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Video Transcript
Rebecca Powers 00:24
Welcome to On the Money with Secure Money brought to you by Brian Quaranta and his amazing team at Secure Money Advisors. I’m Rebecca Powers, now a consumer advocate, but for almost 30 years I was a journalist, investigative reporter, news anchor, and now I get to sit across the desk each week from this guy, great to see you. Brian, great
Brian Quaranta 00:45
to see you. I got to ask you, as an investigative reporter, you know, being in the financial world now, yes, how much have you dug in and how much are you learning that you were not aware of prior to being in this world. Obviously, as investigative journalist, you’re very curious, and you dig deep. So, I’m just curious to what it’s like as you start to learn these new things.
Rebecca Powers 01:14
So, I was with a big box. I started in television. I was right out of college about 24 and I did what they tell everyone to do. What is your risk tolerance? You’re young, go full, put it all in the 401(k), set it and forget it. Yep. So, with that big box, didn’t know what Vanguard meant. Didn’t know what this stock meant. And then I, at about 45, was sold an insurance product by a guy I went to church with. I won’t say his name, and I had no idea, but he had put me in a variable annuity.
Brian Quaranta 01:42
Oh, wow, right, yeah, yeah.
Rebecca Powers 01:44
So, it wasn’t until almost 50 years old, when I realized and started doing these shows with you. I learned so much. It’s like, I felt like we’re all sheep, just kind of walking through doing what we were taught to be good boys and girls, to do work. Save your money, put it in the 401, K. But you know, in 1978, Yeah, when the Carter administration totally got rid of the pension, that’s right, and said, Oh, now we’re going to leave it on to the every American to do it ourselves. It was even called the 401(k) experiment, right? Yes, yes, yes. But they never taught us how to do it. And so, it makes you angry in a way, when your eyes are opened and you realize it, yes, wow, I was just one of those, you know, asleep at the wheel because we weren’t taught any better. So, this is the first time anyone’s ever turned the table and asked me the question.
Brian Quaranta 02:32
Think about that. I mean, they go from giving everyone a pension, right? And this is why we saw for so many years, people having retirement parties.
Rebecca Powers 02:43
You knew the date, the time, my last day, how much money I was going to make a month to last me the end of my life. Yeah, that’s no more.
Brian Quaranta 02:50
That’s no more. And they took the risk and they shifted it to the consumer, and whereas with the pension, the risk was on the company to make sure that the money was handled properly, and to make sure that those employees that had retired continued to get their pension check for the rest of their retirement exactly, and then the risk is then shifted on you. And being a reporter, an anchor, you’re an Emmy Award winner, right? You know, having that risk shifted to you and now knowing that it’s your responsibility. How does that feel? Not knowing anything- not know anything about finances.
Rebecca Powers 03:31
Well, they always say you don’t know what you don’t know. Yeah, so when you realize all the things you didn’t know, and I want to just say this caveat, when I set a variable annuity, there are great annuities out there, and that’s part of my plan. Now, fixed, indexed, but there are. So, when you do the broad stroke, and I’m just a cookie I say a cookie cutter, A, B, C, D or E, you know, you came from the big box. It did not serve me, right, right? So, once I went independent, as you know, we switched that variable, we put it in, we secured half of our money, but upon your great advice, and that’s why you’re about education. I mean, how I shouldn’t put you on the spot, but the time, the money, the effort, this amazing studio, the crew, we pay, the book that you mail to people for free, you truly are about education because you saw your dad struggle. Didn’t know all the importance of a plan, yeah?
Brian Quaranta 04:22
And the only way you can make a difference is to get people information, good information that is simple to understand, because Wall Street, and the way that you’re taught when you enter into the big box firms, is you’re taught to keep things complex, right, because you’re more valuable if things are complex.
Rebecca Powers 04:42
What do you mean by that?
Brian Quaranta 04:46
Well, if I talk to you- yeah if I talk to you in industry lingo, gotcha, and I start talking about, you know, sequencing risk is going to cause your plan to fail. And you know you’re you’re- the, you know,
Rebecca Powers 04:57
People feel dumb and just say, Okay, do what you think.
Brian Quaranta 05:00
The beta of your plan is very high, and it’s going to jeopardize you later on in life. You don’t know anything that I’m talking about. What does that mean? Yeah, right, the standard deviation of your funds are, you know, not right for your for your age and your tolerance, and that’s and you’re like, Well, I guess I should probably just do what this person says exactly, and I thought it was such a disservice, because this is not hard. It’s just finally having somebody that’s going to take that complexity and break it down into something that’s very simple. And again, that’s why I wrote this book Right Track Your Retirement, because I wanted you to have a simple guide to help you build income, protect your money, and, more importantly, give you certainty and peace of mind in retirement. And that’s why, if you go to OnTheMoneyOffer.com you’re going to be able to get a copy of my book absolutely free. You can schedule an appointment while you’re there. And if you call 888-382-1298, you can call, and the team is standing by to take your call to get you scheduled to come in for a complimentary appointment. And the rule at my office is this, when you come in, nobody from my team is ever going to sell you anything? We’re there to be a partner with you, to sit on the same side of the table, to roll up our sleeves and go, Okay, what do we’ve got here? We’re not going to judge what you’ve done. We’re going to compliment you for finally taking the step to say, You know what. I want to solve this problem once and for all, I know something hasn’t been right with my plan for a while, and the biggest challenge most of you will have is breaking up a relationship is very difficult to do, especially if you’ve been working with somebody for a while. I know I have gone through a few accountants in my lifetime, as my company has grown, and I had really good relationships with my last accountant, and every time I would go in there, I would say, I know it’s time to move. And I would go in and she’d say, Well, how’s your family? How’s your dad? And I’d chicken out, and I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t make the move.
Rebecca Powers 07:21
It’s the loyalty factor.
Brian Quaranta 07:23
The loyalty factor, and the day I made that move, I was so mad at myself because it was only about 30 seconds of pain, and I felt liberated, and I finally felt that I was going to be able to go get the right advice, and I am and that changes everything. But it’s that first step, folks. So again, two ways that you can get in touch with us, OnTheMoneyOffer.com is where you can go and get a copy of the book, and you got access to our calendar to schedule a time. And you can also call the 800 number, which is 888-382-1298,
Rebecca Powers 08:01
Again, the name of the name of the book is Right Track Your Retirement. If you want to know if you’re on the right track, it is the perfect way. Again, Brian made it very short, easy to read and digest. When we come back, we’re going to talk about the day that paycheck stops. How do you replace your income? We’ll be right back.
Speaker 1 08:21
You’ve got quite an extensive resume. Wow, so many years of management. Bet that was fun. So, this job requires basic knowledge of the social media and video platforms, content creation and SEO. How proficient are you in those areas?
Brian Quaranta 08:42
Going back to work after retiring is not ideal. I’m Brian Quaranta with Secure Money Advisors. If you have amassed a nest egg, it’s time for a financial advisor to help you reach your retirement goals. This is one of the greatest tax windows in history. Now is the time to take advantage of this tax discount while you can we specialize in retirement planning, tax mitigation, estate planning and more. Plan your retirement right. Call now for your complimentary portfolio review and tax analysis.
Rebecca Powers 09:13
Welcome back. I’m Rebecca Powers here with Brian Quaranta and we’re talking about, of course, your retirement, most importantly, your retirement plan. So, Brian, I’ll make a football analogy. You know, all the years we’re working, we’re on the offense, we’re trying to get more yards, we’re trying to gain, gain, gain. And then you get to that time when you have to go into the defense. How do you protect, preserve, secure? What is the big advice you give?
Brian Quaranta 09:41
Well, look, you know, we talk about the big box firms and Wall Street, and I want to say, you know, the advisors that work at the big box firms, it’s not their fault that they’re given the advice that they are. I think the advice that they give is good advice for those that are much younger,
Rebecca Powers 10:01
Accumulation Stage
Brian Quaranta 10:03
At Secure Money Advisors, though, what makes us uniquely different is that our clients are 55 and older, so we’re only seeing those that are going into retirement and are in retirement, and there’s a whole different strategy. All the fundamentals change and all the areas that you need to be concerned about change. And again, I talk about it all the time, but I like to repeat myself, but you got to be worried about how you’re going to replace your income, how you’re going to handle your taxes, how you’re going to handle your investment strategy, your health care strategy, and your estate planning strategy. And you know, and health care is a big one, because a health event can derail you, derail you, and it can dwindle down a very large portfolio very, very quickly in order for you to have to pay for your own care. And a lot of people are very exposed in that area alone. But you know the big Wall Street firms, if you’re taught a certain way of doing things right, that becomes your belief. And what is challenging for me is that in the medical world, if I hurt my knee and I go in and I see my primary care physician, which my primary care physician is absolutely outstanding. She will take a look at my knee, but she is going to send me to a specialist. That does not happen in the world of financial planning, yeah, the same advisor that might have helped you when you were in your earlier years is not going to say to you, look, we don’t deal with all the stuff that you have to deal with in retirement, they just say, Yeah, we’re going to continue to do it. We’re going to make your portfolio a little less aggressive. We’ll make it more conservative. What does that even mean? Right? Because you’re still in stocks and bonds, right? And we’ve seen bonds go down just as much as stocks.
Rebecca Powers 11:57
And they used to be the opposite. Used to be, that protection, the 60/40.
Brian Quaranta 12:01
That’s right. And you go, Well, what makes something conservative? Because, you know, bonds may be more conservative on the scale of risk compared to individual stocks, but it’s certain bonds are certainly not more conservative than, let’s say, a bank CD or a fixed annuity or something along those lines. So, a lot of times, these advisors at the big box firms are just taught that when their client is ready to go into retirement, they just keep doing the same thing. And again, the retirement strategy, it’s a completely different mindset, and it’s a completely set, different set of fundamentals.
Rebecca Powers 12:36
And just like an offensive coach or a defensive coach on a football team, their strategies are completely different, and I don’t even like sports, but my dad was big into football, and it really shows you cannot do the same things.
Brian Quaranta 12:50
No, you cannot,
Rebecca Powers 12:51
And that’s why you focus on 55 and older.
Brian Quaranta 12:52
That is a great way to- that is a wonderful way to look at it. Imagine trying to play a football game with two offenses, right? Don’t worry, you know, if you didn’t have a defense, you got two offenses, it’s not going to work. That’s an excellent way to describe retirement, because in retirement, you now, in your retirement years, you really have to go on the defensive. You’ve got to protect. You’ve got to plan for the unknowns. You’ve got to have a strategy. If a health event were to come up, or if the cost of living were to go up, you’ve got to be prepared for all of those things.
Rebecca Powers 13:26
Since you mentioned fixed, indexed annuities. Right now, with the higher interest rates, it’s bad for the young borrower, of course, but it’s excellent for the big insurance companies. And being an independent when you meet someone, ask them a million questions. You see their true need, if it’s guaranteed growing lifetime income, or they’re like me and they don’t like to lose money, so you put them where the principal is protected. There are so many tools that as an independent you can use, You’re not beholden to one big insurance company.
Brian Quaranta 13:56
We’re not beholden to any company, whether it be on the investment side, the insurance side, the health insurance side, and that’s the greatest thing about working with an independent fiduciary firm. And I would really encourage all of you that are watching today, you know, whether it’s Secure Money Advisors or it’s another firm that’s local to your to your area, just go find a good fiduciary firm that’s independent that does comprehensive planning. It’s much easier if you can get all of your planning done in one area. Imagine having a firm that can help you with your income, your taxes, your investments, your health care and your estate planning, and all five of those areas can be handled at Secure Money Advisors. And the nice thing about that is all of the professionals working for you at Secure Money Advisors, they are all on the same page. They know what’s going on with your plan from the financial planning side. So, if I’m talking to our Medicare specialist, I. We’re going to be talking about to the Medicare specialist about your plan, which is going to tie in to what you do on the health care side. If we’re putting together the estate plan, the finance are the estate planners going to know what we’re doing on the financial planning side, and everything becomes very coordinated, very synchronized, and it makes for a more cohesive plan.
Rebecca Powers 15:21
and the typical advice people always got from Wall Street, that is what’s so important for you to understand that that’s the accumulation phase, and then you’re going into the distribution basically paying yourself. What is the problem when people don’t understand the difference of a fiduciary and maybe the big box, the broker, the broker doesn’t necessarily want you to take your money out and put it in a fixed-index annuity, because they don’t make any money on it. Yeah. There’s just a little bit of an inherent conflict, I guess, if you’re not with a fiduciary, in my opinion. Right?
Brian Quaranta 15:52
Well, the problem with the typical advice that we get at the big Wall Street firms is the fact that it’s all risk-based strategies. Yeah. So, when we’re dealing with something that is 100% risk based, there’s unknown variables. You have no idea, on a day-to-day basis, what the market is going to be doing. You have no idea what the political environment is going to be that can cause the markets go down. Look at what’s happening with tariffs right now, it’s causing the market to be all over the place. What else is different is that the Wall Street firms like to use cookie cutter phrases, especially for those that are in retirement, where they’ll say, Well, look, don’t worry about anything. It’s just a paper loss. Hang in there. But if you also hear the pundits talk on TV, they’ll also say this, look, the markets are down. This is a great time for you to buy in. Buying the dip, they’ll call it, right? Or they’ll just say, remember, time is your friend, and over time, this will all work out, and as long as you’re not touching it, everything will Well, that’s all contradictory to what is actually happening in retirement. Let’s think about that number one, in retirement, you don’t have additional monies to be able to put into your plan, so you’re no longer contributing. You’re only contributing during your accumulation years, because every time you get paid, you’re contributing. So, when the market is down, you’re- you are buying the dip by default, because when you get paid, that money is going, yeah, when you’re buying that dip, you’re also offsetting those losses by buying more shares at a lesser price. That’s not happening when you’re retired, because you don’t have the additional money to be buying in. The other contradiction is the fact that, just hang in there, everything will be okay. Well, we don’t have the time to recover like we do when we’re working, so that’s out the window. And then the big one that really gets me is, as long as you’re not touching anything. It will come back. And that is true, but not in retirement, because the majority of people out there today, about 90% or more of the people out there today are withdrawing money from their plans in retirement. So, all the things that the pundits talk about on TV are completely wrong when it comes to retirement planning, and this is why, folks, you have to get a copy of my book Right Track Your Retirement. It is a simple planning guide to help you reduce risk, build income and most importantly, give you the security that you deserve. At Secure Money Advisors, what we are really good at is building you a plan that is going to give you enough money on a monthly basis to do all the things that you want to do. It’s going to give you enough money to travel, to spend money on your grandkids, to, you know, buy a, you know, RV, a lake house, an RV, whatever it might be. And when we build your plan, when you say, I want to buy an RV, we show you what the impacts of that look like. And so when you start to get very clear around the math, and we give you that plan to where, if you all of a sudden wanted to buy an RV, we literally plug that cost in, and the whole plan recalculates, and it shows us, based on our return and how much money we have, are we going to be at risk of running out? And when you have that level of control to be able to plug those numbers in and you can see it still works. You don’t even think twice about it. You go do what you’re going to do. So again, go to OnTheMoneyOffer.com get a copy of my book. You can schedule your own appointment right there OnTheMoneyOffer.com and come in and meet the team. You can also scan the QR code at the bottom of screen will take you right there, or call 1 888-382-1298, the team standing by to take your call, and when you come in, we will walk you through our process, which is very simple, and I think you will walk out with a whole different feeling about what a retirement plan should really look like.
Rebecca Powers 20:18
Absolutely. We haven’t even talked today about the third-party reports, you will get a third party, non-biased report that shows you your actual fees that you’ve been paying. That’s another eye-opening moment. Stay with us.
Speaker 2 20:38
The work never seems to end until the day it finally does. After nearly a lifetime on the job, you should be rewarded for all the time you spent working, whether that’s crossing off items on your bucket list, learning a new passion, or rekindling the love of an old one. After all, life isn’t over when you stop working. It’s the start of an all-new chapter, the one where you’re the writer and you get to choose how your story will go. A way to achieve that is by having a clear financial plan to sustain your golden years. The biggest fear most retirees have is if they’ll have enough money to maintain the lifestyle they’ve always enjoyed. Having a plan to help protect you against the curveballs life often throws will help to maintain your lifestyle. Call today to get your free written financial plan. See me live every day to the fullest and enjoy the retirement of your dreams.
Rebecca Powers 21:29
All right, welcome back. We’re continuing our conversation about how the accumulation phase of your life is so much different from the distribution, and that’s that goal we’ve all been working toward. Right retirement. Brian, what’s the risk? I know people when you’re young, they say, What risk do you want to be at?” Your HR guy. And you’re like, Ah, I don’t know, but there are more risks than just stock market.
Brian Quaranta 21:53
That’s right. There is what we call the order of returns risk, also known as sequence risk. So, this is when you start to distribute money, which is just a fancy way of saying, I’m going to start taking money out of my plan. So, when you’re taking money out of your plan, as long as the stock market’s going up, you’ll be fine. But when the stock market starts to go down and you withdraw money from that plan, when the market is down, you are compounding that loss. And here’s what we need to understand in retirement. And folks, I want you to hear me very clearly on this, the losses will hurt you more than the gains will help you. Say that again, the losses will hurt you more than the gains will help you. A retiree cannot recover as quickly from a down market as someone that is actively working solely for the fact that you are no longer putting money into the plan to offset the losses, you are taking money out of the plan, which is compounding the loss, and that’s where things get very dangerous for you, and that’s where your probability of running out of money goes up. And folks, I want to tell you the worst day of retirement is not the day you actually run out of money. The worst day of retirement is the day you figure out you’re going to run out of money, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And folks, it is really easy for somebody else to tell you to take risk with your money, especially if they get paid a fee or commission to do it.
Rebecca Powers 23:47
And it’s such a good point, because another thing that we’ve heard for years from Wall Street is, well, it’s the 3% rule. Now it’s the 4% rule. Well, you should be able to take out 4% every month, Mrs. Smith, and you should have enough money until the day you die. That’s a big question mark. That’s not good enough, and that’s not even accurate.
Brian Quaranta 24:06
No, it’s not accurate, because nobody has a crystal ball, right? Although the big box firms will tell you when they’re building your plan. Look, we feel maybe you should average this, but we don’t have a crystal ball, so we don’t know, right? Although one of our good friends, Greg here, does actually have a crystal ball, and we should bring it out again sometime and see what it has to say. But again, this is, this is why the Wall Street advice just doesn’t work anymore, because the crystal ball thing, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t tell you how things are going to go. They tell you that when they’re building the plan, but when things start to go wrong, then they start to say things like, don’t worry about it. Hang in there. You’re in it for the long haul. You’re going to be okay, which tells me, all of a sudden, they have a crystal ball.
Rebecca Powers 25:02
Just like the old eight ball, yes, does Johnny like me?
Brian Quaranta 25:06
Yeah, and this is one of the things that I could not get behind morally, right?
Rebecca Powers 25:13
You did that? Yeah. We only have two and a half minutes left in the show, but very quickly, tell us that story when you first got put in that desk, when you were all excited about working at big box.
Brian Quaranta 25:22
And by the way, the story is in the book, so, if you go to OnTheMoneyOffer.com, you can read about the story. Scan the QR code. But the first day on the job at the big financial firm that I was at, I was to answer the phones, and I was what they called the go getter. Hey kid, go get me a cup of coffee. Hey kid, go copy these statements. But I sat in a lot of meetings, you know, and listen to these veteran advisors talk to their clients, and I would hear those phrases, you got nothing to worry about. Mr. Jones, I know the market’s down a little bit volatile right now, but it’s China. It’s the tariffs, it’s this, it’s that, come on. And what year was this? This is, this is 1999, going into 2000, yeah. So, every advisor likes to pretend like they’re smart by telling you some economic BS of why things are happening, okay? Warren Buffett can’t even tell you really what’s going to happen with the markets, right? But during that day, I had taken a phone call that changed my life, and a gentleman had called into the practice. I take the call. Now keep in mind, this is ‘99 going into 2000 so we’ve got the tech bubble that’s bursting, right? Market
Rebecca Powers 26:37
Y2K fear.
Brian Quaranta 26:39
Yeah, markets are dropping like crazy. This guy calls in. He’s in a complete panic. And I answer the phone, and he says, I need to get out of the market, I need to get out of the market right now. And I said, Okay, sir. I said, What’s your name? I said, let me go talk to your advisor. So, I go find his advisor, which this gentleman had been there for- this advisor had been there for like, 25 years. I tell him that this gentleman needs to get out of the market. He can’t afford to take any more losses. The advisor says to me, Brian, you need to understand, we are long-term investors. Get back on the phone with him, let him know, not worry about anything, and tell him to just hang in there. So, I go back and I said to him, hey, I want to let you know, I talked to your advisor, everything’s fine, just hang in there. It’ll all come back-
Rebecca Powers 27:25
For the long haul.
Brian Quaranta 27:26
For the long haul. And what he says to me next changed my life. He goes, Brian, how much damn long haul does this guy think I got left? I’m 75 years old! And that changed my life. And then I started to have a conversation with him. It’s in my book, read about it. This is why you need a different perspective on retirement planning.
Rebecca Powers 27:43
Amen. And again, the book is free. He’ll mail it to you in a beautiful gold envelope. The appointment is absolutely free. We love you and we hope to see you again next week.
