Retirement Ready

March 30th, 2024

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Live from the wgy iHeart Studios.Welcome to Retirement Ready with your host Dave
Kopek from the Retirement Ready Show.Every week, Dave and his team discuss
the ways they can help people makeinformed decisions about a wide array of retirement
planning information that can support you anddeveloping a more certain financial future for you

(00:20):
and your family. Now it's timefor Dave Kopek, WGY's retirement Planning Specialist.

(00:50):
All right, good afternoon, I'mDave Popek. This is the Retirement
Ready Show. We're here to educate, to inform you on some of the
obstacles and some of the things thatyou'll face during your pre and post retirement
years in wg wi's retirement Planning SpecialistsAnd as Lou just spoke about, we

(01:11):
have a seminar workshop coming up that'sgoing to be held at the old former
Desmond. I'll say the Desmond becauseI don't think a lot of people recognize
the new name. It's right nextto the airport and it's going to be
on the sixteenth of April. Registrationsat five point thirty and dinner will be

(01:36):
served at six. We'll have anice night, be a lot of information
you know that Lou will do aphenomenal job and hopefully we can tag along
and help out and give you somegood information on how to manage as sets
during your pre and post retirement years. But again, you better call if
you want to attend because it isbeing filled up quickly. FOLLO of a

(02:00):
number two reserve seat, it's fivepoint eight six two eight four two five
five. If you can't get intothat number, call my office or lose
office and we'll be more than happyto reserve a spot for you. Retirement
Ready Show is a specific topic thatwe focus in on on a weekly basis,

(02:23):
and as you all are quite wellaware, I am a major advocate
of retirement income distribution planning simply becausemost of us do not have pension benefits
and we have to take our lifesavings and we now have to create a
check after receiving a check, possiblyfor decades. For some of us it

(02:44):
is a daunting task. For othersit might not be so much so.
If you have a pension benefit,if you have a spouse that has a
pension, If you have you knowconsiderable amount of money that you've accumulated in
your lifetime. But for what Icall the hard working savers, the people

(03:05):
that we work with. Most ofthem need to take this pool of money
that they've accumulated and now turn itinto a paycheck that will last a lifetime.
I said, this morning, I'min my Morning This Morning Morning Show
that we live in different times andwhen I see headlines such as the one

(03:32):
that came out and it was fromLarry Fink, who is the black Rock
Investment Chief executive order, he talkedabout the looming retirement crisis. And when

(03:54):
I saw that, I said,I got to look into that, I
got to see exactly what's going onhere. What he's basically doing is he's
drawn attention to a problem that hasexisted for quite some time. And what

(04:16):
that is is that we live ina society today where a lot of individuals
have undersaved for retirement. We haveeleven two hundred people a day from now
until twenty and twenty seven that areretiring at the age of sixty five.

(04:36):
And there's forty trillion dollars forty fortytrillion dollars out there and retirement assets one
of the world's largest. And whatour employers have done is that they have
shifted the responsibility from define benefit pensionplans, which is you're going to sive

(05:00):
a check from the company, youget your gold watch, you get a
nice dinner, you get a pensionbenefit, and you can get health insurance
for the rest of your life.Those days are over. So what happened
about forty years ago is that wehad this transition where the employer transferred responsibility

(05:27):
not only for retirement income, butalso for funding your retirement during your accumulation
years. And to say that peoplehave been affected by this is an understatement.
Not only do you have to takethis responsibility, but we're living longer
lives from previous generations. They're facingthe serious likelihood they who you you,

(05:58):
the individual that has worked has notset enough money aside in your four one
K programs in order free to havequality of life that will last a lifetime.
And even though we're talking about theindividuals out there that might have undersaved,
I can tell you sure, onepercent guaranteed, there are individuals that

(06:27):
come into the retirement planning group thathave substantial savings and find it very confusing
how to manage their assets when theydo not have a pension and ensuring that
the money does not go away beforethey pass away. So we're at a
critical crossroads. Millions, millions ofindividuals, there's all sorts of statistics and

(06:57):
data, are at a risk ofrunning out of savings during the retirement years.
So the question today is how doyou or how does society help those
who are aging that could possibly bein a time and need and they no
longer have resources available to them.It's daunting, it's scary. So when

(07:30):
you have a gentleman that runs oneof the major investment banking firms that has
I believe in excess of ten trilliondollars and comes out and says, looming
retirement crisis, what's in this crystalball? Well, we've been talking about

(07:54):
this for the last five to tenyears, and if you listen to the
show, you know I've been tellingpeople to get ready for cracks, cracks
in the system. The other crackin the system that we're talking about right
now is our good friends Dona Washingtonare not taking care of the pot of

(08:20):
gold for individuals that need sol securityfor the rest of their lives. Fears
about the US retirement system have beenswirling for years. This has been going
on, I can tell you forat least ten plus the trustees that are

(08:45):
in charge of the Soil Security Administration, which is the government retirement program.
Estimated last year in twenty twenty three, that would have to start cutting benefits
in one thousand and thirty three unlessCongress raised the retirement age. Sounds pretty
simple, right, or levied additionaltaxes. Well, you know our friends

(09:09):
in Washington, there's not a taxthat they don't love. So the bottom
line gets down to this, don'twant to get your car off the road
send you into a tizzy. Clausehigh anxiety. Changes need to be made
yesterday, yesterday. Everybody knows it, everybody talks about it, everybody understands.

(09:41):
What would happen if the Social SecurityAdministration, you have a system that
was built years ago, years ago, when longevity was a fraction of what
it is today, and guess whatEinstein's down there in Washington, refused to
make minor a ustments as far aswhen benefits should be paid for Social Security.

(10:09):
We now live in a society todaythat the risk, the risk of
moving forward into your retirement is nolonger with your employer. The risk of
moving forward in your retirement is nowon you, the employee, investing has
gotten a lot harder. I don'thave to tell you about inflation. Go

(10:35):
buy a bag of groceries, Gopurchase a car. Look at your utility
bills, Look at your cost ofgoods and service ten years ago versus what
it is today. People are livinglonger, people have undersaved. There's a

(11:00):
real risk and a possibility of moneyrunning out. So we're going to talk
a little bit about what the Einstein'sare talking about here, and we're going
to talk a little bit about whatI think you should do in regard to
controlling your destiny. Controlling your destiny, I never like it, and I've

(11:26):
never been comfortable when somebody else controlsmy destiny. I like it a lot
more when I have the ability towork the levers, to put my foot
on the gas and do the thingsthat needs to get done for myself,
my wife, my family, andmy loved ones. So today on Retirement

(11:52):
Ready, we're going to be talkingabout changes that are happening, things that
I've talking about for the last fifteentwenty years that everybody poo pooed told me
I didn't know what the heck Iwas talking about, that I was just
causing anxiety for people that are listeningto the radio. But the reality is

(12:15):
is that the simplicity of walking intoretirement with a pension and social security,
it isn't there any more, folks. And here's another statistic that most of
you don't listen to, even thoughyou talk about it and you give the
data when they asked the question,almost seventy five percent of you seventy five

(12:41):
it's actually seventy three point six percentof workers surveyed wished their four to one
K plan had a lifetime income pensionoption, a guarantee paycheck for the last

(13:01):
rest of your life that you can'toutlive. People want that and guess what
people need that? So that's ourtopic today. We're going to be talking
about the changes that are happening.What are you going to do? Are

(13:22):
we in a pension crisis? Arewe headed towards a disaster? Here Whistle
Security? But believe it or not, I'm live. I'm in the studio
today even though it's Easter weekend,and the NCAA is here in Albany,
New York. If you want toparticipate, if you have any questions or
comments, my engineer is Zach ishere. One WGY that's one eight hundred

(13:46):
eight two five fifty ninety nine,and we'll be right back after this quick
message. Will you run out ofmoney in retirement? Will your investments provide
income for possibly decades? How doyou navigate the two greatest risk in retirement
sequence of returns in longevity At theRetirement Planning Group, our Bucket of Money
approach addresses these concerns and we offera complimentary consultation to discuss this with you.

(14:07):
Call our office today for a freecomplimentary consultation to develop your own personal
retirement income distribution plan at five wineight five EID zero one nine one nine.
That's five point eight five EAD zeroone nine one nine. The greatest
risk in retirement most of us haveno plan for. We're insurance to cover
the expense. A long term careevent can impoverish a spouse, drain your

(14:30):
life savings, and cost stress andanxiety on your family. What is your
plan and how will you pay fora long term care event? Call the
Retirement Planning Group today discuss options youshould consider to protect your estate and have
choices and independence. Take action Calltoday five one eight five AID zero one
nine one nine or RPG Retire onthe web. Worried about protecting and preserving

(14:52):
all you have built? Health ishere. Learn how to secure your future
with legal and financial planning with WGUISretirement specialist Dave Kopek in Legal House,
Lou Pierro and Aaron Connor for afree dinner seminar in April sixteenth at the
Crown Plaza, Albany at five thirtypm. Space is limited. Sign up
at w g Y dot com orcall five one eight six two eight four

(15:13):
two five five. That's w gY dot com or call five one eight
six two eight four two five five. I got you. Who kists miner

(16:06):
not a We are back first andforemost. I want to wish everyone an
absolutely fantastic, joyous, healthy,happy family get together. Don't forget about

(16:29):
church for Easter. I know thatwe've got about fifteen people coming to our
home and it's a great time toget together, thank God for what we
have had, what we have andjust rejoice, just rejoice. You know,

(16:56):
I've been talking about this for years, folks, about the train is
coming down the track and everybody isjust dancing in the streets and nobody's listening
to what's happening. We have seriousproblems. Even for people that have substantial

(17:18):
savings. We have serious problems asfar as retirement. I've seen it.
I've been in the business a longtime, forty two years going on my
forty third, and I think we'reat a critical crossroads, no doubt about

(17:41):
it. And it's a test whenI see that almost seventy five percent of
the population that is in four oneK programs want safety and guarantees, and
they go to the local guru thathas all the answers, always got an
up account, what I call thetouchdown account. I know they're headed for

(18:04):
a disaster because most of you,most of you, when the market corrects,
rather than looking at that as anopportunity and having adequate amounts of cash
on the sidelines to take advantage ofa correction, your high anxiety. You're

(18:25):
pulling your hair out of your headand you're trying to figure out should I
get out of the market rather thanstaying in the market. And you know
I'm correct. So here's my testto you. When that happens again and
you don't have a portfolio set upthat will give you guaranteed income or at

(18:48):
least a good percentage of what youneed for what we call baseline income.
What's your next move? You're goingto call your advisor and do the screaming
a monkey aster on the other endof the phone. Why didn't you get
me out? What are you doing? What's wrong with you? Guys?

(19:10):
Right? Heard it all in allthe years that I've been doing this,
But I do know one thing forsure. The train that's coming down the
track where we're going to have tohave a reckoning is something that I've been

(19:32):
talking about. And what William Sharp, the Nobel winning economists from Stanford University,
calls the nastiest, hardest problem infinance is what retirement income distribution.

(19:56):
You've been accumulating money your whole life. Now you gotta basically spend it down
whether you want to or not,because of R and D requirementium distributions and
because of the need the need forincome during those go go slogo and no

(20:18):
go years in retirement. You know, I talked a little bit about Social
Security, about a system that wasdesigned decades ago, and a system that
basically most of the individuals when theyoriginated soil security weren't even going to receive

(20:42):
the benefit because most of them weredead and now because of longevity and because
of the pool of money that hasbeen accumulated in those accounts, most individuals

(21:04):
will look at Social Security as beingpension benefits with a cola a cost of
living adjustment. Now, what happens, what happens in two thousand Every year
goes down. Now it's two thousandand thirty three. A couple of years

(21:25):
ago it was two thousand and thirtyfive. But in essence, what's happening.
Sol Security is going broke, andour friends down in Washington right our
friends down in Washington are trying tofigure out what they're going to do about
it, but they'll talk about ituntil it's a nine to one one and

(21:45):
there's fire. So I'm going totalk about what is top of mind right
now when I have an investment bankingfirm and the guy that runs it come
out and basically say that we're ina situation that is not good and is

(22:10):
not healthy, and we need reformsand America needs to get organized and have
some kind of a kumbaya to ensurethe future generations can live out their final
years in dignity. That makes myears perk up and my eyes get big.

(22:37):
So you hear asset allocation models,how great we are managing money,
and you're all this nonsense. Butour friends at black Rock Is they're thinking
about coming out with a thing calledlife Path. Life Path that's what they're

(23:06):
gonna name it, Life Path Paycheck. It's going to roll out in April.
Guess what it is. It's targetdate funds in conjunction with annuities that
guarantees payments will last as long asyou shall live. And here's the thing.

(23:42):
The messaging on annuities for years hasbeen I'd rather jump off a cliff
than buy an annuity. They're junk. I wish I never had an annuity.
I wish I never heard the wordannuity. The only reason why the
financial advisors talking about the annuity isbecause they're in a big fact paycheck.

(24:04):
That's Pinocchio tuck. Because I've beendoing it for decades, and not once
when I talked about this this morningon my morning show, not once did
I ever have anybody come to meand say to me, I wish I
never had this as part of mytoolbox. Should it be all your money,
absolutely positively not? Should it besome of your money, absolutely positively?

(24:30):
Yes. If you do not havea pension benefit. Why is that?
Because baseline income allows you to sleepat night. Baseline guaranteed income allows
you to have quality of life.Baseline income reduces stress for retirees that have

(24:52):
no pension pots. Seventy five percentof you basically say you want guarantees,
and most of you will do nothingabout it, And then when the market
corrects and you get in, youget out. Why is there six trillion

(25:15):
dollars sitting in cash right now?Why do you think that is? It's
all the smart people that are tryingto time the market that just missed major
moves, major moves in the equitymarket. So when we come back,
we're going to talk a little bitabout the dynamics of what you need to
do, especially if you need tocontrol your own destiny in retirement. The

(25:40):
headline that I just said that caughtmy attention is that we are headed for
a retirement crisis. You don't haveto head in that direction. We can
put you in a situation that therewill be no crisis. Stay tuned,
we'll be back after this break.Worried about protecting and preserving all you have

(26:03):
built health is here. Learn howto secure your future with legal and financial
planning with WGY's retirement specialist Dave Kopeckin Legal House, Lou Pierre and Aaron
Connor for a free dinner seminar inApril sixteenth at the Crown Plaza, Albany
at five thirty pm. Space islimited. Sign up at wgy dot com
or call five one eight six twoeight four two five five. That's wgy

(26:26):
dot com or call five one eightsix two eight four two five five them
don iv awhen is but I wonthem. And then again we are back

(27:03):
talking about some headlines that I sawthis week that caught my eye. Larry
finked the retirement crisis, how wehave to start thinking differently about a retirement
stuff that I've been talking about forthe last ten, fifteen, twenty years.

(27:26):
The bottom line gets down to isthat we're in a situation right now.
Most of you have defined contribution plans, and the asset managers Franklin,
Templeton, t row Price, Fidelity, Vanguard, we're all working on products

(28:00):
that are aimed at helping you futureretirees or existing retirees as far as building
out retirement income distribution plans, whichI just said that William Sharp called the
nastiest, hardest problem in retirement becauseof the fear about the US retirement system

(28:25):
and what's happening with solid security.I told you that the trustees came out
that are in charge of Social Security, and they estimated last year that would
have to start cutting benefits in twothousand and thirty three unless Congress did some

(28:49):
minor adjustments. What are the adjustments, raise the retirement age or levy more
taxes. So it's a bit crazythat the retirement age is still at sixty

(29:11):
five because that originates decades ago whenSold Security was originally started sixty for widow
benefits, early benefit at sixty two. For a lot of US, it
will be sixty six, sixty sevenfor fra full retirement age. You can

(29:32):
wait until age seventy. But thebottom line gets down to is that those
options need to change because they cannotbe supported by the dollars that are going
into the system and the dollars thathave to go out unless you raise taxes

(29:53):
substantially, substantially, So when peoplego into retirement now and then you have
all of these individuals to tell youhow great they are managing money and how

(30:15):
wonderful they are as far as beingable to absorb and handle market risk.
Most people. Most people take themoney out of the market or they go
to cash when there's a correction,and guess what, they get scared.
They move out of the market andthey miss the uptrend. So for a

(30:44):
lot of participants that now have theability to take their money and go into
retirement and control their destiny, there'sa lot of positives and there's a lot
of negatives. Theives is that moneyis yours, it's not with an insurance
company, an annuity, etc.The negative is is that you're living longer,

(31:10):
You've got the responsibility yourself and whoeveryou team up with as far as
the financial advisors, and there couldbe a possibility unless you allocate your money
to a certain type of portfolio,of possibility of running out of money.

(31:33):
So what do you do? AsI said, do you think they want
to decouple from that money? Doyou think that XYZ corporation that has been
managing your money for years wants tolet you take it out and bring it
to Xyz the advisor. They don't. They want you to keep it there.
That's why they're coming out with productsthat are incorporating investment managed and annuities

(32:02):
annuities. Many plan sponsors prefer tohave the money stay with them, as
simple as that. So I'm goingto tell you what I think you should

(32:24):
do, especially if you live herein New York State, because there's some
advantages of being here in New YorkState. If you're looking to build out
retirement income distribution plans and you wantto purchase an annuity yourself, not group

(32:45):
yourself, because annuities are complex andin some ways they can be ill liquid.
But you need to understand the prosand the cons and not hear the
word annuity and jump out of yourseat and say see you later, alligator,
because why do you think black Rockis creating life path check paycheck.

(33:19):
I don't know if annuities are thefuture for a lot of you, but
I know one thing for sure,after doing this for such a long period
of time. They don't need tobe all your money, but they need
to supplement your solid security in orderfor you to have quality of life and
what we call baseline income. We'vejust passed some legislation recently, the Secure

(33:45):
Act and Secure Act two point zero, and basically what that does is that
it impacts individuals that are currently infour oh one K programs blands must automatically
enroll participants, and some twenty statesalready have also set up to find contribution

(34:08):
plans for workers, which are what, which are what states? So there's
going to be reforms and the handwritingson the wall. America needs to understand
that we're in a whole different world, whole different territory, and you need

(34:31):
to understand that you're going to livelonger than you expect, and we want
you to live out the final yearsof your lives with what dignity and not
worry about what happened to the money. I said this this morning when I

(34:55):
had Christopher on with me. ChrisMcCarthy, one of the gentlemen that works
with me, you understand, ifyou understand the pros and cons, if
you understand the selection of the investmentsthat you're selecting and why they're designed specifically

(35:17):
for your retirement years, then youare ahead of the game. Our job
as financial advisors that act in afiduciary capacity for a clients is to act
solely in the interests of you thecustomer. The customer, But you don't

(35:44):
want to be in a situation whereyou don't understand the investments that you're in,
and you're in a situation where there'sa draw down in your portfolio and
understanding it's almost like a Rubik's cube, like what's going on here and how

(36:04):
do I solve this problem? Sothe notion of a guaranteed paycheck that you
can outlive with a portion of yourportfolio will be top of mind. You're
going to hear more of this.I've said this for years, and the
reason for that is because of thedynamics of what has happened, not only
in the corporate world, but alsowhat has happened with the what we call

(36:30):
the defined contribution plan. People wantit, people are looking for it.
They say they wish their four toone K plan had a life time income
option. Almost seventy three point sixpercent, almost seventy five percent of workers.
It's coming. You're mandating it,and I'm going to talk a little

(36:51):
bit about the options that I thinkyou should consider and why you should consider
it when I come back from thisbreak. But again, we are the
Retirement Planning Group. We now havesix locations. We have five in New
York State. We now have asatellite office in Tampa, Florida. If
anything that I'm discussing is of interestto you, we welcome the opportunity to

(37:13):
sit down with you and have achat. Whether it's face to face over
the telephone or a zoom meeting.Whatever choice you select is fine with us.
Give us a call five one eightfive eight zero one nine one nine,
or check us out on the webrpgretire dot com. It's just the

(37:34):
initials of the Retirement Planning Group rpgretiredot com. And again, like Lou
had mentioned on his show today,preserve and protect our workshop, our seminar
the dinner presentation April sixteenth, Youcan go to WGY dot com check it
out. You can register there thetelephone number five one eight six two eight

(38:00):
four two five five five eight sixtwo eight four two five five registrations at
five point thirty. Presentation will probablystart somewhere between six and six point fifteen.
You're gonna get a ton of information, folks. It's educational. There's
no alligator wrestling. We'll force youto do anything. It's an opportunity for

(38:22):
us to get face to face.I actually love doing presentations. I know
that love Lou does too. Nowwhat we're going to talk about, is
this ever changing landscape of retirement whereso much of it today is put on
our shoulders individually, where we're goingto have to basically be the captains of
our own ship and the quality oflife that we want in our pre and

(38:45):
post retirement years. I'll be rightback after this quick message. Will you
run out of money in retirement?Will your investments provide income for possibly decades?
How do you navigate the two greatestrisk in retirement? Sequence of returns
in logget at the Retirement Planning Group. Our Bucket of Money approach addresses these
concerns and we offer a complementary consultationto discuss this with you. Call our

(39:07):
office today for a free complementary consultationto develop your own personal retirement income distribution
plan at five point eight five EIDzero one nine one nine. That's five
point eight five EAT zero one nineone nine. The greatest risk in retirement
most of us have no plan for. We're insurance to cover the expense A
long term care event can impoverish aspouse, drain your life savings, and

(39:30):
cost stress and anxiety on your family. What is your plan and how will
you pay? For a long termcare event. Call the Retirement Planning Group
today. Discuss options you should considerto protect your estate and have choices and
independence. Take action Call today fiveone eight five, AID zero one nine
one nine or RPG retire on theweb. Worried about protecting and preserving all

(39:52):
you have built? Health is here. Learn how to secure your future with
legal and financial planning with wgui's retirementspecialist Dave Kopeck in Legal House, Lou
Piero and Aaron Connor for a freedinner seminar in April sixteenth at the Crown
Plaza, Albany at five thirty pm. Space is limited. Sign up at
wg Y dot com or call fiveone eight six two eight four two five

(40:14):
five. That's wg Y dot comor call five one eight six two eight
four two five five. All right, we are back. I'm Dave Copeck,

(40:59):
glad to be here. Hopefully you'reout and enjoying this absolutely beautiful day.
I know last week I'm up atmy house in Lake George, plowing,
snow, snow blowing. I aguy here today and I think I'm
in a different world party even believe, But tis the time of year.

(41:20):
I know, Monday, I'm flyingto Florida to see some clients with my
bride, my beautiful wife, andI'm going to spend a few days working
with clients, and I'm going tospend a few days with my wife,
who had a hip replacement and ison the men and she's doing fantastic.
I've had a lot of clients,prospective clients reach out to us, thank
you so much, Thank you somuch. We appreciate that. I know

(41:42):
she does. But she's doing great, and she's looking forward to June because
she's going to retire and live thegood life. Let's go to Jim and
Sarah Tuga and morning Jim, Well, good afternoon. It's not morning anywhere,
it's afternoon. Warning. Hey,good afternoon. Question about social security
and the government. Why doesn't somebodylook into UH being able to go back

(42:07):
to work after your retirement age andnot be penalized for going back to work
where the government would collect more UHmoney for social security. So you can
do that. You can do thatonce you hit full retirement age. There's
no penalty. So the thing is, yeah, you're right before that.

(42:30):
I don't know why it doesn't,To be honest with you, my good
man. It makes absolutely no sensewhatsoever. I have no idea why they
penalize you, you know. Butthe other part is too, if you're
going back to work, do youreally need do you need the income for
Social Security? I am a hugebeliever, Jim of really planning the heck

(42:53):
out of Social Security because for alot of us it's going to be the
only guaranteed pension benefit with the KOLAand for a lot of people I know,
good friends of mine, because I'min my sixties, they go out
and get it just simply because theywant it. And they, you know,
they think that something's going to happenif they don't go get it,
that they're not going to get it. But if that happens, my good

(43:16):
man, I think you'll have anarchybecause you know, let's be realistic here,
a lot of people over half,over fifty percent of the population,
you know, what they have forsavings and retirement. It's a goose egg,
nothing zero, right. I justread a statistic. I just read
a statistic this morning, Gym,which was shocking to me. Almost fifty

(43:39):
percent of the population right now,if they need it to, had an
emergency for five hundred dollars five hundreddollars. They wouldn't be able to do
it because of the circumstances five hundreddollars they don't have in savings right now.
If they had a health issue,a car issue, a nine to
one one's not five hundred bucks inthe pot. Wow, that's well,

(44:06):
that's the times we live in.You know. I did have another question
or comment. When you talk aboutseventy percent of the people want a UH
guarantee guarantee for one k, thefirst thing that came to my mind is
who's gonna who's gonna be behind thatguaranteeing that. Well, here's something you

(44:30):
just let you You just led meinto what I was going to talk about
before I took your phone call.New York State. If you buy a
New York State contract, a NewYork State annuity contract, either life insurance
or annuity. There's one feature aboutNew York State that's phenomenal. Not only
do they they are very careful whothey let do business here. Handful of

(44:52):
insurance, a handful of companies dobusiness in New York. But the positive
is is that they have thing calledthe New York State Insurance Fund. They
guarantee up to five hundred thousand dollarsguarantee for the New York State Insurance Fund
and either a life insurance and anew or a newie. Okay, so

(45:15):
what CIPIC. CIPIC is U twohundred and fifty thousand dollars, So you
know, I'll take the five hundredthousand dollars. No one has ever lost
a penny in New York State inan insurance contract, not a penny.
And just curiosity, what would whatwould that? What would that create on

(45:37):
a monthly basis? Five hundred thousandsfor a check on a monthly basis.
It's I don't know, it's it'sbased Yeah, it's based off of two
things, uh, single life orjoint life. And it's based off of
age. The older yard, themore money you're gonna the older yard,
the more money get. It's justlike we do a lot of work with

(45:58):
National Grid. I use them asan example because I know it inside and
out. They have a four toone K program. They also have a
cash balance account. The cash balanceaccount, they can either take it as
an annuity single life or joint life, or they can roll it into their
four oh one K program and basically, you know, put it into an
IRA. It just it. You'reyou're It's a great question. But what

(46:24):
I'm trying to say to you it'sspecific to the individuals and what they're trying
to create as far as either ahusband or wife or a single life.
Gotcha, gotcha? Okay, Hey, well, hey, I really appreciate
you and I enjoyed your show everyweek, so I have a great aw
Okay, brother, thank you somuch. It's a nice question. Matter

(46:45):
of fact, it's not a nicequestion. It's a great question. That's
why we like questions. Questions arealways good. I got time for one
more talk to me. G yone eight hundred eight two five fifine.
I have I guess I played theharp long enough about basically, you need
to basically care a little bit asfar as how you're designing your retirement income

(47:09):
distribution plan. You also need tounderstand is that there's many many more options
available to you today than there werein the future or in the past.
It'll be more in the future,and I would almost guarantee that to you
also that there will be more inthe future because of the Boomer generation eleven

(47:32):
thousand, two hundred people retire everyday at age sixty five. Today a
let return sixty five eleven tho twohundred people right now every day. People
need what guaranteed income. People needlifetime income benefits. When I say that

(47:54):
these products are designed differently, Iuse the analogy of the Honda car.
When I first saw the Honda car, wasn't any bigger than an accordion.
Now my daughter drives a Honda Accord. We bought like five or six of
them. That's the difference. That'sthe analogy that I would use for annuities.

(48:15):
They have changed so much just inthe last four or five ten years.
They're designed for the boomers who needwhat income benefits. Let's go to
Laura or good afternoon. I keepon saying, good morning, good afternoon,
Laura. Hi, can you hearme? Okay, I can hear
you? A great, excellent Acouple of things. You mentioned that the

(48:37):
way out of I'm still talking aboutsocial Security. I'm sixty two. It's
a big deal for me. Youmentioned a couple of ways to get out
of the crisis, or to avoidthe crisis, and one of them was
to raise the retirement age. I'mnot saying this is your suggestion that these
were the options you shared, raisethe retirement age or reduce the amount paid.

(49:00):
Have I got that right? Yeah, okay, it's what I have.
Also it's rasy age or the secondone was to reduce the benefit under
the current under the current structure,don't don't got it, leave it alone.
But it's unsustainable. And if it'sunsustainable, that means it's going to

(49:21):
go broke. That means you gotto pay out less rather than keeping it
the same good good good. Soso my questions are really to fact check
what I read, because you know, you can read something one place and
read it another place, and andwho knows what is right? I like
you guys, so I think I'llget a good answer. Why are we

(49:42):
not asking uh for the for thethere's a cap right for higher salaries for
us for wealthier individuals. Why arewe not adjusting that? That's that's one
thing and the or the other.Is Is it true that the government occation
he wants to make put out arating party on social security and that that

(50:02):
affects us as well? Well,here's my answer to your questions. All
of them are yes, they don'twant to do it because politically they get
kicked in the tail. And Iagree one hundred percent there should be no
cap zero zero cap and the contributionsto Social Security. I don't know why

(50:25):
there's minor changes that they can makein order to satisfy what's going to be
necessary in order for individuals, becauseyou and I both know I come from
hardworking, hard working savers. Myfamily well, I come from a farming
background. So the bottom line getsdown to is that that's a seven day

(50:46):
a week job and it doesn't paya whole heck of a lot of money.
But the bottom line gets down tois that these are things that can
be changed easily. They just don'thave the political spine to do it in
Washington, in my opinion, right, in my opinion, No, no,
yeah, I agree. And it'sbizarre to me because we are all

(51:06):
going to get old. The alternativewould be very sad. We all are
going to get there. So unlessyou happen to have either benefited from inherited
wealth or like you said, yourparents were able to save because it was
a different time. My father wasa laborer. He never made more than
fourteen dollars an hour in his life. They had a two flat hoouse,

(51:28):
in a nice neighborhood in Chicago,the station wagon four kids. My mother
didn't work. You cannot do thatnow. So it's a different reality for
emerging seniors. And it's a wholeother planet for our children. Good God,
my kids have no paid time,they have great jobs, no paid
time off to nothing. I agreewith you one hundred percent, My dear
God, bless you. I haveto go to a hard break. Listen.

(51:51):
You have a wonderful, wonderful holiday, Happy Easter. God bless everybody
we have to go today. Thankyou, Lure and also everybody else that
today. God bless you all havea wonderful, wonderful holiday. We'll see
you next week. Thank you forlistening to Retirement Ready, hosted by Dave
Kopek, w g wise retirement planningspecialist. If you'd like to talk with

(52:13):
Dave or someone of the Retirement PlanningGroup, call five one e five eight
zero one nine nine. That's fivetwenty five eight zero one nine one nine
during business hours, or visit rpgretiredot com. The Retirement Planning Group has
five convenient offices located in Albany,Malta, Glens Falls, Syracuse, and

(52:35):
Oneana Tune in again next week forretirement planning Strategies with Dave Kopek right here
on WG wise Retirement Ready. Theinformation or services discussed on this show is
for informational purposes only and is notintended to be personal financial advice. The
investments and services offered by US maynot be suitable for all investors. If

(52:55):
you have any doubts as to themerits of an investment, you should seek
advice from a dependent financial advisor.