Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Tonight, we're bringing some historical perspective to interra straight cuts.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
We've got retirement fact or fiction and a lot more.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're listening to simply money presented by all Worth Financial.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I mean you Wagner along with Steve Ruby.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Okay, markets had some time to digest the move the
Federal Reserve made last week, lowering interest rates for the
first time, you know, in four years, and by going low,
they went low half a percent. Joining us tonight all
Worth chief investment officer Andy Stout.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You know, Andy's looking at twenty.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Billions of dollars in assets, so he's watching the Fed
really quickly. You know.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
The interesting thing, Andy, is just how quickly. I don't
even know.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's like markets justust how they're thinking normally or months
before this, if we were talking about a half a
point cut, we would have thought markets would have gone
bunkers in a bad way.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
The opposite.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
True.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What's going on here, Well.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
The Federal Reserve did a really good job. Amy and
I don't often put those words in the same sentence.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Surprise you're starting with this here.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
They didn't of communicating what the intent was. Chair Palell
called it a recalibration to normalizing policy, so basically getting
to a level that's at least closer to they're not
close to neutral, which would balance the restrictiveness and the
easing policy. But they did a good job of communicating
(01:28):
that it wasn't an emergency, it wasn't anything to panic,
And they did this a couple of ways. One is
just through his press conference following the meeting, but they
also likely did a few things beforehand, during when the
FED is really in a media blackout period. There were
a couple of articles that came out of the Wall
Street Journal in the Financial Times suggesting that investors might
(01:52):
want to be having a bit of a more open
mind when it comes to a half point rate cut,
and allowed the markets to digest it, and then you
didn't see any negative reaction because there wasn't a negative
reaction from those trial balloons, at least we believe they
are trial balloons. Essentially, the Federal Reserve leaking that out
(02:13):
there to encourage those articles because there was that negative reaction, well,
that pretty much gave the Fed a green light to
move forward.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Is there any history of them leaking information ahead of time?
Because we've had lots of conversations about language that they
choose to use after they justify what they've done. We
saw a lot of that during interest rate hikes and
early on. I think that Pile probably spoke a little
bit too strong in certain aspects, and the markets move
very quickly, and you learned to kind of tone it
back a bit. Is there a history of them leaking
(02:42):
things ahead of time, because that's kind of fascinating to me.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
Not officially but unofficially.
Speaker 7 (02:46):
Yes. Sure.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Specifically, the Fed will have their favored reporters, and right now,
for the Wall Street Journal, it's Nick Timeros, and he
is the one whose article that was So when you
see something coming from Nick Timeros out of the Wall
Street Journal, you pretty much think, okay, he might have
had a chat with someone on the.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Federal Reserve line.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Interesting as the inside scoop, that's neat insight.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
So we've been talking for a long time about the
proverbial soft landing and the possibility of such a thing occurring,
and you know that there's certainly those out there that
think that that's happened.
Speaker 7 (03:20):
They're very confident. What's your take.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I would say it's way too early to tell, but
you know, the risks are still there.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
The risks have not gone away.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
If you look at leading economic indicators, that mean that
means that these are data points that would really move
before the broad economy moves. You know, we'd certainly have
some that are pointing to a slow down in the
not too distant future. Now it seems highly unlikely we
have any sort of pullback this year from an economic perspective,
but certainly every recession next year would not be too
(03:51):
surprising just based on some of the data that we're
seeing and specifically looking at the interest rate levels, you know,
as one example, how the yield curve was inverted or
is inverted, that has historically signaled a slowdown for the economy. Now,
with that being said, though, okay, these indicators have really
been much less reliable post COVID, just from all of
(04:15):
the rapid monetary influx of money into like the money
supply as an example, Treasury handing out trillions of dollars,
governments around the world doing the exact same thing. It's
not just here in the United States, but these were
the policies implemented globally to keep the global economy going
and not fall into a great depression type of atmosphere.
(04:38):
So when we look at whether or not we'll achieve
the soft landing. I think the risks are high that
we see a recession next year. Now, whether or not
that comes to fruition, you know, time will tell. WILL
have to certainly watch the data more closely as we
get there. But I don't see anything in the near term.
Nothing this year.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You're listening to simply money presented by all Worth Financially,
I Meani Wagner along with Steve Ruby as we were
joined by theased out every Monday making sense of what
the Federal Reserve did last week, right our nation central
Bank lowering interest rates for the first time in four years.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
They went pretty low.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Half a point in what that means you know, ity
coming into twenty twenty four, there were all kinds of
people saying, you know, we would see you know, seven
rate cuts this year. We just started in September. Obviously
they started pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
With that that half point cut.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Where do you see them going for the rest of
the year.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah, that's a million dollar question, because as soon as
they came out with a half cut, the first thought
I had was well, okay, well that's great, what's next?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Right, So when you think about that. What you want
to look at is a few things. One, you can
see where the market is pricing things at, and you
can do that by looking at these what's called Fed
fund futures, and that just basically means that those are
securities that suggest what the market or the Wall Street
traders believe the Fed will do in terms of rate cuts.
Right now, those are showing another zero point seventy five
(05:58):
percent of rate cuts this year. Now, we also want
to look at what's called the dot plot. The dot
plot is what the FED releases every three months at
their quarterly meeting, and the quarterly meetings are June and
September and December and March, so those are the months
that you have those. And what the dot plot shows
is the every voting and non voting members belief of
(06:21):
where the Fed funds rates will be at the end
of upcoming calendar years. And we look at it for
twenty twenty five. What we want to specifically look at,
by the way, just taking a step back, is because
we have all of these people's votes or dots or whatever,
we look at the median dot because you don't know
who's dot two. And it'd be great if we knew
which one was chair pals.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
But we don't know.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
A mystery.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
It is a mystery.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
So we do look at the median dot and what
it is showing is a half point of rate cuts
this year. So we have a little bit of a
discrepancy between what the market things, which is a three
quarters of a percent, and the FED, which is half
a percent.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Now, I think we could see the.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Three quarters of a percent, but what we would need
for that to happen is an half percent cut because
there's only two meetings left this year. So then the
question becomes, well, what would trigger another half percent cut?
Because clearly, with just two meetings left, it's pretty easy
for the FED to have control over just two quarter
point cuts. There's not much time for things to go
materially bad. From the Fed's perspective, I think it comes
(07:18):
down to the unemployment rate specifically, because if you look
at what the FED has forecast, because in these quarterly
meetings they also give out their projections for the unemployment rate, inflation,
and a few other metrics on the unemployment rate, they
have it at four point four percent by the end
of the year. We're sitting at four point two percent
right now. I think if we get to four point five,
there's a decent chance we see that half point cup.
Speaker 7 (07:39):
Where would your DoPT be on the dot.
Speaker 6 (07:40):
Plot, I would put it at three quarters.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Well, I think we'll see the unappointment rate get up
about four or five.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
I will not be surprised by that.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
So you think unemployment rate's going to creep up and
they're going to have to cut Well, they're.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Not going to have to, but I think they should
have too.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Yes, yeah, I think the economy needs really more than
anything else. And the tricky part again, we'll be doing
it in a manner and they've already done it once.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
Now that doesn't incite panic.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Okay, So pivoting into talking about the markets a little bit.
You know, we've been seeing all time highs. What do
you tell investors that are worried a downturn is coming,
especially when we're talking about maybe seeing a recession next year,
paired with all time highs in the stock market.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Well, and you have other things going on that people
are worried about. I mean, you have an election that
have a lot of people concerned about. You have just
what's going on in Europe, in the Middle East. There's
always things to worry about. And you know, with the election,
you know, I remember back in twenty sixteen, when it
(08:43):
was declared Trump won the election, markets tanked, Futures specifically
tank right when that happened. A few minutes, well, it
went down to about you know, it was down a
thousand points, which was a lot more on a percentage
basis back then than it is now, so it'd be equivalent,
you know, closer to probably like fifteen hundred in that
(09:04):
general area. And I was up till well pass midnight,
actually writing mark communication for clients, like here's how we're
thinking about things, you know, focusing on you know, this
is a short term noise. The next morning the market
actually opened up positive. So there's going to be short
term noise. We're not We don't need to look at
what happens in one day or even you know, one week.
(09:24):
I mean a lot of it just depends on whatever
your own I guess, personal time horizon is. But when
you look at how stocks have historically performed, at least,
you know, over every three year period, markets are higher
ninety percent of the time. That's ridiculous. I mean, that's
not the Wall Street casino. I mean that's I mean,
obviously there's no sure bets, there's no guarantees, but you're
(09:45):
certainly doing better than you know, betting on red or black,
you know, on a roulette wheel.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
But when we look at rate.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Cuts and what that relationship has been, you know, I
was looking at the first rate cut and market returns
over the next one year after that rate cut, and
when you start a cycle, so a cycle being at
least two rate cuts in it, and they're having been
at least two rate hikes prior to it, so kind
of avoiding the whip saws back and forth. There's been
ten occurrences over the past fifty years, and of those
(10:15):
eight of the ten times stocks were positive with an
average return of fourteen point nine percent, and bonds were
positive ten out of ten times at twelve point seven percent.
So those are some you know, ridiculous of high number.
So I'm never going to say history we'll repeat itself,
but it's pretty telling that you need to know how
these relationships hold because otherwise, you know what's going to
(10:37):
happen is you're going to make an emotional decision and
that's going to end up hurting your financial goals really quickly.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Do you have an answer for those outliers. The two
out of ten times where the markets were down afterward.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
They were down just slightly. It wasn't It wasn't much.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Great historical perspective right because there's a lot of people
I'm hearing them in my office saying this time is different,
this election feels different, the stock market feels different. You
got to pay attention to that historical perspective. Here's the
all Worth advice. If there's one thing to take away
from all of this, the stock market producers high your
gains and the rate of inflation over time. Next surprising
(11:14):
thing that happened to mortgage rates right after the FED
lowered interest rates. Plus why automatic four to one K
contributions are creating a false sense of security for some.
You're listening to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial
here on fifty five KRC, the talk station. You're listening
to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial. I mean
(11:36):
you Wagner along with Steve Ruby. If you can't listen
to our show every night, you don't have to miss
a thing. We have a daily podcast for you. Just
searched Simply Money on the iHeart app or wherever you
get your podcasts coming up at six forty three Retirement
fact or fiction.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
What you need to know.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Okay, so you know, when the FED lowered interest rates,
we have been talking about that a lot on the show,
anticipating what would happen, and we anticipated maybe that.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Mortgage rates were to fall. The opposite happened. Let's get
into that.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Yeah, I've been saying for a while here that when
interest rates fall that the things that are going to
fall most quickly are the things that benefit us immediately,
and that's specifically the cash that we have working in
CDs and treasuries and money markets. You're going to see
those rates go down real fast. It's it's going to
be a lag effect before we see mortgage rates go down.
And just like you said, obviously we're expecting to see
(12:27):
them fall here sometime, but right now it's actually been
a temporary increase, which caught me off guard.
Speaker 6 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, and also, you know, listening to Indie Stellar chief
investment officer talk about this recently, he was also saying, hey,
there is also a correlation here between the ten year
treasury you know, so keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
That as well.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
But economists are expecting the average thirty year mortgage rate
to fall below six percent in the coming year. To
your point, how quickly we see that happening remains to
be seen is going to be It is going to
be like a feather coming back down.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We talk about the rocket and the feather sometimes going up. Well,
you know these are there's certain rates that are going
to take longer to come down. Think about force to
come that feather slowly falling right down toward Tom Hanks.
This is going to take a little bit longer. For
those who are looking to, you know, sell a home
this year, buy a new home, whatever, you know, anticipate
(13:24):
that it might take a little while before you see
that rate that you were hoping for. Now, with a
caveat being if you're hoping for a three percent rates exactly,
it may.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Not get there.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
Yeah, I think we've been spoiled for a very long
time with a FED having interest rates as low as
they did for a very long time, and many of
us who are lucky enough to lock in on ridiculously
low interest rates on our mortgages, don't sit waiting idly
for that to come back, because it ain't happening. It's
not going to happen anytime soon, and it may not
happen ever again. As far as seeing mortgage rates dip
(13:55):
below three percent, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You know, I've said this many times on the show.
Before my grandpa Rbert Wagner retired from Cincinnati, Millicron had
a fantastic pension for him, right, his employer helped take
care of his retirement, and times have changed. It is
on most of us, on our backs to make smart
decisions about our four to one case. And you know,
I think there were some out there that were thinking, Okay,
(14:18):
could employers take on maybe a bit of the onus
here by having an auto enrollment into those four one
case and maybe an auto escalation feature, and will that
move the needle in this retirement crisis that we're experiencing
here in the US. The answer, I'm not sure, to
anybody's surprise, is pretty much no.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
Yeah, unfortunately, no. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
And the auto escalation keep in mind, that's where your
contributions to your four to one K automatically increase on
an annual basis. That's usually one percent, but it could
be two, could be three percent. It just depends on
how your four to one K is set up.
Speaker 7 (14:55):
So there was a group of people over at.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Yale School of Management, James Choy and some of his
cow leagues, they did a deep dive into the effects
of some of these changes to four one K plans,
and ultimately, like you said, it's not moving the needle
as much as many people had hoped. And it's because
a lot of people, when they leave their jobs, they're
either not there long enough and they're not fully vested
(15:18):
in that company match. Remember there's vesting schedules that determine
how much of the company match is actually yours. There's
also people that are just cashing out the four O
one k's when they leave.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, I mean we talk about that the average employee, right,
most of us, they're going to switch jobs about a
dozen times over.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
The course of our career.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
If, for example, it takes five years for your company
match to fully vest and then you're actually changing jobs
every four years, that money is hitting your account, but
you don't get to keep all of it, all of
that company match.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And so we just see kind of this churn of people.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Switching jobs and leaving behind money, and switching jobs and
leaving behind money and even auto and rolling those people
into their new four one case with the auto escalation feature,
isn't enough to make up for what they're leaving behind.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
And then of course you also have the federal government.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
I'm almost incentivizing you or just making it so easy
to say, well, you know, there was only X dollars
in that four to one K, I'm just going to
cash it out and I'll start over at this new job.
And the problem is then you're never really starting to
save for retirement.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
Their research showed that about forty two percent of people
that leave jobs cash out their four to one k's when.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
They depart that job. Oh, that is massive, and.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Unfortunately, you know, I've seen that and shares that I've
set in. When I started in this industry, it was
in a four to one K customer service role, and
it was I need to do a hardship loan or
a hardship withdrawal. I need to take out a four
to one K loan. I need to cash out my
four to one K. I just saw it all day long,
so I'm not surprised by that figure. So having the
simplicity and ease of being able to access what should
(16:51):
be your retirement money right there at your fingertips is
obviously going to throw a curveball, and changes like auto
enrollments and auto escalationseople aren't making the best decisions for themselves.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Still, in my opinion, the federal government in some cases
is also making this worse. In Secure Act two point zero,
they came out with this option where you could declare anything,
and I can't even imagine what people have declared. I
would actually like to see this an emergency and automatically
take out one thousand dollars from your four oh one K,
(17:25):
no questions asked, no proof required for anything on your end.
You have three years to pay it back or you
don't have to. And I just feel like this can
really create a slippery slope of putting money in and
taking money out. And this is your retirement, folks.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And for those of you who say, well.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
It doesn't matter, I'm just going to work for the
rest of my life. That can be a great theory,
but it may not be reality for you. You could
get laid off, you could get sick, and when you
care about could get sick. So many things could go wrong,
which is why your four oh one K becomes so important.
You should know what percentage of you're bringing home. You're
putting into that floural one k, you should know how
(18:04):
it's invested. You should know your floural one k.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You know, like you know your children's social security numbers,
like it is incredibly important.
Speaker 7 (18:14):
I have no idea what my I was just gonna say.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
As I threw that out, I'm like, I'm looking at
a man who has no idea.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Yeah, it's just a blank stare, Like, really, you know
your good social I know my four O one K
in and out, but I certainly I know my daughter's
so security. Uh, you know, I get what you're saying. Though,
it's important to make sure that we're taking ownership of
our own savings.
Speaker 7 (18:35):
And then you're right.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
You know, planning to work forever is not a solution
because you may not be able.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
To work for it.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's not a plan.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Yeah. Yeah, it's as simple as that.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
So, I mean, obviously there's been some some changes that
could be seen as positives and four to one K,
such as auto enrollment and automatic escalations, but there are
challenges as far as solutions that this this research research
pointed to was, Uh, I don't know how fees creating
infrastructure that allows for higher contribution rates attained at a
(19:03):
previous job to automatically be enacted at your next job.
That's the communication that between every single four to oh
one K that's offered.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
Just I don't see how that's actually feasible.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
One that I do like is making the auto escalation
contribution level dependent on maybe your age or your time
frame left to retirement, rather than I'm just going to
do an extra percent.
Speaker 7 (19:25):
Here's what you need to do in order to theoretically
have enough money.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
I mean, it's an idea, but I don't know how
feasible these are to actually implement, other than making sure
that people take ownership of their own retirement savings.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, here's the all Worth advice.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Whether you increase four to one K contributions automatically or manually,
please resist the urge to go the opposite direction and
start taking money out of those retirement accounts. Coming up next,
we're firing up to Simply Money scam track or We've
got the new ways criminals are trying to rip you off.
You're listening to Simply Money presented by all Worth Financial
here on fifty five CARESI the talk station. You're listening
(20:04):
to Simply Money because then by all Worth Financial, I
mean me Wagner along with Steve Ruby. Jat my son
off at school this morning, was driving home and was like, oh,
there's another home that's got solar panels on it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Is this something we should be looking at?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
You know, I just think you see more and more
homes that have solar panels. But interestingly, apparently there's also scams.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
To do with solar panels. Joining us tonight of course.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
To warn us about what we need to do to
protect ourselves. What we need to know is Joe siel
erlik our good friend from the Cincinnati Better Business Bureau.
Where people are spending money, there will always be scams.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Tell us about these with solar panels.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Right, everything that's hot has a scam attached to it.
So you know, as you said, more and more people
are considering solar panels, and they're switching for a lot
of different reasons. Sustainability, to reduce their electric bills, or
to take advantage of tax and centis, whatever your reason.
If you're considering installing solar panels, be really careful with
installation off. Those free solar panels could end up costing
(21:03):
you a ton. Now here's how the scam works, and
there's a whole variety of twists. In this particular scam.
Somebody contacts you and they by phone, by social by email,
even in person the old fashioned way, pretending to be
from a solar company. They offered to install those solar
panels for a really low cost, may be even free.
(21:24):
But the deal is only available for a limited time,
so you have to act now. That sense of urgency
always says red flag, Red flag, red flag. Now. From here,
the scam can take various forms. They might ask you
for your personal or banking information, allegedly to see if
you qualify for this promotion. Or they might ask for
upfront payments, promising that the government's going to reimburse you. No,
(21:50):
they might start the work but never finish the job,
or they install faulty panels and they've left town by
the time you need repairs. Here are a few tips
to think about. Always be skeptical of any unsolicited offer,
no matter what the product or service in this case offers.
Promising free or very low cost solar panels is a
(22:10):
red flag. Make sure any promises they make are clearly
explained in the contract so that you can hold them
to it. If push comes to show and if the
company is evasive or if they're upset that you're asking questions,
consider that another red flag. This is not the company
for you. You know, there are reputable solar energy contractors
(22:32):
out there that goes without saying, and there are actual
incentive programs. So do your homework and check with BBB
dot org before you sign any contract.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
Yeah, that's great advice.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
I mean, I have solar panels and I certainly paid
for them. I'm not looking for free. If it sounds
too good to be true, maybe do some homework there,
because obviously it could be some kind of a scam.
So you know, other scams obviously we see all the time,
and these ones are particularly annoy it's it's texting scams.
I mean, I pulled up my phone just now to look,
(23:04):
you know, and I feel like I have one every
few days. Hi, how are you doing today? Or it's
just hey, Jill, it's so good to see you, looking
forward to catching up. And obviously it's something that is
out of the ordinary, and I've never even responded to
one of them. But you know, there's a variety of
texting scams. You know, what's what's on your radar at
this point, and which what should.
Speaker 7 (23:26):
We be looking for?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
You know, as you said, a lot of texting scams
out there, and while you might think a weird test
text from an unknown number is suspicious, sake text from
your bank, your boss, even your friend might be harder
for you to detect. So the current ones that are
really big. Right now, your boss, You get a text
from an unknown number claiming to be from your boss.
(23:50):
The sender mentions you by name, knows where you work,
and your boss's name. The text message might say something
like this, Hi, Steve, I'm tied up in a conference
call right now, but let me know if you get
this signed amy. If you respond, you'll be asked to
maybe buy gift cards for a client or wire money
to another business. The scammer may ask you to send
(24:13):
confidential information to somebody using usually giving you a convincing
reason to carry out the request. Think I left my
credit Think I left my company credit card at home
and I need to pick up some office supplies. Can
you send me your credit card number? No matter how
believable the reason sounds, and how much you don't want
(24:33):
to ruffle feathers, always always, always double check before you
take any action. You can't undo things once you send
money or gift cards or information. Instead, call or email
your boss using their real contact information to find out
if any of the story is true. Now, another one
we're seeing a lot of, and BBB scam Tracker is
(24:56):
reporting on are a rise in scammers in p orting
banks through text messages. Yeah, you get a text that
looks like a fraud alert from your bank warning about
some unusual activity on your account and asking you to
confirm or deny a large purchase. Now, no matter what
you reply, because all you're doing is really confirming this
(25:18):
is a working phone number, You're going to get a
call from somebody claiming to be your bank representative, and
they'll use caller ID that makes it look like it
is your bank. They say they can stop those fraudulent
charges if you send yourself money through a digital wallet.
The caller walks you through how to connect the app
to your bank account and asks you to verify the
(25:41):
connection by sharing the code that your actual bank just
sent you. Now, that code is your bank's way of
confirming that you are authorizing the transaction. Once you give
the scammer that code, that lets them set up an
account with your contact information, but there bank account and unfortunately,
(26:02):
since technically you did authorize the transaction, it's hard to
dispute the charges even though you were tricked into approving
the transaction, so you could be out hundreds or thousands
of dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You know, I think we just stinks.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Is like you always have to be cynical. Now you
know you can't trust You can't trust the emails in
your personal box. You certainly can't trust them in your
work in bogs. You know, you make a mistake and
all of a sudden, bad people are in your system.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
They're in your phone. You have to be on guard constantly.
There's another scam.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
And it's funny because I drive into my in and
out of my neighborhood and I'm like, does anyone.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Ever leave their house anymore? Or does anyone ever go.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Like actual shopping, because everything is delivered on people's front porches.
And of course, again where there is money, where people
are spending money, there are going to be scams. And
now you're saying there's kind of a fresh crop of
delivery scams.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yes, and you know, believe it or not, it's not
even October. But we're entering the holiday season, people are buying.
I won't say that I came home the other night
and found five boxes stacked up on my front porch,
but I did. We're not telling anybody.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
About that, no justice.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
So anyway, right, you get a text allegedly from one
of the delivery service companies saying they couldn't deliver a
package for some reason, and please contact them using the
link in the text. I seem to get one of
those a week, as you mentioned that you did. It's
important to keep good records of the packages you're expecting
and from what delivery service. If you get a text
(27:34):
about not being able to deliver a package, don't click
on it. Instead, go directly to the delivery service website
and track your package. Or often the seller will provide
a link in their confirmation email you can use that
as well. Just don't click on any link you get
through a text. If you get a fishy text out
of the blue, simply ignore and delete the message. You
(27:57):
can even go a step further and block the phone number.
And if you're tempted to reply for fun or you
think you can scam the scammers, remember these guys are
just looking for you to respond. Any response just confirms
that they have a working phone number, and I can
guarantee you you will then be on their list for
their future scam attempts.
Speaker 5 (28:19):
I think that's great feedback because it is tempting, you know,
Like I was telling you earlier, I get these unidentified
friend texts and it's challenging to not try to outdo
them and maybe have a little bit of fun with it.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
But what you just said, really.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, let's talk about those number a little bit. Yeah,
talk about those kind of casual texts that you get
that say something innocent enough like are we still on
for lunch tomorrow? Or love you mom? Have a good day.
We are of a culture that feels a need to
(28:58):
respond to something like that out if it's a wrong number,
this could be somebody that really needs to hear from
the right person. So it's almost innate in us to say, hey,
you texted the wrong number. Do not do that.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Do not be polite, right, You've got to be cynical.
Great advice, as always from josielle erlik scams to watch
out for. You've been listening to Simply Money presented by
all Worth Financial here in fifty five KRS the talk
station you're listening to Simply Money presented my all Worth
Financial I mean you Wagner along with Steve.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
If you have a financial question you need.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
A little help figuring out, well, there's a red button
you can click them while you're listening to the show.
It's right there on the iHeart op record your question.
It's coming straight to us and straight ahead. The one
thing Americans are struggling to do with their money as
the presidential election approaches. This might surprise you, but once
we talk about it, it might also make sense. Okay,
it is time to play retirement fact or fiction.
Speaker 7 (29:59):
Fact or fiction.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
It's okay to invest fifteen percent more of your portfolio
and a single stock as long as that stock is
a company you work for.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
I'm gonna go with fiction.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
You do not get a free pass because you work
for the company. I think that's pretty cut and dry.
Speaker 7 (30:14):
Here.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
We've always said no more than ten or fifteen percent
in one company stock because you never know what could
happen with that company. You don't want your net worth
to get derailed by some kind of off the wall
event that could just throw a wrench in your entire
retirement plan.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So much risk great associated with any company right in
investing in individual stock in access of ten percent, it
could just totally derail your portfolio.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And we see this option.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
You might love the company you work with, you love
your team, you feel very invested in it, there's so
much loyalty there.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
But think about this.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Your current self is also reliant on that paycheck, and
now you're putting your future self reliance on how that
company does in the future. Anything could happen, which is
why you need to be highly diversified, whether you work
for that company or not. The rule applies right, no
more than ten percent of your entire portfolio in any
individual stocks.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Next one for you, Steve Ruby.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Fact or fiction, It might be worth considering doing Wroth
conversions before the tax before the Trump tax cuts expire
at the end of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 7 (31:20):
Uh fact.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
I think this is something that I'm talking about with
a lot of folks I work with. I know a
lot of other advisors are as well as accountants. And
that's quite simply because right now, if the tax laws sunset,
tax rates are going to go up, and in this situation,
especially if you are between the time period of retired
and not collecting your required minimum distributions yet or even
(31:44):
Social Security, then there are some significant opportunities for filling
up certain tax buckets to lock in on those those
conversions today, which not only will put us in an
opportunity to pay taxes at a lower rate, but also
grow those assets tax free for many years to come.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Normally, we would say, hey, don't do anything differently with
your social are, with your plan with your money based
on what's happening in Washington. This though, is like the
exception to that rule, because if Congress doesn't do something right,
we know what's going to happen and it could impact you.
So this is something that you could take advantage of.
But I would say before you just kind of use
(32:24):
this blanket thing of Okay, I know taxes are going
to be more expensive.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Maybe next year, I'm going to make roth conversions.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Make sure're working with a qualified you know, certified financial
planner or CPA to make sure that in your situation
this does in fact make sense. But yes, it does
make sense to at least have the conversation and explore
this right now.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Yeah, And I would also say that for I don't
like making investment decisions around what's going on in Washington.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
But tax decisions, tax.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
Planning decisions for what's going on in Washington is a
different story because it's easier to map out what changes
may actually happen to the tax code. So one for
you factor fiction. Daily price wings are not reasons to
sell individual stocks.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, that is a fact. That is a major fact.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
In fact, I feel like you would need dramamine if
you were constantly buying and selling, you know, based on
how the market goes. There are people who do this.
It certainly became a little more popular during the pandemic
when people were bored, and many times you just hear
kind of people losing their shirts. They don't talk about
that as much though, Right, But I would say, hey,
if you are an investor and you are really thinking
(33:32):
about your future, right you've got financial goals like retirement someday,
like maybe helping your kids pay for college or whatever
those goals are, you don't pay attention to the daily fluctuations, right.
You just know that long term it's smarter to be
invested in the markets than not invested these daily fluctuations.
I don't check the markets seventeen times a day, and
(33:52):
my job is to know.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Right, and so I just please keep your sanity.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
This is your sanity is more important than knowing exactly
where the stock market is currently. The next one for you,
fact or fiction. Medicare covers both dental and vision costs.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Trick question fiction because it can. But when we're talking
about Medicare, most folks are thinking about Part A and
Part B. It's your hospital coverage and everything else. But
everything else, unfortunately doesn't cover A and B do not
provide coverage for dental, vision or hearing. This is something
that folks don't often realize. This is where Part C
(34:30):
comes into play, and that's your Medicare advantage plans, which
are going to create a scenario where what you now
have in retirement is a little bit more like what
you had grown used to as an employee who received
their healthcare benefits through their employer. So Part A and
Part B by themselves, oftentimes aren't going to cut it
unless you have some kind of a supplemental coverage that
(34:52):
continues from a former employer. I would be looking at
Part C Medicare advantage plans to close that gap on
your and envision. Very important for folks to plan accordingly
for you Amy factor fiction. Your state plan should establish
a power attorney for medical decisions and a separate power
of attorney to deal with financial affairs.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
That's a total fact.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
And you know, I think when we talk about estate planning,
many people kind of just zone.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Out right, I don't have an estate.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
You know, It's like I don't have millions of dollars,
and you picture this like rambling estate that you know,
we have to go through a gate to come in.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
No, no, no. If you have a home, if you
have a four to one.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
K plan, if you have any cars, you have an
estate and you need to take steps to protect it.
But this is also kind of a legacy of love,
right If something happens to you and you can't speak
for yourself, who do you trust to make those financial
decisions for you? Who do you trust to make those
medical decisions for you?
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Putting these things in.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Place before something happens makes life a whole lot easier
for the people who love you. Coming up next, the
connection between how much people are spending and the upcoming election.
You're listening to simply money, presented by all Worth Financial
here in fifty five KRC.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
The talk station you're listening to simply money because.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Someent of me all worth financial, I mean you Wagner
along with Steve Ruby, okay, for those who are not
paying attention, and that means as have not turned on
your TV in like two months.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
The presidential election is coming up.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
We are about a month away, and that means just
volatility and I mean I'm just talking to more and
more people. Steve, you have just all kinds of anxiety
around this election. I get it feels like the stakes
are very, very big. The question is, you know, are
you doing anything different with your money? And there's some
research out there that shows that some people aren't spending money.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Yeah, I even without that research, I see it every day,
decisions being paused to wait and see what happens with something,
particularly in this situation.
Speaker 7 (36:46):
It's the election.
Speaker 5 (36:47):
Wells Fargo, you know, they did some actual research and
what the term is coined the disjunction effect. Basically, people
feel they need to know the outcome of the election
before taking action on major purchase. Is like buying a home,
for example, because you know, it's such an emotional time
and a lot of our decisions, especially around money, are
(37:10):
heavily swayed by emotion. It's one of the benefits of
partnering with fiduciary financial planners is it removes the emotion
from decisions and from investing. You know, in a situation
like this, I see it all the time. I have
a pile of money I want to invest with, but
I want to wait and see what happens until after
the election.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I also think.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
It's like kind of like you're just so fatigued, like
you just feel so bombarded right now that like the
energy to make a decision about a major purchase.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
I get it, it can feel overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
And I know that so many people are just, you know,
so passionate about politics, and I one hundred percent understand that.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
But I would say, hey, what makes the.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Most sense is to look at your individual situation, right,
Do you have the money saved to pay for that purchase?
Are you not pulling money out of your flour one
K or taking on credit card debt in order to
buy that new applying answer whatever it is, and you know,
if it makes sense to.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Buy it now, buy it now.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Whoever is in that oval office should not make an
impact on what your individual financial goals.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Are in how you execute them well.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
When wells Fargo's talking about this disjunction effect. They're also
saying that even though people may hold off, they're still
making the same decision regardless of what happens next.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
That's like they're not doing it, they're just waiting to.
Speaker 7 (38:30):
Do it exactly.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
You think that that something on the horizon, in this case,
the presidential election, will have an effect on the decision
you make, But they're finding that that's just not the
case based on looking at historical information.
Speaker 7 (38:43):
So if you're.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
Thinking about doing something and you're pausing for something that
won't ultimately matter, like the outcome of the election. Again,
like you said, maybe focus on your individual financial situation.
Has anything changed there? If not, then maybe move forward
do that thing rather than hitting the pause and waiting
for something that won't matter at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Here's the all Worth advice.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
This is the perfect time to sit down with someone
you trust and discuss this.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
We would say, someone rational. Thanks for listening, tune in tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
We're talking about the one thing you don't want to
start chasing if your income drops. Even listening to Simply
Money presented by all Worth Financial here on fifty five krs,
the talk station