Retirement Planning Show

December 13th, 2025.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The opinions, viewpoints and promises made during the following program
are not those of wgy it's staff, management or parent company. iHeartMedia.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
All right, we are live, We're in the studio. Good
morning on this bomby warm December. Who's the temperature this morning?
You have any idea? Chris headlines in the Times Union
twenty that's nice, beautiful, love it. New York is about

(00:37):
to plunge into an arctic freeze. Does that make you
feel warm and fuzzy? Arctic freeze? Quite the opposite. So
to our listeners this retirement planning show. If you're new,
we've been doing it a long time. This is our
twenty sixth year on radio, and of course this is

(00:59):
my forty third year in the business. You got any
questions or comments, It's a live show. More than happy
try to address it. When you say, a crazy week,
kind of a just an unbelievable week when you think
about what's transpired in the news. Can you believe this

(01:22):
guy at Michigan No, but five and a half million
dollars a year he's screwing around one of the assistants.
I don't know. I think he had a psychological meltdown.
Or something. But you know this guy's he's you talk
about blowing up your life. You know, Uncle Brian is
a Michigan grad, Michigan Law school, and he's like in

(01:46):
a state of depression. I believe it. You know, they're
worried about the team and the recruits and who's going
to stay, who's going to go. It really is a mess.
It's sad. But on a positive Noteury awards fifty four
million in damages to the Saint Clair pensioners. So you
won your case. Now, where are you going to get

(02:07):
the money? I guess that's because the DICES has filed
for bankruptcy. So we'll see where this goes. I don't
think they're going to see money in the very near future. Personally.
There might be an appeal, maybe not an appeal, but
you just heard it on the news. Fifty I hope
they get their money. When you take eleven hundred people

(02:28):
and you divide it by fifty four million dollars, it's
not a lot of money, but at least something. It's
fifty thousand dollars per individual, if that's how they would
do it, per individual, per individual, So I don't know
how they would do it. You know, depending on the
accounts and promises that were made with the pension benefit.

(02:51):
So to make a long story short, we're here, We're
going to be here for the next week. On the twentieth,
we'll have a show. I think we'll probably do a
show on the twenty seventh too. So it's hard to believe, folks.
I just said to by someone who walked in the door,
we got eighteen days left eighteen in the year two

(03:13):
thousand and twenty five. So yeah, it's gone quick under quicker,
understatement understatement that it's going quick. But bottom line gets
down to is that, you know, there's a lot of
stuff going on, there's a lot of information. Fed beating

(03:37):
came out, twenty five bases points market took off like
a rocket. Lower rates next year, maybe not as soon
as we would like, and falling interest rates will of
course weigh on cash your money market accounts. There's still

(03:58):
there's still Chris seven trillion dollars in money market accounts,
seven trillion. So for people that said I don't want
the risk, I'm gonna let my money sit in cash,
I'm getting four four and a half percent. You know,
I think that's going to end pretty soon because people
are going to be looking to reposition some of their portfolios.

(04:19):
We've had a lot of individuals come in a lot.
I met a lot of great people, folks. You know,
really it's nice to actually meet some of the individuals
that have been listening to the show for an extended
period of time. We always have a little bit of
fun when we first meet with them. I basically say
you're not leaving until I bolt lock the door and
we get paper siged. But that's just a chuckle. But

(04:44):
we also have a lot of people that come in
to have some serious issues that they're trying to figure out.
We'll talk a little bit about that today. You know,
we were getting towards the end of the year. That
usually means if you're going to do something, you better
do it sooner than later, because time is it's not
your friend, especially if you're going to try to gift
asset's out of qualified plans. I don't know what Lisa

(05:07):
has the deadline. You know what our deadline is if
you have charitable intent with your IRA.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I would say at least a couple of days before
the last day of the all. You know, it's got
to be at least probably a week.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think Fidelity basically draws a line in the sand
and basically says that we can't.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Because it's all got to get processed out and improved.
So I'd say a week, a week before the end
of the year. Yeah, if you have any intention on
charitable giving.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, uh, you know, Powell, our good friend Poal, he's
got another few months before they're going to kick him
out the door, and they're talking about who's going to
be the replacement. Hasset is the guy that I guess
is kind of leading the charge out of the White House.
But twelve out of seventeen members continue to expect lower

(05:53):
interest rates, which is good. Yeah, majority of the uh,
you know committee. Powell was pretty tight lip when he
was asking about the next step, but he did in
cake it was unlikely there would be a hike. I mean,
I can't imagine that there would be a hike. But
markets loved what they heard. They love what they heard.

(06:16):
What's your sense of what's going on, Christopher?

Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think with their benchmark rate, you know, for the
next year, it's somewhere between three and a half percent
and three point seventy five percent for rates, So I
think what that's saying is they're still pretty optimistic on
interest rates being reduced over the next twelve months into

(06:44):
twenty or by the end of twenty twenty six. So
the even if they don't, I mean, I know he
was like hinting in that meeting towards them, you know,
pausing the next meeting that the FED has, But it's
just yeah, I think they're they're more nervous about inflation,

(07:04):
like the numbers. When you read all these articles, it's
saying that they're hesitant on the impacts of sticky inflation.
So that as long as the numbers keep staying good,
as far as these you know CPI numbers, and as
long as inflation stays low within their range, I think

(07:26):
the goal is to continuously reduce interest rates, especially if
you know the goal by the end of twenty twenty
six is to get you know, down somewhere between three
and a half percent.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, you know, the thing is is that this is
a good time for you to start looking at your
portfolio or your team to start looking at your portfolio.
You know, I've been saying for the last twelve to
eighteen months that I thought, you know, the markets, the
indications were is that the market was going to be

(08:00):
a well position for an upward trend. I continue to
believe that I can't guarantee it. I'm more bullish than defensive,
and I think but you know, as we always say,
diversification is your friend, and domestically we always have when

(08:20):
you always will because of the type of client that
we have. We love large cap equities. But large cap
in today's world doesn't necessarily mean that it's a you know,
IBM or Exon Mobile, right, you know, because some of
these technology companies have more cash than governments, which is

(08:44):
crazy when you think about it, is crazy when you
think about it. So what I like that's going on
right now is that you're starting to see a brunning
of the market leadership. You know what I mean. It's
not just technology, it's large cap, it's mid cap. So
you're starting to see some steady growth. That's always a
good indication of what to anticipate for the next year.

(09:07):
In twenty and twenty six, I can't believe it twenty
twenty six, So to highlight, speak to your financial advisor,
have conversations. You know, Portfolio allocation is important as you
move into twenty and twenty six and as we move

(09:32):
into the new year, which is hard to believe, you know,
the Dow right now is up about fourteen percent year
to date. S A P five hundred was up sixteen
percent year to date as of the close on Friday,
and the nasdep of course again up over twenty twenty
point one percent, and the tenure right it's still which

(09:54):
I'm kind of surprised, is that four point one nine.
Once it breaks that foe handle, I think that's going
to be very bullish. I think it's still bullish for bonds.
But bottom mine gets down to is that the oil
is below sixty dollars a barrel, which is extremely powerful
for the economy. So a lot of important things that

(10:15):
are happening that are very I think consumer friendly. We'll
be watching consumer spending closely for signs that the labor
market is possibly starting to cool off some of the spending.
But I think October retail salesdale will be an important

(10:36):
I think we get that this coming a week if
I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
So yeah, I think as far as the market's too
looking back at you know, themes for twenty twenty.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
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(12:22):
we are back seven trillion dollars sitting in cash. Seven
trillion dollars. It's a lot of cash. It's a lot
of cash, so you know, returns in cash. Short term
investments like money market accounts T bills have already fallen,

(12:52):
and we've been saying this for weeks, if not months.
We believe they will continue to fall over the next
twelve months. So we think it's especially pressing that if
you're looking to lock in a coupon, especially if you're
looking for a guaranteed rate, you need to run and

(13:17):
get out of the cash and reallocate your money to
something that will give you a competitive rate of return
under the current market conditions. And whether it's a treasury,
whether it's a CD, whether it's a multi year guaranteed annuity,
whatever it may be, that's up to you. Hey, I

(13:37):
had a nice conversation. That reminds me. There's a gentleman
that calls the show all the time, and he's a
very what's the word that I want to use. He's
very analytical. I guess that's the word. Analytical, does a

(14:00):
lot of research, understands the markets, understands you know, who
worked in corporate finance for years and he's a major, major,
major advocate with some of your money, not all your money,
with myga's multi year guaranteed a no ities it. Yeah,
And he came in and he had a conversation with me,

(14:22):
just rubbing elbows. I talked to him a couple of
times on the radio here, and I also talked to him,
you know a few times at the office on the telephone.
I said to him, you know, he went to our
presentation down in Albany at the Desmond, and I said,
come on in, we'll shoot the breeze and we'll warter
some stuff. But the thing is is that what I
like about this guy is that he doesn't look at

(14:45):
it as far as marketing the pinocchios, you know, where
you hear all of this negativity about certain types of investments,
which really doesn't make a whole hell of a lot
of sense. But he basically looks at it as far
as where can I get the most competitive the gready return,
and how can I allocate my money in order. He
does a lot of lattering. Yeah, lattery, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
That's common with those products and just locking in different
intervals with different rates. But you know, like you're saying,
there's there's different you know what's taking a portion of
your assets and putting in it and leaving it in
it in something guaranteed, whether it's you know, treasury bills

(15:29):
or an MYGA. You know, that's for a more conservative investor,
having something that's you.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Got to all set in stone. You ought to tell
the listeners what an NYGA is because they're probably thinking, like,
what the hell is that multi year guaranteed annuity you
just said it just like a CD.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yep, just like a CD. So for CD investors, I
mean people who are renewing CDs or c's that are
coming due you know, shortly here to end the year
or shortly into twenty twenty six, it may be advantageous
for you to look at what some bond funds or

(16:05):
you know, things are doing as far as generating income
because the environment we're in right now is not only
good for bonds, but they're still paying a fairly good dividend.
You know, on a monthly basis off of their.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Multi ASCID class bond portfolio can get a what of
six handle.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, probably around you know, some some multisector bond funds
are still kicking around six percent so as far as
the coupon, right, and then then some corporate bond funds
are still doing seven low sevens, low to mid sevens.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
And our income portfolio, the one that we designed internally, yeah,
is still paying about seven.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Our income portfolio is probably doing about six and a
half six point seven to five in that range. Now
when I was a done year to date, I think
it's up eleven ten to eleven percent year to date,
depending on how it finished the week. But yeah, it's
done really good. You know, I just had a conversation
yesterday with folks who were on Oneana in Oneana.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah. They came in in March of this year.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, and they're conservatively invested in the income model. You know,
they're up eleven percent since March, so it's in the
SMPU is up sixteen seventeen, so.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
That's where you want to be. It's for the risk reward.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
That's what I always bring up is, you know, your
inherent risk getting into the s and P five hundred
at all time highs versus getting into a bond fund
that's gotten you know, kicked in the teeth in twenty
twenty two and really hasn't fully recovered yet.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
And the ultimate goal of the FED in the interest
rate environment is to cut those rates. You know, the
the upside in these in these bond funds looks pretty
good over the next year. And we've been saying it
for a while on the radio show, but you know
now it's actually in the process of paying off.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, I've been saying it for the last year and
a half two years. As far as getting into bond
portfolio is get the coupon, because ultimately, if the FED
is decreasing interest rates, you're going to get some capital appreciation.
It's just how financial markets work and how tactical and
how good the portfolio managers are.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
So I didn't go ahead, no, I was going to say,
and we did just see some disappointing news.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I guess you could say through.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
A couple of the major AI tech firms and that
led to, you know, a sell off on Friday.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, but you know Wall Street, Wall Street looks at
everything every ninety days. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean
the thing is is that here's an example. Okay, I
want to use an example. There used to be a moron.
They used to used to be constantly on radio telling
people to sell ge sel g. Every time somebody comes
into our office, we tell them to sell it because

(18:57):
it's junk, it's crap. Throw it out the window, you
know why. You know, we laugh when people walk in
they have g e Stock, look at ge Stock and
ge Verona. Well they found the right guy. Now, well
that's what I always say. Are you betting on the
horse or you betting on the jockey? Larry Kulp, I
think ge Verona is up over one thousand percent the

(19:18):
last three years. It could be it is. I think
I'm almost a dred percent, almost one hundred percent this year. Yeah.
So the bottom line gets down to is that you
know what, First of all, you got to do your
own research, right or your team has to do the research.
You can't let these marketing morons tell you stuff, and
they really don't know what the hell they're doing or
what they're talking about. It's just like the net return

(19:40):
for this year. How many people made predictions that the
market was going to give you the type of returns
that you've had in the three indices this year? Almost none? Yeah,
probably not. At the beginning of last year they were saying,
we were lucky if we're going to get a single
digit right, right as far as total return, And now

(20:02):
you've got NASDA except twenty percent. So what's happening today
doesn't necessarily mean the end result what's going to happen tomorrow.
So with all of this mania on Wall Street, do
you realize that ninety percent of the trading on Wall
Street has nothing to do with the individual investor. It's
all hedge funds, right, it's all you know, program trading

(20:26):
bots and dots and chickens and hens and everything else
that's out there on the on the computer system that
allows you to basically certain things hit, certain words come out.
You know, the machines are starting to run and the
trades are going. So it's algorithmic trading. Yeah, So don't
think that you can beat the system.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
For it's yeah, it's when and that's just when like
certain levels hit so if like the S and P
five hundred were to, you know, drop down to oh,
I don't know, say six hundred dollars a share, it
would you know, and there's a lot of algorithms in
to just buy it already at six hundred dollars a share,
you'll see it. And that's why you know these I

(21:06):
think the increase in algorithmic trading has really shortened the dips.
I mean we saw April, uh, there was a fifteen
to eighteen percent draw down in the S and P
five hundred, and it fully recovered and went to an
all time high again in like three weeks. So you know,

(21:30):
that's why you really got it. Like you said, do
your research and not panic sell if something like that
is going on where it's you know, nothing, nothing's wrong
with the market. It was just uh, they said that
magical word tariff in China.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
And there's nothing wrong with an investor saying, you know what,
I don't like the roller coaster. Yeah yeah, I don't
like volatility. I don't like to give you a million
dollars and wake up one day and it's now six
hundred and fifty thousand. Yeah. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with
there's nothing wrong with saying, you know what, I don't
have this crap anymore because I had all my accumulation years.

(22:03):
I don't want it in my retirement years. And that's
more common than uncommon. Yeah, I'd say, folks who went
through the the dot com bubble and saw these you know,
technology companies get iPod, have no earnings, have no you
know anything, you know, no financials associated with the company

(22:27):
at all. Ipo go up you know, one hundred percent,
and then just dissolve and turn into nothing. So those
are folks.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
I mean when we have people come in and they
say they were, you know, in their investing years at
that time and they were getting into this these technology funds,
I'd say they're like, yeah, we we already went through
our our volatility that you know I wanted to. So
I'd rather I've made my money. I'd rather have it
be consistent. And that's why I'd feel like going into

(22:54):
twenty twenty six, it's like a you got to be
like cautiously optimistic, and I mean we're optimistic, bullish, but
it's not to say that the last three years you
haven't seen unbelievable growth. I mean, if you look at
any of the charts. It's pretty much a straight line
in the last three years with a little blip it's
crazy here and there. It's it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
So bottom line gets down to is that, you know,
the thing is is that ultimately, you know, you've got
to make a decision as you get closer to the exit,
how do you might your assets managing your retirement years
And there's different ways you can have growth in your
portfolio with suspenders and a belt. It's just a question
do you understand the products that are out there. That's

(23:35):
why I always chuckle when you hear people say, you know,
don't do this or don't do that, or don't buy G.
You're rid of G because G you know, and they're junking.
You know, God, it's unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. You'll
never let that guy live that down. Huhhy guys Maro.
The only way to describe it, The only way to
describe it is the guys of moron. But bottom line

(23:55):
gets down to is that if anything that we're discussing,
we offer a complementary consultation to our listeners. Down at
WKIP in the Poughkeepsie Kingston area, that is something that
we afford you also, So if you want to come
in and have a chat with us, it's pretty easy.
All you do is call my office eighty eight five
eight zero one nine one nine. It's toll free eighty

(24:18):
eight five eight zero one nine nine. We have offices
throughout New York State now and we would love to
have the opportunity check us out on the web rpgretire
dot com, rpgretire dot com and if we can be
of assistance to help you guide you even if you
want to come in and get a second opinion, that's

(24:39):
fine too, and we'll be.

Speaker 5 (24:47):
All right.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
We are back. Good morning on this beautiful Saturday in
New York. It's twenty degrees overcast, waiting for the snow
to come. Headline in the Times Union, get ready for
the long Arctic winner. God makes me feel good. You

(25:17):
better like it. You better like it if you get barons.
If you get barons. There's an article in there, and
the reason why I'm the headline is this, this ge
spinoff is beating the S and P five hundred, Navidia

(25:40):
and Bitcoin. Guess which one it is, folks, guess which
one it is?

Speaker 3 (25:49):
What do you think what do you mean, what do
I think? What do you think? What do you think?
What stock you think that is?

Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's probably Verona believable. All three of them actually well,
GE Healthcare and GE. But the reason for that is
one individual who is probably the best CEO of any
of them out there, and it's a guy by the
name of Larry Culp. So that's why I say, do

(26:17):
you bet the horse or do you bet the jockey?
I bet the jockey, and I'll tell you what. He's
just doing a phenomenal job. So if you get a chance,
do some research. I don't know if it fits into
your portfolio or not, but it's amazing. All these people
that were singing throw it out the window. It's junk.

(26:39):
Get rid of it. We chuckle when people come in
and they have it, they're singing that. Are they singing
that anymore? You've become a GE fanboy. Absolutely, And you
know the reason why. Yeah, I know you've been preaching
GE for how long? Three years? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (26:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Because I listened and I did my research, and I
heard what he was going to do. When everybody else
thought that the split was going to be a negative,
I was the one that was basically applauding it because
sometimes the parts are worth more than what the whole.
And that's exactly what happened. And you know the other
thing that drove us to the extent that it has.

(27:23):
And you know, we got a lot of G executives
G employees that are clients of ours. One of the
things that really drove this is what the demand for
what energy?

Speaker 3 (27:35):
We'll say, now I have to is Verna doing nuclear? Yes, yeah,
that's what I figured. Everything gas turbines they just did.
They just they just had a conference look into it.
They just had an investment concert and they were talking
about the amount of cash they're going to generate over

(27:56):
the next three to five years. Well, I think nuclear
enter is going to be huge. I mean I've been
preaching that since February. Baby baby reactors. Yeah, many nuclear
reactor sites that are highly efficient, like an ex wife
highly efficient. I don't know if that's highly efficient.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
The h any nuclear reactor. That's what you call an
ex wife.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Oh, but yeah, I mean the demand for AI is
that increases the demand for reliable, you know energy that
is not gonna you know, turn off in the middle
of the night. You know, whether it's solar wind. You know,
they're they're coal and none of that's going to do it.

(28:43):
So as far as the I think there's a there's
a new wave coming. And you saw it back when
Microsoft bought a private or the first time a you know,
public company went out and actually bought a nuclear reactor site.
I think it was down in Pennsylvania and they reinstated it.

(29:04):
They hired their own staff, and they're reinstating that, uh
for I'm assuming their energy needs with AI data centers.
So when you see something like that that happened back
in January, I was like, whoa. You know, there's going
to be a major shift in the big tech companies
across the board if they're they need that much power.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
I saw a thing on TV that I was blown
way by because you don't realize the size of these
data centers that they're building. Oh they're huge. They're football
fields long and football fields wide. For for football fields, Yeah,
if you think about that, for football fields, the size
of these and every inch of it is covered with

(29:49):
what computers?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yeah, like the yeah, data like boxes pretty much. I
wish I was for servers.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
First of all, I have a hard time turning on
my laptop and at least I admit that. I mean
the chuckle in the office is that I'm the dinosaur
when it comes to technology. I just wish I had
spent more time understanding because I still don't understand what
these data centers, why they have to be so large
in order to have the capacity that is necessary for AI.

(30:18):
I still don't understand that. Do you understand? Say that
one more time? Why do you have to have so
much data, not data or hardware in order to facilitate
the AI?

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Well, because they can do anything on like a second's notice,
so you can go on like chat, GPT and just
try this out. They they take so much power and
they run on so much data. Because if you go
in and just type in, you know, write me a
five page essay in you know MLA format to describe

(30:54):
how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, It's
going to write you a five page essay. It'll stretch
across five pages. You can write it down to the
exact word, make it, you know, one thousand and one words,
it'll do it.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
It's just crazy.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
So when you have something that can work at those
capabilities and that you know percise, you need a lot
of data and you need a lot of energy.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
You know.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
I know that there's all sorts of information. We saw
it when I came back from talking about software and technology.
Did you get a response from our friends about our
new software package?

Speaker 3 (31:32):
If it's oh yeah, no, we have a if it's
what if it's green. If it's green, let go. No,
we have a conference call next week.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
So you know, that's one of the things that I've
decided at Retirement Planning Group is that we're not going
to be behind the eight ball with our technology platform.
So whatever cost, we're committed to spending it. Not only
as far as protection. Now, that's what I want to
get into a little bit right now, because I think
it's critical that you understand right now, this time of

(32:03):
year for seniors, it's a very bad time for scammers.
At my house last night, I had Colton, my little
nephew that you know battled cancer, and his brother and
his mom and dad, and we had pizza and we
probably had three or four phone calls from scammers between

(32:25):
our phones last night at my house. Please please, please, please,
especially if you're a senior, if you live by yourself,
you know, I don't answer the phone. I just don't
answer the phone anymore. And I don't answer the phone
because who you think it is might necessarily not be
who it is. So this is the time of year

(32:46):
where we hear horror stories where bank accounts are being
you know, dwindled down to nothing. We actually have a
situation right now that I had a conversation with my
son about yesterday where I'm going to have to get
very proactive with one of our clients because I think
he's getting scammed.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate that like this stuff happens,
but it's true, Like we've had clients where they actually
have lost money due to scams. But you just gotta
not if it if it seems off, you know, if
someone's asking you for.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Persons to good to be true, to good to be true.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Right, yeah, if they're if they're promising you something that
that sounds you know, above and beyond, it's probably good
to at least consult somebody else and get their opinion
on it, you know, don't just blindly make a decision
on something where someone's off asking for thousands of dollars. Also,
if if someone calls you and tells you you know,
your computer's bugged, you need to get fixed. And oh,

(33:43):
by the way, what's your bank account information? Don't be
doing that either, because that's there's ways that they can
now hack computers right while you're on them.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
But you don't even know that you give them. You
don't even know you're they're on them.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Well, they say, you know, oh, your your computer has
a bug, and then they sign on and they're like, oh, yeah, sure,
and there they say, can you grant go into you know,
www dot whatever, and I'm on you know, that's our website,
and then you grant them access to your computer.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
And then what they do is they're they are on
your computer, so now they're it's it's as if you know,
your computer is in front of them, so it gives
them full control over your computer. Then they click around
and then they say, oh, you know you got to
I would check your bank accounts or your information and
then they can just you know, pull money right from it.
So it's it's something that's pretty serious. So yeah, just

(34:38):
you know, be cautious.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
I guess not, well, the ones that are the most
common ones, just so you know, you know, I have
a I just send a message to my team. We
got a notification from Fidelity that basically get proactive because
this is the time of year, you know, fake delivery scams.
You know, we got a delivery for you, but we
need your credit card in order to drop the box off,

(35:00):
or we need your bank account. You know, there was
a shortage or something. Charity fraud big time this time
of year. You know, they're calling for money for charities
that really don't exist. Government impostors. They basically me and
my mother. My wife had a phone call one time.
They said that it was the sheriffs that we owed
money and if they weren't, you know, we didn't get

(35:21):
the They didn't get the money over the phone. They
were going to come and arrest her. Do you remember
not Yeah I do. She was freaking out. Yeah, I
was in a meeting and I had to get out
of the meeting and Jilie, take a chill, Pells. This
is a scam. And on like shopping, you see, I'm
not a big believer in shopping online or downloading stuff

(35:42):
where you see great deals, okay, because once that data
gets into your computer sometimes you can't get it out.
So please please please over emphasize this. I want to
protect your assets, protect your privacy, whatever it is, package delivery,
charity fraud, grandparents scam. Hey granny, I'm in jail. Can
you help me, you know, send me money that's probably

(36:03):
not your grant. But the thing that's scary today is
they can get your voice. Yeah, they can get your
voice down to a t like, Hey Chris, I'm in
the Albay County jail. I went down to Sienna basketball
game and I ended up staying a little bit too
longer than I should have. That's too day, I'm mad.

(36:26):
Take it up with a judge. Take it up. Sleep tight, dad,
you're staying there? Yeah right, Get comfy.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Time flies and retirement will be here before you know it.
Are you ready? Don't wait until it's too light to
get your plan in place. Dave Kopek and the team
at Retirement Planning Group are helping people just like you
take control of their financial future right now. Call eight
eight eight five eight zero nineteen nineteen today or go
to RPG retire dot com to schedule your consultation. Retirement

(36:58):
won't wait. Why should you?

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Attention? Future retirees, A financial threat is putting your retirement
at risk. The cost of long term care can be
well over one hundred thousand dollars a year fidelities. Recent
studies suggest retirees could need hundreds of thousands of dollars
just to cover medical expenses in retirement. You need to
address this risk now. To be prepared, call my office

(37:23):
to find out your options. Call eighty eight five eight
zero one nine to one nine eighty eight five eight
zero one nine one nine for a complementary consultation. Future retirees,
twenty and twenty five is gone. In twenty and twenty
six is here? Are you still thinking about retiring? Procrastination
will hurt you. Every year you wait to implement your
personal retirement plan is expensive. Stop putting your retirement future

(37:47):
on the back burner. It's time to take action. Call
the Retirement Planning Group for a complementary retirement planning consultation
and make twenty and twenty six the year your retirement
dreams became a reality. Call eighty eight eighty eads zero
nine and take action. Today, we are living through the
greatest wealth transfer in the history of mankind. Trillions of

(38:07):
dollars of wealth will change hands from one generation to
the next. Your money to our beloved children and grandchildren.
Are you ready? Your future is written by chance, it's
written by action. Now's the time to build your plan,
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(38:28):
eighty eight five EIDs zero one nine one nine.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
That's eight eight eight five eats.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
All right, get up and get to going. Get up
and get to going. We're going to a wedding. My
niece is getting married at the Sagamore late this afternoon
and we will be up there for a festive event,

(39:06):
and then we're going to meet some family members and
do the stroll, the stroll, the stroll in Bolton Landing.
What's the stroll? I guess there's like a holiday stroll.
You know they have certain things. There's an event going
on at the Sagamore. Nice so you know, I know
they do the ice body. You want to hang with me?
You want to hang with me? To man?

Speaker 3 (39:27):
I got plans? I bet you do, I bet you do.
What are your plans? What are you doing? Are you
going going to that new restaurant that just opened in
Saratoga called Noah's.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
You actually got a reservation? Oh yeah, we booked it
out like a month in advance. Yeah, it's hard. How
many people are going with you? Four?

Speaker 5 (39:45):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Who else beside you?

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Lorenzo and Lexi, Nice, Vi P the VIP, the guy
who owns that.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
I went to high school with him. You know he
he uh went to the c Yeah he was. He's
Sewan's cousin. Oh is he really Ja Kelly? Yeah, that's
Schwan's cousin.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
Oh yeah, he like turned around Zero's and then now
he's got his own.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Spot and from M I understand he's killing it. Yeah.
The name of it is Noah's Noah's yep. And I
try to get a reservation in there the other day
for eight people, and they basically told me to take
a hike. Yeah, I believe it. You know why because
of me?

Speaker 3 (40:21):
Because you did a last minute no hey, no, I said,
when when do you need that reservation?

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Are you going to try to pull You're going to
try to spin some arms? Harry told you I ever
sent Harry sent your message? Oh did you read your message?

Speaker 5 (40:39):
No?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
They were going out to dinner the eighteenth, oh with
some friends and clients. Oh okay, okay, So I tried
to get in there on the eighteenth, and they said
take a hike. They say, don't do large tables this
time of year. Yeah, I believe, which I find it
hard to believe. No, I believe it is that I
don't think it's that big of a spot.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
No, it's three floors, well not three floors, it's two floors,
and then they have like a loft. Yeah, it's a
big been at No, I walked by it. But I've seen,
like there have been posting stuff, you know, about how
they redid it and it looks good. Good, that's nice. Well,
maybe you got some juice, maybe you can twist some
arms get me in there. But I can't cancelor. I'm

(41:18):
going right now. My favorite restaurant. My favorite restaurant because
I love the people there, and I always like to
promote restaurants.

Speaker 5 (41:25):
You know.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
I love Grecian Gardens because they're great, great, great people,
and I love their soup. I love their sandwiches, and
I also love Lake Ridge. I always tell people, if
you want a good meal and you want to be
taken care of, Diana is phenomenal. They're the hostess and
they just they just do a phenomenal job. I've never

(41:47):
had a bad meal there, and we've had all sorts
of parties and family events there.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
It's good. I like their food a lot. Actually, I'm
trying to think where mom and Dad just recently went
I had. I can't remember. I just went somewhere and
I had a phenomenal filet mina. But this is what
happens as you get older.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
You know what things that used to come like like that,
like you snap and boom boom boom bank bang. Now
it's like I'll be driving in the car home and say, oh, yeah,
that's where I got it. There is nothing good about
getting older. Really. A lot are listening, audience. Now I've
strained my achilles. Now my achilles just finally got better, right,

(42:30):
not one hundred percent better. I jumped off my tractor
when I was mowing the field and I wrenched, and
of course I pulled my achilles so that heals. And
now I'm in the kitchen the other morning because I
always opened my laptop and I sit there with the dogs,
and the dogs, you know, stare at me and look
for treats, and I do my reading. So I got

(42:55):
up to get the dogs a treat. What happened I
forgot about the cord because my laptop needed power, and
I went down on my knees hard, almost put my
head through the door, the sliding sliding glass door. I
was actually afraid to look up because I thought I
cracked it, right yep. So I looked up and I said,

(43:17):
oh God, thank God. And it took me about ten
minutes to got up off my knees because I crushed it.
And now my knee knee caps aren't bothering me. The
back of my kneecap behind my in my back and
my leg has bothered me. So that's why yesterday I
sat with heat on my leg. It feels a little
bit better today. So it sucks to get older, it does.

(43:42):
I used to be able to kick your button basketball.
I probably can't, right, yeah, right, yeah right? Maybe When
I was I don't know nine, these guys used to
get off the court crying. You and your brother, and
I was especially your brother. My brother used to cry
like a little bit. I wonder if you listening to that.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Well, when you're when you're five feet tall and seventy
five pounds and a six to two hundred pounds man
is backing you down in the post, you gotta learn
how to defense.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
I think, yeah, you gotta learn how to play.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
D me winning that basketball game. Work very low. Stand
your spot, man, stand your spot. You could have called
offensive file. But talking about basketball, I want to tip
my hat Jerry mcmare. They're already talking about Jerry mac levin.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
G mac. You're worried about him leaving Sienna because he's
got such a great record, Uh that you know he's
going to go somewhere else already. That's the problem with
Sienna is at any time he get a coach that's successful.
Let me think about Paul Hewitt left, Ran McCaffrey left. Uh,
who else left? You go through the laundry list. Mike
Dean left? What was his name? Javi Javian? Who?

Speaker 5 (44:48):
Jay?

Speaker 2 (44:49):
What hell are you talking about?

Speaker 6 (44:51):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (44:51):
The basketball coach when I was there, he left too.
He was there for a year. Then he went to
George Well, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think his name
is Javian.

Speaker 7 (44:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
I don't know what happened. That didn't work out for
him either though. Whatever. So all right, we're talking a
little bit about making sure that the seniors. You dot
your eyes and crush your teeth if you get a
phone call you don't recognize. Hopefully you got one of
those things on your phone that identifies it. I know
with our phone, it comes up on our screen, actually
on our TV used to. It doesn't anymore. We've changed

(45:19):
our provider, but it used to come up on the
screen who was calling? And if I didn't recognize who
it was or the telephone number, I wouldn't pick it up.
But even now though, you've got people that are calling
you from all over the world where it says they're
calling you from Scatty Cook or Husac Falls or Cambridge.
I don't know how to hell they do it. But
please be careful, folks, you know, make sure verify you

(45:42):
know exactly who you're talking to. And if you don't
know who it is, don't talk to them. Don't give
me any information, you know, because we don't want to
hear a horror story that things did not work out.
Getting back to you've had some appointments in the last
week or so with new clients, correct, right, what's the

(46:06):
overall consensus anxiety, stress, optimistic, ready to go?

Speaker 3 (46:12):
I mean, I think it's a mix of optimism and
people that are just cautious. Well, I mean, you see,
do they talk about health care much. Yeah, I mean,
I think healthcare costs is a major talking point just
for the people who are planning on retiring before sixty five.
So that's always like the what am I going to do?

(46:34):
How do I bridge this gap to sixty five in
order to make it work so I can get on Medicare?

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Right? So that's you know, part of the discussion. I think.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
What's been coming up recently is is term insurance. So
for folks who have like a pension and it's substantial.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Yeah, Crystal Chris McCarthy talk to me about this.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, it was a substantial pension, you know, very very
large amount of money monthly coming in the door.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
How long did he have before he was going to retire?
She appreciate.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
I think is going to be fully done within a
couple of years, maybe like a year or two.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Still need to protect it.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Right, And and with a pension the size that on
a monthly dollar amount that she was getting from the state,
it was like, okay, we need to if you were
to pass away, like your insurance coverage on you right now,
is you know X inadequate?

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Inadequate?

Speaker 3 (47:29):
It wouldn't We basically ran a calculation on if you
just make it for the next fifteen years to life expectancy,
you know, in the pension would have been turned on
in two and you know started paying you out. This
is what your benefit would have been, you know, just
by taking it annually, and it was you know, somewhere
close to two million dollars. So you know, with her insurance.

(47:54):
Now we just ran quotes for you know, one and
a half million to get you know, to that two
million or if not over it. And I mean term insurances.
You well said, as soon as you take that first
pension check, you can, you can keep it the term
insurance you want, you can. That's exactly what I was
just taking it out there. You don't have to keep it.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
A lot of people tend to keep it because they
figure they have it, it's affordable, it's not really breaking
the bank. And if there was, depending on the selection
that they had for the pension, that allows them to
basically you know, have a windfall for legacy if something
happens prematurely. But just realize that the greatest risk for

(48:34):
all you state employees, state retirees, teachers, et cetera. If
you don't get to the finish line, your beneficiaries do
not get the pension. Understand that if you don't get
to the finish line, your beneficiaries don't get the pension.
So you got to get it in order for them
to have the benefit. So if you die prematurely, uh,

(48:59):
typically it's a three time your salary. So you're make
a one hundred thousand, you can giveet a pension for
a sixty you're going to a three hundred thousand dollars
check not a pension benefit. That means your errors are
going to have to basically get twenty percent on that
money in order to basically recreate the sixty thousand dollars,
which is impossible.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
Another story too, just real quick because we're coming up
on the end of the show, and young did this
part of the show. Yeah, right until the new one.
But the the other thing was younger, a younger couple,
you know, someone in their thirties, like mid to late thirties.
They very underinsured. You know, some people think like, oh,
I'm going to get you know, some insurance to cover

(49:40):
the house, to pay off the house if I you know,
die and then you'll the house to be paid off.
You won't have any debt, but you know you're also
missing out on that income. So there's like an insurance
needs analysis that you can do where you say, what's
your salary, you know, how much money is coming in
the door, how many kids do you have. You're trying
to project for all these things, like you know, you

(50:02):
missing out on that income, not helping out with college,
and you know all these other expenses that happen if
you were to prematurely die. So it's usually like we'd say,
at least a million dollars. If you're gonna, you know,
prematurely die in your thirties, you should have some type
of coverage to where if you were to you were
to pass away, your spouse has that coverage. And then,

(50:24):
like you said, URM insurance is fairly fairly affordable.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
We're gonna have to break here at the top of
the hour again. Anything that we're discussing, we offer a
complimentary consultation. If you don't want to come to us,
we'll come to you boat train, run, jog. I can't
jog right now, so I would walk slowly to your house, limp, limp,

(50:52):
whatever it takes. We're gonna get you there right to
the finish line, all right, We are back. Good morning
for those that just woke up. It's a bomby twenty degrees.
It's gonna be a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Overcast, snow, sleet, ice.

(51:15):
Couldn't ask for a nicer day. And that the morning.

Speaker 5 (51:20):
Wait, un did we get to the afternoon?

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Wait till tonight. When it's six below, that's when it
really heats up. That's when really, thank god. I'm going
to Lake George for our wedding. Yeah, it's gonna be
a lot warmer up the Sycamore. I got invited to
a Christmas party at the Sagamore with some friends of mine.
So after the wedding, I'm doing the stroll with some
relatives and then I'm going to a Christmas party. So

(51:43):
we should have fun. We should have fun. Absolutely beware
Lake George. Mister Kopek is on his way.

Speaker 5 (51:51):
God love him. I can hear him packing up now.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Pulse him down. He is back in town. That was
my nickname when I was a lifeguard.

Speaker 5 (52:00):
Everybody's lucky day, you know, I gotta take close them down.
Is back in town. I got this was funny. I'm
listening to you guys on the way and was it funny?
It was very funny. And you guys are talking about
AI and how they're doing all these voice overs and
all this other stuff, and you were going, Mike, hey, Dave,

(52:24):
it's me Chris. I'm at the Albany County Jail. And
the only thing I could think of you saying is
not again. And I just got the biggest kick but
over Well, you're right, it's scary. You don't know.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Well, you gotta beware, you know, we were this is
the time of year that all the scammers are out there.
You gotta verify, you gotta slow down. Don't do anything
over the telephone. There's no such thing as gift cards
for payments. You know. Any link that you get on
your computer, don't eam open it. Don't eam open it.
You know. This is one of the things that Julie
and I we get of email blasts for whatever reason,

(53:03):
especially at work, especially at work because our emails are public.

Speaker 5 (53:07):
Yeah, on our website, we've been getting bombarded. Like you said,
broker dealer, I.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
Just told you got a warning and it didn't change
your codes. You got to which I did, which you
consistently have to do. So you know, if you're being targeted,
you know. Uh, these morons you get just hang up immediately,
don't share any of your personal or financial information and
report it. I mean, if you feel like you know

(53:34):
you're being harassed, reported to your local authorities. You know,
I don't even know who you would go to through
FTC FTC, I don't know report the attempt to the FTC.
Supposedly in local police. But bottom line gets down to
is that please You know, there's always horror stories, sad situations.

(53:55):
Once the once the money is gone, you ain't getting
it back, especially in today's world.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
It's crazy. How sharpe a lot of these people, It's crazy,
you know. That's my greatest peer. I think AI as
amazing as it is. Yeah, but like anything else, if
it falls into the hands of the wrong people.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
That's like anything else. Right, here's the thing that's amazing
to me, which I don't understand. There's all sorts of
h and this will resonate with a lot of people,
especially people that have had either addictions or alcoholism or
drug drug problems. Every corner you go to now there's
a dispensary. Yeah, I don't know how many there's in Clifton

(54:35):
Park now, and it's been proven. It's been that the
drugs today are so much more powerful than they were
when I grew up because of the ability there's synthetic,
the way that they can make it. It is much
more toxic. As far as the THC, I think that's
what they call it, THHC. Where you know when I

(54:56):
was a kid, it was eight to ten percent. I
was like ninety percent. And they wonder why these kids
are having all these problems. One of the reasons why
they're having all these problems is because of the ramifications
by doing that nonsense. What it has to your overall health?
And you're here your brain right? What but our jackass
politicians are letting these idiots put these stores all over

(55:17):
our communities, and you think that's good. I don't think.
I'm not saying it to you personally.

Speaker 3 (55:23):
I just say they think, well, I would say, I
mean alcohol is just as destructive it is, But I wouldn't.
I wouldn't say that there is.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I guarantee you there's more dispensaries for pot now than
there is for alcohol. No way, I guarantee it. In
Clifton Park, No, I think about think about how many
are up there right now. I don't know they're all
the mister sub Now, I just saw this morning when
I stopped the Dunk and Donuts get a cup of coffee,
the liquor store right there and nine. That's another pot story.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
You know.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
You can tell he's very well, you know Brian and
his good buddy mind. He's probably one of the smartest
guys I've ever met in my life. Okay, this is
not hypothetical. It is proven that if you smoke that,
I mean you and I know a particular kid, yep,
that friend of ours. His whole life is ruined because

(56:19):
he can't go off every twenty twenty minutes. He's got
to go get a hit on his thing, whatever it is.
And when I say that his life is going like this,
it's an understatement.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Yeah, I mean, you're we're talking extremes, Like there's extremes
on either end. There's people who every fifteen minutes they're
going into a bar and having a shot or a drink.
I mean, if you're if there's extremes on either end
of literally anything, you can pick anything and say, hey,
look at this extreme like it's horrible.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
So what we do is that we're basically promoting the
ability for you to screw yourself up. No, I'm with pot.

Speaker 5 (56:57):
It's you know, I it's a double edge. But you know,
like Chris said, you know what gets mean to first
of all, the severity that we're talking about is awful,
But look at all the people out there that are
doing a masterful job hiding it, you know, people that
we would never have you know, And.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
I well, yeah, I know for every extreme case too.
There's a case where it's like, you know, people are
using the CBD for medical purposes and it's like completely
changed their pain relief.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
You know. There's like one guy in particular that is
a major advocate of that because he had neuropathy and
it's it's changed his life. He's actually doing extremely well now,
which which is fantastic. But that's not That's not what
I'm talking about, right, I know, that's an entirely different
apple on the tree. Right, you're talking about abuse, Well,
I'm talking about they're making it now so powerful and

(57:50):
so easily available and so easily available, which I find
is going to be a personally. I think when they
ask about why why the young people, he's he's he
saw the numbers when we were in Boston, young generation.
Right now, when I say that they've got ways to go,
that they've got no, seriously.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
No, I know I thought we me and him had
this conversation the other day with a couple who came in.
I say, those statistics all the time, and it's actually
I mean I have pictures. Yeah, I took pictures of him.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Well, tell them to the listening audience, all right, I
mean this is from the.

Speaker 5 (58:27):
This is bizarre.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Well, this is from the Fidelity I know conference. I mean,
this is not like we went to the local church
and the preachers standing up, you know, basically saying saying
that the devil's coming to get you. This is Fidelity.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I'll give some context because we're almost that fifteen minutes here.
So the guy who came up, he was a He
works in HR so he does you know, uh mag
seven you know CEOs, your your Apples, your Googles, your Microsoft's.
How do you how do you facilitate all the employees
that you have? And he said, you guys, as employers

(59:04):
here are going to have a real tough time, not
you know, finding clients, it's going to be finding talent.
Is your next biggest issue, and then he, you know,
threw out these statistics because he was saying that gen Z,
he's never seen like a generation come into the workforce
with this type of Uh, these numbers.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
And what are the numbers the gen Z.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Well, if you hang on there, mister patient, gen Z
workers admit to sixty three percent of them having a
parent submit job applications on their behalf, seventy seven percent
brought a parent to an interview yep, seventy three percent
have their parents help complete their work assignments for them,

(59:45):
and then forty four percent had a parent speak with
their manager's slash boss about a promotion or raise.

Speaker 5 (59:52):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
Yeah, so the numbers are crazy. And then the starting
salary that they said they were willing to accept.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
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Don't put it off.

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Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
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(01:00:51):
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one nine for a free consultation.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Alrighty, we are back, and this is his voice sounds
like mine. We're going to start talking about things finance
related now rather than.

Speaker 5 (01:02:20):
He's got a lower rich boy. You you got it.
You're all over the map. Okay, he's high.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Loo.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
You know one thing I do want to talk about?

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
No, no, no, he's he's got no he goes first.

Speaker 5 (01:02:36):
No his hand. What the hell is going on? Sorry? Oh,
I'm not back.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
You go ahead, No, you go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:02:43):
You know what I've really I've been thinking about this
a lot because I have so much respect and just love.
Welcome with you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
You looking at me or my son?

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
I'm looking at your son, but avoca, I'm looking away
from you. But anyway, what I love. People really should
ask themselves, how is their portfolio? What is their grade?
What is the rating? What is the rank of their portfolio?

(01:03:16):
Had they ever sat with an advisor and really did
a test? Right that we put all our clients through
and we try to build and I think we do
a pretty damn good job the most efficient portfolio to
solve the needs of what they want to do. You know,

(01:03:38):
there's a science to it. You know, we have no
none of us are sitting there pulling BTF stocks, mutual
funds out of a bag and say, wow, this sounds
like a great next why don't we go with it?
You know, there is a very careful process that we
bet all the investments we use in a model and

(01:04:00):
we have a barometer to strive for it. And I
love how you in life people's current day portfolio, right,
give it a grade of rating and is it as
efficient as it should be? Then I love it. I
just think, you know, when you get in the weed,
then you do it. And we keep it simple. We're

(01:04:22):
not going to share every single technical piece of debt
debt right right?

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
We can, And that's the thing like most people are like,
don't it's just too over their head for them to.
But people who are more analytical, I think they appreciate it.
And then folks who've never seen that side of the
business I think really appreciate it because, for example, like
I always tell people like, hey, if your portfolio is lagging,
you know, one or two percent a year versus what

(01:04:50):
it could be doing. If you're talking hundreds of thousands
or millions of dollars, that's a lot of money that's
going to add up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
So all right, we've got a gentleman that's calling in
Mark about roth Ira rollovers. Good morning, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Mark.

Speaker 7 (01:05:07):
Good morning, Dave. How are you today?

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Very good, sir, God bless you.

Speaker 7 (01:05:11):
So very couple sixty five years old, has a defined
pension plan social security, just starting retirement. We have money
and four oh one k's and we also have money
and roth iras. Now I know you're preaching. You know

(01:05:34):
you have to pay taxes on the distributions when you
hit seventy seventy three. And the discussion I was thinking about,
is there a formula, a chart. So let's say you
roll money out of your four to oh one K

(01:05:55):
and you put it into your rock. What how much
money do you roll over? And how long does it
take to gain the advantage of having that money in
the raw collecting interest free or tax free interest.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Let me ask you a question, who are you doing
this for?

Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
You?

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Doing it for you and your wife? Are you doing
it for your kids?

Speaker 7 (01:06:21):
Now? Me and my wife?

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
Okay, So the answer to this question is not you're
worried about a legacy. You're looking for more tax efficiency
for you and your bride. Is that correct?

Speaker 7 (01:06:32):
Correct? We have no kids, we have no errors.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Okay, Well, I'm adoptable, but I can I can make
believe I'm younger.

Speaker 7 (01:06:48):
I've been listening for six months since I went to
one of your your things down in Albany.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
All right, but listen. You know what I'm going to
tell you something, and it might sound kind of coirdy.
What you're looking for is done by planning, not by
just off the cuff, and every year it's going to
be different based off of the performance of your investment
portfolio and income. We just have this. We just had
this conversation at the break about talking about roth conversion.
It's funny that you called about it, But the thing

(01:07:16):
is is that what you should be doing is consolidating, simplifying,
and understanding the options that are available to you, not
only as far as the big picture, but also year
by year, because every year changes, the markets change, your
desire or your need for income will change. And I'm
going to say it very pretty straightforward. You need to

(01:07:37):
find a team to work with and build a plan.
You guys are greatable.

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
Couldn't agree more because it's you know, upfront, there's a
lot of appeal to do roth conversion, so on and
so forth. But if you also are looking for down
the road for asset protection, for legacy, things like that nature,
it may not make sense to do a WROPT conversion.
Maybe you're a perfect candidate for a trust and you

(01:08:03):
want to start putting more money into a trust because
you're looking to leave it for the kids.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
The green who manages the money in the house mark
you or your wife?

Speaker 7 (01:08:13):
Wow, I do Okay?

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
What happens? Something happens to you? Where is she?

Speaker 7 (01:08:18):
Okay? So we so a little more background. I've been
out on workman's gone for almost two years and my
social Security disability just came through. We about a year
and a half ago. When all this started happening, I
started shopping for what you're talking basically kind of what

(01:08:41):
you're talking about, because we had money in different places
and I wanted to get basically everything in one spot,
and I settled on the company out of COVID Scale.
I like their their business mom. I like the fact

(01:09:01):
that when you call them you get a live person
on the phone. If you have to leave a message
the person I deal with, he gets back to me
by the end of the day. And after after I
decided to go with them, I had some other friends
who said that, yes, they are a good outfit to

(01:09:22):
be with. They've been around for fifty years and that's
who I'm with.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
So let me so may be very direct with you,
Why aren't you having this conversation with them?

Speaker 7 (01:09:34):
I have, but they said they don't have that formula,
and I understand, So I guess. I guess what I
will say is that, so technically they are not my advisor,
but they will advise me, okay, because that when you
become when you're looking for an advisor, you basically have

(01:09:56):
to pay. We've had too many ques questions up until
this week when my Social Security was approved before to
make any real decisions one way or the other. And
the fact, so the fact that I did not have
income this whole year I was on disability, I rolled

(01:10:19):
a bunch of money over because I had no taxable
income all year long, right, right, And I know that
it's a function of what is your taxable income for
the year. How much money do you feel comfortable rolling
out in where you're going to put it?

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Yeah, I mean it's I agree with you what you
just said. But you know, if you listen to the show,
you know I'm a big believer that there's many facets
of retirement. It's not only the asset management side and
the tax planning, it's the act protection, it's the long
term care planning. You know who's going to pay for

(01:10:57):
it if one of you gets sick? Right now, Fidelity
saying you need about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars
out of pocket money for medical expenses, and that doesn't
include long term care. What happens if you and your
wife gets sick? Do you have long term Do you
have long term care protection?

Speaker 7 (01:11:14):
No? We are not really eligible. I'm waiting to get
my fifth knee replacement.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
Okay, what about as far as did you do with trust?
Have you put.

Speaker 7 (01:11:23):
Any we haven't. We just haven't crossed that bridge yet.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
Well, you better cross you better cross it. You better
cross it because the man upstairs doesn't give you a
notice that you're going to have an event. I know no,
and I will say too.

Speaker 3 (01:11:38):
Back to your original question on ross conversions, the reason
why people like them and it may be advantageous is
you maximize whatever tax bracket you're in currently for the
year by pulling you know, up to that limit off
of your IRA asset and just convert it to the
WROTH if you're not, you know, super reliant on the

(01:11:59):
income generation from these IRA accounts, so if you can
take that upfront tax hit, you know. The reason why
roth conversions are so commonly utilized is because people pay
the tax once on their terms, you know, rather than
paying it forever on the IRS's. So they like the
idea that I can take the twenty percent hit up front. Well,
then it's gonna sit and if I, you know, historically,

(01:12:21):
get a couple of good years in the market, I'm
going to be you know, net positive in a few
years here. And that's the reason where roth conversions are,
you know, historically something that's really advantageous. But you got
to watch out for, you know, tax brackets, medicare premiums.
You don't want to go into IERMA. You know, some
people don't like paying more. So there's a lot of

(01:12:41):
different caveats to to how this is. Roth conversion could
potentially work, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad
idea because you're transferring that a state into something that's
you know, tax free, right, and that's.

Speaker 7 (01:12:54):
And that's kind of where I'm going. And I know
I have a lot of So I was a union
elect so I have a health reimbursement. Now, no, there
is money there. We both have life insurance policies that
are paid off and making us money just sitting there. Well,

(01:13:15):
you know, right, we we're in a good spot.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Well, you're in a good You're in a good spot
unless if you have I'm going to tell you some
would be very direct with you. You're in a good
spot as long as you don't have an event. Well,
you've got a lot of assets right now that you're
going to go away if you don't have it protected properly.
As far as because you don't have long term care,
high cash value life insurance policies and non qualified annuities

(01:13:38):
or the first two things that they go after if
you need assistance, if you're trying to qualify for Medicaid assistance.
So the thing is is that you know, by simply
retitling assets and putting them in the right spot, you're
doing yourself not only a financial favor, but you're also
helping your spouse that it's not nine to one one

(01:13:59):
because I've been through it. My wife was a caregiver
for six and a half years. I've had clients, hundreds
of clients that have gone through this in my forty
three years. I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're
not working with an attorney right now, go find one
on Monday. No, seriously, I couldn't be.

Speaker 7 (01:14:16):
So my dad said, we've been going through a lot
of different things going on, and like I said, I did,
all right, we're back.

Speaker 2 (01:14:33):
Sorry to cut mark off. That was a great conversation,
but I'm kind of I'm gonna go back to that
conversation for a couple of seconds because we just talked
about it at the break. You know, we're big believers
in this. Okay, everybody basically goes to the center comes
the pendulum swings too far. To the right and too

(01:14:53):
far to the left when you look at investment performance,
depending on the portfolio managers. If you've got to balance portfolio,
there's really not going to be a huge difference over
extended five to ten years. Right, So you take that
one out of the equation. It's not the investment management piece, right, fact,
there's four pillars that we focus in on the retirement
planning group, right, which one investment management? Ye, a statement,

(01:15:18):
acid protection, right, protecting your estate from major events. Right.
Retirement income distribution. How do you build an income plan
in retirement because most people don't have pensions. And of
course the legacy that you know, you like to lead. Now,
this guy doesn't have any legacy concerns because he doesn't
have kids. But the thing is is that depending statistically,

(01:15:40):
it's not going to be him. It's going to be
his wife.

Speaker 5 (01:15:42):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
This could be a you know, of the eighty five
trillion dollars by two thousand and thirty something, two thirds
of it is going to be controlled by women, right,
because we die first. So the thing is is that
does she understand what she's going to control? And here's
the key. What I wanted to say at the retirement

(01:16:04):
Planning group. We have a succession plan. Now I dropped dead.
There's you, There's Nico, and then there's my son. Right
who takes the ball and run with it? Who's who's
you know, who's coming off the bench?

Speaker 5 (01:16:19):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:16:19):
We all played sports here, all three of us. Right,
who's coming off the bench? And are they qualified? And
do they know what the hell is going on? Because
the last thing you want to do is to leave
a spouse or a loved one what confused? I have
no idea what the hell's going on? Who do I
call first? And that's one of the things that we
kind of pride ourselves on is that when something happens

(01:16:42):
and I'm gonna I'll leave it at this, when the
first domino drops, we know where all the rest of.

Speaker 5 (01:16:47):
Them are going to go. I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:52):
Well, we've been around the block a couple of times,
I know you have, and I've lived with very conservatives.
Ump up my ego again, watch out Capital District. Over
the years, I've helped the number of clients settle the states.
And I did it because I considered it a part
of my service and It is not fun if it's

(01:17:15):
not organized. And that's one of the things I love
about what we do. Because we've talked to enough people.
We bring it all together as you would sell. We
find out what all the plans are. You know, we
can sit around and talk about how great roth conversions
are and all this sort of stuff, But what is
the long term plan? Maybe?

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
What are the goal It's maybe, I mean, everybody shoots
from the heavy. You know, I want to do Roth conversion. Well,
why what's the purpose of doing roth conversion? You know
in my opinion? And I you know, I cut my
teeth and Paine Weber and Morgan Stanley right, and then
I started my own shop, you know, for legacy planning,

(01:17:58):
and this is going to probably set people know. I'd
rather have a life insurance policy held inside trust. I
get immediate velocity, tax free, tax free, tax free, tax free,
is protected from creditors, predators, evil son in laws and
daughter in laws. And when I die, my wife dies,
there's all this money in a pot for my kids
and my grand kids that will last for years. If

(01:18:19):
I put it into a ROTH or an IRA, there's
no guarantee, that's right, And you've limited and then and
then if the wife leaves, you know, or you know,
I die, and the wife gets remarried and she gets
a boy toy and they're hanging out at the pool,
and you know what, he pushes her in and now
all that money that I've accumulated in my lifetime goes
where boy to the boy toy?

Speaker 5 (01:18:41):
Not right?

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
Right? Well, but the reality is is that this crap happens.

Speaker 5 (01:18:46):
I totally.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
You can hear horror stories about people that wanted legacy
and money to go to certain family members. How do
you do that? You do that by a trust, an
irrevocable trust. Now I'm not pat and loupiro on the
head or tell on everybody how Grady is. He's extremely competent.
We've done presentations with him. We have joint joint clients,

(01:19:09):
right yep.

Speaker 5 (01:19:10):
Lewis shot.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
You get an opportunity to sit down with his team
and they'll talk to you about what needs to get done.
But people love to do what C think about it?
Let me think about it. You know when people say
that to me, I say, you think about it. When
you're ready to motivate, call me because I haven't got time.
We're too busy here for you to sit and play tiddleywings.

Speaker 5 (01:19:31):
No, and I couldn't agree with you more and you
know that. But another thing, because we normally have a
three meeting process, there's no pressure. We share a lot
of good information. If you want to think about it,
think about after, think about it, after you meet with
us for the first time, Digest a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Think What's always amazing to me. People will come in,
they know they have problems, right, We'll tell them how
to solve the problem, right, what needs to get done
in order to take care of the problem. And every
time I hear let me think about it, is always
they don't have the desire to pull the trigger and

(01:20:11):
make things better. And what I call it consistently you
know you got somebody comes in, Like the other day
we had a guy came in with millions of dollars.
He's in his eighties. Millions, I mean, we're not going
to make him money. Well, what are we going to do.
We're going to satisfy his errors in order to facilitate
the transfer of wealth the most tax efficient way and

(01:20:32):
not have anything go through probate. Right, capeche He's made
his money. Our job is not to make him ten
times richer or twice as richer. He's already made his money.
Our job is to facilitate the ability for him to
walk out of that office when everything is buttoned up
and done, and he takes a deep sigh like I

(01:20:53):
did when I finished all of my estate planning. Something
happens to me. I know that my family is protected,
and there's certain moneies that I know will go on
to the next generation. I don't think it's any more
complicated than that. But everybody wants to pie in the sky.
You know, how do I get the next you know, Apple?
How do I get the next ge Verona? You know

(01:21:13):
where I'm up one thousand percent? That's not what we do. No,
that's not what well, it's just a part of what
we do. But yeah, if you're looking for home runs,
we're not your people. But if you're looking for we're good.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
We think copec I think the asset management is a
part of it. I mean I think that when we
sit down and build out portfolios, like we just sat
down with a couple in Syracuse, and you know, like
building out something that's more efficient in value oriented, you
can still hit there's positions out there in our portfolio
that hit home runs. There's not It's not to say

(01:21:49):
we don't have the option to go in and do that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:51):
That's saying that. But what I'm saying is that my
goal has always been when I started the retirement planning group,
if I can get six to eight percent a year. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:21:59):
Yeah, it's a whole realistic it's the holistic financial planning approach.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
I get it. But I'm saying, like, I don't want
to go for twenty to go down thirty five.

Speaker 3 (01:22:05):
Right, And And that's the thing though, like if you're
if it's never a bad thing to go get a
second opinion on your asset management because you may be
in high expense ratio funds that are dragging down performance.
You could be in all of one company's funds XYZ
company across the board and maybe they have one really
good fund, but the other ones are garbage and not garbage.

(01:22:28):
But there's better alternatives. So when we throw everyone's portfolio
into the system and and a label it up next
to something that we have where we have open architecture.
I just showed the people in Syracuse it was a
thirty percent difference over five years. Yeah, thirty percent difference
net return to them, Yeah, return in this in the

(01:22:50):
similar risk exposure that they have. It was actually a
little bit less risky than their investments. So I mean
to it definitely plays a part to show someone that
you can be less risky and you you would have
had a thirty percent out performance because they were all
in you know, X y Z company funds. It's I mean,

(01:23:11):
it was pretty eye opening. They're like, okay, well, how
do we get this rearrange?

Speaker 5 (01:23:15):
That's right. You know.

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
I had a couple that came in not that long ago,
two three months ago. I don't know if you were
in that appoint I think you worked in that appointment
with me, and they said to me, what what why
should we work with you? What makes things so much
different here than anywhere else? And I said, you're looking
at them?

Speaker 5 (01:23:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:31):
Remember they laughed and they laugh like hell yeah, they
almost fall off their chairs because I said, you know what,
I've been doing this now for forty three years. I've
seen the good times of bad times. I know the
good people the bad people. I know the good firms
the bad firms. I know the good investments, I know
the bad investments. And not to say that I'm a
genius or I'm the most unique person on earth, but

(01:23:52):
you're looking at them. That's and I'll tell you what.
If you don't have that self confidence in your own
personal ability, you shouldn't be in this busines.

Speaker 5 (01:24:00):
I couldn't agree with you, David. You think about it.
Between you and me, we've been almost one hundred years. Yeah,
and we've been through thousands of scenarios. You know, we
found every way, all the all.

Speaker 2 (01:24:15):
The crap that Wall sat Wall Street created when we
were in the eighties and nineties, right, we've seen it.
We sold it because they told us how great it was.
All the limited partnerships, all the crap, private placements, all
this nonsense. Stuff you couldn't get rid of, stuff that
never materialized, returns that never materialized, People that are running
away with the money. We've seen it. I always say

(01:24:37):
this over and over again. If you can't liquid eighth
the next day, don't buy it. I couldn't agree with
you when I had this to be yep. And with annuities,
because everybody's annuities a piece of crap, well, they don't
know what the hell they're talking about. Use you can
buy annuities right now cheaper than you can buy no
load mutual funds and they're liquid. There's no sales charge.
You can get out of them at any time. I know,

(01:24:57):
so tell me what's wrong with them. But you got
the idiots, the morons don't. They don't know what they're
talking about, right, But they profess that they know what
they're talking about because we're big shots, you know, we
manage a lot of money. They don't know what they're
talking about, and they're telling a Pinocchio.

Speaker 5 (01:25:12):
And I'll tell you, well, then go to the same
people that are trashing annuities and say, well, what is
my portfolio rated?

Speaker 2 (01:25:19):
I'm going to go back to what I've said million
times and new these years ago. We're crap today their
greatest thing since sliced bread.

Speaker 5 (01:25:26):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
But do are they suitable for everybody? Absolutely? One percent?

Speaker 5 (01:25:30):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:25:30):
You got to know what they're for, why you're putting
them into your portfolio, and what do they facilitate the
one that you're using right now. As far as legacy planning,
which we won't get into, if people are looking to
leave annuities for legacy planning, call Chris, because I'll tell
you right now, he's got a product that will blow
your eyeballs out of your head. But the thing is,
you get the pinocchios and they'll tell you how horrible

(01:25:53):
they are because you're making a seven percent commission, which
is a lie. Yes, which is a lie, and you
got to go. You know, we're fiduciaries, so we're big shots.
We're all fiduciaries. Do you think there's anybody in this
business that wants to screw the client? Ninety nine point
nine percent of the people that are in this business.

Speaker 4 (01:26:11):
Retirement might feel far off, or maybe it's just around
the corner. Either way, it's never too early to start planning.
The experienced team at Retirement Planning Group makes the process simple,
straightforward and all about you. No pressure, just smart advice
to help you feel confident about what's next. Visit ourpgretire
dot com or give them a call at eight eight

(01:26:32):
eight five eight zero nineteen nineteen to schedule your consultation today.
That's OURPG retired dot com. Your future self, well, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:26:42):
Are you ready for retirement or just hoping it works out?
Don't leave your future to chance. At the Retirement Planning Group,
we hope you create a personalized retirement plan so you
can relax knowing you are prepared, take action today called
eight eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine.
That's eight eight eight five eight zero one nine to
one nine, or visit us at our website rpgretire dot

(01:27:04):
com to schedule your complementary consultation. Your future will say
thank you. Future retirees, twenty and twenty five is gone.
In twenty and twenty six is here. Are you still
thinking about retirement? Procrastination will hurt you. Every year you
wait to implement your personal retirement plan is expensive. Stop
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(01:27:25):
to take action. Call the retirement Planning Group for a
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(01:27:47):
own retirement income plan. Social security is not enough, pensions
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(01:28:13):
All right, we are back. This has been a quick show.
It's been a good show. I think there's been a
lot of information. Here's here's my challenge. Anybody want to
come in and talk to me face to face, look
right square in the eyeballs. You want to challenge me
about annuities. If you're so smart, you know so much
about them, come on in. I welcome the opportunity to
sit across from me and talk about him face to face,

(01:28:35):
as far as what's factual and what's fiction. So there
it is. Call call the number, set it up and
we'll do it anytime that you want to do it.
Let's go to David and Burn. Good morning, David, good morning,
how are you.

Speaker 6 (01:28:53):
I'm good, good good. I'm a client of yours.

Speaker 5 (01:28:56):
I met with.

Speaker 6 (01:28:58):
Oh Nico the time and Nicico and Chris a couple
of years ago. My question is, well, I'm a compulsive saver.
My wife and I have a hard time spending money,
and uh, we're sixty five and sixty four and a
couple of years ago, I said that, Nico, we have

(01:29:19):
you have most of our money, but I said, we
have about one hundred and twenty in cash and CDs,
and then two years ago it was one hundred and fifty.
And now it's grown even more. Wanting to know what,
what where can we place that money? Now? What's up?

(01:29:40):
And I would say that Nico kind of jokingly, I said, jeez,
you know, looks like Dalt could hit fifty yeap, and
now it looks like it's a possibility.

Speaker 2 (01:29:53):
I'll hang up and you want to you want my answer?

Speaker 6 (01:29:57):
I do want your answer.

Speaker 2 (01:29:59):
Yeah, absolutely, Okay, David. I like your first name too.
That's a great first name.

Speaker 6 (01:30:05):
You don't hear it much anymore, No, you don't.

Speaker 2 (01:30:08):
You got, you got, you got all these names now
that sound like I don't know what the hell they
sound like. They sound like rhymes Christmas, Christmas carols or something. Joe, Frank, Pete,
you know, David. But okay, you can hang up and
I'll answer your question. Okay, he's a smart man because

(01:30:29):
he selected the retirement planning group too. You always want
to have a certain amount of money liquid rule of
thumb is that you want to have somewhere between six
to nine months of liquid assets, and then you also
want to have a reserve portfolio, need a roof, you

(01:30:51):
need whatever it may be. But right now, with interest
rates going down, depending on the amount of risks that
you want to take, we are very very bullish and
tax ree municipal bonds, which have done extremely well over
the last two to three months. I mean, christ was
the one that really kind of all this and you know,
you can get into some you know, high quality blue

(01:31:15):
chip stock as long as you don't need the you're
bullish on the equity market, which we are. We are
bullish on the equity market more long term than short
term because not a short term investor. But I would
think that if you do a combination of those both
you're in pretty good shape. What do you think tax freeze.

Speaker 3 (01:31:31):
I think if he has one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars sitting in cash, it's he's used to it sitting
in cash, so he's not really going to want to
stomach a lot of the volatility if it starts going down.
So what I would say is leave a portion of
that still in cash. So maybe fifty thousand right now,
still in cash, dip your toe into the equity market
or bond market with one hundred and split it up.

(01:31:53):
Go into like a multisector bond, you know, maybe a
corporate bond fund, and then like a total return bond.
You know, we'll get three separate bond funds in there
that cover the entirety of the bond market in general.
And then go into value equity, you know, something like
a that's not gonna you know, withstand the huge blows
of the downswings in the market, Like there's a position that.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
We've got that one position that was what never more
than three percent down?

Speaker 3 (01:32:20):
No, it's I think it was down like six and
twenty twenty two. But it's a it's a revenue weighted
SMP five hundred fund, which is it takes you know,
the companies that have the healthiest balance sheets and are
making the most money and weights it in the portfolio
based on that. So I think that that would make
a lot of sense for him to get into maybe
small caps or something that is going to do well
in a rate cutting environment, you know, something that is

(01:32:43):
relevant for the next twelve months, and split it up
between that one hundred thousand that you want to go
into the market and see how it does six months in.
You know, we always meet semi annually, so in six months,
sit down, reassess, say how's it done? You know, do
we want to push more of this fifty thousand that
we left in a money market getting three and a

(01:33:03):
half percent into these investments as well?

Speaker 2 (01:33:06):
Well, three and a half could be two and a
half real short.

Speaker 3 (01:33:09):
Right, and if we keep rates, keep cutting, you know
that portfolio will do well because it's in value small
caps and bonds, and you know, no one's gonna be
upset with green across the board in their account. So
it's it's if that's the case, then we implement the
other fifty thousand. If the market goes down, then you
just start still implementing the other fifty thousand, sitting on

(01:33:31):
the side, because now you're averaging your costs down and
you're still getting that money moving for you into the market.

Speaker 2 (01:33:35):
Well, I would say, David, call you office and get
in for a review. Absolutely, come on and have a chat.
We're seeing going to happen, as have one of my
very chewy horrific Do you make coffee as as strong
as me?

Speaker 5 (01:33:47):
Well? I make it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:50):
Tell you what we go through more ever since you
joined us. It's almost like I have to one hundred
yard dash every week down to more two more cans
of coffee.

Speaker 5 (01:33:59):
It's well, I do what I can.

Speaker 2 (01:34:02):
I think I think you're taking out. We all do.
I got to check your leg when you walk out
the door at night because I think you've got like
a bag or something. You're taking the coffee from the
office and bringing it home.

Speaker 5 (01:34:12):
No, I'm taking your garbage back, but not your coffee.
I take out through the cyclables every week, so I
got to carry them somehow, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:22):
You know the thing is is that I'm going to
say this and I'll let these guys give their input. Also,
find a team that you're comfortable with. You know, our
model at the Retirement Planning Group is a D T
R T. Always do the right thing, let people know
know what you own, and then you got to make
a decision if you feel comfortable. And uh, you know,
there's nothing that we have that is not fixable, meaning

(01:34:43):
that we can change it. We can modify it because
if you remember what I said, we don't buy investments
that we can't get out of. I don't believe in
tying assets up in private equity and limited partnerships and
all that crap, because all of that nonsense that I've
participated in, most of it is and junk.

Speaker 5 (01:35:01):
Well, one thing I will say, you know, ninety nine
percent of what we do is get in, get out
the same day. Very important. So are rare situation that
you have to but the reason why you get into
them is for the long term.

Speaker 2 (01:35:19):
Well, you're you're talking about the new buffered products with
the newities, and I don't disagree with you, but the
client needs to understand that that's the reason why you're
doing this is that you're putting brakes suspenders in a
belt underneath your investment portfolio because you don't want the down.
You want the up, but you don't want the down.
That's right, right, And then I understand what you're about,

(01:35:39):
you Chris.

Speaker 3 (01:35:40):
Well, and there's you know, guaranteed rates, there's Nyga's. If
you lock that money up, you got to know that
it's going to sit for a period of time. You
can take the interest off of it, but you're not
going to pull substantial and you wouldn't get into that
product if you needed to pull money from it anyway.

Speaker 5 (01:35:56):
That's right. There's enough out there too. And again that
goes all goes back to come in, let us grade
your portfolio, let us thank it, let us make sure
you have the most deficient portfolio to pit your needs
and yup.

Speaker 2 (01:36:12):
And I would say that the worst thing that can
happen is we shake hands and uh, you know, like
that couple that almost fell off their chairs, they left,
they never came back. Well they never came back. But
I'm not maybe not yet, but well we'll shame on none.

Speaker 5 (01:36:31):
Right, Well, you know, and again you know I say
that sarcastic. You can read a lot of books, but
you know work experience carries a lot of weights.

Speaker 2 (01:36:43):
Well, there's no doubt. I mean, if you think about
the world that we live in today, uh, instantaneous gratification
is really one thing that people are looking for. I mean,
you go to a computer today and like Chris said,
you want to write an article, you do an article
in two seconds as long as you you know, with
with AI, what is it pt GPT.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
Or chat G there's a there's a bunch of them
now there is chat GBT.

Speaker 2 (01:37:09):
Why the kids go to college, they probably all of
them just sit there and they basically hit a button. Yeah, probably,
you think so.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
I think nine of the classes you take in school
in general are pointless at this point because of technology.
You've just outgrown a lot of it.

Speaker 2 (01:37:24):
Geometry, and I pan a lot of money for your daughter,
your sister to go to school and she's she does
most of her school from in her internet. Yeah, I
mean it's crazy. I mean it's it's absolutely insane. She
had like, she's got five courses and four of them
were online. She go when she went on campus for
one course Donald Florida.

Speaker 5 (01:37:44):
That fau makes you wonder what the future of colleges.
I don't think it's I don't think there is a
huge look at all of them there. Look at College
at Saint Rose. You go through the whole waundry list
of colleges. Why is that.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
I think it'll make the big ones bigger and the
small ones non existent.

Speaker 2 (01:38:00):
It'll just be I got a memo, we're gonna do
our Dog and Pony in the first quarter, I believe
of twenty twenty six with lou we'll do another workshop.
Those are always great. It's a nice night out, we
give you a nice dinner. We'll probably do it at
the same spot that we've always done it at the Desmond,
So I got to talk to the powers to be.
But you know, like anything else, you're getting towards your

(01:38:23):
end here, now's the time to basically sit down with
your family, your loved ones, have conversations. Usually the time
that people get together, they break bread. Always a good
time to let your kids know and your family know
what your intentions are, especially if there's certain assets that
they're going to fight over. Right, right, you got to

(01:38:45):
put it all down, put it in black and white
so there's no misunderstanding. And like anything else, we offer
a complementary consultation in any of our offices if you
want to come in and sit down, have a chat.
We would love to have the opportunity to compete for
your business. Eighty eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine. Uh you guys, I'm going to a wedding.
You're coming back to do the twelve to two shows

(01:39:07):
with Nico.

Speaker 5 (01:39:08):
You got that right?

Speaker 2 (01:39:09):
And you're where Chris today?

Speaker 5 (01:39:12):
It's none of my business.

Speaker 3 (01:39:15):
It might be I'm going to know it's in Saratogy,
so I may might swing by Santacon for a little
bit too. Yeah, where's that it's up Saratoga. It is yeah,
that where they run around on their shorts. You run
around dressed up as Santa, the Grinch and Elf. Whatever
you want. Make your favorite holiday great. That's what I'm

(01:39:37):
thank you for listening to The Retirement Planning Show posted
by Dave Kopec.

Speaker 2 (01:39:41):
If you would like to talk with Dave or someone
at the Retirement Planning Group called five one eight five
eight zero one nine one nine. That's five one eight
five eight zero one nine one nine during business hours,
or visit RPG retire dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:39:55):
The Retirement Planning Group has five convenient offices located in Albany, Malta,
Glens Falls, Syracuse, and Oneata. Tune in again next week
for retirement planning Strategies with Dave kopat right here on
WGY