Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The information or services discussed on this show is for
informational purposes only, and it's not intended to be personal financial advice.
The investments and services offered by us may not be
suitable for all investors. If you have any doubts as
to the merits of an investment, you should seek advice
from an independent financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
All right, Syracuse, WSYR, Good afternoon on this absolutely gorgeous
October fourth, two thy twenty five at one oh five
in the afternoon. Wow, it's summer. It's coming back. Yahoo.
(00:49):
So hopefully you're out, maybe driving to a little shopping,
hanging out in the backyard, just chilling, sitting in your
chair if you are. I'm Dave Kopek of the president
of the Retirement Planning Group. We now have six locations,
six sixty six in New York State, and of course
when we're out in New York State, we use Regis Corporation.
(01:10):
We have a lot of clients throughout the United States,
spend a lot of time in Florida because we have
a bunch of clients that live in Florida. But if
anything that I'm talking about is of interest to you
and you want to come in We offer a complimentary
consultation at any of our six offices. If you can't
(01:30):
make it to the office, we'll come to you by plane, train, boat,
whatever could do. We'll get there to face to face.
Especially if you have disabilities or handicap, no problem will
come to you. All you have to do is to
call our office at eighty eight eight five eight to
zero one nine one nine and say, hey, listen, I
(01:50):
heard Dave on the radio and I want to have
a second opinion. Met some great people this past week
at our brand new location sixty seven hundred Kirkfield Road.
We had to use our old facility for a couple
of people, but we are in our brand new facility
(02:13):
now sixty seven hundred Kirkfield Road, right off the exit,
and we're in Sweet One. A beautiful job. They did
a beautiful, absolutely beautiful job with our brand new offices.
I can't be happier than I am right now with
what they've done for us. And it's just a great organization.
(02:34):
And I won't mention the name. You'll if you come
visit us, you'll see their name on the door. But
on a one to ten, they're a ten and they
did a great job for us. Everything that we've asked for,
they've done. So I tipped my hat sixty seven hundred
Kirkfield Road. So anything I'm talking about today, you know
that this is the retirement planning show, and most of
(02:57):
the conversation is really geared for your retirement years. We
deal right now. I had a nice conversation with one
of my older clients the other day and he goes, hey, Dave,
aren't you ever going to retire? And I said, Bobby,
I would love to retire, but what am I going
to do? What am I to do? I stink at golf.
(03:21):
I just don't have a passion for it, you know,
hitting a ball and chasing after it. I don't like
to sit on the beach and bake. I mean I
love the outdoors. Matter of fact, after the show, I'm
going to go for a boat ride on my boat
in Lake George. But I am not a guy that
likes to sit and play tittley winks and read a
(03:43):
book and you know, look at the birds and the bees.
I love what I do. I think we do a
great job at it. And I say we not me
because this is a team sport. As everybody knows. I
used to play high school and college basketball, and I
coached and it is a team. This world that we
live in and the financial services industry is too complicated
(04:04):
for any one individual. So if somebody says they can
do it all, grab your hat and run. That's my recommendation.
That's my helpful hint for October fourth, twenty twenty five.
If anybody tells you they could do the whole thing,
grab your hat and run, because it's impossible in the
world that we live in today and all the different
rules and regulations. Now, because I have so many clients
(04:27):
and we're in so many states, that means that there's
a lot of obstacles that we have to face, not
only as far as investment management, but also the obstacles
that we have to face as far as the state planning,
medicaid planning, IRA protection, WROTH protection. And I can tell you, folks,
I've had numerous conversations over the years. I've had probably
(04:48):
more conversations in the last year than I've had in
the last five years about protection of iras and WROTH.
And I will say that to you because I'm in
the you know, sit in the seat every day. I
work six days a week, when I take time off,
i'm off. But when i'm working, I work six days
(05:09):
a week. I love to work. I love to meet
with my clients because they become family to ours. But
I can tell you one thing consistently here. The miss
most misunderstood asset that you own is qualified assets, pre
tax money without a doubt, and you need to understand
(05:31):
that the protection of those assets are based on one
thing zip code. Where are you going to live in
your retirement years, especially if you get sick or ill,
because if your plan is is to put your money
into trust and become medicaid eligible with a large IRA,
you're in for a root awakening. You're in for a
(05:53):
root awakening because, like anything else, this panacea, you know,
if it sounds too good to be true, it's too
good to be true. You know Fugazi, you know Little
Wall Street. It's all smoking mirrors. It's smoking mirrors, folks,
it's smoking mirrors. And you need to understand that you're
(06:13):
not gonna stit in a medicaid bed with a million
dollar IRA, because the counties now are making you spend
it down based on life expectancy, not required minium distribution.
That's what I'm seeing and I had a long chat
with an attorney this week Wednesday, major law firm. I
said to her, one of the principles, why are you
(06:36):
telling people this? Why are you saying that as long
as we put it into periodic payment that we're okay. Well,
you know, as long as you put it into payment status, Yeah,
until when, until when, until you're trying to qualify for
Medicaid then what? Oh? Yeah, and then they basically make
you do a different you know, payout structure. You're going
(06:57):
to have to do an on life expectancy. So if
I got a million dollar IRA and I got five
years to live, that means I'm gonna have to take
two hundred thousand dollars out right. Yeah, that's right. Well
that's not protecting the IRA. Well she goes. You know,
it depends on how long they live. Okay, Now, other states,
(07:19):
depending on your zip code, they don't make you put
it into payd stands. They don't make you do certain
things because the IRA is protected from medicaid eligibility and
also the house is protected, such as what the Alligator
State order. So bottom line is this, folks, Okay, bottom
(07:40):
line is this. Understand the rules. Understand what you have
to do and make sure you understand what you've created,
what you've created, because I'm going to tell you that
at least fifty percent of the people that are coming
into my office now in New York State, they're looking
(08:04):
for ways to protect their largest assets. What is it?
Typically it's typically their IRA and their home and the ROTH.
Now here's under New York State medicaid eligibility right Roth.
Everybody thinks the ROTH is protected. Right, got a lot
(08:25):
of money in roth Wroth iras right are fully counted
as assets since they don't have R and ds Wroth
iras are fully counted because they don't have RM and
d's strategy they used to put into is initiating R
(08:46):
and DS. Right somewhat has been protected, but now a
lot of counties are counting them as a spend down
asset in New York State. So it's a bumpy ride.
(09:07):
You've worked your life, you want to protect your estate.
You want to get the money to the next generation.
You want to have quality of life. You don't want
to worry about it. But I can tell you right now,
you better understand the rules. You better understand the county
that you're living in. And what they're doing as far
as medicaid recovery. We're going to come back. Boy, that
(09:31):
was a quick session. I'm out of role. Open lines
three one five seven ninety seven. This is talk radio now,
Babbel Radio three one five ninety seven ninety seven. We'll
be right back. I like that one. Turn it out.
(10:07):
Let's get more more of that music. There you go.
All right, Nate Kopek, a very competent engineer, is getting
me dancing here in the studio. All right, listen, everybody. Uh,
(10:28):
this is a whole different world for a lot of us.
I'm not trying to scare anybody. A lot of times
people come in they think I'm, you know, like a
three headed monster. But my job. As I said to
a gentleman that came in this matter of fact, let
me just mention something. There was an older gentleman that
came in this week into my office in Syracuse. I
believe his first name was Dennis, and he probably had
(10:51):
the best long term care policy I've ever seen in
my lifetime. Bought it years ago. The gentleman is eighty
five years old. I think you bought it if I
remember at age fifty eight trying to picture it in
my mind, I'm almost one hundred percent sure that's what
it was. Fifty eight and he bought the policy for
fourteen hundred dollars a month for his long term care.
(11:14):
And to make a long story short, he now has
a pool of money of almost eight hundred thousand dollars
that you can use for home care, assistant living, or
a long term care facility. I said to him, I said,
you know what, I don't know how you got this
and how they kept the premium as low as they've kept.
It was a John Hancock policy. But bottom line, bottom line,
(11:39):
bottom line. He had a phenomenon and it was such
such an honor to meet him because he was one
of the nicest elderly men that I've ever probably met,
honest and just worked for the UAW. Just if you're
listening to Dennis, it was an honor to meet you.
And I told you you're in good shape. You did
(11:59):
a great job. But that policy is phenomenal. I think
we got a caller, a man that broke the ice.
Is this Barry, Yes, hey, Barry.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
How are you good? Good? Uh? I've got a question
like this, Okay, are you on.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Are you on a speakerphone.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
On a speakerphone, Yes, the life phone doesn't go on
the worse.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Okay, okay, I'm just saying, is that we're having just
speak slowly because we're having a hard time hearing.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh, okay, my wife is in a nursing home now
or rehab. But her initial period of insurance is up.
And then we're going into the uh, you know, the
part you have to pay your your portion and then
you go into the last part. We're applying for medicaid.
(12:51):
And we have a house stayed for we're on a
few few acres, but we've just soul a piece of property.
If we're closing on and consequently I'm carrying a mortgage
on it, how would that effect right to do going forward?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, let me ask you a quick question. Are any
of these monies the property and the property that you sold,
were they already in a trust?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Okay, so you're in deep weeds. In essence, what I
could say to you pretty quickly and short, Uh, have
you reached out to an attorney because you should not
be doing this yourself? Yes, I have, okay, And what's
the attorney telling you to do?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Well, as you get this that and the other thing.
But of course it was going to talk a lot
of trust that's done. We should have done that, we
didn't do it. So uh well, since I got bought,
if you're if you're taking payments on it, as I
stay under the guidelines of what medicare accepting for.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Okay, Well, this is what I would say to you.
I'm in Boston Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.
Uh if you call my office on Monday and asked
to speak to me, they'll give you out my cell
phone number. I'm not going to give it out the
air right now. I have an attorney out there that
(14:28):
I think you should speak to in the Syracuse area.
And the reason because you really need someone that has
expertise in elder law on asset protection and this gentleman
I have a lot of faith in, but you need
to speak to somebody that really knows the landscape. Because
in New York State, you're allowed to keep a home.
(14:53):
You know, the spouse that's in the nursing home is
going to have certain requirements that they're going to have
and meet in order to get Medicaid eligibility. You need
to know what those are. To the team, to the
specifics and you can save assets, but you need to
get going. You can't. You just can't sit on the fence.
Because the community, the community spouse, which would be you,
(15:17):
the community spouse, is a lead allowed to keep a home,
a car, certain amount of assets. I'm not going to
bore you with the details over the over the radio.
But call my office Monday. I'll let them know that
you're going to be calling, and I'll give them the
telephone number of the attorney that I think you should
speak to, and I'll leave a message to number. My
(15:41):
number is eight eight eight five eight zero. That's my
toll free number for my office. You call Monday, I'll
have a name there for you, and just say that
you're the radio excuse me, you're the radio caller. And
I'll make a note of it right now and i'll
send a note to my office. Okay, oh yep, it's
(16:04):
five eight zero, but it's toll free eight eight eight
five eight zero one nine one nine, and just say
that you need to talk to the attorney that Dave
talked about. Okay, yep, Okay, God bless you, sir, Okay, sir,
God bless you. If I could be any more assistance,
give me a call, Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I will do that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
App Okay, sir, God bless. It's a difficult spot to be.
And you know, my wife was a caregiver. The reason
why I have such passion for this folks, Well, first
of all, it's the business that i'm in pre and
post retirement planning. But my wife was a caregiver for
six and a half years. And to say that was
(16:47):
fun is not the truth. That that's a pinocchio. You know,
I'm telling you all, it is an unbelievable responsibility. And
fortunately both her parents needed care and assistance, and fortunately
I knew where to go because of the business centerment
in order to protect their estate. Now, my mother in
(17:09):
law was in a bed, a traite bed. At that time,
it was one thousand dollars a day for her bed.
So it doesn't take too long at one thousand dollars
a day before you rack up some substantial, substantial bills.
And what you need to understand is that there are
(17:30):
certain criterias in order for medicaid eligibility. Okay, you just
can't put your money into trust and say okay, it's
in the trust, it's sixty months, it's five years. But
there's also things that you can do if you have
a spouse, a community spouse. So just realize, and I
(17:52):
know that I'm giving you a lot of information in
a short period of time here, but the worst thing
you can do is to go to someone that does
have this expertise. You need an attorney that understands the
landscape for medicaid eligibility and protecting the community spouse. Okay,
(18:15):
critical that you understand that. So, as I said to
that gentleman, have please call my office eighty eight eight
five eight zero one nine one nine, and well hopefully
we'll put you in. But as I said, counties are different.
Specific amount of required distribution can vary by county in
York State. Okay, what I said to you or a
(18:38):
lot of the counties now are making you spend the
IRA down based on life expectancy non I periodic payment
or rm D. Critical that you understand that. And there's
also ways that you can get there. I mean, there's
all different strategies that are out there. Okay. Also, just
(19:00):
so you understand this, and this is very difficult for
people to do. We're a state that allows a spouse
to do spousal reshools. It's hard to do, but if
you're looking to preserve the estate, as long as there's
a community spouse, depending on the assets how they're allocated,
(19:22):
that spouse can do Spousal reshoes reshoose to pay for
the care of your wife or your husband. Not easy,
not an easy thing to do, but it's a legal option.
So we got off the telephone number here. Like I
always say, this is talk radio. It's not babble radio.
(19:46):
We always like questions like that wonderful gentleman that just called.
So if you have a question about your own specific situation,
it's pretty easy. All you do is you dial the
station and my wonderful spectacular and we'll put you on
the air. It's three one five four to two one
ninety seven ninety seven. Three one five four to two
(20:08):
one ninety seven ninety seven. That's three one five four
to two one wsy R. Now, I really got long
winded on this day because I was only going to
talk about this, as you remember at the beginning, for
a few minutes, and I ended up spending almost the
first section, first half hour. But I get Barons every
(20:29):
week digitally, and I also get the hard copy in
my office. But you know, it's easy for me on
the digital because I get up early at four o'clock
and I start reading. And the first thing I did
when I saw Barons, I always go through the magazine
and I look at the headlines. What are the headlines
for the week of October fourth, twenty twenty five. At
four am this morning, the first thing that kicked me
(20:50):
right in the teeth was this, and I'm going to
talk about it in the second half hour. Eighty percent
of workers, not popularly, eighty percent of workers say they're
making little or no progress saving for retirement. This is
a new study that just came out. It's a report
(21:13):
by guess who, Goldman Sachs that finds that the rising
cost of living, healthcare out of pocket expenses is pushing
retirement further and further and further out for millions of
American workers. That's our topic. We'll we come back. What's
(21:41):
going on here. I'm Dave Kopek. This is the Retirement
Planning Show. And to give our telephone number at the
studio if you want to go on the air, three
one five four ninety seven, three one five ninety seven
ninety seven will be right back after the news. That's
(22:25):
another good all right, We are back on this bright
and sunny and absolutely spectacular October fourth, in the Year
of Our Lord two thousand and twenty five. Wow, gorgeous outside.
(22:46):
So we're gonna be talking a little bit more over
the next twenty five minutes or so. But as always,
I always like to let listeners know, you know what
this is talk radio, folks, I'm doing it. Some weeks
we get multiple phone call, some we get one or two.
But with all of the obstacles that are out there,
the headwind to get into retirement, you gotta have lots
(23:08):
of question. Don't be bashful. We don't bite. It's three
one five four two one seven ninety seven. Even if
you've got a comment about the show, about the weather,
you know anything at all? Three one five four seven
ninety seven WSYR. We always like to get phone calls
because I always think it makes it much more interesting
(23:30):
for you the listener. Okay, bottom line, As I said,
we have a article in Today's Barons that kind of
shook me to the core a little bit when I
saw eighty percent of workers in their most recent survey
say they're making little or no progress saving for their retirement. Uh,
(23:53):
that's concerning. That's concerning, And the question becomes why, Well,
I think I have a pretty good idea as an
old goat of old goat young kids. My kids are
twenty seven, twenty six, in twenty and then I have
(24:15):
a daughter that's in her early thirties by my first marriage,
who lives in Sarasota, Florida. But they continue to tell
me the same thing over and over and over again,
that Dad, it's expensive to live now. My son lives
in Tampa, he's in property management Tampa. So I got
a pretty good ear to the ground as far as
(24:37):
what's happening down there as far as real estate, and
it's going through the roof. And the young people today
that have college loans and all the other responsibilities, healthcare costs,
trying to put money aside for the retirement years. It's
a major, major, major obstacle. And when you see that
(25:00):
home ownership cost now consumes fifty one percent of medium
households post tax income, it's pretty scary, pretty scary. And
then a lot of these kids, I consider it to
be kids. They want to have kids. They look around,
(25:22):
they ask around, what's childcare costs? They have another mortgage
if they have two or three kids for the cost
of childcare. So what do you do? How do you
make life affordable in order for you to have some
(25:44):
milestones that you're going to reach in your life such
as what buying a home, having kids, getting married, going
into retirement. Right, pretty much the basics that most individuals want.
And the challenge of course, right is a lot of
(26:07):
individuals right now are in like sticker shock. Sticker shock. Now,
I live in a pretty nice neighborhood and I'm shocked
by the cost of homes just in the last three
or four years. What has happened. My wife and I
(26:28):
were just recently in Syracuse just to kind of look around,
maybe buy a property out there. I don't know, We're
trying to sniff around and see. And I took a
ride out to Skinny Atlas and I wanted to see
the homes around the lake out there because I have
a home in Lake George that I want to see. Copparable.
You know, what's the cost of a home on Skinny
(26:49):
Atlas compared to Lake George, New York? And guess what,
you know, it's comparable. But there's some really beautiful homes
on skinny atlas, and they're really expensive. And the thing
is is that are we becoming a society of the
haves and the have nots? How do you catch up?
(27:11):
You know, the catchup provisions for a lot of us.
When you're putting money aside for your retirement years, is
that really the purpose of the catchup or should you
really be catching up from like age twenty five not
fifty five? Affordability? Now here's the bonanza, okay, And this
(27:33):
is what we hear consistently over and over and over.
You're gonna hear tons of people talking about this. Right,
the wealth transfer over the next twenty to thirty years.
You've heard me talk about it. Eighty five trillion dollars
it's estimated will transfer to the next generation Gen X,
(27:55):
the millennials. Right, an astronomic amount of money. But when
do you get and what percentage of the population will
get it. We work with a lot of hard working savers,
work with a lot of electricians, plumbers, people that work
(28:18):
in carpentry, that work for construction, that work hard working jobs,
and they're having a hard time paying their bills. So
the reality is this, I'm going to give you some
helpful hints that I think can help you in order
to get ahead of the curve. Here. Okay, these are
(28:42):
some of the key lessons that I've learned in forty
three years of being in this business. How do you
become retirement ready? How do you put yourself in a
position in order to have adequate amounts of money for
your retirement years? The first and foremost is set realistic expectations.
(29:08):
Set realistic expectations, right. You can't be driving around in
a BMW and living the high life and going out
and partying and doing the vacations and going to the
trips to Florida, the beach, whatever it may be. You know,
I think about my parents and how they brought us up.
(29:31):
We were fortunate. My dad were in his tail off.
You worked two jobs, and we had a little camp
in the Adirondecks. Nothing fancy, but to us, it was paradise.
That's where we went when we vacation. We can go
to Florida, we can go to the ocean. You go
to Cape Cod and go to Colorado, the Rockies. We
(29:52):
went to Summit Lake, and that's where we spent our
time as a family. And that's where I probably have
the greatest memory when I was a child growing up,
But there was no one hundred and fifty two hundred
dollars dinners. You know, we ate the basics. As I said,
(30:14):
my parents grew up they were farmers. So one thing
you can do right for yourself and your kids and
your loved ones is stay in your lane. Stay in
your lane, don't go outside your lane. If you can
(30:34):
afford a dollar, don't spend a dollar twenty five because
there's one point two trillion dollars out there right now.
Folks in credit card debt? Why people living outside their
lane not staying within their boundaries. Using the credit card
is basically a nine to one to one portfolio. Too
many people are borrowing against their four O one K.
(30:56):
Too many people are cashing out their contributions to their one.
Why because of their living outside their lane, they're not
staying within the boundaries of what they can afford. Instead
of the BMW, get a Honda, a court beautiful car.
That's the same thing get you from A to B.
(31:20):
So set realistic expectations right, and you need to understand
which is more important than ever your financial responsibility through
your employer plan. In order to maximize the distributions that
(31:40):
are going into the plan for you. Critical that you understand,
are you maximizing the max contribution that's affordable to you.
We'll talk about this in greater detail. I'm Dave Kopek.
This is the Retirement Planning Show. We're here on the weekends.
Let's see I after this break, all right, Studio fifty four.
(32:28):
The old disco days. I started in the investment banking
industry with Pain Weber, and then I went to Morgan
Stanley that I started my own firm. But I'll tell
you what, when you you think about those days in
the nineties and early two thousand, it was when we
talk about go go years, they were definitely go go years.
(32:52):
So I always look back to them very favorably. I
called them the fun times, very very very little violence.
A lot of people were happy having a good time
with very little hostility. So when I hear music like that,
it makes me jump. Thank you, my very competent engineering.
(33:12):
We're talking today about this headline. You know, people are
behind the eight ball eighty percent or not ready even
close to being ready for the retirement years. And I'm
gonna try to give you some forty three year old
advice here, Okay, because even though I've been in it
a long time, I still feel like I still feel
(33:33):
pretty young. You know. I don't walk with a cane.
I still play a lot of sports and do things
and travel. My wife says, I can still cut the
rug pretty good. Oh, you got to get professional advice, folks.
It's been proven over and over and over and over again.
(33:54):
Whether it's Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, any of your made your
investment banking firms, Merrill Lynch Ubs, blah blah blah. Working
with a financial professional will put you to your destination.
You might not like what we say to you because
(34:15):
sometimes we're going to have to give you a little
bit of castor oil. Most of your probably scratching your
head saying, what the hell is crass to cast or
will right? But sometimes you're going to have to take
the medicine you don't want to take. And professional advice
is there to try to give you some type of
(34:38):
understanding of the basic financial things that need to be
done in order to maximize and not minimize your ability
to get to the finish line. Because number two, you
need what a goal you think Syracuse gets on the
(34:59):
football field without some type of a plan, game plan,
financial plan. Where do you think that word comes from?
Financial plan? Game plan? You need a plan. It's no
more complicated than that. We use the money. To me,
(35:20):
it's the greatest thing that ever came down the pike.
E Money is a software package that we get through
Fidelity because all of our assets are held at Fidelity.
It will show you exactly where you are. Where do
you stand as far as your success rate, the ability
for you to achieve the goal that you're shooting for.
(35:41):
Is it a million dollars, two million dollars, three million dollars?
It all depends what's your lifestyle. How much do you need.
Is there going to be a substantial wealth transfer to
you when you're going to take social Security? How much
do you have as far as guaranteed income streams? Are
you a trust fundbaby, whatever it is. We have people
(36:01):
that have five thousand dollars with us, and we have
people that have multi million dollar assets with us. At
the retirement planning group, nobody's that much as far as uniqueness,
everybody has the same goal. They want to maximize the
money that they've had, minimize taxes, protect it, and then
(36:23):
pass it on to the next generation in the most
tax efficient way. I don't care if you've got ten
million or ten dollars. Everybody's basically trying to shoot for
the same goal. So as my generation, the Baby Boom generation,
continues to enter into retirement at the tune at the
(36:43):
clip of eleven four hundred people every single day to
the year two thousand and twenty seven, there is going
to be all sorts of information financial gurus Monday morning
quarterbacks that have all the answers. And I would say
this to you, Okay, most of them are blowhearts. Most
(37:07):
of them have no idea what the hell they're talking about,
and most of them are going to be wrong by
this crystal ball that they have. Make sure that you
stay in your lane. Don't go for high volatility, high
(37:27):
beted portfolios when you're basically when you fill out the
form and it says you're a conservative portfolio, that's what
you need because you're not willing to take the riot
and the roller coaster. You know, where I live, there's
a great park, right and that park has all sorts
(37:49):
of roller coasters and stuff and up and down there's
the kiddie roller coaster and there's the big one, the
monster whatever they call it. Okay me, I'm on the
kity because I don't like that big one. I don't
like the big dips. I scream like a little girl
when I get out, literally because I can't take it. Now.
(38:13):
On the other side of the fence, I'm a stock guy.
I love stocks. Almost one hundred percent of my portfolio
is in stocks because I believe in stocks. I'm the
president of the company, I'm not going to retire for
a while, and I don't need the income, so I
stay fully invested in stocks and it has served me well.
So when I say everybody's different and everybody has a
(38:37):
different goal, right, ga L, then you need to basically
sit down with your team. If you select us or
another financial team that's out there in the Syracuse region,
that's fine. But get a team. Get someone that understands investments,
(38:59):
that understands insurance products, that understands asset protection, that understands
tax planning, that understands the legal side of the business.
What I call the spokes of the wheel. The spokes
of the wheel, because you will be better served by
(39:19):
having a team than of someone that you or at
least professes to know everything. And I always say this.
I said it earlier today on another show that I did.
If anybody tells you that they can do everything, grab
your hat and run as fast as you can. The
(39:47):
other thing is is that you know, life throws us
a lot of curve balls. And I've seen too many
people that have come into my office and it breaks
my heart that I can't do anything to help them out.
Because the horse is out of the barn. When I
(40:08):
say the horse is out of the barn, make sure
you understand what you own. You know, the mania now
is private equity and all of these alternative products that
they have out there. Buyer Beware. I've seen it, I've
lived it in forty three years. Buyer Beware. There's an
(40:33):
article that just came out a few weeks ago in
Barns that basically said that buyer beware, know what you own.
If you can't understand it and they can't tell it
to you properly that you can understand it, basically, don't
do it because you're in a situation where you're basically
not prepared for the negatives that might happen. And finally,
(40:58):
in my wishless for you okay, for a lot of us,
we don't have baseline income. Baseline income is a pension.
For a lot of us, We're going to have to
build retirement plans that allow us to have guaranteed income
that shall last a lifetime. There's all sorts of reports, folks,
(41:20):
there's all sorts of information out there. How guaranteed lifetime
income gives us comfort, not anxiety and stress. Gives us
the ability to spend the money and not worry about
the money because we've protected it with certain types of
investments that give us protected income for life. There's a
(41:42):
lot of different ways to do it. It's just a
question how much do you need? How much needs to
come in in a basic You know what people needed
ten years ago? Do you think it's the same dollar amount?
What was healthcare ten years ago? What was what was
the cost of your utility bill? What was the cost
(42:05):
of the insurance that you're paying. Everything goes up, nothing
stays constant. So I get We offer a complimentary consultation
at any of our six offices that we have in
New York. We travel a lot. I travel a lot.
(42:27):
Like I said, this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I'll be
in Boston. But the bottom line gets down to is
if we need to come to you, we will. Maybe
I can't do it, but someone on my staff will
definitely come to you in order to basically sit down
with you face to face. And as I said, plane train,
(42:47):
whatever it is. My son and I had to take
a trip about two three weeks ago to Florida to
Akala to a gentleman that had a horse farm down there,
and he's been listening to my show for years. Got
disenchanted with this current financial advisor and called us up
and said, after our meeting, we're coming with you. So
(43:08):
we will fly to you, we will sit down with you,
we will have face to face meetings, and hopefully we
can achieve what you're trying to accomplish in your lifetime,
your spouse's lifetime. And then of course the wealth transfer,
which is the greatest in the history of mankind. Here's
the thing that you're going to see tons of marketing,
(43:28):
and it's already happening, and it's happening a lot. Financial
investment banking firms like to get a niche. Well, the
niche right now is women because they estimate by the
next five to seven years, women are going to control
about two thirds of the wealth investable assets because the
guys die first and the wife's. The wives are around
for about anywhere from five to six years longer than
(43:51):
the husband. All right, understand that that marketing is geared
toward the female. Okay, why is that? Because they want
to keep the money, folks, That's the reason they want
to keep the money so they can charge you a fee.
Doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad idea, But understand
(44:11):
that there's different ways to manage assets. There's different content.
That's why we stress all the time open architecture. We're
an open architecture platform. We don't have any bias, We
have no proprietary products. If it's got a ticker symbol,
chances are we're going to be able to purchase it
through fidelity, alternative investments, and insurance products. We go through
(44:33):
what we call an MGA, a Master General agency, and
there's very few that we can't do business with. So,
as I always say, as we wrap up this show,
hopefully you found it informative, educational. If we can be
of assistance, give my office a call at eighty D
might be zero one nine, one nine, and we'll see
(44:53):
you next week for another retirement plant show. If they
creak Dump Rise
The information or services discussed on this show is for
informational purposes only, and it's not intended to be personal financial advice.
The investments and services offered by us may not be
suitable for all investors. If you have any doubts as
to the merits of an investment, you should seek advice
from an independent financial advisor.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
All right, Syracuse, WSYR, Good afternoon on this absolutely gorgeous
October fourth, two thy twenty five at one oh five
in the afternoon. Wow, it's summer. It's coming back. Yahoo.
(00:49):
So hopefully you're out, maybe driving to a little shopping,
hanging out in the backyard, just chilling, sitting in your
chair if you are. I'm Dave Kopek of the president
of the Retirement Planning Group. We now have six locations,
six sixty six in New York State, and of course
when we're out in New York State, we use Regis Corporation.
(01:10):
We have a lot of clients throughout the United States,
spend a lot of time in Florida because we have
a bunch of clients that live in Florida. But if
anything that I'm talking about is of interest to you
and you want to come in We offer a complimentary
consultation at any of our six offices. If you can't
(01:30):
make it to the office, we'll come to you by plane, train, boat,
whatever could do. We'll get there to face to face.
Especially if you have disabilities or handicap, no problem will
come to you. All you have to do is to
call our office at eighty eight eight five eight to
zero one nine one nine and say, hey, listen, I
(01:50):
heard Dave on the radio and I want to have
a second opinion. Met some great people this past week
at our brand new location sixty seven hundred Kirkfield Road.
We had to use our old facility for a couple
of people, but we are in our brand new facility
(02:13):
now sixty seven hundred Kirkfield Road, right off the exit,
and we're in Sweet One. A beautiful job. They did
a beautiful, absolutely beautiful job with our brand new offices.
I can't be happier than I am right now with
what they've done for us. And it's just a great organization.
(02:34):
And I won't mention the name. You'll if you come
visit us, you'll see their name on the door. But
on a one to ten, they're a ten and they
did a great job for us. Everything that we've asked for,
they've done. So I tipped my hat sixty seven hundred
Kirkfield Road. So anything I'm talking about today, you know
that this is the retirement planning show, and most of
(02:57):
the conversation is really geared for your retirement years. We
deal right now. I had a nice conversation with one
of my older clients the other day and he goes, hey, Dave,
aren't you ever going to retire? And I said, Bobby,
I would love to retire, but what am I going
to do? What am I to do? I stink at golf.
(03:21):
I just don't have a passion for it, you know,
hitting a ball and chasing after it. I don't like
to sit on the beach and bake. I mean I
love the outdoors. Matter of fact, after the show, I'm
going to go for a boat ride on my boat
in Lake George. But I am not a guy that
likes to sit and play tittley winks and read a
(03:43):
book and you know, look at the birds and the bees.
I love what I do. I think we do a
great job at it. And I say we not me
because this is a team sport. As everybody knows. I
used to play high school and college basketball, and I
coached and it is a team. This world that we
live in and the financial services industry is too complicated
(04:04):
for any one individual. So if somebody says they can
do it all, grab your hat and run. That's my recommendation.
That's my helpful hint for October fourth, twenty twenty five.
If anybody tells you they could do the whole thing,
grab your hat and run, because it's impossible in the
world that we live in today and all the different
rules and regulations. Now, because I have so many clients
(04:27):
and we're in so many states, that means that there's
a lot of obstacles that we have to face, not
only as far as investment management, but also the obstacles
that we have to face as far as the state planning,
medicaid planning, IRA protection, WROTH protection. And I can tell you, folks,
I've had numerous conversations over the years. I've had probably
(04:48):
more conversations in the last year than I've had in
the last five years about protection of iras and WROTH.
And I will say that to you because I'm in
the you know, sit in the seat every day. I
work six days a week, when I take time off,
i'm off. But when i'm working, I work six days
(05:09):
a week. I love to work. I love to meet
with my clients because they become family to ours. But
I can tell you one thing consistently here. The miss
most misunderstood asset that you own is qualified assets, pre
tax money without a doubt, and you need to understand
(05:31):
that the protection of those assets are based on one
thing zip code. Where are you going to live in
your retirement years, especially if you get sick or ill,
because if your plan is is to put your money
into trust and become medicaid eligible with a large IRA,
you're in for a root awakening. You're in for a
(05:53):
root awakening because, like anything else, this panacea, you know,
if it sounds too good to be true, it's too
good to be true. You know Fugazi, you know Little
Wall Street. It's all smoking mirrors. It's smoking mirrors, folks,
it's smoking mirrors. And you need to understand that you're
(06:13):
not gonna stit in a medicaid bed with a million
dollar IRA, because the counties now are making you spend
it down based on life expectancy, not required minium distribution.
That's what I'm seeing and I had a long chat
with an attorney this week Wednesday, major law firm. I
said to her, one of the principles, why are you
(06:36):
telling people this? Why are you saying that as long
as we put it into periodic payment that we're okay. Well,
you know, as long as you put it into payment status, Yeah,
until when, until when, until you're trying to qualify for
Medicaid then what? Oh? Yeah, and then they basically make
you do a different you know, payout structure. You're going
(06:57):
to have to do an on life expectancy. So if
I got a million dollar IRA and I got five
years to live, that means I'm gonna have to take
two hundred thousand dollars out right. Yeah, that's right. Well
that's not protecting the IRA. Well she goes. You know,
it depends on how long they live. Okay, Now, other states,
(07:19):
depending on your zip code, they don't make you put
it into payd stands. They don't make you do certain
things because the IRA is protected from medicaid eligibility and
also the house is protected, such as what the Alligator
State order. So bottom line is this, folks, Okay, bottom
(07:40):
line is this. Understand the rules. Understand what you have
to do and make sure you understand what you've created,
what you've created, because I'm going to tell you that
at least fifty percent of the people that are coming
into my office now in New York State, they're looking
(08:04):
for ways to protect their largest assets. What is it?
Typically it's typically their IRA and their home and the ROTH.
Now here's under New York State medicaid eligibility right Roth.
Everybody thinks the ROTH is protected. Right, got a lot
(08:25):
of money in roth Wroth iras right are fully counted
as assets since they don't have R and ds Wroth
iras are fully counted because they don't have RM and
d's strategy they used to put into is initiating R
(08:46):
and DS. Right somewhat has been protected, but now a
lot of counties are counting them as a spend down
asset in New York State. So it's a bumpy ride.
(09:07):
You've worked your life, you want to protect your estate.
You want to get the money to the next generation.
You want to have quality of life. You don't want
to worry about it. But I can tell you right now,
you better understand the rules. You better understand the county
that you're living in. And what they're doing as far
as medicaid recovery. We're going to come back. Boy, that
(09:31):
was a quick session. I'm out of role. Open lines
three one five seven ninety seven. This is talk radio now,
Babbel Radio three one five ninety seven ninety seven. We'll
be right back. I like that one. Turn it out.
(10:07):
Let's get more more of that music. There you go.
All right, Nate Kopek, a very competent engineer, is getting
me dancing here in the studio. All right, listen, everybody. Uh,
(10:28):
this is a whole different world for a lot of us.
I'm not trying to scare anybody. A lot of times
people come in they think I'm, you know, like a
three headed monster. But my job. As I said to
a gentleman that came in this matter of fact, let
me just mention something. There was an older gentleman that
came in this week into my office in Syracuse. I
believe his first name was Dennis, and he probably had
(10:51):
the best long term care policy I've ever seen in
my lifetime. Bought it years ago. The gentleman is eighty
five years old. I think you bought it if I
remember at age fifty eight trying to picture it in
my mind, I'm almost one hundred percent sure that's what
it was. Fifty eight and he bought the policy for
fourteen hundred dollars a month for his long term care.
(11:14):
And to make a long story short, he now has
a pool of money of almost eight hundred thousand dollars
that you can use for home care, assistant living, or
a long term care facility. I said to him, I said,
you know what, I don't know how you got this
and how they kept the premium as low as they've kept.
It was a John Hancock policy. But bottom line, bottom line,
(11:39):
bottom line. He had a phenomenon and it was such
such an honor to meet him because he was one
of the nicest elderly men that I've ever probably met,
honest and just worked for the UAW. Just if you're
listening to Dennis, it was an honor to meet you.
And I told you you're in good shape. You did
(11:59):
a great job. But that policy is phenomenal. I think
we got a caller, a man that broke the ice.
Is this Barry, Yes, hey, Barry.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
How are you good? Good? Uh? I've got a question
like this, Okay, are you on.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Are you on a speakerphone.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
On a speakerphone, Yes, the life phone doesn't go on
the worse.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Okay, okay, I'm just saying, is that we're having just
speak slowly because we're having a hard time hearing.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh, okay, my wife is in a nursing home now
or rehab. But her initial period of insurance is up.
And then we're going into the uh, you know, the
part you have to pay your your portion and then
you go into the last part. We're applying for medicaid.
(12:51):
And we have a house stayed for we're on a
few few acres, but we've just soul a piece of property.
If we're closing on and consequently I'm carrying a mortgage
on it, how would that effect right to do going forward?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, let me ask you a quick question. Are any
of these monies the property and the property that you sold,
were they already in a trust?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Okay, so you're in deep weeds. In essence, what I
could say to you pretty quickly and short, Uh, have
you reached out to an attorney because you should not
be doing this yourself? Yes, I have, okay, And what's
the attorney telling you to do?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Well, as you get this that and the other thing.
But of course it was going to talk a lot
of trust that's done. We should have done that, we
didn't do it. So uh well, since I got bought,
if you're if you're taking payments on it, as I
stay under the guidelines of what medicare accepting for.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Okay, Well, this is what I would say to you.
I'm in Boston Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week.
Uh if you call my office on Monday and asked
to speak to me, they'll give you out my cell
phone number. I'm not going to give it out the
air right now. I have an attorney out there that
(14:28):
I think you should speak to in the Syracuse area.
And the reason because you really need someone that has
expertise in elder law on asset protection and this gentleman
I have a lot of faith in, but you need
to speak to somebody that really knows the landscape. Because
in New York State, you're allowed to keep a home.
(14:53):
You know, the spouse that's in the nursing home is
going to have certain requirements that they're going to have
and meet in order to get Medicaid eligibility. You need
to know what those are. To the team, to the
specifics and you can save assets, but you need to
get going. You can't. You just can't sit on the fence.
Because the community, the community spouse, which would be you,
(15:17):
the community spouse, is a lead allowed to keep a home,
a car, certain amount of assets. I'm not going to
bore you with the details over the over the radio.
But call my office Monday. I'll let them know that
you're going to be calling, and I'll give them the
telephone number of the attorney that I think you should
speak to, and I'll leave a message to number. My
(15:41):
number is eight eight eight five eight zero. That's my
toll free number for my office. You call Monday, I'll
have a name there for you, and just say that
you're the radio excuse me, you're the radio caller. And
I'll make a note of it right now and i'll
send a note to my office. Okay, oh yep, it's
(16:04):
five eight zero, but it's toll free eight eight eight
five eight zero one nine one nine, and just say
that you need to talk to the attorney that Dave
talked about. Okay, yep, Okay, God bless you, sir, Okay, sir,
God bless you. If I could be any more assistance,
give me a call, Okay.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I will do that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
App Okay, sir, God bless. It's a difficult spot to be.
And you know, my wife was a caregiver. The reason
why I have such passion for this folks, Well, first
of all, it's the business that i'm in pre and
post retirement planning. But my wife was a caregiver for
six and a half years. And to say that was
(16:47):
fun is not the truth. That that's a pinocchio. You know,
I'm telling you all, it is an unbelievable responsibility. And
fortunately both her parents needed care and assistance, and fortunately
I knew where to go because of the business centerment
in order to protect their estate. Now, my mother in
(17:09):
law was in a bed, a traite bed. At that time,
it was one thousand dollars a day for her bed.
So it doesn't take too long at one thousand dollars
a day before you rack up some substantial, substantial bills.
And what you need to understand is that there are
(17:30):
certain criterias in order for medicaid eligibility. Okay, you just
can't put your money into trust and say okay, it's
in the trust, it's sixty months, it's five years. But
there's also things that you can do if you have
a spouse, a community spouse. So just realize, and I
(17:52):
know that I'm giving you a lot of information in
a short period of time here, but the worst thing
you can do is to go to someone that does
have this expertise. You need an attorney that understands the
landscape for medicaid eligibility and protecting the community spouse. Okay,
(18:15):
critical that you understand that. So, as I said to
that gentleman, have please call my office eighty eight eight
five eight zero one nine one nine, and well hopefully
we'll put you in. But as I said, counties are different.
Specific amount of required distribution can vary by county in
York State. Okay, what I said to you or a
(18:38):
lot of the counties now are making you spend the
IRA down based on life expectancy non I periodic payment
or rm D. Critical that you understand that. And there's
also ways that you can get there. I mean, there's
all different strategies that are out there. Okay. Also, just
(19:00):
so you understand this, and this is very difficult for
people to do. We're a state that allows a spouse
to do spousal reshools. It's hard to do, but if
you're looking to preserve the estate, as long as there's
a community spouse, depending on the assets how they're allocated,
(19:22):
that spouse can do Spousal reshoes reshoose to pay for
the care of your wife or your husband. Not easy,
not an easy thing to do, but it's a legal option.
So we got off the telephone number here. Like I
always say, this is talk radio. It's not babble radio.
(19:46):
We always like questions like that wonderful gentleman that just called.
So if you have a question about your own specific situation,
it's pretty easy. All you do is you dial the
station and my wonderful spectacular and we'll put you on
the air. It's three one five four to two one
ninety seven ninety seven. Three one five four to two
(20:08):
one ninety seven ninety seven. That's three one five four
to two one wsy R. Now, I really got long
winded on this day because I was only going to
talk about this, as you remember at the beginning, for
a few minutes, and I ended up spending almost the
first section, first half hour. But I get Barons every
(20:29):
week digitally, and I also get the hard copy in
my office. But you know, it's easy for me on
the digital because I get up early at four o'clock
and I start reading. And the first thing I did
when I saw Barons, I always go through the magazine
and I look at the headlines. What are the headlines
for the week of October fourth, twenty twenty five. At
four am this morning, the first thing that kicked me
(20:50):
right in the teeth was this, and I'm going to
talk about it in the second half hour. Eighty percent
of workers, not popularly, eighty percent of workers say they're
making little or no progress saving for retirement. This is
a new study that just came out. It's a report
(21:13):
by guess who, Goldman Sachs that finds that the rising
cost of living, healthcare out of pocket expenses is pushing
retirement further and further and further out for millions of
American workers. That's our topic. We'll we come back. What's
(21:41):
going on here. I'm Dave Kopek. This is the Retirement
Planning Show. And to give our telephone number at the
studio if you want to go on the air, three
one five four ninety seven, three one five ninety seven
ninety seven will be right back after the news. That's
(22:25):
another good all right, We are back on this bright
and sunny and absolutely spectacular October fourth, in the Year
of Our Lord two thousand and twenty five. Wow, gorgeous outside.
(22:46):
So we're gonna be talking a little bit more over
the next twenty five minutes or so. But as always,
I always like to let listeners know, you know what
this is talk radio, folks, I'm doing it. Some weeks
we get multiple phone call, some we get one or two.
But with all of the obstacles that are out there,
the headwind to get into retirement, you gotta have lots
(23:08):
of question. Don't be bashful. We don't bite. It's three
one five four two one seven ninety seven. Even if
you've got a comment about the show, about the weather,
you know anything at all? Three one five four seven
ninety seven WSYR. We always like to get phone calls
because I always think it makes it much more interesting
(23:30):
for you the listener. Okay, bottom line, As I said,
we have a article in Today's Barons that kind of
shook me to the core a little bit when I
saw eighty percent of workers in their most recent survey
say they're making little or no progress saving for their retirement. Uh,
(23:53):
that's concerning. That's concerning, And the question becomes why, Well,
I think I have a pretty good idea as an
old goat of old goat young kids. My kids are
twenty seven, twenty six, in twenty and then I have
(24:15):
a daughter that's in her early thirties by my first marriage,
who lives in Sarasota, Florida. But they continue to tell
me the same thing over and over and over again,
that Dad, it's expensive to live now. My son lives
in Tampa, he's in property management Tampa. So I got
a pretty good ear to the ground as far as
(24:37):
what's happening down there as far as real estate, and
it's going through the roof. And the young people today
that have college loans and all the other responsibilities, healthcare costs,
trying to put money aside for the retirement years. It's
a major, major, major obstacle. And when you see that
(25:00):
home ownership cost now consumes fifty one percent of medium
households post tax income, it's pretty scary, pretty scary. And
then a lot of these kids, I consider it to
be kids. They want to have kids. They look around,
(25:22):
they ask around, what's childcare costs? They have another mortgage
if they have two or three kids for the cost
of childcare. So what do you do? How do you
make life affordable in order for you to have some
(25:44):
milestones that you're going to reach in your life such
as what buying a home, having kids, getting married, going
into retirement. Right, pretty much the basics that most individuals want.
And the challenge of course, right is a lot of
(26:07):
individuals right now are in like sticker shock. Sticker shock. Now,
I live in a pretty nice neighborhood and I'm shocked
by the cost of homes just in the last three
or four years. What has happened. My wife and I
(26:28):
were just recently in Syracuse just to kind of look around,
maybe buy a property out there. I don't know, We're
trying to sniff around and see. And I took a
ride out to Skinny Atlas and I wanted to see
the homes around the lake out there because I have
a home in Lake George that I want to see. Copparable.
You know, what's the cost of a home on Skinny
(26:49):
Atlas compared to Lake George, New York? And guess what,
you know, it's comparable. But there's some really beautiful homes
on skinny atlas, and they're really expensive. And the thing
is is that are we becoming a society of the
haves and the have nots? How do you catch up?
(27:11):
You know, the catchup provisions for a lot of us.
When you're putting money aside for your retirement years, is
that really the purpose of the catchup or should you
really be catching up from like age twenty five not
fifty five? Affordability? Now here's the bonanza, okay, And this
(27:33):
is what we hear consistently over and over and over.
You're gonna hear tons of people talking about this. Right,
the wealth transfer over the next twenty to thirty years.
You've heard me talk about it. Eighty five trillion dollars
it's estimated will transfer to the next generation Gen X,
(27:55):
the millennials. Right, an astronomic amount of money. But when
do you get and what percentage of the population will
get it. We work with a lot of hard working savers,
work with a lot of electricians, plumbers, people that work
(28:18):
in carpentry, that work for construction, that work hard working jobs,
and they're having a hard time paying their bills. So
the reality is this, I'm going to give you some
helpful hints that I think can help you in order
to get ahead of the curve. Here. Okay, these are
(28:42):
some of the key lessons that I've learned in forty
three years of being in this business. How do you
become retirement ready? How do you put yourself in a
position in order to have adequate amounts of money for
your retirement years? The first and foremost is set realistic expectations.
(29:08):
Set realistic expectations, right. You can't be driving around in
a BMW and living the high life and going out
and partying and doing the vacations and going to the
trips to Florida, the beach, whatever it may be. You know,
I think about my parents and how they brought us up.
(29:31):
We were fortunate. My dad were in his tail off.
You worked two jobs, and we had a little camp
in the Adirondecks. Nothing fancy, but to us, it was paradise.
That's where we went when we vacation. We can go
to Florida, we can go to the ocean. You go
to Cape Cod and go to Colorado, the Rockies. We
(29:52):
went to Summit Lake, and that's where we spent our
time as a family. And that's where I probably have
the greatest memory when I was a child growing up,
But there was no one hundred and fifty two hundred
dollars dinners. You know, we ate the basics. As I said,
(30:14):
my parents grew up they were farmers. So one thing
you can do right for yourself and your kids and
your loved ones is stay in your lane. Stay in
your lane, don't go outside your lane. If you can
(30:34):
afford a dollar, don't spend a dollar twenty five because
there's one point two trillion dollars out there right now.
Folks in credit card debt? Why people living outside their
lane not staying within their boundaries. Using the credit card
is basically a nine to one to one portfolio. Too
many people are borrowing against their four O one K.
(30:56):
Too many people are cashing out their contributions to their one.
Why because of their living outside their lane, they're not
staying within the boundaries of what they can afford. Instead
of the BMW, get a Honda, a court beautiful car.
That's the same thing get you from A to B.
(31:20):
So set realistic expectations right, and you need to understand
which is more important than ever your financial responsibility through
your employer plan. In order to maximize the distributions that
(31:40):
are going into the plan for you. Critical that you understand,
are you maximizing the max contribution that's affordable to you.
We'll talk about this in greater detail. I'm Dave Kopek.
This is the Retirement Planning Show. We're here on the weekends.
Let's see I after this break, all right, Studio fifty four.
(32:28):
The old disco days. I started in the investment banking
industry with Pain Weber, and then I went to Morgan
Stanley that I started my own firm. But I'll tell
you what, when you you think about those days in
the nineties and early two thousand, it was when we
talk about go go years, they were definitely go go years.
(32:52):
So I always look back to them very favorably. I
called them the fun times, very very very little violence.
A lot of people were happy having a good time
with very little hostility. So when I hear music like that,
it makes me jump. Thank you, my very competent engineering.
(33:12):
We're talking today about this headline. You know, people are
behind the eight ball eighty percent or not ready even
close to being ready for the retirement years. And I'm
gonna try to give you some forty three year old
advice here, Okay, because even though I've been in it
a long time, I still feel like I still feel
(33:33):
pretty young. You know. I don't walk with a cane.
I still play a lot of sports and do things
and travel. My wife says, I can still cut the
rug pretty good. Oh, you got to get professional advice, folks.
It's been proven over and over and over and over again.
(33:54):
Whether it's Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, any of your made your
investment banking firms, Merrill Lynch Ubs, blah blah blah. Working
with a financial professional will put you to your destination.
You might not like what we say to you because
(34:15):
sometimes we're going to have to give you a little
bit of castor oil. Most of your probably scratching your
head saying, what the hell is crass to cast or
will right? But sometimes you're going to have to take
the medicine you don't want to take. And professional advice
is there to try to give you some type of
(34:38):
understanding of the basic financial things that need to be
done in order to maximize and not minimize your ability
to get to the finish line. Because number two, you
need what a goal you think Syracuse gets on the
(34:59):
football field without some type of a plan, game plan,
financial plan. Where do you think that word comes from?
Financial plan? Game plan? You need a plan. It's no
more complicated than that. We use the money. To me,
(35:20):
it's the greatest thing that ever came down the pike.
E Money is a software package that we get through
Fidelity because all of our assets are held at Fidelity.
It will show you exactly where you are. Where do
you stand as far as your success rate, the ability
for you to achieve the goal that you're shooting for.
(35:41):
Is it a million dollars, two million dollars, three million dollars?
It all depends what's your lifestyle. How much do you need.
Is there going to be a substantial wealth transfer to
you when you're going to take social Security? How much
do you have as far as guaranteed income streams? Are
you a trust fundbaby, whatever it is. We have people
(36:01):
that have five thousand dollars with us, and we have
people that have multi million dollar assets with us. At
the retirement planning group, nobody's that much as far as uniqueness,
everybody has the same goal. They want to maximize the
money that they've had, minimize taxes, protect it, and then
(36:23):
pass it on to the next generation in the most
tax efficient way. I don't care if you've got ten
million or ten dollars. Everybody's basically trying to shoot for
the same goal. So as my generation, the Baby Boom generation,
continues to enter into retirement at the tune at the
(36:43):
clip of eleven four hundred people every single day to
the year two thousand and twenty seven, there is going
to be all sorts of information financial gurus Monday morning
quarterbacks that have all the answers. And I would say
this to you, Okay, most of them are blowhearts. Most
(37:07):
of them have no idea what the hell they're talking about,
and most of them are going to be wrong by
this crystal ball that they have. Make sure that you
stay in your lane. Don't go for high volatility, high
(37:27):
beted portfolios when you're basically when you fill out the
form and it says you're a conservative portfolio, that's what
you need because you're not willing to take the riot
and the roller coaster. You know, where I live, there's
a great park, right and that park has all sorts
(37:49):
of roller coasters and stuff and up and down there's
the kiddie roller coaster and there's the big one, the
monster whatever they call it. Okay me, I'm on the
kity because I don't like that big one. I don't
like the big dips. I scream like a little girl
when I get out, literally because I can't take it. Now.
(38:13):
On the other side of the fence, I'm a stock guy.
I love stocks. Almost one hundred percent of my portfolio
is in stocks because I believe in stocks. I'm the
president of the company, I'm not going to retire for
a while, and I don't need the income, so I
stay fully invested in stocks and it has served me well.
So when I say everybody's different and everybody has a
(38:37):
different goal, right, ga L, then you need to basically
sit down with your team. If you select us or
another financial team that's out there in the Syracuse region,
that's fine. But get a team. Get someone that understands investments,
(38:59):
that understands insurance products, that understands asset protection, that understands
tax planning, that understands the legal side of the business.
What I call the spokes of the wheel. The spokes
of the wheel, because you will be better served by
(39:19):
having a team than of someone that you or at
least professes to know everything. And I always say this.
I said it earlier today on another show that I did.
If anybody tells you that they can do everything, grab
your hat and run as fast as you can. The
(39:47):
other thing is is that you know, life throws us
a lot of curve balls. And I've seen too many
people that have come into my office and it breaks
my heart that I can't do anything to help them out.
Because the horse is out of the barn. When I
(40:08):
say the horse is out of the barn, make sure
you understand what you own. You know, the mania now
is private equity and all of these alternative products that
they have out there. Buyer Beware. I've seen it, I've
lived it in forty three years. Buyer Beware. There's an
(40:33):
article that just came out a few weeks ago in
Barns that basically said that buyer beware, know what you own.
If you can't understand it and they can't tell it
to you properly that you can understand it, basically, don't
do it because you're in a situation where you're basically
not prepared for the negatives that might happen. And finally,
(40:58):
in my wishless for you okay, for a lot of us,
we don't have baseline income. Baseline income is a pension.
For a lot of us, We're going to have to
build retirement plans that allow us to have guaranteed income
that shall last a lifetime. There's all sorts of reports, folks,
(41:20):
there's all sorts of information out there. How guaranteed lifetime
income gives us comfort, not anxiety and stress. Gives us
the ability to spend the money and not worry about
the money because we've protected it with certain types of
investments that give us protected income for life. There's a
(41:42):
lot of different ways to do it. It's just a
question how much do you need? How much needs to
come in in a basic You know what people needed
ten years ago? Do you think it's the same dollar amount?
What was healthcare ten years ago? What was what was
the cost of your utility bill? What was the cost
(42:05):
of the insurance that you're paying. Everything goes up, nothing
stays constant. So I get We offer a complimentary consultation
at any of our six offices that we have in
New York. We travel a lot. I travel a lot.
(42:27):
Like I said, this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I'll be
in Boston. But the bottom line gets down to is
if we need to come to you, we will. Maybe
I can't do it, but someone on my staff will
definitely come to you in order to basically sit down
with you face to face. And as I said, plane train,
(42:47):
whatever it is. My son and I had to take
a trip about two three weeks ago to Florida to
Akala to a gentleman that had a horse farm down there,
and he's been listening to my show for years. Got
disenchanted with this current financial advisor and called us up
and said, after our meeting, we're coming with you. So
(43:08):
we will fly to you, we will sit down with you,
we will have face to face meetings, and hopefully we
can achieve what you're trying to accomplish in your lifetime,
your spouse's lifetime. And then of course the wealth transfer,
which is the greatest in the history of mankind. Here's
the thing that you're going to see tons of marketing,
(43:28):
and it's already happening, and it's happening a lot. Financial
investment banking firms like to get a niche. Well, the
niche right now is women because they estimate by the
next five to seven years, women are going to control
about two thirds of the wealth investable assets because the
guys die first and the wife's. The wives are around
for about anywhere from five to six years longer than
(43:51):
the husband. All right, understand that that marketing is geared
toward the female. Okay, why is that? Because they want
to keep the money, folks, That's the reason they want
to keep the money so they can charge you a fee.
Doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad idea, But understand
(44:11):
that there's different ways to manage assets. There's different content.
That's why we stress all the time open architecture. We're
an open architecture platform. We don't have any bias, We
have no proprietary products. If it's got a ticker symbol,
chances are we're going to be able to purchase it
through fidelity, alternative investments, and insurance products. We go through
(44:33):
what we call an MGA, a Master General agency, and
there's very few that we can't do business with. So,
as I always say, as we wrap up this show,
hopefully you found it informative, educational. If we can be
of assistance, give my office a call at eighty D
might be zero one nine, one nine, and we'll see
(44:53):
you next week for another retirement plant show. If they
creak Dump Rise
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