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 oh 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. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm Larry call the founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. We got a lot to cover today. Kim, great to be with you. How's it going. Everything is very good, very very good. And it's great to be with you as well. Today we're going to talk about retirement timelines and some of the things that you need to know along the way. I think people who are
listening are going to really enjoy this show today. It's very interesting and a wide swath of those of you listening I think will be affected by what we have to say today. Let me start though, by just reminding you about Haven Financial Group's telephone number. You hear anything here that certainly strikes a chord with you, please feel free to call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or you can reach Haven Financial Group on their website
it's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. So we want to talk a little bit about what you need to know at each stage of your life as it pertains to retirement planning. So let's start Larry in those younger years. First off, I think we have to dispel the myth that when you're young you don't have to think about retirement. No, that is so correct. I mean the earlier
you can start, the better. And interesting enough, just this past week I started the week off with a gentleman coming in who is twenty one years old, which you know typically we're dealing with those that are close to retirement and retirement. And his grandma and grandpa actually our clients and have been and they told him to reach out, and he came in at twenty one, just got his welder's license, just got a good job, and I got
him help setting up his four when k employer sponsored plans. So I was really impressed, because the sooner you can get started, the better start getting those contributions. And this gentleman was doing that, and that was pretty amazing considering we don't see that very often. So start saving like it really was yesterday, that the power of compounding returns is so very powerful. And then he has also done a good job of addressing his debt situation. You know,
he had a loan for his motorcycle and an auto loan. But we talked about interest rates and thankfully he had not let himself rack up credit card bills, which a lot of people are paying way too much for interest, I mean twenty thirty percent, which is crazy. Can be very difficult to get out of that hole. And you know, we set up a certain percentage of his paycheck going into that at four one K. And then he followed it up. I mean, he was just like textbook at twenty one
years old. He goes, well, then should I start saving in a savings account? And we talked about the need for putting together a budget, factoring in the expenses, and I said, well, you got to live a bit, a little bit too so and I said, at the end of the end of the month, whatever you have left over, then maybe get a high yield savings account, something that's liquid. Because he was already talking about, well, I'm going to need money down for a house.
So he really had his ducks in a row. And that was really textbook to see because I just don't see that very often today. No, well, and it sounds like to me he might have been a very fortunate young man in that he doesn't have school loan debt. That's another thing that so many of these young people are dealing with now. He had very minimal so he was very fortunate that way. He's had some family support, which was
a so that was very helpful in his situation. But again, looking at your looked at his investment options, the element of time is different for him compared to retirees, so the amount of risk in his portfolio was a completely different than say our sixty five year old or sixty or seventy year old. So again it was really impressive in those younger years. It's so critical to
get off to a good start. It's terrific. Let's jump ahead in a little bit now the pre retirement year, so your late forties and you start to get into your fifties. This is the time I think when more people really do start to turn their attention and think about retirement. It starts becoming much people start becoming much more aware. Oh my goodness, here I am
forty fifty years old. The kids who maybe gotten a little older, maybe empty nester, and you retirement's probably ten twenty years now in the being so now really talking about that risk level again, always understanding what investments you're in and why you're in them. But then you get to fifty, to make sure you don't forget about the catch up contributions that are available to you, being able to put more away than ire to age fifty and looking at all
the different asset classes. And that's why I think it's important to have a good partner, somebody working for you to be aware of these options and these retirement dates are. You know, they can come and go, and if you're not aware of them, I can really cause some serious problems. Sure absolutely, And I you know, up until that time, I don't think you really would be aware of those. That's not something that people are thinking
about in their thirties. You're busy raising kids and you know, trying to go to soccer games and whatnot. So, like you said, it's great to have a good partner. It feels like to me in your late forties early fifties, if you haven't already, that's the time to get hold of somebody like you, most definitely, because before you know it, you're going to be hit that you know, sixties to seventies and now the retirement years
now now they're here. Now it's executing that plan that you hopefully have had in place for a while, staying vigilant, staying on track. And you
know there's some psychology that goes with that. And the money. With money, now we're talking social security for a lot of baby boom that's in your you know, mid sixties sixty six, a lot of full retermin age sixty seven for the younger generations, and making not being afraid to make adjustments because you're not twenty thirty or forty anymore now, you're maybe in your mid sixties.
So understanding your wealth picture, what your plan is, looking at the income streams, having the ability to take out of iras now after fifty nine and a half without penalties, that's important to know. And again just being aware of, you know, what makes the most sense when you should turn these income streams on. Maybe you're fortunate to have a pension. Now it's all going to come together, and you want to make sure that plan is
clearly outlined. Otherwise, you know, think the water can get a little bit muddy, and we want to do things in the most tax efficient way possible, and that's why these income streams and talking through these things are so important. Absolutely. Let me give everybody the number. If you're listening right now and you'd like to set up an appointment with Lair or a member of
his team to talk through maybe where you are in this timeline. That number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. That's the number to call to reach Haven Financial Group. Talk to them about setting up a free consultation to talk about
your timeline or you can reach them at Hanfinancialgroup dot com. So, Larry, when we get into this this group of you know, sixty three to seventy and now we're trying to make decisions about social security and like you said, maybe executing their plan and being a little more maybe reserve for some people when it comes to their investments, how do you or do you approach maybe someone who has a larger accumulated wealth, for someone who has done a good
job of savings, but maybe you know, saving bit along the way they need to be a little more careful. Do you approach those two different scenarios differently? Well, it certainly might be a different plan, but we follow the same script if you will, in our proprietary process, whether you have a ton, a lot, or very little. What I can tell you that is that wealth means different things to different people. You know, sometimes people all they have a lot, yeah, but do you know their expenses
are ten times what your expenses are. So we have folks that have a high net worth that fear running out of money because their expenses are so high, and those that don't have very much that have pensions and social security, which are they're happy as can be and they're so it's different for everybody, but lifestyle and expenses is a big one for lower income. You know,
obviously income social Security, they might be more reliant on this. And just this last week and it reiterates what you and I talk about every single week. I had a client that referred to with their sister and they came in and they have a place in Florida and she lost her husband last year. Now for those listeners that if you're married and you're not paying attention to what's going on, and not everybody likes this stuff. Now she's a widow.
She's trying to pick up the pieces. And in this case, she had no she was oblivious to everything that had go on, and her late husband handled all of it. Well. She's sitting on, unbeknownst to her a twenty to thirty million dollar estate. She has no idea, she has tax problems, a state tax problems, tax, so all of these things and it had to be so overwhelming for her, because it's overwhelming for anybody, let alone Now somebody that's eighty years old trying to pick up the pieces.
So whether you have a lot or a little, and everything in between. Certainly, be aware, be involved, make sure if you're married, the spouse at least has a relationship with somebody. Because life happens, it happens quickly. And now you have this widow. Hey, her late husband did great and he wasn't planning on exiting and when he did, but he did, and now she's trying to pick up the pieces. And again, they did a great job, they did a great job planning. She just didn't
know that they had this much. So again, a lot of real life situations lately, and it just makes you think about the things we talk about in the importance of absolutely Let's give everybody the number again. It is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or you can reach out Havenfinancialgroup dot com. So what can you control and what can't you control? Let's talk about that as it pertains to the retirement timeline. When we come
back, you're listening to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement ways Devin the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. 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 Ken Karagan. Now back to the show. Welcome back listeners. My name is Larry Kalvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial
Group. Thanks for listening this morning. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or visit us online Havenfinancialgroup dot com. All kinds of retirement tools, a calendar for upcoming seminars and educational events. So again, Havenfinancialgroup dot com. What can we control and what
can't we control? Those are the key questions here. Yeah, they certainly are, and I think along the way many people ask these questions and what can help them control things or whether there's you know, issues they're just completely out of their control. So let's start right now, starting with budget and spending. What can we control them? What can't we in this situation? Larry, Well, whether you think you can or can a monthly budget you
can control. Now, for many people it might be out of control. Uh, maybe you don't have a budget because it's not exactly fun to put together a budget. Whether you're young or old, though you should have something to hold you accountable. You might find out that, like if you're like our daughters that go to Starbucks way too often that that expense might be out of control. So you can control your budget, make sure you prepare for
the you know, emergency fund. Liquid monies are so important, and I can tell you I visit with a lot of retirey retirees that do not have enough liquid monies, emergency fund, call it whatever you want to. You know, six months of money is available to in case something happens. And separate the needs and the wants oftentimes that you know that's important. Sometimes you think you need something, but really it's just something that you want. We
can't control prices. Prices are still astronomical. It's just budgets have had to be changed because of how everything expenses it is. And then be prepared for it. I guess I mentioned those surprise expenses. We know the grandkids or kids, they are going to have birthday parties. But you know that air conditioner. Now that it's summer, the air conditioner goes out, or I had somebody in last week the washer went out, so I need a new
washing machine. And those are the things that we can't prepare for, but they happen. They happen to every one of us, they really do. Whether the roof's supposed to leak or the more goes out, you know, there are issues along the way, no matter what. I will say one thing, Larry, you and I have talked about this so many times,
and I did notice a little shift. I was in the grocery store the other day and I walked out and I had about the same amount of bags I usually do, and I paid about thirty five or forty dollars less. I don't know. I don't know if that was a positive thing or if that was just me taking note, But it felt a little bit better. Perhaps we're headed in the right direction. And I can only hope because this
has been a long time coming. You know other things. You know, when it comes to the stock market, you and I talk a lot about that. Nobody controls the market. The market moves. What you can control is how much risk you are taking in your portfolio. And every week, you know, when we sit with folks and we stress test portfolios, they're often caught off guard as to wow, I didn't know I was taking that much risk. No wonder I lost so much money in twenty twenty two.
Becoming more aware of where your position and having a good understanding is even more important as the element of time and retirement looms. The market's gonna move, It's gonna go up, but it's gonna go down. There's gonna be bearish markets and bullish markets. But where are you in the timeline of life? That's the timing. Is the timing for retirement that is the big, big question. We can control the timeline, have a plan, you know,
that's executed for whatever age you're at. But what we can't control is life's calendar doesn't always cooperate with our calendar. Health is a game changer. People know that. Jobs. I just had somebody in last week forty years as a marketing professional and they got a pink slip and they had no idea. They didn't see it coming. So, you know, be prepared because life happens quickly. Yes, it certainly does. Income generation, Let's talk about
how much of that you can actually control. Well. Income is the name of the game, mailbox money guaranteed income. Do you have a pension? Many people would not. I had a class last week though, where almost there's seventy five percent had pensions. It's like, wow, you don't see that very often it's where we get into the social security question. When should you take it? Why should you take it? You know, should you wait till a full retirement age? Should the lower bread winners started earlier?
Should maybe one of you, if you're married, wait till seventy? You know, these are the discussions where is it going to come from? And then ultimately, when you have to start drawing off those IRA moneies, we want to do so again in the most tax efficient way possible. Which accounts should we tap into first to supplement those other income streams? Again, guaranteed
income compared to variable income, most people would choose to guarantee. Sure, we can't always always control budget needs, but you I think explained earlier, we can control some of that. There's going to be those times when the refrigerator is going to go out or the disposal, but in general we can pretty well we can control that. Let's take a look at health and health insurance. Obviously, health is something that we it's very difficult to control,
although we can certainly take care of ourselves. Right, certainly we can take care of ourselves and you know, watch what we eat and all those various things. Now as it relates to retirement planning. You know, now then we get into Okay, if you retire before medicare sixty five, how do you bridge the gap for insurance? We help a lot of people in this area and we have access to pretty much everything. You know, how do we bridge the gap? Or when you get to medicare. We have Medicare
made simple classes. It's not simple, but all the different options. You should shop it out every year just to make sure you're in the right right plan for the right cost based on your situation. You know, if you're earlier years of retirement and you haven't turned on Social Security or pensions, maybe you qualify for minshure or Minnesota Care. Nobody should be guilty about that. It's the way the system is set up. And we deal a lot with
taxes. I always say taxes will probably affect you more in retirement than ever before, and that doesn't sound uplifting. But what you can to do is have a long term tax strategy. It's why we touch on wroth conversions. I just had several couples last week miss a wrath conversion opportunity because nobody helped them. They never had the kind of conversations what we can't control. Of course, are the tax laws. You know, laws are made to change,
they continue to change. We know the tax rules are going to sunset and go back to what they were in twenty twenty six. But what we can do is have tax discussions to make sure we're doing things the proper way. And then you know, a state planning carries our estate planning attorney. We'll have around and maybe in the next couple of weeks. Again, but that is so important, you know. And I think of the lady that was in They had an estate plan, she just didn't know what it was.
And it's a state. It's not the same for everybody. But at the end of the day, what is the long term plan? What is your legacy plan? And again do you need everything that Those are the areas we're going to talk through because some people need some things and not everything. You know, whether it's a will or a trust or whatever it is. Sure, So in the long run, how does all of this help execute a retirement strategy? Well, so you know what actions to take. And
I again, I like this golf analogy. Almost pursue golf as a career, but I haven't played in nine years and I'm not complaining because I'll get back into it. But you can adjust your clubs. You can work with your swing, but you can't you can't redo your shot. You know, the wind comes up. You have to allow for the wind. You need to be prepared to have other clubs in hand if need be, if you go into the bunker or not. So this is a you know, retirement
planning is a work in progress. It doesn't happen overnight, but it should progress over time. It's not a lock it and leave it type of thing. It's okay, we're at this age now, we're doing this, but then as life progresses, we get older, we maybe accumulate some more things, the kids get older. Now there's grandkids. It should adapt and it's
it's not the same for everybody. We can't predict the future, but we can allow for specific outcomes that we know historically they're going to happen sooner or later. And there may be mistakes along the way, right, but we just try to do our best to overcome those mistakes and move forward. Happened. Life happens, but it's what you put into it. Because a lot of people, you know, I'm not there yet. I don't need to do anything. You don't have to do anything. You know, choices.
There's a lot of optional choices in life. But it's what you do now to get prepared for retirement that can really pave the way for a successful retirement years. Because remember they're called the golden years for a reason, you know, Larry, The longer that you and I spend time together, the more I have learned. And I so appreciate the fact that you recognize that life happens because it does, it does, and things are going to come about.
And I don't think you hold people's, you know, feet to the flames if sometimes there's little bumps along the way life. Hey, life is challenging and there's unforeseen circumstances, and none of us, none of us are made perfect, and all of our families are different, our individual choices are different. We can only be responsible for our actions and make adjustments along the way. You bet, Let's give everybody the number if they'd like to sit
down and talk with you about a retirement plan. Six one two five zero four eight four zero zero is the number. Set up a free consultation you can meet with Larry or a member of his team to talk about your retirement timeline and you know the kinds of needs that you, as Larry said, you and your family need. You can also go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. That's Haven Financial Group dot com and learn more about some upcoming seminars, some
educational seminars that Larry has on the books. They are free, but they fill up very quickly, so be sure you go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com today. All right, coming up the investment bucket strategy for the retirement journey that's coming your way 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 Kolvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. Thanks for tuning in. Visit our website Havenfinancialgroup dot com, or give us a call. Ask
us questions six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. The Bucket Strategy been talked about for years for what I didn't really like that analogy for longest time, but it's something people can relate to. Kim absolutely. So first off, what is the bucket strategy. Well, it's the three pools of assets I call it. You know, your liquid monies, your protected monies investments, and your risk investments. The first could be say it's safe.
Always be careful with the words safe, because is it truly safe. The middle would be more moderate risk, and the stock market directly would be more risky investments. And you know, it's not for us to say that one's right or wrong, but there should be a good balance, especially as you get closer to retirement. And observation I've seen for years and continue to see, unfortunately, is a lot of people get closer in retirement and they have
very little liquid and everything at risk in the market. And somehow that is supposed to be a good recipe for retirement, and I'm going to tell you it's not a good recipe for retirement. There's benchmarks we like to see for liquid moneys. You know, I for a retired couple, and this may sound completely out of whack with what you may think, but for a mid sixties retired couple. We like to see fifty to one hundred grand liquid.
Now, I can tell you most don't have that, and some listeners might go, well, why would you do that, Well, it's because there's always the need for money surprises. And then if the markets are down, obviously you don't want to sell off investments at a low price. So there's a variety of reasons. And again we're not against speculation, but in the retirement years, you want to be more aware and have a better understanding of what assets are aware and if you don't know right now, give us a
call, set up the time to come in and visit. Because the middle category, which is more of the protected principal preservation type of investments, a lot of people are not even familiar with that one and they have very little liquid and you may have a lot more risk in your portfolio. What we
can control is the amount of risk that you're taking. For a lot of folks that again, Larry, we're a little more conservative now and every week we look, we stress test people's portfolios and they go, oh, my goodness, this isn't where I need to be or this is not where I should be. It's really the willingness for risk, the need for risk, and the ability to take risk, and how you answer those questions. And again it's not for us to say, well, you need to take risk
or you don't need to take any risk. It's individually and as a couple or as a family at this stage of the game, are you willing, do you need to and do you have the And just this last week I had a couple they go, well, we don't really need to take any risk, do we, Well, based upon our projections thirty years out, no, you don't. But yet they were They were just unaware of it, which I see all the time. Sure, give me some examples,
if you will, these three buckets. If you will, so safe, what's what's let's go through those again, safe, moderate, and risky, just examples of them. So safe money, Yeah, that'd be that's good. That's your shorter term money. That would be a high yield savings account, money market accounts, certificates of deposits, CDs, a shorter term, fully liquid. And now we can get four or five, five and a
half percent, which is great. It had for fifteen years we couldn't get anything but a few pennies and now we should be getting at least four to five and a half. So that's your shorter term money, safer moneys. You're fixed the middle bucket, which is more of the intermediate. That would be more maybe fixed annuities, fixed income, maybe some higher grade corporate bonds of some of the bonds, so the FI the income side of things might
be fixed indextinuities for principal protection, that would be in that category. And then on the stock market, the riskier side, of course, we're going to get into the stocks and bonds and equities, emerging markets, international, you could put hedge funds in there. You could put a variety of different types of stock market investments that carry more risk to them. Sure. Absolutely. So. Now let's say we've gotten you know, these three buckets set
up in the best that we can. Then how do we begin to draw off those How do we use those buckets once we get into retirement. Yeah, as you near retirement, the idea is going to shift necessarily from the we always want good returns. Don't get me wrong, but it's going to shift from maybe having creating wealth and going to less risky type of investments. And then the need for income. Where's the income going to come from? Again, that's going to be driven by taxes again tax efficiency, But how
do you replace that paycheck? Where does the money come from? As I mentioned before, one of the hardest thanks for retirees is not getting a paycheck anymore, because all those years you got a paycheck, and now we need to help people create their own paycheck. And for some that's very very interesting. So again it's an adjustment from relying on an employer to now relying on your retirement funds that you put together to supplement maybe if you're lucky enough to
have a pension, and then Social Security. So we do a lot of income planning, which relates to tax planning. All of this, as I recall, is the retirement puzzle pieces. How do they go together? All those years you just put it in that in four to one care wherever you put it. Now it's the opposite. Now you're in the distribution phase of life, not in the accumulations phase of life. And again it's just this different season of life. And then you know the benefits of the bucket strategy,
flexibility would be one of them. Over time, you should be adjusting the risk again going for more risky to safer to provide income. And then diversification is always important and people oftentimes misled to the degree that, well, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket. Yet to have three different color statements financial statements, yet all three of them have exactly the
same recipe. Well, that's not diversification. Now, you don't have to have everything in the same place if you don't want to, I can tell you. For retirees, though, consolidation simplification is extremely important, and you can still have diversification and still accomplish all those goals. You know, when we started, you said that originally you weren't crazy about this bucket strategy. Walk us through why you weren't crazy about it, and maybe how you have
changed your mind about it a bit. Well, I just thought, I just thought everybody is using that same phrase or the same terminology, and you know, I just get bored with the same the same conversation. So but it is relatable and it is a great, you know, great way for people to get wrapped their head around. Well, okay, now, lick what is important? Yes, some safe is important, and then it's okay to have some risky, So it was just more of a personal preference.
Everybody's saying exactly the same thing, and quite frankly, it's just grown on me over the years. And you talked about the fact that you have more flexibility with this walk through that why do you say flexibility? And that's one of the benefits of this. Well, if you have a good recipe with all three of these, then it allows you to adapt when the market's down to draw off of savings, and if the market's going really well, it can have the opposite. So again, if you have a good, good
balance and retirement now you're not locked in. If you have it all in the market and the market's down and you're drawing off those investments, you're doing about it. You're doing it. The timing is completely wrong. So the flexibility, you have three different things to get your hand in the cookie jar, depending upon what the markets are doing. At what stage do you suggest that people be broken into these three different categories, Well, to some degree,
at any age you should have a somewhat of a balance. Now when you getting close to retirement, that does change significantly, and I would say at least five years prior to retirement making sure that you have a good liquid amount, and I said fifty to one hundred grand doesn't mean you can't get some returns on that, but really five years and in there should be a gradual process and that it's different for everybody, but typically as what we see
is taking the foot off the gas pet a little bit, reducing risk as time goes on. Now, I know there's some listeners that they like risk, and we're not against it. It's just says most people are unaware and
they only become aware is when there's a negative impact on their portfolio. Absolutely well, if you're someone who is thinking, wow, it's time for me to start to divvy up my wealth in three different categories as we've talked about here, safe, moderate, and maybe riskier investments, and you're not doing so right now, and you'd like some advice, some help in doing so, give Haven Financial Group a call. It's six one two five zero four
eight four zero zero. You call, you can set up a free consultation, go in, meet with a member of Larry's team or Larry himself and chat about where you are and make a decision as to whether Haven Financial Group is right for you. Six' one two five zero four eight four zero zero. You can also learn more about Haven Financial Group by going to their website. It's Hanfinancialgroup dot com. All Right, lots of myths out there,
aren't there. I mean, I think people, and a lot of times you get them from your neighbor and from your brother in law, and so and so said I I've heard this, and I've heard that. So we're going to try to debunk some of those myths about the retirement journey when we come back right here on the Haven Financial Group Radio Showing. 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 Kulvig and Kim Karrigan. Now back to the show. Good morning, and welcome back to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. I'm Larry Kolvig, founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. Thanks for listening. Feel free to give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero
zero or visit us online at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. A lot of myths out there. Misunderstandings, the watering hole, your neighbor, your brother, your sister. They're all kinds of them out there, Kim, let's do uh, let's have a discussion on in debunk some of these myths. As I bet you Larry. People come in certainly not their fault, but they say things and you guys think, wow, where did you hear that? Yeah? On the internet is also lensing as well, I should say, Internet,
social media, those those are all out there. Let's start with the markets too risky for your retirement money. I mean, just because you're in retirement doesn't mean you can't have any money in the markets. Oh, absolutely not. I mean, but what is the right balance for you? Have you had these conversations or discussions as we get older again, maybe reducing the amount of risk if it makes sense. But let's face it, you can
be too conservative as well. The recent years, inflation has been skyrocketed and it can erode your money the value of the dollar. We want to keep up with inflation otherwise you're going backwards and that's no good whatsoever. We kind of alluded to it earlier. You don't need to start saving retirement, at least your forties. Well, I can tell you that twenty one year old, though was in my office, who's now contributing to his four oh one
k taking advantage of a match and can making his own contributions. He sticks to that, he's twenty one. When he hit sixty, his retirement is going to look pretty you know, it looks it's going to look pretty good, assuming he can stick to his goal, which I believe you will. So again, no time is too early because decades go quickly, and oh my goodness, and here we are. We should have started earlier. Yep,
that's for sure. I think a lot of people believe. Well, I'm not real concerned about it because social Security will cover all of my expenses. And that's not necessarily true either. Well, it's unfortunately what's happened to the Social security You know, social Security was not designed by nature way back in the day when it was signed in by Roosevelt nineteen thirty five. It was not designed to cover all your expenses and to give you a comfortable lifetime
income for ten, twenty or thirty years. So Americans have become reliant on it. Now. I'm not saying that's bad, but it's dangerous. Because it's hindered people from saving their own money, thinking that social security is just going to be a given. Now, my opinion says they're not going to do away with it, but there's going to have to be some changes. It's difficult for any change to happen, so be careful being relying too heavily
on social security. I like the approach. If it's here, great, If not, well, I've prepared myself on my own, so either way, I'm going to be found. You know, we want to remind everyone that if you are looking for information about social security, even financial group hold seminars. They're educational seminars, and I know that you frequently have them on social security, don't you, Larry, because that's a hot button issue for a lot of people. Yes, we teach social Security and tax class and
it's very well attended. You can visit our site to see our upcoming classes. Because a lot of people have lots of questions they don't know what to turn to for the answers. It's an educational class. Yes, people have the opportunity to gather more information from us and visit with us, but it truly is educational. We're a part of Adult Financial Education Systems with which is a not for profit chapter across the country doing exactly what the name says,
adult financial education. That's just one of other many classes that we teach. And again go to our site and you can see which ones and one of the other ones is regarding social security, is social Security isn't taxed? Well, guess what. I'm sorry to be the very of bad news, but it is taxed. It can be taxed. Now it depends upon your other income streams how it's going to be taxed. It could have zero tax it could be fifty percent or even up to eighty five percent of it could be
taxed. So it's a progressive tax. So we need to factor in all your other incomes, and we help people understand that so they're not thinking that it's going to be taxed or not taxed federally. And of course we live in the state of Minnesota, which last summer did make a change because we were one of twelve thirteen states then who taxed it at the state level. Well, now if you're just a gross income I married couples below one hundred thousand, it won't be taxed. So there's a rule change. I wish
they would have gone further. So I know a lot of listeners have thought about moving to Arizona, South Dakota, Florida, Tennessee to get away from that state social Security tax. All I'll say is I understand why it. Just make sure you check out applicable taxes in those states. Let's talk about Medicare because I think a lot of people think that you don't have to pay anything for Medicare. I wish that were the case, but it isn't the
case. Part A is free now I question. Nothing's free. You're paying for it some way. But Part ABC and D work differently to cover certain things. Medicare and healthcare is a very complex topic. And Glenn and Isabella in our office, they help a lot of people with Medicare. We teach them Medicare made simple, class, Medicare one on one class, very helpful.
Education is very important in this area as well. To make sure that you're exploring all options, and you should work with somebody that truly has a non biased approach like we do in Glenn and Isabella, because again it's not the same for everybody. Human nature, we get locked in our ways. And well, I've been with so and so for so many years, and I'm fine where I'm at and you might be fine, but you also might be paying too much. And how would you know if you don't get a
second opinion. So, healthcare is a big one. You know. Some people think, oh, when I get to retirement, everything's going to be cheaper. No, no, and inflation's high. Things are expensive. You want to live in retirement, So again, planning for retirement, you know, healthcare is a major expense. And if you want to you know, if you've got hobbies, you want to travel, you want to play golf.
All of these things add up. And another one I'll add to that is, well, if I'm married, my spouse passes away, the expenses get cut in half. They don't get cut in half. It may be it may go down a little bit because your spouse isn't here with their bad habits, but you know, at the end of the day, they don't get retirement is not cheaper, and they don't get cut in half just because one of you is gone. Larry, I spend more money when I'm not working, and I can do all do right. True. Fact, Yeah,
that's a fact. We spend more money. Whether we're still employed or not. On the days we're not working, chances are very good we're spending more money. You know. Another one that I think is a myth that a lot of people fall under. You can always downsize your house and then you're going to save money. Well, that seems practical, but that isn't
the case right now. People are kind of house locked right now because if your interest rates and people wanting to move, but it doesn't make financial sense to move. So make sure you think that through. But again, that isn't always the case. And annuities are too expensive or it's on the back of newspapers. Sometimes I hate annuities and you should too. Well, first of all, get educated, and I should have a class the truth about
annuities coming in the next couple months. Just get educated. Annuities aren't for everybody, nor should they be for everybody. But how do you know if you don't understand them. There's four types. They're not all created the same. They don't have to be used for payments. Just understand which one of the four you have, which are immediate annuities, variable annuities, fixed annuities, or fixed indexed annuities. You know, people think annuities, they think
of payments. Well, you don't have to use annuities for payments. That's kind of the old school thinking. The four that I mentioned are not created equal, and again you don't have to have any of them. But remember there's a lot of financial marketing in our industry and that's fine, but they sometimes create this picture that you should think this way and only this way and not be open minded, and I just don't think that's a good thing to
do. Right. Finally, you can plan your retirement without help. And I think you're gonna say, well, that's an individual thing. Cam that's an individual thing. I'm a little bit biased considering we're a retirement financial services and an insurance company here. By the way, we have a great investment team and we teach on a variety of different things. So again, and
we're growing and we're in our new space. You know what. I think that there's enough studies and articles out there that to having a retirement partner to help you in this in all the different areas retirement puzzle pieces as I call them, and being able to hold one accountable. Yeah, ultimately we work for our clients, but developing a plan adhering to the plan, accountability, monitoring, making adjustments. I think it's you don't have to do it alone.
You don't have to do it alone. And again, this can be very complicated, and I always say when I get on the plane, I'll let the pilot do the flying. I'm not going to study to be the pilot. Not everybody likes this stuff. For the twenty one year old that was in, that's a welder, I am not going to study to learn how to weld, right, I'll let him do the welding absolutely. Six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Set up that free consultation
today. And we've talked about these educational seminars. If you've heard about one that you think, you know, you'd be interested into tending and maybe you'd be surprised. And there's a lot of others that you'd like to attend as well. Go to Evenfinancialgroup dot com. They are free, do need to sign up, and they do fill very quickly. This has been incredibly informative
this week. Yes, yeah, thanks Cam. We've covered many misconceptions and myths about retirement planning and guess what we're only we're not even scratching the surface.
So if you have questions that you've encountered that maybe somebody is mentioned, or you're a little concerned about your planning process, or maybe you haven't don't have one, or maybe it's not been looked at in years, you know, to get some clear insight, we'd be honored to work with you or help you, or just at least get to know you in your situation, because it's whatever you put into is what you're gonna get. Retirement comes quickly
and at the end of the end of the day. We're not perfect for everybody, But how do you know unless you have that conversation. We're gonna We're gonna listen, We're gonna take notes. We want to be relatable and again, if it's a good fit, great, If it's confirmation or affirmation that you're on the right track and you're doing great, wonderful. We want to be a resource for people. We want people to ask us questions. That is our job description. It's enjoyable to enjoyable to be with you again
this week and we look forward to next week. Kim, and for all the listeners, thanks for listening. Havenfinancialgroup dot com or visit us, give us a call at six one two five zero four eighty four hundred. Investment advisory service is offered through Guardian Wealth Strategies LLC, Haven Financial Group and Guardian Well Strategies LLC are not affiliated companies, and investments involve risk, and,
unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Please consult with the qualified financial advisor and or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein and comments regarding it safe and secure. Investments and guaranteed income streams only refer to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company