2.3.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

2.3.23: 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:
Hey, good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome you to today's program. My name is Randy Sams. I am your host. I am the president CEO of SMMG Financial. Again, I want to welcome you to Your American Retirement. You're listening to 101.1 FM in Little Rock. where Little Rock The Answer where Little Rock comes to talk. So, folks, again, thank you for joining in. We had a lot of good comments, a lot of good input, a lot of good feedback on last week's show we talked about we gave you what I call the secret sauce or the secret formula for a successful, happy and secure retirement. where going to kind of finish up on that. where going to finish up on talking about annuities. Why annuities? I feel like it should be included and should be a very vital, important part of your retirement plan. Some people may, may, may agree, some people may not agree, but that's okay. That's what it's all about. where not all supposed to be on the on the same page. Ari. I'll just tell you that the reason I believe so heavily in annuities is that I'm a big believer and a big proponent of guarantees. You know, would you rather have a sure thing or a what if so if you go down to the racetrack and you bet on the horses, wouldn't it be nice to have a sure thing Besides, you don't know which horse you're going to bet on, or if you go down to the casino, If you do go to the casino, do you know which one to bet? Do you bet all of it on black or do you bet it all on red? If you're playing roulette? I don't play those games.

Randy Sams:
I work too hard for my money. But folks, again, my name is Randy Sams. I am your host. You're listening to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer. We want to thank you for joining us today. Hopefully you've made it through the week. We got hit with some pretty icy weather. I had photos from my kids down in Dallas, my son, daughter in law and grandbabies in Dallas. And they were playing in the snow this week. So when you're listening to this show, it's February the third. We are currently getting a little ice today that I'm doing the recording, and I think it's supposed to be pretty cold. And it's supposed to Ice is supposed to stick around maybe a day or two. So I hope you got to the grocery store, got all your bread and milk, and by the time you listen to this, hopefully the roads are clear and where and we can move around. But folks, again, I want to thank you for listening to my show on the on the Airways 101.1 FM where Little Rock comes to talk, folks.

Randy Sams:
Also, give me a thumbs up. Go to the podcast YourAmericanRetirement.com where you listen to podcast, you know YouTube, Spotify, whatever might be your favorite source, whatever your favorite listening vehicle is. Look us up YourAmericanRetirement.com. Give us a thumbs up. Tell your friends and family about it. We enjoy all the good comments. Also visit our website YourAmericanRetirement.com. Leave us your information contact information. I'd love to just talk to you folks again. Like I said last week had a lot of good comments. A lot of folks reached out and told me how well they enjoyed the show. You can also contact me via my toll free number 866 990 7664. That's 866 990 7664 or direct 5012492343. Leave us your leave us a message. Tell us how much you enjoy the show. Give us some ideas as to what you might want us to talk about in some of the upcoming shows. We appreciate all the input that our listeners are giving to us, all the good comments and we we take critiques very, very well. So give me the good, give me the bad, give me the ugly. That's okay. We want to make this show something that you enjoy because I'll tell you what, I enjoy doing it and hopefully you enjoy listening. So folks, one of the things that I come across, you know, I've been doing this for 38 years, so this is not my first rodeo, as they as they say.

Randy Sams:
You know, I travel five states. I go all over Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas. I'll go sometimes in Oklahoma and Missouri if folks are getting contact with me. But mainly I focus on those five areas. So I do a lot of traveling. I do. I am in a lot of demand and I'm not trying to pat myself on the back. You know, folks, I spend a lot of time with my clients and people say, Well, Randy, what do you do at SMMG? You know, I want to focus on helping you to understand what it is exactly you're going to be getting into when you get into retirement or if you're in retirement right now. What exactly is it that where looking at in the future, or are there some changes that I might need to make in my program today? So that's what we do. where going to sit down and where going to look at and where going to remove two things. From your retirement plan. Number one is stress. Stress. You're worried about spending too much money or running out of money. People, anxiety. People have health issues because of stress. You're concerned about your retirement account hitting zero before your blood pressure does. We want to take that stress away from you. So financial stress is something that we want to focus on.

Randy Sams:
We want to look at what you have, what accounts you have, what accounts we can use, and then we want to see how we can set you up with some type of a guaranteed income stream. So when you have a guaranteed income stream, folks, guess what that does? That removes a lot of stress. You don't have to worry about the stock market going down by 20 30%. All right. How am I going to pay my bills? I've got a guaranteed paycheck coming in every month. All right, then. Number two, we want to remove rocking chairs. Why rocking chair, Randy? Well, because rocking chairs, folks. What you do when you're sitting in a rocking chair, all you're doing is moving back and forth. You're not active unless you consider moving back and forth, being your activity for the day, your exercise for the day. We want you to get out and enjoy your retirement. We want you to act like every day is Saturday in retirement. All right. But unfortunately, there's a lot of folks out there that they feel like they're going to run out of money so they don't go out and do anything. All right. So we want to take that concern off the table. We want you to remember. That you worked hard to get to where you're at today. All right. So your objective when you get to that retirement red zone, as I call it, the five years before retirement, five years when you're in retirement, when you hit that retirement red zone, your objective should be to not lose.

Randy Sams:
All right. Let's take that risk of losing your retirement funds off the table. And that's something that we do at SMMG. All right. So look. Ask yourself this question How important is it to have enough money coming in to pay the bills? If you ran out of money, what would you do? What's your plan B? Do you have a plan B? A lot of folks don't have a plan B. All right. So that's what we want to do. Folks, where going to sit down with you. where going to put together a plan tailored to meet your objectives, not my objectives. It's not a cookie cutter plan. It's based on what you need, what you want, what you see as your objective between you and your spouse, you and your family. And we can only do that if we meet. So give me a call. 866 990 76645012492343. Or go to the website YourAmericanRetirement.com. Leave me your contact information. I'll be glad to reach out to you. Set up a free no obligation consultation to go over some of those questions and see what we can do for you folks. Look. I want to start off today with a little financial wisdom, the quote of the week.

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

Randy Sams:
Someone sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. That's by Mr. Warren Buffett. Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. That makes sense. Think about it from a financial aspect. So you have a lot of folks that are enjoying life today because of something that someone, their father or mother or grandparents may have done or great grandparents may have done might be an investment. I talk to folks all the time who who have significant inheritance from parents that have passed away or grandparents that have passed away. But they were very, very frugal. They were very smart in their investments, and they have left them. In other words, they've put them in the shade today based on what they did a long time ago. So, you know, Warren Buffett, the Warren Edward Buffett, he is age 92. He's an American business owner. He's an investor, philanthropist. He's one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of over get this, 110 billion. That's billion with a B as of January 2023, making him the world's fourth wealthiest person.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Randy Sams:
So, folks, look quickly. I want to run over some things with you. You know, we got the Super Bowl party coming up. Super Bowl's coming up here, I believe. What is it going to be on the 10th, 11th, February the 11th, I believe, somewhere in that range. So inflation demonstration for Super Bowl party items. What will cost less this year? Avocados. They're down chicken wings, they're down hamburgers, they're down sirloin steak. Get this, folks. Dropped a dollar a pound since last December. What's going to cost more this year for your Super Bowl party? Beer. It's up about 11%. Soda pop is up, chips are up. So, folks, hopefully you've made some wise investments for your Super Bowl party. You've made some great plans. You've got your invitations sent out. And hey, speaking about invitations, I want you to make sure you come right back because where about to leave and listen to a very important message. Again, my name is Randy Sams. You're listening to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM.

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

Producer:
Get in touch. 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 2492343. Or visit YourAmericanRetirement.com visit YourAmericanRetirement.com to schedule a free consultation with Randy today and now back to the show.

Randy Sams:
Hey welcome back, everybody. I want to welcome you to Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer my name is Randy Sams. Thank you for joining us today. Folks. I hope you survived. Made it through the cold weather, the ice, the snow that we had over the last couple of days. Hopefully, it's all melted away by the time you hear this show. But stay warm. And thank you for joining us, folks. where going to kind of finish up. If you remember last week, we spoke about the what I consider to be the secret formula to a successful to a secure to a happy retirement. And that includes smart risk. It includes smart, safe and which equals safe money. So, folks, I'm a big believer in safe money. Now, what does that mean? You know, we worked too hard to get to where where at today. When you're young and in your you know you're working, you got your 401k, you got your IRA, whatever account you may be utilizing for retirement funds, you know, you're you have that goal. Is it going to be 500,000 is going to be a million, whatever that goal might be. That's what you're that's what you want to hit. That's your objective. For your retirement plan. So what what we want to look at is. For safe money. I say we've worked too hard. And again, once you get to where you're within that retirement red zone. You need to switch the way you think and look at how can I protect what I have today? All right.

Randy Sams:
So all we have to do now, when we hit that retirement red zone five years before five years in, is we want to make sure that we don't lose. And the one way to do that is by safe money. Safe money. It's boring. Some people call it boring. Could be savings account. We'll go over some of that again. But I want to I want to kind of finish that up because I've got a lot of questions. From last week's show, and it kind of made me laugh. Probably some of the same people that contacted me last week or probably listening to today's show because I had a lot of good conversations with some of the listeners. But they had one gentleman in particular. He basically said, you know, Randy, I was listening to your show and man, you made a lot of sense. But, you know, everybody that I've spoken to in the past, man, they have a lot of bad things to say about annuities. And I had to laugh. I mean, it makes me laugh because like I told you folks, if you have your money with an investment advisor or a money manager. They're not doing that for free. They're charging you a fee. It could be a half percent, could be 1%, could be 2%. I don't know. But you do. If you're utilizing one of those look and find out how much am I paying as a fee.

Randy Sams:
And here's what gets me is if your account goes up. Nobody has any issues with that fee, do you? I mean, if it goes up significantly, if it just goes up barely, maybe you're still going in the hole paying that fee. But remember, if it goes down, are they still charging you that fee? Yeah, the Answer to that is yes. So, see, here's one. I laugh when people say, well, my investment advisor, they don't like annuities. Well, they do. They like you, You mean well because you are an annuity to that investment advisor. Because I look at an annuity is a guaranteed stream of income or revenue. So guess what? As long as you leave your money with that investment advisor or money manager. They are guaranteed to have a fee, a stream of income off of your money, Right. So that makes you an annuity to them. So if they ever tell you they don't like annuities, I guess they don't like you. That's my personal opinion. I love annuities because I'm a big believer in guaranteed income because, folks, I've never met someone who's getting close to retirement or someone who is in retirement right now that doesn't need income. You do not retire on assets. You retire on income. All right. Remember that. Write that down. You retire on income, not assets. Assets can be lost. If I get you set up with a guaranteed stream of income. You have the peace of mind knowing that that check is coming in for as long as you live and we can set it up for you and we can set it up for your wife.

Randy Sams:
So if you have any other questions or you want to talk further, visit me at the website Your American Retirement dot com. Leave me your information. I'll get in contact with you or give me a call. 866 990 7664 or 5012492343 is direct. So folks, let's finish up. Let's look at annuities. All right. So, you know, I've spoken about retirement income. Retirement income. So, you know, finding the retirement you love starts with the right retirement income plan, a good retirement income plan. So, you know, retirement is changing. For so many people, it's less about winding down their activities and taking long vacations and more about. Reinventing themselves for what's likely to be the extended next act. So, folks, remember what I said. You've got three phases of your retirement, the go go year low go years and the no go years. All right. Go, go yours. You're going like it's every day. Saturday. The slow go. Years you're still going to go, but just not as much as you did during the go go years. And the no go years is when you might be sitting in that rocking chair on the front porch, which is because you've chosen to be in that rocking chair. All right. So so where living longer, where healthier. And finding plenty to do. Even when where no longer working. In other words, where's the paycheck going to come from when you have no longer have a paycheck? All right.

Randy Sams:
So you're no longer working 9 to 5. So we need to figure out how where going to get a paycheck. So freedom depends on many things, especially having the money we'll need. Unlike previous generations, most of us don't have protected lifetime income through a pension to supplement our Social Security benefits, and that increases the chances of running out of money in retirement. You hear that only about 10% of employers or companies today in the United States offer a pension, and the majority of those are union companies. So retirement used to be on the employer shoulders that you would be there 30 years. You retire, they give you that gold watch and you would retire with a pension, a defined benefit. Now they've all switched to a defined contribution or a401k or a403b, where now it's on your shoulders to build your own pension. All right. So what's your retirement going to be like? So that's why it increases the chances of running out of money when it's own, when the risk is on your shoulders. But thankfully, there are solutions, and that's why I look at annuities. So folks, listen to this. Americans are concerned about outliving their money. 60% of people that were polled. All right. They did a survey. The Alliance for Lifetime Income did a survey and the results and it's crazy. So 60% of those surveyed did not expect their income to last their lifetime.

Randy Sams:
80% of non retired Americans are at least somewhat anxious that their savings may not provide enough to live on in retirement. All right. So that's crazy. So again, this this survey was done by the landmark Protected Lifetime Income index study. It's a research program sponsored by the Alliance for Lifetime Income. And they survey. People that are in retirement or close to retirement. And again, so 60% of those polled do not expect their income to last their lifetime. 31% of Americans have a source of protected lifetime income, such as a pension. In addition to Social Security, only 31% of Americans have that source of protected lifetime income. Such as a pension. In addition to Social Security, 65% of those who do have protected income expect their money to last their lifetime. In other words, 65% of those who have established a guaranteed lifetime. Stream of income outside of Social Security or pension. Expect their money to last through their lifetime. 80% of Americans do not have a specific financial plan they follow to save for retirement. So folks again, that's what we do at smh. Omg, give me a buzz. I'd love to sit down and talk to you. Just find out what you're, what your objectives are and let's put together a plan. I want you to be in that 65% that feel very comfortable. I want you to be in that 80% that feel comfortable knowing that, Hey, I've got a guaranteed lifetime income outside of my pension, outside of my Social Security.

Randy Sams:
Because guys, whether you realize it or not, Social Security and pensions are a form of a lifetime, a guaranteed lifetime annuity. So where's your lifetime? Where's your retirement income going to come from? What are your income sources? So look. It can come from a variety of of sources, such as Social Security, savings, investments, pensions, different things of this nature. But so, look, Social Security, as you know, what age you're going to turn on Social Security. So let's look at the sources for your income again, Social Security. The strengths of Social Security. They're mostly inflation proofed. So those of you who are on Social Security, hopefully you're seeing your 8.7% increase, COLA increase for 2023. So it's an inflation adjusted each year and you can start taking benefits as young as age 62. But the longer you wait, the higher your monthly benefit will be up to age 80. Excuse me, 70. So age 70 is the max age that you can wait to start taking your Social Security. It doesn't pay to wait past age 70. All right. Pensions, you know what a pension is. Again, pensions provide a monthly protected retirement income guaranteed. Now, there are some pensions out there that I speak to with folks that they don't give you a lot of options. The pinch is just basically based on the person that worked. As long as they live, that pension is going to be paid. If they pass away, that pension goes away.

Randy Sams:
All right. There are a lot of pensions out there, though, that give you that option for survivorship. So you can start your pension at a lower dollar amount per month. But if you pass away, then a certain percentage up to 100% of that pension payment every month can be left to your spouse. All right. Husband or wife. So the strength of a pension, they can provide a steady income each month. And public pensions are usually or on an inflation adjustment so used for Social Security they can get you closer to meeting the income you need. All right. Annuities. That's what where about to run on into annuities here. So annuities, again, is something that you purchased from an insurance company. You can do this before retirement. During retirement, the income payments begin when you elect to start taking them. All right. So the strength of an annuity, they can provide protected income for life and can help cover. Essential monthly expenses. And folks, that's what our focus is on with my clients is let's figure out your monthly expenses and let's get those taken off the table and let's set up an annuity. You take care of those basic needs. All right. And that's what where going to do. So, folks, listen. Annuities, pensions, Social Security, savings account. Hopefully you're not going to retire on your savings account. Again, folks, you're listening to Randy Sams, your host at Your American Retirement on 101 point FM. The Answer will be right back.

Producer:
You're listening to Your American Retirement.

Producer:
You may already know what you want your retirement to look like, but do you know how to start planning to get there? I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement.Radio Network. Powered by AmeriLife.

Producer:
Where am I? I don't.

Producer:
That's a question you must ask yourself before you start plotting out your retirement planning journey. After all, if you don't know where you are, it's pretty much impossible to get to your destination. Step one is keeping track of money that's coming in and what's going out. Otherwise known as a personal budget, It's an important thing to have. But a Gallup poll from 2016 found only 32% of couples keep a written budget of any kind.

PBS:
A lot of people tend to think of budgeting as prediction, estimating what you'll make in future months and how you'll want to spend it. But the most effective budgets work exclusively with present dollars. After all, you can't give orders to soldiers that don't exist, so the size of your army is only how much money you currently have in your bank accounts. And as general, your role is to give every last one of those soldiers a job to do.

Producer:
That from PBS's $0.02. Now, once you have a basic idea of what you're dealing with, reach out to a financial advisor, a professional who can go more in depth.

Ford Stokes:
We want you to do a financial checkbook checkup. It's just like getting a.Checkup at the at the doctor's.

Producer:
Ford Stokes is founder and president of Active Wealth Management. He says getting a smart inspection of your finances is essential.

Ford Stokes:
You want to.Root for you your accounts, you want to look at your IRAs, your four one is anywhere you hold assets, including cash, you want to check your balances, you want to review rates of return over the last 12 months, three years and five years. You want to Answer this question, Do you have an income gap or do you have an income surplus?

Producer:
Understanding where you are now will help you plan for the retirement you want, leaving your future in your hands instead of the hands of the market or the IRS? So are you ready to reach out to a financial advisor for a smart inspection of your current situation? That's a key question to consider before you start your retirement journey with a Retirement.Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure. Visit Your American Retirement dot com to schedule a free consultation today. And now back to the show.

Randy Sams:
Hey, welcome back, everybody. Again, my name is Randy Sams. Hey, if I'm excited, guys, I'm just excited to have you here. I hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as I enjoy and have enjoyed and continue to enjoy putting this program together. Because, folks, again, I'm a big believer in education. I want to make sure if we meet that you understand exactly what it is your objectives are and exactly what it is that where putting on the table. Folks, where going to finish up. I spoke briefly just about the income annuities, folks. Listen, I like the income annuity because guess what, with many annuities, especially the income annuity, you'll always have a stream of income. Even if you live to be 120, you can never outlive that income If your account value in that annuity goes to zero, that income is guaranteed for as long as you live. Second question to ask your financial advisor. Hey, if I'm taking an income out of your the money that you are managing for me and for whatever reason, because of market fluctuation or market volatility sequence of returns, if my account value with you goes to zero, am I still going to be able to take a guaranteed income from that account? That Answer is going to be no, folks. But with an annuity, you are guaranteed a lifetime stream of income, even if you live to be 120. The thing about it is, is that see, with an annuity, if you live long, the annuity company slash the insurance company continues to pay.

Randy Sams:
So that's why I'm saying guess what, folks transfer that risk from you and transfer that risk over to the annuity company. That's what an annuity is to me. It is a vehicle that allows me to transfer the risk. Folks, with annuity, we can do college planning. Did you know that if you're hoping for financial aid or looking for ways to reduce the expected family contribution on a FAFSA form, which is your financial form, you have to fill out to get financial aid for college. Moving funds from a taxable non qualified account into an annuity can have a positive impact on the amount available for financial aid. Number seven lock in and Reset. There are two significant features that are available in many annuity contracts. Number one is locking in allows the account holder to lock in contract values at different times that I have annuity carriers that will allow us if we see let's say we started in well this is about will when you're listening to this it's February so let's say we started an annuity in January of 2022. In June of 2022, we saw that that annuity had increased. The value of that index had increased by 8%. The company will allow you to lock in that 8%. You're taking a risk because what happens if that index at the end of the year actually went up 10%? Well, you've locked in at eight. But the good thing is that that index goes backwards and it drops down to 6% by the end of the year.

Randy Sams:
You've locked yourself in at 8%. So you have a lock in feature. All right. We also have what's known as a reset. So a lot of your index annuity index index annuities allow for an annual reset, which means that if you start out at 100,000 and at the end of the year, your index has grown by 5%, which means you're in you're at 100% participation rate, then you're going to get 5000 contributed added to your account value, which now makes your new value at 105,000. And you can never go below that 105,000. So what's called a reset. So every year that you have a gain, you have a growth in that annuity, that value is locked in. It's reset at that new value limit and you can't or that value amount and you can't lose that. All right. Cost of hedging. So why what does it mean as far as hedging? So when considering a traditional stock and bond portfolio, how can you hedge your long positions? The average investor typically reduces their equity exposures and increases their fixed income allocations. So folks, listen to this. Adding a guaranteed income annuity to your portfolio, your financial portfolio will accomplish two objectives. Number one, it will increase your overall performance. Number two, it will reduce the overall risk. So adding a guarantee income annuity is like adding a triple A rated bond with a triple C rated return slash yield to your portfolio. So it's going to accomplish two things by adding that guaranteed lifetime income annuity, it's going to increase your overall performance.

Randy Sams:
And. It's going to reduce your overall risk. So it's going to allow you stay strong, stay long, stay long, stay strong. Many retirees are not as confident in the market as they once were, especially as you get older. You don't have a lot of time to watch the market go down. And how long is it going to take to come back up? All right. So when you're no longer receiving a paycheck, where are you going to receive a paycheck? You're no longer working. So here's what happens with the indexed annuities. They allow the client, the owner, to enjoy the upside of the market growth and still have the guaranteed downside protection to reduce your risk. All right. So as the index is going up, as that elevator is going up, you get to enjoy the growth of that index. But guess what? If that index starts to go down, boom, that elevator stops and you stay at that level. Remember that reset. So you're never going to start going down. So a good thing if that index goes to zero or -0 is your hero, you're never going to lose the value. All right? You're never going to lose any money with the annuity. Zero is your hero. Number ten added peace of mind. Wouldn't it be nice to know the outcome of your investments ten or 12 years from now? Unfortunately, people that don't know it leads to stress and stress can lead to health problems. Retirees being confident they won't have to go back to work is essential.

Randy Sams:
All right. Annuities might not be for everyone, folks, and I'll be the first one to tell you if it's not going to be a good product for you. So some feel they're too complex. That's why you need to call me. Let me sit down and explain to you how they actually work and how they can work for you. But for others, the features and benefits mentioned that we just went over are more compelling than traditional investing. So the annuity concept is intended to represent the safe portion for your retirement nest egg. Remember, folks, safe money, That's what the annuity is all about. So, folks, that kind of wraps up our smart risk. Smart, safe equals smart money, but where going to talk about smart health real quick. You've got to do Medicare. You've got to look at Medicare and you've got to do smart care, which is long term care, folks. So something that we want to look at for a healthy or a healthier retirement. Listen to this. How to lengthen your life and live a healthier retirement. The healthier you are, the healthier you are, the less reliant you are. You will be on your health insurance. Keeping your mind and body sharp will also help with other issues that arise later in life. Exercise Regular Folks. Physical activity is important for maintaining both physical and mental health. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. That doesn't mean sitting in a rocking chair, moving back and forth for 30 minutes.

Randy Sams:
Eat a healthy diet. Eating a well balanced diet is essential to maintaining good health fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, avoid processed foods, sugary drinks and alcohol, maintain a healthy weight and avoid obesity. Obesity can lead to many other serious health issues. Stay socially active, folks. Keep your mind active, have some friends, have some activities. Socializing with friends and family can help keep your mentally sharp and emotionally fulfilled. Join a club, volunteer in the community, or participate in activities that you enjoy. Hey, I guarantee you, if you go to your church and you ask them if there's anything that you can do for them, I guarantee you they're going to have something for you to do. They're going to want you to teach a class, whatever it might be. So stay socially active, stimulate your brain. Keeping your mind active and engaged can help prevent cognitive decline. Read the books, solve puzzles, pick up a new skill or hobby. All right. For me, folks, I love to educate myself when it comes to financial. I have several designations and what those designations mean to me, it's twofold. Number one, it keeps my brain active, all right? It keeps me young because I have to study. And these aren't easy courses that I these are like college courses. So for me to have a designation added to behind my name, that means that I put a little extra effort into it as far as educating myself on how I can become better at my field, my career, which is insurance, financial, retirement planning, please get enough sleep.

Randy Sams:
Sleep is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Aim for 7 to 8 hours per night. Manage stress. Remember the first of the show we talked about stress and rocking chairs. Stress can take a toll on your physical and mental health practice. Stress management techniques such as deep breathing or meditation. Stay up to date on your medical checkups and screenings. Regular checkups and screenings can help protect and detect health problems before they arise. Mental health retirement can be a big transition, so it's important to take care of your mental health, Seek help if you feel overwhelmed or experienced depression or anxiety. So, folks, those are. Some little tips to lengthen your life and live a healthier retirement. Now we want to kind of finish this up, Smartcare. where going to talk about long term care, folks. Did you know that 69% of Americans will require some sort of long term care assistance or assisted living during their retirement years? If you don't have a plan in place, the burden of care may fall on family members or friends so your loved ones will become unofficial caregivers. And these unofficial caregivers are not paid for their services and are also referred to as informal caregivers. This distinguishes them from paid caregivers such as home health aides or nursing home staff. Did you know that today, 13 million Americans rely on long term care services, including around 7 million retirees with disabilities, as well as individuals that have disabilities and chronic health issues? All right. So, folks, one of the things that I can do for you with a long term care annuity is I have an annuity as an example that will take care of your long term care needs.

Randy Sams:
Basically, what where looking at is versus instead of taking the long term care expenses out of your estate, what you've worked hard for. Let me set up a long term care annuity for you as an example. I have an annuity that will pay up to three times the amount that you put into it. So if you have 100,000 and you qualify for it health wise, few health questions, they will guarantee you up to 300,000 worth of coverage. So why not take the 300,000 from the insurance company, the annuity company on that long term care annuity versus taking two 300,000 out of your estate away from your family? All right. So remember what I told you about the annuity. What is it that I look at it as? It is a risk transfer vehicle. So let's take the risk of long term care away from your family members, away from your estate. And let's transfer that transfer that over to the insurance company. So, folks, again, thank you for joining me today. Hopefully, you've got a lot of good notes. You've taken a lot of good notes. You understand what we focus on at SMMG Financial. My name is Randy Sams. I am your host, Your American Retirement on 101.1 FM. The Answer Where Little Rock Comes to talk. Thank you for joining us. Talk to you next week.

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 AmeriLife 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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