2.10.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

2.10.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
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Producer:
Welcome to Rest Assured Retirement with your host, Jeff Holmes. Jeff is a licensed fiduciary and financial advisor who always places his client's needs first. Jeff works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you too. So now let's start the show. Here's Jeff Holmes.

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back, everyone. This is Jeff Holmes, certified financial fiduciary and certified retirement counselor. We're back at it here at the rest of your retirement show. I'm joined here with Matt McClure, our producer. And I don't know about how busy a weekend you've got coming up here at the time of recording in Atlanta. But it's going to be a little bit busy here in Phoenix this weekend.

Producer:
Oh, Oh, Is there something going on out there?

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah. Yeah, that's what I had to look it up, you know?

Producer:
Right.

Jeff Holmes:
What's going on? Is super white or Phoenix. What? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's one of those. For whatever reason, they. They do the Super Bowl this weekend. At the same time, the last round of the Phoenix Open at the TPC Scottsdale is going on. So, you know, there's a few people in town right now. This is.

Producer:
Yeah, I can imagine.

Jeff Holmes:
You know, traffic is a little up there. Most people that live here are probably staying home.

Producer:
Yeah.

Jeff Holmes:
Can't blame them. But, you know, especially when you hear the price of the tickets. We're going to talk about that here in just a little bit, so that's for sure. So, so glad you're back. And if you are wanting to get that complimentary consultation that we've talked about before, you can go to RestAssuredRetirement.com or call in at 4804549191. We will go through exactly how that all works later in the show. Obviously it's only something that you do if you feel like you're going to get something from it and it's going to be best for you on that. So a pretty easy obviously you can listen to the show if you've missed it wherever you listen to podcast or go to our website, RestAssuredRetirement.com and get information there. So what's the the title of this week's show is we're continuing on with the Smart Retirement Plan series and we're getting into review rule following and income. So there you are. It's a lot here today and we'll see if we can get through it all. I was going through the notes here and I thought, boy, this may be two shows.

Producer:
Hey, we could always divide it up, spread the love around.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, that's right. So I'll try not to talk too fast, but we always like to go through the overview. We're going to get into the all famous quote of the week and there will be a small market update we've got coming on. And then majority of this show is going to get into these two sections here, the Smart Act 2.0 review, which we went through a little bit before. It's important retirement tax changes you need to know. And then also retirement Smart Retirement Plan series. The Review rule following an income that I already mentioned. And then we'll get into the inflation demonstration on how much Super Bowl tickets cost starting in 1967 to 2023. You're going to find that pretty amazing. I was looking at the inflation adjusted amounts. It's wow, pretty amazing. So this week in history, also, there's some famous birthdays happening this weekend and we'll get into what's coming up next week, which has been a request. What are we going to talk about next time? So we'll get into that a little bit to.

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the Quote of the Week.

Producer:
Our quote of the week. Those words of wisdom come from the author, Will Robinson, this time around. And he said this one time, quote, Financial fitness is not a pipe dream or a state of mind. It's a reality if you're willing to pursue it and embrace it. It's like that. You know, it can be feel like a dream to a lot of people, but it can actually be something that you can achieve. You've just got.

Jeff Holmes:
To work at it. That's right. And you mentioned that four letter word, work at it. And.

Producer:
Yeah.

Jeff Holmes:
Now, Will Robinson, when he lost in space back in the day.

Producer:
Yeah, right. Danger Will Robinson.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Danger.

Producer:
Totally. Totally. The same.

Jeff Holmes:
Person. Yeah. I looked him up and that's what came up. That's why I who not. So. Okay, thank you very much, Matt. And now we're going to get into the market update The Fed approves a 0.25% hike. That's a quarter of a point for everybody from New Mexico like myself is what that means for all the other people that know a little bit more. They they come up with a term 25 basis points for that. So, you know, that's that's how all that works. So I just wanted to fill that in a little educational moment right there. And then the reason they're doing this softening rate increases again, the softening rate. Okay. So that's interesting that that is exactly what they call that. And a little bit on that, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday it was going to raise those short term borrowing rates to that quarter of a percent. The central bank's second consecutive decision to slow the rate increases while extending an effort to cool the economy and dial back inflation. How did we get inflation to begin with? You have to ask yourself that question and I'll continue on here. The Fed has put forward a string of borrowing cost increases as it tries, and this is coming from an article in ABC News. Well, now listen to this as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. Choking off demand. Hmm. Yeah. You know that you have to ask your question. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? They approach how risk tipping the US economy into a recession and putting millions out of work. So a lot of questions here you need to ask yourself. First off, how did inflation occur? Was it I know it had nothing to do with the trillion dollar spending bills that the government was passing and doing that Nothing, nothing caused that. They're right and that you're smiling.

Producer:
Plead the fifth now. Well, that and you know, there was all I mean there are so many aspects of it but it's like because I remember talking to an economics professor for one of my stories that I did not not all that well a few months back now, I guess. And she was saying that, yeah, there are a lot of different aspects to it. That's one of them, you know, injecting more money into the economy and that really caused demands to just shoot way up, especially as people got back out in public and the lockdowns were over and all that kind of stuff. But then the supply chain was just so messed up at that point that there was no way that the supply was going to keep up with the demand and it was just way off kilter.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, exactly. So a lot of things going on there. Yeah, totally. And yeah, so that is what very good little tidbit there from Matt. Thank you. And that's that is what they say. We may have a recession, put millions out of work. But then of course they said that jobs, people getting to work went way up this last week and they are now at the same time saying there's a lot of layoffs. So I was a little confused on that. Of course, I'm sure there's some lagging numbers there that we'll see how that works going forward. So, okay, the Secure Act 2.0, this is the review we'll get into now. It's a new law passed late in 2022 congressional session, and what late means is December 29th. So within about three, four days, all of a sudden, how you do your retirement planning changed. And I know everyone was paying attention during Christmas break that, of course, they got past her in that time frame and everyone missed it.

Producer:
That's that's how it happens a lot of the time.

Jeff Holmes:
It's pretty amazing. So what does this mean to you and your retirement? One of the things that we find is when these laws come about, it takes a little while for everyone to kind of catch up with this. So it took most of January for a lot of people to evaluate it and find out what it all means. So here's a quick review of the changes that affect retirees and pre retirees. And we're finally getting a lot of good information now on how this all works. So it's now going to change on your required minimum distributions that used to be age 72, not that many years before. It used to be 70 and a half, and now it's at age 73 when you're required to start taking those out. And we'll begin at age 75, starting in 2033. So they're increasing that age. Now, is that what you should do as you age? You hang on to that. And if you're in the right situation, it may be a good thing to do is to let your money grow. If you can afford postponing withdrawing those accounts for income needs. Now, for a lot of you, you're going to need to think of it as a tax issue because if you were to do that and you were to let that money grow, what's going to happen to your taxes in the future? And you have to ask yourself, do you think in your you can answer this, we won't hear it, don't worry about it. So you go ahead and answer it. And do you think taxes are going up or down? And. Yes, that's the question you have to ask yourself. And if that's the case, the longer you wait to pull the money out, the bigger the account gets gets How much are your tax is going to be? They're going to be more or less than if you started taking the money out at the point that you retire at or maybe a little before, if possible, depending on your retirement age.

Jeff Holmes:
Now, they also change the penalty for failing to take out these requirement minimum distributions, or RMDs is what they call that, and they've decreased that penalty to 25% from 50%. And they also decrease it to 10% if corrected, which means you must file an amended tax return. So that is how that works as far as the new required minimum distribution. So you must plan for that, make sure that you are taking enough out and you don't get stuck with that penalty because even though it's gone down to 25% is still a pretty good chunk because you have to add taxes to that. Now, also the catch up contributions will increase in 2025 for your four one case for all three B's government plans and IRA account holders. This gives pre-retirees much room to catch up and save. Now, if you've already been saving, you may want to consider putting that money not necessarily in those taxable accounts, but maybe something else depending on your situation. So you ask yourself the question, have you done tax planning for any of the previous two things that we've spoken about? Now, what we're going to do is we're getting ready to go into a break right now and we're going to talk about the changes to the 529 college savings plans and how they're a little bit different now and also get into the Smart review and how that works as far as our full retirement plan consultation. So we'll be back here in a few. That Rest Assured Retirement show.

Producer:
You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement to schedule your free no obligation consultation with Jeff visit RestAssuredRetirement.com. By the way I use my.

Producer:
Once again, here is Jeff Holmes.

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back, everyone, to the Rest Assured Retirement show. Now, many of you, if you are listening to this on your way to either the Super Bowl, the Phoenix Open, or you're out shopping and getting stuff for the Super Bowl party, are you already on your way to the party? So a lot of the things we're going to talk about today, you're probably going to forget, especially if you go out to the Phoenix Open. We know how that all works. And Matt, have you heard about what happens at the Phoenix Open?

Producer:
Only thing I can think of is what happens at the Phoenix Open. Stays at the Phoenix Open. But I'm sure that's not the right answer.

Jeff Holmes:
It could be, but it is. It's probably the the rudest and the biggest party of golf for the whole year. Wow. So that's really what that's all about. And if you watch it, you'll see that which we will be watching it on Sunday afternoon. And, you know, that's one of the things a lot of you probably watching it. So most people may not be listening much this, but you can go to RestAssuredRetirement.com and listen to the show and because as I go through these things even though you did hear it, you probably will forget it by Monday for sure if you're at any of these events for sure.

Producer:
Especially if you're getting so rowdy at the at the old golf course.

Jeff Holmes:
You bet. And that's probably how you're spending your your Sunday. And it's a great time to take a little time off and get away from all the work and all the stuff that is going on in your life there. So and enjoy yourself, which you should be. So the 529 college savings plans, this is part of the what we were talking about just before on the Secure Act 2.0 review. Those have changed a little bit and they have a plan in there says after 15 years, the assets in the 529 plan can be rolled over into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary, which would be your child in that situation. Now, there's also some rules as far as contribution limits on that, and there's a lifetime limit of 35,000. Now. If you only have 35,000 and a 529 plan, it's going to help for college. But how much is it going to help? You know, in today's prices, boy, you know, if you've done any college planning, you know the answer to that. It's going to be a small dent in.

Producer:
That for true.

Jeff Holmes:
Yes. Now. Now we're going to get into the Smart review. And then after that, the inflation demonstration on the price of Super Bowl tickets. So if you're going out there, you already know what the price is and you've probably had to mortgage your house to be able to get those tickets to go there. So one of the things on the Smart review is it's a review of the performance of your investments on a quarterly or semiannual basis to ensure you're staying on the right track to meet your goals. We all need to retirements retire someday. Now, when I hear that I don't know about. Have you ever heard of Creedence Clearwater Revival that Oh.

Producer:
Yeah, CCR. Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, I had a friend who did radio and he'd go that great CCR and I did a terrible job there, but he had a great radio voice and they had a song which is Someday Never Comes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the later songs later on in their career, you don't want to be one of those where you're looking for retirement and being some day never comes, if you hear what I'm saying.

Producer:
Exactly.

Jeff Holmes:
So that's why it is better to do it sooner than later. And that's why we want to help people retire better. And in New Mexico, the term is more better. That's really that's helps you people like myself understand what they're saying there. Okay. And this brings up another quote. And you want to go ahead and go through this. It's a really, really quick, quick one here.

Producer:
Short, sweet to the point. And people will probably know who said this as soon as I say it. But the quote is trust but verify. And of course, that was those were the words of Ronald Reagan.

Jeff Holmes:
You bet. And there's a lot in those words, and that's one of the things that you really need to do in your retirement planning. And on a very serious note, I tell everyone this is I don't care who's giving you the advice you need to trust, but verify and get information on all of the information you're being given. And hopefully it's a non-biased, unbiased review of that information there, too, where you can learn more. It's all about becoming educated. It does take time. We know that it's a little bit scary, like the original quote that the first quote I should say that we talked about earlier today is it doesn't seem like it's possible. But, you know, they it just imagine I have a slide in one of the workshops I've done where it shows a guy standing on a top of a peak and it shows all these this mountain range all around him. And how does he get down from there or get across? He takes one step at a time, right? So that's how you have to think about this. And it may look that way to you and we fully get that on that. So now the consultation, what do we provide? Well, first off, it's no cost to our listeners. The reason we do that and there's obviously no obligation, it's one of the things because you're taking the time to listen to this to become more and more educated and you only work with us if it's best for you. And one of the things that we will do in this consultation is go through your whole retirement plan. I'm going to address that a little bit more as we go through these steps. And the thing about this is, do you think it's a quick process or a process at your own speed? Hopefully you said. Go ahead, Nat.

Producer:
Yeah. Did I say it? I wouldn't want it. I wouldn't want it to be necessarily too quick. No, because. Because you got to. You got to know. Got to dig deep in there, you know?

Jeff Holmes:
Yes. And, you know, we help and only get back some of this. We we analyze your whole financial situation. We closely examine any annuities you may currently have. We will discover exactly how much you're paying in fees and help you cut unnecessary costs in your retirement accounts, IRAs, or for one case. We also help you in this, a big one with Social Security planning and Medicare planning. Jocelyn's in her office. She takes care of the Medicare planning for us. And we also do Social Security workshops and help you get up to speed on how Social Security works. And that's we get those calls all the time with people having situations with their Social Security. And we will help you compare it to your current situation. What is possible if you choose to work with us and we do this by doing what we call a stress test on your retirement plan, which I'll address more later. And if you really want a second opinion on what's going on with your present situation, go ahead and sign up for that consultation or give us a call. This is not something where you're going to feel any pressure. We go through this and we want to help you as far as your retirement plan to see something different than maybe that you've seen before and help you plan for retirement that maybe you've dreamed of and not really sure you can get to.

Jeff Holmes:
So how does that all work? Well, first off. We sat down and we talk. We go through what I call Discovery session, get information and and answer your questions. We then go through and input that information into software retirement. We analyze your retirement through the software that will stress test your retirement plan. And it's not going to make it look good. It's going to make it. We're going to look at the worst possible situation with all things. And what that does is make sure that your retirement is going to work. It's not going to be maybe it's going to work. Maybe you've got a 95% chance of making it. Maybe you've got an 80% chance. We show you how you can make it by stress testing it, because the key to this is to plan for the worst, but expect the best. That's the way you approach this. You don't approach it with, you know, high rates of returns or anything like that. So we'll continue on with our show coming up on a break, this is Jeff Holmes will be back in a few minutes.

Producer:
Thanks for listening. To Rest Assured Retirement with Jeff Holmes, if you like what you're hearing, subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts

Producer:
You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement with Jeff Holmes.

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back to the Rest Assured Retirement show. This is Jeff Holmes, a certified financial fiduciary and certified retirement counselor. I'm joined here with Matt McClure, our producer. And we just got through going through what we call the Smart Review on our show today.

Producer:
Want to know where your hard earned money is going. It's time for an inflation demonstration.

Jeff Holmes:
Price of Super Bowl tickets by year. And this is an article from Finance, a Yahoo! Finance, I should say. And they go through and there's a summary we have here in the notes, because obviously we went through 57 of these you would probably already be to your Super Bowl party are already at the Phoenix Open, which you're heading out there or are at the game, the Super Bowl. So one of those things is probably going to happen. So we decided not to do that. And thanks, Matt, for giving me that summary.

Producer:
Yeah, no worries. It's only an hour show, so you know, there are only so many I could include. Really?

Jeff Holmes:
That's right. So now get this. This starts from Super Bowl one. Jumps every about every ten years or so on this and Super Bowl one. The first one, I think it was a Green Bay in Kansas City Chiefs played in that one. And what I remember right is Green Bay won that pretty handedly on that game. If I'm not mistaken. I have friends from Kansas City and friends from Green Bay and I know which ones are happy, more happy about that one. And again, more happy. Remember that? So in 1967, the price of going to that game was $10 average ticket there and. That's something. Yeah. And they did say in the article, adjusted for inflation, it was a little over $90. Wow. Okay.

Producer:
Still, I mean, wait until we get to some of these bigger numbers.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, but wait, there's more.

Producer:
Exactly. A lot more.

Jeff Holmes:
A lot more. Super Bowl 1019. 1976. It was $20. A 1986 Super Bowl was $75. The Super Bowl 30 in 1996 was $350, and Super Bowl 40 in 2006 was $700. Then you jump into 2016 and all of a sudden it's 20 $500 and seven short years later they're starting at $5,400 to go. I think the average price around 8000 to go here. Amazing.

Producer:
I just I can't it's like, how do you find that many people to fill a stadium who can afford 8000 bucks a pop? You know, it's just it's wild.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, that's. And that's one ticket.

Producer:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, can't even bring the wife and the kids for that. For that. You know, the kids are going to be staying at home, I guess.

Jeff Holmes:
That's right. A babysitter is way less expensive.

Producer:
Absolutely. Unless you have, like, the babysitter of all babysitters or something.

Jeff Holmes:
Yes, that's right. That's exactly right. So so, yes, it's a little bit pricier. Obviously, some of you probably go into the Phoenix Open, which is a lot less expensive, obviously, there. And that's where that is as far as our inflation demonstration. So things have definitely gone up there for the Super Bowl. Okay. Next on our list of what we're going through today on our Smart Planning series is what they call the Smart rule following. And we'll kind of get into this a little bit and have to finish up a little bit after the break. But consider these rules that you could help you create a more solid foundation for retirement. Well, the first one is what they call the rule of 100. And I know any of you that have been listening have had us go through heard us going through this before. The rule 100 is just a simple but effective way to help you in diversifying your assets and investments and plan for retirement. And basically just works by taking your total your age and subtracting that from 100. And a good example of that is basically like for a 30 year old who's really just getting started on saving money, they would subtract 30 from 100 and that means that they should have no more than 70% of their investments in stocks.

Jeff Holmes:
And as their age goes higher, that would drop down. And that is really interesting because this is a rule of thumb, But what we found is when we do these, you go through a risk assessment. Over the years, what I've found is people tend to follow this rule without knowing it when they answer the questions to their risk assessment. And many of those people that may be 60 years old and they're planning for retirement, that means that they should have no more than 40% in risky investments. Now, what's a risky investment where you think of stocks, it actually, you know, bonds, they have some risk there, obviously, depending on what you're using them for. So that is where we find people end up very close to that number when their risk assessment. So they do follow that. So we'll continue on here in a few minutes on the rule of 100 and continue on with our small rule following section of our show. And Jeff Holmes RestAssuredRetirement.com and you can get a hold of us at 4804549191.

Producer:
You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement.

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back to the rest of your retirement show, this Jeff Holmes, certified financial fiduciary and certified retirement counselor. I'm joined here with Matt McClure, our producer. And we were talking about the redundancy department here just a moment ago.

Producer:
The Department of Redundancy Department.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, that's exactly how those things come up. They just do as you do on these shows.

Producer:
Exactly. I don't know where they come from. Sometimes it just happens.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah. You bet. So the roll 100 is a great way for individuals, and we're just going through that diversify, helping them diversify their investments and plan for retirement. And it makes sure that you're not taking on more risk than what you should be doing. It can help you protect your retirement savings and ensure you have enough money to last through the retirement years. The next rule is the 4% rule and the 4% rule is just a popular another popular rule of thumb where when you're managing your money, it suggests that you should take out no more than 4% of your retirement savings each year in order to maintain your nest egg. But wait, what they found with all of the market downturns and things that have happened in 2008 and 2022 where bonds actually went down also and everything basically went down, they found and there's a Wall Street Journal on this that you should be using the 3% rule. Now, the 3% rule is considered safe or a way that you can keep track of your money with and with the current inflation rate and uncertain market conditions, throwing 3% of your savings is thought to be a safer amount, one that can increase your longevity of your savings. Well, it also means there's less income. And do you have any income stability? We're going to talk about that here in just a little bit on how important it is to have income stability and how these rules affect your thinking. Because many times when people hear this, they think they've got to have the bigger nest egg to be successful.

Jeff Holmes:
We'll get into that here in just a little bit on that. So the next rule is the rule of 72. It's basically a straightforward calculation where basically, basically what you're doing is you're dividing a number into 72 to find out how many years it's going to take for it to double. So, for instance, if you're expecting a rate of return at 8% and nothing can go wrong, they're right as far as expectations. So that's one of the things about expectations. If you're getting reports on retirement and they're using rates of return of 6 to 8%, are you really stress testing your retirement? And I know I'm interjecting here not continuing my thought, but I feel like this is really important because expected rate of return means expectations, and your expectations should not be based on that. There's why there's only a 90 95% chance of success. That's why you need to stress test your retirement. And if you haven't stress tested your retirement at a much lower rate of return, you need to rethink that. And you have to ask that question. Shouldn't I be doing a lower rate to see if it does work? Then it will take if you take that 8%, divide it into age, into excuse me, into 72, that means it'll double in nine years. Well, that's when you're accumulating money. What happens when you're withdrawing money? Is that the same 8% return is when you're accumulating money. Another question.

Producer:
Yeah. Can I say I wouldn't necessarily think so. If you're withdrawing the money that you don't have as much, you know, left over to to grow, you know, you might be getting an 8% growth, but an 8% growth of less, you know, principal plus whatever your gains have been, that just means less money going forward.

Jeff Holmes:
That's right. And if you have a downturn in the market and you're pulling money out the same time, that means a much larger drop. There's another way to look at this rule is and this is about expectations, because I've had people say some things like this, but what if I were getting something higher, like a 24% rate of return? Well, it would double in three years. Well, it may change, though, in the next year when it goes down 30%.

Producer:
So that's true.

Jeff Holmes:
Depending on where you're at to get that kind of return. So now we're going to get into smart income. I'll go through this again to realize how important income stability is. Too many people think retirement is about building the one big nest egg they need to plan to, you know, as far as having enough income stability to pay for their monthly expenses. And keep in mind that income sources are taxable and other sources are tax free. So what you have to do is you have to plan for that. Are you using inflation and taxes and market downturns and potential long term care situations and loss of a spouse? Are you planning your planning? Include all those, even though you like? What we're doing there is planning for the worst, but you really want to expect the best. But. Is really wise to plan for the worst to make sure it happens. And also. Planning out to age 100 and going even though you think you may not live that long, won't you? Wouldn't you like a little bit of buffer on your retirement plan and that's what you should do in order to have a a much happier retirement? We find people that do that are much happier now. What's the first income plan that everyone thinks of? Is there Social Security? This first came about and was passed into law in 1935, and I'm not sure if that was in December back then or not by President Roosevelt. And we have to look that one up late in the year when everybody's on vacation. The first payments were made in 1940, and I've gone through that in past shows about how that started out working.

Jeff Holmes:
But Social Security is one of the largest government programs in the world. 176 million people paid Social Security taxes in 2021. And as of April 2022, more than 65 million Americans are receiving Social Security. So you can do the math, 106 76 paying into it 65 million, getting money out. So about a third there. And now, as life expectancy of Americans increases, there are concerns for the program and that obviously so because there's less people in the workforce. The Social Security Board of Trustees has estimated Social Security funds will be depleted by 2034 and will only be able to pay out 77% of scheduled benefits. Have you planned for that? So. There's a lot to Social Security, a lot of information that you must understand. And have you had a Social Security planning report done or a break even analysis? Obviously you can start to take your benefits at age 62. And and that's if you've been contributing to the program for at least ten years. However, waiting until your full retirement age gives you an increased monthly benefit in your full retirement age. For instance, for someone that's born in 1955 would be 66 years in two months. That's what that means. If you don't know what that is, you need to look that up very, very important. Also, anybody that's born after 1960, it's going to be 67 years old is what your full retirement age is. So it goes up a little bit. And I wonder if they're going to be changing that in the future. That'll be something for us to tell.

Producer:
And that sort of surprised they didn't just with this secure act 2.0, you know, there were so many other things regarding retirement that did.

Jeff Holmes:
Yes. Yes. You would think that would have been taken care of there. But no. So now what is the average monthly benefit as of April 20, 22? That's $5,588.89. So that's where that's at right now. And a lot of people wonder about what the maximum benefit in 2022 for people at age 62 taking their Social Security out. Well, that average monthly benefit is $2,364. Also, people that waited to age 70, that's $4,194 is what that average benefit is. There's obviously the cost of living now, adjustments, I should say, that ensures that your retirement funds don't lose value due to inflation. So that's a little bit of brief overview on Social Security and how that works. There's way more to that. I just gave a brief overview. I don't have enough time today to even begin to go through that. Now, the next issue that people run into is retirement income gap analysis and planning. Then the NHP, which the National Housing Partnership Foundation study. I did look that up because I'm very curious to see what that is. I had to do that twice. I've looked it up before. Hard to remember that. They say 62% of baby boomers believe Social Security will provide at least half of their income during retirement.

Jeff Holmes:
Again, those numbers we just went through, is that going to be half of your income? 76% of retirees say income stability is their top concern for their retirement. Are you in that situation where that is your main concern? And what is the retirement income gap? Well, that's your core expenses, plus any discretionary expenses like eating out entertainment. And he wants you may have gifts for the grandkids. I know that's a big one. Guaranteed income sources are mainly through pensions and Social Security. And they then when you subtract that from those expenses, you come up with what they call the retirement income gap. What are you going to do to fill that retirement income gap? And how do you fill it? What are your options? Well, first off, you have to make sure you are saving enough money during your high earning years. Our review your monthly expenses for any strenuous payments and for everyone from New Mexico and myself, that means all the stuff you shouldn't have been buying. That's what that really means. I'll know about how it is there in Atlanta.

Producer:
I knew. I knew what you meant. I think.

Jeff Holmes:
You think? Yeah. I had to look that up, too. Right. And consider delaying your Social Security's one. But that may not be the wise decision for you. Again, that is how to fill that retirement income gap. Maybe it is. You. Have you done a retirement? I mean, Social Security break even analysis and retirement plan. Is that tied in there with all that wear when you take your Social Security? So you also review your investment and withdrawal strategy of where you're at. Look at any options. And that's really what that is all about. As far as your retirement planning goes, you need to know all of your options and find out which ones those are considering. Investing in annuities to establish an income stream you can never outlive. This is one you have to be careful on. You don't want to do this at home, as they say. So you really need to know what they do and how they work. Some may be good for you, some may be terrible for you. So is anybody helping you wade through that or you just ignoring that because you're told that from biased sources that you shouldn't be doing that? So I think it's important that we all look at all options for retirement because you don't want to miss it and be one of those, like I mentioned early is like that CCR song, Creedence Clearwater Revival Someday Never Comes because you missed it.

Producer:
It's this week in history.

Jeff Holmes:
A big one happened here, a birthday on February 12th, and that was an 1809 former president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was born. He served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Very sad day. Lincoln guided American through his first and only Civil War and preserved the union, abolish slavery and modernize the US government. So that's a little bit about our history that we have from this week, obviously. Oh, there's one other here. There's a 1964 American politician, commentator and author. Sarah Palin was also born on this date. And obviously she ran for vice president along with John McCain in 2008. So what are we going to be going through next week? And the topic there is going to be beating the bank CD's, how you can get a better return on your safe money with multi year guaranteed annuities, which a lot of people are doing now. Rising interest rates percent an opportunity for investors to protect their hard earned cash. So that's it for this show enjoy your busy busy Sunday this this week and this is Jeff Holmes and Matt McClure signing off and RestAssuredRetirement.com.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Rest Assured Retirement you deserve to work with an experienced and licensed expert who will strategically work to protect and grow your hard earned assets to schedule your free no obligation consultation with Jeff visit RestAssuredRetirement.com or pick up the phone and call 4804549191. That's 4804549191.

Producer:
Assured Financial is an independent financial services firm helping individuals create retirement strategies using a variety of investment and insurance products to custom suit their needs and objectives. This material has been prepared for information on educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide and should not be relied upon for accounting, legal tax or investment advice. Advisory services are offered through Foundations, Investment Advisors and seek Registered Investment Advisor. Certified Financial Fiduciary CFF is issued by the National Association of Certified Financial Fiduciaries. Cff is reserved for financial professionals who have successfully completed a certification and training process established by the CFF and the AFIA.

Producer:
Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not in any way refer to investment advisory products rates and guarantees provided by insurance products and annuities are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company, not guaranteed by any bank or the FDIC.

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