Episode 196 – How to Retire Without a Pension

This week on On the Money with Secure Money, Brian Quaranta teaches how to retire in a time where pensions are no longer common.

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Announcer 00:00

Investment advisory services are offered through Foundation Investment Advisors, LLC. an SEC registered investment advisor. Brian Quaranta and his guests provide general information not individually targeted, personalized advice, they’re not liable for the usage of information discussed. Exposure to ideas and financial vehicles should not be considered investment advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of these financial vehicles. This information should also not be considered tax or legal advice. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, investments will fluctuate and when were deemed to be worth more or less than when originally invested. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products, they did not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products, fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company.

Brian Quaranta 00:39

If you go back probably what five, six years ago AARP did a study of 8000 people they said, what you do fear most running out of money or death? You know, 90% of those people answered that survey, they said they fear running out of money more than they fear death. I would be in that group to absolutely fear running out of money. When we come back, we’re gonna talk about a lot of things that you can do to try to avoid running out of money and come right back On the Money with Secure Money.

Announcer 01:04

And now, On the Money.

Brian Quaranta 01:06

Any good retirement plans starts with the foundation,

Announcer 01:10

Asset protection, tax reduction, holistic planning,

Brian Quaranta 01:14

These are the things that start to move you towards having a retirement plan.

Announcer 01:18

Retirement doesn’t have to be complicated.

Brian Quaranta 01:21

You think that’s the difficult part. That’s just getting started.

Announcer 01:25

And now On the Money with Secure Money.

Steve 01:32

Hey, welcome back, everybody. This is On the Money with Secure Money. Brian Quaranta here. Brian, of course, is President and CEO of Secure Money Advisors. But wait, there’s more. He’s also an author. He’s written a book called Right Track Your Retirement a Simple Planning Strategy to Help You Reduce Risk, Build Income and Provide Peace of Mind. And Brian, I know that’s a long title. But it really kind of sums it all up with what you do in that book.

Brian Quaranta 01:54

Yeah, well, listen, I wrote it, because I think retirement planning is a lot more simple than what my industry makes it to be, you know, 25 years of practicing now. And I’ve learned that my industry makes this thing way too confusing. And we talk about a very simple bucketing approach, which helps people really identify the goals of their money, but also how to properly separate that money to separate buckets so that they know what the purpose of the money is and how to use it and when to use it. So yeah, in the book, there’s everything from A to Z of how to build your retirement plan. If you go to righttrackyourretirement.com. Again, that’s righttrackyourretirement.com you can get a copy of my book, absolutely free, complimentary, and it’s free. I don’t, I don’t any, I don’t know any other way to say it, Steve, I literally pay for the shipping and handling. Every single week, I probably send 25-30 books out and I’m paying for the shipping and handling. There’s absolutely no catch to it at all. I just feel passionately about getting this information out to people, because I think people can retire a lot sooner than they think when they’re given a right strategy.

Steve 02:57

Right. Oh, I completely agree. And you certainly have taught me that over the years, Brian? And, you know, with retirement, there’s, there’s always something on the horizon. Right? There’s always something happening. And, and I mean, you know, retirement is, you know, the certainty of uncertainty. That’s pretty much what it is, isn’t it?

Brian Quaranta 03:15

Well, look, I mean, you go back 30-40 years ago, I mean, retirement planning was simple. You didn’t have to listen to a radio show to learn how to do it, you didn’t have to watch a TV show to learn how to do it. Matter of fact, he didn’t even need to write any books or go to a, a dinner seminar. You know, I mean, you’ve probably worked for an employer for 30 or 40 years. And that employer told you when you came to work for them, that if you gave them, you know, 30 or 40 years that, you know, at a certain age, you’d be able to retire and they would pay you X amount of dollars every single month. And by the way, if you were married and you died, your spouse would continue to get that money. So we just don’t see that anymore. You know, that’s, that was the day of the pension. And the pensions are kind of gone. About 85% of the people today are not retired with pensions. And it’s a big problem, because, you know, the pension was replaced with the 401 K plan. And the difference between the pension and the 401 K plan is that the pension was something that was guaranteed to the employee. The 401k is something that is invested in the stock market. And as long as the stock market is going in the right direction, you got nothing to worry about. But think about what’s been going on in the last year, a year and a half. I mean, people have been wanting to retire or maybe just retired. I mean, they’re worried right now and you know, some people are delaying retirement because they lost money in their 401 K so there’s a lot that you got to prepare for going to retirement, you know, because you never know what’s going to show up in the economic environment like bank failures, right?

Steve 04:42

We’ve just had one of those, a couple of those actually.

Brian Quaranta 04:45

Yeah, well, there’s a lot more than you think every single year, you know. So you know, that we just got to make sure that we have, you know, a good plan in place. And that’s exactly what Secure Money Advisors does. That’s why I wrote the book, because it teaches you the fundamentals of building a plan. And, you know, I think that, you know, once people have a good blueprint to follow, whether they ask you don’t get that help from Secure Money Advisors, or they read that book, and they’re able to go have better conversations with their advisors, I feel I’ve done my job, you know, not growing up with a silver spoon in my mouth, my mom and dad work really hard for their money. And I knew that if my mom and dad just had good information without, you know, an agenda of somebody trying to sell them something that they would make good decisions. And listen, I’ve gotten emails from people that aren’t even clients that said, Hey, Brian, I read your book, thank you so much, I finally have clarity of what to do. And it allowed me to have better conversations with my current financial advisor. So very proud of the book. And you know, I would tell you, folks, again, go get a copy of it, righttrackyourretirement.com. It’s absolutely free complimentary to you.

Steve 05:45

One of the things that you talk about in the book is, is understanding our spending, and how that impacts our retirement. And obviously, that’s, that’s oversimplification. But at the same time, you have to know what comes in and what goes out?

Brian Quaranta 05:59

Well, look, I mean, in order to ensure you won’t run out of money during retirement, you first need to determine how much money you’re currently spending. I mean, consider, you know, things like cutting back on expenses by cutting back on maybe dining out, looking for cable alternatives, finding less expensive phone or phone plan, and refinancing your mortgage if you still have a mortgage. So there’s lots of ways to save money out there. And when you’re retired, you have time to actually explore those alternatives and find ways to cut back on on expenses. But, you know, the way we like to build plans is, you know, look, I think budget is kind of a dirty word, cutting back on expenses, I look at that as like, well, who the heck wants to do that when you go to retire, because you’re supposed to be living out your bucket list and doing all the things you promised yourself that you are going to do. So the last thing we want to do is build a retirement account, or a plan that is not giving you the cash flow that you need on a monthly basis to go to do the things you want to do. But with that being said, I mean, $1 saved is a good thing, right? So to cut back on expenses, that’s not a bad thing. So by cutting back, we’re increasing cash flow, and we increase cash flow gives you more money to do the things you want to do.

Steve 07:07

Exactly. And it’s it sounds so simple. And it is really, it’s a matter of having that bit of discipline, folks, if you want to know more 800-656-8616 That’s the number you can call, sit down with Brian and his team and really map it all out. That’s what it’s coming down to. And I again, again, I know we’re up against the clock here, but we’ve got to put together, you know, we’ve got to contribute to those retirement plans that you talked about because of the lack of pensions, whether that’s a 401 K or an IRA.

Brian Quaranta 07:33

Yeah. And in my book, I teach people how to make the right contributions and where to contribute their money too. I tell a great story about Babe Ruth in the book, and about how he invested his money back in the 20s, during the Great Depression that allowed him even when he retired to have significant cash flow. As a matter of fact, his cash flow was, was equal to today’s dollars of over $250,000. And you can read about that in the book. But folks for the next 10 callers who call in right now, I want to give you a complimentary Right Track Retirement Review. Our complimentary Right Track Review goes over three key areas for you in retirement, your income, your taxes, and your investments. We teach you how to maximize your income, potentially help you reduce your risk, and get the most tax efficient strategy possibly even help you get your money from taxable money to tax free. But you got to do your part. Don’t procrastinate. Call us, schedule a Right Track Retirement meeting with us today. My promise to you as always is that they’ll never be anybody in my office that pressures you to buy anything. Nobody’s trying to sell you anything. We’re absolutely here to help. If you come in, the promise I make is that the meeting will be very eye opening and very informative. So go to righttrackyourretirement.com and get a copy of the book. And you can also schedule your appointment there or you can call 800-656-8616.

Steve 08:44

That’s I mean, again, as simple as that folks make that call today. There are spots on the calendar available right now. If you call 800-656-8616. Get that comprehensive financial review that Right Track Retirement Review, get you on the right road to retirement, because then when you walk out you will have in your hand that roadmap that we talked about that can help get you to where you need to be when it comes to retirement 800-656-8616 800-656-8616.

Brian Quaranta 09:11

When we come back, we’re going to offer some suggestions to help keep your retirement on track despite runaway inflation and a roller coaster stock market. It’s a real double whammy for investors heading into retirement when we come right back On the Money with Secure Money.

Announcer 09:33

We believe in better, a better way to invest a better way to serve you. And a better result, we can help you determine how much risk you’re taking red flags that could be potential problems for you how much you’re paying in fees or commissions, potential tax liability, or even how to address social security call Brian Quaranta and his team at secure money advisors at 800-656-8616, or text keyword, Brian Q to 800-656-8616. We’ve made it easy, folks, all you have to do is call or text the keyword Brian cute 800-656-8660. And now On the Money with Secure Money.

Steve 10:22

Hey, we are back On the Money with Secure Money. Brian Quaranta here, Brian, of course President CEO of secure money advisors. And he’s been helping folks for 25 years get to and through retirement he knows of what he speaks. You can find out more at righttrackyourretirement.com that’s the website where you can also find his book. Right Track Your Retirement and so much more. And so, Brian, you talked about a double whammy? Well, I you know, I want big money. No. Whammies.

Brian Quaranta 10:52

Yeah, was that, that’s not the price is right. That show, I can see it. I can see it in my mind.

Steve 10:58

No matter what I forget that that was the name of the show that’s actually on again.

Brian Quaranta 11:01

Yeah, Gosh, darn it, I will have to think about it. It’s gonna pop up.

Steve 11:05

Press Your Luck.

Brian Quaranta 11:06

Press Your Luck.

Steve 11:07

Yeah.

Brian Quaranta 11:08

Press Your Luck. Actually, I don’t even remember that. But I believe you.

Steve 11:13

Anyway, getting back to this, I mean, one of the things you talk about is helping to keep us on track. And, you know, that’s one of the things that you do really well. And right now, I think is a difficult time for folks to really see things clearly. And thinking well, okay, the markets down, I don’t know what to do, I don’t want to lose money. So I’m gonna sell everything. Do we need to give up on the stock market at this point?

Brian Quaranta 11:37

If you’re giving up on the stock market, it means you don’t have a plan, plain and simple, because the stock market will always be part of your plan. The problem is people are risking money, they can’t afford to lose. And so until you put together a plan that allows you to actually take the risk in the market, you’re always going to live and die by the ups and downs of the market. You know, when the markets up, you’re gonna feel great, you know, and when the markets down, you’re gonna feel terrible. And, you know, there was a report done, you know, quite a few years ago, by DALBAR. And they had looked at what the average return of the average investment was in the stock market. And the average return, the average investment was about 10.7%. And then they looked at the average return of the average investor, it was 3.7%. And the article went on to say, the reason of the difference, that’s a huge difference. Big difference, you know, that’s a, that’s a, you know, with a 10.3, 10.7, 3.7, somewhere around there. But a huge, huge difference, right? Between the average return the average investment and the average return of the average investor. And the main reason was behavior, psychological behavior, because what people do is they buy at the wrong time, they sell at the wrong time. But that’s because when you look at most people and how they have their plans structured, is they typically will have 100% of their life savings, invested in some type of 401 k or IRA. And really, they’re gambling with money they can’t afford to lose. And I’ve said many times, Steve, when you’ve won the game, why are you continuing to continue to play it?

Steve 13:05

Yeah.

Brian Quaranta 13:06

Why are you going to continue to play I mean, walk away a winner, see, people think that they need to continue to use the stock market 100% of the time, I’m telling you, you don’t need to use the stock market 100% of the time, people who will, I need all of the gains to keep pace with inflation, you don’t need all the gains, you don’t need 100% of the gains, you need to protect yourself from 100% of the losses. Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have some of your money in the market. But you should be using some fundamental planning strategies. And these are things that people don’t even know that they should be doing like something as simple as the rule of 100. Steve, how many people I have shared and taught over the years the rule of 100 that didn’t know it, they’ve been working with advisors for years, no one’s ever explained it to him. The rule of 100 folks, very simple. This is how much you can determine how much money you can have at risk versus how much you should have in something that is generating income. Because remember, when you retire, the paychecks are going to stop, but bills and taxes and the money that you’re going to need to do all the things that you want to do. That’s not going to stop. So the rule of 100 is very simple. If we take 100 minus your age, so let’s say we have someone that’s 60 years old, 100 minus 60 equals 40. The 40 are the result of that 100 minus 60, 40 is the amount of money you can roll the dice with 40% 60% should be in some type of portfolio that’s generating cash flow. I don’t care if it’s dividend paying stocks, I don’t care if it’s preferred stocks, I don’t care if it’s some type of bond, I don’t care if it’s some type of annuity. But you better have a way that regardless of market volatility, you can produce income. See, people don’t realize it, you know, when you buy a dividend paying stock, and you go with, you know, really good dividend companies, the amount of dividend that you receive is not based off the share price, it’s based off of the number of shares you have. So let’s say I were to buy $100,000 of a stock like Verizon, I’m not telling you to buy Verizon but and it pays a 7% dividend, and I put $100,000 in, I’m gonna get $7,000 a year, what, what happens if my investment goes from 100,000 to 50,000, I’m still gonna get $7,000 a year because the dividend is paid on the number of shares, not the share price. So these are simple things that just my industry has made it difficult for people to understand. You know, I had a guy come in the other day that didn’t want to take any risk. 60 years old, we used an income annuity Steve, where he put $250,000, in at the age of 60. And five years later, that annuity is going to pay him over $26,000 a year. That’s a 10% yield on his original deposit amount, $26,000 a year, every single year for the rest of his life. And by the way, because it’s an annuity, and it’s insured. If the balance of that account goes to zero, he still gets the $26,000 Oh, and by the way, if he dies, his family gets any money that’s left in the account. These are the things that I write about my book, because I want people to know that there are alternatives out there. And you got to find a good fiduciary firm that’s fee based to help you put together a plan. And that’s why every single week on the show, we offer for the next 10 callers a complimentary right track review, where we show you a lot of different strategies during that meaning of how you could go about building a plan that gives you security and peace of mind. When you come in our right track, meaning we’ll go through three key areas with you, your income, your taxes, and your investments, we’ll show you how to potentially increase the amount of income you’re getting, we’ll show you how to potentially reduce the risk you’re taking. And most importantly, we can show you how to go from taxable money to tax free money. It’s absolutely complimentary. I don’t have any other way to say it, Steve, but it’s free. It’s a free meaning the risk, I’m literally taking the risk off of you the listener and putting the risk on Secure Money Advisors, because we don’t know if we’re going to be able to help. But my promise to you is this. If you come in and schedule that meeting, nobody will ever try to sell you anything. Nobody will ever pressure you to do anything. But you will walk away very informed.

Steve 17:05

And that’s really what it’s all about. Folks, give Brian a call, set up a time to come on in, sit down, have the conversation, get that financial roadmap, put together. That’s what we’re talking about here, Right Track Your Retirement. That’s what Brian and his team can do for you. It’s a chance to get a true practical Financial Review. It’s a phone call away at 800-656-8616. 10 callers right now. We’ll get that comprehensive financial review and you’ll see where you are today. But more importantly, you’ll find you now have a roadmap to help get you to where you need to be 800-656-8616 That’s 800-656-8616.

Brian Quaranta 17:43

A common question for most advisors is how much do I need to retire? Well, the answer is not always about money. When we come back, we’re gonna tackle some non-financial questions that may help you find the answer you’re looking for. And we come right back with On the Money with Secure Money.

Announcer 18:03

Are you fighting for financial knowledge? Bad advice, be a punch in the gut to your retirement. Take advantage of a complimentary no cost, no obligation consultation with a local trusted financial coach. Call Brian Quaranta and his team that’s Secure Money Advisors 800-656-8616 800-656-8616..

18:34

You’ve worked all your life you’ve saved you followed all the rules. Now it’s time to retire. Here’s the question. Who do you want relaxing and taking it easy, your nest egg or you will of course you want to relax and travel and enjoy a nest egg. You’ve got more work to do for a retirement that maximizes your portfolio. Your Social Security avoids unnecessary risk protects you from pitfalls and frankly, lets you retire and keeps the nest egg working. You need a retirement partner. You need someone looking out for your best interests and building a plan for you based on your situation. Call Brian Quaranta at 800-656-8616 or text Brian Q to 800-656-8616 that’s 800-656-8616 or text Brian Q to 800-656-8616.

Announcer 19:34

And now On the Money with Secure Money.

Steve 19:41

We are back On the Money with Secure Money. Brian Quaranta here I’m consumer advocate Steve having a great conversation. We covered some ground today Brian it’s, it’s pretty amazing. And, and again, to me the takeaway from this whole thing is just work with an independent fiduciary advisor and chances are if you’ve been a good saver, they can make it work for you. Right?

Brian Quaranta 20:02

Well look, you know, more and more people are becoming aware of the fiduciary advisor and you know, we do educational events, what six times a month, you know, so, as a matter of fact, if you go to securemoneyadvisors.com Go to Events tab, you can find out where we’re going to be. And, you know, one of the main questions I get all the time, when we go through the educational event is, you know, are you guys a fiduciary? And I always, you know, ask, great question, why do you ask? And they said, Well, my understanding is that the fiduciary has to do what’s in the clients best interest? And the answer is, yes, we are. There’s a lot more people becoming fiduciaries, which is really, really great to see. Because the industry needs it. The industry needed to make over for a long time, you know, there’s better regulation, tighter regulation to protect the consumer and, you know, a fiduciary firm you can rely on because, you know, they’re not driven by commissions, they’re fee based. And typically, when you work with a fiduciary firm, they’re going to do something that a lot of brokers aren’t going to do. And that’s provide you with a real written plan. And folks, I tell you, if you don’t have a real written plan, in a binder, any tangible binder, I would highly recommend you get it. You know, look, everybody’s trying to go to online technology, I got no problem with plans, being on portals and everything. But let me tell you something, the day that the good Lord decides to take you home, your kids aren’t going into some portal to find your plan. They’re going to pull it off a shelf somewhere and say, Hey, this was mom and dad’s plan. Oh, look, it says here call Secure Money Advisors. Here’s all the planning documents. That’s what you need folks, don’t get caught out by the technology is great. But technology buries a lot of things. Think about pictures these days. You know, if you’ve ever lost a friend or a family member, a lot of times you lose all their pictures to you know, not the old days. I mean, my mom and dad have, you know, boxes of pictures from my grandparents and great grandparents. You know, I don’t know if we’ll ever have that stuff. So get a plan that’s tangible, folks, you know, if you do have a plan that’s stuck in a portal somewhere on a computer, print it off and put it somewhere, because the day you die, believe me, most people, they don’t have access to that stuff. You know, family members don’t have access to passwords.

Steve 22:11

No, that’s the thing. I mean, that should be part of your estate plan.

Brian Quaranta 22:15

Absolutely.

Steve 22:16

Passwords.

Brian Quaranta 22:17

That’s right. That’s right. And, you know, you see it all the time. I mean, you know, I know a young kid that just passed away, you know, and very sad situation. And, you know, nobody knows how to get into any of this stuff.

Steve 22:29

Yeah.

Brian Quaranta 22:30

You know, I mean, you’re gonna eventually do it by trying to, you know, get death certificate and all that kind of stuff. But anyway, I’ll let me digress on that. The bottom line is, get yourself a good fiduciary firm that is going to give you a real written tangible plan, it makes a world of a difference, and get with a fiduciary firm that believes in providing you a plan around facts and math, because opinions today don’t matter. What matters is the math and the facts.

Steve 22:52

800-656-8616 how you get started, folks that he makes very good sense, in my opinion. So let’s jump into a couple of questions. Brian, before we run out of time, Gary’s up first, Gary says I’m at my wit’s end with my current employer, and I’m not sure how long I can keep working for these Boneheads. But I’m 60 years old planning to retire in a couple of years anyway, would it be foolish just to walk away now? How do I know if I’ll have enough money to be okay,

Brian Quaranta 23:18

Yeah, you know, the next book I write Steve is going to be called retire now. And the reason is, is because I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met over the years just like Gary, who are fed up with their employer, and you know, and they’re not really sure whether or not they can retire or not. And over the years, we’ve seen this over and over again, folks come in, they’re not happy with their current employer, they just want to change. They’re like, I don’t even know if I can retire, I don’t have that million dollars, they say I was going to need, and we walk them through a written plan. And we show them mathematically how they can retire. And I say, Look, you don’t need to retire, just know that you can write, you know what always happens, what always happens is six months later, they come back and they say, I’m gonna retire right now. Because when you get clarity, you start to have confidence. And when you have confidence, you start to have the courage to do the things like Gary wants to do, like walk away right now, but not have the worry that he’s going to run out of money or not have enough money. And that’s something that Gary, a good fiduciary firm that believes in providing you a real written plan can show you how to do and they can even work scenarios in where, you know, if there’s a market correction, or if you have an emergency that comes up and you need to take a large sum of money or you have a health event, and you need to pay for a nursing home, what impacts those would have on the probability of your plan working or not working.

Steve 24:39

All right, 800-656-8616, Gary, give us a call, sit down with Brian, I’m sure he’d love to be able to help you out there,

Brian Quaranta 24:45

Get the education first and it’s certainly something we can provide at Secure Money Advisors. The other thing is for the next 10 callers, we’re going to give you that complimentary Right Track Retirement Review. And again, we go over three key areas when you come in, we go over your income, we go over your tax strategy, we go over your investment strategy, we can help you identify ways to possibly increase your income, potentially get you more money in retirement. The second is we evaluate your tax strategy, we look at ways to reduce the amount of taxes you’re paying, which by the way, taxes are going to be the biggest eroder of your wealth along with inflation. So you got to have a tax efficient strategy. Even tax-free strategy? And third is the risk analysis we do figuring out, is your plan going to work? What’s the probability of you succeeding in retirement? Folks, we do this all complimentary. It’s free. I don’t know any other way to say the risk is literally on us here at Secure Money Advisors. We don’t charge you anything to come in, nobody’s gonna pressure you to buy anything, leave your checkbook at home, my team is not going to sell you anything. We’re here to help. Come in. I know it can be intimidating, but it’s not at Secure Money Advisors. So call the number and get scheduled today to come in or go to righttrackyourretirement.com get a copy of the book, and you can schedule there.

Steve 25:47

800-656-8616 You get the comprehensive financial review that Brian just talked about. We’ve been talking about it all day and get, get your roadmap going to where you can find out where you need to be when it comes to retirement. 800-656-8616 again, 800-656-8616 Brian, as always, a pleasure to be here. Lots of fun, great show, fast paced, and really great information.

Brian Quaranta 26:09

Steve, always good being with you. And folks, we’ll see you again next week right here with On the Money with Secure Money.

Announcer 26:21

Investment Advisory services are offered through foundation investment advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor Brian Quaranta and his guests provide general information not individually targeted, personalized advice and are not liable for the use of drip information. Discuss exposure to ideas and financial vehicles should not be considered investment, advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of these financial vehicles. This information should also not be considered tax or legal advice. As performance is not a guarantee of future results. investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than one originally invested. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products did not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company.

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