Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For tuning into WSYR today. My name is Nicholas Dumas,
certified financial planner with the Retirement Planning Group. Alongside me
today is Chris Kopek, advisor with the firm, and we're
here to talk to you for the next hour and
try to, you know, get it through your head to
start planning and start realizing that life goes by quick
(00:23):
and you need to make sure that you have appropriate
a state documents set up and appropriate beneficiaries on file,
transfer on deaths, payable on deaths if you're someone that
needs a trust or you know, revocable or irrevocable depending
on your situation, that you have those set up. So
(00:45):
again we're here. We are in Syracuse, so we have
an office and come in sit down with us.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Got a nice view, got some nice windows in there
with television. I'm sure you're all.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You know, watching the Miami A and M game right now,
So if you want to call in and give us
live updates, you could do that.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, we are live. Happy Holidays to Syracuse. This will
be the show before Christmas, so I hope everyone's getting
ready for Santa Claus. And yes, the state planning is
what we'd be touching on today, So legal documents, year
ends checklist, things that you know, people should be looking
(01:31):
over to make sure that everything is buttoned up with
their estate going into the new year because a lot
of things change in life, and legal documents and things
like a will, healthcare proxy, power of attorney, trusts, whether
it's revocable or irrevocable. These things aren't set it and
forget it. You know, they're set it and check in
on it. You know, we typically say every three to
(01:53):
five years. So where do we start? Do you have
any questions?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Three one five, two one nine seven nine seven. We'd
love to get some callers today, and that's three one five,
four two one nine seven nine seven. We'd love to
field some questions. But there's a lot of different ways
to start right. Number one would be to call and
speak to somebody. You know, we can't come over there
(02:19):
and knock down your door, so you have to start
the conversation here. And the first step would be us
sending you our questionnaire. And that questionnaire I think helps
a lot of people get organized. It goes through and
asks do you have retirement assets? Do you have bank accounts,
money market funds, do you have stocks. You know, you're
(02:40):
someone that has those old stock certificates sit in the closet.
Do you have the house, are you renting? Do you
have real estate that you own for income? And it
goes through all these questions, do you have any life insurance?
And we're able to get everything into our software program
after you give us the question air back, and from
(03:02):
there we start looking at what would happen if there
was a catastrophic event, right if something happened to you,
if something happened to your spouse, something happened to the
both of you, where would these assets start going and
how would they be classified for tax purposes? So we're
able to really start the conversation right there, and then
from there we're able to give you different paths, give
(03:24):
you different strategies to where you might not be maximizing
the potential of your portfolio or the potential of your estate,
you know, from a tax standpoint.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So again there's a lot of conversations to be had.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Right and organization is key. That was a great point
to bring up to as a starting point. Getting everything in.
Knowing what you own is huge for as far as
setting up your state. So and there's you know, misconceptions
with a state planning. You know a lot of people
think that it's something just for the ultra wealthy, but
everybody has in a state. You know, there's things that
(03:59):
everybody can dude to button up their estate and make
it easy for their beneficiaries to pass on these assets
that you've accumulated.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Throughout your life.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
For example, just met with a woman this past week.
She inherited, well, her mother just passed, you know, a
few years ago. So this is years after her mother passed.
You know, they're cleaning out her things, still going through
all of her stuff, and open up an envelope and
here's some old stock certificates sitting in an envelope, paper
(04:29):
stock certificates still in the mother's name that they now
have to go and figure out how to dissolve between
herself and her sister and split these. So this is
something that if it was set up on the front end,
you know, some organization and retitled these stock certificates into
an account where the beneficiaries were fifty to fifty her
(04:51):
and her sister, it would have been dissolved at her
death very simply and split between them and in their
own account. By now, so now they have to go
through jump through a lot of hoops to end up
settling this estate. When you know, a simple reorganization of
things and year end, you know, this is a great
time to do it. And you know, now they got
(05:13):
a now they got an issue to deal with.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, so get in front of it right before something happens,
because then it's too late. You know, the best times yesterday,
The second best time is today.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So great quote. Yeah, I don't know who said it,
but great quote.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And it's also a great idea, right to to really
push you to start planning and start getting those beneficiary
designations on file. Making sure your mother or father, who
you know probably shouldn't be the beneficiary on that account anymore,
isn't making sure your current wife or husband, or current
(05:51):
children or nieces nephews you have the appropriate beneficiary designations
that you want right. Where do you want that money going,
how do you want it being received? And you can
really customize all of that depending on what you're looking
to accomplish. We've seen people with, you know, ten thousand dollars.
We've seen people with ten million dollars. You know, everyone
(06:13):
people come in different shapes and sizes with their financial
portfolio and we're able to customize it based on what
their wishes are. You know, do you have a lot
of pre tax assets? Are you top heavy like we
like to call it. There's ways to start restructuring the
tax qualification of your estate. So if it's someone that's
just deferred deferred, deferred, right, put a lot of pre
(06:35):
tax money into a four to one K account and said, hey,
I'm going to be in a lower tax bracket and
retirement and that's what I'm gonna draw it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So this makes sense.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Maybe you have a pension now, maybe you have really
high sold security. Maybe you don't need that money anymore,
so there's ways to change that from the IRA into
something that's tax free.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We're huge advocates of life insurance taking a little bit
off the four to oh one k each year when
you excuse me, that cookie get me Christmas cook is
a little dry Christmas treet cookie, but trimming some of
the the pre tax money that you have and getting
it into a life insurance So maybe you take you know,
(07:16):
ten fifteen thousand dollars a year offer four to oh
one K and put it into a life insurance premium
and see what that would buy for tax free death benefit.
You can get that money protected. So you get your
life insurance into in your vocable trust. Then you don't
have to worry about long term care. You know, Medicaid
coming after that money and taking it away from you
to pay for your stay at a nursing home or facility.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Right, you definitely don't want the ex wife on the
life insurance or the beneficiary of your account when you
got the new wife who you married, So beneficiaries. The
way you designate your beneficiaries is top priority.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In what's that word.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Takes president takes precedence, Yes, take that's a second, it's
a second time. I forgot that work takes precedence over
your will. So a will, you go establish a will,
and you're beneficiary listed on your life insurance policy is
still the ex wife. You get remarried, it's guess where
that you know life insurance policy is going at your
death the ex wife. You have your mom still on
(08:23):
life insurance and account beneficiaries your four to one K account.
You're putting money into it. You get the job, you
know you've put your mom on it because you're single
guy going into work. You get married, you have a
couple of kids, you pass away prematurely, that four one
K account is going to your mother because of the
beneficiary designation you set on it, and these things take
(08:46):
precedence over that will. So definitely you're in you know,
checkpoint here coming up. Make sure all of these documents
still reflect your wishes with all these life changes like births, deaths, marriage, divorces,
we're going into retirement. You know, a lot of things
change over the years. So definitely sitting down and reassessing
(09:08):
this stuff as we're coming up on the end of
twenty twenty five is a very important thing to take
the time to do.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, I think it's it's crucial.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you know, we're out there in Syracuse now, So
if you want someone to sit down and review what
you have and give you some thoughts, give you some recommendations,
you can call our office. It's eight eight eight five
eight zero one nine one nine and that's eight eight
eight five eight zero one nine one nine. Again, I
just want to thank everyone for listening. You know, it
(09:38):
seems like our message is really resonating out in Syracuse.
We've had a lot of great appointments with great people.
So again, if you want to come in have a
cup of coffee or a water.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We also have ice tea. I believe out there we
are now offering iced tea. Yes you can.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You can definitely give us a call or shoot us
an email. Our website's rpgretire dot com and our office
numbers eight eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
The biggest mistake in retirement planning waiting too long. The
sooner you start, the more options and peace of mind
you'll have. Dave Kopik and the Retirement Planning Group are
here to help you build a smart plan that grows
with you. Whether you're five years out or just getting serious,
Now is the time. Don't put it off. Visit rpgretire
(10:35):
dot com or call eight eight eight five eight zero
nineteen nineteen to schedule your consultation today. Start early, retire better.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
It's time to make that money work for you. Here's
the secret most people miss. You have to create your
own retirement income plant. Social Security is not enough, pensions
are rare. You need a strategy that turns savings into
monthly income that will last a lifetime. At the Retirement
Planning Group, we build customized income distribution plans so you
can retire with confidence, retire smart, live well. Call eight
(11:08):
eight eight five eight zero nine nine for your complementary consultation.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And we're back. Hello wsy R, Hello Syracuse. It's a
great day to have a day.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's also coming up on Christmas here, so I wish
everybody merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and a nice
warm New Year's powerful twenty twenty six coming. So start
getting your financials in order. That's the main gist of
the show today, right. We want to make sure that
you know you're thinking about it at least, so just
(11:54):
bringing it to the table to start checking making sure
if something were to happen to you, now your children,
your children, but your spouse, so the surviving spouse is
accounted for.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Whether you're someone who did the pension max.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A lot of people have pensions, so if you took
the single life allowance, make sure there's something for the
surviving spouse if that pension goes away. You know, if
we're talking three four thousand dollars a month, that's the
equivalent of a seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars account.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
So to solve that income.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
But again there's a lot of different people out there
and a lot of different situations, and we have to
put ourselves in your shoes right and act in a
fiduciary capacity based on who you are and what you're
looking to accomplish. And that's generally what that first appointment
looks like. So if we sit down and chat with you,
(12:45):
we're doing a lot of listening, We're asking questions. Might
feel like an interview, but we're just trying to get
to know you right, and then from there we can
really start coming up with a plan.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I always tell folks, the first appointment you're talking,
the second appointment where to talk. Uh So, the first
appointment is, you know, getting to know you, your situation
and what you're looking to accomplish with a relationship with
our team. This second appointment is where we start throwing
around ideas, showing you our side of the fence, you know,
orchestrating that plan through e money, getting that organization in
(13:18):
one screen, applying it to you know, all the assets
you've accumulated in your life, and then showing you how
we manage assets compared to either what you're already doing
now or how we would manage your pool of money
moneies once it's rolled out into a retirement account. So
but as far as the estate planning, let's just go
(13:38):
over the basics, the will, health care proxy, power of attorney. Yeah,
and there's our trumpet up. Sorry, Nico, put your trumpet away.
So the basics, the will, the healthcare proxy, power attorney.
What are they and what do they accomplish? You know,
(13:59):
the you're your durable power of attorney is gonna allow
someone to act on your behalf in a financial matter.
Your healthcare proxy is the same thing, but for medical decisions.
And then a will is just how your assets will
be you know, dissolved at your death. We are huge
advocates in New York state of trusts, so you have
(14:21):
revocable Irrevocable. Revocable offers more flexibility as far as pulling
money in and out of it, and it settles in
a state without going through probate. So wills can be contested.
Trusts cannot. That is a huge caveat difference between a
will and a trust. Manage your assets from the grave
is how we refer to trusts, uh, because you know,
(14:42):
in order for that trust to be dissolved, it has
to go out in the way that you structured it,
and that's you know, at that point in time, we'll
have discussions with an attorney too to figure out if
irrevocable or revocable is the way to go with your
current you know, set up up in situation.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It depends on what you're looking to accomplish, what the
purpose of the trust is. You know, if it's a
revocable trust is something you're looking to set up, you would.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Be the trustee on that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, irrevocable trust, you have to assign trustees because that's
a type of trust where you want it outside of
your ownership. So you assign a trustee someone you trust clearly,
but again the irrevocable trust.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And you can fire them. That's a caveat to that too.
So your trustee you can fire if they don't act
on your behalf exactly, so you can always fire them.
You know, you could be like, what is it, Donald Trump?
You fi it?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
But again, assign someone you do trust and you think
they're you know, they have your best interests at heart,
and they also have to adhere to what the trust says, right,
So if they don't, then they're liable. Right, So you
need to figure out which type of trust you want
and what the purpose of it is. So a lot
of people call irrevocable trusts Medicaid trusts. I've heard that
(16:04):
as well, right, because they protect the a state from
a long term care facility right from the state New
York coming after it through Medicaid. So again there's a
five year look back sixty months, so you do need
to set that up five years prior to going into
a nursing home or else. They're going to have you
list that as an asset of yours when you go
(16:25):
to apply for that nursing home and we've got clients
who are in memory care facilities, you know, it could
be fourteen fifteen, sixteen thousand dollars a month. So this
is a very expensive bill that a lot of people
are seeing. You know, the CPI numbers just came out
and one of the highest inflated items on that list
was nursing home long term care facilities at over ten percent.
(16:49):
So the costs aren't getting cheaper, and you know, how
do you want to account for that? Do you want
to try to qualify for Medicaid quicker so that they
would pay for your stay, or do you want to
try to plan for that, and you know, maybe long
term care insurance is an option for you. Maybe you
have some maybe you have old life insurance policies that
don't have long term care attached to them, and maybe
(17:11):
we could take that old life insurance policy in ten
thirty five into a new one that has a long
term care rider built into it and has a death benefit.
And there's products out there that do that. You know,
the New York State Partnership's gone. A lot of people
used to have partnership policies, you know, twenty twenty five
years ago. They're also getting increased premium notices now, so
there's a you know, it's a very difficult field to navigate.
(17:36):
Do you want coverage for that? If you do, we
can evaluate what makes the most sense for you.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Right and sitting down and having these conversations with someone
and just reviewing what you have is crucial going into retirement.
Not only that, but readdressing how everything's going to be
orchestrated at death. So there's a lot of misconceptions in
myths that people don't go and sit down and review
(18:03):
all these things. You know, a lot of them are, oh,
I'm too young I don't have enough money, or my
will covers everything, my spouse will take care of this
once I die. These are all misconceptions. I did it once.
I'm all set. You know, I set this up ten
years ago. You know, we already met with the attorney
and set up all these legal documents. Not life changes.
(18:25):
So as life changes, you know, plans change, beneficiaries may change.
You know, these are things to constantly look at and
readdress every three to five years. So we always say
red flags in that area is something that's five years old.
If you haven't looked at it in five years, probably
time to sit down, you know, going into twenty twenty
six here and just make sure everything still aligns with
(18:46):
how you've set it up originally. If any major life
or financial changes happened, definitely reconsider looking at these documents.
If you move to a new state, that's a huge
one because there's different laws and regulations on how assets
are dissolved, especially if you're in a retirement facility or
(19:10):
nursing home. Not retirement facility, so if you're in a
nursing home, different states have different rules on you know,
assets they're going to go after, So definitely knowing where
you live. If you ended up moving to Florida or
have plans to move to Florida, new tax laws and
you know, considerations, you should definitely relook at those and
then different retirement planning strategies. So how are you spending
(19:32):
these assets is also huge.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Life's a circle.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Your retirement plans a circle, right, You're always revolving, evolving, right,
So as situations change, you need to reevaluate, and we
do that periodically every time we meet with individuals current clients.
We meet with at least once, maybe twice a year.
Initially we meet a lot more than that, but once
(19:58):
we have everything set up, it's pretty straightforward. Unless there's
major life events. Then we plan around that and we
have to adapt and change, and you know, maybe we
need to start sending more income off the accounts if
you're someone that's taking on a new property or you
want to have a vacation home. So life changes. People
are born, you know, kids are born, there's divorce, there's death,
(20:20):
So keep revisiting that original plan you set up. A
lot of people have seen exponential growth in their retirement
accounts over the last ten twenty years, and you know,
don't get too greedy, get rebalance back to your risk
tolerance level and your asset allocation that makes the most
(20:41):
sense for where you're at. But again, you might see
these pre tax accounts just continuing to grow and they're
becoming more and more of a tax liability for your beneficiaries.
So we talk about it all the time, getting out
in front of that and starting to come up with
a plan for how your assets are going to be
handled at.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Right and a lot of this, you know, the estate
planning is fully intertwined with what we do as advisors,
because you know, a situation that we ran into last
week or two weeks ago was a gentleman who came
in and sat down, and he has a lot of
non qualified assets. So he has significant wealth in non
(21:21):
qualified assets that are not protected in an irrevocable trust
right now, and he's living with a very low distribution
rate off of these assets. So he was taken about
two and a half percent off of his pool of
money to live on. And I'd say fifty percent of
his net worth was in his non qualified brokerage accounts,
(21:45):
and it's fully accessible if something were to happen and
he ended up in a nursing home. So with that,
you know, with him living comfortably off that such a
low distribution rate, well let's protect these assets because you
can take the dividends in interest off of your irrevocable
trust to live on and it's you make it past
(22:05):
that five years now you just protected all of this money.
So it's something to always consider. Sit down with the
financial team and see, you know, can I maintain my
current standard of living and live comfortably while protecting these
these assets that I own. So we we told them,
you know, it's time to actually seriously consider sitting down
(22:26):
with an attorney. You know, we're not attorneys. We know
enough you know, to be dangerous in that area from
having conversations with attorneys. But we don't pretend to be attorneys.
We just you know, work hand in hand with them.
So for this guy's specific situation, buttoning up the estate
and getting these assets protected, you know we could with
current interest rates. You know, we're seeing six seven percent
(22:48):
off you know, a taxable income model and then unis
we're seeing three to four percent, So.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You can increase the yield for that individual and also
protect the principle.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So a lot of people out but they also have
appreciated stock. See that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Their plans just to continue to hold that stock and
give it to their children, which isn't a bad plan,
right The kids would get a step up and basis
at your date of death, so your original cost basis
on the stock will go away and they'll get the
new cost basis based on the day you die, the
fair market value of that stock. As long as they
are a beneficiary on it. Do not make them an
(23:25):
account holder because then they will assume your.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Cost basis on it.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But that's another asset you can get into an irrevocable
trust if it's non qualified. So if that stock is
not in a retirement account, why not get it into
a trust because it's going to the kids. Anyways, they're
going to get a step up. But it'll add protection
so no one can come after that stock. If you
did go into a nursing home, or if you did
have some sort of liability. Right you driving down the
(23:53):
throughway and you know someone's outside of their car doing
their tire, you know, and there's an app accident. This
would be a way to protect some asssets and get
it out of your name. So lawsuits, yes, quite a
few suits this year. Some of them are laughable, but
again it provides liability coverage as well. So if you
(24:16):
want to call our office numbers eight eight eight five
eight zero one nine one nine, or you can call
the show today. We are on ws y R here
numbers three one five four two one nine seven nine seven.
And that's three one five four two one nine seven
nine seven. If you have a question today, we'd love
(24:36):
to have you on air. You know we're here to
talk to you. We're here to try to help you
and educate you. So again, h our office number eight
eight eight five eight zero one nine one night.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We'll be right back, all right.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Retirement is in a Sunday thing. It's a now thing.
Whether you're just starting out or nearing the finish line,
the best time to build your retirement plan is today.
Don't wait for the right moment. Let's create a plan
that works for you. Secure your future and the freedom
that comes with it. Call in my office today and
take action. Eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine.
(25:36):
That's eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine and
your future will thank you. Future retirees twenty twenty five
has gone in twenty 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 on the back burner. It's
(25:57):
time to take action well the retirement planning for a
complementary retirement planning consultation and make twenty twenty six the
year your retirement dreams became a reality. Call eighty eight
five eight zero.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
And take action today and we.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Are back everyone. Thanks for tuning in today. Wsy R.
We are the Retirement Planning Group.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
We're an independently owned financial services firm located in upstate
New York. We have an office location out in Syracuse
that we are visiting quite frequently and we we love
it out there. So again, make us drive out there
and we will. We'll enjoy it. I didn't know they
had a firehouse. Subs, we had a firehouse.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Subs. You're cheating on the Brooklyn pickle.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah about Oh no, I think it's about twelve minutes
from the office. Next time I go out there, I'm
gonna get a firehouse soub. But again, if you want
to sit down in that office with us and have
a conversation or we could do virtual or telephone, you know,
whatever you prefer. The numbers eight eight eight five eight
zero one nine one nine. You know, you have to
(27:16):
start the conversation here, stop procrastinating, you know, get your
ducks in order. Here, your ducks in a row, and
make sure that you start off twenty twenty six with
a bang by.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Getting your financial house in order.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I know it doesn't sound a whole lot of fun,
but at the end of it, you'll feel a lot better, trust.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Me, right, and it is a whole lot of fun
when you see the last three years in the market
we've had and a lot of the growth that we've seen,
you know, in your assets, if you're in a in
the correct allocation is you know, as far as your
risk tolerance. But it's a twenty twenty six, you know,
it's always a great time to New Years. You know,
people have New Year's resolutions, you know, things that they
(27:56):
want to check off and get going for the new year. Uh,
buttoning up the estate, getting your legal documents in order,
setting up your asset allocation to facilitate how you want
your state to be paid out to your beneficiaries is
something that we definitely overemphasize we're big advocates for consolidation,
(28:18):
simplifying the estate, having it under one you know, financial
management teams, eyes and control, so that you know, it's
easy for beneficiaries too. It's a one phone call, you know,
solution at death. You don't have to go over like
this story I told earlier about the stock certificates and
and find things that we're going to cause problems with
(28:40):
the estate or have accounts scattered all over God's creation
as far as you know, different advisors, different accounts over here,
different accounts over there. You know, it's having five different
game plans and five different accounts. You know, we're huge
advocates of consolidation, simplification, not only for yourself and your money,
but for your beneficiaries in the people that are going
(29:03):
to inherit these assets, your loved ones.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Life goes quick, right, So you might have been someone
that's jumped around from occupation to occupation. You've had a
few different careers, and you have these old accounts that
you contributed to while you were with those companies, and
they're kind of just floating around. See that all the time,
Old four oh one k's, old four or three b's
just had a woman come in. She dropped off three
(29:27):
four or three B statements and those are all old accounts,
you know, not one of those or are her you
all right?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Were there? Not one of those is her current workplace plan.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So we took those three accounts and we're consolidating them
into one IRA.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Account in her name.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
It makes a lot easier, less mail in the mailbox,
right and also makes a state a little cleaner, but
also allows us to invest those assets as we see fit.
You know, in those four or three BE accounts, she
only has access to a certain amount of funds, typically
target date funds and you know, maybe a couple index funds,
whereas in an IRA we're able to invest very broadly.
(30:09):
So there's exchange traded funds ETFs. You know, they're more
passive index funds, lower cost, lower expense ratio. And then
there's mutual funds that might make sense. We look a
lot at corporate bond mutual funds. Right now, we're still
yielding a very attractive interest rate. You know, we see
some getting seven percent even eight percent still even with
the Fed's most recent decrease in interest rates. So we're
(30:32):
typically more short on the duration right now, I would say,
to target the higher yield, the higher coupon. But again
we customize portfolios based on what you're looking to accomplish.
We've got younger folks, you know, whether they're thirty forty
years old, they've got years and years before they retire.
It's time to accumulate, it's time to grow, So we
go more stock, more market exposure. Right, the market's averaged
(30:56):
about ten percent historically since it opened, so will typically
go more into the stock market. And as we get
closer to that retirement date, that's when we'll start restructuring
and getting it a little bit more towards cash flow
and get it into those buckets of money we talk about,
so the bucket of money approach as far as income
distribution and retirement. So there's just, uh, there's a lot
(31:20):
we talk about. Sometimes it might sound like we're just
brain dumping here, but uh, again, I think it relates
to a lot of a lot of individuals out there.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Yeah, and it's all it all goes hand in hand.
You want your assets and your asset allocation to reflect
how you want your estate plan as well. So we
work with attorneys, uh to set up you know, these
legal documents and things that we're talking about today to
button up the estate, and then we reflect that within
their investments. You know, some people want to be more
aggressive and have more aggressive growth because they aren't really
(31:53):
going to touch a lot of this money. They're they're
gonna they're trying to grow it for their beneficiaries, whereas
other folks are saying, you know, we want to spend
down these assets. We've saved our entire life. You know,
we want to hit all these bucket list items that
we've always wanted to do in retirement. So our plan
is to spend our money, spend down these assets, and
enjoy them because this is what we did.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
We saved our whole lives for this, and the kids
are successful.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
The kids are Yeah, and that's the other thing too.
It's like, if you live till you're seventy five, eighty
years old, eighty five years old, Uh, your kids are
most likely going to be in their high income earning years,
you know, fifty sixty year olds, and they don't necessarily
need the money anymore. Uh, they're probably in their high
income earning years, if not, you know, retired at that
(32:38):
point in time. So gifting assets while the kids are
younger is something that you know, we see a lot
of people shifting towards now, and that's that's something that
you know, we're advocates for as well. You know, watch
watch the kids utilize the money when they need it
and see them, you know, help them out earlier in
(32:58):
life rather than you know, when they're fifty sixty years
old and they don't necessarily really are reliant on those
funds anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
But gifting is huge, nineteen thousand dollars per individual, per recipient,
so each parent can give a child nineteen thousand, making
the total thirty eight thousand without having to file a
form with the IRS. If you do more than that,
you just have to file the form.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
No taxes should be owed.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
As long as you keep it under the thirteen point
what nine to nine million dollar number for the lifetime allowance,
So that form just keeps track of how much you've
gifted your kids up to that, you know, almost fourteen
million dollar numbers. So not a lot of folks realize that.
They typically ask how much am I going to own tax?
If I give my kid an X amount of dollars,
And we just have to explain that to them that
(33:46):
they should be fine, but typically we do like keeping
it under that nineteen thousand per individual just to make
things easier when it comes to tax season.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Right, you don't have to file any paperwork, you know,
no forms need to be filed.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
But we've got a lot of callers today on the show.
I'll give one more opportunity out. You know, the phones
are ringing off the hook, so.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Three one five, four two one nine seven nine seven
if you want to call in.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Can we like having callers on the show kind of
just here's some different takes or also field some questions.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, go over people's current situations. Is always interesting because
we see a lot of different ones. You know, we
we explain broad topics when we come on a show
like this, but everybody's different. You know, there's really no
cookie cutter approach to what we do on a day
to day basis. It's all facilitates around the client's wants
and needs. So that's always it's always interesting hearing you know,
everyone's different stories and how they want to facilitate not
(34:45):
only their money in retirement, but you know, their estate
as well to the next generation.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, it's a lot of people out there.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
The four one K is the largest asset or the
house you know, and it's important that you take care
of those assets.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I've seen a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Of individuals over exposed to risk as well in their
four oh one K or workplace accounts.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
They've seen all these years of green, green green.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You know, you don't want to see a big red
year in the account, especially if you're planning on retiring
within the next.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Three to five years.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Start looking at the asset allocation, Start figuring out what
options are available to you within your plan.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Are you over fifty nine and a half?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Do you have the ability to do an in service
rollover into an IRA account And like I said earlier,
from there you could start investing in a much broader
market of options, so again you have more freedom, more
flexibility and IRA accounts. We're huge advocates. That's where we
can come in as well as well and help you
with that account. So we act as an advisor on
(35:49):
the account through Fidelity Investments, that is our custodian, and
we're able to go in and place trades on those
accounts on your behalf. We have to act in a
fiduciary capacity. We put ourselves in your shoes, acting your
best interest and you know, really figure out what you're
looking to accomplish, whether that be income or growth, do
(36:10):
wroth conversions. You're gonna have required minimum distributions coming up
once you hit seventy three, and we take care of
all those and make sure that the IRS doesn't send
you a notice in the mail.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Right and as far as the the estate, you know,
a lot of these, like Nico was saying, a lot
of these folks that we're meeting with, the majority of
their assets were accumulated within their four to one K plan.
So if you're looking to not send your beneficiaries a
tax liability and a ten year spend down, there's a
lot of different strategies that we utilize internally to leave
(36:46):
a more preference inheritance for those beneficiaries.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Can touch on.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
We'll touch on when we come back. Our numbers eight
day eight by dight zero.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Nine. We'll be back after this.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Your retirement future. Are you dreaming of a comfortable, financially
secure retirement. It's closer than you think. The best time
to start planning was yesterday. The second best time is now.
Even small, consistent contributions make a huge difference over time
thanks to the power of compound. Don't let your retirement
dreams just remain dreams. Start setting up your goals today.
(37:24):
Take control of your future well. Eighty eight five eight
zero one nine one nine. That's eighty eight five eight
zero nine one nine for a free consultation.
Speaker 5 (37:35):
Doesn't have to be overwhelming, especially when you have the
right team by your side. At Retirement Planning Group, Dave
Kopek and his team are here to help you build
a strategy tailored to your goals and lifestyle. Whether you're
nearing retirement or just getting started, now's the time to
take control of your future. Schedule your free consultation today
at RPG retire dot com or call eight eight eight
(37:57):
five eight zero nineteen nineteen Retirement Planning Group Retire with Confidence.
F M.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Alrighty, we are back. My name is Christopher Kopik with
the Retirement Planning Group. I'm an advisor here and what
we're touching on today is the estate planning, you know,
buttoning up year end here, got Christmas coming up shortly
or Hanukkah, whichever you celebrate, and you got the new year.
So going into twenty twenty six, we always like to
touch on buttoning up these estate checking your beneficiaries and
(38:36):
just making sure that you know everything is still the
way you want it to be facilitated. So there's some
misconceptions about estate planning. You know, it's not just about death.
You know, it's about control, controlling your assets, knowing what
you own, clarity on where they're going to be paid
out to at death. You know, clarity on this is
you know where everything is, who's managed by, and how
(38:59):
it's going to be dissolve debt my death, and just
peace of mind knowing that everything is set up and
orchestrated the way you want it to be in throughout
your retirement years. You know, that's why a firm like ours.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
You know exists.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
People want to go enjoy their bucket list items and
retirement and know that someone's looking over their assets that
they've accumulated throughout their entire life and that they're facility
facilitating their you know, wants and needs throughout that period
of time.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
The new year's coming, quick make a decision, right that
decisions to get your state in order. That was the
purpose of today's show. M You know, Chris, I think
you're starting to get it a lot more.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
M HM.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
The estate planning piece and we've seen death, we've seen
unexpected health events occur, and it's part of the business,
and it's tough. You know, we make a lot of
great friendships through this business, and you know, half the
time we talk about you know, what they did for
fun or their vacations and you know all that, and
then you know, we developed these bonds and it's tough.
(40:01):
But life happens and people pass away, and you need
to make sure that everything's accounted for when that does happen.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
You know, no one's immortal. You know, did you find
the pill yet?
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Nope, I haven't, so the time that the clock is ticking,
So just make sure that everything's set up properly. And
I've had a lot of emotional conversations. You know, people
will tend to get emotional when talking about it, which
is completely fine. You know, these these are major decisions
and things you need to come to realization with. You know,
(40:37):
no one thinks, you know, they're going to pass away,
but the reaper is coming, so make sure that. Make
sure you have everything in order, folks, And if you
want us to take a look, I'll go back to
what we said in the beginning of the show. Get
everything organized, right, that's step one. Even if you just
write it down on a loose leaf piece of paper.
(40:59):
You know, all the ass that you have. You know,
my bank account here, my bank account there, my money
market account. I have life insurance with this company. I
have two iras over here. I have an old four
to one K with this company that I worked with
for five years. You know, that loose leaf piece of
paper can be the start of something that you know,
(41:20):
saves your beneficiaries months and months of.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Extended grieving.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
I would say, you know, the quicker the estate is settled,
the quicker they can, you know, start moving on or
start accepting things. So just makes everything easier to have
the estate in order.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Death is hard enough, you know. Don't put your beneficiaries
and the people you love most through the burden of
running around with all these different death certificates and going
to all these different companies trying to settle your estate.
You know, getting all these assets that you've accumulated to
the next generation. Simplification, consolidation, you know, are huge things
(41:59):
that we overemphasize week to week here on the Retirement
Planning Show. We truly do believe in simplifying the estate.
You know, having all of your assets under one umbrella
and understanding that we're one phone call away. You know,
you're not going to get a robot or talk to
someone and get bounced around. If you call our office,
you're going to get a human being on the other line.
(42:19):
And like I said, that's hard enough to deal with.
You don't want your beneficiaries to go through the burden
of making ten different phone calls. You know, you make
one phone call, you talk to myself, Nico, Chris McCarthy,
my father. You know, we're on the other line of
that phone, walking you through step by step how to
(42:39):
pass these assets onto the next generation in the event
that death does happen.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
A lot of times, it's only one spouse, right, that
takes care of the finances. I see it consistently. Consistently,
either the husband or the wife, they deal.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
With the financial matters.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
What happens if something happens of that individual, right, the
surviving spouse might not know where anything is or what
is happening.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Every year.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, how much are you taking off this account?
How much are you've taken off that account? Do we
have life insurance?
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
The surviving spouse might not know that. That's why generally
we you know, try to push people to bring both
to the table when they meet with us. So bring
both sides, right, the husband and wife or whatever the
marriage is. We want to meet with both and make
sure that there's a full understanding and we would have
the surviving spouses back if something happened to you.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
You know, we form a partnership there. So that's our speel.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
On the estate planning side, I want to get to
a couple of year end things you might want to
take a look at. No, because this is one of
our last chats before the new year. I think we
have one more show. But there are some items that
you should address if you want to take care of it.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
For twenty twenty five tax year. Right.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Some of the big ones roth conversions. So if you're
someone that's converting pre tax money into a IRA year
over year, you have to do that by December thirty first, right,
So you can't do ROTH conversions in the new year
for twenty twenty five, so that needs to be done
by twelve thirty one. Also, if you're someone contributing to
a health savings account, you have a high deductible plan
(44:14):
high deductible health insurance plan and you have a health
savings account, those contributions need to be made prior to
year's end. Any non qualified accounts, Right, you have a
brokerage account that you hold stock in or mutual funds.
Those mutual funds are gonna be kicking out capital gain distributions.
They might have already kicked them out this year. Typically
in December, those companies will go in pass off all
(44:37):
the gains to the shareholders. So you might be looking
at a tax bill. Now's the time to tax loss harvest.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Right.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
You have until twelve thirty one to capture any losses.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
In your portfolio to help offset those capital gain distributions
or capital gains you recognize throughout the year. Typically we'll
look at the November statement, see what transpired, and then
we'll take a look at the account his true for
December start coming up with a tax liability number, and
then we can offset that with any losses. It's been difficult,
(45:08):
right because the market's been so good, so a lot
of green and accounts. But if you have a position
that's down, maybe now is the time to realize it.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Yeah, cleaning up the accounts, going through buttoning up like
Nico is just saying tax lost harvesting. Offsetting some of
these losses is important, especially when you're getting such high
capital gains. The market's been great, and going into twenty
twenty six, you know there's a few themes too that
we'll be touching on as far as the investment management.
I know this show was about the estate planning, but
(45:38):
you know the next shows we'll be touching on investments.
You know, what to look at into twenty twenty six.
What we're hearing internally from all the wholesalers we've been
meeting with here at our year end appointments. U With
the current rate environment that we're seeing right now, you know,
there's some themes that we're hearing are how we're gonna
(45:58):
internally be looking at our PORTFOLI to reconstruct them if
need be.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Are you not.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Happy with your tax bill you're seeing every year, meet
with us, see if there's ways to start tax planning,
you know, being a little bit more active with your
non qualified accounts.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Right if you're in.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Taxable interest bearing bonds, maybe municipal tax freeze make more sense.
So again, there's ways to lower your tax bill if
it's possible we'll try to find it right. So we
offer tax planning. We do not file, but we will
help you with the tax planning piece. And then you know,
as far as the estate, I think we do an
(46:38):
exceptional job reviewing the estate and making sure everything's in
good order.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
You know, like Chris said earlier.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
One phone call rather than ten, one death certificate rather
than ten. Right, so you have to submit the death
certificate to all these different companies and file different paperwork
for the state settlement process. We will do all of
that for you if you are a client of ours,
to make sure that the beneficiaries feel comfortable and understand
what is transpiring right.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
Get your estate planning in order, get your investment strategies
in order. Going into twenty twenty six, do yourself a
favor and meet with a financial professional like the Retirement
Planning Group. We offer a complementary free consultation. You do
not pay us by billable hours. Our fee structure is
on assets under management, so which it is a no
(47:29):
higher than one percent. The way our business is structured
on a fee level. So if you sit down with us,
you know we can go over. We'll send you out
that confidential questionnaire booklet. We can sit down and review
what you currently have. Put you into the software systems
we utilize, like e Money and Nitrogen, you know, show
you organizationally, how you're set up, get everything in one
(47:52):
snapshot picture for you to you know, be able to
go in and plan for yourself and your future and
your beneficiaries, you know, all in one spot. And then
on the asset management side, we can go in and
structure the portfolio to fit those goals that you're looking
to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
A lot of people are happy with their current advisors,
and you know, there are a lot of great advisors
out there, but you don't know what you don't know, right,
so maybe they're not managing the account appropriately. You're seeing
large swings, maybe it's not experiencing as much growth as
(48:31):
you'd like. Right, we can be a second pair of
eyes kind of give you an idea through Nitrogen our
risk software that we use to kind of evaluate a
portfolio and see the risk adjusted you know, metrics to
see if it's an efficient portfolio. So we could start
giving it a GPA and really start figuring out if
(48:53):
those investments are appropriate for you.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Right, we can go in and look, i'd say, if
you're someone who looks at your statement every month when
you get it from your financial professional team, and you
see all the same number from that company, you know
X y Z company is the across the entire statement
in different categories and sectors in the market. I overemphasize
(49:16):
the folks who see that, come in for a free consultation.
We can show you the benefit of utilizing an open
architecture firm.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Like ourselves.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
We custody through Fidelity Investments, but we have an open
architecture where we can invest in any financial institutions investments,
whether it's ETFs, mutual funds, you know, different money market funds,
treasury bills, bonds, you know individual stocks. Yes, we can
invest in anything and everything, so not everything well penny stocks, yeah,
(49:49):
but we're not. We would never incorporate that. So yes,
we overemphasize come in, sit down, do yourself a favor,
and review your investments. Even if you're on the edge
of teter on, coming in and getting a second opinion,
second pair of eyes over the portfolio.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
It never hurts.
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Like Nico said earlier, We'll have a cup of coffee
of water, maybe a nice unsweet and nice tea that's
new to the office.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, come steal the tea. We'll give you some tea.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
So five one eight five eight zero one nine one
nine or eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine toll free everyone.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Thanks for listening today. It's been a great talk to
year on WSYOL that be holidays
For tuning into WSYR today. My name is Nicholas Dumas,
certified financial planner with the Retirement Planning Group. Alongside me
today is Chris Kopek, advisor with the firm, and we're
here to talk to you for the next hour and
try to, you know, get it through your head to
start planning and start realizing that life goes by quick
(00:23):
and you need to make sure that you have appropriate
a state documents set up and appropriate beneficiaries on file,
transfer on deaths, payable on deaths if you're someone that
needs a trust or you know, revocable or irrevocable depending
on your situation, that you have those set up. So
(00:45):
again we're here. We are in Syracuse, so we have
an office and come in sit down with us.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Got a nice view, got some nice windows in there
with television. I'm sure you're all.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You know, watching the Miami A and M game right now,
So if you want to call in and give us
live updates, you could do that.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, we are live. Happy Holidays to Syracuse. This will
be the show before Christmas, so I hope everyone's getting
ready for Santa Claus. And yes, the state planning is
what we'd be touching on today, So legal documents, year
ends checklist, things that you know, people should be looking
(01:31):
over to make sure that everything is buttoned up with
their estate going into the new year because a lot
of things change in life, and legal documents and things
like a will, healthcare proxy, power of attorney, trusts, whether
it's revocable or irrevocable. These things aren't set it and
forget it. You know, they're set it and check in
on it. You know, we typically say every three to
(01:53):
five years. So where do we start? Do you have
any questions?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Three one five, two one nine seven nine seven. We'd
love to get some callers today, and that's three one five,
four two one nine seven nine seven. We'd love to
field some questions. But there's a lot of different ways
to start right. Number one would be to call and
speak to somebody. You know, we can't come over there
(02:19):
and knock down your door, so you have to start
the conversation here. And the first step would be us
sending you our questionnaire. And that questionnaire I think helps
a lot of people get organized. It goes through and
asks do you have retirement assets? Do you have bank accounts,
money market funds, do you have stocks. You know, you're
(02:40):
someone that has those old stock certificates sit in the closet.
Do you have the house, are you renting? Do you
have real estate that you own for income? And it
goes through all these questions, do you have any life insurance?
And we're able to get everything into our software program
after you give us the question air back, and from
(03:02):
there we start looking at what would happen if there
was a catastrophic event, right if something happened to you,
if something happened to your spouse, something happened to the
both of you, where would these assets start going and
how would they be classified for tax purposes? So we're
able to really start the conversation right there, and then
from there we're able to give you different paths, give
(03:24):
you different strategies to where you might not be maximizing
the potential of your portfolio or the potential of your estate,
you know, from a tax standpoint.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So again there's a lot of conversations to be had.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Right and organization is key. That was a great point
to bring up to as a starting point. Getting everything in.
Knowing what you own is huge for as far as
setting up your state. So and there's you know, misconceptions
with a state planning. You know a lot of people
think that it's something just for the ultra wealthy, but
everybody has in a state. You know, there's things that
(03:59):
everybody can dude to button up their estate and make
it easy for their beneficiaries to pass on these assets
that you've accumulated.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Throughout your life.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
For example, just met with a woman this past week.
She inherited, well, her mother just passed, you know, a
few years ago. So this is years after her mother passed.
You know, they're cleaning out her things, still going through
all of her stuff, and open up an envelope and
here's some old stock certificates sitting in an envelope, paper
(04:29):
stock certificates still in the mother's name that they now
have to go and figure out how to dissolve between
herself and her sister and split these. So this is
something that if it was set up on the front end,
you know, some organization and retitled these stock certificates into
an account where the beneficiaries were fifty to fifty her
(04:51):
and her sister, it would have been dissolved at her
death very simply and split between them and in their
own account. By now, so now they have to go
through jump through a lot of hoops to end up
settling this estate. When you know, a simple reorganization of
things and year end, you know, this is a great
time to do it. And you know, now they got
(05:13):
a now they got an issue to deal with.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, so get in front of it right before something happens,
because then it's too late. You know, the best times yesterday,
The second best time is today.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So great quote. Yeah, I don't know who said it,
but great quote.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And it's also a great idea, right to to really
push you to start planning and start getting those beneficiary
designations on file. Making sure your mother or father, who
you know probably shouldn't be the beneficiary on that account anymore,
isn't making sure your current wife or husband, or current
(05:51):
children or nieces nephews you have the appropriate beneficiary designations
that you want right. Where do you want that money going,
how do you want it being received? And you can
really customize all of that depending on what you're looking
to accomplish. We've seen people with, you know, ten thousand dollars.
We've seen people with ten million dollars. You know, everyone
(06:13):
people come in different shapes and sizes with their financial
portfolio and we're able to customize it based on what
their wishes are. You know, do you have a lot
of pre tax assets? Are you top heavy like we
like to call it. There's ways to start restructuring the
tax qualification of your estate. So if it's someone that's
just deferred deferred, deferred, right, put a lot of pre
(06:35):
tax money into a four to one K account and said, hey,
I'm going to be in a lower tax bracket and
retirement and that's what I'm gonna draw it.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So this makes sense.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Maybe you have a pension now, maybe you have really
high sold security. Maybe you don't need that money anymore,
so there's ways to change that from the IRA into
something that's tax free.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We're huge advocates of life insurance taking a little bit
off the four to oh one k each year when
you excuse me, that cookie get me Christmas cook is
a little dry Christmas treet cookie, but trimming some of
the the pre tax money that you have and getting
it into a life insurance So maybe you take you know,
(07:16):
ten fifteen thousand dollars a year offer four to oh
one K and put it into a life insurance premium
and see what that would buy for tax free death benefit.
You can get that money protected. So you get your
life insurance into in your vocable trust. Then you don't
have to worry about long term care. You know, Medicaid
coming after that money and taking it away from you
to pay for your stay at a nursing home or facility.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Right, you definitely don't want the ex wife on the
life insurance or the beneficiary of your account when you
got the new wife who you married, So beneficiaries. The
way you designate your beneficiaries is top priority.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In what's that word.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Takes president takes precedence, Yes, take that's a second, it's
a second time. I forgot that work takes precedence over
your will. So a will, you go establish a will,
and you're beneficiary listed on your life insurance policy is
still the ex wife. You get remarried, it's guess where
that you know life insurance policy is going at your
death the ex wife. You have your mom still on
(08:23):
life insurance and account beneficiaries your four to one K account.
You're putting money into it. You get the job, you
know you've put your mom on it because you're single
guy going into work. You get married, you have a
couple of kids, you pass away prematurely, that four one
K account is going to your mother because of the
beneficiary designation you set on it, and these things take
(08:46):
precedence over that will. So definitely you're in you know,
checkpoint here coming up. Make sure all of these documents
still reflect your wishes with all these life changes like births, deaths, marriage, divorces,
we're going into retirement. You know, a lot of things
change over the years. So definitely sitting down and reassessing
(09:08):
this stuff as we're coming up on the end of
twenty twenty five is a very important thing to take
the time to do.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, I think it's it's crucial.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you know, we're out there in Syracuse now, So
if you want someone to sit down and review what
you have and give you some thoughts, give you some recommendations,
you can call our office. It's eight eight eight five
eight zero one nine one nine and that's eight eight
eight five eight zero one nine one nine. Again, I
just want to thank everyone for listening. You know, it
(09:38):
seems like our message is really resonating out in Syracuse.
We've had a lot of great appointments with great people.
So again, if you want to come in have a
cup of coffee or a water.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We also have ice tea. I believe out there we
are now offering iced tea. Yes you can.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You can definitely give us a call or shoot us
an email. Our website's rpgretire dot com and our office
numbers eight eight eight five eight zero one nine one nine.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
The biggest mistake in retirement planning waiting too long. The
sooner you start, the more options and peace of mind
you'll have. Dave Kopik and the Retirement Planning Group are
here to help you build a smart plan that grows
with you. Whether you're five years out or just getting serious,
Now is the time. Don't put it off. Visit rpgretire
(10:35):
dot com or call eight eight eight five eight zero
nineteen nineteen to schedule your consultation today. Start early, retire better.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Now.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
It's time to make that money work for you. Here's
the secret most people miss. You have to create your
own retirement income plant. Social Security is not enough, pensions
are rare. You need a strategy that turns savings into
monthly income that will last a lifetime. At the Retirement
Planning Group, we build customized income distribution plans so you
can retire with confidence, retire smart, live well. Call eight
(11:08):
eight eight five eight zero nine nine for your complementary consultation.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And we're back. Hello wsy R, Hello Syracuse. It's a
great day to have a day.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's also coming up on Christmas here, so I wish
everybody merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and a nice
warm New Year's powerful twenty twenty six coming. So start
getting your financials in order. That's the main gist of
the show today, right. We want to make sure that
you know you're thinking about it at least, so just
(11:54):
bringing it to the table to start checking making sure
if something were to happen to you, now your children,
your children, but your spouse, so the surviving spouse is
accounted for.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Whether you're someone who did the pension max.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A lot of people have pensions, so if you took
the single life allowance, make sure there's something for the
surviving spouse if that pension goes away. You know, if
we're talking three four thousand dollars a month, that's the
equivalent of a seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars account.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
So to solve that income.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
But again there's a lot of different people out there
and a lot of different situations, and we have to
put ourselves in your shoes right and act in a
fiduciary capacity based on who you are and what you're
looking to accomplish. And that's generally what that first appointment
looks like. So if we sit down and chat with you,
(12:45):
we're doing a lot of listening, We're asking questions. Might
feel like an interview, but we're just trying to get
to know you right, and then from there we can
really start coming up with a plan.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, I always tell folks, the first appointment you're talking,
the second appointment where to talk. Uh So, the first
appointment is, you know, getting to know you, your situation
and what you're looking to accomplish with a relationship with
our team. This second appointment is where we start throwing
around ideas, showing you our side of the fence, you know,
orchestrating that plan through e money, getting that organization in
(13:18):
one screen, applying it to you know, all the assets
you've accumulated in your life, and then showing you how
we manage assets compared to either what you're already doing
now or how we would manage your pool of money
moneies once it's rolled out into a retirement account. So
but as far as the estate planning, let's just go
(13:38):
over the basics, the will, health care proxy, power of attorney. Yeah,
and there's our trumpet up. Sorry, Nico, put your trumpet away.
So the basics, the will, the healthcare proxy, power attorney.
What are they and what do they accomplish? You know,
(13:59):
the you're your durable power of attorney is gonna allow
someone to act on your behalf in a financial matter.
Your healthcare proxy is the same thing, but for medical decisions.
And then a will is just how your assets will
be you know, dissolved at your death. We are huge
advocates in New York state of trusts, so you have
(14:21):
revocable Irrevocable. Revocable offers more flexibility as far as pulling
money in and out of it, and it settles in
a state without going through probate. So wills can be contested.
Trusts cannot. That is a huge caveat difference between a
will and a trust. Manage your assets from the grave
is how we refer to trusts, uh, because you know,
(14:42):
in order for that trust to be dissolved, it has
to go out in the way that you structured it,
and that's you know, at that point in time, we'll
have discussions with an attorney too to figure out if
irrevocable or revocable is the way to go with your
current you know, set up up in situation.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It depends on what you're looking to accomplish, what the
purpose of the trust is. You know, if it's a
revocable trust is something you're looking to set up, you would.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Be the trustee on that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Right, irrevocable trust, you have to assign trustees because that's
a type of trust where you want it outside of
your ownership. So you assign a trustee someone you trust clearly,
but again the irrevocable trust.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And you can fire them. That's a caveat to that too.
So your trustee you can fire if they don't act
on your behalf exactly, so you can always fire them.
You know, you could be like, what is it, Donald Trump?
You fi it?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
But again, assign someone you do trust and you think
they're you know, they have your best interests at heart,
and they also have to adhere to what the trust says, right,
So if they don't, then they're liable. Right, So you
need to figure out which type of trust you want
and what the purpose of it is. So a lot
of people call irrevocable trusts Medicaid trusts. I've heard that
(16:04):
as well, right, because they protect the a state from
a long term care facility right from the state New
York coming after it through Medicaid. So again there's a
five year look back sixty months, so you do need
to set that up five years prior to going into
a nursing home or else. They're going to have you
list that as an asset of yours when you go
(16:25):
to apply for that nursing home and we've got clients
who are in memory care facilities, you know, it could
be fourteen fifteen, sixteen thousand dollars a month. So this
is a very expensive bill that a lot of people
are seeing. You know, the CPI numbers just came out
and one of the highest inflated items on that list
was nursing home long term care facilities at over ten percent.
(16:49):
So the costs aren't getting cheaper, and you know, how
do you want to account for that? Do you want
to try to qualify for Medicaid quicker so that they
would pay for your stay, or do you want to
try to plan for that, and you know, maybe long
term care insurance is an option for you. Maybe you
have some maybe you have old life insurance policies that
don't have long term care attached to them, and maybe
(17:11):
we could take that old life insurance policy in ten
thirty five into a new one that has a long
term care rider built into it and has a death benefit.
And there's products out there that do that. You know,
the New York State Partnership's gone. A lot of people
used to have partnership policies, you know, twenty twenty five
years ago. They're also getting increased premium notices now, so
there's a you know, it's a very difficult field to navigate.
(17:36):
Do you want coverage for that? If you do, we
can evaluate what makes the most sense for you.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Right and sitting down and having these conversations with someone
and just reviewing what you have is crucial going into retirement.
Not only that, but readdressing how everything's going to be
orchestrated at death. So there's a lot of misconceptions in
myths that people don't go and sit down and review
(18:03):
all these things. You know, a lot of them are, oh,
I'm too young I don't have enough money, or my
will covers everything, my spouse will take care of this
once I die. These are all misconceptions. I did it once.
I'm all set. You know, I set this up ten
years ago. You know, we already met with the attorney
and set up all these legal documents. Not life changes.
(18:25):
So as life changes, you know, plans change, beneficiaries may change.
You know, these are things to constantly look at and
readdress every three to five years. So we always say
red flags in that area is something that's five years old.
If you haven't looked at it in five years, probably
time to sit down, you know, going into twenty twenty
six here and just make sure everything still aligns with
(18:46):
how you've set it up originally. If any major life
or financial changes happened, definitely reconsider looking at these documents.
If you move to a new state, that's a huge
one because there's different laws and regulations on how assets
are dissolved, especially if you're in a retirement facility or
(19:10):
nursing home. Not retirement facility, so if you're in a
nursing home, different states have different rules on you know,
assets they're going to go after, So definitely knowing where
you live. If you ended up moving to Florida or
have plans to move to Florida, new tax laws and
you know, considerations, you should definitely relook at those and
then different retirement planning strategies. So how are you spending
(19:32):
these assets is also huge.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Life's a circle.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Your retirement plans a circle, right, You're always revolving, evolving, right,
So as situations change, you need to reevaluate, and we
do that periodically every time we meet with individuals current clients.
We meet with at least once, maybe twice a year.
Initially we meet a lot more than that, but once
(19:58):
we have everything set up, it's pretty straightforward. Unless there's
major life events. Then we plan around that and we
have to adapt and change, and you know, maybe we
need to start sending more income off the accounts if
you're someone that's taking on a new property or you
want to have a vacation home. So life changes. People
are born, you know, kids are born, there's divorce, there's death,
(20:20):
So keep revisiting that original plan you set up. A
lot of people have seen exponential growth in their retirement
accounts over the last ten twenty years, and you know,
don't get too greedy, get rebalance back to your risk
tolerance level and your asset allocation that makes the most
(20:41):
sense for where you're at. But again, you might see
these pre tax accounts just continuing to grow and they're
becoming more and more of a tax liability for your beneficiaries.
So we talk about it all the time, getting out
in front of that and starting to come up with
a plan for how your assets are going to be
handled at.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Right and a lot of this, you know, the estate
planning is fully intertwined with what we do as advisors,
because you know, a situation that we ran into last
week or two weeks ago was a gentleman who came
in and sat down, and he has a lot of
non qualified assets. So he has significant wealth in non
(21:21):
qualified assets that are not protected in an irrevocable trust
right now, and he's living with a very low distribution
rate off of these assets. So he was taken about
two and a half percent off of his pool of
money to live on. And I'd say fifty percent of
his net worth was in his non qualified brokerage accounts,
(21:45):
and it's fully accessible if something were to happen and
he ended up in a nursing home. So with that,
you know, with him living comfortably off that such a
low distribution rate, well let's protect these assets because you
can take the dividends in interest off of your irrevocable
trust to live on and it's you make it past
(22:05):
that five years now you just protected all of this money.
So it's something to always consider. Sit down with the
financial team and see, you know, can I maintain my
current standard of living and live comfortably while protecting these
these assets that I own. So we we told them,
you know, it's time to actually seriously consider sitting down
(22:26):
with an attorney. You know, we're not attorneys. We know
enough you know, to be dangerous in that area from
having conversations with attorneys. But we don't pretend to be attorneys.
We just you know, work hand in hand with them.
So for this guy's specific situation, buttoning up the estate
and getting these assets protected, you know we could with
current interest rates. You know, we're seeing six seven percent
(22:48):
off you know, a taxable income model and then unis
we're seeing three to four percent, So.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You can increase the yield for that individual and also
protect the principle.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So a lot of people out but they also have
appreciated stock. See that quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Their plans just to continue to hold that stock and
give it to their children, which isn't a bad plan,
right The kids would get a step up and basis
at your date of death, so your original cost basis
on the stock will go away and they'll get the
new cost basis based on the day you die, the
fair market value of that stock. As long as they
are a beneficiary on it. Do not make them an
(23:25):
account holder because then they will assume your.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Cost basis on it.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But that's another asset you can get into an irrevocable
trust if it's non qualified. So if that stock is
not in a retirement account, why not get it into
a trust because it's going to the kids. Anyways, they're
going to get a step up. But it'll add protection
so no one can come after that stock. If you
did go into a nursing home, or if you did
have some sort of liability. Right you driving down the
(23:53):
throughway and you know someone's outside of their car doing
their tire, you know, and there's an app accident. This
would be a way to protect some asssets and get
it out of your name. So lawsuits, yes, quite a
few suits this year. Some of them are laughable, but
again it provides liability coverage as well. So if you
(24:16):
want to call our office numbers eight eight eight five
eight zero one nine one nine, or you can call
the show today. We are on ws y R here
numbers three one five four two one nine seven nine seven.
And that's three one five four two one nine seven
nine seven. If you have a question today, we'd love
(24:36):
to have you on air. You know we're here to
talk to you. We're here to try to help you
and educate you. So again, h our office number eight
eight eight five eight zero one nine one night.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We'll be right back, all right.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Retirement is in a Sunday thing. It's a now thing.
Whether you're just starting out or nearing the finish line,
the best time to build your retirement plan is today.
Don't wait for the right moment. Let's create a plan
that works for you. Secure your future and the freedom
that comes with it. Call in my office today and
take action. Eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine.
(25:36):
That's eighty eight five eight zero one nine nine and
your future will thank you. Future retirees twenty twenty five
has gone in twenty 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 on the back burner. It's
(25:57):
time to take action well the retirement planning for a
complementary retirement planning consultation and make twenty twenty six the
year your retirement dreams became a reality. Call eighty eight
five eight zero.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
And take action today and we.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Are back everyone. Thanks for tuning in today. Wsy R.
We are the Retirement Planning Group.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
We're an independently owned financial services firm located in upstate
New York. We have an office location out in Syracuse
that we are visiting quite frequently and we we love
it out there. So again, make us drive out there
and we will. We'll enjoy it. I didn't know they
had a firehouse. Subs, we had a firehouse.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Subs. You're cheating on the Brooklyn pickle.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah about Oh no, I think it's about twelve minutes
from the office. Next time I go out there, I'm
gonna get a firehouse soub. But again, if you want
to sit down in that office with us and have
a conversation or we could do virtual or telephone, you know,
whatever you prefer. The numbers eight eight eight five eight
zero one nine one nine. You know, you have to
(27:16):
start the conversation here, stop procrastinating, you know, get your
ducks in order. Here, your ducks in a row, and
make sure that you start off twenty twenty six with
a bang by.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Getting your financial house in order.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I know it doesn't sound a whole lot of fun,
but at the end of it, you'll feel a lot better, trust.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Me, right, and it is a whole lot of fun
when you see the last three years in the market
we've had and a lot of the growth that we've seen,
you know, in your assets, if you're in a in
the correct allocation is you know, as far as your
risk tolerance. But it's a twenty twenty six, you know,
it's always a great time to New Years. You know,
people have New Year's resolutions, you know, things that they
(27:56):
want to check off and get going for the new year. Uh,
buttoning up the estate, getting your legal documents in order,
setting up your asset allocation to facilitate how you want
your state to be paid out to your beneficiaries is
something that we definitely overemphasize we're big advocates for consolidation,
(28:18):
simplifying the estate, having it under one you know, financial
management teams, eyes and control, so that you know, it's
easy for beneficiaries too. It's a one phone call, you know,
solution at death. You don't have to go over like
this story I told earlier about the stock certificates and
and find things that we're going to cause problems with
(28:40):
the estate or have accounts scattered all over God's creation
as far as you know, different advisors, different accounts over here,
different accounts over there. You know, it's having five different
game plans and five different accounts. You know, we're huge
advocates of consolidation, simplification, not only for yourself and your money,
but for your beneficiaries in the people that are going
(29:03):
to inherit these assets, your loved ones.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Life goes quick, right, So you might have been someone
that's jumped around from occupation to occupation. You've had a
few different careers, and you have these old accounts that
you contributed to while you were with those companies, and
they're kind of just floating around. See that all the time,
Old four oh one k's, old four or three b's
just had a woman come in. She dropped off three
(29:27):
four or three B statements and those are all old accounts,
you know, not one of those or are her you
all right?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Were there? Not one of those is her current workplace plan.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So we took those three accounts and we're consolidating them
into one IRA.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Account in her name.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
It makes a lot easier, less mail in the mailbox,
right and also makes a state a little cleaner, but
also allows us to invest those assets as we see fit.
You know, in those four or three BE accounts, she
only has access to a certain amount of funds, typically
target date funds and you know, maybe a couple index funds,
whereas in an IRA we're able to invest very broadly.
(30:09):
So there's exchange traded funds ETFs. You know, they're more
passive index funds, lower cost, lower expense ratio. And then
there's mutual funds that might make sense. We look a
lot at corporate bond mutual funds. Right now, we're still
yielding a very attractive interest rate. You know, we see
some getting seven percent even eight percent still even with
the Fed's most recent decrease in interest rates. So we're
(30:32):
typically more short on the duration right now, I would say,
to target the higher yield, the higher coupon. But again
we customize portfolios based on what you're looking to accomplish.
We've got younger folks, you know, whether they're thirty forty
years old, they've got years and years before they retire.
It's time to accumulate, it's time to grow, So we
go more stock, more market exposure. Right, the market's averaged
(30:56):
about ten percent historically since it opened, so will typically
go more into the stock market. And as we get
closer to that retirement date, that's when we'll start restructuring
and getting it a little bit more towards cash flow
and get it into those buckets of money we talk about,
so the bucket of money approach as far as income
distribution and retirement. So there's just, uh, there's a lot
(31:20):
we talk about. Sometimes it might sound like we're just
brain dumping here, but uh, again, I think it relates
to a lot of a lot of individuals out there.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Yeah, and it's all it all goes hand in hand.
You want your assets and your asset allocation to reflect
how you want your estate plan as well. So we
work with attorneys, uh to set up you know, these
legal documents and things that we're talking about today to
button up the estate, and then we reflect that within
their investments. You know, some people want to be more
aggressive and have more aggressive growth because they aren't really
(31:53):
going to touch a lot of this money. They're they're
gonna they're trying to grow it for their beneficiaries, whereas
other folks are saying, you know, we want to spend
down these assets. We've saved our entire life. You know,
we want to hit all these bucket list items that
we've always wanted to do in retirement. So our plan
is to spend our money, spend down these assets, and
enjoy them because this is what we did.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
We saved our whole lives for this, and the kids
are successful.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
The kids are Yeah, and that's the other thing too.
It's like, if you live till you're seventy five, eighty
years old, eighty five years old, Uh, your kids are
most likely going to be in their high income earning years,
you know, fifty sixty year olds, and they don't necessarily
need the money anymore. Uh, they're probably in their high
income earning years, if not, you know, retired at that
(32:38):
point in time. So gifting assets while the kids are
younger is something that you know, we see a lot
of people shifting towards now, and that's that's something that
you know, we're advocates for as well. You know, watch
watch the kids utilize the money when they need it
and see them, you know, help them out earlier in
(32:58):
life rather than you know, when they're fifty sixty years
old and they don't necessarily really are reliant on those
funds anymore.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
But gifting is huge, nineteen thousand dollars per individual, per recipient,
so each parent can give a child nineteen thousand, making
the total thirty eight thousand without having to file a
form with the IRS. If you do more than that,
you just have to file the form.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
No taxes should be owed.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
As long as you keep it under the thirteen point
what nine to nine million dollar number for the lifetime allowance,
So that form just keeps track of how much you've
gifted your kids up to that, you know, almost fourteen
million dollar numbers. So not a lot of folks realize that.
They typically ask how much am I going to own tax?
If I give my kid an X amount of dollars,
And we just have to explain that to them that
(33:46):
they should be fine, but typically we do like keeping
it under that nineteen thousand per individual just to make
things easier when it comes to tax season.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Right, you don't have to file any paperwork, you know,
no forms need to be filed.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
But we've got a lot of callers today on the show.
I'll give one more opportunity out. You know, the phones
are ringing off the hook, so.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Three one five, four two one nine seven nine seven
if you want to call in.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Can we like having callers on the show kind of
just here's some different takes or also field some questions.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, go over people's current situations. Is always interesting because
we see a lot of different ones. You know, we
we explain broad topics when we come on a show
like this, but everybody's different. You know, there's really no
cookie cutter approach to what we do on a day
to day basis. It's all facilitates around the client's wants
and needs. So that's always it's always interesting hearing you know,
everyone's different stories and how they want to facilitate not
(34:45):
only their money in retirement, but you know, their estate
as well to the next generation.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, it's a lot of people out there.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
The four one K is the largest asset or the
house you know, and it's important that you take care
of those assets.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I've seen a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
Of individuals over exposed to risk as well in their
four oh one K or workplace accounts.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
They've seen all these years of green, green green.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You know, you don't want to see a big red
year in the account, especially if you're planning on retiring
within the next.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Three to five years.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Start looking at the asset allocation, Start figuring out what
options are available to you within your plan.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Are you over fifty nine and a half?
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Do you have the ability to do an in service
rollover into an IRA account And like I said earlier,
from there you could start investing in a much broader
market of options, so again you have more freedom, more
flexibility and IRA accounts. We're huge advocates. That's where we
can come in as well as well and help you
with that account. So we act as an advisor on
(35:49):
the account through Fidelity Investments, that is our custodian, and
we're able to go in and place trades on those
accounts on your behalf. We have to act in a
fiduciary capacity. We put ourselves in your shoes, acting your
best interest and you know, really figure out what you're
looking to accomplish, whether that be income or growth, do
(36:10):
wroth conversions. You're gonna have required minimum distributions coming up
once you hit seventy three, and we take care of
all those and make sure that the IRS doesn't send
you a notice in the mail.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Right and as far as the the estate, you know,
a lot of these, like Nico was saying, a lot
of these folks that we're meeting with, the majority of
their assets were accumulated within their four to one K plan.
So if you're looking to not send your beneficiaries a
tax liability and a ten year spend down, there's a
lot of different strategies that we utilize internally to leave
(36:46):
a more preference inheritance for those beneficiaries.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Can touch on.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
We'll touch on when we come back. Our numbers eight
day eight by dight zero.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Nine. We'll be back after this.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Your retirement future. Are you dreaming of a comfortable, financially
secure retirement. It's closer than you think. The best time
to start planning was yesterday. The second best time is now.
Even small, consistent contributions make a huge difference over time
thanks to the power of compound. Don't let your retirement
dreams just remain dreams. Start setting up your goals today.
(37:24):
Take control of your future well. Eighty eight five eight
zero one nine one nine. That's eighty eight five eight
zero nine one nine for a free consultation.
Speaker 5 (37:35):
Doesn't have to be overwhelming, especially when you have the
right team by your side. At Retirement Planning Group, Dave
Kopek and his team are here to help you build
a strategy tailored to your goals and lifestyle. Whether you're
nearing retirement or just getting started, now's the time to
take control of your future. Schedule your free consultation today
at RPG retire dot com or call eight eight eight
(37:57):
five eight zero nineteen nineteen Retirement Planning Group Retire with Confidence.
F M.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Alrighty, we are back. My name is Christopher Kopik with
the Retirement Planning Group. I'm an advisor here and what
we're touching on today is the estate planning, you know,
buttoning up year end here, got Christmas coming up shortly
or Hanukkah, whichever you celebrate, and you got the new year.
So going into twenty twenty six, we always like to
touch on buttoning up these estate checking your beneficiaries and
(38:36):
just making sure that you know everything is still the
way you want it to be facilitated. So there's some
misconceptions about estate planning. You know, it's not just about death.
You know, it's about control, controlling your assets, knowing what
you own, clarity on where they're going to be paid
out to at death. You know, clarity on this is
you know where everything is, who's managed by, and how
(38:59):
it's going to be dissolve debt my death, and just
peace of mind knowing that everything is set up and
orchestrated the way you want it to be in throughout
your retirement years. You know, that's why a firm like ours.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
You know exists.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
People want to go enjoy their bucket list items and
retirement and know that someone's looking over their assets that
they've accumulated throughout their entire life and that they're facility
facilitating their you know, wants and needs throughout that period
of time.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
The new year's coming, quick make a decision, right that
decisions to get your state in order. That was the
purpose of today's show. M You know, Chris, I think
you're starting to get it a lot more.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
M HM.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
The estate planning piece and we've seen death, we've seen
unexpected health events occur, and it's part of the business,
and it's tough. You know, we make a lot of
great friendships through this business, and you know, half the
time we talk about you know, what they did for
fun or their vacations and you know all that, and
then you know, we developed these bonds and it's tough.
(40:01):
But life happens and people pass away, and you need
to make sure that everything's accounted for when that does happen.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
You know, no one's immortal. You know, did you find
the pill yet?
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Nope, I haven't, so the time that the clock is ticking,
So just make sure that everything's set up properly. And
I've had a lot of emotional conversations. You know, people
will tend to get emotional when talking about it, which
is completely fine. You know, these these are major decisions
and things you need to come to realization with. You know,
(40:37):
no one thinks, you know, they're going to pass away,
but the reaper is coming, so make sure that. Make
sure you have everything in order, folks, And if you
want us to take a look, I'll go back to
what we said in the beginning of the show. Get
everything organized, right, that's step one. Even if you just
write it down on a loose leaf piece of paper.
(40:59):
You know, all the ass that you have. You know,
my bank account here, my bank account there, my money
market account. I have life insurance with this company. I
have two iras over here. I have an old four
to one K with this company that I worked with
for five years. You know, that loose leaf piece of
paper can be the start of something that you know,
(41:20):
saves your beneficiaries months and months of.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Extended grieving.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
I would say, you know, the quicker the estate is settled,
the quicker they can, you know, start moving on or
start accepting things. So just makes everything easier to have
the estate in order.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Death is hard enough, you know. Don't put your beneficiaries
and the people you love most through the burden of
running around with all these different death certificates and going
to all these different companies trying to settle your estate.
You know, getting all these assets that you've accumulated to
the next generation. Simplification, consolidation, you know, are huge things
(41:59):
that we overemphasize week to week here on the Retirement
Planning Show. We truly do believe in simplifying the estate.
You know, having all of your assets under one umbrella
and understanding that we're one phone call away. You know,
you're not going to get a robot or talk to
someone and get bounced around. If you call our office,
you're going to get a human being on the other line.
(42:19):
And like I said, that's hard enough to deal with.
You don't want your beneficiaries to go through the burden
of making ten different phone calls. You know, you make
one phone call, you talk to myself, Nico, Chris McCarthy,
my father. You know, we're on the other line of
that phone, walking you through step by step how to
(42:39):
pass these assets onto the next generation in the event
that death does happen.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
A lot of times, it's only one spouse, right, that
takes care of the finances. I see it consistently. Consistently,
either the husband or the wife, they deal.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
With the financial matters.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
What happens if something happens of that individual, right, the
surviving spouse might not know where anything is or what
is happening.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
Every year.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You know, how much are you taking off this account?
How much are you've taken off that account? Do we
have life insurance?
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
The surviving spouse might not know that. That's why generally
we you know, try to push people to bring both
to the table when they meet with us. So bring
both sides, right, the husband and wife or whatever the
marriage is. We want to meet with both and make
sure that there's a full understanding and we would have
the surviving spouses back if something happened to you.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
You know, we form a partnership there. So that's our speel.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
On the estate planning side, I want to get to
a couple of year end things you might want to
take a look at. No, because this is one of
our last chats before the new year. I think we
have one more show. But there are some items that
you should address if you want to take care of it.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
For twenty twenty five tax year. Right.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Some of the big ones roth conversions. So if you're
someone that's converting pre tax money into a IRA year
over year, you have to do that by December thirty first, right,
So you can't do ROTH conversions in the new year
for twenty twenty five, so that needs to be done
by twelve thirty one. Also, if you're someone contributing to
a health savings account, you have a high deductible plan
(44:14):
high deductible health insurance plan and you have a health
savings account, those contributions need to be made prior to
year's end. Any non qualified accounts, Right, you have a
brokerage account that you hold stock in or mutual funds.
Those mutual funds are gonna be kicking out capital gain distributions.
They might have already kicked them out this year. Typically
in December, those companies will go in pass off all
(44:37):
the gains to the shareholders. So you might be looking
at a tax bill. Now's the time to tax loss harvest.
Speaker 4 (44:44):
Right.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
You have until twelve thirty one to capture any losses.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
In your portfolio to help offset those capital gain distributions
or capital gains you recognize throughout the year. Typically we'll
look at the November statement, see what transpired, and then
we'll take a look at the account his true for
December start coming up with a tax liability number, and
then we can offset that with any losses. It's been difficult,
(45:08):
right because the market's been so good, so a lot
of green and accounts. But if you have a position
that's down, maybe now is the time to realize it.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
Yeah, cleaning up the accounts, going through buttoning up like
Nico is just saying tax lost harvesting. Offsetting some of
these losses is important, especially when you're getting such high
capital gains. The market's been great, and going into twenty
twenty six, you know there's a few themes too that
we'll be touching on as far as the investment management.
I know this show was about the estate planning, but
(45:38):
you know the next shows we'll be touching on investments.
You know, what to look at into twenty twenty six.
What we're hearing internally from all the wholesalers we've been
meeting with here at our year end appointments. U With
the current rate environment that we're seeing right now, you know,
there's some themes that we're hearing are how we're gonna
(45:58):
internally be looking at our PORTFOLI to reconstruct them if
need be.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Are you not.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Happy with your tax bill you're seeing every year, meet
with us, see if there's ways to start tax planning,
you know, being a little bit more active with your
non qualified accounts.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Right if you're in.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Taxable interest bearing bonds, maybe municipal tax freeze make more sense.
So again, there's ways to lower your tax bill if
it's possible we'll try to find it right. So we
offer tax planning. We do not file, but we will
help you with the tax planning piece. And then you know,
as far as the estate, I think we do an
(46:38):
exceptional job reviewing the estate and making sure everything's in
good order.
Speaker 2 (46:43):
You know, like Chris said earlier.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
One phone call rather than ten, one death certificate rather
than ten. Right, so you have to submit the death
certificate to all these different companies and file different paperwork
for the state settlement process. We will do all of
that for you if you are a client of ours,
to make sure that the beneficiaries feel comfortable and understand
what is transpiring right.
Speaker 3 (47:07):
Get your estate planning in order, get your investment strategies
in order. Going into twenty twenty six, do yourself a
favor and meet with a financial professional like the Retirement
Planning Group. We offer a complementary free consultation. You do
not pay us by billable hours. Our fee structure is
on assets under management, so which it is a no
(47:29):
higher than one percent. The way our business is structured
on a fee level. So if you sit down with us,
you know we can go over. We'll send you out
that confidential questionnaire booklet. We can sit down and review
what you currently have. Put you into the software systems
we utilize, like e Money and Nitrogen, you know, show
you organizationally, how you're set up, get everything in one
(47:52):
snapshot picture for you to you know, be able to
go in and plan for yourself and your future and
your beneficiaries, you know, all in one spot. And then
on the asset management side, we can go in and
structure the portfolio to fit those goals that you're looking
to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
A lot of people are happy with their current advisors,
and you know, there are a lot of great advisors
out there, but you don't know what you don't know, right,
so maybe they're not managing the account appropriately. You're seeing
large swings, maybe it's not experiencing as much growth as
(48:31):
you'd like. Right, we can be a second pair of
eyes kind of give you an idea through Nitrogen our
risk software that we use to kind of evaluate a
portfolio and see the risk adjusted you know, metrics to
see if it's an efficient portfolio. So we could start
giving it a GPA and really start figuring out if
(48:53):
those investments are appropriate for you.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Right, we can go in and look, i'd say, if
you're someone who looks at your statement every month when
you get it from your financial professional team, and you
see all the same number from that company, you know
X y Z company is the across the entire statement
in different categories and sectors in the market. I overemphasize
(49:16):
the folks who see that, come in for a free consultation.
We can show you the benefit of utilizing an open
architecture firm.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Like ourselves.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
We custody through Fidelity Investments, but we have an open
architecture where we can invest in any financial institutions investments,
whether it's ETFs, mutual funds, you know, different money market funds,
treasury bills, bonds, you know individual stocks. Yes, we can
invest in anything and everything, so not everything well penny stocks, yeah,
(49:49):
but we're not. We would never incorporate that. So yes,
we overemphasize come in, sit down, do yourself a favor,
and review your investments. Even if you're on the edge
of teter on, coming in and getting a second opinion,
second pair of eyes over the portfolio.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
It never hurts.
Speaker 3 (50:05):
Like Nico said earlier, We'll have a cup of coffee
of water, maybe a nice unsweet and nice tea that's
new to the office.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, come steal the tea. We'll give you some tea.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
So five one eight five eight zero one nine one
nine or eight eight eight five eight zero one nine
one nine toll free everyone.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Thanks for listening today. It's been a great talk to
year on WSYOL that be holidays
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