12.17.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

12.17.22: 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.

Producer:
Welcome to Your American Retirement with your host, Randy Sams. Get set for a full hour of financial information and economic news affecting your bottom line. Randy works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you too. So now let's start the show. Here is your host, Randy Sams.

Randy Sams:
Hey, good afternoon. Welcome, everyone. My name is Randy Sams. I am your host of Your American Retirement on 101.1FM the Answer where it comes to talk. Folks, I want to thank you for listening to my show every week here on 101.1 FM. Folks, we've got local airwaves. We've got folks that are listening in. Also want to point you to our podcast. Go to YouTube, Spotify, Wherever you get your podcasts, give us a thumbs up. Channels Are you going to educate more Americans on ways to reach financial freedom or retire successfully and securely is what we do at SMMG Financial. Again, we're focused on addressing the major financial issues facing the retirees and pre-retirees in America today. So folks, please go to YourAmericanRetirement.com. Leave us your information. We'd love to talk to you. Give us some comments, give us some suggestions on maybe future shows. You can also call and leave a voicemail. 866 990 7664 again. 866 990 7664. Leave us your information. I'd love to talk to you. Give you a call. We'll give you a ring back Answering any questions that you may have. So folks, again, check out the website YourAmericanRetirement.com. Don't hesitate to reach out to me with any of your questions. We love helping our listeners and provide comprehensive consultations and solutions to anyone and everyone that reaches out to us. Folks, we really enjoy having a conversation and interacting with our listeners. And again, I've said it before, you know, we're getting ready to Christmas, so full blast, folks, for all of you that are listening and those of you who turn in or tune in to us on Saturday afternoon, it's getting close to Christmas and we know that your gifts are coming to your family members, but you're a gift to us.

Randy Sams:
So we thank you again for listening. And again, give us a thumbs up on our on that podcast. We'd love to know how many folks are out there listening to our podcast and you can direct them to our website. So folks, we've got a great show today. We're going to talk about. We're going to have a good quote of the week. We're going to talk about year end, 2022 and year starting 2023, what you should be focusing on. We're going to talk a little bit about RMDs, what RMD is. Why are you required to take an RMD? And talk about a few options to avoid help you avoid RMDs. Financial checklist. Again, we're going to jump start 2023. Then we're going to talk about the inflation. We're going to go over the 12 days of christmas folks on this show. What it cost in 2022. If you were to buy your special person in your life, if you were to buy them the 12 days of Christmas gifts in 2022 versus 2021. Then if we have time, we're going to talk about how much Americans are spending on Christmas trees. And then also maybe we'll get to this week in history. So, folks, again. Randy Sams, President, CEO, SMMG Financial. Folks ask me or we speak to say, Randy, what is it exactly that you guys do at SMMG Financial? What problems do we solve? What I like to tell people, you know, I like to ask a lot of questions.

Randy Sams:
It's not it's not me coming to you. To kind of tell you what you should do. I want to find out exactly what your objectives are. And then from that point in time, you and I will put together a plan based on your objectives, not what my objectives are. So I take my role as a fiduciary to you very seriously. My number one objective is what your objectives are, not what my objectives are. So some of the things that we do as far as problem solving. Man, I'm going to ask you. What keeps you awake at night? What are you thinking about? What are you concerned about? Might be. Do I have enough money to retire? When can I retire? How much money do I need to have? But I can retire. And what can I expect to receive? In retirement from the funds that I have. And what if I die or a spouse dies during retirement? Some people want to ask me, Randy, did I screw up by starting Social Security too early? So so those are some of the questions that some of the folks that when I've asked that question. They come up with. What is it that you're concerned about? I had one gentleman. He said, when I stop receiving a paycheck. Where will the paychecks come from? You understand that? So when you.

Randy Sams:
Stop working. And many of you know that you're working past age 65. But when you decide to make that move and you retire. When you stop receiving a paycheck, where will the paychecks come from? That's one of the one of the issues that we lack. One of the concerns that we like to address at SMUG Financial folks, we like to give you a plan, a roadmap, so you can navigate your retirement. Successfully. And securely. So it's kind of like this. If you've ever been to an amusement park, I'll tell you this story. So my family, my boys are a lot older now. Today, when I say a lot older, they're not aged, but you know, they're in their twenties and early thirties. But when they were young, you know, we took them to an amusement park down in Dallas, a very well known amusement park. And so we're standing in line to the amusement park to get in. We're all excited, man, because there's some rides that they want. They had specifically, you know, said, Man, I want to ride this ride. I want to ride this, right? And we said, okay, well, we're going to have to find out where they're at so we can head to them right when we get in the gate. And as we got closer to the ticket line, when you bought your ticket, they were giving out a road map, a map to the amusement park to show exactly where each one of the rides were located. So it wouldn't just be wandering around, you know, aimlessly in that park, because there's a lot of people that go to this amusement park, especially during the summertime, and there's lots of different different rides.

Randy Sams:
And the quicker you can get to the ride that you want to, the hopefully the shorter the line may be. So as we got closer, we were seeing people, they were buying the ticket, here's your ticket and they gave them a map to the amusement park. Got closer. Here's the same thing Buy your ticket. They gave you the ticket and then they gave you the map to the amusement park when we got up, I guess. What about two people before us? They ran out of those maps to the amusement park. Bummer, right? So we had to pay our tickets and there we were inside the amusement park without a without a map. And we kept asking some people that worked there, but they had just run out of those maps. They were going to it's going to take a couple of hours for them to replenish those maps. So unfortunately for me and my family folks, guess what happened? We were having we were on our own to try to navigate that amusement park. Which ride did we want to go on and where is that ride located? So, you know, you're asking strangers at this amusement park for advice. That's not what you want to do during retirement, folks. You don't want to ask strangers for advice. You don't want your retirement advice from the folks that you hang out with at the coffee shop in the morning.

Randy Sams:
Not anything against those folks. They may have a lot of wisdom. More than likely, they probably do. But when it comes to financial wisdom, how much financial wisdom do they want? So just like that amusement park. We had to walk around that amusement park and try to find out where the rides were. And, you know, by the time you got to the ride, the lines were excessively long. So it took us a lot longer to enjoy those rides that my sons wanted to enjoy because we had to kind of find out on our own where those rides were located at. So that's one of the things that we're going to do at SMMG Financial. We're going to give you that map. We're going to give you that road map. We're going to give you that plan. We're going to sit down with you and we're going to put together a plan based on your objectives for retirement so you won't be wandering aimlessly through retirement. We don't want you to have a risky retirement. We want you to have a successful and a secure, happy retirement. So, folks, give us a call. 866 990 7664 or go to the website you are American retirement dot com. Leave us your contact information. We'd love to sit down with you and give you a free consultation and with your objectives and our knowledge of retirement planning, we can put together a map for you to have a successful and a secure retirement. So folks, that's what we do at SMMG. Quote of the.

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

Randy Sams:
The quote of the week, folks. The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets. That's pretty funny, isn't it? You know, we're going to in January 2023, we're going to have a change, I guess, in the House as far as leadership goes. So we're going to go from being a I guess, a Democratic Democrat majority to a Republican majority. So we're going to have to wait and see what 2023 holds for us. But as Will Rogers said, the difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets. So Will Rogers. It was an American performer slash actor. He was a social commentator. He's known as Oklahoma's favorite son. As an entertainer and humorist. He traveled around the world three times, made 71 films, and wrote more than 4000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. By the mid 1930s. Will Rogers was hugely popular in the United States for leading his political wit and was the highest paid of Hollywood film stars. How about that, Will Rogers? So, folks, again. Mr. Will Rogers wisdom. The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets. So we're going to find out what happens to us in 2023. So, folks, hey again, Randy Sams, your host for American YourAmericanRetirement.com on 101 FM, the Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. We'll be right back.

Producer:
Are you anxious about retirement? Concern that you could outlive your money? Randy Sams is a Little Rock native who has nearly four decades of experience helping hundreds of Arkansans retire with confidence. If you want to get the most out of what you've worked so hard for, or if you're interested in learning how to maximize your Social Security, call Randy today at 501 249 2343 Or visit YourAmericanRetirement.com. Miss part of today show? Your American Retirement is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at YourAmericanRetirement.com.

Randy Sams:
Hey welcome back folks again my name is Randy Sams your host Your American Retirement on 101 FM. The Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. So, folks, we are looking into 2020 to the end of 2022 is just around the corner. We're going to be jumping into 2023 very quickly. So today's show, we're going to look at some things that are that are an issue for anybody who is in retirement. How can we address this issue for you? And then we're going to look at some of the things that we can get prepared for going into 2023. So we'll do that hopefully in this segment. And then again, we're going to talk about the 12 days of Christmas, how inflation has affected the 12 days of Christmas in 2022. So, folks, one of the things that I work with my clients, if you have a 401 K, a 403 B an IRA, anything that is looked upon with the IRS as a qualified plan. So, folks, what a qualified plan is this? As you know, if your employer has an employer sponsored 401. K, what that means is that your employer allows you to make a contribution, a pretax contribution to your 401. K that decision, how much you participate, what percentage of your income you participate, or you contribute to that strictly up to you. And also the majority of them have an employer matching. So some of them may match 3% up to 3% of your salary.

Randy Sams:
Some of them may be a little bit higher than that. But for you, if you have an employer sponsored 401K, I believe that you should take advantage of I don't want to call it free money, but if you're making your contribution, I would say if that's something that you're wanting to do as a 401. K, I would at least make my contributions high enough to where I'm getting the full amount of my employer contribution. So if they're matching up to 5%, then I'm going to contribute at least up to 5%. So if I'm contributing five and they're contributing five, that means I'm getting 10% of what my income is on an annual basis, put back pretax into that 400 1k403b or if you do an IRA. So what that means folks are qualified plan means this, that you've had this money accumulate for however many years ten, 15, 20, 25, depending on how long you've worked with that employer, how long you've been making those contributions, so you've been making those contributions and it's all been pretax. So when you retire and you look at your 401 K statement, am I going to mention about where your 41k statement is right now in 2022? Because 2021 it was at a higher amount than what you had today. But if you look at your 401 K statement and you see that you have 200,000 in that 401 K, all right. All of that has accumulated over the number of years that you've worked and you've made contributions and your employer has made contributions.

Randy Sams:
All of that has accumulated, built up pretax. So no taxes have been taken out over that 15, 20, 30 year period that you've been building, that 401. K balance. All right. So that's considered to be a qualified plan. So whether it be a 401 K, a 403 B, whatever it might be, there have been no taxes that have been withheld from those contributions or you don't pay taxes at the end of the year like you do. Maybe you own a CD or checking account or savings account. So that's what's considered to be qualified. So anybody today that has a qualified plan, a 401 K is what I'm going to focus on. When you hit the age of 72 now because of the CARES Act that was raised from 70 and one half, now it's age 72. So if you've not done anything with that 401 K or that qualified plan, when you reach the age of 72, you have to start paying what's known as required minimum distributions. We refer to them as RMDs. So those RMDs are going to come from an employer based retirement plans, traditional individual retirement plans, IRAs, and they will be due December 31st for most people, 72 and older. Now folks, there's a few rules. Those distributions that you take are taxable. Here's a little plug. When you have a qualified plan, A 401 K, an IRA, whatever it might be that has not been taxed, it's qualified plan and you start taking out 2% or 3%.

Randy Sams:
At 4% or whatever. You may just leave it in there and then you may just let it grow. But when you hit age 72, the IRS requires you to start making withdrawals depending on your age. So at age 72, your withdrawal percentage may be a little bit over 3%. And you would think that as you get older, that percent would go down. It's the opposite. As you get older, that percent increases. So, folks, what happens is that Uncle Sam, the IRS tells you that of that 200,000 41k balance that you have, you have to take a minimum distribution in 2023, if that's when you start if that's when you hit the age of 72. So you hit the age of 72 in 2022, you have till April 2023 to take that RMD. So let's just go into 2023. Let's say it's 3%. So at 3% of 200,000 you're going to have to take out required to take out 6000 of your 401 K, You may not have one or two, but that's what they require and that is taxed. And as you get older, that amount increases. So your 3% is going to go to three and one half, three and one half to three and three fourths, three, three fourths to what? To four? So as you get older, you may be paying well over five, almost 6% out of your 41k balance because of the RMD balances.

Randy Sams:
So folks, what we do is this how can we avoid the RMDs for tax deferred accounts? You know, you don't want to pay taxes on your account contributions or earnings. So until you take withdrawals, you don't turn. When you turn 72, you must start taking those RMDs. But during that period of time, if you retire at age 65 and you didn't touch that 401k so between the ages of 65 and 72 that for one K hopefully it's not decreasing like it did in 2022, but it could hopefully it's increased a little bit between age 65, but at eight. And if you haven't taken any money out or you haven't started making any withdrawals at age 72, they make you take out those withdrawals. All right. So there are plans that we can take. So here's what I've done in the past to help some of my clients. We can set up a Roth conversion, folks. So here's what a Roth conversion is. So let's just say we take that 200,000 that you've got in your 401. K, we take that out at age, I don't know, let's say 62 or 63, whatever age you want to, whatever that balance is. Remember when you hit age 59 and one half, even though you're still working, you can do what's called an in-service distribution. And an in-service distribution allows you to take a portion, if not all. It allows you to take a portion of your 41k balance and put that into a different type of vehicle.

Randy Sams:
All right. Different type of product. So you can take your 401 K balance and put that into an annuity. You can let that annuity grow. We can start an income at some point in time, but here's how we do a Roth conversion. So we're going to take that 200,000 and we're going to roll that over tax free into an annuity plan that allows us to take up to 10% beginning the first year to allows us to take up to 10% withdrawals on an annual basis. So the first year, your 200,000 deposit, we're going to take out 10%, 20,000 taxes are going to be due on that 20,000. But I'll ask you this question. Would you rather roll all the 200,000 into a Roth and have to pay taxes on the full 200,000 or, you know, it's the old adage, how do you eat an elephant? So how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So that's what our objective are. We're going to take that 200,000, put it into an annuity. The first year we're going to take out 20,000, put that into a Roth conversion, and we're going to do that each year for the next ten years. All right. So now we've converted that 200,000 into a Roth conversion and we've paid the taxes on just the little chunks, the little bites versus the big bite over that ten year period.

Randy Sams:
And for a Roth conversion, you have to at least let that those deposits make those deposits for at least five years. And then after five years, if you want to, you can start making withdrawals. Now, why is a Roth conversion important? Because you've paid those taxes on that 200,000 over that ten year period. Right. So now when you hit age 72, remember we started at age 62, now you're 72. You don't have to take any of the money out if you don't want to. But any of those funds that you take out of that Roth conversion, they are tax free. And I'd love you to put together an illustration for you folks. Again, if you give me a call at 866 990 7664866 990 7664. Or go to our website YourAmericanRetirement.com. Leave me your information leave me a message. Hey Randy I'd love to talk to you about those Roth conversions. I'd like to understand more how a Roth conversion works and if a Roth conversion would be a wise option for me and my family, me and my spouse. So what that Roth conversion allows you to do, folks, you've already paid those taxes. So when you hit 72, you've just removed the need or the requirement for those minimum distributions. All right. So if you want to, you can take money out. But if you don't, you can leave the money in there. And guess what? You may want to leave the money in there for as a legacy to your spouse, to your kids, to your grandkids.

Randy Sams:
And when that when you pass away the amount that's in net Roth conversion, folks, it transfers to them tax free. All right. So that's what we can do. Again, this was determined by the Congress that you have to have those RMDs start when you hit age 72 on any qualified plan that you have. So. If you don't take the distributions. You're going to have a 50% excise tax on the amount not distributed or as required, which is the largest penalty, the IRS. Puts up up against the So folks again remember. You've got to have those RMDs. You can give me a call, you can go to the website, leave me your information. Would love to put together a plan for you which includes a Roth conversion, if that's what you're interested in. Because what here's what you have to think about, folks. We want to try to kick the IRS out of your retirement plan. How do we do that? So do you think ask yourself this question. Do you think taxes are going up or going down in the future? I think that depends on myself. That depends on who's in charge, who has the White House? Who has the House? Who has the Senate? But most people believe taxes will be higher in the future. That includes me. So you may want to consider a strategy that kicks the IRS out of being your partner in retirement, which is what I just went over, folks, and that is that Roth conversion.

Randy Sams:
We want to reduce future tax rates. We want to take the risk of future tax rate hikes by implementing that Roth conversion and smart retirees diversify their money into different tax buckets. All right. So folks, that's what we'd like to do. So would you be interested in generating tax free income? During your 30 plus years of retirement. So we have proven strategies to help you do that. Remember my story about the amusement park? Folks, We have a plan. We can sit down and meet with you and we can put together that roadmap for your retirement to where you are no longer going to be worried about a risky retirement, but you're going to be happy because you now have a successful and a secure retirement, because you've sat down and you've planned and we've helped educate you and help you to understand what your options are. So remember, the market is down this year. So now is an opportune time to to convert any tax deferred IRA firm forms or funds that you have into a Roth IRA. Why would you continue to pay ordinary income taxes decades after you've stopped working folks? Remember, ask yourself this question Do you feel like taxes are going to go up or going to go down in the future? Hey again, Randy Sams, SMMG Financial. YourAmericanRetirement.com folks will be right back. Thank you.

Producer:
As the song.Says, it's the most wonderful time of the.But don't let holiday spending wreck your retirement plan. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement dot Radio Network. Powered by Amerilife. Just over $832. That's how much the National Retail Federation says the average American plans to spend on holiday gifts, food and decorations this year. Many of us will spend much more than that. So how do you keep from overdoing it? Financial website Investopedia has some tips on keeping holiday spending under control. Number one is perhaps the most important set spending limits for yourself. Tyler Ferguson with Jax Federal Credit Union agrees.

Tyler Ferguson:
Some can even go old school like myself and use a cash spending plan to ensure that you're staying inside of your budget. You're actually using cash to mitigate those swiping of the cards. It's also an effective plan if you have kids wanting to shop as well.

Producer:
That from News4Jax. The number two tip from Investopedia is to make your own naughty or nice list. In other words, if you're shopping list includes more than five people outside your immediate family, start cutting it. Then bake cookies or other treats to give to those who didn't make the cut. That way you spread holiday cheer without breaking the budget and you don't seem like Scrooge. Humbug. Other bits of advice from Investopedia include being realistic about your budget. Collecting coupons or discount codes and organizing group volunteering instead of holiday parties. Ferguson says one thing you should not overlook is getting the kids involved.

Tyler Ferguson:
For the younger kids, you want to give them a smaller dollar amount, maybe a $10 cash transaction to kind of help provide them a visual observation of what they're using the funds for. And then for your older kids who have either been saving themselves already or they have a lump sum to kind of go shopping with can open up an account for them. Go over how to budget and how to spend.

Producer:
So how can you give this holiday season without busting your budget? That's a key question to consider. As Santa starts warming up the sleigh with a Retirement dot Radio Network powered by Amerilife, I'm Mat McClure.

Producer:
Remember, all of Randy listeners receive a free financial consultation just for listening to the show. Visit YourAmericanRetirement.comto 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. My name is Randy Sams, President CEO, SMMG Financial. I want to thank you for listening. I want to welcome you to Your American Retirement on one on one FM. The Answer It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I hope you're having a great day, folks. We're getting close to Christmas. I don't know about you, but I'm looking for that Santa Claus radar to go off here pretty soon to kind of tell us where Santa Claus is, see if he's going to be coming to your house. So my question to you is, right now, let's look at your retirement. Have you been naughty or nice with your retirement planning? Give us a call. Let us play Santa Claus. We don't want to be the Grinch. We want to play Santa Claus with you and your family as far as your retirement goes. So let us put you on the nice list. Take you off that naughty list when it comes to retirement planning. So, folks, we're going to look at a few things today. You know, we're coming up to 20, 23. We want to help jumpstart your new year with this financial checklist. So some of the things that you should be aware of, some of the things that you should be looking at, how can I. Help myself, help my family to have a more secure retirement, financially secure retirement in 2023 versus 2022 or 2021. So let's look at this. Number one. We suggest you pay off your credit card balances.

Randy Sams:
You may want to minimize all debt, starting with the highest interest rates. Most credit cards have annual rates of 20% and up. Folks. Can you imagine that? Just just think, if we were getting 20% at the bank for our money. I mean, those of you folks, I'm doing a lot of guaranteed annuities, guaranteed rate annuities. I refer to them as me as my G. A's. Those are multi year guaranteed annuities. That is a fixed rate annuity. Right now, folks, if you're listening, I have fixed rate annuities, guarantee rate annuities that are paying 5% or above interest guaranteed 5% depending on the period of time that you put the money in. So I don't know, does your bank pay you 5% on your money if you do a three year CD or a five year CD or you're getting 5%? We have those migas guaranteed rates. So I wish the banks were paying us 20% because everybody have their money in a savings account, wouldn't you? But it doesn't happen. So folks, here's what we look at. You can use a credit card to your advantage, but you can also use it to your disadvantage. Right. So if you're out there buying an all these Christmas gifts that you've got, you've got your Christmas list, you've been checking it twice, making sure who's naughty and nice, but you're out buying your Christmas gifts and you're putting them all on that credit card, number one, which is fine if you pay that credit card off every time you receive it.

Randy Sams:
So I have a lot of clients that they take advantage of. What they take advantage of the rewards of that credit card. It may be airline miles. It may be hotel miles. I've got a business credit card that I use, folks, that gives me a lot. They give me lots of choices I can use for airlines. I can use it for hotels. But you know what I like to do in a year? One of the things that my business credit card reward program allows me to do is I can buy cash cards. All right? So I cash in some of my points and I get cash cards. Guess what? I use those cash cards for folks. That's right. Christmas presents. All right. So that's just what I do. But here you can use a credit card wisely. So if you're going to use a credit card to buy all your Christmas gifts the end of this year, when you get that bill for those Christmas gifts in 2023, hopefully you've not spent more than you have. So if you use a credit card during the month to get those reward points, but at when you receive the bill the next month, if you pay that credit card bill off in full, that's great because what you're doing is you're building up credit. All right. So I don't have an issue with credit cards. I just have an issue when you have a credit card balance, especially when they're charging you over 20%, some of them 25%.

Randy Sams:
All right. So don't get over your head with credit card debt. Number two. Maximize your tax bracket with a Roth conversion, folks. You know, earlier we talked about a Roth conversion. What is a Roth conversion? How can I take your 401. K your qualified plan and put it into a program to where at some point in time down the road you're going to have tax free money because your 401 K folks is not tax free money, it is taxable funds. All right. So we can do a Roth conversion. So there are no RMDs on a Roth IRA if you've already paid the taxes. Uncle Sam has already received his cut. So again, that 200,000 example that I gave to you earlier, we can take that 200,000, put it into an annuity that allows us to take up to 10% withdrawals on an annual basis. And we take that we eat that elephant one bite at a time. So every year we're going to we're going to withdraw 10% of the account value and we're going to roll that 1010 into a Roth conversion. And by the end of ten years, we've taken all of that 200,000 plus any growth, we roll that into a Roth conversion, a Roth IRA. And now any amount that you have in that Roth IRA, which have been growing itself over that same two year period, when you remove those funds, if you take any withdrawals, those are tax frees, tax free.

Randy Sams:
Excuse me. So, folks, you're going to want to complete your Roth conversion before age 72 when those RMDs kick in. So that's why I said my example was that someone at age 72. All right. So remember, we can do a in service distribution for any four on one balance that you have when you hit age 59 and one half, we can take a portion, if not all, depending on what your 401. K statements or your 401 K documents might say, but we can take a portion of that for one K and roll that into an annuity and we can start that Roth conversion for you if you want to have tax free. Income and retirement. Number three, set a monthly budget for your retirement. Folks, this is so important. How much income is required to meet your needs and your wants. Folks, this is one thing that I will tell you right now I have never met. A retiree or someone who is about to retire. Getting close to retire. That doesn't need income. Now, if they exist, I haven't met them. Everybody that I know, everybody that I've worked with, everybody that I've had a consultation with, that's the thing that they are concerned about is income. Folks, you don't retire on assets. You retire on income. Assets can be lost. Remember, look at your 401. K. Look at your IRA. Look at your managed account. Has it gone up in 2022 or has it gone down? If you have your money in stock market accounts, if you have your for one case in stock market accounts, the risky stock investments, that's why you're C and your 401 K balance being anywhere from 20 to 25% lower today than it was this time in 2021.

Randy Sams:
All right. So what happens is this. You've got those funds in in in those four on one case in the in the tax free and the qualified plans. And then all of a sudden you retire and you've got funds there and then all of a sudden your assets go down. So you can lose assets for what? I mean, if you look at your house, you can lose your house because of what tornadoes here in Arkansas, you can lose it because of a fire. You can get divorced and you lose half of what you worked for. So remember, you don't retire on assets. You retire on income. So most people don't want a lifestyle change during retirement. As far as a decrease in your lifestyle change. So we need to plan for inflation and future tax increases. So we got to figure out how much income do you want in retirement? Are we looking for your needs? We want to cover your needs. And then if we have enough, we want to cover some of your wants. We want to take that trip around the world. We want to join that country club. We want to play tennis, we want to play golf.

Randy Sams:
But those are some of the things that we can do for you folks. Number four, we want to develop a plan to pay your house off so if you still have a mortgage. Going into retirement, that is probably going to be the largest bill that you have to be concerned about during retirement is your mortgage. So the happiest retirees that I work with have no mortgage payment. So the easiest way to increase your net worth is to eliminate your debts. And again, your mortgage is probably one of the largest debt payments that you have to make every month. So if we look at I'll give you an example very quickly. I had a young lady. She just retired and her mortgage payment was going to be for the next ten years. And for ten years it was over with. All right. So we put some of her 41k funds. We put that into an annuity to where she could she guaranteed herself for that ten year period, an amount that was a little bit over what her required mortgage payment was every month. So she had the peace of mind knowing that no matter what happened because of that annuity that we set up and that guaranteed ten year payment that her mortgage was going to be paid. But you know what? The good thing is? At the end of that ten year period, folks, guess what? That mortgage is gone. She no longer has that. So she basically just gave herself a pretty significant raise.

Randy Sams:
Not having to worry about that mortgage payment. So number five, maximize your Social Security in income benefit. Folks. If you've listened to any of our segments, previous segments, go back go to YourAmericanRetirement.com and look at some of our previous segments that we've done. Some of our previous shows, we spent two shows specifically talking about Social Security. What Social Security benefits were all about and when you could take them. And why was it significant? Should you take them at age 62? Should you take it at your full retirement age, which might be 66, might be 67, or should you wait to age 70? So we want to sit down with you and we want to help you maximize your Social Security income benefits. Because listen to this. Did you know that you can increase your benefit by 8% each year, that you defer to age 70? All right. So I just worked with a young lady yesterday. And that's what she was asking. She was asking, should she take her retirement, her Social Security retirement at age 62? Or should she wait to age 65? Or should she wait to age 70? All right. Now, her family one of the things that I'm going to ask if I meet with you is her family basically had a long life. So hopefully she had good genetics, good genes. So she planned on living a good long life. So what you have to look at is, if I take it at age 62.

Randy Sams:
Versus age 67. If that's my full retirement age, where's my break even point that tells me how far down the road, how many years out if I take that income early at age 62 versus age 65, when will at that point in time I start making less money? All right, folks, it's going to be somewhere 11, 12, 13 years down the road. All right. What I mean by that is if you wait to age 65 to turn on or 67 to turn on your Social Security benefit. After about ten or 11 years down the road of taking that additional benefit, it's going to be higher about 25 to 30% higher at age 67 versus 62. At that point in time. Every month you will begin to make more money every month at that time. But it takes out about 11 to 12 year period to catch up to those five years when you started taking that money at age 62. So we want to maximize your Social Security income benefit number six. You know, implement a bond replacement plan. You know, we don't do any of that here at SMMG Financial. Folks, I do nothing that deals with the stock market. I'm not going to give you any stock market advice. I'm not going to talk about bonds, whether you should or whether you shouldn't. I'm into safe money. We do safe money investments here at SMMG Financial. We talk about annuities, we talk about income.

Randy Sams:
That's our that's our objective is to set our clients up with a lifetime guaranteed income or a lifetime guaranteed paycheck. All right. The most important thing that I can suggest. That you do for your retirement, for you going into 2023 is schedule a retirement consultation with me today. Again, what is it that we do at SMMG? What problems? Do we help solve? What concerns do we help solve? Folks, we're going to put together that plan based on what it is that keeps you up at night. What questions do you have? What worries might you have? Again, when you stop receiving a paycheck? Where will the paychecks come from? Do you have a pension? Most people don't. You've got Social Security. Is it wise to. Turn on Social Security today. Are you going to continue to work? If you're going to continue to work, is it wise to turn on that Social Security income stream? It might not be. That's something that we can do. So please give us a call. 866 990 7664 again 866 990 7664. Or go to YourAmericanRetirement.com. Leave us your contact information folks we'd love to be able to sit down with you. Hey it's a free consultation all right. Take advantage of our 38 years experience in this market. Retirement planning. That's what we specialize in, folks. So give us a call. Go to our website, leave us your information. Love to sit down with you. Set up that free consultation again. Randy Sams, SMMG Financial, Your American Retirement. We'll be right back.

Producer:
Are you anxious about retirement? Concern that you could outlive your money? Randy Sams is a Little Rock native who has nearly four decades of experience helping hundreds of Arkansans retire with confidence. If you want to get the most out of what you've worked so hard for, or if you're interested in learning how to maximize your Social Security, call Randy today at 501 249 2343. Or visit YourAmericanRetirement.com.

Randy Sams:
Hey welcome back folks. Again I'd like to welcome you to Your American Retirement on 101 FM. The Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. My name is Randy Sams. I am your host for the radio show that you're listening to here on Saturday afternoon. Folks, we're going to have a great Christmas. I hope you have a great Christmas. One of the things we're going to end with this. I found this. I like to do this. We've done this in the past with some of our clients. But as you know, we're coming up on Christmas. And I've mentioned that I don't know how many times they're in the show. So hopefully you understand Christmas is just around the corner. When you listen to this show on Saturday, it's just a few days away. All right. So we're going to look at this, folks. Did you know? That Christmas trees. Today, 33.6% of American households will buy a real or fake Christmas tree. This year, 2022. So listen to this. You know what that equates to 4.19 billion. That's billion with a B, $4.19 billion. That's an average of 85.59, $89.59 for a real tree. That's the average. You may pay more than that where you're located at and average of $122.60 for an artificial tree. Folks, I guess Christmas tree business isn't that bad, is it? I remember when I was a kid. Before we started doing the artificial tree. Some of y'all may remembered. I remember the first artificial Christmas tree that I got as a child when my mom and dad bought was one of those.

Randy Sams:
It wasn't green. It didn't look like a real tree. It was aluminum. That's what I called it. It had the little shiny leaves on it. All right. I kind of look like the things that you put on your bicycle when you're going down the going down the street and you had the little. What do you want to call them, anyway? You know what I'm talking about. That's what that tree looked like. It was a beautiful tree. But. And, you know, you put your Christmas balls on there and you do all this stuff, But here's what. Here's what I really liked about. Well over in the corner. You've got to plug in this little light that would rotate. And on that rotation it had like a green light or it had like a green screen, had a blue screen, had a red screen, had like a yellow screen so you could change those colors out. And so it it turned around clockwise very slowly. So when you plug that in and you and you put that spotlight up on that Christmas tree because it was, I guess, aluminum, whatever you want to call it, that's what it looked like. So if it was shining out green, that's what that color, that's what the color of the tree. So instead of just having like one color of light bulb on your tree might have been red, might have been green, might have been blue. My tree changed colors about every 15, 20 seconds.

Randy Sams:
So some of y'all are going to remember those trees. But I love that tree. I actually love the presents that were under that tree when I woke up on Christmas morning. So, folks, Christmas tree business obviously is not a bad business to be in because there's going to be over $4 Billion generated from folks buying Christmas trees this year. Now, folks, we're going to spend the last part of this segment. You all have heard that song, The 12 Days of Christmas. So we have P and C folks. What is P and C that has to do with the Christmas price index? It's an annual tradition which shows the current cost for one set of each of the gifts given in the song The 12 Days of Christmas. Now, folks, I could sing that for you, but you probably wouldn't turn and tune in any longer to listen to the show because of my singing voice is not that great. All right. So it's it's it's similar to the Consumer Price Index, which measures the changing prices of goods, services, housing, food, transportation. So it's a fun way to measure consumer spending and trends in the economy. So even if the pipers piping or the geese are lying, don't make your gift this year, you can still learn a lot by checking out why their prices have increased or decreased over the year. So folks, we're going to talk about the 12 days of Christmas. Remember? 12 days of Christmas.

Randy Sams:
What's the first gift? The first gift is what? My true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. Woo! A partridge in a pear tree. So guess what. A partridge in a pear tree cost today, folks, In 2022, if you want to give your true love a partridge in a pear tree, it's going to cost you $280.18. Okay. The price of the partridge has unchanged. But the continued growth and the cost of that tree because of the higher fertilizer cost. Fertilizer cost means that overall price increase for gift of 2022 index has gone up 25.8% for that partridge in a pear tree. Number two to turtle doves are going to cost you $600. That's an increase of 33.3%. Thanks again to the rising cost of feed. You'll be paying more $600 for two turtle doves in 2022. The third day, three French hens. $318.75, which is an increase over 2021 of 25%. So feeding hungry hens is no small chore. It ain't cheap. You'll pay more for the French hands in 2022, primarily reflecting the price it costs to feed them. So three French hands, $318.75, an increase of 25%. Number four for calling birds $599.96. Folks, guess what? We're lucky. Before calling, birds have delivered once again, they're still expensive, just no more than they were in 2021. So if you want to get those for calling birds, luckily for us, it has not there's not a price increase, but it's still going to cost almost $600 for those four calling birds now.

Randy Sams:
The one I love and most females love. Five Golden Rings $1,245. An increase of 39.1%. Sharply rising commodity prices in the early part of 2022 have made for an expensive line item on a true love shopping list. The price of gold rings grew by nearly 40% in 2020 to the highest increase in this year's index. Folks in the Christmas pricing index almost 40%. 1245. Six geese are laying. Another large tab for 2022, demanding nearly 10% more in 2021 cost of $720 for six. Ghislain. If you want to give those to your true love. Seven swans a swimming pool to get this folks, I hope you're sitting down $13,124.93. $13,124.93. Good thing is. It's a big price tag again in 2022, folks. But guess what? It's unchanged from last year, so you can still get those seven swans of swimming for the exact same price in 2022 that you got in 2021. Number eight. Eight maids a milking, $58. They're fresh off their last pay raise, which was July 24, 2009. The federal minimum wage hasn't changed since that date, and neither has the cost of this gift. So no increase. $58 for those eight maids a milking. Number nine. Nine ladies dancing. $8,308.12, which equates to a 10% increase over 2021. So leading the lineup of performers in 2022. The nine ladies dancing twirled out of the pandemic to the tune of a 10% raise. So $8,308.12. 10%. 2022 over 2021. Ten. Lourdes the Leaping. $13,980. That's a 24.2% increase over 2021. So ten, Lourdes, the leaping is going to cost you $13,980.

Randy Sams:
It's a fancy gift. Your fancy gift is doing. A fancy gift is your thing. Nothing tops these ten lords of dance. The ten Lords are leaping. Top this year's index again at $13,980. Price tag. The most expensive gift in this year's price index. So, folks, if we look at the 12 days of Christmas, number 11, 11 pipers piping. $3,021.40, which is an increase of 2.6%. Again, live music once again tuned up after the pandemic blow and the 11 pipers grew in a cost by modest 2.6%, reflecting the rising compensation in 2022. So 11 pipers piping are going to cost you $3,021 and 2022. 12 drummers drumming. $3,266.93, which is an increase of 2.6%. So you'll see the 2022 Christmas price index sees the 12 drummers drumming to a very similar beat in 2021. A tight labor market drove the price up slightly this year, so 12 drummers drumming $1,266.93, folks. That's a grand total. If you go back and you sing those over, over, over again, the repetition of the song totaling 309 or 364 presents 364 presents, that's an increase of 9.8% over 2021. It's going to cost you $197,071.09 again, an increase of 9.8%. So, folks, that's the 12 days of Christmas. My name is Randy Sams, President, SMMG Financial, your host, Your American Retirement here on 101.1 FM. The Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. Folks, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and we'll talk to you soon. Have a great day.

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 YourAmericanRetirement.com today That's YourAmericanRetirement.com.

Producer:
Not affiliated with the United States government. Randy Sams does 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 a specific result. All copyrights and trademarks of the property of the respective owners of our AmeriLife 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.

Producer:
Are you anxious about retirement, concern that you could outlive your money? Randy Sams is a Little Rock native who has nearly four decades of experience helping hundreds of Arkansans retire with confidence. If you want to get the most out of what you've worked so hard for, or if you're interested in learning how to maximize your Social Security, call Randy today at 501 249 2343 or visit YourAmericanRetirement.com.

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