Retirement Ready

September 20th, 2025.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
All right, good afternoon everyone. I'm Dave Kopek. Good to
be here. We're live, believe it or not, in this
absolutely beautiful September twentieth afternoon. So if I stimulate your
desire to have a chat about anything, you can call
the studio at one eight hundred talk to BGI. I'll

(00:33):
try to answer it, or I'll try to point you
in the right direction. We had a great show this
morning from seven to nine. It's the Retirement Planning Show.
We had two guests. Juriello is I have to talk
a little bit about the interest rate environment, what's going
on with the Fed, And of course we had Terry
ann On who is a specialist in healthcare, and it

(00:57):
was kind of alarming what she said to us today
as far as what's happening with the cost of health
care and what is going to happen in the year
twenty and twenty six. The increases will be substantial, much
more than what you would want. I think she said
somewhere between twenty to thirty percent increase in premiums. So

(01:20):
the bottom line is is that this is a topic
specific program. It's Retirement Ready. We try to talk about
one topic in detail, for the hour, and today we're
talking about healthcare. It's probably the one leg of the
retirement planning stool that a lot of people are not

(01:42):
focusing in on. Well, it's the stool that possibly can
tip over and break if you're not addressing it, because
the cost of healthcare today, folks, is just astronomical, astronomical.
Fidelity just came out with a report that basically said

(02:03):
that you're going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
in your retirement years of audit pocket medical expenses, especially
if you need home care, assistant living or long term care,
and the high deductibles that you're going to have to pay.
So you know, I'm not trying to scare anybody, but
the reality is that this is something that is not

(02:26):
only sticker shocked for future retirees, it's sticker shocked for
us as financial advisors. We just had individuals that came in,
husband and wife. They want to retire a little bit
earlier than what they expected, sixty two years of age,
and they're going to spend ballpark nineteen hundred dollars a

(02:51):
month out of pocket until they get to Medicare, which
is about three years. And it looks like even then
they're going to have a substantial amount of money out
of pocket for healthcare expense. So if you're not talking
about this, or if you're not sitting down with your
financial team, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. So today

(03:11):
we're going to talk a little bit about your retirement,
your well being. We're going to focus in on healthcare.
We're going to focus in on long term care in
the later part of the Today's show. That's the topic
that no one wants to talk about. But that's okay,
that's okay. I've almost got into fistfights in my conference
room with individuals that didn't want to talk about long

(03:31):
term care. But it's something that we mandate. We make
it mandatory that we have to talk about it because
for some of you, you might have been great savers,
But right now in the Capital District region, long term
care facility is about two hundred thousand dollars a year.
So where is that money going to come from. We're

(03:53):
going to talk a little bit about HSA's how they're
great for accumulators, but also how they're great during your
retirement years. There are high deductible plans in your retirement years.
We're going to have a presentation in the very near future.
In October. We're scheduled to get Now, we're going to
have my good friend tearing Anne Montagne for a Marshall

(04:17):
and Sterling. She's a healthcare specialist as far as options
that are available to and we'll probably have it somewhere
in the Clifton Park area because it's so convenient for
everybody in the Capitol District region to go there. We'll
find a room, we'll have some beverages and maybe some snacks.
But the bottom line gets down to is that you
really really really need to discuss this. But first and foremost,

(04:40):
as I said, I'm live. If you have any questions,
you can call one eight hundred talk WGY anything I'm
talking about. Here's a little housekeeping. We're having our fifteenth
annual Swim for a Cure Golf tournament. It's going to
be this week on the twenty fifth. Registrations of eight
to fifteen. It's a shotgun start at nine to fifteen
and it's at the Fairways a half Moon golf Course

(05:01):
September twenty fifth, which is Thursday. If you would like
to attend, all donations, all donations will go to the
Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the American Cancer Society one percent.
And again, if you would like to attend, it's a
great day. Unbelievable prizes. You can win a car, win

(05:25):
a jacuzzi tub. I mean, there's just a bunch of
stuff that we have available to this year. Our strategic
partners and a lot of our clients and participants that
have done this for the last fifteen years have really
stepped up this year. So if you would like to participate,
Fairways a half Moon seventeen Johnson Road that's in half Moon,

(05:46):
you can call Jim at my office and say I
heard Dave on the radio. We would like to attend
the Swing for a Cure. Our telephone number is eighty
eight five eight zero nine one nine. As again, as
I said, all nations we'll be going to the American
Cancer Society and the Tumulton Towers Foundation. So on, behalf

(06:08):
of you, our generous clients, our listeners. You know, it's
a great day. We really look forward to it. When
I say that, I'm getting into a topic that is
causing us a lot of high anxiety. Uh. Terry was

(06:28):
on my show earlier this morning and she said that
retirees over the next year or two should be looking
at somewhere around two thousand dollars a month to pay
for health care. Now, there's other plans available depending on
your income, but for someone that's done well and someone

(06:52):
that has accumulated money, one of your biggest expenses in
retirement is not necessarily going to be housing. It's going
to be healthcare. And I can tell you right now
if you're not discussing it, and if you're not sitting
down with somebody to have a plan, you could end
up in really deep weeds. So we'll talk about this
briefly as far as what are the reasons for the

(07:14):
explosion and healthcare costs. You know, we're all quite well
aware the boomers are coming through eleven two hundred boomers
turn the age of sixty five every single day. That's
going to happen for the next few years. And as
the population grows, of course, there is going to be
more stress, and there's going to be more adults out there.

(07:37):
They're going to have chronic conditions, and that's going to
drive up medicare and private insurance spending, which ultimately means
there is going to be increase in premiums. So if
you're looking, if you're fortunate enough, if God has blessed
you that you have an employer, the school district, the

(07:57):
state of New York operation that you work for that
picks up your medical expenses. Let me tell you, folks,
you're way ahead of your peers, big time, big time.
But what we're trying to do is to get some
transparency here and what makes sense as far as healthcare,
the type of plans that are out there, and the

(08:19):
reason why this is happening. Why is there so much
going on in regards to the increase in health care expenses.
So let's start in the front end. A lot of
people don't realize that there are high deductible plans through
your employer that you can participate in. But that also

(08:41):
gives you the ability to fund HSA accounts health savings accounts,
and they are great for saving The problem is the
problem is a lot of individuals have not educated themselves
on these plans and why they're not only advantageous during
your accumulation years, by why they're extremely advantageous as you retire. Okay,

(09:10):
so as workers across the country sit down and look
at their employee benefit selections, and then of course in
October Medicare you have open enrollment. You've got to sit
down with someone that is competent, that understands health insurance plans,
and you've got to understand which ones are going to
be best utilized for you, your family, and your loved ones.

(09:34):
So that's what we're talking about today, this unbelievable expense
that we have today for healthcare and long term care.
I'm Dave Kopek. You are listening to retirement, You're ready.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Retirement might feel far off, or maybe it's just around
the corner. Either way, it's never too early to start planning.
The experienced team at Retirement Planning it makes the process simple,
straightforward and all about you. No pressure, just smart advice
to help you feel confident about what's next. Visit rpgretire
dot com or give them a call at eight eight

(10:12):
eight five eight zero nineteen nineteen to schedule your consultation today.
That's RPG retired dot com. Your future self, Well, thank you.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Your retirement future. Are you dreaming of a comfortable, financially
secure retirement. It's closer than you think. The best time
to start planning was yesterday. The second best time is now.
Even small, consistent contributions make a huge difference over time
thanks to the power of compound. Don't let your retirement
dreams just remain dreams. Start setting up your goals today.

(10:41):
Take control of your future. Call eighty eight fight eight
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zero nine one nine for a free consultation.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Allie Dwyer and her three sons lost their hero, Stephen.
Serving our country in the United States Army was Stephen's
calling and flying helicopters was his passion. Stephen was killed
in a black Hawk helicopter crash over the Mediterranean Sea.
Thanks to friends like you, Tunnel to Towers provided his
family with a mortgage free home, giving them security and
hope in their darkest hours. Help more families like the Dwiers.

(11:14):
Donate eleven dollars a month to Tunnel to Towers at
T two t dot org. That's t the number two
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Speaker 1 (11:22):
Retirement isn't a Sunday thing, It's a now thing. Whether
you're just starting out or nearing the finish line, the
best time to build your retirement plan is today. Don't
wait for the right moment Let's create a plan that
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comes with it. Call my office today and take action

(11:42):
eighty eight eight five EID zero one nine one nine.
That's eighty eight five EID zero one nine nine and
your future will thank you. All Right, we are back
on A. Kopek, the president of the Retirement Planning Group.

(12:03):
This is retirement Ready. We're talking about healthcare sticker shock
for a lot of people. When I say sticker shock,
it's an unbelievable sticker shock today, especially for individuals that
have had their employer paying for most of their expense
for health care. So you know, I'm going to focus

(12:25):
in on the younger people right now because I almost
mandate I bang them in the head at the Retirement
Planning Group, the younger employees to take the high deductible
plan and fund an HSA account. So why do I
do that Because I, personally myself, the guy that's been

(12:47):
doing this now for almost forty four years, I believe
that it's probably the best kept secret. And you can
say for your medical expenses not only during your accumulation years,
but it is a phenomenal financial cushion for you for
the future. Right now, Fidelity says a healthy sixty five

(13:11):
year old couple that's going into retirement is going to
need around three hundred and sixteen thousand dollars as far
as out of pocket expenses for healthcare, and that does
not include the cost of long term care. So hsas

(13:31):
not only during your accumulation years, but also during your
retirement years is basically an emergency nine to one one portfolio.
Right money contributed to an HSA avoids federal income tax.
You get all the gains, you get all the income
off of it as long as it's qualified medical expense

(13:53):
and guess what, it's tax free, So your HSA savings
can grow and basically allow you to buffer the financial
blow that you're going to have when you have an
emergency expense such as a health issue. Now, a lot
of individuals that are young have elected not to even

(14:15):
look at this because of the cost. They say, you know,
I need the money, I got to do this, I
got to do that. But I can tell you right now,
depending on the HSA plan that you pick, and also
the high deductible plan you picked, you're going to find
out that I think you're going to be much better
off than you anticipate not only for your accumulation years

(14:36):
medical expenses, but also for your expenses during your retirement years.
Funds in the HSA can be invested a lot of
different ways. We have HSA accounts through Fidelity, and as
I said, the money grows on a tax free basis, right,
and you basically you can use that benefit, that pool

(14:58):
of money in order for you to pay for qualified
medical expenses. Right, employers can match your contributions, which means
for every dollar you add they will to match, hopefully
dollar for dollar to a certain limit. And then some
employers may have to contribute a lump sum to your HSA,

(15:19):
often at the beginning of the year. So you're not
tied to the HSA through your employer, so you can
shop it around, you compare different options, and guess what,
when you leave, the HSA goes with you. Right, it's
not something. If you don't use it, you lose it.
So hsas offer a cushion when you change jobs. Also,

(15:43):
so potential medical expenses can be especially scary, right, I mean,
you freak out a little bit when you think about
what the cost of care is. When you have to
go to a hospital, you have to have surgery, et cetera.
So if you have an HSA which is portable, right,
you can take it with you, so you're not going
to lose those assets. So I'm over emphasizing this to

(16:07):
individuals that are out there right now that are listening
to this that are a little bit younger than in
your twenties and thirties and forties and even in your fifties.
If you have a high deductible health insurance plan through
your employer, you've got to start looking at funding an
HSA account. Okay, if you want more information on this,

(16:27):
we have tons of literature that has provided to us
through Fidelity. Okay, they give you all the specifics in
the details as far as how, when, where, why with HSA's.
But as I said at the beginning of today's show,
healthcare costs have risen folks dramatically. I had a good

(16:51):
friend of mine and his partner David Welke Fred Schaefer,
and they used to own well they still do. Fred
still owns it, but David has passed away. Wilkie In Associates,
which is a consulting firm for health care benefits, and
I was astonished a few years ago they told me
that this train was coming down the track as far

(17:14):
as the increase that we would see in healthcare expenses,
and I just didn't believe it. I didn't think it
was possible. But right now, if you're paying your premium
out of pocket for your healthcare, you know, or out
of your check through your employer, how expensive it is
in order for you to facilitate having adequate amounts of

(17:38):
medical coverage, especially if you get into a nine to
one to one situation. Right, healthcare spending in the US
in two thousand and seventeen was ballpark about three and
a half trillion dollars, or about eleven thousand dollars per person.
By two thousand and twenty seven, which is not that

(18:00):
far away, it's expected to climb to six trillion dollars,
roughly seventeen thousand dollars per person. That's why you're hearing
this all over the news. Whether you're a Democrat or
a Republican, I don't have to tell you that. There's
all sorts of debate going on right now is why

(18:22):
are we so sick as a nation? Where does this
money go? Why is our system so broken? Well, here's
eleven categories which I didn't know until I researched this
the other day. As far as where is our money going,

(18:44):
thirty two point seven percent of this trillions of dollars
is going to hospital here, fifteen point six is going
to the physicians, personal healthcare quest another fifteen percent, prescription
drugs nine and a half percent, nursing care facilities four

(19:09):
and eight four point eight percent, clinical services four point eight,
home healthcare two point eight, government public health activities two
and a half, in government administration one point three percent.
But this whole thing, as far as what do study
found out as far as health care increases over time,

(19:31):
we have an aging population, the boomers, which we talk
about all the time. Eleven thy two hundred of us
currently turn the age of sixty five. Every day population growth,
we have a lot of people that are coming into
this country that are not paying for the services, that
are automatically being on government assisted plans, which is driving

(19:55):
up the cost. Disease incidents is increasing. It's not decreasing service.
The price of service, benefits that are associated with the
individuals that are giving us the care that we're looking
for and the service, including the rising cost which we

(20:19):
hear all the time, of prescription drugs made up more
than fifty percent of the increase service and prescription drugs,
So we are a population that's aging. Therefore, it's not
surprising that fifty percent of the increase in healthcare spending
comes from increased cost for services, especially for in home

(20:43):
and hospital care. And it's not a shock that to
the highest factors when it comes to increased health care
is that the population growth twenty three percent, and twelve
percent of that is because of individuals that are aging
over the age of sixty five, so we're having a
older population. We have a population set is demanding more services,

(21:08):
and when you look at the services that we're looking at,
it's kind of shocking of what conditions and where all
the money's going. Lower back and neck pain fifty seven
point two billion, high blood pressure forty six billion, high
cholesterol forty two billion, depression thirty one billion, urine aaria

(21:32):
diseases thirty billion, osteoporosis thirty billion, blood stream infections twenty
six billion, over and over. I can go through this
whole list, which I'm not going to worry you. So
we have higher out of pocket expenses for us, we
have healthcare premiums that are going through the roof demand

(21:56):
for medical services, especially Medicaid and Medicare, they can't fill
the seats. There's not enough people. I mean, some of
these facilities are screaming. And then I don't have to
tell you Americans right now today are paying more out
of pocket expenses than they've ever done before. Americans today

(22:20):
are paying more out of pocket expenses. So the shift
of the high deductible HSA plans right that impose the
out of pocket expenses right maximum sixteen four hundred per family,
You're going to see more and more individuals that are
going to have to do this because they're not going
to be able to afford the premiums on a month

(22:42):
to month basis in order to have health care. So
the bottom line is this, there's a lot of factors
that are contributing to the rising health care costs. The
question is are you properly prepared for this? Do you
understand the plans that you have. Some of the solutions

(23:04):
out there are not only high deductibles, but also you
can be up to twenty percent out of pocket for
the expense of care. Doesn't take too long when you're
in a hospital to have thousands and thousands and thousands
of dollars of obligations that you're responsible for. And finally,
this is the big thing that we're starting to see

(23:26):
more and more of a lot of individuals are putting
themselves in a position where they're going to have to
either pay for health care or have food and taxes.
Which one do I come because we're getting squeezed. And
when you start thinking about a bill anywhere from fifteen

(23:47):
hundred to two thousand dollars a month when you might
have sixty to seventy thousand dollars of income coming in
your home during your retirement years, you basically if you've
paid off your mortgage, you haven't paid it off because
now you have another mortgage and it's called the cost

(24:07):
of healthcare. So we're going to go through some ideas
and concepts when we come back on how you can
have a healthy lifestyle you can basically protect yourself from this.
But the bottom line gets down to you need to
start thinking about this because when I say that this
is a nine to one one for a lot of people,
it's an understatement. So again, we offer a complimentary consultation.

(24:32):
We work with a group that is extremely extremely versed
in this. Give us a call five eight zero one
nine nine. That's our office. If you want to sit
down and have a chat. I'll be back after the news. Right,

(25:03):
we are back. Good to be here. I'm Dave Kopek,
and we're talking about healthcare retirement and if you're not prepared, folks,
I'm telling you right now, this can wipe you out.
We had a woman called today.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
On our.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Seven to nine program and she talked about her battle
with cancer and how some of the options that are
available to her were not covered by her insurance company
and she had out of pocket expenses of excess of

(25:51):
three hundred thousand dollars because she wanted to go to
Boston for this particular daughter daughter doctor that was not
covered by her plan. So, as I said, we're going
to start having workshops starting in October on this because

(26:13):
I think it's critical for future retirees to understand not
only is it important for you to have accumulated enough
money in your lifetime for quality of life and the
things that you want to do and your go go years,
your slow go years, but you want to make sure
that you have adequate amounts of coverage monies that are

(26:35):
set aside for your no go years and oh no years,
Oh no, I'm sick of ill. And now I've got
to really start spending the money aggressively. And I can
tell you this for people that have I rais, I
keep on saying this. I had a long chat with
a doctor and his wife the other day. They're in

(26:57):
my office. New clients of ours the phone with the attorney,
their attorney. And there is such a misconception out there
that I rais are protected from a long term care
event as long as you put them into periodic payment.

(27:17):
Now hear me out, that could very well be the
actual case. If you have adequate amounts of resources to
pay the bill, you're going to have to take it
out anyway. Rm ds are r and ds, and they're
going to have to come out. Here's the gidea. I

(27:40):
wish I could say to you that every one of
our clients are multi multi millionaires, but the bulk of
our clients, sixty to seventy percent of our clients are
people that have probably somewhere between a half a million
and one point five million dollars of assets. With the
retirement planning group, what I call consistently the hard working savers.

(28:01):
They work for National Grid, they work for GE, they
work for you know, Bimbo Bakeries. You can go through
the whole laundry list of a lot of these businesses
and organizations that we work for. But the bottom line
gets down to is that if you have large amounts
of money qualified assets iras being one in particular that

(28:24):
we'll focus in on, the government forces you to liquidate
that money at age seventy three now in order to
satisfy required venum distributions. Most of our clients, most of
our clients are already taking adequate amounts of distributions simply
because the IRA is really they're pension. The IRA is

(28:47):
they're pension. So if the IRA is your pension, that
means you're probably taking more than the R and D
off the portfolio in order to satisfy your income require.
Now here's a real case scenario. Mister Saratoga, that's where

(29:08):
they're from. Mister Saratoga and missus Saratoga had a great life,
lived next to one of the golf courses up there.
He had a good good savings, probably would have had
a hell of a lot more if he had worked
a little bit longer, and he was probably you know,
a little bit younger, but he didn't and so he had,

(29:33):
you know, almost a million dollars of assets. Mister got
sick and that pool of money. The wife was the
most important part of the family. Had a large family,
a lot of kids, and she did the hard job.

(29:55):
She was the mom, the stay home at mom, took
care of the kids, to care of the house, did
all the things that needed to get done. He was
the breadwinner. So what happens. What happens when you have
an IRA that's specifically in one person's name. So they
had a lot of equity in their home and they

(30:17):
had this fairly large IRA account, almost a million dollars
right they did the trust, the irrevocable trust for the home.
Didn't have a lot of non qualified assets because most
of their wealth was what in the IRA, so it
was in a pension. He had a health issues. He

(30:39):
has a health issue. You get a hold of the attorney.
It wasn't an attorney that we were close with. It
was an attorney that worked with them in the southern
tier of the state when they moved before they moved
up to Saratoga, when they established documents and We called
and said, hey, listen, you know we got a problem here.
We've got mister Sarah Toga needs to go into a

(31:01):
nursing home, and I know that we're gonna have to,
you know, give all the financial information, et cetera in
order for him to qualify for medicaid, because that's what
you're trying to do. Right, If you do an irrevoltable trust,
what are you trying to do. You're trying to impoverish
yourself and you're trying to get all the government benefits

(31:22):
that you can receive. Right, you want to use their money,
not your money. Well, here's what's going on in that, folks.
He calls us back and say, okay, you're going to
get a form. We got the form and it said
you're now going to take instead of six.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Thousand dollars a month off the portfolio, you're going to
have to take This is just a guessing right now,
like twelve or thirteen thousand dollars a month off the
portfolio for them for that that's what they're looking for.
Because what they're doing now is they're not using periodic payments.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
They're using chart that's provided to you by the county
that basically says, now you're gonna have to take money
based off of life expectancy, not based off of periodic payments.
And this is how much we're looking for off the IRA.
So if it was twelve thousand dollars, then he was

(32:23):
taken six's twice as much. But they want to twelve.
They don't want the twelve and then, you know, don't
worry about the taxes. It's they want twelve. So you're
gonna have to take fifteen or sixteen off in order
to net twelve. Right, you do that for a few years,

(32:43):
it doesn't take too long before there's a major concern
will there be enough money in the pot in order
to have quality of life for his wife, who was healthy,
really didn't have a lot of health issues and she's
still doing fine. So if you think your IRA is

(33:07):
protected from a medicaid spend down. And I asked this
specifically with the husband and wife that were with me
the other day inside the conference room with their attorney,
and I said, you do understand this is what's happening
now in counties throughout the Capital District region and she goes, yes,

(33:27):
you're one hundred percent right. So my question to you is,
if you are going to state in New York State
as your primary permanent resident and you have a whole
hell of a lot of money in iras, you haven't

(33:49):
bought long term care, you don't have a lot of
non qualified money. What's your plan? What's your plan? Because
I think a lot of you think that your IRA
is protected and the attorney will say to me, maybe

(34:14):
depends on how long they're in the long term care
facility for it. Well, that's not really a good plan,
is it. We had a husband and wife, the daughter
of the woman that was in the long term care
facility a few months ago in our office that was

(34:36):
crying our eyes out because they had exhausted the benefits
of the policy that they had long term care policy,
and now the long term care facility in the county
was basically saying, now even though you had that policy,
now you have to aggressively spend down your mother's IRA.

(35:00):
So if you have a New York State partnership policy
that technically gives you total asset protection, they're going to
go after income. Right, they won't go after assets. The
question becomes, what do they mean they're going to go
after income? What are they going to make you do
with that IRA? How are you going to have to
spend that IRA down in order to qualify for that

(35:23):
Medicaid bet. If you don't know that answer, you better
figure it out. You better figure it out. And I'm
not trying to scare you, but the reality is is
that the free ride, folks, is over. These counties. Municipalities

(35:44):
can no longer absorb the cost of individuals hiding assets
into an irrevocable Medicaid trust and having the government pay
for their care when there's one hundreds of thousands of dollars,
if not millions of dollars in these trusts because basically
there's no incidents of ownership, and they technically what they've

(36:06):
tried to do is basically impoverish themselves because the benefit
is based off of income income, So the burden of
long term care cost is only is only a part
of this whole thing with quality of life in your

(36:29):
retirement years as far as medical expenses, what's your strategy
how many options have you talked about as far as
your retirement planning to help mitigate not only the cost
of traditional healthcare insurance, but what's your strategy for long

(36:52):
term care costs, fly by the seat of your pants
and keep your fingers crossed. Probably idea. I'm Dave Copeck
renod back after this break. You're listening to Retirement Ready,
so we can be of assistance. Give my office a call.
We'll give a couple seconds.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
The biggest mistake in retirement planning waiting too long. The
sooner you start, the more options and peace of mind
you'll have. Dave Kopek and the Retirement Planning Group are
here to help you build a smart plan that grows
with you. Whether you're five years out or just getting serious,
now is the time. Don't put it off. Visit rpgretire

(37:36):
dot com or call eight eight eight five eight zero
nineteen nineteen to schedule your consultation today. Start early, retire better.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Attention future retirees. A financial threat is putting your retirement
at risk. The cost of long term care can be
well over one hundred thousand dollars a year fidelities. Recent
studies suggest retirees could need hundreds of thousands of dollars
US to cover medical expenses in retirement. You need to
address this risk now. To be prepared, call my office

(38:06):
to fight out your options. Call eighty eight five eight
zero one nine one nine eighty eight five eight zero
one nine one nine for a complementary consultation.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Born on America's darkest day of nine to eleven, the
Tunnel to Towers Foundation has been helping America's heroes ever since.
People who put their lives on the line for our
country and our communities need your help now more than ever.
Join Tunnel to Towers on its mission to do good
in their honor. Never forget nine to eleven or the
sacrifices of this country's heroes and their families. Show your support.

(38:38):
Donate eleven dollars a month at T two T dot org.
That's T the number two T dot org.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Are you ready for retirement or just hoping it works out?
Don't leave your future to chance. At the Retirement Planning Group,
we hope you create a personalized retirement plan so you
can relax knowing you are prepared. Take action today called
eight eight eight five eight zero one nine nine. That's
eighty eight five eight zero one nine one nine, or
visit us at our website rpgretire dot com to schedule

(39:09):
your complementary consultation. Your future will say thank you.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Portions of the following program will be recorded.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
All right, we are back. It's a beautiful day outside.
Hopefully you're enjoying this absolutely gorgeous day at twelve forty
seven on September twentieth. You know, I used to get

(39:49):
a chuckle every once in a while. Friends of mine
that I worked with in the investment banking business used
to call and chuckle because they would see that I
was doing some seminars or workshop long term care planning,

(40:10):
and I'd get the ras, you know, what are you doing.
You're walking around with the leisure suit, you got the
white shoes and the white belt and all that nonsense.
It was a chuckle. But the bottom line is, folks,
I can tell you right now, what is your plan
for a long term care event? Most of you that

(40:35):
are listening to this today have either changed the station
or you don't have them, or you think you've got
a plan that's basically protecting your assets, it doesn't necessarily
protect them. Now here's the thing that you need to
understand that's probably the most critical. Your zip code dictates

(40:55):
how you do your estate planning. Your zip code dictates
how you do your estate and asset protection planning. Because
every state is different as far as how they protect
assets from a medicaid event. What assets do they protect?
Some states protect the IRA, some don't. Some assets are

(41:18):
protected their home, some don't. So while there's a lot
of professionals out there that talk to you about long
term care costs, right, the reality is is that most
of you just pooh pooh it and it blows over

(41:40):
your head and goes in one ear and out the
other ear. Right. But if I said to you today,
mister Apple, yes, David, you're a healthy sixty five year
old male, and so is it your wife? Yes? What
would you do if I said to you that both
of you right now have a seven percent chance of

(42:01):
needing long term care before you pass away, and you
should do something about it in order to protect yourself.
You'd probably say, yeah, you're probably right now. The question
is how do you do it? And then you say, well,
you might have to buy a long term care policy. Well,

(42:24):
I don't want to do that. You might want to
do a long term care, you know, a hybrid life
insurance with long term care. I might not want to
do that. So what you're basically saying to me is
that you don't want to have a safety net. You're
willing to absorb the costs and sometimes sacrifice all this

(42:45):
hard earned money that you've worked for because you're not
willing to take a little bit of dividend or interest
off the portfolio in order to plan for your greatest
risk in your retirement years. And that's a healthcare or
a long term care risk. No, I'm not saying that.
But what are you saying to me? Then this is

(43:09):
what I'll say to you. There's a lot of options
out there, right, many options where there's certain things in
retirement income planning that can mitigate, mitigate, maybe not mitigate
long term care request. How big of a bumper do
you want? A big bumper, small bumper, medium bumper? Okay,

(43:32):
insurance is one of the options. One, Changing zip codes, moving,
relocating is another option. Hybrid policies life insurance, care policies
with long term care writers. If you don't use it,
you don't lose it. There's a death benefit for your

(43:53):
loved ones. And what I talked about in the beginning
of today's show, health savings accounts right, phenomenal high deductible
plans hsas can be funded right throughout your working years.
I tell every young person I meet with, get a

(44:14):
high deductible plan and start funding an HSA account, because
you're going to think that this old guy that's talking
to you right now is out of his mind. But
I'm telling you the next twenty or thirty years, you're
going to thank me dealing with long term care costs, right,

(44:39):
it's not fun, but you've got to have a solution.
Some of you basically fund your long term care if
you're fortunate to have a pension, you have Social Security
savings IRA, or or you buy a bumper what do

(45:00):
you mean a bumper? You want to transfer some of
the risks of that long term care. In either case,
it's your decision. It's not ours, it's not my decision.
But I think that if you're going to do a
retirement plan, the one of the greatest risks to you

(45:20):
is health healthcare cost and long term care planning. Doesn't
seem to make a whole hell of a lot of
sense to do a plan without basically focusing on that
a little bit. And whilst you won't do it, you
talk about OROI how great mister and missus Jones is
as far as managing money, you know, all the Pinocchio's
They do all this stuff until all hell breaks loose,

(45:44):
and then you say, oh Jesus, we should have probably
talked about this, We should have done something. I didn't
realize that they could go after my ir right, yep,
they can. They can't. They can go after your I right,
depending on where you live, and you need to make
you make sure you understand why it's important to have
the structure set up, especially if you're both ill. If

(46:05):
there's a big amount of money allocated in mister Saratoga's
account and Missus Saratoga now is going to need health
care he dies, you don't want the money to go
to Missus Saratoga. You want the money to be disclaimed
to go to the kids. And then the money's going
to go there is a legacy, there is a transfer
of wealth, and she will qualify for medicaid assistance rapidly.

(46:26):
These choices, having a sense of control over your assets
and your planning, being proactive rather than passive, it's not
only going to help you, but it's going to take
the emotional toll away from your kids. Basically, most of
you are going to leave this on the kids lamps.
And that's when I say that you're doing a big
disservice to your kids. That's an understatement. So let's highlight

(46:52):
a little bit. Okay, why is it important today for
health care costs? Why is it important today to plan
for long term care, home care, assisted living? Right? Because
I could tell you, even with the best retirement plan,
basically put and buttoned up, you can jeopardize everything by

(47:14):
making a mistake. My mother in law, God rest her soul.
Her bed was one thousand dollars a day, thousand dollars
a day because she was in a trick bed. If
my father in law didn't have Julie and myself working

(47:34):
with him, he would have had a nervous breakdown, no
doubt in my mind, because of the stress. So this
panacea that everybody thinks that you put your assets into
a trust and all of these different things go away.
Maybe depending on the zip code, Depending on the zip code,

(47:58):
where are you going to live in retirement? A lot
of our clients some live here, some live in Florida,
some live in Tennessee, some of them live in the Carolinas.
We have clients in twenty eight states now. But it's
important for us to understand exactly especially for people that
are over the age of sixty five that might need
some type of long term care or some type of assistance,

(48:20):
what they need to do in order to have some
type of protection on their estate, if it's important. Some
people say, hey, listen, Dave, I've busted my tip. My
wife and I if we have to pay for it,
we have to pay for it. Our kids are fine,
that's fine, I don't mind. But you just don't want
to put your wife or your husband in a situation
where you're impoverishing them. You're putting them in a difficult

(48:42):
spot because you're spending assets that you didn't necessarily. Now,
there's certain requirements, there's certain things that are you know,
income requirements, and there's certain assets that are retained by
the community spouse. You need to know those folks. And
as we're quite well aware and on this, you know,
there's all sorts of advertisement now for women. Everybody wants

(49:03):
to deal with the women, right. Why is that? Because
most of the wealth will be transferred to the women
over the next ten to fifteen to twenty years, because
the women live longer than the men. But long term
care coust hit women hard, right, Why does it hit
them hard because commonly the women are the caregivers for

(49:24):
their husband. They lose some earnings, they have healthcare issues,
they go through stress, they have disruptions in their lives.
It's not a fun trip. Not a fun trip. So,
as I said, we are now going to have workshops
starting in October on healthcare and long term care issues

(49:48):
during your retirement years. We're going to do that with
a good friend of ours who've been working with Marshall
and Stirling Carry in Montayne, and we look forward to
working with her. She knows it inside and out. We don't,
but with her expertise and experience, we believe that we
can address one of the most important things for you

(50:11):
to consider in retirement, and that's health care and long
term care cost. So hopefully you found this informative and educational.
God bless you all. If you want to come to
our golf outing eight eight, eight, five and zero nine
one nine September twenty fifth, God bless you all, and
I'll see you next week for another retirement Ready