Explaining the Recent Bank Failures: Be Prepared, Not Scared!

3.17.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

3.17.23: 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 to all of our listeners of your favorite podcast and radio show, or at least we hope it's your favorite. It's called The Buckeye Advisor and it is The Buckeye Advisor coming at you live today. This is Woody Bowling. I am indebted and very, very grateful for you listening today on 94.5 FM. The Answer Dayton Wonderful station. We are glad to have you. Whatever you're doing today, it's Saturday, March 18th. You might be catching the replay on Sunday, March 19th. We're here each week at 10:00 Am on Saturday and 9:00 on Sunday. The title of our show today is Be Prepared, Not Scared. And I am Not Scared to invite our awesome, tremendous co-host and producer of our show coming to us from his lovely place in Atlanta, Mr. Matt McClure. Matt, welcome. And are you ready for another exciting episode?

Producer:
I am indeed, Woody, and I am. I'm excited about it. Talking about being being scared. I'm glad you weren't scared to introduce me this week, although last week was probably a little bit of a different story as I was, you know, in the middle of my my throes with an upper respiratory deal going on. But I appreciate it. We soldiered on and we'll do it again this week. Got some big stuff going on.

Woody Bowling:
Wow. It has been a crazy week. And you're right, last week the froggy Voice will never you know, we may not have it back again, but we got to enjoy it for one week and it will live on in immortality in number 37, I believe, of our podcast episodes. So if you want to hear Matt at his Froggy Finest, you can go back and listen. Matt We are so excited to do what we do each week. We've been doing it now since June of 22. I've been doing it for 14 years as a fiduciary advisor and you know, the events of this past week, week and a half with the closure of Silicon Valley Bank, with the signature bank in New York. Two of the top three, number two and number three, bank failures in our country. The biggest being Washington Mutual, which failed in 2008 when the regulators took over. It's amazing the degree of anxiety and fear that is out there in the market in general. The stock market I'm talking about, of course, is is tremendous. There's a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety of the unknown. What's going to happen next? The Fed stepped in and decided to do some things. We'll talk about more in a minute. But, you know, the market, very, very difficult reactions after all of this was announced. Some really, really tremendous highs and lows this week. Meta, which is the Facebook of parent, the Facebook's parent, as well as Instagram, some of you may not know that, but they're they're both properties of meta announced.

Woody Bowling:
They're laying off 10,000 people. They are going to get back to pre-COVID levels of staffing. So lots of things going on. The Federal Reserve, again, we're unsure of what their next move is going to be. Is it going to be 50 basis points or a half a point? Will it be a quarter? Will the SVB scandal change their mind? We're not sure. But lots of things going on and I think the listeners will be happy to hear our show today. Be prepared, Not scared. We've been talking about some of these things for months. And, you know, we firmly believe that if listeners will give us the opportunity to share our strategies with them in person and to help put them in place in their own retirement planning, they'll be able to sleep better at night when they see these wicked, nasty headlines being broadcast 24 over seven by every news station, every radio station and all that across our country. So, you know, we're glad we do what we do. We've got some good information. We want to reassure people that the sky is not falling, at least completely. And, you know, we do have some things that we'll share this week that people, I believe, will get the benefit of.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I mean, bottom line is, you know, is there a reason for some concern? Obviously, you know, banks don't fail every day. Right. But is there a reason for panic? Absolutely not, because there are solutions out there and there are ways to help shield you from this financial volatility. In large part, you know, not you know, they're in this industry can never make a 100% guarantee about pretty much anything. But what we can say is that there are ways that we can really help you, you know, soften any kind of blow, protect your money, protect your principal. And, you know, this uncertain and sort of unknown time that we're in right now shouldn't be cause for a complete, you know, like Kermit running up and down with your arms in the air, you know, kind of a thing. Right. Which my voice isn't 100% back, so I can't quite do the Kermit thing just yet. But no Kermit impersonations either on on the show today. But yeah, you're absolutely right. It's a concerning time and folks do need to get in touch with The Buckeye Advisor and you can do that at the website folks. It's TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com. All one word and advisor is with an Or. By the way you can also call Woody bowling at (937) 974-6201. Check out past episodes of the podcast as well. Anywhere you get your podcast and a new episode each and every week there for you as well as highlights from the show on our YouTube page. Just search for The Buckeye Advisor on YouTube. We also have now, you know, with all this uncertainty in the economy right now, Woody, a lot of people are interested, especially with inflation being such that it is a lot of people are interested in cutting costs. So that's another resource that we're offering to folks as well. These 23 retirement cost cutters for 2023.

Woody Bowling:
Yep. We hope people will reach out to us if they want that information. Whether you want to use all 23 or maybe only 2 or 3, it's up to you. But it's just another resource that we're offering folks and we're more than happy to send it to you. We're also more than happy to send you the Annuity 360 book that several of our listeners have reached out to over the last few months to get that sent to them. They want to have a better understanding of things that can help protect their assets. That's what we're here to do. It's a well written quick read, probably an hour and a half long and it will increase your understanding. And we think the more knowledge that our listeners have about what's going on in their financials. Lives, the better. And that's what we encourage. We want people to understand. That's what I like about the strategies that we implement with our clients. You know, if if you understand why we're doing what we're doing and you understand that a percentage or a portion of your retirement assets is principal protected, that's one of the primary reasons my clients sleep a lot better in an economic environment like we're having today. So, you know, we're going to keep doing what we do. We want people to understand, as you said, no time to panic, but it is time to be cautious. And we want people to always be cautious because other money managers and typical brokers always want their clients money in the market. That is the name of the game, period, Whether it's mutual funds, investing in stocks or whether it's investing in bonds, that's where they want their clients money because that's how they get paid. I'm not saying that's a bad thing that they get paid because people need to make a living, but we do things differently. It's a different thought process. We're very thoughtful about what we do with our clients money. And in the end, we think you're going to be happy with the results.

Producer:
Absolutely. So and a lot of that coming up here on the show today, educating you, our listeners, all about what's going on in the economy, what's going on with the Silicon Valley bank situation and more. We're also going to talk some beating the bank CDs, some tips to maximize your Social Security. While your nest egg may be smaller than you think as well. And so much more. So let's dive right into it. And as always, we start with our Quote of the week.

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

Producer:
And this time around, Woody, our words of wisdom come from Will Rogers. Of course, the vaudeville performer, actor and humorist, social commentator with some really wise words this time around. And Will Rogers said, quote, People should be more concerned with the return of their principal than the return on their principal, who that one hits home these days.

Woody Bowling:
Right, Man Very well said. The timing could not be better for this quote of the week to come up on our program, Will Rogers, a very, very sharp American patriot. And but you know, at the same time. People try to overcomplicate life and life gets busy and everything's complicated. We're all going ten different directions. It's much different. We have a phone tethered to us all the time. Even when you're sitting at home watching TV, you're on your laptop or your iPad or your phone. It's a much different time than when Will Rogers was doing his thing. So look, at the end of the day, what he said about and I want to make sure people understand it, you should be concerned more with the return of your principal, meaning getting it back than the return on your principal. I'm going to ask you as a listener, what if you could have the best of both worlds? What if you could get your principal protected and make a solid return? That is the best of both worlds, and that's the goal of our holistic planning process and the execution of our strategies. We want to increase your probability of success, and that's what we do. But we're also realistic about it. And I'm going to give you straight Answers. Sometimes the the Answers that people get from me are not necessarily what they want to hear, because I'm not going to give them a pie in the sky, this or that. So definitely we want you to be concerned and we are concerned about getting the principal back. But we also do want to make and I'm going to use this term, a reasonable return. And with the volatility in the market over the last 75 years, you know, you've got to realize a reasonable return is the key to long term success.

Producer:
Yeah, it absolutely is. And that that is the thing is, you know, getting that reasonable rate of return. If you look back at the last, you know, especially 2020, just just go calendar year 2022, did people who were only invested in the stock market, especially if they were only invested in, say, you know, funds that mirror the major indexes or indices, if you prefer, Did they receive a reasonable rate of return? Absolutely not. They they lost quite a bit of money. Same thing with the bond market here in recent times. And we'll go more on bonds recently, too. You know, usually bonds have been have been used as because of their, you know, inverse relationship with the the stock market. But now they've both been because this weird economic time we're in they've both been suffering so it's like how do you balance your portfolio out now people are looking for a lot of those Answers.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, the economy and I said this to someone the other day, the economy, the Federal Reserve System has been injecting low cost or next to nothing cost money like a junkie getting their fix on heroin or something like that. And our economy has become so dependent on that and it's created a monster that continually needed to be fed. So what's happened now? Interest rates going up at the most rapid pace since the early 80s. The economy wasn't ready for it. You've got Silicon Valley Bank wasn't ready for it. They didn't comply with a lot of the things that they're supposed to comply with from the banking regulatory side, the 16th largest bank in the country. Matt, It's disgusting. It's disgusting that these people in the richest zip code in the country that Sunday morning, Janet Yellen says there's going to be no bailout over the 250 K limit that the FDIC insures, which by the way, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is just that Many of our listeners probably don't realize it is a private company. It is a corporation. They're not designed to withstand a bank run on multiple banks at one time. There's no way they're going to cover. Even if it was 250, they might say it, but it's going to be months and months before the people are going to get their full 250, I guarantee you that. So when Yellen says no, no bailout later that night, on Sunday and Monday morning, they announce, oh, yes, we're going to bail everybody out up to whatever limit. And it just so happens that this bank is in Silicon Valley, home of some of the richest people.

Woody Bowling:
Home of some of the tech gurus and giants that invested millions in start ups that were worth virtually nothing but gained millions of dollars in start up money and SBA. Sbb was asleep at the wheel as well, and the Fed's been asleep at the wheel for the last 5 or 6 years before they finally realized, Oops, we better start raising rates. And now the question is, is there a soft landing for the economy or is it going to be a hard crash? And that's probably debatable. But, you know, regardless of which way it happens, we are prepared. And that's what we're here to do, is help people prepare for that. And, you know, Silicon Valley bank signature bank, you know, not nearly as large, but still same type of deal. So. What happens next? That's the question. When you let the genie out of the bottle, you can't put it back in. And I saw that show I Dream of Jeannie as a kid on TV. I remember watching it and thinking, Man, that's a funny show. I loved it. But, you know, in that show, Jeannie could go in and out of the bottle depending on when Larry Hagman, I think, was his real life name. Whenever he rubbed the bottle, he needed her. But, you know, we don't have a genie. Once we let it out and the genie is out of the bottle now. So the next bank that fails, if there is one, in the near future. Could it happen? Definitely could. Will it? We don't know. So they've set the precedent that is dangerous.

Producer:
Yeah, and you're right. And boy, don't we wish we had a genie or at least a crystal ball. Like like we always say our crystal ball in the shop. It still has not been fixed, so we don't know what's coming. But that's the thing is and that's the theme of the show today, is to really to be prepared. So, I mean, really, how how do listeners would he go about getting prepared for the next thing that may or may not happen? Because it's you know, people are like, obviously, we don't have a crystal ball. You don't have one. I don't have one. Our listeners don't have one. So so how do they then go about taking those steps to get prepared for whatever might come around the corner?

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, really, it all starts during our initial meeting and conversation where I'm going to go back as a fiduciary advisor. I need to have all the information that I can have about people that are potential clients to work with. And you know, throughout that, we're going to talk about your insurance, your health insurance, your life insurance. Where is your money? Is it in tax free buckets? Is it in tax deferred buckets like a 401. K or IRA? Is it already in a Roth? Can we improve upon that situation there? Do you have any tax free income that will be available in retirement or do you want some? Again, we talk about the fact that we think taxes are going to go up. Almost 32 trillion in debt now in our country. For most people, they believe taxes can only go. Biden came out recently with a tax proposal that will tax the quote unquote, ultra rich or people making over a certain amount. Look, there's a lot of Americans that will be affected by that no matter what they say. And some of our listeners, I'm sure, are in those higher tax brackets, it makes sense to plan. And once we know the whole situation, we're going to talk about some different ideas and tactics where we can let's say we need to de-risk some of the money, we need to restrategize it, we need to look at things.

Woody Bowling:
We use structured notes in some of our investment management decisions that we do through Brookstone Capital Management. So that side of my business is investment management. The other side is the annuity side where we do. Fixed indexed annuities and multi year guarantee annuities. So, you know, we're looking to protect principal on one side and then on the other side, the investment management side, things like structured notes where you can look at perhaps a double digit coupon rate depending on the month and depending on the issuer. A large financial conglomerate. So if you're getting paid monthly interest and you have a 30% buffer, okay, 30% buffer on the stock market dropping, that is a big buffer. And that is over a 12 or 13 month period typically with these structured notes. And in the meanwhile, you may be making, like I said earlier, a coupon rate that's in the high single digits, low double digits. That's a pretty good way when you've got a 30% buffer against the stock market. We also have buffered ETF series, so we have some different methods in addition to typical ETF and mutual fund usage. So we're going to do some things that the typical advisor does not have access to.

Woody Bowling:
And they also some of them don't even know what we're talking about. They only know one thing and that's what their company tells them at a big, big box brokerage. I've got to fill these buckets with mutual funds of these families. And if the client calls in and says, Nope, let's do something else, let's protect half of my money, let's protect 40% of my investments. The advisor is going to say, no way, Jose, we got to hang in there. It's going to be okay. We're going to live to fight another day. So those are the primary differences. And I can give expert advice on Medicare. I've been doing that for 14 years as well. We're going to get people in the right Medicare plan. We can help with health insurance if people are in between jobs or they need a bridge until they get to Medicare. I do that for people. So lots of different ways in a holistic fashion. We're going to explain to you how they all fit together into one complete package. And we're going to try to give you the best chance for success that we can give you. And you know, that's fair. That's what we're looking to do.

Producer:
Yeah. And, you know, like, you know, some some words that I notice in there, buddy, that you did not mention things like cryptocurrency, that that was one because, you know, that's that's one that we have talked about for a while here on the show. And and one is being having little to no regulation and having little to no safety at all built into to any of it. It's a little bit like the wild, wild West when we're talking about crypto, but it seems to be the hot topic even with all of these, you know, talking about bank failures like like SVB and even with a lot of uncertainty around cryptocurrency itself, people still want to try and ride that roller coaster.

Woody Bowling:
You know, Matt, one of the one of the the basic human things is greed, greed. And it drives many people's behavior. It makes them take excessive risk because they want that high, super, high payoff. At the end of the day, they want to be able to tell others that I was in and I made this big gain. But, you know, the the underside, the flip side of that coin is the tremendous financial collapses behind people that have invested in cryptocurrency and options trading. You know, day trading for many years was a big thing. The market was going up all the time. So people became day traders on their own. I mean, good Lord, no training other than, Hey, I'm going to watch a video or two or I'm going to read a book or two about options trading and I'm going to do it. This is going to be my gig. I'm not. I'm going to retire from my other job or resign. It's crazy. So, you know, people need to understand greed. I love the fact that people want to do well and they want to make a return and they need to grow their money because I do, too. But at the same time, people have to manage that risk to an acceptable level.

Woody Bowling:
You know, being 25 years old versus 55 or 60, you know, if you're within seven years before or seven years after your retirement, you know, we're putting you in that retirement red zone and in the red zone in the NFL or college football, you know, that's 20 yard line into the goal line. You want to score. So we want to score as many touchdowns as we can for you. Field goals are okay. We want to put some points on the board. So but we want to score. And, you know, when you're in that retirement red zone, turnovers can be costly. So what's a turnover? It's a 50% loss in the stock market. That happened from October of 2007 to March 2nd of 2009. From top to bottom, the S&P 500 was down 55%. How would that. It took six years for most people to get back to even. So, you know, we're looking at people. We want to protect you. We want to help you grow. We're going to give you straight information. And we want people to we want to set reasonable expectations. Matt. I think that's the part of it. Let's under-promise and overdeliver versus the other way around.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. 100% right there. And of course, folks, if you are interested in any of what we've been talking about so far or will continue to talk about on the show, you go to The Buckeye Advisors.com that's The Buckeye Advisor with an or.com or call Woody Bowling at (937) 974-6201. Well Woody just about time for us to wrap up the first half of the show here Boy it's flying by already but we've got a lot more coming up in the second half. You know, we're talking a lot about some some deep, heavy stuff today on the show with this bank collapse of SVB and all of that. And, you know, just a lot of uncertainty out there. But we're going to come back and lighten things up a little bit with our dad. Joke of the week to start off the second half of the show, as we always do, and then plenty more to give our listeners something to to smile about as well in the second half of the show. Stick around for more of The Buckeye Advisor right after this.

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

Producer:
Welcome back. This is The Buckeye Advisor. I'm Matt McClure here alongside Woody Bowling. He is The Buckeye Advisor and I am not, but I'm glad to be here with him as the co-host of The Buckeye Advisor Show and podcast, you can get in touch with Woody Bowling at (937) 974-6201 or go online to The Buckeye Advisor dot com and that's advisor with an o r.com.

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, lay it on us. It is time for our favorite part of the show. Here. Give us the joke, Matt.

Woody Bowling:
We're going to cut to the chase today. Did you hear about the surgeon who enjoyed performing quick surgeries on insects?

Producer:
No, I did not hear about that particular surgeon.

Woody Bowling:
Well, you should of He did one on the fly.

Woody Bowling:
That was a good one.

Producer:
It was.

Woody Bowling:
Hopefully there's some eye rolls and there's some chuckles along the way, but that's what we're about. It's dad jokes and they are guaranteed to be dad jokes.

Producer:
That that's right. 100%. That's one thing that we can guarantee is that the dad joke will be 100% dad jokes and 100% free of any cost and any obligation. There you go. All right. Need to come up with a dad joke. Disclaimer guess for the for the show. But that that is it. And it's another good one here. All right, Woody. So as we continue on talking about bank volatility, what what is it that people should really be most concerned about as we are going through the time that we're going through right now?

Woody Bowling:
Well, we talked in the first part of the show about Silicon Valley Bank and about Signature Bank. And then also this week, we heard some very, very strong rumors about Credit Suisse, which is one of the largest global investment banking operations in the world. Credit Suisse had major, major problems in 2006, seven and eight during the subprime mortgage. They actually became a subprime mortgage origination firm at some point. So they barely strung through the previous mortgage crisis. Okay. Now, we're hearing this week that the last 2 or 3 years, they may not have been completely honest about their financials. Now, should we be shocked about that? No. Should we be upset about it? Yes, because, you know, it's firms like this and there's more of them out there that are playing it fast and easy with their financial statements. And then, you know, you hear the phrase about people being sorry when they get caught doing something. Are they actually sorry or are they sorry that they got caught? You've got executives and high level players at these companies that are making hundreds and thousands of dollars each year playing fast and loose with the funds. And it's disappointing that Credit Suisse is potentially again involved. But, you know, Matt, back to your question, you know, look, if your money is at fifth Third Bank, Huntington Bank, who I bank with and that's not a commercial chase bank, any of these other places, you know, you're covered through the FDIC up to 250,000 bucks.

Woody Bowling:
But if you are in the position where you have 750,000 or 700,000 or more, my suggestion would be one suggestion would be to move some of that money to a different bank for your. My first suggestion would be let's talk let's talk about ways that you can put that money to work. Still protect the principle potentially look at a reasonably strong return over the long run, you know, by perhaps using a fixed indexed annuity. That's number one. Number two, if you're not ready to talk today, you should be soon. Hopefully. But, you know, it may not be the it it may not make the most sense to leave all your money in one banking institution, although as we said a few minutes ago, in the first part of the show, the genie's out of the bottle. They've come out and said they're going to cover investors up pretty much to an unlimited amount. You know, at some point the piper has to get paid. And when is going to be that point? We don't know. But I can tell you, Matt, we've talked about this a little bit, maybe not as clear as we're going to today. Fractional lending banks are only required to keep somewhere around 10% of their deposits in reserves. Okay. For that rainy day fund, let's call it.

Woody Bowling:
Okay. That's people we recommend you have a six month emergency fund. A rainy day fund for a bank is around 10% of their deposits and insurance company is required to keep. If you're doing a fixed indexed annuity and you give them $200,000, they are required to keep $200,000 or 100% in reserve for your fixed indexed annuity in case you want it out early. So one of the ones I work with, it has a surrender charge schedule of five years. That's pretty much as short as you can get in the fixed indexed annuity, but it has strong growth potential. So when the market turns and starts doing well, you can make a very nice share of that market gain of the index that follows or you can put part of the money in the fixed rate bucket, which right now is paying four and one half percent with no fees. That's a win win situation. But that insurance company is required to keep the dollar for dollar or 100% requirement in their reserves because insurance companies are much more regulated in that way than banks. So you as a listener, where would you prefer to have the money that you don't have in the stock market that you want to make a decent return on? Where would you prefer to put it? Would you rather have it at a bank knowing the risk that they are? That are being exposed now and they're not done.

Woody Bowling:
They're going to be more coming eventually. We don't know when. We're not telling people to panic. But things are going to happen over time. We know that. Or would you rather have your money with an insurance company that has that 100% requirement for their reserves? So, you know, for most people, I think I know the Answer to that. But, you know, people need to understand and that's why we're here, educating people to let them understand there are options to traditional banking accounts like CDs and, you know, a three year CD or five year CD or just a savings account that still doesn't pay very much. So that's what we want to do is we want to make sure people have the opportunity to learn that there are other ways to do things that they don't know about because guess what? Their banker is not going to tell them about it because the bank wants the money to stay their their broker at one of the big box brokerages or if they do their own stuff through Fidelity or whomever they're not going to tell them about safe money options that pay like we do. It's just not in their own best interest. But we do things that are in the client's best interest as a fiduciary, and that's what sets us apart.

Producer:
Yeah, 100%. And and speaking of 100%, that 100% reserve requirement is is definitely something that that could be a deal maker for folks. You know, you talk about a deal breaker. Well, this could be a deal maker I think, for a lot of people, especially right now, given the current situation and and really could help people, I think, sleep at night, quite frankly, knowing that there is an option out there for them that not only protects that principal and as we say, there's that 100% reserve requirement that insurance company has to keep that money on hand in their reserves. Then you also have that principal protection included in that and the potential for some market like growth. Boy, that's like like the best of both worlds, really. And and I think a lot of people to too many people don't even know that that's an option for them going forward. So it's like that the point of this show each and every week is to really help people make better decisions about their money. And I know, Woody, that that's why you get up every every day, not just when we're doing the show here, but each and every day. That's that's what you do.

Woody Bowling:
I do. I mean, don't get me wrong, Matt. I think about golf and the fact that I'd like to be playing sometimes, and that's coming soon.

Producer:
You think about the Buckeyes, because I know. I know that.

Woody Bowling:
Mid-march. I think about the Buckeyes, I think about the Bengals this week in free agency began and we're talking about deal breakers. Well, the Bengals lost some key pieces this week on offense and Defense due to free agency. So I'm hoping the Bengals are deal makers very soon because we're getting ready to do a big extension, a monster extension for Joe Burrow that I'm sure is going to take a big chunk of the team's salary. But, you know, the good news is, like you said, we are here to help people. They annuity 360 book I can send to people. It's our listeners. Look, it's a great easy way to understand it. And you know, you take an hour and a half to read that and then we meet or vice versa, we can meet and I'll give you the book and I'll make all the information available that I can give you in person before you read it. And I'll also get a backdrop of your situation. So, you know, we can do it all at once. We can do it piece by piece, but at the end of the day, people need to know there are options and that's what we're doing for them. So, you know, Wall Street people, Wall Street bankers are not going to tell you about things that we tell you about because it's not in their best interest. And, you know, we're acting in their best interest. So, Matt, you know, you couldn't have said it better. I'm excited every day to do what I do and to see people and to talk to people that say thanks, you know, thanks for that advice. Thanks for doing that. Thanks for helping me put this together. That's what it's about. And those relationships are fun and meaningful. And, you know, they become not only clients, but eventually friends. And they feel like family. A lot of them do. Yeah.

Producer:
And you got to love that. Well, and folks, if you want to get started on that journey, just go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that is The Buckeye Advisor with an or dot com or call Woody at (937) 974-6201. So I know that Woody a lot of people especially given the fact that there were some some changes to retirement planning you know different aspects of it anyway with the secure Act 2.0 recently and just, you know, as time goes on in general, people are wondering about, well, what's going to happen to Social Security, Right. Is it even going to be around when I, you know, start becoming eligible to to make my withdrawals? They're wanting to know. If if it is around how they can take full advantage of Social Security. Right. And really maximize that benefit. And actually, people might be might be a little bit surprised to realize this year. Now, the maximum benefit from Social Security is over $4,500. It's $4,555 maximum benefit.

Woody Bowling:
Right? Yeah.

Woody Bowling:
And it's an important topic. And when you think about leaving your work life, going to retired life, some people are going to transition slower than others. Some people are going to transition with a part time job and they want to know how much can I make to avoid having any or part of or all of my Social Security taxed? So there's lots of questions. And, you know, we would love for our listeners to get as close to that max benefit as possible. Politically, it is a political football, so Social Security. It is, and it's being thrown around by Democrats and Republicans alike. And the field is wide open for ideas. And there are candidates on the Republican side. Nikki Haley is throwing out ideas like, let's really push the retirement age out for people in their 20s. Maybe that's not a terrible idea. Maybe it's not. Somebody's going to eventually have to be responsible for implementing some changes and to protect the system. We do think it's going to be around, especially if you're 40 and older. I think for those of us 40 and older, that I think Social Security will not dramatically change. They may change a little bit. The the index that they follow for inflationary measures and for the for the inflationary increases each year. There's debate about that. There's debate about we've got to get it funded. And right now the good news for everyone is that it is being discussed in Washington. And there does seem to be some unity on that topic that we do need to get something done. Now, whether they'll agree on it, that's another challenge. Eventually somebody is going to have to give an idea or 2 or 3, and then they all come together and say, hey, let's take this point, this point and this point and let's work something out.

Woody Bowling:
So I think they're on track. But look, step number one is. 35 years of employment history. That's what you need because Social Security measures your highest 35 years of earnings. So that's what it's based on. And, you know, you've got to have worked for 35 years. You can't have any zeros if you want to be eligible for that 45, 55 a month, you've got to have 35 years. And that's because if you work 32 years, then you go out of the system, then you're going to have three zero years in your calculation. So, you know, when you have years and I understand that for some of our listeners, if you're a lady and you took out 3 or 4 years for child raising or ten years for child raising, that's an admirable thing. My mom always did that she didn't work outside the home at all. So, you know, I miss those days where women could do that. But at the same time, the system is the system. So for now, that's what it is. But step two earn an income equivalent to or greater than the wage cap. So the more money you make, the better, because that let's face it, when you're making more income, your average over those years is going to be higher and that's going to go up the scale for those Social Security benefits. The current cap in 2023 is 160,200, and any income above that is not taxed for Medicare purposes.

Woody Bowling:
So and there's big debate about that. From a personal standpoint, why wouldn't we raise that? It's already coming out of people's checks. Why would we not raise that to an unlimited amount? It doesn't make sense. But neither do a lot of things in Washington. You know, Matt, another tip that is helpful for our listeners to max out social Security is to wait as long as you can. And at age 70, that's it. You got to start at age 70. And at that point you've maxed out from your full retirement age to age 70, you're getting an 8% bonus each year to stay out of drawing your Social Security. So there's different ways you can do break even analysis on that. We can do that for you if you need it. But the longer you wait, the better. And there's a lot of people today that are still working that are like happy doing what they do, and they're healthy, they're making money, you know, and but they are looking at Medicare. And then so if you're looking at Medicare, depending on how much money you're making, you have to look at Irma, which is income related Medicare adjustment in your Part B premium. We have to be mindful of that. That's part of our planning process because we do Medicare plans naturally here at The Buckeye Advisor. So there's different methods to help increase and maximize your Social Security benefit, not all the strategies are right for every one, but you just need to be aware of them and how they can help you in the long run.

Producer:
Yeah, that's absolutely right. And as we say, often knowledge is power, right? And in these situations it is absolutely key to knowing because if you don't know that these strategies exist, then you can't take advantage of them. Right? So so that's that's the thing, you know, know about it first and then if it's appropriate for you, take action and somebody who can help you realize if you need to take action or if one of these options might benefit you, then, hey, I know that that guy, he's actually right here. His name's Woody Bowling and he's The Buckeye Advisor, for crying out loud. You could go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com, The Buckeye Advisor with an or.com or call Woody Bowling at (937) 974-6201. And you know what we talk a lot on the show about income in retirement right and and the importance of income rather than one big nest egg kind of number that we're looking at here. And I think this next sort of topic that we've got in our last about 6.5 minutes of the show is a good illustration of why I think we talk about income rather than nest egg, because it's called why your Nest egg might be 15 to 37% smaller than you may think. So it could very well be that that number, that one big number that you may have had in your head for years might not be the the magic that you think it is.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah. I mean, people look at that.

Woody Bowling:
Big number and maybe they've got $1 million for retirement. Sounds like a big number, but if they don't have their home paid off yet, you need to do that. Maybe their Social Security is going to be not maxed out for some reason. There's lots of different scenarios out there. But, you know, when you have that 401. K or IRA, that's a traditional IRA that has not been taxed yet. Guess who you're partnered with in retirement. And we say we don't want to partner with this person. It's Uncle Sam. He wears that red, white and blue hat and outfit on the 4th of July and he seems like a friendly guy. But at the end of the day, Uncle Sam wants to dig into your savings, your investments and your pocketbook. So, look, whatever you've got saved in those pre-tax retirement accounts, you can count on it being a lot lower. So when you think about strategies, do we want to convert some of it to Roth IRAs? How much do we want to do if you're still working and you rolled over 401 K from somewhere and you're still working and making pretty good coin, it's probably makes sense to start considering 23, 24 and 25 to convert some of that money, if not all of it, into a Roth. Why not? Because taxes are going higher.

Woody Bowling:
That's where we think they're going. And taxes are on sale right now. You have to think about that. And look, some of our listeners have required minimum distributions coming in or RMDs. They don't need them. They don't want them, but they're coming in. How about considering if you're not using that money for anything really in particular, why not look at a life insurance policy that can pay you? A couple hundred thousand three or 4 or 500,000 to your beneficiaries. And guess what? They get that money tax free. So you're creating a tax free legacy for the next generation. Because don't get me wrong, mom or dad, if you die and you hand off that ginormous IRA to your kids who are also doing decent and they're making money and all that money goes into their taxable income, you could throw them up to tax brackets and guess what? They're not going to be quite as excited as they originally were. Not only did they lose you, but now they have this gigantic tax bill, tax bill to deal with that was created because you did nothing that could have relieved some of that tax burden. So there's different strategies that people can use and people need to think outside the box, and that's what we do.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. So and you know, that thinking outside the box is really useful in times like these. You know, we've been talking a lot on the show today, Woody, about uncertainty about, you know, around the banks and all of that. There are these tried and true strategies that, of course, you will talk about with people who give you a call. But then there's also some of that, like you say, out of the box, thinking that other people, and particularly those, you know, financial advisors who might be employed by the big box guys, they're not going to, you know, steer you toward that. But it could be the perfect thing for you. And that is the advantage of working with somebody like a Woody Bowling, like The Buckeye Advisor who is a fiduciary financial advisor, who is bound and obligated to do what's right for you, the client, the investor, the person who really matters in this scenario, because that is the really the pledge that you've taken. Woody.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah. I mean, it's not only them, it's their spouse. It's their kids, it's their grandkids. You know, all those people are affected by those decisions that you do or do not make. And when you don't make change, you're consciously making a decision that I'm okay, I'm going to stick with the tried and true. This is the status quo and we're okay with it. Sometimes you need to think outside the normal status quo and that's what we do. We're not saying everything people are doing and in their investing life or life insurance. We're not saying all that's wrong. We're just saying maybe it can be improved upon. And if there's other ways that we can come up with to look, from the beginning of the show, we talked about ways to protect your money a little better. And on the investment side, there are options that you can take with our strategies that we use with our investment management side of our business that will reduce your risk. That's what it's about reducing risk, coming up with some tax free strategies. All these things need to be considered. And you know, that's what we do and that's the joy of it.

Producer:
That's kind of your thing. And as I like to say, that's my jam.

Woody Bowling:
That's a big saying.

Woody Bowling:
These days, right? That's my jam.

Producer:
That's right. That's right. My jam is is grape. Grape jam.

Woody Bowling:
Grape strawberry. Yeah, exactly. I like it.

Woody Bowling:
Well, peanut butter. And you got a good combo.

Producer:
That's right. On an English muffin, perhaps. Anyway, now that I'm. Now that I'm hungry, it's just about time for us to wrap things up. But, folks, one more time, I'm going to give the contact info because we've talked about a lot of great stuff today given a lot of great information. And so I want to give you one more time the opportunity to reach out to Woody Bowling, The Buckeye Advisor. You go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's advisor with an or by the way TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com or you can call Woody (937) 974-6201. Well Woody it's it's great to be back with mostly full voice here with you this week but I have really enjoyed it once again and thank you for everything that you do. I'll talk to you again next week, Sir.

Woody Bowling:
Matt, thanks.

Woody Bowling:
For joining us and thanks for being here as always. Thanks to all of our listeners. We couldn't do it without you. And we hope that something we said caught your attention today. And, you know, we're asking give us an opportunity to speak with you and let us show you and demonstrate to you why we're successful and why we're helping so many people in our area. We appreciate you listening and come join us next week. Same bat channel, same bat time. Thanks, Matt, for being here.

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. 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. Bcm and 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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