You've worked hard for your money, but do you know how to make it work hard for you. You need a team with experience, vigilance, and a strategy to help you live the retirement you deserve. Find your financial safe haven with Haven Financial Group. Today you're listening to the new and improved Haven Financial Group Radio Show, where we bring you comprehensive weekly financial wisdom from the professionals. It's all about helping you solve retirement problems so you can make your
nest egg last. Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kolvig and Kim Karrigan your guides to weekly retirement confidence. If you're interested in protecting and growing what you have, let us be your financial safe haven. The full nines are always open at six point two five four eighty four hundred. Now get your financial questions ready because the Haven Financial Group Radio Show starts now. Good morning, and welcome to the Haven Financial Group Radio
Show. I'm Larry Kolvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financier Group. Thanks for listening. Give us a call today six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or visit us online at Havenfinancialgroup dot com check out all our activities and classes that we have coming up. And Kim, good to be with you after a great Fourth of July long weekend. Good to be with you. Well, it's great to be with you as well.
And here we are sliding through July and watching a whole lot of things happen on the world stage, and certainly a lot of things happening here in this country as we start to kind of turn our attention toward a big election coming
up this fall. I love our topic today because the financial world is certainly dependent on a lot of decisions that are made out of Washington and geopolitical issues, and we're going to talk about what your retirement needs to know associated with some of the decisions that have been made in Washington in the last quarter or
so. So Larry, let's take a look. We're going to first update everybody on the June decisions and some of the things that have come out of the Federal Reserve just this last week, Jerome Powell, the FED chairman, coming out and saying, you know, cuts could be coming if he continues to see what he thinks is some positive trends. So we'll talk more about that. Americans just aren't ready to retire, but there is hope. We'll
explain what that means. IRA balances are growing, but it could be a double edged sword, which I can't imagine what that means, but I know you'll explain it to us. And finally lowering the retirement age. Here's why that is complicated. Those are some of our subjects today that we're going to talk about, and we want to get started by talking about some of the changes that happened in the month of June and how they relate to the Federal
Reserve. So, again, Larry, were you surprised by Chairman Powell's comments this last week about the fact that he could start cutting some rates. Not
fully surprised. You know, the Federal Reserve, you know, has a great deal of control of the financial situation and the markets of this of the United States, and they're tasked to keep the US economy in balance by influencing interest rates, and certainly the Fed chair Powel has been in the news a lot in the last two years for obvious reasons, with inflation out of control
and getting better. He did express some satisfaction, you know, with the progress, although we're still aways from that two percent target, but there has been some good progress, but he's looking for more sustainable progress, which I get. Personal expenditures are actually down about four percent from what they were a year ago, so that's good. But he really emphasized not moving too quickly.
He's they're being very cautious. It's really a fine line to be he do it too fast or too slow, there's repercussions inflation, or you know, there's the economy really pulled back. He did mention that what I thought was interesting is that really they're not really reliant on making decisions based upon the political in the election, which I thought was interesting. He goes, you know, they just got to do their job as they normally would. I
don't know about that one, because I think the election is good. I think election has a lot to do with a lot of things, and especially with both sides of the aisle being so far apart in so many things. That kind of surprised me a little bit. So again, there comes the good that with the bad with these decisions. But I wasn't fully surprised, just somewhat. Yeah. Well, you know, I think first off, a lot of people get very frustrated with the idea that they're not moving more
quickly to bring these rates down. But I think for maybe those of us on the outside, I'm not sure everyone's fully grasping the repercussions of bringing it down too quickly. So I admire the fact that I think he moves pretty slowly and that he plans to continue to do so. I know he was asked specifically what would happen in September at the meeting, and he's not willing to commit to that quite yet. Do you anticipate that it'll be at that
September meeting or will they push to a little later in the fall. I think they're going to push it back. Of course, a lot of it will depend upon what July and August bring, but he wasn't ready to commit on any dates whatsoever. I think my opinion is that they're going to push it back, and there's pros and cons that come with that. And one of the pros is we finally can make some interest on some of these fixed income types of investments, which we you and I have talked about with high
yield savings accounts and CDs five plus percent. You know, that's good news, that's really good news. So people should be getting some returns on that, and I think that's going to stay around a while. For some people that are into income annuities because of the higher interest rates, there's higher payouts for these income annuities. And you know, I always say people, if they're looking at annuities, should get educated in all the various areas of those.
You know, the challenge is that we've had some declining bond values because of that, because higher rates they move into opposite directions higher interest rate, lower bond values. So there's always pros and cons with this. That's why people just need to make sure that the understand what they're doing as far as their retirement planning and their investments and make sure they're in the right place at
the right time so these don't have such a negative impact on retirement. Absolutely, You've talked about some of the impacts that some of these changes throughout the month of June and the Federal Reserves announcements might have on retirees. Let's talk about, you know, as the Fed moves slowly, what kind of impact do you think that will have on volatility when it comes to the markets. And then let's relate that back again to retirees. Well, I think if
they by moving slowly. The markets have been very very strong. Yes, they've jumped around a little bit, but I see a strong market. The economy is still strong. A lot hinges I think still on that election, which everybody's going to talk about, and I think one thing we know is there's going to be a chaos no matter what happens. I think that's pretty
obvious. But again, lowering interest rates can stimulate, you know, the economic growth by encouraging borrowing and investment, but excessively slow you know, low rates may lead to inflation, which he's really trying to avoid, and you know what that does, That erodes the purchasing power and potentially undermining the desired expansion of companies. So it's it's a very delicate balancing act and they're taking
the very cautious approach absolutely. So, Larry, tell me what it is that you are telling your clients who are coming in and are feeling the same way that we're feeling today as we talk about this, which is just a lot of uncertainty. How are you guiding them? Well, here's one thing we want to be and that's very consistent our approach is consistent. It doesn't change. You know, we're looking at things from a retirement perspective and visiting
with both for the most part. I mean, we take care of clients kids that are younger, but that are you know, five years before retirement or in retirement. So we start down to start with the same process.
We sit, We get an idea, ask a lot of questions, take a lot of notes, you know that lead that can lead to an evaluation, and some recommendations and suggestions, and you know, really helping people get an awareness of understanding of what they're doing, why they're doing it, stress tests that portfolio, making sure they're in the right place at the right time.
So these things, this volatility which happens, that's what the market does, will not have a negative impact or a major negative impact on their decision making and making knee jerk reactions and have a negative impact on their retirement plan. So consistency by educating and having helping them with awareness and understanding. Sure have you had clients who have come in and wanted to pull everything out or you know that fear factor has played a part in decision making. Actually more
in the last couple of weeks because of all the election discussions. And you know I've said it before historically speaking in the markets, election years are not bad. Now that doesn't mean it's going to be great or good this year, but I have had more discussions of people being fearful. Well, Larry, should we just put everything to the sidelines right now because of that? And again, if you have a plan, first of all, get a plan, stick to the plan, and let's just not make decisions that are
based upon all the news of the day. I mean, that's not a good way to retirement. Plan is negative news, big decisions. No, let's look at this from your plan perspective. And first of all, people have to have one. Yeah, absolutely So if you are listening to us and you're thinking to yourself, number one, I don't have a plan, so I do need to get a plan. Or maybe you have a portfolio
that hasn't been stressed tested for a while. We would like to invite you to call Haven Financial Group and set up an appointment with a member of the team. Come in, sit down, talk about what your fears might be, what you're concerned about, or maybe again the idea that you don't have a plan, and what you'd like to have in your retirement. That number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. I want to give you the number again, six one two five zero four eight four zero
zero Again. Call Eaven Financial Groups down with a member of the team, talk to them about what your concerns might be. I mean, Larry, I can't imagine that everybody isn't feeling sort of the same thing that we're talking about. You know, whether you're secure in your decision making in the past or not. There is a lot of uncertainty in the world, and certainly
in the United States right now. Their did most definitely is you know, Kim, We've been getting a lot more calls lately from folks listening and thanks for listening because of the uncertainty, because of the elections, because of the fear factor. And at the end of the day, you have to have faith in something. You know, the US economy has always bounced back, it remains strong, but you know, volatility is going to come and it's going to go. What happens in between as we get older and the element
of time becomes that much more important. And that's what we want to really focus on, is folks that come in they have retirement plans. How are we going to accomplish those goals and objectives in factor in everything like volatility, growth, life, health, and everything else that goes with it. Absolutely six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. That's the number you
call for the Haven Financial Group or go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. When we come back, Americans just aren't saving enough money for retirement, but there is some hope. In fact, I believe that Larry and Haven Financial Group can give you a lot of hope. That's our subject 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 waye government 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 Karrigan. Now back to the show. Welcome back, listeners. My name is Larry Kolvig, founder and CEO of the Haven Financier Group, and you're listening to the Haven Financier Group Radio Show where we discuss crucial retirement and financial topics that really can make the difference between surviving and retirement and
thriving in retirement. And again, thanks for listening. Glad you're with us, and retirement comes quicker than sometimes we think. And is their hope, Well, what I'll say, Kim is hope is not a plan. We have to have hope, but it's not a plan. We really need to have a specific plan. Absolutely, a lot of Americans are approaching because we've got these baby boomers who are now approaching or in retirement, and they're asking themselves, have we saved enough money? Do we have money to retire?
And I think in some cases the answer may unfortuate cent be no, But in a lot of cases, in most cases, the answer easies with a plan. So let's walk through a little bit about what you're telling your clients when it comes to putting together a plan and making sure they have enough money to get into retirement and to live comfortably. You know, the biggest questions you and I have talked about this is people come in and do I have enough to retire? Or when am I going to run out of money?
You know, there's some staggering statistics out there that nearly forty percent Americans are at risk of running out of money in retirement. Question is at what age will you be when you do run out of money? Is that ninety five or is that seventy five? Kind of a critical assessment or question to ask
yourself. And that's where we do projections and help people understand based upon reasonable returns and adjusted for inflation, you know what those numbers look like, and sometimes those numbers are are mind boggling to people that they're in a much better position than they think they are. And it's an eye opening experience to go, wow, we're not prepared. And forty percent of Americans running out of money in retirement. That's not a good thing. So you know that can
bring some certain challenges. Is okay, then what are you going to rely on? Those kids? Have they saved? Are you going to start? Do they have to support mom and dad? So there's major concerns with that. And retirement accounts have increased in recent years, which is good, but everything costs more so it's all relative to that. But again that's why a failure to plan is a plan to fail, and we don't want to fail in retirement, absolutely not. So do you think that lawmakers can do something
to help Americans be more prepared. Well, if you're of the mindset that you want to rely more on government to fund retirement, that's one thing. But I think again my perspective is do you really want to rely on the government or can you independently think that be responsible, work hard, save, do what you can rather than relying on the government. And I'm very careful.
Too many people rely on the government. They just do, and that's not a good thing because where are you going to draw your income from? Do you want to draw it from something that you've worked hard to put together, or do you want to rely on the government for that income. Now, I completely understand Social Security is a major income stream for retired Americans, and we educate and help lots of people in making the right decision on when
they should take it. But where else are you going to draw from? Income? Is the major major discussion in retirement, replacing that paycheck you receive for years with something Now, is it your IRA money? Is it do you have a pension? Do you take a lump sum from that pension or do you turn on those payments? These are also part of the decisions that we help people make so they make the right decision, and they make an educated decision. So income is so important what I hear you saying, which
certainly follows suit with what you talk about. I'm consistently here on the show. Education is so important when it comes to retirement. Well, education is the potential for power. It's what you do with it. And it's why our classes they're online. You visit us online, you can see where they're at. They're very well attended and people need to learn. They want to learn, and no better way than to come out to one of those.
They are educational. We're not selling you anything, and people do throind that out when they come in and you know, again rely on you know, they call it a generational deficit when those kids are going to have to support you if you don't have enough money in retirement. And Kim you right, you know the education piece of Okay, how can I get guaranteed income rather than variable income? And maybe I mentioned it earlier, Maybe annuities are the
right decision or the wrong decision. We look at there's annuities out there today that have lifetime income payouts that are guaranteed. It's a way to actually sell I call it a self directed pension. Now, annuities aren't for everybody, absolutely not, but they can be if you're worried about lifetime income, they can be a great way to learn about those. Again, there's four types of annuities. Nobody has to have any but they can factor into a very
efficient, strong portfolio if done right. Sure. Now you've mentioned a couple of times here on the show, and let's just tell everybody how they can go about learning more about those learning sessions that Haven Financial Group puts on. You go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Okay, so Haven Financialgroup dot com. There you'll find a list of some of the upcoming educational seminars that Larry and
his team will be putting on throughout the Twin City area. You do need to sign up right, Larry, because they do fill up very quickly, and you guys just want to get a sense of how many people are coming. Correct. Yeah, we do a variety of different educational classes. I can tell you next week we have two retirement dinner classes, and we don't do hardly any dinners at all anymore. They're almost all both of them are almost completely full. They're done at Porter. This one's at Porter Creek and
Burnsville. They're almost full, so they do need to sign up. That one is a wide brush of all the retirement things that we help people in. I'm there to talk about a variety of things, investments and so on and so forth. We bring carry our state planning attorney in. She does a little speaks a little bit on a state planning Glenn talks about Medicare and long term care and life insurance. So it's a wide brush on all the
retirement topics. So very informative. Sign up and social Security and tax classes at local libraries. We do those an upcoming class. I don't have the date set about the truth about annuities, so we do tax classes. So all of these things that are so relative to retirement, and there's no cost. It's educational. What I can tell you is for those that do end, they do have the opportunity to come on in and visit with us.
What that looks like is simply an informational meeting. Get to know you, You get to know us again, asking lots of questions, taking notes, and frequently we get people to say, my guy or gal has never asked us about this. Nobody's ever inquired about this, and these are important probing questions that people deserve answers. And much of our job description, I always
say, is to answer questions. That's really that's how people learn. Sure, absolutely so again Havenfinancialgroup dot Com. Be sure you check it out. And if you see one of these classes that's coming up that is of interest to you, I'll be sure to sign up. So Larry, one last thing on this topic and then we can move on again. Americans just aren't quite ready for retirement. That may be the case, but there are a lot of people who are more ready than they think. Isn't that true?
And if they come in and sit down with you and say, here's what I've got, Larry, please help me tell me do I have enough? And how do I use this in my retirement? I think people might be very surprised. Correct. Yeah, we like those meetings when people come in worried about retirement and because they just really haven't reflected or given it much thought. I just had the couple that was in. She retired from Medtronic, and you know, for much of her career she worried about retiring, not
having enough money, the same things we talk about. But you know, in our in our discussions. It wasn't flattery, but I said, the reality is, barring any life changing moment, you guys are very well prepared. You're not running out of money at age ninety five. You still have a couple million dollars to pass on to the kids if that's important. If not, you know you have the ability to spend more than you are. And they left with an idea of Wow, we feel much better, and
that's based upon numbers and facts, real numbers. And the good news is they had a good plan. We tweaked it. They had a really good idea of what their expenses are in retirement, which is important. They had some big ticket items. They're just very, very organized, which is very helpful when it comes to retirement. If you're winging it, it's probably not a good approach. Yes, hope is not a plan, so start with that. Again, you have to have faith in something. But again,
have more than hope, actually have a plan. And we want to remind everyone that you don't have to necessarily have millions and millions in the bank to be able to benefit from visiting with Larry and the team at Haven Financial Group. Correct, Kim, I'm glad you mentioned that because so often people they bury their head in their sand. They feel bad, I don't have enough.
You know what, if you're listening, no matter if you have a little bit or a lot and anything in between, whether you have a big family, no family, complicated situation or simple situation, you know what, you know it to yourself to at least have a discussion. Don't feel bad. There's no cost for a conversation. At the end of the day, if we can, you know, give confirmation an afform great. You know,
we are looking to cultivate long term relationships and help people. Absolutely, there's no secret there and we have the ability to do that, and it starts by building that relationship. Six one two five zero four eight four zero
zero. That's the number, and that's how you reach out and get hold of the folks at Haven Financial Group still come in your way here today, Ira Balances they are growing, So that's some really positive new However, it could be a double edged sword, and Larry's going to explain to us exactly what that means when we come back right here on the Haven Financial 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. Good morning, and welcome back to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Give us a call at six' one to two five zero four to eight four zero zero, or visit as online at Havenfinanciergroup
dot com. I'm Larry Kolvig, founder and CEO of the Haven Financier Group, talking about retirement. Are you prepared or ill prepared? Absolutely? We want to talk about IRA balances. In our last segment, we talked about the fact that many Americans are not prepared for retirement, although it seems to be getting a bit better. There are some new statistics out there that show that IRA balances are also growing. But people have to be very careful that
because that could trigger of course, higher tax issues for them. So let's walk through a little bit of this. Larry, do you have some statistics
on the median size of an IRA. Yeah. The good news is the balances are going up, and they should because expenses are not necessarily going down by any stretch the media and IRA for a retirement plan is roughly about eighty seven thousand this seat this past year to about eighty one one thousand in twenty nineteen, so they've gone up. Fidelity came out with the report that indicated the average eyray balance was one hundred and twenty seven thousand and change in the
first quarter of this year, and that's a twenty nine percent increase from ten years ago. So we're heading in the right direction. Now, there is consequences if one doesn't put thought into this, and this is where we really lend a hand to people, is that's great to have higher pre tax balances. You know, you've probably been preached your whole life to do it, and you get the tax benefit you know, by doing this on an annual
basis, but that can lead to some tax repercussions. You know. In recent years, the required minimum distribution, where the government says you have to take money out, it has increased from seventy and a half to seventy two last year, it's seventy three this year, and in eight years that goes to the age of seventy five. And required minimum distribution, if you're listening, is amount that the government's going to force you to take out of those
pre tax accounts. Now, mind you, if those balances are getting bigger, you have to take to start taking about just over four percent at that age, and every year thereafter incrementally goes up bigger balances, more taxes, which leads to we're big believers in forward thinking tax planning. Again, tax planning, successful tax planning leads to successful tax preparation with these rm ds.
If we could do things early on in retirement like wroth conversions or getting money out of non qualified accounts without any capital gains tax, that tax planning discussion. And just this past week, I bet you I had four different meetings where they had done a great job saving but now they haven't done any tax planning, and most people in this area are not getting the attention they deserve.
And in retirement there should be more discussion on taxes than ever. Not that we're trying to make it complicated, but you want to make make sure you're taking advantage of these things that you still can do because these tax laws they're going to change in two years. So people have been taking advantage, and many people have not been taking advantage because they've not had the conversations, and quite frankly, the coordination of investments of state planning and tax planning just
doesn't get the attention it should. Where at the end of the day, these things need to be coordinated. They should be coordinated. They don't all have to be under the same roof. But at han financier group, we coordinate them very well because we're all here and we talk to each other and put our minds together to make sure we're not missing opportunities, having unforced errors or missed opportunities that could have been avoided had somebody added some value by creating
the conversations that most people are not having. Now this can also affect your Medicare and Medicaid payments. Correct, Yeah, good point. Glant at our office does all Medicare and again one of the top Medicare guys in the state of Minnesota. He truly is very knowledgeable. He was on the air with us a couple of weeks ago. Of course, Yeah, higher income. What a lot of people don't know is Medicare is a means tested program. The more you make, the more you potentially can pay. Again, if
you have a high income and they go back two years. So if you had a high income here two years ago, there is a irma. It's called IERMA. There is something that Glenn helps a lot of people do to help get that down. But if you make too much higher, you know in those years you could be paying more. One can give Uncle Sam a tip if they want to, but it's not going to be me, and the goal is here, give them what they did, what they're supposed to
have, but don't give them any absolutely. There's also ways around maybe distributing that money for inheritance purposes that can help you tax wise correct. Yeah, for those when they get to the required minimum distribment distribution age if they don't need the money, they're called qualified charitable distributions, and we have numerous clients that send their requirement of distribution amounts directly to their favorite charities or nonprofit organizations,
which is a great opportunity. Now, you don't give charitably for tax reasons, but if you are charitable, it does open up a lot of different tax avenues that we'll discuss potentially to reduce your taxes. So again, having those conversations, making sure you're not missing those opportunities come forth quarter. I've said it before, We're going to have the tax conversation, Roth conversion conversation with everybody to make sure they're doing the right thing. And I'll add
one thing to that. We do lots of rollovers from four to one k's and other employer sponsored plans. Many of our clients, you know, when they get to that age, they want simplification, they want consolidation, and you can do that and still maintain diversifications. So if you have multiple for one k's in various areas, they're orphaned for one k's, you have worked at that job in years. We can do rollover and that to have any
tax implications and really simplify. Just last week I had a couple from Lakeville in and between the two of them, I think they had seven different old forrowin k's that we simplify, simplified, and they're like, wow, now we don't have to get all these things in the mail. Good idea again. Simplify, consolidate absolutely. I want to go back to this just one more time too. People come in and sit down to talk with you and
they're trying to determine their their tax burden. When they start to talk about wealth transfer and inheritance, which I know you have an attorney there in the office who does these kinds of things. Can that help them with their tax burden if they address that early? Yeah, legacy, If legacy is important to one and a lot for a lot of people, it is if you don't spend it all, do you want to pass it to the kids, their nieces and nephews or whomever you want to think of that from a tax
perspective as well. The more money you can get into roths, Hey, guess what if the kids inherit those roth iras, and oftentimes when they do inherit, they could be in their peak earnings years. Again, consider the tax implications that could go into that. Much of that ira you pass on to your kids or loved ones, they could be taxed higher. Do you really want to do that to the money that you work so hard for? So again, thinking about legacy, what kind of accounts And by the way,
make sure you have beneficiaries in your accounts. And I only mention it because it sounds so elementary, but you'd be surprised how frequently I look at statements. We look at statements. The team looks at statements. And there's no beneficiaries. You want to make sure that they're current and they're up to date. And again, I don't want to be redundant, but I see it so often. Make sure that it's beneficiaries are on there and it's done
right. Absolutely. So, if you I'd like to sit down with one of the members of the team to talk about any of these issues, be the tax issues or estate planning types of issues, or any kind of retirement issues, we want to give you a telephone number. It's six' one two five zero four eight four zero zero. One of the things that's great about Haven Financial One of the many things that's great about it is that there
are experts in all of these fields under one roof. And wow, isn't it easier when we talk about simplifying If you have people in the office who know each part of your plan and understand how it integrates into other parts of the plan. Haven Financial Group can offer you those kinds of services. It's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. You can also reach them at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. All right, so, Larry, we have
now talked about all kinds of tax issues. Let's talk about the possibility of the government lowering the retirement age and what some of the consequences of that might be. Again, we're in the midst of an electioneer and that could change a lot of things in this country depending on the outcome after the election is over, and this is one of those issues that is being discussed. So we'll talk about that when we come back right here on the Haven Financial Group
Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement pays Devin. The Haven Financial Group Radio Show will be right back. Stick around. You've got questions, We've got answers. Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kulvig 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. Again, thanks for listening, where we talk retirement every week, the good, the bad, and the ugly and everything that's going on in this world. So again, Kim, welcome back, Thank you sir. Good to be back with you. Let's talk a little bit about retirement age. Lara, I'm sure. First off, I think a lot of people probably come to you and say, do I have to retire at sixty two sixty five? You know,
sixty eight? And what are the benefits that I can reap if I retire at sixty two to sixty five sixty eight? So let's first just talk a little bit about that. Well. Income again, when you retire, income is the name of the game. The early years of the go go years, to the slogo to the no go years, it's going to take money. And again, lowering the lowering it is certainly could put a lot
more stress on the government and funding. And at the end of the day, do you want to rely on the government or do you want to be independently responsible for your own retirement. My opinion is over the years we've society has become too reliant. Now, I'm not against them lowering if that is the right thing to do. However, they've talked about social Security lowering, lowering that we already have financial problems and solvency issues with the Social Security Trust
Fund. They've also talked about raising the retirement age. It's been a there's a big debate going on over the retirement age, especially in this election year. You know, both Biden and Trump, both of them have discussed lowering the age without an interesting research recently that seventy nine percent of working Americans consider
a candidate's stance on social security as an influential factor. That's a very high percentage, with about forty seven percent expressing willingness to vote for a candidate advocating to lower the retirement age. You know, there are positive and there's negative aspects with either or do we really want to do anything too drastic? I don't think so because of the additional funding we already have. You know, we don't want to focus on the negative here, but we already have debt
in this country that's astronomical. Do we want to add to the debt? How would we pay for it? These are all important questions. So my encouragement would be to be independently responsible, work hard, put away money, fend for yourself, and at the end of the day, have a plan. What does that look like and look at all the various factors that go
into the again, don't rely solely on the government. Well, this discussion certainly brings us to the issue of social security, as you have mentioned, and I know a lot of people who are listening, are very concerned about whether social Security will still be solvent when it's time for them to draw. Social Security and the concept of lowering the age means that more people are going to be drawing and leaves people with a lot of concern. What's your take
on the Social Security system? Well, it's broken. It really hasn't been adjusted for inflation for years, you know, So it's a hot button, not just in this election time. It has been for years. It's been highly politicized, you know. It's not just a talking point for news outlets or ratings or to showcase political opinions or any of that. For many, it's the backbone of people's retirement. They paid in all these years. They'd like to get their money back. Problem is we have a shortage and we
won't get into the politics. You know that they got their hands in the cookie jar over the years. Potentially at the end of the day, maybe probably, but again not becoming too reliant. My opinion is, will they do away with Social Security? I don't believe that for a minute. They've been talking about this for years, it's still here. Do. I think there needs to be some reform and some changes. Of course, so you know, I use this analogy that one of my clans several years ago,
that of it's here when I retire, it's icing on the cake. Well, he retired two years ago, it's still here, so he's enjoying a Yeah, exactly, just because don't become too reliant on it. But really look at it from the perspective of do you have a pension? Many people today do not, including me, So then can you self? Can you create a self directed pension? Yes, if you put your mind to it. And if you have the assets, what are your retirement assets? What
do you have to live off of? When will you run out of money? If ever, these are the things that we really put into the planning process, and we don't just come up with a plan and stick to it forever. It takes modifications, it takes adjustments. I always say that life doesn't always cooperate with your calendar. Health can come sometimes creep into it. Sometimes the early years you're on the go and expenses are higher. Middle years you slow down a little bit, and then expenses can go down, and
then oftentimes latter years of retirement they go up with healthcare expensives. And I saw another staggering fact too. You know, when we talk about the US debt and relying on government, the Congressional Budget Office, the number was the federal government spent about one third of its budget on seniors in two thousand and five. Last year that grew to over forty percent, or one point five trillion of the annual budget, and by twenty twenty nine, it's supposed to
be half of the budget. That's a lot of money spending on seniors. I'm all for it, but if people would just be more responsible. I understand life throws some curveballs, it does happen, but what's your plan. Are you relying solely on the government or are you going to do your part and be independently responsible for your retirement? That's what we believe. Sure,
absolutely. I want to go back to the issue of social security because I think this is this is something that really requires, in many cases a professional to sit down with employers and employees. Employees, I should say, and
talk about when to draw social Security. I don't think that a lot of people understand that there are differing levels of Social Security benefits based on when you begin to draw, and I think that's something you guys that Haven Financial Group do a great job of sitting down with someone explaining to them before they leave their job or they hit their retirement age, you know, just exactly how
they should maybe approach that. Yeah, and it's why we teach a lot of these classes on social security and educate because you know, people have their preconceived ideas of, well, I'm just going to turn it on at sixty two because that's what everybody does. Well, that's not what everybody should do. Yes, the earliest you can turn it on is sixty two. It
grows by six percent plus the cost of living adjustment. Between sixty two and sixty six, sixty six to seventy it grows by eight percent plus the cost of living adjustment. So if you're going to continue to work, maybe it makes sense to wait. In our discussions, our job isn't to try to steer people to wait. It's too Does it make sense to wait? Does it not make sense? You know? Do you have longevity in the family if you're a married couple, obviously that the lower one obviously goes the way
and the higher one remains upon the death of the first spouse. So put some thought into it, right, you know, the idea that I'm going to stick it to the government and I'm just going to take it right away. Right Maybe the right decision. Yeah, probably not the right decision right. Well, and again I think a lot of people have that fear that it won't be there when they're ready to draw it. Yeah, and that uncertainty has been there for years. You know, it does post major concerns
to people. I get it. You know, the recent statistics shows that by twenty thirty five we're not going to have enough to pay at all. Now that's actually been changed recently from twenty thirty three to two thousand and thirty five, So that's a sign we're heading in the right direction. Now. I don't know who's putting the numbers in and how, but it poses a problem in the future. There has to be some adjustments. There has to
be some changes. The problem is getting both sides of the aisle to at least, you know, come together in some way, shape or form is virtually impossible, but put some thought into it. It's not one glove fits all. Maybe that doesn't mean wait till seventy Now there's some outspoken people out there that say everybody should work till seventy. Well, that's simply not true. But only one to two percent of Americans wait till seventy and almost seventy
percent of Americans turn it on right at sixty two. Educated decisions are the right decision absolutely. And again, you guys do some of these classes on social security. I know that's one of the big subjects that you discuss because a lot of people have a lot of interest in that. The way you could find out about some of these educational classes is to go to even Financial
Group dot com, that's Haven Financialgroup dot com. Take a look at when the next class will be held and where and what's most convenient for you. Be sure you sign up. They are free, but it's important that you go there to the website and you sign up. If you'd like to also discuss coming in and sitting down with part of the team here at Haven Financial Group. That number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero.
That's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Interesting year, Larry, This is this election is turning into something very interesting, regardless of where you stand, but certainly is going to have some impact on our economy and a lot of impact on retirees. Yeah, you know, I either way, I think it's going to be chaotic come you know, through
the election. Just be prepared, have your plan. At the end of the day, we talk about the retirement puzzle pieces and our mission at Haven Financial Group truly is to help people tie these individual retirement puzzle pieces together. Do you have all the puzzle pieces from a state planning to incomplanning, to tax planning to wealth management, you know, making the right decision and educated
decision on social security. By the way, when these folks come to these classes and if they choose to come in on the social social security aspect, we're gonna give them. We're gonna punch in their numbers and they're gonna leave with a sixteen page social security maximization report. Very helpful, good, better best. How do they maximize it? Or do they take it early?
Do they take it later? And people find it very helpful. Oftentimes people use that to bring it right to the Social Security office when it's time to actually implement and start their soci security payments. Ye. So really putting all of the pieces together, all the puzzle pieces, do the best you can, and that puts you that requires some time. I always say retirement is more more than a meeting once a year for forty five minutes to an hour.
You deserve more time. And whoever you're paying to help you through retirement, just last week had somebody say this, and I've heard it many times. You know, our guy or gail got us to where we're at, but we're not comfortable they can get us to where we need to go in retirement. And I really think that really sums it up. It certainly does. Larry's great to be with you this week. You as always, Kim,
thank you so much, thanks for listening again. Havenfinancial Group dot com six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, have a blast week and we'll see you next week. Investment advisory service is offered through Guardian Well 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.
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