Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Tonight, a trade war begins. What you need to know
about healthcare directives, then a whole lot more. You're listening
to simply money presented by all Worth Financial. I Meani
Wagner along with Bob Sponseller. I think, Bob, one thing
you can say is never a dull moment. These days.
We've got a new administration in place. Things are moving quickly.
(00:26):
One of those things tariffs.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, we're not even one hundred days into this administration yet,
and I think everybody would agree, whether you like.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It, don't like it, or anything in between.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This has been the most active presidential administration in.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
The first one hundred days.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, ever probably ever so. But you know, sticking with
the latest version of headlines, President Trump imposed a twenty
five percent tariff on almost all goods imported from Canada
and Mexico beginning at midnight today. And that was after
the thirty day del that we've already talked about, you know,
and he was trying to get both countries to improve
(01:04):
things as far as border security and controlling fetanol on
the border. And I guess the President is not happy with,
you know, progress that has been made on that front.
So he's like fine, we're moving forward with the tariffs,
additional ten percent tariffs on China, and then we've got
you know, China retaliating, imposing a fifteen percent tariff on
(01:27):
all American chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, and ten percent
tariff on soybeans, pork, beef, fruits, vegetables, something called sorghum amy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
What is sorghum?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I think it's like used in a lot of things.
I think maybe like a sweetener. I don't know. I
don't know. I'm not a cook. You don't want to
ask me that. But I think the point is a
lot of the things we're buying all the time, right,
the companies that pay for them to bring them into
the US are going to have to pay more, and
that likely means you and I will be paying more.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, and speaking of that, can you know said earlier yesterday, Fine,
you're going to do this. We're going to move ahead
with a plan to impost twenty five percent tariffs on
one hundred and seven billion dollars worth of American goods,
mostly going into effect in twenty one days. So they're
not putting those tariffs on immediately, but you know, by
the third week in March. If things don't get resolved,
(02:21):
we're going to have twenty five percent tariffs from Canada,
and that will you know, that will move the needle
in terms of prices potentially going up significantly in the
short term at least.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Andy Salder, Chief Investment Officer, when talking about these tariffs,
has said lately, President Trump is trying to do one
of three things, or maybe several of three things in
imposing these tariffs. Number one is to get these countries
to the negotiation table to take care of some things
you mentioned, fentanyl at the border, rite illegal immigration. He's
(02:53):
very serious on these topics. And interestingly, when we were
just minutes away from these tariffs going into place the
first time, that's when Canada and Mexico both sat down
at the table right made some concessions about what they
would do with the borders. But there's two other things
also that we know he could be trying to do here.
One is to counter unfair trade practices, and the other
(03:17):
is to generate revenue. We've got President Trump tonight addressing Congress,
and I'm wondering whether we might get a little more
direction about why why we're going to move forward with
these tariffs, which of maybe these potential things he's trying
to accomplish are the most important here. And I think
(03:39):
he's also going to address a number of things to write, immigration,
slashing the size of the federal government, which we've seen
over the past few weeks, you know, Bob, to your point,
he's done a lot and we're not even one hundred
days into this administration yet, and he's going to speak
to the why of that now. Markets don't like this,
(03:59):
Markets don't like uncertainty. It reminds me of I had
a roommate in college, Lauren, who I just love dearly.
Lauren is one of those people who hates change. I'm
not joking. She still has the same car that she
bought when we graduated from college, and if her husband
hadn't made her move, they would still be living in
(04:19):
the first house she bought, which didn't have air conditioning
and it for children later. Right, She does not like change.
The markets are a little bit like my dear sweet
friend Lauren. Don't like change. Like to know what direction
we're heading in, and when you have an administration where
we're not sure from day to day right where we're
going to be focusing efforts. Next, I think you're going
to have some short term market volatility. We've had lots
(04:42):
of short term volatility in the markets. I think it's funny.
I think the average investor, Bob, correct me if you
think this is wrong. It's like, we forget what this
was like. Right, We've had volatility before. We've had President
Trump and you know, in this role before and maybe
not moving as quickly as he is now, certainly shaken
things up a bit. Markets are going to respond to
(05:03):
that because they like to know what's going to happen
in the next six to six months to a year.
They like to know how everything that's coming through the
pipeline is going to affect the big businesses that are
making up the American economy. And I think there's a
lot of question marks around that right now. I think
that means you can expect to see volatility. You can
expect if you check your four O one K regularly,
(05:24):
up down, up, down, up down. I don't know, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Just set a mouthful, so I got a lot to
say today.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, well no, and that's all good. So you know
to one point that you made.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And again, I think depending on where people get their news,
what their news sources are.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And I watched a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Of news over the past weekend because, you know, because
I just wanted to know what people were thinking, especially
about this whole Ukraine thing and depending on And this
is to your point about your friend, and I know
you've got you know, advanced designations and behavioral finance, so
you study these things, and there are a lot of
(06:06):
people that get very unsettled about change, absolutely, And then
you layer on top of change the way that change
is communicated and that can really get people.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Upset, and the way it affects your money.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And then when you have a media that loves to
just take snippets and print headlines to just drive up
the emotional quotion on all this, that can unsettle people too.
But you know, the financial markets, these are big boys
and girls that run all this money. None of this
stuff surprises them. So to your other point, I think
(06:42):
one of the big pieces of uncertainty here. Financial markets
understand fed policy, they understand inflation, they understand corporate earnings.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
What they don't, what.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
They can't get their arms around, is executive orders, uncertain
foreign policy, tariffs, news that changes in.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Other countries might respond and retaliate to our policy.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and those are things that cannot be managed by
the Federal Reserve or Congress. I mean, these are presidential acts,
whether you like him or not, and that's why you
see a little bit of uncertainty and volatility.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
What I hope we get.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tonight from the President is back to your point, explain
the why I don't want to hear a political speech.
I don't want to hear a rally. I mean, he's
already won election, he's our president. Tell us what he
plans to do and why, and try to try to
get the American people on board and at least understand
(07:43):
what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
That's what I hope we get tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
On the good news front, I mean, the President has
already brought in over one point seven trillion dollars worth
of new capital investment in the United States yesterday, one
one hundred billion dollar investment from Taiwan's Semiconductor to build
a plant in Arizona. That again, just like that Apple
(08:07):
plan last week, that those those dollars were probably going
to Mexico, you know, three to six months ago. Now
they're coming to Arizona. One point seven trillion dollars and
the guy has only been president for a little over
a month. So there are some good things happening that
will positively impact the economic situation here in America. But
(08:29):
we got a lot of things geopolitically, tariff wise, whatever
to counterbalance that, and that's that's what's driving the unknown here.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, I don't know that we can say whether what's
happening so far is good or bad. Right, No one's
saying that. We're just saying hey, right now, because things
are unrolling pretty quickly. There's a lot of uncertainty, which means,
you know, buckle your seat belt. There's going to be
some volatility for the short term. You know, we're we're
not red, we're not blue, We're simply green. And so
(08:59):
it's not that we are pro or against any of
these policies, right, and I think it remains to be seen.
This is a really smart businessman. Long term, these could
be the best decisions ever. I don't know that remains
to be seen. But in the short term, changing right,
these changes so quickly, I think is what is affecting
markets right now.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, and sometimes long term, in order to get long
term improvement short term pain, you have to take on
some short term pain, and none of us like short
term pain.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
We all hate it, you.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Know, no matter whether we're Democrat Republican. We all like certainty.
We all like things to go our way. And yeah,
the long term is a long term. But darn it.
My four to one KPE went down three percent today.
I'm upset. Ye, what are you going to do about it?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I think it's like, you do this thing, and great
if it works out well for all of us. In
the meantime, don't let it impact mere shape or form.
If it does, I'm not too happy about that. Right
in the meantime. You mentioned the media, and I want
to dig in to this. When I woke up this morning,
I was like, okay, here we go, already with the
headlines saying the markets are falling, the sky is falling,
(10:09):
and there's been you know, brace yourself. The market's fall
has just started. Right. That's one headline we saw on
Baron's over on MarketWatch options traders bracing for a stock
market crash. This word bracing right in there. A lot
we see these, We see this use of language a
lot whenever there's any kind of uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and I want to I want to address these
two headlines because I think I think it's illustrative of
the points that we try to make continually on this show.
So brace yourself. The market's fall has just started, all right.
That scares the Bejesus.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Absolutely, get me out of the markets. Let me curl
up in a fetal position around my money, right. I
think that's the response to that headline.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But when you actually read the article, the co chief
investment officer of a reputable wealth management company said this,
we have seen moderate deterioration and earnings, technical and economic
trends that warrants a more neutral equity posture and slightly
higher cash. All that's saying is the same thing we've
(11:11):
been saying is, hey, the market might be a little
ahead of itself. Some of these tech stocks are priced
to perfection. We're taking a more neutral stance. We're not
overweight stocks right now. That is normal, that is healthy.
The other headline about you know, options traders breaking bracing
for a stock market crash. People buy put options on
(11:31):
their overall portfolio all the time just to insulate from volatility.
That's part of what a lot of folks. We have
strategies like that in place here at all Worth. Yeah,
where you can shelter your portfolio, your long term holding,
so you have to sell things and recognize capital gains,
but you protect the volatility of the portfolio by using
(11:53):
some option.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Strutus, which can especially make sense if you have a
concentrated position right in one company and there's volatility, how
do you protect that? Yeah, So I just.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Point out those two headlines and then the actual story
underneath them to just drive home that point is a
lot of people never get past the headline they're flipping through.
They see it and they have an emotional response and
don't take the time to actually learn what's really going on.
And unfortunately, people can make some very very unwise decisions
(12:28):
based on emotion and short term movement that can hurt
them in the long term. And that's why people like
us exist. They need to sit down and help guide
people through all this.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, we say it all the time, right to make
sure that the clients that we're working with, the investors
that we're working with, aren't making decisions from which they
cannot recover. Here's the all Worth Advice market volatility. You
got to understand this. It's the price of admission. Totally normal.
Be careful, please not to act or respond based on
your emotions. Coming up next, why more opportunities exist than
(13:00):
ever before for those on deck for retirement. You're listening
to Simply Money, presented by all Worth Financial here on
fifty five krs the talk station. You can't listen to
our show every night, you don't have to miss the
thing we talk about. There's the daily podcast. Just search
Simply Money. It's on the iHeart app or wherever you
(13:21):
turn to to get your podcasts. Coming up at six
forty three, we're looking at the group of people who
are key to lasting wealth and legacy planning. Better not
ignore them. We'll explain this is big news. My friend
Kate is a speech pathologist in northern Kentucky and she
has been to Washington many times through the years lobbying
(13:41):
against the windfall elimination provision.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
This is where if you have a pension, right, a
public pension, you can't get a Social Security your full
Social Security benefit, even if you've paid into both systems. Right.
One of the last acts of President Joe Biden was
to over turn both a win winfull elimination provision and
the government pension offsets, which is huge I have a
(14:07):
number of clients, Bob, that will be impacted by this.
And what we're learning is the Social Security Administration is
saying they're going to start paying out those who maybe
didn't get one hundred percent of their Social Security benefits
or were reduced before.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And I think this is a good thing. I mean,
you know me, Amy, I hate confusion. I hate ambiguity.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
This has just been a source of ambiguity among retirees now,
and especially older folks and widows.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yes, so you know, I believe in you should get what.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
You pay for, and if you're paid into a system,
you should get the same benefits as everybody else.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
So I applaud this policy.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's going to affect again a lot of you know,
more senior folks and a lot of widows and folks
that actually need this money.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And we're not talking about a ton of money.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Relative to the other things we talk about with yeah,
you know, other things in the government. So I say, great,
and it's good to see the Social Security Administration rolling
this out. And I think the point you're bringing it
bringing up, and a good one, is hey, as of
last week, they're ready to start rolling here. So if
you're somebody that's going to benefit from this, and I
(15:18):
know your friend Kate has worked hard on it. Yeah,
now's the time to start looking for that increase in
your check.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, I mean right, you were talking about that ambiguity
around well the WEP, you know, I think now it's
been the kind of wait and see, how is this
going to impact me? And when is this going to
pay out? I think it looks like they got federal
government has moved pretty quickly here, and so you should
have answers to that question pretty soon. You know. Recently
we've been talking about the number of four oh one
(15:44):
K millionaires and the fact that it's on the rise.
Such a good thing. Gen xers, right, this is my generation,
the group on decked for retirement seem to be going
maybe even above and beyond that.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, and this is good news.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
We're citing a recent survey that was published balances for
four to one K retirement accounts hit the second highest
average on record in the first quarter of twenty twenty four.
And to your point about gen xers, I mean, this
is the first generation really that most of these folks
do not have. This is the first generation where there's
(16:21):
very few, if any defined benefit pension plans.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Right, So it's it's on us. Yeah, it's on us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
You know, you got to save, you got to follow along,
you know, monitor the company, match all excuse me, all
the things that we talk about. So the evidence in
this recent study is showing that people are actually taking
this to heart and doing a good job. So average
account balances of almost six hundred thousand dollars a jump
(16:48):
of eighteen percent from the same you know year one
year ago. Now we had an upmarket. But the good thing,
you know, because we talk about making sure you've got
your money allocated appropriately, If the balance has gone up
eighteen percent, you know, I'm just back of the cocktail
napkin that math here. If you're factoring in contributions, match
(17:08):
in the market and you're getting eighteen percent, that tells
me people are allocating their portfolios to more of a
growth oriented posture, which is good.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
So this is a good trend.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I think this is message received.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We know retirement is on us, no pensions, and also
by the way, we may or may not be able
to rely on the government in the form of social security.
I don't know what percentage is going to be there,
do I think it's going to be addressed. Yes, I do,
but we don't have definitive answers now. And I think
then the definitive, definitive message to us is it's on you. So, yes,
(17:45):
that four one kate needs to be a priority. Not
only that, but also iras right, gen xers have boosted
their average contributions sixteen percent year over year. This is great.
This is saying, hey, I get it. Ye, priority is retirement,
not only in that four to one k, which let's
face it, four one K is more accessible right there.
(18:05):
They're offered to us by our employers, but I raise
you have to go outside to seek to be able
to fund those accounts. So I think this is great news.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It is great news.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And to your point about Social Security, I again an opinion.
I don't think the program's going away. I don't mind that,
but I would say, you know a prediction here for
the younger end of gen X. I think those might
be the first people where you experience, Hey, if we
adjust this program, the retirement age, the wage gap, some
(18:36):
of the things that we talked about in recent shows,
I think that will start to impact people, you know,
younger thirties and forties, and so this is another reason
why this is good news. To your point, people are
taking the advice that they're getting, they're increasing their savings rate,
they're taking ownership of their own retirement, and that can
(18:57):
only result in good things down the road.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I have a thirty three year old in my office
yesterday who is like, Okay, let's figure out how much
we need, right, We've got plenty of runway in order
to get there. And by the way, he said, I'm
not even thinking about Social Security. I've never given it
a moment's thought. Great, if the program is there, let's
not even put it in my plan. So you know,
I think there is a way to think about that.
And then another just something I want to put out
(19:20):
there for you gen xers, is great that we are
prioritizing saving in these retirement accounts. Roth dollars can also
make a lot of sense, right because you've got the
tax free growth on those. So consider that. Here's the
all Worth advice. This is a really critical juncture on
the road to financial freedom. Right. Make sure you're partnering
with the fiduciary financial pro If you have any questions
(19:41):
about whether you may or may not be on the
right path here coming up next. Do you think you
need a special document to stop medical treatment or the
doctors have to follow your wishes? No matter what, that
is not always the case. We are looking at the
biggest miss about end of life decisions. This is incredibly important.
You're listening to Simply My presented by all Worth Financial
here in fifty five KRC the talk station. You're listening
(20:09):
to Simply Money and presented by all Worth Financial. I
mean you Wagner along with Bob Sponseller. When someone's in
my office, one of the first questions I asked them
is do you have a state planning taken care of?
And sometimes they'll respond with yes, I have a will,
and I'm like anything else and we're like, well, that's
the state planning powers of attorney. Advanced healthcare directives also
(20:31):
critical pieces of that puzzle. Joining us tonight is our
estate planning expert from the law firm of Wood and Lamping,
Mark Reckman, talking to us about healthcare directives and a
lot of myths. I think things that people get wrong
because they don't understand what these are, how they work,
why you need them.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Well, that's exactly right. And if there's ever an area
in which we'd like to clear up any misconceptions. This
is it, because this is important stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, jump into this. What do we need to know?
First and foremost? What is this? How does it help?
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Well, let's define a couple of terms before we go on.
A healthcare directive is a piece of paper. It's a
generic term for any document that gives instructions about your
health care, whether it's take care of me or don't
take care of me. A living will is a document
in which you state your wishes about, specifically about life
sustaining treatment. It may say keep me alive, it may
(21:29):
say let me go. A living will applies only to
people who are terminally ill, and we'll talk a little
bit about that later on. And the last document, the
last term we need to understand is the durable power
of attorney for health care. And this is a document
in which you appoint someone else to enforce or to
implement your instruction your wishes about terminal illness.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So three documents, and you're saying we need all of them.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Well, the first two are one document. The different things
in different stateskay, A healthcare directive, a living will is
a kind of healthcare directive. There are other kinds, but
they have all different terms. It's kind of a funny thing.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Hey, Mark Amy and I could tell you know, stories
for hours about experiences with clients in this area, but
I'm interested in what you see most common in your
actual law practice, the misconceptions people have, or just the
areas that they thought were addressed and were not that
you find yourself having to clean up to get everything
in order for people.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
You know, probably the most common misinformation that I hear
is that people think that if I have a living will,
that the healthcare system is going to let me die
before my time. And it is very clearly not the case.
I've been doing this a long time. I've made this
decision about nine or ten times in my own family.
(22:55):
I've seen this decision made dozens of times with clients.
The healthcare system the Tri State area is very good
about this, and I think you know, when you think
about why people get into healthcare, doctors and nurses, you
know they are there because their goal is to help
and treat people. Anytime they lose a patient, it is
(23:15):
you know, there's a sense of failure that goes with
that for many people. And so this notion that doctors
and nurses are letting people die prematurely or participating in
early death. I have never seen even a hint of that,
and that's a very broad misconception. Having a living will
does not mean that doctors and nurses are going to
(23:36):
treat you less or treat you differently. It only applies
in Ohio. There is a very specific definition, and it
only applies if you're terminally ill, and terminal ill. Terminally
ill means that you are likely to die within a
relatively short period of time, and that's defined in the
statute and it's enforced by ethics committees in all the
(23:59):
main your hospitals share in the Tri state area.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Are things any different on the other side of the
river for our folks in northern Kentucky in the state
of Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
No, the whole Tri state area really follows. There are
different laws, There are different statutes in each state, but
the application, the implementation is the same. And what I
will add is that the statutes in the states don't
create the right to die. The right to die is
in the constitution. All fifty states have a right to die.
(24:30):
Every American can choose his moment of death if it's
done properly and according to the Constitution. The individual states
merely specify what the document should look like, and so
the right to die doesn't come from the state, it
comes from the Constitution. The state simply says, this is
the piece of paper you should use, and here's how
these decisions will be made. In our state and the
(24:52):
tri state area, all three states work very similarly.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Mark, will you share then, the importance in European onion
as an estate planning experience professional and attorney, why it
is so important for people to have a durable power
of attorney for health care or a healthcare proxy.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Why is that critically important?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Well, a power of attorney for health care is a
document that gives the person of your choice the right
to implement your decisions. Now, to be clear, the power
of attorney for healthcare only applies if I am unable
to speak for myself. So as long as I'm conscious,
as long as I'm capable of making decisions, power of
attorney for healthcare does not kick in. It only kicks
(25:35):
in if I'm unable to speak for myself, which means,
of course, that's probably the most important time for someone
you trust to be in charge of your healthcare decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
And I think market's also thinking through who that should be.
Maybe someone who can stay a little unemotional during an
emotional time, right, someone who can have a clear level head.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Well, I think that's exactly right, Amy, And what I
have told my clients over the years is pick someone
who is available. And when I say available, I really
mean two things. I mean available in the sense that
they can be easily reached, but I also mean available
in the sense that they're emotionally available to make these
kinds of decisions, that they're mature, they're respectful, because this
(26:21):
is not this is not easy, and it's not fun,
and if you have someone who is very, very jittery,
you may not get the wishes that you may not
get the treatment that you want.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Hey, Mark, one final question I have, How complex in
reality are these documents. I think there's a misconception out
there that these are so complex and expensive to draft
and all that, and people just avoid them.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
That's not really the case, right, It's really not.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
In all three states here in the tri state area,
the state offers forms that they have approved. Now to
be clear, guys, you don't have to use the state
form any kind of written document is enforceable if it's
witnessed or notarized. But these forms are available in all
three states in a pre printed form approved by the
state legislatures. They're easy to use. You just need to
(27:10):
be sure that you sign them in the presence of
two witnesses or a notary mark.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We've got a little bit like a minute here left,
and I just want you to kind of end with
the worst case scenarios of when people don't have these
What do you see happening in families.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Well, what happens is that people have to substitute their
own judgment for the judgment of the patient, and this
is awkward because many families have disagreements about that. Having
said that, what the law is very clear about is
that if I have to make this decision for my wife,
or my brother, or my parents, I am required to
(27:48):
use my brother's judgment his standards, not mine. Same with
my wife or my children. And that's a typical concept
because to separate how this affects me versus what my
wife really wants is difficult, which is why it's important
to have some kind of conversation. If you don't have
the conversation, then we are required to make that decision
(28:09):
based on what we have seen of them and what
our impressions are of their wishes, based on their ethics,
maybe their religion, or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And that's a tough decision to put your loved ones.
And so understand that having these advanced healthcare directives is
actually an act of love for your loved ones. Great
perspective as always from our state Sending expert Mark Rekman
from the law firm of Wood and Lamping. You're listening
to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial here in
fifty five KRC the talk station. You're listening to Simply
(28:44):
Money presented by all Worth Financial. I mean you and
you're along with Bob spawn Cellary, have a financial question
you it's just something that's like floating around in your mind,
like would this be the best thing, or maybe it's
something else. There's a red button you can click on
while you're listening to the show. It's right there on
the iheartop record your question. It's coming straight to us.
Will help you figure it out. Okay, tonight, we're talking
about a significant shift that is happening across America. People
(29:07):
in our industry have been talking about this for some time.
Here there is a great wealth transfer going on, and
the recipients of that wealth are women.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, according to a twenty twenty three study that was
put out by a major global life insurance company, So
these people see, you know, no pun intended, They see
where the bodies are buried.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Nearly half of American women forty nine percent as of
twenty twenty three, now consider themselves the CFOs or chief
financial officers of their household. And that's arise from forty
percent in just two years.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Amy.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
You know, as somebody who's been doing this for over
thirty years, I see this as a tremendously positive trend.
You know, we're right at about fifty to fifty here,
and I think this has less to do now now
with you know, women being marginalized in our society and
not respected or any of that kind of stuff that
used to go on. And I saw it when I
(30:09):
first got in this industry, you know, over thirty years ago.
Now people are being respected treated as equals, and women
are growing in their careers, they're growing in their financial literacy,
they're taking ownership of things, and I think the playing
field has you know, and I know there's still pay
gaps and things like that, but from the from the
(30:31):
standpoint of wealth management, we finally have women engaged. And
I would say, you know, advisors, everybody out there need
to understand that because and I'll just tell you this
from over thirty years of experience, if women are not
respected and considered and not forced but strongly encouraged to
(30:52):
come to these meetings that we have, the women usually
control who the financial advisor is.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
It might not be in a.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Vocal way, but I'm telling you if if they don't
feel respected valued, listen to when they get home and
it's just the husband and wife sitting at the kitchen table.
If the financial advisor hasn't shown a you know, appropriate
amount of respect in solicited involvement in the whole process,
(31:24):
that relationship is gonna move.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
We've come a long way. We've come a long way.
Listen to this. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of nineteen
seventy four, married women right had to ask their husband.
They had to get their husband's permission to open a
bank account or apply for credit. That's not that long ago, right,
fifty years ago, that is what the standard was. So ladies, yes,
(31:50):
we have come a long way. You mentioned the seat
at the table with the CFO of their households, four
and ten women are now identifying themselves. Also was the
primary breadwinners. So it is not you know, we're staying
at home vacuuming. It is, hey, we're earning the money.
And I think it is a win win for men
and women. When we're getting two different opinions at the table,
(32:13):
two different voices at the table, your financial situation is
only going to come out that much better because of that.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
And I'll tell a quick story.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
One of my first ever clients, and these folks were worth,
you know, multi millionaires back in the early nineties, the
husband died. His wife called me on my cell phone
at four point thirty in the morning to tell me
that her husband had died in her next question was, Bob,
do I have enough money to go down to udf
(32:44):
and buy some milk and eggs? And I just felt so.
So that was back to when you know, back in
the in this husband was extremely respectful of his wife.
There wasn't an issue there, but she wasn't involved has
to be involved. He did an involve her. And now
to the whole point here, of inheriting the money. What
(33:07):
a horrible situation to find yourself in where you you
aren't even aware that you have enough money to buy
eggs that day.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
You're grieving, and then you're overwhelmed by the financial situation,
and then.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You are you are a sitting duck as far as
potential abuse by our industry amy because people would come
in and pray on people like that and take advantage
of them. So I know I sound like I'm on
my high horse here, but I'm just saying this is
great news and and to piggyback one more one more point.
(33:39):
I think it has also screamed of the need of
competent experience, qualified financial advisors like yourself, who are women,
because as you said, men and women are different and
you need both sets of advice and people see the
world differently.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So it's a it's all a good thing.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
One of the things that we do here at all
Worth and I love this is we say, like, listen,
we want both of you at the table. We do
not want to have meetings where it is only the
husband every time. And then to your point, if something
happens to him, the wife has no idea what the
situation is I want that wife or either spouse right
to pick up the phone and confidently call me and say, hey,
I am devastated by this loss, but I know we
(34:22):
have this and I know we're in okay shape. Help
me figure out what next steps are. Right, that's a
much better place to be in than I have no
idea what our situation is.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Well, and in terms of meaning participation, let's take the
men and women part out of it and let's just
use both partners. Yeah, partners, Because and I've had meetings
like this amy where one spouse or the other men
or women say well I got this. My husband or
wife really isn't into this stuff. And you go through
the meeting, you do all this stuff, and I'm telling you,
(34:51):
you end up redoing that meeting. Yeah, because you did
not have both people at the table.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Yeah. Both wayes better than one. Here's the all Worth
advice ignoring the financial influence of women. It's not just
a mistake, it's a missed opportunity for lasting wealth and
legacy planning. Question. Do we ever annoy you? Never?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Now?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You annoyed me all the time with all this.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I'm just gonna keep walking. I'm just gonna keep talking
here with all this financial advice we give. I know
we don't, but apparently other people do. We're gonna talk
about this next. You're listening to Simply Money, presented by
all Worth Financial. Here in fifty five KR see the
talk station. You're listening to Simply Money presented by all
(35:34):
Worth Financial. I me Me Wagner along with Bob's sponsorer.
Do you ever feel like when you're going through the
headlines and I don't know your Facebook feed and stuff,
You're like, oh, I'm just tired of people telling me
how to save money, like don't get coffee, here's how
to save here, here's how to save there. I think
sometimes like enough is enough.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
A recent study we came across shows that four and
ten consumers say they've had enough. They are exhausted by
quote unquote cost cutting advice, and frankly, we get it.
I mean, you can only clip so many coupons, you
can only skip so many trips to Starbucks. You know,
in a lot of cases, it doesn't move the needle,
(36:16):
So quit.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Talking about it. Is what that studies showing.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I'm really glad that my husband and children are not
in the studio right now. I think I live at
this pulpit. I really do live a this pulpit. I
still have coupons when we're going through the checkout at Kuger,
and mostly to my husband, don't check out. I might
have a coupon for that. I'm still reminding our teenage daughters, Hey,
you're buying that coffee to the detriment of your gas
(36:39):
if you can't afford it. So I live in this place,
and I also understand it's exhausting, and it's also not
the goal. The goal is to build your wealth over time.
And my husband reminds me of this all the time. Babe.
One of these decisions is not going to make or
break us. How many subscriptions we have is not going
to make or break us. What's going to make or
(37:01):
break us is how much we're saving for retirement. I
focused on that big picture stuff, but I also sometimes
focus on this little stuff. I don't know, maybe I'm
a little bit of a control freak. But for those
of you who were tired of it, and including my family,
which is what this research shows, I do get it.
I absolutely get it.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Well.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Having met your husband a couple of times and I
really like him a lot, Oh, he's very patient thing,
and you've shared that he helps, you know, he does
a lot of grocery shopping and things for the family.
I can just picture him being sent out the door,
you know, like a little kid going off to kindergarten
with their raincoat and boots. Only in his case, you've
armed him with a whole yeah, a whole folder full
(37:42):
of coupons, and then he probably frets coming back at
the end of that shopping trip, wondering if he did
it right, because Amy's.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Gonna review the Kroger receipt.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Line by line, right, is that anything like what goes
on over there?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I'm not that bad, but I do like we'll be
like you left the cubuns the counter, big miss there. Listen,
the goal is not that. The goal is to focus
on bigger things, growing your wealth. And I would say
part of that conversation needs to be also, am I
being smart about the tax strategies that I'm employing here
so that rather than trying to save fifty cents on
eggs with that coupon, I'm actually saving hundreds thousands. I've
(38:20):
seen tens of thousands of dollars in my pocket by
getting tax strategies.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
That's way more efficient use of your time and your
money than the clipping of the coupons. I do understand that.
Here's the all Worth advice. If you are truly serious
about your financial future. I'm listening as I'm saying this,
Stop sweating the small stuff. Focus on what really moves
the needle. This is your investment strategy, tax efficiency and
estate planning. Thanks for listening. You've been listening to Simply Money,
(38:48):
presented by all Worth Financial here in fifty five krs,
the talk station
Tonight, a trade war begins. What you need to know
about healthcare directives, then a whole lot more. You're listening
to simply money presented by all Worth Financial. I Meani
Wagner along with Bob Sponseller. I think, Bob, one thing
you can say is never a dull moment. These days.
We've got a new administration in place. Things are moving quickly.
(00:26):
One of those things tariffs.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, we're not even one hundred days into this administration yet,
and I think everybody would agree, whether you like.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It, don't like it, or anything in between.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
This has been the most active presidential administration in.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
The first one hundred days.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, ever probably ever so. But you know, sticking with
the latest version of headlines, President Trump imposed a twenty
five percent tariff on almost all goods imported from Canada
and Mexico beginning at midnight today. And that was after
the thirty day del that we've already talked about, you know,
and he was trying to get both countries to improve
(01:04):
things as far as border security and controlling fetanol on
the border. And I guess the President is not happy with,
you know, progress that has been made on that front.
So he's like fine, we're moving forward with the tariffs,
additional ten percent tariffs on China, and then we've got
you know, China retaliating, imposing a fifteen percent tariff on
(01:27):
all American chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, and ten percent
tariff on soybeans, pork, beef, fruits, vegetables, something called sorghum amy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
What is sorghum?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I think it's like used in a lot of things.
I think maybe like a sweetener. I don't know. I
don't know. I'm not a cook. You don't want to
ask me that. But I think the point is a
lot of the things we're buying all the time, right,
the companies that pay for them to bring them into
the US are going to have to pay more, and
that likely means you and I will be paying more.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, and speaking of that, can you know said earlier yesterday, Fine,
you're going to do this. We're going to move ahead
with a plan to impost twenty five percent tariffs on
one hundred and seven billion dollars worth of American goods,
mostly going into effect in twenty one days. So they're
not putting those tariffs on immediately, but you know, by
the third week in March. If things don't get resolved,
(02:21):
we're going to have twenty five percent tariffs from Canada,
and that will you know, that will move the needle
in terms of prices potentially going up significantly in the
short term at least.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Andy Salder, Chief Investment Officer, when talking about these tariffs,
has said lately, President Trump is trying to do one
of three things, or maybe several of three things in
imposing these tariffs. Number one is to get these countries
to the negotiation table to take care of some things
you mentioned, fentanyl at the border, rite illegal immigration. He's
(02:53):
very serious on these topics. And interestingly, when we were
just minutes away from these tariffs going into place the
first time, that's when Canada and Mexico both sat down
at the table right made some concessions about what they
would do with the borders. But there's two other things
also that we know he could be trying to do here.
One is to counter unfair trade practices, and the other
(03:17):
is to generate revenue. We've got President Trump tonight addressing Congress,
and I'm wondering whether we might get a little more
direction about why why we're going to move forward with
these tariffs, which of maybe these potential things he's trying
to accomplish are the most important here. And I think
(03:39):
he's also going to address a number of things to write, immigration,
slashing the size of the federal government, which we've seen
over the past few weeks, you know, Bob, to your point,
he's done a lot and we're not even one hundred
days into this administration yet, and he's going to speak
to the why of that now. Markets don't like this,
(03:59):
Markets don't like uncertainty. It reminds me of I had
a roommate in college, Lauren, who I just love dearly.
Lauren is one of those people who hates change. I'm
not joking. She still has the same car that she
bought when we graduated from college, and if her husband
hadn't made her move, they would still be living in
(04:19):
the first house she bought, which didn't have air conditioning
and it for children later. Right, She does not like change.
The markets are a little bit like my dear sweet
friend Lauren. Don't like change. Like to know what direction
we're heading in, and when you have an administration where
we're not sure from day to day right where we're
going to be focusing efforts. Next, I think you're going
to have some short term market volatility. We've had lots
(04:42):
of short term volatility in the markets. I think it's funny.
I think the average investor, Bob, correct me if you
think this is wrong. It's like, we forget what this
was like. Right, We've had volatility before. We've had President
Trump and you know, in this role before and maybe
not moving as quickly as he is now, certainly shaken
things up a bit. Markets are going to respond to
(05:03):
that because they like to know what's going to happen
in the next six to six months to a year.
They like to know how everything that's coming through the
pipeline is going to affect the big businesses that are
making up the American economy. And I think there's a
lot of question marks around that right now. I think
that means you can expect to see volatility. You can
expect if you check your four O one K regularly,
(05:24):
up down, up, down, up down. I don't know, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Just set a mouthful, so I got a lot to
say today.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, well no, and that's all good. So you know
to one point that you made.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And again, I think depending on where people get their news,
what their news sources are.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And I watched a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Of news over the past weekend because, you know, because
I just wanted to know what people were thinking, especially
about this whole Ukraine thing and depending on And this
is to your point about your friend, and I know
you've got you know, advanced designations and behavioral finance, so
you study these things, and there are a lot of
(06:06):
people that get very unsettled about change, absolutely, And then
you layer on top of change the way that change
is communicated and that can really get people.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Upset, and the way it affects your money.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
And then when you have a media that loves to
just take snippets and print headlines to just drive up
the emotional quotion on all this, that can unsettle people too.
But you know, the financial markets, these are big boys
and girls that run all this money. None of this
stuff surprises them. So to your other point, I think
(06:42):
one of the big pieces of uncertainty here. Financial markets
understand fed policy, they understand inflation, they understand corporate earnings.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
What they don't, what.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
They can't get their arms around, is executive orders, uncertain
foreign policy, tariffs, news that changes in.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Other countries might respond and retaliate to our policy.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and those are things that cannot be managed by
the Federal Reserve or Congress. I mean, these are presidential acts,
whether you like him or not, and that's why you
see a little bit of uncertainty and volatility.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
What I hope we get.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tonight from the President is back to your point, explain
the why I don't want to hear a political speech.
I don't want to hear a rally. I mean, he's
already won election, he's our president. Tell us what he
plans to do and why, and try to try to
get the American people on board and at least understand
(07:43):
what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
That's what I hope we get tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
On the good news front, I mean, the President has
already brought in over one point seven trillion dollars worth
of new capital investment in the United States yesterday, one
one hundred billion dollar investment from Taiwan's Semiconductor to build
a plant in Arizona. That again, just like that Apple
(08:07):
plan last week, that those those dollars were probably going
to Mexico, you know, three to six months ago. Now
they're coming to Arizona. One point seven trillion dollars and
the guy has only been president for a little over
a month. So there are some good things happening that
will positively impact the economic situation here in America. But
(08:29):
we got a lot of things geopolitically, tariff wise, whatever
to counterbalance that, and that's that's what's driving the unknown here.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well, I don't know that we can say whether what's
happening so far is good or bad. Right, No one's
saying that. We're just saying hey, right now, because things
are unrolling pretty quickly. There's a lot of uncertainty, which means,
you know, buckle your seat belt. There's going to be
some volatility for the short term. You know, we're we're
not red, we're not blue, We're simply green. And so
(08:59):
it's not that we are pro or against any of
these policies, right, and I think it remains to be seen.
This is a really smart businessman. Long term, these could
be the best decisions ever. I don't know that remains
to be seen. But in the short term, changing right,
these changes so quickly, I think is what is affecting
markets right now.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, and sometimes long term, in order to get long
term improvement short term pain, you have to take on
some short term pain, and none of us like short
term pain.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
We all hate it, you.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Know, no matter whether we're Democrat Republican. We all like certainty.
We all like things to go our way. And yeah,
the long term is a long term. But darn it.
My four to one KPE went down three percent today.
I'm upset. Ye, what are you going to do about it?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I think it's like, you do this thing, and great
if it works out well for all of us. In
the meantime, don't let it impact mere shape or form.
If it does, I'm not too happy about that. Right
in the meantime. You mentioned the media, and I want
to dig in to this. When I woke up this morning,
I was like, okay, here we go, already with the
headlines saying the markets are falling, the sky is falling,
(10:09):
and there's been you know, brace yourself. The market's fall
has just started. Right. That's one headline we saw on
Baron's over on MarketWatch options traders bracing for a stock
market crash. This word bracing right in there. A lot
we see these, We see this use of language a
lot whenever there's any kind of uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, and I want to I want to address these
two headlines because I think I think it's illustrative of
the points that we try to make continually on this show.
So brace yourself. The market's fall has just started, all right.
That scares the Bejesus.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Absolutely, get me out of the markets. Let me curl
up in a fetal position around my money, right. I
think that's the response to that headline.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But when you actually read the article, the co chief
investment officer of a reputable wealth management company said this,
we have seen moderate deterioration and earnings, technical and economic
trends that warrants a more neutral equity posture and slightly
higher cash. All that's saying is the same thing we've
(11:11):
been saying is, hey, the market might be a little
ahead of itself. Some of these tech stocks are priced
to perfection. We're taking a more neutral stance. We're not
overweight stocks right now. That is normal, that is healthy.
The other headline about you know, options traders breaking bracing
for a stock market crash. People buy put options on
(11:31):
their overall portfolio all the time just to insulate from volatility.
That's part of what a lot of folks. We have
strategies like that in place here at all Worth. Yeah,
where you can shelter your portfolio, your long term holding,
so you have to sell things and recognize capital gains,
but you protect the volatility of the portfolio by using
(11:53):
some option.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Strutus, which can especially make sense if you have a
concentrated position right in one company and there's volatility, how
do you protect that? Yeah, So I just.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Point out those two headlines and then the actual story
underneath them to just drive home that point is a
lot of people never get past the headline they're flipping through.
They see it and they have an emotional response and
don't take the time to actually learn what's really going on.
And unfortunately, people can make some very very unwise decisions
(12:28):
based on emotion and short term movement that can hurt
them in the long term. And that's why people like
us exist. They need to sit down and help guide
people through all this.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, we say it all the time, right to make
sure that the clients that we're working with, the investors
that we're working with, aren't making decisions from which they
cannot recover. Here's the all Worth Advice market volatility. You
got to understand this. It's the price of admission. Totally normal.
Be careful, please not to act or respond based on
your emotions. Coming up next, why more opportunities exist than
(13:00):
ever before for those on deck for retirement. You're listening
to Simply Money, presented by all Worth Financial here on
fifty five krs the talk station. You can't listen to
our show every night, you don't have to miss the
thing we talk about. There's the daily podcast. Just search
Simply Money. It's on the iHeart app or wherever you
(13:21):
turn to to get your podcasts. Coming up at six
forty three, we're looking at the group of people who
are key to lasting wealth and legacy planning. Better not
ignore them. We'll explain this is big news. My friend
Kate is a speech pathologist in northern Kentucky and she
has been to Washington many times through the years lobbying
(13:41):
against the windfall elimination provision.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
This is where if you have a pension, right, a
public pension, you can't get a Social Security your full
Social Security benefit, even if you've paid into both systems. Right.
One of the last acts of President Joe Biden was
to over turn both a win winfull elimination provision and
the government pension offsets, which is huge I have a
(14:07):
number of clients, Bob, that will be impacted by this.
And what we're learning is the Social Security Administration is
saying they're going to start paying out those who maybe
didn't get one hundred percent of their Social Security benefits
or were reduced before.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And I think this is a good thing. I mean,
you know me, Amy, I hate confusion. I hate ambiguity.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
This has just been a source of ambiguity among retirees now,
and especially older folks and widows.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yes, so you know, I believe in you should get what.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
You pay for, and if you're paid into a system,
you should get the same benefits as everybody else.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
So I applaud this policy.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's going to affect again a lot of you know,
more senior folks and a lot of widows and folks
that actually need this money.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And we're not talking about a ton of money.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Relative to the other things we talk about with yeah,
you know, other things in the government. So I say, great,
and it's good to see the Social Security Administration rolling
this out. And I think the point you're bringing it
bringing up, and a good one, is hey, as of
last week, they're ready to start rolling here. So if
you're somebody that's going to benefit from this, and I
(15:18):
know your friend Kate has worked hard on it. Yeah,
now's the time to start looking for that increase in
your check.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, I mean right, you were talking about that ambiguity
around well the WEP, you know, I think now it's
been the kind of wait and see, how is this
going to impact me? And when is this going to
pay out? I think it looks like they got federal
government has moved pretty quickly here, and so you should
have answers to that question pretty soon. You know. Recently
we've been talking about the number of four oh one
(15:44):
K millionaires and the fact that it's on the rise.
Such a good thing. Gen xers, right, this is my generation,
the group on decked for retirement seem to be going
maybe even above and beyond that.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, and this is good news.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
We're citing a recent survey that was published balances for
four to one K retirement accounts hit the second highest
average on record in the first quarter of twenty twenty four.
And to your point about gen xers, I mean, this
is the first generation really that most of these folks
do not have. This is the first generation where there's
(16:21):
very few, if any defined benefit pension plans.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Right, So it's it's on us. Yeah, it's on us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
You know, you got to save, you got to follow along,
you know, monitor the company, match all excuse me, all
the things that we talk about. So the evidence in
this recent study is showing that people are actually taking
this to heart and doing a good job. So average
account balances of almost six hundred thousand dollars a jump
(16:48):
of eighteen percent from the same you know year one
year ago. Now we had an upmarket. But the good thing,
you know, because we talk about making sure you've got
your money allocated appropriately, If the balance has gone up
eighteen percent, you know, I'm just back of the cocktail
napkin that math here. If you're factoring in contributions, match
(17:08):
in the market and you're getting eighteen percent, that tells
me people are allocating their portfolios to more of a
growth oriented posture, which is good.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
So this is a good trend.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I think this is message received.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We know retirement is on us, no pensions, and also
by the way, we may or may not be able
to rely on the government in the form of social security.
I don't know what percentage is going to be there,
do I think it's going to be addressed. Yes, I do,
but we don't have definitive answers now. And I think
then the definitive, definitive message to us is it's on you. So, yes,
(17:45):
that four one kate needs to be a priority. Not
only that, but also iras right, gen xers have boosted
their average contributions sixteen percent year over year. This is great.
This is saying, hey, I get it. Ye, priority is retirement,
not only in that four to one k, which let's
face it, four one K is more accessible right there.
(18:05):
They're offered to us by our employers, but I raise
you have to go outside to seek to be able
to fund those accounts. So I think this is great news.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It is great news.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And to your point about Social Security, I again an opinion.
I don't think the program's going away. I don't mind that,
but I would say, you know a prediction here for
the younger end of gen X. I think those might
be the first people where you experience, Hey, if we
adjust this program, the retirement age, the wage gap, some
(18:36):
of the things that we talked about in recent shows,
I think that will start to impact people, you know,
younger thirties and forties, and so this is another reason
why this is good news. To your point, people are
taking the advice that they're getting, they're increasing their savings rate,
they're taking ownership of their own retirement, and that can
(18:57):
only result in good things down the road.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
I have a thirty three year old in my office
yesterday who is like, Okay, let's figure out how much
we need, right, We've got plenty of runway in order
to get there. And by the way, he said, I'm
not even thinking about Social Security. I've never given it
a moment's thought. Great, if the program is there, let's
not even put it in my plan. So you know,
I think there is a way to think about that.
And then another just something I want to put out
(19:20):
there for you gen xers, is great that we are
prioritizing saving in these retirement accounts. Roth dollars can also
make a lot of sense, right because you've got the
tax free growth on those. So consider that. Here's the
all Worth advice. This is a really critical juncture on
the road to financial freedom. Right. Make sure you're partnering
with the fiduciary financial pro If you have any questions
(19:41):
about whether you may or may not be on the
right path here coming up next. Do you think you
need a special document to stop medical treatment or the
doctors have to follow your wishes? No matter what, that
is not always the case. We are looking at the
biggest miss about end of life decisions. This is incredibly important.
You're listening to Simply My presented by all Worth Financial
here in fifty five KRC the talk station. You're listening
(20:09):
to Simply Money and presented by all Worth Financial. I
mean you Wagner along with Bob Sponseller. When someone's in
my office, one of the first questions I asked them
is do you have a state planning taken care of?
And sometimes they'll respond with yes, I have a will,
and I'm like anything else and we're like, well, that's
the state planning powers of attorney. Advanced healthcare directives also
(20:31):
critical pieces of that puzzle. Joining us tonight is our
estate planning expert from the law firm of Wood and Lamping,
Mark Reckman, talking to us about healthcare directives and a
lot of myths. I think things that people get wrong
because they don't understand what these are, how they work,
why you need them.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Well, that's exactly right. And if there's ever an area
in which we'd like to clear up any misconceptions. This
is it, because this is important stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, jump into this. What do we need to know?
First and foremost? What is this? How does it help?
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Well, let's define a couple of terms before we go on.
A healthcare directive is a piece of paper. It's a
generic term for any document that gives instructions about your
health care, whether it's take care of me or don't
take care of me. A living will is a document
in which you state your wishes about, specifically about life
sustaining treatment. It may say keep me alive, it may
(21:29):
say let me go. A living will applies only to
people who are terminally ill, and we'll talk a little
bit about that later on. And the last document, the
last term we need to understand is the durable power
of attorney for health care. And this is a document
in which you appoint someone else to enforce or to
implement your instruction your wishes about terminal illness.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So three documents, and you're saying we need all of them.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Well, the first two are one document. The different things
in different stateskay, A healthcare directive, a living will is
a kind of healthcare directive. There are other kinds, but
they have all different terms. It's kind of a funny thing.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Hey, Mark Amy and I could tell you know, stories
for hours about experiences with clients in this area, but
I'm interested in what you see most common in your
actual law practice, the misconceptions people have, or just the
areas that they thought were addressed and were not that
you find yourself having to clean up to get everything
in order for people.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
You know, probably the most common misinformation that I hear
is that people think that if I have a living will,
that the healthcare system is going to let me die
before my time. And it is very clearly not the case.
I've been doing this a long time. I've made this
decision about nine or ten times in my own family.
(22:55):
I've seen this decision made dozens of times with clients.
The healthcare system the Tri State area is very good
about this, and I think you know, when you think
about why people get into healthcare, doctors and nurses, you
know they are there because their goal is to help
and treat people. Anytime they lose a patient, it is
(23:15):
you know, there's a sense of failure that goes with
that for many people. And so this notion that doctors
and nurses are letting people die prematurely or participating in
early death. I have never seen even a hint of that,
and that's a very broad misconception. Having a living will
does not mean that doctors and nurses are going to
(23:36):
treat you less or treat you differently. It only applies
in Ohio. There is a very specific definition, and it
only applies if you're terminally ill, and terminal ill. Terminally
ill means that you are likely to die within a
relatively short period of time, and that's defined in the
statute and it's enforced by ethics committees in all the
(23:59):
main your hospitals share in the Tri state area.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Are things any different on the other side of the
river for our folks in northern Kentucky in the state
of Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
No, the whole Tri state area really follows. There are
different laws, There are different statutes in each state, but
the application, the implementation is the same. And what I
will add is that the statutes in the states don't
create the right to die. The right to die is
in the constitution. All fifty states have a right to die.
(24:30):
Every American can choose his moment of death if it's
done properly and according to the Constitution. The individual states
merely specify what the document should look like, and so
the right to die doesn't come from the state, it
comes from the Constitution. The state simply says, this is
the piece of paper you should use, and here's how
these decisions will be made. In our state and the
(24:52):
tri state area, all three states work very similarly.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Mark, will you share then, the importance in European onion
as an estate planning experience professional and attorney, why it
is so important for people to have a durable power
of attorney for health care or a healthcare proxy.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Why is that critically important?
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Well, a power of attorney for health care is a
document that gives the person of your choice the right
to implement your decisions. Now, to be clear, the power
of attorney for healthcare only applies if I am unable
to speak for myself. So as long as I'm conscious,
as long as I'm capable of making decisions, power of
attorney for healthcare does not kick in. It only kicks
(25:35):
in if I'm unable to speak for myself, which means,
of course, that's probably the most important time for someone
you trust to be in charge of your healthcare decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
And I think market's also thinking through who that should be.
Maybe someone who can stay a little unemotional during an
emotional time, right, someone who can have a clear level head.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Well, I think that's exactly right, Amy, And what I
have told my clients over the years is pick someone
who is available. And when I say available, I really
mean two things. I mean available in the sense that
they can be easily reached, but I also mean available
in the sense that they're emotionally available to make these
kinds of decisions, that they're mature, they're respectful, because this
(26:21):
is not this is not easy, and it's not fun,
and if you have someone who is very, very jittery,
you may not get the wishes that you may not
get the treatment that you want.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Hey, Mark, one final question I have, How complex in
reality are these documents. I think there's a misconception out
there that these are so complex and expensive to draft
and all that, and people just avoid them.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
That's not really the case, right, It's really not.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
In all three states here in the tri state area,
the state offers forms that they have approved. Now to
be clear, guys, you don't have to use the state
form any kind of written document is enforceable if it's
witnessed or notarized. But these forms are available in all
three states in a pre printed form approved by the
state legislatures. They're easy to use. You just need to
(27:10):
be sure that you sign them in the presence of
two witnesses or a notary mark.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We've got a little bit like a minute here left,
and I just want you to kind of end with
the worst case scenarios of when people don't have these
What do you see happening in families.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Well, what happens is that people have to substitute their
own judgment for the judgment of the patient, and this
is awkward because many families have disagreements about that. Having
said that, what the law is very clear about is
that if I have to make this decision for my wife,
or my brother, or my parents, I am required to
(27:48):
use my brother's judgment his standards, not mine. Same with
my wife or my children. And that's a typical concept
because to separate how this affects me versus what my
wife really wants is difficult, which is why it's important
to have some kind of conversation. If you don't have
the conversation, then we are required to make that decision
(28:09):
based on what we have seen of them and what
our impressions are of their wishes, based on their ethics,
maybe their religion, or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
And that's a tough decision to put your loved ones.
And so understand that having these advanced healthcare directives is
actually an act of love for your loved ones. Great
perspective as always from our state Sending expert Mark Rekman
from the law firm of Wood and Lamping. You're listening
to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial here in
fifty five KRC the talk station. You're listening to Simply
(28:44):
Money presented by all Worth Financial. I mean you and
you're along with Bob spawn Cellary, have a financial question
you it's just something that's like floating around in your mind,
like would this be the best thing, or maybe it's
something else. There's a red button you can click on
while you're listening to the show. It's right there on
the iheartop record your question. It's coming straight to us.
Will help you figure it out. Okay, tonight, we're talking
about a significant shift that is happening across America. People
(29:07):
in our industry have been talking about this for some time.
Here there is a great wealth transfer going on, and
the recipients of that wealth are women.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, according to a twenty twenty three study that was
put out by a major global life insurance company, So
these people see, you know, no pun intended, They see
where the bodies are buried.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Nearly half of American women forty nine percent as of
twenty twenty three, now consider themselves the CFOs or chief
financial officers of their household. And that's arise from forty
percent in just two years.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Amy.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
You know, as somebody who's been doing this for over
thirty years, I see this as a tremendously positive trend.
You know, we're right at about fifty to fifty here,
and I think this has less to do now now
with you know, women being marginalized in our society and
not respected or any of that kind of stuff that
used to go on. And I saw it when I
(30:09):
first got in this industry, you know, over thirty years ago.
Now people are being respected treated as equals, and women
are growing in their careers, they're growing in their financial literacy,
they're taking ownership of things, and I think the playing
field has you know, and I know there's still pay
gaps and things like that, but from the from the
(30:31):
standpoint of wealth management, we finally have women engaged. And
I would say, you know, advisors, everybody out there need
to understand that because and I'll just tell you this
from over thirty years of experience, if women are not
respected and considered and not forced but strongly encouraged to
(30:52):
come to these meetings that we have, the women usually
control who the financial advisor is.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
It might not be in a.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Vocal way, but I'm telling you if if they don't
feel respected valued, listen to when they get home and
it's just the husband and wife sitting at the kitchen table.
If the financial advisor hasn't shown a you know, appropriate
amount of respect in solicited involvement in the whole process,
(31:24):
that relationship is gonna move.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
We've come a long way. We've come a long way.
Listen to this. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of nineteen
seventy four, married women right had to ask their husband.
They had to get their husband's permission to open a
bank account or apply for credit. That's not that long ago, right,
fifty years ago, that is what the standard was. So ladies, yes,
(31:50):
we have come a long way. You mentioned the seat
at the table with the CFO of their households, four
and ten women are now identifying themselves. Also was the
primary breadwinners. So it is not you know, we're staying
at home vacuuming. It is, hey, we're earning the money.
And I think it is a win win for men
and women. When we're getting two different opinions at the table,
(32:13):
two different voices at the table, your financial situation is
only going to come out that much better because of that.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
And I'll tell a quick story.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
One of my first ever clients, and these folks were worth,
you know, multi millionaires back in the early nineties, the
husband died. His wife called me on my cell phone
at four point thirty in the morning to tell me
that her husband had died in her next question was, Bob,
do I have enough money to go down to udf
(32:44):
and buy some milk and eggs? And I just felt so.
So that was back to when you know, back in
the in this husband was extremely respectful of his wife.
There wasn't an issue there, but she wasn't involved has
to be involved. He did an involve her. And now
to the whole point here, of inheriting the money. What
(33:07):
a horrible situation to find yourself in where you you
aren't even aware that you have enough money to buy
eggs that day.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
You're grieving, and then you're overwhelmed by the financial situation,
and then.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
You are you are a sitting duck as far as
potential abuse by our industry amy because people would come
in and pray on people like that and take advantage
of them. So I know I sound like I'm on
my high horse here, but I'm just saying this is
great news and and to piggyback one more one more point.
(33:39):
I think it has also screamed of the need of
competent experience, qualified financial advisors like yourself, who are women,
because as you said, men and women are different and
you need both sets of advice and people see the
world differently.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So it's a it's all a good thing.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
One of the things that we do here at all
Worth and I love this is we say, like, listen,
we want both of you at the table. We do
not want to have meetings where it is only the
husband every time. And then to your point, if something
happens to him, the wife has no idea what the
situation is I want that wife or either spouse right
to pick up the phone and confidently call me and say, hey,
I am devastated by this loss, but I know we
(34:22):
have this and I know we're in okay shape. Help
me figure out what next steps are. Right, that's a
much better place to be in than I have no
idea what our situation is.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Well, and in terms of meaning participation, let's take the
men and women part out of it and let's just
use both partners. Yeah, partners, Because and I've had meetings
like this amy where one spouse or the other men
or women say well I got this. My husband or
wife really isn't into this stuff. And you go through
the meeting, you do all this stuff, and I'm telling you,
(34:51):
you end up redoing that meeting. Yeah, because you did
not have both people at the table.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Yeah. Both wayes better than one. Here's the all Worth
advice ignoring the financial influence of women. It's not just
a mistake, it's a missed opportunity for lasting wealth and
legacy planning. Question. Do we ever annoy you? Never?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Now?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You annoyed me all the time with all this.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I'm just gonna keep walking. I'm just gonna keep talking
here with all this financial advice we give. I know
we don't, but apparently other people do. We're gonna talk
about this next. You're listening to Simply Money, presented by
all Worth Financial. Here in fifty five KR see the
talk station. You're listening to Simply Money presented by all
(35:34):
Worth Financial. I me Me Wagner along with Bob's sponsorer.
Do you ever feel like when you're going through the
headlines and I don't know your Facebook feed and stuff,
You're like, oh, I'm just tired of people telling me
how to save money, like don't get coffee, here's how
to save here, here's how to save there. I think
sometimes like enough is enough.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
A recent study we came across shows that four and
ten consumers say they've had enough. They are exhausted by
quote unquote cost cutting advice, and frankly, we get it.
I mean, you can only clip so many coupons, you
can only skip so many trips to Starbucks. You know,
in a lot of cases, it doesn't move the needle,
(36:16):
So quit.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Talking about it. Is what that studies showing.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
I'm really glad that my husband and children are not
in the studio right now. I think I live at
this pulpit. I really do live a this pulpit. I
still have coupons when we're going through the checkout at Kuger,
and mostly to my husband, don't check out. I might
have a coupon for that. I'm still reminding our teenage daughters, Hey,
you're buying that coffee to the detriment of your gas
(36:39):
if you can't afford it. So I live in this place,
and I also understand it's exhausting, and it's also not
the goal. The goal is to build your wealth over time.
And my husband reminds me of this all the time. Babe.
One of these decisions is not going to make or
break us. How many subscriptions we have is not going
to make or break us. What's going to make or
(37:01):
break us is how much we're saving for retirement. I
focused on that big picture stuff, but I also sometimes
focus on this little stuff. I don't know, maybe I'm
a little bit of a control freak. But for those
of you who were tired of it, and including my family,
which is what this research shows, I do get it.
I absolutely get it.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Well.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Having met your husband a couple of times and I
really like him a lot, Oh, he's very patient thing,
and you've shared that he helps, you know, he does
a lot of grocery shopping and things for the family.
I can just picture him being sent out the door,
you know, like a little kid going off to kindergarten
with their raincoat and boots. Only in his case, you've
armed him with a whole yeah, a whole folder full
(37:42):
of coupons, and then he probably frets coming back at
the end of that shopping trip, wondering if he did
it right, because Amy's.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Gonna review the Kroger receipt.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Line by line, right, is that anything like what goes
on over there?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
I'm not that bad, but I do like we'll be
like you left the cubuns the counter, big miss there. Listen,
the goal is not that. The goal is to focus
on bigger things, growing your wealth. And I would say
part of that conversation needs to be also, am I
being smart about the tax strategies that I'm employing here
so that rather than trying to save fifty cents on
eggs with that coupon, I'm actually saving hundreds thousands. I've
(38:20):
seen tens of thousands of dollars in my pocket by
getting tax strategies.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
That's way more efficient use of your time and your
money than the clipping of the coupons. I do understand that.
Here's the all Worth advice. If you are truly serious
about your financial future. I'm listening as I'm saying this,
Stop sweating the small stuff. Focus on what really moves
the needle. This is your investment strategy, tax efficiency and
estate planning. Thanks for listening. You've been listening to Simply Money,
(38:48):
presented by all Worth Financial here in fifty five krs,
the talk station
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