Minimizing Fees and Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits

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3.10.23: 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:
Well, good morning, central Arkansas. Want to welcome you to today's show. You are joining Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. My name is Randy Sams. I am your host. I'm president of CEO of SMMG Financial. Again, I want to thank you for joining us today, folks. We've gotten some really good feedback from our listeners. And again, I just can't thank you enough for the folks that are tuning in. You know, this show is all about retirement. Thus the name your retirement YourAmericanRetirement.com is a website. Go there. Leave us some good comments. Leave us some critique, whether it be good or bad. Folks, I'm learning I'm still a novice in this radio show, this radio program venture, but I'm enjoying it thoroughly. We've got some good team members, good, good producers behind the scene. They keep me honest. But again, I want to thank you for joining again. You're listening to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer and my name is Randy Sams. Folks, listen, we also have podcasts. You can go to Spotify, YouTube, whatever your favorite podcast vendor might be. And folks, listen, here's what happens on the podcast that we do. We're not putting the entire show that we have here on the radio, on the podcast. We're taking what we feel like are maybe some of the most important segments, maybe a two minute, three minute, four minute, maybe up to a five minute clip.

Randy Sams:
What we feel like are the most important segments of the show. Kind of give you a little bit of the information just to kind of pique your interest. And then we're going to send you over to the website, YourAmericanRetirement.com and you can listen to the entire radio program if you happen to to to miss the show. I've had several people that have done that. You know, we understand that Saturdays are very busy, especially if you have young kids or grandkids or whatever. We want you to enjoy your retirement. So please, if you don't have a chance to listen to the actual live radio program, please go to YourAmericanRetirement.com and you have the opportunity to listen to all the shows that we've done since last year in 2022, folks. Toll free number. If you want to give me a call Direct (866) 990-7664. That's (866) 990-7664. Or call me direct local 501 249 2343. Again, folks, we love hearing from our listeners. You guys have left some great comments, great ideas as far as upcoming shows are concerned. And we really do hope you enjoy the show, folks. Listen at at Your American Retirement Financial. You got to realize we are focused on retirement. That makes sense, doesn't it? We're we're focused on addressing the major issues, financial issues facing retirees and pre-retirees in America today by helping people understand and prepare for a secure retirement, not a risky retirement. Folks, we look at retirement three distinct phases. All right.

Randy Sams:
When I look at a retirement plan for folks, we want to look at three distinct phases. All right? We want to help baby boomers. Number one, never run out of money. And number two, we want baby boomers to enjoy their later years, latter years have a happy retirement. So a lot of folks think, you know, retirement is 30, 40 years of golf, tennis, travel line dancing going on cruises. Not true. There's three phases of retirement, folks. We wish it was 30, 40 years of doing all of that, that every day was Saturday or every hour was happy hour. But the truth is, there are three phases of retirement. Number one, the go go years. Folks, we're going to help you enjoy your go go years. Now, folks, the go go years could be different for different folks. I'm going to say anywhere from, say, 60 to 80. 60 to 85. That depends on how guess what kind of shape you're in. The go go years are When you're going on cruises, you're playing pickleball, you're playing golf, you've joined the country club, you're enjoying those trips. Every day is happy hour. So we want you to be able to be in a position to where you don't have to worry about, you know, do I have enough money? Am I going to spend too much money during those go go years? So we want to have a we want to have a good, solid plan for you to enjoy those days, those years together and go on those cruises, join the country club, play golf, play pickleball, whatever your entertainment choices might be, your travel choices might be we want you to do that.

Randy Sams:
So number two, your slow go years slow go years are basically you can still do everything you did in the go go years. You just don't want to to make sense. You don't want to go out after 530 because you can't see very well after dark. Okay, That's your slow go year. So we're we've got you through the go go years now. We're still still in pretty good health. We're still active, but we just don't go as much as we used to. The no go years when you're probably not leaving the building until you're leaving the building, if you know what I mean. Okay. So again, the go go years. Retirement is all about guaranteed income, not assets. Folks, you don't want to have a bunch of money at 105. You want that money when you can enjoy it. Okay. The go go years. We don't want you stressed about stressed out about running out of money. We want you to have time to enjoy your retirement. So that's why we want to put together a great plan for you to enjoy those go go years. Okay, so 100% of your focus should be on income, not assets. Folks, you can lose assets. I've never met a person who is about to go into retirement or a person that is in retirement that doesn't say they need income.

Randy Sams:
Everybody needs income. When you're about to retire or in you're in retirement, slow go years. It's all about long term care, folks. What's your plan for long term care? We're going to speak a little bit about long term care, probably a little bit in today's show. If you don't have a plan, here's what's going to happen. So somewhere between slow go and no go, you're going to get wiped out. Why? Because the the rules say you have to spend all your money. What I mean by that is if you have to if you have to go into a long term care or a nursing home facility, if that happens to you, the rules say you have to spend all of your money down until you become destitute and then you go on welfare or Medicaid and then you lose control of all your decisions. That's not my idea of successful retirement, folks. The no go years are all about life insurance. So you need to understand it's the life insurance that you bring into retirement that allows you to spend your money. So one of the reasons that I see why retirees are not enjoying their retirement is because they think they have to leave their kids some money so they deny themselves in retirement to provide for their kids. Folks, here's what I'm talking about When you're young and you're in the accumulation stage, all right.

Randy Sams:
We have a target amount that we want to retire on, maybe a target age you want to retire on. You've spent all those years working hard, accumulating those funds. And then when you retire, you know, you've always said, man, I want to join the country club. Like I said earlier, you want to play pickleball, you want to play golf, you want to play tennis, you want to take those trips. But I've seen too many folks when they hit retirement, they're concerned about spending too much money. I want to leave something to my kids and that's great. I'm all for that. That's called a legacy. You want to leave something to your children. But folks, here's what I tell people. Use a life insurance policy and leave the death benefit to your children as the beneficiaries. Okay? Number one, the death benefit is tax free so you can leave your kids a tax free death benefit versus having to go through probate if you have one. If you want to leave money in a bank or CDs or whatever happens to be that those monies can go through probate, probate may have to go through probate. So if you use a life insurance policy, you can figure out how much you want to leave each one of your children. Figure out how long you want to pay for it. You want to do a ten year, you want to do a 20 year pay and after that it's done with.

Randy Sams:
And then you can go out with your lovely spouse and spend all your money. That's what I want you to do. So use a life insurance policy to provide inheritance for your kids and you go out and enjoy your retirement years to the fullest. A happy retirement is what we're all about, folks. So we've got all kinds of tools that we can use and we can talk about a. Go to YourAmericanRetirement.com . Leave me your contact information. I'd love to talk to you and set up a plan just to kind of get what your objectives might be, what you want to do in your go go years. What's your plan for your slow go year? Do you have a long term care plan in place? If not, let's talk about putting something in place for you. Let's talk about the chances of you actually having to go into a nursing home or long term care facility and then the no go years. You know, that's basically when we're at that age where we just don't want to do anything. We're going to sit around until, you know, you're not going to leave the building until you leave the building again. That's why stress life insurance. So, folks, that's what we do at Your American Retirement Financial. We want to keep you guys engaged. We want to keep you looking towards a happy retirement, a safe retirement, a secure retirement. And that's one of the things that we do.

Randy Sams:
So we want to remove stress and rocking chairs. What's the stress all about? People are stressed out because they're thinking they're going to spend too much money or they're not spending enough money. All right. We don't want you stressed out, folks. Stress is a is a is a killer. It it leads to a lot of sicknesses, a lot of illnesses, a lot of diseases. People are stressed out. You know, that's one thing that we want to do is we want to take that stress off the table. We want to make sure that we put a plan in place for you and your spouse, for you and your family, that you know that no matter how long you live, that that plan is going to be there for you. We want a 100% participation. We want a 100%. Certainty that that plan, that income is going to last as long as you do. Hey, folks, listen, I've got a good friend here in Benton. His name is Brian Martins. He owns Congo Fireplace and Patio in Benton. Me and my family, me and my wife, that's where we buy our all our patio, all our lawn furniture. Family owned since 1920. Congo fireplace and patio in Benton. Just want to give a shout out to Brian and his family and all those folks that work at Congo Fireplace and patio. Go buy and tell them Randy it. Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM said, Hello, folks. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.

Producer:
Missed part of today's show. Your American Retirement is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at YourAmericanRetirement.com .

Producer:
Visit YourAmericanRetirement.com to schedule a free consultation today. And now back to the show.

Randy Sams:
Hey welcome back, folks. I want to welcome you to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer I am Randy Sams. I'll be your host. I am president CEO of SMMG Financial, where we want to set our clients up for a safe and a happy retirement, not a risky retirement. Hey, folks, I want to do the financial quote of the week. So a little financial wisdom. So the quote of the week. It takes as much energy to wish.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom. It's time for the Quote of the week.

Randy Sams:
As it does to plan. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Takes just as much energy to wish as it does to plan. That quote is by Eleanor Roosevelt. Miss Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure and diplomat. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office. Did you see that? Four terms in office, folks making her the longest serving first lady of the United States. So the financial wisdom quote of the week, it takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. You hear a lot of people say, I wish I'd done this. I wish I'd done that. Matter of fact, sometimes I send out messages to some of my clients. And I say, Man, aren't we glad we don't have to worry about five years from now or ten years from now wishing we'd taken care of this guaranteed lifetime income? And their Answer is yes, Randy. We're glad we took care of it. Hey, something that we do for our clients and our listeners today want to put this out there for our listeners. So get in touch with us. You know how to do it. The toll free number (866) 990-7664. Or go to the website YourAmericanRetirement.com get in touch with us to get your free copy of the 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023 which is packed with ideas for hanging on to more of your hard earned money. Now folks don't know about you.

Randy Sams:
This is free f r e, okay. Not going to cost you a dime, but reach out to us. We'll send you that 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023. And guys, it's got some great ideas for hanging on to more of your hard earned money. Hard earned money. That's what it's all about, folks. We don't want to give it away. We've worked too hard. Let's see what we can do to keep it. Hey, you got questions about Social Security? That's what we do also. How we help people navigate the most important decision regarding their retirement. Folks, I meet with people that. Are getting close to retirement. Some of them, when I say close, you're in that retirement red zone, which I look at the retirement red zone of being five years before you retire. Five years after you retire or five years into retirement. So that ten year window. But folks deal with a lot of folks that are that are younger. So let's say you want to retire at age 67. All right. So you're wanting to kind of put together a plan and at age 59.5, we can start talking about doing something with your qualified funds, your 401. K's, your IRAs without any penalties. All right. So that's when we're going to look at your plan and we're going to try to figure out what we can do. One of the things that we ask. We got to talk about Social Security. When is the best time for you to turn on Social Security? If you're married, when is the best time for you and your spouse to turn on Social Security? A lot of people think automatically it's right out of the gate at age 62.

Randy Sams:
All right. Unfortunately, if you turn on your Social Security at age 62, you're going to end up getting about 30% less than you would if you have waited until your full retirement age is, let's say, 67. Okay. But they'll say, but, Randy, I've got five years of that income coming in from Social Security. Yes, you do. But what happens is for that 30% more at age 67, after you hit about, it's around somewhere around 73, 74 or 75, depending on what your income levels might be. That's what I call the break even. That means that if it's if you're break even, age is 75. From that point on. You are losing 30% by turning on your Social Security at age 62. If you waited till 67. So, folks, look so you're you're you're likely asking yourself some of these questions. Can I count on Social Security to be there throughout my 30 plus year retirement? Good question. When should I take Social Security? Good question. Why would I wait to take Social Security? I'd just kind of gave you an example of why you should wait. Okay. What happens to our benefits when my husband, wife, spouse passes away? All right. That's what we're going to talk about. I want to give you some facts.

Randy Sams:
In 1950, there were more than 16 workers per Social Security retirement. What do you think that number is today, folks? Remember, in 1950, there were more than 16 workers per Social Security recipient. That is from the ssa.gov/history/ratios website. Today there are 2.8 workers per recipient and is headed in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, the national debt sits at 31.6 trillion, while the nation's unfunded unfunded liabilities are at 182 trillion folks, 182 trillion. Bottom line, you can't count on Social Security as your only source of income in retirement. You also need a plan for when one spouse passes away and one of the two benefit checks stop coming in each month. So let's look at seven ways to maximize Social Security benefits. You work 35 years or longer, Social Security will will look at your top earning 35 years to determine your benefit. You get a zero for any years you didn't work. You may permanently lower your payout. So that's 35 years, folks. Okay. You got to work 35 years or longer. So I talk to people that says, you know, well. I didn't start working until I was, you know, I raised a family. And then and then I started working. And I've only got 25 years worth of Social Security qualifications. Well, that means you're going to have 25 years of showing an income and you're going to have ten years with zeros. It all comes into play. Okay, so what happens if you work longer than 35 years? Well, the good news is.

Randy Sams:
That they're going to take your highest 35 years pay. Okay. Your 30 your highest, 35 years income. So if you work for 40 years and you retire, they're going to take the top 35 years of income number to stretch out your top earning years. Most people reach peak earnings level later in their career. Working an extra year or two at that level may increase your benefit for life. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Just like what I said, If you work longer, if you have more than 35 years qualification for Social Security, income, earned income, they're going to take your top 35. So the longer you work past 35 years, don't have to worry about those years when you were 16 years old making $1.10 an hour or $0.50 an hour, whatever it might be. And at that time, they're going to take your top 35 years as your income. And that's what your Social Security benefit is going to be based on. Wait until full retirement age to claim benefits. Claiming as soon as you can file age 62nd May permanently reduce your monthly benefit by 25 to 30%. Wait until full retirement age and get the full benefit. Just like I said, we're going to take a look at what you where you're at right now at age 62 or what is going to be at 62, what it will be at age 67. And then we can also look at what it will be at age 70 and give some consideration to maybe even waiting to age 70 to turn on Social Security.

Randy Sams:
But folks, something that does play into The Factor is what do you think your longevity is going to be? How long do you think you're going to live? How long have your family members live? So sometimes it may be in your advantage to turn it on at age 62, but that's something that we can't determine without sitting down and talking to you. So give me a call. (866) 990-7664. Let's set up a free consultation and let's talk about it. Hey, let's look. Number four ways to maximize Social Security benefits. Delay your benefits until age 70. Man, I'm running right into myself, aren't I? Holding off to maximize retirement or to maximum retirement age? Age 70th May increase your Social Security benefits by up to 132% plus cost of living adjustments. What that means, folks, is for every year past your full retirement age, you get a guaranteed increase of 8%. Guys, that's pretty good. No, that's really good. A guaranteed 8% growth. All right. So if your full retirement age is 66. And you want to wait till you're age 70. That's four years of guaranteed 8% growth. So 132% more payout at age 70 than what you would have gotten if you turned it on at age 66. Again, that's something that we like to talk about. Number five, exercise your right to change your mind. You can withdraw your initial Social Security claim within the first 12 months of receiving that benefit.

Randy Sams:
So this can potentially lock in a higher benefit when you claim later. Now, listen to that. You can withdraw your initial Social Security claim within the first 12 months of receiving benefits. All right. So if you turn on your Social Security benefit at age 62. And eight months into it you realize, Oops, I shouldn't have done that. You still have the opportunity to withdraw that claim and wait till a later age. All right. Number six, Don't overlook spousal Social Security benefits. A non-working spouse or a spouse with limited work history can potentially receive 50% of the primary worker's benefit. All right. So if you have one of the spouses, it doesn't matter. The husband, wife, whichever one, one of them is the higher wage earner and let's say their Social Security check at age 67, their Social Security benefit at their full retirement age is going to be $3,000. But the spouses maybe not, has had that much of a successful career. They made less money. They may have had fewer years that they were actually working. And let's say their Social Security check is only going to be $1,200 a month. All right. So they have the spousal benefit. Allows them to take 50%. So what's 50% of 3000? That's 1500. So they can take that 1500 versus their 1200. All right. Does that make sense? So that's spousal benefit can come into play, something that you got to.

Randy Sams:
Take under consideration. So number seven, if you are working couple, you have additional options. If both you and your spouse are eligible for benefits, you may be able to time your claims to get smaller benefits at full retirement age and the higher payouts at age 70 and beyond. Okay. If you both are working, you may be able to time your claims to get smaller benefits at full retirement age for A and higher payouts at age 70 and beyond. Folks, that's where planning comes into play. That's why you need to call us. That's why you need to go to the website YourAmericanRetirement.com . Leave us your contact information just put out there. Randy want to talk to you about Social Security. Should I turn it on early? Should I wait? We're going to set up a free consultation. No obligation whatsoever. We're going to sit down. We're going to talk about what it might be, what might be the best option for you and your spouse when it comes to Social Security. And also, one final thing, folks. You know, if you have two spouses, if you have a husband and wife and the husband passes away, the spouse does not get to keep both of them. They get to keep the higher of the two. All right. So, hey, that's a little bit of information about Social Security. Seven ways to increase your Social Security benefits. My name is Randy Sams. You're listening to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM, The Answer. We'll be right back.

Producer:
Have you considered ways to cut your health care costs? I'm Sam Davis with the Retirement.Radio Network Powered by AmeriLife. In retirement, you may think Medicare is free, but you would be wrong. Author Ryan Haugen recently told Yahoo Finance there are actually quite a few costs to consider.

Ryan Haugen:
So the first part of Medicare to think about is there are multiple parts, and so Part A is actually free, but part B has $148 premium per month. On top of that, consumers then have to think about, you know, are they going to get a Medicare Advantage plan, which really pulls all of the costs together, or are they going to add on a drug plan as well as adding on a supplemental plan to add themselves with more protection?

Producer:
Combine that with overall expenses which continue to increase due to inflation and retirees are really feeling the pinch. A recent poll by Clear Match Medicare showed that more than a third of seniors have cut down on costs in other areas of their life to afford their health care expenses. But before you go making any big decisions, take the time to do your research. You can use online tools to compare prices for prescription drugs, medical procedures and insurance premiums to get the best deal. Another good idea is to seek out the advice of a financial adviser or professional. They can help you decide what might be best for you and work your health care plan into your overall financial picture. Many are also licensed and certified Medicare agents, and if not, they often work with one who can help you learn more about your options. So have you shopped around for health care in retirement? That's a key question to consider, and it's one of our 23.

Producer:
Welcome back to Your American Retirement. Here's Randy Sams.

Randy Sams:
Hey, welcome back, folks. My name is Randy Sams. I want to welcome you back to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. We're Little Rock comes to talk. Folks, I hope you've enjoyed the show so far. Like I said, we really enjoy putting these these programs together for you. I really enjoy getting the the comments and the the suggestions as far as what some of you guys have been faithful listeners and some of you say, Hey, Randy, I want you to talk about this. I want you to talk about that, folks. Again, you can go to YourAmericanRetirement.com . Leave me your information. Just leave me a suggestion. What is it that keeps you up at night? What is your concern if you're in retirement? What are you looking at right now that keeps you up at night or you're getting close to retirement? What do you think you want to know about before you get into retirement? Is there going to be guaranteed lifetime income? Is it going to be long term care? It's going to be life insurance. It's going to be Social Security. It's going to be Medicare. Hey, we can go down the list, but we don't have enough time on this show. So, again, give us a call. (866) 990-7664. Or go to the website YourAmericanRetirement.com . Leave us your information. We'll be glad to reach out get in contact with you, have a conversation over the telephone. And if you think it's we've got some good suggestions and you're open to it we'd love to be able to come meet with you face to face.

Randy Sams:
Hey, they call me. I am the Marcus Welby of the retirement Planning. You remember that show, Marcus Welby what Marcus Welby do? Marcus Welby made house calls. That's what I do. Okay. I believe that it works a lot easier and it's a lot more comfortable for my clients if I come and see you at your house or your business, wherever you're most comfortable with. Because that way we're in your environment, you're there, your spouse. Is there any other family members that you want to invite? Are there. So I'm in your turf. You're not on my turf. All right. So I travel. You know, guys, I've I've said this several times. I work five states. I travel five states all over Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, sometimes Oklahoma and Missouri. If I get phone calls or people reaching out to me. Okay, So we're very busy, but we enjoy doing what we're doing because you know what we're all about. We're about retirement planning and setting people up for a safe and a secure retirement, not a risky retirement. And folks, one of the main things that we want to address when we sit down and we discuss with you a plan, we have to talk about risk. We're going to ask, have you eliminated the number one retirement risk from your retirement plan? You want to know what that risk is? The number one retirement risk. It is longevity, risk, longevity, folks, you know what that means? Longevity.

Randy Sams:
That means how long are you going to live? Some folks, you look at your family, you look at your family tree and a lot of your relatives past and present. They might not they may not have lived very long. All right. But because of modern medicine, because of today's miracles, because of people taking better care of themselves, starting to eat better, we're starting to live a lot longer. So one of the things you have to look at is longevity is a multiplier of all the other risk, whether it be withdrawal risk or market risk or health risk or whatever it might be, folks, inflation risk. You see, the longer you live, you're more than likely going to see a market crash. The longer you live, you're probably going to have some health issues. The longer you live, you're going to be concerned about whether or not you have enough money. The longer you live, you're going to look at this and say, Whew, I wish I'd have had a plan in place before I jumped into this retirement phase. All right. Remember those three phases? Go. Go slow. Go. No, go. You need to have a plan in place, and we're going to address longevity risk. See, folks, if you retire at age 65 and you pass away at age 68, you don't have to worry about a market crash or long term care or taking out too much money. You passed away early, but we have to work into your plan. Longevity.

Randy Sams:
You see, longevity can hurt your retirement. It's one of those things what you don't know can affect your retirement longevity. Most people don't know how long the average 60 year old can expect to live. Do you? Do you know how long the average 60 year old American will live? Listen to this. Only 37% of the people identified the average longevity. So men and women. In a recent survey conducted by researchers from George Washington University Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, they did a survey. On average, 60 year old men can expect to live an additional 22 years. Okay, So their survey says a 60 year old man, healthy man, can expect to live an additional 22 years, which puts them at, what, 82 women? 60 year old female, healthy, an additional 25 years. Okay. So most individuals either don't know. Or they underestimate their expected retirement age longevity. So they don't know how long they're going to live in their retirement. So only 10% of those that were surveyed over estimated their longevity. All right. So are 10% of the folks felt like they were going to live longer than what the average says here. So why it's important for clients to understand how long they're actually going to live. Folks. Like I said, if you live long enough, you're going to see a market crash. You're going to need long term care. You're going to have health issues. So many people look to their parents or relatives because those who died young. They tend to underestimate. All right.

Randy Sams:
They tend to overestimate or overweight early deaths. So if you have a mom or a dad or a grandparent that may have passed away young sometimes we put that in. We put too much weight onto that, thinking that we're going to do the same thing. All right? And sometimes that doesn't pay out. You see, if you don't think you're going to live a long time after you retire, why should you bother saving? Why should you why should we be worried about having an income that's going to last to your age, 100 or age, 110 or age 150? Okay. It doesn't make any difference, you see. Its motivation to save. That motivation to save is influenced by how long you think you're going to live in retirement. All right. So motivation to save. Early motivation to focus on retirement planning to make sure you have funds that are waiting for you to make sure you're not going to outlive your funds. The motivation to do that is going to be based on whether you feel like you're going to live a long time or not. Now, listen to this. 80% of those who understood. Their retirement longevity saved for retirement on a regular basis, compared to only 57% of those who didn't know how long they were going to live. They underestimated and they didn't save. All right. So, again, it's very important that you understand longevity. And we have a good idea and a good plan in place to make sure that you don't run out of money.

Randy Sams:
You've heard me say this before on previous shows. We want to set you up with a retirement plan to where your blood pressure hits zero before your retirement account. Does that make sense? In other words, we don't we want you to not be able to outlive your guaranteed lifetime income. And that's what we want to do. So we want you to set that up so people that underestimate. They, you know, they they they don't take their retirement savings seriously. So 40% of those who could accurately guess how long they were going to live were confident about having enough money. To live comfortably throughout retirement, compared to just 25% of those who didn't know. All right. So 40% of those who could accurately guess how long they were going to live. The words that 22 or 25 years, they were very confident about having enough money to live comfortably. Why? Because having a clear idea of longevity appears to be an important motivator. Of savings for your retirement. So if you look at people who get it right. Versus those who underestimate, underestimating is strongly associated with failure to plan. So for a country that has shifted responsibility to workers, if only 37% get it right, we have work to do to make sure people are ready for retirement, folks. Only about 15% of the employers in the nation today in the USA offer a pension plan to their current employees. The days of going to work for a company at age 20 or 25 and working to your age 65.

Randy Sams:
At that one company and retiring with the retirement party. They give you the gold watch and you get the pension for the rest of your life. Those days have been gone for quite a while. Many years back, they switched from a defined benefit to a defined contribution, meaning that the pension majority has gone away. And now the retirement. Burden is on the employees shoulder. Okay, So we've shifted that responsibility of retirement funding to the employee, to the worker versus the employer. All right. So. In an industry. We've been very successful at communicating about accumulation. We need to start thinking more deeply about how long the money's going to last. So, folks, that's what we want to be able to do. We want to be able to see where you're at, what's your target goal, what's your target? Retirement. And then we hit that accumulation and then we want to get in that retirement red zone, remember? And we want to take risk off the table. You have worked too hard to get where you're at today. Folks are out there right now trying to get where you're at today. Your objective and your focus right now, starting today, should be not to lose. And that's why we have to look at longevity. So listen to this. Do advisors that you work with understand longevity? If they don't, you need to call me. So many advisors use a break even technique to evaluate the benefits of strategies such as delaying Social Security or income annuities.

Randy Sams:
So, you know, it's it's crazy that advisors don't really they use a lot of programs. They use this thing called a monte Carlo, you know, it's the Monte Carlo that they use the scenario where they put your information in and they give you different scenarios and they come out and they tell you, well, using this, using this formula, using this Monte Carlo, we can guarantee you or you should be able you have a 90% chance of having these funds for the next 30 years. Okay, folks, I'm not looking for a 90% chance. I'm not looking for an 85% chance. I'm looking for a 100%. Okay. So if an advisor has more accurate understanding. Of how long their clients will live. It's their job to educate those clients. So if the advisor doesn't understand how important longevity is, folks, your plan is not going to be accurate enough. All right. So you see, they they love to educate folks on how to avoid selling stocks during a market decline or, you know, tax sheltering or anything like that. But they don't understand longevity. We have to have something in place to address longevity. And folks, the way we do that is through a guaranteed lifetime income annuity. Okay. So there's an incentive to increase knowledge because it provides a motivation to save for our clients. For those who are younger, you need if you're listening to this show, you need to be aware of the fact that you could live a long time. Maybe some people might even live longer in retirement than they did during their working years.

Randy Sams:
What I mean by that is your working years might have been 30 years. You might have 35, 40 years in retirement. You need to plan for that. All right. So listen to this. The probability of one of the two spouses going to outlive the other is pretty high, and there's a high chance that one will live to age 95. In fact. For a higher income clients, the probability that one spouse in a couple will live beyond age 95 is over 40%. Did you hear that? For higher income clients, the probability that one spouse in a couple will live beyond age 95 is over 40%. So one of the most important decisions people have to make, again, is when to claim Social Security. That's where longevity comes into play. Folks, remember what we just spoke about. We have to figure out how long are we going to live? How long are we going to live? So, folks. Whether you want to take Social Security young or whether you want to wait, how long you live. Longevity should be something you talk about. Hey, folks, we're going to come back in just a little bit. We're going to come back. We're going to finish this up. We're going to talk about women. We're going to talk about why women have a higher longevity literacy while they understand it a little bit better than us males. Again, you're listening to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer. We will be right back.

Producer:
This is Your American Retirement. To schedule a free no obligation consultation with Randy visit YourAmericanRetirement.com .

Producer:
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Producer:
Missed part of today's show. Your American Retirement is available wherever you get your podcasts and YourAmericanRetirement.com .

Randy Sams:
Hey, welcome back, folks. I want to welcome you back to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer Where Little Rock comes to talk. My name is Randy Sams. Folks, we've been talking about the importance of understanding longevity, why it's the number one risk, because the longer you live, you're going to see things take place. It could be a market crash. It could be a health issue. It could be worrying about spending too much money. So one of the things that we do at Your American Retirement Financial is we are going to address what we consider to be the number one retirement risk, which is longevity risk. We want to address it. We want to talk to you about it. We want to listen to your objectives. And we want to put together a plan to where you are not going to have to worry about running out of money. Okay. Especially for the women that are listening, folks listening to this. You know, a lot of women, they allow their husbands to take care of all of this stuff. All right. But sometimes the women feels like the woman feels like they're the spouse. The wife doesn't feel like they're getting a lot of attention, that their input doesn't matter. That's not the way it is at SMMG Finance or Your American Retirement. We want to listen to both of you because you're both just as important to us because guess what? Sometimes the husband passes away first and then the wife is left with making all the decisions.

Randy Sams:
And we want to make sure that you understand what those decisions are in the beginning and not at the end. We want to be able to keep you as a client, even if that happens. So listen to this. Remember, we're talking about. Longevity. So. Longevity. Illiteracy is particularly costly for a woman as it results. In lower savings rates or early Social Security, claiming. Fortunately, women appear to have better longevity literacy scores than men. 43% of women demonstrated an accurate understanding of longevity, compared to 32% of men. So women, you are more in tune. You are more in focus on the possibility of living longer. We've all heard it a lot of times whenever you have a married couple. The husband. The majority of the time the husband passes away first. But unfortunately, for the for the spouse, for the wife, if she hasn't been involved in some of the financial planning, putting together, helping, putting together retirement plan, helping putting together some of the objectives for herself and her husband before he passed away, then you could be lost. So we want to be able to sit down with both the husband and the wife and understand what the husband's objectives are and understands what the wife's objectives are. Okay. They could be the same, but they could be going in different directions. But I guarantee you guys listen to what I'm about to say and I've got a story to back this up.

Randy Sams:
Women are more concerned about that guarantee income. All right. They. Every time I've had a conversation with a with a spouse. With a wife. They are very adamant about not losing. They understand that themselves and their spouse have worked very hard to get where they're at today and they do not want to lose. So they are a big proponent. They are on my side when it comes to guaranteed lifetime income. All right. So unfortunately, while women better understand how long they are likely to live in retirement, they also tend to have a lower overall financial literacy scores. You know why this likely occurs when married couples choose to split the task? Married men often take the bulk of the financial decisions, and women are often responsible for more health care decisions, including caring for older relatives. So one of the reasons why we need to help women is that they are aware they are going to live longer, but they're often less capable of preparing financially for it only because ladies, not because you don't have the wisdom. It's just because you may not have been involved. That's why when we set up our free consultation, we're going to have both spouses, the husband and the wife, sitting in front of us because we're going to ask questions to the husband. We're going to ask questions to the spouse, and we want to sit back and listen to what each one of you have to say, because, like I said, they may be close to being the same.

Randy Sams:
They could be the same. But a lot of times we're going in different directions. All right. Because the husband still has a mindset of accumulating more assets where the wife is more concerned about. I want to make sure that we have the bills covered every month, which means I want guaranteed income. Now, folks, I've got a story that's going to kind of back that up. This is called alienation, complete alienation. Alienation is a noun. It's the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong in or in which one should be involved in. So folks, a lot of females, a lot of your spouses feel alienated in the financial planning or retirement planning sessions that we have. Why? Because sometimes the husbands don't don't let you get involved. We don't want to be that way. Like I said, we want both the spouses there. So I have a good friend, so I'll call her Bob. Barb. Excuse me. Not Bob. Barb. Barb hates her financial advisor and I use the word hate carefully. All right. It's not a word that I chose her words. So it's a direct quote. Professionally, the advisor has arguably performed well. The investments he manages for Phil, her husband and Barb have grown in value. Personally. Marcus sown his seeds of his own destruction.

Randy Sams:
So what Mark has done over the years since the bill or since Barb and Phil have been working with him, basically he's alienated Barb to an extent that is irreparable. Why? So Barb married Phil in 2011. Phil chose Mark to handle the investments for he and Barb. So Barb regards Mark as a chauvinist. He pays little attention to her, preferring to direct his gaze, his comments and his questions to Phil. When he does on rare rare occasions, address comments or questions to Barb. It's generally in a manner that Barb regards condescending. Lenny, you any of you ladies listening to the show feel that way? So although Barb came to this marriage, a second marriage for both she and Phil with more financial assets than Phil, it is a fact that has earned Barb no recognition from Mark. So even though Barb came to the relationship to the marriage with more money than Phil did. Mark still not recognize her, so he doesn't even get the fact that the majority of the money came from me is what Barb told me back in January of this year. So don't make a big deal of that. I just let Phil take the lead. He's into stocks. He's into he and Mark spend their time talking about this company or that company, this stock or that stock, how some investment has or hasn't performed. So it's interesting to me, to be honest, is what Barb said. What about his competency? I asked.

Randy Sams:
She said. For a long time the money grew and grew, and I think Phil began to consider Mark to be some kind of investment genius. I questioned that this is Barb speaking, because every time I'd hear on the news that stocks were going up, that seemed like all the time. I think to myself, is it Mark or is that everything going up or is it that everything is just going up? So when we started to have losses, I began to get nervous. Losing hundreds of thousands of dollars bothered me a lot. It bothered me a lot. How about you? So when I told Phil I was concerned, he said, Barb. Everything is going down right now. Mark thinks we should stand pat and the values will go back up. Does that sound familiar, folks? Oh, don't move your money. No, you need to just write it out. Well, folks, when you're young, you have time on your side. But as we get older and in retirement years. Time is not on our side. We don't have the time to write it back out. All right? But Mark thinks that we should stand pat and the values will go back up when he doesn't know. So Barb thinks that they should try to preserve what they've accumulated rather than leave the money in investments that may not go back up. Or when they do, you don't know how long it is. Okay. But her husband, Phil, prefers to listen to Mark, and Barb became very frustrated because she doesn't think Mark ever thinks about what she needs.

Randy Sams:
So Phil is 73. That's nine years older than Barb, and he has issues with his health. And that makes me think that I could be alone for many years. My mom lived to age 89. Our savings is what I live on. Savings is what she will live on. So her priority is to protect it, not risk it. You remember what I said earlier? The ladies that are listening to the show, you're concerned about that guarantee income, and that's what we want to work. So I could see there was major concern on Barb's face. So. Here's what I told Barb. I want you to remember two principles that are important for retirees to understand. First principle, no retirees stops needing income. The second principle in retirement, it's your income, not your savings that creates your standard of living. So I told Barb, if you remember these principles, you will have a better chance of preserving your retirement security because your investment decisions will always be tested against the context of creating and safeguarding your income. Barb said That makes sense when it does so, I suggested that Barb and Phil speak to Mark about allocating some of their savings to the purchase of it comes out a word to the purchase of an annuity that will provide barb guaranteed income for life. So explain that the combination of investments and secure lifetime income is probably the best strategy for most retirees.

Randy Sams:
So, folks, you've heard me say I'm not looking to take all your retirement funds, but let's take a portion of your retirement funds, put it into a guaranteed lifetime income annuity, get those basic expenses taken care of. So that takes that concern off the table where you know that money's coming in for the rest of your life and for the rest of your spouse's life. Okay. So I saw Barb, a social gathering not too long ago, and she quickly brought up the subject of matter of money. And here's what happens, folks. She talked to Mark. Marc dismissed it immediately, says you don't want an annuity, but she said she does. And Marc's response was, you really don't. They're expensive, but your way doesn't guarantee me that income will continue. So you see, folks. Barb was under the impression that Mark did not give her the time of day, did not understand what she really was focused on. So, folks, remember this. We whether you're male or whether you're female ladies, listen, we want to set you up with that guaranteed income. Give us a call. (866) 990-7664. Or go to the website YourAmericanRetirement.com . Leave us your information. We'll get in contact with you. We'll take longevity risk. We'll take this concern of running out of money off the table. Hey thanks for listening again. Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM The Answer We're Little Rock comes to talk.

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 are the property of their respective owners. A merry 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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