9.7.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

9.7.22: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only, and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs, and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy. Welcome to your American retirement with your hosts. Randy Sams and Kyle Simpson get set for a full hour of financial information and economic news affecting your bottom line. Randy and Cale work hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they worked so hard for by protecting and growing their hard earned money. And they can help you, too. So now let's start the show. Here are your hosts, Randy Sams and Kyle Simpson.

Kale Simpson:
Hey, guys, welcome to your American retirement. This is Kale Simpson, along with my esteemed co host, Mr. Randy Sams. Hope you guys are doing well in central Arkansas. Thank you for joining us again for another broadcast. Hope you enjoyed the the previous broadcast. We tell you every single week. Thank you so much for joining us. Without you guys, we would not have a radio broadcast. Thank you so much. Go to the website. Find us on social media. Listen to us on your favorite podcast, wherever that might be. Hit the subscribe button, push the like button. Share it with your friends and family. We actually just had a request from a client. Randy We were talking about it, just had a request from a client where she had heard us, looked at the website and thought it would be good for a family member in another state and had her family reach out to had her family member reach out to us online. So guys, please check the website. Previous broadcasts and recordings are all edited by our great producer Sam, who's on here with us today. But Sam does all the hard work and makes it sound great and makes Randy sound better than me before putting all this stuff on the air and online. But again, anything that any questions that our listeners may have put the questions on the website, we'll be glad to answer any questions or go over any additional topics that that you guys are interested in. But we typically have some good information, at least in our minds. We've got good information to go over with respect to what's going on in the macro environment, along with what's going on for individuals getting close to entering or already in the retirement stage.

Kale Simpson:
So anyway, again, my name is Kyle Simpson, Randy Sams, my my partner, always with me on the microphone. But real quick, guys, just a quick breakdown on topics for today's show. We're going to kind of continue and piggyback off of what we talked about last week, Randy. Last week we talked about smart retirement strategies. Again, smart retirement plans. We talked about following the rules last week, if I remember correctly, because we had first week of school last week, we talked about my kids following the rules. I did have a fantastic birthday. So for everybody that sent me birthday wishes online and text messages and everything like that. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I mean, you don't turn 29 years old every single day, but fortunately I have done so for three years in a row. But anyway, quick, quick, quick, quick introduction to the show. We've talked about that, talked about the podcast, various broadcasts. Randy, you can go to the website and listen to any previous previously recorded broadcast that we've done. And it's all been edited again by Sam. So it's not going to take in an hour, an hour and a half out of your time. You can listen to it. And I think it's between 25 and 35 minutes long. Let me go ahead and start with this Randy financial wisdom quote of the week. We always do quotes.

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the Quote of the Week.

Kale Simpson:
This one is by Jim Rohn. Here's the quote, guys, time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. I mean, is that quote any more true, Randy?

Randy Sams:
I mean, it hits home with the folks that, you know, that we deal with every every day. Kale time, brother. You know, it's as as as we get closer to retirement or as we age, you realize that man time is flying by. I wish I got money at the same rate. The time is going by because it's it's quite a bit. But, you know, you can always get more money. That's if money is the problem. You can always solve that, right?

Kale Simpson:
Correct.

Randy Sams:
You can always solve it. You got to work harder. You got to do it right. But, you know, that's that's what you've got to look at. So anyway, hey, like I said, you're retired. You're American retirement. Go in and leave us. Leave us a message. Leave us some some thoughts on what you might want to have us, myself or kale, talk about or give us a call. 8669907664. Again, 86699076640. American Retirement. Leave a great message on how great he's doing on the radio show. But I got to say this. Call it Saturday afternoon. Go hogs.

Kale Simpson:
Go, go hogs. Randi, real quick, I'm going to pass the ball over to you here in just a moment. Sticking with the baseball or sticking with the football theme? You know, I'm doing baseball every single week. So my brain is is my brain is stitched to a baseball, no pun intended, with stitches in a baseball. But hey, real quick, Randy, so we didn't get a chance to really delve into a lot of Social Security, the ins and outs of Social Security. We will do that today. But a quick a quick reminder to our listeners, Randy. If you guys call us, you're not going to get on the air. You're not going to go on the air. That's that's not that's not what we do. Those are other radio stations. But, guys, if you do call us, you will have an option to leave a message and request a consultation. It is a no cost, no obligation consultation. We Randy and I are both certified annuity specialists. We focus solely on helping clients with retirement. We also do a lot of life insurance. Last week we spoke about life insurance and how important life insurance is. As one of the pillars in your financial stool or one of the legs on your stool. Life insurance may play a a tremendous role, not every time, but again, everybody's different, right, Randy?

Randy Sams:
Yes, sir.

Kale Simpson:
So? So call to action, guys. Go to the website. You know, like I said, I mean, we had birthday wishes go out. Thank you so much. But if you have a question, go to the website. There is a spot to enter comments, put in a comment. Hey, I would like for you guys to take a look at one of my retirement accounts. Here's my statement. I just had a current client of mine email me a statement for an annuity that he's had for seven years. Randy Seven years. He had it for six after the end of August. He had it for seven. You know what? That's seven years old. There are many things that we can do to better the situation. I did not write him that annuity product, but nonetheless, it's a company that we represent, great company, but that product is it's seven years old. Everything is evolved. So we've set up a time to go over everything together and look at what may be available, what may be a feasible option for him to potentially get a bigger rate of return, larger rate of return, bigger returns on investments, things like that. That's what we do, guys. We're not salespeople. We're not we're not selling you vacuum cleaners. We're not doing any of that stuff. Our job is to help you understand the retirement landscape if something might be beneficial to you. Amen. That's what our job is. Randy Sams has been doing it for a long time. I've been right here with him, his right hand man for for a number of years.

Kale Simpson:
And so, guys, put in the comment box and I need a quick consultation and we'll do our absolute best to do what we need to do to get in contact with you and get any literature. We have Annuity 360 books that we like to send out and we also have SMG Financial Senior Markets Management Group. Randy Sams is the President and CEO of SMG Financial. We get those folders out to clients, a lot of third party literature, a lot of information from various insurance companies. To help you understand the retirement landscape and what you can and can't expect in the retirement landscape in today's market. But as far as segment one goes, Randi, I think we're pretty much coming up to the end of segment one. I know you have a lot on your agenda to go over and segment two with our listeners. So how about we do this, Randi? How about we go to a quick break and when we come back, speak some knowledge to the listeners with respect to what's out there and what they can expect from a defined benefit plan, and then how they can use that defined contribution plan we spoke about last week to help them secure a safe retirement, not a risky retirement, like we say at SMG Financial. So, guys, we'll be right back. Randi, Sam's got a lot of stuff to go over. Stay tuned. We'll be right back on your American retirement. Thank you so much.

I gave a girl a ride in the wake and she in. And a dope control. She was tired.

Producer:
Where's the best place to hang your hat when you retire? I'm Matt McClure with a retirement radio network powered by AmeriLife, whether retirement is just around the corner or several years away. Time is ticking on planning not only your finances for your later years, but where you want to live out your post-retirement life. Personal Finance Website Wallethub recently released its list of Best States to retire in 2022.

Recording:
Florida, unsurprisingly, ranked number one, followed by Virginia, Colorado, Delaware and Minnesota.

Producer:
While at job analyst Jill Gonzalez, the.

Recording:
Top ten continues with North Dakota, Montana, Utah, Arizona and New.

Producer:
Hampshire. So what makes a state one of the best to retire in?

Recording:
The study was based on 47 metrics, including tax friendliness, the elderly, population, golf courses per capita and shoreline mileage.

Producer:
As for Florida, which landed the top spot this.

Recording:
Year, Florida excelled in tax friendliness, fellow retirees and things to do, but could use improvement with home health aides per capita.

Producer:
Even though the Sunshine State is number one overall, if finances are your primary concern, you might want to consider a move to Mississippi. It ranked as the state with the lowest overall cost of living. As for tax friendliness, Alaska jumps to the top of the list. But what if you want some culture in your retirement years? New York ranks as the number one state when it comes to the number of museums per capita. The tradeoff there is, naturally, the Empire State is one of the most expensive in the country. So where do you want to spend most of your time in retirement and what factors are most important to you when considering a potential move? Those are key questions to consider as you plan for the future with the Retirement Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure. You're listening to your American retirement. To schedule your free no obligation consultation visit your American retirement.

Kale Simpson:
Welcome back. Retirement Radio Network. Your American retirement. Com's Kale Simpson alongside my colleague Randy Sams. We were just going over smart retirement plans and strategies. Randy Sam's been in the business for for quite a while. Very knowledgeable individual. I'll learn a lot from him on a daily basis, but he's got a lot to go over. So, Randy, I'm going to go ahead and hand the ball to you and you go ahead and speak some speak some wisdom to our listeners, sir.

Randy Sams:
All right. Thanks, Cal. I appreciate that. And again, folks, go to your American retirement and leave us leave us a message or call 8669907664. Again, leave us a message you can. If you go to the website, you go to the comment section like Kayo said, leave us your information. We'd love to be able to talk to you. Leave us a comment on what you think we're doing right, what we might be able to improve on. But we'd love to get back and to hear from our listeners. And we and we do thank you for listening this Saturday afternoon. But hey, you know, Cal and I have been doing this for a long time, as Cal has emphasized before, I've been in this business since 1984. I've been in different executive roles with very well known insurance companies. I will not name on the on the radio show, but retired in 2014. So when I talk to you about retirement, you know, I'm not only educated on it, but I help educate folks and I'm in it myself. So, you know, allow us the opportunity to sit down with you and evaluate your current situation. One of the things that we like to do is help you to identify and eliminate risk. We want to be able to put you into a situation where you generate income. And folks, we'll talk about this during this segment or maybe the next segment. But Cal, help me answer this question. Have you met anybody or if we have, we had a consultation or if you had a consultation with any client that's getting close to retirement or that is in retirement that doesn't need income?

Kale Simpson:
No, sir.

Randy Sams:
Good answer, folks. You're going to retire. You're going to need income. We I've not met anybody yet that doesn't need that. So you don't retire on assets. You know, we work so hard in our in our younger years, in our what I say, your productive years, your accumulation years, whether it be a41k, an IRA, a Roth product, whatever it may be, you work to accumulate that. But when you hit retirement or you're getting close to retirement is when you need to take a step back, do a smart retirement plan review, look at where you're at, look at what your objectives are, get in contact with us and let us sit down with you and evaluate your situation. Listen to what your objectives are, and let us put together a plan that's going to generate income because folks assets can be lost. We hope it never happens to you. But, you know, folks do get divorced. Divorce can take some of your assets or all of your assets, depending the situation you might be in. So there's different things. Things weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, whatever can can affect your assets.

Randy Sams:
So what we look at is let Caleb and I sit down with you, evaluate, do a smart retirement plan, review with you, and let us show you how we can get you guaranteed lifetime income. And again, we want you to prepare for a secure retirement, not a risk of retirement. So basically getting into the show, into this segment, smart review, you need to review the performance of your investments on a quarterly or semi-annual basis to ensure you're staying on the right track to meet your goals. We all need to retire someday or if you're in retirement. That's why we want to help people retire better. So ask yourself this question How long has it been since you've heard from your advisor? They have your funds, they have your retirement funds. Maybe in an IRA, maybe in a managed account, they're charging you a fee. So how long has it been since you've heard from your advisor? So talk to us and get a second opinion. We want to help you reach your financial freedom. So again, Gail, I've got a quote of the week.

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the Quote of the Week.

Randy Sams:
By Mr. Ronald Reagan. A lot of people know who Ronald Reagan was president, but this is his quote. Trust but verify. All right. So that's what Kale and I do. Matter of fact, I've got two annual reviews sitting on my desk that probably either after we do this show or another day this coming week, I will be in contact with these clients to do an annual review to look at the performance of their annuity that we put them in, and to make sure that the indexes or the investments that we have diversified in are performing as we expected them to. So we want to provide comprehensive consultation to our clients at no cost. We're going to help you analyze your financial situation and we're going to look at the annuities that you have. And if we can put you in a better situation, like Kale explained with his client, he's got an annuity in. And, you know, I look at this, just stop and think. You and I have done a lot of this lately. Annuities seven years ago, you know that the company that we're doing business with is that your client has the annuity with. They're a great company and we write business with them, correct?

Kale Simpson:
Yes, sir, that is correct.

Randy Sams:
But that was that annuity is seven years old and there's been a lot of innovations. New indexes have been, you know, have been introduced. Companies are adding indexes, more innovative indexes, more AI powered indexes. But a lot of annuities that I look at and you look at one of the only options that the client has as an index was the S&P and a lot of the S&P indexes that we see today. They have a cap. And what a cap basically means is, you know, where do you wear a cap? It's on top. So a cap basically says you're going to top out at this designated percent, one and one half, 2%, 3%, whatever it may be. But right now, just just let you know, seven years ago, we didn't have an annuity that we could speak to you about that is giving a guaranteed roll up of 8% compounded interest and a 20% bonus and a guaranteed lifetime income. But we do now. Okay. So again, go to the website. You are American retirement. Call us 8669907664. Leave us a message. We'd love to kind of sit and talk down what your objectives may be, write them down and put together a plan for you. So anyway, smart income folks, I think we covered this a little bit last week, but we're going to go over some of it and then talk very quickly. Too many people think retirement is about building one big nest egg. Like I referenced earlier, you're young.

Randy Sams:
You're in the accumulation phase. People have an objective. I want to have a half a million dollars in my 401. K or my retirement account or $1,000,000. But again, remember this. You do not retire on assets, you retire on income. You have to set up a guaranteed lifetime income stream. If nothing else, look at your basic needs. What are your needs? Do you have a mortgage? Do you have car payments? You know you've got grocery. Everybody has to buy groceries, you've got utility bills. So what are your basic needs that you feel like you need to have covered throughout retirement? And then we can put together again, like I said, an income annuity that will generate that guaranteed lifetime income for yourself. And if you're married for spouse, where that takes one risk, one concern away from you during retirement, where you know you've got your basic needs taken care of. So you need to have a plan to replace your income and fund your monthly expenses like we just talked about. Keep in mind, some income sources are taxable while other sources are tax free, which is something that Kayla and I will be discussing with you if we sit down with you and your spouse to put together a retirement plan. All right. Now all the fun stuff. Fun starts here. History of Social Security. Social Security Act was signed into law when kale 1935 by President Roosevelt. Is that correct? That I did. I answered.

Kale Simpson:
That right time.

Randy Sams:
Ago. So I wish we could expand on this, but we'd spend too much time. So anyway, the first payments were made available in 1940. Social Security is one of the largest government programs in the world. 176 million people paid Social Security taxes in 2021. As of April 2022, more than 65 and a half million Americans are receiving Social Security benefits. Now, Carol, I'm going to stop there and go back to the first payments were made available in 1940. Now there's a story again, I don't have the information, but maybe next week we can look it up or if Sam wants to. The first, there's a story about the first lady that got Social Security. They establish Social Security thinking people were only going to live for a certain period of time. They folks back in 1940 didn't live as long as what we have a life expectancy in 2022. So here's what happened. There was a young lady that started her Social Security payments and and I forget what it said that when they first received when she first received it. And what her payment was. But then all of a sudden, she ends up getting paid. I mean, it was. It was. Here you go. See, Sam, is is doing as we're looking at right now. Ida mae Fuller was the first beneficiary of recurring monthly Social Security payments. Miss Fuller, known as Aunt Ida to her friends and family, was born on September six, 1874, on a farm outside Ludlow, Vermont. She attended school in Rutland, Vermont, where one of her classmates was Calvin Coolidge. But Ida May was married, so she filed for her retirement claim on November 4th, 1939. Having worked under Social Security for a short of three years, what was her payment? Post payment was? Get this, January 31, 1940, her payment, her monthly Social Security check was $22.54 in 1940. But, Sam, somewhere it's going to show that she lived. I forget how long she lived and I forget how many thousands of dollars she was actually paid. What she actually paid in. Again, I think it said that she paid in, what, four, three years?

Kale Simpson:
Yes, sir, three years.

Randy Sams:
And so she turned that on on November 1st, November 4th, 1939. Her first check was January 31st, 1940 of 2254. And the story is continued. I don't have it in front of me now, but it's continuing. How long she lived and actually how much she got paid. It was just, you know, that's what it's all about, folks. Social Security is one thing. You pay into it while you're working and you remove it. You make withdrawals, what when you retire. But Social Security, the life expectancy of a as Americans increases their concerns that the program will not be able to support retirees with less people in the workforce. So that's what that's what affecting us right now. When Social Security, when we have conversations about Social Security and you hear folks in the political realm, they're talking about Social Security is going to be, what, bankrupt or that fund is going to be depleted, I believe it's, what, 20, 34, somewhere in that range.

Kale Simpson:
2034, Randi.

Randy Sams:
What what you look at is you have fewer folks going into the work environment, paying into Social Security. But as we baby boomers continue to age and go in and move into retirement and turn on that Social Security benefit, you're going to have more people that are making those Social Security withdrawals that are versus those that are paying into it. So one of two things basically has to happen is they're going are they're going to have to increase the amount that they are withholding from folks to pay into Social Security or they're going to have to reduce the benefit. So basically, the Social Security Board of trustees has estimated that the Social Security funds will be depleted by 2034 and will only be able to pay out 77% of scheduled benefits. Now, folks, I'm not telling you that to scare you, all right? I'm telling you that to inform you to where if you don't have a plan in place today, you need to seriously sit down and consider what's going to happen if Social Security decides to reduce my benefits by 25% or 30%. All right. How are you going to make up for that decrease in your income? And that, as you know, Kale, we deal with a lot of folks who may not have a pension and they're looking at retiring only on Social Security, but they may have a41k or some other type of defined benefit defined contribution plan that they're going to be able to retire on.

Randy Sams:
But you've got to put that in place to get that guaranteed income. So that's what you've got to look at, folks. And Kayla and I would love to meet with you and talk to you about your Social Security benefits. Put together a plan. We have a program that we can put your information in and it will show you exactly what your payments will be estimated based on what you're currently bringing in. As far as income goes, you should also receive a annual or semiannual statement from Social Security that is based on your current age, what your current income levels are, what you've paid in, and based on three factors which will continue here and the third segment. But. Social Security income. You can start at age 62. You can wait till a full retirement, which right now, depending on your age, could end up being 66 and two months, 66 and four months, 66 and a half. On and on. Or most folks that we deal with today because of they're just looking they're in their late fifties, early sixties, their full retirement age is 67. Or if you want to wait to age 70, your benefits will increase 8% on an annual basis. So, folks, we'll get a little bit more into Social Security again in this segment three. We appreciate your listening. Myself, Randy Sam's my co-host, Mr. Keel Simpson, your American retirement. 8669907664 101.1. The answer We're a Little Rock Comes to talk. Instagram. The.

Producer:
Remember, all of Randy and Gail's listeners receive a free financial consultation just for listening to the show. Visit your American retirement to learn more and schedule an appointment. Thanks for listening to your American retirement and subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts.

Randy Sams:
Hey, welcome back, folks, to your American retirement with Randy Sams and Mr. Kyle Simpson. Back from a break. Give us a call. 86699076648669907664. Or go to your American retirement and leave us a message, folks. Segment two Whenever before we went to break, we were talking about Social Security, and I'm going to jump back into it and then give a little bit more educational points that I've got my notes here, and then I'm going to turn it over to Kyle. Hopefully we'll either finish segment three with Kyle or you'll be listening to me and Kyle to jump in at segment four. So anyway, Social Security income again, there's three ages that you need to look at. Age 62 is when you first become eligible. Your full retirement benefit age, which again depending on when you were born, is going to determine that or age 70. That's the oh as old as you can. You can't delay taking Social Security past age 70. So here's what we got. So you become eligible for benefits when you reach 62 years of age and have contributed to the program at least ten years. So that's 44 years, basically four quarters each year, times ten. That equals 40. But here's what people have to realize. If you turn on your Social Security retirement benefits stream at age 62. And compare it to your full retirement age benefit at age 66 and one half or 67. You are reducing your payments by about 27%, maybe a little bit more, anywhere from 27 to 30%.

Randy Sams:
And that is locked in, folks. Once you turn that income stream on at age 62, you're not going to it's not going to go up when you hit 67 and it's not going to go up when you hit 70. So whatever you bring in at age 62, it's what you're going to be locked into for the rest of your life. So that's something to consider. However, if you wait until your full retirement age, it gives you increased monthly benefits. Example. If your full retirement age is determined by the year you were born and you were born in 1955, you are for retirement age is 66 and two months. All right. 66 years and two months. Your full retirement age increases gradually to age 67 for those born in 1960 or after. All right. So for my self, kale, my full retirement age is 66 and a half. But for me, I am going to do everything in my power to hold off and take advantage of the 8% increase every year between my full retirement age up to age 70. All right. Now let's talk about spouses. And this is something that I have to look at, Kels, have to look at is that when you have a husband and wife that are both on Social Security. Spouses can collect benefits based on their own earnings or their spouses earnings. The amount of money you can receive from Social Security is determined from your average indexed monthly earnings, your I during your 35 highest earning years.

Randy Sams:
So that's why if they take the 35 highest year and someone is only worked ten years, that means they've got 25 years with what? Zero's correct. So they're going to take your 35 highest earning years that you look at. So as of April this year, 2022, the average monthly benefit being paid out was $1,588.89, which equates to $19,066.68 on an annual basis. And that's the average monthly benefit that's being paid out right now as of April 20, 22. So write this down, take notes. This is something to consider. For every year you delay collecting your benefits starting at age 62 and ending at age 70, your benefit amount increases. All right. Now, if you delay taking your benefit again, like I said, if you started your income at age 62 versus your full retirement age, you're denying yourself for the rest of your life anywhere from 27 to 30%. All right. But a lot of people look at it and say, yeah, but I've got five years worth of payments from age 62 to 67, if that's your retirement age, full retirement age. But you have to do the math is what's my break even point? How far down the road is my break even point? And I don't want to get into those weeds right now. That's something we can discuss maybe at a later show. Or if you want to give us a call, we'd be glad to explain it to you over the telephone.

Randy Sams:
But from your full retirement age of, say, 66 and one half or 67, you're a benefit amount if you wait to age 70 increases by 8% on an annual basis. Now, that's a that's a pretty big increase. I mean, that's a pretty big investment, guaranteed 8% growth. So you just do the math from age 67. If you just waited two years, your benefit has increased by, what, 16%? If you wait for the full year to age 70, your benefit is now increased by 32%. But you have to kind of look at it and and say, what is your particular what is your specific objective and what is your specific need? So if you have the ability to wait me personally. My point of view is the longer you can wait, the longer you can delay taking Social Security. Because folks, like I said before. Once you kick in that Social Security payment, it's locked in. All right. So the more the longer you can delay taking that payment and it's just going to help you in the long run. All right. So let's look at Max monthly benefits. So the max monthly benefit in 2022 for people age 62. $2,364. All right. That's per month. Max monthly benefit for 2022 for people age 62 is $2,364 on a monthly basis. Max Monthly benefit in 2022 for people age 70 is $4,194 monthly. All right. So you do the math. What's that? What's that work out to?

Kale Simpson:
That's 1800 dollars, 1800.

Randy Sams:
Dollars a month. So, folks, just stop and ask yourself. Your do you think that their taxes are going to go down or go up? Do you think inflation is going to stop? Do you think it's going to reverse itself or is it going to continue to go up at the rate it's going up? We hope and pray that it doesn't, but it's something to think about. So if you turn down your Social Security benefits at age 62. Versus age 70. Just look at just look at what it's costing you 1800 a month. Your Simpson mathematics. 1800 per month times 12 months. That ends up being that's over what? That's over $20,000, probably closer to 21,000. Somewhere in that.

Kale Simpson:
21,600.

Randy Sams:
Exactly. $21,600 is what you will be losing at age 70 versus if that's if you take it at age 62. But again, it's it's it's an individual decision. We're not here to try to sway you one way or the other. We just like to educate. And based on what your objectives might be, it might be good for you to turn it on at age 62. You might want to wait to age 67. But really the top benefit, if you can wait to age 70, you're going to come out on top in the long run. All right. Retirement income gap. So according to the NHP Foundation study, 62% of baby boomers believe Social Security will provide at least half of their income during retirement. Cale That's that's that's crazy when I when I look at that. So Cale and I have the opportunity to sit down and speak with folks and folks, we are as honest as we can possibly be with folks. That's our responsibility. It's our fiduciary responsibility to put you as a client before any of our interests. So your interest comes, number one. And Cale could probably tell you and I can tell you that there's been many situations where we've had to come and I'll use this my term is a come to Jesus meeting, meaning that you've got to reevaluate if you're younger and you haven't been, you're not fully retired, you've got to reevaluate. And there's still time to hopefully put yourself in a better situation for retirement. Because, folks, Social Security was never created back in 1940, was never created. To do what? To be 100% of your source of retirement income, correct?

Kale Simpson:
Right.

Randy Sams:
But you can still see that 62% of baby boomers today believe that Social Security will provide at least half of their income during retirement. So your Social Security benefit alone is not going to be enough to maintain your standard of living. So the average monthly benefit is $1,542.22, or $18,506.64 annually. Maximum monthly benefit if you're 62, is 23, 64. We just covered this, which is a little over 28,000 on an annual basis. And the max monthly benefit, if you are age 70, is just under 4200. To be specific for thousand $194 or $50,328 annually. So folks, there's a lot of planning that needs to take place. Like I said earlier, Kayla and I have a program that we can put your information in. We can show you what your benefit will be, how to make plans around that, how to subsidize, how to get your self set up for guaranteed income, kind of make yourself a self pension, and that's what we do. So 76% of retirees say income stability is a top concern for their retirement. And like I asked Kayla before, I and myself, myself and Kayla have yet to meet a person getting ready to retirement, a couple getting ready for retirement or in retirement currently that do not need a guaranteed income stream for the rest of their life. So folks, that's my input on Social Security. I'm going to turn it over to Kayla, and Kayla is going to talk to you about retirement income gap. Mr. KAYLA.

Kale Simpson:
So thank you, Randi. A lot of great information. You know, you said 76% of retirees say income stability is a top concern in their in their retirement. So every single client we talk to that is near retirement. I have a client that that I met with almost a year ago back in October and November. And he he planned on retiring August 31st, which is tomorrow or earlier this week. And he planned on retiring August 31st. And it didn't happen because the market took away 25% of his retirement nest egg just with market fluctuations. And so that's that retirement red zone that we talked about, Randy. But anyway, so there are a few things that I want to talk about with our listeners, Randy and Randy, when we come back from our break. I'm going to go over PCE. I'll explain that along with CPI and how that makes sense and how does that correlate with a retirement income gap and how does that make a lot of sense for clients to think about when deciding to enter retirement or take Social Security at various ages, like you spoke about here in a moment. So guys, look forward to talking to you here and here in just a few minutes on Randy and Kale's retirement radio at your American retirement dot com. We'll be back here in just a second. Thanks so much.

Intermission:
They say we.

Intermission:
We don't know. Well, I don't. Well, that's. Cause you got.

Producer:
Social Security will get a big cost of living adjustment next year, but there could be some consequences you might not have considered. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network, powered by AmeriLife. A new report by the Senior Citizens League says Social Security beneficiaries could see a cost of living adjustment or COLA as high as 10.1% next year. The reason, inflation running at a 40 year high.

Intermission:
This is a very, very unusual and unprecedented pattern of inflation that we're experiencing.

Producer:
Mary Johnson with the nonprofit group, told WPTF TV that surveys show inflation has caused about half of Americans to spend their emergency savings and people are carrying more debt on their credit cards. So the highest jump in Social Security payments since 1981 would be a good thing, right? Well, Johnson says it's better than no increase, but there are some things to be aware of.

Intermission:
In fact, you can get penalized if you think your tax liability is going to be 10% more next year than you're paying now. You can be penalized if you don't send in estimated payments or have more money withheld.

Producer:
She told the TV station. The increase would not be enough to cover a jump in Medicare Part B premiums, which are taken directly out of Social Security checks. And she says higher incomes mean some seniors could no longer be eligible for some other government benefits.

Intermission:
And then a whole 15% were made in eligible because they were their incomes increased over the income limit for food stamps or rental subsidies or the programs in their area.

Producer:
So what should you do? Johnson says Prepare now. Talk to a financial adviser to help you get ready ahead of time and contact local nonprofits if you need help paying bills. So are you prepared for the unintended consequences of a larger Social Security check? That's a key question to consider as inflation impacts all our lives. With the retirement radio network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure. Are you concerned about market volatility, rising taxes, economic uncertainty and how it all could affect your future in retirement? Then tune in to your American retirement to learn how you can protect and grow your hard earned money. Your American retirement. Every Saturday at 1:00 pm, right here on 101.1 FM. The answer Protect your hard earned money today and schedule a free no obligation consultation now at your American retirement dot com.

Kale Simpson:
Hey, everybody, welcome back to Randy and Kael's retirement radio show, Your American Retirement. Thank you so much for spending the time this Saturday afternoon to increase your knowledge on retirement. I know we say it every single week, but we're serious when we do say it. I'm speaking for Randy and myself both, but we appreciate you guys. Without you guys, we don't have a radio show. We don't have a podcast, we don't have followers, we don't have subscribers on YouTube. We don't have we don't have the ability to really use the information that we've learned over time to help people understand how they can secure a safe retirement, not a risky retirement. And that's kind of the premise behind what we do on a daily basis. But but real quick, before the break, Randy was talking about income gaps. What's the analysis and what's the planning behind a retirement gap? You know, we were talking about Social Security some. Is it is it good to take Social Security at age 70? Absolutely. If you can to some clients, take it at 62. Absolutely. Sometimes they can. Unfortunately, you know, my dad paid paid money into Social Security for as long as he worked and died when he was 60, 61 years old and 61 years old and and was going to retire in October.

Kale Simpson:
And he died. And he died in March. So it didn't even make it to 62. He couldn't even take Social Security. And in my step mom was was a pretty good income earner herself and really didn't have the the decision to make, you know, about taking dad's Social Security and, you know, or half of his or whatever, you know, there are different options, obviously, on what you can and you can't do. But Dad didn't get to enjoy his. That's fine. You know, he went home. We're all going to go home one day. Dad just went home before he was 62. So it is what it is. But you can wait to be if you can wait and delay it, then like Randy spoke about earlier, then you get a substantial increase in that monthly and annual income. So over the 76% of retirees or Randy that say that, you know, stability and income stability is a top concern for retirement, that's going to be a that's going to be a huge paycheck. I mean, if you're getting the max monthly benefit at age 74,000, almost 40 $200 a month, that's that's a lot more than than 2000 per month, correct, Randy?

Randy Sams:
Yes, sir.

Kale Simpson:
And average monthly benefit as of April of this year was $1,588. So, I mean, imagine yourself getting a paycheck for $1,588 a month versus $4,288 a month from the government for as long as you live. I mean, that's that's pretty substantial. So when we talk to clients and they're worried about a retirement income gap, guys, that gap is what amount of money are you bringing home on a monthly basis versus what are you spending? So a couple of things that I want to go over, a couple acronyms. You may or may not know what these mean. One is PCE, personal consumption expenditures, and another one is CPI. And you hear you hear these that's consumer price index one. One measures the percentage or the amount that we're consuming as a country or as a family or individuals. And the other one measures on a relative basis in inflation or what the inflationary pressures are on on the economy. So so here here's the here's the real definition. Cpi measures the change in the out-of-pocket expenditures of all urban households. And the PCE index measure measures the change in goods and services consumed by all households and nonprofit institutions serving households. So when you look at CPI, Consumer Price Index, if you look at a core inflation number and we're around an eight or a nine on any on any given CPI measurement or inflation measurement, I mean, that's significant. I mean, when we were at when we were over 9%, Randi, that was the highest inflation number that we've had in over 40 years. You talked about talked about Ronald Reagan a long time ago. I mean, back in 1980, 1981, that was the last time we saw inflation as high as it was.

Kale Simpson:
So now the Federal Reserve is doing everything in their power to increase interest rates, to bring inflation down. But when you also look at personal consumption, I mean, that's going to measure housing. It's going to measure food, it's going to measure fuel. I had I read an article earlier this week and. Europe. I mean, they're just their energy consumption, Randi. The cost of energy is up ten fold in Europe. Not not not twice as much. Ten times as much. So that's like your your your electric bill, Randi, being $100 a month would now be $1,000 a month. So so inflation numbers, there are a lot of smart economists are calling for inflation over in Europe to be more than 20% by the end of the year. More than 20%. Never. It's never been seen before. So these are some these are some historical numbers and things that not only as as a part of the world like Europe, it's going to have to think about things like this, but it's going to be the entire world that's going to fill this. And there's going to be, as Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, said last week, there's going to be a lot of pain felt just just from an inflationary standpoint and from a rising rate environment. So when we talk about clients and Randi, I mean, if we've got 62% believe half their income is is from Social Security, there's a gap. Yes, sir. And so what if instead of 62% of their income, what if a lot smaller percentage of that came from Social Security?

Randy Sams:
If 50% of your income that you have coming in in retirement right now is provided by Social Security, what's that number going to decrease by as inflation continues to go up? So if you've got, as an example, 2000 a month coming in and half of that 1000 a month is Social Security, you know, that thousand dollars a month is not going to buy as much. Five years from now, two years from now, one year from now as it does right now. So retirement income got hot. I'm going to throw this formula out, folks, and I apologize for interrupting, Kale, but this is something that I want you to write down and you do a little homework on yourself, okay? It's not you don't have to have a calculus degree, a physics degree. This is simple math. All right. We're going to do Simpson accounting right now. So write this down. This is the formula for you to basically evaluate, do you or do I have a retirement income gap? So, number one, write down your core expenses food, clothing, shelter, taxes, health care needs. Add your discretionary expenses, eating out entertainment, what are your wants, travel, whatever it may be. Add those together and then subtract your guaranteed income sources. Pensions. Do you have one? How about Social Security? Add those two together if you have them, that's your guaranteed income sources. So subtract your guaranteed income sources from your core expenses, discretionary expenses. And if that number is less than what you're spending, guess what? You have an income gap, right?

Kale Simpson:
That's correct.

Randy Sams:
Okay. So write that down. Take a look at it. And again, you can give Kale or myself a call or leave us a message at your American retirement. Call us at 86699076648669907664. And to help us, let us help you evaluate your current situation. And if there is a retirement income gap, let us correct that for you. All right, Kale, back to you, bro.

Kale Simpson:
All right. Thank you so much, Randy. Hey, just real quick. So so, guys, you know, from a business standpoint, Randy Sams and I, we we we look at we look at the macro environment on a on a daily basis and clients ask us questions on a daily basis. And so it's our job to understand what is going on in the market. And if we can help you understand what's going on in the market, but better yet help you understand what's going on in your world because everyone's different. What goes on in the world doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot or doesn't mean a hill of beans to somebody that's got an income gap that's trying to figure out how to retire at age 65 and support their family and go on vacations because they've been working for the past 40 years to collect that retirement income, correct, Randy?

Randy Sams:
Yes, sir.

Kale Simpson:
All right. So but but the reality of the situation is if if if all your eggs are in one basket and you've got six months to retirement, and then the first six months of the year, I think latest data that I have recorded, Randy, the S&P 500 down 17% year to date, year to date, not over the past 12 months, a year to date from January, the Nasdaq is down 24.3% year to date. So if you've got your money split between the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 or in bonds, bonds are down and cash is down due to inflation. But if you've got your money in there and you're going to retire in six months and you lose 20, 25, 30% just due to outside influences or external factors that you had no control over. What if you can't retire?

Randy Sams:
Randy You got to continue to work, brother.

Kale Simpson:
You're still going to continue to work. And so there's a client right now and that's the client that I mentioned earlier in the broadcast. Randy, you know, he planned on retiring in August. I'll. 31. Not going to happen. So he's going to continue to work. But you know what we're working on now? We're working on trying to safeguard some of those funds and put it in a product that guarantees him compounded interest guarantees. And then when he decides to turn on that additional Social Security check, it's there. So not only does he have Social Security because he's worked his entire life, but he also has another supplemental form of income to fill in that what that gap. So if he's got that covered, if he has the gap covered, plus he's got extra funds in an emergency account, then we've done we've done our job to help him safeguard against market risks and understand what a comfortable and secure retirement looks like for him. Not a risky retirement, because guess what, Randy January to now he's understood what a risky retirement means and he feels what a risky retirement means. And so now he's got to bite the bullet and go and continue to work. So he's going to do what he has to do until he can get back into a comfortable position. But, guys, I mean, really and truly, I mean, that's that's what we do. So at your American retirement, we help clients understand. Go go to the website. We're not we're not going to sell you anything. But, you know, ask us ask us a question, give us a concern, and we'll do our absolute best to try to educate you on what we can do to help you understand what's out there. You know, Randy, wrap this thing up, our viewers. We've got to run. They've got to run. Wrap this thing up and we'll talk to everybody next week, sir.

Randy Sams:
All right. Thanks, Kale. Hey, you know, piggybacking off of the prices, right, guys? Give us a call myself, Randy Sams or Kale Simpson, 8669907664. Or go to our Web site, Your American Retirement. Leave us a message and we're going to take you from the prices right through the income is guaranteed. Thanks for joining us. We'll talk to you soon.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to your American retirement. You deserve to work with licensed financial insurance experts who can offer sound strategies for protecting and growing your hard earned money to schedule your free no obligation consultation. Visit your American retirement today. That's your American retirement. Com Not affiliated with the United States government. Randy Sams and Kale Simpson do not offer tax, legal or investment advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Amara Life assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or of the results obtained from the use of this information.

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