To see a full schedule of our TV airtimes, please click here.
Video Transcript
Rebecca Powers 00:23
Welcome to On the Money with Secure Money with Brian Quaranta of Secure Money Advisors. I’m Rebecca Powers. So happy to have you with us again this week, great to see you see you. As always, we have a lot of emails and calls and questions. And we might even get some time to get to your questions today. So, we really want to say thank you, we appreciate those questions, keep them coming in. The number one thing people always seem to say is, how do I know if I’m ready to retire? So, take it away? I’m sure you hear that every day.
Brian Quaranta 00:53
Yeah. Or, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s probably the number one question we get is, can I even retire? Right? You know, people used to know the date in which they could retire, they just they don’t know that date anymore. They don’t know whether they saved enough because, you know, there’s, there’s, you know, information out there that says you need to have over a million dollars, obviously, you need to have over 2 million. I’ve seen people retire very successfully on 150 $250,000. So, it comes down to a number of different factors. But what I have found is that if you actually work through putting together a written plan, and you’ve mathematically worked backwards as far as what you’re going to need, our favorite thing to do at Secure Money Advisors is retired people right now. Because I always say in a perfect world, when would you want to retire? Nine out of 10 people down? And I say Are you serious? Would you really retire now? And they say, Yeah, I think so I think I really would. And I said, Well, okay, then we’re going to build a plan showing retirement now. And just what it would look like doesn’t mean you have to, but let’s just see what retirement now would look like. And then we’ll say okay, well, what’s the what’s what, other than the perfect world? When would you want that to be? Oh, maybe 65? Maybe, you know, whatever. And when they come back, and we show them that we can retire them now. Some will, some won’t. But here’s what happens. Eventually, they’ll come back a year later and say, does that plan still work? If I were to go? Five years? Can I just go now? So, but it’s a big question that needs to be answered, everybody should have clarity around that. Because you really need to know when you’re gonna retire. If you’re if you’re out there, still trying to figure out what that date is going to look like I would tell you get to get with a good fiduciary firm that can help you put together a plan and identify what that date is going to be. Because if you’re not on the right track, and this is what we talk about all the time, because I wrote the book, Right Track Your Retirement, if you’re not on the right track, and you’re not moving towards a that specific retirement date, now’s the time to figure that out. So, you can make the adjustments you need to make.
Rebecca Powers 02:58
Absolutely. You said something very profound a few weeks ago, and then a lot of people, I think it struck a chord you said, We insure our house, our car life. And I mean, the list goes on and on. But nobody ensures their retirement.
Brian Quaranta 03:22
Yes, I know. Isn’t that amazing?
Rebecca Powers 02:58
And that is like so eye opening, because what is more important than being able to keep your way of life your house until you are no longer here?
Brian Quaranta 03:22
Yeah, I mean, look, you can go back to many times, you can go back to 99 and 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008. I mean, I saw people have to go back to work, because they weren’t able to stay retired because they had too much money at risk. And someone convinced them that that was a good idea.
Rebecca Powers 02:43
A broker probably Sorry.
Brian Quaranta 03:45
Yeah. You know, the reality is, is that the industry has learned that you cannot successfully retire somebody, when you’re rolling the dice with 100% of your, your wealth right? Now, the problem, though, is that you got pundits on TV, you know, that, you know, have these Lightning Rounds and all these different stocks you can buy, and they make it sound really easy, and it’s great. But people are gambling with money, they can’t afford to gamble with it, it’s okay to it’s okay to be in the market. But you have to be in the market with money that you’re willing to lose. And you have to be in the market with money that you’re willing to have time to recover. And that’s the contradictory problem that we deal with. Because when you go to retire, you don’t have as much time. So, a loss to you at the beginning of retirement or in the middle retirement is devastating because you don’t have that long term period to recover because you need your money right now. And this is why I believe the most important thing an individual can do in retirement is to ensure their retirement for first is to ensure their retirement income. And in my book, right track your retirement, I talk about the strategies of how to build this, we use a very simple bucketing strategy where you’re setting aside a portion of money to create a pension for at least 15 to 20 years and if you do that the money that you do have in the market truly becomes long term money. But if you’re trying to actually generate some type of income or live off of money that you have invested in the stock market, and you start taking that money out when the markets down, we’re gonna have a little bit of a problem.
Rebecca Powers 05:14
He said the word pensions. So, I’m gonna give a quick little history lesson for those of you have not maybe been around this long, but in 1978. The government Jimmy Carter at the time decided to get rid of pensions.
Brian Quaranta 05:27
Yeah.
Rebecca Powers 05:28
What did that do without education? We were all of a sudden created the 401 K?
Brian Quaranta 05:32
Yeah,
Rebecca Powers 05:33
So, we have an entire nation on their own, with no education of how to do it, right. It seems like a recipe for disaster.
Brian Quaranta 05:40
It is a disaster. It is a disaster. I mean, think about the monumental task that you’re asking somebody to do. You know, when they retire, that would be like, that would be like somebody coming to you and I and saying, Hey, listen, we need you to build the bridge across the river. We’ve never built the bridge before.
Rebecca Powers 06:01
Well, we can’t even do algebra. So don’t ask.
Brian Quaranta 06:02
We’re tasking you with that. Right? Okay. But we don’t have the first, first understanding of any fundamentals of how to build the bridge. And that’s the task that people have in front of that. People are not money managers, they’re doctors, they’re nurses, they’re, they’re union workers. They’re tin workers. They’re iron workers, they’re landscapers, they’re contractors. They do what they do really well. But you’re asking these people now to take their 401, K’s, and now have them figure out how they’re going to generate the retirement that they want, because 85% of the people retiring today are not retiring with pensions. So how are you going to create the additional income that you’re going to need above and beyond social security, right, so you’ve got to create your own private pension. And this is why I believe in insuring the income, I’ll give you a good example of a case we worked on. And as a fiduciary, our job is to help build out a customized plan for individuals and everybody’s situation is different. And a fiduciary is required to have a higher level of education to understand the planning process. But we rotate that individual $250,000. 60-year-old $250,000, we put that into an income annuity, all right, this does this individual maintains full control over their money, we put it into under $50,000, at the age of 60, at the age of 66. So, five years of waiting and a six year, we start taking lifetime income of $25,000 a year guaranteed for the rest of his life. Amazing. Now, in order for your stock portfolio, to do that, you would need to invest that $250,000 And it would need to grow to over $400,000. So let me ask you this, yeah, where’s the probability of success hire you knowing that you’re gonna get a guarantee right now. So, you put the money in, and you wait that six-year period $25,000 a year, or you take that 250, and you’re put in the market, and you hope and pray that over that five year period, you’re gonna get the return that you need. So, you can take that same amount of money. This is called leverage. And this is called ensuring and protecting your retirement. And this is exactly what we do at secure money advisors. And folks, I want you to take advantage of our right track retirement review. Our review is a process and a system that we bring you through, you will get a number of reports built by our team of certified financial planners, where we will go through the probability of success of your plan and talk to you about your income, your taxes, your investments, your health care strategy, and your estate planning strategy. But all you got to do is pick up the phone, don’t procrastinate on this call 1-888-382-1298. And as always, my promise to you is this. Nobody from my team will ever pressure you to do anything, you will never be sold anything when you come to my office, I promise you that the appointment that you spend with us will be eye opening and very informative. Folks take advantage of it. 1-888-382-1298. Or you can go to righttrackyourretirement.com. That’s righttrackyourretirement.com. And you can schedule right there. And as a bonus for scheduling. I’m also going to give you a copy of my book absolutely free actually pay for the shipping and handling. That’s right. I pay for the shipping and handling. There should be no reason why you don’t get a copy of this book. So, 1-883-821-2298
Rebecca Powers 09:17
That’s right. Leave your checkbook at home. There really is no cost or obligation. Just that first meeting to see if you want to work together. Stay with us more with Brian Khurana how you can secure your money for retirement. We’ll be right back.
Brian Quaranta 09:28
So, everybody can tell you how to invest your money. There’s not a lot of people out there and a lot of firms that can teach you how to use your money. Most people also tell you that they’re scared. And the reason they’re scared is because they’re afraid of running out of money.
Neil Major 09:42
The last thing you want to do is have a really good job and you’re in your 60s retire, be looking for work again in your late 70s.
Brian Quaranta 09:50
The average person might say Well a good portfolio would be a good mix of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. A good portfolio is all designed around the five key areas is income, taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning,
Neil Major 10:05
because we’re not just product pickers here, what we do best here as we build retirement plans,
Brian Quaranta 10:10
9 out of 10 people, when they walk through the door would ask us, we just want to know if we’re on the right track. And I always say, if you’re not on the right track, when would be a good time to do it? Probably now.
Neil Major 10:21
People, you know, can actually see a vision once we start to really build out their plan.
Brian Quaranta 10:25
This is about you, if you’re not getting what you need, and you feel that when you walk out of the advisor’s office, it’s time to get a second opinion. And you can’t get a second opinion from the person that gave you the first of the difference at Secure Money Advisors. As a fiduciary firm, we help you manage the risk, build the income, and give you the retirement.
Rebecca Powers 10:56
Welcome back, we’re talking about your retirement, how you can get a wonderful complimentary review, to see if you’re ready, and what your income will be for the rest of your life. So, we have this retirement Red Light Challenge. Do you want to take a minute run to the kitchen, grab a little pad of paper, maybe a pencil or a pen? This is eye opening. I mean, I know it’s not the full-blown report like you’re offering. But this is kind of a good gauge to see how people are.
Brian Quaranta 11:22
Yeah. And if you get too many red lights, that’s a problem.
Rebecca Powers 11:24
That’s a red light. That’s a red flag.
Brian Quaranta 11:28
That’s right. So, you know, one of them is, you know, have you taken the time to calculate how much income you’re going to need. In my book, I talk about the importance of figuring out what that number is. Because once you figure out that number, let’s say it’s $30,000 a year. The next calculation that you have to do is to figure out what rate of return are you going to need? Now, people will say, Well, you know, I think I’m going to need a seven or 8% rate of return, here’s how you figure out your, your rate of return, there’s three returns that have to be calculated. So let’s say at $30,000 a year, and you have you know, $500,000, or $600,000, you need to figure out how many times you can take out $30,000 Every single year and spend that money down to let’s say, the age of 90 or 95. That’s what we call your spend down interest rate, then we have a preservation rate, the preservation rate is just if I want to take $30,000 a year, what rate of return do I need to get to preserve the money? Right and still take the money out. Yeah. And that legacy rate is, how do I take this money out, but still grow the money. So, let’s just say on the low end, your rate was 2%. On the high end, your rate was 7%. Now you have a gauge of what range you need to fall into, so that you don’t prematurely run out of money, let’s say in your early 80s or mid-80s, when you’re probably slowing down, right. So, you really don’t have the health or the want to go back to work. Right. And unfortunately, we see these stories. I mean, you can go to you know, any public store and see people that, you know, might not have, you know, wanted ticket, I don’t think they plan to fail.
Rebecca Powers 13:06
Right.
Brian Quaranta 13:07
You know, I think they just failed the plan.
Rebecca Powers 13:09
Yeah. Oh,
Brian Quaranta 13:10
You know, I mean, that’s,
Rebecca Powers 13:11
that’s a dilemma, right? That it really does start with a plan, a written plan, because so yeah, written down, not just oh, I live off of 4%. Or I will do this, because if you run out of money, and we talked about this before, they did a study of 1000 seniors and said, What do you fear most? And they said running out of money? running out of money. They fear more than death itself.
Brian Quaranta 13:33
Yes, yeah. It’s the biggest fear. And I’ll tell you, it would be my biggest fear. And I’ll tell you, the worst day of retirement is not the day you run out of money. The worst day of retirement is the day you figure out, you’re gonna run out of money, right? There’s nothing you can do to stop it. Right, that day is coming, it is coming. And one of the important things about getting a written plan is the fact that we can make all these bad things happen on paper night. So, you know, if you’re a married couple, we can simulate what would happen if your husband died. First, we could simulate what happened if your wife died first, because we know that there’s going to be a drop in income. Now according to AARP, there’s about a 40% drop of income when a spouse dies. But the one thing that people don’t take into account other than the drop in income is they don’t take into account that the individual if you’re a married couple, you’re going from a joint file filing tax status to a single filing tax status.
Rebecca Powers 14:27
And that’s worse,
Brian Quaranta 14:26
Which is worse. Yeah, that means your taxes are gonna go up, right? As a matter of fact, a good friend of mine childhood friend of mine, his dad passed about two years ago, and I was out visiting them, and his mom was there. And she said, Brian, I cannot believe how much more I had to pay in taxes this year. Ken and I never had to pay this money, much money in taxes. And I said, Joan, it’s because you’re a single filer now. And she’s like, That’s so unfair. Really. It really is especially for a widow right now. Because now, that same amount of money that they were taking from their accounts, is not netting her the same amount of money that they were getting because she has to pay a higher tax rate on it. So, making these bad things happen on paper are very important, because that’s where the planning happens, right? That’s where you identify the red flags and what can go wrong. And I will tell you, if you are a married couple, it is better to solve these problems. While you’re both alive, sound of mind and healthy. The most challenging thing that an, any individual can do is lose their spouse and have to go do heavy lifting with their financial life, possibly even with a stranger because they never sought advice out or built a relate real a relationship with an advisor. So, but this is why we offer the written plans at our office. And these are written plans prepared for them by certified financial planners so that they can have the information to make very informed decisions. And that’s Look, the world we live in today. People just need good information.
Rebecca Powers 16:05
Exactly.
Brian Quaranta 16:06
No, they can make decisions, and we want to keep our opinions out of it. Let the data show where you are, and then see if you can improve upon where you are. Right? Very simple.
Rebecca Powers 16:15
And it doesn’t, I’m glad you said data because it doesn’t just come from Brian’s mind and his amazing team. This is a report something software that you pay a lot of money to have a lot of money. And instead of charging your clients, you actually use it as a tool to pump the information and pump it out and say, there you go. It is black and white, it is irrefutable, and that is very powerful.
Brian Quaranta 16:39
Yes, yeah. And there, you know, there’s people out there that are charging $2000 $3,000 for these plans. We’re doing a complimentary people might go well, what’s in it for you? Well, look, you know, between our radio show, and TV show and all of our educational events, we’re very, very busy, right? It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to prepare the reports, but it is invaluable to the individual when they see it. But what’s even more valuable. What’s even more valuable is having a planner, a fiduciary planner that goes to report with you so you can have a clearer understanding of what you’re looking at. And that’s the key to this here is getting clarity around where you are and where you need to go.
Rebecca Powers 17:18
And we need to take a short break. But I’ve said this before, even if you don’t call this number, it is so important that you ask whoever is handling your money. Are you a fiduciary? Very quickly explain the difference though there’s brokers, there’s financial planners or say their advisors but talk about the importance of knowing that.
Brian Quaranta 17:34
Yeah, well, the fiduciary is held to the highest standard in the industry, right. So, we’re held to a code of ethics differently than most licensed planners. So, but the other thing is that the fiduciary is required to have a higher level of education to understand the planning process in depth, which usually builds more trust between the fiduciary advisor and the client. Not only that, if it is your advisor is typically a fee-based firms so that the client knows that if a decision is being made, it’s being made in their best interest. And it’s not just being made to generate a commission. So exactly take advantage of our right track retirement review is a really great opportunity for you to get a written plan prepared by a certified financial planner, our team will go over that report with you show you exactly what you’re paying and fees, how much risk you’re taking, and more importantly, what the probability of success will be with your plan. very eye opening my promises always is that no one from my team will ever pressure you or try to sell you anything. And the appointment is very eye opening and very informative. Call 1-888-382-1298 or scan the QR code on the bottom of your screen. And that’ll bring you right to the website to where you can schedule. And again, as a bonus, I’m going to give you and send you a copy of my book, absolutely free pay for the shipping and handling. Take advantage of it.
Rebecca Powers 18:56
Absolutely. Stay with us more with Brian Quaranta right after this.
Brian Quaranta 19:01
So, everybody can tell you how to invest your money. There’s not a lot of people out there and a lot of firms that can teach you how to use your money. Most people will also tell you that they’re scared. And the reason they’re scared is because they’re afraid of running out of money.
Neil Major 19:15
The last thing you want to do is have a really good job and you’re in your 60s retire, be looking for work again in your late 70s.
Brian Quaranta 19:22
The average person might say Well, a good portfolio would be a good mix of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, kind of a good portfolio is all designed around the five key areas income, taxes, investments, health care and legacy planning.
Neil Major 19:37
Because we’re not just product pickers here, what we do best here as we build retirement plans,
Brian Quaranta 19:42
nine out of 10 people when they walk through the door would ask us we just want to know if we’re on the right track. And I always say if you’re not on the right track, when would be a good time to know it. Probably now,
Neil Major 19:53
people you know can actually see a vision once we start to really build out their plan.
Brian Quaranta 19:58
This is about you if you’re not getting what you need, and you feel that when you walk out of the advisor’s office, it’s time to get a second opinion. And you can’t get a second opinion from the person that gave you the first. The difference at Secure Money Advisors, as a fiduciary firm, we help you manage the risk, build the income, and give you the retirement withdrawal.
Rebecca Powers 20:28
Welcome back, we were talking about the difference between a fiduciary and a broker or someone who just sells insurance products. Now insurance products are very important. Don’t get me wrong. income that is that first foundation of your retirement?
Brian Quaranta 20:41
Yeah,
Rebecca Powers 20:48
Right. You’ve got to know where that income you’ve said you need to know your target. You ask their hopes and dreams too. That’s another thing you can do your homework before you come in, write down what you want, how you want your, your retirement to be? What are some of those great products as an independent, you can look at all companies, all products, what are some that you really like?
Brian Quaranta 21:00
You know, one of the things that really frustrated me when I got started in the financial industry 25 years ago was, I always thought that financial advisors had the ability to go out there and recommend what they felt was in the client’s best interest. But when I got with the big box firms, I figured out I learned very quickly that that wasn’t the case, that there was this thing called the grid. And this was a product grid. And these are our approved products that you can recommend that a client. I never liked that right? Yes, I never wanted to be sitting across the table from somebody feeling like I had an agenda. I really wanted to be able to say, Okay, now that you’ve shared with me your concerns, let me go do my homework. And let me go find the right products and the right strategies for your specific situation. And today, we have that through being an independent fiduciary firm. We’re not beholden to any specific company, we don’t answer to anybody, we, we are doing the hiring, we hire the traders, the investment managers, and we fire the traders and the investment managers if they’re not getting the job done for the client, because we sit on the same side of the table as the client. It’s not like back in the day where you sat across from your insurance agent. Right?
Rebecca Powers 22:11
Right.
Brian Quaranta 22:12
We’re doing this together as a partnership, because I have a vested interest in their success just as much as they do. So, you know, it’s important that people understand that difference. And it does make a difference. And, you know, I truly believe that most financial planners are working out there to do the very best that they can. But I didn’t know I you know, I when I got started 25 years ago, I was just doing what I was told to do. Took me a while to figure out the landscape of where this, where the real independency and benefit to the client exist.
Rebecca Powers 22:44
The Grid, it’s like a scary movie.
Brian Quaranta 22:48
Yeah, it’s like The Matrix. Like the matrix. Yeah.
Rebecca Powers 22:50
We talked about that cookie cutter approach. What is more cookie cutter, then here you go, Brian, new kid, here’s the here’s the grid. Are they in A, B, C or D? It’s like, they’re none of that, like
Brian Quaranta 22:58
They’re none of it. Right? Yes. And, you know, I think people really mistake, you know, having investments as, as having a retirement plan, right. But a retirement plan is completely different. You know, you need someone that can engineer the plan, right? I mean, it’s kind of like the chemist and the doctor, right, the chemists can create the pharmaceutical drugs that the doctor needs to improve the patient’s health. But the doctor is the one that knows how to use these medications, the proper way to make the patient better, right. It’s not the chemist, the chemists just knew how to target something. But the chemists shouldn’t be in charge of the patient’s health. And it’s the same thing the trader in the investment manager should not be in charge of the client’s retirement health, the financial advisor should be in charge of the client’s financial health. And that’s the big difference, because we’re the ones that are engineering, all the moving parts, everything from income, taxes, investment strategy, health care strategy, and your estate planning strategy. And one of the most overlooked things, Rebecca, is the healthcare strategy. Pennsylvania right now is $14,000 a month for care if you get sick, and most people are not protected with any type of strategy, if a health event were to occur, and if you’re 65 or older, today, there’s a 50/50 shot one of us are going to wind up in some type of care. That’s like either if you and I were at age 65 Right now, that’d be like, who’s going, me or you?
Rebecca Powers 24:28
Probably you. I mean, he exercises every day. I probably should. He’s younger than me. Alright, we only have a few minutes left. But I want you to tell that powerful story quickly. When you first got out of college. We’re so excited about this business. That first phone call that made you really realize that you did not want to work that way.
Brian Quaranta 24:48
Yeah, well, you know, I was I passed my financials, if it’s going back 25 years ago, right around and it was right around the end of 99. So, a little less than 25 years ago, and working for this big firm passed my exam and I was so excited I was gonna work really hard, just become the best advisor I could. There was a lot of advisors at the time, 25-30 years in the business that I was looking up to at the time. And I would sit in meetings and hear everything that they had to say, their clients and how they were allocating their portfolios and what they were doing. And I was what you would call a go getter back in the day, right? It’s like, hey, go get me a cup of coffee, go, can you go get copies of the state. But they also put me on the phone, right at the end of the stock market or the tech bubble collapsing, right? So, you can imagine these phone calls coming in with people losing money, we’re not happy. So, I took a phone call from an individual. He had lost a lot of money. He says I needed to get out of the stock market today. I cannot afford to take any more losses whatsoever. And I said, No problem. I said, Can you tell me who your advisor is? He tells me who his advisor is. As I go to the advisor’s office, I explained the situation. The advisor looks at me and says Brian, well, I said to him, I said you’ve got a client on the line. He wants to sell liquidators. Are you okay? If I placed the trays to liquidate, he goes, Brian, let me share something with you. You’re new here. I do. And I said, I, obviously we don’t sell. And I said, Okay. He said, we help people stay invested no matter what. And I said, Okay, what do you mean by that? He says, You need to get on the phone, let this guy know that everything’s gonna be okay. Now, that didn’t sit well with me right away, because I’m going How does he know that? It’s going to be okay. He doesn’t, he doesn’t have a crystal ball.
Rebecca Powers 26:24
Right.
Brian Quaranta 26:25
Right. And then he says to me, let him know that just a paper loss. Okay. Still didn’t make sense to me. So, he says, I said, Okay, so I’m walking out of his office, he says one last thing, remind him when you get on the phone with him that he’s in it for the long haul. So of course, I go back to the phone. It doesn’t feel right to me by I’m going to repeat what he told me to say. So, I tell the guy this. You know, Hey, Sam, talk to your advisor. He said, Don’t worry about everything. Don’t worry about anything. It’s just a paper loss. Hang in there. You’re in it for the long haul. what Sam said to me changed my life and why I do what I do today. He says, Brian, I am 65 years old, how much damn long haul does he think I have left? You know, and that’s the thing with understand. I hope people live a long, healthy life. But if you’re 65 years old, you can have 20 years of really good health left, where you’re going to need your money. Taking a big loss at that point in your life is devastating. What are you going to do not take the money out that you want to live off of. And that’s what changed my life because I realized people need to protect their retirement. And that’s what I want to see you do. I’ve got nothing against the stock market. But you’ve got to protect your retirement first. And that’s what I want you to do. Next 10 callers who call in I’m going to give you a complimentary right track review. All you got to do is call 1-888-382-1298. You’ll get a written report prepared by a certified financial planner. And when you come into my office, no one will try to sell you anything.
Rebecca Powers 27:44
And a fabulous, fabulous book, and a wonderful staff, and their offices, and several areas for your convenience. Thanks for being with us, and we’ll see you next time.