ANNOUNCER: You found it. It’s your place for a safer retirement. Prepare to be coddled in fiduciary goodness, with your host and President of Decker Retirement Planning, Mike Decker. This is Safer Retirement Radio. If you’re in or near retirement, listen up and learn about philosophies designed to give you safer strategies to protect and grow what you’ve saved, and live the life you want today.
ANNOUNCER: So, grab a pen because your path to a safer retirement starts now. Here’s Mike Decker.
MIKE: Safer Retirement Radio listeners, can you believe it? We’re at Season Three for Safer Retirement Radio. Seems like it’s us and Stranger Things this year, Season Three, and a few others, but if you’re just tuned into the show, put on your seat belt. Get ready, buckle up. This show is all about giving you the transparency you deserve. Now, I’ll admit, my father was a financier. My grandfather was an engineer.
MIKE: So, if you want literal, if you want logic, if you want precision, this is the show when it comes to your finances and retirement planning. So, hold on here. We’ve got a great show here. Folks, we’re gonna be talkin’ about doing the unthinkable. How to make a retirement plan or the if we can even retire, how to make it possible. I’ve got a great story about a couple that upgraded their retirement And I’ve got another great story I’m gonna be talkin’ about on a couple who engineered their own retirement. For all my folks livin’ up in Washington, especially you Boeing engineers, that story is specifically for you, and anyone else that appreciates precision, accuracy, exactness.
MIKE: Oh, it’s so much fun, folks. Especially retirement planning, because when you are able to mathematically calculate down to the month, net of tax, how much you can spend for as long as you live, that’s comforting. It’s tremendous comfort that you are able to get as opposed to the guessing game that the pie chart lends so many people. Now, before we get all started with that, I do want to talk about a fun, quick story of my childhood in discovering finance.
MIKE: Now, I’m sharing this story for one purpose alone, and that is to understand just because education is happening doesn’t mean that the education itself is right for you. Here’s my story. When I was 14 years old or so, I attended an education week. The whole week was just different classes. You could take a myriad of topics from philosophy to finance to dancing. It just was this really fun time.
MIKE: A whole week of just classes I could take, and I mean, gosh. It was a summer activity I did in junior high, but I loved it. One class in particular I took, and it was understanding finance throughout retirement. Now, keep in mind. I’m a 14-year-old kid. My dad works in finance. And I hear the greatest speech of my life at the time. This wonderful guy with an auditorium full explains, here’s what you need to do to prepare for retirement and then here’s what you need to do to retire.
MIKE: And my pencil was burnin’, folks. I tell you what, I was writin’ down everything in between and I figured out exactly what I need to do, how much I needed to save to retire, and then what my retirement would look like. You may have heard this. Let me know if this sounds familiar. Folks, you need to retire or you need to save up your assets and you’re gonna take the total amount of assets and you’re going to multiply it by four percent.
MIKE: Because stocks average around eight percent or so over the last hundred years, and bonds have averaged around three, four percent or so for the last 30 years. If you do that, with the Law of Averages on your side, you are set. And the audience cheered. Folks, it’s been a few years since that moment. We’ve seen a few crashes since that moment. Like 2008.
MIKE: Like the recession, from 2000 to 2002, 50 percent recession in the market. And it seems like this has been happening over and over again. Just because I had an educational experience doesn’t mean that the education itself was accurate. Here’s why I bring that up. And I’ll say this over and over again on the air, folks. When it comes to retirement planning, there’s a lot of cool tips and tricks that professionals will tell you about. There’s a lot of fancy calculators; you can go online.
MIKE: But when it comes down to it, you must, and I wanna repeat this, you must plan your retirement following the three principals that govern proper retirement planning. This individual, this financial professional, who was an accumulation specialist, was trying to cater towards an audience without of his depth of reach, in my opinion, and oversimplified a very complicated topic and missed these principles. I was 14 years old. I didn’t know these people.
MIKE: I wasn’t makin’ friends with adults and keepin’ up relationships with them throughout. I mean, heck, email was barely even a thing. But if you follow these three principles, you set yourself up for financial success throughout retirement. Let me explain them. And folks, pay attention, because throughout the show and the stories, I’ll be repeating these for your advantage, but also, I wanna show how these implement into each of the stories I’ll be sharing today. The first one is never draw income from a fluctuating account.
MIKE: A fluctuating account, anything that can gain or lose money. Why? Because you accentuating your losses in the down years, which is devastating, and you’re compromising your gains in the up years. Number two, incorporate all three types of investments in your plan. I’m talkin’ about principle-guaranteed accounts that you draw income from, completely liquid funds for emergency cash, and if you want, an appropriate amount of risk being done in a suitable manner. They all have individual, deliberate purposes.
MIKE: If you don’t use all three, you’re probably working with someone that’s pushing a product, not a fiduciary workin’ on your whole retirement plan. And the last one is use a distribution plan. Not a pie chart. Let’s plan, not guess. If this is new to you, folks, if you’re a new time listener to Safer Retirement Radio, I’m not talkin’ at you. I’m inviting you in for a safer retirement. You can call right now. 833-707-3030. 30 minutes for a safer 30 plus years. That’s all it takes, folks. 30 minutes for a safer 30 plus years on the phone, or if you want, we can do a 90-minute-Deep Dive in person at our closest office.
MIKE: But when it comes down to it, getting to the transparency you deserve and showing you how retirement planning works, fundamentally based on these principals and mathematics is a life-changing, life-altering for the better situation that you can give yourself. Must be 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for retirement, but I invite you to call me so we can help alter your life for the better. We can, of course, correct before disaster hits. 833-707-3030 for a safe retirement.
MIKE: And as always, you can always go to deckerretirementplanning.com, where we post this show. You can re-listen to it over and over again. You can read more about these principals and how to implement them in practice. But when it comes down to it, folks, this is your retirement. I mean, you spend your whole dang life trying to get here. I wanna help you make sure that you can live the retirement that you wanted to. That we can objectively look at what’s been goin’ on. And when I say that, I mean expectations of the market, realistic expectations today, and figure out how we can mathematical based and principal based, how we can make that happen in such a way that you can rely on it.
MIKE: Life changing. Call us. 833-707-3030 for your no-cost visit to be able to do that. Folks, like I’ve said, we had a great, packed show. All lined up for you today. We’re gonna take a quick two-minute break. When I come back, I’m gonna tell you about how we are able to do the impossible. Take a couple from when they thought they could not retire at any time in their life, and how they were able to retire. We did it mathematically and I’m gonna share with you the secrets right now. Stay tuned, folks.
MIKE: This is Safer Retirement Radio and I’m Mike Decker. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: If you could retire now, would you? Would that knowledge make your last few years or work more enjoyable? At Decker Retirement Planning, we’re helping people retire years before they thought they could. 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 three hundred thousand dollars 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. With the new Trump tax plan in effect, are you receiving the benefits?
ANNOUNCER: 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 three hundred 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: What do these things have in common? Training wheels, hugs, your fondest childhood memory, a seatbelt, and Decker Retirement Planning?
ANNOUNCER: They’re all things that make you feel safer, of course. Now, back to the show.
MIKE: Math-based. Principle based. Folks, we’re talkin’ about precision, here. If you wanna get transparency, this is where you get the transparency you deserve, especially when it comes down to retirement planning. This is the Safer Retirement Radio, and folks, as always, if you want more information, if you wanna hear this show, you can always go to iTunes, Google Play, wherever you get your podcast, or deckerretirementplanning.com. I was just talkin’ about the three principles that govern proper retirement planning, and here’s a little secret.
MIKE: Listen up. I just finished writing an eBook. So, a condensed version of The Three Principles that Govern Proper Retirement Planning, will be released here in the next two weeks. I’ll let you know on the radio of when it is released. Folks, it’s life changing, I tell you what. Bein’ able to understand these principles and incorporate them into a retirement plan is exactly how this couple were able to do what they thought was not possible. Let me know if this sounds like you.
MIKE: And maybe it doesn’t’, but these principles apply to all that are really preparing for or currently in retirement planning. This, folks, these folks, they came to us and they said, look. Here’s our plan. We’ve got Social Security. We’ve got a small inheritance, and we’ve got a 401K. But we’re here to really figure out not can we retire, but if we can even retire. What a terrible situation, and for a lot of you, my folks listening in San Francisco or Seattle or Utah or wherever, cost of living’s going up.
MIKE: It’s getting more expensive just to live. On top of that, there’s a big fear of health costs. We’re living longer and we’re living a little bit sicker a little bit longer. However you wanna interpret that. In point and fact, though, with the big fear of outliving your money, this fear is really insteered in a lot of people and we can get rid of it, or at least help alleviate a significant portion by implementing the three principles that govern proper retirement planning.
MIKE: As a quick review, the principles are one, never draw income from a fluctuating account, two, incorporate all three types of investments in your plan. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. And three, use a distribution plan or a spreadsheet to map out your income for life. I’m not talkin’ about a pie chart that leaves you guessing. That’s not the circus here. Let’s get down to the details here. So, here’s what we did, folks. They wanted a 90-minute Deep Dive, which was great.
MIKE: We kinda needed it for the situation. They didn’t have a plan. Their plan was hoping. They were gonna work as long as they lived, and then what they said was, we’ll just have to make it work. That is avoidable, folks. Sometimes, and this is human nature, we just get a little scared and we wanna just cover our eyes, put our heads down, and just hope for the best. The beauty about it, when it comes down to, again, as the show says, getting the transparency you deserve, if you can look up and look around and see landscape without any sort of sales lens that blurs reality, if you can see it as it is, it is enabling.
MIKE: It is empowering. Here’s what we did. The first thing we did is we, with a safer distribution plan, we calculated down to the month, net of tax, how much they could spend. And we said, okay, you don’t plan on retiring now. You wanna keep working. You’re 58 years old, both of you. If you had your druthers, how long would you wanna work? And they both said, well about 60 years or so. That sounds about fine. Great. So, we ran the numbers. Six years out. Here’s what it looks like.
MIKE: We optimized their Social Security. We calculated down the month net of tax what their income would be, and we were able to do that by assigning the different investments they had and how we would be utilizing them in this plan. When I say the different investments they had, I’m talkin’ about the types of investments. Keep in mind, folks. Principle two, use all three types of investments in your plan. If you can imagine a triangle, you got the top, liquidity.
MIKE: You’ve gotten the right growth, and you’ve gotten the left principle, protection. The big conundrum in retirement, especially in all investments, is you can only pick two. So, which do you pick? All of them. You just have to take some that have liquidity and growth. Those are your risk accounts. Long-term investment horizon. Perfectly appropriate for most people in a suitability level for their retirement plan. You gotta have some liquid principle, guaranteed assets as well.
MIKE: We’re talkin’ emergency cash in your savings account, in the money market, somewhere that if life should happen, you don’t need to devastate your plan to make up the difference. You’ve got that set aside. I wanna point out too, in my opinion, only a purebred fiduciary’s gonna recommend you to put assets, your assets, into an account that they can’t get paid on. No one’s gonna make money off of a money market or a checking account, but it’s in your best interest. And that’s the critical part about working with a purebred fiduciary.
MIKE: Which, by the way, according to Tony Robbins, only 1.6 percent of all financial professionals are purebred fiduciaries, if you didn’t know. It’s worth checking with your advisor, if you’re working with a purebred fiduciary or not. And folks, write this down. This is critical. They must be Series 65 licensed to avoid a conflict of interest with commissions. If you’re 65 licensed, you cannot accept security commissions. You’re fee-based only. And then, they have to be independent.
MIKE: They can’t work for a big bank or brokerage firm. And, last but not least, they have to be set up as an R-I-A, or registered investment advisory firm. If they miss one of the three, they cannot, in our opinion, call themselves a purebred fiduciary because there is a conflict of interest in their business plan. Doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. But how they get pay conflicts with your best interest. So, here’s what we did. Oh, and then, the last one, too, by the way, folks, is you’ve got your emergency cash, your long-term risk, and then you’ve got your growth and principle guaranteed accounts.
MIKE: You’re familiar with these, whether they’re CDs or bonds or something that’s reliable so you can map out your income and know that it’s gonna come, regardless of what happens to the market. So, we built this beautiful plan together. We calculated it all mathematically. Optimized their Social Security and I’ll talk more about Social Security here in just a moment, because the conversations bein’ had over the airwaves are just wrong. Here’s what I mean. On Social Security, if you file at 70, ’cause you want to get the most out of Social Security, chances are you could be dwindling your estate more than you realize. There are other options out there. We’ll talk about that in a moment, though.
MIKE: In this couple, we optimized their plan and said, could you live off of 3,900 and change with a cost of living adjustment for the rest of your life? Now, for them, they didn’t have a lot of needs. They just said, you know, we need about four thousand dollars or so to be comfortable. House is paid off, you know, we’re in a good place. Our kids aren’t’ dependent on us. We’re free. We don’t really have a big bug to travel. We just wanna be able to relax and spend time with family and they all live locally. WE said great. Let’s make a few adjustments here. Just boost your plan a little bit. If you were to save a little bit, how much could you save? And they said, well, based on our income, you know, we could probably save around three thousand dollars or so a year.
MIKE: Okay. Again, folks. The number is unique to this person, or these people right here. It is not necessarily dependent on what your situation is. It’s all ratios. Economy’s a scale, so to speak, in that there’s a direct relation with how much you have and how much you can draw. It’s just math. But then your needs are very subjective, and everyone’s needs are different. And these folks were just ecstatic about this. We made some tweaks, added the additions in there, and said, great. We just raised your monthly income by a couple hundred bucks.
MIKE: Does that sound good? And they said, perfect. We said, great. Now let’s start optimizing your plan and working with you on this stress test. Let’s make sure this works for you. And we have a whole sheet of stress tests in the plan, and we said, great. Now you know mathematically down to the month, net of tax, that when you wanna retire in six years, you can, as opposed to, I’m just gonna work until I can’t work anymore, and make it work.
MIKE: Folks, can you see the fundamental difference between a pie chart, workin’ as long as you can, and then guessing on your distributions each year, based on market performance and basically letting yourself be a reactive victim to whatever happens in the market, or proactively calculating it, still having it invested, but proactively calculated in such a way that you know now what to expect going forward? That this monster, this monkey that’s on your back, this fear can just disappear. And you can start focusing on what matters most to you.
MIKE: That’s the beauty of a safer retirement. That’s the beauty of utilizing a safer distribution plan. And most importantly, when you understand the importance of the three principles that govern proper retirement planning, it can change your life for the better. It just takes a little bit of elbow grease, some time, and some thought. And that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to help support you in that role, to help support you getting the transparency that you deserve, so you can enjoy a safer retirement.
MIKE: Especially spending time with what matters most to you. Now what’s cool about this, even though we’re not doin’ a lot of investments with them, it’s mostly in a 401K, each year, we’d still like to see them. Update their plan and what typically happens is they say, well, you know, we’re gonna put a little more in savings right now ’cause we wanna bump up that retirement a little bit earlier. Happens all the time, folks. I love how people retire earlier so they have more time during their healthier years to do what they wanna do.
MIKE: And I wanna extend an offer to you. If you’re in that boat, if you feel like, gosh, the question for me is not when I retire, but if I can even retire. And you’re pretty aware, okay, this is kinda what I’m spending. This is what I would need to get by. These are my assets, but you don’t’ know how to put it all together, that puzzle is something we do every day here at Decker Retirement Planning, and now I’m gonna extend an offer to you right now, at no cost to you to take me up on what I call The Decker 30 Challenge. 30 minutes for a safer 30 plus years, at no cost to you.
MIKE: If you have three hundred thousand of assets saved up for retirement, 401K or not, and you’re 55 years or older, call me now at no cost to you, and I will show you what a safer retirement looks like. Hundreds of thousands of dollars could be on the table that you could get more time with your friends and family, is what you can get. Call me. 833-707-3030. Lines are open for the next 10 callers. I’ve got a limited amount of spots I can take in this week, but call me.
MIKE: 833-707-3030. When you call in, they’ll gather information so on Monday, the closest office manager to you will reach out to you and schedule your Decker 30 visit. That simple, folks. But it takes 30 minutes, or a 90-minute-Deep Dive, if you want. Up to you. Still no cost to you. But it just takes 30 minutes to see what a safer 30 plus years could look like. You don’t know what you don’t know, and I’m inviting you to grow the transparency on your retirement so you can get more comfort. This is math-based, principle-based, precision when it comes to retirement planning.
MIKE: Folks, we’re gonna take a quick break. Stick with me. In a moment, I’ve got some more great stories on a safer retirement for you.
ANNOUNCER: Have you ever wondered how financial professionals can tell you how much 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.
ANNOUNCER: 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. If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least three hundred thousand dollars saved up 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: 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.
ANNOUNCER: Don’t leave thousands on the table because of an incomplete retirement plan. If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least three hundred 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 844-404-3323 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com.
ANNOUNCER: We told you we’d be back, and here we are. Back, safe and sound. Ready for more knowledge for a safer retirement? Here’s more Safer Retirement Radio with Mike Decker.
MIKE: Folks, I’m gonna say it again. Math-based, principle-based, precision. This is Safer Retirement Radio where you get the transparency that you deserve. We’re hittin’ people’s goals. We’re makin’ dreams happen here. I’m Mike Decker from Decker Retirement Planning, and this little segment we got goin’ on right now, folks, I wanted to really focus in on the retirement upgrade.
MIKE: This is a fun conversation because these are for folks, and you may be one of them listening right now. Folks that are currently retired and just feel it that they are missin’ out, and I’m not talkin’ about FOMO, that word. Fear of missin’ out. I’m talkin’ about they are living so below their means that they are not goin’ on the vacations that they could be goin’ on. They’re not seein’ the grandkids as much as they wanna be seein’ the grandkids. That they’re just holdin’ back because of this illusive cloud that just alludes over them. Kinda feel like Great Gatsby sayin’ that, but hey. When it comes down to your retirement, you don’t wanna go too big.
MIKE: That’s risky. But you don’t wanna go too low, either. Right? There’s a happy medium. There’s a silver lining with all this, and when it comes down to it, folks, a safer retirement means precision. We’re talkin’ about mathematically calculating down to the month. Net of tax, how much you can spend for as long as you live. We’re talkin’ about tax minimization strategies. We’re talkin’ about Social Security optimization in such a different way it’ll blow your mind.
MIKE: But when it comes down to it, folks, it’s reliability. It’s understanding this is what to expect, and I’ve planned accordingly. I’ve planned for a successful retirement. I’ve learned, understood, and successfully implemented The Principles that Govern Proper Retirement planning. If you haven’t heard these before, if you’re just joining us, let me say ’em again. Principle one, never draw income from a fluctuating account. That pie chart’s gonna be pie on your face. It accentuates your losses in the down years, and the market does crash every seven or eight years.
MIKE: And it compromises your gains in the up years. It’s devastating, folks. Which leads me to number two. Incorporate all three types of investments in your plan. See, folks, when it comes down to retirement plan, you gotta draw income from a principle-guaranteed account. So, it’s principle guaranteed, and it’s got some growth. But sometimes, it’s appropriate to have risk. And so, once suitable, you can have liquidity and a risk. And so, you got the growth, and you also need to have some emergency cash.
MIKE: It’s astonishing how many people don’t incorporate all three types of investments in their retirement plan. I believe it’s mostly because they’re working with someone who’s incentivized to sell them only one of the three types of these investments, and that’s why they get painted into a corner and retirement becomes tough. Workin’ with a purebred fiduciary, you can see all your options. And the third principle is use a distribution plan or a spreadsheet, not a pie chart. Not the guessing game the pie chart gives. A distribution plan that shows you down to the month net of tax, how much you can spend for as long as you live.
MIKE: Folks, this is exciting stuff here. We were just talkin’ about how to make the impossible possible using a safer distribution plan, and if you’re just tunin’ in, you can go to deckerretirementplanning.com to catch the transcription or the audio file of this show, or you can also, if you’d like, subscribe and listen to it on iTunes, Google Play, so on and so forth. Let’s talk about the retirement upgrade. I’m gonna back up a little bit, folks, before I dive into it and set expectations right.
MIKE: If you’re currently working with a finance professional, I applaud you. You care about your retirement. If you’re not, I also applaud you because you probably have some good financial knowledge and you get the gist of what’s goin’ on, and you probably have a plan. I’ve rarely met people who enter retirement without a clue of what they’re doing. That being said, I personally believe it is impossible to have anyone plan their retirement in one, two, or even three meetings.
MIKE: There are so many things to discuss. There are so many ways you could stress test a plan and there are so many investments that are out there that you may not know that should be talked about so you can have the proper education. Education’s been a huge theme in today’s show. So, you can have the proper education to have the right plan for you. Let me know if this is you.
MIKE: Is your retirement unique to your friends’? Yes or no? Most of you should say yes. Are you concerned about the next market crash? If you’re gonna say yes, let’s keep goin’. If no, you’ve got a lot of hope and faith in the market. And good for you. I hope it works out. I really do. But for those who understand historically, the market typically crashes every seven to eight years. We can fill the market top here. If you feel like what happens if my spouse dies prematurely? What happens if health becomes a high cost
MIKE: What happens if… the list goes on, folks. Being able to address your retirements and all the different aspects is critical for clarity. Or you can just be guessing and live far beneath your means. This couple, they said, to heck with it. We’re done with this. We’re tired of these income annuity pitches from insurance salesmen and brokers pitchin’ us CDs for safer investments. We’re done with this. A little bit here, a little bit there, three different advisors.
MIKE: All over the place, sayin’ different things that are conflicting and we’re in charge now to figure out our income? They said to heck with it. They were referred to by a client of ours, an existing client. Came into the office and sure, they were a little skeptical. You know, new persons. Kind of like back in, you know, our younger years. We were datin’, right? Our first dates. You’re kinda nervous about what’s goin’ on. Don’t wanna show your cards, but still tryin’ to get some information here. I get that. But what’s so fun is in that first visit, whether it’s 30 minutes on the phone, for those pickin’ us up on the Decker 30 challenge, or those that want a 90-minute-Deep Dive.
MIKE: Either, there’s no cost to you. We have two goals here. The first one is to properly set expectations on the markets as they are. Not bear, not bull. As they are. The second one is to understand what your retirement looks like, ’cause it’s unique. It’s unique. Once we can gather that information in, then we can compile and a plan. In this case, we took their current annuities that they had, and they had a few income annuities that we needed to account for, some CDs that they had for lifetime income. Didn’t have a full picture.
MIKE: It was kinda like that, a couple parts of the puzzle put together, right? The border was put together. Couple sections, but there were a lot of missing pieces there, and they came in and we got to know them, understood what the direction they wanted to go, and they said we need a better plan, and we said perfect, you came to the right place. We built them out a safer distribution plan, and oh, it was fun. It was fun, because here’s what we did. We realized, okay. You’ve got a pension. Let’s put it in there. You’ve got Social Security.
MIKE: Now, they both had filed, which was fine. 72 and 68 years old. Great. And they had four hundred thousand, roughly, in assets. We said, perfect. Can you live off of 3700 a month, with a cost of living adjustment? They said that sounds amazing. That’s better than what we’re getting right now. And we said, great. What else do you want to do with your retirement? And they say, well, you know, we like to do, and I won’t share too many details there, but we’d like to travel a little bit.
MIKE: We wanna do this. Honestly, we really only live off of 26 thousand. We’re really simple. We cook at home. We don’t like to go out to eat. We like to cook at home and we like to go hiking as activities. Our activities aren’t expensive, but we do wanna travel a little bit here, a little bit there. What can we do? We said, well, based on the fact that you really don’t need a ton of monthly distribution, you want more like savings accounts, this, that, and the other for the different travels, we were able to start manipulating the plan in such a way.
MIKE: I hate to use the word manipulate. It wasn’t manipulation. It was strategically placing, according to their needs, how they wanted to work with their retirement. And we put 20 thousand dollars into this wonderful discretionary cash, where they could just take a few vacations during their healthy years while they still had it. Up to them on their own timeframe. And then we had their income set at a price that took care of more than all of their needs. How incredible is that, folks?
MIKE: How incredible is that, to have that kinda clarity that says, great. We’ve got a fund now. It’s in cash, ready to go for vacations for the next three years, and we’re gonna have a heck of a time. We’re gonna go everywhere that we wanna go. We’re finally gonna get to our bucket list, and we have the confidence that even if the markets crash while were in, fill in the blank, Turks and Caicos. While we’re in Turks and Caicos, if the market crashes, our income is set up for success for the next 15, 20 years.
MIKE: Doesn’t matter. Folks, this was a life-changing conversation for them. We mapped it all out. We got it dialed in, and it was just an ecstatic conversation because the very lifestyle that they were worried about losing was protected. Tell me if this sounds like you. If you’re someone that wants to maintain your current lifestyle and you wanna see it on paper, you wanna see the numbers. If that sounds like you, I’m gonna give you a call to action here.
MIKE: I’m gonna invite you into this show. Not in this show. I’m gonna invite you into one of our offices so you can see what it is in your unique situation. If logic, precision, mathematics, if these very detailed facts are important to you, if you wanna know, you wanna get into the nitty gritty of what your retirement plan looks like, this is for you. I invite you to call me right now at no cost to you. I’ll give you the Decker 30 challenge, because I believe in 30 minutes, we can show you a safer 30 plus years, implementing the three principles that govern proper retirement planning, and we can incorporate them in such a way to help you either retire earlier than expected, or give you more income than you’re currently getting right now, based on simple, mathematical, and principle-based retirement planning tactics.
MIKE: It’s not shiny objects here, folks. It’s just math and principles. But when it comes down to it, they give you the scaffolding to build a wonderful and beautiful retirement. One that can be life changing for you. So, invite for you, at no cost, to come in. If you have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for retirement and you’re 55 years or older, I invite you to come in. Have a chat with us. 30 minutes over the phone, if that’s your comfort level, or a 90-minute-Deep Dive.
MIKE: Again, whatever’s at your comfort level, we’re here for you to get you the transparency you deserve. But when it comes down to it, this is your retirement and your lifestyle that we’re protecting. This is extra time that you can get in your retirement, because we set things up correctly. All for you, folks. Call 833-707-3030. When you call in, they’ll gather your information. So, on Monday, the closest office will reach out to you and schedule your visit, again, at no cost to you. Call 833-707-3030.
MIKE: That’s 833-707-3030. In just a moment, folks, I’m gonna tell you about a story of a couple who engineered their retirement plan with absolute precision. Absolutely incredible. Stay with us. I’m Mike Decker. This is Safer Retirement Radio.
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.
ANNOUNCER: 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. If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least three hundred thousand dollars saved up for retirement, call 844-404-3325 today for your safer distribution plan at no cost to you.
ANNOUNCER: Call 844-404-3325 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com. If you could retire now, would you? Would that knowledge make your last few years or work more enjoyable? At Decker Retirement Planning, we’re helping people retire years before they thought they could. 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.
ANNOUNCER: 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. If you’re 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand dollars 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.
ANNOUNCER: What do these things have in common? Training wheels, hugs, your fondest childhood memory, a seatbelt, and Decker Retirement Planning?
ANNOUNCER: They’re all things that make you feel safer, of course. Now, back to the show.
MIKE: Safer Retirement Radio listeners, I’d like you to think about the last time you flew on an airplane. Okay, and if you haven’t flown on an airplane, just imagine with me, okay, the incredible majesty of the concept of flight. That we can dial in so carefully, the engineering and the dynamics that allow this incredibly heavy object to soar incredibly fast through the air.
MIKE: And the advancements that have happened since the Wright brothers. I’m talkin’ about now today the fact that we have Wi-Fi on airplanes. I mean, that’s just incredible. The plane’s traveling so fast, and yet we can still watch Netflix on an airplane? I don’t know if we can Netflix. That may be a bit much. But in point and fact, we can watch the game. WE can watch TV. We can do our emails. WE can surf the web. That is an incredible phenomenon.
MIKE: And we owe a big thank you to all the engineers. Software engineers, mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers. The engineers that are able to have such precision in their work that they were able to accomplish something so incredible to our comfort. I’ll tell you what, I am incredibly grateful that we have Wi-Fi and movies on airplanes, because it makes my flights much more enjoyable. That kind of precision is just remarkable, and this story I wanna talk about, an engineer who engineered his and his wife’s retirement.
MIKE: Just incredible. And for all you Boeing engineers, you may really relate to this one, so listen up. 56 years old, this couple. They’re both 56 years old. They’ve got 2.4 million dollars saved up for retirement, okay? Now, they both had a nice pension, which was great. And then they had their Social Security and they said, you know, we should be fine with just that. Now, this wasn’t by ignorance by any means. This was intentional. They reason why is they weren’t planning on retiring immediately.
MIKE: What they said is, you know, we’re gonna work a few more years, or we at least can. We’re 56 years old, and that’s just fine. We’ve got our health. We’ve got our strength. We like what we do. But we need to start this. Folks, if you’re near retirement, the time is now. The time is now to start takin’ action. They felt that. They felt that, okay, the time is now. WE gotta start planning. WE gotta figure out what should happen in our retirement.
MIKE: Now they hadn’t really done anything with professional managements or financial professionals, either. They just, for better or for worse, bought and hold. Were in the markets. They had 401Ks. They made contributions. They were wise with their budgets. They were good stewards. They lived within their means. And they built up a nice nest egg. Which was wonderful. And they said great. We know how to accumulate. That’s one thing. But we recognize that once retirement hits and we didn’t make sure that we have income in retirement, ’cause we’re on our own now.
MIKE: There’s no paycheck comin’ in. We wanna use a professional service. Now, you may or not be in this boat, but I would say, folks. It is really nice to be able to not have to stress about where you’re income’s gonna come from every single month, and which stock you’re gonna liquidate and when how. It gets very complicated very fast, and that rabbit hole is very deep. So, they knew they wanted to work with a professional when it came to the retirement plan, and they had come to one of our events.
MIKE: And folks, if you’re 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand of assets and wanna go to an event instead of coming straight in, you can. Just go to our website, deckerretirementplanning.com. We’ve got events in your market right now, if you’re listening, within the next three weeks or so. So, you can go check those events and possibly sign up, if there’s still some room there. But they came into an event and wanted to see what was going on, and loved the fact that we had a distribution plan.
MIKE: Now, we call it a safer distribution plan. But to the engineer, it was a spreadsheet. And they said, great. We’d love to come in. We’d love to talk, and we’d love to engineer this plan so we can dial it down. Two pensions and they had Social Security and they said great, let’s work over what is best. And we said great, what’s most important to you? Your estate or your income? We can spend a lot of income. WE can frontload your go-go years, your travel years, I should say.
MIKE: And then, just a live a bit more mild. Not at risk, but just a little bit more modestly during your casual years, right? We have our travel years. We have our casual years. And they said, let’s just focus on income right now. We wanna be able to live the life we’ve always dreamt, and we said, great. Their 2.4 million dollars, we calculated it and we showed them down to the month, net of tax, how much they could spend, and they said, shoot. This is amazing. We could retire yesterday if we wanted to. They weren’t expecting this answer.
MIKE: Honestly. They’d been having the four percent conversation of you can draw four percent from your assets every single year. That’s great. It’s all at risk, though. And they were working with a salesperson, essentially. Well, not really. I mean, it was with their 401K advisor with their H-R departments. They knew that it wasn’t the best of sources. It’s just what people are told to say in these departments. Nothin’ bad about that. I mean, I don’t expect our H-R person to be a financial guru.
MIKE: It’s an H-R. Anyway, I digress. They said, this is incredible, but I just can’t see myself retiring today. I love what I do, and I have enough responsibility. I can’t just stop. Let’s put in gross wages into the plan, and let me retire in one year. And we said, that’s fine. So, we put together their plan, gross wages and said, this is what it looks like. We optimized their Social Security. And I wanna talk about Social Security right now a little bit more.
MIKE: When it came to Social Security, we said what’s more important to you? They said income. WE said great. I’ve got another eBook that I wrote and it’s gonna be released here in a little bit about Social Security. The conversation that financial professionals are not having, that you should be having, is how does your Social Security affect your estate when drawing income in a smooth manner? As in, you take X amount, and then you have a cost of living adjustment. In a smooth manner, with a smooth increase every year, how does it affect your estate?
MIKE: I do not believe, as in I have never met another financial professional who is calculating this so people like you can make this decision. Now, I’ve almost coined the phrase, we’ll see how much it sticks, about Social Security, that if you file too early, your income is hurting. If you file too late, you’re hurting your estate. I’m gonna say that again because it’s so important. If you file too early, as in, like, 62, your income is hurting. You filed at a discount. But you’ve replaced a burden on your income, or your income from assets, and so, your estate is more preserved.
MIKE: That bein’ said, if you file too late, you’re hurting your estate. You’re waiting until 70 years old to file, so you’re having to take a larger amount of income at 60, 62, 63, 64, so on and so forth, until your Social Security kicks in. Folks, this is a difference of your estate for hundreds of thousands of dollars. We calculated for a 60-year-old with a million dollars, and the average Social Security you could take.
MIKE: The difference is three hundred thousand dollars in 15 years of a difference in your estate. Think about your beneficiaries. Would you like them to have an extra three hundred thousand, should you pass early? If the answer is yes, now I’d ask, are you having these conversations with your financial professional? If the answer is no, please call me. 833-707-3030. You deserve to have these numbers run and so you can decide what’s best for you. Now, for them, again, it was income and so, what they did is we told them to file their Social Security appropriately, so they were able to accomplish their personal goals.
MIKE: Then, we had to do tax minimization and folks, I don’t have enough time to cover in detail right now what tax minimization meant for them, but we put in there what I call the tax punching bag. It’s a strategy. I don’t want to overcomplicate it with how little time we have left. Here’s what it does. It allows you to minimize your taxes each year. So, within 10 to 15 years, regardless of estate, assuming a general principle of tax policies, you can eliminate your taxes after 15 years.
MIKE: They’re just gone. And we’re not kickin’ your tax bracket to extraordinary levels, either. We’re keepin’ it at a very reasonable level. Depending on your suitability, depending on your comfort level, this strategy alone has saved some clients seven figures. For most, it’s six figures. But for some, up to seven figures. It is that effective. If you wanna control your tax burdens this year and for the next 20 years, assuming no drastic changes happen with our tax code, folks, this is huge.
MIKE: It is a game-changer. We’ve had actuaries review it. We’ve had a number of eyes on it, and we’ve been doin’ it for some time, and it is outstanding. Again, when I say engineering a plan, math-based, principle-based implementation here, with deliberate focus so each investment has a purpose, as opposed to a collective pie chart where you just kinda figure it out as you go. If you like that kind of direction, if you like that kind of exactness, folks, call me.
MIKE: 833-707-3030. We’re the kinda guy for you, the kinda girl for you. Dependin’ on which planner and who you work with. Now, what was interesting, folks, is when we came down to, again, engineering the plan, part of what we do is we do lump sum analysis. If you have a pension that you can take. There’s a lump sum that you could choose, or you could choose to take the pension. Which is better? The answer, as per usual, is it depends.
MIKE: Mathematically, you need to calculate what the ramifications are to your income, to your estate, and to all the other aspects of your plan and what you want out of your plan. For them, they kept one pension and had a lump sum for the other pension, raising their estate significantly and allowed them to have more ability to have more tax-free income, a better pass to their beneficiaries, and overall, protected their lifestyle.
MIKE: I’m runnin’ out of time, here. WE have a break here in just a moment. Folks, if you are worried about your taxes in the future or if you wanna do a lump sum analysis or just simply want precision in your plan, you want some clarity, call me. 833-707-3030. We’re here protecting your lifestyle. We’re givin’ you years on your retirement so you can travel much more. You can enjoy more time during your healthy years, your travel years, and ultimately, you’ve got more clarity about your retirement.
MIKE: Call 833-707-3030 now, for a safer 30 plus years. We’re gonna take a quick break. When I get back, I’m gonna sum up the three principles and more. 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.
ANNOUNCER: 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. If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least three hundred 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.
ANNOUNCER: Call 844-404-3323 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com. If you could retire now, would you? Would that knowledge make your last few years or work more enjoyable? At Decker Retirement Planning, we’re helping people retire years before they thought they could. 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.
ANNOUNCER: 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. If you’re 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand dollars 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.
ANNOUNCER: We told you we’d be back, and here we are. Back, safe and sound. Ready for more knowledge for a safer retirement? Here’s more Safer Retirement Radio with Mike Decker.
MIKE: Safer Retirement Radio listeners, it’s been a privilege to be with you for the last hour. Whether you’re listenin’ to us via podcast or you’re on the radio just tunin’ in over the last five minutes or you’ve been with us the entire hour, I hope that you’ve enjoyed the transparency you get in this show. It is really a different show than most other ones.
MIKE: If you’re one that likes precision, if you’re a math-based kinda person, if you’re a principle-based kind of person, if you don’t like to just wing it, you like to plan ahead, this is for you, and we make this show for you. You’re the kind of person we jive with, that we do well with, and the person that comes in often to plan with us to get the transparency that you and they deserve to give the direction of their plan. To give the direction of their retirement.
MIKE: To protect their lifestyle. If that sounds like you, folks, I’m gonna extend one more offer here in just a moment, but I do wanna just close with the importance of The Principles that Govern Proper Retirement planning. See, principles are made not to restrict us. They’re out there to protect us. They’re out there to give us guidelines on how to be successful. And we see principles throughout a number of different areas of conversation and such. I’ll use the tacky analogy of if we’re bullying, right? You put the bumpers up. They protect you. Principles can help protect you with your retirement planning, and that’s why we have them.
MIKE: We developed them and we are shoutin’ them across the rooftops here to give to you. These principles are what govern proper retirement planning, and I hope, whether you work with us or not, that you can make sure that you implement them in the correct manner so you can enjoy the retirement you’ve wanted your entire life. First, make sure to never draw income from a fluctuating account. It can destroy your retirement, folks. Just don’t even go there. You can have fluctuating accounts in your retirement plan.
MIKE: But never, never draw income from a fluctuating account. Number two, make sure you incorporate all three types of investments into your plan. Don’t just go down a rabbit hole and put all your eggs in one investment basket. Make sure that every investment has a deliberate purpose, and you’re incorporating all the different investments that are in there. And the third one is use a distribution plan or a spreadsheet, as opposed to a pie chart, which can destroy your retirement.
MIKE: When it comes down to it, if you wanna protect our lifestyle, if you want to enjoy the retirement as we’re enjoying life as we are right now, if you want a smooth transition from work to retirement, this is for you. If you’re within five years of your expected retirement, I hope you call. If you’re currently retired and just want to see if you can upgrade your lifestyle, upgrade your retirement, I hope you give us a call. If you are 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for you, for your retirement, I hope you give us a call.
MIKE: Because we’re changin’ lives over here at Decker Retirement Planning, and at no cost to you, you can come in and do a 90-minute-Deep Dive or a 30-minute call at your comfort level. And you can see what a safe retirement looks like to you. I’ve got story over story, situation over situation, success over success about this, because when it comes down to it, principle-based, math-based planning is what gives us clarity that allows us to be who we want to be, especially in retirement.
MIKE: You’ve worked your whole dang life. If you’re 55 years or older and have at least three hundred thousand in assets saved up for retirement, call me. 833-707-3030, ’cause when they pick up the phone, they’ll gather your information, really basic information, so our closest office can reach out to you and schedule your 30-minute call or a 90-minute-Deep Dive in person, whatever you’d prefer, so you can see what a safe retirement looks like to you. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are often left on the table, and we wanna show you how you can claim them.
MIKE: And either pass them onto your beneficiaries or enjoy that extra money in your retirement. Call 833-707-3030 now for a safer retirement. Stay tuned. Same place, same time next week, or subscribe. iTunes or podcast, wherever you get it. I’m Mike Decker. Thanks so much.
