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, I'm Larry kolvic Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group, and you're listening to the Have Financial Group Radio Show. Thanks for being with us this morning. We got a lot to talk about. You can reach us at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or visit our website at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. We got a lot of great things on there. We got a safe Haven community and a bunch of
blogs and podcasts and all kinds of retirement information. So visit Hanfinancialgroup dot com. Kim, great to be with you again. It is great to be Thank you, sir. It's so great to be with you as well. And I'm feeling good. I feel like spring really is finally here. Easter is behind us. I noticed this morning that it was sunrise much earlier than I had noted before, So you know, all's pretty good. Huh good? Good. I want to talk today about three aspects of your retirement that
you certainly do not want to ignore. We're going to talk about three, Larry, I think you would probably say there's a lot of things about retirement you shouldn't ignore, but we're gonna We're gonna gonna grab three specific things. The first is understanding your retirement stability, just how stable are you in the decision that you've made and how stable will those be as you move forward through your retirement. Covering the basis of healthcare in retirement, something that's very very
important to a lot of people. And then of course, how social security can play a role in wealth protection. Finally, we're going to close this out with our roth iras and talking a little bit about conversions. Larry, let's start with this idea of understanding your retirement stability. I mean, things change and people have different plans, but it's really important that individuals understand how they're going in, what's going to happen if there's bumps in the road,
and then how they're going to get to the other side of those. Yeah, it's important to start that conversation sooner than later because most people start with retirement process. Do I have enough saved? How much wealth have I accumulated? And are they ready retired? The key questions I get is do I have enough? Or when do I run out? And while that's a rational approach, it's not exactly true. And I mentioned before putting a number on
retirement is just not fair because it's different for everybody. Maybe you still enjoy working and it's crucial to your well being, it gives you a sense of purpose. But then there's others out there that they fear out living their retirement savings and they continue to work for that reason alone. So the group that we really work with in retirement planning. They control over seventy four percent of the investable assets of US households, so we're talking a large amount, and
that's for people over fifty five. So while having to get significant assets may help you retire early, there's a variety of reasons. Two specific ones. Maybe you get your fulfillment from work. I mentioned the sense of purpose and the friendships and the social aspect, and maybe that's why. Or maybe you're just a worrier that says, you know what, I don't know if I have enough money to retire, so you just keep working for that purpose.
And it's a very normal thought pattern. But the more conversation, the more planning that individuals do, the more confident that they can get with the decisions that they're making. The problem is a lot of people just don't spend enough time on this and therefore that's why that's why they're worrying. They just don't know. Sure. Well, you know, it's really interesting because I think
there's a generation prior to the one that's preparing for retirement right now. It's living longer than they had anticipated, and I think maybe getting down to the bare minimum amount of money in their lives because they didn't realize their lifespan would be so long that costs would be what they are. So those who are starting to think about it are looking at their parents and saying, I don't want to. I don't want to, you know, spend my retirement like
that. Yeah. Correct, I mean we really need to get the financial house in order to give you the confidence. And maybe that means paying off the debt webe you're carrying credit card at high percentages, and you know,
I'm a big fan of paying off a mortgage if that's possible. Maybe it's scaling back your lifestyle, getting a good grip on your expenses, and thinking about, well, how much liquid acids should I have in retirement because I see on a weekly basis people come in and liquidity is not strong, and that's not a good way to go into into retirement. And we're going to talk later about healthcare costs. Have you factored that in? And what income
streams when you really sit down? Are you going to have Social Security? We'll touch on that here in a little bit. Pensions are you fortunate to have that? You know? What does your retirement nest egg look like? Some people use annuities to guarantee income. The people that are happy is the retirement. They call that mailbox money. They don't have to work and worry about monthly paychecks coming in. And let's face it, longevity risk living longer
is a major concern with many people. And then it's how do you get your house in order? When it comes to your portfolio market corrections they happen, the element of time becomes that much more important. Sure so, Larry, let me ask you. You mentioned that you're in favor of people paying off mortgages and certainly paying off credit card debt or any other kind of debt
that you might have. As people ride into retirement age, do you suggest that they actually take a portion of that savings and pay all of that off before they get there, or do you say ride with it while you're in retirement. Give me an idea of what you tell your clients. Yeah, what I mean is, if you're able to pay off the mortgage, you know what interest rate is it at a lot of people maybe have the two two and a half, you know, percent interest? You have to factor
in what other investments do you have? What are the tax ramifications? Probably hasn't taken a big chunk of IRA money and then paying off the mortgage, but you know, maybe making a couple payments or a payment and a half to get it down. I've seen this so often all the years I've done
this. The happiest people in retirement have no mortgage, and they have low expenses, and they have a good idea of what their expenses are and they make adjustments on them as things change, especially nowadays, because I can tell you recent conversations, people are people's budgets are still really really feeling it. The inflation thing has just not gone away, and people are concerned, and rightfully so, because the power of the dollar is doesn't go as far.
And then I just had somebody in I said, what worries you? And she says, well, we're spending money so much that this US debt and the value of the dollar we just we don't know if it's going to be here. And these are all value concerns and things that we talk about on a weekly basis. Well, let's tell everybody about how they can get in touch with you or somebody on the team if some of these things are resonating with you, if you're hoping that your retirement plan is stable, but you'd
like some professionals to look over it. Then you can call Haven Financial Group. It's at six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. That's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. You call and you set up an appointment, go in see Larry or someone else on the team and bring in your retirement plan if you already have one, and if you don't, then maybe you want to sit down with the team to talk about the
way that you stabilize your finances through retirement. You can also check their website. It's Savenfinancialgroup dot com. When you go to that website, you're going to see opportunities for learning seminars. You can sign up, but as Larry tells us, each and every week, they fill very quickly, so be sure you get on there very quickly. All right, So again we talk
about stability. So when you sit down with someone and you say, okay, let's talk about the most stable situation you can be in, and I know you're going to say, well, everybody's different, but the most stable situation you can be in. When you start to step away, what are
the things you're looking for? Larry. Adequate liquidity, I meaning money in the bank to pay for those emergency things and grandkids birthdays and all for the furnace that goes out, and so liquidity is extremely important, and there's benchmarks that we try to get people to achieve prior to retirement, so they go into retirement with plenty of money in the bank and then stress testing that portfolio,
especially when an element of time becomes that much more important. And you know, the longer you live, there's a good chance, a really good chance, you're going to have to endure some market corrections. And we don't like to talk about them, but you know, I'm dating myself, but I did this. In ninety nine to oh one we had a market correction. We did in seven to nine we had a market correction, and then we got spoiled for almost fourteen years of a stock market that pretty much only
went up. Well, the lost decade was from two thousand to twenty ten. It's a lost decade, no growth. Ten to twenty twenty we had no market corrections. And for many listeners and people that we sit down with, this is the decade they're going to retire. So how many corrections will we have this decade. I don't know, but can you endure the hardship
of a market correction at this stage of life? And that's why stress testing your portfolio to make sure you are in a more stable position so you don't have to stay in the workforce longer if something happens, or go back to work. It can be a decision that you have the utmost confidence and you can weather the storm. Yeah, how do you do a stress test? By the way, well, we plug in for those that come in, we get all of their ticker tape symbols, all of their investments, and
we plug it all into software. Has come a long way, and we can gauge the amount of risks they have in their portfolio, and we can assign a number to it, one being no risks, ninety nine being the riskiest stock out there, and we can gauge the whole portfolio and we can run some iterations as to Okay, in two thousand and seven oh nine, your portfolio would have lost forty five percent, could you endure that this time? And usually the response we get is I had no idea I was taken
that much risk, And I say, it's not your fault. But if it affects the outcome affects you, and you really can't blame your financial guy unless they're not listening. Of course, and when people it's iol linked to a lot of people because at this stage they're usually saying, Larry, we're actually more financially conservative now, we don't want to take as much risk. Yet they don't know how much risk they're taking, so we're not against risk.
We just we want people to be aware and have an understanding of what they're doing, why they're doing it. They're not thirty thirty five anymore. Now maybe they're sixty five. So the time piece really comes into play. It sure does. Boy that the stress test idea just feels like everybody who's thinking about retirement needs to come in and see you. Six one two, five zero four eighty four hundred. That's the number you call to set up
an appointment or go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Okay, we've talked about the stability of your retirement plan, which is so very important. Well, how do you make sure it's stable? We talked about stress tests on your portfolio. How about how you plan for healthcare costs? This is so important, can be so very expensive, and we're going to chat about that. On the other side of the break. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio
Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement pays devinent 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 Kolvig and Kim Karragan. 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 thanks for listening
this morning. We got a lot more to talk about healthcare, long term care, and all those things that none of us really want to talk about. But it is a major expense in retirement. Yeah, it sure is, Larry. I mean, we were joking off the air, but I mean, you know, the healthcare issue is complex and expensive for everyone, regardless of what stage. I mean, even if you're still in an employee your employer's program, it could be very complex and it can be very expensive
just depending on that plan. But then when you start to head into retirement, you get the government involved. With your health care and that becomes a whole new that comes a whole new plan. Right, So let's walk through some of the things that you sit down with your clients and talk about. When it comes to healthcare. I bet a lot of people are nervous about
it, Oh, very nervous. And a lot of times people will come up with an investment plan or their wealth goals, or talk about income, and I hope they do in taxes, of course, but healthcare is oftentimes overlooked. Now, Glenn in my office and Isabella do all the healthcare, medicare, long term care, all of those things that require care, And of course they should put some thought into these because it is a major expense.
And I just saw a study that up to the tune of three hundred and fifteen thousand for an average sixty five year old retired couple will spend at least three hundred and fifteen thousand in healthcare costs. Now, I think that's actually kind of low. But what that number doesn't include is any additional costs for long term care, which we'll touch on here. You know, over the counter medications, dental services, and when it comes to this, we
encourage people to shop out their Medicare. First of all, if you're not too Medicare age, which is sixty five, and you're still working, usually there's no problem if your spouse days working. A lot of people stay working just for the healthcare thing because of the costs, you know, because nothing's free and things continue to go up. And as we look at that, when you get to sixty five Medicare, Medicare Part A covers those emergency and
hospital visits. There is usually a deductible that goes with that of and then Part B is preventive care. There's there's premiums that go with these costs, and big one is when you get there just getting educated on Medicare advantage versus Medicare supplements. We have a very non biased approach. Glenn is extremely knowledgeable in Isabella as they educate people to make sure that you're in the right spot. Do you need to sign up for Medicare Part A not if you have
credible coverage with you or your spouses if you're married. I wouldn't believe all those commercials on television. I'd be very careful because a lot of them are not even applicable in the state that they're running them. And Part C is that Medicare supplements. A lot of people don't know there's underwriting and you only get one chance maybe for the supplement plans. So having do somebody do the work for you in this case, you don't pay anymore. You know at
sixty five they're going to bombard your mailbox. So you can go to coffee and cookies every day and learn about Medicare, but having somebody educate you is important. We have a Medicare Made Simple workshop coming up at the Egan Library on May tewod if anybody wants to attend that it'll be well attended. We'll go through a whole Medicare class and then drug cover prescription drug. Though they make changes to this all the time, and that's why we encourage people to
look at all the options every year. Not that you're going to make changes, but make sure you factor in healthcare into your budget for retirement because it can sneak up on you extremely fast. And yeah, it's a big topic. Yeah it really really is. So as I look at this, Larry, for those who maybe are just looking for a little education, this morning Part A is free, although there is a deductible, right, you don't
pay you don't pay a premium. Right. Part A B, which takes care of doctors' visits, that kind of thing, you do pay a premium for that. Yeah. Yeah, last year was one hundred and seventy four, one hundred and seventy five bucks in that range. And again there's a different we talk inflation. Healthcare grows at a higher inflationary rate than other things do. And maybe if you need dental or vision or some of those,
that might add to the costs a little bit as well. So making sure and then there's different formularies for prescription drugs, and if you're unfortunate with somebody that has some big expensive medications, looking for scholarships or things that are out there are things out there through some of these pharmaceutical companies. So, and you got to remember that long term care is additional. It's not your standard
healthcare. Medicare doesn't pay for long term care. So it's another discussion where you know, those people that are listing that I've had to deal with mom or dad in the nursing home or family or friends. You know, seventy percent of us are going to need some sort of care in our lifetime, and that comes with an extreme cost because I think the average nursing homes stay monthly stay in the Twin cities here is ten to fifteen thousand dollars a month.
Well, I mean, how long I'm going to stay there if it's memory loss? And some of those they tend to stay there a long time. So it's why we educate people on what are your long term care options? Because most of us don't want to be a burden to our kids, you know, jokingly, and it's not a joke, as a lot of people's plans is having their kids take care of them when they get older.
Well, I hope you have that conversation ahead of time. And remember your kids don't come visit you now, So I'm not sure that plan is going to really work that well. So having traditional long term care insurance, yeah, but it's expensive and we get increases every year. I know it's very frustrating, but it's why we don't see traditional long term care much. We see asset based long term care, hybrid long term care. Some of this sounds foreign to you, that's where come on in and we can look at
all the options. You know, nothing's for everybody, or there's annuities that have long term care riders. Something that can soften the blow a little bit and not decimate your moneies like the nursing home can. I mean, it's not fun discussions, but if you had to deal with it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Absolutely, that is so true. So is
this something that you need education about? And if you do, please don't be embarrassed because you know, if you have not dealt with long term care issues before, you will not be you know, someone who would maybe know what's out there, what's available, and what is the best option for you and your family. You want to see the folks that have in financial group six one two five zero four eight four zero zero is the number you call. You can set up an appointment, go in and see Larry or somebody
on the team. Larry, you have somebody who specializes in this on the team, do you know? Yeah, we do. Glenn actually specializes. He's worked on the inside of insurance company. He's on the outside for quite a few years. And we're happy to have Isabella with us now she's been with us, but she's now going to be mentored by Glenn. So yeah, we to help a lot of people in this area. You know, maybe one thing that actually failing health it's not it isn't a legal problem,
but it causes legal problems. It causes Failing health causes financial problems. So maybe maintaining your health or doing the best you can, maybe that's maybe the best thing to do, because you don't you don't see healthy people in the nursing home. It's the failing health that is the root of the retirement and failures. So even if a lot of times people say well I'm self funded, yeah, but at ten to fifteen thousand dollars a month, how long
are you going to support that? That's right? Varied, very difficult. So again, education, education is the potential for power, and maybe there's something feasible in the long term care area that can at least protect some of your money is or protect some of your interest. And Larry, if I I'm not very first on this topic at all, but some of these plans require you to be in them for a period of time before they can be
effective, isn't that correct? So you know, expediting a visit to you guys and looking through this and making some decisions now versus in maybe ten years or fifteen years, is really the way to go. Yeah, there's a lot of moving pieces with a variety of things that I just mentioned. Having a good understanding of how they work, kind of the fundamentals, you know, frustration for a lot of folks that maybe had knew somebody that had long
term care insurance, but they never really fully qualified. There's certain characteristics, amount of ADLs or daily living things that have to take place in order to qualify, and that could be very frustrating. So again, looking at all the options. It's not fun, it's not exciting, but the reality is a high percentage of us are going to need some sort of care. So factor it in, look at all the different options, and you'll be ahead
of the game. Yeah, you will sleep better at night knowing that you've gotten educated about these issues and then you've taken the steps you need to to make sure you're protected. Haven financial group, you can go in and sit down. Maybe you'll get an opportunity to sit down and speak with the experts they are in the office about long term care, health care in retirement, and of course they have experts not just about the healthcare fields, but about
taxes and estate planning and so on and so forth. Haven Financial Group. It's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. You go to the website Hevenfinancialgroup dot com. It's there that you'll learn more about some of these educational seminars, which
you know, you can go to an educational seminar for free. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to make an appointment with the company, although I have a feeling once you get to one of those educational seminars, you're going to feel pretty strongly about wanting to get into the office as well. Okay, Larry, coming up, we're going to talk about social security. Now does seem like we talk about it a lot, but you know it plays
such a big role in people's wealth associated with their retirement. So up next social security. Right here on 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 to the Haven Financial Group Radio show. I'm Larry Kolvick, founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. We'd love to sit down with you. Or check out our website Havenfinancialgroup dot com for all our classes, all kinds of tools, and we have a new safe Haven community site on there where you can share information. It's just a great,
great site and I think you enjoy it as well. So, you know, can we do talk a lot about social security, but it's just the importance of making a good educated decision as well, right, you know, it really plays a key role in income for a lot of retirees, There's no two ways about that. But I think what a lot of people don't realize is it can also play a role in wealth preservation. So let's get right to that and talk a little bit about a sequence of return risk,
if you will. When it comes to to your social security, Yeah, I mean, social security for a lot of people is the biggest thing they have in their portfolio. And when we put social security reports together, because anybody that attends our classes or comes on in, they'll leave with a maximize Social Security report. That's very helpful. It lays out good better best you know their situation and over a life expectancy. That's a big, big part
of your life. And we want to talk for every dollar you take from Social Security, it's a dollar you don't have to take from your retirement account SOS, the sequence of returns risk, the timing of it. If you're
set up an IRA distribution monthly because you know people need retirement income. I mean it's a set amount every month those you know, those withdrawals come out and if the markets are down, you're taking out when the market's go in the wrong direction, and that can deplete your IRA account balance rather quickly, and you're logging in the losses and leaves less and less in there. So now, now should you take it earlier? Social Security? Should you wait?
You know I've mentioned before that's almost seventy percent of Americans turning on at sixty two and only about one to two percent wait till seventy. You know, what's your full retirement age? Full retirement age is where you get one hundred percent of what you paid in, assuming there's money to be paid out, of course, and that's concerning just in itself. But you know it's an election year. I'm sure they'll figure it all out. You like my
optimism, Kim, I like your attempt at it with that. Thanks. Because in full retirement, just see listeners know, it's based upon your birthday. If you were born in a nineteen thirty seven or earlier, yours is sixty five, and then it goes sixty five and two months, four six all the way up. If you're born after nineteen sixty, it's age sixty seven. That's called full retirement age. Now, the latest you're gonna wait is till seventy, of course, because it doesn't grow after that. But
does it make sense to take it early? Does it make sense to wait if you're still working? I would think you're gonna wait. If you have lungevity in the fan family, or if you're a married couple and one of you has longevity, you know, maybe it makes sense to hold off on the higher breadwinner and turn on the smaller one because you have to also think
of the surviving spouse. Do you not want to leave as much income for your spouse as possible, considering they may live another ten plus years after you're gone. So again, it's not as if we're trying to tell people they need to wait it. Just look at your situation because a lot of times people may make split decisions and they end up making a mistake, and we want to get it right the first time. And again, the more reach you know, social security income you can get in that goes with your with
your other incomes. Maybe you have a pension and social security. I just I had Floyd and a Nancy and last week and between their pensions they're actually from member growth heights. Between their social security and their pensions, there was about eleven grand a month coming in in retirement. And they're very frugal. Not actually they call themselves cheap. I just use the word frugal, but
you know that more than covers their monthly expenses by far. So looking at all the income streams, because retirement income is the name of the game, and in our class, as we point out too, if you're still working, you know there's income limits as far as how much you can make and
these haven't been adjusted for years. For example, if you're under full retirement age, the twenty twenty four limit is twenty three three and twenty dollars any amount over that they're going to withhal one dollar benefits per two dollars of earnings, so it might not make sense your full retirement age. Then the year that you too turn full retimin age, of course, then you can make up homes up to sixty thousand. Beyond that, beyond that full reterminage,
there's no limits. So just keep in mind it has to make sense, and if it doesn't make sense, and then always factor in the tax It's why our classes are called maximize social security and taxation because taxes drives lots of
things in retirement. Well, Larry, I want to talk a little bit more about the different times that you draw up your social security, but first we want to tell everybody how they can get it into the office and make an appointment, and that's by the phone Haven Financial Group at six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. Call set up an appointment with Larry or another member of his team, go in and sit down and talk about your
retirement plans. Put together a full retirement plan that you can stress test, that you can make sure is going to be proper for you throughout ups and downs, and hopefully a very long, healthy and happy retirement, or you can also go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. When we talk about social security here, Larry and you talk about someone who maybe let's just say they draw it, maybe their full retirement age is sixty seven, but they draw it at
sixty five. What's the difference in what they're getting at sixty five or had they waited till they were sixty seven. Yeah, Kim. From sixty two to sixty six, social security grows by six percent plus the cost of living adjustment. From sixty six to seventy, it grows by eight percent plus the cost of living adjustment, which is announced every October, and this year it's three point two. The previous year we had a big one at eight point seven, and then a good size won the year before that, So in
the last year you could have had an increase of almost seventeen percent. So yes, the longer you wait, the bigger the check. That doesn't mean that's right for you, you know. Susie Orman on TV, of course, she says everybody should wait till seventy and quite frankly, that's just not true. I mean, some people should if it makes sense, But then you factor in the taxes. You know, one of the miss misconceptions is
social Security isn't taxable. Well, that's why there's a formia cloud provisional income, and people come in and we sit down and we go through our proprietary process and we look at this because up to eighty five percent up to it's a progressive tax. Up to eighty five percent of your social security can be taxed. It doesn't mean it will be taxed, but there's income thresholds and these income thresholds have not changed since the late seventies and early eighties, which
asked me if that makes sense. Of course it doesn't make sense. But for a married couple, it's a progressive no tax up until thirty two thousand. Anything over thirty two thousand annual is approximately I think it's fifty percent, and then anything over forty four thousand. When a married couple jointed income of forty four thousand doesn't take a lot, up to eighty five percent of it then will be taxed. So it's important to understand the tax ramifications. Does
it make sense to draw is are you relying on social Security only? I don't think there's any takers who wants to live on social Security only. Yet a lot of Americans are living on Social Security only. So in our conversations, we're gonna look at all everything, all aspects of your retirement. You know, what income streams do you have, what are your expenses, And at the end of the day, it's not one glove, it's all. As I mentioned many times, it's your situation is your situation, and that's
really what matters, not what anybody else is doing. I think I've asked you this before, Larry, but it's worth asking again. Let's say that you decided sixty two, I'm going to start drawing my socials, So so's see if I can say that again social Security and then you get to sixty four and you determined that this is just not going to be enough money and I'm going to need to go back to work. Can you turn it off or what can you do at that point? Yeah, prior to full retirement
age. Okay, if you turn it on and then go back to work, you can stop it, but you have to pay back everything that you've collected in that timeframe. So in the first year, first twelve months, you can stop it, but you have to pay the money back. Well, we saw this quite often when COVID hit factory shut down, you needed income, you turned on Social Security and now the factory start to back up. And yes, you can change it. If you're over full retirement age,
you can stop it and let it continue to get delayed credits. So yes you can stop it. But before full retire and age, you know you probably had to turn it on because you needed money, but you would have to pay it back in twelve months. So and all oftentimes people come in with this notion that I'm just going to sock it to the government and turn on Social Security right away, right And in conversation, I bet you
this happens more than a few times weekly. We'll run the numbers and we'll talk through it, and then they'll say, well, it doesn't make sense for me to turn it on. Exactly exactly why we had this conversation, and it's not us trying to convince somebody, it's showing the math associated with the decision. And again, you want to make sure you get it right the first time. And we want to avoid these golden ear mistakes that people
make just because they just don't know. We want to avoid those things. Yeah, and the concept of trying to get back at Uncle Sam in the end. Seems to always come back at you, doesn't it? Socially a feuderal less usually a feudal absolutely? Six one seven all I'm sorry. Six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. That's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Haven Financial Group. We're go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Okay, when we come back, you're maybe questioning, how
can I maximize my retirement accounts when markets are unstable? Taxes just keep going up. Well, maybe whith Ira conversions are in your future. You're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement pays. 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
Karragan. 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. Thanks for listening this morning. Lots of retirement topics. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at six' one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or send us an email and visit
our website at Havenfinancial Group dot com. I always say our job description is to answer questions, because these are questions you deserve to have answered, and if you're not getting them answered, that can lead to a lot of concern as well. Absolutely, you're so right. Yeah, we've a real informative show here. First, we've started with three aspects of your retirement that you would never want to ignore, including retirement stability, healthcare, and social security
and how it maybe could play a role in protecting your wealth. But now what we want to talk about is roth ira conversions. As I said I said before the break, you know a lot of people are wondering how they can maximize their retirement accounts when you've got you know, markets that are so unstable. We do see taxes going up constantly, we see inflation that has caused the cost of living to go up. And I know in the past, Larry, you and I have talked about wroth iras and conversions. So
let's start first off with a wroth ira. Let's explain to everybody what that is, and then we'll transition into why this may be a viable means for many retirees. We're in tax season and we're in the middle of it. Lance is our in house CPA. You've heard me say many times we're big
into forward thinking tax planning, especially for retirement. And you know, you have listeners and those that drop off their taxes to their prepare and pick them up and never even have a conversation on taxes, which can lead to mistakes or not having a good understanding of why you're doing LANCE and our approaches. Hey, let's talk through what's going on. Should we have a further withholdings? Are having enough withheld? Is your situation require quarterly installments to avoid penalties?
And there's just not enough tax conversation discussions out there. You know, when we look at people and in preparing for retirement, looking at does it make sense to do roth conversion? It may or may not. The problem is if you haven't had the conversations, you're going to have an unforced here.
And this past week I think I probably had five different couples that missed a Roth conversion opportunity in their case and nobody talked to them about it and didn't know about it, and these tax brackets are going to sunset the end of twenty twenty five and the rates are going up, and we've had historically low tax rates for years. Now does it make sense, Well, let
me draw a scenario. If you're in the early years of retirement and maybe you haven't turned on your Social Security yet, you're delaying it for good reason. Maybe you haven't turned on your pension and your income is really lean, Well, you want to make sure fill that twelve percent tax bracket up or the lower brackets, and quite frankly, with the standard deduction that pushes you up in the one hundred and twenty hundred and thirty thousand range for a married
couple filing jointly. So we want to fill that up either as an IRA distribution, pay lower taxes now, or convert IRA to a WROTH and pay the taxes at the low rate. If you're already in a super already in a super high tax bracket, well then it doesn't make sense. But we want to fill that twelve percent bracket up. Now. Are there any limits on conversion. No, The only limit is the ability to pay the tax. So we want to get it right because it used to be in years
past you could recharacterize if you did too much and fix it. There is no recharacterizations anymore. So, Again, conversions are different than contributions. Now we're getting to the tax deadline. If you need to do an IRA contribution or a ROTH contribution, get that in before the tax deadline, which is tax day. Maybe that makes sense. That's all part of the again, that tax planning process. Maybe you've made too much money and there's income limits
on contributing to Maybe that's restricted to you. But how do the affluent are those that have while they do backdoor roth iras, they don't get there, they don't necessarily get the tax benefit, but they put it in, they don't get the benefit, and then convert it to a ROTH. So you know, there's oftentimes there's a will, there's a way, and the tax co doesn't always make sense. But does it make sense for you? Again, there's not enough tax conversations out there. There's a lot of times very
limited conversations between tax preparers. And let me ask you, are you working with a tax prepare or are you working with a CPA. I'm not saying I'm not saying one's bad. It's just there's a difference. There's a difference. And also on another note, I see a lot of retirees paying way too much for tax tax preparation. They're just getting their taxes prepared. And
I just had John and Nancy and from Lakeville, both retired. They both are in they were both retired teachers for quite a few years now and they have a pretty straightforward situation, and I ask them who does their taxes? They get it prepared, and they were paying like five hundred dollars for tax prep. Now nothing's free. But I'm like, your's just really really simple, and they go, yeah, I think we're paying way too much, So just be aware of that. I mean, nothing's free, but what
are you getting. We're having conversations throughout the year, especially in retirement, about tax planning, income planning, distribution, and then getting taxes prepared is just an exclamation point. There should be no surprises. You've already should have already talked through, so there are no surprises. So again, is it appropriate for you, maybe, But talking through these things and not missing opportunities that I know is important and should be important. So are there age deadlines
associated with wroth iras and with conversions. Yeah, it's important to know that. You know, you have to have a wrath for five years. Each ROTH conversion starts a new five year timeline, So each conversion has a five year timeline. But if it's just regular roths, you've got to have them
five years. But odds are if you've had that long anyways, then it's accessible and you want to avoid any possible penalties that come with taking it out too early, not knowing that there's a penalty to take early withdrawals from roths or roth conversions. Again, that's all part of the conversation to avoid the surprise is so yes, beware of the five year rule. We talk about it in all of our discussions. Time, different timelines, all of that.
You don't have to take rm ds with roths like you do your traditional array, so that's definitely a benefit, and you can allow those ROTH investments to grow and never pay tax on it again. And another plus is for those that think legacy is important in passing these onto your kids, they're tax free, tax free to your beneficiaries, so that's another plus. And by the way, make sure you have beneficiaries on you your accounts. I can't
tell you how elementary it may sound. But again, just this last week, I had a gentleman I was doing a review. He took advantage of the retirement readiness appointment and it was our second time together and I was looking at all his statements and I'm like, I can't find any beneficiaries on your statements. He goes, yeah, I could never figure out who to put. Well, if something happened, that would have been a mess, So please update them. That's an easy thing to do. So again, the
right accounts beneficiaries. Your situation is your situation, and again, whoever you're working with should be taking the time to help you. Larry, if you're coming out of an employer's for a one K, can you roll it absolutely yeah, WROTH for a one k's or would be the same as a regular for one K. Most people, when you leave employment, you don't want to leave them there. That doesn't mean you can't, But you can roll those into a regular wrathire age, just like you can the four oh one
K into a traditional IRA. And you know it may make sense because you have all the investment options on the menu, where employer sponsor plans do not. And there's rules with diras that you have to drain them in ten years. If it's in an IRA and a four oh one K, it has to be drained in five years if they're going to the kids. So different rule changes, law changes, they happen, and if you miss those deadlines then you're going to have penalties and all that kind of stuff, which is
completely unnecessary. But if you don't deal with on a regular basis like we do, you may not even be aware of it. Knowledge in all of these situations, it just seems to me is your best friend. So knowledge is something that Larry is happy to share with you. At Haven Financial Group. He and his entire team are extremely knowledgeable about all of these subjects. Six one two five zero four eight four zero zero is the number you can
call and set up an appointment with someone on the team. Havenfinancialgroup dot com. You go there. The website is awesome. You can sign up for one of these great informative seminars that are being held by You said, you've got a did you say social no healthcare coming up here pretty quick? May second, Yeah, medicare made simple. May second. We have ongoing maximize social security classes and tax classes. The good news is you don't have to
do it alone. You can often make the most of your retirement goals by making and taking a comprehensive, inventive and tailored approach to your needs to your retirement Because there's there could be lots of moving pieces. I mean it's frequent that I get somebody say, you know, this retirement thing can get a little complicated. Our job is to simplify things, make it as uncomplicated as possible. But all these retirement puzzle pieces, do you have all the pieces?
Are they being coordinated? The estate plan, to the insurance, to the investment, to the taxes, they all they're all connected. They all go to the same retirement puzzle. Do you know how to put all the pieces together? And are the folks you're working with are they spending time with you seriously spending time giving you the confidence to know that somebody is looking out
and coaching you. And we love to be a partner with retirees and hold their hand to make sure they're not making any mistakes that are they're critical in their retirement years. Six one, two, five zero four eight four zero zero. That is the number understanding your retirement stability. We hope that We've been a real help to people who've been listening. Larry, Yes, thanks
so much. Cam. Always good to be with you. Have a blessed week, and again tune into the Haven Financial Group radio show next Sunday between eight and nine. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or as our newly revamped website, Havenfinancialgroup dot com.
Great to be with you again. KIM Investment Advisory service is offered through Guardian Wealth Strategies LLC, Haven Financial Group and Guardy and 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 as 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.