From football player to Certified Financial Planner to podcaster, Joe Allaria is passionate about educating his clients and his listeners.
He spoke to us about the 3 levels of financial retirement.
Level one: Survival – Can I pay my bills when I retire? Typically, people that have this fear have not worked with a financial planner and are simply guessing at their financial state.
Level two: Survival plus – I can pay my bills, maybe take a trip or two, contribute to a charity of my choice.
Level three: True retirement fulfillment – this is where you begin to think about all that is possible now that you are not working.
He answered a lot of our questions about how to approach retirement planning, reviewing you goals and desires.
Joe shared a resource with us called:
10 Questions to ask before hiring a financial advisor. You can find it here. Financial Guides | CarsonAllaria Wealth | Glen Carbon, IL
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You can email me with questions or comments at wendy@heyboomer.biz
–
Wendy Green is a Certified Life Coach, working with people going through the
sometimes uncomfortable life transition from full-time work to “what’s next.”
Find out more about Wendy’s 6-week “What’s Next Transition” Coaching workshop
–
You can find Joe’s podcast at retirementpowerhourpodcast.com
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Hey Boomer show.
Speaker:My name is Wendy Green and I am your host for Hey, Boomer.
Speaker:I had a very short night of sleep last night.
Speaker:I got a phone call about one in the morning from my stepdad telling me that my mom was
Speaker:going to the hospital in an ambulance.
Speaker:And so I drove over to get him.
Speaker:And we had a very harrowing drive going through very dense fog to get to the
Speaker:hospital. And I was very pleased with the thoroughness of the tests that they did at
Speaker:the hospital. They did everything.
Speaker:She presented with a lot of gastro issue issues.
Speaker:But what turns out is she has COVID and he probably had COVID the week before.
Speaker:He is doing fine.
Speaker:And she is now home resting comfortably.
Speaker:And I am keeping my fingers crossed that after spending all of that time with them in
Speaker:hospital, that I am not the next one in the family to come down with COVID.
Speaker:But I'm telling you this story because typically we think of COVID symptoms as the
Speaker:cough and the fever, which is what Dawn had her husband.
Speaker:She did not really have that.
Speaker:She hasn't had a fever.
Speaker:She had some cold symptoms, but hers was mostly stomach issues.
Speaker:She couldn't keep anything down, hadn't eaten in a day or so.
Speaker:We were worried about dehydration.
Speaker:But if you have any of those symptoms fever, cough, stomach distress, whatever, go ahead
Speaker:and do the COVID test.
Speaker:I'm sure everybody probably has the COVID home test now and just do it so that you are
Speaker:sure that you do not have COVID and you do not go out and expose anybody else to the
Speaker:virus because there's a new strain.
Speaker:The hospital was telling us, and they are seeing the numbers go up.
Speaker:So that's your public service announcement for today with, Hey, Boomer, I'm on a mission
Speaker:to support and inspire adults in this next act of life, to find new beginnings, to
Speaker:confront endings in transitions, and to find meaning and purpose in their lives.
Speaker:And from many of the people that I talked to about what's next in their life, they are all
Speaker:looking for a way to make a difference, to feel like their life is meaningful and they
Speaker:have a way to give back.
Speaker:They have a way to participate in in their community and their families and their lives.
Speaker:And my guest today, Joe Alegria, is the co founder of Carlson Hilaria Wealth Management,
Speaker:which is an independent registered investment advisory firm located in Illinois,
Speaker:where he lives with his wife, Jackie, and their two sons, Brooks and Bennett.
Speaker:And Joe is also the host of the Retirement Power Hour podcast, where he helps the 50
Speaker:plus crowd invest more wisely and retire better.
Speaker:On his podcast, he discusses topics like investment, retirement planning, behavioral
Speaker:finance, taxes, Social Security, Medicare and more.
Speaker:And in fact, I was a guest on Joe's show a few weeks ago.
Speaker:So we talked about the more the lifestyle.
Speaker:Joe also has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNBC, Yahoo
Speaker:Finance and NASDAQ dot com.
Speaker:So I'm sure we're going to learn a lot from him and have a really good discussion.
Speaker:Before I bring him on, I want to thank Rhodes Scholar for their support of Hey,
Speaker:Boomer road scholar is the not for profit leader in educational travel for boomers and
Speaker:beyond. They have trips to all 50 states and over 100 countries.
Speaker:And you can get to their site and preview some of their trips by going to Rhodes
Speaker:scholar or a scholar dot org slash.
Speaker:Hey, Boomer.
Speaker:I also want to remind you that I am hosting a trip to Costa Rica with Rhodes Scholar June
Speaker:2nd through 10th, which is going to be an amazing adventure.
Speaker:I'm so excited about it.
Speaker:We do still have a few slots left for adventurous travelers.
Speaker:I would love to have you join us.
Speaker:So if you're interested in finding out more about the Rhodes Scholar trip that I'm
Speaker:hosting to Costa Rica, just drop me an email.
Speaker:Wendy at Hey Boomer Bizz and I will send you some more information.
Speaker:So come and join us.
Speaker:And with that, announcements are over.
Speaker:Let me bring Joe on and start talking about this.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Hi, Wendy.
Speaker:Glad to have you on the show today.
Speaker:Well, thank you. Yes, thanks for having me.
Speaker:It's a pleasure and an honor.
Speaker:And I love listening to your show, so it's awesome to be on it for once.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And Anna Lee dropped me an email if you want the information rather than posting it here
Speaker:in the chat. So as I was saying to you, Jo, before we came on live, I saw that you played
Speaker:college football and majored in marketing and now you're a certified financial planner.
Speaker:So I'm curious what made you move into that direction?
Speaker:Yeah, good question.
Speaker:It was probably could have could have been luck or happenstance, but when I graduated
Speaker:college, it was at a time where the job market wasn't near what it is today.
Speaker:It was very difficult to find employment and I was having a hard time finding a job in my
Speaker:area. And so I was literally going through my phone book and just calling people
Speaker:contacts that I knew and whatever business and just saying, do you have anything?
Speaker:And so I ended up calling someone who was a former coach of mine and owned his own
Speaker:financial services company.
Speaker:So that's how it all got started.
Speaker:I thought I was going to go there and maybe do some marketing for them, but it turned out
Speaker:that I studied to get licensed as an advisor and really liked it and enjoyed it and and
Speaker:just continued with that.
Speaker:And that was I was gosh, I had to remember what year it was over 11 years ago.
Speaker:So I've been doing that ever since I got out of college.
Speaker:And then you went on to get this sort of financial certified financial planner
Speaker:designation, which is really a tough designation to get.
Speaker:Yes. And that was a few years into my career.
Speaker:And I and I thought to myself, if I'm going to do this, I want to do it right.
Speaker:And I want to get not only just get the credential, but I want to be knowledgeable.
Speaker:I want to be able to do a good job at what I'm doing.
Speaker:I want to know what the top financial planners are thinking about and talking
Speaker:about. And at the time when I got the CFP, it was popular, but not nearly as popular as
Speaker:it is today. And today it's it's a good thing.
Speaker:It's almost a minimum requirement for a lot of people out there that are looking to hire
Speaker:an advisor. That's people are much more aware.
Speaker:And I think it's a good thing for our industry because it's a way to separate the
Speaker:people that are serious about financial planning from the people that are just out
Speaker:there trying to maybe sell a product, a financial product, an insurance product or
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:Right, Right.
Speaker:Well, congratulations on achieving that.
Speaker:Well, thank you.
Speaker:So. I was thinking about all the people that I talked to about the what's next program
Speaker:that I do. And many times people will say to me, Oh, I have no problem with that.
Speaker:I am so busy in retirement, you know, like, I don't need the what's next program.
Speaker:And then, of course, there are other people that never took the time to look at what
Speaker:they're going to do when they retire and they're the perfect client.
Speaker:So I'm wondering with you, like there's a lot of people in certainly that in my age
Speaker:group that I know that have managed their own money, like with Fidelity or something,
Speaker:you know, and now they're retired and they're not saving.
Speaker:So what would you say to them when they say to you, Well, I don't need a financial
Speaker:planner now, I'm not even earning any money?
Speaker:You know, this may surprise you, but the people that say that, I would say, okay, you
Speaker:know, not not everyone does need a financial advisor.
Speaker:And I'm certainly not going to try and convince you if that's what you believe.
Speaker:A lot of our clients, though, they don't think that they they want help and they know
Speaker:that because they had an entire career doing something completely different, not in
Speaker:investing, not in the financial world.
Speaker:They don't have the expertise to put themselves in the best position during
Speaker:retirement. So that's really gratifying for me and for our team is to work with people
Speaker:that want to be helped and know they need help, and we're able to deliver that that
Speaker:help for them.
Speaker:Now, I could I could try to convince those out there that say, I don't need an advisor.
Speaker:But it's generally not worth it.
Speaker:But there's also a difference in what we do, Wendy, and what people think advisers do.
Speaker:And when I say we, I'm talking about our firm.
Speaker:Yeah. A lot of.
Speaker:People think advisers just pick mutual funds or stocks and it ends there.
Speaker:And I guess some advisers still do that.
Speaker:But what we do is wealth management and financial planning.
Speaker:So all those things in your intro, when you're talking about the topics that I speak
Speaker:about on my podcast, The Retirement Power Hour, it is not an investment only podcast
Speaker:because we're not an investment only company.
Speaker:So I help people look at maybe how to pay less taxes, how to make sure their assets go
Speaker:where they want when they pass away.
Speaker:That's estate planning.
Speaker:We project out how much they can spend and it's really goal driven.
Speaker:So our whole idea and goal is to be able to help you do the things that you want to do.
Speaker:It's not always about let's just find the investment out there that's going to get me
Speaker:the max rate of return.
Speaker:I mean, that that would be great if we could do that.
Speaker:And if you had a crystal ball.
Speaker:Exactly. And we're going to be the first ones to tell you that we don't, but we're going to
Speaker:use fundamental fundamentals in investing and create a customized plan so that if you
Speaker:mentioned travel again in the intro, if someone wanted to travel and it's going to
Speaker:cost a little bit of money, then instead of an advisor just saying, Oh, you should be
Speaker:fine and do that, you know, that's very gray and we want to be able to deliver outcomes
Speaker:and and solutions to folks where they can feel very confident.
Speaker:So when people ask, Can I take a $30,000 trip, I don't just say you should be fine and
Speaker:really base that on nothing more than my opinion.
Speaker:But we actually pull up their retirement plan.
Speaker:Their cash flow projections will enter that what if scenario and we'll see what it does.
Speaker:And a lot of times, yes, you can do it, but here is the outcome.
Speaker:Yeah, it is going to make you have less money down the road.
Speaker:Now, you can't run out, but having a little bit less down the road may not be that big of
Speaker:a deal.
Speaker:Yeah, depending on where you are.
Speaker:If you can do what matters to you now, hardly anyone's ever come in.
Speaker:I don't know if anyone ever has come in and said, I want to have as much as I possibly
Speaker:can when I'm 100 years old.
Speaker:You know, that's generally that's not the goal.
Speaker:So. Right.
Speaker:Yeah. And I know from our conversations that you get a lot of fulfillment helping people
Speaker:reach their goals and find ways to to find their own fulfillment with the money that
Speaker:they've worked hard to raise.
Speaker:So I imagine that was part of your motivation for starting the Retirement Power
Speaker:Hour podcast?
Speaker:Absolutely. You know, that's all about education, and it started out of the COVID 19
Speaker:pandemic of 2020.
Speaker:In fact, it was something that, you know, a lot was happening every week, I mean, even
Speaker:day by day, and not only the world, but the market.
Speaker:And so that started as a way for us to send information quickly to clients as I started
Speaker:hosting these webinars.
Speaker:And I would make them live just like this one, people could come on, ask questions, I'd
Speaker:explain what was going on in the market, and then over time the market started to
Speaker:stabilize a bit, much more than than what it was doing at the time.
Speaker:So the focus of the market went away a little bit and but I wanted to continue doing
Speaker:that sort of communication.
Speaker:So we went from once a week to once a month, and then I just did educational webinars on
Speaker:all these different topics tax planning, retirement investments, behavioral finance,
Speaker:insurance, Medicare, Social Security, just to educate.
Speaker:And we kept that going.
Speaker:And just in 2022, we started it as a podcast.
Speaker:So we've been doing the retirement power hour for a few years, but it became an
Speaker:officially became a podcast in 2022.
Speaker:But I've done that, you know, for years in the form of written articles as well.
Speaker:So we've got over right at this point.
Speaker:I think it's it's got to be close to 90 blog posts on our website from that have
Speaker:accumulated from the past five, six, seven years on all those various topics.
Speaker:And those are, you know, I've written those just just to educate.
Speaker:They're really great for our clients, but they're also good for people out in the in
Speaker:the general public as well.
Speaker:And one of my posts just recently, we we found out it got over 10,000 views in a
Speaker:single month.
Speaker:Yeah, that's.
Speaker:Great. That really blew me away.
Speaker:And people are calling from all over the country asking questions on Social Security.
Speaker:So that's it all goes back to education.
Speaker:And the last thing I'll say, I don't want to keep talking, but.
Speaker:Occasional part of it.
Speaker:People at every single turn are given bad and wrong information by media entities and
Speaker:the TV. The radio people are they're faced with it all the time.
Speaker:And it's if I'm a if I'm a media publisher.
Speaker:My incentive or my goal is to get as many clicks as me downloads.
Speaker:And the way to do that is to drive and increase fear.
Speaker:That's what increases engagement.
Speaker:So unfortunately.
Speaker:Yeah, we on our show are sort of the anti media in a sense that we don't do the fear
Speaker:mongering. We bring it back to education.
Speaker:We're not going to tell you what you want to hear.
Speaker:We'll tell you the truth.
Speaker:And tell you pros and cons, a lot of people will say, oh, all all stocks in this category
Speaker:are bad or all for one case are bad or it's never all or nothing.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Place for everything. So we believe in education because we're fighting a we're
Speaker:fighting a tough battle against a lot of fear entities out there that are pushing
Speaker:fear. And we think people need to be smart about this and plan.
Speaker:But we're the first to tell you, don't worry, put a plan together, but don't worry.
Speaker:It won't add a single day to your life just by worrying about it.
Speaker:But if we can help, so let's let's stop talking about fear and let's talk about
Speaker:fulfillment. Right.
Speaker:So you take your clients through a process of questions, right?
Speaker:To help them figure out what are their goals towards fulfillment, as I understand.
Speaker:Is that right?
Speaker:Yeah. And it's different for everybody.
Speaker:And so it's really a it's something that most people can't even answer the first time.
Speaker:We can't quite get to what means the most to them.
Speaker:And the reason is there is this giant hurdle that is staring them in the face in the form
Speaker:of just survival and retirement.
Speaker:And I, I often talk about a pyramid of retirement success.
Speaker:It's three levels. And that first level is survival.
Speaker:And that's just Wendy, hey, I'm going to retire.
Speaker:I just need to be able to pay my bills and and survive.
Speaker:Can I can I do that?
Speaker:And a lot of people, because they don't have a financial plan, I don't mean to be like a
Speaker:broken record, but because they don't have a retirement plan, they can't answer that
Speaker:question. And some people will even retire.
Speaker:Not having answered that question, and they'll just hope I'm just going to retire
Speaker:and I should have enough.
Speaker:I'm going to take what I get from Social Security and and this and that and make it
Speaker:work. Well, they hardly ever can look beyond that first hurdle because they don't they've
Speaker:never drafted or had anyone draft a plan for them.
Speaker:But that's that's so common.
Speaker:That is not uncommon. If that's you out there.
Speaker:That is not uncommon at all.
Speaker:So once you get past the first level, most people get to that second level that that I
Speaker:call survival plus.
Speaker:And that just means, yes, I found I could survive in you know what?
Speaker:I could do a few things I like to do as well.
Speaker:I could take maybe a couple of trips, do some gifting maybe to charities and small
Speaker:amounts or whatever.
Speaker:But I'm able to mostly maintain my lifestyle and do a few of the things I was that I
Speaker:couldn't do when I was working.
Speaker:I could. I'm doing a few of those things now.
Speaker:But few people get to the third level of that retirement pyramid of success, which is
Speaker:that true Retirement fulfillment.
Speaker:So in order for us to help someone get there one day, that was a long way of saying we
Speaker:have to help convince them that they can get past level one, that they can survive, that
Speaker:they can get past level two.
Speaker:They can do some of those things that maybe they weren't able to do before.
Speaker:And now their mind can open up to just think about what is possible at that third level.
Speaker:And those are fun conversations.
Speaker:They're very introspective, so they're not financial at all.
Speaker:And that's why it's it's a little fun for me to help provoke those thoughts for for
Speaker:clients.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's things like, do you want to leave your money to the kids?
Speaker:What charities do you want to leave money to?
Speaker:How do you want to?
Speaker:It is money while you're awake.
Speaker:While you're alive?
Speaker:Yeah. We give examples like that.
Speaker:So yes, some people it is, some people like to spend it and and that in their minds, if
Speaker:they can travel, if they can experience as much, that is fulfillment for them.
Speaker:Others like to leave as much to their children or grandchildren or maybe fund a
Speaker:grandchild's education.
Speaker:And so we'll help continue to give examples.
Speaker:Others are very charitably inclined, so they want to make a difference toward a certain
Speaker:cause. And then they can contribute their money there.
Speaker:But again, a lot of times people will do it and maybe they'll give small amounts and
Speaker:makes you feel good, but maybe it doesn't make you feel like, again, fulfilled, like
Speaker:I'm really making a difference.
Speaker:And so the best part is if we can help you think outside of the box on.
Speaker:How to use your money, and then also how to use your your time time.
Speaker:Right. That's where I come in.
Speaker:Exactly. But again, you've probably seen this, too.
Speaker:But a lot of people, if I'm not certain about my financial future and it's like I
Speaker:don't want to bring any change into my life, I just want to keep everything the status quo
Speaker:because and it is a little bit of, I think, fear driven.
Speaker:I don't want to change anything because I don't want to mess anything up.
Speaker:Everything's going good now the way it is.
Speaker:And I'm afraid if I change something again, I could throw something off.
Speaker:So we talk about how to use your money, but we also talk to clients about how to use
Speaker:their time.
Speaker:Yeah. So?
Speaker:So a question just came in and I was thinking the same thing.
Speaker:Susan So if you've reached this point in your life and you have not had a plan.
Speaker:So you feel that fear that I'm at level one, I'm survival.
Speaker:You know, survival is where I'm at.
Speaker:Is it too late to put together a plan?
Speaker:No, no, I wouldn't.
Speaker:I mean, there's different different parts of that question.
Speaker:You financially I'll be again, I'll be honest and tell people if you haven't saved
Speaker:and you're not in a good financial position and you're 70 years old, that's a lot
Speaker:different conversation than if you started talking to an advisor at 40.
Speaker:Now, many people, though, do come to me and to us, Wendy, and they think they're not in
Speaker:good shape. And they think that because they don't have maybe they don't have $1,000,000
Speaker:in their portfolio.
Speaker:But we find that maybe with Social Security and pension income and maybe some rental
Speaker:income or other streams of income and an expected inheritance and and low expenses,
Speaker:that they're actually in really, really good shape.
Speaker:And I've and that's really gratifying to is to to help relieve that fear.
Speaker:It's never too late to get a plan.
Speaker:That's I always equate things to the doctor if you haven't been to the doctor and in ten
Speaker:years and I'm not good about this either, so I need to go to that.
Speaker:But if you haven't been to the doctor in a long time, is it too late to go?
Speaker:No, absolutely not.
Speaker:Hopefully the doctor can say, hey, you're you're doing fine.
Speaker:Here are some things to address.
Speaker:We'll, you know, here are some goals or.
Speaker:Some medicine or hopefully something like a nutrition plan in a rare instance, may they
Speaker:say. Hey, we found out that you have you've got stage three cancer.
Speaker:They could they could say that.
Speaker:And we we we may say that to someone who's really doesn't have a plan and hasn't hasn't
Speaker:ever had one and hasn't ever talked to anyone about anything and has no money saved
Speaker:up, sometimes we would say that, but there's always a way to make things work.
Speaker:And so I never want people to feel discouraged if they don't have a plan.
Speaker:Your expenses, you control those.
Speaker:So you can you can control those.
Speaker:We may not control our the total size of the portfolio fully and how it grows and things
Speaker:like that. But you control your expenses and if you're healthy, you can control your
Speaker:income because you can keep working or you can work part time, which has a part time or
Speaker:that semi-retirement.
Speaker:I don't want anyone to look down upon that because that is a it provides extremely
Speaker:positive financial outcomes.
Speaker:And there's actually studies that have been shown that it provides great psychological
Speaker:emotional benefits.
Speaker:You know, you live longer, you stay healthy.
Speaker:So I encourage people to continue working, even if they don't necessarily need that part
Speaker:time income.
Speaker:Right. Because it also adds to your feeling of relevance, your feeling of still
Speaker:mattering, what matters, what you do, and that you're out there and you're meeting
Speaker:people. So I totally agree that there are a lot of benefits to part time work.
Speaker:And, you know, I think you make some good points.
Speaker:Like we look at our 401 K or our IRA or whatever, and we say, Oh my gosh, I don't
Speaker:have $1,000,000 in there.
Speaker:I don't even have close to $1,000,000 in there.
Speaker:But there are other sources of income, right?
Speaker:There is Social Security and inheritance and part time pension.
Speaker:Maybe. Maybe you did work somewhere for a while.
Speaker:And again, maybe you're healthy enough to continue to work.
Speaker:When Social Security was started, the average life expectancy was certainly not
Speaker:what it is today.
Speaker:And so it's the the Social Security that we all refer to it as Social Security, but it's
Speaker:the old age retirement income fund.
Speaker:So that's what it's officially called.
Speaker:It's I got it pretty close, but oh, wow.
Speaker:Age supplemental retirement income.
Speaker:So. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker:People a lot of people don't know that.
Speaker:And no, it wasn't ever designed to help people retire and live another 25 years.
Speaker:But but that's kind of what's been happening because we're living longer, which is a good
Speaker:thing. But if you can work a little bit longer, you let that Social Security benefit
Speaker:delay to age 70.
Speaker:You're going to get a lot of what are called delayed credits.
Speaker:In doing that, you can work part time till 70 or beyond.
Speaker:Again, I think working in staying engaged and staying involved is a great thing again
Speaker:financially, but also psychologically, emotionally and you know that as well as
Speaker:anyone helping people plan out their lifestyle and retirement.
Speaker:But here I am, a financial person saying, you know, don't only work for the better
Speaker:financial benefits, but it keeps your mind sharp.
Speaker:It keeps you having a reason to get up.
Speaker:Maybe not every day. Maybe it's just a couple of days a week.
Speaker:But it it keeps someone relying on you.
Speaker:And that's a big driver of I think our fulfillment is someone's counting on me to
Speaker:show up and do something.
Speaker:And so I got to do it because they're depending on me.
Speaker:Right? No, I think you make a good point.
Speaker:So if you keep working, say, you know, you like what you're doing, you're still working
Speaker:75 beyond and we have to start doing those required distributions.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you don't need that to live on at that point because you're still working, can you
Speaker:reinvest that?
Speaker:Can you save it still?
Speaker:You can, yeah.
Speaker:So you can reinvest.
Speaker:Let's say you, you have a portfolio of stocks and bonds and you're still working or
Speaker:you just don't need the money. A lot of clients that we have.
Speaker:For those reasons I mentioned they have pensions, Social Security.
Speaker:Maybe they're working.
Speaker:They don't need the required minimum distributions that are.
Speaker:That they're forced to take out.
Speaker:So you have to take them out of your traditional IRA.
Speaker:You have to take them out of that account, but you don't have to take them out of the
Speaker:market per se. You can take the money out of that and move it over to a non IRA account,
Speaker:which we just call a brokerage account.
Speaker:Or it could be a joint brokerage account with a spouse.
Speaker:You could put the money there.
Speaker:Now you will have to pay taxes on what you pull out of the IRA.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But you can reinvest the net proceeds back into.
Speaker:The stocks and bonds that you held before.
Speaker:And a note on that that this might be brand new information to your listeners on this,
Speaker:Wendy, but there was a law passed about a week or two ago.
Speaker:Secure is the Secure act.
Speaker:We call it secure 2.0.
Speaker:And the RMD age has actually changed to from 72 to 73.
Speaker:So for anyone that was planning to take RMDs in 2023.
Speaker:So you are going to turn 72 in 2023.
Speaker:You actually don't have to take any RMDs this year, so you won't have to take them
Speaker:until next year.
Speaker:So a fun fact, but nobody will start taking RMDs for the first time in 2023.
Speaker:If you were 70, if you were 72 then last year, if you were 72 last year, you already
Speaker:took yours last year, so you'll have to keep taking yours.
Speaker:But if you're turning 72 this year.
Speaker:You start taking RMD this year.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:So they keep pushing that that age back which it's some some view it as a good thing and
Speaker:then others view it as a bad thing from a tax standpoint because now you're going to
Speaker:have larger withdrawals when the time does come, which makes that proactive tax planning
Speaker:that we talk about very important in the years leading up to that.
Speaker:So to your question earlier, your listeners question, if they're 65 years old, you still
Speaker:have now you've got eight years until you hit that RMD phase.
Speaker:So there's different phases that there's always planning that can be done.
Speaker:Yeah. So with the volatility that we've seen in the stock market lately, you know, like I
Speaker:saw I was watching my stocks go up and my IRA go up and I was like, This is great.
Speaker:And now it's not has.
Speaker:Do you find that people are getting nervous?
Speaker:Have they come in and done a lot of talking to you about now?
Speaker:I need to readjust my plan.
Speaker:I think I think it's natural that people feel uncomfortable.
Speaker:Even the most educated investors who know that this sort of thing is expected.
Speaker:It's not comfortable.
Speaker:So investors, I think, are feeling discomfort.
Speaker:But I will say our clients deserve a lot of credit because I don't know at this point,
Speaker:even the entire year last year, if I ever received one phone call from a panicked
Speaker:client after a big down day in the market, I didn't have to talk anyone off any ledges,
Speaker:you know, any hypothetical or figurative ledges here.
Speaker:But I.
Speaker:That's because I think part of it is they've committed to our process and that is first
Speaker:having a plan.
Speaker:So we've shown them this is what can happen if the market does come down and here's how
Speaker:it affects you.
Speaker:Well, if I don't know that and then I see the market coming down, I'm going to panic.
Speaker:It's just natural. But if I know that I can I can sustain these downturns.
Speaker:And I know that my plan is still looking strong and I'm still on track, I'm not going
Speaker:to panic as much.
Speaker:The other thing is we're very proactive in our communication.
Speaker:So we were sending out videos, recorded videos, making phone calls.
Speaker:So I think that helps as well.
Speaker:But clients surely and investors surely are uncomfortable.
Speaker:And I just when people ask me, I tell them, trust me, I want the market to come back as
Speaker:much as anyone does.
Speaker:But but I also understand this is just a part of it.
Speaker:It's like it's like the weather.
Speaker:You're not going to have sunny days.
Speaker:365 every day of the year.
Speaker:It's just not going to happen. And when it rains for three days straight here in the
Speaker:Midwest where I am, we don't start running around in an absolute sheer panic, wondering
Speaker:if the sun's ever going to come back out.
Speaker:We know it's going to come back out.
Speaker:Sometimes you've just got to give it time.
Speaker:And here in the dead of winter, it's the same thing.
Speaker:As we record this, it's pretty cold outside.
Speaker:I don't know how it feels where you are.
Speaker:Windy, but it's it's chilly.
Speaker:And I'm looking forward to the warm weather.
Speaker:But I know it's going to come.
Speaker:I've just got to be patient.
Speaker:It comes every single year.
Speaker:And just like that in the market, it has rebounded every single time that we've had a
Speaker:challenge, that the market has had a challenge and the economy or whatever's going
Speaker:on.
Speaker:Yeah, it's just harder for people that are already retired to see it go down.
Speaker:And how long do they have before it has to come back up?
Speaker:So tell me this, Joe, If if somebody doesn't have a planner now and they wanted to start
Speaker:to find a planner, what what should they look for when they start interviewing people
Speaker:to potentially be their planner?
Speaker:Well, credentials are one.
Speaker:And we talked about those experience.
Speaker:I have a guide and we actually put a guide together.
Speaker:Ten questions You Can Ask.
Speaker:Before hiring a financial advisor.
Speaker:So that may be a great resource that we can share.
Speaker:You can share with your listeners.
Speaker:That's on your website.
Speaker:And your show notes.
Speaker:No, I have a link. I can send it to you.
Speaker:Actually, take that back.
Speaker:I think I believe it is on the website.
Speaker:You can request it there as well.
Speaker:But I look at overall philosophy.
Speaker:You know what? What is your service offering?
Speaker:And like I said earlier, for us, we believe it's not just about investments.
Speaker:So. Someone who I would look for, someone who's not product driven, someone who is
Speaker:solution driven and can help you tie the different parts of your financial life
Speaker:together. Some call it holistic financial planning, some call it wealth management.
Speaker:But that's what I would look for if I wanted.
Speaker:Had to recommend a family member or anyone to anything about trying to find an advisor
Speaker:that is number one, you know, and understand how they get paid, understand the cost that
Speaker:they charge, which in our industry is we have to disclose that any time we bring on a
Speaker:client. So it should be straightforward.
Speaker:I mean, if you're working with a fiduciary, those are very black and white.
Speaker:Here's what we charge.
Speaker:So you just understand it and make sure that it aligns.
Speaker:And that's what you want, right?
Speaker:You don't want somebody that's making a profit off of you in a sense.
Speaker:You off of what they sell.
Speaker:Right? Right. Stocks.
Speaker:You want a fiduciary who just is paid by a percentage.
Speaker:Well, I think I think the industry is moving strongly toward that, getting paid for advice
Speaker:and a little bit away from getting commissions for selling.
Speaker:Commissions.
Speaker:Certain mutual funds and financial products.
Speaker:You know, and and you see that and we saw it in yesteryears with mutual funds and maybe
Speaker:even stock sales and life insurance and annuities.
Speaker:Some of these still have commissions.
Speaker:And, you know, again, like I said earlier, I'm going to tell the truth.
Speaker:I can't say that all of these things are bad.
Speaker:You just got to understand what it means for you.
Speaker:And so if I call a client and say, I really think we're going to we need to switch out of
Speaker:this fund and get this other fund that client never has to wonder, is that because
Speaker:Joe really thinks it's best or is it because Joe is trying to hit some sales number before
Speaker:the end of the month?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:They'll never have to wonder that because they all we don't get paid any.
Speaker:No mutual fund company pays us any commissions on any investment.
Speaker:Right. Recommendations like that.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think that's important to make sure that you don't hook up with somebody
Speaker:that does that.
Speaker:Yeah, you just need to you need to understand how it works.
Speaker:You understand how they get paid you to understand what they do.
Speaker:And that's what that ten Questions guide, which yes, our website, my company's website
Speaker:is Carson AllAfrica.com.
Speaker:So that's where you can go and get that on their guides.
Speaker:But you just need to understand their investment investment philosophy, service
Speaker:offering and someone who's going to build a plan for you.
Speaker:I talk about plan a lot.
Speaker:Plan, plan, plan, plan.
Speaker:If you ask what?
Speaker:How often am I going to meet you?
Speaker:What are those meetings look like?
Speaker:What do we do in those meetings?
Speaker:If you're going into a meeting with your advisor and it lasts 20 minutes and you just
Speaker:and they show you your statement and then you leave, Yeah, I guess probably not a lot
Speaker:of planning going on there.
Speaker:Probably talking about what happened in the market the last quarter and getting you out
Speaker:of the office so the next person can come in, if that's all you're looking for, great.
Speaker:But if you want holistic advice, then that's not the best fit and that's where the
Speaker:transition into retirement.
Speaker:There's a lot of stuff to think about.
Speaker:And so that's why I think we've created a niche in this area, because we understand,
Speaker:even though I'm not retired, I've had a case study of working with hundreds of retirees.
Speaker:I know that the challenges that that you're going to face.
Speaker:So we're more apt to be able to foresee those to help you, help guide you through
Speaker:them, give you a good advice and help you with other things, even non financial as
Speaker:well. Yeah, that transition can be tough.
Speaker:It can be tough. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. So this has been really informative.
Speaker:I have really appreciated you sharing all this information with us and it's very
Speaker:obvious that education of your clients and of this audience is, is a priority for you.
Speaker:I just shared your website Carson Hilaria dot com Here's the podcast website retirement
Speaker:power our podcast dot.
Speaker:Com.
Speaker:Where you could hear more about what Joe thinks about retirement and Social Security
Speaker:and Medicare and behavioral investing and all of that good stuff.
Speaker:So you can check that out at retirement power our.
Speaker:Podcast dot com.
Speaker:Let's see, I am offering what I'm calling the vitality assessment, which you can find
Speaker:on the home page of Hey Boomer Biz and all you have to do is click and down.
Speaker:You'll get a download link for that.
Speaker:So that kind of gives you an index of where you are.
Speaker:Is your glass half full or half empty as you're looking at retirement and your
Speaker:lifestyle and what you need to do to get that vitality up.
Speaker:So I would encourage everybody to go try and grab that and to also support our sponsor,
Speaker:Rhodes Scholar dot org slash Hey Boomer.
Speaker:And join me in Costa Rica.
Speaker:So my guest next week is Dr.
Speaker:Joe Kashani, and he also has a podcast.
Speaker:Joe has a podcast called The Living to 100 Club.
Speaker:He has a 40 year career as a psychologist and manager of mental health practices
Speaker:specializing in the care of older adults.
Speaker:He believes that living longer is the new normal and that it is not always easy.
Speaker:So his mission is to help us reconnect with our resilience and age with positivity.
Speaker:And I always like to leave you with the belief that we can all live with passion.
Speaker:Live with courage and live with relevance.
Speaker:And remember that you are never too old to set another goal or dream A new dream.
Speaker:Joe, thank you again for being a guest on the Hey Boomer show.
Speaker:Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate you having me.