MIKE: Welcome to Safer Retirement Radio, where you get the transparency that you deserve. I’m your host, Mike Decker from Decker Retirement Planning: Home of a Safer Retirement. Folk, if you’ve just tuned in, if you’re a first time, welcome. This show is all about getting the transparency that you deserve, and we focus on retirement specifically but not just your finances. I think it’s a bit short-sighted to only talk about just your financial planning when your health, your purpose, the fulfillment of all those other aspects affect your retirement. Now, yes, we do focus mostly on the finances, but tune in for the whole show and you’re going to catch some other fun tips today.
MIKE: I’m talking about wellness or a sense of awareness on how to heighten that and keep your senses a little sharper throughout your retirement. If we don’t have our mind, we don’t have our health, what do we have? But today’s show, oh, I’ve got such great stories here. I’m going to be talking about three stories in particular. One was someone that had enough, but when it came down it, it’s this. We have enough. We want our income, but what are we going to do with our legacy? How do we structure a legacy plan that makes sense for our kids? Deep dive into that. We also had someone that right before they came to see us, their significant other passed away.
MIKE: And this individual was kind of left with a bit of a, not a mess. Financially she was okay, but just didn’t have the experience on what to do with the finances. Her significant other had always done them. And we helped kind of piece the puzzle back together to give her such a plan that she was able to continue her lifestyle, something that she didn’t think would be possible. She thought she was in shambles, and we pieced this beautiful puzzle back together. And it was such a remarkable experience. And then the last one, and tell me if this sounds like you, someone that loved dabbling in investments, all sorts of kinds, but just felt like there was too much risk in the market right now.
MIKE: Knew they weren’t a professional, though they had done pretty well over the last 10 years. And, you know, who hasn’t? It’s been a great bull market. But wanted to hedge against risk, saw CDs and a lot of these more appropriate investments with such uncompetitive rates, and wanted to find a better yield with a decent rate. And I’ll see that, there’s an article that came out. We might even mention it a little bit more in depth. About the risky municipal bonds are on a streak. People are going crazy for a decent yield even if they’re going to take extreme amounts of risk. Most of them, I have noticed at least, don’t understand the risk that they are taking.
MIKE: Especially, folks, if nothing else, remember this. With your safe money, it should be just that. It should be safe. Let’s-let’s not take the risk that puts your retirement in jeopardy should interest rates change, should your safe money not actually be safe. These are things we want to talk about today on Safer Retirement Radio. Doing the due diligence here. Enabling you to ask the questions that you need to ask to put together a proper retirement plan, all based her on the three principles that govern proper retirement planning. And I’ll mention those principles here in just a moment.
MIKE: If you’re just tuning into the show and you know you can’t catch the whole show or want more information, I invite you also to go to deckerretirementplanning.com. On there, there’s a number of articles, features, books, online books you can download, and information, as well as this show, audio format, and transcription that you can catch. All for you folks because you need to have the information. You need to know the questions that you need to ask if you’re able to set up a proper retirement plan. If we’re thinking about it here, this is a quick aside, but if we think about retirement, there’s a lot of us out there and this may be you.
MIKE: Who are just nervous about it and, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re still working because we just don’t feel like we have a good enough plan. Or we felt like the markets are going to tank. I can’t put that strain on my investments. I’m going to keep working. Markets will tank, and then I can retire at the bottom of the market and things will be fine. I need to keep my paycheck right now. Folks, we don’t want to live our life holding onto fear-based decisions. We want to live our life how we want to live our life. This isn’t some ambiguous pep talk here. What I’m saying is, if you could be math-based, principle-based with your retirement planning, whether you are currently retired or within five years of retirement.
MIKE: Those fears of the markets, those fears of can I retire? How much can I spend through retirement? All those fears, they disappear. This is why people come to us at Decker Retirement Planning. And I hope today, that you can take away something that’s going to help elevate your life and your retail. Now, I mentioned I’d go over the three principles that govern proper retirement planning. I’ll disclose them right now. I’ve never gone through them fully over the radio show. And I’ll be honest, I’m a little hesitant to do that. I don’t want to just throw it out there and say, hey guys, here’s what you do.
MIKE: These are principles. This implementation of a principle can be very difficult unless you have the tools to do so. So, I’m going to tell you the three principles right now, and I want you to keep that in mind throughout the show. But keep in mind, the implementation of the principles should be done with a professional’s help. The three principles that govern proper retirement planning are first, never draw income from a fluctuation account. Never, never, never do that. The reason why, is you compromise your gains on the up years, and you accentuate your losses in the down years. Mm-mm. It does not work.
MIKE: This is called sequence of return risk, if you want to know the jargon in the financial industry that surrounds that experience. We believe that by doing this, you’re committing financial suicide. In 2008, if you can remember back then. It’s been a minute since we experienced 2008. But that is one of the main reasons that so many people had to go back into the workforce, move in with the kids, go to plan B or C. They were drawing income from a fluctuating account. A fluctuating account is any financial instrument that by its investment can go up or down.
MIKE: Which leads me into my second principle, use all three investment types in your plan. Sure, some risk is appropriate, or investments that can go up and down, but you also need to incorporate principal-guaranteed accounts that can participate with the up markets, protect your assets when they’re down. They’re principal-guaranteed. And that’s where you draw your income from. And then the third asset that we’re going to talk about is fully liquid, principal-guaranteed. This is your emergency cash, your discretionary cash for big near-term purchases. Let’s say you have to change your roof or fix your roof in the next couple of months, things like that.
MIKE: You don’t want those big purchases to affect your income. This principle is so critical. Folks, I want to just say it a little bit differently. So, listen up on this. This is critical. If you’re working with a financial professional that’s only talking to you about one of the three investment types for your plan, chances are, they’re pushing a product, not a service. When I say a product not a service, they’re should be or probably are a salesperson pushing one investment type, when a purebred fiduciary would understand to incorporate all of them into a proper retirement plan. That’s how it should be.
MIKE: You should be able to take all the different aspects and have deliberate purpose in your plan for each of your investments, not just let the investments ride the market roller coaster and hope it works out. Which is kind of essentially what a product pitch would do for you. The last one I want to talk about, this is the third principle that governs proper retirement planning, and that is plan with a distribution plan or a spreadsheet, not a pie chart. A pie chart is nice and works well for accumulation, but once the flow of money changes and you’ve received your last paycheck and now you’ve got to pay yourself back from all the savings that you’ve had and created income.
MIKE: The rules of finance change. When the rules of finance change, it is critical that you can map it our down to the month, net of tax, how much you need for as long as you live. And folks, if one, two, or three of these principles are new to you, that your financial professional is not talking about it, I would invite you. This is why people come in to see us, is to talk about these very issues. These very specific pain points that cause so many grief. And the people that are walking into our office, they can avoid that grief. They’re planning for success. And I’d invite you all. You can take us up.
MIKE: Our decorative 30 challenge. Thirty minutes for a safe 30-plus years. Call me right now, actually. If you want to talk about it, call us. 833-707-3030 at no cost to you. Must be 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand of assets saved up for retirement, whether it’s in your 401k or not, it’s okay. We show you what these three principles, if implemented correctly, look like in your retirement. Answering the biggest questions retirees face, such as how much can I draw each month so I don’t run out of money before I die. It’s possible.
MIKE: 833-707-3030. Let’s dive into the first story, here. This was a couple; I just love this. They were accumulation experts. When I say accumulation experts, they had a budget. They had savings. They had deliberate focus in growing their assets so they could retire comfortably. Now, not all of us have had that luxury of having steady work. I mean, I don’t want to discredit them. They worked very hard, but their life seemed to have gone on track in such a way to where they were able to do all of this.
MIKE: They had 3.2 million saved up for retirement, which was phenomenal, had a large pension that they were planning on taking, which was great. And they said, you know, we have what we need for our retirement plan. Our needs are being met. We want to have a conversation with you about legacy. Sure, we want a little bit more than just the pension would have. We want to make sure we set ourselves up for success, but we also want to take care of our daughter. We want to be able to set things up in such a way that, okay, this works. And our money’s going to go and do what it’s supposed to do.
MIKE: We want to assign a purpose to our money. Now, folks, this is interesting. There’s two things you could ask for, essentially, when you come into our office at Decker Retirement Planning for a safer retirement. Two things, the first one is, I want the maximum income possible in my retirement. Very common. There’s a great amount of people that come in and say, I didn’t inherit anything. And I worked for every dime, here, and I’m going to enjoy it all. My kids will do the same. Now, there’s other people that say, you know, gosh, I’d like to give some to my kids and set them up for success, with some guidelines.
MIKE: This couple was like that. They said, we have enough. We want to set up our daughter with, basically, guidelines on how to do this, but we want to make sure that she’s set up for success. 66 years old and 58 years old, this couple came into our office, and we did they’re first plan. And their first plan was actually a max income plan. They said, that’s way more than we actually need. So, we made some adjustments. What we did, is we first added the legacy account. How much do you want your daughter to inherit? And how do you want that structure to look like?
MIKE: Then we added some discretionary cash. Keep in mind, they had a little extra funds, and they wanted to have some fun with that. I’ll never forget this. This is another client, quick aside. Thought he could not retire. We said, not only can you retire, but that Dodge Plymouth van you’re driving out there from 1995, you could afford pretty much most cars right now, and you would still have a better retirement than you wanted to. Tears nearly went down his face. It was such a wonderful conversation. The next week he went out and bought a Tesla just because he felt like it and his plan was beautifully put together to where he was receiving significantly more than he expected.
MIKE: It was just incredible. But back to this plan here. What we did is we put some discretionary cash for near-term spending. Things that they just knew they had to update, you know, the house, a few remodels, things like that. Just basic upkeeping. Nothing too dramatic. And then we added another bucket with the sole purpose of tax efficiencies. Folks, if you’re a new-time listener, let me talk about this. This is a proprietary system that we developed, totally kosher with the IRS, that allows you to be deliberate in your tax minimization strategies.
MIKE: So, over the first 10 to 15 years, usually 10 years of your retirement, depending on how much you have in IRA assets and nonqualified assets and how your assets are broken down, to get you to a near tax-free retirement. We’re talking deliberate planning on IRA to Roth conversions. We’re talking about incorporating RMDs into your plan in such a way that you’re set. You are set up for success. And so, as tax laws change, you don’t have to worry as much about that.
MIKE: Think about this. If we are at relatively low tax rates, considering historical data, and we have all-time high debt. What do you think will happen with our taxes in the future? Would you rather be deliberate in your tax efficiencies now, while you still have somewhat of a better tax rate? Or would you rather leave it up to whatever happens in the future? Can you feel where the tension is pulling the taxes? I’m not a betting man, but I would have to say that having taxes…
MIKE: Or let me say it this way. Being deliberate about your tax minimization strategies now is absolutely critical to put into your plan to be able to have the kind of life that you want. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings that goes into more income for you throughout retirement. And then the legacy plan, which I already touched base on. All these things are done when we talk about a safer retirement. We’re answering questions here that people don’t know to ask. We’re deliberately putting practices into place that perhaps your CPA isn’t as concerned about because, and again, this is no criticism toward CPAs.
MIKE: They’re focus typically is this year’s tax ramifications. Not in five years, not in 10 years. So, whose job is that? It’s your money and it’s your responsibility to either handle it or find a professional who can help you handle it. I would say, folks, if taxes are an issue for you. If you want tax minimization strategy, and for anyone that has at least one million of assets saved up for retirement, especially now, this if for you. These tax minimization strategies, we’ve saved some folks seven figures in tax minimization because of our proprietary deliberate principal practices at Decker Retirement Planning.
MIKE: At no cost to you, I invite you to come in, and we can show you not only the three principles that govern proper retirement planning, but the tax minimization strategies that are phenomenal. They’re game-changing, and they can literally change the entire outlook of your retirement. Call me right now. 833-707-3030. Again that’s 833-707-3030. When you call in, they’ll gather your information, so on Monday we can reach out to you and say, hey, do you want to do a 30-minute phone call for the Decker 30 Challenge? Or we could do a 90-minute deep dive into your unique situation.
MIKE: Keep in mind, if you want to talk about taxes, the 90-minute deep dive in person is probably more effective. We won’t have enough time in 30 minutes to cover that topic, but it’s at your comfort level. Our goal is not only to give you the transparency that you deserve, but to help enable you to set yourself up for success, so you can enjoy a safer retirement. Call 833-707-3030 now. That’s 833-707-3030. We’ll take the next 10 callers and schedule them in whatever is the closest office to them. Folks this is so fun. We’re going to take a quick break here.
MIKE: But coming up, we’re going to talk about the husband that passed away and how we were able to piece back together a retirement plan and maintain the current lifestyle that this individual didn’t think they could have as well as so much more, so many more stories here on Safer Retirement Radio. I’m Mike Decker with Decker Retirement Planning: Home of Safer Retirement. Stay tuned. So much more to come.
ANNOUNCER: If you could retire now. Would you? Would that knowledge make your last few years at work more enjoyable? At Decker Retirement Planning, we’re helping people retire years before they thought they would. This is done with our proprietary algorithms that make up a safer distribution plan. See how much you can spend down to the month, net of tax, for your entire retirement. With a cost of living adjustment each year as if you were retired today. Get the transparency you deserve so you can make the best decisions for you and your family. Don’t miss out on the lifelong memories you could have enjoyed because you felt trapped by your paycheck.
ANNOUNCER: If you are 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand saved up for retirement, call Decker Retirement Planning today at 844-404-3325 and get a safer distribution plan at no cost to you. Call 844-404-3325. 844-404-DECKER. Or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com. It’s time to get Mike back on the mic. You’re listening to the Safer Retirement Radio, where you get the transparency you deserve.
MIKE: Welcome back, everyone. We got such a great show here. If you’re just tuning in, this is Safer Retirement Radio where you get the transparency that you deserve. I’m your host, Mike Decker from Decker Retirement Planning, home of a safer retirement. And I just said before the break that we’re going to be talking her about very sensitive, very life-altering situation. When your significant other passes, it is traumatic. I don’t care who you are, losing someone is tough, but when it’s your partner for life, your significant other, your partner in crime. You know, whatever you want to call each other, that is tough.
MIKE: On top of that, if the one that does the finances is the one that passes first, it seems to be more difficult for that person because now they have to figure out how they’re supposed to do something that they relied on the other to do for their entire life. We’re going to share the story, very tender here, and how we put the pieces back together and maintained the current lifestyle given a very tough situation. But before we do that, I want to talk really quick about… We do our health tip every single week, and this health tip goes to increasing your awareness or your maintaining your sharpness, your alertness as you get older.
MIKE: There are deliberate little things you can do to maintain sharp, maintain cognitively aware, and be able to just have a great time. Increase your memory, increase your wit, and things like that, that are so wonderful as maybe your bones start to slow down, maybe your muscles start to decay a little bit. Maybe we just get a little slower, but we can at least keep our mind quick. There three things, this is called an awareness journal. I want to share this with you because not only does it increase your awareness, but it can help you appreciate life more. It can help you be more aware of how others are feeling around you. It can help you maintain your with.
MIKE: And most of all, it can keep your brain active. What a wonderful thing. Very simple to do, but I challenge you all to do this. Every evening, before you retire to bed, I challenge you, Safer Retirement Radio listeners, to be deliberate in this practice and maintain mental strength by writing four things down every single evening. The first one, I’d invite you to write down what you learned today. You could just say, “I learned,” and fill in the blank. The second one, you could write down, “I noticed,” and fill in the blank. The third one, I did, I did for me. What did you do for yourself today? And then the last one is, “I’m grateful for”.
MIKE: The beautiful thing about all this is I learned it helps remind you that every day you want to be learning something. Every day you want to be growing. Every day you want to be in progress. You want to be progressing in what you’re doing. And that helps remind you what you do. And it also helps you remember what you learned that day. Keeping part of your brain very active in that area. But there’s another part of your brain, which is more a cognitive awareness. And so, when you write down, “I noticed,” this increases your EQ, your emotional intelligence, especially for those around you. And just in the habit of reflecting on it every day increases your awareness of those around you.
MIKE: Now, what did you do for yourself? The third one. The purpose of that is you’ve got to be able to take care of yourself. Whether that’s, I worked out today because I am maintaining the health of my body. Or gosh, I was just stressed today, and so I went out and I got myself a candy bar. Or I went and saw this movie. Or whatever it is. Especially in retirement, you got to take care of yourself. And then the last one is, “I’m grateful for,” fill in the blank. Gratitude is such a powerful tool. And especially as we get older, we kind of get a little jaded. And we can put some bumpers on that. If we could put some guidance on that and make sure we can remember what we’re grateful for.
MIKE: Not just on Thanksgiving, but year-round on a daily basis. We just become happier. This awareness journal is our quick health moment for the week, but I hope you do it. And I hope you enjoy it. And I hope you call me, too and tell me about your experience with it. Now, it might not be this week. There may be a lagging indicator of growth here, but what a wonderful thing to be deliberate every day for just five minutes to make sure you’re on a trajectory of growth from your mental capacity even in your old age. Remember the four things you write down. I learned, I noticed, what you did for yourself, and what you’re grateful for.
MIKE: I hope you enjoy that. I hope you can find some wonderful bonuses as you do that as you grow. Let’s talk about now, the tragic… It’s a tragic moment, losing your significant other and how we put together the pieces. What I’ve got, folks, here, is a couple in [Complancy?]. Well, this lady, she came in and she said, you know, gosh, my husband recently passed away. He did all the finances. Here’s what I have.
MIKE: What I think is interesting is what she thought she had was not actually what she really had. When you are distraught, when you are under duress, when you are going through an emotional time, it is very difficult to be able to think straight. It is just tough. You have to be able to recover. You have to be able to grieve. And in these moments, it’s very difficult to go through that process while you’re still trying to just pay the bills. We took everything and accounted for it. She had about 600 thousand or so and then we incorporated a rental income and pension and Social Security and put together our first draft of plan.
MIKE: What I think is interesting is, we put together the first draft of plan and then started checking all the different aspects of the plan. As we challenged these numbers, as we worked with her to be able to find out what’s the reality of this, we started doing breakeven analysis. For example, what is better? For her to continue where she was living, which was, she was renting from a certain place with a nice lifestyle, which was fun. Or should she move into her rental and lose that income stream, but not have to pay for her current place?
MIKE: That’s a tough decision. You don’t want to do either, but what’s best? Well, we mathematically quantified it and then said, now, with this understanding, and then your emotional needs, what would you like to do? In this situation, it was better to sell one of the properties to reorganize the rental real estate portfolio and then to simplify the life and live in one of the rentals that now is her primary residence. For all of you listening that are real estate agents, by the way. Not real estate agents, but real estate investors that have your portfolio.
MIKE: I want to be very frank. We have a lot of clients that have real estate income in their plan. All we care about is that we can do the numbers. We can run them in such a way that mathematically, this is what it looks like, and then you can decide what’s best for you. That’s it. It’s just math. Most of the time, based on real estate investment portfolios, keeping the real estate, as long as it’s managed by a professional is appropriate to keep. Once in a while, like in this situation, it may make more sense to sell, simplify, and consolidate.
MIKE: And that’s what this individual felt was best for her. And so, we guided through her that process. She got an agent in the real estate business and helped her through that. And so, it came down to her Social Security, her pension, and then a bigger estate to manage, which she had us manage and invest in. And things worked out so wonderfully on the financial side. I mean, there was still grieving to be done. There was still kind of a regrouping of identity, but financially, we were able to take what was and help her see what is. And all the beauty in her life that she could have.
MIKE: When she came in the door that first day, skeptical of who we were. There wasn’t any trust, honestly. And is there really any trust when you walk into a new person’s office, when you meet a new person, there really isn’t. The skepticism was palpable, but something had to be done, and I applaud her for not sitting back and letting life just react to her. She took life, you know, the bull by the horns, as they say. And we did such effective planning with her and the due diligence that she did with us, to build a plan that was able to maintain the existing lifestyle that she had.
MIKE: So, with the losses, she didn’t have to give up more than she thought she did. She could maintain the chips that she wanted to go on. She could maintain the lifestyle that she had. Going out to eat with her friends. Keeping up with her hobbies. All the different things that were important to her. See folks, it’s not just finances. Your identity and sense of fulfillment needs to be funded and organized. And they go hand in hand. And if you don’t plan for that, what are you planning for? If you’re not planning to enjoy your retirement, what’s the purpose of retirement?
MIKE: If you’re not keeping in mind all the memories you can make with family and everything else, see this is why people come to us. People come to us because they want to be able to have these numbers in front of them. They want the transparency that they feel that they deserve, and they’re not getting that from their accumulation-based plans. That’s why people call us. And if that sounds like you, heck, give us a call. 883-707-3030. If you got 300 thousand of asset or more saved up for retirement and are at least 55 years or older, call us at no cost to you. We’ll show you the three principles that govern proper retirement planning and we’ll show you what it looks like for your unique situation.
MIKE: Whether it’s a 30-minute phone call or a 90-minute deep dive, that’s up to you. The Decker 30 Challenge at no cost to you. Call 833-707-3030. Again, that’s 833-707-3030. These are the reasons why people decide to plan with us is because they want this transparency. They want a spreadsheet that says, okay. This year, I can spend this much and then plan for it. In five years, this is what I should expect, and I can plan for it. In 10 years and 15 years, and it goes on. They can see the deliberate purpose of each investment and get rid of this market crash fear that a lot of people are experiencing right now.
MIKE: That they can discover other investments that they may not actually know exist because they’re working with a salesperson. It’s only going to show them a selected few options. See folks, the beauty of working with a purebred fiduciary is not only do you have more variety, more selection, you get more transparency. So, I’d invite you call us. 833-707-3030. Again, that’s 833-707-3030. But let’s continue on. The three principles in this story that this individual had when they came into the office, what they had was a guessing game.
MIKE: And what they had was a portfolio based on the accumulation with rental real estate. Now rental real estate and pensions, those, we can consider, are principal guaranteed. As long as you can keep renters in there, those are pretty sure products. They’re pretty safe, considering. But the rest of it was just volatile investment and accumulation strategies, and that really drove a lot of fear, breaking principle one. The fact that this person now has principal-guaranteed, deliberate investments with purpose for the next 20 years, that regardless of if the market crashes, she can sail through it unaffected, that’s life-changing.
MIKE: Is that something you would like to have a conversation about? If yes, call us. 833-707-3030. Principle two, she had some principal guaranteed in her account, but for the most part, it was built on risk. Risk is stressful. Volatility, though, is how we make money. There’s good volatility in up years, and bad volatility in the down years. Great. What is it, though, that you need? And what’s the proper balance? All that risk is a lot more stress than you probably want to have in your retirement. You probably don’t have the years to make up the difference, should the markets go down. That’s principle number two.
MIKE: We properly divided, mathematically-speaking, we’re using math-based principles here, a plan that allowed her to use the emergency cash if life happened. The risk assets for long term to be able to capture those upside gains. The ones that you can’t really get with principal-guaranteed or a checking account or safe money, things like that, your emergency cash. And then she also incorporated her income and mapped it out for 20-plus years. It’s beautiful.
MIKE: And then the third principle that she didn’t have, is now she can look on paper and see a plan. A plan put together to support her lifestyle and to grow. A plan that enables her to do what she wants to do with her retirement. A plan that can support her, now, new identity that she’s created. How beautiful is that? Whether your significant other has passed or not, these are conversations that you should be having with your significant other. Or if that person has passed, they’re probably conversations you’re having with yourself in the mirror. In the bathroom mirror. We are here to help answer those questions that may seem difficult to answer.
MIKE: I invite you to call 833-707-3030, so we can help you answer those questions. As purebred fiduciaries, as people legally bound to do what’s in your best interest, we’re here for you. 833-707-3030. Folks, I’ve got so many other stories here to share, but we’re going to take a quick break. When we come back, I’m going to talk about an individual who loved to dabble in their own investments but felt that they didn’t have access to the investments that they wanted and felt like they were taking too much risk now and wanted to diversify. Still in control, but diversify and get access to other investments that will enable them to be more closely aligned with their retirement goals.
MIKE: If that sounds like you, stay tuned on Safer Retirement Radio. I’m Mike Decker with Decker Retirement Planning: Home of a Safer Retirement. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: With the new Trump tax plan in effect, are you receiving the benefits? Have you taken the time to implement new tax minimization strategies in your retirement plan? At Decker Retirement Planning, as purebred fiduciaries, we look at your tax situation, investment tax qualification and types, and plan for tax minimization that can benefit you for life. Don’t fall into the many tax traps that so many unfortunately discover after it’s too late. Our tax scope analysis allows us to review your retirement plan and help minimize your taxes while increasing your retirement income. Don’t leave thousands on the table because of an incomplete retirement plan.
ANNOUNCER: If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved up for retirement, call 844-404-3325 for your no-cost tax scope analysis. Not only can this benefit you throughout your retirement, but your beneficiaries will also be incredibly grateful. Call 844-404-3325 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com.
ANNOUNCER: Have you ever wondered how financial professionals can tell you how much income you can take each year of your retirement by looking at a pie chart? At Decker Retirement Planning, we feel the same way. Stop guessing on your retirement income and get some clarity with a safer distribution plan. With our proprietary algorithms that make up a safer distribution plan, we can show you down to the month, net of tax, how much you can spend with a cost of living adjustment for your entire retirement. With this level of clarity, you can start enjoying all of your hopes and dreams while taking care of your wants and needs in your retirement. We developed a safer distribution plan for the sole purpose of helping folks like you enjoy a full retirement.
ANNOUNCER: If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved for retirement, call 844-404-3325 today for your safer distribution plan at no cost to you. Call 844-404-3325 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome back to the Safer Retirement Radio, where you get the transparency you deserve. And now, your host, Mike Decker.
MIKE: Welcome back, everyone, to Safer Retirement Radio, where you get the transparency you deserve. I’m so excited for this last segment. And if you’re just tuning in right now, stay with us. What we’re going to talk about could give you some significant value, as it’s very high level. Very, very detail-oriented topics here. Sharing with stories as well. Real stories here. But if you want to catch the full show, you can always go to deckerretirementplanning.com to catch the show on repeat, or wherever you get your podcasts, iTunes, Google Play. On deckerretirementplanning.com, you can also get the transcription and read it and study it as well as a number of other articles.
MIKE: The purpose of this show, the purpose of those articles, it’s to give you the transparency that you deserve. It’s to enable you to ask the right questions, to ask the questions that you may not know that you’re supposed to ask. Because when it comes down to it, this is your retirement. It’s something you’re responsible for, and you could either try and do it yourself, or you can enable yourself to put together a team, some professionals that can help you enjoy the retirement that you’ve wanted to in the right manner. For us, what we’re offering is a safer retirement.
MIKE: And that’s what we focus on here. Even though we’re licensed across the board, here. Sure, insurance and securities and all of that, and our clients, they like to have across the board exposure, but that’s up to you and what you want. What we care about is that you have objectively, mathematically-based conversations about what’s in front of you and the ramifications of those decisions, so you can make the best decisions for you and your family. This last story I’m going to talk about here, a single gentleman here, who loved dabbling in the investments. Loved it.
MIKE: Sort of a hobby, you could say. And that might sound like you. I mean, it is our money, and we’d like to see it grow. And if you’re good enough at it, it starts to become kind of like a game. It’s fun if you can do it right. And a lot of people have felt that. Since we’ve had a 10-year bull market, we’ve been very successful, but when the tide washes out, you can see who’s swimming naked. That’s a great Warren Buffet quote. And the reason why I say that, is this individual is starting to feel, maybe like you, that the tide is starting to go out.
MIKE: He didn’t want to be caught swimming naked. And so, he came in, and let me know if this sounds like you. Let me know if this is on your mind. He was pleased with what he was doing and had come in and read some things on our website. And he came in and said he was pleased with the tracking that we do on principal-guaranteed accounts. And there’s a whole array of what a principal-guaranteed account could be. Treasuries, CDs, some insurance products, there’s bonds. There’s a number of different investment products out there that could qualify for principal-guaranteed product. Brokers and bankers will call them safe money. Bond funds, for the records, should not be considered safe money.
MIKE: But there are a lot of options out there for safe money. He wanted to reduce his overall risk, but wasn’t sure how to do that. And so, we dove into a plan, but before we do that, let me kind of illustrate here. I mentioned this earlier in the show, and I want to actually use this article here a little bit more, form the Wall Street Journal here, because it’s so relevant. A lot of people are feeling this. Let me know if you’re feeling this too. Title was risky municipal bonds are on a hot streak. Investors seeking yield are piling on riskier and riskier investments like the municipal bond market.
MIKE: And it’s at a pace not seen in decades. We’ve poured 8 billion into funds that deal high-yield municipal bonds. Or, as some people call them, as what they should be called, junk bonds. There’s more demand now than any other time in recent history. And I would even say that the triple-B corporate bonds, the lowest corporate bond level that you can have that’s still investment grade, is at all-time highs right now. And the covenants, if you actually read them, and I get no one really reads the covenants.
MIKE: Those are lawyers that put them together, and some people would even argue that they don’t even know what they put in there. They are scary, folks. They are scary. Why are we searching such high-yield investments? High-yield or junk investments. Well, the fed keeps cutting the rates. And it’s really difficult for a retiree to live off of the rates that are happening right now. And I feel for you folks. I really do. It is a very difficult time to be retired and to appropriately put a plan together with the appropriate amount of risk. It’s very, very tough.
MIKE: The article goes on to talk about a Virginia train that, I guess, put together a muni bond and the demand was so high, they wanted to sell, well, let’s see, they sold 250 million more of their debt than was originally planned, and they could have done more. It was insane. And what the person who was even selling this said the streak was so incredible, but it’s not sustainable. There’s no way that they can do this. It’s because we are so hungry for high-yield “safe investments” that we’re willing to do almost anything.
MIKE: Is it worth it? Is the risk of your retirement worth it? Nicholas Venditti, a portfolio manager for Thornburg Investment Management said that at any time in any market… Those are two absolutes. Any time in any market when price is as divorced from fundamental value, there tends to be a reckoning. We had a financial crisis in 2008. What I’m wondering is, when does this become so apparent, the debt, the bond market, which is so inherently risky. It’s riskier than it’s ever really been to my knowledge. When does it stop? When does it start to correct?
MIKE: When does overall debt get so high that people start going, you know, this doesn’t seem right? At some point, when people start pulling back, rates, sure, will start to have to come up, but if rates go up, bond funds go down. And there’s a huge reckoning of bond funds, which I know is a different investment class altogether, those are funds versus actual bonds, but if you’re exposed in that area as well, I mean, folks, I’m getting off on a little tangent here, what I’m saying is, when it comes down to it, I hope you’re having very transparent conversations how this “safe money environment” really is.
MIKE: If you’re not, or feel like what I’m saying right now is a bit new to you. Please, I encourage you, at no cost to you, just call me and set up a time, at least for a 30-minute call that you can just come in and have these conversations. A portfolio review to see if you actually have safe money. It’s shocking what’s being said out there with the financial professionals and what’s really been invested. There’s a divergence, and it’s scary, and I want to help alleviate all of that to you. Call us, 833-707-3030. Up to you if you want a 30-minute call or a 90-minute deep dive in one of our offices. That’s up to you. Whatever is at your comfort level.
MIKE: But we’re here at no cost to you to help you. Must be 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand of assets saved up for retirement, but call us. 833-707-3030. No cost to you, but it could be just a 30-minute call that creates a safer 30-plus years of your life. It’s worth it. 833-7070-3030. Let’s dive back to our friend here, this last story I’m sharing with you today. The reason why I brought up all the principal guaranteed bit is this very smart investor, who loved investing and dabble with it his whole life, felt the risk that was happening in the bond market, felt the risk that was happening in “safe money” and just didn’t know where to turn.
MIKE: So, we started on the plan. Now, to be able to address this, we first need to understand how much safe money do we even need to have. Again, the second principle of retirement planning is to use all three of the investment types in your plan. That means you need to have some emergency cash, you need to have some principal-guaranteed accounts that have opportunity to grow, and you probably have some risk according to your suitability. When you combine that all together mathematically, then you could start to figure out the mathematical balance between the two, and then we can have the conversation. This is theoretical versus reality.
MIKE: You need to theoretically be able to talk about your plan and see it on paper, and then let the rubber hit the road and start to implement what your actual situation is. So, the first thing we did, we did a max income plan for this individual. And we included they had disability for the next four years. Mapped it all out. 3.7 million dollars and we mapped out the exact percentage they should have, and the plan looked great. Then we dove into, okay, what does this actually look like in your situation.
MIKE: We started making a little bit of tweaks here and there for more a more practical situation. What I thought was interesting is, this individual said, look, I don’t need a lot. Honestly, I don’t need much to get by, but I do want to know what my potential is. So, what we did is, he said, I can live off my disability and Social Security no problem for the next little bit and just, you know, what I need to out. Now, this was disability insurance, not Disability Social Security, so he was getting a significant chunk of money for disability insurance. So, we said, great. You can take that for four years. We’re going to map out your plan so it grows for four years, and then it starts distributing assets.
MIKE: And he said, wonderful. Folks, these are conversations we have every day. And what’s so great about it is you’re in the driver’s seat. You tell us what you want, and then we quantity it. It’s a beautiful relationship that you could have with your financial professional as opposed to walking an and being told what to do. I mean, who could have the audacity to say something like that? You know your life and what you want to get out of it more than anyone else. I think it’s the most appropriate relationship to work with a financial professional that says, that’s what you want? Great. Mathematically, this is what it looks like. Are you okay with that? And then you move to the next point. That’s how it should be.
MIKE: And if that’s not what you’re getting, call me. 833-707-3030. That’s 833-707-3030. But I digress. After four years, we said, okay, after four years, you’ve got your disability. And you want to then max out your income plan. Well, that’s great. He liked the idea. And the conversation then turned to, okay, this is how much you can take each month, but you don’t have to. See folks, that’s the beauty. Just because we’ve allocated 10 thousand a month, 15 thousand a month, five thousand a month. Whatever your number is that your plan can give you, you don’t actually have to spend it all.
MIKE: You can take a lesser amount we have a significant amount of clients that like that they know they have a lot of wiggle room. And they could either take it all and put it into savings and have fun with it, or just take a less amount and let their assets grow. Either way, that’s up to you. You are in control of your plan. But it’s nice to be able to have those conversations and know that you’re in control of your plan. So, this individual then said, okay, I need around 10 thousand dollars a month with a cost of living adjustment and that’s it. And we said, wonderful. Let’s put together, then your legacy.
MIKE: For him, without an heir to pass his legacy to and, sure, he had family that he could pass to, brother or sister, we set it up to where it was his play money. Remember, he was somebody that liked to dabble in the market. It was sort of a hoppy. We created a bucket that was his legacy bucket that even if he lost it all, his retirement was still set up for success. And what joy did he have? Oh, folks, I’ll tell you what, to be able to do that, to know that your income is set for the rest of your life and you still have play money to continue to do what you love to do, what a fulfilling moment.
MIKE: See, everyone has a different identity. Everyone has different fulfillment. Everyone wants to approach their retirement a little bit better, but he is now set up to be able to invest in such a way that if the markets go down, sure that’s stressful, but he’s not having to endure the stress of can he maintain his lifestyle? So, we already planned for that. If this sounds like you, if you’re someone that likes to invest, but you also want to make sure that your lifestyle is protected, that you can plan out your income, what a beautiful thing. Call us. 833-707-3030. Let’s protect your lifestyle. Let’s set that up.
MIKE: But I digress. So, this individual, we set it all up. Four years, going to live off his disability insurance payouts. Then, when it stopped, he had a little bit more than he needed in retirement, and then we set the rest to self-managed legacy risk assets that he could just play. Oh, folks, that was fun. And then we got to the practical implementation of his portfolio. See, most everyone, actually everyone that’s come into our office to my knowledge, comes in and says, hey, I need to plan. I don’t have a plan, or I have plan. I don’t think it’s right.
MIKE: That’s why I’m here. I want to talk to you about my retirement plan. They already have investments. You probably have investments that are locked up. You may have a couple income annuities that you maybe wish you didn’t have. You maybe have a couple CDs that aren’t paying the rates that you want, but it was something, and you felt like you needed to do it. It’s very common to have people come into our office with funds that are locked up. Don’t feel bad about that. We plan around that. In this situation, what we did is we planned the CDs that were already existing in this individual’s plan, and they paid his income in year four and five.
MIKE: It was beautiful. We just lined it up. Current investments, didn’t have to move them. And gave them more purpose. See, he bought a CD just because it was a fixed rate. It was safe money. It’s what you do. Well, we were assigned that what you do, and we gave it deliberate purpose. Now that CDs going to grow and pay income in the fourth year. Another couple CDs are going to grow and pay income in the fifth year. What a beautiful thing. Giving your investments deliberate purpose. And then, and this distribution plan, so I apologize if this is jargon, but it’s the bucket system. You can Google it if you want more research on it.
MIKE: The bucket three, four, or five. Basically, we laddered it out specific to his needs with diversification by company, by investment. Right? You’re not going to buy all your CDs from one bank. You should probably diversify a little bit, assuming that rates are competitive across a couple of banks. Or whatever diversification that you need. Point being, proper diversification with deliberate purpose in the income, we map that of income down to the month net of tax from the principal-guaranteed accounts for 20 years. And then his last 17 years, well, we will slowly implement more and more principal-guaranteed, laddering it out as appropriate.
MIKE: What’s beautiful about this, folks, is we started theoretically, implemented the three principles that government proper retirement planning. One, never draw income from a fluctuating account. Two, make sure and incorporate all three types of investments in your plan and don’t push a product, push a plan. And the third one is plan with a distribution plan or a spreadsheet, not a pie chart that keeps you guess. We implemented the theoretical plan and then practically put the pieces together, and it created a beautiful plan that he could rely on to protect his lifestyle and to enable him to enjoy a fulfilling retirement.
MIKE: This is what a safer retirement looks like. This is what proper planning should feel like. Now, we’ve got a few openings later on this week, so I’m going to extend another call one more time here just to wrap it up. I’m going to kind of extend this call a little bit differently. For whatever reason, if you feel like your plan just isn’t sure. If the ups and downs, the volatility of the market just is keeping you up at night, or if you just feel like, you know, I want a second opinion.
MIKE: Let me tell you what people typically are that come into our office and tell me if this sounds like you. If you’re someone that likes to budget. If you’re someone that’s very logical, like someone that’s, well, math-based, that likes to get rid of the opinion and see objectively, this is what is best for me based on a historical, mathematical, and principle-based decisions. If you’re someone that likes to give specific direction and then go with it, you’re probably a good fit for us. We get along well with engineers, with very detail-oriented people. Now, we have a lot of clients that have been in very abstract roles, whether it’s marketing and creatives and things of that matter, but we really get along with people that like to plan.
MIKE: That like to be detailed, fact-oriented, and see nitty-gritty. And we’re here to do that work for you, so you can be the chief and commander of your own estate. That you can be the president of your retirement. That you can be the owner of your lifestyle and make decisions that are best for you. If that’s someone that you think, okay, that sounds like me, at no cost to you, I invite you to come in and visit with one of our planners and take me up on the Decker 30 Challenge. Thirty minutes for a safer 30-plus years of your retirement.
MIKE: You don’t know what you don’t know but what this meeting could do, what this visit could do could change the rest of your life. Call me. 833-707-3030. Must be 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand of assets saved up for retirement. But I’m going to take the next 10 callers, that’s all the space we have for the rest of the week, to call us. 833-707-3030. Those 10 callers will be able to schedule the time to come in and visit with one of our planners in person for a 90-minute deep dive. Or if you want to do a phone call, a 30-minute phone call at your comfort level.
MIKE: All we care about in this offer is that you can not only be enable to have the best retirement possible, but you’re able to see the figures, to get the transparency that you deserve. Transparency is integrity, and as purebred fiduciaries, we hold our integrity very seriously, especially as we’re legally bound to do what’s in your best interest. Call us, 833-707-3030, now for a safer retirement. That’s 833-707-3030. I’m Mike Decker with Decker Retirement Planning with a safer retirement. Thanks for tuning in. We’ll talk next week. Take care.
