10.25.22: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

10.25.22: 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 clients 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, everyone. Back to the Rest Assured Retirement show , Jeff Holmes, a certified retirement counselor and certified financial fiduciary. I want to thank all of you for your call-ins and all the questions you've been asking about. And one of the things you can do if you want to do that. So we'll give you the number if you'd like to call in, set up a free consultation, or you have questions that were brought from what you heard on the show. Our number is 480 454 9191. Again, that's 480 454 9191. Or you can go to our website which is Rest Assured Retirement dot com RestAssuredRetirement.com And you can actually set up a free consultation there or ask your questions there either way and you can listen to past episodes there or subscribe if you would like. And that's a great place to go. So please reach out to us. We love to hear from our listeners and today's show, what we're going to be talking about today is start planning for 2023 now. Now, how far away is 2023? Not far. Two months away. And if the holidays happen, like they always happen and next thing you know, it's going to be Christmas. So here we're leading into by the time you hear this. Obviously, we record our shows for compliance reasons on Tuesday, but when you hear this on Sunday, you're going to be a day away from from Halloween And after Halloween, things seem to speed up. How about how about you, man? I'm joined here, by the way, with Matt McClure, our producer. And how does that happen with you?

Producer:
My goodness. It is like it just flies by literally. You said it, You said it right. You get to Halloween and then it's like the year's gone. It's it's crazy.

Jeff Holmes:
That's right. That's exactly right. It goes very quickly. Thank you, Martha. And what we're going to be talking about today, first off, before we get into that, I really need to talk about what we talked about last time, which is the annual enrollment period for Medicare started October 15th. It's going to go through December 7th. And you need to let us know if you need a little help with that or a second opinion you can call in. And what we'll do is put you in touch with Jocelyn. She's the our Medicare guru here and obviously my wife too. So she does a great job and she is mentioned. A lot of her clients will come to me and say she's like talking to a professor when it gets to Medicare. So it's one of those situations where you learn things maybe you never knew before. And she always likes to say as you don't know what you don't know, you get that one man.

Producer:
Is very that is very, very true. Truer words were never spoken. I don't know a lot of things. So there's a lot that I don't know as a result.

Jeff Holmes:
And over don't get older I get the more I don't know that is for sure. So you can visit our website or give us a call today on that. We've been mentioning that. And then also coming up, November 8th is an election day. So make your plan to get out and vote. You can visit ballot dot org to learn about what your candidates and what their issues are on the ballot this year. And really with and this is where, you know, you hear a lot of things about the craziness that's going on in our country right now. And I just have to take a moment here because, you know, we talk about retirement planning here and rest assured, Retirement, the title, which is you rest assured in your retirement. And the reason you want that to happen is you spend time with your family. And what I see about this election, it is about the future of our country. And you have to ask yourself, who is the future of our country? That's our kids and grandkids. And I found out a long time ago that grandparents like their grandkids more than their kids. You know, they really love their grandkids. How about you, Magic? Do you experience anything?

Producer:
Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, I when my I don't have any kids of my own, but when my niece came along, I found out that that was that was very true because my parents just would just dote all over her, especially when she was little. I mean, of course, you know, they still my my dad's passed on, but my mom is still around and loves my niece, even though she's in college now, but she just absolutely just dotes over her and and loves her so much. But yeah, I think that's true. You know, she might hop in, hop in front of a moving bicycle for me. She'd hop in front of a moving truck for my niece. I feel like.

Jeff Holmes:
That's exactly right. Yeah, That's when we were blessed with our daughter. I remember the grandparents showed up pretty darn quick and my folks come knocking at the door and I open the door to say hello. And mom and daughter are behind me, and they didn't even see me. I felt like Casper the Ghost, you know, It's like.

Producer:
Just look right through you there.

Jeff Holmes:
And I think they I don't think they recognize me for at least an hour. It might've been longer. I'm not sure. But anyway, I just want.

Producer:
The blinders on.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, pretty funny, but. So, yeah, the kids and the grandkids are the future of our country. And, you know, it's this election is about local stuff as well as national stuff. So make sure you vote for what the kids are learning and the government schools, you know, you may what I hear is not so good because when I grew up and I'm about math and I grew up learning about reading, writing and arithmetic and being from New Mexico, I thought all three were are started with.

Producer:
Right.

Jeff Holmes:
That's quite funny. I got that figured out later on in life, but. So, yes, that's really I prefer they get taught the basics versus some of the things I've been hearing about. So that's just a quick note. They're a little troubled by that. So hopefully I'm not the only one on that. So how's our show going to wind up today? First off, we're going to get into the quote of the week and we're going to get into inflation. How to eliminate the income gap in 2023. We get into some right or wrong. And this week in history, which is a lot of fun. But let's start off with our Quote of the Week.

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

Jeff Holmes:
Now, if you could be so kind to read that.

Producer:
Absolutely. Well, Jeff, you know, it got actually kind of a twofer this week. We got double double your pleasure. It almost reminds me of those old Doublemint gum commercials. You know, where they'd be like the twins on, like, a tandem bike or something, you know, So we get double your pleasure, double your fun, double your quotes of the week this week. And they both, I think, kind of come from some unlikely sources. The first one actually comes from Arthur Godfrey. Boy, that's a that's a name that goes way on back was really just a legendary radio TV broadcaster and an entertainer as well. I know he was a stage performer also and would go by the nickname the Old redhead. And so what Arthur Godfrey said is this, quote, I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States. The only thing is I could be just as proud for half the money.

Jeff Holmes:
Oh, boy. Does that ring home.

Producer:
Exactly. Exactly. Any time. You know, the April 15th comes around, especially that that is the phrase that I think goes through my heads. And I didn't know it was Arthur Godfrey who said it originally, but we've got kind of an extra. Okay. So our bonus quote of the week also an unlikely source Jam Master Jay. Yes, I know. I wasn't 100% familiar with who Jam Master Jay was myself, but now I know that Jam Master Jay was because he has passed on now. But he was an American musician and DJ, the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-DMC. Now I know who Run-DMC are. So. So there we go. So here we go. Here was you can think, Well, what in the world would Jam Master Jay have ever said about money? That would be a quote of the week. Well, here it is. He said, quote, Make sure to save for the future and keep making money. Simple and to the point. And I.

Jeff Holmes:
Love it. Yes, very much so. Very wise for his young age when he did that. So. Yes. Yes, definitely got to keep doing both.

Producer:
Absolutely.

Jeff Holmes:
And we will get into that here in just a little bit, by the way. So something that is next. Thank you so much, Matt, for going through that. Gave me a little extra history on that because I was searching his name online. Believe me.

Producer:
You, me both.

Jeff Holmes:
Yes. And Market. You know, as far as the market update, we are experiencing a pretty volatile market. And that's one of the things that is I'm finding that a lot of people have actually decided to work longer. And we're going to give you some solutions here and a little bit on how maybe you can fix that situation depending on your situation there. So but before we get into that, I really want to get into some changes that happened as far as tax brackets and federal income rates now. This is just happened. This is an article from Forbes, and it just came out on the 19th. I guess there was an update on it. And why is this important? Because, you know, it's everyone says there's really going to be no changes in taxes. Well, guess what? They do change taxes Now in this situation. I think it's in favor of us. But I'm very cautious when I say that, because when the government does something, they say it's for us. But I really you need to really question that. Keep an eye on what they're doing there. But basically what they're doing is with the Americans, income tax rates are staying the same for the have been staying the same for the next two tax seasons.

Jeff Holmes:
And they're going to be that way as far as those tax rates. And so the tax brackets, though, they adjust those as far as income. And so what they're doing is in 2023 tax year, they're going to put the upper limits on those taxes to be about 7% higher. So you're going to see a little difference there. So hopefully that helps and makes it easier for you not to be bumped up into the next tax bracket. But they did say something in there about the tax brackets for the next two years. That means taxes are going to be reverted in 2025 back to where they were at before the those the Trump tax code was changed back in the day. So I'm getting a little clue from a map that we're about ready to hit a break here. So I want to finish up saying, hey, if you want to get that free consultation, please go to RestAssuredRetirement.com or call in at 480 454 9191 and we'll be back in a few.

Producer:
You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement to schedule your free no-obligation consultation with Jeff visit Rest Assured Retirement dot com. RestAssuredRetirement.com

Producer:
Helping bring you one step closer to financial freedom. You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement.

Jeff Holmes:
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Rest Assured Retirement show. I'm Jeff Holmes, a certified retirement counselor and a sturdy, certified financial fiduciary. I'm joined here by Matt McClure, our producer. And we were just speaking offline here just a minute ago. Matt and I, we're about the weather here in the Phoenix area. It just was getting down into the fifties and sixties at night. And I don't know about you, Matt, but when that happens here, we pull out the parkas and the heavy coats. I mean.

Producer:
It's I'm sitting here thinking, Oh, that sounds pretty good to me. But no, I mean, you know, here in I'm out of Atlanta and here in Atlanta, it's it's been you know, we've gotten down almost to well, actually, one night we got down below freezing. I mean, it was it was like, wow, 31 degrees, you know, late night, early morning hours. Then it warmed up, you know, into like the sixties or whatever in the daytime. But then now it's it's started to warm up again like it's it's gotten where it's not. So you know, where you have to put on a parka before you leave the house. I, I head out of the house really early in the morning before the sun comes up usually. And so I have to get out the layers, you know, at that point. But luckily we've gotten like a little second breath of some warmer air here. And hopefully it is a long breath in the continues.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, well, we we know when people are visiting in December or January from, you know, up north, they're wearing flip flops and shorts and everybody else from here is wearing coats. Right. Long pants and boots and stay warm. Okay. Let's get back to where some of the articles that we found this week and the next is some Social Security news from SA gov. And they came out with something called their new fact sheet for 2023. And the big news on this is they have the cost of living has gone up allowance I should say the COLA is now going to be 8.7% in 2023. That's a very high point. And if you combine that with the cost of living from last year, which was 5.9%, that's a two-year increase of 14.6%. So I wonder if we're having inflation or not. Okay. So that's a little indication there that we may have some inflation. And it's like they say, well, we're not sure if we're in a recession. Hello, Maybe you're not there in Washington, but I think everybody else says, But you didn't hear me say that, did you?

Producer:
No, no, of course not. Of course. That I heard nothing.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, that's just that seems to be the way it is here. So that is good news for that. For that adjustment, people have at least helps out a little bit as far as your expense, especially if you're in retirement and no longer working. The bad news is, is food costs are going up, at least here in Arizona, in Phoenix area, I think we're having some of the highest inflation in the nation. And food costs, you know, it's gone way up. You know, we picked up eggs last night and the cost is double I mean, double of what we were paying just a short few years ago. So it was it's kind of a shock. And then obviously energy costs that's gone up, cost of vehicles, if you can find one, you know, to buy.

Producer:
A small especially a new one. Yeah. Used you can find them. They'll cost you an arm and a leg. You can find them though. But the new ones are the ones that you have trouble finding out there and have for a while now.

Jeff Holmes:
Yes. And they have what they call their market adjustment on that, which means they're tacking on. They know they got you. So they're tacking on money. Oh, yeah. Onto that. So be sure you find a dealer that maybe doesn't do that. So also the travel costs, a lot of people are cutting back on the traveling in retirement, which is pretty sad. So basically, you know, we are you know, if you're wanting to find out how to maybe outpace inflation, be able to handle these types of situations in your retirement. Basically call in because one of the things that we're finding is a lot of people have seen their four one K's, their investments drop and what they're excuse me, they're basically staying in work, no longer retiring, going back to work. And if you're someone in that situation, like I mentioned before, there may be a way to fix your situation. We have had people come in just they have no confidence in what's going forward. So you can get online there. Rest assured retirement dot com or call it at 480 454 9191. If you're someone like that and you'd like a second opinion basically we'll get into how we do that here in the next segment on how that consultation will go. So you may want to listen in to see how we do things. Now, the basically, as far as inflation goes, there's some additional numbers here. I want to go through that. It's good to know basically what's going on. The Consumer Price Index, which measures the average prices for consumer goods and services, rose more expected than they expected, I should say, in September. And that was, again, it's hovering around the levels we had in the 1980s. So this is a long time ago. And we're it's a really that's part of the issue that people are having.

Jeff Holmes:
So the rising cost of living is bad news for workers. Their hourly earnings are down 3% from a year ago, if you can believe that. And now 32% of adults said they're regularly running out of money between pay periods. Not a good situation to be in. And more than half of working US adults feel as though they are behind on their retirement savings. Again, what I just mentioned before and just underscores the hardships people are going through through heavy inflation and a drop in the market at the same time. Of the adults that are over, a third of them saying they're feeling significantly behind, according to a Consumer Financial Services Company's recent report. So if you're in that situation and when we get back, we'll get into how the free consultation works and whether maybe you just have questions and and want to know more about what you can do to work through this very tough time that we're having. We'll also get into how to eliminate the income gap. Very, very important situation if you don't know what the income gap. Definitely. Get back to our next segment here and you'll find out what that all means and how to potentially remove that from your situation. So I'm going to I'm getting told we're getting pretty close to the next break. I don't want to get started into this next section because it's it's very important and it'll probably continue into the last segment that we have for today. So we'll be back in just a few minutes. At Rest assured Retirement dot com. RestAssuredRetirement.com Again, you can call in if you have questions at 480 454 9191 and we'll see. See you back in a few. I really there I go again that says see? We'll be back in a few. That's the.

Jeff Holmes:
We're definitely learning here on the radio. So that's what happens when you have an old engineer doing a radio show. So anyway, we'll be back.

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

Producer:
Are you interested in protecting your assets from market volatility, rising taxes and economic uncertainty? Then tune in to Rest Assured Retirement with Jeff Holmes to learn how you can protect and grow your hard-earned money. Rest Assured Retirement Sundays at 1:00 PM right here on 960. The Patriot. Protect your hard-earned money today and schedule a free no obligation consultation now at Rest Assured Retirement dot com. RestAssureRetirement.com. You're listening to Rest Assured Retirement.

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back, everyone. It's Jeff Homes with Rest Assured Retirement. And I'm joined here by Matt McClure, our producer. I'm a certified retirement counselor and certified financial fiduciary. And today we are going through to face how to start planning for 2023. Now getting ahead of your New Year's resolutions. And these were hopefully the ones you will keep going forward. So we just got through going, talking about inflation. We're getting some articles today that we found that a very interesting. And this next segment, we're going to start on an article from Kiplinger. It was about how to eliminate the income gap in 2023. Retiring in a slowing economy, three steps can help you prepare for. That was the name of the article here. And they started off in this article talking about retiring during a down market. And it is challenging, obviously. But it's not an impossible task, is what they're saying. I couldn't agree more. And that's where we come in and that's where the free consultation, which I'm going to get into in just a minute on how that works and how to. Yeah. Call in and and set up a time to do that. And we just want to make sure that you understand what your income gap may be and what to do during this very important time.

Jeff Holmes:
Because I keep having people come in and they've seen their. Their nest egg and they're going from basically it's pretty interesting. You know, I found this very interesting with the people coming in now, and they basically have their money in two places and you may be in the same situation. They have their money in the bank for their savings and paying bills and all those emergency funds. And they also have money in one other place, and that is in the market. They have it with a different wirehouse, whoever the custodian may be. And what they've done is they what I find is they come in with these statements of their accounts that are for retirement. And one of the interesting things I find out is it's nothing more than an accumulation account that they had been saving for for 30 or 40 years. And then they come in and they're getting ready to retire and they actually just make small adjustments to that accumulation account and are expecting that to work. Now, one of the interesting things that I've heard also is when they're getting their second opinion, they've heard from existing advisors that this is an anomaly which for people in New Mexico that is means it's not normal. Right. Matt, does that help?

Producer:
Yes. I grew up next door to Alabama, so there you go.

Jeff Holmes:
Oh, okay. Nothing, nothing going on between Georgia and Alabama at all, especially here in football.

Producer:
Of course not. Of course not.

Jeff Holmes:
But yes. So it is not normal is what they're saying. 2008 and now 2022, which are very similar in how things are meant. Well, my first thought is maybe that's the new normal. So doing the old 6040 plans don't work so well in this situation because everything seems to go down. So how do we eliminate going through that? And the first thing we'll get back to this income gap and ring through the arc. I'm going to just go through exactly what she wrote here in this. And it's the first thing to do is examine your spending history. Now, most people don't really keep a budget when they're working. It's very important though, when you're in your. Retirement situation that you do get your budget of what your spending is. There's a better term for that. And find out what that is so you can plan for the future with inflation and those sort of things. So they're very important. That's something that is is one of the bases of having a good retirement plan and also helping you to eliminate the income gap. Now, what we're going to do next in the next segment when we get back, we're going to start about start up with the next point that she made in the article. Here is build a plan to survive a down stock market. So that's what we get into next. If you'd like that free consultation, which we're going to go through here in this last segment, we'll go through exactly how that works. You can go to Rest Assured Retirement dot com or call in at 480 454 9191 and set up that free consultation or get your questions answered that you may have now after what you've heard so far in the show. We'll be back in a few.

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

Jeff Holmes:
Welcome back everyone to the Rest Assured Retirement show. Jeff Holmes is certified retirement counselor and certified financial fiduciary. I'm joined here by Matt McClure, our producer. And we were just going through an article by Kiplinger and we continue on that. On how to eliminate your income gap for 2023. The first point we went through is how to examine your spending history and how to plan for that in retirement. And if you want to hear that again, this, you can go to wherever you listen to podcasts or go to that website. Rest assured retirement and re listen to the show and take notes and then call in with your questions. The but the second point that she made here was to build a plan to survive a down market. Hello? Yeah, that might be a good idea, especially when you're planning on retiring in 2022. 2007. It might be a wise thing to do there. So how do you do that? How do you build a plan to provide you with the income you need during a bad market? Now, if you're in a situation like I just mentioned in the earlier segment, where you have money in the bank and then all your money and your nest egg that is in the market, all your retirement funds and you're in a 60, 40 or whatever, and you're you've accumulated that money for years and it's being transitioned into retirement.

Jeff Holmes:
You may want to listen really close here because one of the things that you have to ask yourself and this is this is everybody's own individual question because everybody's situation is different, Is retirement about a large nest egg or is it about income? There's no wrong or right answer. You have to ask yourself that question. And what you're going to find is in retirement, you may not have enough income if you just receive Social Security to take care of your expenses, and that's most likely the case. So where is that extra money going to have to come from that big nest egg? Now? How do you feel when the market takes a big downturn goes down and you still have to pull money out of it? How do you feel about that? Not a good situation, a little different than what our parents, when they retired. I remember my mom retired. She had a pension in her Social Security and my dad has Social Security. So guess what? Covered their expenses because they had a pension. Now, how many of you have pensions out there? We know the answer.

Producer:
Yeah, I just had to laugh because it's it's like finding a unicorn these days. You know, if you run across a pension.

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah. It's almost gone away with the advent of our invention of 401. Ks, which makes it very tough to have enough income to live on, which is the key. And it may sound crazy because I do have clients that have pensions and smaller nest eggs versus people that come to me that have larger nest eggs but no income. And guess which ones are happier, The ones that have the income? Yes, because they know everything's taken care of. They're saving money every week, just like as if they were working. And the nest egg is allowed to grow. They don't have to worry about pulling money out of it. When it's going down. They can maybe pull money out when it's going up, take some profits and go have a vacation novel concept. Go see the grandkids. Right, Right. So that's really and we have ways to do that to replace that. There are ways to create guaranteed income outside of not having a pension. And that's where we all come in on that free consultation and show you how that is done. And the next thing is you need to do and get back to the article. Here is understand you will need enough money to last 20 or 30 years and I'll have people come to me and they say, Well, I'm not well if I don't live that long. Well, what if you do live that long? That's really the question.

Jeff Holmes:
So we do have software where it takes into account tax planning, inflation, it takes in all factors and it'll show you it's basically what I call a stress test and stress test your retirement to make sure that you have enough. And we actually go through age 95 or 100, whichever you would like. I prefer the age 100 because I know people are living longer. And wouldn't it be nice to know that you're going to be able to make it past 100? And we had I had clients come in this week and by doing this planning, he's older, but they're going to have enough money till he's 108 and she's 100. Would you like to have that kind of stress test done your retirement and know it's going to last that long? Because obviously, who can predict the future? Well, no one can. But wouldn't it be good to at least plan for just about everything the future can hold for you in retirement? Now, after going through that, that's that's a good article on how to eliminate the income gap. And what I like to do is go through what does it mean if you want to come in for a free consultation? Well, first off, we do a phone call initially as a discovery call to find out if we're a good fit for each other. You may have a situation where you're fine or maybe you need to do something else.

Jeff Holmes:
Go back to where you're at to make adjustments, or you may need some help. And then we'd set up a time to go through that complimentary consultation. This is the same thing that I've done for years so people can ask questions that they need to have answered. And if you spent the time to listen to me for this long, you would basically qualify for that because you've learned something you are eager to learn more. And that's why we do it this way. It's a very comprehensive consultation. It's there is no pressure in this, by the way. It's to show you how you can build your old your excuse me, your own retirement plan. We help you through that because who knows your situation the best. Yeah, it's you. So you're the one that needs to be put in the driver's. And my dad's a mechanic. We're not going to sit there and try to teach you on how to change the spark plugs in your retirement plan. We just want you to be able to know where the ignition is and how to drive your retirement. And you can plug car in there, obviously. So what we do is we analyze your specific situation, let you know where you stand. We discover all the fees you're paying and we do it in a simplified format. So we're not here to confuse you.

Jeff Holmes:
We will make this as simple as possible because doing retirement planning can be very confusing, especially like if you listen to the last session on the Medicare plan that is very, very confusing. And that's why we have Jesselyn here in our office. You need to call in and have her review your existing Medicare. Get a second opinion. Maybe she can simplify some of this for you where it's easier to understand. We closely go through all your accounts, check on what you have and see if there are any options there and what improvements can be made. Our software will then show your current situation compared to setting up a proper retirement plan with guaranteed income in it. So you'll get to see that firsthand and we'll help you with when to take your Social Security. You obviously make the final decision on that, but we actually do break even charts where it's very simple and easy to see how your Social Security is going to work over your life expectancy. And we can go out to age 95, whatever time frame you like there. And that's extremely important for your long term planning. So that's a little bit on the free consultation. There never is any pressure to do anything. By no means. It is a learning expense experience and it's an educational moment for you. If you are a little bit concerned about knowing enough about your retirement.

Producer:
As we test your financial knowledge in right or wrong.

Jeff Holmes:
Matt is going to lead off and ask the questions on this. If you'd be so confident that you go ahead with that.

Producer:
Absolutely. So I'm going to present Jeff with a statement. He's going to tell me whether it's right or wrong. And here we go. So the first statement is this There will be no changes in the tax brackets from 2022 to 2023. Is that right or is that wrong there, Jeff?

Jeff Holmes:
Well, if you're listening early, you already know what the answer to that. And let's a little tricky question, by the way. So the answer is wrong, because what they've done is they have changed those tax brackets as far as they increased at 7%. So hopefully you don't bump up into the next tax brackets. But there again, it seems like the government is doing something in our favor, which you better question that whenever you there's where's the gotcha on that. But yeah, that is wrong. Definitely wrong on that.

Producer:
There we go. Okay, I'll pay better attention next time. All right. So and number two, in right or wrong, the only ways to reduce your taxable income and get into a lower tax bracket are deducting your mortgage interest and taking advantage of tax credits. The only ways is that right or wrong, Jeff?

Jeff Holmes:
Yeah, well, that is wrong. Definitely that is wrong. And, you know, you may be want to know, Well, how else can I do that? Well, there are two tax free investments you can set up. Obviously, most people know about the Roth IRA. The other most people don't know about is a properly designed life insurance program that pays out tax free benefits. That's not something for everyone. But if it's properly designed, they work extremely well as another way to provide tax free income. Now, the question is, you have to ask on this is our taxes going down in the future? Are they going to be going back up?

Producer:
I mean, pretty much everybody says they're going to be going back up at some point.

Jeff Holmes:
Well, they're actually going to go up for sure in 2025 because these Trump tax cuts are reverting back to the old ones that we had before. So that's. Yeah. So if the politicians don't do anything, guess what? You'll automatically have higher taxes.

Producer:
So that. All right. So that's I'm not I'm batting zero so far today. We'll see if I can redeem myself. I'm kind of doubting it, though, with number three. Here we go. Medicare pays for long term care needs. Is that one right or is that one wrong, Jeff?

Jeff Holmes:
That's actually wrong. And that is. Yeah. It doesn't work that way. Now, keep in mind, they do have some Medicaid and skilled nursing benefits there. That may at least the skilled nursing benefits may last for 100 days, depending on your situation. Or Medicaid, which is very difficult to get nowadays. So this is. So basically the answer is no. So this is why everyone should have a smart health plan for a successful retirement where you have your long term care expenses. Planned for in your retirement. Hopefully you don't have to use those. God willing, you will not. And it's a great time also to review your Medicare because those two kind of go along together with each other. Okay. So we're going to finish up today with This Week in History and some frightening inflation figures that came from NPR of all people that put this out. You know that there's a 13% increase on candy.

Producer:
Yeah, that's. That is scary.

Jeff Holmes:
That is scary. Yes. And, you know, it's the according to the National Retail Federation, how we spending is expected to reach a record 10.6 billion this year. Wow. And quite frankly, that's a little scary because I've seen it some of in our neighbourhood. There are so many houses I wouldn't visit. You know, it looks a little scary there.

Producer:
So it's this Week in History.

Jeff Holmes:
On This Week in 1968, musician Marvin Gaye released his hit single I Heard It Through the Grapevine. The song was released eight months prior to his album and shot to number one in the US singles chart. It was Gaye's first number one single, and I always would always hear about Marvin Gaye's I'd like to finish out the show with a close friend that I played basketball with, and he was on the track team, and his first name was Eric, and he was a great guy. He was a friend of everyone and he looked a little bit like Marvin Gaye. And, you know, he would actually try to sing like Marvin Gaye. And it was one of those things where, you know, after basketball practice, he goes, Don't. I've heard that people think I sing and look like Marvin Gaye. And I always like to go, Well, who's Marvin Gaye? And watch his reaction? So he go, What? He was a great guy. He was a good friend. And we'd razz each other all the time. But anyway, that's how we. That's all we have for today, folks. And got to finish up here. I always, like I said, had to do that little tribute to Eric as a good friend. And so I remember if you'd like that free consultation, please go to rest assured Retirement dot com RestAssuredRetirement.com Or call in at 480 454 9191. And you all have a great rest of your Sunday.

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 Rest Assured Retirement dot com RestAssuredRetirement.com Or pick up the phone and call 480 454 9191. That's 480 454 9191.

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 an SEC 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 NACCF and the AFEA.

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