11/15: Winter Budget

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am very intrigued by your choice of topic. Winter budgeting.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, when you think about it, we know for sure
winter is coming, yeah, and we know for sure everybody
should should have a budget. Let's put it that way.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
So we just have those doors together.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
How's that?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Is it a bulkier budget than the summer one.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, we might let you store it up a little
bit more or be able to do a few more things.
But yeah, it's really taking a look at your financials
for the year and taking a look at how to
wrap up the year, going through the winter into next year,
and you know, as we come close to the end
of the year, it's really important to continue to stick
to your budget. The question is how many of you

(00:42):
listening may have a budget, and if you have a budget,
are you living within that budget? There's another question to
go along with that, but it is easy. It's an
easy time to forget about it, especially when you get
to the holiday season. And let's face it, I think
the retail stores started Christmas about two weeks after fourth

(01:04):
of July this year. Yeah, so it's like the Christmas
trees were up before they took down the Halloween decorations,
so they're excited for us to spend dollars in their
stores and online, so they're doing the best they can
to create that. But you also have to look at
it as you go forward. How do you stay within
your budget? Because it is very fun to be able

(01:26):
to buy gifts for everybody, friends, family, et cetera. But
then in January, the hard part is you get those
bills in the mail and the credit card balances, and
all of a sudden, it's like, I do have to
pay those back, you know, So it's maybe easy to
use a credit card. I remember years and years ago
doing a presentation to a middle class group and one

(01:49):
of the young ladies in the group stood up and
asked this question, are credit cards good or evil?

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Mister Stample?

Speaker 1 (01:59):
That's such a great question.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
And I said, well, they can be very very good
when you use them to buy things, but for some
people it can be very very evil and you have
to pay them back. Because then I started talking about
positive returns on your investments and negative returns on your spending.
So it can be very interesting as you go through that.
But whether it's buying gifts for the holidays, needing a vacation,

(02:23):
or wanting a vacation or migrating south for the winter,
as many people do up here in the Minnesota area.
So those can cost a lot of dollars and cents.
We want you to spend your money wisely as you
go along, but budgeting does matter. So there's a lot
of things we're going to talk about today.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Absolutely, and as we do each and every week on
our show, we have a Money Talks mailer of the
week for the audience. How they what is it? First
of all, and how can they get it?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Blake, Yeah, We've got our most recent newsletter. It'll go
through some general planning topics discussions, as well as our
most recent market commentary. I think with everything going out
in the world right now, people may be excited to
get some additional information. So if you'd like your copy,
give us a call at nine to five to two
by four four two eight three seven, or go online

(03:11):
to sandbled fg dot com. Perfect.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
So how do I how do I winterize my budget?

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Terry? I did my boat already, So now what, Well.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Let's see, it's more than just plugging yourself into the
wall that stay warm, you know, that type of thing,
or keep your engine going for the for the future,
when you need to start up. But a lot of
things come into my into consideration there. So budgeting really
does matter, and there's a lot of biases that make
it difficult sometimes because what is on your priority list.

(03:42):
You know, we always talk about dollars in, dollars out,
and dollars in could be your income and different sources
of income. And this is very very important as you're
getting you know, all the years prior to retirement, but
for a lot of people, when you get to retirement,
it can be even a bigger issue because all of
a sudden, you're creating your own paycheck for the rest

(04:03):
of your life. So are you up for that challenge?
Can you make that all work? That's what's really important
working with the financial planner, we think, because you know,
looking at the numbers may look like a big number,
but as you go throughout your retirement, how do you
spend your money? How do you have enough dolarge to
last as long as you do so to speak, and

(04:24):
if you want to build a legacy for the future,
there's many different things we can do in regards to
the planning process to make it more cost effective and
more tax efficient.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, I think that's a big part. And you know
it's important to I think, when you're looking at a
lot of this to give context around you know, what
type of inputs do you want to give into this?
And you know, as an example, inflation clearly has been
a real deal the last number of years. I mean
you look at chumulative inflation since twenty twenty, some around

(04:56):
thirty percent, you know, twenty to thirty percent depending on
how you look at calculating in it. So prices are
quite a bit higher. So interest environment that has all
changed dramatically. I mean, we had the fastest FED rate
hiking cycle in history. Really, you know, rates are starting
to come down a little bit right now, Inflation is

(05:19):
starting to stabilize normalize a little bit. But you know
it's really important to look at what the numbers truly
are for you. And I think when you're doing some
of that long term forecasting, that's where Terry and I
and our team we really look at trying to simulate
some of those different variables in there. So you know,
it's it's important to not just look and say, well,
things are going to be linear study forever. What if

(05:41):
we do see inflation, what if there are shocks around
that you know, as interest rates change, how do you
need to think about portfolio change is rebalancing, So it
really does need to evolve over time. You know, a
large one that a lot of retirees come into clearly
changing health care costs. You know, healthcare costs, health insurance

(06:01):
costs are looking to likely go quite dramatically for a
lot of people next year, long term care costs. I mean,
I have seen inflation rates dramatically higher than broad based
inflation for probably the last twenty years on average. So
I think it's important to look at all those and

(06:21):
really focus on what is in the budget today versus
what may be in the budget in the future.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
So one thing for a lot of people is someone
planning for the unknown. You can have a budget and
under the budget you're assuming things go as usual, but
planning for the unexpected.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
And I mean we're dealing.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
With a lot of people's health as well as their
wealth as people go forward, dealing with things that do
come up. I mean, one thing we have noticed this here,
for example, with their clients that have passed away, the
biggest percentage of them from just our own tracking of this,
is that the biggest cause or death this year with

(07:01):
our clients has been cancer of some fashion and that's
ever increasing, which is not the right direction for that
by any means. And that's why we're so involved in
that organization as well and working with their gala and
sharing the gala and different things this year because it
is a big concern for people. It's a big financial

(07:23):
concern as well as their health concern. So how does
that affect themselves? But how does that even affect their
family and even the next generation. So when you're looking
at budgeting, you have to look at the factors of
the unknown as well. We can plan for the known
and make that work as efficiently as possible, but you
also have to maybe in some cases, look at how

(07:44):
do you protect against major budget issues like health issues?
So very very important because our job has always been
to help you grow your wealth, but you know, some
of the things that are out there, the health issue
can really erode all the wealth that you work so
hard to grow. So taking a look at that, taking

(08:07):
a look at how you build that. The thing that
a lot of people don't like to do is try
to do this by themselves because it isn't a fun
thing to do. Maybe to look at your budget. When
you say the word budget, people kind of lean back
in their chair a little bit sometimes and maybe cross
their arms. It's like, I really don't want to talk
about my budget. I want to talk about how much
money I'm making. And that's important as well, but it

(08:30):
all has to fit together, because we've had people that
have had a modest income per year, but they've saved
diligently every year, so when they get to retirement, they
actually give themselves an increase in pay. And we've had
people that are high paid executives making hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of dollars per year, some millions of dollars

(08:51):
per year in income, but they're not really ready for
retirement because they spent along the way. They had a
lifestyle that just wouldn't quit, and they overstend it. Even
if they were making five hundred thousand a year or
even a million dollars a year. They had the nicest house,
the nicest cabin, the nicest cars, and kept spending. As
they got an increase in pay, they thought that was

(09:13):
an increase in spending. But it's not always supposed to
go that way. So we use this example pay yourself
first and then spend the rest. If you do that,
you can succeed with your overall planning process.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
So we're talking today about winter budgeting, and it's really
an all year round topic, and I think that one
of the most important things we can do is not
be so opposed to the topic, Terry, which you've helped
me get over in this year. So let me take
a break and collect myself and we'll come back with
more money Talks in just a moment. Welcome back to

(09:54):
Money Talks with Terry Sandbold and Blake Sandbold and Terry,
we're talking about winter budgeting. Has basically, we're here, we're
in winter.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Well, I'll use this expression. I know it's kind of
a very simple one, but as the season gets colder
and colder, you notice that there's a lot of little
animals screwing around to gather their acorns and whatever, and
the birds are out grabbing the seeds, and everybody's trying
to load up on stuff. Sometimes people should do that
a little bit too and be ready for winter, meaning

(10:25):
you know, things like having an emergency savings account, you know,
and different types of things that you can get to
if something does take place. So when we take when
we look at about a budget, one of the questions
is why can following a budget be so difficult? And
that's a question that you know, people do look at.
It's harder for some than others. But there's somewhat been

(10:47):
a herd instinct or mentality and meaning that you know,
where people are influenced by the actions of a larger group,
and this can cause spending on items that people may
think matter to their peers rather than focusing on their
own life term goals. It used to be a phraise called, uh,
you know, competing with the Joneses or whatever, you know,

(11:07):
the neighbors next door they got a new car, and
people side by side by side tend to way back
when they would they would almost indirectly compete and just
feel that all their friends that are doing this, and
we we want to be kind of in the group,
so to speak. So they might spend a little more
to try to look to the part and sometimes that
can cause a bit of a situation for people.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, well, you know, I think it can also relate
to general planning type decisions, you know, where it can say, well,
it's it's a group of people talking around the water coolers,
so to speak, and making a similar decision without taking
into count their own variables, and you know, I think
that can be a dangerous part of you know, just
even looking at online sources for planning topics, you know,

(11:54):
it may not be personalized enough for what you're looking for,
so you might not be in the same group as ever,
so it is important to look separate. And you know,
we talk about it with our investment team as well.
You know, herd mentality is such a thing out there
where a lot of people don't like to stand out
and look like they're doing something different. Yeah, and you
know it's kind of you know, there's a fun video online.

(12:15):
I'm sure a lot of people have seen this where
it shows a group of people getting into an elevator
and have you seen this one? Because you know, one
person turns the completely different way, then you know, others
kind of start turning in that direction. All of a sudden,
you know, everyone's facing the back of the elevator instead
of the front, and you know, just kind of illustrates
that people don't like to you know, be kind of

(12:38):
feeling like they're on the outside of some of that,
and you know, it can be very dangerous from a
financial planning and investment type decision. So that's where it's
I think incredibly important to be aware of some of
these biases, heuristics, you know, mental leaps, you know, when
you are going through the planning process and really come

(12:58):
in you know, unbiased, you know, and have open eyes
to what what plan should look like for you.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, and some of the things can be uh, you're
talking to somebody and their wealth number so to speak,
is much different than yours, and their obligations might be
totally different than yours. But also another part that does
come into the factor again is the health side of
all of this. So it could be a there could
be things like right now, we just we just recently

(13:26):
did a show on if you are downsized or have
a job loss it, you know, and there's a lot
of downsizing in companies, some big cup companies right now,
and hopefully you're not one of them that is dealing
with that. But it's a very important time to kind
of pick up everything, give us a call, sit down
and look at your situation. A lot of people tend
to want to retract from the public and just kind

(13:49):
of hold it to themselves and not want to talk
about it, but that's not that's the worst thing to do.
We want to make sure that you have worked with
somebody like us to help you sit down and look
at what can you do, what can you do and
if there is a need for short term money to
get you to the next step. So whether it's a
loss of a job or there's a death of a
spouse or a disability of a spouse, that will trigger

(14:12):
a large financial burden for of a lot of people,
and it can impact your spending habits and it will
very it's real important to plan and be able to
work around that. So if that does come up, you'll
know which way to go and you'll know what to
do next.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
So very very important to take a look at that. Yeah, well,
you know, I think one of the next bias that
we do have on here that's important to know is
a status quo bias. And you know, really what that
means is just a general tendency to stick with where
things have been, what you're familiar with and saying I

(14:47):
don't want to change change what I'm doing or do
anything different. So it can be it can be really harmful,
you know, when there are large changes in your life.
You know, such as a loss of a job, death
of a spouse, something that will trigger large financial burden
and your spending habits do need to change. I mean,
we see that a lot kind of as as Terry
had mentioned here earlier. You know, it's you know, it's

(15:10):
an unfortunate reality of our business that we do go
you know, deal with clients passing, and you know, it's
it's educating on you know, how life may need to
change or has there been planning done ahead of time
to keep that as status quo as possible from the
standpoint of insurance supplementing or different things of that nature.

(15:30):
But it's a tough reality for a lot of people.
When there are large changes, it may necessitate a change
in your spending. And you know, I think it's top
of mind for a lot of people right now, you know,
probably especially in Minnesota's we've heard a lot of job
layoffs and you know, we've we've started to see people
proactively preemptively changing spending patterns just to say, you know,

(15:53):
what does this mean long term? Does does AI change
my long term planning dynamic? And I think that's a
great question. I think it's something we're all thinking about
right now. But it is important to say, you know,
be flexible, understand what are your fixed costs, what are
the discretionary costs, and what levers can you pull on things.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, So one thing that's really important in the financial
planning side is when you're planning for retirement, for example,
how much is enough. It's a real tough question for
a lot of people, and the answer is not the
same for everybody. So I think that's what's really important
about that. And you know, they might talk to your
friend and their friend thinks one million dollars is enough

(16:35):
and it could be for a lot of people, but
for a lot of people it will not be enough.
And that used to be an ultimate goal years ago,
and now people are looking at how many millions should
I have to stay in the same lifestyle that I'm
in right now. So it's a you know, everybody's situation
is different. That's why we talk about personal financial planning.

(16:56):
Why it is so important because people have very very
big he lives.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Things.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, they get up, they go to work, and
they get home at the end of the day and
ideally they sit down and have dinner with their family
and then they got things to do around the home
and then at ten or ten thirty at night, when
they're trying to wrap it up for the night, kids
are in bed, hopefully all of them sleeping, you know,
it depends on the age of all the kids, of course.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
But then you're sitting there.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
At the very end of your day that I accomplish
what I wanted to accomplish today, and you didn't have
any time to look at your financial planning. That's something
we can provide the time you don't have, And I
think in today's world that's very, very important because it's
very easy at the beginning of each day to put
together my to do list for the day. How many

(17:43):
do you have? How many of you have a to
do list for today? And guess what you don't get
through the whole list right, and then some of that
will carry over. Are you adding that to the new
list for tomorrow? Or are you letting that fall through
your hand like a handful of sand, just sitting through
your fingertips. So what can happen is all of a sudden, Oh,

(18:04):
I wish I would have done this a few months
ago or a few years ago, And all of a sudden,
you're getting closer and closer and closer to retirement puts
more and more pressure on individuals to try to catch
up and hope that they get a really high return
to save the day each and every year, so it
gets more and more stress there. And then what a

(18:24):
lot of people may do is instead of retiring on
the date they hoped, they look at their second option
or their second choice and push that out a ways.
So it's our job to help you develop a plan,
which includes looking at the budget, implement the plan, which
is very very important. You can have a plan, but
you need to implement it and then have follow up
with your financial advisor group to make sure that you're

(18:47):
staying on track. And if you do get a raise
and pay for example, make sure a portion of that
goes into this model for your accumulation for your future,
because all of a sudden, your lifestyle is going up
without you even thinking about it. You might, you know,
trade up on your home or buy a cabin and

(19:08):
all of a sudden you have another obligation. So it's
all dependent on everything going just so. So that's why
the financial Planning site can be a very important piece
for you and we can be an ally for you
and make sure that you're looking at all the pieces
that you should and achieve the retirement level success that
you're looking for.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Well, Terry, real quick, before we go to some news,
why don't you just let everybody know how they could
get that free no cost, an obligation review or second opinion.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, all you'd have to do is give us a
call at Sandbold Financial Group. Our number again is nine
five two five four four two eight three seven. That's
nine five two five four four two eight three seven,
or request an online conversation at sandboldefg dot com.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
It's Money Talks with Terry Sandbold and Blake Sandbold and
the guys. Today we're talking about winter budgeting and I
didn't know it was seasonal Blake, but I guess everything is.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Everything has these days. Yeah, so you know, but before
we kick it back into some of the budgeting, I
thought we'd mentioned we do have a great Money Talks
Madil of the week this week going through some of
these topics planning in general, as well as we do
have our most recent market commentary in there. Again, there's
a lot going on right now, from government shutdown to

(20:33):
Supreme Court questions to you name it. Interesting times continue.
So if you like your most recent copy, give us
a call at nine to five two five four four
two eight three seven or go online to sandboldfg dot com. Perfect. So,
as we look at things, you know, a large part
of budgeting, and this is something we really stress, is

(20:53):
having a great emergency fund. So you know, it's it's
important to think about though what an emergency fund really is.
And you know, I can't over emphasize this enough. It
is inherently designed for emergencies. So by and large, you know,
we typically recommend having three to six months of your
living expenses parked in something liquid like this for emergencies.

(21:16):
And you know, we kind of give different ranges like
that because it depends on how your income is structured.
You know, for a lot of people, if it's more
commission based type income, maybe a little bit more variability
in there, maybe something that if you did lose your
job may be a little bit more difficult to find
a replacement. As an example as well, you probably want
to air on the more conservative side to something closer

(21:37):
a six month type range. But you know, it's think
about what an emergency is. You know, what could it
be covering broken water heater, major car supplies or car repairs.
I mean, you look at that right now. It's a
wild how expensive some of that is. You know, for

(21:58):
a lot of people, it used to be a couple
of hundred to get a bump or repaired, and now
it's nearly a price of a new car. It feels
like sometimes.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Or or your tech goes out, which my tire monitoring
system just did. That's super fun.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, well that's the thing. It always
goes out when you needed the most, you know, other things.
You know, it could be that safety net during times
of unemployments. But it's it's also important to say what's
not an emergency? An emergency as much as it may
feel like sometimes is not a trip to Florida, it
may not be that trip to Mexaco. And you know,

(22:35):
I think it's really easy for people to fall into
kind of that mentality of saying, you know, we we've
got some funds parked there, we really want to do this.
Let's just dip into it and we'll try to pay
back later. From planning standpoint, that's you know, that's risky
because you know, what if what if you do that
and then something happens, then then you're back in credit

(22:56):
card debt. So you know, it can take good planning
uh and very quickly make it into no planning. So
it is important to delineate those and have those held separately.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, there's a lot of things you could think about.
I mean, when a person or a couple come in
and they're thinking of big purchases, it could be a
second home, a cabin, it could be a new car,
et cetera. One thing that we can help them look
at is if they're going to use any of their investments,
We'll help them look at the most tax efficient way
to use those dollars. Because if they just call and

(23:30):
say send me a check from my IRA or whatever,
you know, and not talk to anybody. I mean, they're
paying tax on every dollar. So it could be the
most expensive car they buy. We're even financing that one
point nine or two point nine percent through your dealership.
So looking at all the different pluses and minuses are
really important. There's a financial decision that is not emotional.

(23:51):
We have to take emotions out of that sometimes because
some people say, well, I don't want any debt, so
I'm going to take it out of my IRA and
I'm going to pay for a fifty thousand dollars car,
they might have to take out seventy five thousand dollars
out of an IRA and if they're under fifty nine
app maybe it's an eighty five thousand dollars distribution to
come up with fifty thousand dollars. Depends on their situation.
That was a very expensive car, So we tried to

(24:14):
pull them back on the emotional side and make sure
they're looking at it from the financial side.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
In some cases that can make a big difference. Yeah,
And you know, I think a key additional part to
add you know, in general about some of this is
a lot of people have a little bit of a
conception with that to say budgets are just if you're wealthy,
you don't need to think about it, And you know,
it really could be for the truth. I mean, we

(24:39):
we have clients the entire spectrums and high net worth people.
First off, a lot of them get there and stay
there because they are cognizant of a budget and you know,
maybe a higher budget than other people that that budget
may afford late lake mintaka plus cabins and yachts very
nicely for some, but it is being cognizance and mindful

(25:01):
of what is your financial number? And you know, there's
really not a number out there where you don't have
to think about it in some capacity, but you know
it's important too to think kind of as Terry mentioned earlier,
when you are a high income, high asset earner, you know,
how does that change if one of those income streams
is disrupted, you know, if your business is disrupted. Maybe

(25:22):
if you're an older on that, you know, what would
that mean for your lifestyle? And how can you pivots
around some of that? If you did lose your job,
if you're a you know, a six seven figure earner,
how does that affect things? So it's it's easy to,
i think, fall into that trap of just because you
do have that income coming in right now, that you
can do it indefinitely. But that's where it's really a

(25:44):
very similar conversation we have at all asset levels and
income levels of what are those variables that we can
flex with?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, and it kind of leads into maybe vacations and
winter homes type scenario down the road. If you're considering that,
Let's say that you're considering being a snowbird and spending
a lot of months out of Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
Believe it or not.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Some people think about that in January, February, March. But
from that situation, doesn't make sense to rent a place
for a month versus buy a place and have it
sit empty for eleven months. You know, those types of things,
or try it out to make sure that's where you
really want to buy it, that secondary home. We've had
different situations where people have had a business here, they've

(26:26):
lived here their whole life, they sold their business, they
packed it up, they moved and they looked around and
it's like, we don't know anybody here.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
No.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
And we've had a couple of clients that moved back
just because they were aggressively thinking of that. They didn't
think it through as much maybe as they should have,
or tried it out a little bit first, and they
did pack up, sold their home, moved back to Minnesota.
And we've had you know, it's something that's totally different

(26:56):
for you. If you've lived here your whole lifetime, give
it some thought, give it some planning. That's important. How
would you fund if you're going to do these different things.
We can help you look at how it impacts your retirement. Also,
We always talk about it what's called a retirement income
cash flow analysis, which is looking at the big picture
of your investments and all of that and looking at

(27:17):
solid securities, pensions, all these different pieces how they fit
in in the retirement income process. But if you're going
to do something big like that, we can run that
and amend the cash flow analysis and show you if
you did purchase it, you took some money out, how
much does it impact the bottom line for you, So
we can help you walk through those scenarios and show

(27:38):
you in dollars and cents what impact it does have
before you make that big decision yeah, purchase.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Well, and to take that one step further, we could
show a changing state residency as well, which which is
kind of hot. You know, We've had a number where
you know, it's been like, yeah, you absolutely, you know,
on a tax savings it can't afford to move down
to Florida or something like that. So there can be
unique opportunities like that. But that's the key takeaway is

(28:07):
it really is all individualized, personalized depending on what your
spending habits are and what your assets are and what
you're looking to do on that. But I think it's
a great thing to look for that information before you
do make that end decision.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Well, in one of your strategic partners, Terry, who's done
seminars for Sampled Financial Group, check Roulette, the attorney who
helps everybody understand what all this might entail for them
prior to making the move right because there's some definite
tax implications and prep that needs to be done.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, and what's unique about him being one of our
partners is he's a practicing attorney in Minnesota and a
practicing attorney in Florida. Yeah, so he can compare them
side by side by side. Not all attorneys are licensed
and practice in both states. Like that, you have to
do double duty on passing the bar there, so to speak,
to be prepared to be able to do that. So

(28:58):
for a lot of people that are looking at the
picture like that, give us a call, come on in
and sit down with us. The other thing that is
a real big thing that we're doing for people too
is should you do ROTH conversions or not? And this
kind of goes into a little bit different category than
we're talking about today, but in some cases it may
make sense to convert some of your IRA money to

(29:19):
ROTH IRA money. Before you get to R and D
or required minimum distribution age, and we plan that out.
We can show you does an ROTH conversion make sense
for you financially or not, because a lot of people think, well,
I think it's going to be better, but I'm not sure.
That's how we can help. Things like that are very
very important to analyze first and then get the plan

(29:40):
in motion second.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
And you can help someone do a rundown on that,
Terry Wright, if they just give you a call.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Absolutely, And I think that's really important for people to
see that because without that, they're just kind of guessing,
should I do it? They might assume it's right, but
not in all cases is it right? So it depends
on the age, the health, all of those issues. Just
like in retirement planning or financial planning in general, you
really need to look at budgeting as a key thing.
You really need to make sure that you're looking at

(30:09):
dollars ten dollars out, making sure you're living within your
means and you're making your dollars work as much as
they can for you and your family. It's an ongoing process.
We've been helping thousands of people for years, always since
nineteen eighty six, when I first started the company and
now we're helping thousands across the country be better prepared.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Absolutely, and we've got more Money Talks coming up. In
just a moment, you're listening to Money Talks with Terry
Sandbold and Blake Sandbold and Blake. You know, we've been
talking about winter budgeting this entire show, but we also
have some very recent market commentary as our Money Talks

(30:51):
mailer of the week, can you share.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
That we do so again, as we've said, there's a
lot going on in the world right now, you know,
you kind of look to point. The last six months
have actually been quite strong from the market, you know,
since their early tear flows. Economies continue to do better
than a lot had expected. We're right in the midst
of earning season right now. By and large, it's come

(31:13):
up in a pretty good spot. So if you'd like
to see our most recent thoughts on where we think
things are going, some areas and sectors that we're looking
at going forward from here as well, give our office
to call it nine to five to two five four
four two eight three seven, or go online to sampled
fg dot com and just let us know you'd like
the most recent Money Talks maw of the week, so

(31:36):
talking about budgeting, and you know, one of the large
items line items for a lot of people's healthcare costs,
and so I think, you know, a key thing for
a lot of people to look at right now are
HSA's health savings accounts and I think those are probably
one of the less least utilized vehicles out there. And

(31:57):
you know, it really does have for a lot of
people pretty pretty incredible benefit. So a key part is
to be able to use this, you do have to
be part of a high deductible healthcare plan, so copaid
plans are not eligible in most cases, so it is
a high deductible plan that you do need to be
enrolled in, and you know, you can look up classifications

(32:19):
for exactly what that is online. We also have context
as well that they can help verify with your health insurance.
But they're pretty pretty incredible the tax advantage nature, so
they're really a triple tax benefits, which is tough to
find out there. So contributions to an HSA are actually

(32:39):
tax deductible. You can have tax free growth in there,
which is great, and tax free withdrawals for medical expenses.
So so it's pretty great, and you know, it's very
broad based on what you can actually qualify for for
medical expenses now. So a lot of people used to think,
as well, it's a thin list, it's just prescription drugs.

(33:01):
The reality is it's dramatically more than that now, So
it is something that I think for a lot of
people it is worth looking at. But a lot of
HSA platforms will let you invest the funds as well,
so you can typically invest in stocks, mutual funds, ETFs,
et cetera. So having a different instrument like that for
tax free growth is pretty incredible. You know, when you

(33:22):
become eligible for Medicare, you can actually use the HSA
dollars to pay for Medicare health insurance premiums. So it's
it's pretty pretty robust, you know. I think it's important,
you know, treat it, treat contributions like a regular expense.
For a lot of people, it makes sense to just
set up systematic contributions into something like that, just get

(33:45):
in the habit of doing it. Currently this year for
twenty twenty five, limited is forty three hundred dollars for
individuals and eighty five hundred and fifty dollars for families.
You do get an additional one thousand dollars catch up
if you're over age fifty five as well. But you know,
for a lot of people, again, if you're part of
a high deductible health insurance plan, hsas can be a

(34:07):
great part to look at that can help out with
your budget and help on attack side.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Cool.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, a lot of to go ahead.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Well, I just I didn't realize that you could get
that from Medicare. That's really different. I don't think I've
heard that one before.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, yeah, So the key distinction with it so you
can't contribute to an HSA less than six months, you know,
within six months of filing for Medicare. So it'd be
if you had already accumulated funds in your HSA from
the past, then you can use those funds to pay premium.
But when when you're on Medicare, you can't contribute to

(34:42):
the HSA anymore. Yeah. Okay, great, great clarification.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Kelly, Okay, perfect.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Yeah, So there's a lot of things when you're talking
about budgeting. There's some practical budgeting tips. I mean one
is really encourage mindful spending. I know it's easy for
us to say and hard for people to listen to,
you know, but ask yourself, well, I still value this
purchase a week from now or a year from now.
We're even ten years from now, and I know that's
a tough way to look at things because because the

(35:11):
world is like, what do we keep for ten years
right now? And it seems like the world is becoming
a more disposable economy. You know, the things that used
to last ten twenty years are lasting one, two, three years,
so to speak, and we'll replace them with a new
and improved version.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
So to speak.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
In some cases they're not always new and improved, but
a lot of times it's because of the the updates
that are taking place in the world. So you know,
it's also important to look around the holidays. It's it's
I don't want to sound like a grinch and say
don't spend all your money around the holidays that type
of thing, but some people.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Don't spend all your money right place.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Don't spend all your moody around the holidays, or if
you're going to go beyond that and know what, we
don't want you to all know what your max credit
limited and all credit cards, okay.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Because that's by trying to reach it.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
You mean, that is not the goal to ring that bell.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
So okay, okay, now it's you know, some people may think,
well I can go up to that. That does not
mean you need to go up to there, because that
can be a very challenging first quarter of next year.
Let's think that way when the bills come in the mail, so,
you know, alleviating buyer's remorse which happened, which happens more

(36:25):
frequently than the older you get, you know, but it's like,
are you buying something that is need or want or
how are you how you're prioritizing that, so to speak.
You know, it's sometimes as we get older, we buy adult,
bigger toys, you know, adult toys that costs a lot
more money than the toys when we were ten years old,

(36:47):
so to speak. You know, so it's one of those things.
Cars come to mind, Blake. I don't know why I
mentioned that, but as you as some know that are listening,
we totally refurbished a nineteen sixty eight Mustang so it
looks like a brand new showroom type nineteen sixty eight Mustang,
which is kind of fun to see that in the

(37:08):
garage and drive it down the driveway.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
So to speak, well, I would say it's probably even
more new and improved than a showroom one because it's
got some fancy interior.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
It is.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
And when I bought that back in nineteen seventy two
years old, my Mustang costs. I bought it with five
thousand miles on it for seventeen hundred dollars. Let's just
say I put more than seventeen hundred dollars into refurbishing that.
I maybe could have bought two or three new ones
instead of refurbished the sixty eight one. But sometimes we

(37:38):
look at our health concerns and our health care costs.
Could we have about a new body than refurbishing what we
have as we get older knees and hips and whatever
the case may be. So that's a whole other show. Yeah, sure,
but you know, use budgeting tools when appropriate, really planned
for the unexpected.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
I think we can't go without.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Doesn't hurt to repeat that a few more times, because
things can happen. Everybody's health is not perfect until they
pass away. As we see looking at our friends and neighbors, families,
et cetera, very very important. We're living longer. So the
expenses of taking care of us may be bigger for
the future, So are you prepared in your retirement planning?

(38:20):
We can't overemphasize this, are you really ready for retirement?
At Sandwell Financial Group, that's something we really take a
lot of pride in helping as many people as we
can be better prepared, whether it's your wealth management, whether
it's your retirement planning side of it, or making sure
that you have the right types of insurances for the
unknown as you go forward, and leveraging your state. The

(38:41):
state planning is a little bit of a chess.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Game for people.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
If they don't know the rules, it's hard to win
the game on that. So you've worked so hard to
grow your money. What you spend is great for your
own retirement, but what you keep is really important for
the next generation because they're going to be dealing with
it and if you can help them by planning properly,
I think it's very important to take a look at that.
And we sit down with people all the way up

(39:05):
to well roughly all the way up to age one
hundred helping them plan their financial futures. So you don't
stop planning when you get to sixty or seventy or
eighty years old.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
It keeps on going.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
We have guys that are all golfing that are eighty
three and ninety one years old still, so they need
those green fees, and the green fees go up a
little higher than they were when they were fifty years old,
you know. So teasing a little bit, but very very important.
Budget is a very important piece. That's why we wanted
to talk about it today.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Absolutely, and Blake, you know, we always have a couple
of offers for people. Not only do we have the
money tuxmailer of the week, but it's also the encouragement
to give us a call for a no cost, no
obligation review or second opinion.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Right, yeah, I think this is a perfect time for
people to sit down and look at where things are
at the last couple of years, life for most has
probably gone through a lot of changes. Financial planning has
likely gone through a lot of changes. I think it
is the perfect time to sit down and get a
second opinion on where things are at. You know, we
can look and compare showed investment side to side, run

(40:08):
some analysis for what we would look to do, as
well as put together you know, a true plan for
you showing out projections for you know, how funds may
work for you in the future, distribution cycles, retirement at
different ages, et cetera. So we love getting very grand
and around that. But yeah, I think as as the
year is getting closer and closer to an end, I
think it's the right time to sit down and you

(40:29):
owe it to yourself to evaluate and see where things
are at. So if you'd like a second opinion with us,
give us a call at nine to five two five
four four two way three seven, or go online to
sampled fg dot com.