December 16, 2025 • 10 mins
Greg Taylor of Legacy Retirement Group discusses everything from Taxes to investment to help you be more comfortable financially
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's switch gears. Go over to the Legacy Retirement Group
dot com phone line. That's where we find, ironically enough,
our good friend and founder of Legacy Retirement Group.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's Greg Taylor. Greg, good morning, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Good morning? I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I got to tell you before we get rolling this morning.
We've got a couple of things to cover financially. It's
some really good information for folks as well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I love your commercial for Legacy Retirement Group that talks
about the true meaning of Christmas with the Charlie Brown references.
It's so well done, and it's it hits me because
I think you and I had the same experience probably
growing up watching the Charlie Brown Christmas and that specific
scene with Linus as you refer to in the commercial.
(00:41):
You know, watching that as a kid with our parents.
That to this day is my favorite Christmas special.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Well it is mine too, and you know is with
all the hustle and bustle and things and important and
fun things, but let's not forget the true meaning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I love it and it's a great reminder. And I
hear you do that commercial, Greg, so well done. I
get chills every time. So thank you. For that, I
appreciate it. It is a It's an award winner in
my book. So here we are about two weeks from
the end of the year, Greg. If you know, we've
got people who are retired, who are about to be retired,
and we're looking at a lot of changes coming into
(01:17):
twenty twenty six. Are there things that people should be
doing now as they look at their overall finances before
the calendar flips over to the new year.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Well, I think it's really important for people to take
a hard look at these lower tax brackets that we're
in now. Thankfully due to the big beautiful bill. You know,
the tax rates that we're supposed to expire at the
end of twenty twenty five, they're now being made permanent. Now.
(01:46):
Of course, you and I know that permanent means until
somebody else changes it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Right, you know it'll be coming, it will.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But right now we're in a window of time and
we have this president. Is I believe tax friendly to
where we should really consider getting money from our tax
deferred traditional iras, our traditional four to one k's deferred
compensation plans and think hard and fast about converting that
(02:18):
to a traditional.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What do you mean by when you say tighten up
your income plan, what is?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
What is? What are you referring to there?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So when with tightening up your income plan, those that
are getting ready to retire next year or within the
next couple of years are looking at social Security when
to take it? They're looking at, Okay, what's my Medicare
costs going to be if I'm eligible for Medicare for
(02:49):
those sixty five and older? Am I going to go
with a traditional supplement? Am I going to go with
a Medicare advantage planet subsidized by the government? Which plan
am I going to take? What's actually going to cost
me to live the way I want to live in retirement?
And then how do we how do we bridge that gap?
So if there's a gap of fifty thousand dollars a year,
how do we bridge that gap? And how do we
(03:11):
feel confident that ups and downs of markets and things
like that don't impact our ability to live well in retirement.
So tightening that up means having a solid written plan
for that and then shifting your mindset from just this
massive accumulation you've been trying to go after for years
to now, how do we preserve now? Doesn't mean we
(03:33):
don't invest in the market. We don't buy stocks and
things like that. But we have a little different mindset
from just you know, let it, you know, pedal to
the metal, let it grow, grow, grow, to how do
I make this last twenty or thirty years.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
There's a lot of folks listening in that phase I
think right now, maybe in their upper fifties, low sixties,
still working, still accumulating, but the mindset in the next
few years has to shift to the accumulation you know,
may not be as strong, but you're into that preservation
mode of how do I stay safe? How do I
how do I retain and make sure that I grow
(04:10):
what I have accumulated over the last you know, thirty
forty years in the workforce, right, And.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
That requires a different mindset, it really does. And let's
not forget this time of year to revisit you're a
state plan I just met with a lovely couple yesterday,
great couple getting ready to retire in a few years.
But they got surprised with twins about twelve years ago,
and I said, okay, what have you done in estate planning?
(04:38):
You know, in case something were to happen to you,
and they said, you know, we have absolutely nothing in place.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So that's not a set it and forget it type
of thing. Or is it can you go and get
your estate plan done and then just you know, put
it away with all your important documents and leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Or is it's something you need to revisit every now
and then.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I think you should revisit it every few years, especially,
you know, as your kids grow up and things change
a bit. You know, when your kids are minors, you
think differently about how you would leave assets to them
that you can make. Perhaps when they've graduated from college
and they're married and they've got solid careers. Now you
probably think a little different at that phase than you
did when they were you know, kids are teenagers.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Speaking with Greg Taylor, founder Legacy Retirement Group, you mentioned
the tax law changes coming into the new year. So
let's kind of blow that up a little bit. The
lower tax brackets expire.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So what does that mean, Well, actually, the lower tax
brackets now don't expire. So the lower tax brackets were
supposed to expire at the end of twenty twenty five,
but thanks to the big beautiful bill, they're not expiring.
But there are some things to pay attention to here
with the tax law changes. For instance, a couple that's
(05:51):
sixty five or older, they are now eligible if their
income is one hundred and fifty thousand combined per year
are eligible for six thousand dollars each additional tax deduction.
And if you go over that, there's a phase out
up until I think it's two hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Two fifty one, I believe is the phase out number
for for getting that six thousand dollars deduction, so it
goes down a little bit over one hundred and fifty thousand.
So that's one tax thing to look at. Even if
you're going to do roth conversions, you need to think about, Okay,
how's that going to impact my deductions? If you get
(06:31):
over two hundred and thirteen thousand of a couple, Okay,
that impacts your Medicare Park B premium and Part D premium.
So there are some numbers to pay attention to as
you're looking at. You know, Greg talks about roth conversions.
Let's go convert it all. Well, now, let's hold on. Now,
let's make sure that we're taking advantage of other things
as well. We want to be smart with the way
(06:52):
we do things.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
You have a note about distribution order, and I never
considered this once you're retired, pulling from the wrong accounts
at the wrong at wrong time could bump you into
a different bracket. So is that still a concern with
the with the changes in the.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Tax law or is that not a big of a
deal anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, no, it's still a concern because you know, you
go from twelve percent of twenty two real quick, and
then you go from twenty two to twenty four, but
then from twenty four the next bracket's thirty two. And
this is something to understand about social security. You see,
when when Social Security is taxed, it's always taxed at
(07:31):
your highest marginal tax rate. So if I'm at twelve
percent and I go one dollar into twenty two percent,
now all my Social Security that's taxed is taxed at
twenty two percent.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Interesting speaking with Greg Taylor Legacy Retirement Group. So I've got,
you know, all my investments, and how do I know
if my investments still makes sense if the current mix
of what I have, whether it's a you know in
a four oh one K or a wroth or know
mutual funds, and how do I know that my balance
in my make still makes sense.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Well, there's two litmus tests that we have to really
allow ourselves to go through. One is can I tolerate
the fluctuations? And you know something interesting, Mike, is that
I find when people are more confident in whoever's governing,
they tend to feel more tolerant. And when they don't
(08:27):
feel as confident, if they don't like the president or
the leadership, they don't feel as tolerant. And you have
to be careful about that because if you study history,
whether the person you liked or didn't like was in office,
it didn't necessarily impact our market a whole lot. So
it's important to be sure that you're that you have
the real tolerance that you can really accept number one
(08:50):
and number two is capacity. How much risk can you afford?
Because if you've saved half million dollars and you're getting
ready to retire a kin you really afford to lose
thirty percent? Probably not, probably not. So if that's the case,
you have to make sure that your portfolio reflects what
you can actually afford when it comes to risk. Because
(09:11):
here's one thing The market doesn't care about your calendar,
you know, it doesn't just it doesn't look at say, well,
you know, bills getting ready to retire. We better not
go down. You know, that's not how it works. So
we really need to be smart about how we lay
it out because there's really three main allocation sources we
(09:31):
can use. We can use the banking world that's kind
of our you know, our emergency money, our sleep well
at night money. We've got the insurance world, which is
a great job for providing dependable income. And then we've
got you know, the Wall Street world, which is great
for long term growth. When we balance those three properly,
we've got enough in the bank for our emergencies, and
(09:52):
we've got enough for income to you know, so we
can live our lifestyle. And then we have enough growing
to keep pace with inflation and taxes and and healthcare
costs in the future. Now we've got the balance we're
really looking for. And when the market fluctuates, it doesn't
impact your income, your ability to lift.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, when it comes to economic uncertainty, I've heard you
say before, Greg, the question isn't can the market recover,
because we know it will. The question is will your
plan recover the amount of time you need it to.
It's a great way to look at it well it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Is, and having the confidence based on you look everybody.
Everybody hopes for good timing, but you'd really be better
off if you just had smart planning
Let's switch gears. Go over to the Legacy Retirement Group
dot com phone line. That's where we find, ironically enough,
our good friend and founder of Legacy Retirement Group.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's Greg Taylor. Greg, good morning, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Good morning? I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I got to tell you before we get rolling this morning.
We've got a couple of things to cover financially. It's
some really good information for folks as well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I love your commercial for Legacy Retirement Group that talks
about the true meaning of Christmas with the Charlie Brown references.
It's so well done, and it's it hits me because
I think you and I had the same experience probably
growing up watching the Charlie Brown Christmas and that specific
scene with Linus as you refer to in the commercial.
(00:41):
You know, watching that as a kid with our parents.
That to this day is my favorite Christmas special.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Well it is mine too, and you know is with
all the hustle and bustle and things and important and
fun things, but let's not forget the true meaning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I love it and it's a great reminder. And I
hear you do that commercial, Greg, so well done. I
get chills every time. So thank you. For that, I
appreciate it. It is a It's an award winner in
my book. So here we are about two weeks from
the end of the year, Greg. If you know, we've
got people who are retired, who are about to be retired,
and we're looking at a lot of changes coming into
(01:17):
twenty twenty six. Are there things that people should be
doing now as they look at their overall finances before
the calendar flips over to the new year.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Well, I think it's really important for people to take
a hard look at these lower tax brackets that we're
in now. Thankfully due to the big beautiful bill. You know,
the tax rates that we're supposed to expire at the
end of twenty twenty five, they're now being made permanent. Now.
(01:46):
Of course, you and I know that permanent means until
somebody else changes it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Right, you know it'll be coming, it will.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But right now we're in a window of time and
we have this president. Is I believe tax friendly to
where we should really consider getting money from our tax
deferred traditional iras, our traditional four to one k's deferred
compensation plans and think hard and fast about converting that
(02:18):
to a traditional.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
What do you mean by when you say tighten up
your income plan, what is?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
What is? What are you referring to there?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So when with tightening up your income plan, those that
are getting ready to retire next year or within the
next couple of years are looking at social Security when
to take it? They're looking at, Okay, what's my Medicare
costs going to be if I'm eligible for Medicare for
(02:49):
those sixty five and older? Am I going to go
with a traditional supplement? Am I going to go with
a Medicare advantage planet subsidized by the government? Which plan
am I going to take? What's actually going to cost
me to live the way I want to live in retirement?
And then how do we how do we bridge that gap?
So if there's a gap of fifty thousand dollars a year,
how do we bridge that gap? And how do we
(03:11):
feel confident that ups and downs of markets and things
like that don't impact our ability to live well in retirement.
So tightening that up means having a solid written plan
for that and then shifting your mindset from just this
massive accumulation you've been trying to go after for years
to now, how do we preserve now? Doesn't mean we
(03:33):
don't invest in the market. We don't buy stocks and
things like that. But we have a little different mindset
from just you know, let it, you know, pedal to
the metal, let it grow, grow, grow, to how do
I make this last twenty or thirty years.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
There's a lot of folks listening in that phase I
think right now, maybe in their upper fifties, low sixties,
still working, still accumulating, but the mindset in the next
few years has to shift to the accumulation you know,
may not be as strong, but you're into that preservation
mode of how do I stay safe? How do I
how do I retain and make sure that I grow
(04:10):
what I have accumulated over the last you know, thirty
forty years in the workforce, right, And.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
That requires a different mindset, it really does. And let's
not forget this time of year to revisit you're a
state plan I just met with a lovely couple yesterday,
great couple getting ready to retire in a few years.
But they got surprised with twins about twelve years ago,
and I said, okay, what have you done in estate planning?
(04:38):
You know, in case something were to happen to you,
and they said, you know, we have absolutely nothing in place.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So that's not a set it and forget it type
of thing. Or is it can you go and get
your estate plan done and then just you know, put
it away with all your important documents and leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Or is it's something you need to revisit every now
and then.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
I think you should revisit it every few years, especially,
you know, as your kids grow up and things change
a bit. You know, when your kids are minors, you
think differently about how you would leave assets to them
that you can make. Perhaps when they've graduated from college
and they're married and they've got solid careers. Now you
probably think a little different at that phase than you
did when they were you know, kids are teenagers.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Speaking with Greg Taylor, founder Legacy Retirement Group, you mentioned
the tax law changes coming into the new year. So
let's kind of blow that up a little bit. The
lower tax brackets expire.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
So what does that mean, Well, actually, the lower tax
brackets now don't expire. So the lower tax brackets were
supposed to expire at the end of twenty twenty five,
but thanks to the big beautiful bill, they're not expiring.
But there are some things to pay attention to here
with the tax law changes. For instance, a couple that's
(05:51):
sixty five or older, they are now eligible if their
income is one hundred and fifty thousand combined per year
are eligible for six thousand dollars each additional tax deduction.
And if you go over that, there's a phase out
up until I think it's two hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
No.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Two fifty one, I believe is the phase out number
for for getting that six thousand dollars deduction, so it
goes down a little bit over one hundred and fifty thousand.
So that's one tax thing to look at. Even if
you're going to do roth conversions, you need to think about, Okay,
how's that going to impact my deductions? If you get
(06:31):
over two hundred and thirteen thousand of a couple, Okay,
that impacts your Medicare Park B premium and Part D premium.
So there are some numbers to pay attention to as
you're looking at. You know, Greg talks about roth conversions.
Let's go convert it all. Well, now, let's hold on. Now,
let's make sure that we're taking advantage of other things
as well. We want to be smart with the way
(06:52):
we do things.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
You have a note about distribution order, and I never
considered this once you're retired, pulling from the wrong accounts
at the wrong at wrong time could bump you into
a different bracket. So is that still a concern with
the with the changes in the.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Tax law or is that not a big of a
deal anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, no, it's still a concern because you know, you
go from twelve percent of twenty two real quick, and
then you go from twenty two to twenty four, but
then from twenty four the next bracket's thirty two. And
this is something to understand about social security. You see,
when when Social Security is taxed, it's always taxed at
(07:31):
your highest marginal tax rate. So if I'm at twelve
percent and I go one dollar into twenty two percent,
now all my Social Security that's taxed is taxed at
twenty two percent.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Interesting speaking with Greg Taylor Legacy Retirement Group. So I've got,
you know, all my investments, and how do I know
if my investments still makes sense if the current mix
of what I have, whether it's a you know in
a four oh one K or a wroth or know
mutual funds, and how do I know that my balance
in my make still makes sense.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Well, there's two litmus tests that we have to really
allow ourselves to go through. One is can I tolerate
the fluctuations? And you know something interesting, Mike, is that
I find when people are more confident in whoever's governing,
they tend to feel more tolerant. And when they don't
(08:27):
feel as confident, if they don't like the president or
the leadership, they don't feel as tolerant. And you have
to be careful about that because if you study history,
whether the person you liked or didn't like was in office,
it didn't necessarily impact our market a whole lot. So
it's important to be sure that you're that you have
the real tolerance that you can really accept number one
(08:50):
and number two is capacity. How much risk can you afford?
Because if you've saved half million dollars and you're getting
ready to retire a kin you really afford to lose
thirty percent? Probably not, probably not. So if that's the case,
you have to make sure that your portfolio reflects what
you can actually afford when it comes to risk. Because
(09:11):
here's one thing The market doesn't care about your calendar,
you know, it doesn't just it doesn't look at say, well,
you know, bills getting ready to retire. We better not
go down. You know, that's not how it works. So
we really need to be smart about how we lay
it out because there's really three main allocation sources we
(09:31):
can use. We can use the banking world that's kind
of our you know, our emergency money, our sleep well
at night money. We've got the insurance world, which is
a great job for providing dependable income. And then we've
got you know, the Wall Street world, which is great
for long term growth. When we balance those three properly,
we've got enough in the bank for our emergencies, and
(09:52):
we've got enough for income to you know, so we
can live our lifestyle. And then we have enough growing
to keep pace with inflation and taxes and and healthcare
costs in the future. Now we've got the balance we're
really looking for. And when the market fluctuates, it doesn't
impact your income, your ability to lift.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, when it comes to economic uncertainty, I've heard you
say before, Greg, the question isn't can the market recover,
because we know it will. The question is will your
plan recover the amount of time you need it to.
It's a great way to look at it well it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Is, and having the confidence based on you look everybody.
Everybody hopes for good timing, but you'd really be better
off if you just had smart planning
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.