Avoiding Costly Retirement Pitfalls: RVs, Timeshares, and More!

He's been hosting Safe Money Radio for over 15 years and his Safe Money Radio podcast has subscribers from all across this great nation .

Whether you're listening on the radio or listening to his podcast , mr Pistole wants to say thank you for joining us today and now with more ways to show you how to keep your money safe and secure here's your host of Safe Money Radio , brad Pistole .

You know , I just got back from a big conference in Dallas , texas , where I was one of the keynote speakers and was blessed to be able to share the stage with Joseph Jordan , one of the greatest keynote speakers of all time . He was one of the opening keynote speakers for the Million Dollar Roundtable all time .

He was one of the opening keynote speakers for the Million Dollar Roundtable , mdrt , a group of financial professionals , the premier association of financial professionals , and also Emmett Smith Hall of Fame , running back Emmett Smith from the Dallas Cowboys .

I shared the stage with them and I was able to be a participant out in the audience to listen to the things that they had to share , and there's going to be some shows coming up where I'm going to share some of the information that they shared during their talks that I want to pass on to you .

But today we have a very special show because I'm going to be talking about five things that you should almost never buy in retirement , and I'm going to be talking about why and here's a little hint because they could ruin your entire retirement income plan .

So I want you to stay with us today Five things that you should almost never buy in retirement and why . There are exceptions to every rule . I've even done some of the things that we're talking about in this show today . Matter of fact , I've done four of the five , but I'm nowhere near retirement .

I'm still just a young whippersnapper and I'm going to be working for a long time . But I will tell you the experts , that I interview the experts , that I read people with PhD in front of their name . They have all agreed on this list and they talk about these things in their books , in their articles and on their podcasts . So let's jump right in .

If you're joining us today , whether you're listening on the radio or you're listening online to the podcast , here's our number 866-780-7233 . You can call us anytime . So here we go Five things that you should almost never buy in retirement , and why . Number one on that list brand new vehicles . Now I get it .

I understand we all love buying cars and trucks and that new fancy vehicle that comes out each year . And there's all kinds of reasons why you can try to justify why you should buy a brand new vehicle .

Maybe you don't know a lot about vehicles , you don't know how to work on them , you don't know about the maintenance , and so your excuse is well , I just can't afford as much as I'm on the road to have a vehicle that breaks down , so I need to drive something that's new .

And maybe your reasoning is well , I don't really know how to work on them , so I need to make sure it's something that is going to be reliable . And maybe I'm older . I don't see well at night . You could come up with all kinds of reasons and all kinds of excuses , but here are some facts .

If you read Tom Hegna's book about retirement planning of course he's got three different bestsellers regarding retirement planning but if you read Don't Worry , retire Happy , he's going to talk about why you should almost never purchase a brand new vehicle and how , even though he is a multi , multi , multimillionaire , he's only done it one time in his entire life .

And here's why I just did this research before starting the preparation for this show . And in January of 2025 , the average car loan for a new vehicle in the United States is 6.61% . Now if it's a used vehicle , that jumps up to 10.8% . And back in 2024 , it was as high as 7% on a new vehicle and 11.74% on a used vehicle .

And , of course , this all depends upon your credit history and all these different types of things , your credit score . However , this is what we know to be true . If you go into a retirement account and pull money out , there's all kinds of ramifications of what happens whenever you do that . First of all , did you take it from a tax-deferred account .

So if you pulled out $60,000 or $70,000 or $80,000 for a brand new vehicle , was that taxable to you ? And whenever you did take that out and it's taxable to you did it affect your Social Security taxation ? Did it affect your IRMA ?

You always hear us talking about income related monthly adjustment amounts and if you're retired and age 63 and older , your MAGI , your modified adjusted gross income , is going to determine and dictate how much your Medicare premium is going to be two years down the road . So at age 63 , it's going to affect your Medicare premium in your first be .

Two years down the road , so at age 63 , it's going to affect your Medicare premium in your first year of age 65 , when you start Medicare . When you're 64 , it's going to affect age 66 . When you're age 65 , it's going to affect age 67 . And this is going to happen for the rest of your life .

So if you're retired for 25 or 30 years , you're probably going to go through three or four or five vehicles . If you're married and you've got a spousal partner , it's very rare that you both have new vehicles at the same time . I know it seems like you're always trading a vehicle . Why ?

Because as soon as you get a new one , then your spouse's vehicle is older . So a couple of years down the road they're going to need to get a new one . And guess what ? Now yours is three or four years old . So eventually you're going to need to get a new one .

And if you're not taking distributions from retirement accounts and paying cash for them , or from your non-qualified assets , your savings , then you are going to be creating taxable distributions , which affects your MAGI , that affects your social security taxation and it affects your IRMA premiums .

And you always hear us talking about don't tick off ant IRMA , because when you do , those premiums can increase substantially and that will last for 12 more months until it resets the following year . So why , would I say almost never , buy new vehicles ? Well , friends , just think about it . Have you gone out to look at the price of a new vehicle today ?

Maybe you're not buying something super fancy , maybe you're just buying a car . But guess what ? If you buy a new one , you're going to spend 40 grand on that car . If you buy two of them , one for you and for a spouse , you're going to spend 80 grand . And that's for the cheap ones . You know if you've done any research at all .

If you're buying bigger vehicles , if you're buying vehicles that will house your children and your grandchildren so you can take vacations and trips , or you know , if you get leather and you get sunroofs and you get fancy equipment , you're going to spend 60 or 70 or $80,000 a vehicle .

Now I'll tell you how much things have changed since COVID and this kind of blew my mind . You know the last new truck that I purchased and I love big trucks . You've heard me talk about them on the radio and I've actually written about it in my most recent bestselling book , about something that happened with my truck and why I bought the truck that I did .

I went and looked recently while I was getting an oil change , and there are trucks that cost $120,000 . Right now . That's 120,000 for a pickup truck . Friends , in the longevity of your retirement income plan , it does not make any sense to pay the price for brand new vehicles . So , five things you should almost never buy in retirement , and why .

Number one new vehicles . Just come up with a better plan . Work with a retirement income certified professional who will show you whether or not you can afford it and how much that vehicle is actually going to cost you over the next five to seven to ten years .

If you purchase a brand new one , especially if you're going to finance it and pay 6.6% on a new one or 10.8% on a used one , it's probably not going to be in your best interest to do that . Now , friends , stay with us .

We're going to be talking about numbers two through five on the five things that you should almost never buy in retirement , and remember our number is 866-780-SAFE , that's 866-780-7233 .

You can always call in and ask for a free copy of my bestselling book Bulletproof the safe and secure retirement income plan , which is going to talk about taxable distributions from retirement accounts and why you want to avoid them , and so call us anytime . Ask for a free financial consultation .

We'll look at your complete package , your complete retirement plan consultation . We'll look at your complete package , your complete retirement plan . Maybe there isn't a plan in place and we will show you why . We have clients all over the United States . Our number again is 866-780-7233 . And there's always someone standing by to take your call .

This is Brad Pistole , your host of Safe Money Radio . I'll be right back after this informative message .

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And you know , as part of this story today there's going to be a lot of personal stories because of some things that I've done , some choices that I've made in my life , some choices my father , my parents have made , and certainly we have lots of clients who have done the same thing . So let's jump

right in . Let's do a quick review from the first segment . The number one thing that you should not purchase is a brand new vehicle , and we talked about why Interest rates being really high right now , the impact of taking withdrawals from retirement accounts to purchase something that may cost $50,000 , $60,000 , $70,000 , $80,000 .

And if you're married , there's two of those vehicles that are always in need and you're normally rotating from one into the other . Here's the second thing .

Now , again , I'm going to give you number two and I want to tell you this when I recently spoke at this national conference in Dallas , there were about 150 different financial advisors in the crowd and I talked to them about something and it was similar to this , only it related to them as advisors .

And when I mentioned one of the things they should do to protect their time and their value , one of them on the front row said hey , now you're meddling . And the first couple of things I said wasn't something that was personal to him , but when I mentioned that one , he spoke up and was like hey , now you're stepping on my toes .

Maybe you're going to be that person whenever I mention number two on this list , number one . Maybe you're going to be that person whenever I mention number two on this list , number one don't buy brand new vehicles . Number two RVs . Or , as Chevy Chase would say , tenement on wheels in one of his famous Christmas vacation movies . Here we go , rvs .

Oh , but , brad , when we retire , we want to go do all the things we've always wanted to go . Do we want to camp ? We want to travel with our friends ? We want to go to all the things we've always wanted to go . Do we want to camp ? We want to travel with our friends ?

We want to go to the lake , we want to go across country , and so there's all kinds of RVs that you can purchase . You can purchase the kinds that you pull behind your vehicle . You can buy a fifth wheel . You can buy the great big RVs that drive themselves and you can spend the night and not have to . I understand all the different justifications .

We'll never have to rent a hotel room ever again . Friends , I've been around RVs my entire life . I've owned RVs . I've had them out at my farms . As a matter of fact , I will say this I've never been the RV type of person to buy one and then take them and travel all over everywhere .

I used them when there was not a home or any type of structure on a farm , and so I would buy one , drive it straight out to the farm park it , get it all set up , and then it never went anywhere other than at the farm . As a matter of fact , I've never even taken one from the farm back to anywhere .

Anytime I sold a farm , that RV would stay as part of the fixed structure on that property . And here's why and it's one of the main reasons why I think you should never buy one almost never buy one in retirement because they're not very easy to deal with . They're not safe . If you've ever pulled a vehicle that has an RV on the back .

You can't see out your rearview mirrors . It's certainly not great for your gas mileage . It's certainly not wonderful for your gas mileage . It's certainly not wonderful for the transmission on your vehicle . And so let me give you an example .

Here's an example of a very successful man who made really good , above average income , who was successful his entire life , and he actually worked as a financial advisor for 52 years . Let me tell you what happened to him . He got to retirement age and thought like a lot of you listening right now , that oh , my goodness , I want to buy an RV .

All my friends are buying them . They're 65 years old , they're traveling all over the country , they're going and staying at all these neat places . I want to buy an RV for me and my wife so we can join them . Now here's the interesting twist to this story . This person was my father , joe Pistole , the person I talk about on this show a lot .

I've written about him in my book . He was a CHFC . He was an assistant vice president at Merrill Lynch . He spent 28 years working for Blue Cross , blue Shield . He worked for me for almost 12 years in the later part of his retirement .

He was a financial genius when he was working with clients , but when it came to his own finances he made some terrible mistakes . He started to want to purchase this RV and talked about it a lot , but guess what he told my siblings don't tell Brad , we're doing this , brad's not going to like it . He's not going to like that . We're considering buying an RV .

And why would I think that ? Well , number one , my father never owned an RV in his entire life . He was born and raised in the country . He left the country and went to the city when he went to college and he never went back . And you want to watch one of the funniest things that exist on planet earth ?

You should watch my father try to back any type of trailer up . The funniest thing in the world . I mean , hey , they make YouTube videos and TikTok videos and commercials about it . Now , when someone can't back a trailer , that was my father .

So I'm thinking , for the first time in your life , at age 70 , you're going to purchase a $75,000 expenditure and you're going to take it and travel . Well , guess what ? He didn't . He didn't travel with it . He had to call my uncle , my mother's brother , who's a dairy farmer .

He had to call him and say , hey , can you come pick up this RV for us and transport it for us ? And so where did they transport it to ? He wasn't going to park this RV in his driveway . It was way too big , it was like a 30-foot RV . He had to rent a place for it to stay , for it to be parked . The rental on that parking spot was $300 a month .

So he took part of a down payment from a retirement account which was taxable . It was a tax-deferred account . He then had monthly payments on the RV that he parked and made extra monthly payments on $300 a month and he never took it on a single trip . Friends , you heard me correctly .

Not long after he got it and he went out and spent a couple of weekends going all through it and getting it all fixed up inside and dreaming about the places they were going to go and looking at all the different trips they thought they were going to take .

He was just too nervous to hook that thing on and try to drive anywhere and my mother was terrified . So right about that time some changes started happening in his life and we started to experience some illnesses and some things with his health that we couldn't figure out and he couldn't go up and down steps very well .

We certainly didn't want him driving , and a really long story short is that RV ended up sitting in that parking lot for over a year .

He became really unhealthy , he passed away and we then had to deal with selling an RV that was never driven , that he paid full price for because it was brand new , that he paid $3,600 a year for just to park and we took a major loss on that RV .

Now , friends , that's one example of many , but let me just ask you , how many car accidents do you see involving RVs on the road ? How many friends have you ever said oh , the greatest financial decision I ever made was when I bought this RV . It's worth 50,000 more than what I paid for it . It doesn't happen . It starts to depreciate almost immediately .

The second you drive it off the lot , especially if , like the car in number one , you purchase a new RV . You've lost the value right off the bat . So , five things you should almost never buy in retirement , and why ? Number one brand new vehicles . Number two RVs .

And when we come back from the break , we're going to get into three , four and five and you might notice we're building up an expense as we go . So stay with us , friends . We are retirement income certified professionals through the American College of Financial Services . We are experts when it comes to creating a retirement income plan for you .

I will never forget one of the keynote speakers at the last conference that I was at , joseph Jordan , who said don't ever forget , your number one job as a financial planner is to make sure your clients never run out of money in retirement . I take this very seriously . That's why I've been hosting Safe Money Radio for more than 15 years .

You can call us anytime at 866-780-SAFE . That's 866-780-7233 . We are here to take your call and to help any way that we can Call us right now . This is Brad Pistole , your host of Safe Money Radio . I'll be right back after this informative message .

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Now , number one was brand new vehicles , number two was RVs and number three oh , I know we're going to start to ruffle some feathers here , but here we go

Time shares . One of the worst things you could do financially to yourself and to your family , your heirs , is to purchase a time share . Now , I'm speaking from experience . I've owned two time shares during my life . I don't currently own any . I never will again . Mark my words . My father owned a really expensive time share . We're going to talk about it .

Words my father owned a really expensive timeshare . We're going to talk about it . And I've talked to lots and lots and lots of clients . I have more than 2000 clients all across this country and one of the most common things that they share when it comes to timeshares is we can't get out of it .

Oh , if I could just get someone to take over this timeshare , if I could just get out of it . Well , why is it ? Because you know , when you look at it from the outside , looking in , timeshares can be great .

I mean , some of you may own them right now and think , oh , but Brad , it lets us take these vacations that we never would have been able to take . And we've got all these wonderful memories with our children and grandchildren . We've been to Florida , we've been to South Carolina , we've been to Alabama .

It really does depend on the type of timeshare option you've got .

You know , I owned one down in Branson years ago , a part of the Johnny Morris's Blue Green Club , and I actually sold that to my father , who then took it and because they're really , really good at suckering you into another deal at your once a year meeting when you're there for your timeshare week , he purchased and bought his way up , all the way up to a

$100,000 timeshare . Now mine was more like a $7,000 timeshare . He bought the big one and we'll come back to that story in a minute , but I own the one I sold to my father . And then here's what I did . Here's how I got into my second one . I had some clients who had listened to the show , had listened to Safe Money Radio .

They came in and met with me and as part of our meeting they had been clients for a couple of years . They said you know , we've got this one burden , this one financial burden we just can't seem to get off our back . It's like a monkey on our back . It's a timeshare and it's a timeshare down in Branson .

And they said you know , if we free no cost to someone , it's this monthly dues , annual dues that's killing us , that's eating our lunch and we've just got to find a way to get out of it . We can't get out of it and I thought about it and I thought you know what , I can afford it . I could help them out .

I could purchase this timeshare and then I will use it for family members . I've got a lot of ministers and pastors that I support , ministries , and I took this timeshare off their back , no cost to me , except for the monthly dues . And for about seven or eight years I think , I stayed there .

One time I used it to give to different people , ministries , friends . I had friends traveling from Colorado . I had friends traveling from North Carolina . I've had people that were local , that I knew were in desperate need of situation , couldn't afford to go on family vacations and I would let them go down and use my timeshare .

Well , here's the thing it's only for one week a year . Beautiful place , beautiful resort . But those timeshare ongoing maintenance fees started at $600 . Then they went to $750 . Then it went to $900 . Then it went to $1,100 . Then it went to $1,300 .

And before I could turn around and blink , I realized I was paying almost $1,500 a year to give away a free vacation to people . It's just not a great thing . Now you hear commercials on the radio all the time about people helping you get out of your timeshare . Why is it such a big business ? Because it's almost impossible to get out of them .

So I'll just tell you I was able to get out of mine . I had to pay to get out of it . I paid $2,000 to get out of my timeshare . And why was I willing to do it ? Because I was going to have to hire an attorney and pay them $2,000 or $3,000 to help me get out of it . So just know this . There is a clause in every single timeshare .

Read the fine print . They must let you out of it If they tell you oh , there's no way out . There's a way out Legally . They must let you out of a timeshare . And I'm telling you you don't realize this , but when you pass on , that financial burden will pass on to your spouse , just like it did to my mother .

It will pass on to your children , it'll pass on to your grandchildren . They won't be able to get out of it and we think in our mind , just like when my father bought his $100,000 timeshare all this is going to be so great for my kids . Whenever my kids get older , I'll pass this on to them .

I will have paid the $100,000 for it or whatever your timeshare cost , and they'll be able to vacation wherever they want . They'll be able to take great vacations they would have never been able to take . They would have had to have stayed in little bitty hotel rooms .

Here's what they don't realize you might be passing on a $3,000 or $4,000 or $5,000 maintenance fee to them . And kids are busy and they've got grandchildren and jobs and all kinds of commitments . They serve on committees , there's all the sporting activities .

There's a real good chance they're not going to be able to take the six to eight weeks of vacation like my father was taking with his . So that's another whole long story . We were able to get out of it . It was expensive , it was a burden . But the number three thing on the list of things that you should almost never buy in retirement is a timeshare .

It is a financial burden around your neck that you can't get off . It's like a noose and you will pass that burden on to your heirs . You need to do some good planning . If you own one , you need to consider whether or not that's a great asset to pass on to your kids or if maybe it's going to be a burden . Our number is 866-780 . That's 866-780-7233 .

Call us anytime . We're here to help . Since I have to take a break now would be a great time to call me for a complimentary copy of my best-selling book , bulletproof the Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan , and I'll also give you a copy of my safe money kit . My number is 866-780-SAFE . That's 866-780-7233 .

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Now back to more Safe Money Radio with your host , brad Pistole .

Because they could ruin your retirement income plan Now , unless you did some massive , extensive planning with a really good financial planner many , many years before you retired . There's a good chance that there was no plan for the things on this list .

You just were working every day , building up your 401k and your savings , and then , as life happened , you decided that maybe you would go buy a brand new vehicle , which is number one on the list of things not to do .

Maybe you decided , because some friends of yours are all RVing , that you would go buy an RV , which is number two on our list of things you should never buy , and we talked about why .

Or , number three all your friends are taking these fancy vacations all over the United States , and maybe even out of the United States because of this wonderful timeshare they've got States , and maybe even out of the United States because of this wonderful timeshare they've got , and maybe you got swindled into getting one of those because you went to a free dinner

or you went on a free vacation . And then they talk to you about this wonderful thing that would be so great for you and your family , only to find out it really wasn't . Well , that's number one , two and three on the list of things that you should almost never buy in retirement Brand new vehicles , rvs , timeshares . And then that brings us to number four .

Now this is the one where I'm really going to start ruffling the feathers . It's a four letter word . It starts with B and ends in O-A-T . Things you should never buy in retirement Boat a boat , oh , I know it's so painful to say I almost struggled at letting it roll off my lips and roll off my tongue .

But you're , brad , we live in the Ozarks , we've got Lake of the Ozarks , we've got Table Rock . It's the lake country you got to buy a boat . Have you priced a boat lately ? Can you find a new boat under 50 grand ? Maybe it's 60 or 70 or 80 . Friends , they're 100 , they're 150 . It just depends on how much horsepower Depends on what kind .

Are you buying a ski boat ? Are you buying a pontoon boat ? But here are the facts regarding boats , and any of you listening right now , even if you love your boat and you love going to the lake , you know this is true . You don't just buy a boat . You got to buy all the accessories that come with the boat .

You got to buy the trailers , you got to buy the boat slip . A lot of times you have to buy the house that's there at the lake where you have the boat slip so you can put the new boat you just bought . So one purchase turns to another purchase turns into another purchase turns into another purchase . You got to be really , really careful . This is a fact .

Going to the lake is great . We have a lot of beautiful lakes here , locally in the ozarks , but this is a fact . You can go to almost any resort on a lake and you can rent a great big pontoon boat or a bass boat or a ski boat for less than $500 a day .

So , friends , monetarily , when it comes to sound financial planning and making sure your money lasts the rest of your life , you could go 10 times during a summer 10 times and go rent a boat for the whole day and spend somewhere between five and $7,000 for the entire year . Go boating as much as you want to go .

Now , realistically , even if you own a boat , you're probably not going and staying down at the lake and driving it nonstop for five to six months . What you've done is you've purchased a .

Something again has to have a boat slip , it has to have all this got , to have storage , and you're probably not going to use it more than 10 to 15 times during a season . Anyway , you're busy . You've got kids and grandkids and obligations and church responsibility and all the things you're involved in .

So if it's , especially if it's just a weekend thing five to six months out of the year at best , it's definitely a waste of money to purchase a boat . Go down and rent . Go with some of your friends who own boats and let them take on that financial burden and go enjoy a good time with them .

Most of you , if you chose to go the rental route , would never go and rent more than 10 times a year , and so if you did that and you spent $5,000 five to 7,000 a year just think about that Over the next 10 years you could go rent a brand new boat every single time .

No maintenance , no boat slips , not having to buy a lake house to keep your boat , slip in your boat at very minimal expense .

Use a brand new vehicle every single time and leave it there and let someone else deal with all the headache , all the maintenance , all the caring for that problem and have a great time and make the same wonderful memories with all your family and friends . And if you spent $5,000 a year for 10 years , there's your $50,000 .

Remember , if you went and bought the boat , you would have pulled that money , all of it out as a lump sum , probably from a retirement account , which would have been taxable , could have affected your Social Security taxation , could have put you over the IRMA threshold and that would have been a depreciating asset .

During that same 10-year period of time that you could have been going and spending $5,000 a year , not hurting your retirement accounts or your taxation or your social security tax taxable income or your Irma threshold , you could have done all of that and not had a depreciating asset that's sitting out in the water getting held on , getting stormed on , getting bad

gasoline from sitting all winter long , taking all your time , your maintenance , your struggle , all the stuff that comes with it . Friends , boats can be a noose around your neck . I would suggest , if you love the lake , and if you love going down there , go rent eight to 10 , 12 , even 15 times a year .

In the long run , you will save tens of thousands of dollars by doing so . You'll have the same memories and you'll save yourself a lot of heartache . Friends , we've got one more thing that we're going to talk about on the show , five things that you should almost never buy in retirement . But we're going to take a quick break . Our number is 866-780-SAFE .

That's 866-780-7233 . Call us anytime . Ask for a copy of my bestselling book Bulletproof the Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan , and ask for a free financial consultation . Our number is 866-780-7233 , and we're here to help . Well , I must take a short break

. This is Brad Pistole and you're listening to Safe Money Radio . Let's pause for some exciting announcements .

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Okay , friends , we're to number five on our list of five things you should almost never buy in retirement , and why ? What is the why ? Because they could ruin your retirement income plan . Now , like I said earlier in the show , I spoke at a conference in Dallas , texas , this last week . One of the speakers was Joseph Jordan .

I was able to share the stage with him as one of the keynote speakers , and then we actually got to hear from Emmett Smith Hall of Fame cowboy running back Emmett Smith . It was so good , but one of the things Joseph Jordan said I'll never forget , and he said don't ever forget every one of you in this room who is a financial professional .

If you're a retirement expert , your number one job is to make sure your clients never run out of money in retirement , and that's why we're talking about these touchy subjects on the show today .

We don't want you to make decisions , financial decisions and purchases that are going to haunt you for the rest of your retirement years , maybe bankrupt your retirement income plan . So five things you should almost never buy in retirement . Number one brand new vehicles . Just don't do it . It's not worth the interest that you would pay .

It's not worth the wear and tear , the value that it drops the second you drive it off the lot . Don't do it . Rvs same thing the value drops the second you get off the lot . There's so much trouble with it , so much risk . Number three timeshares A noose around the neck of the owner that you can almost never get out of .

The maintenance fees without your control , without your consent , get higher and higher and higher . I purchased one years ago . It more than doubled during the time that I had it and I was able to get out of it . Number four boats . Boats are not a wise purchase when you're in retirement .

If you've had one in your earlier years and are maintaining it , okay , but a new boat purchase is not something you need on your list once you retire . And number five we alluded to this a little bit during number four , talking about boats .

That is , a second home , multiple properties and a lot of times when you find that boat , you need the right trailer , you need the right boat slip . You need the right lake house so you can go , stay there to go down to your boat slip , to get on your new boat that you just bought , and all those things go together to become a financial burden on you .

You know , I'll say this . This isn't normal . I realize I'm a very , very blessed man , but in 2024 , at one point I owned four different homes . Now , that's because I owned three farms and I had a home on every farm , and then I also decided to purchase a new home and I had one for sale that wouldn't sell .

Because in 2024 , as you know , history now history teaches great lessons 2024 was one of the worst years for real estate in the US economy , then going all the way back to 2000 . From 2000 to 2024 , it's in the top two worst years for real estate sales . Why is that ? Well , we had extremely high interest rates 7.75 to 8% Crazy high rates .

People couldn't afford the homes . The monthly payments were through the roof . I mean how in the world a young person bought a home in 2024 , I have no idea , especially people struggling to survive . But I can tell you this I had four of them . That's four sets of homeowners insurance . That's four places to mow and maintain .

That's four gas bills , light bills , electric bills , water bills , internet bills . That's a lot of bills , and so I did a lot of downsizing in 2024 . If you haven't heard this yet , you know I now only own one farm . I sold two of my farms .

Thankfully , I had them paid for , so that was a huge blessing to have made money off those farms and to have those financial assets back in my control now , where it's not wrapped up in the land and I'm putting that money to use in different ways . But I can tell you this I can attest to the fact that owning multiple homes is a royal pain .

It's a lot to keep up with , it's a lot of divided interest , it's a lot of monthly payments , it's a lot of worry , a lot of risk . It's a lot of property claim damage .

You know you've got damage there from hailstorms and from windstorms and from , as we've learned , in 2025 , it could be fire , like what's going on in California , or the flooding and the damage in North Carolina . There's all these risks and all these things that you have to maintain in this constant outflow of money .

Now I realize a lot of you are saying , yeah , brad , but our multiple homes , constant outflow of money . Now I realize a lot of you're saying , yeah , brad , but our multiple homes they're rentals .

Yeah , and those rentals also have these problems People who don't pay the rent , people that you can't kick out of the home when they don't pay the rent because of their rights . If you've ever tried to get someone out , good luck with that . It's not easy to do in this world right now .

You have the ongoing maintenance of what happens to air conditioners and roofs and all the things that we talked about earlier in this segment . So , once you retire , it is good to focus on your home , making sure you have your own mortgage paid off and paid down .

And then , when it comes to the travel , when it comes to but oh , brad , you don't understand no , we didn't buy the timeshare . What we did was we bought a home and it's in Florida and we love going to Florida , we love going to Arizona , we love going to Gulf Shores , alabama .

There better be some really good reasons for justifying that expense in retirement , especially if the cost was being paid for from a tax deferred retirement account . Now , I know I'm pounding this drum during the show , but , friends , you've heard me say this for 15 years the number one thing that will separate you from the retirement of your dreams is taxes .

So when you take a big lump sum of money out of a tax-deferred account like an IRA or a 401k to go buy that $200,000 home or that $300,000 home down in Florida , then what you've done is you've thrown yourself into the next two or three or four higher IRMA brackets your income related monthly adjustment amount surcharge on your Medicare premium .

You've also increased your social security taxation . You will definitely have thrown yourself into the 85% bracket for taxation formulas for social security . And then , of course , you'll pay the federal and the state tax if you live in a state with state tax , which the majority of them have . And so you got all these problems .

And then , guess what , if you did buy that home in Florida , have you priced insurance lately ? Do you know what your PNC property and casualty insurance is on that home ? You know how many hurricanes come through that area ? Do you know how hard it is to insure and to maintain ?

Do you know about the risks that are involved , whether it's theft , whether it's just anything under the sun ? It would be much wiser economically , because we are talking about building and securing stable retirement income funds and income plans .

The better way would be to rent , to go to a VRBO or to go down to a vacation rental place or to all these different ways that you can rent a place and just rent a beautiful place to stay for your family to go Same memories , same luxurious homes on the beachfront . Let someone else bear that financial burden and stay in their place .

I'm telling you , renting and going and staying in a place like that is going to be much cheaper than , over the years , paying the cost of the home , the cost of the mortgage , the interest rates , all of the PNC , having all the coverage , the security , all the things that happen on that home . Friends , take our word for it . We've done the studies .

We've listened to the stories of clients all across the United States . I'm licensed in 18 different states . I have more than 2000 clients . I've heard all kinds of horror stories about everything on this list today . So stay with us for one more break . We're going to come back and wrap it up .

We're going to talk about all this and put a big , bright red bow on it . Our number is 866-780-SAFE . That's 866-780-7233 . Call us anytime . We are here to help . This is Brad Pistole , your host of Safe Money Radio . I'll be right back after this informative message .

Why not ease the burden of transfer of funds to your heirs and insulate your money from the shocks of an increasingly volatile world economy ? Give yourself and your family peace of mind and certainty that your retirement funds may have the opportunity to accumulate without the risk of market loss . So call us now at 866-780-SAFE . That's 866-780-7233 .

It's time to start being safe . Three it's time to start being safe . Now back to more safe money radio with your host , Brad Pistole .

you for tuning in to safe money radio . I am Brad Pistole , a market risk mitigation specialist helping clients with retirement money preservation and income planning . Friends , we're wrapping up our show today . Five things that you should almost never buy in retirement , and why ? Quite simply , here's the list Brand new vehicles , rvs , timeshares , boats and second homes .

Now , there's a reason for every one of these , and if you're just now joining us on the show , go to YouTube . Type in Brad Pistole five things you should almost never buy in retirement . It will pull this up . You can go back and listen to it at your own time and convenience .

I've shared a lot of personal stories today , some of my own personal stories , some from my family . My father my father purchased an RV , purchased a really expensive timeshare . I've had loads of friends and family members own boats , and I know all about all the stories that go with boats and the maintenance and the cost .

I personally have owned multiple , multiple homes . I still own two homes , one at one of my farms and the one that I reside in , and there are just so many things that come with owning multiple properties .

You can only be in one place at one time , and so you've got your own yard to take care of in the yard at the other property , and sure you could say , oh , brad , but I don't have to deal with any of that , I pay someone to take care of all that . Thank you , you just helped prove a point . It's expensive to maintain other properties .

If you're paying someone to mow your grass , to pull your weeds to , maybe , if it's a farm , to mow all your trails and to keep all your brush cut down , to bale your hay , it is expensive to pay people for the upkeep on all these things .

So be very , very careful , be very studious when it comes to your retirement money , because if you are like 95% I want to repeat that , 95% of retirees , the majority of your savings is in a tax deferred account .

That means you've been letting it grow and not paying taxes on it all your life and you're either waiting on required minimum distributions that force the money back out or special circumstances when you take the money out . And , friends , tax deferred means you don't own all the money that's in that account .

If you don't believe me , I always say this If you don't believe me , go cash the account out . If you have half a million in your tax deferred account and you go cash out half a million , you're going to find out how much of it you owned , because Uncle Sam's going to get 35 to 40% of that and your state's going to get another 5% of that .

So remember , when it's tax deferred and you take those big lump sum distributions to buy the new car , the RV , the timeshare , the boat , the second home , the lake house , the vacation rental , the vacation property , the boat , the second home , the lake house , the vacation rental , the vacation property , you are creating taxable problems .

Not only have you lowered your lifetime income bucket that's there , that's represented by that tax deferred account , but you have also increased the potential of paying social security taxes , paying IRMA taxes , surcharges on your Medicare and a host of all other kinds of problems .

Friends , we are retirement income certified professionals through the American College of Financial Services . I am also a certified financial fiduciary . I'm a certified annuity specialist . I'm an income-related monthly adjustment amount certified professional and I've been training with Ed Slott's Master Elite IRA Advisor Group for 15 years .

This is all I do all day long , every single day . More than 50 podcasts and radio shows a year . I talk to people all over this country about what's happening to them as a result of their retirement plan , and I help them fix the potholes and the loopholes and the broken parts of the plan .

If you don't have a plan in place , uncle Sam's going to love you because he's going to come get your money and take it from you .

If you're taking distributions and you don't have a plan for the taxes that are involved and all the different elements that are represented by taking distributions from taxable accounts , you're going to end up on the wrong side of the road . Friends , we are here to help prevent you from ever doing that . Call us for a free financial consultation .

Our number is 866-780-SAFE . That's 866-780-7233 . We will help you develop a safe and secure retirement income plan that will last the rest of your life , and we will show you why you need to avoid the types of purchases that you should almost never have in your retirement .

We're here to make sure you never run out of money before you run out of life , and we are some of the nation's leading experts in this cause . 866-780-7233 . Call us anytime while reducing exposure to market losses . Thanks for listening and until next time . At the same time , I'm Brad Pistole , reminding you to stay safe so you can step into a secure future .

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The preceding information does not represent tax , legal or investment advice . Surrender charges apply to base contracts . Optional lifetime income benefit riders are used to calculate lifetime payments only and are not available for cash surrender or in a death benefit . Unless specified in the annuity contract , fees may apply .

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