and where you want to be in retirement. So how do you plan to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network. Powered by a Life.

Producer:
Do you have any.

Bob Loss:
Other questions for me.

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

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

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

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

Producer:
There are also some retirement costs you may not have considered yet. Long term care, for example. Did you know it's not covered by Medicare? What about home renovations? If you decide to stay in your home instead of moving into a facility, your home might need some updates to ensure you're safe and comfortable. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. So do you have a fiduciary financial advisor or professional to help you wade through the complicated retirement planning process? That is a key question to consider. If you want to make the most of your hard earned money with a retirement radio network powered by a life, I'm Matt McClure. Do you have a vision for what you want your retirement to look like? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network. Powered by a life planning for retirement can be overwhelming. A survey from Gobankingrates shows that one third of Americans don't think they know enough about retirement. And they're probably right. So if you fall into that category, how do you know where to begin? Well, you've got to know where you want to go before you start planning how to get there. That's where having a smart vision for your retirement comes in. Whether you want to be a jet setter during your retirement years. Want to take it easy in a quiet cabin in the woods or start a new adventure by opening your own business, you should set that goal and keep it in mind throughout your working years, retirement expert Dean Waguespack said during a recent TEDx talk.

Dean Waggenspack:
I want to challenge all of.Us to redefine retirement away from depart, remove withdrawal to a new definition, a blending of pay.Passion and.

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

Dean Waggenspack:
That's when you want to say, Hey, listen, I want to start thinking about all of this accumulation.

Dean Waggenspack:
That I've done through these decades of working.

Dean Waggenspack:
How do I begin to think about turning what I've saved and what I've accumulated into paychecks after I retire?

Producer:
That's Lee Baker, president of Apex Financial Services, speaking to CNBC. He says annuities are a great option for most retirees to generate an income you can never outlive. That's especially important since life expectancy has grown over the years. So you'll need to plan for a longer period of time than you may think. So do you have a smart vision for your retirement years? That's a key question to consider as you start planning how to get there. With the retirement Radio Network Powered by a Life, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Guide Questions Save Money. Bob is here to help visit SafeMoneyBob.com Today.

Producer:
107.3 WBCB in our thanks as always to Matt McClure for that report detailing smart planning in your retirement. It goes along with the arc of today's show, Bob helping you plan in a smart way for retirement. Coming up, we'll take you through smart inspection and help you prepare for what's to come. But right now, it's time for Bob's Power Tip of the Week.

Producer:
It's time for Safe Money Bob's power Tip of the week.

Bob Loss:
All right. So I kind of let the cat out of the bag a little bit earlier in the show. However, the power tip of the week. Take this down. If you haven't been doing this. So power tip of the week at minimum, once a year. And then I'm going to have a piggyback on it at the end, at minimum, once a year. Look at your if you have a credit card, which isn't the end of the world, if you have a credit card that you have all your most of your expenses. In my case, I have an Amex card I use for my business almost exclusively. So look at that credit card. Let's start with a credit card. Look at the credit card. See what is being charged month after month. Like it may take a little time, you know, grab a cup of coffee or your beverage of choice. Depends on the time of day. Look at your statements. It could be online, could be on your iPad, could be on your iPhone, said laptop. If you're the old school looking at the printed statements, look at the statements. What am I paying for? Automatically every month. Automatically. Do I really need it? Did my price go up? Should I negotiate? Should always negotiate if the price goes up and if it didn't? So you can get it lower.

Bob Loss:
Like all it takes is phone calls and make those phone calls off peak. Meaning do not call it 12 noon, don't call it 6:00 at night. If they're even open at night, call like I always like if I relate it to insurance companies basically call these different entities. I like to call between 830 and nine. If they open at 830, I'm calling 831. If they open at nine, I'm calling 901. Get in queue. Save your own time. Your time is worth money too, but review every single reoccurring expense. See if it went up, see if you still need it. And then if you can eliminate eliminate. If you can lower it, lower it. It may be something you really like. It could be a massage envy membership. Not saying nobody in my household has one, but they do. But she my wife, it's one of her non-negotiables. So that's her deal. She pays for it. She works. That's cool. But even spouses. So sometimes in a household, one spouse pays for certain things and another pays or other things. And other households. It's a joint account. Both be involved in your finances, see what's going on. You know, talk about it. You both want to understand what's happening, especially when you're looking at your bills, because someday, unfortunately, you're not going to both be there and you should both know how to operate the household.

Bob Loss:
But definitely reoccurring number one credit card. And also on your bank statements, any bank statements, same thing. The other thing is not just credit card, but once you're done with reoccurring in both in both areas, I would say look at look at your I was just talking with Jim about it prior to the show and I was saying how I noticed a lot larger expenses during November till early January. What a surprise. Right? Maybe even after Halloween where it just seems like the social expenses, the dinners, the take out the catering, when we're having gatherings, things that you can save money on, you want to try to do that. And again, on a larger purchases, if you can become your own financing entity like I have almost virtually completely gotten into that position. It's really nice when you could say, Hey, I see that used car over there and it was like 32,000, but now it's only 18 and you say, Hey, you know what, I can buy that. Oh, wait, zero interest. That's great. No, it isn't. You're still paying the dealer. So if you have your own money and you can finance from yourself through, say, overfunded life insurance like I do, pay yourself back.

Bob Loss:
And if we had business owners out there, I can get really crazy with how you can buy it. At least it's your own company and have your company pay the money back and write it off. But anyway, which I just did. But when you can, when you can use your own funds and once you pay that loan back in your policy, your life insurance policy, it looks as if you never took the loan. You own the vehicle and it doesn't even show up on your credit. If you ever got in a jam, you could stop repaying it and then start repaying it back again. It's very powerful. So reoccurring expenses, know what they are, know if you need them and take care of the ones, lower them. If you have to lower them or eliminate them, if you can eliminate them and then look at what you're spending. I'll tell you what, everybody should do it quarterly. Forget this one year stuff. I'm going to do it quarterly myself. We're going to do it quarterly together. Every quarter we look at our reoccurring, we look at our our purchases. Is there kind of something askew and figure out what that is? Knowledge is power, but implementing knowledge is more powerful.

Producer:
All right. Very good, Bob. Vital information there. And we'll continue to bring you Bob's power tip of the week each and every week on Financial Freedom with save money, Bob. And hey, you may be wondering what it must be like to work with Bob, one of the more genuine and strategic financial advisors around. Well, Bob provides a comprehensive consultation at no cost to our listeners and supporters of the show, and there's no obligation. Ation only work with Bob if it's what's best for you. What can Bob do for you? He'll help you cut those unnecessary costs in your IRA 401 K or any other savings account. So contact Bob today at 9083592861 again 9083592861. Or log on to save money Bob dot com. Okay Bob so let's crack into smart inspection making the most of your current situation as it pertains to retirement.

Bob Loss:
Yeah. All right Jim so you know obviously we all want to achieve our vision. You need to know where you stand now and where you can better to prepare your future. I always say, you know, you want to know where you were, where you are, and where you want to go so we can help you do this using the smart inspection tools. So what are those? Understanding where you stand will help you plan for retirement. The retirement that you desire. Don't leave your family's future in the hands instead of the stock market. Irs. Never rely on returns or the IRS tax code to have a secure retirement. That's just not going to work. As you can tell at various points, 2008 2020, very short, but now 2022 and to 23, you can't rely on returns. You don't want to rely on the tax tax code to help you. So portfolio analysis, you want to make an appointment with us, we will look over everything your current portfolio, make suggestions, tips to improve your portfolio's outlook. Again, we'll look at your your whole picture, not just investments. We use our client financial questionnaire. So hopefully those are listed. I'm just going to start saying RFQ and then we take your RFQ, your financial picture, and put it onto a lifecycle model, one page working document that we can review with you. And depending on how fluid this all can be done in one appointment, maybe it's 90 minutes instead of 60.

Bob Loss:
Like we could do it in one shot or we could spread it out over two calls. It could be maybe a 15 or 30 minute initial and then a 30 to 60 minute review of where you're at. So when we do portfolio analysis, make an appointment, but then, of course, financial plan to your 95. I wrote a policy for someone I do not kid you that planned for it not to lapse no matter what till age 120. Why 120? Because apparently people have lived not many, but people to age one, 16 or 118. You actually be surprised how many people live over 102. 105 and 110. That's sort of kind of where basically ends for the very, very fortunate. That remains somewhat healthy. But you want to plan to live a long life. We will help you create a financial plan that will take you to your 95th birthday. We can even plan to 100. Actually, sometimes we plan on 99, actually effectively partnering with you for the remainder of your life. We're in your corner to plan to your 95th birthday to make sure that you can live financially secure and the way you want will help you every step of the way. You also want to maximize your Social Security. So we look at doing a Social Security maximization report to make sure we know, you know, when and where you should start taking income.

Bob Loss:
What makes the most sense? Should I spend down my qualified money? Should I let my benefit? How should I say increase until I'm 70? Am I healthy? Is my spouse healthy? Do I smoke? She smoke or vice versa? Because it basically will show you how to maximize your Social Security earnings during retirement. We have the tips and tricks to help you take advantage of these things and take and use the tools that are available to you to try to make sure you have a comfortable retirement. That's what's most important here. You want to have a comfortable retirement. You don't want to worry about money when you're retirement. And the best ways to do that is to mitigate risk, mitigate taxes, mitigate fees, have a budget, know your income, and kind of know before you even hit. We call it the button, but a lot of people still do some part time work that they just enjoy. You want to know where you're going to be. That's the key. You want to know you're going to be. We're going to help you do that. Just again, book a call. 983592861 24 seven. One of my associates will set you up with an appointment with me or go to w w w dot safe money box, book a call, and we'll go from there.

Producer:
All right. Final segment of this week's show. Coming up, we'll outline step by step how to prepare for what's to come in retirement. 107.3 WB KB. We're back after this.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Financial Freedom Safe Money Bob If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast.

Producer:
Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes, economic uncertainty, and how it all could affect your future in retirement? Then tune in to Financial Freedom with safe money, Bob, to learn how you can protect and grow your hard-earned money. Financial Freedom Weekends at 8:00 AM right here on WBCB AM 1490 and 107.3 FM. Protect your hard earned money today and schedule a free consultation now at Safe Money Bob dot com.

Producer:
Welcome back to Financial freedom with safe money Bob the phone number to reach out to Bob 983592861. Again that number 9083592861. Or visit Bob on the web at safe money bob dot com Before we talk about how to prepare for what's to come or what may come in retirement. Let's turn the clock back with this week in history.

Producer:
It's this week in history.

Producer:
For the weekend of January 20th. Multiple presidents were sworn in on this day, January 20th first. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter was sworn in and walked back to the White House, along with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan was sworn in. At the same time, 52 American hostages were released from their captors in Iran. And in 2009, President Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African American president in United States history. On the music front, on this day, January 20th, 1983, rock band Def Leppard released their third studio album, Pyromania. The album featured the debut of guitarist Phil Collen and sold over 10 million copies in the United States. The album was a swift away from the band's traditional roots of heavy metal to a more radio friendly sound to reach more of a mass audience. There's a really good songs, actually, from that album.

Bob Loss:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I can tell you though, there's some of the older ones that I hear them well, sometimes I'll hear them on Let's See Hair Nation or Ozzy's Boneyard on plug for Sirius XM. Yeah, Pyromania actually was part of their greatest hits. A lot of those songs were part of the greatest hits, I guess we call it CD at that point. And now the CD, my CD changer is useless. My CD's are gone. Like it's all, it's all, it's all. What do you call Spotify? Spotify if you want to hear Save Money. Bobkoff Because Spotify or any of your favorite podcast places.

Producer:
I'll tell you, Bob, Bob's really evolved into quite the radio and podcast host here. He's a financial advisor who moonlights as a financial radio host. You a learning, learning, really learning on the job to doing a great job.

Bob Loss:
By the way. Dj Important if you need to know.

Producer:
And finally wrapping up this week in History, on this day, January 21st, 1940, American retired professional golfer and course designer Jack Nicklaus was born nicknamed the Golden Bear, Nicholas won 18 major tournaments, the most in golf history, and three more than Tiger Woods. He helped design more than 400 courses in 45 countries and 40 of the 50 United States. All right. Well, we've been teasing it throughout and we've outlined steps for smart planning as it pertains to your retirement. Bob has broke down how portfolio analysis factors into the equation. Oh, by the way, if you work with Bob, he can set you on a financial plan that will take you to your 95th birthday. Not a bad deal. So again, we've touched on all of the information today and we've gone into detail. So if you missed anything, please go back. Listen again, subscribe to the podcast catalog, Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Bob The final element, though, of today's retirement discussion smart planning, helping you prepare for what's to come.

Bob Loss:
All right. So you basically do you have a plan? That's the first question. Do you have a plan for your spouse, your family when you pass away? And sadly enough, some people don't. They just kind of hope it's going to work out. You know, there's a lot of questions you should ask yourself when attempting to create a retirement plan by asking the right questions up front, you can create a retirement plan that will meet all of your needs during your golden years. So, again, this is what we do. We help you. If you book a call will basically again 900 83592861. Give us a jingle. We have a voicemail. Name, date time and so forth. So we'll get back to you. Set up a call. If you have a preferred date, you'd like to talk to me. Leave that in the voicemail as well. I haven't mentioned that before and we'll see if we can accommodate you. And then from there you can also go to save money. Bob dot com. We could call there again, working with an advisor like myself should be something you definitely want to consider because again you can't hurt can only make you stronger. You're going to learn a lot. You're going to even learn more than what I'm providing here on the radio show. So basically, I will give you some tidbits here. I call them tidbits. So what's the average retirement age? Well, you know, there are some factors that influence people when they decide to retire.

Bob Loss:
So an average is an average, but every situation is different. So unfortunately, not everyone is able to make this choice for themselves. Some people are forced into retirement due to illness or their position. They got laid off or they terminate. The position was terminated. Someone have to delay the retirement to keep working to save more money. The average American believes they can retire at 65. 65 has always been the year right? The year 65. I know many that plan on 67. I know many that work full time till 67. And then they will actually work part time into their early seventies. It just chose to do that. It makes sense. They're not drawing from their money so that it can grow. But the average is that the average American believes age 65. Some retire at 62, some at 60. I know some have retired in their mid to late fifties, a few in their 50 ish range. 52. It just depends. But they don't retire in a sense that they do nothing. They have other ventures. A lot of them will have little side hustles. They will start businesses prior to retirement that will bring an income and they still get to use their mind and and so forth. You know, another big question, when should I claim Social Security? And there is no date for everybody.

Bob Loss:
When you begin claiming Social Security, it's up to you. The longer you delay your payments, the higher monthly payments will be. You can delay your payments up to age 70. The increase is normally around 8% a year past your FRA. What does for a full retirement age? You may have asked. So claiming Social Security before your retirement age will reduce your payments. Generally, it's 30% below your full retirement age. If you take it early all the way out and you're not stuck to like a year, it goes by months. So if you want to retire, say, 66 and you're okay with giving up whatever it is, 8%, whatever the difference or 12 or six, that's fine. You can get if you go to a Social Security office, you can get a breakdown by month. But normally your your reports that you can get for free what you should be getting every year by setting up an account at s w w w dot dot gov and you set up a portal. You got to make sure you save all that information so you can get into your own portal, but you can go there and that will help you with knowing what's going on with that. That should also obviously always be part of a plan. We have a spot on the lifecycle model specifically as well as the RFQ client financial questionnaire to know what that number is early, full or extended, and we use that as part of planning.

Bob Loss:
Again, no plan is the same for each client, but some clients, it makes a heck of a lot of sense to defer that Social Security out and spend down their qualified money. Qualified money again, for everybody out there for 1k403b4 57 Ira ros are already washed. I don't consider them qualified. So this question of will Social Security run out of money? Everybody's worried about it. It's crazy. We have enough to think about it because it's not entitlement we pay into it. But this question has become increasingly more common over the last few years. I can tell you if you are at the retirement age now or soon, even myself, I'm looking at age, what is it, 60 somewhere around 20, 34 to 37. My goodness. That's about what I would be. In line to look at it. See, I'm still healthy and everything. But yeah, well, completely go away. I doubt it. Can it be adjusted well the age to access it for full retirement age for people as we get older and as the population ages increased, potentially? Absolutely. Could payments be reduced? I don't think so much for people who are getting it now or active. I think it could be more of an effect for the newbies like myself will say.

Bob Loss:
I mean, Jim's a young guy, so gosh, he's looking at the 2040s, maybe 2050 before he even sees Social Security. So what will taxes look like during retirement? It's kind of a scary thought, but the amount you pay in taxes during retirement is largely dependent on what type of accounts you have in withdrawing. Fund Roth IRAs allow you to withdraw funds tax free because you pay taxes on the contributions. You pay taxes on the seed, not the flower. Traditional IRAs and four K's require you to pay taxes on your withdrawals because you contributed the money tax free. So you basically got a break putting your $1,000 in. But the 1000 grew to 2000. So now you're going to pay tax on your 2000, just to give you an example. So you're paying tax on the on the flower, not the seed. So in some some cases you have to blend of those. So to protect yourself from increased taxes during retirement, it's best to choose accounts where withdrawal of your funds are tax free, overfunded, specifically designed life insurance, Roth IRAs. Those are two that you can use and withdraw from tax free. A lot of times it's very difficult for someone to have all their money in accounts that do not incur taxes. When you withdraw. It can be difficult. It could take a long time to to, I say, wash the money into a Roth or even spend down some IRA money and fund into overfunded life insurance, which I have some clients doing so that ten or 15 years after funding, they're going to start tax free income while maintaining a death benefit while maintaining living benefits in case they have long term care needs and also pulling out money in a structured way where they have a tax free income to supplement Social Security to supplement income from for one case that they maybe couldn't have washed into Roth IRAs.

Bob Loss:
Again, you always want to wash your money. It's the best way to do it. If you can wash as much as possible, it's a great thing. I've been fortunate to wash a lot of our assets and a lot of our money by basically doing what I've been trying to teach everyone, you know, show after show. So I'm just sharing what I do for myself, my family, teaching my kids, and hopefully they'll set you up for a very solid future. But then again, reach out to me. 9083592861. Leave a message and I'll call you back. Make an appointment or go to save money. Bob dot com if you like. Going on the internet and hitting buttons, it's the easy way to do it. And my calendar is right there. You can see when I'm able to talk to you. Well, here, here, ready and happy to help.

Producer:
All right. Well, great show. Great information this week, Bob, one more time. How can people reach out?

Bob Loss:
All right. So if you like the Internet, SafeMoneyBob.com. Look a call third or 15, 30 or 60 minutes. I might even go over if I don't have a call. Right. Bumped up against you. And then you can also call the office or call the main number. 9083592861. Leave a voicemail 24 seven. Preferably name, date time, maybe even what's on your mind. So I have an idea when we speak. And then if you have a preferred days or times like two, like a morning and an afternoon and maybe a weekday or different weekday or a weekday and a weekend. And if I, if need be, I can make time on a Saturday morning before lacrosse season starts. But after that I am unavailable from late March until hopefully late into May if all goes well.

Producer:
All right. And again, a quick reminder, catch our show on the radio side, 107.3 WBCB Saturday and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m.. Thanks for listening and checking us out and we'll talk to you next week.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Financial freedom with Safe Money Bob. You deserve to work with a financial and insurance expert who can offer proven strategies for protecting and growing your hard earned money to schedule your free no obligation consultation. Visit safe money bob dot com or pick up the phone and call 9083592861. That's 9083592861.

Producer:
Not affiliated with the United States government. The Amwell agency does not offer tax, legal or investment advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Amerilife assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or of the results obtained from the use of this information.

Producer:
How much risk are you willing to take with your investments? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network. Powered by a Life. If you're a thrill seeker, you probably enjoy the adrenaline rush of jumping out of a plane, bungee jumping off a high cliff or kayaking down a raging river. But when it comes to your finances, do you still find a lot of risk exciting, or does the danger of losing your hard earned money change your perspective? Think back for a moment to the 2008 financial crisis. Thanks to market risk and some shady Wall Street deals, the S&P 500 fell more than 46% between October 2007 and March 2009.

Producer:
If you go back and look at the risk that we took 25, 30 years ago. And it was kind of way out there. And a lot of these firms, including some of the things that happened at Morgan Stanley, we were so mesmerized by the great trader and the money they made that they got more and more autonomy until it was too late. We had huge losses.

Producer:
That's former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack speaking with Yahoo! News. So how do you protect yourself if we have another year like that or even another 2022 when the markets had their worst performance since 2008? Financial advisors will tell you that to maximize your investment growth, you need to take some risk with your money. Just be smart about it.

Producer:
You want to have an actively managed portfolio strategy. You just do. It involves shifting investments in your portfolio to take advantage of pricing anomalies and strong market sectors. You want to reduce the risk. You want to have smart risk as part of your portfolio. You want to increase returns and you want to truly diversify your portfolio.

Producer:
Active Wealth Management founder and President Ford Stokes says smart risk investing is based on the concept that all investments carry some amount of risk and that the only way to reduce that risk is to diversify. This means investing in a variety of different asset classes such as stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities and other financial instruments. Everyone's situation is different, and that's why it's important to work with a fiduciary financial advisor to get the most out of your hard earned and hard saved money. So how much risk are you willing to take with your retirement? That's a key question to consider as you invest for the future. With the retirement radio network Powered by Life, I'm Matt McClure.

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