Let's Talk Money

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Its Viewpoints and promises made during the following program are

(00:02):
not those of WGY it's staff, management, or parent company, iHeartMedia.
This WGY programming time is brought to you by the
Bouchet Financial Group.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Are you working with a true fiduciary to manage your wealth?
For over thirty five years, Stephen Bouche and Bouchet Financial
Group have been dedicated to putting clients first. As a fiduciary,
our only priority is what's best for you, providing transparent,
fee only asset management with no hidden sales or commissions,
with offices in historic downtown Troy, Saratoga Springs, Boston, and

(00:36):
South Florida. We're here to guide you through life's financial decisions.
Learn more at Bouche dot com. That's bou cchey dot com.
Catch Ryan Bouche's expert financial insights every Wednesday on WGY
Mornings with Dave Allen. Have you recently come into sudden money,
whether from life insurance proceeds, divorce settlement, retirement, lump sum payout,

(00:59):
even winning the life lottery? Do you know what to
do next? Call in now with your financial questions at
one eight hundred Talk w G Y one eight hundred
eight two, five, five, nine, four nine. Now here's w
g y's financial analyst, Stephen Bouche or one of his
expert colleagues.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
One nice.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Making, next two.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well after this week. I hate to stop the music, folks,
the Beach Boys. We lost a good one, A lot
of memories. No matter how young I'm mature, you may be.
I'm sure you remember the Beach Boys somehow, some way,
the Beach Boys, the Beach Boys. I mean, what else
can you say? There is American as the Beatles, although

(02:39):
the Beatles aren't really American, but you know what I mean, folks,
Welcome on this cold, damp, rainy June fourteenth. It is
just pathetic, the weather out there. Pathetic. I can't say
enough about it. Let me just sum it up by saying, miserable,

(03:01):
Absolutely miserable. I don't know why why we You know, listen,
we had a pretty rough winter and now we're having
a pretty pretty cold and damp especially June. Right. You know,
forget April showers, bring May flowers. I'm hoping we get
a little sunshine and you know, flowers in July, for

(03:23):
God's sakes. But I went to hand farms, ham Melon Farm, yesterday,
I picked up some berries and tomatoes right after this show,
you know last year identity. Right after the show, I
plan on. I got some nice fresh white bread. Yes,
I know it's unhealthy for me, but listen, sometimes you
gotta just do it. We're gonna slather some mayonnaise on

(03:44):
that bread, both sides, of course, sprinkle a little salt
and pepper, and some thickly sliced homegrown heirloom tomatoes. And
we are in town. I'm telling you how bad I
plan on being. I even got some bease. Listen, and
upstate New York especially it's strawberry and blueberry season, so

(04:05):
I got some nice strawberries, blueberries, raspberries. But I also
got some biscuits, and I got some nice fresh local
dairy heavy cream. I plan on making this weekend. It
is Father's Day weekend. I plan on making myself a
strawberry shortcake. Anybody who wants to share a strawberry shortcake

(04:25):
let me know. Folks, thanks for tuning in today. I'm
Stephen Bouchet. I'm your host, and you're listening to Let's
Talk Money. The phone lines are open. I would love
to talk to you one eight hundred Talk WGY one
eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine. Any
questions whatsoever, Folks, give me a call, let me hopefully

(04:49):
get you started in the right direction. Let me get
you point at where you need to go. You get
one opportunity to retire. You hear me say that often.
It's the truth. I can't ma this stuff up. It's
the truth. Whether you like it or not. You get
one opportunity to retire. The only time you get a
second opportunity is if you reach retirement age and you're

(05:09):
not ready and you got to go back to work.
Then you're gonna shoot for a second opportunity. But I
want you to have that one opportunity. I want you
to be ready. I want you to have that quality
of lifestyle when you're ready to retire. Life is short, folks.
Believe me, I can tell you life is short. You
need to My job is to plan for our clients

(05:32):
retirement mostly right. There's other goals that we plan for,
but mostly everybody's looking to retire, and that's my main
job is planning for retirement. But we also do so
much more that you know. The remind I call it
our life planning. Part of what we do for clients,

(05:54):
and basically in a nutshell, we do some life planning.
We kind of remind our clients, Yes, we're going to
plan for tomorrow, but we need to remind you you
need to live for today because today is a gift.
Tomorrow is not given, and you need to remember that.
So enjoy today, even a rainy day like today, Make

(06:16):
the best of it. Do what I'm doing. Make believe
it's sunny and eighty five degrees out there, and make
the best of it. What eight hundred eight two five
five nine four nine one, eight hundred eighty two five
fifty nine forty nine. So you know we got some tension.
Front page of the Wall Street Journal I got up

(06:38):
right in early seven o'clock. Was that Stewart's grabbing my
papers Wall Street Journal and the Barons or the two
papers I grab every every Saturday. And you know, Iran
retaliates against Israeli attack. You know, Israel's strikee changes everything

(06:58):
in Iran vote. The world is a much different place today.
I can tell you that. You know, Israel's just not
gonna they are not going to allow any country the
benefit to especially uh country that really is just just

(07:20):
you know, down and out evil, evil, evil. You can't
paint it any other way. And they will basically do
whatever they can to protect Israel and their people. The
you know, we saw the Rael's just not going to
and you know it's time. I guess Israel's just not

(07:42):
going to and you know it's time. I guess Israel's
just not going to put up with it anymore. As
President Trump said yesterday, Iran, you better you better negotiate,
otherwise you're going to be wiped off the face of

(08:05):
the earth. And you know, it's probably this is the
world we're in. And they're unsettling times, folks, unsettling times.
The stock market doesn't like it. Price of oil shot up, obviously,
how can it not, I Ran, you know, basically, you know,
controls the streets with all the oil that goes a

(08:27):
lot of places. We're walking on egg shells worth, so
it's we're walking on egg shells. Then you had those
peaceful protests in La and other cities around the country.
Just just em fedic. What's this country coming to? Peaceful protests?
Come on, man, oh man, why can't we all just

(08:49):
get along? One eighty two five five nine four nine.
Any questions pertaining to your financial future. As I said,
with what's going on in and around not only this
country but the world, you know, the markets were you know, listen,
we had some ups and downs this week. Right Monday

(09:10):
saw trade talks between you know, beginning in London, focused
on the US using chip bands in exchange for China
loosening rare earth mineral restrictions. Stocks like that. They rose
late on Tuesday, the two sides finally agreed to a
framework to restore the trade truths and keep talking. Inflation

(09:33):
ticked up one tenth of a percent and may be
low expectations, so inflation lock to be good. Yields you
know on treasury bonds fell with the auctions that went on.
Stocks rose again, but then you know, as we end
the week, oil spike following Israel's attack on Iran and

(09:57):
it's nuclear facilities, Gold, the dollar, the Swiss rank rows
safe havens, that's where investors go for safety. Stocks basically
took it on a chin Friday and took it on
a chin for the week. But with everything going on,
it wasn't that bad of a week. S and P
off four tenths of a percent, NASDAC off about six

(10:20):
tenths of a percent. And for those crypto bugs out there,
you have Bitcoin at about one hundred and five thousand
dollars along with other crypto you know. There you have it.
So all in all, you know, I think the week
could have been worse. Right with everything going on, A

(10:43):
ten year yield on the US treasury is four point
four percent. That's still not bad. Folks. We spent god,
what did we spend fifteen plus years where treasure yields
were less than one percent? So four point four percents
not all that bad. That's how the weak cared. And

(11:04):
as I said, if you have any questions, give me
a call. One eight hundred eighty two five five nine
four nine one eight hundred eighty two five fifty nine
forty nine. Some news with stocks individual stocks. Apple made
announcements about software and services and it's you know. They
had their developers conference. Uh downplayed artificial intelligence, which was

(11:29):
interesting because AI is where it's at. I've said to
you more than once if you haven't played with AI,
artificial intelligence, play with the folks. There's free programs out there.
Just play with they get used to it. I think
it's here. I think it's here to stay. I don't
think it's going anywhere. You know, AOL came and went,

(11:49):
you know, you know, twenty thirty years ago. But I
think AI is here here to stay. The difference in
pollow in my office summed it up perfectly because I
didn't understand artificial intelligence either. Apollo said to me, Steve,
think of it this way. When you do a Google search,
Google will give you three, four, five, ten links to

(12:15):
look up what you're looking for, whereas artificial intelligence they
actually they kind of take in all that information from
those ten links and give you an explanation. That's the
difference between searching for something on Google and artificial intelligence. Also,

(12:37):
this past week, you had Health in Human Services Chief
Robert F. Kennedy Junior fired all seventeen members of the
Vaccine Advisory Board. Talk about somebody who's not pooling around,
you know, as I said, you know, starting out, the
world is looking different in more ways than the Then

(13:00):
not Blackstone said it would invest as much as five
hundred billion dollars in Europe over the next ten years.
That's a lot of money, folks. That's not chump change.
That's a lot of money. And then you had Air
India bowing seven eighty seven. You know what a tragic

(13:21):
just crashing killing over two hundred and fifty people. One
one person and Seat eleven A survived that plane crash.
Over two hundred and fifty people died. So sad one
person survived. Talk about a miracle Seat eleven A. Why
who knows? I mean, how can there be any explanation

(13:45):
how one, one individual kid could survive such a crash
where over two hundred and fifty lives were lost. Seat
eleven A, this gentleman survived eighty two five five and
I'm gonna take it quite fifteen second break, don't go anywhere.
Give me a call. I would love to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
If you want to learn more about Bouchet Financial Group,
visit their website Bouche dot com. That's b O U
c h e y dot com. Sign up for their blog,
which is updated every week Stephenbouchet dot com. Follow them
on Twitter at Bouchet Group, Like them on Facebook. The
phone lines are open eight hundred talk WGY. That's eight

(14:28):
hundred eight two five five nine four nine. Here is
Stephen Bouche.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
There we go.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
My the main man Come better known as Guys, is
in the studio today helping me with this show, and
that jazzy music kind of gets you going, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
How can you now be moving a little Come on,
even if you're sitting down like I am, you gotta
move it a little right, shake it up a little bit.
One eight hundred eighty two, five five nine four nine,
One eight hundred eighty two, five fifty nine forty nine.
Those are the phone numbers, as they are every week.
At least, It's been like that for the last thirty

(15:20):
years that I've been hosting Let's Talk Money. And you know,
I never get tired of hosting this show. I love
helping you out. Anything I can help you out with,
I would love to help you out with. So give
me a call. One eight hundred eight two five five
nine four nine. So this coming week on on on Tuesday,

(15:41):
you had the sense we have the Census Bureau. They'll
report retail and food service sales from a economists forecasta
six tenth month over month decline. We'll see what happens
in April. We had a one tenth rise for that

(16:01):
excluding autose, retail sales are expected to increase about two
tenths of a percent, about a percentage point more than previously.
On Wednesday, Big Wednesday, June eighteenth, the Federal Open Market
Committee announces its monetary policy decision. So there's nineteen Board

(16:23):
of governors, twelve of them including the chair, vote and
they are expected to lead. The Fed Fund's rate unchanged
at a range of four point twenty five to four
point five percent. The Central Bank will also release its
quarterly summary of economic projections. You got Federal Reserve Chair

(16:45):
Jerome Powell the news conference. Everybody tunes in for that, right,
no matter what you're doing, you tune in for that.
Powell has been in weight in ce mode since the
implementation of the White House tariffs policy a few months ago,
stating that the Federal Open Market Committee didn't need to
be in a hurry to adjust interest rates and was

(17:09):
you know, basically well positioned to respond once there was
more clarity through the incoming data. They are driven by data.
They look at data every second of their life. I
think these folks are looking at data. And with this
past weeks benign inflation, you know, information and small cracks

(17:31):
in the labor market. You had initial jobless claims averaged
about two hundred and forty thousand over the past four weeks,
up about twenty seven to twenty eight thousand since the
beginning of the year, so you know, more people jobless
investors will see what Powell says. I can assure you
Wall Street will be listening. Thursday, the markets are closed,

(17:54):
both stock and bond markets closed for Juneteenth National Independence stays.
So if you're looking to make some trades on Thursday,
take the day off. Hopefully it'll be nice and sunny
and we'll we'll we'll be able to maybe get out
there on the golf course, take a walk, go boating,
go to the beach, go somewhere other than you know,

(18:18):
like I did this morning. I was up bright and
early seven o'clock and I'm literally mean. I came home,
turned the fireplace on, and made a little of express
I bought. You know, I always wanted an express on maker.
I bought myself an express on maker. Trying to figure
out maybe somebody could give me some tips. You know,

(18:40):
they call it tamping, right, we can pack down the grounds. Well,
sometimes I hit one cup and it gives me an
up for two cops or more. So I'm trying to
figure it out. One eight eighty five, five nine four
nine one eight hundred eighty five fifty nine forty nine

(19:00):
me a call. Let's go to the phone lines where
we have Chuck in Boston, SPA. Good morning, Chuck, nice Stephen.

Speaker 6 (19:08):
How are you today?

Speaker 3 (19:09):
I'm doing well. How about yourself?

Speaker 6 (19:13):
I'm doing well also. So my questions are you were
talking about AI and obviously that site the large growth
area or opportunity for growth.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Do you have.

Speaker 6 (19:30):
Company companies or is it.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Better to deserve?

Speaker 6 (19:33):
Are there et apps in that space? Or what can
you make any what's your take on that? I guess
it's my cooking.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, obviously you know the big winner is na VideA
man oh Man. The poster file for artificial intelligence right
dominates the GPU chips that are used in AI training,
and you know everything revenue evaluation sky high. You know

(20:03):
it's probably you know, it may be price to perfection,
who knows. You also have Microsoft a major investor in
open AI, integrating AI into Office three sixty better known
as code pilots. So for those of you like me
wondering what copilot is, that's what it is. You have
the Azer cloud and more. You know, Microsoft plays both

(20:26):
software and infrastructure role with AI. You got Alphabet you know,
Google R whatever you want to call it. I call
it Google. But the new name is Alphabet once again.
Artificial intelligence embedded and search, ads and cloud via Gemini
and DeepMind. You know, it's maybe a little bit undervalue

(20:48):
compared to Microsoft as far as AI goes. So that's
something to look at. Amazon one of our top holdings,
actually our second top holding. Artificial you know, is used
in aw S, the web services group of Amazon Alexa.

(21:10):
You got strong cloud infrastructure playing with AI. You got
Meta Otherwise what I still call Facebook investing billions in
artificial intelligence research. You know, it hasn't really monetized artificial
intelligence yet. It's probably a longer term play. And then

(21:30):
you've got a couple other companies like Broadcom, Marvel, you know, infrastructure, Backbone,
you know, they're they're into networking and custom AI chips.
Then for ETFs exchange trade of funds, you've got a few,
and do your homework, Chuck. You got global X robotics
and artificial intelligence. The symbol for that is b is

(21:53):
in boy O t Z. It focuses on AI and
robotic companies. Globally. Top holdings is Navidia of course Kians
and into a surgical. You got I shares who robotics
and artificial intelligence. The symbol is I r B as

(22:14):
in Boyo, more diversified, equal weighted includes small and midcaps,
so you're getting a more rounded ETF. And there's another
handful of of ETFs out there. You know you got
round hilled generative artificial intelligence and technology. It's an easy

(22:34):
symbol to remember. Chat Chat Wisdom Tree has one AI
and innovation fund. So there you have it. You got
a lot of ways to play the AI market. As
I said, I think it's here for good, Chuck, I
don't think AI is going anywhere. Just you know, once
you understand it, once you use it like I've been

(22:55):
using it, you kind of like it. You get used
to it. Like we're interviewing for a service representative on
our service team, and I kind of challenge my service team.
I said, just make believe you have this new person
before you take a lot of time training that new person.

(23:16):
If that new person comes to you and says, hey,
what kind of a form do I need to open
up an IRA at Charles Schwab or make a transfer
or whatever, have them plug it into AI. Have them
come to you saying hey, I'm opening up an IRA.
This is the form I want to use. Is this correct?

(23:36):
Have them come to you with a solution. And I
think just a small example like that is what AI
is going to do for the world and for a
small firm like ours, I think it's really you know,
it's as I said, it's here to stay, Chuck, It's
not going anywhere. So you know that gives you an
idea of some things that play around with and invent.

(24:00):
You know, don't have it take up a lot of
your portfolio. Make sure it's your core positions are what
they are, and have this be what we call the
tactical part or better yet, if you have a Sandbox account,
an account that you like to play with, like I do.
I have a Sandbox I have a few Sandbox accounts,

(24:21):
you know, one of my own, just the Magnificent Seven. Others.
I own some individual stocks that I play with others.
I have some ETFs that I really focus on sectors,
and I also have a Bitcoin account. So everybody likes
to play in different ways. And if you don't have

(24:41):
a Sandbox account, this would be perfect to put into
your Sandbox account.

Speaker 6 (24:48):
Okay, thank you, even a creator, good words this morning.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah, Chuck, thank you for calling in. Hey, enjoy the
weekend as rainy as it is. Stay healthy, my friend.
One eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine.
You are listening to Let's Talk Money. I'm Stephen Bouchet.
This show is brought to you by Bouchet Financier Group.
That's my firm where we help our clients prioritize their

(25:15):
health while we manage their wealth for life. Folks, if
you have any questions, any questions whatsoever, during the news break,
give me a call, let me talk to you, let
me help you, let me point you in the right direction.
It would be my pleasure to do so. One eight
hundred eight two five five nine four nine. One eight
hundred eighty two five fifty nine forty nine. Any questions whatsoever.

(25:40):
On the other side of the news break, let me
talk with you. One eight hundred eighty two five five
to nine four nine.

Speaker 4 (25:46):
Hi, Weather Center, I'm in your allo, justin Jeff Nordine.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
You only get one shot at retirement. Are you truly prepared?
There's no do over when it comes to securing your
financial future. Do you have the right plan in place?
Does your advisor have the expertise and experience to manage
your wealth. More importantly, do you trust their advice? At
Bouchet Financial Group, we bring decades of experience to the

(26:11):
table with offices in historic downtown Troy, Saratoga Springs, Boston,
and South Florida. Schedule a complimentary in person or virtual
consultation today where we'll assess your financial well being and
help you plan for the future. Call our client concierge
at five one eight seven two zero thirty three thirty three.
That's five one eight seven two zero thirty three thirty three,

(26:35):
or visit www dot Bouche dot com. That's bou c
h e y dot com. Stephen Bouchet has built a
team of twenty skilled professionals, including nine certified financial planners,
three CPAs, one IRS enrolled agent, one accredited investment fiduciary,

(26:56):
one certified private wealth advisor. To name some expertise you
can trust, confidence you deserve. Thanks for staying with us
through the news break. The phone lines are now open.
Call one eight hundred talk WGY one eight hundred, eight
two five, five nine four nine and now here's WGY's

(27:17):
financial analyst, Steven Bouche or one of his expert colleagues.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
I love the colorful.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
And the way this sunlight plays a partner Juno on
the wind that.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Through the now. You gotta love the Beach Boys. We
lost the Good One this week. Brian Wilson's a co
founder the June Pickle visionary of the Beach Boy. He
was eighty two, passed away on Wednesday, June eleventh. You know,

(28:07):
it's like the Beatles, as I said at the opening
of the show, you know the Beach Boys. I think
everybody knows their music. I don't care how young or
mature you may be. Everybody knows the music of the
Beach Boys. Brian Wilson rest in peace. You know lost lost,
lost the good One. You know, the Beach Boys is

(28:29):
one of those bands, folks you're listening to. Let's talk money.
I'm Stephen Bouchet. I am sitting here live and I
would love to talk with you about whatever financial questions
you have. And hey, there was a day when I
used to bar tend, you know, forty five years ago,
and I used to talk to people about all the problems.

(28:50):
But today I'm here to talk with you about whatever
questions you have retaining to your finances. One eight hundred
and eighty five five nine four, eight hundred eighty five
fifty nine forty nine, any questions whatsoever. I would love
to talk to you. Thank you for hanging in through
the news and tuning in today. Eight hundred eighty two

(29:13):
five five nine four nine. We're going to go back
to the phone lines where we have Bill in Albany. Hello, Bill, Yes,
good morning.

Speaker 7 (29:24):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 3 (29:26):
I can hear you. We can all hear you. You
got it like a million listeners listening to you.

Speaker 7 (29:34):
That sounds good. I have a quick question. I want
to get your thoughts on having an annuity having a
trust as a payeve for that annuity.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Yeah, tell me what the purpose my wife is.

Speaker 7 (29:58):
Well, my wife is seventy two, she'll be turning, so
obviously we will need to start doing r m ds
for that. We have a triumph uh. And on the
application to initiate payments and things, there's an area two

(30:18):
that you can name.

Speaker 6 (30:19):
A trust as a payeh.

Speaker 7 (30:21):
And it's something I've not really heard a lot of
people talk about and don't know what the ins and
outs or something like that would be. So I just
thought I would get your thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
You don't know. Yeah, I'm not a big no no no.
I'm glad you called Bill and asked. I'm not a
big fan of a Noodies. Anybody who's listened to the
show over the last thirty years, I've never been a
fan of the Newdies. There's other ways of doing it.
But I'll give you the benefits. I know, I know,
I'll give you the benefits of But it's I know,

(30:57):
I know, too late now, Yeah, well is you know
It's been just over a year that my wife passed away,
and she taught me something really important just before she passed.
Don't trip over what's behind you. And when you really
put that comment, that statement in perspective, you can use

(31:20):
it in a lot of ways. Don't trip over what's
behind you. But let me give you the benefits of
having a trust. As the paye of an annuity, you
got control over distributions. Obviously, a trust allows you to
specify how and when the annuity payments are distributed to
your beneficiaries. Useful, useful for minor children, spendthrift heirs. I

(31:46):
always say, if you have somebody you're leaving money too,
and they're not good with money, or maybe they have
bad habits. You need to have a trust, a spend
thrift trust, have an attorney. It's well worth the money
so that this person can't you take that money and
do bad things with it or have bad people in

(32:07):
their life to do with it. And for me, it's
near and dear to my I have two brothers that
I've been guardian for over forty years with special needs
special needs trust, so there's a lot of pros on
a trust. You have creditor protection as well. Assets paid
into certain trust can be shielded from creditors or divorcing

(32:30):
spouses of beneficiaries. So if you always wanted to keep
that money and the bloodline, trust can help you with that.
Continuity at death is really important. Trust help avoid probate,
continue income payments seamlessly after the annuity dies, especially if
the annuity is structured with what we call a period

(32:53):
certain or life with periods certain payments, estate planning coordination,
tax time timing, and you know, as I said, rounding
it out, special needs trust can receive annuity payments without
and this is important for those of the listening audience
that may be affected by this, without disqualifying the beneficiary

(33:18):
from government benefits like Medicaid or social Security. So there's
a lot of benefits to a trust. As you say,
I can't talk you out of annuity, it's too late.
But you know having having the trust is the payee.
Depending on your situation, make sure you get good legal advice.

(33:38):
It could help, could help you.

Speaker 7 (33:40):
Bill, Okay, sounds good.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
All right, listen, you'd be well.

Speaker 7 (33:48):
You're insie.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yep, you be well, and you take care of yourself.

Speaker 7 (33:56):
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yep, stay healthy. One eight hundred eighty two five five
nine four nine one eight hundred eighty five fifty nine
forty nine. You know, it's a good question that that
that Bill had. And trust, you know, if you depending

(34:19):
on your situation, life doesn't always go as planned, that divorce,
special needs, bad habits of children or their spouses, you know,
so trust, you know, I have trust set up. I
have trust set up for my grandchildren. You know. After
suit passed away, I dusted off my estate plan and

(34:42):
I'm still fine tuning it. And you know, I want
to take care of my children obviously, and I also
want to take care of my grandchildren. Something that soon
I talked about when she was alive, and it's it's important.
You know, I'm not a fan of annuity. Let me
give out the phone numbers one, eight hundred eighty two,

(35:04):
five five nine four nine, one eight hundred eighty two,
five fifty nine forty nine. You know the pros of annuities.
You got, you know, and there's different ways that insurance
people because to buy an annuity, you're being sold mostly
by an insurance salesperson. They make a lot of money

(35:25):
and commissions, folks. And for those insurance salespeople that are listening,
which many do. I got some friends that listen. I
know they listen. I'm not I'm sorry, guys and gals.
I'm just not a fan of annuities. So I'll give
the pros and the cons because that's what I'm supposed
to do, right. I'm a well balanced individual. So you

(35:47):
know the good of annuity. You got guaranteed income for life.
You got tax deferred growth, which you know you could have. Listen,
you can minimize taxes by having a well tax managed portfolio.
I know our clients we use exchange trade of funds
which are tax efficient, so we have tax deferred in

(36:10):
a way. Growth. But in the old days, I'm going
back before nineteen ninety eight annuities. If you had, you know,
profiting and annuities, it was taxes capital gains. Now it's
taxes ordinary income, so that tax deferred growth comes with
a price to pay. You got principal protection. You know,

(36:34):
if you die, you're guaranteed your beneficiaries are guaranteed. If
you put in one hundred thousand dollars, the market's down
twenty percent, it's worth eighty thousand. Guess what your beneficiaries
get one hundred thousand. Well, there's some guarantees. You don't
want to take advantage of dying, so that your beneficiaries
get the full you know, principle that you put in

(36:58):
at your death. That's that. It's a guarantee that I
recommend not. You got a lot of riders now, a
lot of options, long term care riders that benefits inflation
adjusted income. You got diversification of retirement income. There are
some pros to that, so you know, with probably the

(37:20):
biggest benefit if you're not disciplined. People with annuities often
spend more confidently in retirement knowing their basic income needs
are guaranteed over a certain lifetime period or lifetime anyway,
I'll go into the reasons I don't like annudies. After
I go to the next phone call and we let

(37:42):
me give out the phone lines one eight hundred eighty two,
five five nine four nine. One eight hundred eighty two,
five fifty nine forty nine, give me a call, any questions.
One eight hundred eighty two five five nine four nine. Hey,
we have Howard and Schenectady. Good morning, Howard, Good morning.

Speaker 8 (38:02):
So I've been helping my mother in law through the
whole and the stages of life. And the latest challenge,
of course, had been medicaid because she spent she spent
all her money at the nursing home and as of

(38:22):
end of October, she's now officially covered by Medicaid. And
after doing all of the numbers, there's two odd questions
I had. One was part of her income is variable
and with that variable income, it was overestimated, and so

(38:45):
I let the nursing home know that we'll be not
able to pay that full amount starting in July. And
I assumed that we don't dip into that thirty one
thirty two thousand that were allowed to just save.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
That's correct, so that they allow you to keep that
off to the side. Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 8 (39:17):
I was gonna say, when they allow you to keep
that money off to the side when you know, so,
I assume after she passes away that can be used
for anything else because that money's not going to go
through any kind of probate, correct.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
And I also think you're allowed to take care of
burial expenses above and beyond the thirty one thousand. I
don't know that for one hundred percent sure, but I'm
pretty sure and I always recommend people do that. Then
you know, unfortunately, when your mother in law passes, that
thirty one thousand could be left to the you know,

(39:57):
the family or whatever or and.

Speaker 8 (40:01):
I don't know that that's the case, but you have
to set up prepaid fund ahead of time. That's actually
technically an irrevocable trust just for burial.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Right right, Yeah, No, it's exactly Howard. First of all,
I admire you for taking care of your mother in law.
These are tough times people that go through this, like
yourself and your wife. It's just it's not easy. Sometimes
it's got wrenching sometimes. You know, everybody's different with how

(40:33):
they how they grieve and take care of death. And
knowing that it's just time but helping your mother in
law out in a nursing home is big, and there's
so many rules and so forth. And if you don't
have long term care insurance, like in your mother in
law's case, Howard, you know, the state can come in
and spend down the assets, sell the house, sell everything,

(40:57):
and leave you with you know, thirty one thousand dollars.

Speaker 8 (41:00):
So this is why I strung exactly, That's exactly what happened.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, yeah, And this is why I'm a big advocate
of people sitting down with a good long term care
professional and look at long term care insurance, especially if
you have an estate that's sizeable, so that doesn't happen. Now,
some people don't have a sizeable estate and they don't

(41:26):
need to spend money on long term care insurance because
they're they're going to be taking care of no matter what.
So you need to be careful.

Speaker 8 (41:35):
Well, except there's a real benefit of the long term
care insurance. You don't have to necessarily deal with medicaid.

Speaker 6 (41:42):
Well, this is what dealing with medicaid is crazy.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Yep, this this, this is true. But some people can't
afford that life insurance. Usually if you if you don't
need long term care insurance. You don't have that kind
of money to throw around spend thousands on premiums. But yeah, no,
I mean, as I said, I admire you, Howard. You know,

(42:10):
you kind of summed it up. The listening audience. I'm
sure just was educated with this little conversation you and
I had, so thank you, thank you for that.

Speaker 8 (42:21):
Yeah, it's just it is definitely frustrating that I have
to go back to the system and say, hey, listen,
we got to adjust this number because now it doesn't
match anymore. So you know, you've got to go through
the whole process again.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
Listen, the government sucked. Can I say that word? Tom Gods,
my producer on air, Well, I guess I said it,
so it's too late for me to take it back. Listen,
the government stinks. You know, I shared you know my
I lost my wife over just over a year ago,

(42:59):
and I've been dealing with the government agencies. And just
two weeks ago, I was on hold with Medicaid for
I don't know how long, went and talked to two
or three different people. They tell me to call Social Security.
I was literally on hold three hours, twenty minutes with
Social Security, only to be told they can't help me,

(43:23):
and it's like, does anybody know what the heck is
going on? And dealing with medicaid? I think I said medicaid.
I was on hold with medicare, not medicaid, but dealing
with medicaid. I can't even imagine the frustration, Howard, that
you and so many people have. And you have a

(43:44):
lot of mature people, a lot of people that are aging,
and they can't comprehend being on hold that long. The
heck they're taking a knapp in between when they dial
the number and somebody picks up. It's crazy. The government's thing.
There's got to be a better way. Hey, Howard, My
hand goes off to you. All right, you'll be well,

(44:06):
stay healthy. One eight hundred eight two five five nine
four nine one eight hundred eight two five fifty nine
forty nine. Any questions whatsoever, give me a call. So
I gave you the pros of annuities. Now what to
watch out for. Because I'm not a fan of annudies.

(44:26):
I know there's probably a lot of people out there
that want to call in, especially the insurance agents that
make six percent commission sell one hundred thousand dollars annuity
you make six percent commission, just like that. Though it's
all in the fine print, folks. That's why there's a
sixty five page contract that comes with annudies. Fees can

(44:48):
be high, you know, the internal I talk about internal
management fees. There's internal management fees and exchange s traded funds,
mutual funds, annuities we use. We manage one point five
billion dollars. We have two individual stocks in the portfolio,
Apple and Amazon. Everything else are exchange traded funds. Our

(45:09):
core positions start out at point zero three percent three
tenths of a percent, better known as three BIPs point
zero three percent. The average mutual fund, the recording the
morning Star, the last I looked, was about one percent
one hundred basis points one hundred BIPs one percent, and

(45:33):
in the nodies they could be three percent or more.
It's crazy. Even with mutual funds, if you buy B shares,
they could be over two percent. So these can be high,
especially with variable minudies, especially if they sell you on
all those riders. Liquidity is limited. Early withdrawals often incur

(45:54):
surrender charges, sometimes taxes. You know, if you buy annuity,
you're stuck for six, seven, eight years, you're stuck the
complexity of annuities. Not all annuities are created equal. You
got to really understand the selection and the timing. You know, basically,

(46:15):
annuities aren't for everyone, but if you're looking for a
lifetime income and peace of mind in retirement, they might
be the missing piece of your financial plan. So there
you go. I'm not you know, I'm open minded, but
I don't like annudies. I really don't like annudies. I really,

(46:37):
let me say it again, I don't like annuities. And remember,
you're going to get lower returns if you buy a
variable annuity with the S and P five hundred look alike.
You know, investment product embedded in it. Well, if the
these are three percent approximately in an annuity and my

(46:58):
SMP total stock market ETF is point zero three percent,
that means that that investment in that annuity has to
outperform my boring exchange traded fund by almost three percent
just to be on equal footing. There you go, folks,

(47:18):
there you go, And remember, if you're getting that fixed
payment with an annuity. Over time, inflation inflation is there
year in year out over the last almost one hundred years,
inflation averaged about three point four two percent, three point
four to two percent. And if you've got to fix payout,

(47:42):
it's not going to be long. Where you know, let's
say you're getting one thousand dollars a month. That thousand
dollars a month doesn't buy as many goods and services
next year, and a year after and a year after
you get it. That's what we call and referred to
as inflation. What eight hundred eight two five five nine
four nine. One eight hundred eighty two five fifty nine

(48:06):
forty nine. Any questions, any questions whatsoever? Folks, give me
a call. I would love to talk to you and
get you appointed in the right direction. One eight hundred
eighty two five five nine four nine, Any questions whatsoever.
So I'm looking on our website, our homepage, Bouchet dot com,

(48:27):
and we got some good stuff there. Folks, I'm biased.
I know that, you know that. But you know, this week,
Katie Buck, who's one of our recently new certified financial planners,
she's been with us for a couple of years, she
wrote something on understanding series ICE savings bonds. Something to

(48:47):
look out for, folks. You know, you can sometimes on
the fixed income portion, it makes sense. And Paula La Pietra,
certified Financial Planner, he did one to find outcome ETFs
clarity in uncertain times. And what's nice about that is
we use them in our portfolio as a rather than

(49:13):
just buy all bonds. We have alternative ass sets. This
is one of our alternative assets and it's pretty good
in the portfolios. Folks. Sometimes if you're a nervous nelly,
maybe use it in exchange of a security stockholder, but
we use it as an alternative to bond holdings. And

(49:36):
then Vincenzo Tenza Testa. Vincenzo Testa, he's a CPA and
a Certified Financial Planner CFP professional and an employment counselor.
He's got three different degrees. He wrote one understanding marginal
versus Effective tax Rates and why it matters. We actually

(50:00):
celebrated our tax team this Saturday. I'm sorry today Saturday,
this past Thursday. In Troy Historic Downtown, Troy Ryan's Wake
on the Majestic Cutson River. Chris Ryan does a great job.
He's got one heck of a place down there if
you haven't been visited, and it's it's pretty good. Tonight,

(50:23):
it's Saturday, It's Saturday, all day today, twenty four hours
worth of Saturday. But I'm going to the Alzheimer Gala.
My dear friend cjd Crecente is being honored. He and
Mary Beth, his wife. They you know, CJ has been very,
very committed to Alzheimer's. His mom had it, and he

(50:44):
was very involved with the Alzheimer's you know, society, and
I'm the premier sponsor. Looking forward to it. My colleagues
are going to My son, Ryan's coming in from Boston
with his family. So tomorrow I'm gonna get to have
Father's Day with my grandchildren, my son, my daughter, my

(51:07):
daughter in law. It'll be a beautiful thing. Looking forward
to it. But today we're going to celebrate CJ at
the Alzheimer Gala at the River's Casino in Schenectady. You
know Schenectady, especially down there, and that riverfront has come
a long way, folks. I can't believe the hour is
flown by. I thank you for tuning in today. You're

(51:31):
listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by Financial
Buchhe Financial Group, where we help our clients prioritize their
help while we manage their wealth. For life. Go to
our website, as I said, bay dot com and get
some good information. And if you miss a show, you
can always go to our website, tune in the past shows,

(51:51):
or look for us on your favorite platform, your podcast platform.
Bouchha Financial Group. We're on there, folks. I'm gonna be
back tomorrow morning, so if you don't have anything to do,
tune in in the meantime. Have a great day, See
you tomorrow morning.