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Real World Retirement is a podcast hosted by Alexander Pushman, dedicated to exploring all aspects of retirement planning with the help of expert financial advisors. Each episode dives into crucial topics like Social Security, investing, taxes, legacy planning, and income strategies, offering real-world insights and practical advice. Listeners are encouraged to stay engaged by following the podcast, sharing their questions, and shaping future episodes tailored to their retirement needs.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;23;28
Unknown
All right, everybody, welcome back. Real world retirement, the podcast. I am your host, Alexander Pushmam. And I just want to welcome you back. I'm really excited. Today we have a phenomenal topic, Chasing Shadows in Retirement. Now, really quick, let me unpack what our goal today is. When I say chasing shadows in retirement, what the heck am I talking about?
00;00;24;01 - 00;00;47;05
Unknown
The rules that were ten, 20, 30 years ago for retirement may not work today. And there's a lot of generalized rules and best practices, so to speak, that people follow when they get into retirement that necessarily may or may not work for you today. It's a different world we're in today. So one of the things that we're going to be doing is I have a phenomenal guest, Nick Calvaneso.
00;00;47;07 - 00;01;04;15
Unknown
So, one of our senior advisors with the firm Focus Financial Group, and he's going to be unpacking. We're going to go through three different topics. We're going to talk about Social Security and income planning. Then we're going to talk about investments. And then we're going to talk about tax planning and legacy. And we're really going to unpack some of these.
00;01;04;15 - 00;01;25;08
Unknown
Again, generalize rules that may or may not work and poke some holes in these okay. So I always like to start Nick. Number one thanks for coming. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. I'm excited. What we're going to get into today. And I know, I know, Nick's got some good stuff. Veteran in the business, has been working with families across the country for a long, long time.
00;01;25;14 - 00;01;40;26
Unknown
And, absolute wealth and knowledge. So, again, thank you for for taking time out of your schedule. Absolutely. So, Nick, if you don't mind, I always like to start with, you know, what got you into the business? Why do you love doing what you do? Kind of. Kind of. Give me a kick. Give the folks the story of Nick Calvin.
00;01;40;29 - 00;02;02;02
Unknown
So of course. Yeah. So when I first started in the financial services business, I wasn't working with families. At that point in time, I was actually working with advisors all over the country. And what I did was I helped those advisors put their plans together for the families that they were working with, that they were serving, and this was all aspects of retirement planning.
00;02;02;02 - 00;02;34;07
Unknown
So hitting all points of Social security planning, income planning, tax planning, estate planning, of course, the investments were a major role in there, but all aspects of retirement planning and combining them all together. So I was doing this with advisors all over the country. And in doing that, you see a lot of different things. You see a lot of different problems that people have and when I would help develop these plans for these families, I would see where a lot of people just follow the trends.
00;02;34;09 - 00;02;59;29
Unknown
A lot of people do what they're told to do or what what someone else is doing because it feels comfortable. So in that which would lead us to this topic today is what could we possibly be doing that we're just told to do? Told it's the right thing to do. But if we take a step back and think about it and have a plan that we know really works for us, is it really the right thing?
00;02;59;29 - 00;03;18;01
Unknown
Right. We were talking before we started recording, and one of the things you said to me that, I think is just a great thing for people to think about, it's like that old saying when you're a kid, right? Well, if they jumped off a bridge with you too, right, right. And the reality is, is we see that happen all the time in the industry.
00;03;18;03 - 00;03;35;03
Unknown
And I you rattled off 4 or 5 examples that I can't wait to dive into with the with the folks out here. But, there's so many things that folks are doing that they just thought, oh, well, that's just what you're supposed to do, right? But matter of fact, they haven't verified key word verified if it's the right thing for them.
00;03;35;06 - 00;03;57;00
Unknown
Absolutely. One example, if we're talking about income planning, how about a Social Security plan? Yeah. So let's jump into that income, social security, wherever you're going. Let's jump in because I think that's the best starting place because that's where it all begins. And it does it. And you'll see a common trend. It always goes back to having a plan, but having a plan that's catered to you.
00;03;57;03 - 00;04;17;04
Unknown
But my plan is not your plan. Your plans aren't going to be my plan. And the same goes for families out there. So when I sit down with someone and we start talking about Social Security, 90 plus percent of the time I hear someone say, well, I'm going to take my benefits at full retirement age. And my first question to that is why?
00;04;17;06 - 00;04;40;10
Unknown
And more often than not, there's no answer to it. Well, my coworker told me to write my dad for retirement ages when I get the most benefit 100% of your benefit, right, you get 100% of your benefit. But but who tells us what full retirement age, right? What what's the difference between collecting benefits and full retirement age? Or three months before a full retirement age?
00;04;40;12 - 00;04;59;01
Unknown
So it goes down to have a plan that fits for your goals and your objectives, right? Because you don't start with, I'm taking Social Security at 67. Why would you ever start there without knowing? What do I want my life to look like first and then fit everything else into it? You're putting the cart before the horse, right?
00;04;59;01 - 00;05;24;05
Unknown
Right. And you're making decisions without verifying the root or foundation of a plan really quickly. Because I know you're an expert in this stuff. What is the. And you use an example a second ago. Hey, your full retirement age is 67, right? And you're six months prior to hitting that age, you're like, well, I got to work six more months to play my Social Security, right.
00;05;24;08 - 00;05;44;17
Unknown
Were you are people through actually the raise they get because people oftentimes think they're getting an annual raise on Social Security. And I know you know this like the back of your hand. Well, you unpack that. Yeah. And this is so important because think about this. If you're playing a sport when you're younger, you need to know the rules to play that game.
00;05;44;17 - 00;06;08;20
Unknown
Amen. Same goes for this with Social Security. So know the rules. If you think about Social Security and let's say your full retirement age is age 67, what's the difference in taking you between 67 and 62? Well, being in this business, I know it's a 30% decrease in the benefit break that down by five years. Every year is a 6% decrease in your benefit by full retirement age.
00;06;08;22 - 00;06;31;11
Unknown
You can break that down to the month 12 months. In the year 6%. It's a half a percent per month. By taking it sooner. So when you're talking about Social Security planning and when should I take my benefits? Think about and do the math. What will I receive if I elect my benefits at this age and then back that in?
00;06;31;17 - 00;06;49;12
Unknown
Is that going to be enough in conjunction with all the other aspects of the plan, whether it's distribution from other retirement assets or cash that you might have on hand, how it's going to be taxed. But if that's enough for you to do all the things that you want to do and have a successful retirement, why are you delaying till 67?
00;06;49;12 - 00;07;08;11
Unknown
Right. The why? I love that because to your point, if you ask somebody that 99% of the time their answer is going to be, well, that's what I was told I should do. They don't know why, they don't understand why they're just doing what they believe. And what's crazy to me too. And again, I you've told me dozens of stories around this topic.
00;07;08;14 - 00;07;44;14
Unknown
All the folks out there who say, well, I can't retire until I hit full retirement age. Right? And then you sit down with somebody, run an income plan, verify the information back. Actually, you can retire today, right? Yep. Per the math. So I think that's a really powerful message. And this is one thing I'd like to just encourage any listeners, anybody, you know, watching the podcast, if you're sitting out there today and again, Retirement's a scary thing to think about because you have the emotional, you have the mental, and then you got the financial piece and everybody's worried about the financial and they don't really consider these other two.
00;07;44;14 - 00;07;58;15
Unknown
But I'm not going to go down that, that rabbit hole. Yeah. But if you're out there listening today and you're thinking to yourself, well, I don't really know if that is truly in my best interest, whether it's Social Security, how much money you're going to spend a month, what are the investment ratios you're using between risk and safe?
00;07;58;20 - 00;08;13;18
Unknown
Are you using bonds? Is that the best thing or are you using target funds? Is that the best thing? If you're just following generalized rules, I need $1 million to retire. I want to encourage you engage with us. Reach out. Of course. I want everybody to follow, and I hope you're getting some good stuff out of this podcast.
00;08;13;18 - 00;08;31;14
Unknown
We love it. You know, we enjoy doing the education side. However, if you're sitting out there and you're one of these folks, I want to encourage you to drop us a line, send us a message, send us an email. I'll tee up with Nick and Nick and answer any of the questions you have unique to your certain situation, because that is what we're talking about.
00;08;31;20 - 00;08;51;24
Unknown
You can't generalize this stuff, and it's so important you understand what fits for you your family, your goals, your concerns, your situation. So please, if that's you, reach out to us, engage with us. You can send us a message. You can call the office. You can send an email. Nick at Fogel financial.com. Right. But we're here for you if you need.
00;08;51;24 - 00;09;10;03
Unknown
So I just want to make sure I'm putting that out there to the community. So one thing I also want to jump in when we start talking about Social Security income planning. Number one, Social Security timing is a very generalized rule. I'm just going to wait til six seven or hey, I'm just doing it at 62, right? Whatever the answer is, that necessarily isn't the right answer.
00;09;10;03 - 00;09;33;14
Unknown
There's actually a process that you go through to verify it. What are some other income planning or Social Security mistakes of kind of that Chasing Shadows concept of something that may have worked in the past and that was a generalized rule, but doesn't necessarily fit with somebody's day. Any other topics or specific claiming recommendations that you've identified as a generalized error that people make?
00;09;33;17 - 00;09;52;17
Unknown
Absolutely. In pertains to taxes. If we're going to make a determination, then we're going to take our Social Security. Yeah. Do you think it would be important to understand how we're going to pay taxes on those benefits? Great point in the answer to that question is not just what is my benefit. How old am I? Am I married?
00;09;52;22 - 00;10;17;27
Unknown
Those are all factors in there. But the answer to that question also comes from what are we using to supplement Social Security to achieve the in the end goal? The end goal is always that we have a successful retirement. We're able to do all the things that we want to do while retired, spend time with our family. But how could we ever make an informed decision on one aspect of that retirement plan without understanding all the other aspects of the big picture?
00;10;17;27 - 00;10;40;21
Unknown
Absolutely. So when I hear I'm taking Social Security in full retirement age, and the reason why we keep talking about this is because I hear it all too often. And when I do like I said, my response is why have you have you thought about your your tax plan in conjunction with that? And this all leads into all aspects of planning, your estate plan as well.
00;10;40;21 - 00;11;05;15
Unknown
And we'll get into that. I know we will, but why are we doing the things that we do and think about the decision making process behind it? Why are we comfortable with the belief or the determination, or coming to the solution that we're going to take benefits at 67, why are we comfortable? And is are we comfortable because it's what everyone else is doing?
00;11;05;17 - 00;11;31;04
Unknown
Or are we comfortable doing that because we've done the the research. We've had a professional to guide us down that path of having a real plan, and now we have the clarity to know that we're making the right decision. Is it better to make the decision because everyone else is doing it, or is it better to make a decision because we've we've done the work to get clarity that that is the best answer for our question.
00;11;31;07 - 00;11;48;05
Unknown
Right. And I think of like to your tax point, one of the ones that comes up often that I hear is like, hey, I'm going to have this part time job, right? I don't want to just go cold turkey on work. I want to have a social environment. Right? I want to get out of the house, have somewhat of a routine.
00;11;48;07 - 00;12;02;02
Unknown
So your tax point. Okay, well, if you pick up a part time job, let's just say you're retiring and I'm making it up, you're retiring, and you're going to pick up this part time job, and that job is going to pay a $36,000 a year. Okay. Is it actually in your best interest to turn on Social Security in conjunction with that?
00;12;02;02 - 00;12;24;15
Unknown
Considering. Okay, now how much of your social care is taxable, right. A b if you're making over a certain amount and you claim before 67, you might have just shot yourself in the foot, right? Yep. This is a bag of rules around that. So understanding the tax implications because you know I always joke around I say hey raise your hand if you like talking about taxes.
00;12;24;18 - 00;12;47;10
Unknown
And every time there's one human being in the room, they're a CPA. Right. But my point being is the tax conjunction is a super important factor. And the unfortunate reality is it's super complicated. It is. And even further on that and I'll talk about that too. I'll say, hey, I'm glad everyone's here to talk about the most entertaining topic we could possibly pick in the world.
00;12;47;12 - 00;13;10;15
Unknown
And you decided to come here on your own accord, right? Right. To talk about taxes. You made that decision to talk about taxes, right last year. Yeah, yeah, but we know why the there's someone's there, right. Because they know there are things that they could be doing unintentionally. Right. That could not just impact their lives or their spouses lives, but their kids lives or their grandchildren's lives for years to come.
00;13;10;15 - 00;13;40;01
Unknown
So it's almost they know there's more out there. Yeah. But commonly it's where do I go to get the information and accurate. Yeah. And kind of wrap it up the income social security piece. One more of that that I know you, have dealt with more than most. But that theory and this is one of those old theories that chase and shadows stuff that everybody thinks is true from 20, 30 years ago, that not necessarily in our experience, is true.
00;13;40;03 - 00;14;02;19
Unknown
I only need 70%. I only need 80% of the income I have now in retirement. People thinking that they're going to spend less. We kind of know that a little bit. What have you observed? Yeah, it it's interesting. I'm yet to find someone that wants to spend less money than when they retire, because the old the old joke is when you retire, you you now have six Saturdays and one Sunday, right?
00;14;02;21 - 00;14;21;27
Unknown
Right. What days of the week do you spend the most time at Home Depot? I know because I don't just go to Home Depot. One time on a weekend, my wife yells at me every time, where are you going again? I'm going Home Depot. Weren't you just there? Yeah, I was just there. But every time I break out the credit card, you're spending more money, right?
00;14;21;28 - 00;14;41;05
Unknown
It just so happens that happened on Saturday, right? So you might think you're going to spend less and maybe you got a lot of those checklist done. But I tend to find that that checklist just grows when we retire because we get more time for honey to do list. That's right. That becomes the job. And also just add a little bit more light and context to that one.
00;14;41;07 - 00;15;05;18
Unknown
The other thing you got to think about when you're retiring is, and I know we've talked about this before and the podcast and prior episodes, but you retire and usually you have more time, right? However, with that more time, you spend more because to your point there, six Saturdays and one Sunday, the other side of that coin is unless you have a very specific reason, hey, my mortgage is paid off now this year.
00;15;05;25 - 00;15;33;00
Unknown
Okay, well, that's a legit mathematical minimization of how much you're gonna spend a month, you know? Okay, my mortgage was two grand. I just paid it off. Okay, well, that is a legitimate case. You spend more. Yes, but what we've also identified. And again, I know you. You know this to be true. And you were talking to me about it a minute ago is the concept that in the first 2 to 5 years, people usually spend more than they anticipate the travel, the upgrades to the house.
00;15;33;00 - 00;15;49;24
Unknown
Right? That, honey, you do less everything. You're doing some things that you probably had didn't do. You're spending some money you didn't spend because you have the time and you're enjoying your retirement. And who do you really want to spend that time with right. Family. Do you do you want to go travel. Of course you want to travel their spouses.
00;15;49;24 - 00;16;13;18
Unknown
But when we retire it changes the perspective, the way we look at things because anybody watch the Rocky movies out there. Rocky said this time is undisputed heavyweight champion. And that's true. And in your first years of retirement, you're probably more mobile than you're going to be in in the next 15 years after that. Right? So when do you want to do more?
00;16;13;18 - 00;16;36;22
Unknown
When when you when you can't do as much? Or do you want to do more now? But really, all of this ties back to the one common denominator is understand what you want to do when you retire, and build a plan for success to do all those things. Amen to that. And it's about proactively. And I think there's this, there's a statistic, right?
00;16;36;22 - 00;17;05;13
Unknown
We're numbers guys. We can't help ourselves, but there's this statistic and I don't know if it's true or not, but I've lived by it. It's true. I hope so, but they basically will tell you for every minute planned. Saves you 45 minutes. Yeah. Right. And if you think about that, what is more important than spending maybe two and a half, three hours of your life to get a second opinion on the most important financial decision you will make in your life?
00;17;05;15 - 00;17;22;04
Unknown
I can't think of a better way to sacrifice 2.5 hours of your life to verify and get the answers on, hey, am I going to run out of money? Do I have a tax problem? Am I in the right or wrong investments? Am I taking Social Security at the right time? Right. RMD is going to be an issue.
00;17;22;06 - 00;18;00;16
Unknown
Absolutely. And this goes back to one word. What does a plan give you. It's one thing gives you clarity. Yeah. And clarity is the ultimate piece of a decision making process. And if the decision is when can I retire? How much can I spend? If you have the clarity to know that you can do that, yeah, you're going to feel a lot more comfortable in your retirement because I've seen the other side of it too, where you have someone that retires and they hold back so much and the things they want to do ten years passes, they realize they didn't do all those things they wanted to do, and now they've got a bunch of
00;18;00;16 - 00;18;31;02
Unknown
numbers on a piece of paper that they're looking at. And for what? What was it for what? What did we what did we accumulate this for to become if we accumulated? You look at it on a piece of paper that that's fine. But there's more there's a lot more to it than that. There's more to it. We did it because we know there's going to come a point in time where we want to put work behind us and go into this transition to the next phase of life, and that should be enjoying all the things that you set out to enjoy.
00;18;31;03 - 00;18;51;21
Unknown
It should be a celebration, right? It should be a celebration. But it doesn't mean that you should sacrifice again. To your point, don't follow those rules that the water cooler talk, right? Hey, you need a million bucks to retire. That one drives me crazy. I've talked about this for. I'll talk it again because I think it's important. It's all about how much you spend a month.
00;18;51;27 - 00;19;11;19
Unknown
It is if you spend $2,000 a month and you retired with a million, you're going to die with like $6 million, right? If you retire with $1 million and you spend 15 grand a month, you're going to run out of money and about, you know, 7 to 10 years. You can't use these generalized shadows from the past rules and any and anybody who says otherwise.
00;19;11;19 - 00;19;33;09
Unknown
I would love to sit down with them and, give them some real world education on what that looks like for families today. It's different, and I'll always know very quickly whether someone does have a plan or not. Yeah. And I'll bring this I'll bring up a prime example of some, some recent things that have happened with the stock market.
00;19;33;09 - 00;19;59;09
Unknown
Yeah. So okay. Perfect segue. Is it good. We're going to we're going bullet point to here. We're going to jump in to the investment piece. And there's some nuggets I know next. So keep keep moving. Yeah. So earlier this year no surprise anybody. The market had some some trouble didn't volatility volatility I stepped back and said good. And here's why.
00;19;59;12 - 00;20;23;14
Unknown
If 75 or 70% of the time the market stopped 30% of the time the market's down. And we want to have a 30 year retirement. Isn't it reasonable to assume that we're going to have to have 9 or 10 years of retirement with a down market, right? So we know what's going to happen. It is a lot easier to plan for something if we know something's going to happen before it happens.
00;20;23;14 - 00;20;42;26
Unknown
Absolutely. This is the one. Guess what? I'm a fortune teller now. I can predict the future. If you're retired for 30 years, I can undoubtedly tell you you are going to endure market corrections in retirement, right? The question is, do you have a plan for when that happens? Correct. And is the plan? Well, I'm going to skip my trip to Florida this year.
00;20;42;28 - 00;21;03;21
Unknown
That's not a good plan. So we know something's going to happen before it happens. What's the plan for where it does. And dive even further to that. When the market goes down. What can we do to take advantage of it. Yeah because again we know what's going to happen. So what are we doing when it does. Right.
00;21;03;23 - 00;21;29;05
Unknown
And it makes me think of the the quote from the, the, the undoubted king of, of investing, good old Warren Buffett. Yes. Right. Rule number one. And retirement specific to retirement. Warren Buffett, not Alex Bushman, not Nick Calvinism, Warren Buffett, rule number one, don't lose money in retirement. Rule number two, don't forget rule number one.
00;21;29;12 - 00;21;48;00
Unknown
So the whole point to that is, don't you know, because the rules change. And exactly we're talking about the rules change in retirement. You're hypothetically supplementing your Social Security if you're lucky to have a pension as well. Which is what was the last number. I think it was like less than 5% of the population. Do they still have a pension of some crazy.
00;21;48;00 - 00;22;12;12
Unknown
Anyway, so the whole concept, though, is how people get into trouble is Warren Buffett says that rule for one reason the law of diminishing returns. If you have a market that's doing this and you are now taking out, call it $2,000 a month. What you don't know is you don't know if this correction or downturn is going to be two months or two years, and you don't want to be pulling two grand out in a constant down market law of diminishing returns.
00;22;12;12 - 00;22;34;11
Unknown
Look it up. It's we're not making this stuff up. It exists for a reason. And so the concept is don't lose money in retirement. It's not saying to take risk. It's saying to have diversification with your assets in a down market, you want to have safe or protected investments that you would pull from. Right. Absolutely. So that that whole theory, chasing shadows, we're going to ride out the market.
00;22;34;13 - 00;22;52;04
Unknown
Don't worry. It'll come back. It'll come back. You care. You don't care when you're working because you're still you're buying in low right? Every two weeks you're throwing money in dollar cost averaging at work. All of a sudden you retire and you're taking money out. The rules change. We're not saying don't take risk. We're just saying have diversification.
00;22;52;06 - 00;23;16;15
Unknown
Take it in the right places. Right. So understand where you're taking risk and where you're not taking risks. Yeah. So on that investing wise. Yeah. What are some shadows. What are some generalized rules when it comes to diversification that you'd want to poke some holes in to help educate the community out there? As crazy as it sounds, the one that so many people don't follow.
00;23;16;16 - 00;23;42;27
Unknown
And this is where I'll say the masses are right. What is it? Do they say buy low and sell high? Is anybody ever heard that before? Yeah, but what all too often do people do when the market's going down. They sell. They sell. Yeah. Based on. And is that based on any, any planning or is it based on something that's another retirement killer is fear.
00;23;42;29 - 00;24;07;03
Unknown
And fear only comes from not having clarity come back to clarity again and not having clarity is not having a plan. Because if you had a plan for when we just said 30% of the time in your retirement, the market will have negative years based on history, right? What's your plan for that 30% of retirement? Is it that I'm just not going to sleep that those nights?
00;24;07;05 - 00;24;30;19
Unknown
Because that's a terrible plan if you ask me. Right. But if you have a plan and the market's going up, the market's going down. We already knew it was going to happen. We're we're just implementing what we already planned on doing during those times. What's your take on bonds. It depends. Big picture in retirement. What's your take on bonds in today's market versus 40 years ago?
00;24;30;21 - 00;24;54;21
Unknown
It's a whole different world. And why do you say that interest rates go up, bond values go down, interest rates go down. Bond values go up. Right. It's that's pretty soon 2022 would be a perfect example right. Everybody's like wait a minute I can lose 15% with my bonds. Those those you know we feel so comfortable with just what we're given and what we're where we're told is okay.
00;24;54;23 - 00;25;11;13
Unknown
And that's a that's a quarterly statement and a pie chart. And we look at this pie chart and it it's got oh you got a little here in equities. You got some bonds. There's your safe money. But I look at that is the potential for a broken teeter totter. You and I both have little kids right right right.
00;25;11;16 - 00;25;25;23
Unknown
Would you ever put your kid on a teeter totter that might break? You know what? Would you set your daughter on one end and I'll set mine on the other. And there's a there's a small percent chance that that teeter totter is going to break, and they're going to fall down, and they're going to hit the ground. They're going to come crying to us.
00;25;25;29 - 00;25;40;25
Unknown
Would you ever put your kids on that teeter totter? Yeah. You see a big crack in the middle. That's probably not all. It's okay. So why would we put our retirement on a broke right. And really, what you're talking about is if you look at interest rates over the last 40 years, right from like, what, 1984 or something like that, right?
00;25;40;27 - 00;26;01;15
Unknown
Interest rates went down for 40 year straight. And then all of a sudden 2022 comes around, the chickens come home to roost. They shoot up six times in one year. Everybody's like, wait a minute, what just happened? That's right. And everybody also needs to understand the Fed's is not a government run or, you know, organization. So you have to understand the rules of this game.
00;26;01;17 - 00;26;24;28
Unknown
The perfect storm right. Inflation rising. Yeah. Right. Everything was happening where you had your quote safe money, your bond positions of that pie chart. They were losing value. Equities were losing value. All the Ukraine stuff going on. Everything was right there. There are outside forces that can impact this. So all these things are happening and here we are.
00;26;25;01 - 00;26;42;06
Unknown
We still need money to pay our bills, right? And now mind you, this is also in the high inflationary environment. So now those bills are not where they were the previous year. They're going up the gas electric home and auto. We don't even I don't even want to go down that bad. Yeah. Yeah we'll save that for another day.
00;26;42;06 - 00;27;14;22
Unknown
But things are you know, costs are rising, grocery store bills. And now our retirement accounts are not doing what we want them to do in that environment. And again, it goes back because we didn't have a plan for that to happen. Right. So, you know, and basically where we're at is you're saying, okay, number one, we have to consider when we look at our investments in retirement to not, quote unquote, chase the shadows, we need to be considering a real diversified plan that is talking to our income and distribution needs a B.
00;27;14;26 - 00;27;32;22
Unknown
We need to consider our safe money. Are there alternatives? Yes. We don't want to go down that rabbit hole because this would go three hours for the record. But there's alternatives to bonds. If you're out there and you're somebody's sitting here and you got a target 2030 fund or target 2020 fund in your 41K and like, well, I'm going to retire soon.
00;27;32;22 - 00;27;50;16
Unknown
So I want to be less aggressive. Understand that 90% of your money is most likely in a bond. And if interest rates go up, it's not safe. There is interest rate risk. That is how bonds work. So if you're sitting out there and you say, Alex neck, I don't know what to do. All I've been taught is bonds.
00;27;50;16 - 00;28;14;04
Unknown
That's what my four on K offers. What can I do to diversify my safe positions? Please engage with us. That is one of the most common topics we have when people retire. Because people want to have that diversification, they want to have that peace of mind and so engage, shoot us a message, give us a call, will tee up with Nick directly, and he will educate you to understand our bonds.
00;28;14;04 - 00;28;31;01
Unknown
A good fit for that safe money. What other options do I have? And then once you understand those, you know, three or 4 or 5 options that are really good, then you can make an educated decision for what works for you. And so I just want to encourage you, if you're out there listening, please do not hesitate. These are the questions we'd love to answer because they're softballs.
00;28;31;01 - 00;28;46;28
Unknown
For us, this is our job. If I stepped into a job of a police officer, I would be lost, right? If I stepped in the job of a teacher, I would be lost. This is where we live. And so if that's you and you need somebody you can trust to get education from, that's our that's our M.O.. You know, it's kind of funny.
00;28;46;28 - 00;29;08;01
Unknown
We're talking about peace of mind a lot. You know, as a company, our motto is peace and purpose for your money. Absolutely. And everything you're talking about neck is like the nail in the head on why it's so important to have an organized plan. All right, that's a good one. Last topic and we'll hit this one is the taxes.
00;29;08;01 - 00;29;33;17
Unknown
So before we move on to taxes investments number one understand your investments. Are they the right fit. Are you diversified. Do you have safety for a bad market. Right. Are you leaning in to the tools and are you aware of all the tools? When you go to get that advice of your investments, make sure you're talking to somebody who is who does not have a limited menu of investment choices they can offer.
00;29;33;24 - 00;29;57;28
Unknown
Is that fair? Absolute okay. So taxes legacy. Now I don't want this one to go too long because we could go down a rabbit hole. But what are some what are some of the shadows, if you will neck that you see of people quote unquote taking all the information and again, may or may not work for them today, generalized rules that you think you should poke some holes and educate folks on.
00;29;58;00 - 00;30;30;14
Unknown
This is a big one. When we talk about estate planning, tax planning, they really are combined and they really do work together. But think about where the public is, where where they are for for getting accurate information and advice on this. Because if you and we'll talk taxes and estate planning, if you go to your advisor in most common situations and tell them that you want help on your taxes, they're going to send you to the person that files your taxes.
00;30;30;17 - 00;30;47;18
Unknown
Now you go to that person that files your taxes and say, I want help with taxes on my retirement. They're going to send you to your advisor and you're stuck in the middle wondering, well, who's really helping me here? Same with estate planning. You go to your advisor and you ask for help with estate planning, send you to the attorney.
00;30;47;20 - 00;31;09;07
Unknown
So you go to the attorney and we'll talk about that in a minute. The attorney I want to help with, with the the estate planning for my retirement accounts, they send you to your advisor, Alex, I'll ask you, how many times have you encountered a family that said, oh, I've got my estate planning done. And they pull out this book and they dusted off because it's been sitting in the drawer.
00;31;09;14 - 00;31;30;11
Unknown
They said, I've got my estate planning done, I've got this book here. And that that leads me to more questions. What do you have and why do you have them? Because I hear all too often, and this may be true or may not be true. I'm good. I've got to trust. Well, do you have the durable power of attorney for financial medical decisions?
00;31;30;11 - 00;31;53;11
Unknown
Do you have a will? Here's another one. How many people know what a will really is? Yeah. Does anybody know that a will is actually a letter to a probate judge in itself? Now hopefully when we're not here, we'll have our family members that will read that and say, this is what Mom and dad wanted to have happen, and they'll adhere to our wishes.
00;31;53;14 - 00;32;17;03
Unknown
But if they don't, that letter goes to tell the judge what you wanted to have happen. So do you think it's better to understand the rules and know the rules of estate planning before you just go in and and buy something? Because the answer to the question is, does everybody need a trust? I'll say it. Not everybody does need a trust.
00;32;17;05 - 00;32;40;04
Unknown
Do some people need a trust? Yes. And whenever someone does have a trust, I ask them why. If they can't answer that question, then what do they buy it for? Right? And is probably a lack of education on the front end to help them understand that. Why? Because if somebody is doing their job appropriately, let's use an attorney for this example.
00;32;40;07 - 00;33;00;16
Unknown
They understand the situation, they educate them on their options, and then they help the family make an informed choice. It's exactly what we do with financial planning, income planning, all the other stuff. And so the key takeaway to that is basically the concept that understand your why and understand your options before you just start doing something. Oh, I heard I need a trust.
00;33;00;18 - 00;33;24;20
Unknown
Maybe. Maybe not. Right. Lady birdied here in Michigan right. For real estate. Is that something that makes sense? Maybe. Maybe not. The point being is that understand the why. Understand the root of why you're doing what you're doing, and making sure you're getting the piece of the puzzle that solves that. Why? A lot of problems here, too. We're talking about the shadows.
00;33;24;23 - 00;33;48;12
Unknown
Oftentimes families will go and they'll they'll get the estate plan done. They'll have a trust and they'll think they're done and they'll put it in the drawer. And it gives them a sense of comfort that they they have their estate plan done. But here's one of the problems. Do they have it done? Have they communicated with their advisor that they had it done?
00;33;48;17 - 00;34;24;22
Unknown
But I'll take it a step further because when when I talk to a family about estate planning, I want them to know what they're going to have happen before they go see the estate planning attorney. I've already communicated with the estate planning attorney about their situation, so there's a level of comfort going into that meeting with the estate planning attorney when you you already know what you need and you already know your advisors had that conversation with them and then even go even further on that when your advisor works with your estate planning attorney, you'll get the best results for you and your family.
00;34;24;28 - 00;34;48;04
Unknown
When your advisor in your estate planning attorney and your tax preparer are working together in sync, this should not be three separate, separate islands trying to send a pigeon message to each other. And the hardest thing is for the family. You're now having conversations you're not really an expert in. And you're the middleman, right? And then you get in a situation where the CPA doesn't agree with the financial planner.
00;34;48;06 - 00;35;10;16
Unknown
Right. And now they're saying conflicting situations. What we've seen happen all too much. Because why what what's the root of that? To your point, the financial planner and the CPA didn't talk prior and or after the meeting where the family was involved. It's not it's not your it's not your job is the family to be the middleman and having super complicated conversations that you're not an expert in.
00;35;10;16 - 00;35;26;08
Unknown
That's not fair to you and the people who are asking you to do that, whether it be a CPA or an attorney or a financial advisor, I'll say it like it is. They're lazy. They're lazy. They're not willing to have that extra conversation to help educate the other side of the fence, to make sure everybody's in synergy. I love that.
00;35;26;14 - 00;35;49;06
Unknown
Absolutely right. You're spot on. And also, why do a lot of families avoid estate planning? Because it's a conversation that nobody wants to talk about or do. I don't want to talk about dying to you. Right. So that's that's already a difficult conversation to have, right? Then you have other barriers. Let's say I was referred to this, this, this, estate planning attorney.
00;35;49;06 - 00;36;06;25
Unknown
And I'm going to call and set up an appointment. What do they charge by the hour? What if what if I don't just don't mesh well with that person? Are looking to charge me for coming in? Am I going to just be sold something that I don't need? But not. I'm not seeing that none of these things are needed.
00;36;06;28 - 00;36;33;19
Unknown
Go in with some education to that meeting and you'll have a lot more enjoyable process. Absolutely. What's the end result? I'll say it again. What is the end result of any plan or retirement plan? Tax plan? Estate plan. Is that you're going to achieve success based on your goals and your objectives. Now, the path there can go in all kinds of different directions but isn't.
00;36;33;21 - 00;36;56;22
Unknown
But they say that the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line, right? If we can be there to to show you what that straight line is, you're not running off another different place and you're saving time and right to it. Yeah, you're saving time, energy and money. And again, having the clarity and the understanding and the knowledge to know that you're making the right decision for you and your family.
00;36;56;23 - 00;37;19;01
Unknown
So long story short on that one. I understand the why. Why is it important that you have some form of a trust? Well, power of attorney it what what is it that you're trying to accomplish? What is your end goal? Because once you understand your end goal, then if you have the right people in your corner, in the right team together, they can then educate you on what your options are so that you can make the best choice.
00;37;19;04 - 00;37;42;21
Unknown
Absolutely. When it comes to the estate and that they access candidly any other, you know, shadows from the past that you would just want to bring up on this topic? That would be helpful. Yeah, this is important. This is good. And think about this in your own lives. Let everyone around you know what you want to have happen before it happens.
00;37;42;23 - 00;38;03;15
Unknown
I'll give you an example and you may have experiences I know a lot of families have. It can come down to the picture on Mom and Dad's wall that could break family up. Tell me you haven't seen it happen because I know you have. Yeah. What about mom's wedding ring? I have three little girls, and they all love sparkly things.
00;38;03;17 - 00;38;25;17
Unknown
Now I want Heather to be around here forever. Far longer than I am. But if something ever happens to Heather in the future. Do you think all three of my girls are going to want mom's sparkly wedding ring? Great point. And if that conversation has not been had before, it happens for those three girls. Maybe have a different view on what should happen with that, especially if dad's not around.
00;38;25;17 - 00;38;51;01
Unknown
Yeah, if dads aren't there, well, I can't tell you they that they will. I can guarantee you that they will have a different opinion. So just if it's the smallest thing that we can do to to change that outcome. Right. Let everybody know what you want to have happen before it happens. It can be the smallest thing in the world that you might think is not a big deal.
00;38;51;03 - 00;39;14;01
Unknown
But guess what? It can become a big deal, right? And I believe that Caleb and Katie also brought up some points exactly to that point of like, listen, one of the reasons people pay us to be financial advisors and be experts and to help guide you and to help educate you and to help you make these really hard decisions that are complicated and probably more complicated than you need to be, is the simple fact that we're not emotional, right?
00;39;14;04 - 00;39;43;00
Unknown
People pay us to not be emotional. You're going to be emotional and you should be emotional. It's your life savings. It's your family. It's your legacy. It's everything you've worked your whole life for. You should be emotional, but you're also paying somebody in your court to not be emotional. Use past experiences or families we've worked with to help understand what does and doesn't work, and know all the options to lay out in front of you so that you can have that peace of mind, knowing when you pass away, your wishes will be carried out and your kids don't hate each other.
00;39;43;02 - 00;40;18;07
Unknown
And you talk about being emotional. I'm very emotional. But when but when it comes to families, I let them be emotional. I'm empathetic. Right? I understand what they're absolutely, and it's my job to understand the emotions that they're feeling and help guide them to the right decisions for them. And and you brought up a great point about if I know Mom and Dad, I want to know about your kids, too, because when you're not here, I'm going to be your best mouthpiece to let your kids know what you wanted to have happen.
00;40;18;10 - 00;40;37;09
Unknown
Hopefully everything is in place from an estate planning standpoint. We've gone through all that and executed these things, but without that, I'm there. I want to know about your kids and your grandkids and what you wanted to have happen. So when you're not here, I can I can speak on your behalf. Absolutely. And it's even important. I know we've done this.
00;40;37;09 - 00;40;55;26
Unknown
I know you do it. And we've talked about this before, but we encourage our clients, the families that we serve and work with to if they're comfortable with it, bring their kids in ahead of time, meet with all of us, sit at the table and say, hey, this is the game plan. Yeah. And sometimes families aren't comfortable having that conversation.
00;40;55;28 - 00;41;16;24
Unknown
You know them directly to their kids. It's hard. And so we oftentimes will take that, that load off their back and say, hey, listen, we're happy to do that. And again, that's just something that a financial advisor who has good experience should be encouraging you to think about, talk about, and plan and take action on to again, educate your family on what your wishes are.
00;41;16;25 - 00;41;40;14
Unknown
So it's not the first time they hear it. When you're not there. And it's it's very rare that someone's going to tell us something or explain something to us that's going to surprise us, or that we haven't heard before. Right? I mean, for them that this might be a big outlandish situation and story, but I'll tell you, I I've probably heard it before.
00;41;40;14 - 00;42;04;03
Unknown
I've probably experienced it before. So use our experience to help solve your problems or help provide you with solutions. I'll give you another one. This one's interesting. Blended families. You know, many times I've started working with a blended family, and we get to the point of, all right, how would you like to set up those beneficiaries and have those funds structure and flow?
00;42;04;06 - 00;42;26;21
Unknown
Let the fireworks begin. And now they look at each other. They've never had that conversation. And now I know what's going on. I might just close the book and say, all right, we've got a different conversation to have now, and I'll help manage that conversation that that might be not fun for them to have at the kitchen table at home.
00;42;26;24 - 00;42;48;07
Unknown
But I've done it before. I've done it many times. I can help guide you to what are what are some ways that I've seen other families do it successfully and overcome a very uncomfortable situation that you probably are avoiding at home. We can have it here, and to me it's just common conversation. Absolutely. And I can agree with you.
00;42;48;07 - 00;43;06;05
Unknown
So key takeaways from the legacy tax piece. And I know he didn't dive too deep into the tax are, you know, the CPA and the communication piece. But number one understand what you need and why you want it. Absolutely right. You gotta understand the root of it. Is it a trust. Is it wills a lady bird deed? Is it simply, hey, I just got my beneficiaries and I'm good.
00;43;06;06 - 00;43;27;01
Unknown
That may be the case, right? But understand the why you're getting something and make sure you're not getting taken to the cleaners. Right? You know, then we get into the concept of, to your point, you got to have the hard conversations. And it's not a fun conversation, but you need to have it in advance so that not only you and your spouse are on the same page, whether it's a blended family or a 40 year marriage.
00;43;27;03 - 00;44;04;22
Unknown
But also making sure your kids understand that or those beneficiaries. So again, we can help prevent conflict, right? Absolutely. And educate yourself on the options. I think it's across the board on every topic. I want to make another point before we move this by somebody not making a decision, even if they know it's in their best interest, because it's a hard decision to make by not making that decision, you are making your decision by by not doing something that could be beneficial to yourself, your family, your loved ones, by not doing something that's in all their best interest.
00;44;04;22 - 00;44;29;12
Unknown
Because it's uncomfortable or I've never done it before. And a lot of this comes down to having clarity. But by not making that decision, you are making a decision by by saying, I, I'm okay. I'm just going to be okay with where I am. That's a decision whether it's just not the right decision. But you're still making a decision to stay where you are.
00;44;29;14 - 00;44;45;03
Unknown
And I'll say it again, sometimes the best decisions that we make in life are the most uncomfortable decisions that we have to make. It's like, not opening up that credit card bill, right? You get the credit card bill in the mail, you're like, I don't want to see the number of the second open up bank 26% late fees.
00;44;45;03 - 00;45;12;06
Unknown
Dang it. Dang. That's right. Yeah. So one of the worst ones that spring break is you probably went on vacation back to school because you go back to school shopping, summertime. The kids are at home. We're going to get that list of everything they want to do done right. So awesome. Well, hey, thank you so much. And I hope again, I can't encourage, you know, if you're out there listening and you felt some, let's just say discomfort and, you know, that's you and we're talking about a certain subject reach us, reach out to us.
00;45;12;08 - 00;45;34;15
Unknown
You know, it doesn't cost you anything. We do complimentary reviews, second opinions, answer simple questions. Do the whole enchilada from an income to investment to tax planning. We will educate you as best as we possibly can. There's not a charge to that. That's one of the things we've committed as a firm that we are happy to educate the community and the folks who are engaging with us.
00;45;34;15 - 00;45;54;23
Unknown
So if that's you, please reach out on Facebook or any social media channel, YouTube. Come down to our website, give us a phone call. Hey, I'd love to talk to Nick Calvin. So about that, that podcast I just heard, there's some things that popped up. We're here for you. We want to support you. Thank you so much for joining us on Chasing Shadows and Retirement.
00;45;54;25 - 00;46;14;09
Unknown
Real World Retirement podcast again. I am Alexander Bushman, your host, Nick, thank you for coming down today. Thank you for having me and and taking time out of your busy, busy schedule. I know you're a tough guy to nail down, so thank you. And and I appreciate it, man. And this was some good stuff. And thanks again for coming.
00;46;14;10 - 00;46;31;29
Unknown
Thanks for appreciate you, brother. All right. We'll see you the next time. Engage with us. Follow us on social. If you're liking this stuff, come down to our Facebook page. Come down to our Instagram page. We got tons and tons of videos that we're putting out. We love doing this and we hope you're enjoying the podcast. Join us next time!
00;46;32;01 - 00;46;43;15
Unknown
Real world retirement. And again, I'm your host, Alex Bushman. Thanks for joining us.
00;46;43;17 - 00;46;50;27
Unknown
If. Greenfield is in search three 744.