Does Your Retirement Plan Cost Too Much?

7.21.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

7.21.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Producer:
Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.

Producer:
Welcome to The Buckeye Advisor with your host, Woody Bowling. Woody is a fiduciary licensed financial advisor and Medicare expert who always places your needs first. Woody works hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they've worked so hard for. And he can help you, too. So now let's start the show. Here's Woody Bowling.

Woody Bowling:
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Whatever is appropriate. This is Woody Bowling, and I want to welcome you to this week's episode of your favorite financial advice show, The Buckeye Advisor. I'm assuming it's your favorite. I'm hoping. And if it's not, maybe by the end of this episode we can convince you that it should be your favorite again. I am Woody Bowling coming to you on The Buckeye Advisor on 94.5 FM Dayton, a great radio station here in the home area, great conservative voices during the week and great weekend shows like The Buckeye Advisor on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. You can listen live in your car, on your radio and you can listen to us there listen live and it's very easy from any computer throughout the world. So without further ado I've got to introduce a vital cog in our Buckeye advisor machine. He knows who he is. The one and only Matt McClure. Matt, welcome. This week I hope you've had a busy and very good productive week. How are you?

Producer:
I'm doing great, Woody. I hope you are as well, sir. Don't you know I've been called a lot of things. Don't know if I've ever been called a cog before, but, hey, that's. That's a good thing.

Woody Bowling:
Not just a cog, but a vital cog in our machinery.

Producer:
And there is nothing I would rather be in no place I would rather be than on The Buckeye Advisor right here on 94 five and on the podcast as well.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, it's fine. We've been doing this now for a little over a year. The podcast is available wherever your podcasts are. Iheartradio, gosh, Spotify, you name it, wherever podcasts are out there, we're there. The Buckeye Advisor with an O r at the end of Advisor. So it's a very small thing to remember. The Buckeye Advisor with an O are Matt, and I love doing this show every week for our listeners. We've gotten great feedback. We try to produce informative, educational and fun shows because we want people to be able to understand topics that are important to them as they go down the road towards retirement. Then when they're coming down that runway into retirement through the retirement red zone and then even the first couple, three, four, five years into retirement, I'm working with someone right now that I just got referred to a couple of weeks ago. She's 78 years young. And I'm going to talk a little bit about her case probably at some point during the show. So, look, you're never too old for me to be able to possibly turn something around that another advisor didn't do quite as well. And that's what makes this show fun. But Matt, from my understanding. Another birdie told me We have a great show for our listeners today. What do you think?

Producer:
I mean that Birdie, I'm pretty sure was absolutely correct because we got a lot of stuff to get to and a lot of good stuff to get to here on the show this week. Once again, Woody, a little bit of a market update. We'll actually hey, we'll have some good news to share with the listeners that that's kind of a rare thing that we got to do. An interesting story here about someone you may have heard of before, and that's all I'll say about their particular identity. But it's involving a multi-million dollar estate and a will hidden in a couch. So yeah, that's that's coming up here. Stay tuned for it. There's a there's a tease for you. And are you paying too much in fees? Well, the chances are the answer is either yes or I don't know. And if that's the case for you, then you're going to want to listen to learn how you can find out how much you're paying in fees and how The Buckeye Advisor can help you. In that case, how strong is your income plan? We're going to suggest some ways to improve your retirement income.

Producer:
We'll also do a little this week in history if we get there before our time has expired for the day. And what he also wanted to mention, you know, we mentioned the podcast and how that's available wherever our podcasts are available, wherever anyone's podcasts are available. We also have the YouTube channel we need to shout out as well. You can just connect with us there. Go to YouTube and search for The Buckeye Advisor. Of course, the website is TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com and again it's advisor with an O-R. At the end you can contact Woody Bowling any of those ways and get a free informational report on bond replacement. It's provided to all of our listeners free of any cost. You can learn how you can get rid of those fees on 50% or more of your portfolio today. It's all part of our fee efficient, market efficient strategy to help listeners and clients win with their money. Big time deal there, Woody, to to really help the listeners out. And that's what we're all about. Education, information and giving people the power to take control of their future.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, that's it. I mean, we want to be a financial quarterback or a partner with people as they plan for and execute those plans in retirement. You're exactly right. I was thinking about the YouTube and needing to point that out. Youtube a great platform in many, many ways. And look, we're doing 1 to 2 minute highlights of the interactions that you are you and I are having each week as we record our show. This show happens to be airing initially on July 22nd, 23. It's going to be re-aired seven 2323 both days at 9 a.m. But YouTube's a great channel. Please like and subscribe to our channel and also do the same with our podcast. If you follow us in our podcast, you'll be notified each week when the latest edition is uploaded and available for your listening pleasure.

Producer:
That's right. And a pleasure is what we will bring you here over this next hour. And let's get started with that as we kick things off here with our Quote of the week.

Producer:
And now wholesome financial wisdom, It's time for the quote of the Week.

Producer:
A pretty smart guy, said our quote of the week this time around. And Woody, it's Albert Einstein. And so, you know, I'm no Einstein, but this guy was and he was the Einstein. And this is what he said. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. Boy, that's. That's talk about somebody who knew a lot, who knew a lot of things. And if there was you know, every time he learned something, he realized how much more he didn't know. Boy, that's that's saying something, you.

Woody Bowling:
Know, very profound in his genius. And, you know, we've all run into those people and we probably have them in our family, at our family reunions and gatherings during the holidays. The person that thinks are the smartest person in the room and I ran into someone recently who felt they were smarter than me at what I do for a living, or at least their husband did. So it's always interesting to run into people that we call them know it alls. Smartest person in the room, even though that's not their career or never was. But they have done enough homework on their own to feel like they are the resident expert. So Einstein, in his humbleness makes him that much more appealing to me. You know, we all like to feel like we're somewhat intelligent, some more than others, but what sets some people apart is their ability to recognize like he did. You don't know it all and be open to learning about different things and realizing that sometimes you need to kind of get out of the way and let other people do their thing and you'll learn some things.

Producer:
Yeah, that's right. That's how you learn. That's how you grow is by being open to that. And boy, just some great, great words from Albert Einstein of all people saying that, you know, you can always continue learning. Well, speaking of learning here, Woody, we have learned some good news over the last little bit here, some some good news about the economy, which is, as I said a few minutes ago, kind of a rare thing. The first point that we want to make here. Wages are finally rising faster than prices. That's good news for the everyday consumer.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, it really is. And it's surprising that it's taken this long because so many people are looking for the employers are looking to hire so many people, you would think that they would be able to keep wages on pace with inflation. But it's also a difficult market for the employer, even though they're willing to pay more to get the right people. It's still a very competitive field and not enough candidates looking for all these jobs. So we like to seize on any good news. And, you know, inflation is slowing down and the markets, stock markets have been on a tear. We're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a minute. I'm going to let you touch on how much the markets have gone up this year. And the one cloud that I want to point out right now in some of the economic data is just the fact that UPS Teamsters Union is contemplating a strike by the end of July over wages, everything else. If that happens, the Teamsters now represents about 340,000 UPS people that will not only have an immediate negative effect on everyone, but also a rippling effect for what could be weeks and interrupting daily transactions and how quickly we get things delivered to our homes. So that's the only note of caution. Matt, I'm going to tell you, between you and I and our listening audience and I hope they can all keep a secret, I think they'll settle it before they strike.

Producer:
Yeah, that's the hope. I mean, that's what I really am am thinking will happen and I'm hoping will happen because it would be such a huge impact, as you say, you know, they're preparing for it just in case. I saw a story the other day about how U-p-s was training the managers who were not part of the union to make deliveries just in case all those drivers and delivery or delivery people get, you know, on the picket line there. But yeah, definitely would have a huge, huge impact and really a huge impact on the supply chain. You know, we talk about supply chains a lot here over the past few years, and especially during Covid, where everything just really shut down. Then things had to start trying to rev back up. That's been a huge process. And so that UPS situation kind of looms over everything with, you know, as this kind of dark cloud on the horizon. But as of right now, inflation has been slowing because of the recovery that we've seen in the supply chain. Really just all of those things kind of working their way through the system. And, you know, hopefully the UPS strike, that doesn't happen. So then, you know, we take a big leap backwards in that process.

Woody Bowling:
Well, you know, with unions historically having that leverage, whether it's a college teacher union or a public school system, teacher union, whatever, having that leverage that they that they can have a work stoppage is very, very good leverage. And even pilots have threatened to go out on strike and flight attendants. So none of it's good for whatever part of our economy that's affected. But a move like this could impact everyone, no matter how small or large you are or your bank account is. But let's hope for the best.

Producer:
Yeah, let's definitely do that. And we do have slowing inflation, thankfully, right now, stocks because of that, because of that slowing inflation, because of hopes that the Federal Reserve in the future anyway, will will stop raising interest rates. They'll most likely do it a couple more times here. That's sort of the general mode of thinking right now. But in the future, beyond that, they'll stop raising interest rates. That is what Wall Street has sort of been banking on and what's kind of banked in or baked in rather, to the markets, I should say. You know, stocks really been riding this big wave through the first half of the year. You know, the first half of 2023 saw the S&P 500 up more than 16%. The Dow up about not quite 4%. Nasdaq, get this, you know, tech stocks had really suffered last year. This so far this year, at least the first half of the year, the Nasdaq up almost 33%. So, I mean, some big gains, especially for the S&P that broad market index and the Nasdaq, we're talking about a really tech heavy index. Those are two good signs for the financial markets.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, they're really good signs. And I'm happy to see my own money in my own accounts, investments and client investment accounts that I manage going up. It's a positive sign. But I also want to point out, always be cautious. Look, last year the Nasdaq was down 35%, I believe 33 to 35%, and it's up 30 to 33% this year. So just about back to being even, that's a good thing. The other thing I want to point out a couple of things, the S&P 500. It's funny to me that they even still report the Dow Jones Industrial Average because it only has 30 stocks in it. That still blows me away. I know it's always been kind of a staple in the financial commentaries and updates on TV and every report financially has got the Dow Jones in it. It's only 30 companies. It's only up 4% this year, almost 4%. The S&P 500 folks has 500 stocks of medium to large companies that are representative of all the various sectors of our country. So in our economy, a great, great, more more impressive and more adequate indicator of the overall health of the stocks would be the S&P 500. But you're right, the Nasdaq technology driven very growth and technology savvy companies. And also the roller coaster ride can be much steeper going up and coming down with the Nasdaq. So that's a warning. You know, on the tactical money management side of my practice, you know, we're going to monitor things very closely and how they're going. We try to smooth out that ride for our investment clients. So be careful if you're following the Nasdaq and these technology companies, especially if you own a single stock or 2 or 3, you better buckle up. You're in for some wild swings in stock prices.

Producer:
Oh, yeah. That's, you know, just goes to show you the importance of diversification in your investments, having a safe portion of your investments as well. So you can balance that out, counteract that, you know, the wild swings of Wall Street and really just, you know, work with an advisor who can help you navigate these things. It's not easy to do on your own. That's why we have experts, right? I mean, I would not perform open heart surgery on myself. I would go to an open heart surgeon to do it for me. I would not try to manage all of these, you know, things, these complicated things myself, you know, being, you know, average Joe out there. But I would go to an expert, the the the heart surgeon of financial advisors here, Woody Bole. I mean, that's that your reputation precedes you as skilled as a heart surgeon.

Woody Bowling:
Well, I like that comparison analogy. I do. I tried to give my roots myself a root canal once as a teenager. Now I'm just kidding. I didn't do that. I'm with you, Matt. Stick with the experts. Let them do what they do best. I'll do what we do best, and that's help people advise people. As a fiduciary financial advisor, that's what I do. We always want to put the listeners interest and my client's interest first ahead of everything else. We need to be able to understand their situation so we can make proper recommendations on, you know, where to go not only with your money, but with your insurance, your life insurance. You know, there's a lot of people asking me about life insurance. They want to make sure they've got the proper policies. And I've looked at policies in the last month that just were not appropriate to sell someone in their early 60s at the time. So we're getting them out of them and certain investments, you know, when you're in your retirement years or close to it are not appropriate. So you want to make appropriate. Advice. That's what I want to do. I want to give appropriate advice and make sure that we're following you, get the plan set up, and then I'm going to help people monitor that plan.

Woody Bowling:
And, you know, whether it's Medicare investments, life insurance, long term care. And also want to talk a little bit about trust and making sure that a lot of our listeners think if they have just a will, that they are going to be able to avoid probate of their estate. Some people think they don't have enough of them in a state that they need to worry about it. But I can tell you probate is long. It can be 6 to 18 months or more. It can be very, very expensive. And the same lawyers, the same attorneys that tell people, oh, a will is just fine for you. Guess what? The reason they're doing that technically is so they can be the attorney that helps do the probate of that will. And that is a very little known fact. So we've got some great information. I would ask people to reach out to me and I can share some more in depth information on how you can get set up with a trust at about half the cost of walking into an attorney's office and asking for one. And you can fund the trust. We'll walk you through it step by step by step. With the help of a licensed attorney who specializes in that field.

Producer:
Which is a great thing to have, a great asset, to have a great resource to have. And you can get in touch with Woody Bowling and do just that. Get get in touch with that resource and get started down that road by going to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com The Buckeye Advisor with an or at the end.com or you can call Woody at (937) 974-6201 R-e-s-p-e-c-t.

What it means to me. I asked. Be easy to take care, TCB.

Producer:
Aretha Franklin, the absolute legend that she was, died back in 2018. But she's still making headlines here. The because of this will that she had actually these wills that she had. You know, I mean, you spoke about wills just then, and it turns out that this jury found out or determined anyway that the will that was wedged between couch cushions on a spiral notebook and written. That it was found months after she died while a jury in Pontiac, Michigan, decided that will is valid. And there was this years long legal dispute between the, you know, kids and all that. But that was a four page document drafted in 2014. That is what will now guide this multi-million dollar estate and how it's divvied up. Now, obviously, you know, I am not no multi-millionaire, and I would doubt that that most of our listeners are. Anyway, if you are, congratulations. But I would say that we probably need to be a little bit more prepared than just the piece of paper on a spiral notebook or whatever, shoved in couch cushions to count on that because we don't want I mean, this is kind of serves as a cautionary tale, right? You know, you just talked about probate there. You your loved ones could end up in court trying to fight for for how your estate is divvied up and then it can be taken out of their hands. The court could end up deciding and your wishes could just basically be thrown aside if everything is not taken care of in a proper way.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, exactly. And I will say this. My first piece of advice would be don't leave your will in your couch cushions. Right. I'm not much of a person that follows trials or things involving juries, but I think this one would have been super interesting to be able to see some of the details. I wish I could have tuned in to listen to some of it, some of the testimony, some of the evidence presented. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's a great lesson on how not to do things. And I mentioned a living trust a few minutes ago. I firmly believe that is an outstanding best way to go. I can help people learn more about that. All they've got to do is reach out. You know, the old fashioned thing they can do, Matt, is call me (937) 974-6201. You don't have to go to the website. Just dial me up. Leave me a message. If I don't answer and I'll call you back. It's very simple. (937) 974-6201. Protecting those assets that people weren't so many years to accumulate. Sometimes people have children that fall away from the family and there are substance abuse issues. There are so many different things that can happen. There can be a blended family. How many people are in blended families today? So many. I'm in one myself. My wife and I are both in our second marriage.

Woody Bowling:
We have kids, each of us from other marriages. So we're a perfect example. You can be so specific in that trust that basically there's no questions ask. Even if you have a will, the will has to be probated. People can contest that will. They can create lengthy delays. They can potentially, in some cases, overturn the will based on where they stand in the family pecking order. So there's lots of craziness that can happen. My advice to you, avoid craziness. Think about how much more sense a living trust makes. It's basically ironclad, but you can still make changes. And that's the difference between a revocable trust and an irrevocable. So I know people will have questions about that. I would encourage you think about it. You've got questions. Give me a call. Let's talk about your situation. We can start on the phone and then move to an in-person. And look, I respect people. The fact that they work so hard to save money, to accumulate retirement assets. Don't waste it. Don't let poor planning on the legal side screw things up down the road. You know, that's the thing, Matt. We want to make sure people are taking care of not only while they're living, but we want to make sure that things happen after they pass as they intended.

Producer:
Yeah, that is the ideal thing. And that's what you as The Buckeye Advisor, as a fiduciary financial advisor can help with. I mean, that fiduciary responsibility means obviously that you have to act in the best interest of the clients and not of yourself. So that is something that people can really, you know, take, take some some solace in and take take some comfort in as well if they choose to work with you. Well, just about time for this first break of the show here, Woody, But we're going to come back and we'll, of course, have the dad joke of the week. When we come back, we'll also talk about fee efficiency and an expense ratio. Do you know what expenses you're paying? Do you know what fees you're paying? Do you know what an expense ratio is? Well, we're going to take you to school. We're going to define it coming up here. Remember the website, TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com. You can also call Woody at (937) 974-6201. The Buckeye Advisor continues right after this.

You're feeling low and the fish won't buy. You need a little bit of soul.

Producer:
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Producer:
Miss part of today's show. The Buckeye Advisor is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com.

Producer:
Welcome back to The Buckeye Advisor. I'm Matt McClure. I am the producer, the co-host here of The Buckeye Advisor. So that gives it's a dead giveaway. I am not The Buckeye Advisor himself. That is the man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Woody Bowling. He, of course, is right here with me on The Buckeye Advisor because, you know, it's kind of his show. TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com is the website. You can also go to your phone and give what do you call (937) 974-6201. That number once again (937) 974-6201.

Producer:
Oh, sure, you can handle ghost peppers. You choose scorpions like Skittles. But can you stomach the dad joke of the week?

Producer:
All right, Woody. Yes, it is that time once again. Lay it on us. It's time to time to make a smile. Make us laugh or roll our eyes. Whatever the choice is this week, just give us the joke, Matt.

Woody Bowling:
I think I have a classic. I have a question. How many apples grow on a tree? Oh, boy. I don't.

Producer:
Know. I've seen a lot of apples grow on a tree. How many do, though?

Woody Bowling:
All of them. Oh, we said, Dad, joke. We mean dad joke. So you got to take it with a grain of salt that it deserves. Right. There you.

Producer:
Go. That. That's pretty classic. That's that's that's good. Quintessential dad joke for this week free of charge courtesy of The Buckeye Advisor. Oh, all right, Woody. So a lot of things in life are free, actually. You know, they say nothing in life is free. But, hey, the dad joke of the week absolutely free. No charge there. But there could be a lot of things, let's say, in your financial portfolio, in your investments for the future that come with a lot of costs, a lot of fees that you don't know about necessarily. So we're going to talk a little bit here about an expense ratio. And first of all, define what an expense ratio is for us. In case our listeners aren't familiar, they might hear that term and be like, Oh, this is kind of a this is one of those big, you know, important sounding financial terms that I'm not going to be able to understand layman's terms. What is an expense ratio?

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, good point. You know, all an expense ratio is, is the management fees divided by the total investment in the fund. Okay. So if the fees are $1,000 and the investments, 100,000, then you've got a 1% expense ratio. So really not too difficult of a concept to grasp. It's hidden in so many places in 401. Ks in IRAs, all these different areas, there are fees and I'd love to tell our listener, you can completely do everything without any fees at all. That is not true. There are fees along the way throughout life and we can't avoid them, whether it be taxes in some sort on your goods and services. You buy your cell phones, your cable bills, your IRS bills, all those things. And then, of course, any time you have investments of some variety, there's usually some sort of a fee that goes along with it. If you're in a vehicle that you actually want to make money and grow. Let's face it, CDs at a bank, there's no charge there. So there's there are ways you can avoid. And we do a lot of work with clients with a portion of their retirement savings where I work with them on part of that savings. And we can do we can be very fee efficient. We can reduce fees or we can eliminate a fee altogether on a portion of those retirement assets and still position them to make money to make reasonable growth and also, if they need it, to trigger lifetime income benefits that are needed by many of our listeners when they start cruising into that retirement arena with only Social Security to support their income after that or to be their income. So can you be fee efficient? That's one of our goals, is to help our listeners and my clients to become more efficient than they are today and to maximize that without sacrificing the ability to actually grow and accomplish things that need to be accomplished.

Producer:
And I would imagine that you work with a lot of people who either probably one of a couple of scenarios here either don't know how much they're paying in fees, especially management fees, things like that, or don't realize maybe they do know how much they're paying but don't realize they're overpaying. You know, I mean, it could be that their their advisor, their their broker, their whomever is just, you know, charging them something that is not a reasonable fee for the management that they're doing. And that could be something that they might want to reach out to you for.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, a lot of people set it and forget it. And and brokers are stockbrokers are guilty of that as well. They can position a client's assets in certain mutual funds and never make changes and never do anything strategically different. Whereas I'm going to try to be more aware of that as we go. And you also need to realize that each year people get older. A lot of folks want to take some money off the table as far as risk. But if they call their broker, the broker is going to say, you don't need to do that or you need to stay. Not only maybe it's not a mutual fund that's made up of stocks, a stock fund. Maybe they said, okay, well, let's shift it to bonds. Well, we've seen the destruction of bond funds in the last 16, 18 months. 2022 was the worst year for bonds in history. As we've pointed out to our listeners on other another show or two. So we want to make sure you understand what you're paying and when are you getting the value for what you're paying. That's the question. And of course, we don't charge anything to do our our consultations with people, to do evaluations. I have the ability to run all sorts of stress tests on your current portfolios. We want to see if we can make you fee efficient, more so than you are now, and also provide great advice to help you grow over time at the same time. So we want to kind of do all those things that are going to reflect a positive impact on your overall picture.

Producer:
And that free complimentary consultation is available by going to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's advisor with an Or at the end by the way, where you can call Woody bowling at (937) 974-6201. And he'll be glad to give you that consultation again. It's absolutely free of any charge and any obligation. So we talked there about expense ratios. Right. And what that is so great explainer there. We're all about education here on the show. And so let's sort of continue that education now by talking about retirement income and making sure that people realize, number one, retirement is much more about income than it is about one big nest egg number, right? That's the first thing. So realizing how important income is during retirement, but then also asking themselves how strong is my retirement income plan, if I even have one at all. Right.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah. And a lot of people don't have a real formal concrete plan on how they're going to generate income in retirement. What they don't realize and you know, we use this let's say let's say you have 100,000 portfolio and people say, well, 4% rule is. Traditionally over the last few decades, they've said advisors typically tell their clients, Oh, well, you can do 4% on that and you should be okay. You should be able to outlive your money or you're not going to outlive your money, I should say. So 4% is 40 grand. Okay. Some people say, well, 40 grand may or may not be a lot depending on their own mindset on a million bucks. But what you've got to realize is if in that first year was like 20, 22 or 2007. And your count drops 30% during that first year. Your million is now worth 700,000. And now you take 4%. You've just dropped to 28,000. And you're been pulling that same amount of money the whole time. Your chances of outliving your money have increased significantly because just the evils of the market and the the overall cyclical nature of the market is always going to be there. But it's timing and you can't time the market. You can. Tire when you want to retire. But if you're unfortunate enough to retire. During one of these market downturns, it's a very, very negative consequence on the amount of money that you have.

Woody Bowling:
So on the other hand, if I take part of your million bucks and I can take a portion of that, not all of it, but I can take a portion of that and turn that into 40,000 a year, making it principal protected and guaranteeing that 40 grand for life. How would that sound? I think to a lot of people, they would say, how do you do that? What's the catch? Right. Well, there's no catch. It's doable is something that we do all the time for our clients. And that's the thing about this show, Matt, we try to tell people there's other ways to quote unquote skin the cat with investments, with income and retirement, with health care planning, life insurance, planning, all those different things. As an independent agent, that's the thing I love the most, is having access to so many great ideas and programs that I can access that are best for my client and not being beholden to the products and ideas of only one company, because that to me would not be any fun. And now I can honestly tell people, Look, I've done the research. This is the strongest way to generate what you want to do for retirement. Look them in the eyes and know that, man, this is what I do. This is what I love. And we're doing great things for people.

Producer:
Yeah. And really, that is what it's all about, is, you know, helping people make their future brighter and and give them the knowledge and turn that knowledge into action so that they can they can do that and they can do that with the help of The Buckeye Advisor as well. Yeah.

Woody Bowling:
I want to give a quick example. I just this lady I mentioned earlier in the show, 300,000 bucks and she's been in a variable annuity for about eight years, just turned her income on last year and we were able to increase. She's in a variable annuity. She was paying just under 5% in annual fees altogether, 4.7 something percent in annual fees just turned her income rider on, plus the market value was fluctuating up and down with the stock market because it's all mutual funds in those variable annuities. So number one, it's a very expensive, high risk, high risk, high. Expense vehicle for retirement. They turned on the the income rider last year. We are able to beat that monthly income right now by $200 per month. And she was shocked and she was a referral from another client. So I'm just saying, if you think you're in something that's good and you don't understand it fully, let's take a look at it. Because examples like that, I can give you more. We don't have all the time in the space, but it's just a most recent example that stands out because it's so phenomenal. When I could tell her, Look, we can take the same amount of money that your annuity is worth right now, reduce your expenses from almost 5 to 1% and protect your principal and increase your income by a little over 10%. That's pretty that's a pretty good day at work.

Producer:
Yeah, that's awesome. And that's just, as you say, just one example there of how people, you know, are just overpaid, paying for their really underperforming assets that they might have. And, you know, when when you talk about her holding a variable annuity, if you hear bad things about annuities generally that's what what it is. People are badmouthing the variable annuities because those are the ones that are at risk in the market. They do have those high fees like you talked about. So it's you know, there are other ways. There are other avenues, there are other annuities, there are other types of accounts that you can be invested in for your future that can come with more safety, guarantee you that income and just leave you much better off. And of course, as you say, Woody, it all depends on your individual situation as well. You know, I wanted to say, too, that a lot of people are paying or not necessarily paying right now, but they will be paying a heavy tax bill in their retirement and maybe don't don't realize it as well. If you have a tax deferred account like something that you might have at work, a 401. K, a 403 B, maybe you have have gone solo there and you've got an IRA for yourself. A Roth conversion could be something that could be of interest to you as well. And that's, again, what is something that you can help people with. And it's another way to save people more of that hard earned money so they're not just throwing it out the door.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, a Roth IRA is is definitely not 100% the choice. It is the choice in certain cases. It's got to be right. A lot of times the people are still employed and making a fairly good income. They're willing to pay the potential tax bill out of savings rather than the investments themselves. So there's all kinds of ways to consider it, but everybody's situation is different. Once I know all of the details as far as current situation, that's going to help us really run the numbers to evaluate those numbers and whether they make sense and maybe it's a partial conversion of that IRA or 401. K, maybe it's a partial conversion this year, another one next year and another one the year after, because right now we know until the end of 2025, we still are under the lower taxes that were imposed a few years ago. And at 1231 of 2025, December 31st, January 1st of the next year, they are scheduled to go back. And that's about a 3 to 4% tax increase across the board for everyone unless Congress acts and extends those.

Producer:
Yeah. So you can pretty much bank on the tax burden getting a little bit heftier in the future. And if you want to plan for that too, go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com and you can also call Woody (937) 974-6201. We talk a lot about different vehicles for retirement one that doesn't get a lot of play anymore either necessarily here on this show or in general conversation. You know people's everyday lives is a pension because they are so much rarer these days than they used to be. Right? I mean, it used to be huge. And now it's almost like finding a unicorn.

Woody Bowling:
It is. I mean, you're back in the day in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. I mean, you went to work, someone went to work for a company. The plan was to work 30 years. You were guaranteed to have a monthly pension of X number of dollars the rest of your life. And that's the way it was. And there was a lot of loyalty on both sides. The employer was loyal. They kept their promise in most cases to fulfill that pension and the employer. And it also generated loyalty from the employee because people did not change jobs that much back then. Today, totally different animal thanks to the 401. K and employers were able to shift the responsibility to the employee with very minimal advice, very minimal education to the employees about how much a 401. K can help them over the years. And I regret that, man. I wish there was one that would be one thing I could do would be nationwide, help employers be better at presenting how important it is for their employees to participate in that 401. K, get that employer match and all that and see that compounding interest and growth throughout their career. So you know, Matt, people today change jobs like they change their laundry almost, right? So they change their jobs more. They're looking for a better paycheck. They don't. Some people are not. Ever. They don't care about a 401. K. I guess they don't think they're ever going to get there. But look, it's a transient workforce. We're a more transient society. People move more, they change jobs more. There's a lot less concern about security down the road until they hit certain ages and then they say, oh, I think maybe I should have planned a little better. And then at that point, it's not always easy to make the positive changes needed to produce a better retirement.

Producer:
That is how it goes far too often. You know, it really is. You get closer and closer to retirement and you look back in your rearview rearview mirror at where you've been and you're like, why didn't I think about this before? Well, we're telling you right now, think about it. And, you know, I mean, it used to be, as you said, huge numbers of workers out there had these pensions at work and they didn't really necessarily have to worry about it because even by the mid 80s, for example, 60% of private sector workers in the US had access to a pension. By 2020, that had fallen to 16%. So 62, 16%, that's how far down it's gone. So then the question becomes for people, okay, what's the answer to that? Obviously, the 401. K is one of the answers. That's the employer's answer anyway to it. But can people create their own personal pension?

Woody Bowling:
Great question about doing your own pension. We talk a lot about 401 K's, but there's a lot of people, Matt, that I run into that have saved and saved and saved and they've lived frugally. They were frugal in the way they lived and they were able to squirrel away a lots and lots of money and you know, where they tend to keep it in their checking and savings accounts and good for them, number one, for having the tenacity to save and save over time. But number two, to be careful. We talk a lot about fees and we talk a lot about investment market risk and all that. But look, you also are having some risk by having your money sitting and not working hard for you. So I know some of our listeners probably are in that boat. Hey, I've put away some money. It's in savings, it's in checking, it's in CDs. You know, we have the perfect vehicle for many people for many different scenarios. It's called a fixed indexed annuity. It's not your father or grandfather's annuity. It's a lot of flexibility. It's a great alternative to traditional bonds and also investments, because what it's going to do is offer you things like trying to protect you from market volatility.

Woody Bowling:
We can provide people with non qualified assets like your savings and checking. Nonqualified assets are when they're put into a fixed indexed annuity. Guess what? It's tax deferred growth. So as your annuity value grows over time, those taxes are pushed off, They're tax deferred. That's a great thing for a lot of people. And finally, another important feature in these fixed indexed annuities is a lifetime income stream that's guaranteed. And I use multiple insurance companies. All of them are rated very, very highly. I do only business with companies that are in that boat, and these companies are duking it out bare knuckle style all the time to come out with the best features for my clients because they want to be the company that gets the privilege of working with my clients. And I take that very seriously. We always want to make sure and when I know the whole situation, we can tailor it to make sure that we're putting them in the right annuity. And that's what it's all about.

Producer:
Now, making sure that the situation is right for you. You don't want to be saddled with something that isn't right for you, and that is why you should give Woody Bowling a call at (937) 974-6201 or go to the website it is TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com remember that is a Buckeye advisor with an O-R dot com there at the end. It's this week in history. Some very interesting things happened on this well during this week I should say in our history Woody July 22nd was a landmark moment. In 1983, this Australian entrepreneur, aviator and philanthropist Dick Smith became the first person to fly a helicopter around the world solo. He started August of 1982. It took him just right, right out a year almost, to finish that trip. Going around the world. I don't know that I would get in a helicopter going down the street, but this guy went around the globe. That's kind of crazy, man.

Woody Bowling:
You said exactly what I was going to say. I have zero desire to sit in a helicopter. My brother did a one of those see through helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon. I would be scared to death. But kudos to Mr. Smith for that journey back in the early 80s. God love him. Couldn't pay me to do it. If you were paying me a million, I still don't think I would do it.

Producer:
You and me both. July 23rd Big landmark date. On this day in 1903, Ford sold its first automobile. It was the model, a 7350 models of the vehicle made from 1903 to 1904. Guess what the price was, Woody? 800 to $900 period. That's out.

Woody Bowling:
That's outlandish. Yeah, it probably was outlandish then, but now not so much. Can you imagine that?

Producer:
I mean, that's like a car payment these days.

Woody Bowling:
And the peak speed I saw that the peak speed was 28mph. That would be an invigorating ride at that speed.

Producer:
That's right. That's air down. Let it blow in the wind. Try not to blow away. And one last one here, Woody, as we leave our listeners with this, On July 23rd, 1966, Frank Sinatra's hit single Strangers in the Night went to number one on the US charts, Old, old Blue Eyes. What a great voice. And I wish he could sing us to the end of the show as we become strangers in the night here. Woody to our to our listeners.

Woody Bowling:
Well, we probably are strangers in the night or daytime to a lot of our listeners, and we couldn't be here without the listener. Matt, And we couldn't be here without you. Thanks for being here this week. I want to appreciate you and I want to thank all the listeners. Whether you're on the radio, listening or the podcast. Thank you. We encourage you to reach out to us. We hope you enjoy the shows. Each week you learn something, you want to learn more. It's time. Give me a call. (937) 974-6201. I don't think you'll regret it. And we're looking forward to having everybody back next week. When we come back with another action packed show.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to The Buckeye Advisor. You deserve to work with an experienced and licensed expert who will strategically work to protect and grow your hard earned assets to schedule your free no obligation consultation with Woody, visit TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com or pick up the phone and call (937) 974-6201. That's (937) 974-6201.

Producer:
Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC. Bcm A registered investment Advisor. Emma, The Buckeye Advisor, are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to determine future results.

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