On the Money with Secure Money: Episode 47

To see a full schedule of our TV airtimes, please click here.

Video Transcript

Randy Major – 00:21

Hello, and welcome to On The money with secure money. I’m your host, Randy major. And I’m here today with President and Founder of secure money advisors, Brian Quaranta. See you, how are you today

Brian Quaranta – 00:33

doing great, how are you?

Randy Major – 00:34

I’m very well, thank you. So today we’re talking about retirement, and we work our whole lives to enjoy these years. But it still makes a lot of us a little uneasy. Brian, it

Brian Quaranta – 00:45

does, it makes a lot of people uneasy. And the reason is, is because most people just don’t have a plan. And, you know, as they’re going through their working years, I mean, they’re working really hard to accumulate their dollars. But you know, as they approach retirement, the reality hits them that they’re going to be leaving their workplace, and they’re no longer going to have a paycheck anymore, right? And this paycheck is going to stop. And all of a sudden, now there’s there, they have the reality of going, I have to replace this paycheck, because guess what, I’m not getting a pension. Right. And that pension used to make life so easy, because when you retired, you’d get a social security check, you’d get a pension check. And between those two sources of income, that was enough to pay the bills on a monthly basis. Now, for most people full security, that’s just not enough monthly income. So they’re going okay, I’ve got this pot of money now. How do I take this? And how do I now generate monthly income, month after month after month without the risk? Or worry, right? of running out of money?

Randy Major – 01:55

Right? I mean, that is a huge, huge concern it is. And even when you’re retired, life still happens. It does. How can we plan for those moments that we’re going to need a little more?

Brian Quaranta – 02:05

Well, it’s a really great question, Randy. Because those moments we don’t know when they’re gonna come. And you know, those moments could be a health event of some sort, it could be a family member in need. It could be maybe the loss of employment right before retirement. And so what we do at secure money advisors, and what we do really well is we help people build a plan around five key areas. Okay, number one, and most importantly, is income. Because as we all know, myself, you, we can’t live without money on a monthly basis. Right, right. Number two is we’ve got to make sure that we pay the least amount of taxes. Number three is we’ve got to make sure that as we shift into retirement, we have the right types of investments, most people have the wrong type of investments going to retirement, they got the ones that can go up and down, right as the market goes up and down. And that’s not such a great idea for all of their money going into retirement because, you know, if they lose a lot of money in retirement, that’s a big problem, right? Because they may not have enough to get through retirement. Health care is number four. And number five is legacy planning. And this is what we do at secure money advisors, we put together a comprehensive, written plan that helps people get through retirement securely and confidently.

Randy Major – 03:31

And it’s not a one size fits all plan for everybody, there’s going to be something different that’s going to give each of your clients a good peace of mind for their retirement. Well,

Brian Quaranta – 03:39

it’s a great point because, you know, customization of the plan is important. Your situation, my situation are going to be completely different. You know, you get in at our office, we’re very, very busy. So, you know, we’ll see, you know, anywhere from maybe eight to 10 people a day at our office. Some people have pensions, some people don’t have pensions. Some people have traditional IRAs, and 401 K’s some people just have 401 K’s some people have Roth 401, Ks and Roth IRAs. And so, for us, it’s secure money. You know, we really have become financial engineers to a certain degree because you people come in, right? And I always talk about this on the show, they come in and they bring this thing called their POS, that stands for their pile of stuff. It really is just about ever, ever built like a 5000 piece puzzle, you know, and they throw it out on the table and you’re going Holy smokes, where’s the corners? Right? Aren’t you supposed to out with the corners, right?

Randy Major – 04:38

I think so. Yes.

Brian Quaranta – 04:40

So our job is to help really take all those pieces of the puzzle and knowing what we know about retirement planning and doing it for over 21 years. There are best practices that you have to follow as you go through the retirement planning process to make sure that you can assess really get through it and building a plan as part of it and having a written plan is the More important,

Randy Major – 05:00

right? Yeah. Now, Brian, you mentioned taxes earlier. Now, I think this is something that everybody, including myself, is concerned about you tell us a little bit about what we can expect to see.

Brian Quaranta – 05:10

Yeah, of course. So the reason I say taxes are so important is because if you ask most people today and you say, you know, what’s your thoughts on taxes in the future? Right? Do you think they’re going up? Or do you think they’re going down? What do you think most people say? They’re gonna say they’re going up, right? I mean, you know, you look at the trillions of dollars, we’re spending as a country, it’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t go up, right. And the reason why it becomes important in retirement is because for most people, they are not getting a pension. And so that means they’re going to have to withdraw money from their retirement accounts. And for most people, those retirement account dollars that they withdraw from their accounts are going to be taxable, okay, at the ordinary income tax bracket. So let’s just suppose that you have an individual husband and wife, maybe that need an extra $1,000 a month in income for retirement. All right. And let’s suppose that the $1,000 that they get a month they have to pay 20% in taxes on, okay, well, that means they’re only going to net $800, right. But what happens when tax rates go to 30%. Now, that same $1,000, withdrawal is only going to net $700. So here, we have a shrinkage of your purchasing power, just through taxation alone. Now, Randy, if you add inflation, and on top of that, I mean, it compresses the income down. So making sure that as we go into retirement, the income that you can generate is tax efficient. And that could mean that some of that money, maybe not all of it, but what if we could take that $1,000 that you need on a monthly basis, and make 500 of it tax free and 500 at taxable, or what if even better, we could make all $1,000, tax free, right. And that’s why it’s so important. But there’s other parts of that too. And the other part is, that when the good Lord decides to take your home, and you know, the last time I checked, none of us are getting out of here alive, right? That’s at least what I’ve understood. So but when the good Lord takes you home, if you have not done tax planning, okay? Unfortunately, your family, your kids don’t become the largest beneficiaries, the IRS becomes the largest beneficiary. So there’s a multitude of things that you have to think about in taxation, not only the income you need, but also the legacy that you might be leaving and where that money might go. Could you imagine having half of your wealth go to the IRS and taxation at the time of death? So that’s why taxes are so important.

Randy Major – 07:38

Yes. And so important to come and meet with a licensed fiduciary? Yes. And someone who knows what they’re doing to give you that peace of mind for your family? Absolutely.

Brian Quaranta – 07:47

Correct. Yes.

Randy Major – 07:48

So Brian, do we have time for a quick question, Phyllis in Mount Lebanon would like to know, the whole idea of not working anymore, it makes me really nervous about our financial future. I’ve worked for over 50 years, and I can’t imagine just stopping, how can I know that the resources I have accumulated will meet our needs for the rest of our lives.

Brian Quaranta – 08:07

That’s very simple, fellas, you need to come to secure money advisors, because you’re not gonna be able to do it without us. But in all seriousness, you have to have a plan, right? And this is what we’re talking about the importance of having a plan. And you have to mathematically design the plan to be able to look at what the withdrawal pressures would do to the balance of your portfolio. So as you start to take money out, the biggest fear for people going into retirement is running out of money. As a matter of fact, AARP has said a number of times that that matter of fact, they interviewed about 1000 people and they said hey, what do you fear most running out of money, or dying? And you know, 95% of people said they fear running out of money more than they feared dying alone. And and I can understand but but having a plan, Randy, and that, like we build that secure money advisors, what we do is we stress test the portfolio. So we can look at if you need a certain amount of income, we can model in the withdrawals that you need, we could look at the interest rates that you’re receiving. We can build in negative market environments and see based on those scenarios, if you would have enough money. The other important thing we’re figuring out is what is a safe withdrawal rate? How much money could you take out safely?

Randy Major – 09:24

Well, if you’re if you’re at home, if this is speaking to you if you have been procrastinating if it’s time for you to build your plan a call the number on your screen now. It’s 888-382-1298. Brian and his team are going to meet with you and Brian, you have a special offer for it.

Brian Quaranta – 09:41

We do yes our right track Retirement System. And we’ve built that because everybody when they come to the office will always ask, Are we on the right track. And so folks, if you want to take advantage of the right track retirement system for the next 10 callers who call in right now we’re going to give you a complimentary portfolio analysis at no cost but you got to do your part. You’ve got to pick up the phone. And you’ve got to call us. Just like Randy said, you can’t procrastinate This is not the time to kick the can down the road. This is not a dress rehearsal, we don’t get a second chance at it. But you’ve got to do your part call 1888382129 A Again, that’s 1-888-382-1298.

Randy Major – 10:20

Now we have to take a quick commercial break. But please don’t go anywhere. We’re going to come back with more viewer questions. And the phone lines are open now. So call 888-382-1298. And one of those questions could be yours. So stay tuned.

Commercial Break – 10:35

How confident are you in your current financial plan? Do you know with certainty how the recent market volatility will affect your future hopes and dreams? How much are you paying in taxes? And how much are you losing to unnecessary high fees? You didn’t work to save this money so that you could spend your time worried in retirement, now is the time to take charge of your finances so you can feel confident about your future call in during the next 30 minutes of today’s show only to set up an absolutely complimentary no obligation, full blown financial review that will result in your own customized written plan. This is a $999 value that we’re giving away complimentary to the first 10 people who respond. We’ll start with a full blown analysis of what you already have, by running a report to untangle how much you are currently paying in fees, how you’re allocated for risk, and what it’s costing to work with your current advisor. Next, we’ll identify your goals. Where do you see yourself in the next five years? Where do you want to go? And who do you hope to go there with is your current financial plan set up to get you there without mishap? Let’s design a roadmap to create a financial plan you can follow with confidence, get the piece that so many people are missing from their retirement. Find out how having a written plan can make a difference to your retirement dreams. Call now to schedule your complimentary no obligation full blown financial review today.

Randy Major – 12:08

Welcome back to On the money with secure money. I’m your host, Randy major. And I’m here talking with Brian Kurata from secure money advisors. So Brian, we were just talking about building a plan how important that is that we don’t run out of money.

Brian Quaranta – 12:24

The number one rule to keep in mind is not running out of money. That’s right, right. Are you ready to take some viewer questions? Do it? Let’s do it. Let’s do it.

Randy Major – 12:34

So, Corinne in Pittsburgh wants to know, I’ve recently changed jobs. Did we already read this one?

Brian Quaranta – 12:41

It’s a brand new one.

Randy Major – 12:44

I recently changed jobs and can’t decide what to do with my 401k. I can either leave it where it is roll it out to an IRA, or roll it into the 401k. At my new job. I’m planning to retire in four years at 67. Yeah, how much? Does it matter which one I do?

Brian Quaranta – 13:01

Well, look, at the end of the day, you’re always going to have more options if you roll your money over. Right. So that’s the most important thing to consider. At the end of the day, though, from a tax planning perspective, it’s really six of one half a dozen. The other what’s really more important is ultimately the options that you have. So you know, what she’s referring to, I believe what she was asking was, you know, rolling over to a traditional IRA versus rolling over to the current employer plan. And rolling over to a traditional IRA versus the employer plan is just going to give her the ability to better prepare for retirement because her options are going to be pretty much endless, right compared to the employer plan, the employer plans very finite as far as what it can offer. And so you know, you might not have the best choices within there. And you’re just going to get better planning on the outside. And a lot of times, well, not a lot of times all the time. If you roll it over to a traditional IRA with a fiduciary you’re also going to get advice, which means a written plan right?

Randy Major – 14:01

Thank you for that answer. And Chester Eamon Robo wants to know, how do you withdraw money from your portfolio once you’ve retired? Yeah, if you have a portfolio and want to withdraw 4% Each year, do you just sell enough shares to get the 4%? And try again, to gain enough income to back that up? Or am I making this harder than it really? Yes. So

Brian Quaranta – 14:22

well, it is actually very hard to withdraw money in retirement is not an easy thing to do. You know, and getting your withdrawal percentages right matters. And let me explain to you why. So for the longest time, we’ve been told that you could pull out roughly about 4% a year this was something known as the 4% rule. And so the concept was designed back in the early 90s. And they basically said that if you had a million dollars, you could start withdrawing 4% out a year every single year and potentially not run out of money. They also said that you could start with a withdrawal of 4%. And then each year, you can increase the withdrawal by 3%. So what that means is if you have a million dollars, you could take out $40,000 In the first year, and the second year, you could take out like 42,000, and then it would continue to go up, what they’ve come to find out is that that strategy, the 4% rule, actually has a high percentage of failure. Matter of fact, it’s a 56% failure rate. So think about this. The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business School of harvest, Harvard School of Business has come out and they said, Look, if you follow this 4% rule, there’s up to a 56% chance that you’re planning to fail. Now, think about this, Randy, let’s say that you and I were getting on an airplane today. And we were headed to Hawaii. And right before we’re about to back out of the gates, the captain gets on the intercom. And he says, folks, I want you to know, we just got word from the tower that doesn’t have 56% chance we could crash into the ocean. I mean, are you gonna, are you going to get off that plane? Yeah, right. I’m gone. You’re gone. Right? So I always ask people, What would you feel comfortable with? Would you be okay, if the captain said that there was a 40%? Chance? Would you be okay with that? No. What about like, maybe a 26%? Yes, no. So let me ask you, what would your chance need to be 00? Yeah, it would need to be zero. So that’s what most people tell me. But and I don’t see retirement planning any other way. I mean, you’re going into retirement, you kind of want a high probability of success with your portfolio. So getting your withdrawal strategy, right, folks is very, very important. And that’s why we’ve put together the right track Retirement System. And it’s really designed to help you understand the proper ways to not only withdraw money from your portfolio, but how to properly allocate your portfolio. And at the end of the day, when you come into our office, we actually will show you the five queries, retirement planning that we talked about all the time. And I’m going to I’m going to give it offer here in a minute. But I do want to get back to a couple other viewer questions real quick. And I’m going to share with you the offer that we have for you today.

Randy Major – 17:01

Okay, so Jane and Monroeville wants to know, can I contribute to a Roth IRA and still participate in my employer sponsored retirement plan?

Brian Quaranta – 17:10

Yeah, you could do both depending on what your income levels are. So you could you could do both. That’s not a problem, but that there are different income thresholds that might disqualify you from doing that. And, you know, at the end of the day, though, what she’s really referring to there is, is taking advantage of something that I really like to hear about, and that’s the Roth IRA. Because there is a lot of tax benefits that go along with that, you know, the money that you’re putting in, you don’t get a tax deduction on, you know, the thing that we get when we contribute to a regular traditional IRA, is that if I put 10, or if I put, you know, let’s say, a contribution of $5,000, into a traditional IRA, I’m going to get that I’m going to get that deduction on my tax return. So that’s going to come off my gross income. Now, if I’m doing it into a Roth IRA, the Roth IRA, I don’t get the tax deduction. Okay. So what that means is that the money that’s going into the Roth IRA is just going to grow tax free. And when I take it out, it’s going to be tax free. So what she’s referring to, there are some really good things because those savings vehicles are going to allow for her to have some better tax advantages when it comes time for her to actually start generating income in retirement. Yeah,

Randy Major – 18:25

such good information. Thank you. Okay, one more question. We have time for Daryl and Butler wants to know, I’m 62. And I was planning to work for another four years before retiring. However, my job is wearing me down and I’m not happy there anymore. So I’m tempted just to quit and start taking Social Security now that I’m eligible, eligible, and then work a low stress part time job somewhere. Have you seen people do this successfully?

Brian Quaranta – 18:50

Yes. All the time. Yeah, as a matter of fact, we help them do it. We’re guilty of it. You know, especially especially those that are in like the Labor Industries, you know, I got a lot of union workers you know, 10 workers, steel workers, pipe fitters, welders, you name it, I mean, their bodies over time, just kind of wear out on them. And so they want to get out earlier. And now keep in mind, there’s some things you got to think about. When you’re when you’re exiting early, you know, especially collecting Social Security early. You know, if you if you want to click Social Security early, and you still want to work, Social Security only lets you make so much money every single year before they start penalizing you. But absolutely, and with a good written plan. This is possible. Right? And that’s the message all the time on every single show is have a written plan. It’s so important.

Randy Major – 19:44

Let’s remind the viewers of the offer you have for them today, Brian?

Brian Quaranta – 19:48

Yes. So folks, we have the right track Retirement System all designed to help you get on the right track. Have you ever thought to yourself, are we on the right track? Let me ask you this if you weren’t on the right track. When would you want to know? When would you if you are on the right track, wouldn’t it be great to get confirmation that you are on the right track. So if you come to our office next 10 callers who call in right now, we are going to give you a complimentary portfolio analysis at no cost. We’re going to help you cover five key areas when you come in income, taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning. But you’ve got to do your part, pick up the phone, call us company office spend 45 minutes to an hour with us. I know it might seem intimidating, but it’s not the team at secure money advisors. We’ve built a culture around helping and we’ve built a culture around making things simple. Got to do your part, though, call 1-888-382-1298.

Randy Major – 20:43

Maybe it’s time for a new plan. Maybe it’s time for a second opinion. Maybe it’s time to just know that you’re on the right plan, call Brian and his team and let them help you today. 18838 to 1298. Call now and stay tuned. We’re going to take a quick commercial break and we’ll be coming right back with some more of your questions.

Commercial Break – 21:03

As a good saver, you’ve been putting away money during your working years. Studies find that the biggest fear of retirees is running out of money. Market volatility isn’t just a downward movement of stock prices. It’s the size and frequency of change. The more dramatic the ups and downs, the higher the volatility. This can put savers who are newly retired or a few years away from being retired at greater risk. Today’s generation of retirees is not receiving traditional pensions as our parents or grandparents did. Instead, we have retirement accounts such as 401 KS or 403. B’s. These accounts typically expose your money to market risk. The last thing you want right before retirement is to lose a portion of the money you need for income. But how do you turn these accounts into a retirement income? Is it safe to keep all your retirement money sitting in the stock market. The last thing you want is to lose a portion of the money you need for income due to market loss. By working with a financial professional, you can learn how to turn a portion of your savings into an income stream for life and income for the life of your spouse if you’re married. We all have moments in our lives when we wish we had taken action sooner. Don’t let procrastination rain on your retirement parade. Act now before it’s too late. Please call our office to set up your no cost no obligation retirement income review today.

Randy Major – 22:29

Welcome back to On the money with secure money. I’m Randy major. And I’m here with Brian Carranza. Brian, good to see so many good questions and great information you’re giving us. Yeah, I

Brian Quaranta – 22:40

mean, I think it really shows the how, how many people out there today are looking for good information. And I just don’t think they’re getting it. And the problem is, and we know what the problem is, the problem is Google, let’s face it. Right, very true. You know, every time my wife Kate has a problem you i Kate? Does she Google? Yes. And before I know it, you know, we’re down a rabbit hole and Kate’s got all things. He’s got all kinds of

Randy Major – 23:08

issues. So we don’t want to be Googling our retirement.

Brian Quaranta – 23:11

We don’t know, just like you don’t want to Google your heart doctor.

Randy Major – 23:14

Exactly. And I think you know, it’s so important that, you know, what is the importance of them coming to see a real license, fiduciary not just Googling or just going to a friend or family member that might think they know what they’re talking about?

Brian Quaranta – 23:29

Well, that’s that’s actually a really good point. That’s what I called napkin advice. Right? This is when you you know, you’re at a cocktail party or even a family event, you know, and Uncle Joe is the right, the smart investment guy. We all have an uncle. We all have an uncle Joe, you know, my uncle Joe, he’s made so much money in the stock market. Right? Okay. All right. So, but no, the reason is, is because there are a lot of moving parts, let’s face it. You know, there’s a lot of variables that you’ve got to think about. And look, investing is different than strategy. Okay. picking stocks and mutual funds or cryptocurrency that’s, that’s completely different than what we do. We are strategy based. How do you utilize your money? Most people don’t know how to use a lighter money, you know, what they know how to do. They know how to trade a stock, you know how to trade a mutual fund, whatever it might be. They don’t understand how to build tax strategies. They don’t understand how to build income strategies, they don’t understand how to build legacy strategies, and working with a licensed fiduciary in this area can help and that’s why it’s so important.

Randy Major – 24:30

Thank you. Okay. Do we have time for a question? Yeah, sure. Let’s go to stew in the South Hills. I was advised to roll my 401k plan from a previous employer into a traditional IRA, which I did. I haven’t made any contributions to it since rolling it over and has grown very little. I have a 401k with my new employer. Should I roll my traditional IRA into my new 401k accounts?

Brian Quaranta – 24:57

Yeah, well, I mean, look, I mean, you could do For, if you want to, you know, keep things consolidated and simple, but, you know, I would think best practice would be if you rolled it to a traditional IRA versus your current employer’s 401k plan, you would just have better options for you to be able to invest in because, you know, anytime we are investing in an employer plan, we’re limited, right? It’s like going to, it’s like, going to the ice cream store. You know, in order to shop. What do they call me that store shop what I call Ice cream, ice cream shop. And they only have strawberry, vanilla and chocolate, right? That’s kind of a 401k. I want to go to a Baskin Robbins there. Isn’t there ever is a 31. I thought it was 99 flavors. Okay, so 31 flavors, I want 31 flavors. That’s why rolling money to a traditional IRA is so important is because you get 31 flavors, right? Yeah. So that’s why it’s very, very important. You have much better options.

Randy Major – 25:57

Okay. And real quick, one more Adam in Pittsburgh wants to know, my wife and I are in her 70s I still work because I want to my wife is retired, we collect social security and have IRAs, we want to put $200,000 in our no risk place that may offer some growth, but it is still accessible. When the day comes that we want it. Whether that is in a few months from now, or 10 years from now, where’s the best place for it? Whoo.

Brian Quaranta – 26:20

Well, of what we’re what year are we? 2021? If we were in 1985, that would be easy to answer, okay, because we could just put it in a bank CD, because a bank CD would keep the money protected. You might be able to buy a year, two year three year CD, get maybe 10 to 15% rate of return on it. And you’d be good, right? So if they have what do they got? 200,000 They said, so Magid having a bank, CD pan 10%. FDIC insured, guaranteed maybe you only had to have it in there for two or three years. So now you got $200,000 generated $20,000 a year. We can’t do that anymore. The banks don’t offer us any interest. CDs don’t give us any interest anymore. What they can utilize depending on their timeframe, they could utilize potentially a fixed indexed annuity. Now this is nice for people that want to earn interest with their portfolio. Okay, but don’t want to take risk with it. The nice thing about a an index annuity is when the market goes up, you make money when the market goes down, you don’t lose money. And it also offers some liquidity options. But this is why we do our right track retirement. Right and the right track retirement is all about getting you on the right track and making sure that you’re doing things correctly. So if you call us today for the next 10 callers, call us at 1-888-382-1298. We are going to give you a complimentary portfolio analysis at no cost. But again, you’ve got to do your part. 1883821298.

Randy Major – 27:45

Brian, you’ve given us such great information. And if you want more if you want to meet with Brian and his team, give yourself that peace of mind. Call 88838 to 1298. We’ll see you soon. Thank you again and thank you for watching.

Brian Quaranta – 27:58

Thank you