Financial Fundamentals: 9 Ways to Retire Comfortably—No Matter What You’ve Saved

6.6.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

Speaker1:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment, and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Speaker2:
Welcome to Money Matters with Mike, with your host, Mike Zeno. Mike works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you too. So now let's start the show. Here's Mike Zeno.

Speaker3:
What's up people? Welcome to the show where we dive into the strategies, the insights, and the tools you need in order to secure a confident and stress free financial future. I'm Mike Zeno, and my mission is to help you protect your nest egg, outsmart retirement risks, and live the life that you've worked so hard to achieve. Whether you're nearing retirement or already enjoying it, we're here to guide you along every step of the way. And boy, do we have a ton of great information for you today. On today's show, we're going to discuss financial fundamentals and show you how to prepare for and live a better retirement. As always, I have the distinct honor and privilege of being joined by the one and only my co-host and producer extraordinaire, Mr. Matt McClure. Matthew, how are you today, sir?

Speaker1:
I'm doing great, Mike. Looking forward to kind of hitting those fundamentals, kind of getting back to the basics this week. I love that.

Speaker3:
You definitely don't want to build a house on sand, especially your financial house for your retirement. Right? So we're going to show you some critical financial building blocks upon which to build.

Speaker1:
Yeah, absolutely. That that bedrock, you know, just build on that firm foundation and we'll get to that, of course, here over this next half hour. But of course, the biggest thing that we want to say, as we do every week as we begin, is thank you, the listeners, for listening to the show each and every time a new episode comes out, which is every single week here on the radio or on the podcast and you say what, you got a podcast version of the show too? Yeah, absolutely. We've got just about three years worth of shows going back almost here. Three years worth of shows going all the way back to 2022. So yeah, you know what, if you have got some questions about different financial topics, chances are we have talked about those. So you can do two things. One, one of the two here. You can either go online to the website Money Matters with Mike comm. You can find all the past episodes there or you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, I'm talking Apple, Spotify, iHeart, uh, you know, audible, any of the places that you listen to podcasts and get those you can find Money Matters with Mike and you can find all those past episodes there as well. So just subscribe, give us a nice rating. We'd really appreciate that also. And then of course on the socials, uh, we're there as well. We got the Facebook, we got the YouTube. We've got, you know, just a lot of great content on both of those platforms. And so, yeah, just just reach out there, Michael, interact with you, especially on Facebook. You know, it's a great place to reach out and interact and ask questions about any of the topics that we talk about on the show or even anything that just comes to mind, maybe as you're listening to the show and say, hey, I wish these guys would talk about that.

Speaker1:
I'm just going to reach out to Mike and ask him directly. Well, yeah, you can do it. Just search for Money Matters with Mike on the socials as well. And you can also, if you'd prefer, give him a call. He's got his phone on him right now, but if we're doing the show, he's not going to answer. He'll wait until this half hour has gone by and then he'll call you back. But give him a ring at (704) 560-1573. (704) 560-1573. And yeah, he will pick up the phone unless he's on the radio or, you know, maybe in a meeting or a date with his wife, that kind of thing. All right. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's a lot of great topics to come here on the show today, Mike, but, uh, which, of course, I'm looking forward to, but I know that you look forward, I think, even more each and every week to just reaching out or the listeners rather reaching out to you, because that's where the rubber meets the road, right? It's all about the personal interaction and the, you know, just being able to help somebody, you know, see that light bulb go off above their head, like the old cartoons when they say, oh, I can make my financial future better. And, you know, you can do that by just getting in touch and and having that initial conversation is really where it all begins.

Speaker3:
It is no two people have the exact same financial situation, which it's kind of like a puzzle for me, which is why my company motto is puzzle solved. I enjoy financial puzzles and putting the pieces together and making sure that people have a clear pathway to financial, you know, retirement success if you want to look at it that way.

Speaker1:
Yeah, absolutely. Right. And money Matters with My.com is once again the website to go to and and request that initial consultation, free of any cost, free of any obligation. We'll talk more about that as the show goes along as well. We'll also talk about how to live comfortably during retirement, no matter how much you've saved. You know, I mean, if you feel like you are behind, uh, there are ways that you can actually get caught up and, and, uh, you know, have that comfortable retirement that you desire. And, um, yeah, it's a possible thing. So we'll talk about that. We'll also talk about the top financial habits of wealthy people. Uh, and much, much more coming up here over this next half hour. First, though, let's get some inspiration for this conversation, shall we? And we will do that with our quote of the week.

Speaker4:
And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.

Speaker1:
Our quote of the week this time around comes from Mr. Jim Rohn, who said, this formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune. Chin. I love that. Well, and you often say, you know, Mike, that the, the financial education system in this country is broken. And so, you know, you've sort of got to be, uh, self-educating when it comes to finances. And that can very well make you a fortune, right?

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean, it's like going to the doctor, right? I mean, you need to be your own advocate for your own healthcare. Well, you absolutely need to be your own advocate for your own financial future. Right. Look, I have nothing against a formal education. It is a great starting point. But let's be real. If you want more than just scraping by, if you're somebody who wants significance, uh, independence, confidence in retirement and, yes, maybe even a fortune, then you have to go beyond the classroom.

Speaker2:
Hungry for something to chew on. Here's some meat on the bone.

Speaker3:
You have to seek the knowledge that school does not teach. Like how money actually works, how to grow it. How to protect it. How to turn your life savings into an income stream that you cannot live. And here's the thing. Nobody's going to do that. Learning for you. Not your employer, not your college professor. And that is why self-education, reading books, listening to podcasts like Money Matters with Mike, getting somebody to mentor you, working with experts that, folks, is where the real magic happens. It is how you take control of your financial future. And when people come into my office, they're not just looking for numbers, right? They're looking for understanding. They want to know why we do what we do and how it ensures that they never have to worry about running out of money in retirement. That is self-education. That is financial empowerment. So if you are tired of just making a living and you're ready to build a future that is rooted in knowledge, rooted in strategy, and in peace of mind. Let's talk, because the truth is this education may get you started, but self-education, that is what is going to take you across the finish line. Stick with me, folks. We're just getting warmed up.

Speaker1:
That's right. This is this is just the warm up, everybody. We got a lot more coming here on the on the show. But a great way to start there Mike, because it's absolutely true. I mean, you know, I feel like, um, the things that we obviously the things that we learn in school are, are great and wonderful, but the things that we don't learn can leave big gaps, especially when it comes to finances. I mean, I just as you were talking there, I remembered in high school we did that sort of, um, what was like the stock market game, kind of a thing where we would be in teams and we'd pick investments, and whoever's investment performed the best would win, you know, some kind of prize or whatever over a certain period of time. And that was kind of it as far as any sort of financial education goes I mean, back, of course, back then people wrote cheques more often, but we didn't even learn how to write a cheque. So it's, you know, it's one of those things where it's been lacking for quite a while. Uh, even back in, back in my day when I was in school, um, we didn't necessarily learn all the things that we should have learned, but, you know, I mean, that is one of the reasons I know that you do the show and want to, you know, just have this sort of outreach to folks is because it's we're just trying to fill that gap here in people's knowledge.

Speaker1:
And, um, you know, I feel like that's it's a great thing to have. It's a great resource to have for folks just in the general public. And, you know, as part of that education, what we're going to do today is talk about a lot of these financial fundamentals, especially when it comes to people's retirement years. Um, and we've got to start off with, uh, in this part of the show, nine Ways to Live Comfortably During retirement, no matter how much you have saved. You know, we often say, of course, you know, when's the best time to plant a tree is, you know, 100 years ago or whatever. But when's the second best time today? If if you take that first step toward planning for your retirement, no matter how far along you are, you can have that comfortable retirement. And then no matter how much you've saved and no matter where you find yourself, when you get there to the whatever date you have circled on the calendar, you can live comfortably. And I think number one is the is the thing that people should be able to count on. And people need to realize that they've got a lot of decision points that can help maximize their Social Security income. Um, don't just, you know, willy nilly say, okay, well, I'm going to owe the 62. I'm going to take the money and run. It could be a lot more complicated than that for you in your situation.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So, I mean, maximizing your final earning years to help boost your future Social Security benefits. I think that's paramount. And what do I mean by that? Well, I mean, if you can make more money and and get a raise and and earn more and pay more into the social security system, that means you're going to get more out of the Social security system. And then just delaying Social Security can help you enormously, right? If you can help it, don't settle for less by taking it too early, because you can actually give yourself a 24% boost to your benefit by delaying all the way out until age 70, especially if you're somebody that has longevity in their genes. Now, if you're somebody that's unhealthy or all your people give up in their 60s or 70s, then yeah, go on and get your money right. But if you can help it, you just by delaying even one year is going to increase your ultimate benefit. And that over time, folks, it adds up.

Speaker1:
Yeah. I mean, if your full retirement age is is 67, let's say, which is, you know, most people listening would be if your full retirement age is 67, you know, if you were to claim Social Security at age 62, when you're first eligible, you're only going to get 70% of your of your full benefit. But if you were to delay, if you're able, like you said, if it makes sense for you to age 70, you're going to receive 124% of your benefit each and every month. So that is a huge boost on a monthly basis. And like you said, if you've got longevity on your side could absolutely be the right strategy. Um, and then, you know, I mean, another thing that people need to think about in retirement in order to live comfortably is that biggest bill that pretty much everybody has every month. That's the house payment, right? I mean, what do people need to be thinking about as far as the House goes in retirement?

Speaker3:
Yeah. So I think leading up to retirement, people need to be really aware of of their finances and their monthly cash flow. So paying off their house or maybe downsizing and then paying cash for your new smaller house and investing the difference? I think that makes a lot of sense. But here's the thing, folks don't use your retirement dollars to pay off your house, okay? Because that is just robbing your future self. The happiest retirees we meet with have strategized and figured out ways to double down and pay off their mortgage, but they don't steal from their retirement in order to do it. And that will help you have more monthly income during those golden years and allow you much more freedom and a breath of fresh air.

Speaker1:
I was going to say they don't rob Peter to pay Paul, but I guess it would be robbing Peter to pay Peter. I guess in that case.

Speaker3:
You're.

Speaker1:
Robbing yourself to pay yourself. Um, but yeah, don't don't do that. Um, but, you know, I mean, you you can actually, you know, save that money, save a big chunk of money from having no mortgage payment, and then so, so in retirement or close to it, whenever you get that paid off. Uh, that frees up a lot of, of cash flow. And you can actually then pay yourself a lot more, right?

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean, don't be afraid to reinvest that money so that you can pay yourself more as you get older. Trying to maximize and use catch up contributions to your advantage would be one way of ultimately paying yourself more.

Speaker1:
Yeah. And then, you know, I mean, I would also say that this next one is super important and that is to take emotions really out of the picture, right? As far as your investments go, we've seen a lot of market volatility here so far this year. And emotions can get the better of you. But I feel like it's so important to stay. Not necessarily stay the course meaning not necessarily stay the same course that you've been on, but make sure that you don't just pull everything out when the going gets tough, because that's not a good thing.

Speaker3:
Right? Stay invested, is what you're saying, right? Make smart adjustments each and every single year, or as life events change your goals, right? If you add a new member to your family, whether that's a child or a grandchild, if you change jobs, if you have a death in your family, your financial family, especially if like death of a spouse, if you retire. These are all life events and they may change your goals, your ultimate goals. You have to be able to, you know, respond to those and pivot in the moment. Um, I just brought a smile to my face because I thought of the friends episode pivot. Uh, any of you Gen Xers will definitely get that. But, uh, yeah. I mean, just staying invested and making smart adjustments just makes sense.

Speaker1:
Yeah, and another thing that makes sense for a lot of folks, too, is a Roth conversion. And people have probably heard that term, um, you know, used on occasion anyway, you know, maybe on the radio or on TV or whatever, but they might not exactly know what that means. What's what is a Roth conversion? What's the advantage of it?

Speaker3:
Yeah. It's just taking money that you have left. Like, in other words, if you have some room left that before you're, you're you're pushed into a higher tax bracket, you can pay the exact same tax amount on any tax deferred dollars. So money and IRAs money in 401 403 BS Tsp's anything like that. Convert just enough money that keeps you at your current tax bracket, and go ahead and pay the taxes on that and open up a Roth, which will help protect you from future tax increases. And it will eliminate any required minimum distributions from your retirement plan on that portion of money that you have converted. So I think that's smart as well.

Speaker1:
It's yeah, it can be very smart for folks. And because those those RMDs not not fun for people when Uncle Sam says, hey, I want my money. So you got to make a, you know, a withdrawal from that account or take a distribution from that account at age 73. Of course.

Speaker3:
You need the money or not, right?

Speaker1:
Whether whether you need the money or not. And then eventually that'll go up to 75. So that'll be a bit of a boon for folks. They'll have a two year delay, but still you reach 75 and it's not going to be fun. Um, all right. Number six on this list of ways to live comfortably in retirement, Mike, is to build your own personal pension. And that is really a great kind of literally an insurance policy, really. And, and, uh, you know, I guess an insurance policy in, um, the, the abstract as well, because it's money that you cannot outlive. And that really just gives peace of mind, which I feel like is so great.

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean, if you're fortunate enough to work for a company or the government and you have a pension, great fact is most people don't. And even those that do can take a portion of their retirement dollars and create a personal pension by investing in a fixed indexed annuity. If you guys missed last week's show, do yourself a favor. We really dove deep and went into exactly what annuities are and how they work, because there's a lot of bad press out there. And I'm here to tell you that not all annuities are created equally. The money that you invest in a fixed indexed annuity, for an example, has a zero flaw, right? You can never do worse than zero. Some of them actually have higher than a zero floor, and some of them offer bonuses. They'll grow your principal. They'll give you market like gains without any of the market like risk. So there are numerous advantages, um, to, you know, putting placing some money into an annuity, but building that personal pension that you can never outlive, that is a big one for most folks.

Speaker1:
Yeah. Absolutely. Right. And then also, you know, people you talk about incomes, people think of, um, you know, income, uh, type of investments in their portfolio. They often may think of bonds. Um, but we would encourage folks to consider replacing those bonds completely with something like you were just talking about.

Speaker3:
Yeah, like a fixed indexed annuity. I mean, the old 60 over 40 rule that grandpa and great grandpa used, it worked for them. But we're starting to see a lot of bonds, you know, mature. And guess what? They're not maturing anywhere near where they were promised. There's fees that are associated with them. And so by creating a personal pension with the use of a fixed indexed annuity, that is a definite great. I mean, it's a perfect strategy for a portion of the income portion, I should say of of your retirement.

Speaker1:
Yeah. And then another thing, of course, to make sure that you do is make sure that you're properly diversified and not just diversify. You know, people think of that. They'll think of like, oh, well, I've got to be not all invested in tech stocks or whatever that is. You know, I've got to diversify across different asset classes and those types of things. But you also need to be diversified in a in a tax sort of way as well. So you got to think about different tax buckets of money.

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean the best kind of money in the world is free money, right. The second best kind of money is tax free money, followed by tax deferred money and then ultimately taxable money. Right. So if we want to make sure that you have some tax free money, some tax deferred money, and then the money that you're always going to have to pay Uncle Sam on. So diversifying between those tax buckets makes you much more streamlined and tax efficient in retirement.

Speaker1:
Yeah. And then also, um, you know, the last one here that we'll talk about as far as living comfortably in retirement. People don't like the word budget. So we can call it a spending plan. We can call it a, you know, a cash flow analysis. We can call it whatever we want to call it. Um, but you've got to know what's coming in and what's going out, right?

Speaker3:
Yeah. It's very, very important to make sure that there's not more month than money in retirement. Okay. You've worked your, you know, rear end off for your entire working life when it comes to your retirement, you want to make sure there's a surplus and not a gap. So you need to be able to accurately predict and forecast and calculate what your monthly expenses are, not necessarily how big your investment number is, because the number means nothing if it does not produce positive cash flow in retirement.

Speaker1:
That's right. And, you know, I mean, my sort of biggest piece of advice or my biggest tip, I guess, to folks listening, is that you, you know, if there's any doubt in your mind, no matter where you are in your financial journey, if there's any doubt in your mind at all about whether you are prepared for your retirement years, or whether you think you are going to be prepared for your retirement years, when that comes, I would meet with a financial professional. I just happen to know a guy named Mike Zeno. By the way, I don't know if you guys have heard of him or not, but he's great. Um, money matters with Mike. Com is the website. (704) 560-1573 is the number. And, you know, I mean, there are a lot of different reasons, Mike, that people should get in touch with you again. Number one is, of course, if they have any of those doubts about their financial future, but what are some other reasons that that folks should get in touch? And what can you provide them in that initial absolutely free consultation?

Speaker3:
Yeah. So first and foremost, if you don't have a formal retirement plan. You should probably speak with a financial professional. Right. If you don't understand how you should manage the risk in your portfolio as you get older, you should probably meet with a financial professional. If you don't understand what an expense ratio is, then you definitely need to meet with a financial professional. If you don't understand the risks that you're actually taking with your investments, if you don't know whether or not you should pay your house off. If you don't have a health care plan in place, right? There are numerous, numerous reasons why you would want to meet with a financial professional. And you know, for those that do meet with us, we're going to provide these complimentary consultations. Like Matt just said, at no cost, no obligation. You're only going to work with us if it's best and makes sense for you, but we can help you with all of those aforementioned, you know, reasons why. But we can discover exactly how much you're paying in fees. We can help you cut unnecessary costs, whether those are in your IRAs, your 401 or any other retirement savings account. We can help you with Social Security planning and Medicare planning. We can, you know, bottom line, compare your current situation to what's possible if you decide to make a change and work with us. We don't take for granted that it is your money. And if it's important to you, it's important to us.

Speaker1:
That's absolutely right. And you can call Mike to get that started. 7045601573704560 1573. You can also go online. Money matters with mike.com. All right Mike. Well, in the last several minutes of the show here we're there's, there was this um Yahoo News article that I thought was great that sort of broke down like looking at what wealthy people do financially and they're sort of top financial habits, I guess we should say. And, and sort of broke those down in a list. And I want to go through as many of these as we can get in before the show is done this time around just because, you know, I mean, it's a great sort of thing to look at, to be like, you know, as far as, um, not not just aspirational, but like, you know, these are the things that we all need to keep in mind and we need to strive to do in our lives as well. You don't have to be wealthy to do a lot of these things. Um, and really, you know, number one is set financial goals. You don't have to be wealthy to do that.

Speaker3:
No, you can't form a plan for achieving your goals until you've identified what those goals are. And that'll help make short and long term financial goals a reality. You'll feel much more accomplished whenever you reach one of those milestones, and it will encourage you to keep going. Wealthy people don't get discouraged or abandon their financial plans if they make mistakes. Brush it off as a lesson learned and continue working toward increasing your wealth.

Speaker1:
Yeah, absolutely. Right. And then number two, as I said, we people don't like the word, but it's a budget. It's like a four letter word with more than four letters in it. But you got to you got to do it. I mean, that's what the that's what wealthy people do. That's one of the habits is, you know, what is going in and coming out.

Speaker3:
Yeah. They track their expenses, right. They know where every penny goes. And this is personal finance 101. Okay. But following a spending plan can prove difficult. So as you earn raises or you create additional revenue streams, you're national natural natural inclination is to start spending more. But try to resist the temptation of lifestyle creep. If you want to improve your overall financial circumstances, save or invest that extra money instead.

Speaker1:
Yeah, and then make smart investments. That's number three here. You don't want to just be throwing your money wherever, right? You want to be making sure that you invest in a smart way that's going to be good for you and your financial situation.

Speaker3:
Yeah. Nobody ever got rich saving money in a savings account. And wealthy people understand that they should not keep all of their money in the bank, right? They invest some of it. Most of it, in fact, instead, that way, that money is always working to create even more money. Of course, investing only increases your wealth if you make the right investment decisions. And you know, millionaires, for example, know how to invest for the bigger returns with the most mitigated risk. And they also get great advice, right? So you should take the time to learn about and understand about the investments you make before you actually make any yourself.

Speaker1:
Yeah. And one of the first things I know that you work with folks on Mike, when when you start working with someone is number four on this list, which is save for emergencies, you got to have that fund set aside.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You need to have some liquidity to, you know, plan for the unexpected and trying to keep somewhere between you know, I like people to have a minimum of six months of living expenses in that emergency account before they focus on investing. That way, if anything happens, there's money there to take care of it without stealing from their retirement.

Speaker1:
Yeah. Absolutely. Right. And then, of course, um, I think a super important one here, just probably the last one we'll get to in any depth anyway, is to live below your means. Don't spend more than what you make.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You know, I know people that make, you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. And believe it or not, folks, they're broke, okay? You know that you probably should not live above your means, but living below them is actually how you grow your wealth. You don't want your bills and your everyday costs to eat up your entire salary. If you're spending your entire paycheck every single month, you're going to get stuck in that paycheck to paycheck rut and instead spending less than you can actually afford to gives you the ability to save and invest for your financial future. So living below your means is huge.

Speaker1:
Yeah. Absolutely correct. Well that is going to do it here, Mike, for this edition of the show. Boy it's come and gone fast here this week. But as always, sir, I thank you for everything that you bring to the table. And we'll talk to you again next time.

Speaker3:
Matt, thanks for everything that you bring to the table. But I say this each and every single week. Thank you to all of our listeners, whether you're listening in the Carolinas, on the radio or anywhere across the globe via podcast, without you, we don't have a show. So if you learned anything today, share it across your social media. Right. The rising tide lifts all boats. Whatever you're doing this weekend, we hope you enjoy it to its fullest extent and as always, make it a great day.

Speaker2:
Thanks for listening to Money Matters with Mike. You deserve to work with a licensed financial and insurance professional who can offer strategies for protecting and growing your hard earned money. To schedule your free, no obligation consultation, visit Money matters with Mike. Com or pick up the phone and call 704560 1573. That's (704) 560-1573. Not affiliated with the United States government. Mike Zeno does not offer tax, legal or investment advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or a specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Amara Life assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or the results obtained from the use of this information.

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