You've worked hard for your money, but do you know how to make it work hard for you. You need a team with experience, vigilance, and a strategy to help you live the retirement you deserve. Find your financial safe haven with Haven Financial Group. Today you're listening to the new and improved Haven Financial Group Radio Show, where we bring you comprehensive weekly financial wisdom from the professionals. It's all about helping you solve retirement problems so you can make your
nest egg last. Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kolbig and Kim Karrigan your guides to weekly retirement confidence. If you're interested in protecting and growing what you have, let us be your financial safe haven. The full nines are always open at six point two five four eighty four hundred. Now get your financial questions ready because the Haven Financial Group Radio Show starts now. Good morning, you're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio
Show. Welcome to the show. Our number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or visit us online at Hanfinancialgroup dot com. We have a lot to look forward to this morning, a lot of things to talk about, but a cookie cutter retirement plan. Is that what you have is is it really one glove fits all, Kim, let's talk about that again. Welcome to the show, Kim. Thanks so very much, Larry,
it's great to be here with you. Well, let me turn it around on you and ask you, is a cookie cutter retirement strategy a good one? Well, it isn't a good one because we all have different lifestyles. We've all had different lives, we've had different income levels. You know, some people have liked to talk about this stuff. Other people despise talking about this stuff, and you know, dreams and aspirations and there's just all
kinds of difference differences that we have. So you know, before you know what the golden years are here, and it's what you do now that's going to make a difference. And a generic plan just isn't going to cut it, especially in times that are volatile and law changes and all these things. So we're very big on education, making sure you protect that hard earned money
that you've worked so hard for. And again, all the different puzzle pieces come into play in retirement and we want to make sure that when we get there, we haven't missed some of the puzzle pieces. And again, it's not the same for everybody, and it's why we walk people through our process to make sure we're listening, asking questions because life happens, and we want
to make sure that we modify and make these adjustments along the way. It just feels like to me, Larry, that most people would feel more confident in their retirement plan if they know that someone sat down with them and understood their needs, their goals, where they're coming from, and where they hope to go. Right. I just had this past week gone in. She's a retired teacher from Lakeville. She goes, my guy hasn't sat down with me for a year and a half, and I'm like, well, how
is that even possible? We want to stay connected. You said it very well. The confidence, well, where does confidence come from? It comes from having an understanding and an awareness and having somebody just sit down and take the time to explain things, to give a reason for why somebody's doing what they're doing or why they're not doing it. Again, awareness and understanding in any of these areas is what it's all about. That's what gives you the
confidence. Sure. Absolutely, Again, we want to remind everybody. Haven Financial Group can be reached at six' one two five zero four eighty four hundred, or you can reach out on the web at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Larry, some of the things we're going to touch on this show your markers when it comes to your retirement timeline, they're really important. Addressing that issue of a generic plan. A lot of advisors use the sixty forty portfolio plan.
We're going to address whether that's a good one, and if it's not, why it's not your unique priority guide. You know a lot of people have different priorities in their retirement and we're going to walk through what some of those should maybe be for people. And then of course everybody has their individual things that are priorities. And then finally social Security and when you should claim
it. There are lots of different strategies out there, folks. I think a lot of people for the longest time have thought that you hit a date and then you start to draw, but that may not necessarily be what's best for you in your situation. Larry's going to address that. So, Larry, let's get started, shall we Let's begin with that timeline issue you and I have talked about this in the past, but retirement doesn't start, and retirement planning doesn't really start at sixty. For a lot of people, it
starts. I don't know, maybe when they go to school. It should start when they go to school. Now. I'm not so confident that they're teaching much of the finance one oh one class that I remember at Wilmer High School years ago, but I think they should because balancing a checkbook, you know, how does the savings account work? And you know, it should
start when you're really really young. And some listeners, if they went to college years ago, you might have been familiar with the five twenty nine plan which is used for college and qualified college type of expenses, and you know, just getting a concept of iras and raw and you maybe be contributed to four oh one k's or employer sponsored plans throughout the course of your life.
At least I hope you did, because that's what's going to supply you retire your income and retirement and knowing about contributions and the safe money of savings and CDs, which hey, it's nice to get some actual rate of returns these days, because for fifteen years we hadn't been able to so again though, that's the first The pre retirement years are really going to make the difference for the golden years, which, as we know, come a lot sooner than
we may be like them to come. Yes, they certainly do. You can't tell someone that who's starting that first job, they're not thinking about that, but boy, they sure do. They sneak up on you. You know. I think it's so interesting you just said kids don't even learn how to balance a check book. My kids, they're in their twenties. I'm
not sure my kids even know what a check is anymore. Larry. It's it's amazing, you know that times have changed like that, And you're so right about the fact that kids just don't learn some of the some of the things that we did when we went through school. But I think they're all important things that they should learn, whether they use a checkbook or not, the fundamentals. It comes down to the fundamentals. They should learn about cash,
they should learn about the checkbook. We're quick to send out credit card solicitations when people got kids go to college, you know, be very careful there. But that is so important. I think we've lost it. Just think how we've navigated through time where now it's Apple pay, it's you know, Zell, it's Venmo, and you got to go. You have to know the fundamentals otherwise, you know, even in my own kids, Dad, why do you save receipts when it comes to tax for taxes? They
don't know about deductions. They don't know about these things. And that's valuable education, which we think education is good at. That's why we teach a lot of classes. So I wish they would teach it more. I wish they would too. All right, so let's talk about what comes next. We've now talked about, you know, your younger person getting a little more educated and obviously during those major earning years setting aside, but social Security and
Medicare ages, let's talk a little bit about what those are. Yeah, this is very important. It's one of the largest income streams for retired Americans. It's why we teach social security and taxation classes. This past week in Fairbau, we had sixty people two different nights. We filled up the classroom. People wanted to learn about them and how taxes affected the timeline of sixty
two. When it's the earliest you're going to take it in most circumstances, but then the deduction that by taking it early, what's right for you. It's not the same for everybody. And you know, it's shocking that almost seventy percent of Americans take it right away at sixty two and only one to two percent wait till seventy, which is the absolute latest you're going to wait.
And if you're wondering what your full retirement age, it's based upon your birthday and that would be somewhere between sixty six and sixty seven years old. So knowing if you're going to continue to work, does it make sense to draw early? You know, if you're a married couple, we talk about a we decision, not a me decision, because that surviving spouse could live a very very long time. So social security is a it's an educated decision.
It should be because it's one of the biggest things that people have in their portfolios. And then good old Medicare comes along, usually at sixty five. There's a lot to the healthcare industry and very difficult to navigate. And have you ever known anybody cam that's had difficulty navigating through the Medicare system? Anybody personally? Yes, I have. We had trouble with my grandparents.
I remember it very clearly, and it hasn't gotten easier. Glenn handles all our medicare and now Isabelle in our office is going to be doing medicare. And you know it's you know, you have Part A, which is free, although really nothing's free, and that's hospital and emergency visits, and then you have B and then you have C and D for prescription drugs. And
you know it's important to know is there's a lot of misconception. You hear this that I turned sixty five, I need to sign up for Part A. Well, that isn't necessarily true, and oftentimes it's not true if you're still working and have credible coverage, maybe if you're married, your spouse's coverage. If you're contributing to an HSA, you don't want to sign up for it because that will lem me your ability to contribute to an HSA. So
how do you know these things? It's getting educated, coming to classes, you know, reading books, doing it yourself. And there's nothing simple about medicare. And it's why there's going to be just this year, there's a bunch of changes that happened. There's going to be major changes next year. Well, we want to educate people on those changes, otherwise it can have lots of negative surprises which you do not want in retirement. No, absolutely
not, Larry. Let's quickly talk to everybody about IRA and four one k ages and when they can typically draw there, Yeah, the retirement nest. You know what you put all that money away, small, medium or large. Because I had somebody in this past week from Burnsville that felt that they had inadequate amount of money and they didn't want to waste our time. And it's like, you know, we believe everybody should have the same opportunity,
whether you're a big fish or small fish and everything in between. And you know, the makeup contributions at age fifty when you could start putting more away. And we do a lot of in service fifty nine and a half rollovers for people that want to explore all the investment options, and almost every retirement plan or employer sponsored plan the federal government gives you the ability to do in service fifty nine and a half rollovers and for something that's good reason to do
it. Others know, you can also start drawing from them penalty three at fifty nine and a half, And don't forget about the recent change of the required minimum distribution. It is now seventy three. It was seventy and a half last year, seventy two, this year seventy three, eight years from now to be seventy five, knowing how much you have to take out the tax ramifications. Oh, let's not forget about tax discussions. We're in tax season. Lancear CPA is busier than ever. But how do you take income?
What's your distribution strategy in the most tax efficient way possible. These are the important things because if you're not careful, Uncle Sam might be getting a bigger portion than you want them to be. So and again one other thing pensions. If you're blessed to have a pension, you're gonna love that pension. You know, is it still growing? When should you take it? And by the way, less than ten percent of Americans have pensions, so
you're very fortunate because guaranteed income is really the name of the game. Well, Larry has explained to us very very well why it's so important to have a tailored strategy when it comes to the timeline of your retirement. And if you'd like to get more information from the folks here at Haven Financial you can call six to one to two five zero four eighty four hundred. All right, Larry, still coming our way. We're going to talk about that sixty
forty portfolio strategy that a lot of people know about. It's very generic, and we're going to have you tell us why that can be a good thing for some folks and not such a good thing for others. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement. Please Devin the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. We'll be right back. Stick around. You've got questions, We've got answers.
Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kulvig and Kem Karragan. Now back to the show. Welcome back to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. I'm founder and CEO Larry Kolvig. Thanks for being with us this morning. Visit our website at Havenfinancialgroup dot com or give us a call ask us questions, sign up for a retirement retirement readiness review. Our number is six to one two five zero four eighty four hundred and Kim,
we got more to talk about portfolio strategies. Is that correct? Yeah? Absolutely, Our thing this morning is tailored approach to retirement strategies. I'm Larry and I have been talking about the fact that, you know, generic strategies don't work for most people because everyone is different. Their goals are different there their life's work has been different. And we were just moments ago talking about the timeline and how important it is to have a tailored timeline for your retirement.
Now we want to talk about something that a lot of people Larry who are listening, have probably heard of before, and that's that sixty forty portfolio. It's the most common investment portfolio. But it is also a very generic approach. So why don't you tell everybody who maybe doesn't know what it is, what that sixty forty approach is. Yeah, the sixty forty approach is,
you know, it's referring to a risk model. You could have seventy thirty, sixty forty and anything else, and it really refers to the amount of stocks, to the amount of If I'm putting it in the simplest of terms, you know, it's always been widely accepted that stocks and bonds moving opposite directions when one's up, the others down, and vice versa. But
in recent years that really hasn't held water. And what we encourage folks is to make sure that they get a risk assessment or stress test their portfolio to truly find out where there's really really positioned. And it really refers to how much risk are you taking. Are you all stocks, which is all the riskiest, or are you all bonds, which the word safer is a dangerous word because two years ago bonds were at fifty year lows down about thirteen percent,
So be careful with the word safe investments because that wasn't safe. So having the right balance in retirement, that's really what it's all about, and the psychology of investments and money. Just making sure you're in a good spot because the last we always joke that we don't care if people sleep good. Actually we do, but we don't want folks to wake up in the morning and then all of a sudden they have the emotions get the best of them
and then they do have some knee jerk reactions. You know, that's extremely extremely dangerous. So again, stress test, but portfolio, make sure you're in the right position because what you do compared to your neighbor, maybe far different because different resources, different assets, different amount of income. The market goes up and it goes down. What's your element of time? What does
your timeline look like? That's what's extremely important. So, Larry, can you give us some examples of maybe some recent years where this kind of strategy would have been really stressed and would have been essentially the wrong strategy for most people who were in retirement. Well, yeah, well let's use twenty twenty two. Some of our clients that had a heavy bond portfolio, which is
supposedly a safer portfolio, saw significant losses. Then last year stocks came back relatively quickly, and our more conservative portfolios they're going, well, why haven't I got my money back? Well, because bonds didn't rebound as fast as stocks. So you think of this the timeline as I mentioned earlier. You know, in two thousand to twenty ten, there was two market corrections. Well, a lot of people were retired in that decade, and there's a
reason why that decade was called the lost decade. Twenty ten to twenty there were no market corrections. While pie in the sky everything's perfect, and this decade a lot of our listeners are going to retire this decade. What does this decade bring? Well, it already brought a market somewhat of a market correction, depending up on who you ask, and assuming that the politicians don't call it something else or change the definition. But the reality is this is
a critical decade for those that are going to retire. So again, stress tested, you know, we're not who are we to say somebody should have a lot of risk or not a lot of risk. We're all wired differently. But what's important is is it pertinent to your situation? Are you in a comfortable position? Because I think of two professors from Northfield, they're both well into their seventies early eighties. They both have about exactly the same amount
of investable assets. One is almost one hundred percent stocks and the other one has almost a completely the opposite portfolio. They're both happy, they got plenty of money. There can be different outcomes, but they don't care. At least they're aware of it. So again, individual situations is really what it boils down to. So let's say that you do decide that in your individual case, you need to rebalance of that portfolio and you want to make some
really smart decisions. What are some of the things you need to be watching out for as you rebalance. Well, first of all, rebalancing is compare it to if you're driving down the road, you get over to the shoulder, you want to get back into the middle of the lane. You know, if you have a sixty to forty portfolio, we want to keep it in that lane. If there's lots of volatility, that's when our investment team
will be rebalancing. That's part of what we offer. If you're a do it yourselfer, you need to be watching the different areas of the markets. You know what they're doing, and as different sectors change, if you're going to probably want to rebalance. Now if the market is fairly calm, you know, our investment team is really not going to do a lot of rebalancing
because you're staying in the lane. If there's lots of volatility. For example, when COVID hit, those were some of the busiest days of our investment team because we needed to rebalance. There was opportunities and you know, for a lot of people who don't like this stuff, you know they don't ever
rebalance. Well, you're missing opportunities because the efficiency of your portfolio isn't performing at its peak as the market, as the market is going up, and Larry, you do have to keep in mind things like tax repercussions or you know, penalties if you're moving things around at different times. Those can all be part of a rebalance, right. Oh. Absolutely. Tax implications, that's a huge one. You know, we have different recipes. If you
have a roth, usually that's the last thing people touch. It's already been taxed. Neverbody be taxed again. We like roths, of course we do. You have your IRA pretax which we're going to use different types of investments in there. And of course you know the tax implications of non qualified brokerage
accounts. You know, long term capital gains. Maybe you've held on something for over a year and a day, or maybe you've held it for thirty five years, or you inherited it, you know, being hasty about just selling it it might cost you a ton of money. I think of a couple that had a terrible experience with somebody with a different investment firm. They end up selling all of their company stock and it cost them thousands of dollars
and they were quite bitter. Naturally, that would be a natural instinct if it was thousands of dollars, but you know, just being being hasty and not doing the research and not looking at all the implications. And at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you have the right recipe for the portfolio that fits you at this stage of life. That's the
key. Yeah, absolutely well. I think probably many people might assume that rebalancing is going to be a positive thing without the help of someone like the members of your team, Larry, sometimes we could make mistakes without being able to see all the way through it, for example, the tax repercussions, or possibly you're withdrawing money from one place to move it to somewhere else and
you're going to pay penalties. So if rebalancing is something that you're thinking about, then maybe you'll want to reach out to the Haven Financial Group team to find out a little bit more about your situation and how it can best be rebalanced to benefit you. Six one two five zero four eighty four hundred is the number. Let me give it to you again. It's six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. You can also reach out to the Haven
Financial Group on their website. It's Haven Financial Group dot com. Havenfinancialgroup dot com you'll find out how you can get hold of Larry and his team there. Also at that website you can learn more about some of the seminars that
the Haven Financial Group has planned for the next few weeks. My understanding, Larry, I have not been to one of the seminars, but my understanding is that they fill up very very quickly, so it's important for people to jump on there, even if they're looking out for the next month, six weeks. Yeah, you know, people are looking for education. I'm so proud of that because education. I heard somebody say education is the potential for
power. That's what we're looking at. Those classes are educational. We're not selling anything. It starts with that piece. People have the opportunity to come in and visit with us one on one. We'll walk through the process,
hold their hand and ask questions, no strings attached. And you know, if you're to do it yourself or if you're not working with a financial person, you know, strategizing your retirement accounts can require you to manage them there yourself, and if done wrong, can prove to be very very costly. So it's really dependent upon what you do now that matters in the future. And a lot of times people hang their heads and they say, you know,
I just don't have enough or you know, and they're embarrassed. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You got to start somewhere to get somewhere. Let somebody listen to you get a second opinion if you haven't in years, because things have changed, they continue to change, and you need to change with it, otherwise you could be left behind. Larry has said that, so well, things change and you need to change with it. All right,
Larry's still come in your way. Your Unique Priority Guide for your retirement. Again, what we're looking at are some of the issues out there that exists that some think are generic, but Larry says, no, retirement plans are not generic. Retirement plans should be based on you and your specific need. So up next, Unique Priority Guides for your retirement. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio show. Ready to find your financial safe haven.
Your dream retirement is in reach. Don't go away, The Haven Financial Group Radio Show will be right back. Are you worried that your financial strategy might be missing something, Well, you're in the right place. Larry Kolvig is back and ready to help you find your financial safe haven. Welcome back. I'm Larry Kolvick, founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group, and you're
listening to the Haven Financial Group radio show. Feel free to give us a call at six one two five zero four to eight four zero zero, or visited us online at our newly revamped website i Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Now let's talk about other things as it relates priorities in retirement, not having a generic plan. We see it's so often cam and quite frankly, we're all wired differently. Your situation is different mine and mine's different than my neighbors. Correct.
I mean, so it's not one glove, it's all sure, absolutely, So let's talk about prioritizing and how how you have in financial group go about helping people figure out what their priorities are. I would imagine first off, you have to sit down with people and say, okay, how much risk are you willing to take? Risk is the one people think of right
away? That is part of the conversation, you know, as we sit down with folks that are planning for retirement or they're in retirement, response that is very normal, is Larry, We're now in her early sixties, mid sixties, whatever it is, and we've become financially more conservative in our investments now. And they tell me that. It's not as if I don't believe
them or we don't believe them. When we boil it down so often people go, why are we We had no idea we're taking that much risk, No wonder we lost so much money in this timeframe and surprise, surprise. Or if you're a married couple and one of the spouses is managing it, I'm not saying that's bad because it's perfectly fine. Is one spouse aware of how much risk the other spouse is taking, So that's extremely important. But
it goes well beyond just that. When you're talking about health related risk. Healthcare is a big expenditure in retirement. We help lots of people with it. Different timeframes of life. You know, the ups and downs. You know, you lose your jobs sooner than you wish you did. Happens very very often, unfortunately. Maybe a threat to your long term plan is maybe you have Alzheimer's, dementia or some of those terrible things. Maybe that runs
in the family. How are you going to pay for it. We don't want to be a burden on our children, of course not, but how will it be paid for? Here in the Twin Cities ten to fifteen thousand dollars a month. So looking at these goals and objectives, will ask folks, well, what do you want to do? I mean, you're gonna do something in retirement? Yeah, we want to travel? Well, that costs money. How often are you going to travel? What are your hobbies?
All of these things you want to be a member of the country club costs money. We want to factor these into the long term plan. We want to prioritize the needs and the wants, and maybe legacy is important to you. You know, there's three different categories in legacy. I have the couple that comes in and they're gonna spend every single pity and they're gonna bounce
their last check. And the others they're going to enjoy their life, They're going to enjoy their retirement and if there's anything left over, of course they want the kids or loved ones or somebody to get it. And then you have the others that don't spend it, aren't going to spend a pity and they're philanthropic, they've got charities and their frugal and they just won't spend any
So, you know, what are your priorities at this stage. These are the conversations we continue to have and they can change, and we want to make sure that we adjust these changes as it relates to their retirement projections as well. You've certainly just given some examples of why every plan cannot be generic, because you know, those were three legacy examples that make people very different
from one another and their ultimate goals very different. So let's talk about some of the mistakes that people might make when they're prioritizing their risk and their goals, well, not looking at it, not looking at everything, minimizing the healthcare aspect. Healthcare is a major expense in retirement, Glenn, he does all our medicare and all our health care, and he evaluates all the different
things that are out there. People get complacent. As humans, we get complacent and oftentimes they are spending more money than they need to be spending just because they haven't looked at all the different options that are out there. At the end of the day, you know, not budgeting for some of their goals that they want in retirement. How to protect that income feature you know we talk about income, will you know the Social Security income? You have
a pension? Is that part of the equation. My wife and I won't have a pension, so we need to build our own pension. People utilize annuities. We encourage people to look at all the options, not just some of the options, to make sure that they're looking at ways to protect their money, protecting their income. And then always the mistakes. One would be the tax ramifications. You've got to always consider the taxes. You know, it's taxis and all lances our CPA where he's in the middle of taxis and
the end of the day, minimizing them. Forward thinking tax planning, we say it, but we execute it. We talk taxes all year long. Taxes will affect us at every stage of life and it won't stop just because you become retired. So making sure you're looking at all those various options. And again people miss I call them missed opportunities or unforced errors. We want to avoid that. And if you're not having conversations with your CPA or your
tax prepared that goes together with investments, that goes together with income. And distribution. Again, they're all interconnected and there should be coordination. And right now in the middle of taxis and we have folks that come in and they go to the tax guy, they go to the investment team and me et cetera. And the biggest compliment is in fact, I just had it from a LH. I asked her if I could use coin the phrase, you guys are the Mayo Clinic for retirement Planning. And I asked her use that
I've never used that because I liked it. She said, you're the Mayo Clinic of retirement Planning. I love that compliment. That really is it? Is? It really is? Yes, it is? It certainly is. You know, it seems like to me, Larry, the thing that has to be the most difficult to plan for. I mean, you understand that you're going to have to pay taxes, and you understand that you have to have some kind of income flow, and these are things that hopefully you've planned
for over time. But the thing that you really cannot plan for are health issues. You can be perfectly healthy at sixty five and by seventy two you are not. That to me is an area that is frightening and I don't know what the reaction is when people come in and how you guys deal with that. Well, the longer I'm in this business, the longer we're in this business, the more we see it, and you are one hundred percent
correct. I think of one of my clients from when I met her about ten twelve years ago, her and her husband, they were still working. She was sharp, she worked for three a m. I was with her when she retired, and within two years she had Parkinson's and right now, unfortunately she's in a nursing omen and her husband she lost her husband. You
know, it's just shocking and it's tough to prepare. But anybody that's dealing with maybe a parent, a mom or dad, or a loved one, they know exactly what I'm talking about and what we're talking about and putting away money for health care costs or long term care costs, you know, dimension Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or some of those things running the family. What are your options and we help you with that because long term care insurance, you know,
people think traditional, but there's other types out there today. There's asset based long term care, there's hybrid long term care. You can use annuities if they have writers. Nudies can be complicated, so just remember you don't have to have any annuities, but they can be part of a portfolio.
Just make sure you understand what you're getting. But you're right, healthcare is a major factor, so planned for it because there's some laws and rules that have changed in different states where if you don't have the money to pay for your long term care, which by the way, Medicare is not long term care, the kids might be responsible and a lot of us don't. A lot of people just don't want that. I completely understand. You know.
The other thing that seems that we cannot predict, although all of us should prepare for this, and that's the idea of inflation. You know, you think you've got it all figured out and then in ten years, who knows what inflation might be. Well, we've just experienced tie inflation, and all people almost all people have, they've they've they've felt it, they're still feeling
it because there's a lot of things. There's a lot of things that have come down, but there's a lot of things that have stayed, you know, stayed high. And disposable income was because of that it was lower. Some people have were unable to put away as much as they would have liked to. Inflation is real. We've always factored in inflation. You know, I'm shocked when I hear some people say, well, my guy or gal doesn't factor in inflation. Inflation is a game changer. So we want to
make sure we're accommodating for all of these factors. You know, they're they're not going to be the same. There's going to be inconsistencies. But you know, you know, if I could say that retirement is really about living life and money plays a key role. As much as maybe we don't like to talk about money, it plays a key role in retirement on how effectively we can do the things we want to do, what kind of life we want to have. Now you don't have to have you know, a lot
of our clients, you know, they don't have to have excess. But that's why everybody's different. You know, we have folks that have a ton that it might run out of money, and those that have very little that are happy you have a smile on their face. They maybe have a pension. So again, this is the differentiation between individuals, couples, loved ones and families, and it's why we want to give the attention in the time to get to understand this so we can make the help people make the proper
decisions. Well, Larry, I hope that people have learned in this segment again why it is so important to tailor your retirement because you have individual goals and you certainly don't want things to stand in the way of those goals, and so in order to meet them, you need to individually tailor your retirement plan. And the best way to do that is with the help of professionals. Have Even Financial Group the number six one two five zero four eighty four
hundred. Please reach out today today and set up a free consultation. Go in and talk to Larry and his team about your goals and what you hope to achieve in retirement. Or you can go to the website it's Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Still coming your way. We're going to talk about social security, when you should claim it and when you shouldn't. This is the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and
retirement ways. Devin. The Haven Financial Group Radio Show will be right back. Stick around you've got questions, We've got answers. Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kolvig and Kim Karagan. Now back to the show. Welcome back to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. I'm Larry Kolvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. You can reach us at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or Havenfinancialgroup
dot com, where there's lots of tools. It's a newly revamped website and you can see all the different classes that we're offering in the venues and where they're located. So again, thanks for being with us this morning. We've talked. I had a lot to talk about, Kim, but this segment we want to talk more about social security claiming strategies. Is that correct? You know, Larry, life is just not as black and white as many of us would like it to be. There's just no two ways about it.
And I think a lot of people think that, you know, claiming their social security is as easy as hitting the date and just claiming it. But that could be a really big mistake for a lot of people. And maybe you could first off explain to people why that is and then maybe give us some examples of people who have waited and what that's done and how that's
benefited them. Yeah, after these Social Security and tax class about seventy five plus percent of the people that DOT ten come in and they sit down with us and we go start the process. They're there for social security, but we end up talking about all the different retirement topics because they're all connected and
there should be coordination, as you've heard me say before. But people come in and, oh, Larry, we're gonna take it right away because we're gonna sock it to the government, or we're gonna turn it on right away so we get some additional income, but we're gonna still work. Well, that might not be the right decision. Sixty two is going to be the earliest, seventy is going to be the latest. At any time in between there, you're gonna turn it on. Well, so what's the best time
for you to turn it on? I always say I have no idea because I don't know your circumstances, which is true because there's variables that go into this decision. Are you still going to work? How much are you gonna work? A lot of people don't know prior to full retirement age. There's income limits where there's Social Security administration. If you go over those limits, they're gonna start withholding part of your Social Security. So maybe that doesn't make
any sense. In fact, those thresholds are quite low because they haven't been changed since their early eighties. Where for an individual there's a limit of twenty one like twenty two thousand dollars one thousand dollars a year. For a couple that's more than that. So again, does it make sense to turn it on if you're still working off? Sometimes it does not. Are you going to be drawing from retirement accounts? How will that affect social security? A
benchmark we use in the industry. It's only a benchmark. Ebody. Situations different, but no more than forty percent of your retirement income should be coming from social Security. Now, if the listeners say, well, mine's more or less, that's perfectly fine. But there's other sixty percent of what we call other income sources, other income sources. Why do we need to talk about other income sources? Because they go together with social security. We call
that the provisional income formula. And if we make too much then obviously the tax ramifications. Up to eighty five percent of your social Security can be taxed. Now this is federal taxes. Minnesota does have rules. They had a lot of change here this year where some people won't have their Minnesota their social security tax in Minnesota. Again, there's thresholds for that, but up to
eighty five it's progressive, so not all of it. But what we find is if you only had social Security a lot of folks, then there might not be any tax. But when you sprinkle in other income sources like retirement funds, part time income, maybe employment, that can change the whole outlook. So again, if you have longevity in the family, okay, maybe it makes sense for the higher breadwinner if you're married, to wait and the
lower bread winner to turn it on earlier. So when people come to these classes and they come in, they'll walk out with a sixteen page social Security maximization report and it'll give them a good, better, best situation as to what makes the most sense for them to maximize. Now, ultimately, our job isn't to try to convince people to wait. It's to what makes the most sense for you. There's a lady on TV in the industry. She
says everybody should wait till seventy. Well, that's just simply not true. It's individual, it's if you're married. It should be a weed decision out, a meat decision again, longevity in there. There's so many different things that go into it, Kim. That's why we think it should be an educated decision. Now, I want to talk about COLA and some of the changes in rules and how that equates to Social Security. There have been changes, yes, and there's going to be more correct. Well, there has
to be some changes. You know, Social Security has been highly politicized on both sides for years. It's still here. People ask me my opinion all the time about do I think they'll do away with it? No, But by twenty thirty three, the Social Security Trust Fund really runs short of money and will not have the ability to pay one hundred percent out. So you're
going to hear things like this, especially an election year. You're going to hear things while they could raise the retirement age, well they've already done that a couple times. They're talking about raising it to seventy we'll see. I point out that France raised it from sixty two to sixty four this past summer and there was rioting in the streets. It didn't work out so good. I hope that doesn't come here. They could change the social security formula.
My joke is, I'm sure they would consult with us first. I'm sure they wouldn't consult with us. So there's a lot of different things that could change. What will it be like for my kids? You know that are eighteen to twenty two? Yes, our youngest Kim this week just turned eighteen. It's hard to believe. What will it be for them? I have no idea, but the cost of living adjustments, it's not guaranteed every year.
We've gotten spoiled the last few years for good reason, by the way, because inflation was out of control, and it still is a little bit. But we saw a five point nine percent increase in twenty twenty two, a whopping eight point seven in twenty twenty three, and it's three point two
percent for this year, Kim. It's not guaranteed every year. Why it's been so high, of course, it's because inflation, So factor that in and if I can encourage listeners to go to social Security dot gov for a couple of reasons, social Security dot gov set up a user name and password. And the two reasons are very simply this. To make sure that your social Security report is accurate, it's up to date, it's current, that there's no mistakes, because mistakes happen. I've heard it many many times.
I just had a guy named Prairie show me his and it was missing ten years of employment history, income was not reported. That's a problem you do not want to run into. So again, making sure it's yours is current. And unfortunately the world we live in, so senior fraud is worse every single year. Make sure somebody is not already collecting on your Social Security number. When people say it couldn't happen to him, It's happened to Jay Leno,
It's happened to prominent people. It can happen to anybody. So again, monitor your social security on social Security dot gov. You want to be proactive. You don't want to be reactive because if there's any mistakes, you know it's going to take time, energy, and effort to fix the problem. Absolutely. Larry, let me ask you about if you decide that you're going to draw your Social Security at sixty two, can you change that decision? You know, maybe at sixty two and a half or you know,
some something changes in your life. Can you change that situation? Yeah, you actually if you change it prior to full retirement age, you can change it. You can change your mind. Once it has to be done in the first year of you turning it on. The caveat to that is this you have to pay it all back. So it happened during COVID. People needed money, they turned it social Security turned it on, and then they
got their job at the factory back. So in the first in the early years, you have to you have twelve months you got to pay it back. Well, that's not feasible for a lot of people. If you in your latter years, which means sixty six to seventy, you can actually turn it off and still get delayed credits and you don't have to pay it back. So it's why it's you should not get cookie cutter advice in any retirement planning, let alone social Security, because you could be paying more in taxes,
you can be making the wrong decision. There's a whole bunch of factors that go into that. So it's very often when people come in and then they have their mindset on something and then through a conversation go, well, I'm not going to turn it on. That one't make any sense. They said it, We didn't, and it just comes out by having conversation.
Sure. Absolutely, Well, as we started this segment, I said, you know, nothing's easy, you know it should Life is this way, and we all have to be educated as we make our way through life because things change, whether it's the rules or maybe there's just things about social security and drawing it because we all only reach sixty two one time that we just
don't know. So getting educated about social security, folks, is really really important because it's not as simple as just going down and claiming your social security. So how do you get educated, Well, you attend a seminar from the Haven Financial Group and the way that you find out when those are going to be held is go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. That's their website, Haven Financialgroup dot com. Or you can give them a call at the office.
It's six' one two five zero four eighty four hundred. Set it up an appointment, go in and talk to a lit or a member of his team about your specific situation and make educated decisions about when you're going to draw your social security We've had a really great show, Larry, we have. Thanks Kim. We've talked about a lot of things, and I'd be remiss if we didn't bring up the fact that we lost two fellow police officers and
a paramedic here in Burnsville last weekend. We thank you for our police force, for all law enforcement, for all the families. Our prayers and our thoughts go to their families and them. We thank you for all the all that you do, and we support you and we respect you. And again our hearts go out to those families for all that they've done in the situation. Thanks for being with us at the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Thanks
for tuning in. We look forward to next week Again. Visit us at Havenfinancialgroup dot com or at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Kim, it's been great to be with you. Have a wonderful week. Investment advisory service is offered through Guardian Wealth Strategies LLC. Haven Financial Group and Guardian Well Strategies LLC are not affiliated companies, and investments involve risk,
and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Please consult with the qualified financial advisor and or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein and comments regarding it safe and secure. Investments and guaranteed income streams only refer to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company.