On this week’s show, there’s plenty of “meat on the bone” and practical retirement planning tips. Mike breaks it down the basics with Smart Vision, Smart Inspection and Smart Planning. Plus, we discuss “egg-celerating” prices at the grocery store – and take a look at some big things that happened on this week in history.

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

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

Producer:
Welcome to Money Matters with Mike, with your host, Mike Zaino. Get set for a full hour on financial information and economic news affecting your bottom line. 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 Zaino.

Mike Zaino:
What's up? What's up? What's up? It's Mike Zaino coming to you live from Fort Mill, South Carolina. Happy Saturday, people. What a great day to be alive in these United States of America. And thank you for listening to Money Matters with Mike. This show is designed to arm you with information to give you plenty of meat on the bone, to chew on each and every single week. And today we are absolutely bringing the heat again. On today's show, we're going to talk about different ways that we can help you optimize your golden years. And as always, I have the distinct honor and privilege of being joined by the one, the only my co host and producer extraordinaire, Mr. Matt McClure. Matt, how are you doing today, brother?

Producer:
I'm doing great, Mike. I hope you are as well. I know it's a busy, busy time of the year for you, but that's that's the way you like it.

Mike Zaino:
I've found out it has been extremely busy. I have been on the road in different markets doing speaking engagements literally for the past three weeks in a row. I had a four day break where I got to go to the island of Nevis inside of the West Indies, which is in the Caribbean. That was not a vacation, though. That was going to an alternative investment conference so that I can learn more about taking people's money and redirecting it into areas just to help them grow for a much more profitable retirement. You know, this week, as soon as I got back in, my phone's been ringing off the hook. It's the beginning of the year, so everybody wants to make sure they're on the right track for 2023. So, yes, I have been busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger.

Producer:
That's right. I always love that illustration because immediately the picture comes to my mind. But that's that's great. And it's a good kind of busy, I know, for you. And that's really what this show is all about, too, is helping people, whether it's the beginning of the year or the middle of the end. Whenever you get educated about their finances, think about things. Learn about things that they might not even know existed, solutions for their retirement planning, their financial situation right now, and helping those two things work together. That sort of vision for the future and the right now. We're going to talk about a lot of that today actually, as we go on through the show. We are. But first, I wanted to mention MoneyMattersWithMike.com. That's the website, folks. You can go there, you can get past episodes. You can reach out to Mike Zaino. You can also get a free copy of the Annuity 360 book written by our good friend Ford Stokes. It's all you need to know about annuities, and it really is. I mean, it's just it's what I think less than 100 pages, Mike but it's crammed full of a lot of great information.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah, it's a great read. I know, I know a lot of people. I gave it to a buddy of mine and he said that he keeps it in his bathroom and it's good bathroom reading material. He reads a chapter every time he's in there and I'm like, Brother, He told me he had it finished in just a couple of days. I'm like, You must go to the bathroom a lot. But I mean, hey, if if it's out of sight, it's out of mind, right? So right there on the back side or next to his, he's got like a little reading nook because I've actually used his bathroom. He's got a place to hold books and stuff like that. It's pretty amazing. So he says, that's where business gets done.

Producer:
There you go. There you go. I mean, you know, it's whatever works for you. And, you know, you don't have to read it necessarily in the bathroom, folks. You can put it on the coffee table, read it while you're sitting in front of the old TV or something. But, you know, wherever you want to do it, The book is Annuity 360 once again, and you can get it by either going to the website and it is MoneyMattersWithMike.com, or you can call Mike Zaino at 704 560 1573 . And also, oh, I should mention, by the way, we're also available not only on the air but on a podcast version as well. And pretty much anywhere you can think of to get podcasts, go there, Search for Money Matters with Mike, and that is where we will be. Subscribe. Leave us a rating. Send us a message. We just love hearing from our listener family out there in listener land.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah, absolutely. And Matt, on top of that, if you guys aren't on the socials, we're on Facebook at MoneyMattersWithMike.com, give us a like and subscribe to that Facebook. Page as well. We'd really appreciate that for sure.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of great meat on the bone coming up during today's show as well. Mike, we're going to talk about the Smart retirement plan and how, as you said at the beginning, how we can help people really optimize their golden years. We're going to kind of break down a smart retirement plan into three big sections that we're going to cover on today's show Smart vision, smart inspection, and smart planning, all really great areas to focus on as you are beginning your retirement planning journey here. And hopefully you're going to learn a lot because there are some things that we're going to talk about, I think, that are really going to sort of be eye opening for folks. We also have an inflation demonstration. And if you have been to the grocery store, you know that you are shelling out more money for a particular item. And that was a clue that little pun there a little about what we're going to talk about, pun intended. Definitely. And then we got so much more coming up. First, though, let's get into it with a little financial wisdom in our Quote of the week.

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

Producer:
And those words of wisdom this time around might come from someone named Samuel Clemens. If that name doesn't really ring a bell, that.

Mike Zaino:
Is.

Producer:
Better known as Mark Twain. That's it. There you go. But he also, you know, of course, Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer, fame of Huck Finn, fame and just really an all around smart gentleman who said this, quote, The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret to getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and then starting on the first one. I love the way he sort of breaks that down. And that's really what it's about. There is getting getting it back to the basics.

Mike Zaino:
It is. Matt, you know, and I was always asked, How do you eat an elephant? And the correct answer is one bite at a time. You may have something that seems so daunting and it's so large, but the way you do it is by taking baby steps.

Producer:
Hungry for something that you on? Here's some meat on the bone.

Mike Zaino:
In the military before we learned about assaulting an objective, we would actually do what's called backwards planning and we would start from that objective and work backwards along the way to figure out every little thing that we had to do. And so for today's Meat on the Bone, I was reading an article in an online periodical called Real Simple. It was about budgeting, but more specifically about backward budgeting. You know, you've probably heard it before, right? Making a budget can help you accomplish just about any financial goal, whether that's saving for retirement or paying down debt, helping kids through college, buying a house, starting a business. But budgeting can be easier said than done. It can be hard to figure out how to get started and even harder to stay on track. So maybe you've remembered to budget for your kids sports registration fees, but you forgot about their uniforms. Maybe you budgeted for gas, but not to replace your windshield glass when it cracks. If you live in a non free glass state. Right. That's where backward budgeting actually comes in. It's a technique that economists say is the best way to make a realistic budget. So researchers at the University of St Andrews ran an experiment where they divided people into two groups.

Mike Zaino:
Half of the groups used forward budgets and they were asked to come up with a budget for the week ahead. And then the other half the backward budgets were asked to try to remember everything that they spent money on in the past week and then make a budget for the week ahead. And so the backward budget was ended up remembering all sorts of little things that can come up that the forward budget is forgot about. It might be replacing the water filter in the refrigerator or buying your kid a new lunchbox after they left it on the school bus for the millionth time. Right. The list of those small, unexpected expenses adds up, and as a result, the backward budget was they budgeted an average of $255 for the week ahead compared to the forward budgets, who only budgeted $189 on average. And guess which group would end up better prepared for their financial reality? You got it. The backward budget. So in order to make backward budgeting work, you have to take a look at your spending from the past month by pulling together all of your bank and your credit card statements. You start by making a budget that reflects the actual amount that you spent over the last month and you divided it up into different categories.

Mike Zaino:
Then you can start thinking about what you could do differently to reduce your spending, take out a highlighter, highlight the purchases that you could have avoided, or start comparison shopping to see if you can get a better deal on big recurring expenses such as like Internet bills or insurance. Right. And then once you've gotten a handle on the past, you can start thinking about the future. And when you make your new budget, many of those categories will probably match what you actually spent last month. For the categories that are different, you'll already have a game plan in place because you've thought about the actual rhythm of your daily life. And if you have the time, try looking at all of your purchases from the past six months or the past year since some bills only happen occasionally, like property tax for an example, right? You might only enroll your kid in sports once a year or pay your car insurance bill once every six months, for example. So focusing on just a few categories can add up to really, really big savings.

Producer:
Yeah, and that's great. I didn't even really ever think about it in those sort of terms where, you know, you look backwards to plan for the future. It seems kind of counterintuitive, but when you think about it and you go through it like you just did, it actually does make sense because there are so many things that are recurring that we might just very well forget about. You know, there are the things that you think about, obviously, when you're when you're preparing a budget, the electricity, the gas bill, if you have it, things like the car payment and the insurance payment on all of those types of things, cell phone bill and all that. But then there are those other little things that creep in that you forget about. And it's funny that you mentioned the windshield thing. It was a little over a year ago. I had to get a new windshield for my car and it was not free by far. And I have one of those cars that has all the like the sensors and stuff that are in the windshield, like just behind where the rearview mirror is. So that made it, of course, even more expensive because they have to go and recalibrate everything and all that. So it was like, how do you how do you. Take that into consideration. It's all those unknowns that can kind of be daunting to people.

Mike Zaino:
It is. And with the windshield thing. So we live in the Charlotte area. I live in Fort Mill, which is just across the border from Charlotte. So in South Carolina, your insurance, like if you get a crack, you can get it fixed for free. But in North Carolina, if you live in North Carolina, you actually have to pay for a new windshield. So backward budgeting is a much better idea if you are relying on your budget to help you decide whether or not you can afford to make certain purchases or lifestyle changes, such as deciding whether you can afford to shift maybe to part time work. Because I know a lot of folks as they age, they want to maybe not work full time, but still work part time. Or maybe they want to pursue a passion project or whether or not you've got the funds available in order for you to move into a larger home. So when it comes to our listeners and listener land, my question to you guys is, do you really know more than on your doctor when it comes to medical things? Do you really know more than your attorney when it comes to matters of the law? Do you really know more than your general contractor when it comes to matters of building? So just as you trust the experts in those important and specific situations, we believe that nothing replaces a financial professional.

Mike Zaino:
And the start of the new Year is a great time to reevaluate your retirement plans, whether retirement is still a few years away or if you've already been retired for a number of years. So the way that you can get in contact with me is 704 5601573. That rings my direct cell phone. This one right here. The only time I don't answer is if I'm on the air, if I'm in the meeting, if I'm dealing with another client on the phone, or if I'm enjoying some personal time with my wife or my kids, you leave me a message. I'll get back to you the other way that you can go get in contact with me is by filling out the contact US form on MoneyMattersWithMike.com. You can also reach out through social media on Facebook. Also at Money Matters with Mike on Facebook. So bottom line is nothing is going to replace a capable financial professional and I happen to know a pretty good one, Mike.

Producer:
I do. His name is Mike Zaino. And of course, that website once again Money matters with Mike dot com and that is a great segway right into our smart retirement plan here. And the question is, you know, what is a smart retirement plan and do you have one I mean, you know it's it's a such an important time in our lives to to be planning for let's let's sort of lay the groundwork for this discussion here. Mike, what do we mean by a smart retirement plan and how does somebody know if if they've got one?

Mike Zaino:
Well, I mean, retirement is one of the most important times of our lives. It marks the end of one era. And the beginning of the next. And while retirement can be a time of great joy and great relaxation, it can also be a time of great financial strain and stress. Unfortunately, studies have shown that many Americans are not as prepared for retirement as they'd like to be. Factors such as a lack of savings, high levels of debt and uncertain Social Security benefit. All right. That can contribute to these feelings of of unpreparedness. And additionally on the ongoing effects of COVID 19 and the pandemic have greatly impacted the economy and the financial stability of many, many pre-retirees and retirees because there just wasn't enough money to go around because of the rising cost of living. So that's kind of what we mean by having a smart retirement plan. We're going to talk about things like having the basics put in place. We're going to talk about having a smart vision. We're going to talk about having not only a smart vision, but a smart inspection and then smart planning, obviously. So all of those components are going to make up what is called a smart retirement plan.

Producer:
Yeah. And and there's a lot here that goes into it. And that's, I think, sort of why we always stress the importance of having a financial professional on your side to really help you wade through all of these things because there are so many considerations here. And talking about the fact that so many retirees, pre retirees, really do have some concerns about retirement as as they very well should, especially these days. There was a recently released study from Fidelity. They did state of retirement planning study. More than two thirds of Americans very concerned about the impact of inflation on retirement preparedness. 31% don't know how to make sure their retirement savings keep up. With that inflation. I mean, it's a huge concern. And I mean, this was a quote actually from Angie Chen, a research economist from Boston College, who said approximately half of all Americans are at risk of not being able to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living after they stop working. I mean, that just just goes to show you the importance of actually having a plan for these things. And a smart retirement plan is one that takes into account the the knowns and the unknowns about about your future.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah, I mean, that is so true, Matt. Without a plan, I always tell people plan to fail. And it is harsh as that may sound. If you don't have not thoughts rolling around in your head, not maybe something jotted down on a piece of paper or a napkin that ends up in the kitchen drawer that you forget about for years. But an actual plan, it just goes to show you. And you mentioned that one survey. There was another survey that was done by Charles Schwab of currently employed folks who participated in their their companies for one case, you know, just saving for retirement. That was the leading source of significant financial stress for all generations, not just people who were about ready to retire, but people that were in their forties, people that were in their thirties, their twenties. And 41% had to make changes in their 401 K. I alluded to that just a second ago. Because of the pandemic, they needed that money to live on and therefore could not contribute as much or at all. And only 25% of those respondents to that survey said that they have consulted a financial professional. All right. Only 25%, That's one in four. It should it should be 100%, in my opinion. I mean, nobody is is too poor to consult a financial professional. When is the best time to start planning, Matt? Well, it's never too soon, never too late, and never to often to revisit your financial plan.

Producer:
Yeah, and that's the thing is there is no time like the present. And so, you know, if you don't have that financial plan in place, I mean, get in touch with Mike Zaino at MoneyMattersWithMike.com or 704 5601573. That would be a great idea for you to do that. So, I mean, yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. So let's go through, Mike, kind of the basics here of this smart plan as we talk about just the essentials here and lay the groundwork for the larger discussion, talk about just some of these basics creating a budget. First of all, you talked about that pretty in depth a little bit earlier when you talked about the backwards budgeting thing. But it's important and I feel like some people think that, you know, budget is is a four letter word that's got more than that, that many letters in it because it seems intimidating. It doesn't have to be, though.

Mike Zaino:
No, it doesn't. I mean, basically you're telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. And it helps you calculate your income and go over all your monthly and yearly expenses and plan for those unlikely things. And you'll likely discover some areas that you can cut back on or eliminate altogether. So that's when we're talking about about creating a budget, right?

Producer:
Yeah, 100%. And then another biggie and I know that we've talked about this quite a bit here in past episodes, but one to reiterate is to save regularly. And that is super important not only to do that often, but to do it early.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah, So, so saving regularly should start obviously as early as possible, especially when we're talking about retirement planning. Right. And it should continue even after you've entered those golden years. And so the best way to do it is to set up automatic savings so that you can just out of sight, out of mind. And that's where whether it's through your companies, employer sponsored plan, whether it's a 401 k403b, a thrift savings plan if you're a federal employee or if you're a business owner and you've set up your own solo K or SEP plan or simple plan, or if you just don't have any of that available to you, if you say, Hey, you know what? I'm going to every time I get paid, I'm going to put at least 15% into a separate account and it's done automatically so that it's out of mind and out of sight. More importantly, you'll get used to living on less. I promise you you will. And then once you get used to living off of less, then you check your account balance in your savings. You'll be like, Holy cow, where did all this money come from? And it's because of the fact that you got used to living off of less. You know what? If you get a pay raise, don't take it home. Increase your savings. Your future self will. Thank you greatly for that. One day, maybe every third pay raise or so take home. But and you can even if you. Don't get a pay raise, just try to increase it like by 1% or 2% per year in order just to increase your savings. And again, once you get used to living off of less, you'll never miss it.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. You won't even know that it's not there. And then, like you say, you'll get that good surprise, good surprise to have when you look at your bank account, which is which is great, better, much better than the alternative. So in addition to saving regularly, you also want to avoid debt. And particularly, I would say that high interest debt.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah. So I mean, there's good debt and there's bad debt and the ability to avoid that altogether is is near impossible because sometimes debt can be used as leverage. So when we're talking about avoiding debt, we're not talking about avoiding good debt to use as leverage to that you acquire assets that produce income. We're talking about bad debts, those high interest debts like credit cards, like home loans, like loan advances on payday advances, some car loans. Now the average car loan is about 8 to 10% right now. So debts can be a huge burden in retirement and can significantly reduce the amount of money that you're able to save. So if you're able to take care of paying off of that bad debt and before you retire and avoid taking on any new debt in retirement, then that is going to be your absolute best case scenario. And people should absolutely start with a priority of paying off that high interest debt first. That is the debt that is costing you the most money to carry. And the longer you leave that high interest debt sitting there, the more money that you're just giving away to the banks and the creditors because they love it when you only pay the minimum. They love it when you delay paying them back. Why? Because they get to charge you more interest.

Producer:
Yeah, we're going to get a lot more money out of this guy over the years if they only paying that that minimum payment every month. And another thing is to invest wisely. So. So what do we mean by investing wisely, Mike?

Mike Zaino:
So. So everybody is going to have their own appetite for risk and investing can be an extremely effective way to grow your retirement savings. Saving in a bank account is not investing wisely. Why they just don't pay anything. But when you put your money into investments like the stock markets, obviously you've got ups and you've got downs. 2022 was an abysmal year for the markets. It doesn't matter which market you were in, they all lost money. So you have to consider consulting with a financial professional that's able to help you make informed decisions that can help you reach your retirement goals. When you have a longer time horizon, theoretically, you can accept more risk for an expected return. But once you're in that retirement red zone, which is those five years immediately preceding retirement and then the five years immediately in retirement, you just cannot afford to take as much risk.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And we'll, of course, in not only today's show, but in future shows, we're going to talk a lot more about risk as well and sort of getting to the bottom of your risk tolerance and how much you're willing to take. And also, you know, a big one for people that might get overlooked a lot of the time, I feel like is to stay insured and people don't necessarily think about insurance being a part of their own retirement planning, particularly if they think about life insurance. But it's an important thing to to consider and to have as part of the overall picture.

Mike Zaino:
It is no, nobody likes insurance until they need it, right?

Producer:
Then you'll love it. We pay for car.

Mike Zaino:
Insurance and we're like, you know, writing that check or, you know, when it comes out and you see the debit, nobody actually writes checks anymore. Right. And but when you get into a car accident and they pay to have your car fixed or replaced, then we love the fact that we have car insurance. I used to gripe about paying my health insurance premiums because I have to pay for my own. Well, then guess what I had a couple of years ago? I had a kidney transplant and I've shared that before on on the air. I'm doing great now. So thanks to you for being concerned, all of you, that just went, whoa. But I'm doing awesome right now and I will never complain about paying those health insurance premiums again because they paid more than I'll ever pay in ten lifetimes and insurance premiums to make sure that I had a kidney. So it is very, very important to have adequate insurance coverage during retirement. So we're talking about health insurance. We're talking about life insurance. We're talking about long term care insurance. We're talking about maybe insurance on your income as well, because without adequate insurance coverage you may be at. Risk of extreme financial hardship if you face an unexpected illness or injury.

Producer:
Yeah, and that's the thing is it's the unexpected. And that's really what insurance is for it. It insures against that, that unexpected. You never know what's going to happen. My crystal ball has been in the shop for a long time, so yours and mine both. Yeah, exactly. So I think the bottom line here, Mike, for our listeners to. To really take away from this as we sort of lay out the basics here is to to stay informed. I mean and that's what the show is all about, That's what you do all the time is keep people informed, keep people educated. And really that knowledge is key to establishing this smart retirement plan and following through.

Mike Zaino:
It is one of the goals of our show. Money Matters with Mike. It's to help educate you guys about the latest developments in the financial world. Retirement is a consistently and constantly changing landscape and it is important to stay up to date on changing laws. Like, in other words, the Secure Act 2.0 just got passed here and went into effect in January, and I'm going to get into that here in a few minutes. Regulations change all the time. Financial products change all the time. And when you're up to date on all this stuff that can help you reach your retirement goals that much faster, right? Matt So I mentioned the Secure Act 2.0, and there's just a few things that I wanted to point out about that because now, especially for our listeners, one of the biggest things that it did was affect what are called RMDs or required minimum distributions. So the the Secure Act 2.0 increases the age at which those RMDs much start from 72 as it was changed from 70 and one half back in the Secure Act, 2.1 or 2.0 excuse me 1.0 now it's 73 for 2023. So in other words, if you turn 73 this year and you did not take RMDs last year, then you're good to start your RMDs this year. And then eventually it's going to be phased out to 75 in 2023. So that's the biggest thing that I want you to know as it would immediately affect our listenership if you have any other questions, because there's a lot of other things that the Secure Act 2.0 did for for Americans in general. Give me a call and we'll discuss it on the phone or we'll get together and set an appointment.

Producer:
Absolutely. And that number is 7045601573 Or you can reach out to Mike also at the website which is money matters with Mike. com or as you said earlier just search for us on the socials there at Money matters with Mike on Facebook especially you can also look us up on the YouTube page. Hey we're kind of all over the place so you'll you'll find us. And so Mike as we get into more of the kind of the nitty gritty here of the Smart Retirement plan, we're going to talk about three different aspects of it today here on the show. And there'll be more to come in the in the weeks following. But in today's show, smart vision, smart inspection and smart planning. And the first of those, of course, is the smart vision. You're going to be sort of asking yourself, what will your retirement look like in the future before, you know, before you start planning, rather, what you want to do for your retirement plan to get you to a destination, You've got to know what that destination is, Right? So actually put together a bit of a piece on this, a couple of minutes here to sort of encapsulate what we're going to go into more details about.

Producer:
So let's listen to that and we'll continue and get into those details momentarily. Do you have a vision for what you want your retirement to look like? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife planning for retirement can be overwhelming. A survey from Gobankingrates shows that one third of Americans don't think they know enough about retirement. And they're probably right. So if you fall into that category, how do you know where to begin? Well, you've got to know where you want to go before you start planning how to get there. That's where having a smart vision for your retirement comes in. Whether you want to be a jet setter during your retirement years. Want to take it easy in a quiet cabin in the woods or start a new adventure by opening your own business, you should set that goal and keep it in mind throughout your working years, retirement expert Dean Waggenspack said during a recent TEDx talk. I want to challenge all of.

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

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

Lee Baker:
I want to start thinking about all of this accumulation that I've done through these decades of working.How do I begin to think about turning what I've.Saved and what I've accumulated.Into paychecks after I retire?

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

Producer:
You're listening to Money Matters with Mike. Listen closely, because money matters. Here's Mike.

Producer:
So that is it, Mike. You've got to before you start, as I said before, you sort of planning out that that path that your financial future is going to take. The destination is got to be important. You don't you don't, you know, go go to the Jeeps in the car and just open it up and don't put in a destination and just start driving. No to nowhere. You've got to put the destination in. Right. Or otherwise it does no good.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah. That's it too. And I often say that, you know, a sailboat in the wind without a rudder is just going to get blown wherever the wind takes it, Right? It's not actually going to get to its destination. So, you know, when we're talking about all these things, you know, what are your goals for retirement? What do you plan on doing? How are you spending your time? Who are you spending that time with? What are you taking care of? And most importantly, how do you plan to fund these final decades of your life if you don't start with a clear vision and a set of goals for your retirement? You could experience lots of unknowns down the road. And it might surprise people and it might not surprise people. But 37% of Americans feel they need more education on retirement planning. So that's more than a third more than a half. 52% of Americans wish they had more education on how to invest. So how do you do that? Well, we recommend you sit down with your spouse, with your family. You consider some some important factors that are going to end up affecting your golden years, like Social Security for one.

Mike Zaino:
Let's talk about that for a second. Matt, Many seniors assume that Social Security is going to cover the bulk of their retirement financial needs. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Social Security is going to generate only about one third of the money that's going to cover people's expenses in retirement. And while people commonly assume that they're stuck with a predetermined benefit, you can actually increase that benefit by delaying when you take Social Security, because every year you delay past age 62, you're going to get between a seven and 8% compound return. Another thing that you guys need to think of is taxes. A common misconception is that your tax rate is going to dramatically decrease once you stop working. Well, you can't count on that tax rate decreasing. Did you know that from 1960 to 1963, the current tax rate, the 24% tax level back in 62, 63 was actually 56%. And President Trump, like him or not, his tax cuts are set to expire December 31st, 2025. So you have to have a plan for tax rates changing during your retirement so that you can keep more of your hard earned money.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And that's one thing is the only thing constant is change. And those tax rates are going to change eventually. And they'll kind of have to people, you know, if if the country's ever going to pay its bills, they're going to have to. And so, yeah, Social Security, then taxes, also Medicare, something really important to think about for your retirement years and talk about with your your family with. Your your spouse, your loved ones. And there are a lot of assumptions out there, just like there are assumptions about Social Security, there are assumptions about taxes. There are some assumptions that are about Medicare as well that are just wrong.

Mike Zaino:
They are. And the assumptions right when people assume we've all heard what assuming does, it makes an ass out of you and me, right. That's that's what assume stands for. Well, a lot of retirees assume that Medicare covers everything from hospital stays to regular doctor visits to long term care. All right. And that couldn't be farther from the truth. Basic Medicare. Those plans cover hospital stays. They cover physician's visits. But you can also add prescription drug covered coverage. But there is no long term care add on for Medicare. So as you get older, it is definitely more likely that you're going to have health issues right As you age, your body degrades much more. So as far as what you needed when you were younger, another thing to factor in is your life expectancy. In the United States, they have more than doubled over the last 200 years, but many couples are not building their plans to last past 90 years. So that could be a catastrophic event. If you have a plan to be 90 and you live to see your 91st birthday, it is becoming much more likely that you and your spouse are going to live past 90 years old. And if your finances aren't going to last your entire life, you might need to sit down with a financial professional and consider your options.

Producer:
Yeah, and just like you said earlier, I know a guy, his name is Mike Zaino, and it's 704 560 1573. That's the number 704 5601573. Well, so that's the smart vision. That's the that's the setting the goal right? You now you know what you want your retirement years to look like so so that's one part of this The next sort of step in the smart retirement plan here is a smart inspection that's getting getting the the lowdown on your current situation. Right. Knowing where you are so that you can then plot out that course to get between where you are and where you're going. I also I did a piece on this is kind of a little explainer, a little, you know, a couple of minutes here to just kind of set up our conversation. Let's take a listen to that and then we will do more and go more in depth in just a moment. Let's take a listen.

Producer:
You may already know what you want your retirement to look like, but do you know how to start planning to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife.

Producer:
Know. That's a question you must ask yourself before you start plotting out your retirement planning journey. After all, if you don't know where you are, it's pretty much impossible to get to your destination. Step one is keeping track of money that's coming in and what's going out. Otherwise known as a personal budget. It's an important thing to have. But a Gallup poll from 2016 found only 32% of couples keep a written budget of any kind.

PBS:
A lot of people tend to think of budgeting as prediction, estimating what you'll make in future months and how you'll want to spend it. But the most effective budgets work exclusively with present dollars. After all, you can't give orders to soldiers that don't exist, so the size of your army is only how much money you currently have in your bank accounts. And as general, your role is to give every last one of those soldiers a job to do.

Producer:
That from PBS's $0.02. Now, once you have a basic idea of what you're dealing with, reach out to a financial advisor, a professional who can go more in depth.

Ford Stokes:
We want you to do a financial checkbook checkup. It's just like getting a checkup at the at the doctor's office.

Producer:
Ford Stokes is founder and president of Active Wealth Management. He says getting a smart inspection of your finances is essential.

Ford Stokes:
You want to root for you your accounts, you want to look at your IRAs, your 41k is anywhere you hold assets, including cash, you want to check your balances, you want to review rates of return over the last 12 months, three years and five years. You want to answer this question, Do you have an income gap or do you have an income surplus?

Producer:
Understanding where you are now will help you plan for the retirement you want, leaving your future in your hands instead of the hands of the market or the IRS. So are you ready to reach out to a financial advisor for a smart inspection of your current situation? That's a key question to consider before you start your retirement journey with a Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
High inflation got you down. This is your weekend. Pick me up. You're listening to Money Matters with Mike.

Producer:
So a smart inspection there Mike and that is it's really just what it sounds like. I mean kind of getting that closer look at your current situation, really getting it analyzed and seeing where you stand so that you can start on your journey toward retirement and and start heading down that.

Mike Zaino:
Wrote right. And you made the analogy of of a jeeps just before a few minutes ago. Right. If you don't know where you are and you want to get to a destination, the destination, you've got to put where you are right in there for where you're starting in order to get where you're going. Otherwise, the GPS is not going to know, Right? So, right. If your goal oriented, if you're a person that has a vision board and if you don't, maybe you want to start one. To achieve that vision, you need to know where you stand now and what you can do to better prepare for that future so we can help you do that using our smart inspection tools. Understanding where you stand will help you plan for retirement and the retirement that you desire, right? So don't leave your family's future in the hands of the stock market and definitely don't leave your family's future in the hands of the IRS. So let's do a portfolio analysis right when we set an appointment. When you come and we talk and we discuss things, we're going to look over your current portfolio now and will offer suggestions and tips for improving what you've got. If you're in a good situation, we'll tell you. But most of the time we're able to identify some areas that could just be tweaked just a little bit that will inevitably put you in a better position for retirement.

Mike Zaino:
Another thing is we're going to design a plan that that guarantees income past your 95th birthday. I like to take people to 105. Why? Because people are living longer. I'm not sure. If you saw in the news this past week, the oldest person in the world just passed it, 119 years old in another country. I forget which one, but the oldest person in the world now is a 116 year old lady that lives in the United States. So effectively partnering with us for the remainder of your life to know that we're in your corner and you have a plan that will take you as long as you live, no matter how long you live. That just gives people this this thing that you can't quite put a price tag on. And that's peace of mind. Peace of mind. So another thing that we'll do for you is we'll generate a Social Security maximization report. So that's going to show you how to best maximize your Social Security earnings in retirement. So we have lots of tips, tricks, if you will, that will help you take advantage of everything that is available to you and make sure that you have a comfortable retirement.

Producer:
Yeah, and that is the goal. You know, I mean, you set that. You set that goal. You know what you want your retirement to look like. And everybody's goal is different. Where everybody happens to be right at this moment is different as well. So that means, of course, the course between point A and point B is going to be different as well. And that's where all of that analysis comes in, finding out where you are now. So then you can start that planning. And that's, as a matter of fact, exactly where we're going with this conversation. You would think I planned that Segway. But, you know, sometimes these things just happen. So smart planning is really helping you prepare for what may come, because you've got to be prepared for those unknowns that we keep talking about here. Let's actually listen. I've got a couple of minutes on that to set us up and we'll continue our conversation here in just a moment.

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

Mike Zaino:
Do you have any other questions for me, counselor?

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

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

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

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

Producer:
There are also some retirement costs you may not have considered yet. Long term care, for example. Did you know it's not covered by Medicare? What about home renovations? If you decide to stay in your home instead of moving into a facility, your home might need some updates to ensure you're safe and comfortable. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. So do you have a fiduciary financial advisor or professional to help you wade through the. Allocated retirement planning process. That is a key question to consider. If you want to make the most of your hard earned money with a Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
If you've got money problems, Mike Zaino has money solutions. You're listening to Money Matters with Mike.

Producer:
And so having that plan, Mike, is really, really important and knowing what to do to come up with that plan and really having help along the way is so, so essential.

Mike Zaino:
It is. Matt And it's not just while you're alive, right? What happens to your plan when you or a family member like your spouse passes away? There are so many questions that you should ask yourself when you're attempting to create and solidify a retirement plan by asking the right questions up front, you're able to create a plan that's going to meet all of your needs. So some of the questions. All right. Well, when is the average retirement age? There are several factors that influence when people decide to retire. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to make this choice for themselves. Some people might be forced into retirement due to an illness or a termination of their position or an injury. God forbid some might have to delay their retirement and keep working to save more money. So the average retiree in America, or at least the average person who thinks about retiring, believes that they're going to retire at 65, but then actually ends up retiring at 62. So when is the average retirement age? That's a question, right? When should I claim Social Security? This is probably one of the most asked questions that I get in our one on one consultations right now. Ultimately, that is up to you. But the longer you delay receiving your payments, the higher amount those monthly payments will be. So you can delay as far as age 70, it's not going to behoove anyone to delay pass then and by every year I've already said it, especially past year, your full retirement age, that's an 8% compound return. So claiming Social Security at age 62, you're actually giving the government a discount.

Mike Zaino:
You're paid 75% of your full retirement dollar amount when you claim it at 62. And yes, it will increase slowly get up to 100% at whatever your full retirement age is. So most of our listeners that aren't drawing right now, it's going to be 66, 66 in either two, four, six, eight or ten months or age 67. So and then that follows very quickly. It's followed up. But yeah, but what about Social Security? Is that going to run out of money? And that question has become increasingly more common over the past few years. So if you're at retirement age now, it's unlikely that Social Security is going to completely go away. However, we do think that younger workers should be prepared for either reduced payouts in the future or an extended eligibility date like it used to be, 62. Then it was pushed to 65. Now and then it's between 66 and 67. It might end up being 72 or 75 down the road, followed by What will my taxes look like in retirement? The amount that you pay in taxes during your retirement is largely dependent on what types of accounts you're withdrawing your money from. Roth IRAs, for an example, allow you to draw tax free funds because you already paid the tax on the seed you're not having to pay on the harvest. While traditional IRAs and 401. Case, those were put in on a tax deferred basis. So when you take that money out, that money is counted as ordinary income. So to protect yourself from increased taxes during retirement, it's always best to choose accounts where you can withdraw your funds tax free.

Producer:
Yeah, and that's an important thing to consider. And really, you know, all of this as we go through all of these different points, it just brings into focus for me the importance of having someone on your side working alongside you, helping guide you through this process. And as I said before, I think that Mike Zaino is a perfect example of someone who can help you do these things and figure out all of these things, folks. So, Mike, if somebody wants to go to the website, they can do that. MoneyMattersWithMike.com or they can call 704 560 1573 and they want to set up that comprehensive consultation. That's absolutely free. No cost, no obligation at all. What is it like when they set up that initial conversation and then you give them that that full consultation there?

Mike Zaino:
Yeah. So the initial consultation is a phone call. It's a discovery call. We're kind of getting to know each other, seeing where you are right now. And if it's warranted, then we'll book a. One on one consultation where I'll have you bring all of your paperwork in, or you can scan it and email it to me to send it out in advance. But we will really do an x ray on your current situation, try to help you cut unnecessary costs that you're maybe paying in your IRAs or 401 KS or any other types of retirement savings accounts that you have. The bottom line is, is that you're only going to work with us if it makes sense for you and if we can do better for you than where you currently are in life. So again, just give me a call. 704 560 1573. Reach out on Facebook. Reach out on money matters with Mike dot com. But take action. It's the beginning of the year. And if you don't have a plan again, plan to fail.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Producer:
Well, I don't know if you've been to the grocery store and headed down the dairy aisle and gotten to the eggs. But prices are exhilarating at your local grocer. And that's the last of my bad puns for this week, anyway. Just give it until next time, and I'm sure I'll have some more. But that's going to do it here. But I mean, so many issues really leading to these high egg prices, Mike. It's just a little bit ridiculous.

Mike Zaino:
It is a little bit ridiculous. In fact, if for those of you who do follow my Money matters with my Facebook page, I shared what I thought was hilarious. There was a man on his knees opening up what most people would expect to be a diamond ring asking a woman to marry him. Except it was an egg that was in there. And with the with the price of eggs Right now, it's it's it's unbelievable. And so a bonus quote of the week comes from one of my favorite New York Yankees, a guy named Yogi Berra. And he just said, hey, you know what, a nickel. I ain't worth a dime anymore. And man, I tell you, when you look at the prices of eggs, that is absolutely true. I know that people are actually renting chickens. They're leasing their chickens out now for people so that they don't have to pay these astronomical egg prices. So I thought that was pretty funny.

Producer:
Wow. I mean, who knew that, you know, leasing chickens was going to be a potentially lucrative business at any point in time, right? Yeah. I mean, the never thought, but I mean, yeah, you know, these inflation issues, supply chain issues, that Big bird flu outbreak really just wreaking havoc on it. I mean, you look back back in 1980, the average price of a dozen large grade-A eggs in the US was $0.84. And by 20 years later, in 2000, that same dozen eggs, it was just $0.91. So that's I mean, it had only gone up a few cents in that time period. But today, a little over 20 years later, 23 years later, now, a dozen eggs cost an average of $3.50. And I'm seeing them for higher than that in a lot of stores around me as well. So that's.

Mike Zaino:
$3.50. It might be out in the Midwest somewhere, you know.

Producer:
Right.

Mike Zaino:
That's a deal around here. You're paying 7 to 8. I've seen on Facebook $9. I mean, it is ridiculous how much eggs are going for right now.

Producer:
Yeah. And it's it's a mortgage, your house to go to the grocery store these days. And the US.

Mike Zaino:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Matt, they say that eggs are nearly 60% more expensive than last year alone. So, I mean, think about that. What else has jumped 60% in price? Wow.

Producer:
Yeah. Oh, boy. You thought inflation was bad for a lot of other stuff that the eggs are taking the taking the cake. And if you want to bake a cake, maybe you can afford the eggs to go in it. Who knows? It's this week in history. So some big things happened this week in our history, both in this in this nation and around the world. And speaking of which, Mike, this first one is is a really historical one on this date. Well, actually, on January 27, back in 1973, the Vietnam War came to a close with the signing of the Paris Accord, the document ending America's longest war at the time. And in exchange of prisoners, the US forces there performed a unilateral withdrawal of troops from South Vietnam. I know that after that long conflict, people were glad that at least it was over and done with.

Mike Zaino:
Yeah, if you're a Vietnam veteran out there that served our country from from one soldier to another, thank you for your service. I really do appreciate that. And that was one that a lot of people questioned whether we should have been there or not at the time. It was the longest war, of course, we've been in in the Gulf now for for 20 plus years. And people have literally spent an entire career being deployed there. So hopefully that one will come to an end pretty soon and maybe we'll learn that we don't need to be involved in these conflicts that last too long. On a more popular note, pop being pop culture on this date in 1976, the first episode of Laverne and Shirley aired on ABC Television, and that show ran for eight seasons from 76 to 83 and at the time became the most watched program on television by its third season. So six Golden Globe nominations won Emmy nominations. You know, it was it was a pretty good show that I remember watching when I was young.

Producer:
It was a big hit and really, really funny as well. And also one more before we run here. On January 28th, 1949, American pro basketball coach Gregg Popovich was born really widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in pro basketball history, five time NBA champion as a head coach and also Olympic gold medal winning coach. For Team USA in Tokyo 2020, which was actually ended up being Tokyo 2021. But there you go with all those changes due to the pandemic. But a big, big birthday there with Gregg Popovich being born in 1949. Yeah, well, that's just about going to do it this time, Mike, for us here on the show. But I have really enjoyed it. I have learned a lot, as I always do, each and every week, and I know our listeners have as well. I appreciate you and all that you bring to the show each and every week, and I'll see you next time around.

Mike Zaino:
Absolutely. People out in listener land. Thank you so much for tuning in at 9:00 on Saturday mornings without you. We don't have a show. If you're listening on any of the other platforms on podcast. Again, thank you for picking this up. Share the podcast, Share Money Matters with Mike. Go to our Facebook page like it. Subscribe, Learn how to Raise Your financial future. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. And as always, make it a great day.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Money Matters with Mike. You deserve to work with a financial and insurance expert who can offer strategies for protecting and growing your hard earned money to schedule your free no obligation consultation visit Money matters with Mike dot com or pick up the phone and call 704 560 1573

Producer:
Not affiliated with the United States government, Mike Zaino 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 to the property of the respective owners. AmeriLife assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or the results obtained from the use of this information.

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