Safe Money - 5-18-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Go ahead Saturday morning to all onthis mid May Saturday. Dick Shelley here
and this is Safe Money. Weare here every Saturday to talk with you,
our listeners, about topics that affectyou. Last week we talked about
social security in particular, we discussedretirement benefit basics and social security uncertain future.

(00:27):
What you should know? You know. I want to talk to more
detail about that second topic, socialSecurity's uncertain future and what you should know.
But before I do, I wantto remind all our listeners that we
continue with our monthly virtual community meetingscoming up here on Tuesday, May twenty

(00:51):
first and Thursday May twenty third,ten o'clock in the morning. On May
twenty first, Greg will talk aboutsocial secure uncertain future, What you should
know. This information is in newsletterform, so if you'd like to have
a copy of that newsletter, callme call me at five six three three
three two twenty two hundred or emailus. Go to my website wwwdikshillig dot

(01:19):
com and scroll over to the contacticon from my email address. So,
Social securities, uncertain future, whatyou should know? And at the end
of the day, I'm sure youdo. No person or no machine can

(01:42):
accurately predict what the markets will doin the future, what the stock markets
will do in the future. However, as a financial professional, I know
that time is the time to takegains off the table at a minimum and
position those gains in a safe financialvehicle like our split annuity strategies. Are

(02:14):
you on the fence about what todo in this very, very volatile market.
I'm here on safe money and forthe last fifteen or sixteen years because
market volatility in recent market volatility isseen this past week as many retirees and
pre retirees concerned about their accounts andthe future financial stability that may be affected.

(02:38):
I don't want to be a skyas fallowing type of messengers because truthfully,
I don't know what the stock marketwill will not do. I know
this week, my gosh, today, at the time of this recording,
on Thursday, the markets hit newhighs, hit new peaks, and it's

(02:58):
wonderful they've done that. Now,my question is is that time for you,
listeners? Is that time for youto consider transferring or rolling over a
portion of those gains into a safemoney harbor? And what is that safe
money harbor? That safe money harbor, that we recommend is our index annuity

(03:23):
strategies, and indexnuity shares in thegrowth of the market, but an indexinuity
does not share in the downsides ofthe market. So if the market takes
a tumble after these nice gains thisweek, then if you have transferred your

(03:43):
annuity into an guaranteed safe index annuity, then you will not share any of
the losses that the market will bringforward. So I encourage you to give
me a call, call me atfive sixty three three three two twenty two
hundred, or email me. Goto my website, go to www dot

(04:09):
dickshillig dot com and scroll over tothe contact icon and for my email address,
and send me an email. Sendme, send me an email about
your situation and how we can makemoney safe for you. These index auities
pay a nice, nice bonus.Right now, we have an insurance company

(04:32):
that's paying a thirty five percent bonus. Boy, that's a terrific bonus.
And once that bonus is applied toyour annuity, then account value. That
account value never declines, does notdecline when the market declines, so that's
a safe money harbor. Encourage youto take a look at that. Encourage

(04:56):
you to take a look at thatnow while the market is still in a
very positive growth mode and make safea portion of your annuity. You know,
you've always heard me are safe moneyhere talk about the golden investment rule.
Well, you know what the goldeninvestment rule is. You subtract your
age from the number one hundred,and the balance of that or the sum

(05:21):
of that is a percentage, andthat is the maximum percentage of your assets
that you should have invested in themarket or otherwise exposed to risk. So,
if you're fifty years old, subtractedfrom one hundred gives fifty. That
means that no more than fifty percentof your assets should be invested in risk

(05:45):
type investment investments in stocks or inmutual funds, no more than fifty percent.
If you're sixty years old, subtractedfrom one hundred gives forty. That
means that no more than forty percentof your assets should be invested in stocks
and mutual funds. The rest shouldbe in safe money harbors. Now,

(06:08):
what is a safe money harbor.Well, the safe money harbor that I
advocate is these fixed index annuities.I have a fixed index annuity that is
paying now a thirty five percent bonus. Thirty five percent bonus once that bonus

(06:29):
is applied, and you never losethat bonus. Thus the market takes a
downturn, your account value stays thesame, it does not decrease. So
I encourage you to take a lookat that. Give me a call,
call me A five sixty three threethree two twenty two hundred and we'll talk
about your situation. Or go tomy email, go to my website,

(06:55):
go to Dickshillig dot com, scrollover to the contact icon from email address
and send me an email. Tellme about your situation, and we can
make some recommendations on strategies that maythat may be very very helpful to you.
So we were talking last week aboutSocial Security, and we were talking

(07:19):
about Social Security's uncertain future and whatyou should know about that uncertain future.
Even if you don't depend on SocialSecurity to survive, the benefit quote amount
to a meaningful portion a meaningful portionof your retirement income. Now, Social

(07:44):
Security, as you know, consistsof two programs, each with its own
financial account trust fund that holds thepayroll taxes that are collected to pay benefits
retired workers, their families and survivors. Of workers receive monthly benefits under the
Old Age and Survivors Insurance programs.Disabled workers in their families received monthly benefits

(08:11):
under the Disability Insurance program That combinedprograms are referred to ASASDI old Age Survivor
Disability Income Combine Old Agent Survivor Disabilityincomes are projected to exceed total income in

(08:31):
twenty twenty one, and in theTreasury will withdraw reserves to help pay benefits.
The Social Security Trustees projected that thecombined reserves will be depleted in twenty
thirty four. In twenty thirty four, and that's right around the corner,

(08:52):
isn't it. This is twenty twentyfour, So in ten years after that,
payroll tax revenue alone should be sufficientto about to pay about seventy eight
percent specified benefits. Social Security projectionsare hypothetical because the Old Age, social

(09:16):
Security and Disability Income trusts are separate, and generally one program's taxes and reserves
cannot be used fund the other programs. The Old Agent Survivor Income Trust Fund,
considered separately, is projected to bedepleted by twenty thirty three. Payroll

(09:41):
tax revenue alone will then be sufficientto pay seventy six percent of scheduled retirement
benefits. The DII trust Fund isprojected to be depleted in twenty fifty seven,
eight years sooner than estimate made inlast year's report. Once the trust

(10:01):
fund is depleted, payable tax revenuealone will be sufficient to pay about ninety
one percent of the scheduled benefits.So I encourage you to take a look
at that, and that reinforces theimportance of planning, the importance of planning

(10:24):
on your own without being dependent upongovernment revenue, without being dependent upon Social
Security Retirement Fund or Social Security DisabilityIncome Fund to help to help our futures.
So the Trustees continue to urge Congressto address the financial challenges facing these

(10:50):
programs soon so that the so thatthe solutions will be less drastic and may
be implemented gradually, lessening the impacton the public. Combining some of the
solutions may also help soften the impactof any one solution. So one proposed

(11:11):
fix is raising a Social Security payrolltax currently at twelve point four percent,
half paid by the employee and halfby the employer. Self employed individuals pay
the full twelve point four percent interest. An immediate and permanent payroll tax increase

(11:31):
of three point three six percentage pointsto fifteen point seven percent would be needed
to cover the long range revenue shortfallif the increase started in twenty thirty four.
Another proposed fix is raising or elimitingthe ceiling on wages subject to Social

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Security payroll tax in twenty twenty one. The payable tax is based upon a
maximum of one hundred and forty twothousand, eight hundred dollars of revenue of
earned income for twenty twenty one,raising the retirement age beyond the currently scheduled

(12:22):
age of sixty seven for anyone bornin nineteen sixty or later. So that's
a proposed fix. Reducing future benefitsas a proposed fix too, to address
the long term revenue shortfall, Scheduledbenefits would have to be immediately and permanently

(12:45):
reduced by twenty one percent for allcurrent and future beneficiaries, or by about
twenty five percent if reductions were appliedonly to those who initially become eligible for
benefits. Changing the benefit formula thatis used to calculate benefits is also proposed

(13:09):
fix, and that maybe a considerationCongress. At this point. I am
very disappointed Congress is doing nothing toaddress the Social Security revenue shortfall, which
we will see happening in the veryvery near future, like we say in

(13:30):
twenty thirty three and twenty thirty four, which is nine or ten years in
advance. Congress needs to take action, needs to take action now by proposing
one of these fixes. Either increasingthe rate of tax or increasing the retirement
age, or maybe a combination ofboth of those fixes may maybe a solution.

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The Census Bureau has estimated that twopoint eight million Americans ages fifty five
and over filed for Social Security benefitsearlier than they had anticipated because of COVID
nineteen. Many older workers may havebeen pushed into retirement after losing their jobs
because they had they had acquired healthconcerns. If you regrets, if you

(14:26):
regret starting your Social Security benefits earlierthan plan, you can withdraw your application
within twelve months of your original claimand reapply later. But you can do
this only once in your lifetime,and you must repay all benefits you have
received up to this point. Otherwise, if you reach full retirement age,

(14:50):
you may voluntarily suspend benefits and restartthem later. Either of these moves will
result in a higher future benefit evenif you don't depend on Social Security to
survive, the benefits could amount toa meaningful abortion of your retirement income.

(15:11):
An estimate of your monthly retirement benefitcan be found on your Social Security statement,
which can be assessed when you signup for Social Security account or if
you go to SSA dot gov SocialSecurity Administration dot gov and receive a prediction

(15:33):
of what your Social Security income maybe. And this is an exercise which
I encourage many of my clients toparticipate in to go to that Social Security
dot gov website to determine what yourSocial Security income will be. Social Security
is at one time was expected toprovide a supplement to retire benefits. Now,

(16:00):
as the years have gone by,we're finding that social Security is now
a base of retirement income, nota supplement to but a base to retirement
income. And then pensions in fouroh one case or other retirement savings program
are secondary to Social Security. Soit's vital that we as future retirees,

(16:26):
we look into determining what our SocialSecurity payment is projected to be and what
steps we can take today before beforewe are retired, and what steps we
can take to patch up that gap. Very important that you do. So.

(16:47):
Remember, if you were born betweenthe years of nineteen forty three and
nineteen fifty four, then your socialsecurity your full retirement age is age sixty.
If you were born after nineteen fiftyfour, then your full retirement is
months beyond age sixty six. Soit's important that we all take a good

(17:14):
look at social security and take agood look out of retirement resources and do
some planning. Now, the servicesthat we offer are planning services. We
take a look at social security andwe take a look at penons or supplemental
retirement benefits like four to one KSor four h three b's four fifty seven

(17:37):
plans, and we project them.We protect them on the basis of the
interest rate that we're anticipating, andwe project them on the amount of contribution
that you are making to that throughthat retirement plan. We can project those
up to age sixty two early socialsecurity retirement or under full solid security retirement,

(18:04):
which for most of us will beage sixty six, but we can't
project to age after that as well. Full retirement from social Security for most
of us is age sixty six.Now we can delay drawing Social Security benefits,
and we can delay drawing social Securitybenefits up to age seventy. At

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seventy years old, we're required tobegin to take Social Security benefits if we
have not done so up to thatpoint. So some of my clients have
planned two postpone taking social Security toage seventy. Now they may want to

(18:52):
retire much earlier than age seventy,So that's where our annuity strategies come to
play. We can set up aimmediate tenuity by the use of your four
oh one K or by the useof your four to oh four fifty seven
plan or other supplemental retirement programs,and draw on those retirement programs to age

(19:19):
seventy, and then at age seventywe begin taking our full retirement benefit from
Social Security, and then we mayscale back on that which we are drafting
from our four oh one case.So consider that I appreciate you taking a

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look at that. I don't thinkyou would regret that exercise. It would
be very, very helpful for you. So give us a call call us
at five six three three three twotwenty two hundred, or email me.
Give me information about yourself and whatyou're planning on doing is for our retirement

(20:00):
is concerned and let us help youdo some projections, do some retirement planning.
Now, if you are already retired, perhaps we can use some of
these benefits like a four to ohone K, or like a four or
three B or some other supplemental retirementplan. And with the use of our

(20:23):
with the creative use of our annuitystrategies, we may be able to maximize
the benefit that you would receive ontwo age seventy, and then maximize the
benefit after age seventy as well.So it's an exercise which is very very

(20:45):
worth looking into, and I encourageall of our listeners to not ignore that,
to take a look at that ifyou are approaching retirement. And when
I'm talking about approaching retirement, I'mtalking about at least ten years, at
least ten years prior to your fullretirement age. So full retirement age from

(21:08):
Social Security is at age sixty six, So you should begin planning no later
than age fifty six for that forthat retirement plan. So give some thought
to that. Send me an emailmy website. Go to Dickshilly dot com,

(21:32):
scroll over to my contact information formy email address. And please send
me an email, tell me aboutyour situation, and we can respond by
telling you how we can help youdo some planning. It's well worth your
while. Don't forget our community meetingsare coming up here later this month.

(21:53):
They're coming up here May twenty firstand May twenty third. On Tuesday,
May twenty first, Craig talks aboutthe basics of Medicare, and then he
focuses on the Medicare supplements that areavailable. As you may know, there
are ten standardized Medicare supplements. Weget to choose one of those ten standardized

(22:18):
plans, So get some thought ofthat. Two days later, remember,
on Thursday, May twenty third,again Craig talks about the basics of Medicare,
and then he focuses on the Medicareadvantage plans that are being offered in
this in this area, and wein particular like to focus on what we

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feel is the more competitive of theadvantage plans, and that is the one
offered by United Healthcare. It's calledthe AAARP Medicare Advantage Plan. Now,
as you may know, AARP isnot the insurance company. The insurance company
is United Healthcare. AARP merely sellstheir logo to United Healthcare allow in United

(23:07):
Healthcare to use their logo in advertisingfor their products, so United Healthcare continues
to offer some significant benefits. Youmay have received notification that United Healthcare has
a challenge with the Genesis Healthcare systemin this area and you will continue to

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be ensured by United Healthcare until asthe forecast is, until July first.
Now, I look for that conflictbetween Genesis and United Healthcare to be resolved
well before July first, but there'sno guarantee of that. So if you

(23:52):
have questions or issues, appreciate you. If you'd like to talk about your
situation, I appreciate it again.If you give us a call or send
me an email, tell me aboutyour situation, and we'll be happy to
share our input towards that situation thatyou are in today. Call us at
five sixty three three three two twentytwo hundred, or go to my website.

(24:17):
Go to wwwdikshillig dot com and scrollover to the contact icon for my
email address, and please send mean email tell me about your situation again.
Our community meetings are coming up hereon Tuesday May twenty first and Thursday

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May twenty third, ten o'clock inthe morning. These are virtual meetings.
You stay in the privacy of yourown home, use your own computer equipment.
Call Craig before May twenty first andMay twenty third to receive instructions on
how to participate in these meetings fromyour own home using your own computer equipment.

(25:02):
So again our phone number five sixtythree three three two twenty two hundred,
or sum in email by going tomy email address at www. Dickshilly
dot com and scroll over to thecontact icon. These meanings are well worthwhile
and they will be meetings that helpyou to understand fully your choice is for

(25:26):
medicare. That's about all I havefor you today. Have a great,
great weekend, Looking forward to talkingto you again next week. Good day,