The Troubleshooter 11-26-24

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Yeah, ripped up bad news.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
You need advice so you don't have.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
You come running just as fast as we can. Show
Shooter's gonna help.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Come man, This is the Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 5 (00:24):
No Tom Martino, Hi, Tom Martino here, Welcome to the show.
Three oh three seven one three Talk three oh three
seven one three eight two five five House, everything going.
We are here to help you solve your problems, answer
your questions, take your complaints, and make life just a
little easier.

Speaker 6 (00:45):
Now I have a special, some special guest today.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
We're gonna talk about some some stuff that's near and
dear to my heart and pocketbook, and it has to
do with keeping you on track if you're in business
and business for yourself, and a giant business and a
medium business, even a small business. There's all kinds of
things to talk about. With retirement. We'll be getting to
that in a minute. I'm going to go to your
calls as usual, whenever you have a call gifts, call us.

(01:09):
It's a regular show today three oh three seven one
three Talks seven one three eight two five five, and
then I'll be getting to my guests. This hour brought
to you by water Pros, the best water systems at
the lowest prices. Remember that thirty one ninety five gets
you your water system installed completely.

Speaker 6 (01:27):
Thirty one ninety five.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
That's complete water softening around the house and reverse osmosis
drinking water at the kitchen.

Speaker 6 (01:33):
Sing also eight eight eight heating dot Com.

Speaker 5 (01:35):
I have to mention them because they have the extreme
clean for forty five bucks and they are doing it.
So please remember that, and I'm going to have Garrett
on to talk about that coming up. Also, whatever is
on your mind, you talk to us. Like, for example,
we have Heba who wants to talk about Firestone. Heba,
what's going on with you?

Speaker 6 (01:54):
Heba?

Speaker 7 (01:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:56):
Hi, what's going on? Heba?

Speaker 8 (01:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (02:00):
So I have, you know, been taking my car to
Firestone because they're experts.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
You know, how long have you been How long have
you been going to Firestone?

Speaker 10 (02:09):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (02:10):
I mean like on and ofustin like ten plus years.

Speaker 6 (02:15):
Okay, what happened? Here's with stuff?

Speaker 9 (02:16):
Cars?

Speaker 6 (02:17):
All right?

Speaker 9 (02:17):
Well, with this particular vehicle I have. Now I know
she's a little older, you know, but I took the
car to them for a full diagnose fake so I
can start like working on the things that needs to
be fake.

Speaker 6 (02:29):
But why he but were you having any symptoms or
do you just took it there?

Speaker 11 (02:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (02:33):
I was having a couple of different symptoms on the
when it was really cold and snowy a couple of
weeks ago, and like I have to use the heater.
The car was tripping a little bit. It was like
the ABS light came on and then the RPM would
like go from zero to four thousand while I was stopped,
and so I thought the car was going to die,

(02:54):
which is okay.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
So let's just say you took it there for some
various problems. What is your car, by the way, Yeah?

Speaker 6 (03:00):
What is it for?

Speaker 9 (03:01):
Tours? Ninety seventh the show model?

Speaker 6 (03:04):
My god, ninety seven Ford Taurus.

Speaker 9 (03:07):
Yeah, unfortunately.

Speaker 6 (03:09):
How many miles do you have on that world? How
many miles?

Speaker 8 (03:11):
One hundred, one hundred and like five thousand?

Speaker 6 (03:15):
I think, man, that sounds like I would have more
than that.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
But anyway, so what's going on now, Let's let's get
right to the problem.

Speaker 6 (03:21):
What did Firestone do?

Speaker 8 (03:24):
So they took my car, they told me what was
wrong with it. I told them to fix it, and
then I get the car from there on Sunday the seventeenth,
or on the fourteenth. I'm sorry, I the next day
to work, SA a whole bottle of anti seasons in
my car, and I take a car back to them.

Speaker 9 (03:42):
And they tell me I have a crossed radiator, And
I just don't understand how all of a sudden, I
have a crocked radiator.

Speaker 6 (03:49):
Well, why do you think? Why do you think they
did it? What? What did they hold on? Heba? What
did they Hebra? What did they charge you? And what
did they do?

Speaker 12 (04:00):
They charged me.

Speaker 9 (04:00):
Like six hundred and seventy two dollars?

Speaker 6 (04:03):
What did they do for six hundred and seventy two dollars.

Speaker 9 (04:07):
On my door because the pencer was bad? And then
they did my washers the washer Seeing that washers window,
I guess it wasn't weping properly.

Speaker 6 (04:18):
What else to do with my cre so other than
hold on? Other than the anti freeze?

Speaker 5 (04:27):
Heba, Heba, you we got to talk back and forth
here after they did, after they did the service, other
than seeing that coolant?

Speaker 6 (04:36):
Other than that? Was the car running better than when
you took it in?

Speaker 9 (04:41):
Not really, No, it was still running the.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
Crap because what they did had nothing to do with
the driving of the car. So I don't know why
why you were charged six hundred and seventy two bucks.

Speaker 9 (04:52):
I don't either. I don't either, and like, literally nine
ninety miles later.

Speaker 6 (04:57):
Well, do me a favor, do me a favor. You
got to send me the work order.

Speaker 9 (05:01):
Okay, yes, sir, I can do all that.

Speaker 5 (05:05):
It's possible with one hundred and five thousand miles. You
needed a few things. But the actual drive ability they
didn't address right that.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
That's odd to me.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
They did a door sensor, yes, and what else did
they do? I mean in general, I.

Speaker 6 (05:24):
Mean, what the hell does that have to do with
how your car is running right?

Speaker 9 (05:30):
Right right? And then they said of something to do
with fuel cleaning, and they die.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
It that fuel cleaning.

Speaker 8 (05:38):
Yeah, so I don't know.

Speaker 9 (05:40):
They're experts, you know, like they're telling me what's wrong.
I'm telling them like, what's.

Speaker 6 (05:44):
The name that this?

Speaker 9 (05:45):
No?

Speaker 6 (05:45):
No, they this sound this sucks.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
Man, hold on, do me a favor and send me
your work kit, Jena, give her the email. We got
a long show. She can send me that and I'll
get to it and listen. But here's the bad You
want to hear the bad news up front. Here's the
bad news. Well, first, the good news. If they overcharge
you we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna talk to them.
Six seventy two. They didn't fix your problem. But here's

(06:10):
the bad news. The bad news is they may not
be responsible for that radiator. I mean, they didn't do
anything that would break the radiator. And you have one
hundred and five thousand miles. We'll get our expert on
to see. Okay, so just hang on, uh Kachina, get
that work order to me. Three oh three, seven to

(06:31):
one three talk seven one three eight two five five.

Speaker 6 (06:35):
Ah, man, this thing. I don't know what the hell's
going on, but it sounds to me like uh she
You know there's an expression in the car business, you
touch it, you own it. You know what that means, right,
It means when somebody works on your car, you blame
them for everything. Barbara, what's going on with All State? Barbara?

(06:58):
What's happening? Hey, Barbara? What's going on?

Speaker 13 (07:01):
I have a question about some insurance go ahead insurance
companies sent out an inspector. We have nine acres, we
have horses, we have trees, this and that in Castle.

Speaker 6 (07:11):
Rock and is this all State?

Speaker 14 (07:13):
Yes?

Speaker 13 (07:14):
We said, they sent out an inspector and then they
flagged us. Our agents said they flagged.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
Was this coming up on renewal? Is that why they
did that?

Speaker 13 (07:23):
It's coming up in February, and.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
That's why they did it. Okay.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
They're trying to do away with any problem properties. They're
also trying to make people replace their roofs if they're old,
because they don't want to replace them under a lot
of people wait when they have a bad roof for
a storm so they can get it free.

Speaker 6 (07:38):
But anyway, keep going. All State Insurance sent out, sent
out an inspector. Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 13 (07:44):
We had one claim in twenty years and that was
a hailstorm here in twenty twelve.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
Well okay, well according to insurance, that's not good. They
don't want any claims. They want to make money out
the nose.

Speaker 6 (07:55):
Go ahead, go ahead, I understand.

Speaker 13 (07:57):
Oh they sent So they came out and they said,
we have been flagged for trees touching or overhanging the roof.
So I asked her to send me the pictures so
we would know. I figured I knew what they were
talking about, but so we did it. We pruned them.
I sent her back pictures. She said, looks good, So
I thought all was good. We have four cars with them,

(08:17):
a horse trailer, a boat.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
And then I'll bet you, Barbara, I'm going to make
you a bet right now, if you've only had one
claim in all those years, I will guarantee you right now,
and we're going to do an experiment. I will guarantee
you you're over paying for insurance.

Speaker 13 (08:34):
Good by imagine we are, and I've bet.

Speaker 6 (08:36):
And hold on round.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
I'm also gonna wait. I'll also guarantee you that with
one phone call, we can get you an insurance check up,
no obligation whatsoever, and not only will you save money.
Listen to what I'm saying now, this is pretty bold,
not even knowing what's going on with you, just knowing
that you have All State, I'm going to tell you
right now you can get better insurance for lower money and.

Speaker 6 (08:57):
Better deductibles, better all the way around.

Speaker 5 (09:00):
And now I've said this to people in the past,
and the smart people say, well, sure, I want that
insurance check up. And the other people who aren't so
smart say, oh, I like All State, They've been a
good company, or I've liked so and so, And I
ask them what defines a good company? They have no idea,
because a good company is to find on someone who

(09:20):
gives you.

Speaker 6 (09:21):
The best coverage at the lowest price.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
And what's really funny is people who evaluate insurance, they
don't even evaluate them.

Speaker 6 (09:28):
They just say, oh, yeah, it's a pretty good company.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
But then the first sign of trouble, then they find
out they're not such a good company.

Speaker 6 (09:35):
Barbara Listen, I know you want to talk about this.

Speaker 13 (09:38):
This has nothing to do with what my question is,
because what's your question. You're a referral age and I've
called three of the agencies and we have gotten quotes.
Our quote is very low in this house. It's like
four thousand. I think it's the five thousand for the year,
and it will probably go well. They say they're not
going to probably renew us. And here's my question to

(10:00):
you is all your companies were eight thousand to ten thousand.
So it's not pertaining to all what you're talking about
because I've already done that.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
But my question to you is did you call Compass
Insurance Group.

Speaker 6 (10:12):
I'm just curious.

Speaker 13 (10:12):
Yes, yes, I did.

Speaker 5 (10:14):
They and they went through their twenty five companies and
could not And then that tells me something that keep
going and then I'll tell you what I think go ahead.

Speaker 13 (10:22):
Okay, okay, So we did what they said in September,
had it all pruned, the gal said, the agent said,
looks good. Now, yesterday I get another email saying if
you and they were saying it was due to the
roof hanging over the roof. So we cleared chop trees down,
totally annihilated some beautiful trees. We have scrub woke around us.

(10:44):
We have an in ground pool. So now they say,
now I don't understand why this was Barbara Barbarick.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
Can I just I know you want to tell me
everything and you don't think I'm listening.

Speaker 6 (10:52):
But let me explain something to you.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
All State doesn't want to renew you, and they're looking
for an excuse. Okay, they don't want to renew you.

Speaker 13 (10:59):
To you can I sue them for no?

Speaker 5 (11:02):
No, no, you can't. No, you can't upon renewal. They
can decide not to renew you. You can't sue them.
There's nothing to sue for. You'll spend more money suing
them than it's worth. An insurance company. They can tell
you they don't want to renew you. They can make
you jump through hoops. I'm telling you they're looking for
an excuse, and I'm going to tell you why. If
you went to three agencies on my referral list, you

(11:23):
were underinsured and you were not paying a proper price
for the house you had, and come your first loss,
you would have had a problem, a giant problem.

Speaker 6 (11:32):
It would have been called.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
I don't want to get into the technicalities because I
know in your heart you think you're being screwed.

Speaker 6 (11:37):
But it's possible that you.

Speaker 5 (11:39):
Were underpaying for insurance and that your did not have
adequate insurance, and you would have been in big trouble
had you had a loss, because there's no.

Speaker 13 (11:49):
Way it worth one point eight We had it insured
for two point two millions, so we're not under insured.
I'll tell you what I think it is, and then
I will let you go because I know you're busy.

Speaker 6 (11:59):
No, no, no, no, go ahead, Barbara.

Speaker 13 (12:01):
What do you we have there? Our policy now has
one hundred percent roof replacement with a five thousand dollars deductible,
and I believe because they're not doing that anymore, and
we all know why. But in twenty twelve the house,
the roof was replaced for twenty seven thousand. I can't
even imagine what it would cost to day. So this

(12:21):
is what I believe that they want to drop us
because of that policy, because they don't want to have Barbara.

Speaker 5 (12:29):
When I when you got your insurance check up, here's
what I need to know. Did you have them quote
one roof coverage replacement with a five thousand dollars deductible.

Speaker 13 (12:39):
They will no longer do that.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
I'm asking you though, when they When they That's why
that's why the prices were so high, because here's why
I know you can get good coverage. You can't get
what you had because it doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 6 (12:56):
So what you're.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
Comparing is you're saying I compared them and they couldn't
do as well. Well, what you're saying is they couldn't
do as well as what as something that doesn't exist.

Speaker 6 (13:05):
So what I'm saying is.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
You're trying to compare old coverage you had with all State,
which no longer exists, to something that good, honest people
are trying to give you a quote on. What I'm
telling you is this, you will never find a quote
that has one hundred percent roost coverage for well, you might,
but here's what I want to know. I want Barbara,

(13:28):
if you really care, and I have a feeling that
you think you know and you don't even want to explore.
But I'm going to make a challenge to you. Put
her on hold, you give if you call Compass right
now and they do an insurance checkup, I will guarantee you,
guarantee you you're going to find valuable information on what
is causing your insurance to be so high because or

(13:51):
they can beat it. Okay, I just see if she'll
do it, Kachina. I know she'll say no because she
feels she shopped one hundred percent, She asked every question
and she knows everything, so therefore she's gonna end up
paying more and she's not going to.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
Get the best coverage.

Speaker 5 (14:06):
But I want to leave it so I don't feel
guilty about it. Okay, even people that know everything, I
want to offer to them the service so they can
take advantage of it if they want so. Barbara, if
you want there's something we're missing. When you told me
you called three agencies on our referral list and all

(14:27):
three of them were twice or three times as high,
there is something fundamentally wrong with that premise, absolutely wrong,
and we'll find out because if you did call Compass.
They have records of your call, they have records of
your coverage, and records as to why it was what
it was. I'm Tom Martino. We have more coming up

(14:50):
on the Trouble Shooter Show.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
Me Tom Martino here three.

Speaker 5 (14:55):
All three seven one three talks seven H three eight
R five to five. Marcie has a question on side. Meanwhile,
if you're in business, please stay tuned. I Am going
to work in some really important stuff that you need
to know about your retirement plans. If you offer retirement
plans of any kind of your employees, please hang on
for that.

Speaker 6 (15:12):
Marcy. What's happening, Marcy?

Speaker 15 (15:15):
Hi, Tom, I'm looking to do sighting on my mom's
home in North Glin. It's a ranch home, so it's
just the sighting on the top. We've had a few
of the guys out from your referral list, but I'm
just looking to see if you have opinion on the
LP versus Hardy. I'm getting kind of confused, like I read.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Okay, my personal I'm just going to tell you something
I personally do not like Hardy.

Speaker 6 (15:39):
I don't personally, okay, I don't.

Speaker 5 (15:41):
James Hardy has taken over the world with their marketing,
and I believe it's not as great as they say.
It's not terrible siding okay, and LP siding I wouldn't do. Okay,
So I don't want either of them.

Speaker 6 (15:56):
On my house.

Speaker 16 (15:58):
Okay, what's the alternative to those?

Speaker 6 (16:00):
I would go with a line siding?

Speaker 9 (16:03):
I'm sorry, what sighting?

Speaker 6 (16:05):
A line?

Speaker 14 (16:05):
A L I g n Okay?

Speaker 15 (16:08):
A line Okay?

Speaker 5 (16:10):
Now, fine, we have great people that do siding. We
have K and H Home Solutions. Have you had them out?

Speaker 10 (16:16):
No?

Speaker 6 (16:16):
We had Paramount in Genesis out Genesis does a line siding?
Did did he talk about it?

Speaker 14 (16:24):
I think Genesis was hearty.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
So I'll have to find well they okay, that's one
of their sidings. But for God's sakes, one of the
big deals I do, one of the real big things
I do with them is I let me make sure
I advertise ALIGNE sighting for them. I think, hold on,
let me let me make sure I have the I
have it right here.

Speaker 14 (16:43):
I just want to make the.

Speaker 5 (16:44):
Right Yeah, A line siding, plastic polymer, no chipping, cracking, peeling, fading.
Come on, Mark, you know the sales guy just recommended Hardy.

Speaker 15 (16:55):
I'm pretty sure he was the one that recommended herd.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
I want you to remember a line A LGN. You
won't do better than a line siding.

Speaker 6 (17:02):
Okay, okay, I'll call them back.

Speaker 12 (17:04):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
A line a l I GN. I think it's only one.

Speaker 5 (17:08):
Okay, Marcy, let me know if there's a problem, because
that's a great siding.

Speaker 6 (17:13):
Ursula. What's going on with moving companies? Hello? Ursula?

Speaker 12 (17:18):
Yes, good morning? Uh hey you you used to have
moving companies on your referral list?

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (17:25):
And can I say something frankly, they all suck in fact, no, no, no, no, no,
I really want to tell you that they all suck.
Now they were on until they weren't. Let's just put
it that way. But there there was there. Some of
the better companies don't have to be on the referral list.
They're too damn busy. So oh okay, so if you

(17:49):
isn't that a dichotomy?

Speaker 6 (17:50):
So they're so good.

Speaker 5 (17:51):
They don't need us, and and the other ones were
so bad they can't join us, so we don't have
But I can give you great What where do.

Speaker 6 (17:59):
You want to move?

Speaker 12 (18:01):
We would move from from Boulder to Littleton.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
Okay, that's a local that's considered local. Yeah, and.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
Who do you I can tell you someone who's a
great company. Yes, well, let me just are you sure
we don't have anyone?

Speaker 6 (18:18):
Let me shoot? I thought we still had some.

Speaker 12 (18:21):
So we went on your fur list. Yes, look, and
we couldn't find it.

Speaker 6 (18:24):
No, I can't either. You know we got a Yeah,
it's too bad.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
Hold on one second, I thought we had a small anyway, here,
here's who I would recommend.

Speaker 6 (18:32):
Okay, I would recommend. Let me let me find him.
I want to make sure hold on before I do it.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
Uh, and then I will come right back to you.

Speaker 6 (18:47):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
I want to make sure. I want to make sure
that they're going to do a local move for you.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
Okay, okay, thank you? Okay, yeah they do Johnson Moving
in Storage absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 12 (18:57):
Oh Johnson.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
Okay, they've been They've been here one hundred and twenty
five years. I think they're pretty dependable.

Speaker 12 (19:04):
And also have you heard from Legacy Moving?

Speaker 6 (19:08):
No? Where did you find Legacy?

Speaker 12 (19:11):
Well, my son you said, for when his house burned.

Speaker 6 (19:14):
Down, did he like him?

Speaker 12 (19:16):
He had to move from one to one another? And
he said when they moved him from one place whatever
was left.

Speaker 14 (19:23):
They were great.

Speaker 12 (19:24):
But then when they moved back when the house was
done and finished, they were not so great.

Speaker 5 (19:29):
Well, okay, they have really good listen, they have really
good ratings all over, just so you know.

Speaker 6 (19:36):
I'm just looking at him.

Speaker 5 (19:38):
And they have too many to be fake. Okay, too
many good ones to be fake. Now now I like,
I don't know them. I know Johnson. Now there's another
company that used to be really good and I don't
know what they're Doinglines, well, that's United Band.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
Lines is a national.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Is a national company, and what you have to look
for are local agents. So don't god by the national name.
Although you want a local agent to be affiliated with
the national name.

Speaker 6 (20:10):
So I'll tell you so.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Johnson is local, but they are affiliated, I believe, with national.
Grabel is another good company. Amazing Moves we used to
have on the referral list. We never got really major
complaints about them. So when I said they all suck,
Amazing Moves does a pretty good job.

Speaker 6 (20:33):
Okay, okay, now.

Speaker 12 (20:35):
You have the phone number off Johnson Moving.

Speaker 6 (20:40):
Well, it can't be that hard for me to do
for you. Hold on. They're really good people, man. I've
known Mark for so many years.

Speaker 12 (20:49):
And I just wanted to let you know my husband.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
Oh they're united. I thought they were national. I'm sorry,
what did you say?

Speaker 12 (20:57):
I said, My husband is an avid listener, listening to
you at least for twenty five years.

Speaker 14 (21:03):
Well he's three day.

Speaker 6 (21:05):
He's the smart.

Speaker 12 (21:05):
Always says he learned so much from you, and you
saved him so much money by him listening, and whatever
comes up, it's awesome. That's why the first thing we
went is to you referral list, and we couldn't find
any movers.

Speaker 6 (21:21):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
Now, Deputy Doc who's one of our deputies here, he used,
he used move Masters and he absolutely loves him. Let
me give you the number four. It's an eight hundred number,
but it's okay. They're local Johnson.

Speaker 6 (21:36):
Eight six six eight six six four four to two yeah,
zero four.

Speaker 12 (21:45):
Eight one zero four eight one okay.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
And then move Masters is who one of our people used,
and he raves about him. And I don't like I said,
I didn't know about him before him, but he them
and I can give you their number move Masters.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
They really are good people. They're three oh three, three
oh three eight nine three eight nine three eighty two.

Speaker 12 (22:11):
Hundred eighty two hundred wonderful. I'm gonna move I'm going
to call them because we have to. We're kind of
in between. We bought a house in Littleton to move
closer to our daughter, but our old house in Boulder
here is not for sale, so we have to move
part now because so we.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Know, you know what do have to Are you going
to sell your house in but are you going to
sell your house in Boulder?

Speaker 6 (22:35):
Yes?

Speaker 9 (22:36):
We are.

Speaker 12 (22:37):
Yeah, I meane elderly, but our daughter wanted us closer.
They always say, well, mom, you're getting older.

Speaker 5 (22:44):
We're in our late erson so you're in your late seventies.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
Yeah, okay, Well.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
My goodness, I'm in my early seventies, so congratulations. Listen, Ursula, listen.
I want you to do me a favor though, when
you go to sell your house. Contact again. Let's find
somebody good for that. And it's good. You're getting out
of Boulder right now. It's I'm just right okay. Anyway, Ursula,
take it easy. I have to take a break. I'm
Tom Martino. We have more coming up on the Troubleshooter Show.

(23:11):
I want to tell you it's a very busy show.
We got a lot to talk about.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
And fix it.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
Twenty four to seven is one of the companies I
love talking about because they spend about two hours on
your furnace thirty nine bucks, and they go through it
completely thirty nine dollars. Now, come on, you spend more
than that on a couple of coffees. Right, fix it
twenty four to seven. You can book it right now,
Fix Myhome dot Com and then book now, Fix my

(23:37):
Home dot Com book now.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
I push them because they're good people.

Speaker 5 (23:41):
I know the owner, I know everybody there, and they
promise to do a great job for you and give
you a no breakdown guarantee. Now it's for people who
haven't had it done, the extreme clean thirty nine bucks,
Fix my Home dot Com book now, Hey, Tom Martino here, listen, Nah,

(24:01):
I gotta tell you this.

Speaker 6 (24:03):
Fix it twenty four to seven. I forgot to mention.

Speaker 5 (24:07):
They also do these diagnostic calls for thirty nine bucks
for anything. No matter how long it takes to diagnose
a problem, they come out and look at it.

Speaker 6 (24:18):
Thirty nine bucks.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
Give you a complete estimate if no matter what it
takes to find the problem. Now, once they find it,
if you decide to have the work done, you don't
pay the thirty nine bucks, but the thirty nine is what.

Speaker 6 (24:30):
They call their they're low cost diagnostic fee. It's a
one price to get them there and get a diagnosis
fixmihome dot com seven two zero five two six thirty
nine thirty nine. Let's go back to the phones.

Speaker 5 (24:46):
Kevin Colkin is with us and the reason I had
Kevin on, I wanted to read this invoice, but this
invoice is way easier than I thought. Heiba, you complained
that they didn't help your car run better. I just
want to say something. Okay, I'm looking at the invoice.
There's not one complaint on here about the car not
running right. All you complained about was the lights are

(25:09):
on abs traction. The interior lights stay on after you
turn the car off and you have to jump it
to start it. As a result, they did battery test
and they said the battery's good, and then they they
I don't know they did that. Then they changed out
the lights and did that. So here's what I want

(25:29):
to know, one thing at a time. Did they fix
the original problem you went in there for.

Speaker 12 (25:35):
They did.

Speaker 9 (25:36):
They fixed the lights the dore center.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Yeah good, and then they did cleaning the fuel system
PFI three step.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
What's that? Kevin Caulkin our car expert, Kevin, what's.

Speaker 17 (25:48):
That It sounds like it's an injector cleaner, induction cleaner.

Speaker 5 (25:52):
Service, kind of like BG, right but different. Yep, Yeah, Okay,
it's one hundred and thirty three bucks. Is that ore
one hundred and thirty four or is that a lot
of money?

Speaker 16 (26:01):
That's not bad?

Speaker 17 (26:01):
No, it's not bad for you.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
And for the door switch and the other stuff. They
it's one hundred and sixty not bad. But then they
did some other stuff. They said, diagnose the washer that
was inoperative, and that was eighty one dollars, and a
windshield hosed sixty dollars, and replace hose assembly seventy dollars.

(26:24):
But to diagnose it was sixty. To replace it it
was seventy. I mean, I think these charges suck. By
the way, she spent six hundred bucks. But okay, fine,
What I'm getting at is she got the problems fixed
she went in there for and now she says she's
got any freeze on the floor.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Well, and she has a cracked radiator.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
I don't hear anything here they did. They didn't do
anything that would have time.

Speaker 17 (26:48):
I don't think they were anywhere close to the radiator.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
Ye okay, Now here's what I want to ask you.
She has on this particular car. Could it be just
old enough? Would it's a nice seven four tourists with
one hundred and five thousand miles?

Speaker 6 (27:03):
Now I doubt you know, the miles might be.

Speaker 5 (27:06):
Correct, but it sounds a little low ninety seven mm,
so that's over twenty what twenty five years?

Speaker 17 (27:15):
The radiators are plastic, you know, they have so they
don't last forever.

Speaker 5 (27:18):
No, okay, so he but I'm gonna I'm gonna be
straight with you here.

Speaker 6 (27:23):
You might think they screwed you. I don't think they did.
I just I can't. There's nothing we can sink our
teeth into here.

Speaker 17 (27:31):
And if she wants to swing by time, I'd be
happy to take a peek and see if there's any
way we can look you know, you know, yeah, anything else,
I don't keep it.

Speaker 6 (27:39):
Where are you located?

Speaker 8 (27:41):
Mom?

Speaker 9 (27:41):
In Denver? Onlike Yale and I twenty five?

Speaker 6 (27:44):
That's not bad.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
But he's at uh he's on Colfax west of Wadsworth
Sheridan Auto tech dot com. Just if you want to
swing by there, he'll do a courtesy check. Okay, I
just as I said, I just don't think in this
particular case that that they screwed you.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
I don't think so.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
Three three yeah, three seven one three talks seven one
three eight two five five. Now coming up, we have
a discussion on retirement and more on the Troubleshooter Show.
And it's here's what's really important, Okay, when it comes
to a diagnosis, put the problems down on the dam
invoice and make sure if you have a driveability problem

(28:27):
and they and they agreed to fix something, they say,
put down on there, like let's say this, you need
a water pump, put down on the invoice. We'll replace
water pump too, correct and then put the problem down.
So you're creating a mini little performance contract with him.
I'm Tom Martine three all three seven to one three
talks seven uh seven one three eight two five five.

(28:50):
Remember Denverregen dot com under three hundred bucks for your
weight loss injectables sent directly to your door with doctor
consultations Denverregen dot com. Hi, Tom Martino, your Troubleshooter three
all three seven one three talk three all three seven
one three eight two five five All right, let me uh,

(29:16):
let me see what's going on. I want to try
to get to uh okay. So we got some clear
lines here you can call in at any time. But
I do have some guests i'll bring up. We're not
going to get a lot of discussion done right now,
but it's very important, so then we'll we'll continue this
after the break. But we have a im A retirement,
it's a company and John.

Speaker 6 (29:34):
Alvarez is with us.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
I'm going to bring them up in a second here
and Pat Jolliffe, who is one of my colleagues over
at Wave eight Wealth Management, and we're talking what we're going.

Speaker 6 (29:46):
To talk about. I guess Pat's not there either, so
let me just bring up. Let me just bring up
John right now with IMA.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
John you're on, let me unmute you, sir, and then
we're gonna be fine to go. I just wanted to
talk about I think it's important that we talk about
what you do. Oh Pat's on there now, let me
just activate him and unmute him, and then we have
everybody up. And that's for those streaming. Sorry for if
you're listening, you'll hear him on radio. But what's really

(30:13):
important is what you guys do. John, You're as I said,
you're with, I am a retirement Can you explain what
you do as a company and then I'll explain why
companies need you and what we are talking about right now. Uh,
explain what you do?

Speaker 14 (30:31):
Thanks, Tom So, I'm a retirement is resident investment advisory firm.

Speaker 6 (30:36):
His sound went to hell, didn't it? Guys? Can you
hear him?

Speaker 18 (30:39):
Shannon on strictly on retirement plans for all?

Speaker 6 (30:44):
Right, hold on a second, John, hold on one sec.
Please hold on.

Speaker 5 (30:48):
I'm just gonna I'm just gonna regroup because his sound
his sound was great, but it uh, it just did
not it's not coming. Pat sounded really good. His the
other guy's sound is off. Okay, I'm going to connect
by phone with John because I can't. It's much too

(31:09):
important to worry about the video at this point. Pat,
you can stay where you are, but I'm gonna we're
going to have to reconnect with John on that. As
far as I'm going to have the I'll have him
call or have us call him. But what we're talking about,
let me let me just summarize this because it's really important.

(31:30):
And the summary is this, people who offer retirement plans
must pat review their retirement plans on an annual basis.

Speaker 6 (31:43):
Is that right correct? Okay, Now if they review, if
they don't.

Speaker 5 (31:50):
Review, what are some of the consequences if they do
not review.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
Well, it's incumbent upon a plan. Answer in this case,
the employer to be attentive to what the plan is
doing and all of its costs and the services provided,
understanding whether the investments are competitive and so on, because
they're serving as a trustee for the benefit of their employees.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
Okay, this is something. This is something we're going to
keinue right after the break. So here's the bottom line.
If you run a business, if you offer a retirement
plan and you don't review them, you can be severely fine.
Now a lot of people don't even know that. We'll
talk about what it means and how to get it done.

Speaker 6 (32:31):
Coming up.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Ripped, you need advice so you don't have the.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Will come running just as.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
Fast as we can.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Shooter's gonna help.

Speaker 4 (32:52):
Come Dix is the Troubleshooter Show. No Tom Martinez.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
Hey, welcome to the show. I'm Tom.

Speaker 5 (33:02):
We are here to help you solve problems, answer questions
taking place, make your life a little easier.

Speaker 6 (33:06):
If you have a question, problem or complain, get it
in before the holidays.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
A lot of people lay back this week. We can
still solve your problems. We can still help you. Three
all three seven one three Talk is our number three
all three seven one three eight.

Speaker 6 (33:20):
Two five five.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
This hour brought to you by Genesis Tootalexteriors dot Com.
Genesis is the place to go if you're looking for
that align siding. I did verify they do have aligned
siding and that is a lifetime siding and that is
Genesis Tootalexteriors dot Com. I want to bring up a guest,
John Alvarez. John is with IM a retirement and uh,

(33:46):
by the way, just so you know, I am a
retirement works with companies of all sizes. And why did
I talk about this because Pat and I were talking.
Pat is a colleague of mine at Wave eight Wealth Management,
my financial investment firm.

Speaker 6 (34:00):
But by the way, the reason we're.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
Talking about this has nothing to do with your individual
investments right now, as people, we're talking to companies now
that are the plan sponsors.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
I guess you call them.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
Let me bring up Pat, so John, you're on the phone, John,
Employers have a fiduciary responsibility once they establish a retirement plan,
don't they do? They have a responsibility to their employ ease.

Speaker 6 (34:31):
Is that correct?

Speaker 14 (34:33):
That is absolutely correct. There is a lot of regulatory
steps they need to ensure are being taken care of
in order to make sure the plan is meeting the
needs of their participants.

Speaker 17 (34:44):
That is correct.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Okay, Now what I need to know is this when
this happens and they start a plan, many companies just
start a plan and then forget about it. I mean,
they have a four oh one K plan. In fact,
they're they're happy they have it, and then they forget
about it. But the law actually has been auditing people

(35:09):
saying you're not allowed to just have a plan and
forget about it. And explain that to me.

Speaker 9 (35:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (35:17):
So part of being a plan sponsor is that fiduciary
responsibility of monitoring the plan, which is a really critical step.
The employer needs to monitor the plan providers, whether it's
the record keeper, the third party administrator, the financial advisor,
anybody who is providing service to the plan. The employer

(35:38):
has that ultimate responsibility of monitoring them to make sure
that AA their fees are reasonable, that b they're providing
the service that they are signed up to. Provide and
see that they are doing everything that is outlined in
the ARISA, which is the governing rules of retirement plans.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
Now, if you're if you're we're speaking you know, we
may not be speaking now to just everyone, but we
are speaking to people who either work for a company
a lot of people, but mainly to the people who
own companies and offer retirement And in fact, in Colorado,
it's going beyond a four to one K. Colorado just

(36:22):
passed a law that they have to what size company
has to offer some kind of retirement plan.

Speaker 14 (36:30):
Yeah, if any company that has over five employees and
has been in business for two years is required to
offer either a retirement plan like a four to one K,
or they'll need to sign up for the Colorado Secure
Savings Plan, which is an IRA uh you know, payroll
deduction set up plan.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
So so this is really important.

Speaker 5 (36:52):
Actually if they don't do it, what does a company
risk if they set up a plan, whether it be
any kind of an ARISA plan, and they do not
review it on a yearly basis? What are some of
the I don't think a lot of companies know about this,

(37:13):
just like a lot of companies didn't know about the
new bo I requirement, the beneficial owner interest. You have
to you literally have to show everyone who benefits from
a company now on a yearly basis, and the fines
and the penalties are hefty. They're due on the first

(37:35):
of the year, and as we come to the end
of the year, people need to know what's due. Now,
if you have a retirement plan, and if your administrator
is simply collecting fees and doing it, even if they're doing.

Speaker 6 (37:48):
It correctly, but the fees have creeped.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
Up and it's not totally efficient and you have done
nothing about it. As an employer, what can happen? What
can can people be fined?

Speaker 14 (38:04):
Yeah, so that that puts the employer in a bit
of jeopardy. That if they have a plan that has
been growing. These are not really reviewed from the investments
or the the providers like the record keeper. If that
is not regularly reviewed, that can be a compliance issue.
And if the Departner of labor comes in and does

(38:25):
an audit, there can be some serious consequences, like you said,
whether it's fines or you know, actual you know, trouble
for the owners of that fund. So really it comes
down to monitoring your plan and making sure that things
are being looked at on an ongoing basis.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
Hey, Pat, can't can an employer say, listen, we have
a four oh one K. We set it up, We
left it up to these professionals to do it.

Speaker 6 (38:55):
Why do we get in trouble? What can it? Can
a boss say that?

Speaker 18 (38:59):
Well? Not really.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
I mean it's it's ultimately the employer that's on the
hook for the producierary liability at the Department of Labor,
and that's where they're going to look the only time.

Speaker 18 (39:07):
And John cant you know, correctly or wrong. But if
you're a.

Speaker 7 (39:11):
Full blown what is it three eighteen or three eighteen
advisory where they actually there's a way that not all
companies will do this, where a provider will take over
take that fiduciary responsibility. But I think, you know, it's
very limited, and in those cases, I'm not sure that
it even still leaves the employer to clear off the hook.

Speaker 18 (39:30):
So it's a very serious thing. I mean, you got
to be attendant in this thing.

Speaker 6 (39:34):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
So it's kind of like taxes, it's kind of like BOI,
it's kind of like any requirement put on employers.

Speaker 6 (39:40):
I mean, it really is a lot.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
Now, can't an employer simply say this is too much
trouble and just scrap their plan?

Speaker 6 (39:47):
But they don't do that because right now, four.

Speaker 5 (39:50):
Oh one k's are a way that employers use to
attract people, right workers. I mean, I think workers care
about it. Don't they about retirement plans?

Speaker 14 (40:01):
Oh?

Speaker 18 (40:01):
I think so? And I think it's a pretention thing
as well.

Speaker 7 (40:04):
You know, if you're going to if you're in competition
for the labor force, which a lot of companies are,
and you're not providing a retirement plan, even if it's
a defined contribution plan like a four oh one K,
then then you're not going to compete as well, and
you're not going to get the best people. And I
see that more in the rural areas where we serve
then you know, certainly in the cities.

Speaker 18 (40:23):
But it's it's a it's a big issue for.

Speaker 7 (40:26):
People where they don't have a vehicle like that to
which they can contribute for retirement.

Speaker 5 (40:30):
Okay, so once you then so. But the word is this,
once you have a plan, that's only part of it.
The big deal is not just having a plan, but
but making sure that But but here's what I want
to know, if if somebody is has a four oh
one K and they're contributing their money and the employer's

(40:50):
matching it and it's invested, why does a government care
or why does anyone care what fees they're paying? What
I mean that doesn't come out of the employees pocket,
does it?

Speaker 18 (41:02):
I mean, sure does, Yeah, the majority of them do.

Speaker 7 (41:05):
Actually, when you look at the investment expenses, a lot
of times you have mutual funds or target date funds
that may be managed or at least have a feed
to them, and so you have to compare the like
kind funds that are out there. As a fiducialar its
requirement to see if you're getting your employees the most
competitive fees for the type of funds that you're offering.

Speaker 18 (41:27):
And that's number one.

Speaker 7 (41:28):
Now, sometimes the employer will bear some of the registration
for your annual host fee, administration fee for the plan,
but a lot of times it's you know, it's about
seventy percent is born by the participant and it's incumbent
upon the plan sponsor the employer to make sure that
that's those fees are competitive.

Speaker 6 (41:47):
Now, John with Ima, by the way, and.

Speaker 5 (41:51):
The reason I'm interviewing you is because you do reviews
and you do plans, and you do all that, and
obviously people saying, well, sure you want to do a
review so you can pick up the businessiness. But really
it's not that easy because if it's a good plan,
you're obligated to tell them it's a good plan. I mean,
in other words, it's like our insurance check up with
Compass insurance group. Compass goes and looks at you might

(42:14):
have heard an earlier call. They look at your insurance,
and you can't tell someone you have a bad insurance
plan or policy and you're paying too much if truly
you can't put your own money where your mouth is.
I mean, in other words, there's no room for dishonesty.
Either they're paying too much or they're not. If you

(42:36):
can't beat it, then you can't tell them you can
beat it and then not beat it. I mean, in
other words, it's a fail safe when people offer reviews.

Speaker 6 (42:45):
That's what I think, John, Yeah.

Speaker 14 (42:48):
You're absolutely right. And what we do is we want
to take a very objective look at it so that
there is no misinformation. We will benchmark a plan against
other plans of similar size, whether it's the asset size
or participant size, and then we'll benchmark every single provider
from the record keeper, third party, administrator, advisor, and investment expensive.

(43:10):
So if I look at how the cost structure.

Speaker 5 (43:14):
If a company has a good plan and it's efficient
and the fees are in line, and you say to them, hey,
this is a great plan.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
Cool they have they have fulfill.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
Their obligations as a plan sponsor, right.

Speaker 14 (43:33):
Well, we like to go a little bit deeper because
just because the plan is inexpensive or in the line
of the benchmark doesn't necessarily mean that all of the
services and support that is required from a fiduciary standpoint
is being provided. Is their employee outreach and educations, is
their ongoing reviews with the for one key committee, about

(43:55):
the investments to monitor these things? There are planning steps
that go beyond just the cost.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
Okay, But what I'm saying is, if you find a
healthy plan that doesn't need anyjusting, this employer has fulfilled
their obligation to get reviewed.

Speaker 17 (44:10):
Correct? Correct?

Speaker 6 (44:11):
Does that?

Speaker 5 (44:12):
Does the law actually say or do requirements from ARISA
actually say it has to be an annual review or
a periodic review? What what do employers listening need to know.

Speaker 14 (44:26):
Yeah, it's you know, there's not a prescribed cadence for
the meetings, but it is you know, a requirement that
there is a periodic review.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
Honesty and really and truly, if you have the plan,
the one who's doing it now, the administrator review it.
What's to prevent an administrator to say, don't worry about it,
we reviewed it.

Speaker 6 (44:47):
You're fine, and they're not fine.

Speaker 5 (44:49):
In other words, does it have to be an independent review?

Speaker 14 (44:55):
Well, it really needs to be the plan sponsor that
is taking the time and initiative to verify that the
information being presented is correct correct.

Speaker 6 (45:05):
The employer has to do it.

Speaker 14 (45:07):
Correct it ultimately follow upon the employer.

Speaker 17 (45:09):
They have the ultimate sitsure and.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
The employer can't can't just say, well, the administrator told
me it's a great plan, and then Arisa or a
government could say, well, how do you know that? Did
you have it reviewed? Jason? What before I take a break, Jason,
what's your question? And we'll we'll think about it during
the break. What is your question?

Speaker 6 (45:27):
Jason?

Speaker 14 (45:29):
Hey, Tom, I just wanted to see if you could
clarify when you said that the employer with five or
more employees. Is that full time employees or part time
employees or doesn't matter?

Speaker 5 (45:39):
For the four oh one K, it's not a four
oh one K. I don't think it's just it's just
a certain plan. You're talking about the Mandatory Colorado Plan?

Speaker 14 (45:49):
Correct?

Speaker 17 (45:49):
Correct?

Speaker 6 (45:50):
John?

Speaker 5 (45:51):
Do you know the details of the Mandatory Colorado Plan?

Speaker 14 (45:55):
Sure, it's for any employer with five or more employees
that are full time employees. Okay, basically it says some
up and roth Irie account accounts.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
Yeah, it can be as simple as a roth right,
it doesn't have to be a four oh one K.

Speaker 14 (46:09):
That's correct. That's correct.

Speaker 6 (46:11):
Okay, does that answer your question? Jason? Yeah? Okay, all right.

Speaker 5 (46:16):
We got more coming up on the Troubleshooter Show three
all three seven one three talks seven to one three eight,
two five five Frank drand the real Estate Man don't
forget free market evaluations. If your home for the asking,
he'll tell you what it will sell for based on
his thirty years of experience with no obligation. So if
you're curious before you list. Frank durand the real Estate
Man dot com. Hi, Tom Martino, your Troubleshooter three all

(46:47):
three seven one three talk three all three seven, one, three, eight,
two five five.

Speaker 6 (46:53):
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
We are here to discuss your problems, questions and complaints.
And one of the things we were talking about is
if you run a company and you offer a retirement plan,
you're actually under an obligation to review that plan, to
literally review it as a plan sponsor the employer. You

(47:15):
can't leave it to the administrator. The administrator will administrate it,
but you have to have it reviewed to make sure
it is compliant and to make sure that the fees
aren't excessive, and to make sure that it's efficient, and
there are substantial penalties.

Speaker 6 (47:30):
If you don't.

Speaker 5 (47:32):
Again, there are a lot of a lot of things
that businesses do, a lot of things they just would
rather not do. It's complicated and it's a pain in
the ass. So I'm talking to experts who do reviews
and the main reason is to keep companies from getting

(47:53):
in trouble. But the other one is this retirement plans,
like any plan, like insurance policies for your home, for
your business, liability, business insurance, anything, nothing should ever be
set and then forgotten. Ever, the bottom line is, you
need to know what you have and you need to

(48:15):
know how to effectively implement it. There are businesses, for example,
that have health insurance policies, now this is not a retirement,
but health insurance that never get them reviewed and they
have no idea what they're doing.

Speaker 6 (48:35):
Integer.

Speaker 5 (48:36):
By the way, that's why when I talk to Integrat
they do that all the time. They do health insurance reviews.
We've talked about it a million times. Compass Insurance Group,
they do insurance reviews of not just businesses, but of individuals.
Everyone should review what they have, no matter what it is. Now,

(48:56):
as I said, if you work for a company, I
mean you don't. You don't review your four one K
because it's provided by the company. That's where the employer
has to take the reins and have it done. So
the bottom line is when you have a plan and
you're an employer, you must have it reviewed. But I

(49:20):
am going to tell you, and I'm talking to John
Alvarez by the way, he's with im a retirement. They
do the reviews. And by the way, John, how many companies.

Speaker 6 (49:34):
Don't even know that they need to review their plans? Seriously?

Speaker 5 (49:40):
I mean do HR people keep up on that? I
mean who would keep up on that? A lot of
companies aren't big enough to have an HR department, So
who tells them they need reviews?

Speaker 14 (49:52):
Well, what you said right there is the exact problem.
A lot of the companies are just a little too
small to have somebody dedicated to the HR side that
expertise in for one key. So a lot of times
it just goes kind of on the set it and
forget it. It really is in coming upon the plan
advisor to kind of help guide that employer on monitoring

(50:12):
and reviewing the plan plan.

Speaker 6 (50:15):
And okay, so there they they does.

Speaker 5 (50:20):
An administrator when they set up a new plan for
a company, do they could? There'll be a lot of
new plans being set up in Colorado.

Speaker 6 (50:28):
When does that take effect on the first of the year.

Speaker 14 (50:32):
No, this has actually been going on for a bit now.
They've kind of phased it in based on employer size,
and the most recent was, you know, dropping it down
to the requirement for anybody with five or more employees. Okay,
that's actually in place now.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
So so do you guys do small plans like that too,
or just big ones?

Speaker 14 (50:50):
No, we absolutely do. We feel it's really important that
small plans actually have the same oversight and help that
larger plans do because they just don't have that technical
expertise to do on their own own.

Speaker 5 (51:04):
Okay, So in order to establish a plan, whether it's
a four to one K or whether it's the mandatory
Colorado plan or whatever, what does a company need to spend?
In other words, do they have to have a company match?
Do they have to do all that? I mean, there
are there are employers listening right now that just want

(51:27):
to do the bare minimum. And I hate to put
it that way, but what would be like, let's say
in a four to one K they wanted a four
to one K, do they have to have a company match? No?

Speaker 14 (51:38):
The company match is absolutely discretionary. It can strictly be
for salary deferrals from the employees. That's not very common,
but that is absolutely available.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
Okay, Now Mark has a question, Go ahead, Mark, what
is your question?

Speaker 19 (51:56):
Hey Tom, how are you doing it good? I got
a question like, Okay, so I want to open a
small business and the question comes up back to the
employees want to borrow what one K? What benefit is
that for me to even open up a company?

Speaker 5 (52:16):
You know what, Mark, A lot of people, as you
know what a lot of people ask that, and that's
what I asked him before. Now, now, Mark, I want
to say one thing. The benefit of a four oh
one K is to attract employees, right that obviously, But
if you don't care that much, if you think you
can find employees without that, then I'm going to ask

(52:36):
John what other reasons, John, would there be to have.

Speaker 6 (52:42):
A four oh one K? Is there any benefit to
the owner?

Speaker 19 (52:47):
One other quick question, Mark, before you ask that question,
or Tom, before you ask that question, how much percentage
of the their income, like they're at one hundred percent,
we pay them one hundred percent. How much on top
of one hundred percent that they're paid do we have
to pay towards their one to their one Ksey, we're

(53:07):
a small business, you know, look a small business.

Speaker 6 (53:11):
Okay, okay, let me answer that, Mark, let me answer.

Speaker 5 (53:17):
That on a four you don't as a small business,
you don't necessarily need a four oh one K. Colorado
has another simplified plan you can do.

Speaker 6 (53:26):
But let's talk about a four oh one K. Let's
talk about that.

Speaker 5 (53:29):
Like like I thought, John, a four to one K
is where you establish a plan. You get up, you're
the plan sponsor, you find an administrator and then they
have investment advisors. But I thought it could be one
hundred percent funded by the employees themselves, by what they
want to put away. Right, it doesn't have to come

(53:51):
out of the employer's money.

Speaker 6 (53:53):
Is that correct?

Speaker 14 (53:55):
That's correct. So basically it is set up as a
salary reduction plan where they're able to contribute on a
pretax basis from their earnings.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
So Mark, you're not paying, You're not paying into it
unless you want to, unless you want to match.

Speaker 9 (54:13):
I see it.

Speaker 19 (54:14):
Thank you, thank you, okay, thank you?

Speaker 6 (54:15):
Sure sure we have more coming right up?

Speaker 5 (54:25):
Hi Tom Artino here three all three seven one three
talk seven one three eight two five five.

Speaker 6 (54:33):
Deputy, d are you working on anything?

Speaker 17 (54:35):
Sir?

Speaker 6 (54:37):
Hold on, let me get your mic on. There you go, sir.

Speaker 11 (54:39):
All right, just that issue of Becky who called us
yesterday about trying to get a refunt for some late
fees from century Link, and uh, Sue's had a great
insider contact at century Link, and that person is currently
researching this request and I'm waiting to.

Speaker 6 (54:55):
Hear back what was her issue basically, so you.

Speaker 11 (54:58):
May recall that she didn't pay a late fee on
a phone bill.

Speaker 6 (55:03):
Oh that's right. And then she thought, hey, I should
get some I should get a break here.

Speaker 11 (55:07):
Yeah, because she's been their customer for thirty some years,
and then for each of the subsequent months she would
pay the actual phone bill, but not these accumulating late fees.
And now they're if I remember right there, either one
hundred thirty or one hundred and sixty bucks now, so
and to her that's real money. So hopefully our contact
at Century Link will be able to help out with that.

Speaker 6 (55:30):
Right right, And what we said, and this is really
important to know. When you have a late charge or.

Speaker 5 (55:40):
Change in your s grow for your mortgage company or
anything like that where it disrupts the amount of money
on your monthly payment, do not just pay that and
get it over with and then move on with your
subsequent payments, because if you let it accumulate.

Speaker 6 (56:03):
They will.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
It accumulates so quickly you would not believe it. That
goes by the way for HOA fees. Now, I'm not
saying that hoa's should be immune from any kind of problems,
but too many times people disagree with it. HOA like
an assessment, yeah, either an assessment or a penalty. Or

(56:24):
we had a woman one time that had something stupid.
She had white she had she had drapes in her place, right,
and the lining of the drapes were white. So on
the outside, when you walk down the street, you saw
white hanging in her window.

Speaker 6 (56:41):
And it was not allowed. The drape linings, you weren't
supposed to. I don't know what it was.

Speaker 5 (56:48):
It was some kind of stupid thing they sent her saying,
you know, we see white lining of your drapes or something.

Speaker 6 (56:56):
I believe me.

Speaker 5 (56:57):
It was a while ago, but I know that I
know it's at There was something about her drapes. So
they find her like a couple hundred bucks or something
because she didn't correct it at first, and then she
ignored that. And this was maybe more than twenty years ago.
She actually went into foreclosure because with attorney's fees and letters,

(57:21):
hoas used to be way more abusive.

Speaker 6 (57:24):
Now the laws have changed a little, but they're still
pretty abusive.

Speaker 5 (57:29):
But she was up to forty five hundred dollars from that,
and she was so upset, but she went into foreclosure.

Speaker 6 (57:40):
Because of it.

Speaker 5 (57:41):
That's how crazy it can get when you're fighting an
uphill battle. Now, like I said, I don't think you
should just take it, but you have to put it
to rest first and then go back and fight it
when it especially with an HOA, you can't suspend it.
It's it's only going to get worse and worse and worse,

(58:02):
and you will spend a crap.

Speaker 6 (58:05):
Load of money.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
Three zero three seven one three talks seven one three
eight two five five. I have a text from a
small business again and I want to bring up John
Alvarez with I am a retirement John this question.

Speaker 6 (58:21):
Are you there, John? I know you stepped away. Are
you there?

Speaker 14 (58:25):
Yep?

Speaker 6 (58:25):
I'm here?

Speaker 11 (58:25):
All right?

Speaker 6 (58:26):
Okay? John?

Speaker 5 (58:27):
You mentioned when we mentioned that employers of five full
time employees or more must do a plan in Colorado
for their employees. But it doesn't have to be a
four to one k and you said something about a
roth or something.

Speaker 6 (58:42):
They want to know what's the minimum that is.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
And I hate to be laboring about the minimum, but
a lot of employers, frankly, they're being you know, they
have just a few employees and they want to know
what's the minimum they can do. So let's answer them.
I mean, what is.

Speaker 6 (59:00):
Required to fulfill that Colorado law?

Speaker 9 (59:05):
Sure?

Speaker 14 (59:05):
So the way it's set up is that the employer
will contribute to rough iry accounts for each employee. It
starts out at five percent of salary and so it's
coming from the employee salary and it increases one percent
a year until it gets to eight percent. And that
is the kind of the minimum requirement requirement.

Speaker 5 (59:27):
Okay, so all you. But but then what I don't
understand is why does an.

Speaker 6 (59:31):
Employer have to do that?

Speaker 5 (59:33):
What if what if the employee doesn't want to do it? Well,
they can they wave out of it? Oh they can, it.

Speaker 14 (59:40):
Can actually they can?

Speaker 5 (59:42):
Yes, Well I can see all kinds of abuse coming there.

Speaker 14 (59:46):
Yeah. It's really designed to get people saving for retirement,
whether they like it or not. And for the most part,
people stay in it once they have. You seen that
money come out of their big sector.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
Okay, now the thing is with a wrath, I mean,
that's an easy thing to do.

Speaker 6 (01:00:04):
So they they would would.

Speaker 5 (01:00:06):
The employer establish that or just tell the employee that
they can do it, because to me, that doesn't sound
like a burden at all.

Speaker 6 (01:00:14):
I mean they don't have to go ahead, right.

Speaker 14 (01:00:18):
The call out of secure SABER program is set up
or kind of through one account, so it's not something
that the employee would set up. It's you know, kind
of administle by.

Speaker 6 (01:00:28):
The state, but it's segregated. It's segregated per employee, correct,
and the money.

Speaker 5 (01:00:37):
Goes into like a state fund or does the employer
keep it.

Speaker 14 (01:00:41):
Now, it goes into that individual uh, you know, participant's account.
And the way it is set up, it has very
limited investment options. So initially it'll go into a money
market account, and then after thirty days, if the employee
has not decided to invest it anywhere else, it will
be put into a target date fund. But really there's
only two other funds. You have a money market, a

(01:01:02):
target date international equity fund, and a bond fund. So
it's very limited in the investment options.

Speaker 5 (01:01:09):
Okay, but let's say an employee says, wait a minute,
wait a minute, if I have to do it anyway,
or if you have to do it for me and
I'm not going to opt out. If an employee does
their own, does that get the employer out of doing one?

Speaker 18 (01:01:23):
It does not.

Speaker 14 (01:01:24):
This has to be handled at the employer.

Speaker 5 (01:01:27):
Level really, so even if an employee has his own,
it has to be established.

Speaker 6 (01:01:34):
There has to be another one established.

Speaker 14 (01:01:38):
Right because the money it has to be shown as
a payroll deduction going into that into.

Speaker 18 (01:01:42):
That I rate ahly.

Speaker 5 (01:01:43):
Okay, So if an employer want, I can see this happening,
and maybe it won't. But can employer say, wink wink,
you better opt out of this if you want to
work for me.

Speaker 14 (01:01:57):
I don't think that they would. I mean, it's it's
not really a you know, it doesn't make any difference
because they're still getting paid the same amount. So it's
really just taking it as a top line deduction from
that employee paycheck since it's a rock after you know.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
So what you're saying is there's not a burden on
the employer other than paperwork.

Speaker 14 (01:02:16):
Yeah, other than paperwork and submitting that payroll contribution to
those accounts.

Speaker 5 (01:02:21):
All Right, we got more coming up on the Troubleshooter Show. Hi,
Tom Martino, you're a troubleshooter. Three oh three seven one
three talk seven one three eight two five five. Felina,
let's talk about your two thy nineteen Chrysler PACIFICA.

Speaker 6 (01:02:43):
What's going on, Fellina?

Speaker 20 (01:02:45):
Well, I took my van in to Thompson Otto and
back in April and they told me that it was
was the head gasket.

Speaker 8 (01:02:55):
So they fixed the head gaskets.

Speaker 20 (01:02:56):
And that was over five thousand dollars. Oh man, yeah,
So then we had the same problem happen in August.
So I took it back to them because they told
us that we had a two year warranty with them
for it.

Speaker 6 (01:03:10):
So how long had it How long had it been?
I'm sorry I lost track there.

Speaker 20 (01:03:14):
So we took it in April, they fixed it. We
got it back in about May. So May to August, right, okay,
and what happened?

Speaker 8 (01:03:24):
And so I was.

Speaker 20 (01:03:25):
Having the same problem. So I took it back into
them and they told me that it was the head gaskets.

Speaker 6 (01:03:32):
Again, well, did they warrant it?

Speaker 20 (01:03:35):
Yes, okay, this was they were supposed to do the
warranty work. But then they told me, well, your pistons
and catalatic converter are bad as well, and they.

Speaker 5 (01:03:48):
Well, hold on your pistons. That's a whole engine, right right.

Speaker 20 (01:03:53):
Well, so then they were like, that's about six thousand dollars,
and I said, well, we can't afford that.

Speaker 14 (01:03:58):
Oh.

Speaker 6 (01:03:59):
So they Here's what it sounds like to me.

Speaker 5 (01:04:01):
It sounds like they didn't want to do the warranty
work and they're looking for an excuse to get money.
Hold on a second, we'll come right back to and
investigate this. Three oh three seven one three talks seven
one three eight two five five. We have more coming
up on the Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Yeah, ripped off bad news.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
You need advice, so you don't have.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
You come running just as fast as we can show.
Shooter's gonna help.

Speaker 8 (01:04:37):
Come man, This is.

Speaker 4 (01:04:40):
The Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 6 (01:04:42):
No Tom Martino, Hi, Tom Martino here?

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
Three oh three seven one three talks seven one three
eight two five five.

Speaker 6 (01:04:52):
What's going on in your life? How can I help you? Now?
This one I don't like.

Speaker 5 (01:04:56):
Felina went to Thompson Auto with a two thousand nineteen
Chrysler PACIFICA and here she said that they she needed
a head gasket. Now, why did you take it in?
To begin with, Felina, why did you take it in?

Speaker 6 (01:05:12):
To begin with?

Speaker 20 (01:05:14):
I took it in because I was having problems with
the head gasket.

Speaker 4 (01:05:19):
Again.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
Well, no, no, no, no, the very first time, how
did you know you needed a head gasket or was
there something else?

Speaker 6 (01:05:26):
What was going on the very first time you took
it there?

Speaker 20 (01:05:30):
I took it in because I had took it to
Urban Auto and I was just trying to get a
second opinion to see if it was that the pricing
was correct. So I took it into Thompson Auto.

Speaker 5 (01:05:44):
And so what but well, okay, then why did you
take it to the first place, Urban Auto?

Speaker 6 (01:05:49):
Why did you take it there?

Speaker 20 (01:05:51):
Because I was having like problems getting my card to
start at first?

Speaker 5 (01:05:59):
And why did they say you needed Okay, a head
gasket doesn't make it difficult though for your car to start.

Speaker 6 (01:06:06):
I don't think.

Speaker 9 (01:06:07):
I mean, it is so startingly vehicle.

Speaker 20 (01:06:10):
And then there was like smoke coming out of it.

Speaker 8 (01:06:13):
And then they told me.

Speaker 5 (01:06:15):
That it was there white smoke coming out of it. Yes, yes, okay,
I got it.

Speaker 11 (01:06:20):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:06:20):
So so anyway, you went to Thompson and they they
verified you needed a head gasket, and they charged you
five grand, and a few months later you were having
the same white smoke. Yeah okay, So then they said
we would fix it under warranty, but you still have

(01:06:42):
some other stuff wrong. You need this and this and this.
So basically they were telling you the engine.

Speaker 14 (01:06:48):
Was blown pretty much.

Speaker 6 (01:06:50):
Yeah, well why didn't they know that when they before
you spent five grand?

Speaker 20 (01:06:55):
I have no idea they didn't dig that deep the
first time.

Speaker 5 (01:06:58):
Well that's see that to me is this ingenuous. Why
would you Why would you let someone invest five rand
in a car? How did they know the second time
that you had a bad piston or bad pistons?

Speaker 20 (01:07:10):
Well, I took it to AutoZone because I had a
check engine light on, and so they did the little
machine that they do, and AutoZone told me, hey, it's
the same piston. It's piston number five again. And I
was like, okay. So I took it back to Thompson
with that paper from AutoZone, and they dug a little

(01:07:34):
bit and they were like, yeah, it is the head
gasket again.

Speaker 9 (01:07:37):
But you also have no I get it.

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
That's because okay, So when you said you don't want
the other work done, what did they say?

Speaker 20 (01:07:46):
They told me, well, we don't feel comfortable fixing the
head gasket without doing the pistons.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
And the check of course not, of course, not because
they don't want to do free work.

Speaker 6 (01:07:57):
I have a feeling I don't even know they did.

Speaker 5 (01:08:00):
The job the first time, right right, I mean they
might have put some put some stuff in it to
you know what. Get Kevin Colkin on again. Hold on,
I have a really bad feeling about this. I mean,
what if they never do how do we even though
they did the head gasket to begin with, they they
could have put something in there to suppress the smoke

(01:08:20):
and then said after it came back, well, now your
engine's shot. I mean, so now you they got five
grand for nothing, right? I mean, even if they did
the head gasket, wasn't it their responsibility to tell if
it was worth doing. I mean, I don't know. I
don't like this at all. How many miles on your
Chrysler PACIFICA.

Speaker 20 (01:08:42):
I think there's about ninety seven thousand.

Speaker 5 (01:08:45):
Okay, listen, I don't like this. Something doesn't feel right.
Something you guys, you guys listening in the studio and
ask the question, Yeah, yeah, this is Deputy d go
ahead for you know, is.

Speaker 11 (01:08:57):
There any chance you're confusing the terms piston and cylinder?

Speaker 6 (01:09:01):
Well it wouldn't matter, right, it's bad.

Speaker 11 (01:09:04):
But here's why that matters.

Speaker 14 (01:09:05):
Uh.

Speaker 11 (01:09:05):
Felina said that she had AutoZone read the trouble codes
and they said that there's a problem with the number
two piston. However, there is no trouble code that would
indicate a piston problem.

Speaker 9 (01:09:16):
You would indicate it.

Speaker 20 (01:09:17):
I think you're right, it probably was the cylinder.

Speaker 5 (01:09:19):
Yeah, that's what purely important is what's important is so
the auto parts place is the one that found that code? Yes, yes,
they found a code for a bad cylinder. Yes, yes,
if they could find it, why couldn't the other people
find it?

Speaker 9 (01:09:36):
Wait?

Speaker 11 (01:09:36):
Was it bad cylinder? Or was it a misfire? A
number two?

Speaker 20 (01:09:40):
It was a mysfire on number five?

Speaker 11 (01:09:43):
Number five?

Speaker 5 (01:09:44):
Okay, yes, yes so, but but it was it was
Thompson that told you you needed basically a new engine.

Speaker 17 (01:09:51):
Hm.

Speaker 11 (01:09:52):
But what do they base that recommendation on? In other words,
what did they find wrong that requires a new engine?

Speaker 20 (01:10:01):
I'm not sure. They just told me that the pistons
were bad and the cataltic converter is bad, and that
they needed to fix the head gaskets they.

Speaker 11 (01:10:08):
Stands were bad. Would you like me to call them
tom Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:10:10):
I sure as hell?

Speaker 5 (01:10:11):
Do I want to know why didn't they know she
had a bad engine to begin with? Or are they
saying that in a month her engine went bad?

Speaker 11 (01:10:19):
Selina, do you have any paperwork?

Speaker 6 (01:10:20):
It's unlikely her engine went bad in a month.

Speaker 20 (01:10:24):
My paperwork was put in my van and they haven't
given me any more. Paperwork, since I should get in
in August.

Speaker 11 (01:10:31):
So you don't have any diagnona.

Speaker 6 (01:10:32):
Your car's been there since August.

Speaker 8 (01:10:34):
Since August?

Speaker 6 (01:10:35):
Yes, and what are.

Speaker 5 (01:10:37):
They waiting for? They want you to pay? How much
are they saying? How much are they saying? This whole
thing's going to cost you another six grand?

Speaker 20 (01:10:46):
Well, they told me just to put the engine back together,
it's going to cost me twenty seven hundred.

Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
Oh no, you mean to get your van back? No, no, no,
that's sorry. That ain't gonna work. That's not gonna work. Nope, nope, nope, nope.
They had to give you an estimate up front of
it was going to cost you more than a certain
amount of money. I'd like one hundred and twenty five
bucks or something. These people listen, I don't. I don't
have a good feeling. I wonder, I wonder if they're
open today. They're probably open, Deputy D. Let's call these clowns.

(01:11:16):
I don't like this at all.

Speaker 11 (01:11:17):
Okay, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:11:18):
There's something wrong man. You You have been totally put together.
Why would they charge you? Why would anyone do that
for five grand? If your engine was bad? They would
have known back then. How much time did you say elapsed.
Was it about a month between repairs?

Speaker 20 (01:11:37):
So it was I got it talking to me, I
got it back in May of this year when I
took it in in April. So then I took it
back at the end of August.

Speaker 9 (01:11:47):
So that was about three months.

Speaker 6 (01:11:49):
Three months, okay, three months?

Speaker 11 (01:11:50):
Okay, why is it still there? What's been going on?

Speaker 6 (01:11:54):
Because they said the engine's bad and it's taken apart.

Speaker 11 (01:11:56):
Oh it's still disassembled as part of their diagnostic procedure.

Speaker 6 (01:12:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:12:02):
Yeah, and they won't need to pay twenty seven hundred
just for them to put it back together.

Speaker 11 (01:12:08):
Yeah, without fixing it.

Speaker 6 (01:12:09):
Yeah, but that done on.

Speaker 20 (01:12:10):
A But see, my husband called I think like a
week or two ago, and as I like going on
with the vent and they see this, well we did
the head skit.

Speaker 5 (01:12:24):
Well, then she hey, I want to bring up Kevin.
Kevin call can shared an auto tech? Are you there, Kevin?
So there was white smoke coming out of her car
that this place changed her head gasket five grand, by
the way, for a twenty nineteen Chrysler PACIFICA. Is that

(01:12:46):
right in line with what it would cost poor hard Yeah?
Then hold on. So then they have a warranty on it, right.
So a month later, the white smoke's coming out. Three
months later, the white smoke's coming out again. Here's what
I want to ask.

Speaker 6 (01:13:00):
I'm not I'm not accusing them. I'm asking I have suspicions.

Speaker 5 (01:13:05):
Is there anything you can do to suppress white smoke
that would suppress it for a few months without changing
the head gasket?

Speaker 17 (01:13:12):
Possibly some sort of a block seiler or stop league,
Maybe not a hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (01:13:19):
So no, okay, So three months later, smoke's coming out again.
They say, oh, yeah, your head gaskets bad again, but
we're not going to do the warranty work because now
you have bad pistons and a bad cat. So now
they're saying her engine is shot. So ninety seven, Oh wow,

(01:13:43):
it's a lot. Here's what I want to know. If
it has ninety seven thousand miles and it was three
months between the head gasket and the bad so called
bad engine, wouldn't they have Is it likely that engine
went bad in three months?

Speaker 17 (01:14:00):
What are they saying is wrong with the engine though?

Speaker 5 (01:14:02):
That's bad cylinders, bad cylinders or bad pistons as they
put it. No, that's that's that's I mean, Here's what
I'm saying if it was that bad, they would it
would have.

Speaker 6 (01:14:15):
Been that bad when they did the head gasket.

Speaker 17 (01:14:17):
Well, sometimes with head gas you you get contamination in
the oil and then you have deterioration of bearings and
stuff like that, But not pistons.

Speaker 6 (01:14:26):
You know, I don't even know she's right that she
may be confused. I don't know, Fellina. Did they actually
tell you bad pistons?

Speaker 20 (01:14:36):
Yeah, they did. They told me that my pistons are
bad and my catalytic converter is bad.

Speaker 11 (01:14:42):
Felena, After the first repair, do you recall any overheating
events when you were driving this van?

Speaker 20 (01:14:50):
No, not that I can recall, Okay.

Speaker 5 (01:14:54):
And you took it back in because you saw white
smoke or because it was driving bad.

Speaker 20 (01:14:59):
Well, because I was seeing white smoke and my check
engine light came on, so I took it to AutoZone.
They did their diagnostic machine and it said that the
cylinder number five what was misfiring again?

Speaker 5 (01:15:14):
Okay again, So what would cause Kevin one cylinder to misfire?

Speaker 17 (01:15:20):
Anything from a plug of wire. Those are the three
six that's in a Chrysler's notorious for camshaft problems.

Speaker 6 (01:15:27):
Okay, So when she takes it back then to Thompson.

Speaker 5 (01:15:30):
Thompson says, yeah, the head gas gets bad, but so
is your entire engine.

Speaker 6 (01:15:35):
See that's what bothers me. She just spent five grand, right,
that bothers me.

Speaker 17 (01:15:41):
That's a lot for that. Yeah. I look about a
used motor with fifty thousand miles on it for about
twenty five hundred pucks.

Speaker 11 (01:15:50):
Kevin can coolant intrusion into number five cause a misfire code.

Speaker 17 (01:15:54):
Absolutely. It could also cause catalytic converter issues because it
contaminates the catalytic converter M. So it's all entirely possible.
But it doesn't seem like it was fixed right the
first time in my room.

Speaker 6 (01:16:07):
Yeah, a lot we do about it now. So just
see what they say, Dimitri.

Speaker 11 (01:16:12):
I mean, I'll be happy to Fellina. I just need
you to give Kelly your phone number and your last name.
She'll send that to me and I'll call you in
a few minutes.

Speaker 6 (01:16:19):
Kina, let's get that over.

Speaker 17 (01:16:21):
Tear down though? Did she authorize them to tear the
motor down?

Speaker 11 (01:16:24):
What did you sign when you dropped off the car
this last time?

Speaker 6 (01:16:27):
The second time?

Speaker 20 (01:16:29):
I didn't sign anything.

Speaker 11 (01:16:31):
Did you say that your husband called them and they
told him that they already fixed the head gasket.

Speaker 18 (01:16:36):
Yep.

Speaker 20 (01:16:37):
So that was the first time. And then he called
him a second time.

Speaker 11 (01:16:41):
And would you say first.

Speaker 5 (01:16:42):
Time wait wait wait wait wait wait, when you said
they fixed the head gasket, was this when you had
taken it back they fixed it?

Speaker 20 (01:16:53):
So they So the first time that I took it, yes,
they kicked it as far as I know. Second time
that I've tooken it into them, they keep telling me
that they can't do it because.

Speaker 5 (01:17:05):
Okay, because the bet because the engine's bad.

Speaker 6 (01:17:09):
Right, Okay, I got it, So that's what we meant.

Speaker 5 (01:17:12):
So so right now the car does not have another
head gasket and it they'd done nothing to it except
tore it down.

Speaker 20 (01:17:20):
As far as I know. But like I said, this
second time, my husband has called them twice now. And
the first time that he called them, this was about
a week ago. When he called them, the first guy
told us, yeah, we fixed the head gasket. Then the
second time that they that he called them, they said, no,
we didn't fix the.

Speaker 5 (01:17:41):
Head gasket because the engine's bad. We're going to get
to the bottom of it.

Speaker 6 (01:17:45):
Just hang on.

Speaker 5 (01:17:45):
Fellena three oh three seven to one three talk seven
one three eight two five five.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
By the way, shared a auto tech.

Speaker 5 (01:17:52):
If you need someone good, he's the guy three oh
three four five five seventy two forty two on Calfax,
west bots Worth.

Speaker 6 (01:18:00):
Shared at autotech dot com.

Speaker 5 (01:18:10):
Hi, Tom Martino here three h three seven one three
talk seven one three eight two five five Chris, What
is your question?

Speaker 6 (01:18:16):
Chris? Welcome to the show. I'm Tom Martino. What's your question? Sir?

Speaker 10 (01:18:21):
I mean ma'am, And that's okay. I have some toys
from my now twelve year old grandson from when he
was you know, three four, five, six seven whatever that
are that are not in brand new shape, and I'm
just thinking that. I'm sorry, I'm out of breath. I'm
doing yard work.

Speaker 5 (01:18:42):
Oh there there are plenty of people that would love
to have donated toys.

Speaker 10 (01:18:46):
What kind of toys, well, you know, like one of
those little writer things. There's writer things.

Speaker 6 (01:18:54):
There's are are they junk or are they just lightly used?

Speaker 10 (01:18:59):
I would call it I'm lightly used. But here's the deal.
I mean, like he broke the handle off of one
of these plastic things. I'm just thinking, with the people
that have the right know how, I could wrap duct
tape about it around it, right, you know, something like that.
I could make it. I could make it work. Most

(01:19:19):
little kids don't look at it any toy aesthetically. They
just want to play with it. So I'm just wondering
if there is some place that I could take these
two that somebody would be interested, yes, tixing them and
give the children for Christmas?

Speaker 5 (01:19:38):
Well, Goodwill, Salvation Army, there's all kinds of places that
take they won't take junk, but they'll take lightly used stuff.

Speaker 10 (01:19:46):
They will, Are you sure?

Speaker 11 (01:19:48):
Hmm?

Speaker 5 (01:19:48):
Okay, absolutely, I'm sure, Yeah, absolutely, I'm sure. I mean,
and if anybody listening, I mean now, they're not going
to do heavy repairs or anything. If something is broken,
it's broken, but they'll do it all right.

Speaker 10 (01:20:02):
Well I can do that. I can well at least
give it a try.

Speaker 6 (01:20:07):
And it's very kind of you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:11):
Also the question Tom, sure sure?

Speaker 10 (01:20:15):
And related I want to give the gift of a
will flash trust to my mid to late thirty daughter
and her husband for Christmas. Okay, okay, And I'm wondering
if you might recommend somebody that I could go to

(01:20:36):
and how would I write?

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
Of course, of course, of course there's two places I'm
going to recommend Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:20:44):
Okay, Keel and Park.

Speaker 5 (01:20:49):
You can call them and ask them h and they'll
give you a price. You know, they're very open about that.
So Keel and Park they're really good people.

Speaker 6 (01:21:01):
For me. For me, it's Keel and Park like the
Keel on a boat k K E L K E
E L with an E on the end, k E
E L E.

Speaker 5 (01:21:12):
It doesn't matter. It's Keel and Park like p A
r K with an E on the end. Now here's
what's really important. They're really good people, okay. So so
and let me give you that number and just call them,
and then you're gonna also call someone else. I'll give
you that kiell in Park that there's nine seven zero

(01:21:33):
eight one eight okay eight one nine eight.

Speaker 10 (01:21:37):
Now is this a financial firm or what are they?
I guess I could.

Speaker 6 (01:21:43):
Look at they do a state they do a state planning.

Speaker 5 (01:21:46):
Only they're lawyers, so they can write that up for you.
They can write that up for you.

Speaker 6 (01:21:52):
So Ken McKenzie, Dan McKenzie is McKenzie law.

Speaker 10 (01:21:57):
I've heard you talk about it.

Speaker 5 (01:21:58):
Now they can do it too, and you can ask
him right on the phone, what do you think it'll
cost I need to do this, I need.

Speaker 2 (01:22:04):
To do that.

Speaker 5 (01:22:04):
They're they're they're they're both very very good. They're not
very expensive, and they're straightforward and don't mind talking about prices.

Speaker 6 (01:22:13):
Dan McKenzie is is uh eight three three.

Speaker 5 (01:22:19):
C plans. That's the number. You just look it up
on your phone. It's eight three to three cerio. Either
one of those can do.

Speaker 6 (01:22:27):
That for you.

Speaker 10 (01:22:28):
All right, perfect, awesome, thank you, Yeah, thank you so.

Speaker 5 (01:22:32):
Much, no problem, by the way, just just a little
bit about Dan McKenzie on the on the COEO Plans.

Speaker 6 (01:22:39):
I know the number says uh coe Plans, but he
is local.

Speaker 5 (01:22:44):
A lot of people think, well, wait a minute, that's
one eight three three CO plans. But he is local
and he has a boutique firm. Boutique firm meaning it's small,
but he gives you very personalized attention, very professional care.

Speaker 6 (01:22:57):
And he can do it too. And he's he's in
the Denver area.

Speaker 5 (01:23:00):
Now, Keil and Park are up north, but they can
still do things by zoom, email and meet if it's
big enough and they need to meet with you.

Speaker 6 (01:23:08):
But yeah, either one of those are pretty good people.
So that's where you where you go for that we
have more coming up on the Troubleshooter Show. We'll talk
more about retirement. I have a few a few texts
on that.

Speaker 5 (01:23:26):
By the way, I got to remind you you can
text me throughout the show whenever we're on the air
at five seven seven three nine.

Speaker 6 (01:23:32):
Now, put Tom in there and it'll get to me.

Speaker 5 (01:23:36):
We all use that short code, but if you put
the number in there, it gets to US five seven
seven three nine, Or you can really text my personal
Google phone, my Google Voice number which comes to my
cell phone. It's seven four seven nine nine fifty two eighty. Okay,

(01:23:58):
feel free. Now, we were talking about insurance, by the way,
and somebody wanted to know about the insurance comparison I
talked about that's Compass three oh three nine ninety six
nine thousand. Now let me explain something like, we were
talking about health insurance comparisons and we're talking about the
four to one K reviews and all of this, you know,

(01:24:18):
retirement plan reviews. When it comes to this this insurance
thing like Compass, Okay, they don't guarantee the lowest price
at all. What they guarantee is to give you an
honest to god assessment. Of what you have, if it's adequate,
if you're paying too much, or if they can beat it.

Speaker 6 (01:24:37):
That's what they do.

Speaker 5 (01:24:38):
The Insurance helps Center dot Com three oh three nine
nine six nine thousand. Hi Tom Martine here, three oh
three seven one three talk three D seven one three

(01:25:01):
eight two five five. Welcome to the show. We've been
talking about a variety of things today, and man has
it been fun. So we were talking we have an
expert on about for one case.

Speaker 6 (01:25:16):
Now I shouldn't say for retirement plans.

Speaker 5 (01:25:21):
It's pretty boring when you talk about retirement plans in
general and getting ready for retirement all that stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:25:28):
But what I'm trying to get across to companies is that.

Speaker 5 (01:25:34):
You have a responsibility legally and ethically to review your plans. Now,
no one makes you review your health insurance, No one
makes you review your casualty insurance, your liability insurance, nothing
like that. No one you must review certain things. One

(01:25:57):
of them is you must view the administration of your
retirement plans. So I have a text here though, and
I think it's pretty self evident and obvious. But I
am a retirement who does administrate retirement plans. Obviously they
would love you know, to show people how they do it.

Speaker 6 (01:26:21):
But just like.

Speaker 5 (01:26:22):
Compass Insurance wants to show you how they insure people.
Yet Compass doesn't get all the business they review. No
one gets all the business they review if they do
it honestly and openly. But with I am a retirement
I'm talking to John Alvarez, and I'm always looking for
ways to help businesses and individuals, especially small to medium.

Speaker 6 (01:26:43):
And you know, some of the larger businesses as well.

Speaker 5 (01:26:46):
Without giving names, John, you have some of my sponsors,
my largest sponsors use you and they love you. But
what I want to ask someone wants to know. Let
me find that text the way it was worded. When
it comes to the review, what kind of retirement plans

(01:27:08):
do you review? I'm not aware, by the way, John,
of individual I mean, I'm aware of plans, right, But
what different plans do you review?

Speaker 14 (01:27:20):
Yeah, so we deal with corporate retirement plans. So it
will be for one k's, Yeah, four oh three b's
if it's the case of a nonprofit.

Speaker 6 (01:27:28):
Now explain to four oh three B. Explain explain a
four oh three B.

Speaker 14 (01:27:33):
Yeah, so it's basically the same thing as a four
to one K. But it's designed for not for profit organizations.
So think of, you know, a charitable organization. They have
the ability to set up a plan that is very
similar to a four one K. What's a few differences?
There are some subtle differences.

Speaker 5 (01:27:50):
Okay, now what other plans I interrupted? Four O one K,
four oh three B.

Speaker 6 (01:27:54):
What else?

Speaker 14 (01:27:55):
Well, yeah, four to fifty seven plans, which are generally
you know, governmental agencies or organizations. So say like a
water district or a you know, fire cooperative. We consider
the four fifty seven plan for that organization.

Speaker 5 (01:28:12):
But wait a minute, don't they have if they're government themselves,
they still have to review their own plans.

Speaker 14 (01:28:19):
Certainly, absolutely, all right.

Speaker 5 (01:28:23):
And what about the new the new plans required by Colorado?

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
Right, those new what do they call those? Do they
call them retirement plans? What do they call them?

Speaker 14 (01:28:33):
Well, the Colorado Secure Savings Plan is that's what it
is a way to get payroll contributions over to roth
IRA accounts that are set up employees.

Speaker 5 (01:28:44):
Okay, it's not a money grab by the state, is it.
Somebody suggested that it's money that they want to use.

Speaker 6 (01:28:51):
Is that true?

Speaker 14 (01:28:53):
Now the state will get none of that. So the
there is an administrative fee for the program that is
part of the overall cost that is added on to
the investment extent. But it's a very small amount. I
think it's two point two percent. Okay, you kind of
oversee the minute of the program, all.

Speaker 5 (01:29:10):
Right, And so what about large companies that have.

Speaker 6 (01:29:18):
Pension plans?

Speaker 5 (01:29:20):
Explain our pension plans qualified plans, they are, right, but
they don't mention a four oh one k. This text
says they have a pension plan because they have a company.

Speaker 6 (01:29:31):
Okay, I'm going to try to summarize this. It's a
very long text.

Speaker 5 (01:29:35):
It says that they have a pension plan that was
set up mainly to help some of the highly paid
This is what it says, highly compensated employees.

Speaker 6 (01:29:47):
So what are those kinds of plans?

Speaker 14 (01:29:50):
Yeah, so pension plan is becoming more and more rare,
but that is something that you know, our fathers and
grandfathers were accustomed to where the company makes contras us
on behalf of the employee and then at retirement they
are given a guaranteed income stream for life. So the
employer takes on the responsibility for funding and making me,

(01:30:11):
you know, the plan solvent at retirement for all their liabilities.

Speaker 5 (01:30:14):
Do they have to be set up and review I
mean not set up? Do they have to be reviewed
as well by a risk Uh? Does a risker require
those to be reviewed?

Speaker 17 (01:30:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (01:30:23):
So these are going to be governed by the Pension
Benefit Guarantee Corporation, So it's a little bit different. But
since it is, you know, kind of an actuarial environment,
it is a little bit different than the four one
K because with the four one K plans you're dealing
with employee contributions as well as the employer contributions, and
it's a defined contribution instead of a defined benefit plan.

Speaker 5 (01:30:44):
But a defined benefit then a pension the people don't contribute. Correct, Okay,
now I have more hold on I have more. I
had one one wanted to know about. Do you set
up plans for people that have one or two employees
but they want to do it on purpose to sock

(01:31:06):
a lot of money away? Do you do those boutique
kind of the small plans?

Speaker 11 (01:31:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (01:31:12):
Absolutely So we have the ability to set it up
as even as an individual for one K. If it's
a you know, say it's a sole proprietor right husband
and wife or something, we can actually Yeah, we can
work with that.

Speaker 5 (01:31:24):
And obviously, you know, I mean, common sense says, if
you're setting up for one or two people, husband and wife,
the reviews are not going to be as important as
if you have fifty employees under you, right, I mean obviously,
I mean it's not like it's not like a risk
is going to slap your risk for not reviewing your
own plan.

Speaker 14 (01:31:43):
It's it's just the only person that Yeah, the only
person that's going to sue you is you, because you know,
if they are the only two participants in the plan,
there's nobody really that will sue the plan s wonsor memories.

Speaker 6 (01:31:53):
Well, let me let me ask you something.

Speaker 5 (01:31:55):
Have there been cases where members actually can to their
employer because of a badly administered retirement plan?

Speaker 14 (01:32:06):
Absolutely, that litigation has been more and more common where
it is a you know, whether it's saying that there
was not oversight of the investment fees, overside of the
investment selection, oversight of the fees caught charged by the administrators.
There's a number of areas where really there are potential Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 5 (01:32:26):
I should I should have known that. There's there's lawsuits
for everything. Okay, So have there ever been cases where
administrators obsconded with money.

Speaker 14 (01:32:39):
Yeah, there actually was a case here in the Dallas
area a while back of a third party record keeper
that was, you know, fraudulently allocating money and took off
with some money. There was an FBI rate and a
lot of people went to jail.

Speaker 6 (01:32:56):
Really holy crap.

Speaker 5 (01:32:57):
So so the money is kept though in a custodial account, right,
like with an independent like a Schwab or something like it.
Like if I set up a plan for forty or
fifty employees or ten employees, it's put into a custodial account, right,
that's right, and then the administrator. Then the administrator administrates

(01:33:19):
it for the sponsor, which is the employer. But if
you but there are administrator obviously, because I guess, embezzlement
can happen anywhere at any time. I mean, if you
have someone in your organization and you're an administrator that
and you're not watching the store, I mean, somebody I

(01:33:39):
guess could take funds in and out claiming they were
distributions or something, right.

Speaker 14 (01:33:46):
And that's exactly what happened. The record keeping administrator was
submitting money movement request to the custodian saying that it
was for distribution requests, but they were still reporting back
the employer that the money was still in the plan.

Speaker 17 (01:34:02):
So it was a it.

Speaker 14 (01:34:03):
Was a it was a very very difficult situation for
that plan.

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
Slanns Now would ultimately the plan sponsor the employer be
responsible for that if their administrator went crazy.

Speaker 14 (01:34:16):
Yes, they would be. They have to do sure responsibility.
That needs Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:34:21):
See that's the reason you need to know who's administrator
administering your plan. We got more coming right up. I'm
Tom Martino. Hi, Tom Martino. You're a troubleshooter of three oh.

Speaker 6 (01:34:34):
Three seven one three talk seven one three eight two
five five. Hey, what does this mean?

Speaker 5 (01:34:40):
By the way, any calls, problems, questions, complaints Like, Okay,
Bob's got a question, and then we're going to go
back to this quist.

Speaker 6 (01:34:46):
We have a text, by the way, uh for retirement.

Speaker 5 (01:34:49):
Some guy wants to know about the requirement for investment options.

Speaker 6 (01:34:55):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:34:55):
He was told that that they must have avariety of
options and they can't limit you.

Speaker 6 (01:35:02):
But I don't know that. Hold on, Bob, what is
your question? Sir? What's going on?

Speaker 17 (01:35:07):
Hey?

Speaker 14 (01:35:07):
Tom, I remember an year or so ago you were
talking about having back surgery.

Speaker 6 (01:35:13):
Yeah. I had it in August of twenty twenty three, right.

Speaker 9 (01:35:17):
And it was kind of a new technology.

Speaker 5 (01:35:20):
Yes, well, it had been done about three hundred and
fifty times and throughout Europe and some in the United
States over one hundred and then it became FDA approved.

Speaker 6 (01:35:30):
I was one of the first, if not the first
FDA actual approvals. After it was approved, Yes.

Speaker 14 (01:35:38):
And so a year later, was it worth it?

Speaker 5 (01:35:40):
Oh my god? It was life changing. I mean absolutely
life changing. I was trying to get into shape and
I was doing really well, but I had incredible.

Speaker 6 (01:35:50):
Pain and misery. It was life changing.

Speaker 5 (01:35:53):
And the great part about it is it can never
come back because of the surgery. And I can explain
more to you in a real quick synopsis right after
the news, but bottom line is this, it's not for everyone.
I'll explain why coming up. I'm Tom Martino plus Warren
retirement and all of your calls.

Speaker 6 (01:36:11):
Get your calls in right now.

Speaker 5 (01:36:12):
Three oh three seven one three talks seven one three
eight two five five.

Speaker 1 (01:36:21):
Yeah, ripped off bad news.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
You need advice?

Speaker 13 (01:36:31):
Who you don't have the.

Speaker 2 (01:36:33):
We'll come running just as fast as we can.

Speaker 3 (01:36:37):
Show Shooter's gonna help come man.

Speaker 4 (01:36:41):
This is the Troubleshooter Show.

Speaker 5 (01:36:44):
No Tom Martine, yep, I'm here, Tom Martino.

Speaker 6 (01:36:48):
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (01:36:49):
Three oh three seven one three talks seven one three
eight two five five. Man, it's gonna be a cold
and snowy later this week.

Speaker 6 (01:36:58):
Stay tuned for that one.

Speaker 5 (01:37:00):
And by the way, this hour brought to you by
eightdaight eight Heating dot Com. I just want to tell
you about eight eight eight Heating dot Com. I love
Garrett in the Gang, and what Garrett does is well,
Garret's the owner and along with others now and this
company really took an interest in high efficiency and also

(01:37:23):
hybrid systems that do both electric and gas and heat
pumps and they're just great people. And what I want
to tell you about is how they really are proud
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No one, no one can do anything less expensive than

(01:37:45):
them with the same stuff. They said, they have absolutely
the best deals when it comes to their heating and
cooling systems, the high efficiencies, and not only that, but
it'll save you thirty to fifty percent a month after
that eight eight eight Heating dot COM's the website.

Speaker 6 (01:38:03):
I think that number works too. But it's eight eight
eight heating. But here's the other number three oh three
seven seven zero two seven seven six.

Speaker 5 (01:38:11):
So Bob asked about my back surgery. And I don't
want people rolling their eyes if they heard this before.
But honest to God, it of everything I've ever done,
it probably changed me more than anything. I mean, you know,
other than finding Jesus. I mean, really back surgery. Really,

(01:38:33):
I was in constant fear of my back going out
and then pain and achiness and legs. And that was
like after about in my late forties it started, you know,
I had arthritis.

Speaker 6 (01:38:44):
Let me explain this in a nutshell.

Speaker 5 (01:38:46):
All back pain comes from nerve impingement period. All back pain, right,
you got all kinds of nerves going through your spine.

Speaker 6 (01:38:53):
All back pain.

Speaker 5 (01:38:53):
It can be impinged by arthritis which grows on the
bones or or the bones being crooked or broken or
cracked or or discs. But it all comes from that, Okay,
that's it. All comes from that, the nerves. And some
people have such screwed up backs, but no nerve impingement.

Speaker 6 (01:39:14):
They never have pain. Now, the nerve pain is the
worst than the world, and it can hurt you all
over the world. All over everywhere, right, And so that's it. Right.

Speaker 5 (01:39:26):
If you're lucky enough right now to have impingement where
you can use this tops device, then you're golden. Now
there's another way to stop it from mpinging, and that
is what's called a fusion. So the spine moves and

(01:39:47):
pinges nerves and cracks nerves and hurts nerves, and so
some people there's all kinds of ways they address it.
Some people have decompression surgery where they go in and
just take the brone spurs off that are in the
nerve and that helps and then grows back, or you
get older and it gets worse, but it does help.
Decompression surgery it's minor. I don't mean mind, nothing's minor,

(01:40:10):
but you know what I mean. It's it's the least
of the surgeries for backs, and they it's decompression surgery, okay.
Or they can shave a part of a disc that's
on a nerve. That's all decompression surgery. The other part
is where they ablaze the nerves. They burn the nerves,

(01:40:30):
so even though they're umpinged, you don't feel it because
they burned them. Right, then they grow back eventually. The
other way is to is to cage or fuse your back.
So where it's inmpinging, they pull it apart and put
a cage literally around your spine. So you're stiff in

(01:40:51):
that area. I mean, you don't move, he doesn't twist it.
It's just it's it's just what it says, fused and
that stops the pain. But the problem with fusion is
you get pressure above and below the fusion. It's called
adjacent disk disease, which eventually causes that pain and then

(01:41:12):
it fails about eighty five percent of the time. So
I found this back surgery and it's called TOPS tolps
by Premium Spine, and it's an artificial facet joint and
disk really and it lays in your spine instead of
your original one. But right now it's only approved right

(01:41:36):
now for one level to get I mean it can't go.
It's just one level, meaning so I had L four
L five impingement, so it when it they took literally
that facets out, They took them out and implanted this
TOPS device. So now I have an artificial part of

(01:41:57):
my spine and zero pain. The good news is arthritis
can never grow back. The good news is I can
move just like I had my real spine, So there's
no there's no adjacent disk disease.

Speaker 6 (01:42:09):
That's all the good news.

Speaker 5 (01:42:10):
I also heard they're using it above and below fusions.
Now if you have multiple levels, they put the fusion in,
and then to keep the adjacent disk disease from occurring
above and below, they're putting TOPS above and below a fusion.
It's that's real because TOPS right now is only approved

(01:42:32):
for one level at a time, not together. So you
can have one level above the fusion and one level
below the fusion.

Speaker 6 (01:42:38):
So now you have the fusion, but it's.

Speaker 5 (01:42:41):
Relieving the pressure of the fusion on the adjacent discs.
I hope that makes sense anyway.

Speaker 6 (01:42:47):
I had it done one level L four L five
back in August. I was walking.

Speaker 5 (01:42:52):
Around that after that, right after surgery in the early evening,
and people who had fusion were in wheelchairs getting out
of bed, and then I was out of the hospital
the next day and literally working out. Now I shouldn't
have worked out. I'm not recommending you to do it,
but I was feeling so good. I was working out,
not directly on that, but and I was walking the

(01:43:14):
neighborhood and I have never had pain since then, period,
never never done.

Speaker 6 (01:43:20):
So do you have any follow up questions, Bob?

Speaker 14 (01:43:24):
The only thing I have is, I know not every
doctor does that, That's right.

Speaker 17 (01:43:28):
Do you have a use?

Speaker 6 (01:43:32):
I used?

Speaker 5 (01:43:32):
I used, like I said, and he went. He did
this for me. He literally got trained for me in
the beginning. I was his first patient with this, and
he's wonderful. But now he'll even tell you I think
there he's not the only one in this practice that
does it, and there are other doctors in the metro
area that do it. Now, Please do not accept any

(01:43:53):
substitutions for this. There are now kind of devices that
kind of mimic this or try to and they're just
not the same. Because I talked to guys that had
it done and they're sorry they had it done because
the pain came back. Now, the doctor I had was
at Neurosurgery One, doctor Joshua Beckman B E C K

(01:44:18):
M A N.

Speaker 6 (01:44:19):
I'm not saying he's the only one, but he was
the guy that.

Speaker 5 (01:44:21):
Did it for me and where he's a really good guy,
and it's at Saint A's that that's where he is.
They have offices all over Neurosurgery One and there's probably
other doctors that do it now. Remember even though my
medicare paid for it along with my supplement.

Speaker 6 (01:44:40):
Uh, he told me when I went for a one
year later, I went.

Speaker 5 (01:44:45):
To him and he told me that some insurance companies
are still turning it down, calling it experimental, which really
bothers me because it's FDA approved. But be aware of that. Okay,
but you can start there. You can start there at
neurosurgery one, doctor Joshua Beckman, get it.

Speaker 6 (01:45:05):
Get an appointment, and uh, it's busy. He's done so
many of them, and uh, it's it's it's a wonderful device. Bob.

Speaker 5 (01:45:15):
Please give me a follow up and let me know
how you're doing. Okay, you can text me at that number.

Speaker 6 (01:45:19):
Two. You can text me at my Google number seven
four seven fifty to eighty. It comes right to my phone. Martin.
What is your question?

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
Hi?

Speaker 6 (01:45:29):
Martin? What's going on?

Speaker 17 (01:45:32):
Good Tom? Thanks for taking me, Tom. I just sold
it all and I want to know how much of
the postseeds can I invest in another?

Speaker 6 (01:45:43):
Okay, so you go ahead, No.

Speaker 17 (01:45:49):
Trying to miss the tax implications.

Speaker 6 (01:45:52):
I don't know business, Okay, got it?

Speaker 11 (01:45:55):
Got it?

Speaker 6 (01:45:56):
Did you? Did? You just did you say you sold
a home?

Speaker 17 (01:46:00):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (01:46:01):
Okay? How old are you.

Speaker 8 (01:46:05):
Sixty?

Speaker 6 (01:46:06):
Okay? That doesn't matter so much.

Speaker 5 (01:46:09):
But I had some other ideas for you, okay, if
you sold a home right now, and it might stay
this way.

Speaker 6 (01:46:19):
For a while.

Speaker 5 (01:46:19):
Since Republicans got in, up to five hundred thousand dollars
per married couple is excluded from capital gains taxes. Okay,
if you're single, a single taxpayer, it's two hundred and
fifty thousand. How much did you make in profit? How much?

Speaker 6 (01:46:45):
Six hundred? Okay?

Speaker 5 (01:46:49):
Now, no, did you make that all in profit? Or
was it six hundred total.

Speaker 4 (01:46:55):
Profit?

Speaker 6 (01:46:57):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (01:46:58):
Holy crap man, how did you make six hundred? Tell
me when did you.

Speaker 6 (01:47:03):
Buy your house?

Speaker 17 (01:47:07):
Twenty two thousands?

Speaker 19 (01:47:09):
No?

Speaker 14 (01:47:09):
You?

Speaker 6 (01:47:09):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (01:47:10):
So you you bought your house in two thousand and
made six hundred.

Speaker 6 (01:47:13):
Thousand on it.

Speaker 17 (01:47:15):
Yep?

Speaker 6 (01:47:16):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:47:17):
So, and when you talk about profit, you take what
you paid for it, plus the commissions to sell it,
plus the improvements you put into it, the permanent improvements?

Speaker 6 (01:47:30):
Are you adding all of that in? No?

Speaker 14 (01:47:34):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:47:34):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (01:47:35):
To get your true basis, okay, Martin, you take the
price you paid for it, and then any commissions that
you paid to sell it. And during the life of
that house since two thousand, did you do any permanent improvements?
Not man, okay, but if you did, if you'd go ahead.

Speaker 17 (01:48:00):
No, just roaston, you know, the yeah maintenance.

Speaker 5 (01:48:04):
Yeah, Well, whatever you did that you actually paid for
your insurance.

Speaker 6 (01:48:08):
It wouldn't count of it was your insurance.

Speaker 5 (01:48:10):
But whatever you paid, that's your basis. So let's say
you truly made a pure six hundred thousand. Are you married?

Speaker 17 (01:48:20):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (01:48:20):
Okay? Good, and you filed jointly yes, okay. So the
worst case.

Speaker 5 (01:48:27):
Scenario is that you have one hundred thousand dollars unprotected okay, okay, okay,
and the capital gains tax would be fifteen percent federal,
and I believe you have some state on that for
a total of twenty so, yeah, twenty percent, So you

(01:48:49):
would pay twenty thousand, so you'd come out with five
hundred and eighty thousand.

Speaker 6 (01:48:55):
After that, you.

Speaker 5 (01:48:56):
Don't have to put a penny into another house. You
can go to Vegas, okay. So, so it used to
be Martin that you had to reinvest it in another
house that was slightly more expensive to absorb the gain.
That's no longer in residential real estate. If it's your

(01:49:21):
primary home. Was it your primary home?

Speaker 17 (01:49:24):
Primary?

Speaker 5 (01:49:25):
Yes, yep, and you have to have lived in it
for I think two of the last five and then
it becomes your primary residence. In fact, let me tell you, Martin,
let me tell you what some builders do, or fixing flippers.
They buy houses and build them, or they either build
a house or fix up a house, and they keep

(01:49:45):
it for two or three years and then sell it
and don't pay any taxes whatsoever.

Speaker 6 (01:49:52):
And they keep doing it over and over.

Speaker 17 (01:49:54):
That's amazing.

Speaker 6 (01:49:56):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:49:57):
So anyway, good luck to you, Martin. Thank you very
much for calling. Three three seven to one three talks
seven one three eight two five five. Remember water Pros
has the best systems at the lowest prices ever right
now till the end of the year thirty one ninety
five for a whole house softener along with the reverse
osmosis for drinking. You'll never find this price anywhere else.

(01:50:18):
And that's Waterpros dot Net three O three eight six
two five five five four. Hey Tom Martino, you're troubleshooter.
Three all three seven one three talks seven one three
h two five five.

Speaker 6 (01:50:35):
Kate, Welcome to the show. Kate what's happening.

Speaker 16 (01:50:39):
Yeah, I will have a question for you. A couple
of this they go back a couple of years. But
you talked about a strategy of and I believe you
called it harvesting, where this was my sense of it,
that you have an investment and then you you sort
of skim or take some and I think just put

(01:51:03):
it into cash.

Speaker 6 (01:51:05):
Hmmm.

Speaker 16 (01:51:06):
Did you you recall this at all?

Speaker 6 (01:51:08):
The heart I now hold on I have talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:51:12):
I'll bring up I'll bring up one of my colleagues here,
and this is uh Pat Jolliff. He works with me
at Wave Wealth Management. I think I know what you're
talking about. Pat, I think I know it shit, but
but let let me know. I don't want to force
it if it's not this. What I said was this.
I said, if you have equity growth in investments, the

(01:51:32):
equity growth in and of itself does not do you
any good if you can't convert that equity to cash
flow or to other investments. In other words, it just
sits there and it's on paper. So you harvest some
of your equity and then what you do now now

(01:51:53):
it's it's not a good idea to borrow against something
and harvest it. But but what I do is if
I had things that were strong in equity, I may
sell them at a certain peak and then take that
money and restart my growth, or take the cash and
give it over to Pat for more of a conventional investment,

(01:52:16):
or things like that. That's what I meant. See, wealth
comes in two ways. You can have cash flow and
make a lot of money, but you don't have anything
to grow. You just have money, and if you put
it in the bank, it deteriorates.

Speaker 6 (01:52:30):
If you spend it, it goes away.

Speaker 5 (01:52:33):
If you buy something with it that appreciates, like art
or real estate or something gold or whatever.

Speaker 6 (01:52:41):
I'm not recommending these things.

Speaker 5 (01:52:42):
I'm just saying if you convert it to something that grows,
that equity then helps grow that money, but it will
not do you any good unless it converts back to money.

Speaker 6 (01:52:55):
So conversion is.

Speaker 5 (01:52:57):
The only form, is the only way to realize wealth.
You capture cash flow and you convert it to equity,
or you take equity and you convert it to cash flow,
or or other kinds of investments. Pat, geez, that's what
we're talking about. I think, Oh I got.

Speaker 6 (01:53:18):
To unmute you.

Speaker 5 (01:53:19):
Yeah, that would be good. He needs to be unmuted
so he can speak. See, there's nothing like a financial
advisor to be muted. Okay, go ahead, Pat, Sorry.

Speaker 7 (01:53:27):
No, that's great, and I agree with you, and it's
you know, one of the things that comes to mind
is when you have an equity investment like that and
it's grown, you have a capital game, maybe it's real
estate or something else, but you're not getting any cash flow.

Speaker 18 (01:53:39):
You get your retirement. You want some income.

Speaker 7 (01:53:41):
So we could take that and convert it to income,
for example, by constructing a direct bomb portfolio right right
from Colorado's You know, it's well known. I mean, they're
sought after for municipal bond issues in Colorado because they're
so solid, they're rated so well.

Speaker 9 (01:53:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:53:58):
We by the way, speaking of I want to explain
something and this is nothing against Joe. I love Joe,
Keano Joseph and his annuities, and there's a place for that.
But a lot of people overlook bonds. Bonds are truly
they're not equities. They're considered a debt that you buy
and you buy it and you're paid, and those are

(01:54:19):
as good as any.

Speaker 6 (01:54:20):
Guaranteed product in the market.

Speaker 5 (01:54:22):
Because if they're backed by a solid company. I mean,
doesn't even Tesla have bonds. And certain companies have bonds right.

Speaker 7 (01:54:31):
Well, sure corporate rated bonds out there, and they've done
a great job over the years. Who want to The
bond markets are completely different than the equity.

Speaker 6 (01:54:39):
Market, totally different.

Speaker 18 (01:54:40):
You want to be careful about that.

Speaker 7 (01:54:41):
You know, the biggest amount of risk that you can
have in bonds is referred to as credit risk. It's
the ability of the issuer to repay repay its debt.
And you can lose money in bonds. And I want
to say that very loud and clear. There's a lot
of people, even in my industry that don't understand the
bar and market very well.

Speaker 18 (01:54:56):
And I don't blame them. I didn't either.

Speaker 7 (01:54:58):
But to say that bonds are safe and only produce
income and so forth is incorrect. It's still accurate to
say investing involves risk. Savings doesn't. And so when you're
investing that include bond, that can include bonds, and you
can have devaluation based values. But we understand how that
works and we you know, we screen it. We have
our own expert bond trader that we've worked with for

(01:55:20):
years and years just excess.

Speaker 5 (01:55:21):
So speaking about a bond, though, explain how it can
be like qualified money once you buy a municipal bond.

Speaker 7 (01:55:31):
So, municipal bonds, particularly when they're issued in the state
in which you live from the.

Speaker 18 (01:55:36):
State in which you live, are double tax exemp.

Speaker 7 (01:55:38):
So the first thing is whatever interest rate that you
see on the bond, the coupon interest rate yield, they
don't mean the same thing. If it's five percent and
it's a municipal bond that's issued by municipality in Colorado,
whatever that interest is that you earn is not taxable
at the federal or state level, so it's double tax exemp.
So we'll calculate what's referred to as a taxi equivalent

(01:56:00):
yield based upon your affective tax rate, and that's what
your real gross is or what your gross shield would
have to be in order to get the same income
that you're getting in a tax free environment with municipals.

Speaker 5 (01:56:12):
Now, by the way, Kate, there's something really important I
want to tell you. When I talked about conversion, I'm
not talking about churning you.

Speaker 6 (01:56:20):
Really people. I've said this before that there's three kinds
of investors. There's people who like I call like Mark
my partner. Mark.

Speaker 5 (01:56:29):
He takes his own money and invests it, and he
babysits it, like babysits it every frickin hour, every minute,
not necessarily, but every day. So and he buys certain stocks,
he hand picks him, and then he sells him and
then he holds them and they Okay. Those kinds of
people they don't want financial advisors. And I don't blame him,
they just don't want them. They do it themselves. Then

(01:56:51):
you have people who invest in their companies.

Speaker 2 (01:56:55):
They like.

Speaker 6 (01:56:57):
Maybe Deputy d Over here, you know, he starts it's
his company. He puts his money back into his company
and makes a crapload of money make investing in his company.
And I know other people who do that.

Speaker 5 (01:57:07):
Garrett did that with eighty and eight Heating, and George
did that with fix It twenty four to seven.

Speaker 6 (01:57:11):
They invest in their own thing and it's active right now.

Speaker 5 (01:57:15):
They might take some of that and put it elsewhere,
but their main priority is their business. Then you have
people who have some money that they put with advisors
to do a variety of stuff, but don't ever go
with an advisor or a broker or.

Speaker 6 (01:57:28):
Anyone who always is changing you up.

Speaker 5 (01:57:31):
Okay, they're trying to make they're trying to make commissions
on that.

Speaker 6 (01:57:35):
That's a bad way of doing it.

Speaker 5 (01:57:37):
So when I talk about conversion, that's you Kate saying,
you know what, it's time we get rid of this
artwork and put it into these bonds, or it's time
that we get rid of or I take some of
my income and put it here, or I take some
of this and put it there.

Speaker 6 (01:57:51):
It's not churning. It's conversion.

Speaker 5 (01:57:54):
Like when you want to buy a home, you may
take something like cash flow and buy a home which
grows inequity.

Speaker 6 (01:58:01):
So that's what we're talking about.

Speaker 16 (01:58:04):
Okay, Well, let me just clarify really quickly that I
was thinking about within a.

Speaker 9 (01:58:08):
Furl and k.

Speaker 16 (01:58:09):
If you have a lot of your money, obviously it's
done very well invested stocks and bonds, But what about
taking some of that and converting it to cash just
for it to be safer. I mean, we're retired, so
we're the seventies.

Speaker 5 (01:58:27):
No, I don't believe that would be a wise idea
because you're paying you're paying a penalty on that, not
a penalty, but you're paying income tax on that.

Speaker 6 (01:58:36):
There are the weeks.

Speaker 16 (01:58:38):
I wouldn't pick out, I would just change the where.

Speaker 5 (01:58:40):
It's Oh, Pat, she's talking about allocating to cash.

Speaker 6 (01:58:45):
Well, how do you feel about that? Is that what
you're talking about, Kate? I am an allocation, yes, yeah,
an allocation to cash. What is cash making right now?

Speaker 5 (01:58:54):
Like when you take some of my cash now and
then are some of my money and put it in cash?

Speaker 6 (01:58:59):
What does that make making? Pat?

Speaker 18 (01:59:01):
Well, it's on its way down.

Speaker 7 (01:59:02):
But you know money markets that we use right now
probably about four and a quarter or so, and they've
come down from four and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:59:10):
Well, may I, may I ask.

Speaker 5 (01:59:11):
I'm going to ask you this because you're you're the
chief investment advisor as far as the company goes.

Speaker 6 (01:59:18):
There are times you do that with some of our people.

Speaker 7 (01:59:20):
Why well, yeah, there's a number of different reasons, and
that can be just stability of the portfolio. What we
understand about volatility is you know, if we can manage
volatility over time, the portfolio with less volatility and the
same type of average annually to return will make more
money over time. Contingent reserves for cash purchases and the

(01:59:43):
short term.

Speaker 18 (01:59:43):
A lot of.

Speaker 7 (01:59:44):
People don't want to keep the money at lower yielding
accounts for their savings accounts, and so we can improve
that by putting it in a money market account that traded,
and sometimes those yeals are are more competitive than what
the banks are doing. And right now it's an interest
rate enviyer and flocks obviously because we're finally getting the
femines lower some rates, and so that's affecting a lot

(02:00:05):
of things right now, fields included.

Speaker 5 (02:00:07):
Okay, so what I want to know if you were
going to go to cash, Kate, If you were, what
would you be earning on it?

Speaker 19 (02:00:17):
Well?

Speaker 16 (02:00:19):
Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I have to look
at that and see because I don't know.

Speaker 6 (02:00:24):
But I and here's another thing.

Speaker 5 (02:00:26):
Here's another thing I found and I don't want to
mention any names. Some when we review portfolios, we found
that some people have gone to cash. And even though
it was not a bad return, I think it's a
lazy advisor who takes assets under management and just puts
them in cash, because Kate can.

Speaker 6 (02:00:47):
Do that without anyone, right.

Speaker 5 (02:00:49):
In other words, so do you have people that you're
paying an advisement fee?

Speaker 6 (02:00:54):
And if so, then cash is worse? Makes sense?

Speaker 16 (02:00:59):
Yeah, I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 9 (02:01:01):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 16 (02:01:03):
To avoid the volatility of the stock market, especially in
uncertain times, which you know we are okay always, but
you know, I'm just wondering if it's a portion of it.

Speaker 5 (02:01:16):
Well, no, you won't go Are you doing it yourself
or do you have an advisor doing it?

Speaker 16 (02:01:21):
We do have an advisor.

Speaker 5 (02:01:22):
Yeah, okay, well, okay, if I was going to go
to cash, I would take it out of advisement because
you don't need to pay fees on it.

Speaker 18 (02:01:32):
And incidentally, have a point on that.

Speaker 6 (02:01:35):
Go ahead, Pat, just to let you know.

Speaker 7 (02:01:38):
And I think it sets us apart a little bit
is that we can charge a fee independent of the
asset class, and so we would not build, for example,
on positions held in cash. Bonds would be different, equities
would be.

Speaker 6 (02:01:50):
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to get at.

Speaker 7 (02:01:52):
But I didn't do that right inside the portfolio. And
that's we can be you know, be surgical about the feed.
That's the time two different assets.

Speaker 6 (02:02:02):
Yeh see.

Speaker 5 (02:02:02):
We don't believe in charging a fee for something and
someone can do on their own or or it's a
it's a maintenance fee more than anything. But that's all
I'm saying. And kay, I promise you when people call
me for advice. I'm not trying to steal your business
or anything. But here's what I want you to do.
I want you to know what you're paying for what
you're paying, and if you're paying the same for everything,
that's not a good idea. Also, you want to make

(02:02:24):
sure that the guy that you call your investor or
the woman is truly your investor and they're not just
somebody who's working for a large firm. And basically the
large firm doing the investing doesn't know you. Now, if
it's totally self directed by you, that's a different story.
I got to take this break real quick. I'm Tom
Martino more coming right up. Hi, Tom Martino, your troubleshooter

(02:02:55):
three ozho three seven to one three talk seven one
three eight two five five.

Speaker 6 (02:03:00):
So I got a text that says, basically.

Speaker 5 (02:03:04):
I just need a few ETFs maybe or so I
need some retirement income. I don't need an advisor, and
I don't want to pay advisement fees. Okay, I understand
that completely, and I told him Pat, and I meant it.
I'm not kidding. You don't have to pay if you
want to do your own management. And you just need

(02:03:25):
advice here and there, and you want to ask questions.
We'll do that every day. I'm serious. Okay, I do
it anyway.

Speaker 6 (02:03:34):
I'm on the radio.

Speaker 5 (02:03:35):
I have experts all the time, and we always give advice.
I mean, it's not you don't understand something. Let me
explain this straight up. I've made my living. I'm seventy one, Okay,
I have thank God for that. I have a good base.

(02:03:57):
I have, I have what I need. Okay, So when
I tell you that, I'm not kidding.

Speaker 6 (02:04:04):
You know, it's funny.

Speaker 5 (02:04:06):
It's the hardest thing in the world is try to
explain to people you're not trying to get into their shorts,
you're not trying to get into their pockets. But but
you know, listen, if so this guy I told them,
you call us. If you're going to do your own
management all that. You just want advice on what to
do and how to do it and what we do.
We'll do it all day long, all day long, with nothing, nothing,

(02:04:30):
no strings attached. Again, if all I did was help
people get richer and not made a dime, you think
it's gonna do bad for me. It's building I don't
want to get into some to stuff that might offend
people who don't want to get into this, but it's
building for me other kinds of riches. Okay, that's the

(02:04:51):
that's the bottom line anyway.

Speaker 6 (02:04:54):
So Dimitri has an update. I want to go too,
So Pat, I'll I'm gonna excuse you for a second there,
and we'll.

Speaker 5 (02:05:01):
Go to Dmitri. Now, Dmitri, what is going? Let me
go to that wide What's what do you got, sir?

Speaker 6 (02:05:08):
Oh, thank you for reminding me.

Speaker 11 (02:05:10):
I'm so. I called Thompson Automotive and I had actually
a couple Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:05:14):
Let's explain this problem because it it really was crazy.

Speaker 6 (02:05:17):
I mean, I don't like it.

Speaker 5 (02:05:19):
She said her twenty nineteen Chrysler PACIFICA ninety seven thousand miles.
They put five thousand dollars into it with a head
gasket and she still had problems. They said, well, now
your engine's won. And that was three months later. Go
ahead real quick then, Okay.

Speaker 11 (02:05:33):
So I had a couple of conversations with Christy over there,
who's very forthcoming, very knowledgeable, and it is totally fully
briefed on this matter. She's been dealing with a consumer
this whole time. Yeah, so the story that I got
from Christy, and I tend to believe her is very
different from what we got from the callers. So, first
of all, the van is ready, it's it's been repaired

(02:05:54):
and it's ready to drive on.

Speaker 6 (02:05:55):
Yeah, but they want her to pay for a new engine.

Speaker 11 (02:05:57):
No, So here's what happened, all.

Speaker 6 (02:05:58):
Right, hold on, I got to take there.

Speaker 5 (02:06:00):
I want you a longer story. Well, we deserve that
they deserve, Thompson Auto deserves to be heard. Then I think, okay,
we got more coming right after this.

Speaker 6 (02:06:13):
Hey, I'm Tom Martino, three oh three, seven to one
three talk okay.

Speaker 5 (02:06:16):
So Dimitri, so this this place. She took it to Thompson.
She said they did the head gas hit for five grand.
Then they said, by.

Speaker 6 (02:06:25):
The way, you know, uh, you need a new engine.
So what's the real story here?

Speaker 11 (02:06:31):
So they fixed it and it ran for a couple
of more months until it developed the same head gasket
issue in the same cylinder in August. The car went
in in August and with the intention of making a
warranty claim. When Thompson tore down that engine, what they
saw was not only did the head gasket fail on
the same cylinder, but this time they observed the cylinder

(02:06:53):
wall scratching, and as you know, that's a ruin. So
what do they think, Well, they well, the piston was bad.
Was bad?

Speaker 6 (02:07:01):
Did they say she did it?

Speaker 11 (02:07:02):
No, nobody knows.

Speaker 6 (02:07:04):
What they're saying.

Speaker 11 (02:07:05):
They didn't do it, Okay, right, because it's not a consequence.

Speaker 6 (02:07:08):
So they fixed the head gasket.

Speaker 11 (02:07:10):
They replaced, well, they had to do more than that.
They installed another They happen to have the same kind
of engine, and so they used they pulled a used
piston rod and the piston out of that installed it
for her. What are they charging, Well, the whole shebang
came to just twenty seven hundred dollars and it's ready

(02:07:32):
to drive away, cake, And.

Speaker 5 (02:07:34):
So the original drop of five this is twenty seven.
She said it was going to be another six grand.

Speaker 6 (02:07:38):
It's not.

Speaker 11 (02:07:39):
Well, if she wanted to buy a new engine, it
probably would, okay, but it's drivable right now.

Speaker 5 (02:07:44):
So you believe then that they didn't cause this and
that it's a good deal. And it's twenty seven hundred
for what they did.

Speaker 11 (02:07:49):
Oh yeah, you have to take apart at the bottom
part of the engine, all right, place.

Speaker 5 (02:07:52):
I we got to run. We're out of time. Don't
forget folks. Whatever you heard you can find on the podcast.
You can also text me at three oh three seven
seven or call us three O three seven seven one
help for any information