Simply Money

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Tonight predictions about AI stock winners and what, if anything
those predictions should mean to you a push for what
some would call a risky investment in your four O
one K. And of course we've got a lot more
to get to. You're listening, disiplay Money presented by all
Worth Financial. I mean, you Wagner along with Bob sponsor
or what could possibly go wrong with tech stocks or AI.

(00:30):
I feel like that's a question maybe that a lot
of investors have asked themselves over the past year or two.
If you have asked yourself that, it's probably because you've
forgotten history, because you can easily say what could go wrong?
And we say something can come out from out of
the blue, and it has.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, and Amy, I'm getting questions from you know, office
staff about this whole Deep Seek situation from yesterday. If
everybody's out there talking about it, we better get into
it here and just at least covered for a few minutes.
So let's just cut to the chase and just a
brief recap. You know, yesterday this Chinese based AI model,

(01:09):
you know, software developer called deep Sea out of China
came out with news that hey, they had developed this
whole new AI model with only about six million dollars
of investment capital required that supposedly could rival all the
best models that we have here based in America, where
these big tech companies you know, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, have

(01:33):
spent hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars buying Navidia
chips and other high market chips. So that has moved
you know, all the discussion into a rather chaotic, h
I don't know, chaos for the last twenty four hours,
like what's going to happen here too? Stocks like Navidia, Broadcom,

(01:54):
these high end producers of these sophisticated chips, will that
really you know, uh their demand for those chips and
as a result suppress their stock prices.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I think it's so easy as an investor to fall
in love with a company or a sector and then say,
you know what, I've done all the research, I see
the future of this, what could possibly go wrong? I
often use the example of Amazon to say, hey, like
Amazon started out as an online book company, and then

(02:28):
it has been such a disruptor going into other sectors
and absolutely like turning things upside down. I was really
worried a few years ago for Kroger. When Amazon bought
Whole Foods. Kroger did a fantastic job right staying nimble,
making some smart decisions to kind of navigate itself through that.
But what I think is really interesting about this Deepseek

(02:48):
situation is, you know, when I use the example of Amazon,
it's this like big bohemoth right moving into a new space.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Here's a small, nimble, never heard of company before.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
I mean literally, Deepsek was on nobody's radar a week ago.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
It wasn't even on new was radiarotil yesterday morning, Yes, exactly,
And all of a sudden, this tiny little company h
with very small investment that we're aware of to this point,
has come in.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
And just been a huge disruptor new Lissen. Is Deep
Seek a long term disruptor, I don't know, but I
mean there was certainly some disruption yesterday in volatility in
the markets, and so you know, I just I think
this is such a great example to all of us
and a reminder of you know, there have been so

(03:38):
many articles written about Nvidia and the future of AI
and how it's going to change everything we do and
what that's going to mean for investors' long term and
I'm not saying any of those courses of conversation are
off the table, but this is a great reminder that
anything can come from lefaiod at absolutely any time, and
that's exactly what we saw points.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
And just to put some of this in perspective and hopefully,
you know, calm everybody down a little bit here, there's
a lot of developments that are going to come out
and a lot of news that's going to come out
here over the next days, weeks and months. So a
couple things just to remember. You know, as we all know,
the S and P five hundred has been up very
nicely the last couple of years. But these magnificent seven

(04:24):
stocks that we always talk about, you know, they make
up thirty three percent of the market cap of the
S and P five hundred, These big tech stocks, they're.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Magnificent until they're not so magnificent anymore.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, And you know, over the next couple of weeks,
all of these big tech tech stock copy companies are
going to be reporting fourth quarter earnings, and more importantly,
and this is always more importantly, they're estimates for the
next quarter or the next two quarters. In my opinion,
the earnings call that we want to keep an eye

(04:57):
on if we're trying to just get a big picture
look on where this might be headed in the short
intermediate term. Here is Microsoft. They announced earnings after the
close on Wednesday. They're slated to spend over ninety five
billion dollars in you know capital budget, you know on AI,
you know, infrastructure and everything. That earnings call is going

(05:18):
to be interesting because that's a very well run company,
very intelligent people at the helm, and they're going to
get a ton of questions on that investor call, and
I think we'll kind of really have a better idea
of what the landscape looks like for these some of
these big tech stocks after Wednesday's Microsoft call.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
It was just last week that a company called Webbush Securities, right,
and they sort of build themselves as one of the
nation's leading wealth management like brokerage firms, advisory firms. They
of course released their list of like, hey, these this
is what we're keeping eye on, the top ten a
IS stocks and they said, hey, these will be winners. Right,
what could go wrong?

Speaker 5 (05:58):
Right?

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Just fast forward a few and it's like eons right
as far as how much can change in one particular industry,
from all this research that a firm can do, like,
oh wait, I know that company that sounds good. Maybe
I should go all in on their predictions, you know,
and we'll get into their predictions a little bit more.
But take it all with the grain of salt. You're

(06:20):
listening to simply money presented by all Worth Financial, I mean,
Wagna along with Bob Sponseller. What is going on in
the tech sector with AI stocks.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
A little bit of volatility is what.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
We're seeing, even as some major companies are making major
predictions about where AI is moving in the future.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, and you brought up that web Bush article and
it's just it's really should of play money Monday morning
quarterback and kind of laugh at these things. And we
have the luxury of reading this stuff after the fact.
But you know, the list of stocks that you mentioned,
and it's all the ones we've heard of. Noavidia, Tesla, Google, Apple, Microsoft,
you know, Salesforce. They were expected all these stocks are

(07:01):
going to be up another twenty five percent in twenty
twenty five. Well, Navidia fel by almost eighteen percent yesterday. Yep,
so got a little catching up to do.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and I think you know, as they make their predictions,
and I just want to dig into these because they
can use really strong language. You know, they're always going
to push into fear and greed to try to make
you feel like you should probably make some changes based
on their predictions. And one of the things that they're
saying is technology is eating the world. I mean, how

(07:32):
is that for some phrasing right there? And they're saying, listen,
this is going to minimize human intervention. Everything's going to
be powered by AI. And then they're also saying we're
going to watch technology prices plummets.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, and then on the flip side of that, literally
another article says, hey, we're going to need more of everything.
We're going to need more human capital, We're going to
need energy, water skills, data centers, more resources, more tech growth. Yeah,
depending on which article you read.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yes, you know, it's sometimes they're opposing viewpoints on the
same page, like on the same website.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Really, wait a second, have you guys even talked to
each other? Like you're writing these.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Strongly opposing opinions about the same company, the same sector,
the same kind of investment. It's enough to make your
head spin as an investor.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, and unfortunately, look it's a business model. I mean,
they're selling eyeballs. They're trying to get eyeballs on the web.
People got to fill up airtime on cable news. It's
just talk talk talk, talk talk, blah blah blah blah blah,
and no one's really making sense of everything. And to
your point, Amy, be careful what you read and more importantly,
be careful on what you act upon. In the short term.

(08:46):
We talk about recency bias all the time. One of
the worst things you can do is look at yesterday's
winners and then over allocate to that sector or that
particular stock, and then find yourself with a very steep
correction and more investment risk than you ever really signed
up to take on in the first place.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
I don't know why this was so eye opening to
me over the summer, and maybe it was just like
it's everything that I've always known. But one person summed
it up in one statement. We were with friends. We
were on Lake Norris hanging out and there is just
one of our dear, dear friends who's probably about five
ten years away from retirement, and he was making this

(09:26):
conversation about he's kind of in this financial services field
and you know, people who are in this field often think, like,
you know, I'm in this day in and day out.
I can figure out the way to shorten this and
the fastest way to get there or whatever. And he said,
I have seen so many people around me, colleagues and friends,
try to make this big bet, try to figure out

(09:46):
what the next big thing is, and make insane amounts
of money all at one time. And he said, for
every major step forward, then there's a major step backward
coming on the heels of that. And he said, I
have been tortoise the whole time, like just slow and steady, diversified,
not taking huge risks. That he said, I'm gonna have

(10:07):
one heck of a retirement.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
You know that's great. And you know it's almost like
getting on web md and spending three hours reading about
doing your own heart surgery. You know, you can learn
enough to be dangerous. Yeah, find a really good doctor
that you've been referred to and let him or her
do their job. You know, somebody that does it every

(10:29):
day and can advise you and has had good outcomes
for years and years and years like your friend has.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, And I think you know, if you are someone
and this is a know yourself, like, take a good
long look at yourself in the mirror kind of situation.
If you are someone who is swayed by either headlines
or what someone else is saying at a party about
an investment that you need to get into, get yourself
an advisor that you can trust and make sure it's
an advisor that builds a financial plan, that is asking

(10:58):
you what your long term goals are, and so that
when you're coming to them saying oh, I heard this
thing about this company or I read this headline or
I read this article, they're going to kind of got
check you.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
Well say, hey, does that hold up for your financial plan?

Speaker 5 (11:12):
No?

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Probably not right.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah. And what you're really saying, amy is find an
advisor who is in fact truly a fiduciary. Yes, somebody
that's only going to make recommendations that they feel are
in your best interest. That is so vital.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Here's the all Worth advice financial predictions. Man. They are
proof that you can be wrong for a living and
still have a job. But you know, your job is
to make sure that you are taking care of your
long term financial goals. Coming up next, the fight to
include an investment option in your four oh one k
that may or may not be a great idea for you.

(11:50):
We're going to get into that. You're listening to Simply Money,
presented by all Worth Financial here on fifty five krs.
The talk station you're listening to Stimpy Money for don't
be all Worth Financial any Wagner along with Pobspon Seller.
If you can't listen to our show every night, you
don't have to miss a thing we're talking about.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
We have a daily podcast for you. Just search Simply Money.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
It's right there on the iHeart app or wherever you
get your podcasts. YEP at six forty three. The financial
considerations you've got to think about if your marriage is
not working anymore. I personally have been through this. We're
going to walk you through that. I am a huge
proponent of choice. I think more choices.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Freedom is good.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
More choices are always better.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Uh except sometimes well, and with freedom comes the responsibility
to learn and make good choices.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
And there are some new options potentially coming to a
four to one k near you. And the reason why
say more choice is good except maybe not, is that
option could be equity. And I have some concerns.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I have some as well. So if I get on
too much of a rant here, Amy, this is where
you might have to grab me by the scruff of
the neck and call me down.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
But I am put my seatbelt on for the ride
of your You go for it all right.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Well. With the incoming Trump administration, And this is not
a political comment. There's just there's a new uh, there's
a new movement on foot to allow private equity funds
into four oh one K plans. And let's just be
very transparent about this. All financial firms are in business

(13:37):
to make money. And let's face it, you know, over
the last thirty years, with the disappearance of define benefit
pension plans and the emergence of four to one K plans,
everybody's responsible for their own retirement planning, and everybody wants
to bite at the apple here to get their funds

(13:58):
on these four to one K plant plant forms. And
to me, this kind of feels like letting the fox
into the henhouse, so to speak. A lot of these
private equity funds have extremely high fees, They have lock
up terms that are not favorable to investors. People don't
understand what's in them, and there are lobbying groups now

(14:22):
saying hey, let us into these four to one K plans.
This is not the first time this has happened. The
US Department of Labor issued two letters, you know, going
back in to twenty twenty and again in twenty twenty
one saying they were looking at it, but financial education
must be considered. And I almost laugh at that, but

(14:44):
go ahead, Amy.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
It just is mind boggling to me that in the
same menu of options as a target date fund, you
could also have private equity, you know. And going back
to kind of the Labor Department's sort of response to these,
you know, the issue to statements in stressed Hey, listen,
if we're going to put these in people's four one K,

(15:06):
there has to be education requirements along with this. We're
not endorsing it, we're not recommending it. But I think
if I have said this once on the show, I've
said it a million times. Most people spend more time
planning your summer vacation or your spring break then you
do understanding your four to one K. So if suddenly

(15:28):
you have the option of private equity fund in your
four to one K, I think a lot of people
are gonna whoop.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
That sounds sexy. I've heard about that, I've read about it.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
I don't know much about it, but it sounds like
a great investment. In My concern is people jumping in
not understanding the large fees or the large risks associated.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yep. And we came across a study that was put
out last year that said, you know, eight and ten
four to one K plan participants said they'd like to
have access to the things. Yeah, but then fifty one
percent of those surveys say they didn't understand the benefits
and they don't understand how they work at all. And
then the person that put the survey together said, hey,

(16:12):
the average real retail investor does not know even what
private equity is. You know, philosophically, if you expand the
menu of offerings, it's a benefit, but the details matter.
And that leads me to my little rant slash story.
You know, I used to amy, I used to be
the four oh one K advisor for five or six

(16:33):
pretty large four oh one K plans employee sizes ranging
from fifty to five hundred employees. Okay, And I know
those that are listening to this show that work for
companies that have four oh one K plans will relate
to what I'm about to say. Usually, these companies have
their annual meeting where they call in HR and in

(16:54):
one meeting they talk about all the changes to their
comp plan. They call in the the medical benefits people
to talk about changes to their healthcare benefits. And then
they call in Bob, the four to oh one K guy,
and say, hey, you've got thirty seven minutes to cover
the four to one K plan. We want you to
talk about tax law changes, investment allocation, cure cancer, cure

(17:18):
world hunger, talk about private You know, you got forty
seven minutes because we're shipping these fifty people out and
then bringing the next fifty people in, and it makes it.
It used to make me sad because people would just
stare at me, like can you help me with this?
And most people get no guidance other than that just

(17:40):
quick and dirty, thirty minute meeting, and then they're left
to navigate this whole thing on their own. It's not
a good situation. So I've always felt like the Department
of Labor is either willfully blind or they know what's
really going on and just feel powerless to do anything
about it. Because of the strong lobbies. The lobbying from

(18:04):
some of these financial firms.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Do I have a problem with private equity as investment,
Absolutely not. No, I do not, as long as you're
going into it with eyes wide open. You know, there
are rules about certain kinds of investments, private placements, right,
things that you know you have to be a certain
level of an investor. Yes, yeah, exactly, and you know
you have to have a certain amount of assets and

(18:27):
you have to there's certain boxes that have to be
checked along those lines. I have a zero problem, right
if we know you've got money that you can lose
and it's not going to be catastrophic to you, and
that you have a level of understanding of exactly the
risk that you're taking in the average four oh and
k investor, right, And we've seen so many stats from Fidelity, Vanguard,

(18:49):
you name it. You know, the average person has a
couple hundred thousand dollars and there are four oh and k.
And by the way, there's also a retirement crisis in
our in our country because people are getting into retirement
and they don't have enough. This scares me.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, and back to the whole freedom theme. And we
don't want to come across as talking down to people
that aren't millionaires, you know, implying that they're less intelligent
than anyone else. That's not the point that we're making.
The point we're making is that the more complex these
investment vehicles become, the more critical it is that you've

(19:24):
got somebody that can actually explain it to you in
words you can understand, so that you can make the
best decision for your situation. And unfortunately a lot of
our lower income younger friends are not getting that kind
of advice, and they're left to fend for themselves, and
sometimes that can pose problems.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Well, you know, I'm also worried about this younger generation.
I was having dinner with a friend recently, and he
has a family friend who is in the financial world,
who's getting ready to graduate, and he was saying, listen, like,
he's only interest st in working for private equity because
it's such a buzzword, and you know, it sounds so
sexy and exciting as a career. I don't think you

(20:07):
will do it.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Everybody wanted everyone when I was at Miami University, and
the everybody wanted to get hired by Goldman Sachs.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
If it's the hot new career is it also going
to get the hot new investment and does it make
sense for everyone? And are we fully educated on what
we're talking about? Here here's the all Worth advice. Please
contact a fiduciary financial advisor if you're thinking whether something
like this right, like private equity, like an old investment
makes sense in your portfolio. Coming up next, Dream vacations

(20:41):
and budgets with one of our favorite guests. You're listening
to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial. Here in
fifty five KRC the talk station. You're listening to Simply
Money presented by all Worth Financial. I'm Ammy Wagner along
with Bob's bond seller.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
What's your dream vacation?

Speaker 1 (21:01):
And then what's the reality check of your actual budget?
Joining us tonight our good friend Al Ridding from Game
Time Budgeting Out. No one is more responsible with budgeting
than you. But I also know you and your wife
like to take some pretty nice trips, So how do
you let that happen and also check all the other

(21:21):
boxes financially?

Speaker 5 (21:23):
So, Amy, I have to tell you a very quick story.

Speaker 6 (21:26):
So my wife and I when we turned fifty, well
even before turny fifty, I was like, Babe, what's on
your mind so far as our fiftieth birthday celebration, and
you should seen.

Speaker 5 (21:37):
You should have seen the look on her face.

Speaker 6 (21:39):
Her eyes got extremely wide and this big old kool
Aid smile came on her face, and she said, I
don't know, but it's gonna be big, right.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So long story like your wife. I've said that before
on the show, but I.

Speaker 6 (21:52):
Really like her, so long story short. She actually trusted
me to plan a two week vacation.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
Amy.

Speaker 6 (21:59):
We spent one week in Dubai and then we spent
the second week in Maldese, and I have to tell
you we were able to scratch off quite a few
things on our bucket list. First of all, I'd always
wanted to ride on a double decker airplane, so we
did that. We also visited Bird Khalifa, which is the
largest building in the world.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
It's in Dubai.

Speaker 6 (22:21):
The view from the top was actually it was just spectacular.
My wife she always wanted to see like the world's
largest choreograph water fountains, so we saw that at the
Dubai mall. And in malde We've always wanted to stay
in one of those over the water.

Speaker 5 (22:39):
Villas, so yes, we do that.

Speaker 6 (22:41):
As well, and let me tell you, Amy, on the
scale of one the ta, and it was like a thousand.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
So you're never going to be able to retire because
you took the trip of your life.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
Right.

Speaker 6 (22:53):
However, you know me, Amy, when I knew that that
vacation was going to cost a bit of money, I
started putting extra money away in our vacation account, so
even before the plane left, the trip was already paid
for in full. But I gotta tell you about a
financial mistake, Amy.

Speaker 5 (23:12):
So keep in mind, we're on this two week vacations,
We're in a constant state of euphor you, right.

Speaker 6 (23:19):
So we're hanging out at the Dubai mall and all
of a sudden, we're like, let's have some lunch. So
we selected this restaurant. Keep in mind, all of the
prices are in Durham's, which is the unit of currency
in the UAE. So we have a fabulous lunch that
the bill comes. Guess what, Amy, The bill for that
freaking lunch was about two hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Yikes.

Speaker 6 (23:45):
But the coup part. After getting over the shock of that,
I was like, you know what, this is a reminder
of what happens when you let emotions make your financial decisions.
And it had been probably a decade I had experienced that.
Even though we spent a ton of money for lunch,
it was actually just a good reminder of how we

(24:07):
always need to use math when we're making financial decisions.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
All right, Hey, el I've got to ask. I mean,
just listening to you describe that trip, First of all,
I want to ask, can I can I bring my
wife and go on vacation with you guys? Cause you
sound like a lot of fun.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
As long as long as you pay for your half
of the bill.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Well, I'll make sure to do the exchange rate before
we buy, before we get lunch, because I can't afford
a four hundred dollars lunch out. No, it was about
two hundreds there, I'm saying, if the four of us
are there, it's four hundred. But anyway, true, I'm curious,
you know, just listening to you talk, you you sound
like you're filled with a lot of emotion and a

(24:50):
lot of great stuff. Who who's the planner in your
in your family? You and your wife? Who actually does
the budgeting and figuring all this out?

Speaker 6 (24:59):
So so we actually do the budget together, believe it
or not Bob. However, when it comes to the person
who's actually entering data into the software that manages the budget,
I'm the person that does that.

Speaker 5 (25:13):
When you look at my wife and I as a.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
Couple, she is a little less inclined for that type
of detail work as it's related to money. But I
don't mind because that's something that gives me a thrill.
I know it sounds weird, but I typically get excited
over financial stuff, so I don't mind doing that, and
I don't well, Bob, you don't know this about me, sir,

(25:34):
but every month, my wife and I sit down and
we have a budget meeting every month, and we give
every dollar of income flowing through our household and assignment.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
So we have a.

Speaker 6 (25:47):
Pretty good system that we've created over the years. And
at the end of the day, all of the decisions
that we make with money, it's fifty to fifty.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
You know.

Speaker 6 (25:55):
Of course, I say what I need to say, she
says what she needs to say say, but we always
come up with an agreement that is mutually beneficial for
each of us.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
That sounds perfect. I mean, it sounds like you guys
are a great team, and I mean that sincerely. So
out looking back on this big vacation to Dubai, what
would you say, is one experience that you learned, you know,
as you're teaching us and our listeners, what's one or
two things that you learned from that whole thing that

(26:27):
if you could do it all over again, you do
a little bit differently.

Speaker 5 (26:30):
So obviously the lunch that I just discussed.

Speaker 6 (26:34):
But I have to tell you, Bob, because my wife
and I we've trained ourselves to be a certain way
with money. Even before taking the trip, I had already
done like price estimates about what it's going to cost
to fly in a certain seat on a certain airline,
what it's going to cost to be those fancy little
over the water villas and all of that stuff.

Speaker 5 (26:56):
So I had already had.

Speaker 6 (26:59):
An idea of what the budgeted expeying should be. And
even before taking the trip, like I said earlier, I
just started funneling more money toward our vacation account to
make sure that when we came back from vacation there
was not going to be like this humongous credit card
be all waiting for us. So when it comes to
making big dream vacation decisions, you definitely have to count

(27:24):
the cost and make sure that your money aligns with
the experience that you're trying to have. And for us,
everything that we wanted to do, we did it because
the money allowed us to not live outside the boundaries.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Does that make it sense totally?

Speaker 1 (27:43):
It does all and quickly. We've got about a minute left.
But I want to say, ask how much in advance
did you guys decide on this? And then what kind
of sacrifices you know, are there a couple of things,
the decisions that you made in order to make this happen.

Speaker 5 (27:57):
So for us, now, don't let this alarm you.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
I started asking my wife about this trip a year
in advance because I had a hunch that it.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Was going to be very expensive.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
I want to ask you.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
What we spent amy, But it was a lot of money,
you know, But I just started funneling money away. And
because we're very good about living well below our means,
it really wasn't that difficult of a challenge because the
goal had been set and both my wife and I
we're the type of people once you tell us the
goal and if it means something to us, failure is

(28:31):
not an option.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
I love that. I love that about you. For anyone listening. Listen.
If you have a bucket list trip or this big
sort of feels like pie in the sky money goal
and you think you can never get there, you absolutely can.
And I love how you've laid this out. You have
the conversation, you have it well in advance, and then
you make the plan. What is it going to take

(28:56):
to to get there? You do the research, what's it
really going to cost? And then you just make the
sacrifices along the way to make it happen. Great advice
as always from a good friend, Al Riddick. You're listening
to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial here on
fifty five krs the talk station. You're listening to Simply

(29:18):
Money presented by all Worth Financial. I mean me Wagner
along with Bob's bond seller Best Laid Plans. I don't
think anyone has ever walked down the aisle on their
wedding day with all of the hopes and dreams associated
with it, thinking one day I'm going to divorce this
person and we're going to divide all of our assets
and start a new. Yes, as someone who has been

(29:39):
there and done that, it happens. You know what happens
to all of us. You know, Bob, even though you've
never been through a divorce, I know you have advised
many clients through this situation. I personally have have been
there in. One of the things I think I am
most grateful for is that, as emotional of a time
as that was, that I have the strong financial background

(30:02):
that I do that allowed me to not make emotional
decisions during that time that I couldn't recover from later
because I just knew right, I could take a non
emotional observation of where I was because I knew better.
Many people aren't in that situation, and thank goodness, hopefully

(30:22):
they have an advisor who can help them kind of
navigate through really really choppy waters.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Now, the whole topic of finances is emotional enough, right,
and then you layer on top of that the simultaneously,
you know, the simultaneous ending of the most important relationship
in your life. That's that's a tough time, really tough
time to navigate. So Amy, walk us through some of
the things. I mean, you have been through it, and

(30:50):
you did a great job navigating through it. Walk us
through some of the some of the things that we
need to be watching out for and be proactive about.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
I think, first of all, you've got a step back
and take full stock of your financial picture. You know.
I know a lot of couples there's one person who
knows a lot more about this than the other. I've
done workshops specifically for women and had many of them
come up to me afterwards and saying, Hey, I'm going
through divorce right now, I want to meet with you.
I have no idea even what our financial picture is,

(31:21):
all right.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
And on the flip side of that, you know, I
and thankfully I haven't had a lot of these situations
with clients, but I've had some, and I've even had
a couple where the person that's more well versed in finances,
and it's usually the guy, you know that's trying to
play all the games. They'll call up and say, hey,
can we move this, Bob? And can we move that?

(31:43):
You know, they're they're trying, they're trying to move assets.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Around, yep.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
And I'm like, no, yeah, we are not doing that.
And even if you try to do that, it's all
going to come out in the wash anyway. Yeah, So
let's just let's just not go there.

Speaker 5 (31:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Yeah, So, you know, I think stepping back and in
figuring out, you know, what kind of retirement assets do
we have, what do we have and checking accounts, in
saving accounts. I actually had a client come in a
few weeks ago, really just a few years away from
retirement and now on the cusp of a divorce. We
had a financial plan for the both of them, and

(32:20):
I said, okay, let me do another plan for just you,
and let's look at what your options are and how
we're going to make different decisions probably moving forward based
on this new situation. So you start with the fact
gathering process, right, take the emotion out of it. Just
get the facts as much information as you possibly can.
I think another major next step is separating starting with

(32:44):
bank accounts, right and credit cards. And this is a
conversation too of hey, you know, if we've had a
couple of credit cards that have been opened for a
really long time, each of us maybe takes one so
that we're not hurting our credit history here. But it's
again it's a very unemotional look at how do we

(33:07):
separate this and do the least amount of damage possible.
And I also want to throw one other major consideration
into this, and I've seen this play out far too
many times. We fight over the house. We fight over
the house because it's emotional, right, we can look it's
an emotional time anyway. And then we're looking back at
the house where we raised our children and we have
all the memories, and I think you each have to

(33:30):
look at this and say, can we still afford this
house maybe on one person salary versus the two that
we had coming in before.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, and correct me if I'm wrong on this, amy.
But I've seen this, especially in cases where each party
you know that's going to enter this divorce has separate
you know, completely separate legal counsel. It becomes a game
and it can become trench warfare here. You know, the
attorneys want to win. Yeah, and they will do. They

(33:59):
will cause the divorcing spouses to do and say things
to one another that they would have never done or
never said if not for an attorney trying to quote
unquote win. And you brought it up. Emotion is the
key way they try to leverage, you know, in the
home and all that. So it is just critical to

(34:19):
not only have a good attorney, but have a good
a financial advisor to say, hey, what even if you
think you're gonna win. Are these really assets that you
want to come out with? Can you afford them? How's
this gonna How is this all going to impact your
long term financial situation after the divorce proceeding is over?

Speaker 5 (34:41):
You know?

Speaker 1 (34:42):
And I've seen a major mistake being made many two
times where you can on paper, right, these assets are
worth the same amount. So this is fair right? Well, no,
maybe not necessarily because maybe one of you can't afford
the house anymore, or maybe you know, the the growth
opportunity in those investment and retirement accounts is actually worth

(35:05):
more than your car is right now, that's going to depreciate.
So you want another set of eyes on your situation.
And I've got several clients again going through this, and
I keep saying, hey, listen, I am in your corner
and I'm advocating for you, and I want you to
think through maybe this in a different way than you've
thought about it before. Here's the all Worth advice. Divorce

(35:26):
is a really, really difficult chapter, but it's also an
opportunity that you can build maybe a new financial foundation.
I think the key is to make sure you're not
making bad decisions during that time. That are going to
affect you into the future. Coming up next time for
some Wagner wisdom. You're listening to Simply Money presented by
all Worth Financial here in fifty five krs the talk station.

(35:56):
Oh how I love this music. You're listening to Simply
Money presented by all Worth. My al, I'm Amy Wagner
along with Bob Sponseller. Obviously, I'm going to impart some
major Wagner wisdom right now based on that lead in.
I was thinking about this when I was falling asleep
last night. I didn't necessarily notice it in the moment,

(36:18):
but I've recently kind of had a trend of clients
that I've been talking to who have kind of asked
the same question, and that is, hey, how do I
rank compare to other people?

Speaker 5 (36:31):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (36:31):
You know, like the assets that I have, the money
that we have. You know, whatever stage I am in
my life, how do you know? Am I in the
upper half of your clients? Am I in the middle?

Speaker 2 (36:44):
And I you know?

Speaker 1 (36:45):
And I think it's so interesting because we are so
programmed to want to know how we stack up to
other people. And listen, I get that I am as
competitive as anyone out there, like you tell me I'm
in the bottom half, and by next year, I'm going
to be in your top half. It doesn't matter what
we're talking about. But I want to remind anyone who

(37:07):
has ever felt that way or thought that way, that
when it comes to your money and retirement plan, if
that's how you're looking at it, you're missing it altogether.
It's not about where you are and compared to anyone else.
It's about how you spend and how much money you
have saved and what kind of retirement income you're going

(37:30):
to have. I have seen people who have millions of
dollars have major issues in retirement because I also spent
millions of dollars, right, and so understanding that really success
in retirement looks like how much am I going to
need to live whatever kind of retirement life I want to?
And then what's it take to get me there?

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Yeah? In other words, and I agree with the amy
it all comes down to. And this is what I
tell people. At the end of the day, what's really
the only thing that's important is are you on track
to live a rich and meaningful life as defined by
what's most important to you?

Speaker 5 (38:09):
Yep?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
And if you can answer that question. Yes, it doesn't
matter what anyone else is doing here.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
I understand what does rich and meaningful look like to you?
I have had so many different people in my office,
and I can tell you everyone's version of what that
looks like is different. So the question is not how
do we stack up against the numbers that everyone else has?
It is am I on track to live my version
of rich and meaningful? And so it starts with I think,

(38:37):
defining what that looks like for you and then figuring out, okay,
what does it take to get there? Doesn't matter what
anyone else has. Thanks for listening tonight. You've been listening
to Simply Money, presented by all Worth Financial here on
fifty five KRC, the talk station