Protect Your Savings & Sanity: Smart Moves for Uncertain Times

2.28.25: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

2.28.25: 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, insights, and tools you need 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 every step along the way. And boy, do we have a ton of great information today on today's show. We are going to show you how to navigate some of Retirement's biggest challenges, as well as some smart strategies to help protect your savings, your health, and your income. 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 am doing very, very well, Mike. I am thankful to be back, of course, with you again this week. And you know, you've still got the smooth jazz voice going. So, so we love that.

Speaker3:
Still got my R&B voice. So coming to you live from South Carolina. I love.

Speaker1:
That. Coming up next, some smooth jazz. But anyway. No it's great. It's great to be back here again. Of course, this week I hope you, uh, despite The Voice, are doing well. I know it's busy times for you.

Speaker3:
Yeah, Busy, busy busy times. I mean, with all of especially, I do a lot of work in the federal space and with all the the deferred resignations and early out offers, my phone has been absolutely ringing off the hook. So, you know, it's busy, productive, which is an amazing kind of busy to be.

Speaker1:
That's right. It's better than the alternative of just, you know, being busy for business sake or busyness sake. I guess I should say. Um, but I also want to say welcome and thank you. A huge thank you to our listeners. Because without you, again, as Mike always says, we don't have a show at all. So thank you so much for continuing to listen to the show. A couple of things we would love for you to do, whether you're listening to us on the radio in the Carolinas or if you're listening to us via the podcast, which you can get, of course, worldwide, wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to us there, like the podcast as well, and spread the word. We'd appreciate it. A couple of other things we would like for you to do. Go to the YouTube channel. So search for Money Matters with Mike on YouTube, and you can watch weekly highlights and some more special content from the show there. And of course, Facebook. You can reach out to Mike, just search. Money matters with Mike on Facebook as well. You can reach out to him that way. And then of course the website we've got the website Money Matters with mike.com. Great way to get in touch as well. And don't hesitate to do any of those things or you know, give them a call as well to, you know, ask those questions because Mike is here to help you. That is really where the rubber meets the road for you every day. Mike is, is really just helping people navigate all of these different issues and many that we'll talk about today.

Speaker3:
Absolutely. I mean, whether it's helping with retirement planning, risk management, estate planning and a whole lot more when it comes to retirement, building sound financial plans is what we do best. So I would love to meet with you and discuss how we might help fix your situation.

Speaker1:
Absolutely. Right. So the easiest thing for you to do a couple of easy ways to get in touch. You can call 704 5601573. 704560 1573. You can also go online to Money Matters with mike.com. Click on the contact page there and reach out directly to Mike Zeno. All right. So what's coming up on the show today. Well we have kind of teed it up a little bit, but we'll go into more detail here. Uh market volatility. That's where we're going to start our conversation. You know we've seen a lot of that here lately. And so what we're going to talk about is really how to protect your savings and your sanity. Two important things to protect. Strategies to manage your portfolio during hard times. Reduce risk and protect your retirement income, which I think is paramount. They're also going to talk about health care. You know, the rising costs of health care and long term care, especially, um, you'll probably be astounded by some numbers that we've got to share with you. I know that we were I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Speaker3:
Absolutely. Mike was lying on on on my shoelaces.

Speaker1:
Right, exactly. And just to pick it right back up. But, yeah, it's it's pretty astonishing. Um, rising taxes and the national debt. How the USA's bottom line can affect your bottom line as well. So all of that to come first, though, let's get some inspiration for this conversation we're about to have. It's our code of the week.

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

Speaker1:
And this week's quote comes from author Will Robinson, who said, financial fitness is not a pipe dream or a state of mind. It's a reality if you're willing to pursue it and embrace it. Financial fitness. And I sort of love that analogy, Mike, because it really does hit home if you're thinking about your finances and physical fitness, if you kind of put those two things together, you know, you don't like, you know, sitting on the couch eating pizza is you're not going to get physically fit. You've got to actually pursue it. You've got to embrace the idea of getting up, doing things and just staying active.

Speaker3:
Yeah. And, you know, at the beginning of the year, we're nearing the end of Q1 right now heading into Q2, and it's like, oh my gosh, how many people had New Year's resolutions to get both their bodies and their finances in shape? And then what inevitably happens is guess what folks? It's not easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it. And so you have all the people in the gym, and you have all the budgets being formed at the beginning of the year. And then by the time you reach late Q1 and early Q2, there's very few of those people still in the gym, very few of those people still sticking to their spending plan and allocating money where it should be allocated. So if you're somebody who can become disciplined, then it can be a reality. If you're willing to embrace the suck. That's when you know what we used to say in the military embrace the suck. It sucks sometimes, but if you learn to embrace it. It's going to get you so much farther, both physically and financially.

Speaker1:
Right. That yeah, that's absolutely right. You got to embrace the suck. I actually love that statement because, you know, a lot of these things are not fun. As you say, if they were fun or if they were easy, everybody would be doing it. But that's the thing. I mean, you've got to make a commitment, you've got to make a decision, and you haven't made a decision until you've taken action toward what your goal is, right? And so if your goal is to, you know, be completely ripped and, you know, go be, you know, a bodybuilder on, on stage, you know, professional bodybuilder up there winning competitions and stuff. Yeah. It takes a lot of work. You got to got to get yourself to the gym. Right. I would say probably.

Speaker3:
Processed foods, you know, for breakfast, lunch and dinner for sure. Yes.

Speaker1:
There's also that. Um, but then, you know, I think a much easier kind of a thing to pursue is, is financial health, because you can have a lot of help along the way, and that help can come from Mike Zeno, and all you got to do is reach out. Money matters with Mike. Com is the website that's Money Matters with mike.com. You can also call him (700) 456-0157 3704560 1573. That consultation is free of any cost. It's free of any obligation. So you really you got you got nothing to lose by reaching out. All right. So we've seen this a lot lately in the markets Mike. And it's really sort of shaken people up a bit. And it's market volatility. And I always think of you know when I think of volatile times in the markets or just in life in general, my mind always kind of goes back to that. The old British poster during World War two, the Keep Calm and Carry on, you know, that's become sort of famous over the last several years here. But that's saying keep calm and carry on really kind of is the rule of the day when it comes to market volatility, because it can be pretty unsettling.

Speaker3:
Yeah. And I mean, if you want to, you know, protect your sanity more than anything as well as your savings, you can shield and protect, especially when you're already retired or you're in the retirement red zone, which is, you know, the ten years before and the ten years immediately in sudden market drops can force you to, you know, overreact. And maybe you sell investments at a loss which jeopardizes your long term financial security. And the key is preparation and adopting different strategies that will help safeguard and shield your savings.

Speaker1:
That's right. And I think one of the biggest things that people maybe neglect because they're so focused on, you know, I'm going to invest or I'm going to save and I'm going to build up this one big nest egg number that they sort of have in their head. They don't really invest for income. So that's one big strategy I think, that people really need to keep in mind because income is paramount in retirement.

Speaker3:
It is. And here's the sad reality. Most of the people that I know, if you're watching me on YouTube, you'll see my hand gestures. But if you're not watching me on YouTube and you're listening to me, go look up this episode. Because when you're working, you're making this right here. And what happens is, is when you retire, all that income is now gone. Okay. You'll get a little bit of it replaced with Social Security. If you're fortunate enough to have, you know, a pension, you'll get a little bit more. But there's still a gap between where you were and where you find yourself in retirement from an income standpoint. So you should definitely consider building your retirement plan around your need for retirement income. And we recommend planning for the income sources like Social Security. I always say my clients will have that as a cherry on top and not the primary source, right? We'll plan around other things if you're fortunate enough to have a pension. If you've created a personal pension for yourself. Which guess what folks, that is an actual possibility and a reality for all of my clients. If you have rental income, any of those things that generate guaranteed sources of income in retirement, you need to protect with your life.

Speaker1:
That's absolutely 100% correct. And then number two, sort of strategy here that we want to highlight is, you know, perhaps that, you know, you mentioned personal pensions. Well, you can build yourself your own personal pension using something called an annuity. And it really does provide a lot of stability as well.

Speaker3:
Yeah. You know, annuities got a really bad rap probably 20 years ago because they were your grandfather's, you know, annuities, annuities where you would give an insurance company your hard earned dollars, and then they would charge you a fee to give you your money back. And then when you died, they kept your money. Well, guess what, folks? There are, you know, annuities that are completely opposite of that now that can offer a reliable lifetime income stream, which will protect you from having to sell assets in any type of market downturn. Some annuities even provide the guarantee of knowing that you'll have that for the rest of your life as far as income is concerned, which means you'll never outlive your savings and still offer you liquidity from a lump sum cash standpoint. And the money still passes to name the beneficiaries. I mean, why would you not place a protective floor on your hard earned retirement savings knowing that come hell or high water, you won't drop below this level of income? That's, to me, is just smart planning. Matt. Yeah.

Speaker1:
That's right. I mean, you know, given uncertainty, if you're, you know, going through volatile times in the markets, which they will happen because there are market cycles and the market goes up, the market goes down and it can do, you know, have these bumps along the road in, in between. But the thing is, if you want some guarantees, if you want some stability, which you should have for at least a portion of what you've you've got invested, you know, make sure that you have that stability, make sure that you have that floor. So, you know, as you say, come hell or high water, no matter what, you're at least going to have that. And that is a, a guarantee based on, of course, the claims paying ability of that particular issuer. And I know, Mike, that you work with the the top rated issuers of annuities like we're talking about.

Speaker3:
Yeah I do and it just gives people peace of mind. I mean confidence knowing that no matter what the market throws at them. Right. No matter what China is doing with Taiwan, no matter what Russia is doing with the Ukraine, no matter what Israel is doing with Gaza, no matter what is going on in our white House. Right? It doesn't matter. Your money is protected, your income is protected, and people that have that protected income stream in retirement. They walk with their shoulders a little bit back because they're able to strut a little bit, knowing that that income is never going to be messed with head.

Speaker1:
Held high at all. Love that. Um, all right. So number three strategy here to to sort of navigate through volatile times. We want to talk about it sort of sounds like it's a complicated thing but it's really kind of not. But we call it time segmented bucketing. So what does that mean Mike. Break that down in plain English for our listeners if you would.

Speaker3:
So time segmented just means hey, when am I going to need the money? Am I going to need short term cash, mid-term cash, long range cash. Right. So divide your assets based on when you're going to need them, your money that you need for the short term. Those should be in very conservative investments and on hand basically as like cash in the bank or in a money market fund. While long term growth funds things that you're not planning on touching for at least 15 years. Guess what? There's enough time to withstand any market downturn because as you mentioned, markets are cyclical. So even if it drops, it's going to still come back and come back with a vengeance because it allows you to just be a little bit more aggressive in the market. Yeah.

Speaker1:
And that's what history has shown us really, is that markets do go down. But what goes. What goes down must come up in the markets. That's the that's the rule. And that's what we've learned over over the years the decades here. And then number four tax efficient withdrawals. These are so important because you know, if you have all of your eggs in one taxable basket like your 401 K or your IRA or whatever, then you could be, you know, just waiting for this big retirement tax bomb like we talked about last week. It could be waiting for that to just go off in retirement. It could be very surprised by how much gets taken away by Uncle Sam.

Speaker3:
Yeah, I mean, I you have a partner in retirement. If all your money, like most Americans, most of their money is tied up in tax deferred accounts, especially their 401 S. 403 BES and IRAs. So coordinating withdrawals from both taxable, tax exempt as well as tax deferred accounts will help you minimize taxes. And it'll stretch your savings even further. And you know, oftentimes taxes in retirement can seem extremely complex. And that is why it's so important to plan ahead for what will come. And if you have a plan going into that, again, peace of mind. You cannot put a price tag on it, right?

Speaker1:
Absolutely priceless. And if you go to Money Matters with mike.com, that's money Matters with mike.com. Or you call Mike Zaino at the number (704) 560-1573. Again that's 704560 1573. You can get in touch schedule a free consultation. And Mike what do you do then when people give you a call when when they go to the website maybe reach out there. What do you do when you meet with them? And then you you take a look at their portfolio and their assets.

Speaker3:
Yeah. I mean, the first call we're going to have is more of a discovery call, right? You're going to ask me some questions. I'm going to ask you some questions. It's kind of the get to know each other. And then we'll decide whether or not we need to have a full consultation. And at that point in time, I'm going to ask you things like, what is your vision for retirement? Tell me about your financial goals. We will obviously take a look at your current plan if you have one. And if you don't, we will look at what you have from an asset standpoint. Then we can walk you through what our retirement plan and recommended plan might be for what it is that you bring to the table. And as always, we will answer as many questions that you have until you understand. And I think that is the important part. A lot of advisors out there, they like to make themselves seem like the smartest person. And when you're talking to them, you feel like a minion. Well, I don't operate that way. I want you to understand why I'm recommending what I'm recommending. Because from an education standpoint, when you understand the why, it just clicks.

Speaker1:
That's 100%. Right? And I feel like that is very true of some, you know, other folks out there who might be. And I think that's maybe one reason why people might be a little bit hesitant to reach out to call the number to go to the website is because maybe they've had an experience like that before, where they've gone and they've met with somebody a different financial professional or advisor, and they've said, look, I'm just going to talk down to you like you should. Why don't you know this? I mean, let me walk you through all of these things as if you should already know them. And I'm so much smarter. But no, that's not the way that it should be. It should be that educational experience really bringing the person along with you.

Speaker3:
And maybe they're not doing it intentionally, but they're talking about, you know, financial terms and strategies that you have absolutely no idea about. If they start talking about derivatives and alpha, you may just look at them like you're lost, like a deer in the headlights. I'm not going to use those words. I'm going to break it down in plain English and make sure that you understand exactly what it is that your money is participating in. Yeah, that's absolutely right.

Speaker1:
Understanding it is the key here, and making sure that you have that solid plan is the key as well. Money matters with Mike comm once again is the website. Just click the contact page and reach out. Now this um, you know, kind of strategy that we've been talking about here, Mike, are these different strategies that we are going through have to do with navigating volatility? Obviously. But staying invested is so important as well as managing your risk during volatile times. So let's go through some steps that can help our listeners manage the risk that might be inside their investments and also protect their retirement during uncertain times.

Speaker3:
Yeah. So the first thing we're going to talk about that you just hit the nail on the head is staying invested. Market rebounds are often very short. But guess what? They're extremely powerful. And if you miss the rebound because you sold when you panicked because the market dropped, then you are going to just find yourself in a way worse situation than had you stayed. So avoid avoid at all cost. Selling during downturns so that you're enabled to capture the future growth. You don't want to miss the biggest gaming days in any given year, and those often come after significant downturns. We've spoken about them on past episodes, you know, on the show throughout the years in that if you just miss the five biggest rebound days, your portfolio could take a mega hit, right?

Speaker1:
And I mean, you really do what you what you do when you sell during those big downturns like that, you often put it like as in, you know, you lock in your losses and you really, really do. You miss out on the big growth that you could experience otherwise. That big bounce back is, is a big thing usually. Um, also, you know, one thing that you want to do to to soften the blow of any big downturn like that is to diversify your portfolio.

Speaker3:
Yeah. And a lot of people don't totally understand what we mean when we say diversify. They'll have stocks with this company stocks with that company, stocks with this company and stocks with that company. And they're like, Mike, I mean all these different company stocks. And I'm like, yeah, but you're in stocks in all of those companies which means you're in one asset class. So your exposure to that asset class is over leveraged. You want to spread your investments across stocks, maybe things like fixed indexed annuities and other asset classes in order to reduce your overall risk. And I'm going to suggest that you work with a financial professional that can help you diversify your income sources in retirement as well. Folks, and.

Speaker1:
I just happen to know a guy. Mike Zeno is his name. Money matters with Mike comm is the website. You could also maintain balanced allocation. So you know you've got we talked about diversifying right. But then there's also you know your asset allocation. That's what you know diversifying generally is you know defined by your asset allocation right. So you don't want to be allocated all into one type of investment as you just said. But then you've got to maintain a balance in that and that, you know, something that really needs to be checked in on over time.

Speaker3:
It absolutely does. If you are smart enough and fortunate enough to begin your investing career, maybe in your 20s or 30s or 40s, right? You're probably not going to have the same risk tolerance in your 50s. 60s 70s. And beyond that, you did when you were in your 20s, 30s and 40s. So maintaining the balanced allocation as you near retirement, and especially once you cross the threshold into retirement, you're going to want to excuse me, shift toward more conservative investments, things like personal pensions, guaranteed rates, etc. as retirement nears in order to help you preserve your savings and make sure that you live less than your money, you want to let you want your money to outlive you and not the other way around.

Speaker1:
That's right. You want to have more money than month, not more month than money. You want to have more money than life, not more life than money. It's works in both of those different time frames. Also, build a cash reserve. This is really, really important that you know, I know you emphasize probably very first thing when you meet with somebody and go through their situation. If they don't have a reserve or an emergency fund, they need to establish that as soon as possible.

Speaker3:
If your HVAC goes out, the last thing you want to do is pull from your retirement savings. If your car is no longer under warranty and it drops a transmission, the last thing you want to do is pull from your retirement savings. If you have to have a root canal and some major dental work and you don't have dental coverage, the last thing you want to do is have to pull from your retirement savings account. So try to keep at least six months. I prefer you to have a year's worth of living expenses, either in cash or in some short term investment, in order to avoid having to sell right during those crises moments, right? Especially if that happens during the downturn in the market, which I know my crystal ball has been broken for 54 years now, right? Some people feel so much more comfortable when they have more savings in the bank. But I also meet people that are on the flip side of that. They have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in a savings account, earning them 0.000009%. I'm like, what are you doing? Try not to keep too many dollars into an account that gains little to no interest. Whatsoever. You want to be a wise investor and take advantage of better rates. Because folks, nobody ever became a millionaire by saving money in a savings account.

Speaker1:
Right. This is this is very true. Especially not one of those that, you know, it's an interest bearing account. But you might, you know, if you put $1 million in there, you might earn a penny over the next couple of years. That's not a good return on any dollar that you put somewhere. Um, and then, of course, as we said earlier, and it bears repeating, income is paramount. So you've got to count your income sources.

Speaker3:
Yeah. If you're in retirement and your only income source is Social Security, I feel for you. Okay. If you have a pension and Social Security, you're in a little bit better situation. If you have a pension and you have Social Security, and then you can add additional guaranteed lifetime income sources from a personal pension. You're in a much better situation. And if you don't have enough guarantees in retirement as far as different types of income sources, we can absolutely help you establish one with no problem whatsoever. Yeah.

Speaker1:
And you can get started along that road. Going to Money Matters with mike.com or calling (700) 456-0157 three. All right Mike, just a couple more minutes here left in the show. And I wanted to quickly touch on what we talked about was going to be kind of a mind blowing thing for folks. And that's the rising cost of health care and, you know, especially long term care. You know, they're among the biggest challenges that retirees face these days. And, you know, the statistics show a 65 year old couple today may need more than $300,000 to cover health care costs in retirement. And that doesn't even include long term care. So it's really kind of crazy. So just run through quickly, if you will, some steps to help manage those rising costs.

Speaker3:
All right. The first thing I'm going to suggest everybody has is an HSA, a health savings account. Why in the world, if you're still working, would you pay for your health care with taxable dollars? When the government gives you an option to pay for your health care tax free? Right. Hsas can be a very powerful tool in managing health care costs. When you're of Medicare age, it is imperative that you understand the alphabet soup. That can be all things Medicare. So if you have questions, pick up a phone and call me. I'm licensed in Medicare. You want to explore long term care insurance because those nursing home care currently can exceed $100,000 a year. And in the future it's only going to go up and then prepare for those late retirement expenses. Because as you age and your body breaks down, health care needs increase. So planning for those higher costs now and adjusting your financial strategies now is just going to provide you a better outcome when that time eventually comes. Yeah.

Speaker1:
And long term care, you know, that's actually going up. The price is going up faster than general inflation. One projection says. Well now it costs about $116,000 a year for a nursing home care. In 20 years, that's going to be $210,000 a year, according to that. And that is just insane.

Speaker3:
So it's staggering. That's where both of us alluded to our jaws being on our shoelaces. Right? We had to pick them back up because it's 200 plus thousand dollars for one year.

Speaker1:
Holy cow. That's it's crazy. So that just really calls into focus here the importance of having a plan. And if you don't have one or if you have one that you're not sure about, or if you have one that you feel maybe even just okay about, I would encourage you to get in touch with Mike Zeno by going to Money Matters with Mike comm. That's Money Matters with Mike comm or calling 704 5601573. Get you a plan that you know you have can feel confident in. That's going to see you through retirement no matter what. All right Mike. That's that's that's right. Well, that's going to do it as well for this week's show. But thank you, sir, for everything you bring to the table. We'll do it again next time.

Speaker3:
You know, I appreciate you, Matt, and everything you bring to the table. But most importantly, it's our listeners, right? Without you guys, we don't have a show. If you learned anything today, please share it across social media. Invite people to the show and help them learn as well. Maybe you're ready to take a closer look at your portfolio and plan for those things like rising health care costs. Just give me a call. Go to the web. Whatever you're doing this weekend, I 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 704 560 1573. That's 704 5601573. 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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