Financial Talk

Chris, Kevin, and Jeffrey Talk Money, Health, Legal Protection, Medicare, Retirement, Family

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Free. Download the iHeartRadio app now. First, fast, accurate.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Rochester's news, weather, and traffic station.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
The acting label. I'm Paul Stevens, Fox News. The Senate
confirming Todd Blanche as Attorney General overnight.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
The Senate is leaving town for August recess with two
major items off their checklist. One of the big ones,
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, whose nomination once appeared to
be doomed, is set to take the helm as the
country's top law enforcement official. His narrow confirmation comes after
Senator Bill Cassidy backed him, and it was a key
vote after Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski sided with

(00:40):
Democrats to oppose him.

Speaker 5 (00:41):
On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 49.

Speaker 6 (00:46):
The nomination is confirmed.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
Blanche is reacting, saying, I am deeply honored by the
trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to
lead the Department of Justice as our great nation's 88th
attorney general.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
And that's Fox's Madeline Rivera, the Senate also advancing a
bipartisan spending bill as well.

Speaker 7 (01:03):
The U.S.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
And Iran may be on the verge of an agreement
to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaker 8 (01:07):
President Trump says negotiations are going well to reopen the
Strait of Hormuz. He's saying he's taking a personal role
in the negotiations and he expects... News on that front
anytime soon. Some military analysts have expressed caution about what
Iran's real intentions might be. One potential sticking point in
any deal would be the level of control Iran would
have over ships that pass through the strait. Would they

(01:29):
be able to tax them, issue fees of any kind?
That's something the U.S. has already rejected, and the U.S.
does have leverage in the negotiations, not only due to
military force, but due to the naval blockade already in place. Finally, U.S.
Treasury Department saying a new round of economic sanctions is
now targeting Iran's banking system.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Fox's Steve Harrigan, the Pentagon revoking former U.S. Air Force
Secretary Frank Kendall's eligibility for classified info, barring him from
holding any sensitive position, alleging Friday he disclosed sensitive info
about the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One. America is listening
to Fox News.

Speaker 9 (02:17):
From the UAM 1180 newsroom, I'm Anthony Panazowicz. A teenager
is in stable condition for wounds suffered in a stabbing
Thursday night in Sotus. Police say the 17-year-old was stabbed
near the subway on West Main Street by another boy
he had a history of fights with. He was taken
to Strong for treatment, and the suspect later returned to
the scene with his parents after learning police were looking
for him. Attica police, meanwhile, have arrested a man caught

(02:39):
on security cameras throwing a cinder block through a liquor store.
Nathan Salverson reportedly didn't make off with anything but was
startled by the alarm triggered when he threw the object
into the Attica Wine and Spirits. This is Salverson's eighth
arrest of the year and police say he was found
with burglary tools when arrested.

Speaker 7 (02:56):
And the U.S.

Speaker 9 (02:57):
Air Force Thunderbirds highlight today and tomorrow's Rochester International Air Show.
Performers not only include the Thunderbirds, but also a Marine
Corps F-35 jump jet, the Army Golden Knights, a P-51 Redtail,
and more. Your 13-Wayne Weather Authority forecast today, partly sunny
with a chance of a shower or thunderstorm. 85 for
your high. I'm Anthony Panazowicz, NewsRadio, Wayham 1180. Next news

(03:18):
in 30 minutes, breaking news when it happens. Anytime on NewsRadio,
Wayham 1180.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
The following is paid programming by the Rock Your Life
Radio Show. The content of this show is that of
the Rock Your Life Radio Show and does not reflect
the views or policies of this station or iHeartMedia.

Speaker 6 (03:34):
News Radio Wham 1180 welcomes you to the Rock Your
Life Show, discussing safe money, estate planning, and Medicare with.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
An entertaining twist.

Speaker 6 (03:46):
Now from the News Radio Wham 1180 studios in downtown Rochester,
here are your hosts, the Rock Your Life guys, Christopher Krolak,
Kevin Clark, and Jeffrey Kuhn.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
Good morning, Rochester, and welcome to another edition of Rock
Your Life Radio. I'm Christopher Krolak with the Jay Christopher Group.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I'm Jeff Kuhn with the Medicare Shop.

Speaker 7 (04:11):
And I'm Kevin Clark from Clark Peskin.

Speaker 5 (04:13):
You know, every week we talk about helping you make
smarter decisions about money, retirement, legal planning, Medicare, and life itself.
Today's topic was inspired by something happening right here in Rochester,
the Buffalo Bill's are back in town for training camp.
Thousands of fans are watching every drill, every pass, every decision,

(04:33):
and it got us thinking, what separates the teams that
consistently win from those that don't? And even more importantly,
what separates people who seem to stay ahead in life
and those who always feel like they're trying to catch up?
So today we're talking about playing offense versus playing defense.
But before we jump in today's topic, I want to

(04:53):
spend a few minutes catching up with the guys. Summer
goes by way too fast here in Western New York.
So what have you guys been doing so far this
summer to keep busy?

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Got to tell you, Chris, I can't believe how fast
July flew by. And usually by this time of summer,
I've been out on the boat fishing out in Lake
Ontario and I've barely had time to do it. So
I've had, you know, you, It's interesting, this past summer
I look back and I asked myself this last week,
what have I actually done this summer? Because it seems
like it was a late spring this year. And it's probably,

(05:25):
for me, there's one thing in particular. I had an
honor of going on an honor flight. It was Mission
96 with my dad. He's 83 years old.

Speaker 7 (05:33):
Oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
And they had, I think, 50 veterans that went down
to D.C. You know, I've heard a lot about people
talking about they've been involved with it and people have
been on it. how amazing it was. Until you experience it,
you can't understand the magnitude of the impact that has.
We flew down to D.C., and right from the get-go,

(05:55):
there's a motorcade. They had a fire truck with the
water over the airplane. And you get down to D.C.,
and they had these middle-aged students that were down there
greeting the veterans. and thanking them for their service. And
you just saw the impact that this had on all
of them. They go, wow, these people are really respectful

(06:15):
down at the monuments. One guy in particular, he said,
I never had talked about Vietnam since Vietnam. And today
was the first day he did it. It was at
the dinner that night. One of the kids came up,
them school kids, and asked him. And the first time
he talked about it. And it was just a moving experience.
And for me, coming back into Rochester, You had no

(06:37):
idea what to expect. And they had a parade set
up at the airport. Right up from the check-in terminals
was all blocked off. And it was packed. They had
people saluting, veterans. Crowd was packed in there. They had music.
And one of the vets just broke down in tears.
And it was the homecoming that they never received. And

(06:58):
you hear some of the vets talking about it. When
they got back from Vietnam, I had a friend of
mine who was in Iraq. And he goes, he felt
shameful when he got back because all the Vietnam vets
that were disrespected when they got back were there greeting
them because they understood how important that was. And they
got that homecoming. And that's probably the most impactful part
of my summer or even looking back on the best

(07:19):
experiences I've had with my dad I was able to
share recently.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
It is a weird feeling. You know, I served as well. And,
you know, a lot of times people will come up
to me, yay, thank you for your service. Thank you
for your service. And, you know, I always feel a
little awkward when they say that, because, you know, I
see all the men and women that came before me
and what they did, and they didn't really receive that.
So you kind of feel very humbled, you know, at

(07:46):
that moment, and very appreciative, you know, for that recognition.
But quite frankly, I volunteered. You know, I didn't get drafted.
I signed up when I was 17 years old, and
I wanted the experience.

Speaker 8 (07:58):
And a.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
They didn't want the experience. They were kind of told,
you have to go. Yeah, my father was drafted. And
he told a story about one of his really good
friends through boot camp. And he goes, they knew that
in about two weeks, you know, they're heading over to Vietnam.
And he didn't make it back. His friend lasted two weeks.

(08:21):
And my dad, it's another story how he got spared
by treating a general. He was a chiropractor. And he
treated this general. And the last minute, they pulled him
out and put him in a medical unit. And his
really good friend was on the wall. And we went down,
took a picture next to my dad pointing at his name.

Speaker 7 (08:37):
Wow, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
He was really close with him.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
Now, you're showing us a picture right now, and we're
going to put this picture up on the website. It
says Mission 96 Veterans.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah, I kind of brought this because knowing what we're
doing for the show today.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
So is this the 96th mission that Honor Flight has
done for all these men and women?

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, Rochester. Just Rochester. And Rochester is known as probably
the best Honor Flight as far as being the most organized.
If you have an opportunity to go to the airport
when they come in, I highly recommend you do it.
It's really a moving experience, but this is a picture
of all the vets and all the volunteers. They had
one volunteer per that. Um, but it was just, that's

(09:16):
a group that came out of Rochester and it was
amazing experience.

Speaker 7 (09:20):
Whenever I meet somebody that's been a part of it,
like you were just describing and with you and your dad,
it's the same, it's the same emotion, the same story,
the same effect.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
It's really amazing.

Speaker 7 (09:31):
It's inspiring. Um, you know, you know, our generation and
older were affected by this. And, you know, I, I
grew up in the Midwest and, um, you know, it,
it touched us. My, my mom's first husband, uh, died
in Vietnam two weeks before they were supposed to meet
in Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
For R and R.

Speaker 7 (09:51):
And, um, yeah, the stories are just, um, you know,
amazing and we should all have such gratitude You should.
And it's clearly demonstrated by, you know, by these flights.
And everybody that I've ever talked to that's been a
part of it is the same.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
It's incredible. Yeah. You just can't put words into it.
You have to just experience it. Great way to kick
off the summer. Ken, what have you been doing this summer?
You been working on your house a little bit or.

Speaker 7 (10:17):
Yeah, well, that's a tough act to follow to kind
of bring it back. You know, for me, I always
look forward to summer and, you know, the fun parts
of summer for me is the music scene. I mean,
we are so blessed to have CMAQ and Darien Lake
and Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse. They're just an amazing experience

(10:38):
being able to see all the hot artists. I really
look forward to it. I usually get ready in March
or you know, April and start planning out, you know,
what shows to see. So that's really my thing in
the summer along with, you know, everything else we have
in the Rochester area, the lakes and the trails. It's
just an amazing place.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
So what's everyone's favorite place in Rochester during the summer?

Speaker 1 (11:00):
God, you've got to see the Finger Lakes. And there's
just so much to do around here. And even recently
talked about the concerts. I was just out in Saratoga
in July and saw Guns N' Roses of all bands.
That's amazing. It was fun.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, speaking of the Finger Lakes, I have my camper
down in Potter, New York, and that's just south of Canandaigua.
And I'm literally 15 minutes from 20 breweries and wineries.
It's like the best place. And I can't believe the
number of people from all across the country that are
now visiting the Finger Lakes and touring these wineries up

(11:34):
and down every lake. I mean, you can spend an
entire summer visiting different wineries and never hitting the same
one twice.

Speaker 7 (11:40):
Oh, it's amazing. I, you know, I ski at Bristol
in the winter, and there's a little restaurant bar right
next to the ski hill.

Speaker 5 (11:50):
Lock, Stock, and Barrel?

Speaker 8 (11:52):
Exactly.

Speaker 7 (11:52):
That's a classic. That's a good shout-out for them. But
I was talking with the owners there, and it was–
I forget.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It was end of.

Speaker 7 (12:02):
Season last year, and they were talking about the Grape
Festival there.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
In Naples. Oh, that's been going a long time.

Speaker 7 (12:09):
Yeah, and it draws from New York City in an
amazing way with the amount of people, to your point.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
It is absolutely packed when you go to the Grape Fest,
and they used to have a fun game there where
you could put a quarter down and they'd spin the wheel,
and if your number came up, you.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Win a bottle of wine. No kidding, yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
So there's a lot of opportunities to enjoy a lot
of great things down here in Rochester. So what food
absolutely says summer in Rochester?

Speaker 7 (12:33):
Oh, it's got to be a Snashburger.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Jeff, is that a Rochester thing?

Speaker 7 (12:38):
I don't know, but that's the first place I ever
had one. So for me, it is.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
The first thing that comes to mind, it's not summer food.
It's just a garbage plate, right? There's nothing that says
Rochester like a garbage plate, but I don't think I
would eat that in the summertime.

Speaker 5 (12:51):
I always say it's the Zweigels hot. So we're going
to have to take a short break. So we're going
to use the Buffalo Bills training camp to talk about something.
Every successful person seems to understand. Why do some people
spend their lives attacking opportunities while others spend their lives
reacting to problems?

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Stay with us.

Speaker 9 (13:08):
Let's go, fellas. Let's go to work, fellas.

Speaker 7 (13:10):
Come on.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
They've got to be ready to play football. Football. This
is a gift from the football gods.

Speaker 9 (13:15):
Begins.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
The beginning.

Speaker 10 (13:16):
The beginning of everything.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
The best Bills coverage. NewsRadio. Wham! 1180.

Speaker 11 (13:26):
Summer has arrived at Grappa. Dine and unwind at our
outdoor patio in Collegetown. Sample an array of small plates
or enjoy delicious entrees that will leave your palate wanting more.
See more at grapparoc.com. Summer indulgence is waiting for you
at Grappa.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Want a pre-owned car that comes with a promise?

Speaker 10 (13:44):
Hi, everybody.

Speaker 8 (13:44):
Ro Jones here with James Provenzano.

Speaker 9 (13:47):
James with everybody.

Speaker 10 (13:48):
Hosted by Sale Salafia from Exotic Pet Birds. Sponsored by
A & E Cage Company. Tips and talk for every
kind of pet. Saturday from noon until 1 on NewsRadio
WAM 1180.

Speaker 5 (14:00):
Hey, welcome back to Rock Your Life Radio. The Bills
are practicing just a few miles from here, and what's
interesting is that Nobody shows up to training camp hoping
to learn how to recover from mistakes. They're learning how
to create opportunities.

Speaker 7 (14:15):
Yeah, you know, we're talking about sports and particularly the Bills,
which personally I appreciate. But when you think about it,
you know, all sports have a period-related timing mechanism, if
you will. whether it's football in four quarters, hockey in
three periods, the innings in baseball. I mean, we've talked
about it before, and I think it's really relevant that

(14:37):
when we look at our life, we can kind of
put it in the same time period categories as we
go from adolescence to young adulthood to maturity. I like
this thought of using the four quarters in the football
scenario given where we're at in this time of year
with the Bills.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
And since coming on the radio, I've been listening to
to Bob Lonsbury during the day. And he talks about
being in the fourth quarter of life. And you bring
that up quite often in your workshops, you know, being
in the fourth quarter of your life. And that really
got me thinking about what I do in my career.
You know, when I talk to people, people in their
first quarter of their lives, they're just learning. Second quarter

(15:14):
of their life, they're starting to grow. Third quarter of
their life, they're starting to figure things out. They're getting
close to that finish line. And then the fourth quarter,
I think it's almost a misconception because they think that's
the end of life. And one of the things that
we promote here on Rock Your Life Radio is you
want to be thriving in your fourth quarter, not surviving

(15:36):
in your fourth quarter. And probably one of the best
ways that you can do that and what we see
successful people that do thrive in their fourth quarter are
people that plan for it, people that make sure that
they have all the things in order so they don't
have to worry about it anymore. And that was something
you were explaining to me earlier on.

Speaker 8 (15:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (15:56):
I mean, if you plan correctly, particularly in the industries
that we service people with, you know, finances, legal, healthcare, Medicare,
you know, it's something where if you can plan accordingly
and we've all seen it, you have a good plan
in place. You can set it and forget it and
know that you're taken care of. Particularly use the right people.

(16:16):
to assist you and understand. I wish people could grab
how important understanding what your plan is, no matter what
it is. And even back to the sports analogy. We've
all seen, if you watch any kind of sport, that
amazing team that could be down for three quarters but
always comes back in the fourth. It just energizes you.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, this whole thing just brought something to mind that
was kind of interesting. We were talking about quarters and periods.
I think with everybody, I want to be in overtime.
I don't know about you, but I think the one
thing with a fourth quarter, if you want to put
it that way, is you want to make that as
long as possible. We know what the first, second, and
third might be in a time frame, but who knows
what the fourth is going to bring.

Speaker 7 (16:56):
Well, that's absolutely true. And I did see some research
on medical advancements. And I heard, I can't quote from where,
but I heard somewhere that if you can live another
15 years with the medical advancements in the next 15 years,
not the average age, but you'll see people living into it.
You know, 110, 120. It really blows your mind.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
It's crazy. And that's why Social Security systems even having
stress because the fourth quarter is now the third quarter, age-wise.

Speaker 5 (17:25):
Yeah, it feels like it. And one thing about the
fourth quarter, particularly with the Bills, what do teams do
when they're winning, right? They're dominating the other team. Do
they change their tactics in the fourth quarter? Typically, they do.
You know, they don't play the same way. in the
fourth quarter when they're up by 40 points as they

(17:46):
did in the first quarter. And so many times we
see in our businesses, people are still playing the same
way in their fourth quarter as they do in the
first quarter. And that might not be the best way.
Can you imagine a team that all of a sudden
just tries to run up the score and maybe their
quarterback gets hurt? or their running back gets knocked out

(18:06):
of the game. You know, they've jeopardized the rest of
their team's future simply by playing the same way. And
I think that's probably the wrong way of doing it.

Speaker 7 (18:15):
Well, and it's exhausting. I mean, we've all seen it,
you know, with the people that we interact with. I mean,
when you are, you know, running on empty because you've
been playing the same way and giving the same effort
without adjusting your plan, it is exhausting. And it actually,
you know, creates more stress. And then, you know, all
those health negatives can kick in you.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
Then you wind up starting to play defense you know
when you really should have been coasting through life in
in in this in the last quarter and the last
quarter everyone we're not talking about you know you've got
one foot in the grave and one on the banana
peel no we're talking about thriving during your fourth quarter
making it the very best going to guns and roses

(18:57):
concerts yeah uh you know working on your house and
enjoying it the best way possible.

Speaker 7 (19:03):
Well it's To that point, it's interesting. You see, I
spend a lot of time in Sotus at Sotus Point
and also on Canandaigua Lake. And with these surf boats
that make wake surfing easy, you're seeing people in their
60s and early 70s out there trying to rock a

(19:24):
little surfboard.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
On the wake boat. which you didn't see 30, 40
years ago.

Speaker 7 (19:28):
Well, number one, they didn't have those boats. But, you know,
to that point, it's like, as you look into your
fourth quarter, whatever that is for you, some people might
be in their 50s, some people might be in their 60s,
maybe your 70s. What are you thinking right now?

Speaker 5 (19:43):
So Jeff took me to a concert. What was it?
Dark Star Orchestra?

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Oh, God, yeah. Yeah. Frontier field.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
It was basically a grateful dead tribute band. And I've
never seen that before. Um, when we looked down kind
of on the crowd, it looked like there was a fog.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oddly enough, it was a fire. It looked like Canada
was on fire.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
But the guys that we were with, they were about
our age, a little bit older. And they were all
talking about how much they love to water ski out
at sodas.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
And, All their high-speed boats.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
And, you know, it was so cool to hang out
with these guys because they were really enjoying the best
years of your life. You think about water skiing when
you did it in your 20s and 30s. These guys
are in their 60s and 70s and having a blast.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
One guy's a friend of mine. He's in his 50s, Charlie.
And he's retiring this year. He's an attorney. And just
a week ago, he's out barefooting. I'm in the boat.
He's barefooting at 40 miles an hour off the side
of the boat.

Speaker 8 (20:37):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
And he's been doing this since high school.

Speaker 9 (20:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:40):
All right, so let's pivot a little bit and let's
bring this back to talking about offense. And the most
financially successful people I've worked with don't necessarily make more
money than everyone else. They simply spend more time playing offense.
And one way that they do that, and I've noticed
in my career, is how they've designed their finances in

(21:01):
their fourth quarter. And one thing they don't do is
they don't invest the same way that they did when
they were in their second and third quarters. Typically, people
will put their money into these target date funds that
are designed to become, quote unquote, more conservative as you
become older.

Speaker 7 (21:20):
So does that mean like target date? I've seen that
where when do you expect to retire?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Is it 2037?

Speaker 7 (21:26):
Or is it date based?

Speaker 1 (21:30):
It's date based.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
And then basically, it'll say, okay, you're going to be 60% stocks, 40% bonds,
and then it maybe allocates more and more towards bonds.
But We've seen over the past five, six years that
bonds aren't necessarily the safest place.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
In the world to be.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
In fact, people have lost money in those bond portfolios.
So are they really safe or doesn't match what you're doing?
And inadvertently, throughout my career, I've actually created a portfolio.
It's purpose-based retirement planning that's designed for the fourth quarter.
It addresses not just the investments, but It addresses what

(22:06):
your income needs are. What happens when you lose a spouse?
How are you going to replace that income? Where is
your stable growth going to come from? So when you
have that big expense that may come up, whether it's
a roof or helping somebody, where is that money going
to come from? And you don't want to be selling
stocks when the market drops 1,000 points. And then you

(22:26):
also focus on your long-term growth. So you actually have
specific categories where every dollar has a purpose. much different
than investing when you were in your 20s, 30s, or
40s because that purpose had one goal. That was to grow.
Now when you hit this last quarter, this is when
you start playing a little bit more defense but also

(22:47):
having some offensive plays along the way. All right, so
we're going to have to take a quick break, but
coming up next, we're going to be talking with Jeff
and Kevin about why does playing offense actually reduce stress
and why are people who prepare defensively ahead often are
the ones that seem the calmest when everyone else is panicking.
So stay with us on Rock Your Life Radio on

(23:08):
WAM 1180.

Speaker 8 (23:08):
Here are three questions most people can't answer.

Speaker 5 (23:27):
Ford dealer of the home repair clinic on news radio.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Wham 1180.

Speaker 5 (23:31):
Welcome back to rock your life radio on wham 1180.
And we're going to continue the discussion on why are
people who prepare ahead often are the ones who seem
the calmest when everyone else is panicking. You know, I
think people misunderstand confidence. Confidence doesn't come from hoping everything
works out. Confidence comes from preparation. And that brings me,

(23:53):
you know, to my favorite quarterback, Josh Allen, Josh Allen,
doesn't become confident because he's lucky. He's confident because of
thousands of practice throws, studying defenses, practicing his mistakes, and
also repeating those fundamentals. So Kevin, what do you see
in respects to your area of expertise as it relates

(24:17):
to offense and defense?

Speaker 7 (24:18):
Oh, that's a great question, Chris. So in estate planning,
I'm blessed to be able to meet with thousands of
people a year, in the workshops and then individually in
one-on-one situations. And here's what I see. With respect to
estate planning, it's not only people that want to be
on the offense, which I would define as really planning
out and wanting to make sure that their loved ones,

(24:39):
their kids know exactly what their plan is so they
can set it and forget it. They've offensively made a plan.
They know what it is. They're going to stay on
top of it. It's done. Defensively are the folks that
are either feeling the need need to do something because
something's happened in their life. Maybe it's medical, maybe it's
their spouse, some tragedy, or they're in the middle of it.

(25:03):
Crisis planning for Medicaid, those type of things are what
I would consider the defensive players looking at estate planning.
But I want to widen it out a little bit
because I actually see people come in and meet with
me that are just coming to the stadium to watch
the game for the first time. They're in their fourth
quarter and they've never thought about what they should do

(25:23):
with respect to their estate planning. So they're actually a
clean blank slate that we get to educate. Do you
want to be on offense or do you want to
be on defense? And then as you move that further
into the conversation with whatever category of folk that I'm
talking to, it really gets interesting because it's about a plan.
And I could just say, what's the one word you

(25:45):
want to tell people to remember always is to plan.
And I know that's a lot of what we talk
about here, but what does it actually mean? Well, for
the offensive person that really wants to listen to what
we're saying and take control of their estate destiny, It's
about learning and understanding what a revocable living trust does

(26:07):
and how that is an amazing vehicle for their kids
or their loved ones to have low stress, efficiency, ease,
and low cost in helping with their estate.

Speaker 5 (26:20):
So from your experience, would you say that people that
have the time now and they're proactive, do you think
they have more options now? now as opposed to the
person that they're in crisis mode and now they're on
the clock? Am I misunderstanding that?

Speaker 7 (26:39):
No, that's a great question. It depends. I mean, mostly
we can help anybody as long as they're still breathing
and still have capacity to sign legal documents. If not,
we've talked about this at length on this show before,
If they don't have capacity, hopefully they at least had
a durable power of attorney with gifting rights so that

(27:01):
we can, through their power of attorney, take their assets
and put it into an estate plan that will really
work for their loved ones.

Speaker 5 (27:10):
So, Kevin, why not just wait? If I can put
this off and put this off until the last minute,
why do I need to spend the money and take
care of all this stuff today?

Speaker 7 (27:19):
That's a great question, and the answer isn't too fun.
The answer is because you could die tomorrow. Benjamin Franklin
said it. The only thing that's certain in life is
death and taxes. And it's a reality. I don't want
to be a downer. And sometimes that's the feedback. Oh,
it's talking about death too much. But it is a reality.
And that's where the hope comes. And that's where the
offense comes. And actually, I can put hope in your defense.

(27:41):
If you understand that that's going to happen, let's take
care of the planning now so you don't have to
worry about it. And then go ride that boat and
barefoot ski behind it.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
I got a question for you. Just roughly, what percentage
of people that come in are offensively doing planning versus
the ones you come in contact with that are more
defensively because there's been a life-changing diagnosis, event, something like that?

Speaker 7 (28:06):
Oh, you're getting to the real heart of estate planning.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Yeah, I'm curious. I don't want to put you on
the spot on this.

Speaker 7 (28:12):
I tell people all the time the number one enemy
in my profession is procrastination. So I have a biased
group of people that I meet with every time I
do a workshop. They're by definition on the offense. For
whatever reason, even if they were defensive before they met me,
they've learned enough to come get educated. So they automatically
move into that offensive category. Of course, there's 3%, 5%

(28:37):
that their loved ones are calling and it's a crisis situation.
But by and large, the thousands of people I meet
with are on the offense, which really concerns me. Because
procrastination affects everyone, which means that if I'm meeting with
1,000 people out of close to 800,000 people in our

(28:57):
metro area every year, there's a lot of people that
aren't even in the game, that aren't even thinking about it,
or think about it and then procrastinate.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Procrastination is probably the number one enemy. And I know
there's somebody sitting at this table, his name might be Jeff,
that's probably procrastinating to do that exact thing.

Speaker 9 (29:15):
It happens.

Speaker 7 (29:16):
And I understand it.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
I have a lot of empathy.

Speaker 7 (29:20):
It's just one of those things that I encourage people,
come listen to me. The feedback is it's enlightening information
without pressure. That's my mission in life. And you get
to hear another way that isn't really depressing.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
So all this talk about offense and defense, it brought
up a situation that I had earlier this week. I
met with some clients, and they're in their 70s, and
they have about $ 4 million in assets. A lot of
it's locked up in real estate. And no heirs, nobody
to give all this money to. So they asked me,

(29:56):
what do we do with all this money when we die?
And I said, well, you probably have a few options
that are out there. But more importantly, the only thing
they have is a will. The husband got sick not
too long ago. The wife says, well, I can take
care of him. I don't have anything to worry about.
It's something major that happened to him. So as I'm

(30:17):
thinking about this and I'm hearing all these red flags
go off in my head, would you think these people
are playing offense or defense, or are they going to
be posed with a very defensive position down the road
because all they have is just a simple will?

Speaker 1 (30:33):
It's a husband and wife.

Speaker 7 (30:35):
I guess in the context of our conversation, it's probably defense,
but I would actually take it away from there and
say that what you just mentioned, I see a lot.
I have a lot of clients in the same situation,
at least when they present to me initially. And let's
break it down this way. One of the things that
you said is a lot of their portfolio is real estate.

(30:56):
Real estate, the way we transfer real estate in New
York and frankly the country is by signing our name.
And when we die, we can't sign our name anymore
to transfer that property compared to your financial accounts where
you have beneficiary designation. You know what I mean? So
with real estate then, the only person that has legal
authority to do that is a surrogate court judge, which

(31:18):
means probate. So if you have a will, we like
to say where there's a will, there's a way to probate.
And probate is a court-based system That takes a lot
of money, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of
time that we try and educate people to avoid. If
you're on offense, you want to stay out of court.
And it's not just you because you're going to be gone.
So then the question becomes, in the situation that you

(31:41):
just described, I would ask that client, who's going to
be your executor or the person that's going to handle
your estate? And do you like them at all? Because
if you don't like them, keep your will, because you're
going to put them into a world of a job
that they probably didn't know they were signing up for
to have to usher and navigate all those properties through

(32:04):
the court system.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
I did ask that question and they live in Montana.

Speaker 7 (32:08):
Okay. So I'm not familiar with the laws in Montana,
but if that couple was here in New York, even
if they didn't.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Whatever their thoughts are- No, the executors in Montana.

Speaker 7 (32:18):
Oh, the executors in Montana. Oh, I'm sorry. That's even worse.
I mean, that is something where I would want to
talk to them about, hey, And this is for you
listeners out there. The number one question you should ask
is when you think about the person or people that
have to take care of your estate, think of them
in your mind right now. How easy, efficient, and low
cost do you want it to be on them when

(32:40):
you pass away?

Speaker 1 (32:41):
All right.

Speaker 5 (32:41):
Hold that thought, Kevin. We have to take a quick break.
You're listening to Rock Your Life Radio on WAM 1180.
Stay with us and we'll be right back.

Speaker 10 (32:49):
Ai the controller of humankind.

Speaker 6 (32:51):
Abrupt discrimination the ai we provide is audio intelligence it
makes you smart and it's guaranteed human a basic human
need use radio wham 1180 for 200 about how she's
always right By the second chorus, the silent treatment was
officially over.

Speaker 7 (33:11):
Visit smiletunes.com and get out of the doghouse today.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Portions of the following program were pre-recorded. News Radio Wham 1180.
Welcome back to Rock Your Life Radio. I'm Jeff, and Kevin,
before the break, that was really, really helpful. Thank you
for what you shared with us. Well, thank you. It made,
you know, thinking about this, because we're talking about quarters
and fourth quarters, and, you know, I deal a lot
with Medicare playing, but I'll tell you, more I've reflected

(33:35):
back in all this, You think about your life experiences
of people you come in contact with. We're thinking about
health in general because I see both sides of it,
people approaching Medicare, coming in, planning for it, a lot
of people coming off of high deductible plans, coming out
of Medicare and what to expect. For me, I don't

(33:57):
like the defensive side of things because now we're being reactive.
We're treating things and we're dealing with things that may
be uncomfortable and I really like the offensive side of
it and saying, how do we prevent a lot of
that from happening to begin with? And I'll give you
an example of something myself that kind of made me
laugh in a way. This early spring, every year now,

(34:20):
I go to the dermatologist, and it's kind of humiliating.
I have to strip down. And if you've been to
the dermatologist getting your skin checked, you know what they do, right?
They look everywhere. And I even took a picture of
some place that I didn't really want to share.

Speaker 8 (34:35):
Oh, boy.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
And I said, you know, there's something, I don't know
what this is, if it's a mole or something. And,
of course, it's a female dermatologist. And what does she do?
I want to see it. Right? So there she goes. Right? Yeah.
But I left that office, and I think it was
like a Monday. And I wasn't thinking about the appointments
I had that week. And it looked like I had

(34:57):
monkey pox because she froze a bunch of stuff on
my face preventatively.

Speaker 7 (35:01):
Been there.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
You know, and now every appointment I have, I have
to explain why I've got these crazy spots on my face,
you know, coming into spring all week. And, you know,
I do this, and it's kind of paying homage to
somebody I used to sail with, a guy, great guy.
I knew his father sailed on a sailboat. He had
a spot on his leg he never had looked at.

(35:23):
And guess what it was? You know, it ended up
taking his life. He left a couple kids behind, and
I'll tell you, The thing about that is preventative is
the best way to go. Absolutely. And people just have
a fear of it. If you don't do something, we
know people have not been to the doctor for a
long time. They've not been to the dentist. You're afraid

(35:43):
of what those results are going to be. Medicare is
a whole different world. when you're looking at offense, as
far as what you have as options, right? Let me
give you a couple examples. Somebody that's going on in Medicare,
whether you're in New York State or if you're in
a different state, because the laws are very different. How
do you play offense? Well, if you're going to stay
on original Medicare, people don't realize you do get a

(36:04):
welcome to Medicare physical, like a real physical, blood work,
everything else. After that, you get what's called a wellness check.
And you know what the difference between the two of
them are?

Speaker 7 (36:16):
Probably everything.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Everything, right? I think I laugh. I say, well, wellness check,
just make sure you're not clinically dead when you walk
in the doctor's office. They'll check your pulse, your blood pressure,
your temperature, but you don't get the full blood panels
and all that important stuff. With a lot of the
Medicare Advantage plans, you get a free physical. Your preventative
is all covered, right? There's no cost to that.

Speaker 7 (36:36):
Well, that's great.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
I guess so many people don't ever get physicals or
see a doctor.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
A lot.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
A lot. Are they aware of that benefit? Yeah. Some
of them, they're just used to not going. And I
think there's a point you get afraid. Well, if you
don't go, then there's nothing wrong, right? Right. You don't
want to be told, well, my blood's off or something's
going on. But on the backside, that if you don't,
guess when you find out?

Speaker 7 (37:00):
When it's too late.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
You're on the defense, right? You're on the defense, yeah. Yeah.
I mean, so there's a lot of things that you
can do to help protect yourself. And I encourage everybody,
go out and get the physical. Go to the dermatologist.
I mean, most of the Medicare plans out there, there's
no deductibles. You pay a small copay. It's well worth
the peace of mind to do that. You know, and
some of those things can be life-changing. A lot of
things that– I'll give you another example. I don't know

(37:22):
why this is with men. And if you're a guy
listening to the show, you can probably relate to this.
I started talking to a lot of my clients. You know,
they said, oh, I'm tired. I'm not sleeping great. And
I never asked them, have you ever had a sleep study?

Speaker 6 (37:34):
No.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
And I went and got one because I started noticing
I was a little fatigued. Well, guess what? I had
mild sleep apnea.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
And what happens when you get mild sleep apnea? What
do you have to get? Or what should you get?

Speaker 7 (37:50):
The CPAP.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
CPAP, yeah. Right? You guys?

Speaker 3 (37:54):
No?

Speaker 2 (37:54):
No.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well, there was a guy I was on a fishing
trip with. He goes, I can't travel without it. They
bring a generator and car batteries to power it. He goes,
it was life-changing for me. That conversation with him made
me decide, well, I'm going to go get this sleep
study and find out, do I have it, do I not?
Because I knew I snored, and I was told that.

(38:17):
I didn't think I snored. I never heard myself. And
the results, I had mild sleep apnea. So I said,
if that comes back, I'm going to get this CPAP machine,
and it's not an option. I'm going to force myself
to use that. And now I don't. I mean, I've
lost weight, which made a huge difference. I don't snore.
I don't have that issue anymore. But I've had this

(38:37):
conversation with a lot of male clients because for whatever reason,
guys don't like to talk about this stuff. And the
ones that I have, they've come back and said, I
listened and I decided to go do it and I'm
using it. It's life-changing how different they feel.

Speaker 5 (38:53):
Well, we were talking about the fourth quarter of life.
And one thing that I've noticed, I hit 55. I
went to the barber and the barber asked me, would
you like your eyebrows trimmed? And I said, what are
you talking about? He goes, no, you've got a TV
antenna sticking out of here. And I looked in the
mirror and I said, geez. So yeah, things change whether

(39:15):
we like it or not as we get older. And
having these resources available to us are fantastic.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
We're all about the same age. This reminded me of
a story. I've told this to some friends. We're out
having a couple cocktails and we're laughing about aging where
the hair tends to fall off your head and it
starts attaching itself to other parts of your body. One
day I'm looking in the mirror and I see a reflection.
I go, what the heck is this blonde long hair doing?
Somehow it's hanging off of my ear. I went to

(39:46):
pull it off and my ear tugged.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
I go, oh, no. It's happening.

Speaker 6 (39:51):
Right?

Speaker 1 (39:51):
It's the first sign it's happening. It's part of that
aging process.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
But we're still thriving. We're still having a good time
throughout all this stuff. But, yeah, things do change.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
And it's funny.

Speaker 5 (40:01):
We heard it from our fathers, from our grandfathers. It's like,
it's going to happen to you, young man.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
It's happening. And now it's happening. It's happening. The other
side of this question, you've seen some of these changes.
It's like, okay, now when I get my blood work done,
I go to my doctor. I go, I want everything.
I have insurance, vitamin levels. I give it all. I
want to see everything that's going on my PSA. I
have that checked every single year. I have my physicals.
I have a six-month blood work because I've got insurance.

(40:29):
I have a small copay. Use it. That's what it's
there for. On the backside of this, and this is
where Medicare planning comes in, don't assume your prescriptions are
going to be covered next year. I can't tell you
how many people I run into that It's not covered.
It's not in formulary. They never looked at it before
the next calendar year. You know, one of my workshops

(40:51):
that we do, and this time of year, every month,
they're free, is educating people about the changes with drug
coverage and the costs. Don't assume those prescriptions are covered.
The last thing you want to do is find out
January that that important drug that's regulating something is either
no longer covered by your insurance or it's not affordable.
I can't tell you how many people decide, I'm not

(41:11):
going to take this.

Speaker 7 (41:13):
Yeah, I mean, that's an amazing offering that you give.
I hope everybody comes to your workshop to learn that.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
And if your agent or your advisor isn't talking about
these things every year and updating you on it, they
should be. You know, Chris and Kevin, I really think
that encompasses today's message. Championship teams don't wait until the
fourth quarter to figure things out. They really prepare long
before kickoff. The same is true whether it's retirement. The
same is true in estate planning and health care. Playing

(41:42):
offense doesn't guarantee perfection, but it really does dramatically improve
your chances of success.

Speaker 7 (41:47):
Well said.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
You know, if today's conversation made you think a little differently,
we'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 7 (41:54):
Yeah, we really would. You can learn more about all
of today's topics by visiting our website.

Speaker 5 (41:59):
And that website is rockyourlife.com. That's R-O-C, yourlife.com, where you'll
find articles, resources, upcoming shows, and information about each of us,
whether you're thinking about retirement, Medicare, estate planning, or simply
trying to make smarter decisions for what's next, we're here
to help. So thanks for spending part of your Saturday

(42:21):
morning with us. For Jeff Kuhn and Kevin Clark, I'm
Christopher Krolak. Have a wonderful week. Enjoy the rest of
the Rochester summer. And remember, the best years aren't behind you.
They're just getting started.

Speaker 6 (42:33):
News Radio, WAM 1180, and iHeart Radio Station. Guaranteed Human.

Speaker 8 (42:43):
What a pre-owned car that comes with a promise.