9.30.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

Producer:
Welcome to You Retirement Unbroken with your host, Merrit Strunk. Merrit is a licensed fiduciary and financial advisor who always places your needs first. Merit works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you too. So now let's start the show. Here's Merritt Strunk. Hey, welcome.

Merrit Strunk:
Again to the Retirement Unbroken radio show and podcast. This is Merrit Strunk, president of Momentum Financial and your host for the show. All right. So welcome to all our listeners to the great Unbroken nation. Today, I'm joined by Matt McClure, Producer Tell me something good, Matt.

Producer:
Something good. Well, we got a lot of good stuff coming up on the show. How's that?

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah, that's good. And reminds me of that song. What's that song to me? Something good.

Producer:
Hmm.

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah. All right. This is not the radio. This is not the singing podcast. This is a financial talk radio show. Okay, So I've never been. No one's ever described me as having a great singing voice. So if you're new a new listener to the retirement unbroken nation, then you know you've got something in store for you. This is information and knowledge and tools that you can use to make better decisions. We want to transform our listeners to be more educated and more equipped and more financially savvy so you can make better decisions for your future so you can unlock what's possible in your financial future. The truth is that many people's retirements are may already be broken and they just don't know it yet. So if you're if you're young and you're starting and you're just saving your 41k or beginning to invest, you would hope that you've got a retirement. Air quotes. You can call it what you want, a financial future, air quotes. And if you're older, you certainly want that retirement in the future. You want to be able to have income and pay for your lifestyle. However, because of bad information, lack of information, missing the critical information, people don't know it yet, but their retirement is broken and they're going to get a nasty surprise later on in life. And in this show, we want to give you the information and inform you and educate you so that that doesn't happen to you.

Merrit Strunk:
Right. So you could change your life by virtue of hearing one radio show or podcast or even many of them, that you're going to hear the information that's going to start your gray matter to start working. All righty. So if you've never been to our website, you can go there at retirement. Unbroken dot com. And at the top there is a button that says schedule a complimentary consultation today. Do that. Get a review. Do not wait. We'd love to talk to you or you can call us at 8585219700. That's 8585219700. We'll be happy to talk to you. The visit is very easy. We're all about you wanting to know what's going on with you, what's going on your life and what you're trying to achieve. You'll like it. It's very illuminating. Okay, so what are we going to cover on this week's show? We've got a lot actually, I'm going to touch on the markets, not too much, but I'm going to try to break it down and unpack it so you can make sense of it. We're going to share nine ways that most people can, actions they can do to live comfortably during retirement. We're going to play a little game and test your financial knowledge about retirement. And it's called the right or Wrong Game. And then we're going to talk about reducing your risk in volatile times and reasons why you should seek out a certified financial fiduciary

Merrit Strunk:
Financial Advisor. Okay, So so when folks call us, I want to just tell you a story about some folks. They reached out to us and their main goal, just like many folks, is, you know, should I be worried or do I have to be worried or are we going to be okay? And retirement is coming up. We can see it around the corner. What do we need to do? All of those questions, right. All of those questions. Kudos to them. Through the process that we work with clients, it's about clarity, illumination, putting in things like taxes, inflation expenses, things like that, income sources. And how are you going to pay for the things in your life? What if we get sick? What if one of us needs help covering all those gotchas in life? And, you know, they now have a written financial plan. They're comfortable and confident, and we've tested their plan 1000 different market versions to make sure that there's a high probability that success and retirement success is theirs. And now they can go to sleep at night, they can go to sleep at night and not gnash their teeth, worry about what's going on here. They have a plan they feel confident in. And that's. You know, through the process, The life you'll process is what we call it.

Merrit Strunk:
And it doesn't really matter what you call it, but the process is there that we know if we walk through this. Chances are you're going to be in a better place. Okay. So let's touch on the markets here. What's going on? The good news is that all of the major indexes are up today, and that is following some periods here, a couple of days where it was not doing well. I can tell you the Dow is up 1.88 or about. Nasdaq is 2.05% up. That's 11,000 points. That's a really nice increase. S&p is up 71 points to 1.97, almost 2%. And the Russell, which are all small caps, is up 3.17. So all good. And we needed that. And I'm just going to share a couple of other points here. Biogen is a company that announced some test results, and this part of the pharmaceutical approval process is stage four. They've got a test with humans and they have to do it in a blind testing and against a placebo. And they found significant results in their Alzheimer drug for Alzheimer treatment and that is fantastic. So Biogen and Eli Lilly are both developing drugs in that area and it is a huge, huge, huge concern globally of Alzheimer's. So I applaud them and I'm all about it. It's fantastic. And so that kind of lifted things. And the other day we had a rather strong home sales, stronger than normal.

Merrit Strunk:
But one week ago we suggested that the pending Fed announcement that was on the interest rate increase would be the impetus for a quick retest of the market's lows that occurred in June and 2022. So the markets have consistently deteriorated since the end of August and the face of continued inflation in a hawkish Fed. And we cautioned and noted that there were multiple technical warning signs of a pullback to those early summer lows and perhaps another leg down. And unfortunately that proved out to be correct. We were right and investors immediately sold on the news or the 75 basis points and the forward looking statements from Jay Powell that happened last Wednesday and resulting in the recent closing price of the S&P being the the lowest of the year. So what we have going on here is a nice bear market rally. So that's that's great. But let's not get carried away. There's a lot of stuff that's going on here. The bad news is that any rallies that we do get are unlikely to change the technicals or the fundamental picture right now. So today's really nice rally that we really needed is in way, way one fashion supporting some optimism. But there's so many other things here. So we are in a confirmed bear bear market with index prices well below the important support levels of the 50 and the 200 day moving averages.

Merrit Strunk:
Needless to say, it's a very difficult situation for investors as a whole. Our central bank, the Fed seems determined to continue to raise rates no matter how much damage is done to the equity prices. So this alone may be just just the Fed alone may be a potential harbinger for further declines as the economy is squeezed. It's often in the situation we find ourselves now in an economy like this, that more dovish activity from the Fed brings us out of bear markets. So no such luck here, buddy. It appears the Fed is intentionally going to weaken the economy in hopes of bringing inflation back down to the target 2 to 2 and a half percent. There's a lot of questions. I'm sure if you're listening to this right now, you're investment minded. There's a lot of questions circulating. And how is this going to turn out? Well, I don't certainly I can't answer that myself. This is very crystal ball territory or zip code. Right. There's so many factors that are playing it. So I can say that this particular situation has never happened before and nobody knows if we're going to have a so called soft landing and can be achieved by raising rates further and faster than any time in history since 1949. So the 75 basis points, three in a row, huge, large increases never hasn't hasn't been done all the way back to 1949.

Merrit Strunk:
And the odds seem stacked to me that we're in for more pain and potentially a recession, just strictly from hawkish position of the Fed. One troubling effect of the current rise in interest rates is the strength of the US dollar. The dollar is super, super high now. So that means when we export our goods and our. Some things. Other countries have to pay more for that. So a couple of days ago, I don't know if anybody is watching, but the British pound touched the lowest levels ever versus the dollar. Yikes. That's a heck of a statement there. So ever. Right. And the Japanese yen is not doing not not much better. And the US dollar is the the globe's reserve currency and its relative strength or weaknesses has big impacts on other countries. Our gross domestic product production and all other asset classes. And we're seeing that. So interestingly, I'm going to leave you with this kind of thought here, and it's a good one. You know, you'll be you'll you'll be far more informed than your peers if you if you get this part and then we'll move on. So within the economic cycle, bond prices tend to peak first, and that happened in fall of 2021. Then stock prices tend to peak second, and that happened in December of 2021. And then commodity prices tend to be last to peak.

Merrit Strunk:
And that happened in late spring here in 2022. Here's the important point. The reverse happens. We need to look for when does that start reversing and reverse order when we come out of bear markets, bond prices bottom first, then stocks and finally commodities. Okay. So right now it appears to me that commodities have peaked and are falling even faster than stocks on a relative basis. Interesting. So interesting that this is all of a sudden happening. So if they've peaked or falling faster than stocks on a relative basis, then I, I view this as good news. The reason why I believe this indicates that we are on our way towards the end of the bear market and the beginning of a new bull cycle. Well, wouldn't that be nice? Of course. I'll leave you this thought. Being in a car on a road trip doesn't in a in and of itself tell us how far we have to drive. But we don't. How far we have to drive, how far the market still needs to go. Unfortunately for us, Matt, you and I, the passengers, the Federal Reserve is driving the car on this road trip and it doesn't appear to be too concerned about how long this trip is taking. Right. So that's what's going on and try to unpack it for you. We do see some signs, given the trend, the cycle and the way it goes between commodities and bonds.

Merrit Strunk:
Stocks at that potentially is a good sign. Okay. So we're going to take a quick break here and then we're going to come back. And then we are going to we're going to share nine things almost anyone can do to live comfortably during retirement. So you don't want to miss that. And we're also going to take we're going to be testing your knowledge here on the right or wrong quiz. So if you haven't gotten your complimentary consultation and you're just tweaked your your brain and your gray matter and you're thinking, oh, that's a lot of good questions. There's a lot going on here. What do we do and how do we do it? If you haven't gotten your complimentary consultation with us to find out what's going on in your financial situation, then why not? And if not now, I'm going to ask you. Well, when? Because time is a ticket, it's a big deal. Time has everything to do with money. Time is money's best friend. So you can go to a retirement unbroken dot com or you can call us at 85852193 700. That's 855852193 700. And get your unbroken retirement review and you can help ensure that your retirement will truly be unbroken and keep from a nasty surprise in the future. Okay. We'll see you after the break.

Producer:
You're listening to your retirement Unbroken. To schedule your complimentary consultation with merit visit retirement unbroken dot com. Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes, economic uncertainty, and how it all could affect your future in retirement? Then tune in to your retirement Unbroken with your host, Merritt Strunk, to learn how you can protect and grow your hard earned money, your retirement unbroken every Saturday at 1:00 PM right here on FM 96.1 and AM 1170. The answer Protect your hard earned money today and schedule a free no obligation consultation now at retirement on broken.

Producer:
Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity. Contract guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

Merrit Strunk:
All right, Welcome back to the retirement Unbroken show. I'm your host, Merritt Strunk. And, you know, we covered a lot of information on the market. Hopefully, that gave you a heck of an education on what's going on with the way the business cycle goes. And we're about to go into the nine steps to live comfortably that almost anybody can do in general. Right. But before that, we're going to have our financial wisdom quote of the week.

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

Merrit Strunk:
Matt Honors to you, brother.

Producer:
Well, thank you, sir. Well, yeah, we do, of course, like to share some financial wisdom. And, you know, when I think of smart people and people who, you know, kind of know what generally what they're talking about, Albert Einstein probably at the top of the list, you know, I mean, it's it's become a thing in just colloquial speech of, you know, here in America anyways. Oh, you know, great work, Einstein, because, you know, he was a smart guy. So here was his quote that we're using as our quote of the week. And it says, If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal and not to people or things.

Merrit Strunk:
Right on. Right on. Again, more wisdom there. Now, I don't know if this is right, but did Albert Einstein have the heaviest brain of a human in history? Have you heard that before?

Producer:
You know what? I think I've heard that before, and I would not be surprised.

Merrit Strunk:
Well, he's certainly way, way, way more intelligent than almost anybody with his IQ. It's like he was extremely high. And, of course, his theory of relativity. And interesting. So I'm not sure that, you know, the size or the weight of your cranium. He's got a massive cranium is going to mean that you're intelligent. I don't know, but very, very wise in the way that he's taken his knowledge and applied that. So if you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal and not people or things. And I think what he's trying to say is if you if you do try to tie it to happiness, to people or or things, you're always going to be let down. So tie it to a goal. You'll be a lot happier. Okay. Speaking of goals, retirement and nine steps to live comfortably during retirement that almost anybody can do now. These are general. All right. We don't know your situation. This isn't a fiduciary conversation where we've dug into your specific situation, so let's not get carried away. Ken So what is that? Okay, This is this first one here. This first one here is really great because number one is stay invested. Please don't go to cash. During this time, there are better ways to protect your assets. Now, I want to put a caveat to that. If you are just entering the market and you've got assets now, probably wasn't the greatest time to get that going. And prudence and caution will override that statement. And we do that. We do that a lot.

Merrit Strunk:
We got people that right as all this mayhem started. We have better ways to put that in position. We've got some cash, we've got some diversified portfolios, we got some tactically managed drawdown protection portfolios. And of course, we're not in a hurry in that case. Number two, implement a Roth IRA conversion before age 72. What on earth are you talking about? Well, if you listen to our other shows, you kind of you kind of get it. But I'm going to explain it for for newbies here on the Unbroken Nation. That is, you can do a backdoor conversion if you have a Roth that's open that you opened while you were working. And let's say you have most of your assets in a tax deferred IRA, you can do a backdoor conversion. And ideally we want to do that before 72. You got questions whether or not a backdoor conversion would work for you. We could do a Roth conversion calculation and analysis for you to see if it works in your overall plan. All righty. And we talked a lot about that in our last episode that we did. Number three, work until age 67. Bu, you know, for a lot of people, I was like, that makes them a backer just hearing about it. In general, rule of thumb here, work until 67 and start taking Social Security benefits. You'll get 100% of your Social Security benefit that you're entitled to and don't settle for less by taking it to early in general. Again, general advice, because it all depends what your situation is and your family history, your health, your your other financial situation.

Merrit Strunk:
So let's talk about what your ideal Social Security strategy might be. And by the way, there are so many people that blow it and leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table and they don't even know it. They may go through their entire life and not realize they just give away a couple hundred, a couple hundred thousand to the government that they were entitled to. Number four, think about paying off your house or downsizing and pay cash for your new smaller house and invest the difference. Right? Who needs a big giant house when you're when you're older, you probably need a ranch and these knees get a little wobbly. The wheels get a little while. B Right. We live longer, but we just do it with replacement parts. Okay, Next one bank. The money you save from your zero mortgage now into an investment account, a smart reinvest. So there's ways that you can use that strategy. If you have a zero mortgage, write into your investment account and do that in a smart way that is saving on taxes. Save on taxes from a from a real estate sale and do it in the right way where you mitigate the taxes that you otherwise would have to pay. And I would just call that a more informed strategy. You know, just just like there is the right ways and the wrong ways to give to nonprofits and charities. There's the informed smart way.

Merrit Strunk:
And then there is the less informed way that you can do it. So why not do it the smart way? And that's what we're saying here. And then I would say explore number six. Explore building your own personal pension strategy for income that you can never outlive. And if you're married for the rest of both lives, even if one of you criticizes the other, if you don't know what I'm talking about here, some of the happiest people in retirement are people that have pensions because they know the bills will be paid. Wouldn't you agree? Right. So if the bills are going to be paid and the market's going up and down, you're going to be okay for people who didn't work for, say, the state municipalities, the government, military, things like that, and you don't have a pension. Can you think about creating a income stream in retirement that you can never outlive and potentially will go up every year? Yeah, you could do that. That happens and we could put that in the plan and test it and see if it works. There's pros and cons that that may not be right for everybody, but the only way you'll know is to call and we'll work it out for you. Okay, so how does that work if you're going to do that private pension thing? Well, you can receive higher than 4% interest on average and potentially even higher. And that grows your principal with market linked gains. And there's no downside market risk to volatility. So, you know, your principal is safe and you have the potential of turning on income when you're ready for the rest of your life.

Merrit Strunk:
If you don't know what I'm talking about, call me. Happy to to figure that out for you and see if it works for you. Consider replacing your bonds. This is number seven, so consider replacing your bond. So two strategies for that, right? Using a bond alternative fixed indexed annuity, which seems to be doing extremely well compared to, say, the bond situation and potentially a structured note ladder. And we had an episode where we talked about a whole bunch about structured notes and how that can be used as bond alternatives when bonds aren't doing well and there's reinvestment risk going on with bonds, then you can investigate and see if using those two strategies work better for you. And in this situation, we're going to talk about a 6040 portfolio a little bit later here coming up and what the market has done to that, because that's what a lot of retirees have and and great respect to that. People have a lot of bonds when they're retired, and that has not worked for them very well. Number eight. How about accurately calculate your monthly expenses and figure out if you've got an income gap for your future or you've got an income surplus in your retirement analysis? One of the things we do and we take a look at doing planning here, we've got to solve the income gap here on my expenses that I expect in retirement. Here's my income sources.

Merrit Strunk:
How do you solve for the gap? If you don't have an income gap, you've got a surplus, then fantastic. Then you probably need to start investigating how you can mitigate your taxes because that means you've got income. All right. Last one here. Number nine, tax diversification. Diversify your retirement and investment accounts between your tax deferred taxable and your tax free. You most people come into retirement and guess what they have. All. Never been taxed before. Always to be taxed in the future. And that is that. That's a result of not asking the right questions early enough. So. So for instance, if you had $1,000,000 401 K, that is a traditional 401 K, and you're thinking, I got $1,000,000, this is going to be great. I'll get a rate of return on that forever. What you forgot was inflation and then increasing taxes in the future that that are going to happen through legislation. And also you have to pay taxes on every bucket you get out of that. So those are the nine things that you can do in your retirement. And if you don't know how to implement those or you're curious about how to be smart in that, then give us a call or go to our website Retirement unbroken dot com or 858521 9700. And we're going to take a break right here and then we're to come back and you don't want to miss it. We're going to play right or wrong when we're going to test your retirement knowledge. And Matt, you're going to help us out, brother.

Producer:
All right. I'm looking forward to it.

Merrit Strunk:
Join us after the break. We'll be right back.

Producer:
This part of today's show, Your Retirement Unbroken, is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at retirement unbroken . com

Producer:
Security will get a big cost of living adjustment next year, but there could be some consequences you might not have considered. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement radio Network. Powered by a AmeriLife. A new report by the Senior Citizens League says Social Security beneficiaries could see a cost of living adjustment or COLA as high as 10.1% next year. The reason? Inflation running at a 40 year high.

Mary Johnson:
This is a very, very unusual and unprecedented pattern. Of the inflation that we're experiencing.

Producer:
Mary Johnson with the nonprofit group told WBTV that surveys show inflation has caused about half of Americans to spend their emergency savings, and people are carrying more debt on their credit cards. So the highest jump in Social Security payments since 1981 would be a good thing, right? Well, Johnson says it's better than no increase, but there are some things to be aware of.

Mary Johnson:
In fact, you can get penalized if you think your tax liability is going to be 10% more next year than you're paying. Now. You could be penalized if you don't send in. Estimated payments or have more money withheld.

Producer:
She told the TV station the increase would not be enough to cover a jump in Medicare Part B premiums, which are taken directly out of Social Security checks. And she says higher incomes mean some seniors could no longer be eligible for some other government benefits.

Mary Johnson:
And then a whole 15%. Were made ineligible. Because they were their incomes increased over the income limit. For food stamps or rental subsidies or. The programs in their area.

Producer:
So what should you do? Johnson says prepare now. Talk to a financial adviser to help you get ready ahead of time and contact local nonprofits if you need help paying bills. So are you prepared for the unintended consequences of a larger Social Security check? That's a key question to consider as inflation impacts all our lives. With the retirement radio network powered by a micro Life, I'm Matt McClure. Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Producer:
Come on down as we test your financial knowledge in right or wrong.

Merrit Strunk:
All right. Welcome back. This is Merrit with the Retirement Unbroken show. And we are going to have a bit of fun here when I test your knowledge and you've got to help us out here, you're going to play the de facto audience for us. But just give it a little pause. And before you answer here, because I want folks who are driving in their car or listening at home who are going to ask themselves this question. So folks in the unbroken nation, I want you to play along here. So right or wrong question, the S&P 500 index is down. More than 20% year to date. But investors that used a fixed indexed annuity either as a bond alternative, a growth accumulation strategy, or an income like private pension strategy are not down at all. So is that right or is that wrong?

Producer:
I'm going to say that is right.

Merrit Strunk:
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yes, Way to go. Right. So with the fixed index annuities, zero is your hero. The principal amount that you invest is 100% protected by the carrier's claims paying ability and whether the market goes up or down. It really just depends, say, at the beginning of where the the annuity started to wear. It's one year anniversary in many cases like a point to point one year. They'll measure that and say, well, is the market up or is the market down? Look, if it was down, there is no negative impact to your principal. If if the market was up from where the origination of the index was, then you get interest credits on that. So it's like a no loss provision to that strategy. Okay. So next one, where do you go? Matt That was fantastic. So so here's the next question. And we alluded to this the and that's probably cheating. So the traditional 6040 portfolio and what we're talking about 6040 is 60% stocks and equities with the intention of providing capital appreciation and growth and then 40% bonds. This is fixed income potentially to offer income and risk mitigation. Right. So a 6040 stocks bonds, is it is it tried and true investing strategy that's still very successful today, right or wrong.

Producer:
Well, that one is wrong.

Merrit Strunk:
You're absolutely right. You're you're obviously a very educated and very up to date on these things. And so I'll bet you folks who are near retirement or retired listening to the show today. Go. I can tell you what it is. It is wrong because they've seen the loss in their 6040 portfolio and fortunately, they felt the pain. And much like one of the one of the callers and listeners, and to quote my mother, they're just so mad they could spit. And because they've lost so much in their 6040. Right. In fact, I looked it up. There is a there is a headline from Forbes magazine, Forbes magazine in July 2020. So not that long ago. Right. It said the 6040 portfolio is on track for a horrendous year. So this strategy just give you a little background. This strategy of the 6040 was developed way back in 1952. Look, there are much better strategies that exist today that may be an option for you. Right. So do you think you want to be using a 70 year old strategy when it comes to your hard earned money that you're relying on to be there? There are other strategies that we've talked about on this show. Tactically managed portfolios, actively managed portfolios may be a better fit. Bond Alternatives. Fias Structured Note Ladders may be a better option for you for the safer portion of your portfolio than, say, the traditional 6040 with a bond component. It's okay if you don't know what those are. If I'm speaking Swahili and you didn't listen to the earlier shows, you can go back. Go to our website Retirement and Broken and listen to the old podcast. Or you can just give us a call and we can model it out for you and see if that's working for you better than what you've got going on now. Okay, Again, pros and cons depends on your situation. Okay, Matt, you've done exceptionally well. Fantastic. So. So here's. Here's another good one. Can you structure your retirement accounts to deliver tax free income during your retirement?

Producer:
That is absolutely right. I know you can do that for a fact.

Merrit Strunk:
Right. Right. Well, you're a you're a great student of the retirement unbroken show because you've been educated. So the answer is absolutely right. So both Roth IRAs, which hopefully if you're part of the unbroken nation, you've got it right. You understand this is wire tight and ideals that one may be a little more esoteric for you. Even people have been around for a long time. Don't understand. Iul IUL Index Universal Life Policies Index Universal Life policy. Very flexible. Those those two vehicles can provide tax free funds in retirement. Roth IRAs. You take the withdrawals tax free forever and there are no RMDs folks on on Roth, no requirement or card minimum distributions. Who's requiring it? The government. Why they want to tax you on that money has never been taxed. I wells really operate with the IRS code 7702 7702 It allows it to build up cash value inside of a life insurance vehicle. And then it's not for it's not for the heirs you leave behind. This one's for you living benefits. And you can take the assets that have been building up and growing with index linked gains. And you could take that as a tax free retirement income during your lifetime. So we've done that for some clients in terms of a tax mitigation strategy and we call it Leap L IRP. You ever heard of a LARP? It's not you're not going to 711 and go and go to the frozen machine to get a lump.

Merrit Strunk:
It's it's not it's not that. It's like a Slurpee. It's a slurp. It's close to that. It means life insurance as a retirement plan. And that's what that allows you to do. So you put the assets in, you fund it for a certain amount of time, let it grow in there and then say, I don't know. So at some point later in your life, you can then take tax free retirement income for the rest of your life and you could still have a death benefit and or you could have chronic care. Are you one of those people that that don't have chronic care or long term care coverage? You can get one of these right now. You do have to be insurable. All right. That's one of the things we have to go to. So. Wow, Matt, fantastic. Folks in your car at home listening on the radio. Hopefully you got all those right and you've been a retirement unbroken student here and so you're getting some of this. Okay. Well, I dare say this next section here is going to be pretty important here. All right. So this this topic here for you, it might be the last one we get to for the time that we have left is reducing your risk during volatile times. Do you think we're in volatile times? There couldn't have been more volatile times, certainly during my lifetime. There is more going on right now than ever.

Merrit Strunk:
And so here's here's some advice there. You might want to avoid bond risk. Most everybody's got some sort of bond going on, bond exposure, bond component in there. There are modern portfolio management design. If you don't even know what that is and you don't. So you might want to replace those bonds using the bond alternatives that we've been speaking about, which is a fixed indexed annuity. And you get market like gains without exposing your hard earned, hard saved wealth to this uncertain financial market that's going on. Yes, I said some very positive forward looking things and hopefully those will come to fruition. However, can you you could potentially get better returns than your bonds and you could pay less fees, so don't overpay for underperforming assets in those situations. Okay. The reasons to replace your bonds potentially. And the reason to explore it with this strategy is you could get a portion of market like gains without the market risk. Like we covered. Protects your hard earned assets. Right. You don't want to lose that principle. You're going to need that and then generate a consistent income for retirement for your life and potentially for two lives. Right. And isn't that a great comfort? And then you can grow that money. Tax deferred, tax deferred. Right. Not taxable until you take it out, which is great. And then you can eliminate advisory fees that you pay for bond income.

Merrit Strunk:
Right. So those are all great things. The the short term strategy that has appeared in this area. So for uncertain markets, you have money, you want to get a rate of return on. You hopefully would want to get that better than bank rate, but you would want to get that money. You have some access to it at some point later on is is what we call a MIGA, a G, a MIGA MIGA, and that is more of a short term sort of insurance bond alternative that you can do, maybe a surrender period of about five years. So you put it in, you get compound interest, it's guaranteed a much similar functions like a CD. And then after that period, you get your money back. With your compound interest. Isn't that nice? And you didn't have to worry about the market. So it's a great strategy for a parking place to get a good rate of return with guarantees and you get compound interest. All right. It's become very, very, very popular right about now for people who are looking for some safety. Okay. So hopefully that was fun. Those are some some strategies there to mitigate your risk in an uncertain market. Now, there are reasons and you hear this all the time. This is this this show is all about getting you the education and the critical information you need to be better off educated. That's why you're listening to this. And one of the reasons why you should seek to meet with an advisor or fiduciary financial advisor is if you don't understand what an expense ratio is.

Merrit Strunk:
You need to meet. With your advisor. If you don't understand the risk, the real risk you're taking with your investments, then you need to have talk to somebody, talk to us so we can explain it to. I tell you folks. Right. I'll tell you this. Time and time and time and time again, I sit down with people. They have no idea how much risk they have. They're surprised. And that's more often the case than not. And I imagine that if I was to show you your 401. K and the kind of risk you have, depending on what your age is, you wouldn't have any clue. You just. People just don't do it. And given specific times like this really important. And if you don't have a formal written retirement plan, I'd have to ask you why not? If you've got a financial advisor, why not? There's got to be a reason for it. Like you're very, very young and you started your earning career. Okay, got it. But if you're if you're 50 and above, almost always a really great opportunity. Why? Because you want to know what's going potentially could derail your progress and how to compensate for that. What should I be doing now so I can get to where I want to be? And if you don't have the process that you've walked through in financial planning, get a formal written retirement plan, then you have no clue.

Merrit Strunk:
Very often, if you understand how you should manage risk in your portfolio, that's great. If you don't understand how to manage risk in your portfolio as you get older than you need to have the conversation with somebody who's a fiduciary financial advisor. And that fiduciary term is it's a duty of trust. It's a duty of trust and hard work, right? That it's in your best interest in the analysis. You need to know these things. If you don't know if you should pay off your house or your vehicle and you don't know these things and will it work in your plan, then let's talk to the calculation. Figure it out. Can I do that? Is there a major expense? Should I do that? There's a lot of people are just out spending themselves. You've draw down too much money. What is the right way to do that? I've talked with folks who are starting a little bit later in life and, you know, they've got plenty of income, but they haven't put the money to work. And if they keep doing that, guess what? They'll just end up in a place later on. They'll go, We never did what we should do. We never did it. We just didn't stop to do it. So you need to have that conversation. If you don't have a health care plan in place, then talk about that.

Merrit Strunk:
Call us up. Let's talk about how that works and whether there's a better option for you. And that brings us to a little bit of story time here. I just have to to brag on. I mean, there's there's quite a few examples. And, of course, you know, names have been changed to protect the innocent here. And but but in general, I just want to share with you what's the experience like when we meet people and work with them to achieve their goals. So I'm very proud of many of my clients and this couple in particular pops into my head and I just have to share it because after this story, I hope, I hope that what you take away of it is that there is just no excuse. It's up to you. You own your outcome. Because when like we say in our book Retirement and Broken, the book says any excuse is just fine. You only need one. It's like I tell my kids, you only need one excuse for not doing something you know, one will do. And but at the at later in life, when it comes to retirement, you could point the finger at whatever you want. It's not going to matter. It was still you who didn't take the action. This is your money and the lifestyle you're working for at some point in your life. And it takes time and action.

Merrit Strunk:
Time and action. Like I said, time is money's best friend. So I'm thinking of this couple. They reached out to us and we started working with them and they they they came from another country, I would just say Southern hemisphere. And they made their way to the UK because immigration laws are a little bit easier in terms of that route to take. And they eventually came to the United States and they got an education and they went to school and then they got a job and a a large employer. And of course as part of that employer deal, they enrolled in their 401 K or four or three B retirement plan, and they were disciplined. They lived below their means. They educated themselves. You know, so here's a couple that came from, again, the Southern hemisphere. And they they made their way to the promised land here in the United States, the land of opportunity. And they got disciplined. They continued to go up the rungs of their job, make good money, but not a lot reasonable. And they got a match in their retirement plan. And then they started to meet with us and invest on the outside of their retirement plan to make sure they're putting a good portion of their discretionary income and they dollar cost average. We've got a plan, we've got the allocation that's going to work and when they can make monthly systematic contributions.

Merrit Strunk:
By the way, I call that systematic wealth growth. And you've heard the equation before, which is an amount of money plus other amounts of money on an interim basis at a rate rate of return during a specific time. That's the definition of wealth growth. It's not real complicated. That's just merits a simple equation. So now they're on the road, and I'm so proud of them. I'm so proud of them because they're disciplined. And although I said I was going to talk about one, there's there's another one again, they one member of the of the marriage came from another country became a citizen of the United States. Systematic wealth growth educating themselves, listening to podcast, working with us dollar cost average systematic wealth growth and they are growing their wealth over time. So look, what I'm saying is take action, educate yourself like you're doing right now. But but watching, watching the television and watching an exercise show isn't going to help you lose weight and it's not going to help you put muscle mass on. Just watching the TV isn't going to do it. Wow, that was a great workout here. While I drink my can of beer, you know, it's not going to work, right? So it takes what? It takes the action to do that. And you know what the action is? Pick up the phone or go to our website, pick up the phone or go to our website. Do not wait.

Merrit Strunk:
It cost you nothing to have this visit and this chat with us. You'll get informed, you'll get educated. That's really all it's about. So if you're not taking action, right, if you're waiting, don't seriously for for your own good and the good of your family and your outcome and the future, you that wants the better future. Time is ticking. You know, it's amazing I'll a look at my wife was like, it's Friday again. Wow. That's going fast, right? The week just flew by. Time is ticking. So call us. Go to the site, get a review, get a smart inspection, ask the right questions. Look, when you're working with us, if you don't ask the right questions, we'll tell you the questions to ask. This is what you should be asking. Take personal charge of your financial future. Reach out to retirement. Unbroken dot com. Get your complimentary review, talk to us and look we're not right for we can't work with everybody. And and what I'll tell you this you'll be better off for the conversation and our hope is if we didn't work together that you will have a better financial future for you and your family. So this has been Merritt Strunk with the retirement Unbroken radio show on podcast. And like I said, you give us a call or go to our website at retirement Unbroken broken dot com and we really look forward to talk to you soon. We'll see you at the next episode.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to your retirement Unbroken. You deserve to work with an experienced and licensed expert who will strategically work to protect and grow your hard earned assets to schedule your complimentary no obligation consultation with merit. Visit retirement unbroken or pick up the phone and call 858521 9700. That's 858521 9700. Advisory services are offered through Momentum Financial and Insurance Services LLC. An investment advisor in the state of California. Insurance products and services are offered through merit Strong and independent agent. California. License number 07510. Certified Financial Fiduciary is a federally recognized professional certification.

Producer:
Have you experienced age discrimination in the workplace? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network. Powered by Mirror Life. If you're 50 or older, chances are you've either seen or personally suffered from age discrimination at work. That's true for nearly two thirds of workers in that age group, according to research from AARP.

Bill Rivera:
And the pandemic certainly contributes to that persistence, with one in four people who have been let go or otherwise left the workplace during the pandemic, having trouble finding a job if they're 50 or older.

Producer:
Bill Rivera is senior vice president for litigation at the AARP Foundation. He says spotting age discrimination is not always easy, but there are signs to watch out for.

Bill Rivera:
For example, are promotions or training opportunities or key assignments given to younger workers routinely overlook older workers. Do you hear around the office, and does the company tolerate jokes about age and ageism? Like referring to the idea that you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

Producer:
Rivera says if you see possible age discrimination, it's important to document it.

Bill Rivera:
And you want to do that as close in time to when it happens. So note the date, what you saw, what you heard, who else was there? Talk to your supervisor. A lot of times you can resolve these things informally, but if you can't, you may need to go up the chain.

Producer:
And he says the AARP Foundation has several resources available to help older workers.

Bill Rivera:
For example, Back to Work 50 plus, which has free workshops, tools and career coaches to help you as well as AARP Resume Advisor, where we will for free. Review your resume and provide advice and tips to make your resume stand out, as well as AARP's job board to connect you with employers who've indicated they are interested in an age diverse workforce.

Producer:
So what would you do if you see or experience age discrimination at work? That's a key question to consider. As Americans are living and working longer with the retirement radio network powered by a merrill Life, I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
Are you concerned about inflation, political uncertainty, rising taxes and how it could all affect you and your family during retirement? If you have an IRA balance over 400,000, you could save six figures in retirement taxes that you would be paying over a 35 plus year retirement. Find out how much you could save today by scheduling your free Roth conversion consultation with Merritt Strunk at retirement unbroken dot com.

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