Episode 111 – How to Retire in Your Favorite Destination

Are you trying to retire in a Villa in Florida or a remote location on the West Coast? If so, tune in this week’s episode of Retirement You Radio to listen to some key ways on just how to do that.

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Radio Show Transcript

Announcer 00:00

Information provided is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment tax or legal advice information has been obtained from sources that are deemed to be reliable, but their accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Neither Brian Quaranta nor his guests are liable for the usage of information discussed always consult with a qualified investment legal or tax professional before taking any action.

And now, Retirement You Radio

Asset protection, tax reduction, holistic planning

Featuring Pittsburgh’s wealth, financial, and income coach Brian Quaranta.

Brian Quaranta 00:38

If you are thinking about retiring in a villa down in Florida, we’ve got some key ways to show you how to do that when we come right back on Retirement You Radio.

Steve 00:51

Hey, welcome, everybody. This is Retirement You Radio increasing your financial IQ with BrianQ. Brian Quaranta, of course, who were talking about. I’m consumer advocate Steve, Brian is a president and CEO of Secure Money Advisors. He is a fiduciary and independent and so much more. Hey, Brian, what’s happening?

Brian Quaranta 01:09

Yeah, Steve, how are you doing today?

Steve 01:10

I’m very well. Thank you.

Brian Quaranta 01:11

Yeah, that’s good to hear. Always good to be with you at. Are you moving to Florida to a villa?

Steve 01:16

I am not. It sounds really good, though.

Brian Quaranta 01:19

I know.

Steve 01:20

I don’t know if I want to be that far south in Florida, but I don’t know.

Brian Quaranta 01:24

Yeah, well, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, they all seem to be a pretty popular spot these days. Although a very popular spot that a lot of people don’t know about is Wyoming. A lot of people went to Wyoming, as a matter of fact, I just had two clients in the last six months that we helped get retired after 40 years’ worth of working for a company here in Pittsburgh, and retire them to Cody, Wyoming, of all places. You ever hear about Cody?

Steve 01:53

I have I’ve actually been there.

Brian Quaranta 01:54

Yeah, nice place.

Steve 01:55

For a visit.

Brian Quaranta 01:58

On the west coast, they’ve got these bluebird sky days where even though it’s winter, it’s just not gray and ugly. That’s the nice thing about the West Coast. You know, I ski a lot. You know, I enjoy skiing. I’ve been skiing since you know, I was like three years old. And every time I go on a skiing vacation out west, when I come back, people always think I went to the tropics, because I come back, and I got a tan. But the tan happens because it’s so sunny. And of course, when you’re on the snowy ski slopes that reflection, and you get some nice car, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that.

Steve 02:30

But that’s okay.

Brian Quaranta 02:31

That’s all right. That’s right. So, money isn’t everything. You think that’s true?

Steve 02:36

I think in large part, yes. But I mean, you got to have enough money. That’s the key.

Brian Quaranta 02:42

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, in the good old days, you know, that was possible. Because in the good old days, you probably worked for the same company for some 30 or 40 years. And at the end of the term, yeah, retired. And that’s why they actually had retirement parties, right? I mean, the company is sometimes through your retirement party, because they knew exactly when you were going to retire. And maybe they even gave you a gold watch and sent you on your way. And no matter of fact, life was pretty good, because you knew exactly when you were gonna retire, how you were going to retire. And whether or not you could really move down to that villa in Florida if you wanted to and return, you know, for your years of loyal service. The companies gave you a pension, you know, which is what I call mailbox money. Everybody wants mailbox money, just shows up and shows up in your mailbox every single month for the rest of your life. And it was guaranteed, and so you had stable income for the remainder of your years. You know, and you gotta remember, I mean, today, you know, we when we think about pensions, you think of grandpa and the gold watch. But today, we’re just not seeing that. I mean, twice as many people have 401 K plans as they do pension plans. And we’ve seen a dramatic reduction or even elimination of the use of pension plans for retirement benefits and 401 K’s have become popular because you can make your own investment decisions. You can have a balanced portfolio with more options, more accessibility, more freedom to do as you wish with your retirement. But the catch really is that now people are discovering that they aren’t saving enough in these plans to actually give them retirement or give them the money that they could even move down to a villa in the Florida Keys. And the biggest concern for retirees today is the concern of running out of money.

Steve 04:36

That’s always the concern, isn’t it? I mean, yeah, I mean, that’s how and that’s why we work with an advisor like you to help get us to where we need to be so that we don’t run out of money.

Brian Quaranta 04:45

Well, that’s right. And the key to building a plan is starting with number one and most importantly cash flow. And there’s two phases to reach to your money. We’ve got an accumulation phase, and we have a distribution phase, the accumulation phase Is this what everybody is used to this is where we’re accumulating money. You know, we’re investing as aggressively as we can, because we have a very, we have time on our side, you know, and, you know, when you have time on your side, you can take more risk, because if the markets go down, you have time for it to recover. But then when you shift from accumulation into distribution, which happens about five years out from retirement and through retirement, you know, the strategies and techniques to get you through your accumulation years are not the same strategies and techniques that you use during your distribution years, there’s a whole different set of rules that come into play. And this is why at secure money advisors, we’ve created the right track retirement system to help you put together a retirement plan based around five key fundamentals that if you have handled, you will have a good distribution retirement plan. And that is number one is income. Number two is taxes. Three is investments. Four is your health care, and five is your legacy plan. But why is income number one? Well, because in order to do all the things you want to do in retirement, you got to have the appropriate amount of income to make that happen. But you also have to make sure that, because you’re going to be in charge of your own distribution plan, you know, going back to grandpa’s pension, when he didn’t really have to worry about how he was going to get that money for the rest of his life, because the company was going to do it for them, you’re now going to be responsible for generating income for the rest of your life out of your retirement plans. And again, a lot of people still are trying to use accumulation strategies and techniques during their distribution years. And these are the things that will cause people to get into trouble. Things like the 4% rule, or sequencing risk. And these are all the things that we teach you during your right track retirement meeting with us. And we go through the pros and cons of what you have to think about when it comes to building these distribution plans. And unfortunately, this is not a dress rehearsal, we don’t get a second chance at it, you know, we can’t just, you know, get it wrong, and then say, well, let me do this over. And remember, I mean, you know, as you get into your distribution years, you just don’t have time on your side anymore. You know, as a matter of fact, I mean, think about it like this is most people, you know it, let’s say you saved a half a million dollars. Most people if you ask them how long that take them to save, they would tell you it took them you know, 35-40 years to save that, right. So, you say okay, well, what if What a 500,000? What the 250,000, you lost 50% of your money like people did in oh seven and oh eight? You know, I think we could all agree that that you’re literally losing, you know, 15 to 20 years’ worth a time for the next 10 callers who call in we are going to build a right track retirement program for you. Now, let me tell you a little bit of what the reason why we’ve done this. First off, the number one question we get is, you know, people want to know, are we on the right track. And again, if we focus on those five key areas, income taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning, you will have a good retirement. Now what we’re going to do when you come in with the right track retirement systems, we’re going to do an analysis of where you’re currently at. We’re going to look at the fees you might be paying what taxes you might be able to reduce. And I’m going to show you how you can build an income plan, utilizing the strategies and techniques that you should be utilizing in your distribution phase. Most importantly, we take the guesswork out of financial planning with the right track system, but you’ve got to do your part. You’ve got to pick up the phone call us schedule the time to come in. There’s no cost no obligation to do that. That’s a Right Track Retirement Comprehensive Financial Review that we’re going to give away complimentary Steve

Steve 08:36

800-656-8616. You heard Brian, the next 10 callers are going to get that comprehensive financial review you will see where you are today of course, but more importantly, you’ll end up with that roadmap, that guide that’s going to get you where you need to be when it comes to retirement 800-656-8616 Again 800-656-8616

Brian Quaranta 08:57

Maxing out our retirement savings, investing strategically and claiming Social Security. All things to consider as you get close to retirement. There’s one big planning mistake you have to avoid details when we come right back right here on Retirement You Radio.

Announcer 09:14

When should I take my Social Security? How much risk can I tolerate? I’m afraid I’m overpaying my taxes. Did I save enough? I can’t keep up with all these rules. There are a lot of components to your retirement planning, and it can seem overwhelming. It’s time to establish a partnership with a professional who can provide you with a written plan the proper strategies and then be there with you along the way. Call BrianQ 800-656-8616 or text BrianQ to 800-656-8616. Call or text BrianQ to 800-656-8616

Steve 09:48

And we are back on Retirement You Radio increasing your financial IQ with BrianQ. Brian Quaranta. Is here. I’m consumer advocate, Steve, Brian, of course is President, CEO of Secure Money Advisors, and so much more; and you get my attention here with this one, because I know what the big mistake is. And again, lots of folks make that mistake. And we’re talking about taxes, Brian, and right now it seems like taxes are on everybody’s mind.

Brian Quaranta 10:12

And they should be. Because right now is some of the best time to do tax planning, because taxes are still at the cheapest levels, we’ve seen them. And I don’t think it’s gonna stay there very long, but a recent, nationwide, you know, the company nationwide, right, the insurance company nationwide, right, they did a survey. And they showed that 42% of current retirees made one major blunder in the course of planning, they didn’t consider how taxes would impact the retirement income. So, let’s talk about that. Because I’ve used this example a number of times. So, for most people, when it comes to building retirement income, they’re probably going to be taking it from some type of retirement account, like a 401 K, an IRA, a 403, B 457. Plan. And these are all accounts that gave us tax deductions during our accumulation years, and we put money in. So, if I was able to contribute $12,000, to my 401k, I was able to take that off my gross income and pay less in taxes, and then the 12,000 that went into the 401k got to grow. But the problem is, if the 12,000 goes to 20,000, which goes to 50,000, which goes to 100,000, which maybe goes to half a million, all of that money is now taxable. So, let’s suppose that you need $1,000 in additional income a month, and you’re in a 20% tax bracket. So, we take the withdrawal of $1,000, right? So, you know, $1,000 for the month, and we paid 20% in income taxes on that. So now, we’re only going to net $800. Right? So, what happens if income tax rates now double? What if they go from 20% to 40%, that same withdrawal of $1,000, Steve is only netting you $600. Now, and this is a major problem, because cost of living is going to continue to go up right? To do all the things you want to do in retirement, it’s going to take money to do that. And taxes alone could be giving you a pay cut. So, the reason why people have not done this type of planning is because a lot of times number one, they’re not working with advisors that focus on the distribution phase. And if you’re working with somebody like secure money advisors that focus on this distribution phase, we’re going to have conversations way before retirement, about making sure that we make some of this money tax free. So how could taxes wreck your retirement? Well, it’s very simple tax rates go up. Right, Steve?

Steve 12:24

Seems simple enough. Yes, yeah, seems simple enough.

Brian Quaranta 12:27

So many people just aren’t using the tax code to their advantage. I mean, if Uncle Sam is allowing you to go from taxable money to tax free money, it’s a benefit to you, the earlier you do it, people go well, I just don’t want to pay the taxes, well, you’re gonna pay him whether you want to or not, it’s either going to be now or later. Now, I will say that if you wait too long to do tax planning, it may not benefit you to go from taxable to tax free through some type of Roth conversion. But so anyway, taxes are very important, and they can cause a host of problems in retirement that we just want to avoid. And you should be, again, focused on five key areas and retirement number one, most importantly is your income. Number two is taxes, income and taxes or go hand in hand. Number three is the quality of your investments, right? During the accumulation years, and the distribution, yours, the strategies that you’re going to use with your investments is going to change, what got you here is not going to get you there. Right. So, we have to be careful that and then of course, number four is your healthcare. And number five is your legacy planning, which by the way legacy planning ties into taxes also, because what most people I think most people realize this, I just don’t think they do enough to fix this problem. You know, what we have to realize is that Uncle Sam, is one of your largest beneficiaries of your retirement accounts. Right now, if you’re listening to this show, think about how much you might have saved in retirement accounts. Now, I want you to think about when you die writing about 40% of that out to the IRS don’t think it will happen was a great article in Money Magazine a couple of years ago about a son that inherited his father’s half a million-dollar retirement account. His name was John Baron. John Baron finds out he’s the sole beneficiary to his dad’s retirement account. He was so stunned when he got the phone call that he was the beneficiary of his dad’s retirement account that he actually had the call the 401k company to find out if his dad had really saved that much money. They said, Yes, he did. And they said, you’re going to be required to fill out this paperwork and send it back to us in order for you to get this money as the beneficiary. So, he does follow the rules, fills out the paperwork, sends it in. They send him a check for $500,000.02 weeks later, he gets a 1099 for $500,000. Now, most of us listening to the show know what a 1099 means It means income. Five, yeah. Oh, you got income all $500,000 counts to John as income. The article went on to say he had a right to the IRS check for 240,000 ours And in Pennsylvania, it gets even worse because we still have the inheritance tax here. You know, most people aren’t even concerned about the federal estate tax because it’s, you know, like 11 million right now, but I don’t think that’s going to be lasting long. Remember when it was at a million Steve? Yeah, just a little over a million you are gonna pay federal estate taxes. You know, I mean, Ron, remember before even that it was 500,000, there is no way they’re gonna let the federal estate tax be that high. For that much longer, you know, they’re in desperate need of taxes. So anyway, tax planning is very important. And the right track retirement system that we’ve developed here at secure money advisors will truly help you identify any tax advantages within the tax code that you might be able to take advantage of, to better your situation going into retirement. And that’s why we’re offering you for the next 10 callers who call in an opportunity to come in, sit down with us, no cost, no obligation to you. But you’ve got to do your part, you’ve got to pick up the phone, call us schedule the appointment to come in. When you come in, we’ll spend about 45 minutes to an hour together, we’ll bring you through those five key areas income taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning. Now we’ve seen others I’ve seen others charge up to $1,000, sometimes even more for that, then then what we’re going to do at no cost to you, you’re gonna get a lot of value from this appointment. The one thing that I do promise you is that when you leave, you will be much better educated. And then than what you are right now, on ways to do things in retirement during the distribution phase. Most importantly, we’re really just going to take the mystery out of financial planning, everybody deserves to have a good plan that they can rely on, we’re going to show you how to do that. We’re going to show you how to reduce your fees, I’ll show you how to reduce your taxes. We’ll talk about building a customized income plan that can literally turbocharged your income, using really great proven strategies that we’re using utilizing today. But more importantly, taking the guesswork out of it for you. Right, no more guessing no more wondering, we’re really going to make sure that you get this dialed in the right way you shouldn’t be worried right now at this point in your life, whether or not your plan is going to work or not, you should know it’s going to work. Because there’s basic fundamental practices and best practices that can be followed to make sure that so again, for the next 10 callers at the comprehensive financial review, we’re gonna give away complimentary with no obligation.

Steve 17:12

What a great opportunity, folks, don’t let it slip by Brian is there for you to really begin to put together that financial roadmap if you’ve never done it before. No time like the present, don’t procrastinate another day. Let Brian take that complex financial world and really break it down, make it clear 800-656-8616 You heard Brian the next time callers are going to get that comprehensive financial review, plus all the extras that he talked about, and you will see where you are today. But most importantly, you’re going to walk out the door with that roadmap, that guide that can really help get you to where you need to be when it comes to retirement. 800-656-8616, again, 800-656-8616.

Brian Quaranta 17:52

Annuities can be a valuable tool in your retirement arsenal. If you choose wisely and use them the right way. When we come back five things you need to know about annuities to avoid potentially expensive mistakes.

Speaker 1 18:05

How’s the market doing?

Speaker 2 18:07

It’s fine.

Speaker 1 18:08

How’s the market doing now?

Speaker 2 18:10

The same as it was five seconds ago,

Announcer 18:12

Stop worrying about market volatility. A good retirement plan will keep you from panicking when and if there’s ever a panic even during a correction or a mild recession, get that solid retirement plan with lifetime income and protection from pitfalls get in touch with Retirement You Radio’s BrianQ 800-656-8616, 800-656-8616.

Steve 18:40

We’re back on retirement, you radio increasing your financial IQ with BrianQ. And boy, you’ve been doing a great job of doing that today. Brian, I’ll tell you, I mean, again, you just lay it all out there in terms of the bucketing strategy. And, and you know, just helping folks understand that it doesn’t have to be a big, complicated mess. It can be something very straightforward. And just lay it out on paper. So, you see it. That’s got to be you know, we started the show talking about stressors. I mean, that’s got to be a huge stress relief, just to see it laid out on paper.

Brian Quaranta 19:12

Yeah, it is. I mean, and we see it in 20, you know, 21 years of practicing now. I know it because I see it in the conference room. I mean, people come in and say look, you know, we’ve been to three, four different financial advisors. And, you know, we’ve just decided to come with you guys. Because number one, you guys have really broken it down to where we understand it. And you’ve made it very simple and easy for us to understand. But more importantly, it’s because we’re bringing them through what a real written plan should look like. And when people see a real written plan, they go, Oh, this is what retirement planning is. See, I think people are just so used to thinking that the retirement plan is a bunch of statements. And it’s just not how it works. You know, there’s three very important documents we use here that secure money advisors as part of the written plan number one, and most importantly, is the cash flow model. And the cash flow worksheet that we use has all the sources of income each year that you’re getting those sources of income. We take into account taxation, we take into account what your expenses are, whether they’re going up or whether they’re going down. And that’s nice. I mean, a lot of people in three to four years or maybe five years or 10 years, they might have a car that’s paid off or a mortgage is paid off. And so, their scheduled expenses go down over time, so they pick up more cashflow, as they’re scheduled expenses go down. But what happens if tax rates go up at the same time that their expenses go down? What impact does that have? Are they going to be required to take more money out of their retirement accounts? What happens if their spouse dies, these are all things that we can figure out on the cash flow worksheet. And we can run lots of different scenarios. So that we can make all these things happen on paper so we can be better prepared when they do happen. But we can also put enough pressure on the plan itself to make sure that it’s actually going to work so that when you are retired, you’re not waking up with anxieties or worries of whether or not this thing is going to work, we want to make sure it absolutely is going to work. And we’re looking at the black and white math to make sure that we know that we have a plan in place that’s going to work

Steve 21:10

well. And you know, not only the math, but you take the emotion out of it, it gets so easy to get caught up with, especially when we’re talking about our money, it can get pretty emotional for the for, you know, for the individual, but you see it differently, you’ve you’re that second set of eyes, that looks at things a little bit differently,

Brian Quaranta 21:27

people need to realize that, you know, we’re human beings too. And yes, I manage money for a living. But at the end of the day, I want to report good news all the time to my clients, of course, and you know, so we, you know, we have a vested interest in making sure that not only do the plants work, but also for the clients to hang around for a long period of time. You know, and we’ve got a very good retention rate, you know, we’ve got a 98% retention rate, you know, we just don’t have people leave, because, you know, the planning that we do, and, and when people have a plan in place, even when you have a pandemic, like we did last year, nobody’s calling into our office panicking, because we’ve already looked at worst case scenarios in the planning model. So, we know that the planning is going to work. And that’s the peace of mind and clarity that people get. I think that people panic when they only have statements coming in. But when you look at a real investment plan, which focuses on five key areas, it focuses on your income, your taxes, your investments, your healthcare, and your legacy. And when you have all the i’s dotted, and all the T’s crossed, and those areas, that’s when you experience that calm peace of mind that everybody is looking for when they shift into retirement, even if there’s chaos going on in the outside world.

Steve 22:39

I like it (800) 656-8616. Let’s jump into a couple of these questions here. While we have time I’m going to start with Tyler, what advantages do exchange-traded funds have over mutual funds?

Brian Quaranta 22:51

Well, exchange-traded funds are simple. I mean, they just trade like a stock.

Steve 22:55

That’s really as important. I mean, that really is a major difference, isn’t it?

Brian Quaranta 22:58

Yeah. I mean, you know, it is a big difference, actually. I mean, you know, unlike mutual funds, you know, ETFs, you know, they’re also very tax efficient. You know, there’s no investment minimums, you know, many mutual funds, have minimum investment requirements of maybe $2,500 or $5,000. And ETFs, on the other hand, can be purchased, you know, with as little as one share. And that’s, that’s the other thing, too, is that, you know, a, you know, if you were to sell a mutual fund right now, throughout the day, you wouldn’t get the price and until the end of the day, which is called the nav or the net asset value, where with an ETF, you’re literally trading it like a stock share. So, if I, if I bought apple right now and sold it, now, I get the price. If that was a mutual fund, you got to wait till the end of the day to get the price and a lot can happen from the morning till the end of the hole. Of course, it could. And they’re also lower cost. And it really is kind of the future. I mean, if you look at where investing is going, I mean, a lot of big-time money managers are leaning towards ETFs because they’re much more nimble, much more cost effective. The mutual funds kind of a little bit of a dying animal, if you will. Yeah, terrible analogy. But it really is, I mean, but things change over time, you know, product designers get it gets smarter about how things are designed technology allows us to design products that we normally not be able to create. So, they are very beneficial to and a much more cost-effective way to go and investing.

Steve 24:24

I like that. I mean, because I know people will ask me well, I hear about an ETF. What is it? Well, I’m not an advisor, but I kind of understand why it, why they might be advantageous to put into a retirement portfolio.

Brian Quaranta 24:36

Oh, yeah, very advantageous, much more nimble, much, much more cost effective and they’re much more accurate in the day to day trading.

Steve 24:44

I like it. And you know, boy, we’re up against the clock already. Brian, why don’t we go ahead and invite folks to get on the on the horn and call you one more time one last time today.

Brian Quaranta 24:52

That’s right, folks. And for the next 10 callers who call in we are going to give away the Right Track Retirement meeting now it’s again, it’s a no cost, no obligation to You. The reason I call it the right track retirement meeting is because that’s the number one question I always would get is Brian, I just want to know if I’m on the right track. Am I doing the right things? Let me ask you, if you’re not on the right track, when would you want to know that? Would it be beneficial for you to know that now versus later? I think it would, but I could be biased, I don’t know but look, we’ve seen other people charge. I have seen people charge so much money for the work that we do up to $1,000 or more. We do it at no cost. We’re literally going to help you take the mystery out of financial planning, it’s going to be simple, easy to understand. I’ll run a free report for you. We’ll look at a tax analysis we’ll run a customized income plan, utilizing proven strategies that can literally turbocharge your income and retirement. More importantly, I want to help you take the guesswork out of financial planning. Let’s make this simple and easy to understand. You’ll have more peace of mind and confidence going into retirement, but you got to do your part. You’ve got to pick up the phone for the next 10 cars. That’s a comprehensive financial review that we’re gonna give away complimentary at no obligation

Steve 25:57

800-656-8616 You heard Brian the next 10 callers are going to get that comprehensive financial review plus all the extras that he just talked about. And you will then have a roadmap a guide that can really help get you to where you need to be when it comes to retirement 800-656-8616 Again 800-656-8616 or text Brian directly That’s BrianQ to 21000 text BrianQ to 21000 Brian, as always, a pleasure to be here is one of my favorite hours of the week right here.

Brian Quaranta 26:29

Well thank you Steve. It’s always a pleasure being with you and folks, we will see you again next week right here on Retirement You Radio.

Announcer 26:40

Information provided is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment tax or legal advice. Information has been obtained from sources that are deemed to be reliable, but their accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Neither Brian Quaranta nor his guests are liable for the usage of information discussed. Always consult with a qualified investment legal or tax professional before taking any action.

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