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 Kolvig 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, and welcome to the Haven Financial Group Radio
Show. Appreciate you listening in this morning. We got a lot to talk about today. You can actually reach us at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or visit our website at Hanfinancialgroup dot com. Kim good to be with you. We got a lot to cover today. Terrific and it's great to be with you. I hope that you've had a wonderful week, and away we go here. Apparently today we're going to talk a little
bit about the cost of having a smart retirement. I know that you wanted to talk about some of the expenses that come along in retirement and even before retirement that maybe we don't think about, but could certainly have some kind of
big effect on your retirement once it does arrive. So let's take a look at the summary of some of the things that we're going to talk about today, Inflation hitting housing, housing being one of the big expenses, no doubt when it comes to retirement, and then empty nesters, they don't necessarily spend their money the same way, so we'll talk about empty nesters having a plan
so you can live your life that you have dreamed of in retirement. Obviously, everybody is individual, but people have definite ideas about what they'd like to do in retirement, and we're going to talk about how your planning is so important when it comes to those issues. And finally, we'll wrap up today's show with an overview of estate planning. How does all of that sound to you? It sounds good to me, Kim, all right, terrific.
So let's get started with this issue of housing, Larry, Inflation can certainly be a big part of housing, And of course, inflation is something that you talk about all the time when it comes to retirement planning. Yeah, expenses are a big part of the discussion that we have on an ongoing basis because you know, things change. We've just gone through a couple of years
of extremely high inflation and you know, shelter prices they've risen significantly. And when we talk about that, we're talking hotels and motels and you know, apartments and any rentals. And you know, we just came through COVID here in the last several years, and airlines and hotels are trying to catch up
a little bit. They've crept up prices for a long time there. They were really really feeling it because nobody was traveling, and you know, these industries are trying to recoup some of those losses that they that they've had. Then, you know, rent prices are sticky. They tend to move very very slowly, but they're a necessity. Uh, They certainly are a necessity, and you know, costs have gone up in all areas, but especially
the shelter prices. Absolutely let's start with though, Let's back up just a second, because when you talk about shelter and you mentioned the fact that hotels are in that but I can certainly understand where we would consider that when we're retirement planning, because this is a lot of UH retirees' plans to travel. Oh, travel is one of is a big one. And when we make projections and we talk about, well, what do you want to do in
retirement? You know, travel is high on the high in the bucket list, and it takes money obviously to travel. Sometimes it takes a lot of money to travel, depending upon how lavies you want to do it. So we want to factor that into our long term projections, buffer it in and make sure that our expenses are as accurate as they possibly can be. And
they're going to change over time. You know, we often see that, you know, expenses in the early years otherwise known as the go go years, they're higher, and then the slow goo years maybe we're not going to go to all the events and they might temper down a little bit and then healthcare expenses later on in life. So you want to make sure you factor this in and we project this out twenty five to thirty five years, which one might say, well, who can live that long in retirement? You'd
be surprised, and you want to plan for the long run? Serves you bet you do. What do you say to people, Larry when you talk about housing, who say, listen, a lot of my retirement money is in my home. And we're going to get into this with the emptignster issue, but my kids are going to leave and I want to downsize, so that's where I'm going to draw a lot of that money. That has to be a bit of a concern because this housing market continues to go up and
down. Well it does, and when actually when we sit down and do Monte Carlo projections or whatever you want to call them, you know, housing is a necessity. We don't even factor that into the investable assets. It's part of it. But one has to live somewhere, so we kind of we separate that, as you know, life expenses separate from the individual investments. Yes, downsizing one level living. You know, we don't want those steps anymore because our knees hurt, and those are all factors. Now.
What people have run into though, is housing markets high. The interest rates have ros, they've come down a little bit, and I've heard people say, you know, we're kind of stuck. We're stuck because we have a two and a half three percent mortgage. We'd like to do something different, yet we don't want to take on a seven or eight percent mortgage. So a lot of people are kind of stuck nopending. You know where you're at as far as age. But it's certainly a discussion piece because do you really
need four thousand square feet anymore? Or it is that you know, cobwebs are getting in the corner because you never been in the room for two more uns. You know, all of those are discussion pieces that we have and important discussion pieces. Sure. Absolutely, let's talk about rents. Rents have been sky high since the pandemic. What do you anticipate it's going to happen with rents? And what do you tell people who are saying, maybe when I get to retirement, agent no longer want to own my home. I
want to rent. Yeah, home ownership has always been very important to Americans, But when you do retire maybe not. If you can't pay off your mortgage, you know, maybe you want to maybe simple living is more important. We see a lot of clients actually go into fifty five plus living. And I'll tell you what, Kim. The ones, the clients that I mind have gone into that, they absolutely love it. They have a social experience, they have all kinds of outings, they can sit and talk with
like minded people. So those are very very popular. Again, rents, some would say that's just throwing money away, But as you get into retirement, you know, sometimes the important stuff changes and home ownership may not be as important, or you know, a lot of times when people go south
for the winner. We encourage people to don't just buy something right away, to kind of feel it out, because what's to say you're really going to like it there and you really want to be stuck the next winter when you really didn't enjoy the previous winter. So again, don't make hasty decisions. That's always an important thing, you know. It's so true that people's decision making and their value somewhat change when they get to retirement. My father is
such a perfect example of this. Mom and Dad owned their home, but all of a sudden. My dad's talking about maybe we should sell and we should rent, and he has always been vehemently against that, but I think now we just as tired of all the upkeep and all the issues that come along with owning your own home. Yeah, I would agree. So again, make sure you're talking about realistic expenses housing rants. You know one that's gone up recently, cam and I think people have noticed it is, you
know, gas prices absolutely eleventh cents. I think just actually laast week the gasoline prices, and you know, I think that's going to continue. We still have wars going on, unfortunately, and we have an election year. Although things tend to get a little better during election years because you know, different whoever's in office, it doesn't make that much difference. Likes to make things better than they actually are. But gas prices and that's affecting the pocketbook
as well. So it comes back to having a plan, and we walk people through our proprietary process, no matter small or large, a lot or a little, to make sure that we're asking appropriate questions. We're taking notes. Just last week, I bet you I had three or four different people say nobody's ever taken the time to ask me those questions, which are important questions. And if we don't get to know who you are just as much as you get to know who we are, I don't think we're going to
have a real effective relationship. And we're looking to cultivate long term relationships through retirement and people that confidence they're really looking for sure, absolutely, you know. I go back to the gas price issue too, Larry. People need to keep an eye on gas prices because those gas prices ultimately affect the price
of everything else. Yeah, they really do. And this is it's normal for gas prices to go up I guess at this time of the year a little bit, as you know, the demand goes up and we're you know, we had a really mild winter, so it didn't feel that bad, but gas station switch over to more expensive fuels as well when you get this time of the year. So just be aware of these things. Awareness and
understanding is extremely important, especially as you're planning for retirement. Larry and his team are here to help you and if you're interested in possibly maybe having a free consultation to sit down to have someone look at your maybe plan that you already have, or help you to put together a plan. Then I've got the perfect telephone number for you, and that is six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. That's how you get hold of and his team at
Haven Financial or you could reach out to them on their website. It's Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Let me say it again, Havenfinancialgroup dot com. It's there on their website that you're also going to learn about what Larry le likes to refer to as educational sessions, and they have numerous educational sessions throughout the month, ranging from anything and Larry, you speak better to this than I do, but tax is and a state planning, about planning of retirement and so
many other things. Yeah, we have classes on all those topics. Go to our site and you can see the different venues and when we're going to be there and what time. You know, instead of sitting tight and wishing for an outcome, you know there's a ways to protect your finances. It starts with a conversation prepare for these market events, price fluctuations. If you're doing the same old thing you've always been doing and you haven't liked the results,
maybe perhaps it's time for some sort of change. And change starts with just starting that conversation and seeing where it goes from there. There's no obligation, there's no commitment, And I tell you what, it really enlightens people to things they might be missing out on because nobody's ever told them before. Absolutely. Yeah, I love the idea that you come in and you sit down and people say to you, nobody's ever told that to me before.
Nobody's ever pointed that out to me before. So that's all part of this education. All right, Larry, still coming up. You know, people become empty nesters and I think you automatically think, Wow, I no longer have to pay for those kids. I don't have to take care of all those issues. Now I can just go out and spend, spend, spend. But those bad money habits certainly don't do much for your retirement, do they. They do not? They do not, that is for sure.
If we look forward, let's talk more about it. Absolutely, you're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement wys Devinent 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 Kulvig and Kim Karrigan. Now back to the show. Welcome back to the Haven Financial Group.
I'm Larry Kolvig, founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group, and you're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. You can reach us at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or a newly revamped website, Havenfinancialgroup dot com, where you can see all of our upcoming then all of our upcoming events, our educational events you can sign up, and all kinds of valuable retirement tools right there on our site. So, Kim,
let's continue this discussion on bad habits. You know, I think, now in everyone's defense, who's listening, if we tip on some of the things that maybe you do. I think it's fair to say everybody has a few bad habits, right, you just want to maybe recognize the ones that could lead you down a path that could be real, proper in the end. Correct, That is correct? And any of us that say we don't have any bad habits, are we truly being honest with ourselves? I don't
think so. I don't think we are either. I mean I think when you could really develop those bad habits is when your kids leave. You know, they're no longer financially dependent upon you, they don't live in your home anymore. And for most of us who become empty nesters, we probably haven't
been empty nesters for twenty one, twenty two, twenty five years. So it is a time when I think, and I think you made reference to it, you feel like you want to go, go, go, do, do do because you have that freedom, and you're not necessarily saying that's a terrible thing, right, No, No, I encourage folks to be as active in their kids, their grandkids as anybody. And you know this really hits home to some degree because my wife, for Schelle, and I,
we have four daughters. Our youngest Monee, turned eighteen last week. Yes, we have four adult women girls now who I don't want them to leave home. In fact, they're all going to be in college and medical school. And however that time has come and you know, they've they've been expensive. They're not no maintenance girls. They're high maaidenance girls. But I've enjoyed every bit of it because I was always supposed to be a father of
girls. But we do start to develop habits, you know, and once they move out or maybe more freedom, and you know, it finds out that a lot of empty nesters are not saving like they should be, maybe eating out more than they were before. And so these habits, they're easy to develop. And we want to stay intact. We want to stick to a plan. Maybe get back to the plan, and if you don't know what your plan is, maybe at least to start to have a conversation about
a financial plan. That's important. So yep, bad habits, Yeah, bad habits. Well, let's talk about and you speak to a lot of people, and I know some of them come in and they talk about what they're doing, and you probably flag some of what they're doing is bad habits. So give us a few examples of what might be bad habits when you become an empty nester. Well, unfortunately, you know, over the recent
years, I have seen a lot of parents enable their children. Now again, blood is thick, and we will love to see our family succeed and all these various things. But do you really want to do that at the expense of your retirement years? And I think of a couple from Invergrove Heights just a wonderful couple. How he was a retired pastor and they now live in a trailer court because they really spent all of the retirement dollars on their kids. So it's sad to see that part of it. But then at
the end of the day, you know, make empty nesters. Maybe you can add a little bit more to your retirement accounts or your four one ks, maybe increase the percentages that you're put in paying down some of those debts that the kids racked up a little bit. You know, reinterest rates are high. Don't fall into that trap at the end of the day. Making some additional contributions to those iras wroth I raise. There's a reason why they
call them ketchup ketchup time. After the kids are gone after the age of fifty, maybe that's an opportunity really get back to the discipline of putting money away, out of sight, out of mind, and managing things those expenses. You know, I'm a coupon cutter. You know, it all helps, except the Sunday paper really doesn't have any more coupons in it, so I'm not sure why I've signed up for that, but I guess that's for the food prices. They just don't want to give anything, give anything.
So again, yeah, empty nesters, it's a season of life. Enjoy it, but just be careful because you know that can be a thirty year thing, and that's a long time planned for the long run. It's what we do because you don't want to get halfway across the desert and run out of water, which is the same with money. It takes money and you got to live. Let's talk about when your kids get old enough and now
they're no longer dependence. This also has tax ramifications, so maybe you could talk a little bit about some of the tax ramifications associated with those adult children. Yeah, you don't have the dependence anymore. That's why you're going to want to plan. We're always talking about forward thinking tax planning, so that might change things. Again, you maybe need to increase your withholdings a little
bit. You know, much of our discussions and retirement. Let's face it, Uncle Sam was going to be part of our life at all seasons of life, and probably even more in retirement. It's just the way it is. So again, if you're not having tax conversations and you're not tax planning, let's face it, we're in the middle of tax season. Lances are in house CPA and he's you know, it's game on. He's there before I get there, and he's there after I get there, and you know
what he spends time. It comes down to spending time with people. You know. Let me ask a question to the listeners. Do you just drop off your taxes to your tax prepare and then pick them up and then go, oh, my goodness, I can't believe I owe so much money? Or do you do tax planning over the course of the year. I think of two retired Delta clients from Egan and they both retired the end of last
year, so their situation last year was much different than this year. So we sat down, we looked at last year's we planned through out last year, and then we sat down and did tax planning and projections for this year because they're going to need to generate income. What I say is tax planning throughout the course of a year leads to tax preparation and there should not be any surprises when I hear people say every year, every year, every year, I owe this or this, Well, fix the problem. There has
to be a solution to fix the problem. And if you're not, don't have anybody assisting you or talking you to your or some degree coaching you. And how are you going to know about these things about roth conversions, low tax brackets, Taxes are going to go up in twenty twenty six. People have missed opportunities over and over again because they haven't really worked with anybody or
talked to anybody. And again, nothing wrong with do it yourself, but I know that a lot of people, especially in retirement, when they turn on Social Security required minimum distributions, people get to a point where like I don't want to do my own taxes because I don't feel comfortable. Or the couple I was in last week, I go, do you do your own taxes? And she looked at him and yeah, he does them, but I don't want him to do it anymore because I think he's making mistakes.
Avoid the mistakes. Well, I'll tell you too. If it's not a world that you live in all the time, the tax code is constantly changing. You're talking about how it's changing again in twenty six, So you want to turn to someone whose world that is and understands exactly what's going on. So Larry, if you were too in your expert opinion, in all the years that you've talked with people, if you were to pinpoint the number one mistake that empty nesters make, or maybe the number one concern they have,
what would that be? I would say a lack of a budget, not know knowing what they're actually spending. Now, let's face it, at any age, budgeting is not fun. It's not exciting, but it might open your eyes to certain habits, maybe bad habits, maybe good habits that you were not aware of. Going to Starbucks seven days a week at seven dollars or eight dollars or ten dollars a pop. Do the math on that and
it adds up really quickly. And you know, I would say that in our planning process when we ask folks and we ask every time, you know, what are your expenses? Usually they'll come with, okay, let's say four or five thousand a month, and we'll say, put pen to paper, and next time we get together, let's see how close you really are. And when people do that, they can usually come back and say, well, actually they're about forty to fifty percent or maybe double more than what
we thought that they were. You want to be accurate, because if you're not using accurate numbers, obviously that makes them inaccurate. It's big different and it's a big difference. So again, dot the eyes and cross the t's and sure, you know what, if your kids are playing video games down the bay and they're forty one years old, I think there might be a problem. Now I'm not against them. I'm just saying, let's think about it. If they're there visiting for the weekend and doing that, that's one
thank you. Right they're still there on Monday. You got a problem, You got a problem? Six one two, five zero four eighty four hundred. That is the number where you can reach the folks at even Financial Group, or you can go to their website. It's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. All right, Larry, still coming up here. Now. We want to talk about people trying to plan for the perfect lifestyle and what that takes. I met you, You have met so many people with such interesting stories about what
it is they want to do in their retirement. Am I like, give me just a couple examples of people who have come in and said something really wild that they wanted to do in their retirement. Well, it's a couple of years ago when I had a couple come in and I said, when are you retiring? And I had just met them, When are you retiring? And she goes, she was a business executive for forty some years and she goes, well, I'm going to go on a nine month cruise.
And I said, oh, that's fantastic, the two of you going on a nine month cruise. And she goes to her husband. He's not coming with I'm going on a nine month cruise by myself so I can unwind of the forty some years at my workplace. And I'm like, oh, okay. So each to his own, which leads me to this. You know, just like raising kids, there's no clear answer or one glove fits all. Is finding out your unique set of situations, your assets, and again
planning for your situation. Again, not the Joneses, not your neighbors, not your brother and sister, but having a plan that's really pertinent to you and your retirement. Absolutely all right, Well, let's talk about a comprehensive plan for your perfect retirement when we come back. This is 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 Kulvig is back and ready to help you find your financial safe Haven. Welcome back to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. I'm Larry Klvig, founder and CEO of the Haven Financier Group, and you're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Much more to talk about, Kim, Let's talk more about retirement, that perfect retirement,
the golden years. We want them to be as perfect as possible, don't we? Absolutely? And you know, I think it's really important. People might have ideas about you know, I want to take a certain kind of trip, or as you mentioned in the segment before, the woman who wanted a nine month cruised online. But really, you know, you're planning for a lot of years and you need to start planning for just what makes you happy day in and day out. You know, we obviously don't want
to live a life of boredom. We want to have some activities. We want to do the things that are important to us. We want to go to the places that are important to us. But those all take a budget. They do take a budget, and we all have different but it's small, medium, or large. Yours is just as important as anybody else's. But when we're dealing with this season of life, this phase of life, the time horizon, it might seem even a little bit overwhelming because you've never
been in this situation before, developing a routine. All of a sudden, you wake up and now you're retired. You don't go to work. You spend forty some years there doing the same thing, and now what you know? What's your purpose? What's your purpose? What are you going to do? And we see a variety of things giving back. We have a lot of clients that are very They volunteer the hospitals or wherever it might be,
and they give back all these years they've been working. Now they give back to their town or their city, or their society or whatever it is. And okay, maybe it's the honeydew list. We hear about all those honeydeo lists too. My wife loves lists. I'm just kidding. She can't stand list. I'm a list maker. I make lists and she doesn't. She doesn't like this. You make listen, she tears them up. Huh. Ah, yeah, yeah, that was yeah, I know, we've got
Marria. I put a gas log in her in her car where every time she would put the mileage. Yeah, that lasted about a week. Twenty seven years we're still married, so it's good. You know, maybe did clutter maybe all those years in the house. You know, people live in these homes for you know, retirees for thirty forty plus years. And actually just this past week, I had a couple that was in and she she lost her sister and her mom in Saint Cloud and she was in. One
of her siblings is on disability. Well, her job is to go through mom and dad's house and they were hoarders and she goes people. You hear about people trying to argue about stuff when they pass I trying to give it away because it's just full of stuff. So you know, that's on her her list. Or you know, I hear once in a while about ancestry, you know, finding out your roots and what you're you know, where
you came from. And there's also the mental and the social aspects. You know, most people, you know a lot of people adjust the retirement and they love it and others don't. Right it is a transition. You hung out with those people for many many years. Maybe they you know, they were your friends, and now you don't have that. You don't have that
anymore, don't see them day in and day out like you don't. I noticed that a lot of our clients, you know, they may maybe move back grandkids and family, which are dear to my heart and dear to a lot of our clients' hearts. What brought you back? All our grandkids are here, Our grandkids are here, and that time is that oftentimes is a motivation in itself, just to get close to the grandkids, but really finding your purpose. And who's to say that you can't work part time? Maybe
you like to work part time. You know. I have a lot of clients that are rangers at golf courses. They love it just so maybe just a social right. It certainly is. I mean, you maybe think you can golf and fish every single day, and maybe some can. But maybe it's going to get a little bored after a while. You know. I always say my parents, Wendell and Carroll, there's seventy eight, in seventy six, they still crop for him and Candy High Minnesota. He says,
I work too much. Yet they still crop for him, not because they have to. It's because my dad's like, I got to do something. You gotta do something. So you know, maybe it's relocation, maybe it is that travel travel, travels, but remember this costs money and putting that budget together, putting the plan together, stay on task because he starts deviating and next thing you know is you're off track and you want to stay on
track in retirement. So what happens Larry when somebody gets into retirement and they think that they're going to travel, travel, travel, and they do it for the first you know, three four years, and then they make the determination that that was not such a great idea and they need to they do need to change track and they want they've also determined that they're running through too
much money too quickly. Sure, do you sit down with people at that stage of the game, you know, years into retirement and maybe change things around or are people lot no, never locked in and maybe you might maybe have to change course. You know, there's haven financial group, the navigating navigation. Maybe you're off a degree and got to get back on a degree or two and you know, just got to face the facts, like Okay, we did travel. That was fun, but we've gone over budget.
We need to make some changes, maybe to cut some things out, maybe get a part time job. You know, I find that a lot of people do online stuff, just even part time and actually make some money. So, you know, it takes a plan, you've got to develop one, but then it takes modification. Life happens. Life's calendar doesn't always cooperate with your calendar. You know, health can change things. There's just so many variables that go into it. So you just don't lock it in and
never don't look at it again. It takes updating, it takes more conversations, and it takes money to pursue these things. Now I say that, you know, we're talking about budget and not overspending, but there's a high percentage of retirees as well that have saved, saved, saved because they've been frugal. They have a hard time spending anything, and a lot of people
you can't take it with you. So as much as we're talking about budgeting, you know, I listened to a speaker not long ago talk about, yeah, well you saved, saved, saved, but you never spent anything, and do you really want to be the richest person in the cemetery. I thought that was an interesting way to put it. But you also have to live. Maybe is it be part of the country club? Is it
to do the things you want to do? So as much as we preach a discipline of budgeting and expenses, if you have the wherewithal to do it, you got to enjoy life. I'll never forget we've I lost this client about six years ago. She was from Lakeville, her first her husband passed away. He was in charge of the finances, and she was with somebody and she came in a visit with me for several years and I remember telling her that because after he passed, she wasn't living life. She just wasn't.
And I straight up told her, I said, I think your late husband would want you to live a little bit and get out and spend some of this money rather than just sitting tight and not doing anything. And she goes, are you giving me the green light to act or spend some money? And I said yes, she goes, Well, my previous advisor, every time I asked for money, he made me feel guilty about using my money. I'm like no, And she always was thankful that I motivated her.
Unfortunately, we lost her really quickly to an aneurysm, and I'll always remember that conversation with her so again, save but also live absolutely, you bet you know. I'm so glad that we brought this part of it up because I think one of the things that you say each and every week, Larry's that you guys really developed a relationship with your clients, and those relationships don't stop when the retirement plan has been put together. I think that was
my point of asking you that these relationships extend out. They begin before retirement starts, and they extend right on into retirement, and people need to constantly be in touch, be informed, and maybe sometimes shift. Most definitely, you know what, We even encourage our existing clientele to come out to classes we can always learn. I always say, when in doubt, ask questions. Again, it's not just lock it in and forget about it. This
is relationships. Yes, they're very, very important to us. We believe and I've said them many times that retirement, whatever retirement topic, it is a state planning, financial advice, investing, tax talks, tax preparation, all the various retirement puzzle pieces we believe it's much more than a meeting once or twice a year for forty five minutes to an hour. Now, different
people did need different attention. The problem is most people aren't getting the attention yet they're paying some and they're not getting anything for what they're paying for. We never move too fast. We want to be very thorough and we're not trying to rush anybody. Again, I always say, if it doesn't feel right, it's not the right place. We're not perfect for everybody, but
we're going to spend the time and we're going to listen. And the true compliment is when somebody says, you actually took to listen, and it took the time to listen to me. Nobody's ever really done that before. Yeah. Well, I think most people don't know what to expect, so they
don't know if they're getting the kind of attention that they should. So if they're listening to this show, hopefully they're learning very quickly that if they're only meeting with their advisor once every couple of years, chances are good they're not getting the kind of attention that they should. Yeah, and with retirement, Yes, the advisor on the investment side Okay, that's fine, but what about the tax person, the CPA, the estate plan or your medicare,
your long term care, your insurance needs. Health care is a major expense of retirement. These are all discussion pieces, and they all require their own attention to make sure you're getting the best deal and the best bang for the buck. Sure, all right, so folks, let me ask you. Are you getting the kind of attention that you need from your advisor. If you're not, then we want to suggest that you make this call. It's six one two five zero four eighty four hundred and reach out to the Haven
Financial Group or you can check them out on their website. It's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. We've talked about it a couple of times at least mention it in passing today, Larry, and that's a state planning. It's a really important part of putting together those retirement years. If nothing else, just the peace of mind knowing that you've got it taken care of. So when we come back, Larry's going to talk a little bit about estate planning and what you
need to know. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement boys, 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 Karrigan. 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, and we're glad you're listening this morning. You can reach us at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Visit our website see where our classes are at all kinds of retirement tools, sign up for different things that we have coming up here in the near future, and we'd love to get information
out to you. So a state planning, Kim stuff, the conversation that most people just don't want to talk about. Yeah, I think it's difficult to talk about it, and I think it's it's just difficult, period. There is so much more to a state planning than just saying that I'm going to leave everything to my kids and walking away. It seems to me, and you're the expert. I am not, but just from my personal experience
with the states, meaning family members who have passed away and whatever. It brings up so many issues if it hasn't been addressed pretty thoroughly before someone passes away. So let's get started just with some of the backro bone, the basics, Larry. When it comes to estate planning, Yeah, and first I would say, future conversations you and I will have. I probably will bring Carrie rennerr in. She's our estate planning attorney. She is the estate
planning attorney. I have a lot of a state planning background, but she is the one that helps a lot of people. She's also very good at education. There's no cost for a consultation because you're right, this isn't easy discussions talking about Usually what people think is what happens when you're gone, but really there's also the side of when you're still here. If you're under stress or durests and you can't put these things together. You have to proactively get
these things done ahead of time. You know, when you're still living, if something happens, who's going to make decisions for you? If you're eighteen years old, you're an adult, And which all four of our daughters are speaking of I got to get powers of attorney who updated for her right now that she's eighteen, because we parents just can't run out and start making decisions
for their adult kids. So what happens is you need durable powers of attorney, usually for financial decisions, medical access to medical records, healthcare directives slash living will, giving what your wishes are if something happens. And you know the old saying, nothing's ever going to happen until something happens, It happens
because something happens. I don't want to get too basic and make it sound like people who are listening don't know, but when it comes to like power of attorney or a living will, just sort of real quickly explain what those mean. It gives the decision making ability to somebody if you're unable to make decisions for yourself incapacitation, and people think, well, I've been married for years, my spouse has been making decisions for me for forty years. There's
no automatic today, there is no automatic. You need to appoint someone you know, in my case, my wife Rochelle, my father went on my mother Carol. That'll probably be replaced now someday, but soon by the girls, because if you do not have that and something happens, that's called what happens is guardianship, conservatorship with the state that you reside in. Well,
it's exactly what it is. Guardianship is like a parent. Well, I don't want the state of Minnesota to be my parent, and conservatorship means I have my checkbook. I don't want them to have the checkbook. So again, putting these in place while you're alive. These are living documents. The hip a wording needs to be in these documents as well. So again,
all that's for when we're still alive. Sure, and then comes the tough discussions of Okay, the mortality rate in the state of Minnesota and every state is one hundred percent. Okay, yes, we know that. What happens when we're gone, who gets the house? Oftentimes when loved ones are not here anymore. You know you can we can all say we have the best kids, the best loved one, but things can change, and we've seen things happen even to the best of families. Pointing who you want to get,
whatever that is. Having a will, your wish is for potentially a probate court, having a revocable trust might be a viable option, you know, Susie Orman says everybody should have a trust. Not everybody needs a trust, but it might be a valuable retirement estate plan that may work better than just having a will or maybe a transfer on death deed may be payable on
death. Is suffice simple things as beneficiaries. You can't believe how often that we see folks not have any beneficiaries, old beneficiaries, and that can just be a headache for loved ones or heirs if something happens, and most of us don't want to be a burden to our kids or are loved ones and we're gone. So having a competent a state plan and shockingly I read a study here that eighty five percent of a Americans do not have a competent estate
plan. That's shocking. It's really not shocking because I see it often weekly. I'll ask, because this is part of our discussion. Do you have an up to date, current will or an a state plan? Nope, we've never ever put anything together. Well, thankfully you're talking to me and nothing ever happened to the kids. Yeah, have you never ever wanted to put something together? Yeah, we're always getting around and we're getting around to it, but it never gets around. You never get around to doing it.
So human nature is procrastination. And at the end of the day, there's this when people do get it done, there's a peace of mind. There's a sense of accomplishment that finally we got something down. When Carrie does the signing ceremony at our office with folks, we call it a signing ceremony, there's a breath of fresh air. And know what, I like, she really spends time. I know this is a stereotype, and you know
there's all kinds of attorney jokes out there and stuff like that. And in summer, maybe a little stuffy, but she is down to earth, shares the same chemistry as the rest of us. In the office, she writes a life plan I think she calls it some different in addition to all the documents. She puts it together a letter or a plan that is done with the individuals that she's working with as kind of instructions to the family. Heartfelt.
So maybe not easy to write, but there's meaning there and there's memories and that's what it's all about. And you know, take it a step further from the emotional side. Maybe there's tax benefits to having in a state plan too. You know, the federal estate tax threshold is really really high, so that doesn't affect many people, but the state has state tax in
Minnesota three million dollars. So if there's tax reasons to put in a state plan together, look at all the different things that go into in a state plan. Make a competent estate plan, keep it updated because rules and regulations change. But do it for yourself, do it for your spouse if you're married, do it for the kids, do it for the loved ones. And I know somebody listening is going, well, I don't have any kids, or I only have one. There's no automatics. Maybe you're given to
charities. Charities, you want to make sure it gets there in the right fashion the way you want it to sure. And a lot of our clients are very philanthropic and charitable. And if you are charitable, now you don't give for tax reasons. But if you also are charitable just by nature, that might open up some tax opportunities as well. It all comes back at all full circle. They're all intertwined, and there should be the coordination of
all these retirement puzzle pieces. They should be working together, and for many folks they're not. So Larry, you just said, you know, may be people listening and they think, well, I just have one child, so I don't have to worry about it. Everything just goes to the one child. I think there might be people listening who think I just don't have enough to even worry about it. And that's not necessarily true, is it. That is the biggest misconception is I don't have enough. You said it
very eloquently. The reality is you have something, probably something. Not everybody needs everything. But it starts with that conversation, well, what do you have, what are your goals, what are your objectives? What would you like to see? You have a voice, So obviously a power of attorney is important. And because you can't use your voice, well I don't know who to appoint. Well, you don't want the state, Maybe a loved
one, friend, pastor neighbor, somebody. It's not a dollar amount, and I think in Minnesota, if you have a fifty thousand dollars a perbatable asset, that qualifies you for probate, which is court to figure out where assets are going to go. So again, maybe you can take it a step further with the trust and having contestability provisions. Maybe you have beneficiaries have a drug or alcohol problem and there needs to be a structure of how they
get the inheritance. So there's so many different factors and variables that need to be talk through. But if you don't have a plan, it's not really going to matter. Unfortunately, and quite frankly, the state of the government and taxes could take a good chunk of what you worked hard for your entire
life. Absolutely, So, if you are one of those people who's listening and you've procrastinated when it comes to estate planning, then we want to give you the telephone number so that you can make an appointment, go in for a free consultation, learn a little bit more about what it is that you have and what it is that you need. That number is six one two,
five zero four eighty four hundred. That is the number you call and you'll reach the folks at Haven Financial Group where you can set up that appointment, or you can go to their website. It's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. That's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. I know, Larry that you guys have frequently these kinds of learning sessions on estate planning. Yes, we do. People can attend these classes or retirement workshops, or they can just come on in and we
can do a mini educational class one on one. They don't have to come if they're more comfortable coming in. We have a very late back atmosphere. We're just finishing up our third construction phase in nine years. As we expanded, we've added, we're in the middle of adding personalities, which we're very very very thankful for. So one way or another, get you the education individually, in classroom session, whatever works. We encourage people. Education is
the potential for power. It's what you do with it that matters. Great overseeing your state planning folks, be sure that you give them a call again At six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. Larry, it's been great being with you. We've had a very informative show today. Great to be with you as well. I can't believe this time goes by so quickly. I hope you and the listeners have a wonderful, blessed week and look
forward to visiting with you next weekend. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio show at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or visit us at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Investment advisory service is offered through Guardian Wealth Strategies LLC. Haven Financial Group and in Guardian Well Strategies LLC are not affiliated companies and investments involve risk, and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed.
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