Should I Be Concerned About Inflation, Taxes, And Other Aspects About The Future?

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:00:01]

MALE: You found it. It’s your safer place for retirement planning. Prepare to be coddled in pure fiduciary goodness with your host and president of Decker Retirement Planning, Mike Decker, and his co-host, Scott Drake. This is Safer Retirement Radio, if you’re in or near retirement, listen up and learn about a math-based, principle-based approach to retirement that is designed to help you enjoy a safer retirement. These strategies are to help protect and grow what you’ve saved and live the life you want today. So grab a pen because your safer path to retirement planning starts now. Here’s Mike and Scott.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:00:41]

MIKE: Retirement Radio listeners, Safer Retirement Radio listeners, I should say, can you believe what we’ve been experiencing in the markets right now? It has been absolute mayhem, or at least it seems that way. Now, we’ve been saying for a while that the bull market at some point should lose steam. It can’t keep runnin’ this way, and it seems like we’re startin’ to see that. I mean, gosh. I’m recording this week’s show on Thursday, and we send it out Friday, and over the weekend for you all to listen to, so it’s pretty up to date, but this last Wednesday, for example, 800 points down in the DOW.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:01:14]

MIKE: I mean, markets are getting hammered right now, and what’s interesting is those who are sticking to what they’re used to and the bull market they’ve had for these accumulation years, may start to change and say, you know, “Am I doing this right? Do I need to make adjustments? What’s going on?” And that’s fair. I’ll give it that. I just wanna point out, and this isn’t an I told you so situation. This is a, hey, things change, and being math-based, principle-based helps adjust for that change.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:01:48]

MIKE: In October 6th of 2018, Forbes quoted us by talking about gold and silver as when the world economy slows down and when the markets, if they do turn over and they do crash like they typically do every seven or eight years, that gold and silver could be good options. When you’re done driving today, go home and Google gold and silver and their stock prices. And you could do a 12-month trailing, you could do year to date.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:02:15]

MIKE: It’s been remarkable to see how, as markets start to roll over, as we either enter into a recession, as the media says, or potentially a crash that could be looming, we still need some sort of black swan event to tip the scales, but gold and silver seem to be doing wonderfully. How did we know about this? Well, no one knows the future. Let’s not pretend and say we have a crystal ball. We don’t. But we’re math-based, principle-based, and we can see, or at least we believe we can see, where the trends are happening. If you want this kind of information, we recently opened up our Safer Market Commentary to the public.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:02:54]

MIKE: We used to only send this out to our clients, what we’re talking about, and Forbes wanted a commentary, so we [let them an?] insight on what we were talkin’ about in October of last year, but if you wanna know about this, we now make it available to anyone that wants a safer market commentary. You can go to deckerretirementplanning.com and get this information, as well as a number of other information. Our newsletter, scroll all the way to the bottom on the left side of the page, you’ll see where you can sign up. It’s free to you, and we put a lot of work into the content there, because whether you work with us or not, at the very least you can have the information to hopefully make the right decisions for you.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:03:34]

MIKE: Now, there’s a lot goin’ on here, and Scott’s gonna join us here in just a moment, but I wanna talk about, not in a political sense, but in an economic sense, a big topic right now, and that’s the $15 minimum wage, alongside a potential market crash that’s happening. Now, folks, if you’re 50 years old, or even 60 years old, you should still realize that you’re young, okay? And here’s what I mean. If you’re 50 years old, you probably have another 30 years to live. Think back. When you were 20 years old, to 50 years old, how much were you able to accomplish? That’s a lot of time.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:04:13]

MIKE: That’s a lot of experiences and a lot that was able to be accomplished. And what is miraculous is that you can work for 30 years, and then retire for 30 plus years. You can spend the golden years of your life, 50, 60 years old, whenever you decide to retire, and spend 20, 30 years doing whatever it is you want to be doing. That’s a remarkable situation. What we need to be cognizant of is political risk and economic risk. For example, the markets tend to crash every, and I’ll get to the $15 an hour bit in just a moment. I need to set the stage here.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:04:49]

MIKE: If markets crash every seven or eight years, which they typically do, 2008, then 2001, and then you go to the early ’90’s. I believe it was ’93, ’94. ’94 that markets crashed. ’87, Black Monday. The pattern continues for years, decades. And 2015, we may consider that as the flash crash of 2015. May not. Depends on who you talk to. I personally believe that it would have been bad had our government and the fed not manipulated the economics of our market to sail through it, but you can’t just put a Band-Aid on it.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:05:28]

MIKE: You’ve got to clean out the festering wounds. And that’s, I think, it feels like that’s what we are experiencing right now. If you are gonna be retired for 30 years, you’re gonna have to experience three to four significant market crashes. Is your plan able to handle that? Now, lets’ put on top of that the political risk. Inflation and buying power is a huge conversation that we need to be talking about when it comes to retirement.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:05:58]

MIKE: If we raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, I don’t think you need to be an economist to realize how the price of goods or the CPI could skyrocket. Buying a candy bar, buying food, your groceries, going on a trip, doing the things that you wanna do, if we raise that minimum wage, and I’m not saying it’s good or bad. I’m just simply stating we raise the minimum wage, it tends to affect other aspects of our economy.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:06:32]

MIKE: If you are retired, and the markets are turning over, as they seem to be doing right now, and inflation goes up and the cost of living goes up, could you still keep your lifestyle? What’s interesting is I think most people who use the asset allocation, the pie chart guesser, in their retirement are basing their cost of living adjustment off of market performances. But if inflation goes up and markets go down, how do you still do what you wanna do? Folks, it doesn’t make sense.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:07:05]

MIKE: And another aspect here is if you’re drawing income from fluctuating accounts, which breaks the first principle of proper retirement planning, these folks who are choosing to do this are setting themselves up for a very difficult next five or six years, unless something miraculous happens, something that may never have happened before. I don’t intend to manipulate or coerce anyone into making a decision or changing their plan for our benefit here. Whether you work with someone or not, these conversations should be had with your financial professional.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:07:41]

MIKE: And if you are not having it with your financial professional, I would invite you to come in and talk with a purebred fiduciary at Decker Retirement Planning who can continue your research on this topic so you can make the best decisions for you. Regardless if you work with us or not, if you are 55 years or older and you have at least three hundred thousand of assets saved up for retirement, this conversation is huge.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:08:07]

MIKE: It’s incredibly important. I would say call us, you can go to our website, deckerretirementplanning.com, get the Decker review, or you can pick somethin’ specifically out, but you just click on the get started portion of our website. It’s right there when you log in. Deckerretirementplanning.com. Or you can call us right now, 833-707-3030. When you call in, they’ll gather your information, so you don’t have to worry about the Internet and all that, they’ll gather your information, and we’ll personally reach out to you on Monday and schedule a time for you to visit, either a 30-minute phone call, and we can briefly talk, or we can do a 90-minute deep-dive.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:08:43]

MIKE: Most people prefer the 90-minute deep-dive because there are so many questions that need to be asked and a lot of questions that are not being answered for, in my opinion, a lack of training and a lack of technology. Let’s not put a square peg in a round hole. Let’s make sure we’re working with the specialists who can comment on these huge issues like cost of living adjustment, your buying power throughout 30 plus years of retirement, who can plan according to that. Someone who can help you sail through market crashes unaffected.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:09:15]

MIKE: Because when it comes down to retirement, 30 years of not being able to do something doesn’t sound worth it. But 30 years where if the markets tank, and you’re still gonna enjoy your trip to Fiji, or your gonna continue your RV expedition throughout the United States, that is what you should be able to do and be able to hold on to those plans. Like I said, it’s no cost to you, but I wanna make sure this information is readily available to you, and you can have the conversation, so eyes wide open, you can make the best decisions for you. I mean, for goodness sakes. If you saved up enough for retirement, you are an intelligent person. You did what needs to happen.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:09:52]

MIKE: And if you didn’t, that’s not saying that you’re not intelligent. Life happens. I get that. I don’t wanna negate anyone here. What I’m saying is you didn’t accidentally get here. It was very deliberate. So, let’s make sure you don’t accidentally successfully go through retirement. Let’s make sure we can use deliberate practice to get you through retirement in the way that you wanted to. 833-707-3030. Again, that number, 833-707-3030. We’re gonna take a quick break in just a moment, but when we come back, we’ve got some great content here.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:10:24]

MIKE: We’re gonna be talking about a number of aspects of safer investments, as well as taxes, and how to address those situations, be prepared for taxes in the future, and not just treat taxes as a reactive state, and so much more, all today on Safer Retirement Radio.

MALE: While buy and hold investing is a very common strategy, it’s important to understand it isn’t a one size fits all solution. The appeal of buy and hold investing is simplicity. Buy and hold requires little skill or serious effort, and it completely ignores an appropriate amount of risk management with shorter time horizons, which is crucial as you get older and closer to retirement. Think about it.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:11:02]

MALE: You wouldn’t use this passive way of thinking to advance your career, manage your health, develop lasting relationships, or any other important aspect of your life. Why would you think it would be a suitable financial strategy? At Decker Retirement Planning, we actively manage your investments. The two-sided risk models we use are based on algorithms that can tell you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell. They’re designed to keep up with the S&P in the up years while helping protect your assets in the down years. I know. It sounds great, doesn’t it? Go to deckerretirementplanning.com and get your portfolio review at no cost today. That’s deckerretirementplanning.com.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:11:38]

MALE: Tired of guessing how much income you can pull each year in retirement? These days, ideas like the pie chart and the infamous 4% rule can’t help you. That is why at Decker Retirement Planning we developed a safer distribution plan, a set of proprietary algorithms that help organize your assets while telling you down to the month, net of tax, how much you can draw each year for as long as you live. Our safer distribution plan can help eliminate sequence of return risk, inflation risk, and more, all while helping lower market risk and implementing tax minimization strategies.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:12:15]

MALE: As fiduciaries, we’re here to help you enjoy a safer retirement. If you’re 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved up for retirement call right now for a no cost visit to learn more. Call 844-404-DECKER. That’s 844-404-3325.

MALE: We told you we’d be back, and here we are, back safe and sound. Ready for more knowledge for a safer retirement? Here’s more Safer Retirement Radio with Mike and Scott.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:12:49]

SCOTT: Welcome back. This is Safer Retirement Radio. I’m Scott Drake, along with my co-host. He’s the president of Decker Retirement Planning and the people behind this entire broadcast, Mike Decker. Mike, thanks for joining us today.

MIKE: Hey, Scott. Thanks for being here with me. We’ve got so much to talk about, as always.

SCOTT: Yeah, yeah.

MIKE: Should we dive right into some good content here? [LAUGH]

SCOTT: Well, yeah. And I think what we’re gonna talk about in this segment is risk, which is a confusing topic for people, ’cause I think people have a idea of what risk is, usually it’s related to market risk, but there’s a lot of other things going on, right?

MIKE: Risk is, you know it’s funny you say that, Scott, because risk in itself is a scary term, right?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:13:27]

MIKE: And we think about risk as a whole. It tends to be stress, or anxiety, or a number of different emotions, but if we look at it mathematically or just quantitatively speaking, risk is just, “Could it lose money?” Now, of all the risks that are in retirement, we’re talking about spousal risk, we’re talking about interest rate risk, if we can just focus on one at a time, we don’t have enough time to cover all the different risks here, market risk I think is the most talked about subject when it comes to retirement planning.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm. I would agree.

MIKE: Markets crash.

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: Right? Markets can lose funds.

SCOTT: Right.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:14:02]

MIKE: I think all of us, especially those listeners, can agree that markets can lose money, markets can lose f-, but what does it mean for a retiree? I think we can all agree that very risky portfolios, those make sense, but having no risk, it’s really hard in today’s environment to live off of the interest rates. I mean, the fed, they keep talking about lowering rates.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: What in the world? That’s a tough thing to do, right?

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: So, when we look at risk, let’s understand what’s an appropriate amount of risk and what’s an appropriate way to take risk. The second one most people aren’t talking about enough, in my opinion. So what is risk? Could it lose money?

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:14:42]

MIKE: That’s with every investment. Almost every investment. Any investment’s securities. You know, there’s stocks, there’s bonds, there’s mutual funds. Bond funds, I should say. Not bonds. Unless they go bankrupt, which is another kind of risk. But when it comes to risk, what is the kind of risk that you’re taking? The biggest and most popular mitigation tool when it comes to risk is the asset allocation theory, or just simply diversification. Can we talk about that for a moment, Scott?

SCOTT: Well, yeah, because I think you have a unique approach to diversification, if I might be so bold.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:15:15]

MIKE: It’s true. Let’s talk about what the industry is mostly doing, and then let’s talk about what we, as purebred fiduciaries who are math-based, principle-based, think is a better option. Kay? First and foremost, diversification, the perfect diversification has no risk, which means it doesn’t lose money, but it also can’t make money. We all have to take some sort of inherent risk to be able to make money. That’s just how it is. Now, the idea to diversify yourself out of risk and buy and hold is a fool’s errand. It’s almost like prediction error.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:15:51]

MIKE: I’ve got a good diversified portfolio, so I should be able to ride the markets going up, but it’s diversified, so they shouldn’t go down. Scott, if you pick up one side of the stick, you’re gonna pick up the other side of the stick, right? You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You’re gonna have risk. And if markets crash every seven or eight years, which they typically do historically speaking, the next market crash, those who have diversified themselves into this idea that it can make money but shouldn’t lose that much money, is kind of… I don’t wanna say ignorant. That’s a very mean way. But it is ignorance. It is wishful thinking.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:16:29]

MIKE: It’s prediction error. So, when it comes down to the idea of simply diversifying, let’s talk about a better way of diversification. Let’s talk about something that most people don’t know is even out there. The traditional term would be called an absolute return model. We call them two-sided models. I hate the industry’s jargon. I like to simplify things, if possible, for…

SCOTT: Sure.

MIKE: …people. Two-sided models. They’re designed to make money in the up years, while helping protect your assets in the down years. Now, Scott, didn’t I just talk about how you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

SCOTT: You did.

MIKE: Let me explain how this works.

SCOTT: Okay.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:17:07]

MIKE: Quantitative algorithms can pick up on market indicators very quickly. Computers tend to think faster than us. If anyone’s worked in Excel, you see that firsthand. So when it comes down to these algorithms picking up on market indicators, they can find trends, patterns in the markets, and be able to tell you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell. One of the biggest studies ever done on Wall Street, it’s in the book What Works on Wall Street? If you look in the index in the back, the top performing models were these two-sided models. Isn’t it interesting though, most people have never heard about them? Scott, why do you think that is, out of curiosity?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:17:46]

SCOTT: I have no idea because if it works, why wouldn’t it be common knowledge?

MIKE: Now, I’ll admit, operationally, it’s very difficult to do. We had to build our own technology to be able to make this available for all of our clients. So, yes, it is a huge issue, and for the hedge funds and the minimum account managers that have two million dollars or higher just to be able to invest with them, they use this all day long. But, for the common American who maybe has 500 thousand dollars or a million dollars in their portfolio of their assets saved at retirement, it kills me to think that the common person, the average person, shouldn’t have access to this.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:18:25]

MIKE: They absolutely should have access to this. So, what we did is we went around and we paid a lot of money to Theta, [Timer Track?], Morningstar, these large databases. We found the best managers. We built relationships with them. And, when I say the best managers, I mean historically speaking. And then we made it available to the average person. That’s huge. Let’s get rid of this buy and hold, this guessing, this diversification where you can’t have your cake and eat it too, and let’s just redo the whole field.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:18:58]

MIKE: Let’s re-frame the whole process and give people access to something that’s designed to make money up years and protect your assets in the down years.

SCOTT: Well, let me ask you this. So, using 2008, which, for some, might be a distant memory, but it’s something we need to keep in our heads, right?

MIKE: Well, we’re a bit, you know, we’ve got some errors with history because…

SCOTT: Sure.

MIKE: …we have a short-term memory with history.

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: We’ve had a great bull market, until the next crash.

SCOTT: So, using what you just talked about, two-sided models, people using that model in 2008, what happened?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:19:32]

MIKE: So this is a great question, Scott, because diversification is important with all aspects, especially with this model, having just one manager, or one sector, or one idea. Like, let’s say only you’re gonna invest on… let’s say you’re gonna get an algorithm based on the QQQ symbol, just throwin’ it out there. Kay? That’s not diversification. That’s all chips on one idea and one algorithm. You’ve gotta diversify. We believe you should diversify by sectors. So we’re able to do, sure, S&P, and the Nasdaq, and then we can look at gold and silver as a different sector. We can look at treasuries. We can look at oil.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:20:09]

MIKE: We can diversify by sector and have different managers, different algorithms, that are two-sided to be able to help with this. The reason why, the [magic?] reason, they, collectively, were able to make money is because they were able to diversify by sector, not just all the eggs in one basket. So, sure, we didn’t make a lot of money in 2008, but we didn’t lose money, collectively speaking, with these managers. I don’t know a single other firm to date that can make that claim.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:20:41]

SCOTT: Last couple of minutes here talking about risk in a portfolio, it’s not uncommon for somebody to get close to retirement, it’s pretty common knowledge that risk tolerances need to adapt and need to change. Is that correct?

MIKE: Absolutely. Well, when you’re in your accumulation phase, you can take more risk because you’ve got a paycheck coming in and you’ve got more years to be able to recover should it happen. For example, if the market tanks 40 percent, without touching your portfolio, according to Morningstar, it would take about six years or so to break even.

SCOTT: Mmm.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:21:15]

MIKE: You don’t have that kind of time in retirement. So, our argument is two-sided models, which are very aware and designed to make money in the up years and protect your assets in the down years, doesn’t it make sense to have something more reactive like that? More aware than just buy and hold and ride the stock market rollercoaster? I mean, historically speaking, and then as a math-based, principle-based firm, we did a lot of work to make this available because we wanna help our retirees enjoy a safer retirement. We wanna make sure that they have access to the kind of risk they need to be able to enjoy the retirement that they set out to do.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:21:53]

MIKE: You can’t do that, in our opinion, by a buy and hold strategy. You have to be proactive and get the right tools in front of you.

SCOTT: Again, why doesn’t everybody do this?

MIKE: Operationally, it’s difficult, and also, so we’re purebred fiduciaries, right? We’re independent, people pay us for our advice, and we’re legally bound to do what’s in your best interest, kay? We can’t accept security commissions. What financial professional that’s Series 7 licensed, that make money on commissions, is gonna a manager or an algorithm that tells you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell it. They lose their job.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:22:30]

MIKE: Very few people are like us that set our business up to be able to make this available to the general public, to all those who are retired or near their retirement.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: Job security. I mean, that’s one of the main reasons why it comes down to it. Are they bad people for not recommending it? No. Most financial professionals, I have found, aren’t even aware of it because they company they’re working for lets them drink the Kool-Aid all day long.

SCOTT: Hmm.

MIKE: Says, “This is good. Just keep doin’ what you’re doing. Put the blinders on.” And it just makes me sick. It really does. Because, I mean, I remember the devastation of 2008. I remember the devastation of 2000, 2001, 2002.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:23:08]

MIKE: I remember when Iraq invades Kuwait. Market crashes typically happen and catch us by surprise. Having that kind of situation, that kind of risk, knowing that, sure, if somethin’ happens in Iran, if somethin’ happens in North Korea, if China does something [here?], and the markets crash, I just have to suffer through it? It just doesn’t make sense. Retirement was not meant to be lived with that kind of stress.

SCOTT: I would like to give everybody listening the chance to get in front of the Decker team right now, and I want you to explain the Decker 30 Review.

MIKE: Sure.

SCOTT: ‘Cause this is unusual, and it’s really, really cool.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:23:45]

MIKE: Well, the Decker 30 Review, we built it around the idea to get you the transparency that you deserve, and we’ve been talkin’ about the risk models. Yeah. If you’re gonna call in, we’re gonna, sure, we’re gonna open up all the books, and with the risk measures we’re using, we’re gonna show you third party verified data on what they’ve been doing so you can see for yourself. Not our opinion. Not our interpretation. But [Timer Track?], Theta, all these third party verified sources of what they’ve been doing. But not only that, you’ve gotta have a proper retirement plan, so we do go over a safer distribution plan, which we didn’t really talk about today.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:24:21]

MIKE: We didn’t talk about a lot of the different aspects here. But when it comes down to it, folks, the Decker 30 Review, us purebred fiduciaries are able to review what you’re currently doing, and then show you options so you get the transparency you deserve and make a decision that you’d wanna make.

SCOTT: To get your review, call in now at 833-707-3030, hence the number. 833-707-3030. You can go to deckerretirementplanning.com and click on get started. This is Safer Retirement Radio.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:24:50]

MALE: Retirement investing and planning shouldn’t be a guessing game. With the ever-changing four percent rule as most people’s guessing metric in retirement, it’s easy to feel like we’re at the mercy of the financial markets as they swing up and down. But there is a better way. At Decker Retirement Planning, we operate on principles that are timeless. In 2008, those who followed these principles for their retirement sailed through the financial crisis unaffected. They didn’t even have to change their travel plans. At Decker Retirement Planning, we are purebred fiduciaries, which means we are legally bound to do what is in your best interest.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:25:24]

MALE: When you pair our purebred fiduciary standard and the principles that govern proper retirement planning, you get a safer retirement. Go to deckerretirementplanning.com to download your free copy of our E-book, Principles That Govern Proper Retirement Planning, or schedule your no cost review today. Just 30 minutes for a safer 30 plus years. That’s deckerretirementplanning.com.

MALE: While buy and hold investing is a very common strategy, it’s important to understand it isn’t a one size fits all solution. The appeal of buy and hold investing is simplicity.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:25:58]

MALE: Buy and hold requires little skill or serious effort and it completely ignores an appropriate amount of risk management with shorter time horizons, which is crucial as you get older and closer to retirement. Think about it. You wouldn’t use this passive way of thinking to advance your career, manage your health, developing lasting relationships or any other important aspect of your life. Why would you think it would be a suitable financial strategy? At Decker Retirement Planning, we actively manage your investments. The two-sided risk models we use are based on algorithms that can tell you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell. They’re designed to keep up with the S&P in the up years, while helping protect your assets in the down years.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:26:34]

MALE: I know. It sounds great, doesn’t it? Go to deckerretirementplaning.com and get your portfolio review at no cost today. That’s deckerretirementplanning.com.

MALE: Want to find out how as little as 30 minutes can change the next 30 years of retirement? Keep listening to find out or call 833-707-3030. Now here’s Mike and Scott.

SCOTT: Welcome back. This is Safer Retirement Radio. I’m Scott Drake, along with Mike Decker at Decker Retirement Planning, powering Safer Retirement Radio here today. Mike, always good to see you.

MIKE: Scott, thanks for havin’ me.

SCOTT: Of course. Actually, you’re having me.

MIKE: That’s true. [LAUGH]

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:27:12]

SCOTT: And anyway, let’s talk about retirement planning today. If you are 55 years or older, and you’ve saved money for retirement, you’ve got some assets, this show could be particularly useful to you, and today we’re talking about taxes. Now, when you talk about retirement planning, sometimes people forget about the effect of taxation on their retirement planning, and it’s critical, isn’t it?

MIKE: Well, Scott, can I comment on that real quick?

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: Because taxation, we’re aware of, and we pay our taxes. Everyone should be square with the IRS, okay? I hope we can all agree on some very fundamental principles there.

SCOTT: Yes. Yes.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:27:49]

MIKE: You don’t avoid taxes. You don’t try and have these crazy workarounds that some creative people think could work and then get in trouble for later.

SCOTT: Using Wesley Snipes as an example.

MIKE: Great example. So when it comes to taxes, a lot of us somewhat fear the IRS, and that’s okay. It’s okay. But when it comes to paying your taxes and being aware of your taxes, you don’t need to live in fear. You should live in proactivity. And here’s what I mean by that. Most of us, when we do our taxes, think about our tax implications this year and our tax implications next year. Scott, let me ask you, has your CPA ever talked about your tax burden in 10 years from today?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:28:27]

SCOTT: No, actually, because I believe my CPA is more of a historian.

MIKE: [LAUGH]

SCOTT: In most cases.

MIKE: And that’s normal.

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: CPA’s are incredibly talented people. I do not wanna discredit them in any manner.

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: I mean, their job is very difficult. The tax laws are extremely difficult, and to be aware of them, and to be able to practice in that regard is very difficult. So it makes sense that someone who is in the present has a hard time, or could have a hard time, looking 10 years into the future of the different tax burdens, especially when politically we don’t know where taxes are gonna be.

SCOTT: Right.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:29:04]

MIKE: Now, let’s just make a couple observations here, Scott, and I’m gonna ask you a few questions. And forgive me for being very…

SCOTT: No, no.

MIKE: …simple.

SCOTT: No.

MIKE: They’re near rhetorical, they’re that simple. But…

SCOTT: Okay.

MIKE: …Scott, can we agree that relatively right now we can say the tax rates are lower, historically speaking?

SCOTT: You are absolutely correct, sir.

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: Yes.

MIKE: And how do you feel about the country’s debt?

SCOTT: That’s probably a problem. It doesn’t seem to bother the people in Washington, but it sounds like it could be an issue.

MIKE: And, you know, it doesn’t matter until it matters.

SCOTT: Right.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:29:34]

MIKE: And I hate ambiguities, so let’s define what I just am trying to say right now. It doesn’t matter until it matters means to say that when people start looking at the debt, saying, “It’s getting a little too high. I’m getting a little bit nervous about if we can even pay this off,” then the stability of, let’s say, government bonds, sure, they’re backed by the US taxpayer, sure, they’re backed by the US government, but less people will be buying them because they’re getting more nervous. The consumer typically determines the demand of any sort of taxable event.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:30:11]

MIKE: At that point, [MAKES NOISE] something has to give.

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: Rates have to go up.

SCOTT: Sure.

MIKE: Or taxation has to go up.

SCOTT: Yes.

MIKE: Or something has to happen for this 800-pound gorilla on the US taxpayer and governments’ back.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm. I think we can all agree that most people think taxes will only go up from here.

MIKE: Yeah. Well, we thought the fed would only go up from here, and it continues to go down.

SCOTT: [LAUGH]

MIKE: So, you know, we’re throwin’ a lot of…

SCOTT: True.

MIKE: …common sense out the window…

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: …here. Or…

SCOTT: Okay.

MIKE: …I shouldn’t say common sense. That’s very condescending. I would say traditional economic guidelines have been thrown out the window, and we’re in unchartered territory.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:30:49]

MIKE: And all that’s fine, as long as we’re aware that things could go up or down, and we need to be ready for if they go up or down. If taxes go down in the future, would you benefit from that? Wonderfully.

SCOTT: Yes.

MIKE: If taxes go up, which, statistically, I would argue that it’s more likely to go up…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …how is your taxation burden looking in five years, and in 10 years, in 15 years? If our retirement is maybe 30 years.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and also understanding that, again, your CPA does a great job. That’s the difference between tax preparation and tax planning, which, planning is looking forward.

MIKE: Yep.

SCOTT: What’s gonna happen?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS    [00:31:28]

MIKE: And we’re not CPA’s.

SCOTT: No, we’re not.

MIKE: But I wanna talk about exactly what we’re doing here at Decker Retirement Planning with a quick story here. I had a couple of clients, they came in. They went to a dinner event.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: And, you know, I’ll even say, folks, if you can’t make it to one of our dinner events, we only have them so often, you can always get that content via our books you can download online. You can…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …get it via E-books. They’re specifically on principles that govern proper retirement planning and social security. But, when all is said and done, the information we’re trying to get out there, whether it’s at dinner or in your home with a book.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:32:01]

MIKE: But regardless, they went to a dinner event, and they wanted to retire in one year’s time, so they were doing the circuit, like most of you listening right now are probably doing when you’re getting ready for retirement, and they wanted to reduce their risk and have more transparency. Scott, here’s the interesting thing I thought about this conversation is they wanted to reduce their risk on their portfolio…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …and they wanted to increase their transparency, which are two things we do, and we can do that through the principles that govern proper retirement planning and using a math-based, principle-based approach. Kay?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:32:34]

MIKE: And they wanted to have more transparency, the third principle: use a distribution plan, a spreadsheet, not a pie chart that keeps you guessing, so you’re not playing Russian roulette throughout the retirement. But, what they found when they came in was the tax burdens that could have put them, and I say could have, we were able to work around this, that could have put them in the highest tax bracket for the rest of their life.

SCOTT: That would not be good.

MIKE: No. Horrible situation.

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: And thank goodness we got in front of it and we planned around it. So, this client, they had about two million dollars saved up for retirement.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:33:09]

MIKE: They did have a pension versus a lump sum situation. The pension was not a good option. In this case, they chose the lump sum. They were concerned about their estate, and they didn’t like income streams. They were the hands-on kind of people. They liked their assets, they liked to manage things, and it was more suitable for them, and it made mathematical sense also. They could get more out of a lump sum pension in this situation. And it’s different every time. But being math-based, principle-based, run the numbers, you see what it is for them. They took their two million dollars and got an extra 400 thousand they added to their portfolio, which was…

SCOTT: Really?

MIKE: …great.

SCOTT: Nice.

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: Okay.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS    [00:33:46]

MIKE: So, when it comes down to it, they had social security and their assets, and they were ecstatic. Now, here’s the hard part, kay? In five years, you take all this income or these assets that are growing. In five years, they hit 70 and a half years old. Scott, what happens at 70 and a half years old?

SCOTT: At 70 and a half years old, you have to start paying the required minimum distributions, typically now, unless the secure act is ratified, which means you’re paying the government back. Now they wanna get paid for all that deferral you’ve been doing in taxation.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:34:18]

MIKE: Mm-hmm. And unless you can accurately account for your RMD with your income, you’re taking a taxation hit that is slowing down your retirement. You ever been to a golf cart and wished it would go faster? And you’ve got a governor on there.

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: I mean, most all golf carts have that. It’s frustrating because you wanna have some fun and, you know, go a little faster. Would you be frustrated if your retirement was governed and slowed down because of the RMD taxation where you just have a leak in your ship? You were just losing money to taxation because you’re stuck in this situation.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:34:51]

MIKE: For high net worth people, this is extremely common and most are unaware of the consequences if they don’t act in time. I mean, Scott, you were gonna say?

SCOTT: No, I was gonna say that that’s, again, something that people will forget. The RMD…

MIKE: Mm-hmm.

SCOTT: …takes you into a new tax bracket.

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: Because of that income. And the government doesn’t take excuses. If you don’t take the RMD when you’re supposed to, there’s a penalty, isn’t there?

MIKE: There is a penalty, and you just wanna avoid it.

SCOTT: Yes.

MIKE: It’s dreadful.

SCOTT: It’s a big penalty. It’s 50 percent, isn’t it?

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: It’s ridiculous.

MIKE: As of right now, it’s 50 percent.

SCOTT: Good Lord.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:35:27]

MIKE: And then you still have to pay your RMD. It’s 50 percent on top of the RMD.

SCOTT: [LAUGH] No excuses, people.

MIKE: [LAUGH] No.

SCOTT: [LAUGH]

MIKE: Now, the big argument, and I’m gonna try and say this as fair as possible, one side says, okay, you should convert all of your IRA to Roth assets before you hit 70 years old, so you don’t have to have that. And that if you convert it, you grow. There’s enough tax benefit. That is the best plan. And they’re speaking in absolutes. The other side of the argument is, no, just pay the taxes. It’s a wash. If you’re not forced in the top tax bracket, it’s a wash. It’s a percent here, a percent there, but overall, it’s the same deal.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:36:04]

MIKE: And mathematically, they have some leverage on that, depending on future tax laws and how that will happen. And we don’t know what tax laws will be in 10 years.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: But mathematically, both of them are wrong, and here’s my point. It’s okay to have a small RMD. You’re gonna take income anyway. But being able to coordinate that effort in such a way that each year part of your income is from an IRA asset. You’re taking some taxation, which is fine. It’s okay to have some taxation from a smaller amount. But it’s never gonna push you into a top tax bracket, it’s on one lower tax brackets, and you can coordinate the other investments.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:36:43]

MIKE: Only then, when you find that silver lining, can you have an optimal tax situation. Now, there’s other things, we don’t have time to talk about this, like the tax punching bag where we have a series of investments that coordinate with each other…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …that can help each other’s tax burden while giving you tax-free income throughout retirement. I mean, there’s a lot of variables here, folks, we can’t talk about over the radio because there’s too many things on suitability that determine on how we build this, and we don’t wanna deal with absolutes. But the tax punching bag, what I call it, is extremely critical for high net worth people to be able to manage tax burdens effectively in the future.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:37:22]

MIKE: Not avoid taxes. We don’t avoid taxes. We pay our taxes. But we can be smart about our tax planning and tax minimization strategies, or we can be reactive and let the government just take advantage of the system because we were not proactive. I’m of the primary. I’m of the proactive. I’m of the planning side of it because it makes me sick when I see six and seven figures being lost because of poor planning.

SCOTT: Yes, I can agree with that. And you can see now, when Mike is talking, why he’s a math guy. This is one of his favorite topics, taxation. How important is to your portfolio? How important it is to your retirement planning.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:38:00]

SCOTT: Would you like to find out where you’re at? Exactly where you’re at right now? Take the guess work out of your plan. Call 833-707-3030. That will get you the Decker 30 Review. Incredibly useful. Incredibly simple to take advantage of. It’s a 30-minute phone call. And if you are 55 years or older and you have at least 300 thousand dollars saved for retirement, this could be the stepping stone to a safer retirement.

MIKE: Scott, I wanna interject here.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:38:29]

MIKE: We had a client that had just over 10 million dollars…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …and throughout the plan we were able to save him, through the tax punching method that’s proprietary to us, as far as [him?], where I don’t see anybody else doing it…

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: …saved him seven figures alone on that one part of his plan.

SCOTT: If that doesn’t convince you, people. Just please call. You can also get the 90-minute in office review, which is a value of 2000 dollars, free to you right now. 833-707-3030. Or go to deckerretirementplanning.com and click on get started. Safer Retirement Radio.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:39:02]

MALE: Tired of guessing how much income you can pull each year in retirement? These days, ideas like the pie chart and the infamous four percent rule can’t help you. That is why at Decker Retirement Planning we developed a safer distribution plan, a set of proprietary algorithms that help organize your assets while telling you down to the month, net of tax, how much you can draw each year for as long as you live. Our safer distribution plan can help eliminate sequence of return risk, inflation risk, and more, all while helping lower market risk and implementing tax minimization strategies.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:39:38]

MALE: As fiduciaries, we’re here to help you enjoy a safer retirement. If you’re 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved up for retirement call right now for a no cost visit to learn more. Call 844-404-DECKER. That’s 844-404-3325.

MALE: Have you ever wondered how financial professionals can tell you how much income you can take each year of your retirement by looking at a pie chart? At Decker Retirement Planning, we feel the same way. Stop guessing on your retirement income and get some clarity with a safer distribution plan.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:40:12]

MALE: With our proprietary algorithms that make up a safer distribution plan, we can show you down to the month, net of tax, how much you can spend with a cost of living adjustment for your entire retirement. With this level of clarity, you can start enjoying all of your hopes and dreams while taking care of your wants and needs in your retirement. We developed a safer distribution plan for the sole purpose of helping folks like you enjoy a full retirement. If you’re 55 years of age or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved up for retirement call 844-404-3325 today for your safer distribution plan at no cost to you.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:40:48]

MALE: Call 844-404-3325 or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com.

MALE: Can you handle more Safer Retirement Radio? Well, can you? We thought so. So feast yourself on more math-based, principal-based, purebred fiduciary goodness with Mike and Scott.

SCOTT: Welcome back. This is Safer Retirement Radio, hosted by Decker Retirement Planning. Mike Decker, the president of Decker Retirement Planning, in studio with me, Scott Drake. The number, 833-707-3030. Just keep that handy. I would actually write that down at some point.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:41:24]

SCOTT: It will become handy for you because it’s a number that has great value. This is a regular radio show where we talk about retirement planning. That’s a pretty common topic these days. But there are very few who do it in the way Decker Retirement Planning does. Mike, thanks for joining us. I wanna ask you. I’m sure that you run into so many clients over, and over, and over with a lot of similar situations. Do you run into clients, they come in looking at retirement as being something a few years away?

MIKE: Mm-hmm.

SCOTT: But after a meeting, they can retire right now, they find out.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:42:00]

MIKE: Well, yeah. Most people think that until you enter retirement, you don’t really need to do retirement planning, or it doesn’t matter until it matters. What I think is interesting though is, based on markets and how they react, Scott, if the markets go down, your retirement expected date could be pushed back. Now, if you do the planning correctly, then you can stay on, you know, with that given timeline. And it actually kind of reminds me of a story in particular.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:42:30]

MIKE: We had a couple that came through. They went to one of our dinner events at Ruth’s Chris. And their current plan was, and it was fine, for accumulation, to manage their assets. They were managing their diversification using asset allocation portfolio, they had a pie chart, and they did a great job growing their assets. They had 940 or so thousand dollars.

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: That’s a good amount…

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: …for someone getting ready to retire. And, you know, social security was part of the conversation. No pension or things to lean on, so they knew that they had to be smart about what they were gonna be doing.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:43:03]

MIKE: What was interesting, and this is why they came to our event in the first place. Good people. They didn’t come for a free meal. They actually were coming for informat-… I love it.

SCOTT: Sure. Yeah.

MIKE: You know the intended people. When they say, “Look, I don’t care if there was a meal or not. Saw your mailer. I saw principle-based, math-based. I saw that you guys were gonna talk about two-sided models, distribution planning, all these…” They said this information was the most important part. Their need, in particular, was they needed a structure that gave them stability and transparency. They were done with the guessing game the pie chart gives. They wanted to stop playing retirement roulette.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:43:39]

MIKE: Now, when I say stop playing retirement roulette, they were two years away from wanting to retire. They was their planned date. They had all these great aspirations and expectations to retire at that point. But they knew they had to start getting some sort of structure. They felt it, they knew it, and they were right. About five years is actually, five to six years, is when you should start planning your retirement before your hopeful retirement date. What’s interesting though is people come and say, “Now, I wanna retire in five years. That’s about where I think I’ll have enough money.” When we run the numbers, they could actually retire the same day. That’s a life-changing…

SCOTT: Wow.

MIKE: …conversation.

SCOTT: Wow.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:44:13]

MIKE: Five, six years. We’ve seen more, and we’ve seen less. As a math-based, principle-based firm, it’s very objective. This is what’s in front of you. Does this work? For this couple, it was interesting. They started planning in September of ’18, kay? Keep in mind, do you remember what happened Q4 of…h

SCOTT: Yes. Oh, yeah.

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: Oh, yeah.

MIKE: Started in September of 2018. They were planning with us. Things looked great. They said, “You know, that’s actually more than we need, but we just feel like we’ve got the energy. We want to still work for another two years.”

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:44:44]

MIKE: “We like our jobs. It’s part of our identity. And we’re gonna, once we see structure that we can get behind and a plan that makes sense, then we can start kind of emotionally getting ready for retirement.” And it is an emotional situation to leave your job, your identity, and kind of reinvent yourself. But they didn’t come over yet. They kind of drug their feet through the planning process. They saw the value, but they didn’t wanna come on until February of 2019.

SCOTT: Uh-oh.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:45:16]

MIKE: They lost 100 thousand dollars in their portfolio in just the span of a couple of months because of Q4. That dip in the market. And, sure, we recovered, but what would have happened if we hadn’t recovered? What would have happened if it had kept going down? I don’t wanna live in hypotheticals here, but the ramifications of their plan dropped significantly. Now, thank goodness we were able to build them a plan in such a way to, sure, they still retire. They still got the money they needed and wanted for the rest of their life, thank goodness, but what if it had been worse?

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:45:49]

MIKE: See, they had a snapshot, a reality check, of what it would be like if they had waited and the markets did turn over. And for most people, I mean, you’ve got to start having your plan. Let’s think of the future, not just live in the now.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: We’ve gotta get ready for it. The fundamental principles or the principles that govern proper retirement planning that they had missed and came in to see was principle number two, diversify by purpose. See, they lost 100 thousand dollars because they were all at risk.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:46:22]

MIKE: And then principle number three, use a distribution plan or a spreadsheet. Map it out. Get rid of the pie chart guesser. Get rid of this retirement roulette. It makes no sense. Folks, you shouldn’t guess your way through retirement, just like you’re not gonna guess your way through your employment, right? You went to meetings, you planned, you executed.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: That’s how we do life. But with retirement, we need to be implementing that more. When we were gonna incorporate those two principles, their entire world view was able to change.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:46:54]

MIKE: They were able to stay on with their two-year trajectory on when they wanted to retire, and we were able to help quantify their retirement as a math-based, principle-based firm.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is Safer Retirement Radio. This brings up another topic, Mike, which is someone who does retire, and then has a market pull back like that. Let’s say it’s a 10 or 20 percent correction.

MIKE: Mm-hmm.

SCOTT: At the beginning of their retirement. Again, we’re talking about timing here. Timing is really important. And they always tell you they can’t time the markets.

MIKE: Can’t time the market. [LAUGH]

SCOTT: Nothing is truer than that.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:47:28]

SCOTT: But let’s say the effect of that. Again, starting their retirement, and we have a pullback sequence of return risk. What happens?

MIKE: Oh, there’s a number of things here. Scott, I wanna first talk about the emotions that go on there. And I, you know, I know we work in finance, but I actually spend a lot of time understanding behavioral science as well. And the reason why is, as much as we wanna tell ourselves, and I’m speaking in the ambiguous investor here.

SCOTT: Sure.

MIKE: The average investor. We’re emotional, we’ve got our limits, we’ve got our boundaries set, but we seem to rationalize those boundaries over and over again because of emotionally based decisions. For example, greed keeps you in the market longer than you should.

SCOTT: Mm-hmm.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:48:12]

MIKE: Fear keeps you out of the market longer than you should. Both stem from prediction error. What I mean by this is greed, when the markets are going down, greed keeps you in the market because you ride those markets down more and more than you should, and then fear keeps you out of the market. You’ve already lost money. You pulled out. You said, “Enough is enough. I’m done with this.” Markets are to recover, and you don’t buy in when you probably should. Why is that? Emotions. This is why, for those clients that want risk in their assets, we use two-sided quantitative models that tell you what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell. Get rid of the emotion. Let a computer who can interpret the trends help you invest smarter.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:48:51]

MIKE: Now, I know we don’t have time to really fully dive into that. They enjoyed that here, and it’s just it’s an incredible situation to where, yeah, a computer algorithm diversified by sector, so computer algorithms, yeah, they’ve averaged around 16 and a half percent since 2000. Who do you know has those kinds of returns just on risk? Not many.

SCOTT: No.

MIKE: Now, when we incorporate as well diversifying by purpose, and we map out your income for the next 20 years, so if the markets do crash, sure, your risk portfolio is designed to help protect assets, it’s still at risk, but your principle guarantee, where your income comes from, it doesn’t matter. You sail through it unaffected.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:49:28]

MIKE: These are some huge points that you’re only gonna see with a purebred fiduciary, and, Scott, I wanna point out too, the odds of you working with a purebred fiduciary right now are very slim, and that’s because of dual hat disclosures and different tactics and false claims of being a fiduciary. Tony Robbins did a great study. 1.6 percent of all financial professionals are actually purebred fiduciaries. Do you think your current advisor is a purebred fiduciary, and then on top of that, specializes in distribution planning? I would challenge you; chances are not.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:50:01]

SCOTT: And by fiduciary, you mean somebody who is bound by law to keep your best interests ahead of their own, which means, and in your case, you do that naturally because it is the right moral thing to do, but not everybody operates like that or can operate like that.

MIKE: Well, it’s usually an operational conflict of interest, not an emotional conflict of interest. I honestly believe most financial professionals want to do what’s best for their clients. I truly believe that. In all these interactions I’ve had, they are good people that love their clients.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:50:35]

MIKE: The biggest issue is they get paid based on the conflict of interest, and they can’t…. Like, for example, a broker is probably not gonna recommend to you a no-load mutual fund because they don’t get paid on it. A broker is not gonna recommend to you something they don’t get paid. An insurance guy, an insurance salesman, who might be a really good person, isn’t gonna recommend you to get up some mutual funds, unless it’s a variable annuity, and that’s a whole nother conversation. That’s a toxic investment. Please, please, please be aware [LAUGH] variable annuities are really toxic here.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:51:07]

MIKE: But when all is said and done, Scott, you said we’re good people. We are good people. We honestly love and care about our clients, and we purposefully painted ourselves into a compliance corner by only letting our advisors be Series 65 licensed, by being RIA, as in we’re fee-based only. You pay for our advice, you see exactly what we’re making, and we’re independent. No one’s telling us what we can or can’t sell or… And I hate the word sell. What we can and can’t offer.

SCOTT: Right.

MIKE: Because we give you the gamut of the investment options and let you choose. But when it comes down to it, that kind of transparency is incredibly rare.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:51:45]

SCOTT: And what we’re talking about is removing the guess work out of your planning. If you’re listening right now, and you lose sleep over being in the market, and you’re getting close to retirement, this would be a great time to start thinking about retirement planning. As Mike often says, five years before you’re getting ready to retire is when you should start thinking about that because a lot of preparation goes into it. We’re gonna give you the opportunity to do that very simply right now. It’s embarrassingly easy. Call 833-707-3030 for the Decker 30 Review. Now that’s a 30-minute phone call. That’s great.

MIKE: Really easy.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:52:22]

SCOTT: Easy.

MIKE: I mean…

SCOTT: Or…

MIKE: The 30-minute phone call, can I say, Scott?

SCOTT: Yeah.

MIKE: It could literally give you hundreds of thousands dollars extra in your retirement, in 30 minutes.

SCOTT: Like an extra safer 30 years is what it may be.

MIKE: Yeah.

SCOTT: Okay. And then the 90-minute in office, where you get to see them up close and personal, smell their cologne, see the sincerity with which they operate, and have a much deeper dive into your portfolio.

MIKE: Yeah. Question and answer. We want you to bring all your research and come to us with all of your questions. That’s how it should be.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:52:53]

SCOTT: Deckerretirementplanning.com, a great place to visit. Click on the get started button there. You can also download some very valuable E-books. But the number to call? 833-707-3030. This is Safer Retirement Radio.

MALE: If you could retire now, would you? Would that knowledge make your last few years at work more enjoyable? At Decker Retirement Planning we’re helping people retire years before they thought they could. This is done with our proprietary algorithms that make up a safer distribution plan. See how much you can spend, down to the month, net of tax, for your entire retirement, with a cost of living adjustment each year, as if you were retired today.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:53:32]

MALE: Get the transparency you deserve so you can make the best decisions for you and your family. Don’t miss out on the lifelong memories you could’ve enjoyed because you felt trapped by your paycheck. If you are 55 years or older and have at least 300 thousand dollars saved up for retirement, call Decker Retirement Planning today at 844-404-3325 and get a safer distribution plan at no cost to you. Call 844-404-3325. 844-404-DECKER. Or visit us at deckerretirementplanning.com.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:54:06]

MALE: The term fiduciary has been used a lot by investment brokers lately. It essentially means that by law, they must put their clients’ best interests before their own. Though their hearts may be in the right place, the very nature of working in a brokerage firm makes it impossible to be a true fiduciary. The fact is, according to a Tony Robins study, less than two percent of financial professionals legally fall into that category. At Decker Retirement Planning, we are purebred fiduciaries. We always have been, we always will be. It means we are completely independent and have the ability to recommend any strategy and product available to manage growth, continuity, and legacy.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:54:43]

MALE: It means we operate on a higher level of transparency and integrity. It means we think and act strategically, and always put your best interests before our own. Don’t work with someone who just claims to be a fiduciary. Go to deckerretirementplanning.com and get a purebred fiduciary review at no cost today.

MALE: What do these things have in common: training wheels, hugs, your fondest childhood memory, a seatbelt, and Decker Retirement Planning? They’re all things that make you feel safer, of course. Now back to the show.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:55:18]

MIKE: Hey, all. Just Mike here. We’re gonna wrap up the show here in just a moment. Last four minutes here. In closing, I just wanna kind of reiterate a few things. At Decker Retirement Planning, whether you wanna work with us or not, what we hope you feel is comfortable being able to come into our offices and visit with us to continue your research with a purebred fiduciary, someone who’s legally bound to do what’s in your best interest, and get the information that you need to be successful in your retirement. And like I said at the beginning of the show, you’re still young. If you’re 50 years old, you probably have another 30, 40 years left to enjoy your life. Let’s make the best of those years.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:55:56]

MIKE: You can subscribe to our newsletter that’s now made to the public, not just our clients, at deckerretirementplanning.com. If you wanna have a one-on-one conversation, talk about a safer tax plan. You wanna see what a safer distribution plan looks like and leave the pie chart guesser so you’re not playing retirement roulette. If you wanna be involved with these things and just see why so many people are coming to Decker Retirement Planning as the specialists for retirement planning, you can call 833-707-3030. That’s 833-707-3030.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:56:31]

MIKE: And must be 55 years or older, but it’s free to you to access us, to have this conversation, and continue the research, and determine for yourself what is in your best interests. Now, we’re gonna do our best to be as objective as possible, and we pride ourselves in that being a math-based, principle-based firm, but when it comes down to it, we wanna make sure that you can see eyes wide open what’s going on with retirement and the reality that’s hitting here. And the markets are startin’ to wake us up a little bit. So let’s take these warning signs now before it becomes devastating.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:57:06]

MIKE: 833-707-3030. You can also go to deckerretirementplanning.com. The button at the bottom of the screen, it will say get started. Looking forward to being able to have the opportunity to continue your research with retirement, have these great conversations. And it’s pretty enlightening. From a math-based, principle-based standpoint, there’s a lot that can be said and a lot that can happen. You can also download our E-books. My favorite a lot of people have been enjoying is Principles That Govern Proper Retirement Planning. Quick read, very informative, and very eye-opening when it comes to what most people are doing and what people should be doing when it comes to preparations for retirement planning.

 

RR S3 E10 INFLATION, TAXES, OTHER ASPECTS     [00:57:45]

MIKE: Thank you all so much. Tune in same time, same place next week if you’re listening to us via radio, or subscribe via iTunes or Google Play via the podcast system. We’ll talk to you next week. Until then, have a great time enjoying retirement.