On this week’s episode of On the Money with Secure Money, Brian Quaranta explains why you should always put some money in safer retirement accounts and the risks of retiring during a recession.
Radio Show Transcript
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.
Steve 00:39
Welcome everybody. This is On the Money with Secure Money I’m consumer advocate Steve, Brian Quaranta is here Brian is President and CEO of Secure Money. He’s an author, Right Track Your Retirement, A Simple Planning Strategy to Help You Reduce Risk, Build Income and Provide Peace of Mind. And on today’s show, we’re closing out 2022, looking forward to 2023. And hopefully we can get there all in one piece. However, there are some out there saying it could be the worst year for retirement since the great recession. It’s all what you make it. We’ll make it better. When we come back today On the Money with Secure Money. Sound good, Brian?
Brian Quaranta 01:12
That’s right, Steve. And I want to just add on today’s show, to close out 2022 and welcome in 2023, we’re going to offer some things you should keep your eye on if you are planning to retire next year, when we come right back with On the Money with Secure Money.
Announcer 01:29
And now On the Money.
Brian Quaranta 01:31
Any good retirement plan starts with the foundation,
Announcer 01:36
asset protection, tax reduction, holistic planning,
Brian Quaranta 01:39
these are the things that start to move you towards having a retirement plan.
Announcer 01:43
Retirement doesn’t have to be complicated.
Brian Quaranta 01:47
You think that’s the difficult part? That’s just getting started!
Announcer 01:50
And now On the Money with Secure Money.
Steve 01:57
Hey, welcome in, everybody. This is On the Money with Secure Money. I’m consumer advocate, Steve, joining me today, as always, is Brian Quaranta. He is On the Money with Secure Money, if anybody defines that that is you, Brian, how are you?
Brian Quaranta 02:11
I’m doing great. Steve, good to see you again. As we come to the close of the year here.
Steve 02:15
Right? It’s been a big year. 2022 is a big year for you, certainly the company and your personal life as well. But I think that you know, we look forward to 2023.
Brian Quaranta 02:26
Right? We do. We do. It’s been a look, let’s just face it. I mean, it’s been a roller coaster ride for the last few years. I mean, between COVID and the stock market doing what it did during COVID. And, you know, lockdowns. And I mean, it’s just been challenging all the way across the board. And I think we’ve got some challenging times in front of us, though. And I think it’s important that we plan for that, because those of you that are getting ready to retire or are in retirement really just don’t have the luxury of sitting back and hoping for the best. I mean, I think it’s a time when, really you have to start to evaluate your overall plan. And make sure that as we go into these new economic times that you’re set up to plan for worst case scenario, I always feel that a good plan is based around worst case scenario. But we want to expect the best, right, as everything in life. But you know, at the end of the day, we’ve got to be prepared for 2023. There’s a lot of people think that you know, this recession is going to be inevitable sometime mid-year. And when you look at the data out there, it kind of proves that when you look at the trillions of dollars that is in in savings accounts, and those savings accounts are continuing decline. And we’re already starting to see a lot of companies lay people off. So, you know, it’s better to be prepared than to stick your head in the sand and not pay attention to it all. So, my advice to everybody is prepare, look over your strategies right now, remember that not worrying about it, hanging in there, you’re in it for long haul that is not a strategy. So, if you’re getting that type of advice, I would tell you to get a second opinion, because don’t worry about any losses, don’t worry about the volatility is not the way you would really want to approach retirement, especially if you’re taking risk with 100% of your life savings.
Steve 03:59
Sure. Well, I mean, one of the things that we talk about, and you’ve talked about this before, and this is kind of a hot button for you is that sequence of returns risk. And as far as things we need to look for going forward into 2023. We’ve got to understand that piece.
Brian Quaranta 04:12
Yeah, this is a big one. I talk about it all the time. And I and a lot of people are starting to understand it. We’ve been talking about it for years because we focus on the distribution part of retirement. And people really need to understand that there are two very distinct parts that we all go through with our money. There’s the accumulation years, and then there’s the distribution years, the accumulation years are really simple. You know, if you’ve ever taken a road trip across the country, your accumulation years, like hopping on the highway and you got 400 or 500 miles of highway in front of you, you know, if there’s an accident, you’ll probably slow down a little bit, but you’ll be able to make up time because you’re on the highway and you can go a little bit faster if that’s what your accumulation years are like. I mean, you got a long stretch of road in front of miles and miles and miles and miles of road when you retire. You get off that main highway and you start to get off on the side roads and now things Make a difference, right? There’s all kinds of twists and turns that you have to be aware of. And this is why in my book right track your retirement, I write about the five key areas that everybody needs to understand when shifting into retirement. Number one, most importantly is how to generate reliable consistent income without having to worry about the ups and downs of the market. Number two is making sure that we have a plan for taxes. Number three is making sure we’ve got a good investment strategy because the strategies that got you to retirement are not the same strategies that get you through retirement. Number four is making sure we have a plan for health events. And number five, a good estate planning strategy. But understanding sequence risk, Steve, this is a big one. Sequence of returns risk is really just a fancy term that financial advisors have been throwing around for years well since 1994, thanks to a paper written by a gentleman by the name of Bill Benjen. And it may sound like an obscure financial theory. But in 2023, it’s imperative to understand this unusual category of risk. It has a direct bearing on the wealth of people who plan to retire during difficult markets we are facing today. And here’s the simple version, during your 25-year retirement journey, there will be at least one bear market, your finances will be much worse off if the slump occurs at the beginning of your retirement rather than the middle or the end. And what we’ve got to remember about this sequencing risk is that the order in which you receive returns matters. And if you’re trying to generate income, like most people are from the money that they’ve saved in their retirement account, if you’re pulling money out, and the markets going down, keep in mind you are compounding those losses, you are locking into those losses. And now you have a probability of running out of money or out living your money. Okay. And this is what we want to avoid mitigation of risk and retirement comes from taking an approach called safety first. So, there’s two approaches you can take in retirement, there’s a safety first approach. And there’s also the probability approach the safety first approach, sure that the money that I’m going to need for the rest of my life is absolutely guaranteed and insured. And then anything else can be invested in the market at risk, so that you have extra money there to do bigger things. And if the markets aren’t going well, well, maybe you just don’t do those things that year. But you’ve got to make sure at least your basic necessities are covered. But that’s why every single week on our radio show, we leave time slots open for you to talk with our team. It’s not very often that you get to sit down with a fiduciary firm at no cost. It’s complimentary to you. And our right track retirement review will help you understand how to position and mitigate the risk that I’m talking about here today, along with many many other risks. So for the next 10 callers who call in right now, we are going to give you a complimentary right track retirement review, we will spend about 45 minutes with you going through strategy with you now when you call in, you can either do this meeting with us via the phone or you can come into the office, just let our team know who’s answering how you would like to handle this. So, take advantage of this. Now our right track retirement view is gonna go through five areas with the income taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning. But folks, you got to do your part, pick up the phone, this is not the time to procrastinate. Get yourself a second opinion, especially as we go into 2023. The economic environment is so much different. So, call us today and schedule that time.
Steve 08:15
Make that call right away, folks. 800-656-8616. That’s the number to call, Brian’s there for you. Taking things that are complicated, and it can be tricky, especially with a crazy market like we have right now. Here’s your chance to get a true practical Financial Review. get you on the right road to retirement 800-656-8616 You’ll get that comprehensive financial review, you’ll see where you are today. But more importantly, you’ll find that you now have a roadmap that can help get you to where you need to be 800-656-8616 800-656-8616
Brian Quaranta 08:52
Nothing strikes as much fear into our hearts of retirees as inflation and that’s for good reason we come back we’re going to talk about how to deal with inflation. We’ll come right back with on the money with secure money.
Announcer 09:11
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 BrianQ to 800-656-8616 we’ve made it easy folks. All you have to do is call or text the keyword BrianQ to 800-656-8616. And now on the money with secure money
Steve 10:00
Welcome back, this is On the Money was Secure Money Brian Quaranta is here. Brian is President and CEO of Secure Money Advisors; wrote a great little book called right track your retirement a simple planning strategy to help you reduce risk, build income and provide peace of mind. It’s a great little book Brian, and again, fast read, but really pertinent. And I know just easy to understand, you know, dialog, if you will.
Brian Quaranta 10:25
Yeah. And look, when you when you call in and you take advantage of our complimentary Right Track Retirement Review, we’re gonna send you a copy of the book at no cost, I’m literally going to pay for shipping and handling. Youre gonna pay not one penny to receive the copy of the book when you schedule that Right Track Retirement Review. And in that book, I lay out a very basic plan to make sure that you have a simple strategy that’s going to give you a peace of mind and the protection you need. Folks, the best advice that I can give you is take the safety first approach, the safety first approach is the better approach in retirement, what all it means is this, you’ve got to make sure that you take care of all the necessities, first, you’ve got to make sure that the bills are paid, you got to make sure that you’re going to have enough money to do the things you want to do, then if you want to roll the dice with some of your money, go for it take all the risks that you want, I believe in the market, but I believe in the market over the long term. Now understand that as you get older, that long term starts to get compressed on you. So you don’t have as much time for recovery as you did in your younger years, you just don’t have as much miles of road in front of you to be able to make up time. So, when you’re in retirement, you want to make sure that all of your necessities are taken care of first. And in my book, I talk about the safety first approach because I’ve seen it my two decades of planning people’s lives absolutely destroyed because somebody got paid to convince him that it was a great idea to continue to take risks with 100% of everything they’ve accumulated over their lifetime. Now, folks, I don’t really get this strategy, quite frankly, personally, myself. And that’s because if you think about it, everything we do in life, whether we’re driving our cars, purchasing a home or health, every bit of it’s insured, the one thing we never insure is our retirement. And I would encourage you to insure your retirement insure your income, why wouldn’t you? I mean, think about, you know, if you’re going to be retiring, what’s the most important thing you can have? It’s called income. So, what is one way that you can get income? Well, there’s something called Social Security, when you pay into Social Security and you wait to take it, the larger that pot of money gets? Well, you can do the same thing in retirement, you can do that by purchasing a simple annuity where you can buy the annuity, and the longer you wait, the more money you will receive. And this is a way that you can guarantee income not only for yourself, but if you die, also your spouse, the safety first approach means guarantee what you need to guarantee then roll the dice all you want. Some of the most sophisticated investors out there today understand this very simple philosophy. But yet we as the average investor are taught to believe that it’s okay to roll the dice and remember the person out there that’s telling you to risk 100% of your money. Well, it’s really easy to tell somebody to risk 100% of their money, especially if they get paid a fee or commission to do it. So again, take the safety first approach. Call us today to schedule your right track retirement review, sit down with my team, get yourself a second opinion and learn this very simple approach that will give you a peace of mind and security. As you go through retirement, there’s risks that you’ve got to mitigate. And retirement income is one of them. Number two is taxes, the investments you’re using right now are not the investments that you want to use as you go into retirement or through retirement. Some of you might be able to, but most people are using outdated strategies or strategies that are really set up for somebody that might be 35 or 40 years old. So, keep in mind, inflation is here. It’s healthy, and it’s alive. And we better have a way of protecting ourselves. And Warren Buffett has been quoted saying the first way to keep pace with inflation is not to lose any money. His second rule of keeping pace with inflation is don’t forget the first rule.
Steve 13:47
Exactly. Exactly. Well, again, I think that ties right into lose your fear of inflation. I mean, we’ve all lived through inflation, or at least if we’re getting closer to retirement. We’ve all lived through this before. It’s been a long time. But we’ve all done it before. And you certainly have helped people weather a crazy market like right now, haven’t you?
Brian Quaranta 14:11
Yeah, look, don’t take my word for it. I mean, listen to what Jamie Dimon CEO of JP Morgan has to say at the numbers and the story they tell.
Jamie Dimon 14:18
If you look in the short run the consumer spending 10% More than last year and 40% one pre COVID That’s a tremendous sum of money and they have a trillion and a half dollars still in their checking accounts more than pre COVID So the spending is down that’s the good news. The other news which is not good is it rates are now you know 4% on their way to five inflation is eroding everything I just said and that trillion and a half dollars will run out sometime mid year next year. And so when you’re looking at forward those things may very well derail the economy and causes mild or hard recession that people worried about.
Steve 14:46
Well, you know, he’s not got the brightest outlook on things, but uh, but again, he makes a point.
Brian Quaranta 14:51
Look,I mean, preparation is where it’s all at. I mean, you got to be preparing for Worst case scenario. I mean, if you have a plan where you’re just rolling the dice and you’re hoping for the best And you think, you know, the market downturn that we’ve had is going to recover as quickly as we saw with COVID, where it bounced very, very quickly where we call a V bottom recovery. That does not happen very often. Again, folks take the safety first approach. Let us show you how to do that for next 10 callers who call in right now we are going to give you a complimentary Right Track Retirement Review. So, we here at secure money advisors over two decades now have been helping 1000s of families put together strategies that work really well. Let us show you how to do it. Let me send you a copy of my book right track your retirement at absolutely no cost when you schedule your appointment.
Steve 15:35
That sounds great, Brian, folks, it’s 800-656-8616. You’re going to get that comprehensive financial review and you’ll see where you are today. But what’s important is you’re going to find you now have a roadmap that’s going to guide you on that road to retirement that is uniquely yours. 800-656-8616 again, 800-656-8616.
Brian Quaranta 16:04
Planning for retirement income, while not rocket science, is pretty complex. For example, here’s a list of questions a comprehensive plan will address when we come back, we’re gonna go over some of these we’ll come right back with On the Money with Secure Money.
Announcer 16:22
You’ve worked all your life. You’ve saved. Youve 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? Well of course you want to relax, and travel, and enjoy. And 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 BrianQ to 800-656-8616; that’s 800-656-8616 or text BrianQ to 800-656-8616.
Announcer 17:21
Are you fighting for financial knowledge? Don’t let 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 at Secure Money Advisors 800-656-8616, 800-656-8616.
Announcer 17:51
And now On the Money with Secure Money.
Steve 17:59
We’re back On the Money with Secure Money and Brian Quaranta and consumer advocate Steve, Brian, President and CEO of secure money advisors, you can find out more about him and Secure Money Advisors by simply visiting the website securemoneyadvisors.com That’s a great way place to start. I would also encourage you to check out righttrackyourretirement.com, righttrackyourretirement.com that your way to a free book that I think you’ll really enjoy. So, take advantage of that one too. Brian, what do you think?
Brian Quaranta 18:23
Absolutely. Look, go to righttrackyourretirement.com you get a copy of the book there absolutely no cost to you. We pay for the shipping and handling. You can also give us a call and schedule a time for a complimentary Right Track Retirement Review. Surely, folks, one of the things that I’ve said about our planning strategy is that we are very unique, we are very different. A lot of people will tell us all the time that you know, I wish we would have met you guys 10 years ago and understood this philosophy and this philosophy. You know, for those of us that have focus on distribution planning, it’s been a fight to really make noise in the marketplace. And finally, people are listening to us. And because the strategy is all about mitigation of risk, too many of us still are trying to go the way of just utilizing 100% of the stock market and I’m not against the stock market. I believe in it. I have my personal money invested in the market. But I also have ways to ensure my income. I also have ways to reduce taxes in my planning portfolio. But you need that also folks take the safety first approach. It’s the best approach that you can take for you and your family. It truly gives you simplicity and most importantly, peace of mind. You owe it to yourself just to find out about it to understand how it works. And in my book right track your retirement in chapter three, I write about a very specific strategy that I’ve been using for two decades now called a bucket strategy. And in that we teach you how to organize your money in a very specific way and dedicate a specific dollar amount to specific purposes because remember, in retirement, things are much different. You’re going to need income or you’re going to have to make sure that you mitigate taxes because one of the things that’s going to erode your wealth very quickly in retirement is taxes and inflation and if you get an inflation rate right we have right now and the potential for tax is going up in the future that is going to cause your purchasing power to go down rapidly, you’ve got to make sure you have strategies to mitigate that risk.
Announcer 20:09
And now On the Money with Secure Money
Steve 20:16
Hey, welcome back, everybody. This is another segment of On the Money with Secure Money and Brian Quaranta. Brian, of course, President, CEO of Secure Money Advisors, again, a fiduciary, independent, 20 plus years experience, author of Right Track Your Retirement. And again, we’ve been talking a lot about that today, Brian, but that book, like I said, it’s a pretty easy read. It’s not complicated, but it does sort of break things down in a way that I think we can understand.
Brian Quaranta 20:41
It does. And that’s why so many people have said, Look, you know, your book really changed my life, because it really gave me a better understanding of how to go about building things, and it kept it simple.
Steve 20:50
Alright, Brian, well, let’s jump into some of these questions here. While we still have time available, Axl was wondering, he says, in two years, my wife and I will be 67 years old and will be qualified to receive Social Security benefits. We have IRA accounts with a combined value of just over a million dollars, how could my wife and I reduce income tax when we start to withdraw from our IRA accounts during our retirement years?
Brian Quaranta 21:12
Yeah, well, that’s great question. So, there’s a few ways that you can reduce the taxation out of your IRAs. One, if you’re giving the charities you can use something called a qualified charitable distribution, where when the RMD start, rather than you paying money out of your savings or checking account to your charities, you can give it to your charity in the form of the RMD. And then you’re not taxed on that you can also use something called a qualified longevity annuity contract where the IRS allows you to put 25% of your IRA balance into that account, and then you’re not subjected to RMDs on that, but it protects you later on down the road. If you need additional income in your later years, but they’ll actually exclude that from the total amount in your IRA. So you don’t have to take RMDs on that. The other thing that you can do when you’re withdrawing money is you can set yourself up by doing Roth conversions right now. So that you can convert from taxable money to tax free money so that when you do start to withdraw money from your IRA accounts, maybe you’re withdrawing from a Roth IRA versus a traditional IRA, and now you don’t owe any tax, as a matter of fact, it’s all tax free to you. So there’s lots of strategies and many more that I haven’t even talked about here on ways that you can reduce or eliminate taxation when you have to withdraw money
Steve 22:23
800-656-8616 Jonathan’s up next, he says, not been alive don’t know a lot about taxes, or 401k is just learning as I listened. So I’m struggling to understand the advantage. How does it help me if I still need to pay taxes? When I withdraw the money later? Is there a strategy to this? Well, yeah, well, look, I’ll pay your taxes and go to jail. It’s that simple.
Brian Quaranta 22:47
Well, look, I mean, at the end of the day, the 401k, really, in my opinion, was not the best strategy to go all in on with employees, when you look at the creation of 401k, in the late 70s. And it became very popular, the early 80s, in the 401k, was originally designed for executives that were getting bonuses or stock options, and it was a way for them to defer having to pay taxes on that money. But it didn’t take long for companies to realize that it was going to be a lot cheaper to provide a 401 K plan than provide you with a pension for the rest of your life. You know, the pension, in my opinion, is something that should have been protected, it should have never gone away, because people have much more peace of mind knowing that if they work for a company for a period of time, and they put a certain amount of money away that they’re going to be able to turn an income stream on just like they would with Social Security, and it would be guaranteed for their life. And if they die, it would be guaranteed for their spouse’s life. So you know, if that’s all the option you got, and you’re growing and accumulating money, so for example, for myself here, I participate in the secure money advisors 401k. And I use the Roth component of it. So I pay all the taxes upfront, but every deposit I make into my 401k is going to grow tax-free. And then when I withdraw it in the future, it’s still tax-free. So lots of different strategies on how to do it, Jonathan, but what I would tell you is get yourself with a good fiduciary firm that can help you build a plan and help you lay out a strategy
Steve 24:07
800-656-8616 There’s the number to call. Now let’s go to Rhonda Rhonda is wondering, she says What’s your opinion of all the robo advisors stuff I’ve been hearing about? Is AI taking over retirement or should I look into it?
Brian Quaranta 24:22
Well, look, I mean, it’s a cheap way to do things and people. There’s a lot of people out there that just like to not pay money to get advice. And if that’s you, it’s a good direction to go. But I will tell you about a recent study that was done. I believe this was done by Bloomberg, don’t quote me on this, but it was a study being done and it looked at the average return of the average mutual fund average return of the average mutual fund was 10.7%. The average return of the average investor was 3.7%. So why the difference between the average return of the average mutual fund and the average return of the average investor was a 7% difference, right? 10.7 for the mutual fund 3.7 for the investor. What is going on here? What’s going on here is bad behavior, right? Investment behavior. A lot of people sell when the markets going down, and they buy back in when the markets already up. And because of that bad behavior, people actually are their worst enemies when it comes to dealing and investing with their own money. Again, this is why we offer the Right Track Retirement Review, because we want to base to build your plan, folks, you owe it to yourself to give our office a call and schedule a complimentary right track retirement review, we leave 10 spots open every single week for listeners to call in and schedule this time, when you call in. Well, I’m also going to send you a copy of my book at no cost, you’re gonna get it. It’s a simple planning guide to help you build income and give you peace of mind in retirement, we’re going to help you go through five areas of your retirement planning, your income, your taxes, your investments, your healthcare strategy, and your estate planning strategy. So again, you got to do your part, don’t procrastinate on this. Call us today and schedule a time to come in and go through the right track review. You won’t regret it. And my promise to you is when you come in, leave your checkbook at home because nobody’s going to try to sell you anything. There’s no high pressure here. We truly are here to help solve problems and do the very best for the community that we can do. Take advantage of it.
Steve 26:09
800-656-8616 again, 800-656-8616 This has been a really fast show. Holy cow. I was gonna come back for another segment.
Brian Quaranta 26:17
We got to wait till next week. And folks, thanks again for joining us have a happy holiday and Merry Christmas. And we’ll see you again next week right here same time with On the Money with Secure Money.
Announcer 26:34
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 usage of information discussed. Exposure to ideas and financial vehicle 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 redeemed may 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 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.
