2.24.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

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

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

Producer:
Welcome to Retirement Unbroken with your host, Merrit Strunk. Merrit is a licensed fiduciary and financial advisor who always places your needs first. Merrit 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 Merrit Strunk.

Merrit Strunk:
Hey, welcome to the Retirement Unbroken Show radio show on podcast. My name is Merrit Strunk. I'm the lead advisor for Momentum Financial and I just want to thank you. You are here to open up your minds, see what you find, and bring it on home to your people. Financial knowledge can help you. Questions that we pose, information we provide to you. Our hope is that this will make you stronger and more savvy so you can unlock what is the potential for your future financial situation for you and your family, not just for you, not just for your family, but perhaps for generations if you do this right. I'm joined today with Matt McClure, our senior producer. Matt, welcome to the show.

Producer:
Hi there. Merrit How's it.

Merrit Strunk:
Going? It's going great. And I'm so pumped up about this show because I feel really good and grateful about providing this information to folks when they tune in on the radio show or our podcast, they can hone their skills, find out more. And there's never really an guess in the last 50 years where there's been a time, you know, potentially a time where this information is most needed. It is really, really needed by folks out there. So many people have questions. You would be amazed at the kind of questions I get people who are just developing like, what should I do? How should I do it? What's going on? Should I adjust things? And and that just starts the conversation. You know, your gray matter is amazing, amazing computer. You're gifted by your creator. When you start asking those questions, have these conversations, you will undoubtedly end up in a better place because your brain just starts gathering information. Information. Do you know that when you think about buying a, I don't know, a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Pathfinder or something like that, you start going, That's the one I like. All of a sudden your reticular activating system is is like, I never saw so many of those things. It's the same thing when you start talking about financial stuff. Hey, look, if you've never been to our website, it's RetirementUnbroken.com. Go there, reach out, get your questions answered. You can also call us at 858 521 9700.

Merrit Strunk:
That's 858 521 9700. So please reach out to us. We'd love to hear questions or comments from our listeners. Okay. So what's on the show coming up here? Um, well, we're going to do a right or wrong pop quiz. We're going to review some of the topics that we've been talking about for the last several podcasts here. And then we're going to talk about the five Healthy Habits of Retirement Retirees. So Tips for Living a Good Life. Is that something you want, a good life in retirement? I would think so. But first, I do want to offer you this. Many times on our show, we talk about how to cut costs in your retirement. And we have put together a really nice report that compiles these. So it's 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023. How you like that? So reach out to us, get that report. And there's another one. Critical, critical, critical. This is our kind of culmination of reports. We call it our essential reports package, and we call that the Retirement Unbroken report. This is custom to you. It'll include all the things you need to know, reviews of your performance of your portfolios, the rates of return, the fees, your taxation, net worth projections, retirement income projections, things like that. The things you need to know to know. Well, should I do anything different? Where will we end up? Right? This is the beginning of making any decisions you have to make. So get those things.

Merrit Strunk:
They're free. There's no cost of or obligation to any of this. It's complimentary. Okay, so here we go. Well, if you're paying attention, you are to the to the market today. You would have seen, um, well, yesterday's big sell off. I mean. Ouch. It's, you know, like 2%. That was a big drop. Biggest one we've seen in this year thus far. And this morning, anticipating the Fed's notes from their meeting, the market was down over 100 points, but it's clawed its way back up. Okay. There's a there's a lot that's changed since the Fed delivered its its comments. And but that didn't stop senior policymakers from including a little something for everyone in the last batch of these minutes that they shared today. The headline showing most officials supported a 25 basis point hike, something like almost 80% of them supported a 25 basis points, and that helped buttress the US stocks against a major pullback while the minutes showed that the Fed. Um, made remarks about, you know, should they pull back on inflationary pressures. They also reflected concerns about loosening financial conditions. So the policymakers suggest that 25 basis points may not be get this aggressive enough. You know, I saw some talking heads out there, the pundits, and they were talking about, well, what should they should do is really work towards a 5.5% terminal rate. And they're going to need to do 50 basis points and just drop the hammer. Well, folks, that I think where that where we are looking at for the market and the economy in the United States is we're going to have a recession.

Merrit Strunk:
They're going to keep upping the basis points because the the mainly the employment situation is so strong. We have very low unemployment. Where are these people? What are they doing if they're not working? I want to know where did they go to? That happened right after COVID. Then the stimulus money came out and all of a sudden we can't get people to come to work. I want to know what they're doing, like just riding out that stimulus money. They still have someone in the bank account. I don't know about that because we also see credit balances on credit cards rising alarmingly. So who knows what? They're not going to work. We have a we have a shortage of people who want to work. And as long as the unemployment situation is good, it's tough on the economy and we're going to still see inflation. And as long as oil is not being produced by the by the United States, gas and fuel remains high, even though it's come down a little bit. And that's going to add to the cost of all goods getting to where they need to go to get to your grocery store. It's got to be transported by a truck to get to some places. It's got to go by train for other places, it's got to go by ship or air, and that takes fuel.

Merrit Strunk:
And now we've decreased significantly the United States oil production. And and basically that's driving the cost up, too. So you could cut and you can raise and we'll inflation go down. It does take some lag time for that to take a bite in the economy. But as long as your fuel is high, you still got this major factor in all your goods to get where they need to go. You know, the other issue, too, is I don't know if you watched the news here. It's, um, Vladimir Crazy Pants has rattled the sabers about leaving the START treaty, about non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Well, that's a I mean, this guy's the pariah and evil of our time, is he not? He's wiping out hundreds of thousands of people over in Ukraine. And now, hey, we're going to go ahead and produce nuclear weapons, so don't threaten me. And president is on the way over there, okay. Ronald Reagan knew how to do it. He knew how to to to decrease the the Russia's problem way back when he made it a point to have oil production in the United States and have tax incentives for that oil production and that bankrupt Russia. Russia gets its money from oil and that's how they finance the war. What do we do? He went to war when Biden came into to the presidency, and then Biden immediately first day started decreasing the ability to produce oil in this country, thereby raising the revenues for Russia to sustain the war.

Merrit Strunk:
So here we are. Oil is a problem. Energy is an issue, and nobody argues that we should have green energy. Okay, I got it. But that's what's going on. We've got the inflation, we've got the Fed, and they're trying to get inflation down. It's driving the stock market too close and we're trying to kill the economy through the Fed and the interest rates. That's a lot that's going on. So what I can say right now is caution is the word of the day for the market, your investments, if you are worried about what that might do to your portfolio and you have the basic investment strategy and you have no tactical management in it that would protect your wealth in down markets or you are 100% exposed, even though you may have a 30, 70, a 6040 sort of portfolio that many people do have. Well, then talk to somebody, reach out to us. Like I said, I make it a commitment to talk to everybody individual that reaches out through the radio show or podcast. So that's it for the doom and gloom of the market. That's what's going on. That's how you can think about it. And I've given you a little bit of my opinion in there. It is my show, it is my rules. That's the way we're going to do it. Wow. Merrit Tell you how how you feel.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the.

Producer:
Quote of the Week.

Producer:
Jim Rohn, of course, the American entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, and has just a fascinating life story. And the quote is a formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune. I like that one.

Merrit Strunk:
Yes, I get it. And you know, the formal education thing, you know, Elon Musk is like poster boy for hiring people who necessarily didn't go to work, you know, because college. Jim Rohn, multi-millionaire in his life made it, lost it, made it. Elon didn't finish school. Okay? And he's like, Look, you don't need to finish school to do the thing. And I was like, Well, if you're intellectually blessed and you've got that entrepreneurship drive, you know, fantastic. Okay. So what I would say is if you're bright and you're inspired and you're driven, nothing's going to hold you back. However, what I say about the formal education in America today is what is that prove you've got an MBA or a or BA or something. It proves you can stick with it. You can memorize stuff and you can take a test. Okay. And it teaches you to think is probably one of the biggest ones, right? So if you can make it through college with a degree, good job. You could stick with it. You hopefully you've learned how to think and you got a degree. I remember firing a Duke MBA because they could not do their job and they couldn't do it over a long period of time.

Merrit Strunk:
And I was like, you know, we're going to have to part ways here. And she and she walked out the door saying, But I have a Duke MBA. And I thought that was hilarious. And I was like, my comment to that was but you're not using it. You know. Okay. So simply having an or something, if you don't use it, that's great. So you're a good student. Can you make it out in the world? Right. So what Jim Rowan is saying, self-education will make you a fortune. Guess what everybody is doing here today? Self-education. Fantastic. You're improving your situation here. And Jim Rohn, if you've never listened to Jim Rohn, I think he's not with us anymore. Like he's been promoted off the planet. I'm not sure, but he has this wonderful syncopation in the way he speaks. It's wonderful to to hear the way he does it. Very thoughtful guy, self-improvement. He's the guy in self-improvement. And actually, you know, folks like Tony Robbins, you know, those guys actually listened and learned from Jim Rohn. Okay. So that brings us up to a fun little stage here. We're going to do a little game here.

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

Merrit Strunk:
So, Matt, you're going to help us here. You're going to be the questioner and I'm going to be the answer. Okay. So you ask the questions and we'll see where we go from there. Let's give that a shot. Go ahead.

Producer:
Okay, Let's do it. Yeah. No. Or you could be the question. Whichever way you want to look at it. You know, we can. We can say it either way, I guess. But yes, I will be the questioner and I will present a couple of statements here. And Merrit is going to be he's going to be like our fact checker. Tell us whether it's right or whether it's wrong. And the very first one is the age at which you must start taking required minimum distributions is 72. Is that right or wrong?

Merrit Strunk:
Ooh, I know that one. Right. Of course, I know that we were talking about that. And one of the things that's interesting is what the Age was some time ago. Used to be 70.5. Some people will still think that then under the Secure Act with President Trump, he changed that to 72. Okay. However, in last December, there was some legislation that changed that. And so now our required minimum distributions. And if you don't know what that is, then welcome to the show and welcome to Getting Educated. We've talked about it many times. The new RMD is now 73. Hmm. Okay. What's that mean? There are different tax class of investments and under the retirement accounts like an IRA, a pre-tax IRA where you've put money in and and it's not been taxed, it's growing and it's gross form. You never pay taxes on that money. A lot of times you work in the private sector. You have a 401. K that was traditional. And you leave that company, you roll it over. Right? You roll it over to what you roll it over to a tax deferred traditional IRA. And if you have one of those, you are required by who? The government, the IRS, to take a minimum amount of distribution at a certain age. Well, Matt, why do you think you're required to take money out of that account whether you need it or not?

Producer:
Because Uncle Sam wants his money because.

Merrit Strunk:
Of the taxes, the taxes to.

Merrit Strunk:
Drive everything else the government has to do. By the way, they don't make money. The government doesn't make money. They levy taxes to use money. That's yours to provide everything the government is supposed to provide to its citizens. So. So now it's at 73 and you must take that money out at 73. And it's a calculation. Basically, it uses mortality tables and balance it. Previous balance of the previous year. Your age carry the two calculation and this is the amount you have to take out. So if you don't take that out now at 73. Right. It's no it's no longer 70.5 or 72. Now it's 73. I don't think it's pretty nice that the government did that. So if you don't take it out, there is a penalty. If you don't know what that penalty is. It used to be pretty punitive. Now it's something less punitive and there's ways to refile your taxes. So it's even less punitive than that. If you want that information, please go back to our two previous podcast episodes on our Retirement Unbroken website and you will get an in-depth knowledge of that. Okay. So Matt, did I do okay on that one?

Producer:
Oh, absolutely. You are. I mean, you're the expert here on these things, and I'm just some kind of, you know, schmuck who's tagging along and asking you the questions. So, yeah, you always do great in my eyes here. But the.

Merrit Strunk:
The the comment about that on some comedy, I forgot what it was. And it's like, hey, don't cut yourself short. You're a tremendous schmuck. No, like, no kidding. You are not a schmuck, my brother. You're not a schmuck.

Producer:
Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. So, yeah, so, no, that was great. That was great for number one. All right. So we're we're doing well here with that. Number one, about required minimum distributions. Now, number two, another another number type question here talking about the rule of 100, It is a simple calculation to help one determine how much risk they should be taking inside their portfolio of assets. Is that one right or is that one wrong?

Merrit Strunk:
So the rule of 100 is a rule of thumb. And it's based on it's really the topic is about taking risk. So it simply says, take the number 100 and subtract your age. For instance, you're 70, you take 70 from 100, you end up with 30. Correct. And then that is the amount that should be at risk as opposed to something more conservative. So simply using your age now, where that falls down is that the ability to take risk isn't simply on your age. Age is a factor to it. So if you are 70, taking 30% risk makes mathematical sense because you don't want to take so much risk when you're 70. Okay, but what if you have a pension and you've got plenty of money coming in? So in your mind, in your psychology, you go, You know what? I could probably take a little more risk here because I've got money to cover the bills. And plus, with Social Security, with my pension, I have excess, therefore. Okay, I'll take a little bit more than 30 risk. That doesn't mean 70 doesn't grow 70. It just has less risk. So the 3070 components, right? So yeah, rule of 100, you can instantly kind of, you know, fix your risk tolerance. I think that's very helpful for both the folks like 70 and above and also for the very young who may be congenitally conservative. I like that word congenitally conservative. First, it has alliteration to it and it's a caca on top of it. You know, congenitally conservative with a plosive on it. It's just that when you're say you're 25 or 21 and you all of a sudden I'm not really risky, but you're 21, you're 25, you could take a lot of risk because your time horizon is so long. So if you're just that way, you're very conservative. The rule of 100 may be very helpful to kind of help you guide, guide on that. Okay. So just a simple rule of thumb to help you with your risk tolerance conversation. And that answer is correct.

Producer:
All right. So two down, two to go here in right or wrong. And number three is this It is too expensive to work with a financial advisor and most people are better off managing their own financial and retirement plans. I think I know the answer to this one, but I have to ask, is it right or is it wrong?

Merrit Strunk:
So let's let's take this. So what are the most wealthy people in the world? Do they have a financial advisor, somebody that's managing their money for them, giving them advice, keeping them on track, achieving their goals or objectives or whatever they may be? Yeah, they do. If, if and what I say is everybody begins kind of like a an average Joe. They have the 401. K and they're in mutual funds because that's what 401 K's are made up of. And those mutual funds are almost always index funds. They're not being managed. And then they may have an account outside an ACORN or Robin Hood these days. And ten years ago that didn't even exist, or they may have some sort of investment account that they open up. And again, what do they do? Mutual funds, ETFs, index funds. But they're they're they don't know what they don't know. At some point, you graduate by having a, you know, a conversation or listening to a podcast like this or a radio show, and then you get educated on it and you start asking better questions like, for instance, those people who are in retirement and they have like, oh, I have the the index funds from Vanguard and Fidelity and BlackRock, and I wonder why I lost so much money. And here we went into this terrible market. And you know what merit? They didn't do anything. Talk about an angry retiree. Why didn't they call me? Why didn't they do anything? And then I call them and they go, well, just stick it with it. Just, you know, go for the long term.

Merrit Strunk:
Well, if you're 70 and going for the long term and you lost 20% last year, how long will that take to make up that money and the money that you need and you were counting on? Are there better selections? Okay, so here comes the advisor asset class selection, tax class selection, asset allocation percentages on those asset classes, strategy diversification, cost effective implementation, mitigating taxes, tax free income investment, due diligence. Is this the right thing? Is that the right group? Is this the right way to go at rebalancing? And the biggest one, I think a lot of times where we provide our biggest value here is behavioral coaching. No, no, no. The market goes through cycles. We are in a cycle. This is what's happened throughout history. Don't jump out of the market. What could we do? How will we do it? And if you've got proactivity in your financial advisor, which is we have put in tactically managed portfolios that will adjust as things are adjusting in the market to help protect your wealth. How do we create income longevity management? Will you run out of money? Let's make sure you don't run out of money. How to optimize your Social Security withdrawal strategies. Right. What if you what if you're withdrawing incorrectly or how to keep from suffering under the negative sequence of returns and and retirement? I just went through I don't know was that 15 different reasons and 15 different rationales as to why you need to get a swing coach like Tiger Woods? Tiger Woods is arguably one of the best golfers of his generation or ever in history, and he still has a coach to to help him with it.

Merrit Strunk:
I would say when it comes to financial situation, in planning and retirement, you've got to plan ahead. And if you don't know what you don't know, how on earth would you know those things? Then it helps to have somebody that is a fiduciary in your corner coaching, watching, adjusting and making sure you will end up in a better place in your retirement years than if you had tried to do it all yourself. You can stay at home and spreadsheet this all you want. Okay. But if you don't know what you don't know how to get tax free income, how to mitigate your taxes, how to do tax loss harvesting on a daily basis, how is a DIY are supposed to do that? It's a very tough to do. You have to have a team to do that and make it happen. Okay. So those are I think those are all the reasons why you need. Is it too expensive? I don't know. Talk to the individual that that I talked to that is in retirement and is 70. He was in the very cheap index funds and lost a. Oh, significant amount of value surprisingly in his retirement. Rebalance. Readjust your risk score. Have a plan. Make sure that you can handle all the things in life. Plan for plan for your legacy. Plan for your heirs to do it in a tax efficient manner. The reasons are so many. I think I ran out of fingers here, Matt.

Producer:
Yeah, that's only so many fingers and many, many reasons to talk to a financial advisor. Yeah.

Merrit Strunk:
And Matt, what I would say here is, is go to our website and get the complimentary consultation to have that conversation. If you didn't know many of those things, if that woke you up, if you had raised more questions with you, please go on there. Go to Retirement Unbroken, reach out to us or call us at 858521 9700. Okay.

Producer:
We are just about hitting this break at the end of the first half of the show. So let's let's take that break and let the suspense build, shall we? Got one more right or wrong to come up? And let's tackle it after the break, shall we?

Merrit Strunk:
All right. Ready for your best Shot right after the break.

Producer:
You're listening to your Retirement Unbroken to schedule your complimentary consultation with merit visit RetirementUnbroken.com.

Merrit Strunk:
Hey, this is Merrit Strunk. Welcome back to the Retirement Unbroken show. I hope we're waking you up here with this conversation here. The right or wrong challenge gets your brain working. You know, something happens when you ask questions. It stops you and says, okay, do I know the answer to that question? And maybe you did know the answer to some of those questions because when you work with a financial adviser, one of the questions we just asked was, you know, does it does it make financial sense to work with a financial advisor? And I would say the answer rests in the right financial advisor. Right. And your situation. Okay. All right. So hit me with your best shot here. What you got? Make the make the last one. Good Here, Matt.

Producer:
Yeah. Let's make it. Let's make it count here. All right, so three down, one to go. And this is that final one In. In right or wrong, a fixed indexed annuity offers investors protection from market volatility, but still allows them to participate in the gains of an underlying stock market index. Is that one right? Or is that one wrong merit?

Merrit Strunk:
That one is correct. Just for everybody listening here. And we've done other episodes about different financial vehicles and kind of detailed some of those as whether they're options for you or not in your situation. Pros and cons to every single one. And again, it depends with you and what your what your goals and objectives are. Okay. So Matt, you asked about a fixed indexed annuity and whether it offers protection from market volatility. Let's just say code word market loss due to market volatility. And it does. The answer is it does do that. So with a fixed indexed annuity, a little phrase here is that zero.

Merrit Strunk:
Is your.

Merrit Strunk:
Hero. You get to enjoy market gains.

Merrit Strunk:
Like.

Merrit Strunk:
Because it's market index linked. So if the market goes up with your index that that fixed indexed annuity is linked to, then you get to enjoy crediting to that index into the contract. But if the market goes down, you're locked in place, you don't lose that interest and you don't lose your principal due to market volatility. So that for a lot of folks is fantastic. You know, I get market gains, but I don't lose anything due to the market going down for somebody in a pre-retiree retiree situation that doesn't like a lot of market risk. But once market upside, that's a great solution. Again, pros and cons to it. I would say there are a lot of fixed indexed annuities in the market today that I'm not in favor of. I'm not in favor of. However, for the right person and the right situation, they do exactly what they're supposed to do. Right. So, yeah, you want market upside and you can also enjoy the zero loss provision due to market volatility, then fantastic. So that market goes down. The worst you can do is zero, right? So once you choose to turn on income, if it's an income annuity, rather than say it just safe upside accumulation annuity, then you can have a personal pension and never outlive your money, both you and your spouse if you're married.

Merrit Strunk:
So fantastic. Is this an option for you and your retirement planning? If you do not have a pension, then you can create a pension like income flow coming into your bank in retirement for the rest of your life. And if one of you predeceases an other, that income flow can continue on for the remainder of your life guaranteed. So that you don't outlive your income. This is essentially can be called longevity insurance. You know, if you live a long time, can I have income? Yeah. If you have a personal pension created through the use of a fixed indexed annuity and you have a zero loss provision due to market volatility. So that worked for a lot of folks. Again, right person, right. Asset situation. Right needs If you never want to go back to work again, if you're very concerned about income for the rest of your life and we can put in the structure of your financial plan at risk investments, safe income that you can have for the rest of your life and other assets. And essentially having those.

Merrit Strunk:
Buckets, two or 3 or 4 of these.

Merrit Strunk:
Buckets and knowing what the purpose of these is, is really a strong plan, very, very strong plan. When you have one of these in there. And sometimes I will tell you folks, we do written financial plans for folks and sometimes for some people when they ask about, well, tell me what's all this fuss about? You know, an income annuity, it's like, well, okay, we go through the pros and cons and if they want it, we'll put it in the plan, one proposal with it, one proposal without it. And sometimes for some people it doesn't work. But a lot of times for the right people and the right situation, it is phenomenal. Why? Because you don't have to draw down your at risk proposal to do income drawdown, especially income drawdown. And markets like, you know, in a down market, it takes the pressure off the portfolio because you know already that you're going to be getting income. So you could up your risk a little bit because you can. Right. So it just comes down to us doing the analysis using math, right? Math and logic. Take opinion and emotion out of it. Do the math. Look at the plan. Then you have a plan that you can feel confident and have clarity about and go into retirement and say, we've done the best job we can in our financial plan. Long answer. But the question is yes, that's right.

Producer:
I love it. I love it. All right. We'll see. Good. At least. At least I got got I don't know what? We were batting 500 to get to two. Right. And two wrong. Of course, as you know, two wrongs don't make a right, but apparently they make two. I don't I don't know if that works out or not, but there we go.

Merrit Strunk:
Thank you for that, Matt. You should seek professional help, right?

Producer:
Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm going right now.

Merrit Strunk:
There you go. There you go. Here we go.

Producer:
You're on your own the rest of the show.

Merrit Strunk:
So, Matt, another thing I wanted to talk about was on our topics for today and I said I would address was is the five Habits of Happy retirees and these really tips for living a good life, tips for living a good life. Okay. And many retirees who are successfully made the transition to their post working world.

Merrit Strunk:
They were working.

Merrit Strunk:
They were tired. Now they're not working. They all share.

Merrit Strunk:
Certain habits and.

Merrit Strunk:
Strategies for the ones who are successful with that.

Merrit Strunk:
That helped them live the good life today and plan.

Merrit Strunk:
For an equally great one tomorrow.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay, so here's one.

Merrit Strunk:
Here's the first one I'd like to bring up is plan the work and work the plan. How many times have we heard that?

Merrit Strunk:
Right. You have a successful plan.

Merrit Strunk:
Do the do the planning and then work the plan. Happy retirees spend much of their careers actively laying the financial groundwork for their retirements. Doesn't that make sense? Diligent. Dan, you know, responsible. Roger. You know your personality, right? They've done the work. They've put in place the plan, and then they work the plan. So by establishing and sticking to the right plan. Early, you increase the likelihood of your success. Now, has there ever been an argument that you just like like.

Merrit Strunk:
That, that you just go.

Merrit Strunk:
No rational person can argue that by establishing and sticking to the right plan early on, you increase the likelihood of success. You can't argue with that.

Merrit Strunk:
Right. So. So what does that tell you folks?

Merrit Strunk:
If you have not spent the time.

Merrit Strunk:
To do the right plan.

Merrit Strunk:
Early?

Merrit Strunk:
Guess what?

Merrit Strunk:
The opposite may be true for you. I have no plan. I'm winging it. If there's ever been a thing about your future life in retirement, it's not the wing it in this situation I don't know money having enough having quality having options like I've always talked about those are the benefits. And then you go look at uncertainty, stress, lack of money, compromises on the other side. And I'm saying, you got to be kidding me. This is what you're aspiring to. Because you're not spending the time. Don't. It's an equation. Don't spend time doing this. There you go. And many times, guys, I'm not condemning you for this. Many times I know if you're an entrepreneur and you're just working on the job.

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah. Your job is you're.

Merrit Strunk:
Focused on what you're doing.

Merrit Strunk:
If you're if you're the average white collar worker or the blue collar worker, you're.

Merrit Strunk:
Just trying to make that everyday deal. I encourage you to take imperfect action and take little steps forward.

Merrit Strunk:
To creating.

Merrit Strunk:
That plan.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay.

Merrit Strunk:
I love it when I get to meet with somebody who is a starter. And is asking the questions. Now, we may not necessarily engage with them and help them, but we don't have a problem educating them because it's karma. What goes around comes around. And if we can help you be successful in the future, we can't help everybody, but we'd love to help educate you a little bit. Okay? It's good karma for those we.

Merrit Strunk:
Do.

Merrit Strunk:
Engage with and can work with. We're going to make sure your plan is as good as it can be.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay. All right. So the next.

Merrit Strunk:
One is check in on your money.

Merrit Strunk:
I'm not talking about the shoe box under your.

Merrit Strunk:
Bed, you know? Is it still there? Is my precious still there? Look at all.

Merrit Strunk:
That. It's great.

Merrit Strunk:
It's wonderful. It's so shiny and happy down there. Well, that's going backwards with inflation, by the way. Cash is the worst investment. Look, whether you're ten years from retirement or retirement is right on your doorstep. You might be tempted to put your assets on cruise control.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay. But regardless of your age or your.

Merrit Strunk:
Investable asset portfolio size, it's still a prudent measure to keep a sharp eye on your investments and your income flow. And to stay on top of any legislative changes that that secure Act 2.0 has a lot of different changes in it. We have hit that in a number of shows here or other situations that impact your retirement sources, your retirement income sources. So. Retirement is about income.

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah, there's a lot of other.

Merrit Strunk:
Aspects enjoying and things like that, but it kind of is tied right back to money, the ability to fund those things you want to do. So retirement is about income, not assets. I'm going to repeat that. A successful retirement.

Merrit Strunk:
Is predicated.

Merrit Strunk:
Upon. Having enough income. Not just.

Merrit Strunk:
Assets or the.

Merrit Strunk:
Big number or your nest egg in.

Merrit Strunk:
Your IRA.

Merrit Strunk:
Or 401. K, Does that make sense? Think about the people who are most successful in retirement and they have a pension. They've got income, you know, So that's that's a fantastic thing. They know there's going to be a paycheck in the bank. And if that market goes up and down, that's fine. Assets can be.

Merrit Strunk:
Stolen.

Merrit Strunk:
They can be lost.

Merrit Strunk:
They can be divorced.

Merrit Strunk:
Any of those things, those things you spin, the wheel of assets can go away by. But if you've got enough guaranteed income you have put in place in your retirement, odds are, in my opinion, you'll be better off. So can you have both? Can you have assets that are at risk and can you have reliable, reliable flow of income, you know, every month coming into your check, your checking account, just as if you were working. So to make sure.

Merrit Strunk:
You kick the tires, you make sure you're.

Merrit Strunk:
On track, you want to pay attention to it, and you'll go back and visit it. In our last episode, we talked about Smart Review. This is a great time. Think of a metaphor, a home inspection for your financial situation and it's a great one. Go back on occasion, take a look at it and review.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay.

Merrit Strunk:
Now, I guess I don't need to tell you this, okay, But I see it all the time. And when my back starts hurting, I'm like, Boy, I better stretch out and do some yoga, you know, preventative maintenance. So the other one, stay healthy and active, by the way.

Merrit Strunk:
Movement is life. Movement is life.

Merrit Strunk:
Especially in your retirement years.

Merrit Strunk:
Activity keeps the.

Merrit Strunk:
The brain body connection. Of moving your body. Getting some exercise having a healthy a machine here. Right. This is the machine that accomplishes everything is your body. So pay attention to your health now because that can pay off in retirement quite literally. So while seniors can take advantage of fitness discounts like Have you ever heard of Sneaker the Silver Sneakers program? You know, it's very interesting. If you're in the gym at mid-morning, you'll see all the silver sneakers folks come in. You know, these are the senior citizens. And they come in, they get on the treadmills and they go through the machines and they make sure their body is flexible and strong and you can take advantage of discounts like that. So just look up silver sneakers and there's other breaks like staying fit can offer long term security against increasingly steep medical expenses. You know, so many medical expenses later in your life can go up significantly and you may not have planned for it. And that's one of the things we do on our planning, is make sure that the income, the assets and everything else are there as your medical expenses go up. So older Americans can expect an estimated $315,000 in medical expenses during their retirement. And I've seen different figures on this. So so you could say this in some studies I've looked at, it says with a couple who is in good shape at 65.

Merrit Strunk:
Yes, they may have a better than.

Merrit Strunk:
Odds chance of living to 90, but they also could bank on the fact that they're going to have a large amount of medical expenses. This this reference 315. I'm familiar one that says 250. Does it really matter? Does it does that really matter? So to help that, you know, help cut down on the cost by eating healthy foods, drinking plenty of good quality water and participating in daily exercises like walking, hiking, swimming, tennis, golf, scuba? I'm kidding. It just.

Merrit Strunk:
The scuba just.

Merrit Strunk:
Threw in there. Right. But it's it's those kind of things. Just stay active if you're active and you walk healthy brain.

Merrit Strunk:
Right.

Merrit Strunk:
How about what's the old phrase? You can't you.

Merrit Strunk:
Can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Merrit Strunk:
I don't think that's true. Um, learning new tricks, picking up a hobby, staying involved, learning new skills. It's not like, you know, it keeps your mind.

Merrit Strunk:
Sharp.

Merrit Strunk:
And actively engaged. A great one for seniors. And I know this sounds weird, but.

Merrit Strunk:
Bridge.

Merrit Strunk:
Playing card games with a group of other people who are engaged in playing bridge mathematics, social interaction, you get up and have to go to where that game is happening. You have to get up and leave. You know, it keeps you active. So mental exercise, solving problems. There's a lot of apps on your on your tablet these days that you can do for memories, memory development, keeping your mind sharp. There's all kinds of ones you could subscribe to one of the the Apple Istore and they have math, efficiency of language shapes, spatial knowledge, things like that. And this can help ward off cognitive decline.

Merrit Strunk:
We all get cognitive decline.

Merrit Strunk:
Starting somewhere around 50. Do you remember that actor's name? Yeah, He was in that, uh. That movie. Oh, yeah, That. That movie with Jennifer Aniston.

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Merrit Strunk:
You know the one I'm talking about, right?

Merrit Strunk:
He's the really good looking dude.

Merrit Strunk:
Uh, he was acting with her, and the movie was about this, Matt. You know what I'm talking about.

Producer:
No, I'm really worried about myself because this is. You just reenacted my day, like, every day. Pretty much. I know. I've seen this guy in something before, and then before I know it, it frustrates me to the point where I'm on IMDb looking him up to see what I've seen him in before. You know, it's just it's my it's my day.

Merrit Strunk:
So interesting.

Merrit Strunk:
So cognitive decline. So when you're 20, nothing and that kind of conversation comes up, they go, Oh yeah, Brad Pitt, this movie, I know exactly what you're talking about later. It is. You know what's his name? He was in that movie. Somebody else was in it. It was about this. But you're knocking at that that that gray matter door. And behind that door is the answer. And you're knocking and it's not opening.

Merrit Strunk:
Knock, knock. You know.

Merrit Strunk:
I say give me 30 minutes and I'll get you the answer on that.

Merrit Strunk:
One. Let me find the key to.

Producer:
The door and let me remember how to use the key. And then maybe I'll open the door. Yeah, it'll take a while.

Merrit Strunk:
Yeah.

Merrit Strunk:
And a wonderful thing about your brain. It's in there. It's in there. But you may not. You may not be able to do it. And if you do these these new tricks and you keep your brain supple and nice, then you're learning new skills, pick up the.

Merrit Strunk:
Guitar or some.

Merrit Strunk:
Other deal. But keep keep, you know.

Merrit Strunk:
You know, doing new things is going.

Merrit Strunk:
To keep you involved.

Merrit Strunk:
And engaged.

Merrit Strunk:
And that, folks, is truly a a a mechanism to keep you vital. Okay. Keep up your social network. Um, you know, research shows that.

Merrit Strunk:
Retirees report higher levels of happiness.

Merrit Strunk:
In their social when their social engagement increases. That makes sense. So while similar studies found isolation, when you're isolated.

Merrit Strunk:
You know.

Merrit Strunk:
What happens?

Merrit Strunk:
Heart disease, stroke, dementia.

Merrit Strunk:
If you're sitting.

Merrit Strunk:
In front of the idiot box and watching that all day, your brain will.

Merrit Strunk:
Turn to mush. Get involved with your social network, have some lunch, go out, lunch. Right. And like I always say, hey, you.

Merrit Strunk:
Know, go to your go to your, your, your, your daughter or your.

Merrit Strunk:
Son's house and cook a meal for them. So when they come home, they've got a meal and you're there with the grandkids. Isn't that nice?

Merrit Strunk:
Fight that effort to go? No, I'd rather.

Merrit Strunk:
They cook for me when they come home and serve me a meal.

Merrit Strunk:
You know, that's you know, I got that part.

Merrit Strunk:
Wait on me. You know, I'm papa. You. They'll do that for me. But go in there and do that. That's really cool. So even before.

Merrit Strunk:
You retire, think.

Merrit Strunk:
About ways to find stimulation and purpose in your community. Maybe in later years. How about teaching a teaching a child to learn another language like English? Right? Spend your time, give back, give back to charities, get involved with your church, maintain your connection with friends and family, and you'll be.

Merrit Strunk:
Better off for it.

Merrit Strunk:
Right? Another really hard to argue with conversation. You know.

Merrit Strunk:
My dad.

Merrit Strunk:
Keeps vibrant by going fishing. He goes on fishing tournaments with his fishing club. Isn't that nice? There's a lot that goes into that. But I tell you, as you get older and older, moving around like that can be quite difficult. But so kudos to him, Dad. Way to go. And I do.

Merrit Strunk:
I do appreciate you. And that is the reason.

Merrit Strunk:
Why you're still mentally.

Merrit Strunk:
Vibrant at 87.

Merrit Strunk:
So thanks, Dad.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay. So we just went through a lot of those things.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay. And some of the things I mentioned throughout the.

Merrit Strunk:
Show.

Merrit Strunk:
This time around, a lot of good tips for success in a.

Merrit Strunk:
Healthy lifestyle.

Merrit Strunk:
During retirement. We talked about a lot of other things, too. We talked about the market. We talked about balancing. We talked about options that you may have. So I want to remind you.

Merrit Strunk:
This is all about.

Merrit Strunk:
Growing more savvy in your financial life. And through these conversations on the show and in the podcast.

Merrit Strunk:
We are building your.

Merrit Strunk:
Library of knowledge related to your financial situation. Some of these topics, depending on what your age is, may not be as relevant. However, just like this last one, we talked about staying vibrant and healthy in retirement and preventative maintenance. You've got parents.

Merrit Strunk:
Maybe even.

Merrit Strunk:
Grandparents, and those are good tips that you can share back with them when you think about them maintaining their vibrancy. Because look, if they don't have a plan, if you haven't talked to them about their finances, you don't have a.

Merrit Strunk:
Durable power of.

Merrit Strunk:
Attorney, a medical power of attorney, you don't know what their wishes are. You don't know if they have long term care assistance. You may be.

Merrit Strunk:
The unpaid caregiver to take care of those folks. Okay. And you know, if you've listened.

Merrit Strunk:
In the past, you know, I'm very, very strong on that consideration because, you know, growing.

Merrit Strunk:
Old.

Merrit Strunk:
It's not for the timid. You got to be tough to go through that.

Merrit Strunk:
You got to be tough to.

Merrit Strunk:
Go through that.

Merrit Strunk:
So call us.

Merrit Strunk:
We do comprehensive consultations. You don't know the questions to ask. We will ask them for you.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay. We will.

Merrit Strunk:
We will bring it up with you. We will help you analyze your financial situation. We will closely examine your.

Merrit Strunk:
Policies, your annuities.

Merrit Strunk:
Your investment accounts, your IRA, your 401. K, your future Social Security or your.

Merrit Strunk:
Current Social Security.

Merrit Strunk:
Your taxation, your net worth projections, your retirement income projections. Did you get all that?

Merrit Strunk:
That's a lot.

Merrit Strunk:
And more because that's what it's about.

Merrit Strunk:
Build that financial plan that you.

Merrit Strunk:
Can feel confident in, You know.

Merrit Strunk:
That the.

Merrit Strunk:
Premise of this, if you listen before, it's called the Retirement Unbroken show.

Merrit Strunk:
For a reason. I'm going to remind you what that reason is. Is that for many, many, many people in America.

Merrit Strunk:
It doesn't matter what age you are.

Merrit Strunk:
Your retirement may already be broken.

Merrit Strunk:
You just don't know it yet. You just don't know it yet. When will you find out? Well, much later, when you run out of money. I'll tell you, folks spending some time early on to have a conversation with a comprehensive financial planner, which.

Merrit Strunk:
We are certified financial.

Merrit Strunk:
Fiduciaries is going to pay off for the rest of your life, whether you do business with us or not. It's going to pay off.

Merrit Strunk:
You'll be stronger because of it. You'll be more knowledgeable and more savvy.

Merrit Strunk:
Okay, so this is marriage, Strunk. I'm the lead financial advisor on Momentum Financial. We do business in San Diego County and all throughout the country.

Merrit Strunk:
We encourage you to reach out to us.

Merrit Strunk:
Thank you for joining the Retirement Unbroken show and we'll catch you next time.

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 RetirementUnbroken.com or pick up the phone and call 858521 9700. That's 858521 9700.

Producer:
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 Merrit Strunk an independent agent. California License number 0L7510 Certified Financial fiduciary is a FINRA recognized professional certification.

Producer:
With age comes wisdom and senior discounts. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife. As the old saying goes, everything gets better with age. It's true of a fine wine, a happy marriage and opportunities to save money. People of a certain age can get discounts ranging from 5 or 10% to 25% or more at restaurants, shops and other businesses. Many times they'll promote those extra savings. But Jim Miller, senior editor of Savvy, told Oklahoma's News four. Sometimes you have to be proactive. So the first thing.

Jim Miller:
Is, is you always need to ask, because a lot of businesses and organizations offer senior discounts, but they don't advertise them. So don't be shy about asking to save time.

Producer:
You can search online for lists of up to date senior deals at large retailers like Amazon, Kohl's and more. If you're willing to dive a little deeper, you can find more discounts in a variety of other places. And if you're looking to stay healthy, Silver Sneakers is a program that provides fitness classes for those on Medicare at no cost. That's right. You don't get a bigger discount than free. So are you taking advantage of the big senior discounts you're eligible for? That's a key question to consider. And it's one of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 with the Retirement.Radio Network powered by a mirror Life. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
To get your free copy of 23 Retirement cost cutters for 2023, give Merrit a call at (858) 521-9700 or go online to RetirementUnbroken.com.

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