Haven Financial Group Radio - 12/7/25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You worked hard for your money, but do you know
how to make it work hard for you. You need
a team with experience, vigilance, and a strategy to help
you live the retirement you deserve. Find your financial safe
haven with Haven Financial Group. Today you're listening to the
new and improved Haven Financial Group Radio Show, where we
bring you comprehensive weekly financial wisdom from the professionals. It's

(00:23):
all about helping you solve retirement problems so you can
make your nest egg last. Your tune to the Haven
Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kolbig and
Kim Karrigan your guides to weekly retirement confidence. If you're
interested in protecting and growing what you have, let us
be your financial safe haven. The phone nines are always

(00:43):
open at six point two five four eighty four hundred.
Now get your financial questions ready because the Haven Financial
Group Radio Show starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Good morning and welcome to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show.
I'm Larry Kolvick and CEO of the Haven Financial Group.
Thanks for listening to us this morning. Give us a
call if you have any questions, worries, concerns, retirement issues.
UH six one two five zero four eighty four hundred
or visit us at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Good to be

(01:17):
with you again, Kim again Retirement at Looms were just
coming off Thanksgiving, so I hope everybody had a great,
great family time, because we certainly did. And now it
was the holiday season.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Here we go.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I know, here we are right sac dab in the
middle of it. Of course, some snow on the ground already,
which is a little hard to take this early in December,
but I guess it could be worse, that's for sure.
But as we draw really the holiday season as it pertains,
I think Larry to Retirement is that we're drawing to
the end of the year and there might be some

(01:48):
things that people want to try to keep in mind
before we hit twenty twenty six. So let's take a
look at what we're talking about here today and again
the title of today's show is is cover your retirement
bases this holiday season. We're going to start with end
of the year retirement housekeeping. As I mentioned, you know,
as we draw to the end of the year, there's

(02:10):
some things in some dates that maybe you need to
keep in mind. Retirement account contribution check up. We'll also
talk about a tax planning checklist for the end of
the year going into next year, and then don't forget
your state planning checklist as well, Larry, this is kind
of an important time for those who are in retirement,

(02:31):
are those who are getting ready to retire, maybe in
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, and I certainly understand, you know, as a holidays approach,
the last thing in your mind you're probably wanting to
think about is retirement. Financial planning probably not what you
want to talk about. It's probably more like, you know,
family football, what presence to get for your friends and
you know, and who are going to get them for
the new year's planning? All that is a lot more fun,

(02:57):
But there is some critical deadlines and time timeframes that
we don't want to miss because costly mistakes, retirement mistakes.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's what we're trying to avoid.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
And that's going to be a lot of ideas we're
going to talk about in today's show.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Sure, let's get started talking about some of the housekeeping
that you might want to think about if you're a
retiree or if you're someone who is planning retirement in
the near future. And let's start with your strategy associated
with social security. This is a great time as you
approach your mid sixties maybe to start thinking about when
is the best time to draw your social security if

(03:34):
you haven't started, and is it best if you draw
it or is it better if maybe your spouse draws
it first.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, you know, It's why we've taught for years now
social security and tax classes and why they're very well
attended because it is a critical decision as far as
when you take In fact, there's a study done recently
that the average American gives up about one hundred and
eighty two thousand dollars in their lifetime by claiming social
security at the wrong time. Social security for an individual

(04:03):
or a married couple is a very big number, and
many times people take it lightly and just turn it on.
They worry more about their portfolio, and for many the
social security amount that you're going to receive in a
normal life expectancy is going to be more than your
portfolio put together. For a married couple, we oftentimes see
it over a million dollars is what you're going to

(04:25):
claim as a couple in your lifetime. So it is
a critical decision. It is a big decision. Do you
take it at sixty two, which seventy percent of Americans do,
and that's a high number, probably way higher than it
should be. Or are either one to two percent of
Americans that wait till age seven seventy. So when is
the best time When folks come to these events and

(04:46):
they come in, we'll give them, we'll run and maximize
Social Security report, a good, better, best roadmap for when
they should take it. For oftentimes you said it very eloquently.
For a married couple, Sometimes the younger breadwinner will turn
it out earlier and the higher bread winner wait as
long as possible, and that the longest possible is seventy
because it doesn't grow past that. I will tell you

(05:09):
there's a lot of psychology. It's tough to get to
seventy for a lot of people. When your friends are
claiming at sixty four or sixty three or sixty five
and you're waiting, thinking, wow, it sure would be nice.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
It has to make sense.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And that's why we help a lot of people in
that decision making process. Our goal, our job isn't to
steer anybody in a different direction than when it makes sense.
And oftentimes you're just trying to make us wait. It
makes no difference to us when you take it. What
makes a difference to us is that you're claiming it
at the right time, and that's where people make costly mistakes.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
Absolutely here at the end of the year, this is
a great time to start thinking about especially if you're
like someone who is still working and maybe you plan
to work for the next couple of years. You want
to maximize those retirement contributions, and now is the time
to consider roth conversions.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Boy, this is These are the discussions that we're having
and have since the start of the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
A lot of these discussions.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
You mentioned maxing out those retirement contributions, and I'm not
referring to necessarily the four to one k yet we'll
get there. This is outside of those employer plans. You're
making sure that you're contributing that seven thousand dollars up
to seven thousand if you're younger than fifty, and then
the eight thousand dollars because over fifty you have a
ketchup provision you know, over time compounding interest on that money.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
We really want to take advantage of it.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
It may it certainly may reduce your tax liability.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
So there's tax reasons why we're.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Going to do it, and then I say, fourth quarter,
these are the times we're having wroth conversion discussions. I
bet you this last week we probably did probably a
good twenty five to thirty client wroth conversions just this week.
Many of those folks would have probably missed that opportunity
had we not had a conversation that we planted that

(07:01):
seat quite a while ago. They just know that fourth
quarter we're going to be talking to Haven and Larry
and the team. Does it make sense, what does our
current year income look like? Is there wiggle room in
that twelve percent tax bracket utilizing your low tax brackets
now rather than higher tax brackets in the future. It's

(07:22):
critical that this tax planning discussion happened and you have
that by planning throughout the year, and guess what, it
leads to successful tax preparation come April. Avoiding the surprises like,
oh my goodness, every year I own money, every year
I owe money. Well, guess what we can plan out
what that conversation is going to look like come tax time.

(07:45):
There doesn't have to be the same surprises that you
don't like every single year.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Sure, absolutely, this is a great time of year to
review all your investments and your income stream.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, this should be gone going throughout the course of
the year. You know, last how many times can we
come in to Haven as many times as you want to?

Speaker 3 (08:04):
And I truly mean that.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Now for some people that's an annual review, some it's
a quarter review. You got to remember, at Haven we
do all the retirement stuff, not just investments, but the
medicare at all the stuff that you and I talk
about throughout the year. But on the investments, we want
to review it at least once or twice a year
at minimum on the investment stress testing that portfolio to
avoid some of the stress that comes with the volatile

(08:29):
stock market. Are you in the right place at this
fa at this season of life? Are you taking enough
risk or way too much risk, which a lot of
people are.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
And what are those income streams? What are they now?
Are you on the cusp of retirement?

Speaker 2 (08:45):
I think of a client, a client from Lakeville, that
they're going to be retiring at the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
What is it we're looking at? What does it look
like this year?

Speaker 2 (08:53):
And then we already have done advanced planning for income
for next year because they need to generate monthly in
come in the most tax efficient way possible. And we've
already started that conversation.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
That's fantastic. Here at the end of the year, again,
you're celebrating the holidays, but maybe you need to take
just a day or two and go through the checklist.
Here some of the housekeeping associated with your retirement. You'll
be glad you did. And one of those things is
checking on those estate planning documents. Now you talk about
this a lot, Larry. People need to make sure that

(09:26):
their beneficiaries are up to date, that all of those
documents are in the places that people and their loved
ones know they're supposed to be.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, it's another class. We're teaching wills and trust and
legacy planning. We do that with our good friends Provision
Law Carry and Keith.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
We just had it one this.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Past week in Lakeville at the Lakeville Library. We were
at capacity. We had a waiting list. We have another
one coming up there which we also have a waiting list.
People want the education in a variety of retirement areas,
and estate planning is certainly one of them, and that's
why it was full. Do I need a trust? Do
I have adequate documents? Do I have powers of attorney.

(10:07):
You mentioned the simplistic way the beneficiaries. You can't believe
how many times I see outdated beneficiaries ex spouses, no beneficiaries.
That's a headache waiting to happen, and that's something you
want to avoid because that could cause probate, that could
cause the transfer of assets after you pass to not

(10:29):
go the way you want to. It can cause so
many problems, maybe not for you if you're not here,
but for your family members, for your kids. And state
planning is it is done for you and your spouse,
but it was also done for your heirs and your
loved ones and those charities that you really really care about.
That's why we do it. And there comes a peace
of mind to know, Wow, we finally got it done.

(10:52):
We've been talking about it for twenty thirty years and
we finally got it done.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
Absolutely. We're going to talk more about a state planning
coming up a little later in the show. So I guess,
really what the point of this whole conversation is. Have
you thought about some of these things, because if you haven't,
that's okay. But this is the time of the year
that it's really great to sit down and as we've
referred to it, end of your retirement housekeeping and if
you need a partner to help walk through some of

(11:18):
the things that you've just heard us talk about, and
there are many others like evaluating your housing options. Maybe
you want to think about that, or again staying up
to date on all the tax laws that are coming
up the next year. Then give the folks at Haven
Financial Group a call. That is how you get an
appointment with them to sit down and to talk through
some of these things. The number is six one two

(11:40):
five zero four eight four zero zero. Tell them that
you hurt us here on the radio. You'd like to
come in, you'd like to sit down, you're interested in
making an appointment to talk about end of year retirement
housekeeping and everything retirement and retirement planning. Again that number
six one two five zero four to eight four zero zero.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
Up.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Next, we're going to talk about retirement account contributions and
making sure that you're checking on whether you're getting those
done by the end of the year. This is the
Haven Financial Group Radio Show.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
Don't go too far.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
We're gathering more important insights and retirement ways. Devin The
Haven Financial Group Radio Show we'll be right back. Stick around.
You've got questions, We've got answers. Your tune to the
Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kolvig
and Kim Karragan. Now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Good morning once again, and welcome to the Haven Financial
Group Radio Show. I'm Larry Koalvig, Founder and CEO of
the Haven Financial Group. Feel free to give us a
call six one two five zero four eighty four hundred,
visit us online, shoot us an email at info at
Golden Info at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Kim, we got we

(12:53):
got Lance Larson, our CPA at Haven Financial Group on
for this segment. Before I let him, I wanted to
take takeaway from that first segment. Sure, you know a
lot of that might have been overwhelming. We covered it quickly,
those timelines and the to do list. But the good
news is, Kim, listeners don't have to do it alone.
If they have a good partner to lean on and

(13:16):
that can keep them up to date with all the
rules and the laws and the changes and all that stuff,
they don't have to do it themselves. So again, have
a good partner. We would love to be that partner.
And again we got Lance lur since our CPA. We're
going to talk about tax planning checklists and you know
what to do, because taxes are just so much fun,
aren't they, Lance?

Speaker 5 (13:36):
They are.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
My fear is that Lance actually believes they are great
to see Lance, like always, I'm so glad you're here.
We're talking about you know, end of year, holiday time,
and there's you know, this isn't necessarily the time of
the year that everybody wants to be thinking about some
of these issues, but this is a good time of
the year as we wind down twenty twenty five and
we get ready for twenty six. I thought we talked

(14:01):
a little bit about account contributions and some of the
things that maybe you need to walk through here at
the end of the year to make sure that you're
where you want to be. One of the big things here, gentlemen,
is that people need to know what the contribution limits
are at the end of the year and maybe make

(14:21):
some preparation for what they're going to be the following year.
So maybe you could walk us through the limits of
twenty twenty five, let's say, on your IRA contributions.

Speaker 5 (14:32):
So the limits, Kim, they are going to be depended
upon what retirement account that you're contributing to. So for
people at work, most people have a four to oh
one K, and so the four oh one K they
have a bigger limit than your individual IRA right there.
So for the IRA, the limit is going to be

(14:53):
seven thousand dollars plus one thousand dollars catch up for
those over fifty. Now that limit is both for the
traditional IRA and the WROTH IRA is and it's not
seven thousand each, it's seven thousand between the two of them.
So now we look at it and say, all right,

(15:14):
for those over fifty, we have a maximum of eight
thousand dollars that we can put into an IRA, whether
it's traditional or WROTH. Then we actually need to start
looking at the other contribution limit factors, such as if
you are covered at a work retirement plan at work,
then can you make a deductible traditional IRA contribution? Are

(15:35):
you making too much money that you can that you
might not be able to contribute to the wroth account
as well? So there are going to be some other
limiting factors that are going to be based upon income
and whether you're covered at a retirement plan at work.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Okay, so a traditional for one K is twenty three thousand,
five hundred right, correct.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
Correct, that's the basic level forever everyone right there. Then
we have the additional ketchup for those over fifty. That's
going to be another seventy five hundred for the four
to one K. So when we talked with the IRA,
it was a lower limited. That's seven thousand versus twenty
three five versus at the four to one K. Now

(16:20):
we have a catchup which is only one thousand dollars
at the IRA, it's seventy five hundred for the four
to oh one K. And then in addition the four
to one K people who are aided sixty to sixty
three have a super ketchup that seventy five hundred dollars
turns into eleven thousand, five hundred.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Oh, terrific. Great, These are a lot of numbers, I know,
and for people who are listening immediately you just kind
of go, who, my head is spinning. But why is
it important lance for people to understand here at the
end of the year, as they're going into twenty twenty six,
what's important for people to understand, you know, what the
limits are, or to get some information so you know,

(17:01):
they could make their planning. Why is that so important though.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
Well, the first thing, Kim, is that there are limits
that if you are over contributed, now you can actually
be subject to penalties. That's the probably the biggest thing
right there, that if you put too much in, whether
it's a four to one key or what I see
a lot is actually people putting too much into their
health Savings account their HSA. But any of these accounts

(17:27):
that you can contribute to, if you overcontribute, you will
now be subject to an excise penalty on the overcontribution
and then you have to do something about it. You
have to take it out. So that could cause future
tax problems for you that you're not planning on. Because
you say you put in their fifty thousand dollars just

(17:47):
as a nice round number, Well, you are definitely over
that limit. Now you have to get that money out.
But when you put it in there, it was a
tax deduction for you. When you take it out, you
have to pay the tax. Is now now you've just
given yourself future taxable income.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Right absolutely, And because taxes, I think is an area
that everybody's very interested in. Let's talk a little bit
about at the end of the year. Here if you're
trying to make some decisions about in twenty twenty six
where you want to put your money that would give
you the greatest tax advantage when it comes to these
kinds of retirement accounts, what do you suggest to people?

Speaker 5 (18:27):
I'd say, look at where your income levels are at.
So the first thing I look at is when your
taxable income. Again, we talked about the tax brackets before that.
On the federal side, we're at ten, twelve, twenty two,
then twenty four. So if you want to pay minimal
taxes in retirement, most of the time we can keep

(18:49):
a lot of the retirees in that ten to twelve
percent tax bracket. So if you're looking at your income
and saying, hey, my income this year is going to
put me into the twenty two or the twenty four
percent tax bracket, well, it makes a lot of sense
to do a traditional where we get the deduction today,
because we are going to get a deduction at that
twenty two or twenty four percent tax bracket versus someone

(19:11):
today who's working that is in the twelve percent tax bracket.
It might make more sense to do a wroth contribution
at that point because we don't necessarily need that deduction today.
Let's have that grow tax free and get free tax
money in the future.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
Sure, this all sounds interesting but confusing for some people.
When you sit down with new clients, First off, at
what age do you want to see them making these
kinds of tax decisions?

Speaker 3 (19:42):
And what do you do.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
If maybe they've made decisions on their own that maybe
will not be advantageous in the future.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
So they answer their first question, I'd love to see
them right when they're in the twenties to help them
get on the right path. Now, with that being said,
a lot of time we were dealing with retiree is
made their decisions. Like you talked about, that's kind of
water on the bridge. We can't go back twenty years
ago and make different changes because sometimes the rules didn't
exist at that point. Wroth accounts are a relatively new thing.

(20:14):
A lot of the time we went from you had
a company paying your pension back in the sixties and
seventies to now. In the eighties and nineties, companies started
forcing their employees to manage their own retirement, and so
we have these traditional ones, the wroth accounts. They weren't
for everybody. They weren't available at that point. So I
want to say that people who want to say that,

(20:37):
oh I wish I would have done this, well, stop
looking backwards because those rules didn't exist back then. Let's
deal with what we have now. And so that's to
answer your other question, what do we do with it?
When you look at where you're sitting at today, we
make the best decisions that we can today with the
rules that we have. This is when we have the opportunity.

(20:59):
We talk a lot out these roth conversions. So someone
is making income that's doing a twelve percent tax bracket,
we still have these wiggle rooms. Hey, let's take some
of that traditional stuff that you did in the prior
years and then let's convert that to a wroth today.
Those are the type of things we like looking at Kim.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
If I could add, the good news is and I
think it's how Lance and Haven differentiates from others is
Lance's favorite thing is the whiteboard. He loves to explain
things and make it so people understand. I can't tell
you how many times a year I folks walk out
of his office and go Nobody has taken the time

(21:39):
to explain it to me in a way that I
can understand. Now you don't have to be the expert,
but we explain things that haven We help people understand
why they're doing what they're doing. We had a newer
clients that we were referred to. They're from Elko New Market.
Just this past week we sat down with them, high
income earner. They're on the right track. They've had a journey,

(22:00):
just like a lot of us have. But guess what
was fitting for them here as we were planning is
a backdoor wrath. They go, we would have never ever
known anything about this. Imcommerner can't contribute, but we did
a backdoor wrath that made complete tax sense, and they
would have missed it, just like a lot of people
missed it because most of most people nowadays are not

(22:22):
tax planning. They're simply getting their taxes prepared. They're not
even seeing their tax prepairer. And that is not enough
attention as you go, as you approach retirement and in retirement,
that's the wrong approach. Sorry to say that's the wrong approach,
and I think people should change that.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Well, we're going to talk more about tax planning and
how important that is at this time of year. It's
important all year round, but certainly important as we come
to the end of the year in the beginning of
the new year. Six one two five zero four eight
four zero zero. That's how you get hold of the
folks at Haven Financial Group. Lance Larson is our guest.
He's a CPA there at Haven and he's going to

(23:00):
stay with us as we talk about tax planning. Your
checklist here at the end of the year, so you
stay with us as well. Folks. This is the Haven
Financial Group Ringio Show.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Ready to find your financial safe haven. Your dream retirement
is in reach. Don't go away. The Haven Financial Group
Radio Show will be right back. Are you worried that
your financial strategy might be missing something, Well, you're in
the right place. Larry Kolvig is back and ready to
help you find your financial safe haven.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Welcome back listeners.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
My name is Larry Kolvick, founder and CEO of the
Haven Financial Group, And if you're just tuning in, you
are listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show, where
weekly we discuss crucial retirement and financial topics that may
not be the most exciting, however important and then they
can make the difference between surviving retirement and thriving through it,
and let's continue this conversation on taxes. Lance Lurs and

(23:56):
our CPA at Haven and his assistant Melissa. We're able
to help a lot of people, not just in tax preparation,
but through the tax planning process that we continue to
talk about. Because I always say taxes will affect us
at every stage of life, but probably more so in
retirement than ever before. And I know that's not enoughlifting

(24:18):
thing to say, but it's the truth. So well, let's
do the best we can to minimize the amount of taxes,
and let's do what we can to figure out what
makes the most sense for your situation, complicated or simple.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
Sure, Lint, I think one of the first things we
really need to establish with folks is that tax season
is not just between January and April fifteenth.

Speaker 5 (24:39):
No, it isn't. That's the tax preparation season, but the
tax planning that's actually all year, and more specific for me,
anything after April fifteenth and to the end of the year,
that's when I spend the most time doing all these
planning with clients.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
Sure, So, when someone comes in in they want a
tax plan, where do you start? What do you do?

Speaker 5 (25:06):
My first question is kind of what is their lifestyle like,
what's important to them? So I can come up with
a whole bunch of different strategies.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
We can.

Speaker 5 (25:17):
One of the best ones for retirees that are age
seventy and a half or older, you can do a
qualified charitold distribution out of your IRA. That helps reduce
what your future are ore MDS could be and it
also gives money to charity. It's a great tool. But
if charity is not really high on your list, why

(25:39):
would we want to use that tool. So this is
why we need to understand what's important to our clients,
and so we'll have a good five, ten, fifteen minute
discussion of kind of what's important to them, what's their
lifestyle like, what's going to happen. I hate saying it
this way, but the easiest way to avoid paying taxes
is to have very low income. Well, if you have

(26:03):
a lifestyle that requires a high level of income, well,
I can't give you a low income because now you're
not going to have a nice lifestyle.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Sure, absolutely, And you know a lot of people once
they are over sixty five, there's not a lot of
write offs, there's not a lot of I know, there's
a there's a senior tax out there, a deduction for
being over sixty five.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
Correct. Yes, this actually is brand new thanks to the
one big beautiful bill that was signed into law on
July fourth this year that people who are going to
be aged sixty five and older by the end of
twenty twenty five, you will get an additional six thousand
dollars per person. So a married couple can have an
extra twelve thousand dollars of an extra deduction in addition

(26:50):
to their standard deduction. So for a married couple both
over sixty five, their standard deduction will be thirty four thousand,
seven hundred, then they get this extra twelve thousand. Now
they're writing off almost forty seven thousand dollars of income,
No questions asked.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Right, which is important to a lot of seniors, No
two ways about that. I'm talking a little bit about
what harvesting is when it's as it relates to taxes.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
So with tax harvesting, this is when you have an
after tax account that you've invested. You take your money
that you've earned, paid the taxes on, and you've bought
stocks with it. Sometimes stocks go up, sometimes stocks go down. Well,
tax loss harvesting is when you look at those stocks
that have lost money for you and you can sell

(27:43):
them at the end of the year and to have
a capital loss. We use that to help offset other
capital gains that we may have and so then we
kind of net those out there, and then we could
also use up to three one thousand dollars to write
off against your ordinary income. So this is a nice

(28:04):
tax strategy to help when you're trying to rebalance a
portfolio that in retirement you're in the or before retirement,
you were in the grow Grow Grow, so you're okay,
you're going to write it out for the long term.
So you can buy that stock and it's going to
go up and then it's going to go down and
you don't care. But once you get to retirement, now

(28:26):
we need to be a little bit more conservative about
it because if the market goes down, now the value
goes down. We don't like that. So when we've bought
the stocks way back in the day and now we
have these big capital gains, well, we have to pay
taxes on that. And that happens when you want to rebalance.
Because it is an after tax account. We don't have
that qualified status like we do with your retirement accounts,

(28:50):
your four oh one K, your IRA. So when we're rebalancing,
we're trying to get out of those risky stocks. Well
let's sell some of the losers as well, so then
we have less of a capital gain that we have
to worry about, and then we can rebalance everything into
a more balanced approach. So then retirement, if the market

(29:11):
does go down, that you're not going to be hurting
as much as you would.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Prior sure which again, folks, these are things that maybe
sound a bit confusing, but would not be confusing if
you sit down with a partner who can walk you
through your specific situation. I want to talk about executing
Wroth conversions. Is this the best time of the year
to do it?

Speaker 5 (29:34):
It is. The reason being is that now that we're
in December, we're looking at it and saying, we know
what our income was for the last eleven months. It
is really easy for us to say what our income
is going to be for the last month, so we
have a really really good idea where your income is
going to be at on your tax return. Versus if

(29:55):
you try to do it in February, we only have
two months worth the data. We have a ten months
worth of life to happen, and there's a lot more
variability with that much life happening. So this is typically
why we look at these conversions to do them in
the fourth quarter. And the nice thing is is that
when you do a WROTH conversion in the year, whether
you do it in first quarter or fourth quarter, every

(30:18):
conversion is deemed to have been done as of January
first of that year. So it doesn't really give you
any incentive to do it earlier than fourth.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
Quarter, except that maybe it's just hard to see you
in the fourth quarter, right, they do fill up.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, that's so, and Cam, I have to add what
he said is completely accurate. But now there's a reason
why we're having these conversations throughout the course of the
whole year and specifically at the beginning of fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
But now we're into December.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Okay, there's the element of time, and there's the timeline. Yes,
I know that December thirty first for roth conversions is
the deadline first qualified charitable distributions, et cetera. We don't
want to wait till December thirty first, because it's not
going to get done. Our deadline is really December first,
which is already passed.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Our drop dead deadline is December fifteenth, because the end
of the year, I know, human nature is procrastination. After that,
it's not going to get done because there's processing time.
Qcds take a little longer. It's why we want to
have a proactive conversation. We can't wait till the end
of the year to get this stuff done and executed.

(31:33):
So that's why this is an ongoing conversation. There's a
timeline and we've got to follow it. We can't wait
till the last second.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
And Lance, let me ask you about Medicare premiums and
what the end of the year means for that.

Speaker 5 (31:49):
So what you want to be sure is when you're
doing these income planning that Medicare there are thresholds, just
like tax brackets, and fortunately with these thresholds they are cliffs,
so that if you go one dollar over now you
are going into the next bracket for IRMA and you're

(32:11):
going to get that extra charge on your Medicare. From
a tax perspective, if you go in over by one dollar,
not that big of a deal because it's only that
one dollar that's going to be taxed at that higher
rate versus IRMA. You go one dollar over. If you
are at the at the base tier where you're just
paying that one to eighty five a month or whatever

(32:32):
it's going to be. Next year, you go one dollar over,
you're going to be hit with an extra forty percent
of the cost on that one. Wow, you get into
that second tier, that forty percent jumps to one hundred percent.
It doubles. So this is why you want to be
careful what your income.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
Is, and that's something that really needs to be addressed
by years end.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
I want to make sure that we have that you're
not going over. And so that's why the year end
planning is so important.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
Yes, for the following year, for twenty two sick, she'd
want to be planning that right this minute, Right absolutely, Kim.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
We have seen this cost people lots of money care
premiums by trying to do the right thing, working with
somebody that only does one thing, which maybe is investment.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
So oh, this is a good idea.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Let's convert two hundred thousands of dollars from iratea wrath. Hey,
we like rath conversions if they make sense, But we
have seen that cost people lots of money money on
the medicare premium. So that's why the coordination of your CPA,
tax prepare, your investment and your insurance person you're a
state planner, they should be coordinated in retirement more than ever,

(33:38):
they should be working together, and unfortunately we see it
working in different directions. And it's why the goal ten
years ago. Because HAMN is celebrating our ten year anniverse,
we're proud of it. I can't believe ten years has passed.
The goal ten years ago when I started the company
was to have multiple personalities in all these retirement areas,
and thankfully that has come to fruition and it's so

(34:01):
very very important and I love the compliment that I
get weekly. Wow, it's so nice to have all these
retirement retirement topics under one roof, with multiple personalities that
communicate and talk to each other. Boy, it's really effective
and it's working really really well.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
Well.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
Congratulations to all of you, and I know it is
working very very well. As we close out this segment,
I just want to remind people that we are here
at the end of the year and there's a lot
of deadlines. You've heard both of both Larry and Lance
talking about it, and it's hard to keep track of
all of these things and you need a partner to

(34:39):
do so. You're a situation is unique, and so it's
really important that you sit down with someone and talk
about your specific needs. Maybe you've missed some deadlines in
twenty five, but twenty six is around the corner, and
you want to make sure that you don't miss those
deadlines again. Give them a call it Haven Financial Group
at six one two five zero or eighty four hundred

(35:01):
at six one two five zero four eighty four zero zero.
Lan Florsen, thanks so much for being a part of
the show. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Keim, you bet
say with us everybody, this is the Haven Financial Group
Radio Show.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Don't go too far.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
We're gathering more important insights and retirement pays government the
Haven Financial Group Radio Show. We'll be right back. Stick around.
You've got questions, We've got answers. Your tune to the
Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kulvig
and Kim Karrigan. Now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Good morning once again, and welcome to the Haven Financial
Group Radio Show. I'm Larry Kolvig, founder and CEO of
the Haven Financial Group, where weekly we talk about all
these wonderful retirement topics, the state of the economy, all
this exciting information.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
It may sound overwhelming, we.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Forgive us, but there's a lot to talk about. The
good news is, though I've said it before, you don't
have to do all this on your own. I hope
you have good a good partnership or partnerships that you're
working with people that are spending the time with you
that they should be spending with you because you're paying
them for services and you're paying them for what to

(36:16):
get together maybe once a year, probably not the amount
of attention you deserve, and maybe should seek out some
other type of partnership with somebody else.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
We have been talking today about your retirement checklist at
the end of the year. We started by talking about
during the holidays, and we recognize that during the holidays
maybe not a time that you want to go through
these checklists. But if you recognize the fact that we
are at the end of one year, in beginning a
new year, and there are many deadlines, I think you

(36:48):
will agree it is an important time to take a
moment and just to walk through some of the plans
that you have some of the plans that you need
to put into place, and twenty six might look like
one of those areas is your estate plan. And Larry,
this is every time we talk about this, this is
something that we bring up. A lot of people think, oh, well,

(37:12):
estate plans. I don't have to worry about that because
I don't have a bunch. I have my home, and
I have my car, and I have a small retirement
fund and that's it. So I'm not really worried about that.
But that's not the case.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
You are a one hundred percent correct.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
First of all, a solid estate plan could be one
of the greatest gifts you can give to your family,
to your kids, to your heirs, beneficiaries, charities, whoever is
important to you. And you're thinking, well, I'm not rich,
I'm not megawealthy. Who cares it has nothing to do
with it. That is a complete misconception. Now I'll preface

(37:48):
this conversation by saying, I'm not in a state planning attorney.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
I have years of experience in it.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
I'm not the attorney they'll Carrie Renner and Keith with
Provision Law are a great partners. It's why I do classes,
they come to our office, they do no cost consultations
for our folks.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
But it's truth.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
It's for everyone, whether you have a very little, a
lot complicated, a lot of kids, no kids. By the way,
if you have no kids, that can be problematic as well.
Where's it going to go? Through the courts? Through the
attorneys fees? So again this.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Applies to everybody.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
In fact, some of these estate planning documents, these ancillary documents,
powers of attorney, health care directives, et cetera, are for
those eighteen and above. Well, what eighteen year old's thinking
about putting a power of attorney? I guarantee hardly anybody.
And again this applies you know when you got married,
became an adult, started getting assets, had kids, that's when

(38:47):
the state planning was designed for. But as a society
we have made it a senior topic. Well guess what
it should be done way before you become a senior. Okay,
it should be done when you again are starting life,
young kids, setting up guardianship, and maybe you're listening and
you have a will that you put together thirty forty

(39:08):
years ago. Well guess what that will probably says that
your kids will be under the supervision of your one
of your siblings. Well, your kids are now forty or
fifty year old, they really don't want to be in there.
Your grandpa's supervision probably not right. So again, these can
become outdated, and that's why they should be updated. First
of all, start, you got to start somewhere to get somewhere.

(39:30):
If you haven't done anything, let's have a conversation. Set
up a time with a no cost consultation. They're not
going to try to talk you in and sell you
something you don't need. But everybody should have a will
to some degree. Everybody should have powers of attorney. Everybody
should have certain things. Not everybody needs a trust. But
here's the misconception wired with trust for just for rich people.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
Not true. Again, getting all the information is where it starts.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
Well, you know, first of foremost, I'm going to suggest
that you call Haven Financial Group and sit down with
their attorneys. Six one two five zero four eight four
zero zero that's the number. Write it down, give them
a buzz, tell them that you hurt us here. But
it would be smart if you kind of walk through
a few things on your own. Maybe sit down with

(40:18):
your spouse and the two of you talk a little bit,
and one of those would be, first off, Larry, to
start to itemize your physical assets, the things that you
have like houses and cars and so on and so forth.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, that's always a good idea. First, the more information,
the more detail you can leave for those that your
loved ones, for your heirs, The more detail the better.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
It just makes sense.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Create a compromise and take inventory of those valuable items,
you know, whether it's vehicles, whether it's jewelry, you know
that grandma's wedding ring, any collectibles, any of those type
of possessions.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
So that's always important.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Also document the non physical assets, those base accounts, you know,
what are the bank accounts, what are those retirement plans,
life insurance, you know, kind of a go to place
that those the kids can go to, where your spouse
can go to.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
A lot of times the spouse.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Sometimes the spouse isn't involved and one of the spouses
takes care of it all and then all of a
sudden they die and they don't even know where to
start looking. Sure, again, the more conversations, the more communication,
the better. Yeah, and even put a list of those debts,
because guess what those liabilities are probably going to have
to be paid off by somebody, the credit cards they have,

(41:32):
the mortgage that you may have, and maybe you don't
have a mortgage. And if that's the case, the happiest
people in retirement don't have a mortgage. So if that's
a goal of yours, I encourage it. So you know,
those memberships and subscriptions, Oh my goodness, that list might
get long with all the different subscriptions that are out
there today. In fact, I see charge, I'm like, I
didn't know I signed up for that or that. So

(41:53):
I think that's a good idea just to monitor debt
if I know what subscriptions you are signed up for,
because you might begin charging you don't even know it.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
So again, the more detail, the better you know.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Can I just some advice, make sure that you document
your digital footprint and stay and age. That has become
such a big deal, Larry. You know, maybe your spouse
or your children don't have any idea how to get
into your accounts because everything's behind a digital wall and

(42:26):
you haven't left behind passwords or where that stuff can
be found.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Oh that can RecA a big time again. You are
the digital footprint that the world we live in the
digital footprint for the variety of reasons you mentioned, and
then for insurance purposes, you know, having a digital footprint
of the things, of the belongings that you have, take
pictures of them. And I say that not out of fear,
but I can tell you there's a couple in Lakeville

(42:52):
that lost their house to a fire, just tragic and
they didn't have this and guess what. They submitted all
this stuff that they had in the house supposedly, and
the insurance company says, show me proof.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Well, they really didn't have any proof. Guess what.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
They didn't get a whole bunch of their stuff covered.
So there's a variety of reasons to document digital footprint.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
What account numbers.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Make sure we talked about earlier, make sure your beneficiaries
are current on those annuities, on those accounts, the retirement accounts,
life insurance policies. And then it boils down to your
your your estate plan, trust will, which is more appropriate
transfer on death deed. Maybe that'll be good enough, although

(43:36):
that comes with some drawbacks as well. I'm not the attorney,
but having a conversation, a no cost consultation with Keith
or carry with provision law here at Haven. It can
go a long way if you don't. If you decide
that they're not they're not a good fit. You can
interview as many attorneys as you want, as you want.
What I do find though, is I'm not against doing yourself,

(43:58):
and a lot of variety of area is it can
save money, do it yourself. But doing it yourself in
a world that's very litigious, be very careful. I wouldn't
even bother doing it doing I'm going to do my
own will well. I understand back in the day when
you could whisper to somebody what they wanted and it
would be honored. But guess what, that isn't the case today.
You know, a handshake probably just isn't good enough. You

(44:22):
need a legal estate plan done properly with the right legallees,
the right verbiage. Otherwise, guess what, it might not work,
might not work, and what do we get with the
state planning if it doesn't work, We only only get
one chance. And if it doesn't work, too bad, because
just guess what not to be that way. But when

(44:43):
you're not here, you can't defend yourself, So good luck
for your spouse and your kids. That's why it's so
extremely important. And guess what the latest statistic I saw,
eighty five percent of Americans don't have a competent estate plan.
They might have a outdated plan, they might have a
plan that doesn't work, but is your estate plan competent? Right,

(45:06):
that's the question you should be asking yourself.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Well, if you've had a marriage, if you've had a divorce,
if you've had children or grandchildren come into your life,
if you've had a significant financial shift, this probably means
that if you already have an estate plan, it needs
to be reviewed because all of those are life changing
events that affect your estate plan. Six one two five

(45:30):
zero four eighty four hundred. That's how you get hold
of the folks that have in financial groups. Tell them
that you hurt us. Here on the radio, we were
talking about those end of the year retirement checklists that
you need to check off what you've done and what
you haven't and you're looking for a partner to help
you do so. Again, that number is six one two
five zero four eighty four hundred. I think this has

(45:53):
been helpful, Larry, I hope so for a lot of people,
and maybe if nothing else, has just made some folks
who are listening, stop and go. I hadn't even thought
about a lot of that, and maybe I better talk
to somebody.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Yeah, I think you're right. I think it may be overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
There's a lot of information, there's a lot of different
retirement topics, and there's the end of the year and
a lot of changes, and it's hard to keep up
on it all. But you don't have to do it yourself.
We'd love to visit with you. I hope you're going
to enjoy the holidays, but a lot of the information
we gave to you is extremely important. Let us help
you six one two, five zero four eighty four hundred.

(46:27):
Visit us online, come to our classes. We'd love to
meet you, Kim. Great to be with you.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
Great to be with you as well. Investment advisory service
is offered through Guardian Well Strategies LLC. Haven Financial Group
and Guardian Well Strategies LLC are.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Not affiliated companies and investments involve risk, and, unless otherwise stated,
are not guaranteed.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
Please consult with the qualified financial advisor and or tax
professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein and comments regarding
as safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams only
refer to fixed insurance broughduct.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
They do not refer in any way to securities or
investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are
subject to the claims pain ability of the issuing company.