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Video Transcript
Cynthia De Fazio – 00:23
Good morning, my name is Cynthia de Fazio, I am sitting with Brian Quaranta, I think I pronounced, you’re getting closer. With every episode, you’re getting closer and closer to understand we are on live TV, I get one shot. So basically what I start to say is just Brian q right is the easiest way to go, we run with it. But Brian are the CEO and the founder of secure money advisors. Yep. And so whenever we’re together, there’s always so much knowledge that you’re able to share with the viewing audience. I personally had been completely, not even astounded, but just really touched by the amount of people that have called in, that have set their appointments with you know, wanting to get to know you better to talk about their retirement goals, their plans, what that structure is going to look like for them. And a lot of this is due to our time together on TV, even when I can’t pronounce your name, right.
Brian Quaranta – 01:18
Well, look, I’ve had clients for 20 years that still can’t pronounce it. This is why you know, the whole team just says call them Brian. Q. Yeah. You know, my my dad owned a gum reward store. Yeah, my grandfather had a Kirby vacuum cleaner store. And everybody called my dad, Mr. Q on my grandfather, Mr. Q, because nobody’s been butchered all my life. So
Cynthia De Fazio – 01:37
that makes me feel a little better. And I kind of like to also say, questions about financial planning. Brian, q you for question.
Brian Quaranta – 01:42
That’s right. Well, you know, on the radio show, which we do on 94.53, 3Ws, we do that every Saturday morning, okay, from eight to nine. And we also do it every Sunday from seven to 7;30. And then right after that, of course, we’ve got the TV show now. Sure. But you know, we do increasing your financial IQ with Brian Q, and that’s retirement you radio because nobody’s gonna be able to pronounce Brian Quaranta
Cynthia De Fazio – 02:03
Yes, yes. Well, and I’m getting a little better. Well, and it’s been an amazing journey. Also, for the viewers that are tuning in for the first time talk a little bit about your, your life, your son, you have a little baby boy
Brian Quaranta – 02:16
I do I do I’ve got a little six month old. And it’s been just an absolute blessing, because by nature, I am a workaholic. You know, I come from a long line of business owners, and we’re very passionate about trying to make some change in the world for good. But you know, secure money advisors was really created out of my own frustrations, because 20 years ago, when I got into the business, I just didn’t like what I saw. You know, I grew up in New Jersey. And, you know, my, my mom and dad worked very, very hard. My dad had a gun reward store. It was doing very, very well. And then mugham rewards file for bankruptcy. And my parents went from having this great income, to having financial hardship overnight. And, you know, as a as a young kid, you know, that affected me that affected me a lot. And my dad used to always tell me about his broker out in New York, and you know, and the stocks he was buying and how he was losing money, and I could never really figure out why my dad would give this guy money, but it would always he would always lose money was never making money. But more importantly, when they lost the store because of Macomb rewards filing bankruptcy, there really was no plan in place to protect them from that. And so I had an opportunity to get a scholarship to play football at Robert Morris University, here in Pittsburgh. And when I came here, I studied business. And I thought I was really going to go home after I graduated and and work on Wall Street. But I had a good friend of mine, tell me, you know, you got to come down to this firm here in Pittsburgh and listen to them and hear what they have to say. So I did. And I studied, studied, studied when I got to the firm, and I got my license. And you know, at that time, once you pass your exam, they call you a junior advisor, which is just a really nice way of saying, Hey, kid, can you can make some copies for me? Can you get me a cup of coffee? Can you come in as meeting and take some notes, and I got an opportunity to sit in meeting after meeting with advisors that had been in the business for 2025 years. And I would hear them talk to individuals that were getting ready to retire. And they would say, you know, Mr. Mrs. Smith, you know, we’re going to do a good job and rolling over your 401k or we’re going to reposition your retirement money. And we’re going to make it more conservative and we’re going to diversify it, right? We’re going to buy some technology, some pharmaceuticals, we’re going to add some bonds in there. We’re going to buy growth stocks, mid cap stocks, small small cap stocks. And the reason for the diversification is you’re going to have non correlating assets, some are going to be going up, some might be going down. But if we get it right through this asset allocation model, even during heavy market volatility, we shouldn’t lose too much money. Well, I got into business right at the end of 1999. And of course, what a great time To get into business because 2000 2001 2002 was a nightmare. And all of these people that I saw these advisors sitting with that they were, they were supposedly helping, that really didn’t want to take a whole lot of risk with their money. A lot of these people lost 40 50% of their money. And of course, they were very, very upset. I remember the phones ringing at the firm. And, you know, people were very, very upset. They wanted to get out of the market. And what changed my life was a phone call that I took. It was a gentleman that had been with the firm for quite a while he I took the call, and he said, I’d like to speak with my advisor. So I went to the advisor, I said, you know, if you got a client on the phone, he wants to talk to you. He’s lost money by to get out of market. He says, Brian, he says, Do me a favor, just just let that guy know that not to worry about anything. It’s just a paper loss. Now, I don’t know about you. But if anybody’s ever told it, would everybody ever tell me that it’s a paper loss? I would be a little bit offended by that, because it doesn’t feel like a paper loss to male. Absolutely. And then he told me, he said, also tell him not to forget that he’s in it for the long haul. Yeah. So not being young in the business. I you know, I didn’t know what to do. So I just followed orders, I went back to the phone. And I said, you know, Sam, I said, I spoke with the adviser. He said, Look, not to worry about anything. It’s just a paper loss, it will rebound. And don’t forget, just hang in there. You’re in this for the long haul. And he said, Brian, I’m 75 years old, how much long haul Do you think I got left? And that really hit me. And it impacted me. And I said, you know, he’s 100%, right? Because this isn’t a dress rehearsal. No, you don’t get a second chance at it. And I said, if this is what managing people’s money is about, this is not what I want to be part of, because this is gambling, what people’s money and there’s got to be better ways to do it. And there are and you know, so I spent a lot of years studying, studying, studying and really research in the market, and found some really great mentors that understood how to have downside protection in in your retirement plans. So you didn’t have to be exposed to losses to that degree. And that is what drives me to this day is that if you look at all the big firms out there, there’s this message that there’s continued to be perpetuated out there. And there’s just better ways to do it than than the old way. And if you look at most people’s portfolios, they’re kind of like the old cell phone of the 80s. You know, you think of the old cell phone the big chunky brick. Yeah. You know, it didn’t do a whole lot. I mean, you could barely get service, you think about the cell phone today, I barely need a computer. Yeah. Because it does everything for me. And and that’s the technology that we’ve seen in the investment world, too, is that there’s products and programs and designs and different types of tactical management, strategic management that can literally limit losses or eliminate losses altogether, to give an individual peace of mind in retirement. And my passion really is educating people on how to do this and teaching them how to do it and letting them know that there’s a better way.
Cynthia De Fazio – 07:59
And I think it’s important that we talk about your exact title, because you’re a fiduciary. So for the viewers at home, a lot of them may not know what that is being a consumer advocate. I’m very familiar with that term. But please tell the viewing audience what life but what are your held to what is the standard?
Brian Quaranta – 08:14
Yeah, I mean, the fiduciary standard really is the highest standard in the industry, we’re really held to the highest standard, I mean, we really have to do what’s in the best sense for the client. So basically, the way I look at it is what would I do if I was sitting down with my mom and dad, right? I’m not beholden to any specific company, I truly have to shop the market and find what products are going to work for my clients the best. What we what we do first is a fiduciary responsibility is to help strategically design a plan, right? And the plan always comes first. See people have a backwards and in the investment world has it backwards, they sit down with somebody and start to talk about product. That’s not where you start, you always start first. When when people come in the secure money advisors, they’re amazed with the questions, we start to ask them, right, because our questioning process they’ve never been asked these questions before. And so through that, we truly find what are we trying to accomplish with this money. And then once we understand the plan, that is the only time in which we start to look at product in the marketplace?
Cynthia De Fazio – 09:15
Sure. Because Brian, you you have a very personalized twist on that each individual that comes into your office, they’re sitting with you, you’re asking questions to them that maybe no one has ever taken the time to ask before ever. So you’re getting a true picture of what’s important to each individual client. And that’s not the same for every person.
Brian Quaranta – 09:32
Yeah, and this is why we always offer a complimentary no cost review, this is $1,000 value that we offer to the people that are watching this TV show is that you get an opportunity to come in and sit down with a fiduciary. And really, we take the whole process and we make it so simple and so easy to understand. Most people were amazed because they’ll say for the first time I actually understand what you guys are talking about. So For the next 10 callers who call 18883821298. Again, that’s 1-888-382-1298, you’re going to get a complimentary no cost review. Again, it’s $1,000 value that you’re going to get, you’re going to be able to come in, sit down, know that there’s no pressure to do anything. You don’t have to worry about making any decisions, but you are going to learn a lot. And we’re going to teach you a lot on how to do this differently and give yourself peace of mind that you’ve probably never had before.
Cynthia De Fazio – 10:28
And Brian, it’s time for our first break viewers. Please stay tuned that number. Once again, we realize the phone lines are busy, but keep trying. It’s 1-888-382-1298. When we come back after this quick commercial break, we’re going to have some more questions for Brian and I think it’s gonna be more about social security. So please stay tuned.
Commercial break – 10:46
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.
Cynthia De Fazio – 12:21
Welcome back. My name is Cynthia de Fazio I’m sitting with Brian q founder and CEO of secure money advisors. Welcome back, Brian. All right. Well, right. We just go right for the Brian, I’m just gonna go with you for the viewing audience at home. Well, Brian, I want to talk a little bit about we’ve, we’ve had so many different questions throughout the weeks about social security. That seems to be a hot topic for so many reasons. There’s a lot of, you know, apprehension right now. And there’s maybe a little bit of fear, if you will, that that could one day go away. Yeah. So talking about just some myths that are surrounding social security and want to get your opinion on. You have people coming in that they really don’t have a set financial plan, but they’re coming in to sit with you. And they’re like, Brian, I feel like Social Security is going to cover all of my income needs.
Brian Quaranta – 13:10
Yeah, I know. I mean, I know well, you know, that the the grand experiment, the country, and nobody knows how this is gonna work out is that, you know, employers replace guaranteed pensions with 401k plans. And so we don’t have an additional guaranteed source of income, like we used to have 30 40 years ago with the pension. So the only guaranteed source that most people have when they retire is going to be social security. And if you’re a married couple, you got two checks coming in, right. And there’s some maximization strategies that are still available. But for most people, those two Social Security checks are just not going to be enough to cover the expenses. And they’re going to need additional income. And that’s really where retirement planning has changed. Because there’s that there’s the change has been in the fact that people have to understand that when you retire, the game changes, you know, when you’re investing money on your way to retirement, your whole goal is to invest as much money as you can get the highest rate of return, maybe you’re not as concerned with market volatility, because you have time to recover if the market comes back. But when you retire, what got you there is not going to get you through the next 30 years because it all becomes the foundation on retirement planning, all comes around income planning.
Cynthia De Fazio – 14:19
Sure, that makes perfect sense. So I think another myth that people seem to have a little bit and you can explain this Brian as well is people think that they should take their social security benefits early, but there’s different rules to follow for that correct.
Brian Quaranta – 14:32
There is and you know, it’s really different for everybody because a lot of times and you know, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of noise in the marketplace right now, you know, on on what to do with social security and, and the noise in the marketplace is a lot around these, what we call the lane strategies where you’re going to delay taking Social Security. The challenges with that, obviously are if someone’s going to delay Social Security, but they want to retire right now. That means they’re going to have to get income from somewhere to be reached. And if they don’t have a pension, that means they’re probably going to have to take it from the retirement accounts. And what we have found when we look at the math, and that’s really our focus what secure money advisors is, we hate opinions. And our goal really is to share with people the black and white math because the answers and the decisions can be made in that black and white math. And what we have found is that if someone tries to take delay social security and take money out of their retirement accounts, a lot of times, it just doesn’t benefit them. So a lot of times it makes sense to take it maybe earlier, but what else goes into it? Is health. Right? How’s your health? Because your health is going to be a big determining factor of do I collect it now? Do I delay it? So there’s, there’s a lot of different factors. And this is something that we can help with. I mean, Social Security is a huge component when it comes to building your income planning, retirement. And certainly, we want to take advantage of everything we possibly can to maximize what we can get from Social Security.
Cynthia De Fazio – 15:55
And wouldn’t you agree that a lot of times people then go online to check their benefits? Sometimes it’s not accurate? The information you can find? Is that correct?
Brian Quaranta – 16:03
It’s not accurate. Or a lot of times they might go in and sit down with somebody from Social Security and get incorrect information from Social Security. Because, you know, I’ve got a friend on speed dial who works at soul security. And I’ll call him with questions. And he’ll tell me now he trains the people that we see. Right? Goodness, right, he’ll call me and I’ll say, you know, I’ve got to get back to you on that. Now, think about that for a minute. This is a benefit that a lot of us paid into for 40 plus years. And it shouldn’t be this difficult, right? But unfortunately, it is. So working with someone that understands all security, like secure money advisors is a big advantage when it comes to building a retirement plan.
Cynthia De Fazio – 16:40
Sure, I think it’s important that we point out that when you call like let’s say that 1 800 number for Social Security, that they’re their job is not to advise you and consult you on what’s best for you. I mean, they’re just going to give you what information they have, but it’s you. That’s what you do.
Brian Quaranta – 16:53
Yeah, right. Well, you know, every once in a while, you’ll find that that that, you know, that golden nugget at soul security, where you just found the perfect person that gave you all the right advice. But really, this is why you will want to rely on, you know, a firm like ours where this is a big part we educate ourselves on it, we understand it, we understand all the different moving parts. And if we don’t have the answers, we have people we can contact that do have the answers. And and that’s a big advantage. That’s fantastic, Brian, and then I think another myth that we should talk about is, once someone starts their benefits was so security, can they work any longer, what happens? Oh, this is a great one. Because this they do they think that they can’t work anymore, or I’m sorry that they can’t work and collect Social Security. And that’s true, and it’s false, okay. And the way it works is if you collect before your full retirement age, so let’s say your full retirement age is 66. And you want to collect at 63. Okay, and you still wanted to work, Social Security is going to cap how much money you can make, I think it’s about 17,400 or 17,600, somewhere around there that you can make. If you make beyond that, right, there’s a 50% penalty for any money that you make beyond that, but once you turn your full retirement age, you can work and make as much money as you want. Now, we did this with my dad to accelerate my parents retirement because of everything my parents went through with the McGovern reward store. You know, there was there was years missed on savings. So to accelerate that savings, what we did was when my dad turned his full retirement age, we turned social security on my dad still work. And we actually saved 100% of the social security check. And we built up a big pot of money by the time my dad retired at the age of 71. And so we were able to get a couple $100,000 into an account. And this is the way that we’ve been able to take people that are maybe behind on savings, and actually in a very short period of time by leveraging social security that way, actually get them retired when they thought they would never be able to get retired. Just by leveraging that income from Social Security.
Cynthia De Fazio – 18:52
I’m just imagining how proud your dad was at that moment when you uncovered that for him. Right?
Brian Quaranta – 18:58
Well, yeah. I’ll tell you, you know, my dad’s kind of funny because I’m still his son, right? Yeah. So it’s funny because one of one of my other advisors at the office advises my dad, because my dad still goes, really? Are you sure I can do this, Brian? Cuz I’m just this son, right?
Cynthia De Fazio – 19:15
We’re still like 12 years old to them. Yeah, I get it.
Brian Quaranta – 19:20
Anyway, but this is why we offer these complimentary consultations at the office. And again, for all of the viewers right now for the next 10 callers that call in. And I know the phone lines have been very busy. We’ve been getting a lot of phone calls, but for the next 10 callers, you’re going to get complimentary view, no cost is $1,000 value, call 18883821298. A Again, that’s 1-888-382-1298. When you come in, it’ll be a very simple, easy process. And we look forward to seeing you
Cynthia De Fazio – 19:49
Friday. Time for us to take another break viewers, please stay with us. When we come back. We’re going to have more questions for Brian about planning your perfect retirement. Once again, that number if you’re trying to call is 18883821298 and please be patient. We know the phone lines are busy, we’ll be right back.
Brian Quaranta – 20:11
Retirement Plan is just all about getting to know somebody. I mean, retirement planning is really about just building trust with people. I have a responsibility that when I wake up in the morning to be the very best that I can be, because people are relying on me to take care of a lifetime’s worth of work that they’ve worked 3040 years for, I don’t take that lightly. That’s what drives me. That’s what I’m passionate about. You know, our clients really are our family of clients. We know their grandkids, we know their kids, we see them often throughout the community, we see them at the coffee shop, we see them at lunch, we really enjoy it, you know, we take pride in the quality of the relationships that we build with our clients. Choosing the right advisors starts with choosing someone that shares the same beliefs about money that you have. And secure money advisors. Our focus here is about building plans around principal protection, low risk investments are a great way to approach retirement. You know, when people have low risk investments, they’re not worried. They don’t have anxieties. They don’t have fears, they don’t have to worry about what’s going on in the stock market. There are other options available, other than risk options that people need to know about when it comes to retirement. And that’s what we do at secure money advisors. There’s a lot of responsibility and helping somebody plan for the retirement. And that’s why we take the time to listen, we take the time to understand their concerns, their worries, their needs, so that we can put together a customized plan. You know, we believe in what we do, everybody that works for secure money advisors is on a mission to be the very best that they can be and to serve our clients in the best way that they can possibly serve them. You know, we just are a simple company. And it’s the simplicity in what we do that makes everything so powerful. You know, you don’t need to make this thing complicated. Retirement should not be complicated. It should be simple, easy, predictable. And we pride ourselves on providing that to people.
Cynthia De Fazio – 22:32
Welcome back. My name is Cynthia de Fazio I’m sitting with Brian Q, the sound the founder and CEO of secure money advisors. And Brian, we’re coming to the favorite part of the show is we are love this the questions from the viewers because they have so many amazing things they want to ask you. So if you don’t mind, I’m gonna jump right into your fortune. Okay, I’m turning 70 in November, when will I be required to make my first RMD? Which for the viewing audience at home, we should point out required minimum distribution? And can I avoid taking the initial withdrawal and the second withdrawal in the same year?
Brian Quaranta – 23:09
Yeah. What a great question. And what great timing with this question, because the biggest thing we’re dealing with the biggest change in the financial industry right now is on December 20, the President signed into law, the secure act, you know, so everybody knows that, you know, you had to start required minimum distributions at the age of 70. Half. But now you don’t have to start them until 72. Now, if you’ve already been taking required minimum distributions, and maybe you’re 71, you can’t delay him, you’re not, you’re not going to be able to get away with that. But this is a big one, because now we can delay it. We can delay rmds out till 72. And there’s some other big changes that took place with the secure act, too. I mean, we used to be able to stretch our IRAs out with our children. So your children, you know, I’ll give you a great story on how this impacts people so they secure act. Before the secure act. Let’s say I had an individual and this was a great story that was in Money Magazine, a son inherited his father’s half a million dollar retirement account, okay. And the article went on to say, the son had no idea that his dad had saved that much money. So he calls up the company. And they say, Yep, you’re the primary beneficiary of it. And here’s the paperwork, please fill it out and send it back. So he does that, sends it in. And a couple weeks later, a $500,000 check shows up in the mail. Now, a few weeks after that a 1099 shows up in the mail, which means he’s taxed on all $500,000. So in that year alone, he owes over $240,000 in taxes, because not only is that $500,000 that he received from his dad’s Ira 100% taxable at his income tax bracket, but it gets added to all his other income. So him and his wife are making about 150,000 combined a year so now he’s paying taxes on 650,000. Now before the secure act, what we were able to do was were actually able to he would, he would have been able to take that money from his dad’s retirement account. And he would have been able to move that to what we call a stretch IRA. And he would have been able to not pay any taxes when that money came in that account. Now, the only catch was that he would have to take a small distribution out every single year. And he could do that over the course of his life. And so now, if you ran the numbers, on that situation, he received $500,000, in his first year, he maybe had to take out $13,000. And that would have been the only money he would have had to pay taxes on. But not knowing how it works. He takes all 500,000 ways of paying 240,000 taxes, the secure act changed, stretch IRAs now, and they said, Look, we’re not going to give you the ability to stretch them anymore. over your lifetime, you have to take all the money out within 10 years, folks, this is a big, big tax issue. And if nobody’s talking to you about this, you have to understand this, because this is going to impact your legacy that you can leave to your family. So understanding this and understanding the strategies that we’re putting in place right now for our clients. To avoid that and to still be able to leave that legacy and not make Uncle Sam, your largest beneficiary is critical that you understand that. So if you come in to the office, we’re going to talk to you a little bit of how you can do that. You can you could we’ll show you exactly how to do I’ll teach you a very simple strategy to handle that.
Cynthia De Fazio – 26:24
Perfect and great answer and great advice, Brian. Absolutely. We have time for I believe one more question. Yeah. This one says, Brian, I’m about five years away from retirement, I have never put together a retirement plan. Is it too late for me to start now?
Brian Quaranta – 26:38
Well, neither did my dad. And I showed him how to retire in a very short period of time, by leveraging social security. And there’s all kinds of different strategies to do it. But this is why we offer these complimentary reviews. And folks, I want to stress to you that, you know, we we know that going out and seeing a financial advisor can be a very, very intimidating process. It’s not like that when you come into secure money advisors. It’s a very relaxed environment. We really, really make it easy for you to share what you need to share with us. There’s no judgment, there’s no criticism, we don’t care where you are. Right. Our goal is to say what’s happening right now, don’t worry about what you’ve purchased, or whether you’ve purchased the right things that are wrong things. That’s that’s not what it’s about. It’s about where we need to go. And and most importantly, having a plan of where we need to go. And by doing that you are going to have peace of mind that you’ve never had before. So again for the next 10 callers that call 18883821298. Again, that’s 1-888-382-1298 you’re going to get a complimentary no cost review. And again, that’s $1,000 value that you’re going to get come in it’s not very often that you get to meet with a fiduciary.
Cynthia De Fazio – 27:48
Absolutely. And Brian, it’s time for us to close the show to our viewers. We will see you next week. Please tune in. Thank you again for watching questions and answers with Brian.