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Video transcript
Cynthia De Fazio – 00:20
Welcome to retirement You TV My name is Cynthia de Fazio. I’m joined today by Brian Quaranta. He is president and founder of secure money advisors. 2021 2021 is going to be here year. I’m telling you, Brian is gonna be the I mean, if I can get the name right out of the right, we know the rest of golden. Yeah. all downhill from here. Yeah.
Brian Quaranta – 00:42
I know. And for the viewing audience, if you don’t know, I mean, Sydney has butchered my last name for the last year. So this is a big day, you know, the continued streamers in blue, right. That’s great.
Cynthia De Fazio – 00:57
So Brian, you have been so extremely busy. Speaking of being, you know, 2021 being your year. I know, we had a lot of change that happened in 2020. And we’ve talked about this, how 2021 is going to be amazing. Yeah. Let’s talk about what life’s been like in your office. What’s the experience been like for your clients coming in? quite busy, right.
Brian Quaranta – 01:16
It’s very busy. Yeah. You know, what’s interesting about the office environment right now is that we’re busier than we’ve ever been. But we don’t have as much foot traffic, because so many people are more comfortable meeting with us via zoom. Yeah, right. Or we use join me, which is just a video conferencing. Okay. And we were actually very surprised of how comfortable people are utilizing that technology. And I think the world that we live in today, we’re so busy. Oh, sure. How nice is it that you don’t have to take this long drive somewhere, yeah. At to sit down and have a consultation. So people find it easier to sit down and meet with an advisor when they can do it from the comfort of their own home. That makes sense. So but yes, we’ve been extremely busy, I think, February and March of 20, when the markets dropped 30% I think a lot of people got scared. And people really started reevaluating what they were doing with their money. Because in retirement and being if you’re five years out from retirement or in retirement, a big loss very early on or in retirement can be devastating to the long term plans. Now we got lucky this time, because it went down and came back up. Absolutely. Some people think it might go back down, but who knows. So more and more people are taking the time to get a second opinion, especially from a licensed fiduciary, which is so important, so important, so important, and, and really looking thoroughly at their plan. And you know, it’s secure money advisors, we bring you through a very disciplined process, making sure that we dot every I and cross every T and there’s a checklist that we follow, you know, I kind of related to flying airplanes. Now I fly model airplanes now because I don’t have the time to fly real airplanes anymore. But it was something that I love to do. But every time I would get in the plane, didn’t matter if I was in that plane 100 times, I’d have to go through that same checklist every single time. And retirement planning is the same way. There’s a checklist that you have to follow. And there’s five key areas, which we talk about all the time on this show. We I think we can’t say someone’s getting coffee the first time didn’t come is number one. Okay. Number two is investments. Number three is taxes. Number four is health care. And number five is legacy. Okay? Right. So why is income important? Well, income is the driving force behind your retirement, you’re not going to retire without a good income strategy. Because when you retire, your paychecks gonna stop. But bills, taxes, all the things that you want to do are not going to stop. So how are you going to replace that paycheck? Of course, you know, now for you know, a lot of people, you know, you’re gonna have a social security check, which is going to help replace some of that money. But the, the money that you need above and beyond that, which most people just can’t live off their social security checks, they’re going to need additional money, you’re either gonna have a pension, which most people don’t have anymore, right? Those are kind of a thing of the past. Yeah, thing of the past. Now, where are you going for right? Now you have a 401k you got to generate income from it. So how are you going to do that? And how are you going to do without putting yourself in a position of running out of money? Absolutely. And number two, the investments, you have to maximize the returns of these portfolios, but you also have to know three key interest rates. One is your spend down rate. One is your preservation rate, and one is your legacy rate. Okay? Your spend down rate is if I’m taking a certain money out of my portfolio, what is the portfolio? What rate of return is the portfolio need to do that it may be 95. The last check I write says he is to the underwriter then my preservation rate is if I’m taking this much money out of my portfolio, how do I maintain principal And of course, legacy rate is, if I want to take this much money out of my portfolio, how do I still grow my money? What rate of return do I need? Now we have a target range to shoot for. Okay. Right? taxes, taxes will erode your wealth. Absolutely. No, if you’re taking $10,000 out of retirement plan right now, and you’re in a 20%, tax bracket, after you pay those taxes, you’re netting about $8,000. What if taxes go to 40%? Yeah, your net only netting $6,000. That’s a huge cut in income, just from taxation alone. That’s scary. So how do we buy the government out of that situation and get them out of our lives so that in the future, we have tax free income, and then of course, healthcare, and then legacy planning, right? That legacy part is very important, because Sure, you know, 30, 40 years worth of work, there’s no point in doing all of this work and making your portfolio as efficient as we can. If that the day that you die, the IRS becomes your largest beneficiary. Yeah, so those are the five key areas that have to be focused on.
Cynthia De Fazio – 05:53
Okay. Is there one area specifically, Brian, that people forget to take into consideration when they’re thinking about their future? Is it typically healthcare costs, because we’ve talked about this in the past?
Brian Quaranta – 06:04
I think health care cost is overlooked, right? How much we’re really going to be spent on health care. Now, Pennsylvania, has a new health care market called Penny, which people can go to, and we can help them understand that that marketplace a little bit better. But it is it’s it’s a it’s a key component, especially if you want to retire before the age of 65. And you don’t qualify for Medicare, that cost has to be worked into it. Okay. But really, all five key areas really work together. This this plane is not flying without all five key areas. Absolutely. Right, exactly. You know, so if one area is missing, believe me, this plane is going to be off course. And so we’ve got to make sure that they’re all checked.
Cynthia De Fazio – 06:41
Absolutely. And I think it’s so important to also crystallize that a plan is not someone going to the mailbox and grabbing their statement. You know, it’s a totally different Yeah,
Brian Quaranta – 06:49
we’re having a pile of stuff, right? Yeah. When we talk about the POS the pile of stuff. Yeah. And if you are one of those folks that has a pile of stuff, you know, I kid around about it. And you know, and you know, a lot of people are sensitive to the fact that, you know, they might feel embarrassed of coming in to a financial advisors office and, you know, having their financial life criticize, but that’s not what we do at secure money advisors, we’re not there to criticize you, we’re there to find out where you are, where are you at right now? And where you need to go? What does the roadmap need to look like for you, and the only way we can do that is to first understand your situation. And we do that by asking you a series of very thoughtful questions, to have an intellectual conversation about what things look like for you. Number two, we have to really understand what your goals are and where you want to take this what type of investor are you? Are you an investor that needs income? Are you an investor that needs growth? Are you an investor that wants votes? Maybe you want growth and income? Right? And what does that look like? How should that be mapped out for you? And then most importantly, you really have to determine is the planning firm that you’re sitting with, that you’re interviewing? Are they going to be a right fit for you? Right? Are they going to be the right planning firm for you. And that’s a decision that you have to make. And you’ve got to make it by understanding what their process is, and secure money advisors will lay out our process. And we’re not the right fit for everybody. And we’ll be very upfront with you, if we’re not the right fit, but at the end of the day, if you want a simple, easy to understand plan, and you want something that’s going to help you get through retirement, minimize your losses, protect your income, prevent you from from outliving your money, secure money advisors, probably is the place for you to look at, because these are the things that we do really well at our practice. And then of course, what we’re going to do is we’re going to take everything that you’ve you bring in, okay, and we’re going to analyze it for you, we have a very powerful software that we put all of your information into. And it actually looks at your portfolio and it looks at the probability of success of your portfolio based on where you’re currently at. Once you understand where you are, now you can make good decisions of where you need to go. Because if you’re in a good place, what would be the point of moving, but if nobody’s taken the time to address and map out for you where you are right now, how do you know if they’re recommending a move that it’s truly going to be in your best interest? If I sit down with somebody and we map this out, and this is an this is an unbiased software, there’s a third party software that puts all of this information in for you. So that when you make a decision, you’re making a decision off of data, you’re making a decision off of facts, not opinions. Now you now you know that if I make this change, I’m making it because the data, the facts, the math is better, not because an advisor is trying to sell me on an opinion. And then of course, we help you map out that plan we give you turn by turn directions. My team implements it for you it’s turnkey, all you have to do is give us a thumbs up and we make it happen for you. And then over the years. We monitor it for you. We look at it every single year. We keep in touch with you through our through our communications calendar at secure money advisors, we’re very thorough in the process that we take and mapping out a plan for you.
Cynthia De Fazio – 10:08
Brian, thank you so much. This is the perfect time for us to go ahead and open up the phone lines. to the viewers at home. The phone lines are now open and that number to call is 888-382-1298. Remember, you deserve to know are you on the right track for retirement, Brian can make sure to put a plan in place that’s going to suit you. What he’s offering today to the first 10 callers is exactly that the right track Retirement System. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. The number to call is 888-382-1298. We’ll be right back after this very short commercial break.
Commercial Break -10:41
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 help 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.
Cynthia De Fazio – 12:16
And welcome back to retirement You TV. My name is Cynthia de Fazio. I’m joined today by Brian Quaranta. He is president and founder of secure money advisors. Now you are on a winning streak. You are on a winning streak. Absolutely keep nailing that last name. Again, I like to rush into things. One step at a time. Brian, let me ask you a question. Because obviously we’ve talked in the past about the importance of tax planning for retirement. Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about Roth conversions. Is that an easy process to follow?
Brian Quaranta – 12:51
Yeah, I think the first thing though, is to understand that there’s a difference between tax planning and tax preparation app. Right? So tax preparation is when we make money, we go to our tax account, they tell us how much we owe the IRS tax planning is when we figure out how to use the tax law and our to our advantage to avoid future taxation. Right. So let’s talk about traditional retirement plans versus Roth retirement plans or traditional retirement plan, you get to put money into that plan and get a deduction right now for that deposit. Okay. But all the growth on that money, all the income in the future of that money is all taxable to you. Right. So if I put $10,000 into an account, and it grows to $20,000, and I want to take that $20,000 out, or $20,000 is taxable. You take a Roth IRA, if I make a deposit into that account, I don’t get a tax deduction right now for it. But if I have $10,000 in that account, and it grows to 20,000, I take that 20,000 out, I don’t owe one penny in taxes. Now, that’s a big difference, especially if you plan on generating income from your investments in the future. Absolutely. Now, tax planning is something that is better done earlier than later. So the earlier you can get to your tax planning strategy, the better. So if you’re in your 50s are 55, right, or 60, you still have a lot of time to do some really nice tax planning. But it starts to get harder and harder into those later years, especially if you want to retire right now. And you’re going to need income sure starts to really limit some of the really, really powerful tax saving strategies that you can use. Okay, so planning earlier for tax savings is much better than trying to wait till last minute.
Cynthia De Fazio – 14:39
Okay, excellent. Thank you, Brian. I also want to ask you a little bit about your opinion on annuities because so often they have such a negative stereotype what what is that? Why is that and what is your opinion on annuities?
Brian Quaranta – 14:51
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, first off, I agree with some of the negativity about them because there’s good ones and there’s Not so good ones. And there’s really three types. You have a variable annuity. Okay, you have a fixed annuity, and you have an indexed annuity. And it’s very simple. The main reason why people will typically buy an annuity is because with an annuity, you can purchase something called an income rider, which just basically means that if you would like to turn that income rider on, the insurance company will pay you a guarantee of income every single month for the rest of your life, even if your account balance goes to zero. So think about that. If you’re one of these people that are, you know, a little bit more conservative, and you have a lot of fear about the markets, and you don’t want to take any risk with your future income, then buying an annuity can be a really great thing because you can generate a guarantee of income for the rest of your life. Now, the nice thing about the annuities in today’s marketplace, is the old annuities, right, the annuity is going back 25 years ago, 20 years ago, even if you gave your money to an insurance company in the form of an annuity, the insurance company owned that money, you no longer own the principal of that money. So you lost control of your money. In today’s marketplace, you can maintain control of your money, but also get a guarantee of your income. So if I put $300,000 into an annuity, and that’s going to generate, let’s say, $15,000 a year for me in guaranteed income, and three years into it, I don’t want that annuity anymore, I can go to the insurance company, I can get my money back, used to never be able to do that. Okay, but it’s the it’s the cost of the annuity that makes it good or bad and how its structured. So for example, the annuity that a lot of people talk about the one that is beat up a lot by some very famous people. Yeah, right. Right. I hate annuities. And you should, too, right. What they’re really referring to there is the variable annuity. And now that’s an annuity that when you put your money in, it’s going in the stock market, the balance of the account can go up and down in value, it’s very high in fees. The fixed annuity is not one that’s beat up. And it’s a very simple product, a matter of fact that the same people that beat up the variable annuity, actually, if you read deeper into their commentary, actually will admit that they like the fixed annuity, because the fixed annuity is the new age CD. That’s all it is. It’s just a new age bank CD. So right now, on a fixed annuity, you can get anywhere from three 4% guaranteed every single year on your money. So if you just needed, you know, you know, let’s say you got, you know, $300,000 and you need maybe $10,000 a year, you could put that into a fixed annuity, take your income out every single year and never touch a principal just because the interest alone, wow. And then of course, you have indexed annuities, okay, which if the market goes, if the market goes up, you make money, if the market goes down, you don’t lose any money. Now, you have to determine whether or not an annuity is suitable for your situation. Because there are some restrictions on annuities right, that you have to be aware of, but they certainly can play a very important role in some people’s portfolios. Okay, so But, folks, we’re talking about the right track retirement system here. And what the right track Retirement System is going to do is exactly what it says, determine if you’re on the right track. So maybe you’ve been wondering to yourself, hey, I don’t really know if I’m on the right track. Every time you walk out of your advisors office, maybe you’re thinking to yourself, could we be doing better? Could we get to be getting better rates of returns? Maybe you think to yourself a lot about what people share with me, they’ll say, well, they never talked to me about tax planning. They never talked to me about health care planning. They never told me how to maximize returns. They ever talked to me about technology, like algorithms and things along those lines, could I be doing better? Well, how do you know if you don’t get a second opinion, and you can’t get a second opinion for the person that gave you the first opinion. So the right track Retirement System is going to lay out five key areas for you, it’s going to talk about income, it’s going to help you understand your investment strategy is going to help you understand healthcare, it’s gonna help you understand your taxes, and it’s gonna help you understand your legacy planning. So the right track Retirement System, we’re going to give complimentary when you come in, it’s an analysis for you, we’re going to walk you through an analysis of your current situation, find out where you are right now. And compare that to where you could be going. Now the great news is this. Maybe when we do that, you find out that you’re actually in the best situation you could be. How nice would it be that for no cost to come in? You sit down, we go through your situation, and my team and I say to you, you’re in the best position you can pay. That’s peace of mind for you. But if you’re not in the best position, when would you want to know that? I would bet you would want to know it now not later. So again, this is complimentary to you. It’s 1-888-382-1298. Again, that’s for the next 10 callers who call in right now. We’re going to give this away complimentary 188838 to 1298. You just need to do your part. You got to get up off the couch. You got to pick up the phone and you’ve got a call. Please don’t kick the can down the road. This is not a time to procrastinate. Take advantage of this great offer.
Cynthia De Fazio – 19:59
Brian Thank you so Much of the viewers at home the phone lines are now open. They’re already lining up. The number to call is 888-382-1298. You deserve to know if you’re on the right track to retire comfortably and safely. Brian has the answers for you again, the phone lines are now open. Don’t miss this opportunity at 8883821298. We’ll be right back after this very short commercial break.
Commercial Break – 8:21:00 PM
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.
Cynthia De Fazio – 21:48
And welcome back to retirement You TV My name is Cynthia de Fazio I’m joined today by Brian Quaranta. He is president and founder of secure money advisors and you are on a winning streak. So you might have it you might be nailing it forever now. Next time we have the confetti behind Yeah, right. Right, right. Drop everything. Yeah, I’d love that. That would be awesome. So let me ask you a question, Brian, in case someone is tuning in for the very first time, and they’re watching you today, Why do you have such a passion for helping others retire comfortably? Where does that come from?
Brian Quaranta – 22:22
Well, I you know, I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. My mom and dad worked very, very hard for their money. And I wish they would have had, you know, somebody that cared as much as I care about, you know, retirement planning, because it just wasn’t available. I saw my dad work with stockbrokers. I feel like every time my dad and I would talk about a stockbroker, we’d be talking about losing money, not making money, you know. But even when I graduated college, I got right into the financial industry. And the reason I started secure money advisors is actually because I was very dissatisfied with what I actually saw my first few years in the financial industry. I was working for a big firm in Pittsburgh, and I graduated, got it right in the business at the end of 1999. And I was working for a large firm. And I was so excited, I passed my exam. And I started working in this firm. And you know, they call you a junior advisor when you start working in a firm, and which is really just kind of a nice name for Hey, kid, can you make copies for me, Hey, kid, can you run and, you know, get me a cup of coffee, can you come and take notes, but it was a great opportunity, because I got to sit in meeting after meeting after meeting and listen to what advisors were telling people. And what they would say are things like this, you know, you’re getting ready to retire, we probably need to reduce a little bit of risk, you need to consider rolling over your 401k because you’ll have access to more options. And we’ll put together a asset allocation and diversified portfolio based on your risk tolerance. And as we see market changes take place, we’ll go into the portfolio make changes. Well, that all sounded great. But in practice, none of that stuff ever happened. And here’s why. If an advisor has 100 clients, heck, if they’ve got 25 clients, how difficult it’s going to be to go in and manually change everybody’s portfolio around based on the economic conditions. And and and so here’s what would happen. I saw 2000 2001 2002 rolled around, and I saw people’s accounts go down year after year after year. And I saw people that were five years from retirement in retirement, panicking because their money was going down. And when they were calling into the firm, the junior advisors were on the front line taking the phone calls to financial advisors were hiding under the desk. But when we would go in and ask the financial advisors what to do, they would tell us to go back to the clients and tell them don’t worry about it. Hang in there. You’re in it for the long haul. How many of you have ever heard sitting down with an advisor or maybe your advisor even has said to you, Listen, don’t worry about it. Hang in there. You’re in it for the long haul. You’re going to be okay. It’s just a paper loss. Folks. That is not a retirement plan. That is not a strategy that is a hope and pray strategy. How do they know that hanging in there for the long haul is going to work. You know, I took a phone call from a guy at the firm who was very upset that he had lost money. And when I went to the financial advisor to ask him what to do, he told me to go back and get on the phone and tell the guy not to worry about it was just a paper loss and a paper loss and to hang in there, he was in it for the long haul. So like a good soldier, you know, a good employee, I go back, and I repeat what the financial advisor said, and I’m glad I did. Because what what the client said to me is the reason why I got so passionate about building secure money advisors, he said, Brian, I’m 70 years old, how much long haul Do you think I’ve got left? And when I really started thinking, I said, He’s 100%, right. And for a lot of you that are getting ready to retire, you’re going to need to rely on the monies that you’ve accumulated as a source of income hanging in there and holding on for the long term. That’s not a strategy. And here’s the question, we have to ask ourselves if the markets go down. Yeah, they might come back, but how long is it going to take for those markets to come back? And what if that’s the time period that you need your money, we got to remember, retirement planning is, you know, for you retirement is is is a pretty short window, you know, and the reason is, is because most people want to do the stuff that they want to do in a 10 year window. If you’re retiring at 65, there’s about a 10 year window, people want to try to get things in because that’s when you have your health, you still have the energy to go do the things you want to do and your money needs to be there for you when you need it. And you can’t be in a position that if the market goes down, that you can no longer take your money out. Because remember, if the market goes down, and you take money out on top of that, you are locking into those losses and you are compounding those losses. And this is why we believe in a bucketing strategy. A bucketing strategy allows us to have a buffer account that if the markets go down, we have another place that’s not impacted by the market to grab that money from so we’re talking about the right track retirement system here today. How do you know if you’re on the right track? This is what our offer is to for the next 10 callers who call in right now. We’re going to give you a complimentary right track Retirement System consultation. Now I know that’s a mouthful, but believe me when I tell you, it’s a lot of stuff that you’re going to get when you come to the office. We’re going to go through those five key areas with you and we’re going to walk you through it. It’s complimentary to sit down with a licensed fiduciary for the next 10 callers who call in right now. It’s 1-888-382-1298
Cynthia De Fazio – 27:31
Brian, thank you so much to the viewers at home. Thank you for spending time with us again this week. We know you have a lot of questions at how to retire with comfort and ease. Brian has the answers for you. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call today. 888-382-1298 again, thank you for watching. Be safe, be happy, be blessed and we will see you back here again next week with Brian Q.