Let's Talk Money

August 8th, 2025. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody. It's Stephen Bouchet. I have a lot of
great colleagues, very capable, but today you have me live
in the studio. I'm here with you and I would
love to talk to you. Any questions on this gorgeous,
gorgeous day. Other than Thursday, it was a pretty gorgeous day,
not for the stock markets. Stock markets started off with

(00:23):
but then ended not too well. Little soft jobs reporting
some other things, and we had some great earnings. It
was a head scratcher, that's for sure. But I am
with you today. I'm Stephen Bouchet. Here we are on
August second. The year is flying by. It doesn't even
seem right that we're saying it's August already, but it is.

(00:44):
So let's enjoy the remaining days of summer and for
the next hour, let's enjoy each other. Let me help
you get pointed in the right direction. Any questions you have,
any questions whatsoever pertaining to your financial portfolio? Eight hundred
talk WGY one eight hundred eighty two five five, nine,

(01:06):
four nine, Any questions, folks. I would love to get
you started. There's not a question, that's a silly question.
I can almost assure you we probably have about a
million listeners and somebody will be thankful that you answer
the question. So, any questions pertaining to your portfolio, your
financial future, what you should do. Maybe you're not happy

(01:29):
with the advice you're getting. Maybe you're doing it on
your own and it's just stressing you out. As I say,
often we get paid to take the emotion out of
the decision making process because when it comes to investing,
it's all about emotion. We're all human. We don't like
to see red days. We don't like to get that
monthly statement and see maybe we lost a little bit

(01:51):
of money from the month before, But that comes with
the territory of investing. The key is for you not
to have any knee jerk reactions, to react crazy. It
comes with the territory. It should not upset you. You
should just take it and stride one eight hundred eight
two five fifty nine forty nine. Any questions, give me

(02:16):
a call. So you know, as I said, it was,
it was a crazy week to say the least. Smp
nasdacs started the week, you know, more all time highs.
Funny how that happens, isn't it? I know I sound
like a broken record. But as much as the market
goes up and down, up and down, up and down,

(02:36):
guess what, the market always goes back and always makes
new all time highs. And we've had a lot of
that over the near future. That's a beautiful thing. I
love it when investors grab me and they say, hey,
you know, when should I get invested the markets that
at all time highs? Should I? Wait? And I say, well, if.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
You think you're smart enough to know when the market's
going to go down, sure wait. But if not, don't
wait too long, because the market's going to continue to
go on and make new all time eyes what eight
hundred eight two, five, five, nine, four nine.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Let's go to the phone lines. We have Matt in Auburny.
Good morning, Matt, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
How you doing.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
I'm doing great? How about you?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Okay? Question? Is it true that you're able to take
your start? What'sdrawing your four oh one k at the
age of fifty five instead of fifty nine and a
half without being penalized? That true or is that incorrect?

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah? It all depends. Are you still working?

Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
It Now it comes down to the you're always going
to be taxed, so there's no way of getting around that.
What I think you really ten percent penalty? Yes, so
that's you know, you have to look at the rules
of your pension plan see if one allows you to

(04:03):
do in service distributions. You know, basically you have what
we call the rule of fifty five map. If you
leave your job or are laid off in the year
you turn fifty five or later, you can take penalty
free withdrawals from the forum one K associated with that job.

(04:24):
Now you must separate from service, quit, retire, be terminated
in the year you turn fifty five or later. It
only applies to fore one K and four H three B,
not iras. Only funds in the employer's plan you left
are eligible. If you roll over that for one K
mat to an IRA, you lose that rule of fifty

(04:46):
five protection income tax as I said, you'll always be taxed,
but you won't have that ten percent penalty. So as
long as you're not with that job for whatever reason.
But if you're still in that job, I don't believe
you're going to be able to take that money at
fifty five.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Okay, I would retire before fifty five, so I wouldn't
be able to do it.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Then, right, no, no, if no, if it because you're
going to be separated from service, quit retire of term.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
I'll be separated from but I'll be separated from service
before I turn fifty five. I thought, as if you
you were separated from service at fifty five and up.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Or so, it doesn't matter if I retire at fifty
one or fifty two, and then I can draw that
money that I have in my four oh one k
it's fifty five without being penalized.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, that's that's let me give that. So if so,
here's the answer. If you retire before age fifty five,
you will generally owe the ten percent penalty on.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
Your foremost paid distributions.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Unless unless you know, the standard rule is before fifty
nine and a half your subject to incomes always ten
percent penalty. Ways to avoid the ten percent penalty be
four fifty five. Basically, you can do what we call
a seventy two t commit to a fixed series of

(06:12):
withdrawals for at least five years or until you reach
age fifty nine and a half, whatever's longer, so you
can actually get money out without the ten percent penalty.
If you're disabled, if you need medical expenses that exceed
seven and a half percent of your adjusted gross income

(06:33):
divorce sometimes to a quadro. So there are ways exceptions.
The big one will be if you retire and you
want some money out of your retirement account, as I said,
you can do. That's seventy two t where you take
equal amounts out. But once you start, let's make believe

(06:54):
you started at fifty three, you have to do it
until you're fifty nine and a half. Let's make believe
you started it fifty six. You have to do it
for five years to your sixty one. So there's strict
rules about it, but there are ways around it.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
All right, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Hey Matt, you'd be good, stay healthy, okay, thank you
all right, bye bye Matt. One eight hundred eighty two
five five nine four nine one eight hundred eighty two
five fifty nine forty nine. So you know, it was
actually a good question from Matt. But you know, if
you're fifty five, you can you can take money out.

(07:31):
If you're retiring like Matt May before fifty five, the
only way he can really get money out without the
ten percent IRS penalty is to do the seventy two
t and basically he'll take systematic withdrawals, and sometimes we
recommend opening up a separate account to take those systematic withdrawals.

(07:55):
You won't have a ten percent penalty coming out, but
he has to do it till fifty nine and a
half or five years whatever is longer. One eight eighty two, five, five, nine,
four nine. So, as I said, you know the market,
it's funny how the market always goes on to make
new all time highs folks, isn't it. I mean, it's
a beautiful thing, and it's funny it does it over

(08:18):
and over and over again. Which is why you can't
let your emotions get into your your investment philosophy. Always
make sure you have a good portfolio. Always make sure
you have investments that you feel comfortable with. Always make
sure you have that mix of investments that don't keep

(08:38):
you up at night. If you're a nervous nelly, you
may want to have more fixed income or alternative assets
than equity. If you're like me, you're you're one hundred
percent comfortable with an all equity portfolio. I don't look,
it doesn't bother me. I know it goes down. I

(08:59):
can't tell you when it'll go down next. I know
it goes down, but guess what, it always comes back up,
and it always goes on to make new all time eyes.
It's funny how that happens. So, as they said, we
started the week off good, the smp NANSAK doing some
record highs. Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged.

(09:22):
I kind of alluded to that last week. I thought
that was going to happen. And believe me, you know,
as I said, I hate to keep beating up on them,
but they are so data driven, they really don't open
their eyes. And on this one, President Trump may be right.
Maybe they should have cut interest rates. Because that job's
report came out on Friday, and it was a doozy

(09:43):
and not a good way. It was a doozy in
a bad way. We hardly put any jobs on the table.
And as we like to say in bouchet An answered group,
forget about the jobs report for last month. Let's look
at the revised number for the two months before. In
the two months before, holy moly, two hundred and I

(10:05):
think almost two hundred and sixty thousand jobs that were
reported disappeared. They weren't there. So that revised number really
shows that the economy is softening, and maybe Trump is right.
Maybe Powell needs to get his head out of you
nowhere and look at the economy, get out in the street,

(10:25):
talk to people. Maybe they should have cut interest rates
rather than waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. So WHINSA the Tuesday
and Wednesday they met, they did not cut interest rates.
They kept them alone. Two days later there was proof
on the table that maybe they should have cut interest
rates with that dismal, dismal jobs report eight two, five, five, nine,

(10:52):
four nine. Let's go back to the phone lines. We
have another caller from Albany, this one named Michael. Hello, Michael,
stay in front of out Amazon. Love Amazon. Yeah, love Amazon.
I got some packages delivered yesterday, Michael, love Amazon. In

(11:13):
all seriousness, Amazon had had their their earnings this week.
Revenue thirteen percent year over year, about sixteen about one
hundred and sixty billion dollars. Net income rows thirty five
percent to eighteen billion dollars. You know you had some

(11:34):
of their businesses did better than others. Despite the beat,
the operating profit guidance was weak and the stock actually
was down seven eight percent after hours trading because of that. Overall,
it beat revenue earnings estimates, but the AWS portion slow
down in guidance disappointed. Basically, you know, they scared. They

(11:58):
scared some investors, but you know, I'm not giving up
on Amazon. Ryan and I had a lengthy conversation about
Apple and Amazon, and we actually talked about Berkshire Hathaway.
We're really seriously thinking about putting that in the portfolio.
I know. Listen, we managed one point five billion dollars
mostly exchange traded funds, but every once in a while

(12:21):
I tell our clients we'll put a stock in the
portfolio here or there. We have two individual stocks, Apple
and Amazon, and on the equity side, if you carve
out the equity side, it represents about ten percent of
our equity holdings. When you add in the amount that's
included in nanstack and the broad stock market Index, it'll

(12:43):
increase it a little bit more. But I'm not afraid
of either. Apple had amazing earnings as well. It was
a good day. You had ninety four billion dollars in revenue,
up ten percent year over year, beating the eighty nine
billion forecast. iPhone sales rose thirteen percent, Mac sales fifteen percent,

(13:04):
Services were up thirteen percent. Earnings per share came in
at a dollar fifty seven. The consensus was about a
dollar forty three. You know, the stock rose about two percent,
but it's always a butt, right, but investors remained cautious
due to tariffs and the modest artificial intelligence traction. Overall,

(13:29):
you know, applebeat expectations, solid demand, but share gains were muted.
And then how about how about two of the biggies
this week? Microsoft revenue up eighteen percent year over year
to seventy six billion dollars. We're talking a lot of
money these companies earned. Right. Earnings jumped about twenty four
percent year over year to twenty seven billion. The Asier

(13:53):
cloud revenue grew about thirty four to thirty nine percent.
That's a key driver of the results. The market caps
sort passed four trillion dollars for just a brief moment,
and a list of investors shared they liked it. And
after hours, Microsoft when they announced up about eight percent overall.

(14:16):
You know, a major, major, major, b strong AI cloud momentum,
a standout performer Microsoft and once again it's one of
the top ten of the SMP and nastac. So if
you own those investments, you own a lot of it.
And then let's finish up with meta Facebook, whatever you

(14:37):
want to call it. I still call it Facebook. I
have a hard time calling it meta. But you know,
twenty two percent growth and revenue to about forty seven
billion dollars, Earnings up about thirty six percent year over year.
The ads business were good, average price up about nine percent,

(14:58):
volume up about eleven per sent all driven by AI.
Artificial intelligence. Folks, if you haven't played with it after
the show, don't do it during the show. Go play
with artificial intelligence. There's a lot of ways of playing
with it. But get a good feel for it. It's
here to stay, I think, folks. It's not like AOL

(15:18):
where it's going to disappear. I think AI is here
to stay. In Meta, you know, wow, beat on all fronts,
artificial intelligence efficiency shown up in had performance, a beautiful thing,
and the last of the Big seven. Google it's now
called alphabet, but I still call it Google once again.

(15:39):
Revenue up, profit up, cloud search, YouTube all contributed double
digit gains. You know, solid beat, healthy artificial intelligence, cloud
tailwinds in the background. I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
With all of that being said, it was down on

(16:00):
the week. One eight hundred eight two five five nine
four nine. One eight hundred eight two five fifty nine
forty nine. If you have any questions, give me a call.
I would love to talk to you, talk to you
about just about anything. You know. I used to bartend.
I used to talk about everything when I bartended. You know,
people would have another drink and talk a little bit more,

(16:23):
have another drink, talk a whole lot more, have another drink,
and probably tell me things they shouldn't have told me.
But today I'll talk about money and your financial plan
and what you should do with your investments, and why
you should sell your annuities. You know, I'll give you.
I'll give you anything you want to talk about. One

(16:43):
eight hundred eight two five fifty nine forty nine. So
the economy expanded in the second quarter, gross domestic product
rising about an inflation seasonally adjusted three percent annual rate
after after contracting in the first quarter. You had copper
prices this week plunged after President Trump announced fifty percent

(17:08):
tariffs on some imports. Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, and we're gonna
live with the pain of tariffs, folks, So get over it.
It's here, you know, just like artificial intelligence is here.
Tariffs are here. But and I had a real pretty
good conversation with the gentleman a stranger last night, and

(17:31):
I said, tariffs are here, and they're not a bad thing.
This president will fight for this country. Where do you
like them or not? I could care less if you
like them or not. I don't like him either as
a person, but as a leader. He is going to
get this country back where this country needs to be.
And it's gonna there's gonna be some pain, and yes,

(17:52):
there's going to be some heartache, and there's going to
be some people that need to leave the country and
re enter legally, legally, and hopefully we get rid of
all the bad apples, the thugs. But tariffs are here.
He is making the world pay up their fair share.

(18:14):
They will not take advantage of this great country of
ours so that we continue and remain to be a
great country. So tariffs are here, folks. Tariffs are here.
And this presence like a schoolyard bully. As I said,
I don't always like him, but I understand his negotiating skills.
And he comes in as rough and loud as they

(18:38):
can be, and you know he'll back off. He's a businessman.
He knows what he needs to do with these countries. So,
you know, more tariffs on some imports and copper. Copper,
you know, was down Friday the markets, you know, after
the talks of tariff in a week's job report, he

(19:02):
basically ordered his team the fire of the top europe
labor statistics official. He wants the fire the Federal Reserve chair,
but he can't. It's crazy. So for the week, NASDAK
lost two point two percent. Sm P down two point
four percent for the week. You know, we talked about

(19:23):
the earnings of some of the big companies in the
indexas you had. Unfortunately said said said that the headlines
are just gut wrenching. Gunman killed four people Monday in
midtown Manhattan, basically just walked in to an office building

(19:46):
that houses the NFL Blackstone. Actually one of Blackstone's senior
real estate executives passed. You know, your heart just just
just aches with some of these sens less shootings and
killings and just how how unhinged some people are. I mean,

(20:08):
it's like it seems like every day we're waking up
to a headline that's that's just not a good headline.
One eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine Ashley,
let me take a quick fifteen second break. Don't go anywhere, folks.
Here I am folks. I'm back. One eight hundred eight

(20:29):
two five five nine four nine one eight hundred eight
two five fifty nine forty nine. Give me a call,
any any questions whatsoever. I would love to talk to you.
What a day, uh, you know, a big day for
you horse racing fans. We got like four grade one stakes,

(20:50):
racist you got the Saratoga Derby that my horse, Carson's
run one last year. And I'll never forget if because
it was the only day, yeah, that I went to
the track, and I didn't go to the track for
the day. I literally went an hour before the raisin
and the Carsons run across the finish line. As he
crossed the finish line, you can google it. As he

(21:14):
crossed the finish line, there was a double rainbow that
came out and I looked up. We're being interviewed with
my partner in that horse's west Point Terry Finleay, a
west Point grad, and I were being interviewed by Acacia.
Come on, and I looked up. I saw the rainbow,

(21:34):
and I swear it was Sue overlooking me, my wife.
And I started crying, crying like a baby. Terry looks
at me. He looked up. He knew exactly why I
was crying. He started crying. Acacia looked at Terry and I.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
She looked up.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
She started crying. The three of us are crying on
National TV. A great win for Carson's run. And it's
the Saratoga Derby three year old kind of you know,
when you see Derby, you just think of the Kentucky Derby,
the Triple Troun races, they're all three year olds. So
that was pretty exciting. And today we have four great ones,

(22:11):
you know, the highlight races, the Whitney. But the next
big race is the Four Star Day. And guess who
has a horse racing in the Four Star Day? Me?
The horse is made Intellect, not named after me, but
Intellect is the horse in the Four Star Day. The
six horse eighth race goes off somewhere around three point thirty.

(22:35):
It'll be you know.

Speaker 5 (22:37):
It'll be a great race and great like amazing horses
in this race just amazing horses in this race, and
it's it's it's a good day for racing. The weather
is just drop dead gorgeous out there, and after the
end of the show in another half hour, you can

(22:57):
go see for yourself. The phone lines are are open.
One eight hundred eight two five five nine four nine.
You're listening to Let's Talk Money, brought to you by
Bouchetfin Andrew Group, where we help our clients prioritize their
health while we manage their wealth for life. If you
have any questions, folks on the other side of the
news break one eight hundred eight two five five nine

(23:21):
four nine. Ashley my producer today and I would love
to talk to you and we'll talk to you about anything.
One eight hundred eight two five fifty nine forty nine.
I'll see you in a couple quick minutes.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Hello, folks, and thank you for hanging in through the news.
Thank you for tuning in today. I can't thank you enough.
Every Saturday at ten, every Sunday at eight you you
you make doing this show such a joy. It brings
me great pleasure to help the listening audience. And if
I can help you, the phone lines are open one

(23:56):
eight hundred eight two, five, five, nine four nine, one
eight eighty two five fifty nine forty nine. You know,
the big news of the week was the Federal Reserve
their decision, and you know, basically, are they done raising rates?
Probably they need to be probably cutting rates. And right

(24:21):
now after the dismal jobs report, the I think the
percentages now went from thirty eight percent to eighty five percent.
Chance that they'll cut rates now, there's going to be
more data between now and when they meet again, and
when that happens, they may change their mind again. Remember,
these aren't people who get out there in the real world.

(24:46):
These are people that have their nose and textbook and
they've just they they've missed the boat many times. And
you know what, I in hindsight, we'll see if I'm
right or wrong, but I think they may be missing
the boat again. They should be cutting rates. Get this
economy going. We lost a boatload of jobs over the

(25:08):
last three months, A boatload of jobs. That's a big boat, folks.
And you know, they probably should have cut rates one
eight hundred eighty two five five, nine four nine, But
they didn't cut rates.

Speaker 5 (25:21):
So there you have it.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
One eight eight two five fifty nine forty nine. Let's
go back to the phone lines. We have another caller
from Walbany. This one is Mary. Mary. I've been waiting
for you. How are you today?

Speaker 4 (25:35):
I knew you were and that's why I had to call.
How are you? I'm doing well? Thank you?

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Thank you for calling. What can I help you with?

Speaker 4 (25:45):
Well, I'm a retiree and I do have I designed
contribution plans that I can draw from, and I am
joining BUMP and I have some deferred comps. But I
don't feel like I have enough, so I'm amping up
the roth iris. But what can I do besides roth iris?

(26:06):
That seemed logical for you know, a retiree.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, well, one, if you're not working, you can't put
money in anything.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
I'm working. I'm sorry, I'm retired. I'm so sorry. I'm retired,
but I want that to work.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Oh gotcha? Gotcha? So you're putting money roth all right?
All right? And so there's not much more you can do.
And I'm guessing are you working part time? Low tax bracket?

Speaker 4 (26:35):
I'm actually working full time?

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Oh God, bless you. Mary. You know, most people retire
to retire. You retired to work, so you know, see
if there's a pension plan available to you at work,
you can do obviously the traditional IRA or the roth
IRA seventy five hundred dollars you can put in. But

(27:01):
you know that's that's really about it, and you know
at some point you'll start drawing. I know, a gentleman
never asks the lady what their age is, but you know,
hide your face so when you answer the question, the
rest of the people on the other side of the
microphone won't see you. But how old are you?

Speaker 4 (27:23):
Sixty?

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Oh? You got time, you got you know, years before
you have to take your required minimum distribution. So yeah,
put money away if you don't need it all, put
money away, build up that retirement plan. I like the
idea of putting money in a raw. That way you
don't have to take required minimum distributions when when you

(27:46):
reach that magic age, whereas with money in your in
your any other plan A for O one k or IRA,
you have to take required minimum distributions. But as I said,
you have years before you have to worry about that.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
Right, yep, yep. That's why I went back. I went
back to keep my brain moving and to say I
don't think I saved enough. You know, well, can I
just ask you one more question? Is that okay?

Speaker 1 (28:13):
You think I'm going to say no to you?

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Well, for a young person who's in their thirties and
hasn't really started saving, they're they're saving there. They just
started saving the in roth IRA maxing that out. What
besides what they're doing at work, what their job does,
what would should they do?

Speaker 1 (28:39):
So if they're maxing out what they can do at
work and maxing out what they can put into a
roth or traditional liar ray, they can just open up
what we call a appropriate account and it just socks
some money away. Sounds as though this person is pretty
disciplined and good for he or she because you know

(29:00):
that money will God, that money will accumulate, It'll grow
in Before they know it, there'll be a millionaire, maybe
maybe a multimillionaire, depending on how much money they're putting
away and how they're invested. Obviously, in their thirties they
should be more invested in growth than not. I'm I'm
I'm more. I'm older than thirty Mary, and I am

(29:24):
one percent invested in the stock market. I don't care.
I don't give a I don't care when the market
goes down. If anything, I try to look for more
cash so I can put more money in because I
know that sure volatility brings opportunities if you look at
it in the right way.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
Yes, okay, great, well, thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Know you're going and thank you for thank you.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Be well, stay healthy, Mary, Thank you too. I'm hoping.
I'm I'm gonna get my nails done and my hair
I'm gonna, you know, put some extra product in it,
and I'm gonna I'm gonna look good. Hopefully I'll be
in the Winter Circle Mary for the four Star Day
at three point thirty. Should be a great race. You know,

(30:16):
I don't often talk about my hobbies, and believe me, folks,
I could have worse hobbies. I like the sport of
horse racing. It's a hobby. It's a money losing hobby
at that, but I have fun, and at my age,
why not have a little bit of fun. I've been
through a lot, and you know, I'm okay having a

(30:40):
little bit of fun. But hopefully I'll be in the
Winter Circle with intellect in the four Star Day of
the eighth Race 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 you
may have. So, you know, the big East, Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta,

(31:04):
Microsoft all came up with their earnings. The sm P, NASDAC,
they're near all time highs. But as I said, for
the week, you know it was a Debbie downer. You know,
you had NASTAK down two point one seven, QQQ down
two point one nine, so just about the same SMP

(31:25):
is down two point three six. So NASTAC actually outperformed.
The SMP now outperformed. They were still down, but wasn't
down as much. The big loser, smaller mid caps Russell
two thousand down four point one point seven. We just
can't seem to get that index to get going. Year
to date, SMP is up still six point one percent,

(31:48):
NASDAK Composite up seven percent, the QQQ up about eight
point three percent. The sm P is paying about a
one point one percent dividend. If you look at the aristocrats,
these are companies that have been paying and consistently increasing
dividends over twenty five years. Consistently, you know, that's on

(32:10):
the yield in two point five three percent. So the
ten year US treasury at seven I'm sorry, at seven,
I wish at four point two percent looks pretty good.
That's not a bad yield, that's pretty pretty good. You
have gold closed at thirty three forty seven. The record high,
just not too long ago, is thirty four to thirty

(32:32):
nine announced year to date golds up about twenty seven percent.
You got crude oil and about sixty seven dollars a
barrow down about six percent. You know, I will tell
you year to date, international investments are outperforming the US

(32:53):
stock market by you know, by a lot, you know.
As I said, the SMP is up about six percent,
almost seven percent, with the dividend International holdings through up
fourteen percent. But if you go back the last couple decades,
give me the USA over international investments. I'm just I'm

(33:15):
just not ready to buy into international investments. Ryan and
I talked about this. I told them I'll never say never, Ryan,
but I just feel we can. You know, I feel
so comfortable in this great country of ours and the
companies that we have and investing in our stock markets.
So there you have it, folks. Those are the major

(33:37):
in Dexas. What eight hundred and eighty two five, five, nine,
four nine, any questions whatsoever mortgage traits you know, still
around seven percent, Will there be relief coming? I don't know.
It's a lot of money thinking that just a few
years ago you could get a mortgage two to three percent.
While talking, I mean that that that that makes so much,

(34:02):
such a big difference when it comes to your mortgage payment.
When you calculate a mortgage at two to three percent
or seven percent, it's night and day difference, and a
lot of people can't afford that house that always wanted.
I know, I sounded like a broken record because I
told anybody who would listen to me, if you're thinking

(34:23):
about refinancing or buying a house, or better yet, buying
a second home, don't waste time because these mortgage rates,
it's almost like the financial institutions were paying you. They
were so cheap and I hate the word cheap, but
they were cheap to four percent mortgage as well. You know,
now we're hovering around seven percent. A lot of people

(34:45):
aren't selling their house because that means sure they may
be able to sell it at a good price, but
now you know the cost of buying a new house
if they have to borrow money is just unaffordable. So
the the inventory just isn't you know, it just isn't

(35:07):
isn't isn't there beies? People just don't want to sell
their house. Five five nine four nine. Let's go to
the phone lines. We have somebody from Saratoga, but I
don't have a name. Who do we have from Saratoga?

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Tom?

Speaker 4 (35:22):
Tom?

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Oh? Tom, I'm sorry Astley did put your name there?
You know? I got to get better glasses.

Speaker 5 (35:29):
Tom.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
How are you today?

Speaker 6 (35:31):
Yeah? Yeah, I think so good.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Good.

Speaker 6 (35:35):
I wanted to ask you a question before I head
off to the track.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Oh, be careful, don't take all your life savings.

Speaker 6 (35:44):
No, it's it's not about horses. It's not about horses.
About annuities, annuities. Someone said to take a look at
the current issue of barons, and they pushed annuities. Another
person on your radio stage loves annuities. So I don't

(36:05):
know what to think. I really don't know what to think.
What is your thought?

Speaker 1 (36:11):
I don't like annudies, Tom, I don't like them at all.
I'll tell you why they're expensive. So our core holding.
You know, every annuity, every mutual fund, every exchange traded

(36:31):
fund has what we call internal management fees in annuities,
they're somewhere around three percent, you know, some less, some more.
So our core holding is point zero three percent point
zero three. So, whether you get a variable annuity and
index annuity, there's hidden fees. You got mortality and expense charges,

(36:54):
you got the investment management fees, you got rider fees
for income, depth benefits and so forth. You have surrender
charges if you decide to get out, and these all
eat into returns. So let's make believe your annuity has
return internal fees of three percent. Let's make believe the

(37:15):
S and P returns ten percent this year. I'm making
these numbers up. Then that means you're annuity has to
return thirteen percent to be even with the SMP. Whereas
that core etf with an internal management fee point zero three,
you know, it only has to return, you know, just

(37:38):
about ten percent, and you're getting the same return. Now,
there's benefits to buying an annuity. If you're ners nervous
Melly and you want that guarantee. It's guaranteed by the
insurance company. Most annuities, you know, your money is locked
up five to ten years, depending on what state you buy.

(37:58):
It in got penalties of ten percent. Your tax is
ordinary income, not capital gains. Income tax deferral isn't always
beneficial while annuities grow tax deferred you know, basically, as
I said, those withdrawals or taxes ordinary income. And that's

(38:21):
a lot different than capital gains. And if you're already
using iron Raiser Forum with Kes, do you really need
another tax deferred product. I know there's other advisors that
love annuities. I know they make a whole lot of money.
You know, they get paid six percent commissions for selling

(38:41):
annuities on average. That's you invest one hundred thousand dollars
in an annuity, you can't get your money out for
seven years. And the insurance agent, because to sell an
annuity you have to be an insurance agent, just made
six thousand dollars. So take your time before you jump

(39:01):
into a nenwity, Tom, make sure it's right for you.
Talk to some more people. Just be careful. Tom. Thank
you for the call. You be well, stay healthy. Five
nine four nine. We're going to go back to the
phone lines where we have Rob in Clifton Park. Good morning, Rob,

(39:22):
good morning.

Speaker 7 (39:23):
I have a quick question for you.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Oh can you hear me.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Okay, I can hear you a loud and.

Speaker 7 (39:27):
Clear all right, awesome, awesome. The question I have is
if I have money in a savings account, and on
the paperwork, I put down my primary beneficiary my oldest son,
who is seventeen right now, I'm married. If I pass,
will that money go to my wife because my wife?

(39:48):
Or will it skip my wife and go right to
my son because he has listened as a beneficiary And.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
This is without a will.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Yeah, well, because your son's not an age of majority. Uh,
I'm trying to think this one now, so this is
not on an I ray.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
Not saving the.

Speaker 8 (40:17):
Accountant, Well, I think, I think, yeah, no, you can
name Yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
Can name him legally, you can name him, but he's
a minor. You know, he's still under twenty one, so
payable on death or transfer on death, but they cannot
access that fund. If you died tomorrow, he would not
be able to get that until he turns age of majority.

(40:52):
So if if if if something were to happen to you,
and I don't want anything to happen to you, Rob,
but if something going to happen to you, basicly yeah, yes, yeah,
I'd always like to say, it's like going back to
the last caller Tom about annuities. You know, one of
the big guarantees that insurance agents selling nudies on is, Hey,

(41:16):
if you die and the market's down twenty percent, you
invest in one hundred thousand and now it's worth eighty.
You die, your beneficiaries get one hundred thousand dollars. That's
a beautiful thing. And I always say, there's some things
you don't want to play out just to take advantage
of the guarantees. But anyway, basically, if you were to

(41:37):
if you were to pass away before your son's age majority,
a custodian or guardian must be appointed. More than likely
that would be your wife. Now, with pension plans and
so forth, you wouldn't be able to name your son
as beneficiary without getting your wife's approval. But with an
investment account you can. You can name them and just

(41:59):
don't die anytime soon so that we don't have to
name a customary.

Speaker 7 (42:06):
I was just under the impression that since I was married,
everything was half and half mine had my wife's. Yeah,
well skip over her to go to somebody else.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Yeah, I know, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (42:22):
So if someone does cask before you know, one spouse
before the other. I always thought all the assets would
belong to the other.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Spouse, right, So you know, as I said, you can
still name your child who's beneficiary. But there are so
think about this. You're free to name anyone is payable
on debt, child spouse, even someone. You can name me.
It doesn't matter whether you're married. It's your account. The
beneficiary designation override wills in most cases. Now you got

(42:59):
like California and Texas, you got you know, those are
considered community property states. You know, there are some other things,
but I think you can get away with it, believe
it or not.

Speaker 7 (43:12):
Okay, So I just write her right off the whole thing. Awesome,
I am in.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
I hope she's not listening to us.

Speaker 7 (43:21):
I think you get ready to go camping. I had
to make sure to make sure, how to make sure.
I was in the corner when I called.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Rob. Thank you for the call.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
All right, oh man, all right man, thank you.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Oh that's that's that's that's good. One night eight two
five five nine four nine one eight two five fifty
forty nine. If you have any questions, give me, give
me a call, give me give me a call. God,
I hope his wife's not listening. You know, he may
not realize that she could be a fan of mine

(44:01):
as well as he. She may be the next caller saying, hey,
can my husband do this? And I'm gonna have to
be honest with her. One eight eighty two, five fifty
nine forty nine. So you know, it was a little
deaby downer the week. As I said, in the markets, yeah, yeah, yeah,

(44:23):
you got some good profits. I'm happy about Apple and Amazon,
even though Amazon went down. You know, it comes down
at artificial intelligence, folks. Right now, so much is based
on artificial intelligence. It's here to stay, whether you whether

(44:43):
you like it or not, it's it's here here to stay.
You got you know, the jobs report yesterday was dismal,
dismal to to say the least you had after months

(45:04):
of uncertainty. You know, July's jobs report, we added just
seventy three thousand jobs. That's about thirty less than what
was expected. And as I say, the revised number for
May and June down two hundred and fifty eight thousand down.
That means in May May only nineteen thousand jobs were

(45:28):
at it, in June only fourteen thousand jobs were at it.
You got You know, companies are being cautious, tariffs are
weighing on manufacturing, especially President Trump as the country and
the world and itzzy. But that's what I call short

(45:49):
term gain for long term, short term pain for long
term gain. I really believe at the end of the day,
our country will be better on because of all the
pain and suffering we're having with the terrors. So I'm
okay to live with it temporarily known that better days,

(46:11):
sunnier days are ahead. Although you take a day like today,
I don't know how it can be any any sunnier,
any better than today. So you know, the July jobs report,
the FED may be rethinking pausing just two days before
this report came out because you know, it shows that

(46:34):
the economy is slowing down. We're not you know, the
jobs just aren't there. Now. You also have, you know,
justifiable reasons, and there's going to be people that will say,
this is why we need to let all these people
across the border. And I'm all in favor of immigrants.
I can't begin to tell you They're what makes this

(46:57):
country rock. Our country was built on immigration. But they
need to come in the legal way. I get that
we shouldn't have terrorists and thugs coming in from other
countries with open borders. I do believe that. I you know,
just just look at some of the headlines every day,
and you know I'm not being political when I say that,

(47:19):
but I just want to be safe. I want my
children to be safe. I want my grandchildren to be safe.
I want everybody to be safer. So there you have, folks.
I can't believe we're coming up to the end of
the show. You are listening to Let's Talk Money, brought
to you by Bouchet and Andrew Group, where we help
our clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth

(47:40):
for life. It's been a pleasure talking with you today.
Come back tomorrow. You have Marty Shields and Ed Wilhelm.
Our portfolio strategies will be behind the mic tomorrow. I'm
going to take a couple of days and go up
to Lake George and hopefully we have days like today
and yesterday, beautiful days. Go to our website to learn

(48:02):
more at Bouchet dot com, b O U C H
E Y dot com. Folks, Thank you for tuning in,
Be well, stay healthy, Bye bye.