August 17, 2025 • 25 mins
From wills to insurance to savings, here are 5 money moves you’ll regret not starting today.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
The best things in life are free, but you can give
(00:27):
them Your love gives
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
me such a thrill, but your love don't pay my
bills.
But before I get into that, youmay have noticed what I just
(01:14):
said at the very beginning ofthe podcast.
Welcome to the Pink Money.
We talk about all things relatedto money from a queer
perspective.
And, you know, the reason Ichanged that from gay to queer
is because I've been encouragedto do that, number one.
But number two, I guess I'mjust, you know, when you're 62,
(01:36):
as I am, and I've been callingmyself gay for, well, ever since
I was 18 and came out, you know,right after high school.
So that's a very long time toidentify yourself as one thing
and feel like that is a hugepiece of who you are.
And then all of a sudden youchange that into something that
(01:58):
Quite frankly, you've avoidedand hated like that word.
But, you know, I guess thingschange and you have to change
along with it.
And sometimes change is good andbeneficial.
So here's hoping that I canembrace that.
that term queer because I knowthat it's used a whole bunch
(02:19):
these days or you know maybepeople are shifting and I guess
you just have to roll with thetimes it kind of reminds me of
the pride flag right becauseforever it was just you know the
way that it was by Gilbert Bakerwho designed it you know way
back then and it didn't changeforever and then all of a sudden
you know people were like heythis doesn't really represent
(02:40):
you know me I don't see myselfhere in this flag and why don't
we do this and Next thing youknow, there's new colors added,
a new design, and now that's aflag we fly.
So, again, change is inevitableand it's going to happen.
And, you know, I just think thatchange is what you have to
embrace and support.
And no matter what age you areand how difficult it can be, I
(03:02):
guess that's just life, right?
Life is all about change.
But anyway, enough said aboutthat.
The real topic I wanted to talkabout is...
procrastination, like I said,because when you put things off,
I think we all know this, right?
You put things off, it's goingto be that much more difficult
(03:23):
to tackle it later on.
And especially when you'redealing with your finances,
anything related to financialplanning, these are the kind of
things you really can't affordto put off.
Yes, obviously lots and lots andlots of people do it, right?
It's just, Our human nature tosay, I will tackle it tomorrow.
(03:46):
I mean, a good example is mywebsite.
This stupid thing has driven mecrazy forever.
I've had lots of people workingon it.
Nobody was able to figure itout.
And it wasn't until I finallyworked with ChatGPT myself to
figure out all the reasons whyit wasn't working.
And there was a multitude ofthings that were wrong with it,
(04:08):
including two separate websitesand our...
I don't even know all thetechnical terms for everything,
but it took me a week, an entireweek of working on it to finally
fix it and get it where it'stoday.
That was with phone calls,chats, chat GPT, you name it.
(04:29):
Three different companies.
Unbelievable amount of work Iput into it.
But hey, it is now finally upand running.
So when you type in Pink MoneyPodcast, whether it's Apple or
Buzzsprout or whatever other wayyou're getting it, you're only
going to get my site and itshould be functional and And it
(04:51):
should be the first thing thatcomes up.
And it shouldn't take you toother links or places, which it
did before.
And even sometimes it said pagecannot be found.
All kinds of craziness.
But I think I've ironed out allthat madness.
And now it's, like I said, fullyfunctional.
So I have to pat myself on theback for having the patience to
(05:14):
go through all that and not beable to lose my mind over all
the things that were goingwrong.
But it's still a work inprogress.
There's a few more things I'mgoing to do to it.
But hey, it's far and away a lotbetter than it was.
So my point there is, again,putting so much effort into that
took a lot of time that I justput off.
(05:35):
And that also affected meactually putting out different
episodes.
So all that's done and back tothe grind, which I'm perfectly
fine with.
So when you think about, though,your personal finances, it's the
same thing, right?
The thing that people never wantto do is start today.
(05:55):
They don't want to start savingmoney today.
It's always going to betomorrow.
I'm going to see an estateplanning attorney as soon as I
find one, or it's somethingthat's on my to-do list, or you
name it kind of things.
And the problem that you faceis, again, the time may surface
(06:19):
When you should have done thesethings, didn't do these things,
and now you're paying the pricefor not doing it.
And that may not seem like itreally applies to some things,
but obviously, like I said,creating a will, power of
attorney, those things, right?
They're kind of one-off things.
They need to be looked up everynow and then, but
(06:41):
nevertheless...
You really need to have thesethings because, again, you don't
know what's going to happen toyou.
I watch a lot of YouTube carcrash videos and craziness like
that, and I see the kind ofthings that happen out of the
blink of an eye, right?
And it's really scary when youthink about that you're going to
the grocery store, and nextthing you know, you're going to
(07:03):
the hospital or you're going tothe morgue.
And it may not even be you.
It could be anybody else.
And so you really have to haveyour...
Eyes dotted, T's crossed, youknow, everything all lined up
because those circumstances justhit us out of the blue.
No pun intended.
But, you know, they...
They do.
They happen to us too quickly,and we always reflect back
(07:26):
thinking, gee, I wish I wouldhave.
(07:52):
So you really need to takeaccount today of everything that
you need to do, you want to do,and create some actual
actionable steps to get themdone.
Personally, I have found, again,ChatGPT to be an amazing
(08:12):
resource and tool.
And I think that if you have...
a particular issue, you don'tthink you have anybody to talk
to about it, you're not readyto, maybe you don't feel like
you're ready to approach afinancial advisor for whatever
reasons, then run your situationthrough it and let it help you
(08:35):
come up with those practicalsteps.
Because these things, like Isaid, really have to be done
today.
When you're saving money, Andagain, you think, I just don't
have it today.
You know, I will do it the nexttime I get paid.
Well, the same thing's going tohappen the next time you get
paid, right?
You're going to be stuck in thissame loop.
(08:58):
So you again have to just takethe baby steps because, you
know, if you intended to invest,even let's just say 50 bucks a
month, if you could do a five,how about an 8% interest?
That'd be nice, right?
Then you're going to wind up bythe age 45 of having over a
hundred thousand dollars.
(09:18):
But if you wait till you'relater in life, you'll need to
put it probably like five timesthat amount in because you don't
have money on your money, timeon your side anymore.
So the time value of money iscritical.
You need time on your side tohelp your money grow.
And there's going to beproblems, mistakes, everything
(09:42):
that happens, right?
The economy goes up and down andsideways and everything else.
And you get a job, you lose ajob, you change jobs, and all
that craziness is going tocontinue to happen in your life.
Again, going back to change isinevitable.
You know, you really have toprepare for that change.
I know I sound preachy, right?
(10:02):
I am not a psychologist orpsychiatrist by any stretch of
the imagination, but Many, manytimes, you know, I have worked
with people that should havedone something and didn't do it
and then, again, regretted it.
You know, I can think of onesituation just off the top of my
head.
Just a real quick story.
(10:22):
So, this guy was working withhis elderly mother.
And...
when they were working to createan income stream for mom.
I don't know exactly the reasonwhy.
This wasn't my personal client.
This was just a colleague ofmine who related this story.
But anyway, so he's trying tocreate an income stream for his
(10:43):
mom.
They dump a bunch of money intoan immediate annuity, which is
kind of like the lottery orsomething.
So when you activate thisannuity, then it creates an
income stream that continues.
Now, it can continue for a setperiod of time, let's say 10
years, or it can continue for alifetime until you die.
(11:03):
Um, it can continue for twopeople's life, husband, wife,
wife, wife, husband, husband,and then one of them dies and
then it can, we will continuefor the other.
Now, those kinds of optionsusually decrease the amount of
money that you're going toreceive because it's typically
going to be paying out longer,but it's If that is important to
(11:27):
you and you can live withwhatever those situations are, I
mean, in terms of less money,then do it.
But back to my story.
So mom, they decided to pull thetrigger on this and create an
income stream.
And the advisor has to give youall the disclosures and they
should really tell you all thepitfalls of doing this and
(11:50):
instead of doing that.
And so when you have the two,three, four options, whatever it
is, and they know your situationand they recommend this, then,
you know, hopefully they knowwhat they're doing and that they
make a strong case for youmaking the best decision.
They can't obviously sign yourname to the contract, but they
can just give you their bestadvice.
(12:12):
What happens is they're doingthis annuity.
They do it over the mother'slifetime.
And, of course, she's an elderlywoman, right?
And they warn him.
They said, you put this moneyinto this annuity.
You pull the trigger today.
It starts paying the money outto mom.
When she dies, if it's sixmonths from now, 10 years from
(12:33):
now, who knows when, the day shedies, this annuity ends.
And there is no getting thatmoney back.
So we suggest that you put insomebody to receive this money
if mom dies.
And that way, you'll geteverything you put in and then
some, right?
That's just good advice.
(12:54):
Did they do that?
No.
What did they do?
Did it strictly on mom'slifetime?
Guess what?
Not even a week later, she died.
The man comes back.
Hey, can I get the money back?
Well, no.
We just told you, you justbought this thing.
I just dumped a hundred thousanddollars into it.
(13:16):
You know, whatever it was.
And they're like, we told you,you signed the contract.
You knew they gave you all thedisclosures.
It's on a recorded line.
You know, I I'm some of this, Imight even have a little bit
wrong, but I mean, the point isthat.
You really need to be carefulabout what you're doing and you
need to do it today because theworst kind of situations can
(13:39):
happen that are completely outof your hands that you just
don't plan for.
And I really suggest you takegood advice when it's given to
you if you can recognize it.
There's a lot of people who tryto, you know, they're shady and
try to, you know, take yourmoney from you.
But there's a lot of good adviceout there.
And I always think that when yougo with any kind of company, And
(14:02):
especially if it's an investmentcompany, you really want to go
to what I would suggest is areputable company.
Because I can think of all thosepeople who put their money with
Bernie Madoff, right?
And I don't even know how thosepeople were not aware of
everything that was going on.
I know all these celebrities andeverybody did it.
And I guess they just investedby word of mouth.
You know, hey, go to my guy.
(14:23):
He's amazing.
I get these 20% returns yearafter year after year.
You know, I don't even know howhe does it, but they're amazing.
Well, that's just too good to betrue, right?
And it ended up, it was too goodto be true.
It wasn't.
It was a complete scam.
So I always suggest you go witha big company, at least a
well-known company.
There are countless companiesthat have also gone under, like
(14:46):
Lehman Brothers, et cetera.
People probably don't even knowwho they were anymore, Bear
Stearns, et cetera.
But the chances of a largecompany, like let's say there's
Schwab or Fidelity or E-Trade orsomebody, you know, Morgan
Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank ofAmerica, all those companies,
the chances of them going bellyup overnight is not really very
(15:09):
likely because they have thefinancial resources and the
financial wherewithal towithstand those things.
And they're well-run companiesand they've been running for,
you know, 50, 100 years,whatever it is, a long time.
So you're better off going witha company like that so that as
well, if you had one advisor,let's say with Merrill Lynch and
(15:29):
your advisor quit, whatever,then if he's not practicing any
longer or he's not taking anynew clients or won't take you as
a client any longer, thathappens, then you hopefully will
be assigned another advisor andyou can continue on a
relationship and et cetera, etcetera, et cetera.
And I always think that samething in terms of an attorney,
(15:51):
right?
There's attorneys everywhere.
You can go around the block andfind, you know, ABC attorney.
But again, and I've seen thisfirsthand myself, you know, with
my mom, she picked some, somedude.
I don't even know how she foundthis dude.
And he was the most impossibleperson to ever track down.
And then when I did talk to him,he gave the worst advice and he
(16:15):
didn't even remember her.
I ended up finding out that heclosed his shop altogether.
So those are the kind of thingsthat I totally would suggest you
steer clear of.
There's lots of big law firmsout there that you can go to
that, again, have somelongevity.
And then you want to, again,work with them so that if Joe
(16:39):
Schmo leaves, then there'ssomebody else who will pick up
your case and continue to workwith you and that not everything
is just thrown up in the air andlands wherever it lands.
So I don't know.
That's just my two cents aboutthat.
Again, I'm trying not to soundpreachy, but I am just
suggesting strongly suggestingthat these are some things that
(17:00):
I've seen happen firsthand andyou really want to take
advantage of them.
You know, I remember again intheir situation that comes to
mind, even in my own family.
So my sister was trying to givemy mom, good advice.
And I came home one time andtalked to her and she said, Oh,
your sister and me were workingon, you know, my, my homeowner's
(17:23):
insurance.
And she made some changes to it.
I said, what, why?
She was like, she just thoughtit would be good way to save me
some money.
I said, why, what, what?
So I got on the phone with herand the insurance company.
Sure enough, they made thesechanges, but not good changes,
changes that would have put heron home in jeopardy if something
(17:44):
really happened.
They underinsured the home iswhat I'm saying.
My mom didn't really realize it.
I don't know what the heck mysister was doing and why she
decided to do that because shehas no background in this.
So I have...
Anyway, that aside, I got backinvolved and we restructured the
whole thing and actuallyincreased her insurance because
(18:05):
her house had been improved andthere was...
Obviously, time had passed, andso the value of the home had
changed.
And so with all those thingstaken into account, we had to
reinsure the house for a higheramount.
That included all the kit andcaboodle things.
So those kind of reviews, notthat you have to do it every
single year, but they should bedone on a regular basis so that
(18:28):
you're not caught off guard.
And those kind of things cancreep up on you.
I live here in Texas, and noteven a month ago, we had that
huge rainstorm which caused allthat flooding.
Countless people had no floodinsurance.
Maybe they couldn't even get itbecause they were in a flood
zone.
That Camp Mystic, from what Iread, and this may be wrong, but
(18:53):
anyway, from what I read, thatthey were in a hundred year
flood zone and petitioned FEMAto take them out of that flood
zone or some of their buildingsanyway, so that they could move
them closer to the water of allthings.
And they did.
And sure enough, what happened,right?
The whole damn thing fell apartand all these kids and people
(19:14):
died.
It was unbelievable.
So, All I'm saying is there'sgood advice, take good advice,
and recognize the fact that, Imean, if you're in a 100-year
flood zone, my God, why in thehell would you put your campers
at risk by moving closer to thewater?
That's just idiocy, in myopinion.
Anyway, all that aside, back tomy rant about...
(19:37):
taking the bull by the horns anddoing things today because you
really, really, really should.
Now, there's a lot of thingsthat you probably want to talk
about, and you really shouldwork, in my opinion, with a good
financial advisor who's going totake a look at your entire
situation, not only yourinvestments, but your life
insurance, your estate planning,your homeowner's insurance, your
(20:00):
car, everything.
They will look at everythingwith you.
They may not do that all in onemeeting with you, I would think
not.
I would think that there wouldbe several meetings that you'd
want to go through because youreally need to work through this
stuff systematically.
Now, an investment review canprobably take, I don't know, an
hour or two hours, depending on,again, the complexity of what
(20:22):
you got.
You know, working with yourestate planning attorney, that
similarly may take an hour ortwo hours, depending on, again,
your situation and, you know,all the complexities involved.
Especially if you're, you know,part of the queer community.
So if you and your partnertogether, you're not married, I
would strongly suggest even ifyou are married, we don't know
(20:45):
what's going to happen right nowwith, you know, gay marriage.
We just don't.
I mean, the Trump administrationis crazy enough as they are.
And if they are able to repealRoe versus Wade, they could
repeal gay marriage or who knowswhat.
I'm not all that steeped in allthe mechanics of it, but I'm
just saying that if that ispossible, then anything is
(21:08):
possible.
So you really need to have yourdocuments lined up and not count
on the fact that, hey, we'remarried.
That is probably not a goodenough backstop.
I think that's the right term,right?
Backstop.
You're playing baseball and theball goes awry, hits the
backstop, right?
That's well, anyway, whateverterrible sports analogy.
(21:30):
But anyway, the point I'm makingis that you really have to have
all your, your eyes dotted T'scrossed kind of things and
listen to the good advice that'sgiven you and work with somebody
who you can trust to rely on, togive you good advice and
guidance.
And especially again, if you'rea queer, I don't think that
(21:54):
maybe working with a straightperson, you know, advisor is the
best way.
Cause they may not completelyunderstand who you are, how your
life is structured and why it'simportant again, to do some of
these things.
I mean, I think it'sunnecessary.
I don't know.
That's just my two cents, myopinion.
Sometimes it's hard to evenfind, you know, a, a gay
(22:16):
attorney, but it's just mysuggestion anyway.
Those are the kind of things Ireally wanted to stress.
I think I've beat this horse todeath, but I'm going to put a
checklist on my new website,www.pinkmoneypodcast.com.
(22:36):
That's the official one.
Everything should take you rightto that, whether you're on Apple
or you just search on the web oryou ask Alexa.
I'm thinking of the ways thatpeople usually get there.
Then all that should work foryou.
I really hope it does.
But also, as an aside, youshould be able to contact me as
(23:01):
well if you choose to, want to,question, comment, or feedback.
Go ahead.
Send me.
I think it's a text.
But however it reaches medepends on the format.
It might be emailed to me.
That I probably need to lookinto a little bit more as well.
But anyhow, the point is that ifyou do great, don't great.
(23:23):
I appreciate you listening.
I hope it's helpful.
And I guess I will just talk toyou next time.
The best things in life are free, but you can give
(00:27):
them Your love gives
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
me such a thrill, but your love don't pay my
bills.
But before I get into that, youmay have noticed what I just
(01:14):
said at the very beginning ofthe podcast.
Welcome to the Pink Money.
We talk about all things relatedto money from a queer
perspective.
And, you know, the reason Ichanged that from gay to queer
is because I've been encouragedto do that, number one.
But number two, I guess I'mjust, you know, when you're 62,
(01:36):
as I am, and I've been callingmyself gay for, well, ever since
I was 18 and came out, you know,right after high school.
So that's a very long time toidentify yourself as one thing
and feel like that is a hugepiece of who you are.
And then all of a sudden youchange that into something that
(01:58):
Quite frankly, you've avoidedand hated like that word.
But, you know, I guess thingschange and you have to change
along with it.
And sometimes change is good andbeneficial.
So here's hoping that I canembrace that.
that term queer because I knowthat it's used a whole bunch
(02:19):
these days or you know maybepeople are shifting and I guess
you just have to roll with thetimes it kind of reminds me of
the pride flag right becauseforever it was just you know the
way that it was by Gilbert Bakerwho designed it you know way
back then and it didn't changeforever and then all of a sudden
you know people were like heythis doesn't really represent
(02:40):
you know me I don't see myselfhere in this flag and why don't
we do this and Next thing youknow, there's new colors added,
a new design, and now that's aflag we fly.
So, again, change is inevitableand it's going to happen.
And, you know, I just think thatchange is what you have to
embrace and support.
And no matter what age you areand how difficult it can be, I
(03:02):
guess that's just life, right?
Life is all about change.
But anyway, enough said aboutthat.
The real topic I wanted to talkabout is...
procrastination, like I said,because when you put things off,
I think we all know this, right?
You put things off, it's goingto be that much more difficult
(03:23):
to tackle it later on.
And especially when you'redealing with your finances,
anything related to financialplanning, these are the kind of
things you really can't affordto put off.
Yes, obviously lots and lots andlots of people do it, right?
It's just, Our human nature tosay, I will tackle it tomorrow.
(03:46):
I mean, a good example is mywebsite.
This stupid thing has driven mecrazy forever.
I've had lots of people workingon it.
Nobody was able to figure itout.
And it wasn't until I finallyworked with ChatGPT myself to
figure out all the reasons whyit wasn't working.
And there was a multitude ofthings that were wrong with it,
(04:08):
including two separate websitesand our...
I don't even know all thetechnical terms for everything,
but it took me a week, an entireweek of working on it to finally
fix it and get it where it'stoday.
That was with phone calls,chats, chat GPT, you name it.
(04:29):
Three different companies.
Unbelievable amount of work Iput into it.
But hey, it is now finally upand running.
So when you type in Pink MoneyPodcast, whether it's Apple or
Buzzsprout or whatever other wayyou're getting it, you're only
going to get my site and itshould be functional and And it
(04:51):
should be the first thing thatcomes up.
And it shouldn't take you toother links or places, which it
did before.
And even sometimes it said pagecannot be found.
All kinds of craziness.
But I think I've ironed out allthat madness.
And now it's, like I said, fullyfunctional.
So I have to pat myself on theback for having the patience to
(05:14):
go through all that and not beable to lose my mind over all
the things that were goingwrong.
But it's still a work inprogress.
There's a few more things I'mgoing to do to it.
But hey, it's far and away a lotbetter than it was.
So my point there is, again,putting so much effort into that
took a lot of time that I justput off.
(05:35):
And that also affected meactually putting out different
episodes.
So all that's done and back tothe grind, which I'm perfectly
fine with.
So when you think about, though,your personal finances, it's the
same thing, right?
The thing that people never wantto do is start today.
(05:55):
They don't want to start savingmoney today.
It's always going to betomorrow.
I'm going to see an estateplanning attorney as soon as I
find one, or it's somethingthat's on my to-do list, or you
name it kind of things.
And the problem that you faceis, again, the time may surface
(06:19):
When you should have done thesethings, didn't do these things,
and now you're paying the pricefor not doing it.
And that may not seem like itreally applies to some things,
but obviously, like I said,creating a will, power of
attorney, those things, right?
They're kind of one-off things.
They need to be looked up everynow and then, but
(06:41):
nevertheless...
You really need to have thesethings because, again, you don't
know what's going to happen toyou.
I watch a lot of YouTube carcrash videos and craziness like
that, and I see the kind ofthings that happen out of the
blink of an eye, right?
And it's really scary when youthink about that you're going to
the grocery store, and nextthing you know, you're going to
(07:03):
the hospital or you're going tothe morgue.
And it may not even be you.
It could be anybody else.
And so you really have to haveyour...
Eyes dotted, T's crossed, youknow, everything all lined up
because those circumstances justhit us out of the blue.
No pun intended.
But, you know, they...
They do.
They happen to us too quickly,and we always reflect back
(07:26):
thinking, gee, I wish I wouldhave.
(07:52):
So you really need to takeaccount today of everything that
you need to do, you want to do,and create some actual
actionable steps to get themdone.
Personally, I have found, again,ChatGPT to be an amazing
(08:12):
resource and tool.
And I think that if you have...
a particular issue, you don'tthink you have anybody to talk
to about it, you're not readyto, maybe you don't feel like
you're ready to approach afinancial advisor for whatever
reasons, then run your situationthrough it and let it help you
(08:35):
come up with those practicalsteps.
Because these things, like Isaid, really have to be done
today.
When you're saving money, Andagain, you think, I just don't
have it today.
You know, I will do it the nexttime I get paid.
Well, the same thing's going tohappen the next time you get
paid, right?
You're going to be stuck in thissame loop.
(08:58):
So you again have to just takethe baby steps because, you
know, if you intended to invest,even let's just say 50 bucks a
month, if you could do a five,how about an 8% interest?
That'd be nice, right?
Then you're going to wind up bythe age 45 of having over a
hundred thousand dollars.
(09:18):
But if you wait till you'relater in life, you'll need to
put it probably like five timesthat amount in because you don't
have money on your money, timeon your side anymore.
So the time value of money iscritical.
You need time on your side tohelp your money grow.
And there's going to beproblems, mistakes, everything
(09:42):
that happens, right?
The economy goes up and down andsideways and everything else.
And you get a job, you lose ajob, you change jobs, and all
that craziness is going tocontinue to happen in your life.
Again, going back to change isinevitable.
You know, you really have toprepare for that change.
I know I sound preachy, right?
(10:02):
I am not a psychologist orpsychiatrist by any stretch of
the imagination, but Many, manytimes, you know, I have worked
with people that should havedone something and didn't do it
and then, again, regretted it.
You know, I can think of onesituation just off the top of my
head.
Just a real quick story.
(10:22):
So, this guy was working withhis elderly mother.
And...
when they were working to createan income stream for mom.
I don't know exactly the reasonwhy.
This wasn't my personal client.
This was just a colleague ofmine who related this story.
But anyway, so he's trying tocreate an income stream for his
(10:43):
mom.
They dump a bunch of money intoan immediate annuity, which is
kind of like the lottery orsomething.
So when you activate thisannuity, then it creates an
income stream that continues.
Now, it can continue for a setperiod of time, let's say 10
years, or it can continue for alifetime until you die.
(11:03):
Um, it can continue for twopeople's life, husband, wife,
wife, wife, husband, husband,and then one of them dies and
then it can, we will continuefor the other.
Now, those kinds of optionsusually decrease the amount of
money that you're going toreceive because it's typically
going to be paying out longer,but it's If that is important to
(11:27):
you and you can live withwhatever those situations are, I
mean, in terms of less money,then do it.
But back to my story.
So mom, they decided to pull thetrigger on this and create an
income stream.
And the advisor has to give youall the disclosures and they
should really tell you all thepitfalls of doing this and
(11:50):
instead of doing that.
And so when you have the two,three, four options, whatever it
is, and they know your situationand they recommend this, then,
you know, hopefully they knowwhat they're doing and that they
make a strong case for youmaking the best decision.
They can't obviously sign yourname to the contract, but they
can just give you their bestadvice.
(12:12):
What happens is they're doingthis annuity.
They do it over the mother'slifetime.
And, of course, she's an elderlywoman, right?
And they warn him.
They said, you put this moneyinto this annuity.
You pull the trigger today.
It starts paying the money outto mom.
When she dies, if it's sixmonths from now, 10 years from
(12:33):
now, who knows when, the day shedies, this annuity ends.
And there is no getting thatmoney back.
So we suggest that you put insomebody to receive this money
if mom dies.
And that way, you'll geteverything you put in and then
some, right?
That's just good advice.
(12:54):
Did they do that?
No.
What did they do?
Did it strictly on mom'slifetime?
Guess what?
Not even a week later, she died.
The man comes back.
Hey, can I get the money back?
Well, no.
We just told you, you justbought this thing.
I just dumped a hundred thousanddollars into it.
(13:16):
You know, whatever it was.
And they're like, we told you,you signed the contract.
You knew they gave you all thedisclosures.
It's on a recorded line.
You know, I I'm some of this, Imight even have a little bit
wrong, but I mean, the point isthat.
You really need to be carefulabout what you're doing and you
need to do it today because theworst kind of situations can
(13:39):
happen that are completely outof your hands that you just
don't plan for.
And I really suggest you takegood advice when it's given to
you if you can recognize it.
There's a lot of people who tryto, you know, they're shady and
try to, you know, take yourmoney from you.
But there's a lot of good adviceout there.
And I always think that when yougo with any kind of company, And
(14:02):
especially if it's an investmentcompany, you really want to go
to what I would suggest is areputable company.
Because I can think of all thosepeople who put their money with
Bernie Madoff, right?
And I don't even know how thosepeople were not aware of
everything that was going on.
I know all these celebrities andeverybody did it.
And I guess they just investedby word of mouth.
You know, hey, go to my guy.
(14:23):
He's amazing.
I get these 20% returns yearafter year after year.
You know, I don't even know howhe does it, but they're amazing.
Well, that's just too good to betrue, right?
And it ended up, it was too goodto be true.
It wasn't.
It was a complete scam.
So I always suggest you go witha big company, at least a
well-known company.
There are countless companiesthat have also gone under, like
(14:46):
Lehman Brothers, et cetera.
People probably don't even knowwho they were anymore, Bear
Stearns, et cetera.
But the chances of a largecompany, like let's say there's
Schwab or Fidelity or E-Trade orsomebody, you know, Morgan
Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank ofAmerica, all those companies,
the chances of them going bellyup overnight is not really very
(15:09):
likely because they have thefinancial resources and the
financial wherewithal towithstand those things.
And they're well-run companiesand they've been running for,
you know, 50, 100 years,whatever it is, a long time.
So you're better off going witha company like that so that as
well, if you had one advisor,let's say with Merrill Lynch and
(15:29):
your advisor quit, whatever,then if he's not practicing any
longer or he's not taking anynew clients or won't take you as
a client any longer, thathappens, then you hopefully will
be assigned another advisor andyou can continue on a
relationship and et cetera, etcetera, et cetera.
And I always think that samething in terms of an attorney,
(15:51):
right?
There's attorneys everywhere.
You can go around the block andfind, you know, ABC attorney.
But again, and I've seen thisfirsthand myself, you know, with
my mom, she picked some, somedude.
I don't even know how she foundthis dude.
And he was the most impossibleperson to ever track down.
And then when I did talk to him,he gave the worst advice and he
(16:15):
didn't even remember her.
I ended up finding out that heclosed his shop altogether.
So those are the kind of thingsthat I totally would suggest you
steer clear of.
There's lots of big law firmsout there that you can go to
that, again, have somelongevity.
And then you want to, again,work with them so that if Joe
(16:39):
Schmo leaves, then there'ssomebody else who will pick up
your case and continue to workwith you and that not everything
is just thrown up in the air andlands wherever it lands.
So I don't know.
That's just my two cents aboutthat.
Again, I'm trying not to soundpreachy, but I am just
suggesting strongly suggestingthat these are some things that
(17:00):
I've seen happen firsthand andyou really want to take
advantage of them.
You know, I remember again intheir situation that comes to
mind, even in my own family.
So my sister was trying to givemy mom, good advice.
And I came home one time andtalked to her and she said, Oh,
your sister and me were workingon, you know, my, my homeowner's
(17:23):
insurance.
And she made some changes to it.
I said, what, why?
She was like, she just thoughtit would be good way to save me
some money.
I said, why, what, what?
So I got on the phone with herand the insurance company.
Sure enough, they made thesechanges, but not good changes,
changes that would have put heron home in jeopardy if something
(17:44):
really happened.
They underinsured the home iswhat I'm saying.
My mom didn't really realize it.
I don't know what the heck mysister was doing and why she
decided to do that because shehas no background in this.
So I have...
Anyway, that aside, I got backinvolved and we restructured the
whole thing and actuallyincreased her insurance because
(18:05):
her house had been improved andthere was...
Obviously, time had passed, andso the value of the home had
changed.
And so with all those thingstaken into account, we had to
reinsure the house for a higheramount.
That included all the kit andcaboodle things.
So those kind of reviews, notthat you have to do it every
single year, but they should bedone on a regular basis so that
(18:28):
you're not caught off guard.
And those kind of things cancreep up on you.
I live here in Texas, and noteven a month ago, we had that
huge rainstorm which caused allthat flooding.
Countless people had no floodinsurance.
Maybe they couldn't even get itbecause they were in a flood
zone.
That Camp Mystic, from what Iread, and this may be wrong, but
(18:53):
anyway, from what I read, thatthey were in a hundred year
flood zone and petitioned FEMAto take them out of that flood
zone or some of their buildingsanyway, so that they could move
them closer to the water of allthings.
And they did.
And sure enough, what happened,right?
The whole damn thing fell apartand all these kids and people
(19:14):
died.
It was unbelievable.
So, All I'm saying is there'sgood advice, take good advice,
and recognize the fact that, Imean, if you're in a 100-year
flood zone, my God, why in thehell would you put your campers
at risk by moving closer to thewater?
That's just idiocy, in myopinion.
Anyway, all that aside, back tomy rant about...
(19:37):
taking the bull by the horns anddoing things today because you
really, really, really should.
Now, there's a lot of thingsthat you probably want to talk
about, and you really shouldwork, in my opinion, with a good
financial advisor who's going totake a look at your entire
situation, not only yourinvestments, but your life
insurance, your estate planning,your homeowner's insurance, your
(20:00):
car, everything.
They will look at everythingwith you.
They may not do that all in onemeeting with you, I would think
not.
I would think that there wouldbe several meetings that you'd
want to go through because youreally need to work through this
stuff systematically.
Now, an investment review canprobably take, I don't know, an
hour or two hours, depending on,again, the complexity of what
(20:22):
you got.
You know, working with yourestate planning attorney, that
similarly may take an hour ortwo hours, depending on, again,
your situation and, you know,all the complexities involved.
Especially if you're, you know,part of the queer community.
So if you and your partnertogether, you're not married, I
would strongly suggest even ifyou are married, we don't know
(20:45):
what's going to happen right nowwith, you know, gay marriage.
We just don't.
I mean, the Trump administrationis crazy enough as they are.
And if they are able to repealRoe versus Wade, they could
repeal gay marriage or who knowswhat.
I'm not all that steeped in allthe mechanics of it, but I'm
just saying that if that ispossible, then anything is
(21:08):
possible.
So you really need to have yourdocuments lined up and not count
on the fact that, hey, we'remarried.
That is probably not a goodenough backstop.
I think that's the right term,right?
Backstop.
You're playing baseball and theball goes awry, hits the
backstop, right?
That's well, anyway, whateverterrible sports analogy.
(21:30):
But anyway, the point I'm makingis that you really have to have
all your, your eyes dotted T'scrossed kind of things and
listen to the good advice that'sgiven you and work with somebody
who you can trust to rely on, togive you good advice and
guidance.
And especially again, if you'rea queer, I don't think that
(21:54):
maybe working with a straightperson, you know, advisor is the
best way.
Cause they may not completelyunderstand who you are, how your
life is structured and why it'simportant again, to do some of
these things.
I mean, I think it'sunnecessary.
I don't know.
That's just my two cents, myopinion.
Sometimes it's hard to evenfind, you know, a, a gay
(22:16):
attorney, but it's just mysuggestion anyway.
Those are the kind of things Ireally wanted to stress.
I think I've beat this horse todeath, but I'm going to put a
checklist on my new website,www.pinkmoneypodcast.com.
(22:36):
That's the official one.
Everything should take you rightto that, whether you're on Apple
or you just search on the web oryou ask Alexa.
I'm thinking of the ways thatpeople usually get there.
Then all that should work foryou.
I really hope it does.
But also, as an aside, youshould be able to contact me as
(23:01):
well if you choose to, want to,question, comment, or feedback.
Go ahead.
Send me.
I think it's a text.
But however it reaches medepends on the format.
It might be emailed to me.
That I probably need to lookinto a little bit more as well.
But anyhow, the point is that ifyou do great, don't great.
(23:23):
I appreciate you listening.
I hope it's helpful.
And I guess I will just talk toyou next time.
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