Health and Wellness Show 11-15-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good afternoon. Yeah, good afternoon, and welcome. It's a special time,
a special airing of the Health of Wellness show here
on WVOC. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate that.
I'm Gary David. The show normally heard at nine o'clock,
but of course we had our best game cat coverage
on at nine o'clock this morning, so we're happy to
join you on this Saturday afternoon. And coming up we'll
talk about benefits planning on a variety of fronts with

(00:31):
the guys from preservation specialists. That'll be John Farley and
Matthew Terry. We're talking to Jim Snell from the law
office of James Snell. But we get started this afternoon
on this beautiful Saturday with a Jeff Howe Overtealth Markets
in Lexington and hello to you, my friend. Hello Gary, Wow,
this is your time, right. You had all kind of

(00:52):
open enrollments going on. We've been talking about Medicare open
enrollment with you here recently and that window ends December seventh, right,
that's correct, okay, and we can.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
So very important for anyone on a Medicare advantage plan
or a prescription drug plan if they want to make
changes they need to come see me by December seventh.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
And I think you'd mentioned to us before that for
some folks, you have to make changes because some of
the advantage plans have left the state.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Is do I recall that correctly?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
That's right. A couple opure United Healthcare Medicare advantage plans
are leaving the state. So anyone you know listening to
this radio show who has a United Healthcare Medicare advantage plan.
If it says extras are essentials, those are the two
plan names they're leaving. They definitely need to come see

(01:42):
me because their plans going away January first.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
And you should have been notified that already, right, I mean, of.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Course, for sure, United Healthcare mailed a letter, but you
know some people were traveling, they could have missed it, or.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
You thought it was junk mail.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
That happens.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I hope it's helping up the other day that I
thought was junk mouth. Thought let me double checking. Sure
enough it wasn't. So yeah, you got to be careful
about that, all right. But then we also have another
open enrollment season going on right now. That opened I
guess was this this past weekend? Wasn't the open marketplace
open enrollment was it this past.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Weekend technically, so a lot of people, you know, including
myself as an agent and as a consumer, we're waiting
to see what the government was going to do with
the expanded subsidies. And I think we do have a
little more clarity on that, and that the Democrats old
out the government. The reason for the government shut down

(02:36):
that was so long. They did not get what they wanted, right,
So the Republicans did not extend subsidies. You know, there's
a promise for a vote on these expanded subties to continue,
maybe a vote the second by the second week in December, yeah,
or maybe even late January possibly, But there we have

(03:02):
to operate on I think the very safe assumption that
these expanded subsidies are not going to continue. They will
sunset as planned on December thirty first, twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, let's let's go with that for now. And who
knows what might happen is Washington, d C. After all,
And I know the Democrats wanted to get him extended.
I think I came Jefferies up last week said he
wanted to get extended for three years. Don't see that happening.
But all right, so let's go this morning, this afternoon,
are under the assumption that they will not be extended.

(03:36):
That's that's that's significant.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yes, I believe that is not only the most conservative
way to look at it, but the most accurate way
to look at it, because right now, these subsidies, you know,
there's no agreement in place for the substies to continue,
and so you know, the prices are what they are.
You know, they're on the marketplace, and that's what everyone

(04:01):
has to prepare for. And then if I if by
some miracle, the subsidies are the expanded substies are continued,
then we can cross that bridge. We get to it.
I can call my clients that that affects with good
news right in late December or late January.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
So for the edification of those who maybe haven't looked yet,
or who those or who are not on the open
marketplace that are just curious. I mean, we're talking about
rates that will will grow exponentially.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Right, that's for sure. So it depends, of course where
a person's household income prediction is in twenty twenty six.
So if we go back to the old subsidy chart
that we use between twenty fourteen, and the Affordable Care
Act plans began through twenty twenty two before these expanded

(04:51):
subsidies were passed, you or during COVID. Of course, if
say a family two makes between let's say twenty thousand
dollars and eighty two thousand dollars, just throwing out general numbers,
then you know, the federal government will pay a portion
of their health insurance. Still, so the expanded subsets would

(05:12):
help people, you know, on the lower end of that
income chart. I'm still say that somewhere between say twenty
two thousand and forty thousand or forty five thousand. So
those people, so even people own that income chart, you know,
with that income prediction, are still going to be affected
by non expanded subsets, but they're not going to lose

(05:35):
their entire substy like a person who is one penny
over eighty four thousand, six hundred family of two. So
that those are frankly the people who are going to
be affected the most by these expanded subjects going away,
because those expanded subjects. If I were sitting down with
a couple in their sixties and they were making one

(05:58):
hundred and seventy five thousand, two one thousand, or let's
say even you know, closer to the income charge, say
eighty eight thousand. You know, the federal government's paying a
good portion of their health insurance. But going back to
the old system with the expanded SUBSIS gone, if a person,
if a couple of who makes eighty five thousand, right,

(06:19):
they're just barely over the income quiff. They pay full price,
and for some people that means their premiums are doubling, tripling,
even quadrupling.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, now let me ask you this, Jeff, if we
go back to before these subsidies were enhanced during the pandemic,
the rates you're seeing right now without the subsidies, aren't
they a lot higher than the rates were before the
pandemic and before these Ennan substies came to play.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
That's exactly right. So it's we have two problems. We
have problem one is the expanded sepsis going away. Problem too.
The rates are higher no matter what the subsidies are.
That's exactly right. So a small business owner or someone
who's self employed purchasing health insurance from sales and getting

(07:12):
hit on both fronts.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
But that's that that part of that, just the higher
rates in general. That's affecting everybody, whether you're on an
open marketplace coverage or employer sponsored healthcare coverage.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Everybody's that's a good point, that's right. So if you're
a small business owner and you you are part of
a group health plan, you're seeing your rates go up ten, fifteen,
twenty twenty five percent. Also, that's exactly right. We has
nothing to do with the marketplace.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Can we point to why, I mean a twenty five
percent rate increases in general? I mean, is healthcare got
that much more expensive? You know, we had our bouts
with inflation, I know, but inflation is not what it
was a year ago. What's do we know what's driving
that here?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
And it's just so many factors I think health care
costs or the one factor for sure. Yes, so there's
certainly what everything that I'm reading and what the insurance
industry is telling us.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Wow, sounds like we're getting we're getting host here, man.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I don't like it either. So I you know,
of course, not only am I an health insurance agent,
I'm also self employed. You know, Cameron and I run
a mom and pop health insurance agency that we purchased.
Our own health insurance right, So these rates affect me
personally as well.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Now you're part I know of a group that makes
usually at least one triple year up to d C.
When's your next one schedule, Jeff, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
So every February late February we go up to DC
and February of twenty twenty five, we were up there
and we told every Congressman, every senators we met that
this is coming, that this income step city cliff was coming.
And of course I think it fell on deaf ears

(09:06):
Gary because the government's still shut down and we're still
and we're still have this problem with no resolution. I
think what's the most frustrating to me is that there's
not been an alternative proposal put forth to the Affordable
Care Act. Right, So listen, I'm all for free market

(09:28):
and competitive rates, and we need as many insurance companies
in the state of South Carolina selling health insurances we
can to make rates competitive for everyone. But all we
have had since twenty ten when the Affordable Care Act
was passed is the Affordable Care Act system with no
alternatives to compete against it. And to me, that's been

(09:49):
the most frustrating part.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
I'm glad you brought that up because yeah, we get
a monopoly here and they can charge whatever they want
to charge right through the system.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
And so many health insurance companies left that system right.
So essentially, in Lexton County we have Blue Cross, Blue
Shield of South Carolina. They do a great job. They're
they're here. In Columbia we have Ambetter and we have Melina.
And that's the end of the list. That's right. So
where's where's un Healthcare, Where's where's SIGNA, Where's you know where?

(10:22):
Where are all these other companies who could be here
with competing products that could keep these prices down. But
that's that is a big problem.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Is that a is that a function of those companies
not wanting to be saying this example in Lexington County
or are there is there something else keeping them out
of a particular county or estate.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
It's not necessarily a Lexton County problem. It's a national problem.
So then we see this, you know, all across the
country where these insurance companies are not in these marketplace,
are not in the marketplace at all on healthcare dot
gov because you know, of course on healthcare dot gov
everyone is covered one hundred percent, right, there's no pre

(11:07):
existing condition waivers. So everyone you say, so, you're not
Healthcare is in the marketplace. Here they take their John Smith,
They take John as they get him. Right. So John
could come with a host of medical problems, but on
January one, if he signs up during op enrollment, you
know that healthcare has to cover him, right, So so

(11:29):
they get all pre existing conditions, They pay for all
preventative services, so physicals, colonoscopies, and mammograms are all covered
one hundred percent with no cost to the consumer, which
and all that's great for the consumers. All that's great
for my clients. But I'm just pointing out that either
are some of the reasons why you can't feel too

(11:49):
sorry for insurance company, but eise to some of the
reasons why they They state that they don't want to
take on all that risk and that's why they're not
in the marketplace in many states and Wrexham County.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Right, And that was one of the big things that
the open marketplace changed, of course, was the pre existing condition.
So without it, I did that if that was still
a condition, then even without the system as we know
it right now, it sounds like these companies still wouldn't
want to get into the certain markets.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
But right, so I've been selling a health insurance my
first policy in nineteen ninety two. Right, so we go
all the way back pre twenty ten. What did the
marketplace look like? Right? We had tons of companies to sell. However,
when I met with a person before you know, twenty ten,
I would have to ask them a litany of health
questions on the application. Right. So if a person's ever

(12:42):
applied for maybe life insurance, they had gone through that, right,
And then the insurance company could look at every medical
record they ever had since the day they were born, right,
and they would underwrite them and they could decline them,
or they could exclude certain conditions. For example, per has
had a bad back, they could get health insurance, but

(13:02):
their back surgery would not be covered. Right. So all
that went away on January one, twenty fourteen, when the
Affordable Care Act system came into play. And all that's
a good thing. But the question, and this is the
billion dollar question, is how do you cover the sick
without making the healthy pay for it?

Speaker 3 (13:25):
Right?

Speaker 1 (13:27):
And whoever has the answer to that is that's it.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
That's the question, and we and there is and no
one has come up with a solution to that other
than the Affordable Care Act, which here we're sitting in
twenty twenty five, right, fifteen years later, we have this
huge problem in the medical costs or skyrocketing the premiums,
or skyrocketing expanded s up to these certainly for the

(13:53):
last three years have cured the premium problem for a
lot of people, but it didn't make the medical call
supremium go away right now, So that's just been kind
of boiling and boiling, and now it's kind of and
now it's boiled over.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
And I don't know how familiar you are with it, Jeff,
but I guess that the Republicans are floating this idea
of keeping something similar to it and keeping the expanded subsidies,
but rather than have this money go directly to the
health insurance companies, to have this money go directly to
the consumer and then let them make the choice. I

(14:28):
don't know is that does that change the dynamic in
any way, shape or form. I don't know how it does.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
It all comes down to previous and conditions, Gary. So
the system they're describing, from what I've read, takes us
back to pre twenty ten and so and that's fine
if you're healthy and you get money from the government
to go shop and buy a what's called a catastrophic
plan with lower premiums to where you're covered really only

(15:00):
for catastrophic events. I think that's fantastic. But what are
the people going to buy who have previous conditions who
wouldn't qualify for those plans. That's the rube, And I've
not heard a solution to that problem yet.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
I guess the solution is got to age sixty five
and on Medicare.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
Huh, that's perfect, right, Medicare. The politicians are smart enough
not in a mess of Medicare. They know they'd all
be voted out of office. So Medicare is still rolling
it in a.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Skinny minute, all right, So that Medicare open enrollment is
going for gosh, now, what have we got? Another couple
of weeks right December seventh?

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Right?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Till December seventh? And technically the under sixty five op
enrollment is going to continue through January fifteenth. We're going
to still keep working hard for our clients and give
them the best plan, the best price we can.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
And again you can get the expertise and knowledge of
seventeen years of doing this. It's in this seventeen years now, right, Jeff,
with health markets.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes here in Lectington, been here to two thousand and eight,
Yes here.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Okay, and in this astonishingly enough. Won't cost you a dime, right,
You don't charge for anything you do, that's.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Right, And my services are free. We'll sit down and
find the best plan, the best price, and we'll not
call stick climb one penny, and we'll get them in
the best spot we can put.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Them in, Okay, Jeff. Always a pleasure, my friend. Thanks
for the wonderful information, and we'll just kind of have
to keep up with this thing and see where it
goes from here, Jeff, Folks, how to folks reach it?
I set up I imagine that. I know you take
walk ins, but this time of the year, that's probably
a bad idea, isn't it. I mean, make an appointment, right,
if you can make the appointment, great.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
If you want to walk in, that's fine, and we
can help you if we can at that time or
were setting appointment when you walk in. Off is right
beside the flight Deck restaurant in Lectington. My number text
recall is eight zero three six seven eight eight one two.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
One all right and Jeff h owl E come yes, sir,
Thank you, gar, thank you sir.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
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Speaker 1 (17:04):
Hi, this is John Farling. Now let me ask you.

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You inflation proof it.

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(17:43):
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Speaker 1 (19:13):
We're back on the Health and Weller Show. On one
of the three point five FM and five sixty amwvoc
I was just talking about the Medicare open enrollment with
Jeff that goes on through December seventh. Yeah, and of
course the open marketplace health insurance plans and that open

(19:34):
enrollment is on now as well. But born about well
employee health benefits and plans and such. That is part
of what these guys know something about. And I'm talking
about John Farley and Matthew Terry from preservation Specialists. You'll
do good?

Speaker 3 (19:52):
Good? How are you? I'm good? I got no coal
plaies middle of November.

Speaker 6 (19:55):
Wow, survived so far?

Speaker 1 (19:58):
So far? Are I can tell you this? You know,
we're we're seeing health insurance rates go up for everybody.
I don't care whether you're an open marketplace or employee sponsored.
And if your rate didn't go up, check your check,
your your copays, your deductibles.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
They're getting it somehow.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
They're getting it somewhere and somehow, I mean, we have it.
It is not a discussion for this program, but we
have a serious problem in this country when it comes
to our health system and and how people are paying
for it. And they're just about to price all of
us out to market here. But there are questions you
may have if you're employed in getting employee sponsored health
care and maybe questions that you just don't have answers

(20:41):
for and and maybe they don't want to talk to
your HR people about or they don't know either. There's
some masters you guys have. We want to discuss some
of those this morning.

Speaker 6 (20:50):
So where we start, Well, you know, I would say
one of the biggest questions that we get whenever people
come and they talk to us, they say, Matthew, are
we on track where we need to be whenever it
comes to hitting our retirement goals? And that all starts
with how much money are you contributing into your four

(21:11):
to one K.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
For one?

Speaker 6 (21:13):
You know, a tip for all is we should all
be putting in at least at the bare minimum the
amount to get the full match from your employer. Sure, right,
that's absolutely free money, and it's one of the only things.
Or you have one hundred percent guaranteed rate of return,
you put in four percent, they're going to give you
four percent of your salary. That's a very good deal.
So you want to make sure that you're taking advantage

(21:34):
of that. But aside from that, we now get into
a little bit of some tax considerations. People often ask,
you know, Matthew what's the difference between a traditional four
to one K or a ROW four to one K
A traditional four to one K. What that simply means
is is that you're not electing to pay taxes today.
You just understand that whenever you go to pull money

(21:54):
out in the future, you're gonna have to pay taxes then.
So again that's just a decision that's up to you,
but it is in our view most of the time
that it likely makes sense that given we know what
tax rates are today, then maybe you should be signing
up to put money into your wrath for one K.
So it's important to know does your employer offer a

(22:16):
WROTH for one K plan? And if they don't, I
would strongly encourage you to speak to your HR team
to say, hey, is this something that we can get added.
I know WROTH plans. It kind of became popular back
in the early two thousands, and some companies were a
little bit more aggressive about getting those implemented. Most of
the clients and families that we help, most of them

(22:36):
have access to a wrath for one K, but from
time to time we do come across people who just say, hey,
they don't offer it. What am I supposed to do,
so just ask, doesn't hurt to ask?

Speaker 1 (22:45):
What about And I kind of let into this sing
about health insurance and there's all kinds of benefits. Of course,
you know, that's just one of them that you get
on an employee sponsored plan. But what about HSA's f sas.
Is that that that that that's.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
I mean again, that's not necessarily your specialty, I know,
and what you guys do in building retirement plans for folks.
But I've done the which the one that doesn't roll over.
You got to spend it every.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
Year flexible spinning again, yes, sir, Yeah, for.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Me personally, I've never done one. I've done the HSAS.
I've never done an FSA before. I mean, if I don't, oh,
I need to get six so I can spend this
money by the end of the year. Doesn't make a
lot of sense to me personally.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
But but what the heck?

Speaker 1 (23:32):
But all these things go into again this big benefits package.
And I guess, depending on the size company you work for,
maybe your HR people have answers for you, and maybe
they don't.

Speaker 6 (23:45):
You're You're exactly right. We always tell everyone whenever you
get that open enrollment period, you get that packet of
information that kind of goes over all your benefits. Hey,
just shoot us at email of that or scan and
bring it by our office. You know, we want to
help people understand what are all the benefits that they
can sign up for and what is in their best interest.

(24:05):
So you know, again Gary, we are we're a strong
believer in the health savings account. But the qualification in
order for you to contribute money into a Health Savings
account or HSA for sure, is you must be enrolled
into what's called a high deductible health care plan. So
that disqualifies a lot of people from you know, putting
money in. There are things like the flexible spending account

(24:27):
that is a use it or lose it type medical account.
They're also getting really creative nowadays. I don't know if
you ever heard of something called a dependent care flexible
spending account. It's if you have children under your household
and you're having.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
To pay for.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
You know, the cost of babysitting or whatever the case is,
you can actually put money into an account perceive a
tax deduction for it. So again, it's small things like
that that we're looking to uncover for clients to say, hey,
you're going to be spending that money regardless, you may
as well put it in the account then yank it
right back out so you at least get a tax
benefit from And that's our job. How can we make
sure that you're taking advantage of all the things that

(25:04):
can possibly benefit.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yeah, just from a large from a you know, let's
step back on that and just say why do these
things matter?

Speaker 3 (25:12):
So let's say you have a.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
Bill at a doctor that's it's one hundred dollars. If
you pay that bill out of your checking account, well,
that's one hundred dollars, but that's one hundred dollars that
you've already paid tax on. You're you've already paid you know,
like you say your tax rate is call it twenty
five percent. Well, you've already paid a twenty five percent

(25:34):
tax on that dollar. If you pay that doctor bill
out of one of these HSA accounts or the flexible,
you know, uh, that money has never been taxed. So
you're saving yourself, you know, a lot, by giving money
to that doctor that has that doctor bill that has

(25:54):
never been taxed. It's it's saving you that twenty five dollars.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
In tax right, So you're a taxable money right. So
in other words, so think of it this way, Well,
how do you say this? So if you're going to
pay somebody twenty five dollars, I mean you're going to
pay somebody one hundred dollars. Another way to say it
is you have to earn one hundred and thirty three
dollars roughly speaking, to get you to that hundred dollars, right,
as opposed to just one hundred dollars that you can
pay out.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Of one of these accounts.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
It's it's a significant savings for you to pay money
out of an account that was never taxed.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
It's a significant savings for you.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
That's really bizarre. I've been doing this for years and
I've never even thought about it that way. Yeah, you're running.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
That's why.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
That's why they make a significant difference. And of course
you know and and we never know. But but the
thing about the health savings accounts in particular is that
they can go on for a long time. You know,
you never you know, you never pay tax on the
money that goes in. It grows in their tax for
you invest the money and then it comes out tax
free and it goes to pay your medical So this
is these and you can use that money to pay

(26:55):
all kinds of things from you know, doctor visits and
premiums and all kinds into stuff that's related to your health.
So these are really really good plans that over time
can make a significant amount of difference in your in
your in in your money.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Now again, you guys deal with you know, the broader
issue here and not necessarily you sort of look at
these things. But I'm not I'm not asking you, as
you know, an expert and health insurance coverage plans, but
do we know why what's the benefit of having an
f s A as opposed to an HSA or or

(27:31):
vice versa. Because benefit and having somebody if I don't
spend it not lose it, right, that's that that the
loser to use it or lose it as a bit
of a thing. But I mean, I would say there
there's a significant portion of the population that has things
like you know, they take drugs on a I mean
legal drugs.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
I just want to be very clear here, Gary, very clear.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (27:55):
You know there are certain prescriptions that are built into
the budget for the whole year. There are certain Okay,
I know that last year, my family's last over the
last five years, my family in co pays alone spent
uh you know, whatever the number is. Well, as long
as you put your money into an FSA that is
in the range of that average, it's pretty likely that

(28:18):
you know you're gonna you're gonna spend that money, and
you know, and that can cover for all kinds of things.
I mean, that's just not just uh uh you know,
if you go to the eye doctor, right, you go
to the dentist, you go to all these it's not
just you know, the person who looks at your heart
or you know, you takes your temperature, so.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Broad a range of things you can be going to
use this to pay with.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yes, and again, what you're doing is you're taking money
that has never been taxed and you're using that money
to pay that bill. As opposed to after tax money
which you've already paid. It's much more expensive if you
have to use money from your checking account that you've
already paid tax on.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
If you've never heard these guys talk before, here Matthew Terry,
John Farley, let me just tell you this. I don't
think we can talk for more than two or three
minutes with these folks without hearing that one that one
three letter word tax. Yeah, you guys are all over
the tax side of things.

Speaker 6 (29:13):
Yeah, so we we we we actually have two uh
tax professionals on staff. We don't we don't file taxes
for clients, but uh myself, I'm an rolled agent and
we also have another advisor that is an enrolled agent.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
And that just means I was going to say, explaining
what that means.

Speaker 6 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah, So we're all familiar with what a CPA
is Certified public accountant that is a tax professional, and
that it's just a it's a reward that is provided
by the state showing that you are indeed knowledgeable about taxes.
Well in a road agent, that's just a designation that's
provided by the i r S. It's the highest designation

(29:52):
tax designation that you can receive from the i r S.
So it just proves to say, hey, we know what
we're talking about. But it it's the reason we love
tax planning so much is because it's relevant to all
of us. It's it's the biggest expense that we all
pay in life. So figuring out ways that you can
lower your tax file income, certainly we want you to

(30:14):
pay what you owe. But we always laugh and we say,
you don't want to leave Uncle Sam tip okay, so
you don't. You don't need to pay anymore, then you
absolutely have to. So that's why we always bring up
taxes because it's relevant to all of us, and it
is a way that if you're currently not doing any
tax planning, well, it's a way that we can bring
a tremendous amount of value just from the get go.

(30:37):
So absolutely, I do want to want to close the
LUTA and say flexible spending accounts. Years ago there was
a major issue because just like you said, it's a
use it or lose it policy. You put in five
hundred dollars, you don't use five hundred dollars. What's just
gone right. The company gets to keep that money up
until a few years ago. They actually allow you now

(30:57):
to roll over up to city and sixty dollars of
unused money within your flexible spending account. So if you're
someone who says, Matthew, I'm very healthy, I rarely have
to go to the doctor. I don't have access to
a high deductible health care plan, so I cannot contribute
into a health savings account.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
I say yeah, okay.

Speaker 6 (31:18):
So what I'm going to do, though, is that you
can still put in six hundred and sixty dollars into
a flexible spending account to at least get a tax
deduction if you don't need it, Well, that's okay because
that money can just roll over to the following year
and eventually you know that you're gonna likely occur medical
cost and when that time occurs, you at least have
money sitting aside that's pre tax right, you never paid

(31:39):
taxes on that money. You can just pull money out
and pay that medical bill that way.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
So I stick everything, man, We try, but that is
that's a big part of what you do at preservation specials.
That's one of your you know, your your your pillars.
You know you you got these things. You'll get this,
look at that, you got that. But but it always
it's going to be looked at through a tax lens.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
Yeah we try, Yeah, yeah, I mean we we work
in five areas. Tax is absolutely one of them. It's
not simply investments. And the statement is made by many
experts that an appropriate tax plan frequently is as important
or at times more important, than the net return on
your money. Right, you know, in other words, you know
you got six percent, you got eight percent, you got

(32:22):
twelve percent. Well, if the tax plan doesn't doesn't fit
all of that, your returns can your net twenty years
down the road can be significantly different.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Yeah, you may just call yourself twenty five percent.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
Yeah absolutely, yeah, yeah huge, yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I know this is something that you mentioned before, but
we brought up earlier about the wroth iras and the
traditional iras. So folks that are in I know, our company,
I guess this year is offering a wroth ira for
the first time.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
But for folks who.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Want to take traditional money and put into a wroth account,
this is a strategy for that, right, it depends on
I guess we're here on the process.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Yeah, Well, the way it works is you're eligible to
do what's called a wroth conversion anytime in your life.
You just have to pay the taxes when you do that.
So so remember any money that is in a traditional
ira or a four oh one K, there have been
no taxes taken out. So if you're going to move
that either into your bank account to use it or

(33:25):
into a wroth account, in either case, that's a taxable event.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Same tax you the way.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Yes, So it's just so what whatever amount of money
you move gets added to the top of whatever income
you have that year. So let's you know, you have
one hundred thousand dollars in income and you want to
do you want to move twenty five thousand of your
money from your IRA to a roth.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
IRA.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Now you have one hundred and twenty five thousand in
income and that's so that's your tax. But you are
eligible to do it anytime in your life. You can
be thirty, you can be eighty. So we look at
what your situation is for a given year and for
this subsequent many years and say, okay, let's do a
plan here because by and tax rates are at a

(34:10):
very income tax rates are very low. They're the lowest
they've been in our lifetimes for all of us here.
And I know, people say, oh, taxes are really high,
and then you know, you pull out a chart and
you say, well, hey, don't forget. They can be a
lot higher. So we're at a pretty good time to
pay to pay that tax and then get the money

(34:31):
into a wroth because once the money is in a wroth,
it will never be taxed again. Growth earnings dividends, whatever,
nothing forever, and so some people you know, so it's
getting your money into a wroth is really really advantageous,
you know, I mean that's the way to go.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Now.

Speaker 4 (34:50):
The strategy of how to get there is something that
we do all the time because we have pretty elaborate
software that says, Okay, if you do it this year,
this is what you're.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Going to pay a tax.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
But look what you would have paid in tax if
you didn't ten years down the road. Right, So, so
there's a there's a payment now or pay me later
strategy on this, and it's almost always in your favorite
not always, almost always, all right.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
A lot of benefits to talk about and a lot
of different ways to look at your your you're setting
aside money and preserving it in your time of years.
You want to sit down and have a conversation with
these guys right here about that your first not one,
but two visits, right.

Speaker 4 (35:26):
Yeah, first two visits, no cost, no obligation. Again, it's
getting to know each other. That's what we do. Yeah,
and you can find us eight oh three nine retire
we're right here in Columbia.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
We're local.

Speaker 5 (35:38):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
Some people uh prefer strongly to meet in person as
opposed to now in the zoom world that we're in.
And you know, my advisor is here there, we're here,
we're here in Colombia. We're happy to meet with you.
And you know, if you prefer zoom, we can do
that too. But a lot of time, it makes a
lot of sense just to come in the office. We

(35:59):
can talk about all kinds of stuff there.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Yeah, all right, John Farley, Matthew Terry, have a great weekend,
y'ill too.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Thanks here.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
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Speaker 7 (37:06):
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a certified mold inspector. We can help you test the
air in your home ten minutes per sample, one sample inside,
one sample outside.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
If we do it.

Speaker 7 (37:20):
In the morning, we'll have the lab report that afternoon
and then we can discuss with you what protocols you
need to take to clean the air in your home,
particularly if you have coughing, sneezing rashes on your body.
This could be because of mold that's in the air.
Let us come do air testing for you. The fee

(37:42):
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Speaker 1 (38:09):
Hey, we're back into our final segment of the Health
and Wellness Show at this special time this afternoon instead
of this morning here as our best game Guy coverage
took over at nine this morning, so we're happy to
be with you now and we welcome into wrappings up
Jim Snell. Snell that is from the law office of
James Snell, and good afternoon to you, sir.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Thank you very much, and I appreciate you saving the
best for last.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Always man, always, except for all the weeks when you're
not last, this is gonna be somebody else. You we're
talking during the break you rute at a conference or
Arizona somewhere Scottsdale, scott Arizona.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
And which had never been to Scott's Stale before. Yeah,
would you go back? Yes? Yeah, very nice, really yes,
Scott's Stair.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Didn't body. There's no trees.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
It's it's hot. They have these giant dumb cactuses or cacti,
the cacti. Yeah, they've got these these lights. And no,
there were trees, I mean we were, we were. There
are some trees, you know, but uh, they do you know,
they do have these big you know these cactuses and
and some are you know, get I don't know how
I mean twenty I don't know how tall they get.
They get big tall, they're like trees. No, but Scottsdale.

(39:20):
I kind of wish somebody, you know, some of our
highway and traffic people and road maintenance people would go
out to Scottsdale and look how they keep up their
roads really and so great infrastructure. It was clean, okay.
Uh no, Scott's sale is great.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
And you spend some time on those roads. But you
spent some time in a driverless vehicle, you were telling.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
I did so, so I had, you know, I've seen
the the you know, I got out there. I saw
one of these driverless cars at the airport. Way and
waymo I had and that and that I remembered. I
wasn't even thinking about it, right, So I get out

(40:06):
there and I see somebody get picked up and one
at the airport.

Speaker 7 (40:10):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
You know. I took an Uber from the airport to
the hotel. And of course that Uber ride was fifty
five dollars. Oh yeah, I mean I gave my driver
five stars, but I think he kind of scowled at me,
you know what. Uh, you know, I don't know if
he spoke what anyway, I still give Hi five stars.
I got there, got their one piece. And then so

(40:35):
the next morning, we had some time before the actual
program for the event started, and took a ride. Wanted
to go, you know. So we were staying at like
this hotel kind of outside the built up parts of
Scottsdale and scotts salees right outside Phoenix. So we want

(40:55):
to get a car to go go into Scottsdale. And
I downloaded the app for Waimo, which is these autonomous
self driving cars, and I'd say it's it's a platform
owned by Google. Yah, And it's basically an app just
like Uber. It sinks in with you know, I've got

(41:18):
the Google wallet on the phone and it just you know,
it's all seamless. You don't have to interceparate credit card
numbers or anything. And then basically you you tell it
where you are. You think through the app, you say,
you know, I want to be picked up here. It'll
give you a couple options for pick up locations. Then

(41:38):
you and of course you tell it where you want
to go, and you pick your drop off location. It
tells you how long the car will take to get there,
and when you order the car, you'll then see kind
of a map with GPS and actually you know, shows
the car driving to you. Yeah, and then the thing,
you know, the car arrives. It's weird because there's nobody

(42:01):
driving it.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
Right.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
Do you sit in a back seat or the front seat.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
There's you can sit in the passenger, front seat or
the back it's like a it's like a Jaguar kind of. Yeah.
So they were nice. So it's just you and you're
not driving correct and they've got a they've got a
couple of stickers on the interior that say don't touch
the wheel because apparently if somebody tries to manipulate the wheel,

(42:25):
the car will just you know pull stone. Yeah, the
car will abruptly stop.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
It didn't bother you to have you're in this car
and there's no driver. I mean that would just freak
me out.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Man. It was. It was weird. I got used to it. Uh,
And you see them all around Scottsdale. Yeah, I mean,
so I don't want I'll tell you different than a
Tesla because I've been in a self driving Tesla before.
The front display is kind of like a Tesla and
you see all the you know, other cars. It actually

(42:55):
has a little different i'll call it image or icon
for the way mos. Yeah, and it's got sensors all
over it, and it it just worked apparently apparently.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
I'm just I'm not ready to go there.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
We personally, I mean, I think it took five trips
with one went through really a couple of four way
stop signs. It handled four way stops fine, It handled
traffic fine. You know, it puts on its signal to
make turns or change lanes. The wheel actually moves when
the car is turning, so you've watched the wheel move
by itself, okay, And I will tell you, you know, just

(43:32):
by way of comparison, it was fifty five dollars in
an uber from the from the airport to the hotel,
the hotel back the airport, and again we got into
a little bit of you know, airport traffic a little
more congested. The car did great. Twenty two dollars.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Wow, okay, took the human factor right out of it.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
And obviously, you know there's Google money, so I'm sure
this is being subsidized. It probably actually costs them more
than that to to provide it. But they're electronic vehicle.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
H interesting.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
They are apparently rolling out. I think they've already rolled
out in Austin. They've been in San Francisco. They are
coming to Atlanta and Charlotte. We will I would anticipate,
uh in these things coming to South Carolina probably in
three to probably three four years, I would think. I

(44:25):
think it takes some legislation.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
I think the first time I drive around the road,
one one goes by me with nobody in it. You
know that's gonna be weird. But we bring this up
because when you were out in Scottsdale, you were the
conference that had to do with well technology.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
A lot was heavy. We got a lot of in
your business yeah, and and and oh gosh, just this
all this technology with AI is moving so quickly. Uh So, Yeah,
I was at the National what's called the National Trial
Lawyers puts on this conference dealing with a lot of
you know, business operation things, Yeah, for for plaintiffs lawyers,

(45:04):
and that's lawyers that you know represent people and you know,
car accidents and different types of injury cases. And of
course there's you know, there are a lot of presenters
speaking and then anybody that's ever been to a conference
or something. You know, you've got the whole big hole
full of vendors and exhibitings, and so there's a lot

(45:25):
of There were several companies that are new that are
have you know, backed by venture capital money, that are
integrating with chat, GBT or grock or one of these
AI platforms offering different services for you know, personal injury attorneys.
And the technology is rapidly advancing, like like, for example,

(45:54):
I spoke to a vendor that helps with medical records retrieval. Okay,
so just I'll say this one of one of the
ongoing I'll call it pain points in personal entry practice,
both for the law firm and the client. You know,
we have to to present somebody's injury case. We have

(46:17):
to get their medical records and their bills. And you
think that'd be easy, right, you know, people have to
sign up like a hip or release. But you know,
oftentimes people that you know have been injured, you know,
may have seen you know, been treated at you know, three, four, five,

(46:38):
six different places. Sure, every facility has their own process
to request records. Some may have specialized hip of forms.
You know, they want their form. They won't let you
use like a generic of course they all call, they
all charge money for them, of course, yes, but it's
it is not unusual for it to take months to

(47:00):
get records. Really yeah, and people can't And I will
tell you, I you know, you know, and of course
people you know, especially when people have finished their treatments
and they're they're ready to talk settlement or get their
cases off. You know, they're calling and checking, you know,
do you have my records? Do you have them? Why not?
And it's you know, and on our end, you know,
you you know, as a lawyer, you order the records

(47:23):
how the place tells you. But one of the one
of the one of the people I talked to, they
have an AI based system that you upload the release.
It will figure out how to get the release and
the request to the provider like the doctor's office or

(47:45):
the hospital or whatever. Then the very next day it
starts following up with the medical practice and it'll make
outbound phone calls. And so you know, the AI bought.
Wait just wait till.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Debt collectors get ahold of this technology.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Oh it's coming. And and I'll say it's cheap, you know,
they're charging you know, this place is twenty dollars a request,
it'll have you know, it's it's AI service, will make
phone calls UH talk to the clerks at the at
the office, followed by email just basically hound them till
you get the records and that you know, it looks

(48:22):
to me like it could only speed up the process,
right and and you know, and then I will tell
you Arizona specifically, So Scott Shiels in Arizona, there were
some programs I think, you know, kind of more focused
on Arizona specifically. There are UH in Arizona specifically, they're

(48:46):
allowing non lawyers to have an interest or ownership stake
in law firms, which is very which is not And
so you have these venture capital firms pouring money in
and actually buying law firms, which could create a whole

(49:08):
host of issues because you know, practice of law is important, ye,
but regardless, and so some of these vendors we're talking
about using AI a technology to almost fully automate you know,
more than just ordering medical records as far as such as, oh,

(49:29):
actually having AI bots that you know, make outbound and
take in down calls from your clients.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
But when it comes to the actual practice of law,
because I'm sure it's you know, there's artificial times being used, chat,
GPT whatever I mean, if it hadn't come in to
play yet, and writing briefs or whatever. I mean, guess
it's going to But that that seems gonna gi up
a whole nother host of potential problems.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
Host the potential host the potential questions. You know, of course,
my just reach sure everybody in my office he in
Lexington where we're yeah, we have humans, We're not We're
not having our clients talk to machines or computers. You know,
we're we're doing everything you know, the old fashion fashion
way directly overseeing you know, the claims. But I will

(50:16):
tell you that that, and I will tell you that
they're gonna be I see it coming. They're gonna be
law firms around the country. They're gonna be you know,
pushing the envelope and what the technology will do or
what would be allowed. I can see situations where you know,
the vendors will be you know, these companies will be
creating technologies that probably do more than they should. I'm

(50:40):
sure you know that's growing pains, but really interesting. And
I'll tell you this. You know, I don't know if anybody
saw the roll out a couple of weeks ago for
the neo robot. Did you see that where it's uh uh,
they're they're supposed start shipping next year. But it's like
a household robot that I don't think the AI is

(51:00):
currently here yet, but they've got the robotics part down
where it can handle, like, you know, household chores like
clothes washing, and handle your dishes and vacuum and feed
your animals.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
It's who give us even five years, we won't recognize
the place. No, they're I mean we were, And I
shouldn't ask this question because well we've got less than
two minutes for all out of time. But if you
give a whole lot of thought yet to how artificial
intelligence is going to play into, you know, the things

(51:34):
you do in a court. In other words, they're gonna
be lawsuits and all sorts of things people will claiming,
already claiming personal injury thanks to AI and such. This
is gonna become a growing part of the law practices.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
It's it's gonna be a growing part. And I will
tell you one thing in my practice already is you know,
we're getting clients who are using you know, say chat
GPT to ask legal questions or get recommendations on their case.
And one thing specifically about these platforms, there are two
things they do that are known issues with a I

(52:11):
is number one, it will they will make up law
or completely fabricate legal authority. And number two, there's a
tendency for them to have a bias towards the expectations
of the prompt or the person they're communicating with. So
if you express doubt what chat GBT about, hey, is

(52:33):
my settlement value high enough? Even if it's not, I
mean it is high enough, chat GBT will will go
along with your opinion and support it. So it will
just reassure and I'll say it's all changing rapidly. Anybody
wants to talk to us about their case and talk
to human it's eight zero three three five nine three

(52:54):
three oh one. We help people with injury cases around
Lexington and Columbia. No charge to talk to us, and
it can visit us online at snow law dot com.
That's three l's Snell Law dot com.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
All right, A real human being right there, Jim Snell,
Good to see you, buddy. The lawyers and staff at
the law office of James Snell are there to help
those with injuries and workers' compensation claims, car accidents on
the job, and other accidents resulting in injuries. They want
to help everyone resolve their claim as quickly as possible,
but they'll never recommend you accept as settlement that's unfairly low.

(53:27):
The Law Office of James Snell recognized by AVA with
a ten and an eight plus rating with a Better
Business Bureau. There's no cost to speak to them. Insurance
companies make their money by denying and minimizing otherwise valid claims.
The Law Office of James Snell can help. They're not
looking to try to take every small mishap, but focus
on real injuries that deserve to be taken seriously. The

(53:47):
Law Office of James Snell.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
I'm Jim Snell. Contact me at Snell Law dot com.
That's three l's spell law dot com. The Law Office
of James Snell since two thousand and four with off.
This is in Lexington and Columbia.