Simply Money

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Tonight, are we in for what some call a lost
decade for stocks? I mean, are you always going to
be able to make money from the stock market long term?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
We've got our take.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to Simply Money, presented by all Worth Financial
Immi Wagner along with Bob Sponseller.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Bob.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Sometimes I just shake my head because in our industry,
I feel like there's so many people who do love
to prey on people's fear, and we come up with
terms like death cross in black Swan and lost decade,
and they are really scary terms. And interestingly, recently I've

(00:40):
heard the term lost decade thrown around a little more
often than I had in years past.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yeah, that lost.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
Decade claim, you know, comes around every time the market
goes down at all. I can remember quote unquote strategists
talking about this back in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three. Yep,
lo and behold old we did recover. We did not
have a lost decade any now.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Think about twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. Nothing
lost there.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Early games.

Speaker 5 (01:06):
Yeah, I mean the stock market went up about fifty
percent in two years, So you know, we're getting these
kind of headlines again and again, just a full disclosure,
and we're not predicting what the stock market's going to do.
I mean, back in the seventies and in the early
two thousands, we did have a quote unquote lost decade

(01:26):
for stocks where they really didn't for a ten year period,
they did not earn much of any positive return. So
that has happened in the past, but that's pretty rare.
I mean, going back to that two thousand to two
thousand and nine period, I mean, we had the tech
bubble happen, we had nine to eleven, and we had
the housing crisis, all within one ten year period. I know,

(01:50):
as an advisor that was a pretty difficult period to
be working in this industry. That stuff kind of does happen,
but that's a whole lot of stuff packed into one
ten year period that rarely happens, and I think it's
somewhat careless to predict that, Hey, you know, over the
next ten years, the stock mart's market's going to do nothing,
because again, over any three year holding period, we're up

(02:14):
ninety percent of the time, over every five year period
we're up ninety four percent of the time, and over
every ten year period historically it starts to become a
virtual lock that the stock market gives you a positive return.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
I want to talk about like the actual impact of
the last decade. Several years ago now, I did a
podcast and it was retirement stories, like people's stories about
how they got to retirement, what it's like. In one
of those stories was this couple who got in on
tech early, right, I mean, and they were all in,

(02:48):
not super diversified, they went on all in on tech
and they were on track to retire significantly early, like
ten years, early in the early fifties, and everything looked
like it was going according to plan. And then what
did we have. Of course, we had the dot com
bust and it busted their plans and.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean NASDAK down eighty percent.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yes, and they were all in on the Nasdaq. They
were all in on those companies. So that lost decade
for them hit incredibly, incredibly hard, and it took them
a long time to recover. So I have seen the
impacts up close of what this can do. If you're

(03:32):
not prepared for the possibility of this. I'm not saying
one is happening. One would never happen, but if it
did and you are not well diversified. Uh oh, like
a last decade could be really scary.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
What we're talking about here, Amy is sequence of return risk.
And I think to the point you're making when you
are cash flowing your portfolio, you know, needing to take
monthly income from your portfolio, you do not want to
cash flow in anything that has the possibility of going
down fifty to eighty percent. You don't want to have
all your eggs in that basket. Going back to that

(04:09):
lost decade, you know, two thousand to two thousand and nine,
and I can remember navigating clients through this, we can
we have to have that plan set up in advance,
Like we always talk about, you never want to be
eighty to ninety percent in stocks to begin with if
you're relying on.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Your portfolio for cash flow.

Speaker 5 (04:27):
But even for folks that are responsible and more balanced,
you can be nimble during times like this.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
I mean, when we have.

Speaker 5 (04:35):
Recessions, the FED will always come in and drop interest rates,
and that is a wonderful time to be invested in
the bond market.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
We had a bull market.

Speaker 5 (04:45):
In bonds if you go back and look, you know
during that when the tech bubble came, and then during
the housing crisis.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
It was a wonderful time to be invested in bonds.
So again, with people that have a diversified portfolio and
a good fiduciary helping you through these volatile times, you
can navigate yourself through any situation if you have a plan.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
And speaking of that plan right now, as I'm running
these plans for my clients and their offices, and I'm saying,
you know, okay, here is a spending that we're planning on.
Here is all of your sources of income and retirement,
here's your investment assets. And then I say, okay, you
know Monty Carlo method. Here, we're going to run your
specific numbers through one thousand different scenarios. I mention we're

(05:28):
even talking about a lost decade type scenario and saying,
are you still gonna be okay? And I don't necessarily
think one is coming. I don't lose any sleepover one.
But we have that built into someone's plan. And if
we're saying, hey, there's a ninety five percent chance of
success in this plan, which means there's dollars left when
you're in your nineties, you better believe we're saying that

(05:50):
even if we have something like a lost decade. You're
listening to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial I
me Me Wagner along with Bob Sponseller. It sounds scary
a lost decade in the stock market, you know, but
during times of market volatility, you always, always, always are
going to see headlines and articles and people talking about

(06:12):
this concept. You know, Bob, I've been doing the show
for a long time. There's always periods of time too
where people are going to say, hey, what we've been
having in the past. You know, there's just certain reasons
why we can't expect that amount of growth moving forward
in the future when it comes to how well these
companies are doing, and then those companies blow through whatever
it is people are making the doom and gloom predictions about,

(06:33):
and I think for smart long term investors, you're missing
the boat if this is something that you're focused on
and then making decisions about how you're invested because of it.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
Four of the most dangerous words to listen to when
you're listening to these media sources is this time it's different.
The circumstances are always a little bit different, the reasons
for market volatility are always a little bit different, but
I think we're very resilient people. Where companies are very resilient,

(07:06):
the American people are very resilient.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
We always get through this. The point is to have
a bucket of assets that are meant to weather short
term volatility storms and then you don't have to sell
stocks when the market is down temporarily.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, knowledge is power, and I think you have to
have that strong background when you're exposed to terms and
concepts like this.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
You know, since.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Nineteen forty nine, we've had a dozen bear markets, right,
so market's down twenty percent from recent highs. We've also
had a dozen bull markets. So when you hear those numbers,
you're like, well, I don't know. I mean, it's like
a flip of a coin if I'm going to get
a bear market or a bull market.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
But that's not exactly true because the length of.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Time, right, the average bear market that's about a year,
the average bull market over five years.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Right, So you stack those next to each.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Other in your ods of being in a bull market
and being able to take advantage of that becomes so
much more significant. That's going back to nineteen forty nine,
you know, So if you're going to say I'm going
to do something with my money, with my long term
financial plan, based on the potential for a lost.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Decade in the markets. The real loss is you.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Making those decisions and not being able to take advantage
of what has been a perfect record when it comes
to markets and markets rebounding well.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
And this is probably a good time to briefly mention
political bias and this is what I mean by that
amy And when people see this data, they're often surprised.
You know, going back almost one hundred years, you look
at the rates of return depending on which political party
is in power, between Republican and Democrat, and the results

(08:53):
are virtually identical. Yes, so back to the this time
is different.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Down to a hundredth of age point.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yes, yeah, so we can show people historical data to
we're blue in the face, but you know, probably more
than I do, the whole psychology behind some of this.
People still have strong feelings and opinions, and that's what
causes people to make decisions, and that's what we have
to try to counsel people away from doing. Irrespective of

(09:23):
our strong political beliefs and biases. It can really mess
you up thinking this time is different. You know, the
whole country's going to go to, you know what, in
a handbasket. We got to stay away from that thinking
because there are levers in place and resilient governments, companies, people.
We always live to fight another day, and we we will.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
And I'm glad you brought that up, because even more
so than the concept of something like a last decade,
what really motivates bad decisions when it comes to money
is so many times recently I'm seeing people coming to
the table talking about their money based on their political opinions.
You know, we think about just when the tariffs were
being enacted, you know, talking to you know, I called

(10:08):
several of my clients and you could tell within seven seconds, right,
if you didn't already know political standings, you could tell
within seven seconds of being on the phone exactly what
their political viewpoints are. You are more than welcome, and
in fact, that's what our country is built on. It
is about us having differing political viewpoints and standing up
for those. But when you're making financial decisions based on them,

(10:30):
that's where things go to a really dark place.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
And this applies to both sides of the political eye. Amy.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
I remember back in twenty twenty two, we had inflation spiking,
we had interest rates going up, not a good year
in the stock or the bond market. And then you've
got people coming out against you know, President Biden saying
the country is going to come to an end and
all that.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean, it's both sides of the spectrum, to be fair. Yeah,
and so you got to talk sometimes different people at
different times off the ledge, depending on strong political pabase.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
They're just terrible decisions, yeah, based on wherever they sit
on the political spectrum. Yes, And I don't care where
you sit on the political spectrum, but my job is
to make sure that you're not making bad decisions with
your money.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Because of it. Here's the all Worth advice.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Listen, there's a lot of really smart people out there
throwing around terms like lost decade and listen this they're
also saying staying the course is just not working. They
could be right for a while, but history really tells
us something.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Different.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Markets are going to go through rough patches, even long ones,
but they've always, always, always rewarded disciplined patient investors who
stick with their plan. Coming up next to we found
out just how much the social security cost of living
increase could be next year we're going to have that
plus a new charge some of you might see on
your next receipt. You're listening to Simply Money presented by

(11:49):
all Worth Financial here on fifty five KRC the talk station.
You're listening to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
I mean you Wagner along with Bob Spontel are coming
up at six forty three. We're focusing on the group
of people.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Who are key to lasting wealth and legacy planning. You
better not ignore them. We'll tell you what we're talking
about in just a few minutes. This is what a
lot of people wait for every year. If you are retired,
you're really interested in what Social Security's cost of living
adjustment will be every year. I do think, Bob, people
lose sight of the fact that what the government giveth

(12:24):
to take it away, you might get more in cost
of living adjustment, and then your Medicare premiums may go
up at the same time. Regardless of that, Let's get
to what we could be looking at here.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
Yeah, the numbers of the numbers, and we're starting to
get whisper numbers now on the cost of living adjustment
for twenty twenty six. And we don't know what the
final numbers are going to be. Those come out usually
in around October timeframe. But the whisper numbers are suggesting
that the cost of living adjustment for twenty twenty six
is going to be slightly lower than what it was

(12:54):
in twenty twenty five. The Senior Citizens League, which is
an advocacy group for older adults, expect the cost of
living adjustment to just be two point three percent for
twenty twenty six, and those are those forecasts are below
the two point five percent increase that everybody has gotten

(13:16):
for twenty twenty five. So again these aren't final numbers,
just whisper numbers, but something to keep in mind as
you're doing your planning going forward here for next year.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think it's important to realize too why you're getting
it right.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
I mean, when it was whatever, close to nine percent
a few years ago, you were getting more money, yes,
but everything costs more money. So if you whatever you
were buying, it was you know, totally offset. So you know,
don't get so upset if the cost of living adjustment
isn't maybe what it is. Historically average is about two
point six percent, so we could be a tick below that,

(13:48):
but that also means inflation probably isn't as bad as
it has been historically. American consumers are noticing a new
line on your shopping receipts, and these are very new.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
This is a tariff surcharge.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
Have you seen this at all?

Speaker 2 (14:04):
I have not seen this yet, have you I have
not either, Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
So they've been popping up across several industries, everything from
clothing automo meal manufacturing. Some companies are charging flat fees,
othery're charging a percentage of the total cost.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Of a given purchase.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
This is I think an interesting psychological thing because we
know that if companies are paying more for whatever they
need to make their product or service, in most cases
that gets passed on to the consumer. Is it smarter
to just put that in the total cost and bump
it up a little bit, or is it smarter to

(14:41):
have a separate line which says we're not necessarily charging
you this because we want to, but it's because if
tariffs and you know you're going to pay the same
amount regardless.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
But I think this is an interesting way to do
it well.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
And I think the timing is somewhat interesting.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
I mean, we have not regardless of what happens with
tariff POW a longer term. I think it's safe to
say we have not really seen the impact of tariffs.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Charging for it already.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
Interesting, Yeah, so I My first blush reaction is, you know,
it's always interesting how companies find ways to make more money. Yeah,
I'll leave it there. Now, could we could this all
be inflationary? Absolutely? Yeah, I'll leave it there.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah, something to keep an eye out for and listen,
do you I't be surprised if you haven't seen it yet,
you may see it in the very near future.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Speaking of tariffs, we kind of.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Brought up panic buying doom buying recently. These are people
who are trying to get ahead of whatever could potentially
be going up. I think people just want a reason
to buy a new iPhone. Half the time, I could
see my kids coming to me with, Hey, this, we're
going to save you money. You can buy us a
new iPhone now and you're not going to have to
pay as much as you would later, which maybe they

(15:54):
wouldn't do because they know I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Fall for that.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
But it's not just Apple products that people are panic buying.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Now.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
There's a whole other list of things that people are
trying to get their hands on right now.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
Yeah, these are some interesting statistics that have already come
across our desk here just since President Trump's quote unquote
Liberation Day announcement. You on terrafs back on April second. Gosh,
it seems like years ago.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
We've lived two lifetimes since, but it was.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Only fifteen days ago, Amy.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
But anyway, we're already starting to see some data come
in since that quote unquote Liberation Day tariff announcement. The
sales canned and jarred vegetables have risen twenty nine percent,
sales of instant coffee have gone up by twenty one percent,
and ketchup was up eighteen percent versus the prior week,

(16:45):
according to Consumer Edge, a data insights company. I find
that interesting, Amy, people are hoarding food, canned goods.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Those are obviously lower ticket items. But I was in
the car the other day listening to a commercial and
I thought, oh, this is interesting. It was a car
commercial and it was, hey, we've got great inventory in
great deals come in now before the prices will inevitably
go up for tariffs.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
So they're already.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Kind of touching that pain point for consumers of wait
a second. I was maybe going to buy a car
in the next year, two years, three years, they're.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Telling me it's going to go up. I should probably get.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
In now and buy a new car. And the numbers
actually bear that out as well.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
New car sales have risen nine percent year over year
to one point five to nine million units in March. Again,
that's year over year, but that's in March of twenty
twenty five. So yes, I think car companies are being
smart in how they entice buyers into the showroom. It

(17:50):
looks like they do have plenty of inventory. And yeah,
people are saying, Hey, if I'm going to buy a
car and I don't want to wait for it to
possibly and I may possibly go up, you know, three
to four.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Thousand dollars, and I'm ready to buy a car, go
do it now. It makes sense to me.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, Well, my son got his permit this week. I
hope he's not listening right now, or he's going to
be looking at car ads online, which we do not
buy him, by the way, a new car other things.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
I've never met Trey.

Speaker 5 (18:18):
I hope to meet him someday, but just judging how
you talk about him, I bet that guy is doing
extensive research, and he will come to you and your
husband with this can't miss, drop dead, gorgeous deal, and
you'll be out looking at cars sooner rather than later.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Amy, be ready, I'm ready for a PowerPoint presentations.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's what's coming. That's what's coming.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I think Americans are so interesting too, not only in
I mean I get the big ticket items like cars.
But why is it that we always freak out about
toilet paper. We're literally panic buying toilet paper right now.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Well, we need toilet paper, Amy, we.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Need toilet paper.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
It's always a good time to stop up on.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, coffee, alive oil, laundry, turgeent, pet food, liquid, soap,
toilet tissue, all of those things. People are essentially kind
of battening down the hatches, stocking up on non perishables.
You know, we're talking about a trade war potentially here,
not a like not an all out like you know, crazy,

(19:18):
you need to be in a bunker kind of situation.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yet interesting, right, that's how people are responding.

Speaker 5 (19:23):
I look at this kind of back to what we
always talk about, control what.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
You could control.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah, And if you're sitting there watching all these headlines
and you're thinking gosh, I gotta do something. I'd rather
have people go out and buy an extra bag of
cat food, okay, then completely liquidate their portfolio.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
How about that?

Speaker 2 (19:42):
That is the lesser of two evils. Fantastic point there, Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
So if you are in a situation later in your life,
maybe where you think you need certain medical treatment or
stop medical treatment, you think doctors need.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
To follow your wishes no matter what. Well that's not
always the case.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
We're breaking down the biggest miss about end of life
decisions that's coming up next. You're listening to simply money
because then by all Worth Financial, you're listening to simply money.
For then 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

(20:19):
anything else and we're like, well that's the state planning.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
Uh uh uh uh.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Powers of attorney, advanced healthcare directives also 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.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
And a lot of myths.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I think things that people get wrong because they don't
understand what these are, how they work, why you need them.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
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 2 (20:53):
Yeah, let's jump into this. What do we need to know?
First and foremost? What is this? How does it help?

Speaker 3 (21:01):
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

(21:25):
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 instructions, your wishes about terminal illness.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So three documents and you're saying we need all of them.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Well, the first two are one document. They're called different
things in different states. Okay, a healthcare directive is 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 5 (22:07):
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 3 (22:29):
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.

(22:51):
I've seen this decision made dozens of times with clients.
The healthcare system in 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 gold is to
help and treat people. Anytime they lose a patient, it
is you know, there's a sense of failure that goes

(23:13):
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 treat you less or treat you differently. It

(23:35):
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

(23:55):
the major hospitals share in the Tri state area.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
Are things any different on the other side of the
river for our folks in northern Kentucky in the state
of Kentucky.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
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.

(24:26):
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

(24:48):
tri state area, all three states work very similarly.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
Mark, will you share then, the importance in your opinion
as an estate planning experience professional and attorney, why it
is so important for people to have a durable power
of attorney for healthcare or a healthcare proxy.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
Why is that critically important?

Speaker 3 (25:10):
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

(25:31):
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 (25:41):
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 3 (25:54):
Well, I think that's exactly right, Amyan. And what I
have told my clients over the years is 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 is

(26:18):
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 5 (26:28):
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. That's not
really the case, right, It's really not.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
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.

(27:04):
They're easy to use. You just need to be sure
that you sign them in the presence of two witnesses
or a notary mark.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
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 3 (27:23):
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

(27:44):
to 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

(28:05):
decision 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 2 (28:15):
And that's a tough decision to put your loved ones.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
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

(28:40):
Money presented by all Worth Financial. I mean, you wig
and you're along with Bob spawn Cellary. You have a
financial question.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
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.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
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.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
We'll help you figure it out.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Okay, tonight, we're talking about a significant shift that is
happening across America. People 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 5 (29:16):
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 (29:26):
Right.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
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.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
And that's arise from forty percent in just two years. Amy.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
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 about fifty to fifty here, And
I think this has less to do.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
Now with you know, women being.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
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 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,

(30:20):
and I think the playing field has you know, and
I know there's still pay gaps and things like that,
but from the standpoint of wealth management, we finally have
women engaged. And I would say, you know, advisors, everybody
out there needs to understand that because and I'll just
tell you this from over thirty years of experience, if

(30:42):
women are not respected and considered and not forced but
strongly encouraged to come to these meetings that we have.
The women usually control who the financial advisor is. It
might not be in a vocal way, but I'm telling you,
if they don't feel respected, valued, listened to when they

(31:03):
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, that relationship is going to move.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
We've come a long way. We've come a long way.
Listen to this.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
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,

(31:46):
we have come a long way. You know you mentioned
the seat at the table with the CFO.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Of their households. Four and ten.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Women are now identifying themselves also as 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, two different
voices at the table.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Your financial situation is only going to come out that
much better because of that, totally.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
And I'll tell a quick story.

Speaker 5 (32:18):
One of my first ever clients, and these folks were worth,
you know, multimillionaires 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 and

(32:40):
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, didn't
ask to be involved, he didn't involve her.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
And now to the whole point point here of inheriting
the money. What a horrible situation to find yourself in
where you aren't even aware that you have enough money
to buy eggs that.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Day you're grieving, and then you're overwhelmed by the financial situation.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
And then 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.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
On my high horse here, but I'm just saying this
is great news and to piggyback one more one more point.
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

(33:49):
you need both sets of advice, and people see the
world differently.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
So it's it's all a good thing.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
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

(34:18):
have this and I know we're in okay shape.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Help me figure out what next steps are.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
That's a much better place to be in than I
have no idea what our situation is.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
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, yes, 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,

(34:47):
you end up redoing that meeting. Yeah, because you did
not have both people at the table.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Both wayses 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?

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Never?

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Now?

Speaker 4 (35:07):
You annoy me all the time with.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
All this I'm just gonna keep walking. I'm just gonna
keep talking here.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
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 Worth Financial. I
me Me Wagner along with Bob Sponsorer. Do you ever

(35:33):
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 (35:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
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.

(36:12):
So quit talking about it is what that studies showing.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
I'm really glad that my husband and children are not
in the studio right now.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
I think I live at this pulpit. I really do
live at this pulpit.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
I still have coupons when we're going through the checkout
at Kuger, and mostly to my husband, don't check out.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
I might have a coupon for that.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
I'm still reminding our teenage daughters, Hey, you're buying that
coffee to the detriment of your.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Gas if you can't afford it.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
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.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Babe.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
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
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.

Speaker 4 (37:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Maybe I'm a little bit of a control freak.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
But for those of you who were tired of it,
and including my family, which is what this research shows,
I do get it.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
I absolutely get it.

Speaker 5 (37:14):
Well, having met your husband a couple of times, and
I really like him a lot. 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.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Raincoat and boots.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Only in his case, you've armed him with a whole yeah,
a whole folder full 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 gonna review
the Kroger receipt line by line, right, Is that anything
like what goes on over there that bit?

Speaker 1 (37:53):
But I do like, we'll be like you left the
cueons on the counter, big miss there.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Listen.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
The goal is not that. The goal is to fus
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
seen tens of thousands of dollars in my pocket by

(38:19):
getting tax strategies right.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
That's way more efficient use of.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Your time and your money than the clipping of the coupons.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
I do understand that. Here's the all Worth advice. If
you are truly.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Serious about your financial future. I'm listening as I'm saying this,
Stop sweating the small stuff. Focus on what.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Really moves the needle.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
This is your investment strategy, tax efficiency and estate planning.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
You've been listening to Simply Money, presented by all Worth
Financial here on fifty five krs the talk station