RJS 7-26-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning to all. Craig Shillig here and this is

(00:02):
Safe Money. I'm here every Saturday to talk with our
listeners about financial strategies we use to manage and protect
the assets safely. I've been in an insurance agent for
over twenty four years. During that time, I've learned a
few insurance strategies like using annuities is safe, safe money harbors,
or using cash value life insurance to supplement our retirement income.

(00:28):
Just a reminder, you can call my office at five
six three three three two two two zero zero if
you'd like to enroll into one of my virtual Medicare
community meetings I give two every month via zoom, or
you can email me at Craig at Craigshilig dot com
and that's my name, c r Aig at cr AI

(00:52):
G S c h I L l I G dot com.
Today I want to talk to you about the certainty
of annuities. And then I have a very special guest
and we're going to discuss the thirty first annual run
with Carl. That's kind that's coming up this Labor Day, Monday,

(01:14):
September one. This is kind of appropriate since this is
big Saturday. I hope you guys enjoyed the race. So
let's talk about annuities first. How about five annuity myths debunked.
Myth one, annuities are only for retirement. Actually, the reality

(01:35):
is annuities can be also for retirement savers. Two annuities
cost too much. Reality is many annuities are very low cost.
There's no point in buying an annuity for income before retirement.
The reality to that is certain annuities can help protect

(01:57):
your future income from market volatility, and some annuities can
help protect against inflation. Myth four, I can easily create
lifetime income from my retirement accounts. I get this one
all the time. People think you just have a chunk
of money and you just keep withdrawing from it. The

(02:19):
reality is, besides social security and pensions, only annuities guarantee
a stream of income that you can't outlive. And the
fifth myth, the insurance company gets my money when I die.
The reality to that is your beneficiaries can receive payment
after you die as long as you've named them in

(02:43):
a beneficiary designation. Everybody on Wall Street is constantly talking
about uncertainty and its impacts on returns and retirement tariffs, taxes,
Trump's tweets, etc. No matter where the conversations starts, it
always comes back to uncertainty. For a change of pace,

(03:04):
Let's talk about certainty as in annuitized consistently reoccurring income streams,
because that's what a whole lot of clients want to
talk about right now. Anyway. In the first quarter of
twenty twenty five, US annuity sales reached one hundred and

(03:25):
five billion dollars, which was one percent below the record
sales of the prior year's first quarter. According to Limra,
Jackson Financial reported retail annuity sales of over four billion
in the highly volatile first quarter of twenty twenty five,
and that's up nine percent from the first quarter of

(03:48):
twenty twenty four. The S and P five hundred index,
for the record, experienced a negative return of four point
six percent in the first quarter of this year. When, yes,
when the bowl market turns increasingly tenuous and nerves get rattled,
more investors seek out the certainty of annuities, or at

(04:12):
least they're open to the idea or discussion of adding
them to their portfolios to gained a sense of Yep,
you guessed it. Certainty. Annuities that provide a lifetime income
guarantee can reduce the pressure to withdraw spending from an
investment portfolio during a market downturn. This helps reduce sequence

(04:36):
of return risk, which I've talked about in the past,
while also providing lifetime income security when the market feels
like a roller coaster. Annuities might be the financial security
blanket that many clients need. Certainty but choices too when

(04:57):
a client seeks stability as opposed to flexibility. Low cost
fixed annuities are recommended with guaranteed withdrawal writers as clients
desire a reliable stream of guaranteed income. They're a good
solution for clients fretful about inflation's grip or performance, sequence risk,

(05:20):
or what is also sometimes called the financial horror story
of seeing your nest egg shrink early in your retirement years.
Annuities can be the sleepless night antidote, focusing on steady
income for peace of mind. If the concern is about

(05:41):
rising interest rates, a fixed index annuity where the interest
rate is linked to the performance of a market index
like the S and P five hundred, can help lower
the risk in their fixed income portfolio, or for clients
approach and retirement who are concerned about longevity and sequence

(06:02):
of return risks, the risk of receiving the risk of
receiving lower or negative returns early in retirement. Variable annuities
with a guaranteed income stream can help ensure they do
not outlive their savings. Traditional investments simply cannot offer the

(06:22):
same protections against longevity risk as an income annuity. For
a risk averse retiree, an annuity should allow you to
spend about thirty percent more each year without the fear
of running out in your old age. In reality, people

(06:44):
feel more comfortable spending from an income stream than they
do from withdrawing from their investment portfolio. Let's talk about
breaking the annuity ice. If you have a goal of
spending three thousand dollars a month on top of your
Social Security to cover basic expenses, you can use a

(07:05):
smaller percentage of your overall portfolio to cover this income
goal through an annuity versus just drawing off of bonds.
This allows the retirey to either spend more on flexible
expenses or pass on a greater legacy with their remaining assets.

(07:26):
Every retiree investor should create a guaranteed bucket of income
in their portfolio, especially for those in retirement who truly
crave financial certainty. The only income certainties are pensions, social Security,
at least for now, cash value life insurance, and annuities.

(07:49):
It's essential when you reach retirement to feel confident knowing
that your basic necessities can be covered if the unexpected happens. Remember,
nobody likes annuities. They like what annuities do. Now, I
want to switch gears and talk about the twenty twenty

(08:09):
five thirty first annual Run with Carl, and I have
my guest here, Hannah Thompson, who's been a member of
the executive planning committee for the Run with Carl since
twenty seventeen. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Thank you so much, super excited to be here. I'm
so excited to talk about what, in our opinion, is
the best Labor Day tradition in the Quad City's hands down.
All the other Quad Cities Labor Day traditions, I'm sure
are wonderful, but our favorite is Run with Carl. So
let me give everybody a little bit of background on
Run with Carl and how it came to be established

(08:45):
in nineteen ninety four after the Shillig family tragically lost
their son, Carl, the annual Labor Day Run with Carl began,
and it was the primary funding vehicle for the Carl D.
Shilig Memorial Fund, which was held through the Pleasant Valley
Educational Foundation. After twenty sixcess ul years, the Shillig family
decided it was time to put a cap on it
and the race while still providing scholarships. But PV and

(09:07):
Bettendorf School District both said hold on a minute, so
then they jumped in in the fall of twenty fourteen,
with the Bettenorf Community School Foundation and the Pleasant Valley
Education Foundation joining together to continue the race, with the
money raised benefiting both foundations and providing fun grants and
scholarships for area students. We are so incredibly proud that

(09:28):
Run with Carl is really one of the only instances
between PV and Bettendorf that isn't about rivalry, It isn't
about competition, but rather about community and coming together for
a common cause, which is supporting the future of our
students and our teachers. Doesn't really get better than that.
In twenty fifteen, a Center Credit Union became the title
sponsor for the race, and that continues. Our partnership with

(09:48):
a Center continues to this day, which we're incredibly grateful for.
Last year we celebrated thirty amazing years and it was
a great day and we're just super excited for this
year too.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
What has changed with the race over the last few years.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, just like any race, there of course have been
lots of changes and adjustments made little things. But in
the last couple of years we've had a few big ones,
especially with our race start and finish and the location
of our post race party. Due to the new swimming
facility where splash landing used to be, we had to
move our packet, pickup, start, line, kids, race, the whole shebang,

(10:22):
including the post race party, all to the bet North
Middle School parking lot and inside the cafeteria near the
tennis courts on Middle Road. It's been a great location
shift for us, giving us a bit more space to
spread out, keep everything but the race itself contained to
the parking lot, and really just have some good space
for our crowd. It's been really, really nice and we're

(10:42):
super appreciative of the school for letting us utilize this space.
We've also updated our post race party throughout the years,
you know, trying to include more fun music, free samples
from the community, lots of different photo opportunities, snow cones
not just for the kids, but for anybody, and more.
Really trying to make it a really fun, family friendly
event to kick off your Labor Day morning and embrace

(11:03):
the start of the school year. We also really get
excited about our T shirt design, which changes every year.
We're really really proud of our shirts. I think we
have some of the most fun race shirts in the
Quad Cities. We always have a really nice long sleeve.
It's typically pretty warm on race day, but the long
sleeve comes in handy later when you are running in
the fall. This year, we're throwing it back with our

(11:24):
designer classical graphics to a little bit more of a
classic forest green for our long sleeve shirt with red
and not red excuse me with orange and white details
shout out to a center while we wrap our orange.
It should be a really good one, so make sure
you register early to be sure to secure your shirt.
Something new that we're doing this year also is our
very first ambassador family, the Kaffenberger family. For those that

(11:47):
aren't familiar, Ian Kaffenberger was a former PV student and
athlete who passed away a couple of years ago. He
was a student ambassador for Run with Karl, which meant
that he just was the leader of our kids race
and participated in race planning in certain ways and really
was just the most special young man, very kind, hard working,
dedicated student, runner, friend, brother and son. So we're partnering

(12:09):
with the Kafenbergers this year because of their connection obviously
to Run with Carl through Ian who Ian and the
cross country team at PV were and are very connected
and involved with the race, and much like Carl, Ian
was an active young person who was lost far too soon,
and it's very important to us to keep their legacies alive.
The Kafenberger family will be joining us throughout the race.

(12:30):
We'll have their own special shirts and a team of
runners and walkers and are helping us spread the word
of the importance of this race and keeping the memory
of Ian and Carl strong while helping advance students in
our community. We're so incredibly grateful for their involvement and
they've just been a pleasure to work with.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
How can people get involved with the Run of the
car all this year?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Well, the obvious answer is signing up to run or walk.
Of course, we offer a five k option, a five
mile option, a kid's fun run, so really the whole
family can be involved. You can run, jog, walk, We
have all types of abilities involved in the race. And
then we have a fantastic post race party after the
run that I mentioned earlier with all kinds of different activities, music,

(13:11):
and lots of refreshments, along with a brief award ceremony
to our fastest runners as we celebrate their success. Now,
if running isn't your stick, which I very much understand.
If it's not, it's definitely not mine. We have tons
of race day volunteer opportunities and would be happy to
accept your help in return for a free shirt and
access to all of the fun of race day. We

(13:32):
have opportunities at water stops, we have day of registration
and packet pickup, handing out medals to kiddos, handing out
refreshments to runners, and so much more, and we'd be
delighted to have anybody join us in that capacity for
run with Karl if that sounds more at your speed,
and a special shout out to all of our former volunteers.
You know, without everybody that is there for race day,
it would not go as smoothly as it always does.

(13:55):
And finally, we of course are always looking for more
sponsors and community partners. We have a few different sponsorship
levels and opportunities at different dollar amounts, and we would
love to expand our partnerships to any local businesses or
folks who want to and do align with our mission
of student and teacher success in the area. If you're
interested to learn more about that, please shoot us an
email at Run with Carl QC at gmail dot com.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Why is Run with Carl so important to the Quad
City community?

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Oh goodness, you know, Run with Carl is so important
to the community for a lot of reasons in my opinion.
First of all, it keeps the legacy of a community
member alive. There are folks here who have been involved
in Run with Carl since the beginning, still who've supported
the Shillig family during their time of loss, and who
care about supporting students at PV and bettendor If it's
really just quite a special thing that we have such

(14:46):
a long standing tradition here remembering Carl is so special
and to still see people in the community that remember
him and are involved still is just an incredible thing,
and being a part of the race gives people a
chance to gather, to remember and to do something that
he loved, which was run, and that's just a really
rewarding thing. Second, it's important because the money we raise

(15:07):
is being dumped right back into our school districts and
into the teachers and the students, the Schilligs. We're passionate
about supporting the next generation and we're proud to continue
that mission. How can you not feel good, you know,
when you're helping students pursue their secondary education dreams and
helping teachers create better classroom experiences, it's just feel good
all around. And Third, it's important because it facilitates community

(15:28):
over competition. PV and Bettendorf are on one team when
it comes to Run with Carl, and that's not really common,
and it helps create such a nice moment for the community.
It's all about having fun, getting moving, and giving back.
It's just such a great day and we're so proud
to make it happen every year. Obviously, I've said a
lot of information and all of this can be found
at Runwithcarl dot com or on our Facebook page. Which

(15:51):
is ramping up as race day comes closer. You can
register online ahead of the race for a bit of
a discounted price, or you can join us morning of.
If you're a bit of a procrastinator, we don't mind
and get your registration then, though, we do encourage registration
ahead of time so you can guarantee yourself one of
the cool shirts that I talked about earlier. We're just
so excited for another year and couldn't be more grateful
for the community support that we've had over the last

(16:12):
three decades. It's an amazing thing. We're really excited to
see everybody out there.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
So I'll throw out an odd duck question, how many
people have registered thus far?

Speaker 2 (16:26):
You might have me there. I think we're in the
hundreds right now. We typically are a little bit slow.
I know people have a hard time committing to races
because it's a big commitment. You might not be quite
ready to run or walk a five k or a
five mile race. And it's very weather dependent too. If
it's going to be a scorcher, sometimes people drag their
feet before they come join us that morning.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Runners. I know from history that they love to procrastinate.
They want to wait until the day before to see
what the weather is. I remember I recall the shirts. Ever,
that's probably the first long sleeve shirt for the season,
so people kind of jump on it. I pulled up

(17:09):
a couple numbers, and so the PV and Bednor Foundations
both get a piece of the proceeds, as does my scholarship,
the Carl Dshilig Memorial Fund Scholarship. We've done fifty two
scholarships now going back to this goes back to ninety

(17:30):
six or ninety seven. That's we do four thousand dollars
a year. So that's two hundred and eight thousand dollars
of scholarship money we've handed out. And the rum with
Carl we do get a piece of that. That also
helps my scholarship too. But we still got a little

(17:51):
time here. What else do we need to talk about.
We need we need sponsors, We need people to register
Runocarl dot com. If you don't want to run, you
want to buy a T shirt. It's probably the coolest
T shirt in town. My relatives, we used to play
games where to see where you'd see a Roman Carl's

(18:13):
shirt throughout the world. I had some friends who served
in Iraq and they take a picture and send it
back to me. But in airports or wherever, and sometimes
I'd find people would go up and say, hey, where'd
you get that shirt from? And they would talk about it.
But what else should we cover? Anything that's missing? Is

(18:36):
there a deadline for entries right now? Are you running
any discounts on entries?

Speaker 2 (18:45):
So yes, we will be doing for those that like
to do a little sale, a little discount moment. Keep
your eye on our Facebook page for our flash sale
that we will have in the middle of August or
so that will be a nice little discounts. But you know,
everybody that runs the race is always so supportive of

(19:06):
the cost. You know, we try to be a very
cost effective run because we know that it can be expensive,
and there's there's a five k every weekend in the
Quad City, so we are very cognizant of that and
try to make it as affordable as we can so
that the whole family can come out. But we will
be running a flash sail on the five k and
five mile sign ups. The kiddo race is always the

(19:26):
same price, and I believe that's fifteen dollars this year.
They get a great little metal and a T shirt
and all that fun stuff, and then, like I said earlier,
snow cones. I think they each get a little token
for their snow Cones, so that is a hot ticket item.
So registration, Yeah, we are. I think we're sitting at
the same price right now through race day, and then

(19:47):
race day the price bumps up a little bit and
you wouldn't necessarily be guaranteed one of the great shirts. Yeah.
We work with Classical Graphics for the shirts every year
and that is just such a pleasure. We are. We're
so excited for our partnership with them. They always do
such great work and are super collaborative with us to
do a fun, unique design Because we put into the
test thirty years of T shirts, that's a lot of

(20:09):
shirt designs, and they are just so flexible with us,
which we appreciate. To your point earlier about the money
that is going into both schools. Last year, if I'm
remembering correctly, I think we were able to give fifteen
thousand to each foundation and then obviously back to the
memorial fund as well. Not that amount, but you know
our portion of that. But we're just so we're so

(20:31):
thrilled at the continued community support, and we're really just
excited about the Kaffenberger family being involved this year too
to kind of, you know, revitalize things and talk about
the race in a way that brings it to the
families that might be new to the Quad Cities that
wouldn't know the Shillig family that wouldn't have known Carl.
And so we're just we're really excited about that partnership.

(20:53):
It's really great.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I'll put a plug in ear for corporate sponsorship. We
still will take your money. I can't guarantee you're going
to be on this shirt yet. You got to call
us soon if you want to be in this year,
but think about it for next year. This is the
thirty first year. This is also the fifty first year
for the Bicks. Most runs don't make it three years,

(21:16):
much the less thirty one or fifty one. It's kind
of been a bet Nerve tradition. It's, you know, runs
don't last thirty one years. Nobody wants to do it. It's
and really what runs that is corporate sponsorship. So if
you're not in this year or you want to thinking

(21:38):
about it for next year, you know, we have a
lot of corporate sponsors who give us checks the end
of December, so it's on this year's tax return for
the next calendar year. Something to throw out there.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Absolutely. Like I said, you can shoot us an email
at Run with Carl QC at gmail dot com to
get more information at our sponsorship brochure. We also a
couple of other events that come up before Run with
Carl that we have to kind of help people prepare
for the race. Like I said, any ability can participate

(22:13):
in this. You do not have to be a marathon
runner to come run our five mile or five k race,
but if you want a little bit of a training time,
join us on Monday mornings in August at the Lagoon
in Bettendorf, the Lagoon Pavilion Space down in off Middle
and the Bettendorf Lagoon. It's on Facebook. Sorry I don't

(22:36):
have the address, Memoris. But we do training runs run
by one of our awesome sponsors, Fleet Feet. They fill
Young and the whole Fleet Feet team are just, oh
my gosh. They're incredible partners and really help get runners
ready for all kinds of races across the Quad Cities.
But for Run with Carl, we have these practice runs
every Monday morning, So that's a great way to get involved.

(22:58):
And then this is a really good opportunity to use
this as a training run too for the marathon if
you are an avid runner in our community.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
So those training runs are five thirty Monday mornings in
August at the bed North Middle Park Lagoon. If you
want to go check it out. I've done a few
in the past. It does go over the course whether
you want to do the five care the five mile,
and people ask me about the course a lot. That

(23:26):
was kind of the training course we did in cross
country and high school when we were young and in
shape and didn't know what we were doing. Now that
I'm a young over twenty five year old, I've found that, Yeah,
that course has a lot of hills in it, but
it's a good course. I mean it's a good race.

(23:46):
But both both routes are pretty tough. But okay, back
to work, don't forget. I give monthly virtual meetings regarding
Medicare for two different companies every month. In one meeting,
I will cover the Medicare supplement plan with a standalone
drug plan. That meeting sponsored by well Mark. United Healthcare

(24:10):
is a sponsor for my other virtual meeting. In that meeting,
I focus on Medicare advantage plans known as Medicare Parts C,
and I cover the benefits of that platform. You can
call my office at five six three three three two
two two zero zero for the zoom meeting codes and
additional dates and times. Some upcoming dates for my meetings

(24:32):
are going to be August fourteenth and nineteenth, September sixteenth
and eighteenth, and October. I'm doing them on October right
now the ninth. In the fourteenth, You're welcome to email
me at Craig at Craigschillig dot com and that's my name,
cr Aig at cr Aig scchi ll i dot com,

(25:01):
and I'd be happy to send you the virtual zoom
link meeting codes. This is Craig Schillig with saved Money.