Ep 50: Can You Get An A+ On Our Retirement Planning Quiz?

On This Episode

Don’t dread this as much as you hated hearing these words as a kid, but it’s time for a pop quiz! We’re putting retirement planning preparedness under the microscope with 5 critical questions to which you need to know the answers. So sharpen those pencils and let’s see how ready you are for retirement.

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More Episodes

Check out all the episodes by clicking here.

 

Disclaimer:

PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.

Here is a transcript of today’s episode:

 

Speaker 1: Welcome into the podcast. It’s Retirement Planning Redefine with John and Nick and it’s pop quiz time. We’re going to have a little fun here with a retirement pop quiz. And don’t worry, it’s only five questions and it’s multiple choice. So we make this pretty easy. Guys, did you enjoy pop quizzes? When you hear that phrase, do you automatically get filled with dread or with joy? Nick, I’ll start with you. How you doing buddy? What’s going on?

 


Nick: Oh, pretty good. Fortunately, I was a pretty good test taker, so never bothered me that much.

 


Speaker 1: Okay.

 


Nick: But, so I luck out that way, but I know a lot of people dread it.

 


Speaker 1: Oh, for sure. Well, you know what? You are the first person, congratulations that I’ve talked to when I’ve doing the pop quiz that have said, all right, let’s do it. I have no problems with it.

 


Nick: I don’t know if I can go that far, but yeah.

 


Speaker 1: Oh, there you go.

 


Nick: At least not depressed.

 


Speaker 1: Not depressed. Okay. John, what’s going on my friend? How you doing?

 


John: Ah, doing all right.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah.

 


John: I was in between, it depended on the class.

 


Speaker 1: Okay. Okay.

 


John: If was something I enjoyed,

 


Speaker 1: Yeah.

 


John: It was, let’s roll. If it was something I dreaded, I was like aw man.

 


Speaker 1: I think that’s fair. I think, well, this,

 


John: Got to throw this at me right now.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that’s fair. But this should be pretty easy, because this is right up your guys’ alley obviously. Right. So this is retirement planning, pop quiz. So folks can play along with us here. I’m going to basically give you guys the question, give you the multiple choice answer. Let you give us the best answer from the choices. And then if you’d like to elaborate on something different or why none of them are a good idea feel free to do that as well. And I can never hear pop quiz anymore without thinking of the movie Speed from the 90s now. I only hear the Dennis Hopper going pop quiz, punk.

 


Nick: Great movie.

 


John: That was just on TV the other day. I was scrolling and I saw, and I’m like, oh man, like Nick just said, this is a really good movie.

 


Speaker 1: It’s a remote dropper. Yeah.

 


John: Yeah.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. You’ll drop the remote and watch it. So, pop quiz for the guys here. Let’s see how we do. This is kind of just a retirement pop quiz, just five basic questions to check your preparedness or what you might have done and see if we should do things differently or whatever. So number one, I’ll give this one to you, John. At what age should people start saving for retirement A, when they begin working B, after they buy their first home or C, once they’ve paid off all their debt?

 


John: I’m going to have to go with A, when you begin working. Everyone probably has a different situation, but I’ll say that as soon as you start making income, it’s good to start saving towards retirement or saving in general. And yeah I’ll use one of my clients as an example, started out young, I think started with me when he was 24. And a big question was, Hey, I’m making money. What should I do? And we just started overfunding his retirement accounts. And seven, eight years later life happened, two or three kids.

 


Speaker 1: Sure.

 


John: Bought a house, all this stuff. And with all the expenses, he can’t save as much, but he’s built up such a nice nest egg from his 20s that he’s really in an excellent spot. So we just really started out strong and,

 


Speaker 1: That’s a good idea. Yeah.

 


John: Everyone’s seeing those charts where the sooner you start, the more you have at the end, but yeah, there’s a lot of truth to that. So I would say as soon as you start an income and have some money, I would definitely sock it away because you don’t know what the future’s going to hold.

 


Speaker 1: Now that’s a great idea because then when you do, when life does happen, which I was thinking about that with the home thing, it gets tougher. So then if he’s only able to put just a little bit away from time to time or on each paycheck or whatever, from the job getting the match or whatever, then you’re already up on the game a little bit. So I like that. Nick, want to chime in at all?

 


Nick: Yeah. I think the answer is just yes. As soon as you can start saving, you should even, and I know it’s something that’s talked about a lot, but even if you can just save up to the match and kind of get some free money from your employer,

 


Speaker 1: Right.

 


Nick: The sooner because it’s more about habits than necessarily the amount and just kind of getting used to creating smart habits is really a positive thing that last a long time.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s a good point too. And let’s be honest. See, come on, when you paid off all your debts, does that ever happen? Like we’d always be chasing something. Right. Somewhere through life.

 


Nick: Yeah. There’s always something.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. Well I’ll do it after I this or I’ll do it after I that. Right. So you don’t want to go that route. All right, Nick, I’ll give you this one here. Number two, which of these is the best estimate of how much income you’ll need in retirement, A 50% of your income, current income, B 85% of your current income, C, 100% of your current income or D, none of the above.

 


Nick: This is one of those questions that I’ll probably annoy people with on the answers. There should maybe be like another option that lets you pick multiple. So the key kind of word in this is need. So in theory, 85% is probably the number for a lot of people.

 


Speaker 1: That’s kind of what we hear, right? That’s the term we hear. Yeah.

 


Nick: But at the same time, from the standpoint of many people that we talked to, they’re looking to, especially after the massive market run that we’ve had over the last 10, 12 years, even including this pull back recently, a lot of people have ended up with more money than they expected, and they’re wanting to do things and travel and enjoy, and it becomes less about need more about what actually do you want to do? So I would say somewhere between 85 and 100%. One other thing that we’ve seen for some people is, especially those that work at large employers. We’ve had a couple people pointed out recently in the last six months. We’ve got some people that were used to paying 100 to maybe $200 a month for health insurance per person. And now when they see what they’re going to pay with Medicare and so to supplement things like that, there’s some expenses that maybe are higher than what they expected. So I would say somewhere between that 85 and 100% is where a lot of people end up.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I think we hear the 85. John, I used to hear this comedian. It was pretty funny a way of looking at it. If you’ve ever been on puddle jumpers. Right. Any of us that have gotten on a plane where you go to little island hopping or whatever, they ask how much you weigh. Right. Because then they say, well, you go, well, why? And they go, well, because we want to know how much fuel to put in. And this guy goes, well, fill it up. Here’s my credit card. Right. It’s on me, I’ll pay because the idea is, so you don’t want to just get sort of to retirement and then say, well, 85% enough. I would say 100% is what a lot of people are hoping for because they typically don’t want to go backwards in their lifestyle. Is that a fair assessment?

 


John: Yeah, I would say so. The big thing that typically where I think most people assume 85% is the mortgage might be gone or maybe you were saving 15% into your retirement account. So, that’s a spend that’s gone, but 100% is you want to maintain the lifestyle. But everyone as Nick kind of stated earlier, everyone’s different and everyone’s situation’s different. So very important to do a plan and make sure that you’re living off the income you want to live off of versus just needing, so.

 


Speaker 1: What you need. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. All right, John, back to you and I’ve kind of basically just going back and forth with you guys a little bit here.

 


John: Yep.

 


Speaker 1: Number three, which of these do you find that retirees fear the most, pretty easy one here I think A, not leaving enough to the kids, B running out of money or C nursing home care? John, what say you?

 


John: I’m going with B, running out of money. That seems to be the biggest fear, because I think most people don’t want to go back to work. And then we hear a lot of times where we’re doing plans and it’s Hey, I don’t want to be old greeter at Walmart at some point. So, let’s make sure that the plans solid. So, one thing to alleviate this fear when we’re doing planning is, we try to be conservative with the rate of return we’re using, the expenses to make sure, Hey, it’s better to air on the side of caution versus be aggressive with these things because last thing we want to do is hit your mid 80s and you’re looking at your accounts and you starting to get a little nervous, so.

 


Speaker 1: Exactly, exactly. And I think that’s, everybody’s going to say B, although Nick, C is right behind it for many people. I mean like neck and neck.

 


Nick: Yeah. Yeah. There’s definitely in theory, I think a lot of times B and C, C can lead to B, realistically in other words, Hey, is there going to be enough money left over for me to have respectable care towards the end of my life? So ultimately it ends up leading to do I have the money, sort of thing, or have I planned properly and do I understand how that ties together? But yeah, I’ve got a few clients. What I’ve seen that a little bit more too is in a lot of single clients that they’re heavily focused on that, especially women oftentimes,

 


Speaker 1: For the long term care, you mean?

 


Nick: Yeah, for sure. And a lot of men like to use the line, just take me out back and that whole thing.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah.

 


Nick: Hear that plenty as well. But there’s so many people that are living longer and it’s, I was just up North and we were kind of, I was talking with friends and kind of seeing some long time friends and their parents that I haven’t seen in a while. And there was a bunch of friends who parents still had one of their parents alive, usually the mom and they were all in their 90s and,

 


Speaker 1: Right.

 


Nick: Still doing pretty well. And, but the circle of care needed to help make sure that they maintain. And my grandmother was with my parents and I know how difficult that is. And it’s a lot of work. So that’s definitely something that people are concerned about.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. It’s got to be on the radar. It’s got to be part of the plan. And if you plan right, hopefully you won’t have to worry about either one of those. And then if there’s something left over, then you can do A as well and leave some money to the kids. So it’s all possible, but it’s got to have some strategizing going on there. It’s got to have some retirement planning redefined if you will. All right. So let’s see. Nick back to you here for the lead answer. Number four, which of these examples best represents a diversified retirement plan, A, a mix of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, B three rental homes and a good amount of cash in the bank. So rental income there. C, 10 to 12 different mutual funds or D, none of the above.

 


Nick: My answer is D none of the above. A lot of people, I think they think about like a 60, 40 mixes.

 


Speaker 1: Traditional, right.

 


Nick: A pretty traditional answer, but in our minds, this is the emphasis on the plan. For example, I’ll just use two sets of family members. So you’ve got one set of family members where there’s a pension involved. So that pension, between pension and social security live within their means, expenses are covered. They never saved as much as maybe they would have if they had had higher income and were able to save more. And they’re in a very comfortable position from a retirement standpoint whereas maybe another set of family members, a sibling earned more money over time, but also spent more money and don’t have as many kind of income producing assets going into retirement. And there’s a lot more stress there. And so, really the plan from a diversified plan standpoint, it’s really ends up being a function of people’s risk tolerance and how much sort of risk they’re willing to take. You can tell somebody that, Hey, 60, 40 mix of stocked bonds is great till you’re blue in the face, but if they don’t have market tolerance, then it’s never going to work.

 


Speaker 1: Right. Yeah.

 


Nick: And so, you have to adapt and adjust, and that’s our job as advisors.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. And John, typically those 10 to 12 different mutual funds, they’re probably large cap. Right. So there’re probably a ton of overlap in there and 40% in bonds, I mean, bonds aren’t doing so great.

 


John: Yeah. I think, to kind of back when Nick’s saying here, when you look at what’s going on today in this market year to date with equity stocks being down and then rates going up, which in turn fixed income markets are down. So both of those at this point in time are down 10 plus percent. So that’s not a very good,

 


Speaker 1: Yeah.

 


John: Diversified strategy for this period.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. 60, 40 is that traditional portfolio split. And it had its place for a long time, but it just doesn’t seem to be the case for many people, more and more people right now. So it’s always best again, to get it kind of customized. So yeah, I would say none of the above, or at least maybe a little bit of each of these three kind of sprinkled in is more diversified than just one of them. All right. Last question, John will lead off with you here. To make sure you do not run out of money in retirement, only withdrawal blank percent from your portfolio each year A, 1%, B 4%, C 6% or D just find a different strategy altogether.

 


John: Yeah. I’m going to go with D on this. The rule of thumb typically we hear is 4%, but I’m going to say this is one you definitely don’t want to live by the rule of thumb and you want to customize a plan to yourself because everyone’s going to be different. And if you just live by a rule of thumb on this one, there’s a good chance that you’re going to hit that fear of most retirees and that’s running out of money. Or if you’re just doing 1%, you might not be living to the best of your ability. So, definitely here it’s D and do a plan and figure out what’s your strategy.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. Nick, do you concur with that one?

 


Nick: Yeah. I think an example from this is the last really seven to 10 years where a lot of people that were maybe risk averse, avoided some of the market. And we know that it was very, very difficult to get any sort of return on conservative money. So whether it’s cash in the bank, CDs,

 


Speaker 1: Right.

 


Nick: Bonds, those sorts of things. And so it made it difficult for people that were conservative to be able to sustain that sort of withdrawal rate and really it kind of emphasize the importance of having an overall balance. But yeah, again, one of the things that we tell people oftentimes is that one of the good things about kind of planning in the financial world is that there’s something for everybody, and that can be one of the bad things too, because it makes it hard for people to navigate. But usually, once you really kind of drill down and figure out what people are comfortable with, there’s some sort of solution out there, or combination of solutions to kind of get them to the point that they need to be. And that’s kind of the importance of planning.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. And the 4% rule, it was a fine rule of thumb for a while, maybe back of the napkin. But most of the time you hear people say it’s more like maybe 2.9 or 3.1. And so it’s just better to find a specific strategy altogether versus relying on in general. Again, if you’re out to dinner and you’re just doing some quick math and you say, Hey, we’ll use 4% or something like that. Maybe that’s one thing, but really at the end of the day, getting it dialed in for what you actually need to do, get a strategy, get a plan and get started if you’re not working with a qualified professional, like the team at PFG Private Wealth. So reach out to John and Nick, if you need some help and you’re not already working with them and your checking out the podcast. You can find them online at pfgprivatewealth.com. That’s the website, lot of good tools, tips, and resources.

 


Speaker 1: You can contact them that way. You can subscribe to the podcast, whatever you’d like to do. Find all the information again at pfgprivatewealth.com or reach out to them at 813-286-7776. Guys, you did well. You passed. So thanks for hanging out and playing the game with us here on the show. And we’ll see you next time on Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick.

Ep 35: Not Your Father’s Retirement

On This Episode

If you’re of the age that your mom and dad retired 20 or 30 years ago, the world was a much different place when they walked away from their paychecks. Let’s talk about how things are different now.

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More Episodes

Check out all the episodes by clicking here.

 

Disclaimer:

PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.

Here is a transcript of today’s episode:

 

Speaker 1: Hey everybody. Welcome into the podcast. It’s Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth. Hanging out with me to talk about this being not our father’s retirement now. That’s our podcast topic this week, not your father’s not our fathers, whatever you want to say, we’re going to go into this conversation about how things are so much different even just 20 years ago when it comes to retirement. And some things to think about before we walk away from that paycheck. And there’s a lot that’s obviously changed and obviously we’re seeing a lot of turmoil coming off of COVID and things of that nature. So there’s a lot of good topical stuff in here for us to discuss, but let’s jump in and say hi to the guys first, Nick, what’s going on, buddy? How are you doing?

 


Nick: Pretty well, staying busy.

 


Speaker 1: Staying busy. Well, that’s always good. John, how are you, my friend? Last time we talked you were having some troubles with the kids. Everybody not sleeping and things like that. Doing better?

 


John: Yeah, for the most part, actually, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it. We got them to share a room which has helped their sleeping habits a bit. So we’ve been sleeping through the night. So it’s been a few years, my friend, of consistent nights of sleeping.

 


Speaker 1: There you go.

 


John: Starting to feel pretty good again.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that. Well, very good. So you never know what’s going to make the trigger there. So I’m glad to hear that. Do you guys remember these commercials? I’m a little bit older than you, but I know a lot of our listeners might remember these as well, if you guys don’t. But back, maybe late ’70s, early ’80s, Oldsmobile was trying to rebrand and make the Oldsmobile a little bit cooler. And so they had these commercials and it would always say things like, “It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.” You guys remember those at all?

 


Nick: I do actually.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. And so they would try to rebrand it that way. So that’s kind of the idea I had for today’s conversation. It’s not our father’s retirement. My dad retired in ’93. He passed away in ’96. So he didn’t have a very long retirement, but even just the principles and some of the things are completely different here 30 years later.

 


Speaker 1: So let’s talk about a couple of these things and how the world’s changed and how really planning has also changed and what you guys do and what folks need to consider when they get closer to retirement. First of all, the concept of retirement is not actually that old, a hundred years ago you didn’t retire. You worked until you dropped. Right? So really retirement’s only been around since, the idea of it really since the late ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, so on and so forth. And it was this thing where you got to 65, you retired, you were done. Maybe you sat on the front porch and did little, but nowadays more and more people work beyond 65. They want to, not just have to, they want to, and that’s okay. Right? There’s nothing wrong with that.

 


John: Yeah. I would definitely, we see that in our office here, Bob Perry’s 76, 77, he’s still working. We joke that his wife won’t let him retire, but he really enjoys coming in and the environment here and just being with everyone, it gives him stuff to do and he provides a lot of insight for us as well. So it’s great to have him around so I could see where in his situation or other people’s, if they’re somewhere they enjoy, what’s the point of retiring if you enjoy it?

 


Speaker 1: Right. Exactly. And not only that, Nick, but a lot of times people, again, they just want to do some other things and maybe you don’t need the full job income, like you used to have, the big career, but maybe you do need a little extra money to help with the plan or something, but it’s just a way to kind of have some fun and maybe make a little extra scratch on the side.

 


Nick: Yeah. I think ultimately what happens is that almost one analogy to think about, you see things like football players, baseball players, et cetera. Here you have people that retire early, they maybe have a career 5 to 10, maybe 15 years. And obviously their situation is a little bit different from a perspective of the money that they’re retiring with and the bandwidth they have to route the time between retirement and their life expectancy. However, there’s probably a little bit more similarities than people realize where ultimately when you see interviews with people like that, the things that you hear them talk about are missing the structure, missing the comradery, coworkers slash teammates, those sorts of things.

 


Nick: So, there’s actually a lot of similarities and it’s almost keeping that sort of structure and help keep my mind sharp, keep people engaged. We definitely see patterns from the perspective of, there are some people that they do a great job of having hobbies and they know that when they retire, they’ve got a list of things that they want to do, whether it’s travel, whether it’s hobbies, whether it’s a small sort of business. And then you have people that really struggle. And I was having this conversation actually with my parents this weekend. My dad is a retired fireman, but he’s been working, he had his own small business for the last maybe 15 years. So he retired as a fireman really early.

 


Nick: My mom’s a nurse. She works a couple days a week now, but she’s looking to slow down. And my dad was talking about a friend of his, maybe like 10 years older, that still does some work because he can’t just sit around, he’s got to stay busy. And my dad was like, “Well, he needs hobbies.” And I said, “No, you need some hobbies. You don’t have any hobbies.” And he looked at me like, “I had never really thought about that before.” And we’ve had different conversations, but the point that I’m trying to make is a lot of times, we look at other people, we look at other situations and we perceive ourselves in a different way. And sometimes just taking that self inventory and asking ourselves these sorts of questions, it really is important because there’s many more similarities that we realize. So…

 


Speaker 1: Yeah.

 


Nick: So we’ve tasked my nieces who are younger to help, start coming up with some hobbies for my father, their grandfather, to keep him sharp and engaged. So…

 


Speaker 1: Well, I think we went through this cycle. Like I mentioned earlier, a hundred years ago you just worked until you dropped. And then we said, “Oh, we can do this thing called retirement.” And then people started retiring and sitting around and doing nothing. And then you wither away that way too. So I think we’ve now started to learn over this past a hundred years that, okay, it’s got to be a bit of both. You, you work really hard, you get to retirement, you hit retirement, but you still need to be active. You still need to do things and have things that interest you, if you want to just sit on the front porch and make wicker baskets, then that’s great, do that, if that’s what you want, but more and more people are-

 


John: Real quick, Nick loves making wicker baskets.

 


Speaker 1: Does he really? I got to get one now, I need a custom wicker basket.

 


Nick: No wicker baskets.

 


Speaker 1: Oh man, just crushed my dreams right there. But anyway, I think that’s a really great point is having something to retire to. Now, the next point on this guys, is being retired, it can be more expensive nowadays than working. So, we used to see that 20% less is what you need in retirement. Well, that might not be the case now. And we’ve just been having conversations as well about inflation and stuff. So it can be quite expensive to retire if you’re not careful.

 


Nick: It absolutely can. Especially depending on where you live from the perspective of the things that you may be looking to get into or do. I live in a downtown area in St. Pete and I absolutely see how, anybody that lives in this space, all you have to do is walk down the street to grab a coffee, to grab a lunch and depending upon your lifestyle, you’ve just got more time on your hands to do the things that you want to do. So, so why wouldn’t it be more expensive if we’re just doing these things more often, more frequently, so it can definitely be the case. And that’s even from a discretionary standpoint, let alone the health care costs and all the things that people do to stay healthier, stay more engaged, live longer, all those sorts of things.

 


Nick: And ultimately, one of the things that we’ll have conversations with people, sometimes people come in with an open mind thinking like, “Hey, this might be happening. I may spend more money.” Other times we have people that they’re absolutely convinced, ” No I’m going to spend 50%, 60% of what I spent before.” And that’s sometimes the question to them is, “Why would you? Is that what you want to do? Or is this just something that you read?” Because I would guess ultimately you want to enjoy what you’ve saved up for and worked hard for. So, at what point in life or maybe even in the last 30 years, one of the questions, at one point in the last 30 years, have you lived only for needs and realistically here in the U.S That’s for most people that’s not too common, ultimately we live in the things that we bought. We enjoy the times that we want to spend with others, all those sorts of things. So, that’s an important conversation to have.

 


Speaker 1: No, I definitely agree with you there. John, retirees are facing more problems than ever too. Well society, we’re all facing more problems than ever before, social media, so on and so forth. Just the inundation of information, but longevity, I think maybe longevity guys might be a key to this whole conversation today because it magnifies all of these things. And that’s certainly going to be the case when juggling more problems because we’re living longer, so much longer, the body’s able, we’re figuring out lots of great ways to keep the body going, but sometimes we’re having some difficulties when it comes to the mental side, dementia is on the rise, things of that nature. And that gets pretty costly.

 


John: Yeah. Yeah. Previously we talked about retirement changing, people had pensions which lasted for their life. And the shift has been away from pensions to putting the responsibility on the individual where now they have just basically savings, whether it’s cash or investments or whatever, but now you need to be very cautious, we have to be very careful that that’s going to last you 30 plus years. And that’s why it’s important to have the plan to make sure that your money is going to last throughout retirement, which is really the biggest concern for retirees. Some other things we’ve seen popping up more recently and we’ve just dealt with this with a client where their they’re aging parents, they were providing financial assistance for their parents in assisted living facilities and things like that, or having helpers.

 


John: So I have one client where they’re were assisting their parents with that. So they weren’t really going on vacation and enjoying their time. And then the parent passed away and then with everything that’s happened recently, their son lost a job and then they were not helping out their son with expenses. So it was a double whammy for them is that they can’t truly enjoy retirement because they’re helping family members out, which again, no one plans for this, you just happen in this situation, but it’s something that you always want to keep track of.

 


Nick: Yeah. That’s kind of that sandwich generation that they talk about a little bit and it really started coming to the forefront back during the recession, ’08, ’09, ’10, where there was a lot of kids coming out of college, couldn’t get jobs, parents aging, all these sorts of things. So I would say baby boomers definitely have their hands full with all the different things that they have to juggle. And so having peace of mind of having that plan in place and understanding how their money is going to work in retirement is more important than ever.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and like I said, longevity is probably the key to this whole conversation. So we have to sell fun. Right? We don’t have pensions now. Well, not many do. Right? So I think something like 15% or less of the population has pensions. It’s an interesting statistic, but we’re talking 30, 40 years. I was just chatting with somebody yesterday, guys who they’re 72 and their mom and dad both are still alive. They’re in their 90s and they’re also dealing with helping their 40 year old children. So there’s a lot in this to unpack.

 


Nick: Yeah. Yeah. We see it all the time. We see it all the time and it can be pretty stressful. And a lot of times what we’ll try to do and go through with people and this even ties into some other previous podcasts, that we’ll have from the perspective of, “Hey, my kids are looking to buy a house. I want to give them money for a down payment.” And we’ll talk about things like, “All right, well, where does that money have to come from? How does it impact your overall plan?”

 


Nick: So we try to walk it through and we try, we joke where we try not to be the money police and tell people what they can and can’t do, but we just help them understand the impact of their decisions and trying to make sure that they do it from a perspective of viewing their retirement first and making sure that they’re okay because they also don’t want to be a burden down the line for their kids. So it can be a really slippery slope and making sure that the decisions that are made along the way position them to be able to help, but it can be difficult, especially like you said, planning for that 30, 40 year retirement.

 


Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. And it’s a situation where we’re just going to continue to see more of it. So having a good strategy, having a good plan is going to be paramount to getting through all these hurdles and things that we’ve got going on. Because I imagine at the end of the day, nobody comes in and says, “Hey, I’d like to have less of a lifestyle than I have now in retirement.” No one wants to go backwards. So you want to make sure that you are having those conversations to move yourself forward or at least maintain into retirement. So that’s our topic this week. So we all know things are different than they were 20 or 30 years ago. But when you really start dissecting it, especially from a financial standpoint, there’s just a lot to unpack.

 


Speaker 1: So sit down and have a conversation. If you’re not already with a team that can help you like the team at PFG Private Wealth, John and Nick, and the whole team there to get on the counter, reach out to them. (813) 286-7776. If you’ve got some questions or concerns, reach out on the website if you’d like to as well pfgprivatewealth.com, that’s pfgprivatewealth.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show. Retirement Planning Redefined on your smartphone there. If you’ve got an Apple phone, for example, Apple Podcasts is already on your phone. You can just open up that app and type in Retirement, Planning Redefined, and subscribe that way or Google or whatever platform you use. Most of that stuff’s already pre-installed on your phones anyway, but you can find it all at pfgprivatewealth.com. Guys, thanks for hanging out with me this week. I appreciate it. John. I’m bummed that he’s not going to make me a wicker basket.

 


John: I’ve been trying to get one, he won’t do it.

 


Nick: I’m not the creative type.

 


Speaker 1: Not the creative type. All right, guys. Well, thanks for hanging out again. I appreciate it. I’ll see you next time. John, take care, buddy.

 


John: Have a good one.

 


Speaker 1: We’ll see you later. Nick, take care. Have yourself a good week.

 


Nick: All right. You too. Take care.

 


Speaker 1: We’ll talk to you next time here on Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth.

Ep 32: Are You Flirting WIth Financial Disaster?

On This Episode

Let’s talk about some of the areas of your financial life where you might be flirtin’ with disaster and don’t even know it.

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Disclaimer:

PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. The topics and information discussed during this podcast are not intended to provide tax or legal advice. Investments involve risk, and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial advisor and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed on this podcast. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Insurance products and services are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed insurance agents.

Here is a transcript of today’s episode:

 

Marc Killian: Hey everybody. Welcome into this week’s edition of Retirement Planning Redefined podcast. We appreciate your time, hanging out with John and Nick and myself as we’re talking, investing, finance and retirement. And of course you could check them out online if you’ve got some questions or need to follow up or have a chat about your own situation, get your retirement planning redefined at pfgprivatewealth.com. That’s pfgprivatewealth.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast while you’re there. A lot of good tools, tips and resources to be found.


Marc Killian: And on this go-around, we’re going to talk about flirting with disaster. As Floridians, there’s certainly always the case where we have some disastrous situations can come up from time to time, but we’re going to talk about these from a financial standpoint and some areas in our financial life where we could do this and not even realize it. First off, let’s say hey to the guys. What’s going on, Nick? How are you?


Nick McDevitt: Doing well. Doing well. How about yourself?


Marc Killian: Doing pretty good hanging in there. Looking forward to today’s topic. Got some good, easy fixes I think for a few of these things, as well as some that are maybe a little more complicated. We’ll dive into that. Let you guys share. But John, how are you?


John Teixeira: Doing good. Doing good. Nick and I are actually in the process of planning a golf tournament for a couple of charities here locally with… the group we’re in is, again, 13 Ugly Men Foundation. And we’re partnering up with Bern’s Steakhouse to do a golf event at TPC Tampa Bay. So, we’re excited about that coming up.


Marc Killian: Very Nice. Yeah. Keep us posted on that. We’ll definitely like to learn more as we get closer to there. Well, hopefully, you guys won’t have any disastrous situations come tourney time, but let’s talk about them today. I got about five here, guys, I want you to just break down for us. And, like I said, some of these are kind of easy fixes, so let’s start there. They can definitely cause a lot of havoc, but, again, they are easy fixes. So, out-of-date legal documents. Not the sexiest thing in the world, but a pretty easy thing to fix.


Nick McDevitt: This is something that is a common oversight, a common mistake that people make. Some of the instances that we see where the documents are out of date or just not going to accomplish the things that they’re hoping to accomplish. Our scenario’s somebody moved from out of state and the… many people don’t realize that from an estate planning standpoint, from a legal document standpoint, a lot of those documents are different from state to state. So, that’s an important thing to review if you are somebody that has recently moved. A few years back, there were updates in Florida to durable power of attorney rules. And so, that’s a reason to have a review.


Nick McDevitt: But just like anything else, it’s important to make sure that you have in inventory or you take an inventory of what you have. Something like this, people never… or oftentimes, people don’t realize how long it’s been since they have updated their documents. There could be children that are alive now that weren’t before, parents that were alive then that aren’t now, a previous marriage, et cetera, et cetera. So, making sure that those documents are updated and chatting with an attorney about that is a really important thing.


Marc Killian: Yeah. We tend to set it and forget it with a lot of those. What are some of the key ones we should think about, John?


John Teixeira: I would say one of the biggest ones is a second marriage. That’s where you really want to pay attention to who the beneficiaries are, who’s getting what. And there are certain rules in the state of Florida. And, of course, defer to the professionals and attorneys on that, where a spouse is entitled to a percentage of the assets. So, if you want to make sure that, if it’s a second marriage, you have kids in the first marriage and you don’t want to disinherit them, you want to make sure your documents are definitely up to date.


John Teixeira: Another one we’ve seen, and Nick mentioned it, people moving in from out of state. If you have assets in other states, it’s important to make sure that you kind of have some documents for that state where the other assets are. So, example, I’m from Massachusetts. My parents have a house up there, so they had to make sure that… they basically had a will for up there and down here.


Marc Killian: Yeah. I got you. Now, a lot of times, the misconceptions with wills are if you have a will, the saying goes, you will go through probate, whereas a trust allows you to maybe not do that. Is there some other main documents that we should have? I’m assuming the power of attorneys, correct?


Nick McDevitt: Yeah. Durable power of attorney, a will. Oftentimes, people will confuse a traditional will with a living will. And essentially end-of-life documents are important to have.


Marc Killian: Like a medical power of attorney obviously, right?


Nick McDevitt: Yep, exactly. So, there’s kind of that core package that most attorneys will review with you, help you recognize, “Hey, is this out of date? Is this still applicable?” And we always recommend, obviously with any sort of legal topic, that you’re communicating with either an attorney that you have and are familiar with or we obviously have a few attorneys that we work with that we send clients to that we know and trust and will help make sure that they get through the process.


Marc Killian: But it’s often not as costly as we think it’s going to be too, to get these things handled. And once you get them in place, again, out of date, if you’re just making some adjustments, usually can be done through a phone call. So, kind of an easy fix, right?


Nick McDevitt: Yeah. We’ve definitely seen, especially over the last year, many, many companies, including law offices, have put their tech into hyper drive to make [crosstalk 00:05:18] easier for clients. So, yes, sometimes mentally things will feel overwhelming and that will slow us down from doing it. And this is one of those things that doesn’t need to be super difficult and can be done pretty easily.


John Teixeira: Yeah. And we actually have something we give to clients, it’s kind of a wills point checklist. It’s like 24 questions to consider, almost like a prep before you go see an attorney so you feel like, “All right, I’m a little bit prepared for this.” So, if anyone does want that, they’re more than welcome to shoot us an email or call the office and just mention that and we can get it to them.


Marc Killian: Yeah. Again, folks, stop by the website, pfgprivatewealth.com. Drop them an email. John or Nick @pfgprivatewealth.com is where you can email them. Yeah. That’s a great point. So, thanks for bringing that up as well.


Marc Killian: And, John, you mentioned another marriage, for example. So, the BDs, the beneficiary designations, having those incorrect, another easy fix. And it’s not just… we tend to think of, I don’t know, one item or one type of account, but there’s multiple places where you’re going to have these beneficiary designations. And updating these is, again, a pretty easy thing to do.


Marc Killian: I had somebody teach me that there’s a couple of Ds to remember, to kind of trigger you to double-check these: if you get a divorce; if you have a death; or a disability; or at minimum, at least once a decade. That way, you get the four Ds, if you will, to maybe update these or take a look at them.


John Teixeira: Yeah. Those are all really good ones. Actually, kind of going back to the will stuff. So, if you do have beneficiaries on some of these accounts, it does bypass probate. So, if there’s a beneficiary on a life insurance or a retirement account, it doesn’t actually go through probate; it goes directly to that beneficiary. So, that’s always kind of good to know.


John Teixeira: But yeah, divorce, very important one to update. Can’t tell you how many times Nick and I have done some reviews with some clients that are new clients and it’s… we’ve seen on the 401(k)s especially because that’s kind of a set-it-forget-it type thing, where you have an ex-spouse on there. We’ve unfortunately seen some people with 401(k)s where they get auto-enrolled. They just never put a beneficiary on there just because [crosstalk 00:07:27] signed up, it’s auto-enrollment for the company. So, those are two important things to really take a look at.


John Teixeira: And we don’t see this too often, but we have seen some people just kind of just have a fallout with some beneficiaries, whether it’s a child, a niece, nephew, whatever it may be. And we’ve seen some changes from that where it’s, “Hey, to be frank, I just don’t like this person anymore.”


Marc Killian: I mean, it happens. It definitely happens. And so, we’re talking IRAs, life insurance policies, 401(k)s, things of that nature.


John Teixeira: Yep.


Marc Killian: Okay. All right. So, those are, again, pretty easy fixes for some of that stuff. And the havoc they can wreak… I imagine having somebody come in and the new spouse is saying, “Hey, I found out that the old spouse is still on this life insurance policy.” That’s not good. And that’s not an easy fix at that point, but it can be taken care of ahead of time pretty darn quickly.


Marc Killian: Let’s move to some more complicated one here, guys. You could be flirting with disaster, talking about the ticking tax time bomb. Obviously, that is going to continue to be a mainstay of conversation in retirement planning in general because it’s such an important part of it, how we’re being… if we’re being as tax-efficient as possible, I should say. But with the continued spending that we’re seeing as a nation, it seems like this is only going to become more and more of an issue.


Nick McDevitt: Yeah. So, one of the things that we try to… so, when we talk about a tax time bomb, what we’re typically referring to is when people only save into accounts that are tax-deferred, a.k.a. traditional 401(k), a.k.a. traditional IRA. And so, when they are in retirement, the thought process is like, “Hey, I’m going to have lower taxes. So, no matter what, this is going to be a better deal for me.”


Nick McDevitt: And the thing that we try to focus on with clients and with people in general is that there’s a lot of uncertainty on what we know is going to happen from a tax perspective. And so, our really emphasis is not necessarily to be right, as far as, “Hey, we know that X, Y and Z is going to happen”; it’s that you have options so that no matter what, you can adapt to what’s going on.


Nick McDevitt: And the tricky part about that is if you’re two to three years out from retirement, you’re at your highest earning income years, you don’t have any Roth money for example or any just regular investment account funds put away, we may continue to have you save into a pre-tax account. But then once you retire, we may look into trying to do some Roth conversions or make some adjustments or plan for kicking in a strategy when you do retire. So, it’s not like it’s necessarily the easiest thing to navigate. Your best bet is that, as soon as you can, start to save money into different places so that you not only are diversifying your investments, but you’re diversifying how you’re going to be taxed in retirement, is really a thing that we emphasize with clients.


Marc Killian: Yeah. And that’s a good point as well because this is not as easy as a fix, but it’s something you can get on pretty quickly simply by working with an advisor, having them review your scenario and your situation and saying, “Okay, how can we be more tax-efficient?” and looking for ways to do that. And I just saw the other day that they’re estimating about 40 trillion is what’s sitting out there in uncollected taxes on traditional IRAs or 401(k)s. The government’s kind of salivating over this estimated $40 trillion as people go through these retirement accounts and start to pull the money out or whatever the case is. So, certainly places where you could have those conversations and hopefully be more tax-efficient. So, again, if you need the help with that, make sure you’re talking to a qualified professional like John and Nick.


Marc Killian: What about flirting with disaster, guys, when it comes to just no plan at all for long-term care expenses? This one obviously is going to be even more complicated, but most people just ignore it. I know it’s a daunting subject sometimes for folks, but there’s things you can do.


John Teixeira: Yeah. So, you’re right on that. Most people do ignore it. And there are some options out there. They used to be much better. Unfortunately, they’ve kind of gotten just not as strong. 10 years ago, you could get a really good policy from a good provider. And nowadays, a lot of these providers have left the space in essence and they’re not offering it anymore.


John Teixeira: So, what we’ve kind of seen more is kind of, and Nick goes through this part in the class, some hybrid vehicles where it’s a life insurance and a long-term care policy kind of bundled up in one. We’ve had situations where, from a planning standpoint, maybe getting… it’s very hard to qualify for it so we’ve had to put in some buffers to self-insure. Again, not covering the whole cost of it, but just trying to help out in the event that something were to happen. It’s very important, just limited options out there currently, but it’s definitely worth exploring your situation to see what fits for you.


Marc Killian: Yeah. And I imagine you’re going to exacerbate that by not having the conversation. So, if the options are becoming a little bit more limited and you’re also not taking the time to discuss it, you could be putting yourself even further behind the proverbial eight ball. So, definitely have those conversations. Don’t just stick our head in the sand, especially when it comes to long-term care expenses, whether it’s the 2 out of every 3 people or 7 out of every 10. Whatever the case is, it’s happening more and more because we’re living longer. So, we therefore have to deal with those outcomes that come with it.


Marc Killian: One more here, guys, on some places we can flirt with disaster. And then we’ll probably wrap up with an email question that we got into the site as well. But that’s the classic 60/40 portfolio. First, just run it down for us, what that is for folks. And then why might you flirt with disaster on that?


Nick McDevitt: Sure. So, there’s a little bit of jargon in there, of course. We try to stay away from it as much as possible. But a 60/40 portfolio is what’s considered 60% stock, 40% fixed income or bonds. And it’s tricky because really, the way that people invested a short while ago was different than the way that people are investing now. And really, what also happens… so, for example, these last few years, as bond yields or returns from bonds have gone down, people have kind of flirted a little bit more with taking more risk on the stock side. And so, it’s really important to make sure that when you are evaluating your overall portfolio and looking at how much risk you’re willing to take, that you really understand how these different parts work and move together.


Nick McDevitt: So, really, what it boils down to is that it’s important for you to have a liquidation order. So, for example, what some people used to do is, “Hey, I’m going to have a 60/40 portfolio. I’m going to pull from my account every single month without any sort of strategic plan on how I’m going to pull that money out or where it’s pulling from.” And when we have corrections in the market or volatility in the market, where we’ll see people really suffer is let’s say they had a million-dollar portfolio. We get a big pullback. All of a sudden, your statement debt, two months ago said a million bucks, says 800,000 or 750,000 now. It can make you or prompt people to overreact to the market.


Nick McDevitt: And then once that overreaction happens, basically you’re locking up your losses. You’re selling at lows. Then you’re going to want to buy back at highs. And so, it’s really, really important to make sure that the portfolio and the allocation that you have lines up with truly how much risk you’re willing to take.


Marc Killian: Yeah. John, it seems as though the 40% in bonds… I mean, the bond market’s been just as volatile as of late for a while. So, that seems like maybe one of those rules of thumb that might be a bit antiquated, going with that standard 60/40. But again, everybody’s scenario is different, so, like a lot of things, I imagine that it might be fine for some and not for others.


John Teixeira: Yeah, of course. And, like we say, we really want to start with a plan for the client and dictate the investment options and strategy based on that plan. There are some other what we consider fixed income vehicles that can kind of substitute the bond market that we’ve been utilizing when necessary. And, again, works for some people; doesn’t work for others. But it’s good to know your options and how it works for you.


Marc Killian: Yeah. Versus trying to see-


Nick McDevitt: And just to your point there, Marc, too-


Marc Killian: Oh, go ahead.


Nick McDevitt: … as far as the bond side of things. In general, as interest rates go up, bond prices go down. And so, one of the ways that we have built around that, just for clients, for those people listening that are clients, are essentially creating bond ladders in their portfolios that aren’t as negatively impacted as rates do continue to go up. So, there are ways to work and to build around these things, but typically, especially people that are holding this money in their 401(k)s, those sorts of things, there may be significant limitations to how they can adjust to them there. And that’s where they can get in trouble.


Marc Killian: Yeah, no, great points. Exactly. I mean, that’s kind of the point of doing the podcast as well, is to share some of these things for not only existing clients, but obviously for potential clients that might be listening to the show and just hopefully offering some good nuggets of information along the way.


Marc Killian: And with that said, that’s going to kind of wrap up our flirting with disaster. Again, five areas where you can jump on these things and maybe get these corrected pretty easily. At least a couple of them, for sure. And the other ones, it’s worth having those conversations with an advisor, if you’re not working with one, on how to be as efficient as possible.


Marc Killian: With that said, let’s wrap up with an email question this week. Again, if you’d like to stop by the website, we certainly encourage you to do so at pfgprivatewealth.com. A lot of good tools, tips and resources there. While you’re there, you could subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify or whatever platform you use. You can also drop the guys a line as well at pfgprivatewealth.com.


Marc Killian: And here is an email from Andy who says, “How much of my portfolio, guys, is it okay to have invested in just one stock? I’m sitting on about 2 million, but almost half of it is with one company.”


Nick McDevitt: Well, that’s enough to have a panic attack. So, usually, if you’re asking if you have too much in one place, you do. But all kind of joking aside, where we typically see this sort of thing happen is in one of two situations.


Nick McDevitt: So, situation number one, was inherited from a parent. And maybe that parent worked for a company for many, many years or they invested in that company for a long period of time. And now, all of a sudden, that money has ballooned into a big amount. And due to a combination of tax rules and laws, plus sentimental value, all of a sudden, that holding makes up a significant portion of the underlying portfolio.


Nick McDevitt: And option number two is just somebody that has worked for a company for a long time, 30, 40 years. They’ve been buying the company stock for years and years and years. And maybe the stock has performed well and there’s this kind of emotional and financial attachment to it. And so, in this situation, oftentimes what we’ll do is we’ll show them a comparison of that stock to the S&P 500, for example. And oftentimes, the S&P 500 itself has performed similarly or even a little bit better. And we’ll show them like, “Hey, look at, you can have the same sort of upside potential or growth potential by holding an ETF or an index fund versus just holding that one stock and protect yourself a lot more.”


Nick McDevitt: And another question that we’ll pose to them sometimes that we’ve gotten good results from in the past was, “Okay. So, if I was going to hand you a $2 million lottery ticket and you were going to invest that money, would you spend half of it on one stock?” And the answer is usually a cross-eyed look like, “No, are you crazy?” And so, that’s exactly the same sort of thought process, where usually it’s just way more risk than somebody needs to take. There’s ways to still have similar performance and reduce the risk by quite a bit. And it’s just not really worth it at that point in time, is typically the case.


Marc Killian: All right. Great question, Andy. Thank you so much for submitting that into the show. I know it’s cliche, but as your grandmama might’ve said, “Don’t have all your eggs in one basket.” So, have those conversations. And certainly, you’re thinking about it, to Nick’s point, if you took the time to drop an email to the show here. You’re obviously probably already thinking that direction anyway. So, follow up. Have a conversation with some qualified professionals like John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth.


Marc Killian: And that’s going to do it this week for us on the podcast. Thanks for your time as always. We appreciate it. Always check out with a qualified professional, as I mentioned, before you take any action on anything you hear on this show or any other. And you can find it all at pfgprivatewealth.com. For John, for Nick, we’ll see you next time here on the show. Thanks for your time. We’ll talk to you later.