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 Financial Group. Thanks for listening. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or visit us online at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. Kim. Great to be with you again. It is great to be with you. Can you believe that the fourth of July is behind us and away we go into the rest of the summer. That is hard to believe. It is. I have a friend who always says, once the fourth of
July is past, summer is on the downhill slide. I don't believe that, but I refuse. I don't want to be a Debbie Downer either, but that is kind of the crossroads are the halfway point of summers, so we potentially are on the other side. All right, I'm gonna remember you said you don't want to be a Debbie Downer. Okay, Yeah, it's part of Obamber. Mostly. Today, we're going to talk about, I think, something that's really interesting to a lot of people, because you know,
when you get into retirement. Yeah, it's one thing to have enough money to pay your bills, to take care of your medical expenses, those kinds of things. But a lot of people want to get to retirement and do the things that they haven't been able to do because they've been working so hard for so many years. They want to thrive in retirement. So we're going to talk about some modern retirement and strategies to thrive in it, which
I think would you agree with me, Larry. There's a lot of people who you know, they get there and they say, I don't just want to pay the bills? Right, all those years of working, working, and now all of a sudden a different transition into a different season of life, and the old question mark, now, what where do we go from here? And now what do I do? Because your life just changes?
It certainly does. And we visit with folks that enter into this season of life and they do it very easily and others that have a difficulty doing it. So we all adapt differently. Sure. Absolutely. Let's take a look at some of the subject matters we'll discuss today, retirement today, painting the picture exactly what is retirement? What working one more year before you retire can
do. We'll talk about the six things you'll want to plan for the year before you retire, and finally eight experiences you'll want to avoid when you once do decide to retire. So let's first start, Larry with just painting the picture of retirement today. Well, everybody's idea of retirement is a little bit different. What do you want to do. What are your goals? What are your aspirations? Is it spending time with family or loved ones or grandkids.
And the baby boomer generation, which we deal a lot with twelve to fourteen thousand Americans turning sixty five every single day, and this is going to continue out for quite a while. And it's a little bit different than it used to be because baby boomers are experiencing different changes entering into retirement. You know, lately, I've had a lot of divorcees, new relationships, job loss. Just last week, I could think of three different clients that didn't
get to retire. They lost their jobs prior to retiring. So you know, it's kind of unshorted territory. And so now, what what's your purpose in life? What are you going to do? Because let's face you've got to do something all these years of the relation phase of life and now we're in the preservation distribution and again talking through those things because you've never been here
before. So I encourage people to find a partner to lean on, and it's what we do on a regular basis to give guidance and encouragement and support, which a lot of people need as you enter into this phase. So again it's not rocket science, but it's important. And again everybody adapts differently. Well, you know, one of the things is so different in this generation versus the generation before sixty five is sort of the new fifty five,
and people are younger, they're healthier, they're more active. They're not necessarily interested in just sitting and doing nothing at this point. So you must have a lot of people who come in and say, gosh, Lary, I'm not even sure of that. I'm ready to retire most definitely. And a lot of times people don't choose to retire, they're forced to retire unfortunate circumstances. So I think of a couple from prior lake They've both got into pickle
ball. You know, pickleball is really a popular thing, and they play like six seven times a week. So what are you going to do to occupy your time? Is it getting a part time job? I think of Ed from Lakeville. He retired and now he's rangering at the local country club. Is it volunteering your time and giving back? What is that purpose? Retirement is almost a second second adolescent season, if you will, figuring out where you're gonna go, where you're gonna go from here and what you're gonna
do to occupy those retirement years. Retirement is not an ending, it's really the beginning of the next season of life, just figuring out where do you want to go from here? Absolutely, So let's talk about the role that a financial plan would play in what we're calling a new modern retirement. Again,
a modern retirement is a very active retirement. Well, it takes money to live and retire, of course, So having that plan, you know, that's the starting spot because if you don't have a plan, you're set up for failure, and nobody wants to fail. So when people come in
and visit with us, you know, we start from ground zero. We ask a lot of questions, we take a lot of notes, we discuss their goals, and when we build out projections Monte Carlo projections, we're factoring in, you know, buffering in the travel expenses or all of the big
ticket items. We want to do an elaborate job of painting the retirement picture and the costs associated with and it's not just costs, it's also helping them develop in a state plan and help them identify their risks that go with retirement. And let's face it, some of the major ones are inflation risk, longevity risk, outliving your money. You know, maybe it's stock market risk, maybe it's interest rate risk, or long term care, all of these
things that factor into retirement. The early years, the go go years, all the way to the nogo years, and really looking at all the different expenses associated with that and getting an accurate depiction of where you're at and where you want to go. You know, I love it that you refer to them as the go go years versus the no go years. For those who maybe have not heard you use that term, those two terms for explain what
you mean. Well, oftentimes, in the early years of retirement, at least I hope, so we have the ability to go, and we're mobile hopefully, and we can do things, and you know, you attend to all the kids events and the grandkids events, and you're on the go because you can, and those years can cost a little bit more money. And then if people enter into the you know, we're not going to go to all the kids events to grandkids events. Let's let's skip a few and you
know, maybe not, I'll be on the run all the time. And then oftentimes the latter part of your years of your life, the nogo years where maybe you're not is mobile, and healthcare costs now have trickled up. So again it's the different seasons of life and the different costs associated with those seasons. And when you put together a plan, do you put together a plan that maybe is front loaded with spending and dwindles down. Yeah, that's
a good point. Earlier years a little bit higher expenses. Middle years of retirement they go down a little bit, and then they rise back up with healthcare costs. Hopefully not, but it is a trend that we certainly see. So a plan has to be modified and it changes along the way. It's not just set it and leave it. It's set it, address it, modify it, make the changes necessary to make it as accurate as possible. Because retirement can be a ten to twenty thirty year it could be a
big chunk of your life. And that's why it's just so important. As much as human nature doesn't want a plan, it is important. And sometimes people get embarrassed and I'm not really prepared for it, or I didn't have much, But don't ever become embarrassed. You do the best you can with what you've done and just try to improve your situation the best you can.
And I know you mentioned this before, but let's talk about the role of an advisor, a trusted friend like yourself and the members of your team and what kind of role you guys can play in putting together one of these modern retirements, if you will well, certainly we're looking to cultivate long term business relationships. There's no secret that's the nature of our business in all of these
retirement areas. Now they don't have to be under the same roof, but shoulder to lean on, you know, when it comes to healthcare glen or our tax CPA lance or carry our state planning attorney or the investment team. We want to be a resource in any or all of these areas to give people the confidence and the wherewithal and awareness and understanding that we're actually working for you and we are your partner. And we don't want people to feel uncomfortable
about coming in. We want them to feel comfortable because if they're comfortable with coming in and talking through their retirement situation, hey, they're going to have a smile on their face. They're going to know that they're well prepared and we got their backs. And people should be getting that attention they deserve and I see Kim people not getting the attention for what they're paying for. Absolutely.
Today we're talking about modern retirement and strategies to thrive in it. If this is something that you know hits home for you, we want to courage you to call the folks at Haven Financial Group at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero set up a free consultation. Come in, sit down and talk about your goals in retirement and how you'd like to get there. Members of the
team would love to sit down with you. Or you can go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com you can learn more about Haven Financial. You can also sign up for some free seminars. They're educational seminars on different areas of retirement. We do encourage you to go to that website and sign up because they do fill very quickly. All right, when we come back, we'll continue talking about modern retirement and strategies to thrive. We're going to talk about what working one
more year before you retire could do for the rest of your retirement. This is the Haven Financial Group Radio Show. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement ways. 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 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. Thanks for listening again. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero, or visit us online newly revamped website Havenfinancialgroup dot com where there's all kinds of retirement tools that can be used. And again, come on in and visit with us. There's nothing to lose to evaluate your situation, because if you haven't in quite some time,
now might be the time. Absolutely, we're talking about modern retirement. I think you know, when you define modern retirement, we're really talking about baby boomers in the fact that many, many will be hitting sixty five over the next couple of years, and baby boomers are a little bit different than the generation before them, especially these these later baby boom. They're healthy, and they're they're interested in staying busy, and yet retirement is certainly on the horizon
for many. So what is this modern retirement? What does it look like? You know, I think that one of the questions people must ask you the most, Larry, is do I have enough money? Can I retire? It is the biggest question. Do I have enough money to retire? Or when is my money going to run out? And it's why we sit down and look at various situations because you know, everyone has different financial obligations, different volume of assets or expenditures. You know, how they spend their
money, what they want to do. And that's really why it's a one on one analysis, if you will, where we look at these We put together some Monty Carlo projections, stress tester portfolio and you know, working an extra year potentially does help the pocketbook a little bit because in essence, you
could save save for another year. I mean, oftentimes people have larger income in the latter part of their careers, so you could save more than by working and occupying your time, You're probably going to spend a little bit less. And that it comes down to the power of compounding compounding interest with the moneys being able to grow, and certainly it does help, but I don't want to paint this picture like that. Being said, you have to work
just because it sounds good. It depends upon your situation and analyzing those expenses really boiling it down. Because when we ask folks, you know, what are your monthly expenses, most often they come up with a number, and then we ask them before the next meeting put pen to paper, and usually that expense is way low compared to what it really is. And we want as accurate as information as possible, factoring in all the different circumstances healthcare,
long term care. But again, working an extra years certainly certainly can make things a lot better. And I would assume that we're talking to the person who number one has that as an option and number two, you know, is not fully vinced or you know, has not planned for years and years that my retirement date is December thirty. First, you know, this is
someone who has that kind of flexibility. Most definitely, let's face it, health is a game changer that can change things real quickly, you know, getting a pink slip like our front desk person Beverly did here a couple of years ago as a thirty nine year marketing professional. Life's calendar doesn't always cooperate with our calendar, so we have to be a little bit flexible. So we're not recommending work another year for everybody because that might not be in the
cards. It's really circumstantial. Circumstantial, however, you should have some sort of financial model or plan in place that can be adjusted and have some flexibility because untimely things happen in life and we want to be prepared, plan for the worst, and prepare for the best. You know, it is kind of a good guideline that I like to use. So let's talk about it in simple terms. What are the keys that you look for in someone's financial
portfolio to help them make the determination as to whether they can retire. Well, first of all, making sure that we have a good balance, meaning good liquidity in the bank. You know, there's certain benchmarks that we like to see for a middle sixties couple if they're retired, we like to see fifty to one hundred grand liquid Now that's just a benchmark, and listeners might go, well, yeah, but why would I have it there. I'm
not going to make any interest. Well, there's always certain things that come up and the furnace goes out, or the air conditioner or grandkids events. So good liquidity is a good starting spot. You know. They always preach that to the younger generation, but it's equally or more important for the retirees as well. And then having money in the market tied to the risk of
the market. That's all fine, but the common theme that I see and we see often is people coming in having very very little liquid monies in the bank and everything else at risk in the stock market, oftentimes unbeknownst to them. And that's not a good recipe to go into port into retirement. It's
just not so good liquid principal preservation type of investments. And then the risk investments and a good balance and having an awareness and understanding, because again too much risk, untimely market losses, not enough liquidity that can turn on retirement or those golden years upside down in a hurry. So again we don't have to make this complicated, but having an awareness in an understanding. I'll use
Harold and Julie from Lakeville last week. They had no idea how much risk they were taking in the stock market until we took a peek under the hood, and they go, we have no idea why we are in this position or why we lost so much money. Now they have at least an awareness and understanding to make some adjustments so when things do happen, they're not caught
off guard because life happens, and it happens quickly. So we've been talking about here, maybe working another year, if you're considering retirement for the savings purposes, and are there times when Larry you recommend that someone retire sooner and is there any kind of benefit to that. Yeah, there's the opposite side of the coin too. People come in and they don't think they're in a good position to retire, or some people have this tough time overcoming the idea
of money. And sometimes people are in a lot better situation than I think they're in. I think of a couple that just came in from Egan. They have both done a great job at saving, and she worries about money. She worries about money, and I didn't take her necessarily seriously at first until her partner goes no. She worries about money every day. And if
anybody shouldn't be worried about their retirement of money. It should be her, but it's the nature of how's how she reacts to money, and she worries and the concern of that. So oftentimes people don't give themselves enough credit and
they're actually in a better position where they could retire early. And at the end of the day, if we look at all the variables and talk through everything that could go wrong or go right, we have no problem telling people that, hey, you have the ability retire, so why are you continued to work. That's a good position to be in. And in other times I'll visit with folks and we'll sit and visit with and in my mind, I'm like, what are you guys doing retired? We have a problem here.
You run out of money by the time you're eighty. Is that a problem? So again, one on one analysis, talking through these things, and this can doesn't have to be once a year, this can be once a quarter. I always say, there's no quotas how many times we can get together and talk through these things. If it takes more, that's fine. If it takes less, we're okay with that, sure, But don't be fearful of coming in and talking through these things. Because that's what's gonna
give you the confidence. And talking through these things is important early on because you also make decisions related to your social security. Maybe you're gonna maybe suddenly decide you are going to work an extra year, or if you're going to back away, you have to decide whether you're going to start to draw then or you're going to wait. So these are kinds of decisions that need to be made pretty early on. Right. Yeah, people have these preconceived ideas
that I'm going to do this. Well, that might make sense or it might not make sense. I think this last week, a gentleman came in and he's like, in his mind he was going to turn on solid security right away at sixty two. And it's not for us to steer anybody any direction. But in the conversation he left that meeting going, I'm sure, I'm glad I came in because what I thought was the right decision is certainly not the right decision. And again that was just having a conversation to say,
well this is why or why not. Again, We're not here to change people's minds. We're here to educate so they can make an educated decision about any or all of these retirement topics. Absolutely, this kind of planning can certainly seem daunting, and getting yourself a really great partner who cares about you, cares about your retirement is a really important step toward getting into a
retirement that is everything you dream of. Haven Financial Group is there. Their number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Call set up a free consultation. Go in, take a look at your portfolio with the experts there. See where you stand, or maybe you need to put a portfolio together. That number six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or Havenfinancialgroup dot com
you can learn more about them there. All right, six things that you're going to want to plan for the year before you retire. To retire, we just talked about the idea of maybe working an extra year. Well in that extra year, these are some of the things that you'll want to think about before you do, in fact retire. This is the Haven Financial Range. 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 Colvig is back and ready to help you find your financial safe haven. Welcome back to the Haven Financial Group radio show. I'm Larry Kalvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. We're talking crucial retirement and financial topics that certainly can make a difference between surviving retirement and thriving through the golden years. Kim, there's certain things we should be
doing, certain things we shouldn't be doing. Well, let's talk about some of the things that we should be doing in advance of retirement, starting with considering healthcare plans. Yeah, healthcare is a major expense in retirement and certainly was great having Glenn on last week. But perhaps you don't get to Medicare age yet and then you have to bridge the gap for healthcare. We have access to really all the companies, and Glenn helps people bridge that gap for
insurance for you, maybe your spouse or family member. And then when people get to Medicare, they really should be looking at three months prior to that, they should be having a discussion. And we're big into the education of healthcare. Glenn is very, very knowledgeable. Anybody that listened to last week's show, could certainly could tell that, and then also carrying that over to
a long long term care discussion. You know, long term care is something we don't none of us want to talk about, but it's a major expense that can decimate hard earned dollars really really quickly. So healthcare is definitely one of the six considerations. And then simplify your financial life, and we really look at this as we bring people through our proprietary planning process. Most of
our clients like simplification consolidation. You know, I know the phrase all you don't want all your eggs in one basket, but I see people that come in with three different colored statements and they're the same thing, and all three of the statements. There's something to say about consolidating, simplifying those accounts, just to make sure it's not so complicated. And that goes into the insurance policies as well, the financial and the insurance policies. So that's another thing.
Simplification is so important for retirement, and that's something I think that's difficult for people to do on their own. It's great to have an expert who helps you do that. Expense assessment. Obviously, that's something you really need to do in that year before you decide to retire. Yeah, keep that, put that budget together, make sure those expenses and those expenditures are as accurate as possible. We definitely want that for the projections, to make sure
that garbage in garbage ol. We want to make sure it's as accurate, maximize to us deferrals. Tax planning every week almost we talk about we're big into tax planning and discussions. Successful tax planning leads to tax preparation without surprises, and we certainly want that because another assessment that we make is when people retire now, they usually have to set up their own retirement income or distribution
plan. We want to do that in the most tax effiicient way possible, maximize them the potential of those dollars, not give Uncle Sam anymore than they need or deserve. So again, it's really the coordination of all these retirement puzzle pieces to make sure that we're doing it in the best way possible. And you know, one of the things that I think is really tough.
You've done a great job, you've invested your money, you've saved, and then the time comes for you to begin to draw income off of your own money. So setting up a means by which to draw income is important. And I'm not sure that people know exactly how that even happens, true, because you've never had to deal with it until retirement. And you know, this is an area where people are not getting enough attention now. Lance Larson is our seat in house CPA. He likes to educate, his favorite things,
his whiteboard where he actually spends the time. It's not just bringing in drop off at your tax is done. It's throughout the course of the year, two, three, four times a year, they'll sit down with Lance, talk about their income situation, create a comprehensive income plan, you know, considering the pension, if you have a pension, considering social security. Should we be doing Wroth conversions while we look at it? Fourth quarter for
sure, just talking through the things. Do you need more withholdings? Last year you had you owed so much in taxes? Why was that? His perfect day is explaining to his clients' tax clients on what they should be doing differently. So retirement is more kim than just a meeting once or twice a year. This stuff requires attention. It should require attention, and you should be getting the attention, especially since you're paying for it. And again nothing
is free, but what are you getting for the value? I mean, there's no additional cost with us for tax planning, and I'll tell you what, nothing better than not having any negative tax surprises come tax time. Yeah, that's for sure. Now, these are the sixth things that you'll want to plan the year before you retire, which says to me that obviously the relationship that you want to build with a financial planner like Haven Financial Group should
start well before you plan to retire. Yeah, you know, we talked about this a year before retirement. But really this is something we should be doing all the way along, all the way through life. I mean, if we really want to be as effective as possible, you know, talking through the risk of your portfolio having an estate planet is competent because life happens
and we don't have a crystal ball. So it's really having these discussions ongoing, working with a partner that is going to you know, remind you when required r mds or do when you're seventy three or seventy five. Making sure that the tax discussion is not something just on the sideline for April fifteenth. This is the This is the relationships we're trying to put together so people feel comfortable. And nothing better than when people leave here going I just had it
last week. Wow, this place is a lot of fun, or this place feels like family. Now we take you know, retirement planning is serious, but we also like to have as much fun as possible, and you know we can. We like to have a client appreciation event. It's comes up in September tenth this year. My wife loves to plan events and nothing better than getting seven eight hundred of our clients together, no shop talk, lots of fun and sharing you know, common themes about Haven and that puts
a smile on my face. And that's what I really really enjoy about this business. So when you're listening and you're thinking, well, that's all really interesting and I'm going to take care of that at some point. But I'm so young, I'm only fifty five. What's your response to that. There's no time then right now? I mean, because fifty five leads to sixty five and it goes by quickly whether you're twenty or three or forty In listening, uh, now would be the time to start. You'll be happier,
much happier when you get to if you start earlier. So again, no time better than the present, no matter whether you have a lot, a little, a complicated family, a simple family, no kids, the discussions should start right away and you'll be much happier when you get the retirement that you that you did that. How old are some of your youngest clients? Well, you know we're out speaking to these classes, usually to fifty five sixty year olds and above, but we're not livinged in scope to that now.
We're not out talking to twenty or thirty year olds. However, we have a lot of clients that over the years have said, can you take care of my kids? Can you educate my kids? They need to be doing something that they don't listen to us as parents, So I could take Actually I can think of we have a nineteen year old whose parents are clients of ours that they want they wanted to help get her started investing. So again, earlier the better. But again, most of our focus is towards
retirement planning. But it's never too early to start. Absolutely. The number is six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Are you starting to think about retirement planning. If you are, the chances are good this is the time to make the call. It's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero call Haven Financial Group set up a free consultation. Go in meet members of the team, chat with them about what your goals are
in retirement and make sure that they are a good match for you. You are a good match for them, or you can go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com. They're on their website. You'll learn about some of their educational seminars that are coming up. Maybe you have questions about social Security, or you don't know much about Medicare and you'd like to learn more. You can go to one of these educational seminars. They are free that you fill up very quickly.
Some of them that are coming up. What's coming up, Larry Well Maximize Social Security. We do that at a lot of the libraries, local libraries. I know we're going to be in Prairie here right after the fourth of July. We also have some coming up at Dakota County Tech. I will be teaching a truth about Annuities class come up this fall. So they can go to our site and see the various venues that we're going to be educating at and again from that, come on in and visit with us.
You don't have to go to a class. We can do a MIDI class just for you if that makes you feel better. Absolutely Again, it's six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. We're talking about modern retirement and thriving in it. Coming up next, eight experiences you'll want to avoid once you're in retirement. Don't go too far. We're gathering more important insights and retirement pays Devin The Haven Financial Group Radio Show. We'll be right back.
Stick around. You've got questions, We've got answers. Your tune to the Haven Financial Group Radio Show with your host Larry Kulvig and Kim Karragan. Now back to the show. Welcome back listeners. My name is Larry Kolvig, Founder and CEO of the Haven Financial Group. Thanks again for listening. Give us a call at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero or online at Havenfinancialgroup dot com. The golden years and experience is Kim,
what should we avoid in retirement? Well, there's probably several things. I think you're probably right, but we'll try to stick to the eight or so that we've outlined here. The first one would be losing your sense of fulfillment, and that would be very disappointing after you've waited so long. It certainly
would. I mean retirement, As I mentioned earlier in the show, it's a different it's a transition, and for some it can create a significant void all those years of working friends that were the social aspect of it, and transitioning. What new hobbies are you going to find? What are you going to rediscover certain passions social? What are you going to do? The sense
of purpose? In Minnesota, obviously with the four seasons. Just an observation I've seen is when people retire in the fall, oftentimes I've heard them say we should have waited till spring to retire because then in Minnesota, obviously with the snow and the cold, I've just recognized people having a difficulty adjusting to retirement at that time of the year. It's just a simple observation, but
I've seen it more often than not. And then hope is not a plan, you know, dealing with the just in case that is not a plan. So you know, building a retirement plan you're confident in and it could really prioritize stability. So again getting everything on paper, talking through things, making sure that you don't let your fears overtake you, because that can lead to some bad decision making. When it comes to money, that's another important
one, absolutely tightening budget base based on market mayhem. What about that, Well, you know you're going to have to set up your own income stream and drawing income from an account that has lost money, or putting yourself in a position where you have to draw from an asset that has gone down. That's why we want to make sure we have a very balanced plan, from liquidity to principle protected investments to stock market investments, so you can adjust on
which ones you draw from based upon market conditions. I can't stress enough making sure that you're set up for health related hardships, making sure you have the best insurance in place, planning for long term care. If ask the question, usually you have dementia or Alzheimer's or Parkinson's that run in the family. I don't want to say it it's genetic and genetic only, but planning accordingly, making sure that you're set up for these things. So most of us
don't want to be a burden to our kids. So it's making sure that we have the right plan in place and making sure that our estate planning is done. A lot of people want to leave a legacy. I mean, maybe it's not important to you, maybe it's a charity, but making sure you have all of your estate planning stuff and that you can boil that down
from the simplest of making sure your beneficiaries are current. I can't tell you how often that I recognize people that have no beneficiaries or their ex spouse is their beneficiary, they just haven't made any changes. So making sure that these are accurate. And do you need a revocable trust? Should you just have a will, your ancillary documents? Have you appointed a power of attorney?
Okay? Do you have a healthcare directive? All of these things are not fun to talk about or think about, but if we're truly preparing for anything that's possible, we need to have these things done. Absolutely focusing too much on the zero percent tax bracket, that's a mistake. It is, I mean, just it starts with the education piece, and that's why, yes, zero percent tax bracket is great, and we want to minimize or reduce taxes. The best we can, but it's making sure we're making the right
tax and financial decisions at the right time. Again, forward thinking tax planning leads to successful tax preparation. You know, taxes probably will affect you at every stage of life, probably more in retirement than ever. But it's just making good decisions. And another one I'll point out out is just last week, I had a couple. They had two kids, and I always ask the question, I said, are any of your kids reliant on your financial
decisions? Well, their forty five year old son is still in the basement playing video games and doesn't have a job. Now, hey, I'm all about family, but the enabling of kids and that can affect your retirement dollars. Be very careful. I know we want to support our family and the loved ones and the kids, but that can really put some discord into your retirement and I see that, Actually I see that more often than i'd like to see because the enabling of kids. And another one that's certainly hot is
debt. There's a common denominator for the most successful retirees that we see, and that's no debt or low debt. And I'll say, the happiest people in retirement, don't have a mortgage. Now, I know that's not feasible for every listener out there, but I'll tell you this, if you can get into retirement without that mortgage, it'll put a lot less stress on your
shoulders. And also credit card debt, you don't want any of that going into retirement because that'll just be more of a burden on your budget and more stress than you'll ever know what to deal with. And let's face it, twenty twenty five percent interest rate on credit cards. Some people have dug a
hole and they just can't get out of the hole. So again, talking through these things, having an awareness and understanding, having a partner of business, retirement partner that they can lean on, that is where we really come into play, and it's where we want to fill the void to make sure we're doing everything possible. And there's no sense of concern that they've talked through
things and they got their confidence level is very high. I want to talk to you about two things that kind of piqued my interest as you were going through those points. The first is that I think a lot of people believe that if I pass away before my spouse, everything just goes to my spouse, so I don't have to worry about that. So I'm not going to worry about a will. I'm not going to worry about anything like that. That's not necessarily the case, is it? That right there tells me there's
a lack of education. There's no automatics today. Sometimes people think, well, i've been married for fifty years. My spouse can make the decisions if I'm not here. Yeah, they may have been speaking for you your whole life, but just because you're married doesn't mean they have the ability to make decisions, you know, putting together the powers of attorney, naming your spouse,
your loved one, friend, neighbor. So often when I ask if people have put this together, they'll say, well, I don't know who to appoint. Well, appoint somebody, because if you don't appoint somebody, then the state, through guardianship and conservatorship, is in control and you don't want that. And that Actually that relates to anybody that's eighteen years old and
above. The last thing people are thinking about is my kid graduates from high school, Well they should act in their eighteen They should have powers of attorney because if they go off to college and God forbid, something happens, the parent doesn't have the right to just go make decisions. They'd have to go through the state in order to get permission to make these decisions. So again, does everybody need everything know? But what should you have related to your
situation. That's where it starts with the conversation putting all these puzzle pieces together, making sure they all go to the same puzzle, so when you get done with the puzzle, you're not missing the two pieces that you should have had to begin with. So none of this is fun, none of it's exciting, but there is a sense of when things are completed, there's this
sense of you know what, I finally got something done. I feel so much better, and there's something to say about that, especially as you go into retirement. Absolutely. The other question that popped up in my mind goes back to long term care. Larry, there are options out there for long term care, and they're maybe not all the options are for everyone, but
everyone should look into and consider long term care. Right, Yeah, seventy percent of Americans are going to need some sort of care, and that care comes with extreme costs, and people think in their mind, well, medicare Medicare is not long term care. Okay. Then also people think, well, I checked into long term care ten years ago and somebody showed me a
Cadillac plan nobody in their right mind could afford. Anyways, this industry has changed drastically when it comes to annuities with long term care features, asset based long term care, high bred long term care. We don't see the traditional long term care much hardly anymore because of you know, insurance companies were hard to deal with and then they didn't pay and their premiums going up, you
know, significantly. Get educated first, Glenn and Isabella in the office, explore long term care because at the end of the day, you know, insurance is insurance. We don't want it, but if we need it, we got to have it. And you know, with long term care costs nursing home costs between ten and fifteen thousand dollars a month, that can decimate hard earned money really, really, really quickly. So just exploring the option. At least you at least looked at all the options, and that's what
people should do. Well. A common thread that you've talked about is education, education, education. You need to educate yourself about these issues, whether it's long term care, state planning, tax planning. Education is the key to a successful and a comfortable retirement. You can go to Havenfinancialgroup dot com look up some of the seminars that are coming up, these educational seminars.
They're throughout the area. They are free. They do fill up very quickly, so you'll want to sign up. Or you can call have In Financial Group at six one two five zero four eight four zero zero six one two five zero four eight four zero zero. Modern retirement you don't just want to get through it, but you want to thrive. And I think that by meeting with you guys Larry, you've got a bunch of key suggestions, ideas and plans to help people thrive in their retirement. Yes, there's no cost
to come in and visit. There's no costs for a consultation. There's no strings attached. You know. I always say we're not high pressure headquarters. We're not perfect for everybody. We know that, but at the end of the day talking through these things, we want to be relatable. We want to make ourselves available. There's nothing snobbish about our office. We want to be We want it comfortable, we want it fund. We want it fun. As I mentioned before, we're coffee snobs. We make fresh cookies and
nothing better than when people say, wow, this is so comfort. That's ultimately the goal. And at the end of the day, if you're doing everything you should be doing, what's better than affirmation or confirmation. So give us a call at six one two five zero four eighty four hundred, look us up online, check out all our bios. Whatever you need to do, We're here to help. It's great being with you. Thanks, Cam,
have a blessed 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. 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.