How Life Insurance Plays a Critical Role in Successful Retirement Plans

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9.8.23: 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 time of day you are tuning into this week's episode of the Buckeye Advisor, we are here. We are ready to go. My name is Woody Bowling. I am a fiduciary registered investment advisor. I'm also representative and I'm also a licensed insurance professional for over 14 years. I am excited today to bring you another episode of our radio show here on 94.5 FM. The Answer in Dayton, Ohio. Big shout out. Welcome to all the communities in our area Inglewood, Franklin Trotwood, Dayton itself, Springboro, Centerville, all these great areas. There's people that I've spoken with over the last 14 months or so. Welcome aboard. If it's your first show. Thank you so much for taking the time and having the interest. I hope someone told you about us because we feel like what we're doing is a valuable thing for our. Society and for our community. We're here to educate. We're here to help you understand that there's more than one way to achieve success in retirement. And that's what we do. And what I say we I have to mention the other folk, the other person who is very, very important in this whole show each week, he is the important cog in the whole machinery. Mr. Matt McClure is our producer, co-host extraordinaire. Matt, welcome. Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend last weekend.

Producer:
I did, buddy. I hope you had a great one as well. I know I was I was texting you in the middle of your golf game, so my apologies there. So no, at least you played some golf over the over the weekend.

Woody Bowling:
I did play some golf. It was extremely hot weather, as all of our listeners probably are aware of. No doubt about it. But hey, it beats snow and ice just simply in my opinion. There are some listeners probably that prefer the cold weather. Most people really like fall. It seems to be if you polled a thousand people, I think fall would probably get 7,075% of the vote. But that's just my unscientific guess.

Producer:
Hey, it gets my vote. That's that's really and so it gets 100% of the votes around here it seems like. So there you go.

Woody Bowling:
Mean two and zero for us. There's no doubt about it.

Producer:
That's right. You can't can't contest those results. Um, but we got a lot of stuff coming up here on the show, Woody. You know, we sort of left off last week talking about a couple of financial terms to kind of, you know, clear them up for people, clear away the fog that they might have when they hear something like sequence of returns risk, right? Well, later on in the show, we're going to tell the folks how to protect themselves from sequence of returns risk. Very, very important part of that discussion here. We're also going to talk about life insurance. You know, this September is Life Insurance Awareness month and a lot of great things to talk about regarding life insurance, how important it is, what it can do, because it's not just your father's or your grandfather's life insurance these days. So we'll talk about that as well. And of course, we'll do our Quote of the week here in just a moment. We got more stuff to talk about, including some renewed uncertainty in the markets. And we'll also go into a little bit of a discussion on some mistakes that you might make when preparing for retirement and, you know, maybe some mistakes to avoid when you're preparing for retirement as well. You want to avoid those also. But we also want to mention what you hear at the top, the podcast, of course, if you go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com, that's the website. You can see the podcast there and then you can see all the places where you can subscribe to the podcast as well. And we hope that you do that. It's on iHeart Radio, it's on Stitcher, it's on Spotify, Amazon, Audible, all the big places where you get your podcasts. That is where we are. We're also on Facebook, we're on YouTube pretty much anywhere you want to find the Buckeye advisor. We're we're there. And if you can't find us, you're just plain not looking hard enough.

Woody Bowling:
It sounds like we're almost famous. Matt Is that true?

Producer:
We're working on it. We're working. We're getting there. And, you know, I mean, I think just a couple more, you know, social media sites and and places online that we find ourselves will officially be famous. But we need the listeners to help us get there.

Woody Bowling:
What's a good thing that we have great listeners and we're adding new listeners each week to the podcast, to the radio, and we appreciate it because we know your time is valuable. We can't thank you enough. We want to bring valuable information each week. We like to have fun, but we also like to make sure that people understand the importance of all that. And whether you're ready to talk today, whether you're ready to talk a week or two or a month or six months from now, I encourage you to keep those things in mind that, hey, it doesn't cost anything to have a conversation with me at all, preferably in person. But if you want to do one over the phone and you want to fire a few questions at me, you're more than welcome to do that. Does it cost you a thing? You can get a chance to ask me questions. We'll learn a little bit about your situation. But again, I will tell people, if you only give me a little bit, a little snapshot of the overall situation, you're probably not going to get me to give you a lot of a response unless I know the whole thing. So that's why it makes sense to really sit down with folks have a 30 minute session where we're asking each other a lot of questions and I'm gathering information because then when I have all the information, then I can really put all the background and my expertise in insurance and investments and the markets and all those things. That's how it all comes together to cook up a good holistic plan. We're going to put it in the boiler, we're going to shake it up, we're going to cook it up. And when it's finished, we're going to have a great plan that's unique to your situation, and that's the way it should be. It's not one size. It's all is it?

Producer:
That is absolutely the case. I mean, definitely not one size fits all, 100% tailored to you. And you can get started down that road by going to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's advisor with an Or at the end by the way TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com or you can call Woody bowling himself personally at (937) 974-6201. Well of course as as teased and as promised we have a great show coming up but first let's kick things off in the main part of our shenanigans here today with the quote of the week.

Producer:
And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the quote of the week.

Producer:
And of course, this week's words of wisdom don't come from really a famous person per se, but do come from kind of, you know, a proverb, like an old proverb. We're gonna, you know, talk about this time around, Woody And and I love this one because it really goes into a lot of what we talk about each week. But I feel like especially this week and the quote is, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. I love that.

Woody Bowling:
That is very, very, very solid. Matt I love that. Naturally, you know, when you think about it, in a financial planning, the realm of financial planning, certainly we want people to get started planning for retirement earlier in life. That's the ideal scenario when you're in your 20s and 30s and you know you're out of college, you're starting your job, and, you know, young people don't always understand the importance of saving money and see the benefit of what it can do 30, 40 years down the road. If they could only imagine and see how that compounding of interest, the eighth wonder of the world can help them define a good retirement. It would change so many people's lives. And that's just not even an overexaggeration. Even slightly so. A 20 year old tree is going to be pretty darn good size. Just like a retirement account if you start saving doesn't have to be a 401. K. There's a lot of self-employed people. People working a couple of different jobs. Take time to pay yourself. Put it away. Don't touch it unless it's an absolute emergency and watch that thing grow. The second best time, as you said, Matt, is when it's now. And what I want to encourage people is never too late to start. If you're early mid 50s and you haven't saved that number that you were hoping to save by now, don't worry, life happens.

Woody Bowling:
We know that it's happened to me, It's happened to Matt, it's happened to everybody listening. Life has thrown you curveballs more than once. And so our job as a person is to get up, respond, get off the ground. When we've been knocked to the ground, we've been throwing that curveball. And we struck out on that last pitch as the Cincinnati Reds have done a lot of times this year, unfortunately. But they're still contending for a playoff spot despite all the strikeouts. That's what we encourage people save. Now, it's there's no better time than the present. Wish we could have done things earlier. We always hindsight's always 2020. That's one of the most used phrases I'm sure in the world. But look, we can't live our lives in hindsight. So do it now. Start paying yourself. Start investing now. If you have questions, I can help Answer questions depending on the size of your account. If I can handle it, we can always run it. I'll give you some advice on where to set up the account, start building it, do a monthly contribution, and eventually it'll be big enough and then I'll be able to handle it and take over.

Producer:
Yeah, there you go. I mean, that is, you know, really what it's all about is responding to whatever life throws your way and planning ahead for all of the different possibilities that are out there. Because as you said, Woody, life happens. And it's definitely happened to to me and to you. I know. And so, yeah, definitely want to get that that journey started here, folks with a free, complimentary consultation, free of any cost, any obligation to you. That is TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's the place to go. The Buckeye advisor with an or at the end.com or you can call Woody at (937) 974-6201. To get that all underway and we hope you do that today. Well Woody has mentioned at the top of the show, okay so this is the month of September. First of all, hard to believe that it's September. It's kind of crazy. I think we probably mentioned that last week for just a second. But it's it's insane how fast the time is going. And it just seems to do that as we get older here. But September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. It is such an important thing to talk about and I think a something that people might often take for granted because, you know, they might get, say, a term life insurance policy, for example.

Producer:
Both through their job or that just is a is a benefit that comes with, you know, alongside their health insurance and that, you know, other kind of stuff. And they, you know, they start that job, they select a beneficiary. And that's kind of the last time they think about their life insurance for a good long while. But it's so much more important than just, you know, picking a number on a list and, you know, declaring a beneficiary and then moving on with your life. It's something that you really need to think about in many different ways. And we'll kind of explain what I mean by that as we go through here, because it's not just the death benefit that that you can get through life insurance these days. It's really a very versatile thing. So so introduce us. Let's let's say, Woody, if you met someone on the street or one of those aliens that they have been. Well.

Woody Bowling:
I've always been taught, don't talk to strangers on the street, especially.

Producer:
Not those that offer you candy mean, you know, that's just they do that. You just run the opposite direction. But let's say an alien, one of those aliens they've been talking about in Congress, let's say one of those aliens plop down on the sidewalk in front of you, walking through the the the mean streets of Dayton, Ohio. And you wanted to explain to that. Never heard what life insurance is go that that kind of basic here as we start our conversation.

Woody Bowling:
Wow that's a great point. You really were going to start at ground zero, which I think is a great place to start. You know, want to really dispel some myths about life insurance as so many people have it available through work and the danger of people having it only through an employer plan, a group plan that means it's cheap, number one. And a group employer health plan means they have to accept that person despite any health issues. Okay. So there's no pre-existing issues with health. So no pre-existing health conditions can keep you out of your employer health plan, your health insurance or your life insurance. And many employers also offer a small amount of coverage for a spouse that's good and it's needed and it's pennies on the dollar. And that's a good place to have some life insurance. But the the employer is not going to typically offer enough life insurance to cover all the needs that are going to be present. If you pass, especially let's say someone's in their 30s, they have a couple of young children or 40s and they have two or 3 or 4 kids, maybe teenagers on down. And the parents are, you know, making decent income, middle income America. They only have health insurers to work if you don't have a sizeable life insurance plan outside of your employer and you pass, which it happens statistically every day in America. Unfortunately, you can really leave your surviving spouse and kids in a world of financial difficulty.

Woody Bowling:
So typically, you know, the type of life insurance in those cases that most people look at is going to be term life insurance. And term is like really renting a home. You're not building any equity in that life insurance policy. It's just like renting it. The insurance companies and I work with multiple very highly rated life insurance carriers, and they're going to offer they're all very competitive. They're beating each other up because they want to opportunity to have that client business that I come up with. So term life simply means and these are the ones that are being quoted on these TV commercials, Matt, that people see. I have clients tell me, hey, I saw 500,000 for 15 bucks a month. I'm like, Well, yeah, that guy was 35 years old. He got preferred, you know, he was rated preferred. He had no health conditions at all. And it was only a ten year policy. Well, what does that mean? That means at the end of ten years, that gentleman's life insurance policy is going to the premium is going to be raised through the roof. I mean, ten, 12, 15 times that normal coverage amount. And it's going to keep going up proportionally each year. The insurance company's goal is to drive that person out of that policy and force them to get a new one so you can lock in your premiums for ten years, 15, 20 And a few years ago, the insurance company said, hey, you know what? We're even going to stretch it all the way to 30 years.

Woody Bowling:
Why not people take out a 30 year mortgage, so let's cover them for 30 years on term life. So that so all those different things are available. And and I got to tell people, you know, people say, oh, well, I've got a health condition. I had this or I had that. So that's another myth that we need to bust this week on our little miss. But we're good at busting myths, it seems lately, you know, even if you got some health issues. Many, many, many cases I can still get people life insurance coverage despite some pre-existing health conditions. It just depends on what type of how severe it is. Most of them. Have a look back in your health history of a couple of years, sometimes 3 or 4 years. It just depends. So term life is a great way to get a very high amount of coverage at a low monthly premium because it's going to be locked in only for a certain time period. I just renewed a 20 year term policy with a new company that I use a lot for clients because the 20 year old that I just took out 20 years ago when my kids were seven years old. Came to an end. The premium was $30 a month matte for $500,000 in coverage. Okay. That's one of the policies I had. Guess what it was going to. It was going to over $400 a month and was going to go up each month after that.

Woody Bowling:
So I locked it on a new one for a little over $100 a month for 15 more years. So, look, life insurance is vitally important. The other the other kind is whole life, very simple. You get approved. Whole life is a little more expensive because it's locked in for the duration of the contract all the way up, typically to age 100 or beyond, in some cases, depending on the policy, the insurance carrier. So whole life you're going to build some equity, you're going to build cash value. You can come back and borrow against it later. I do want to mention that the proceeds from life insurance is tax free, so that's super duper strong. And if you're die and your spouse or your significant other gets two, three, four, 500,000 tax free, that's a gift from above. And it's also due to good planning. So that's a good thing that the government doesn't treat that as a taxable income. So whole life is a great way to go. It's more expensive typically. You think of it for smaller amounts of coverage. I do a lot of whole life insurance for people that are over 50, over 60 and even over 70 because they want some coverage ten, 20, 25, 30,000 bucks to take care of the funeral expenses. Those policies are even more lenient. And most of the time now, with all my life insurance, I do. For many of the programs you don't you do not have to get a physical, which consists the blood work.

Woody Bowling:
Urinating. Urinating in a cup and all that stuff. Pee in a cup. So. And the good news is, life insurance companies, unless you're doing over $1 million for the application, in many cases, I can get all those looked at without a physical or a pyramid, which is very, very nice. And it's convenient for people. And then the last one is a universal life insurance policy that one can generate tax free income down the road in retirement. If you overfund that policy and I do a little bit of that here and there. The situation's really got to be right when we talk about creating tax free income in retirement. That is one of the vehicles that we can consider using along with the Roth IRA. But again, it's got to be right. The age that you're looking at, it's got to be right. The amount of coverage can be really fantastic and it can do a great job. But you've got to understand with the universal life policy and I've replaced these, that people did not overfund because down the road, as the cost of insurance grows, as people get older each year, if they didn't overfund it, they are now experiencing a higher cost of insurance, a potentially higher monthly premium if they want to keep that policy alive. And guess what? The cash value that they established that built up over the years has now been depleted because the agent that sold them that policy did not explain all of that properly.

Woody Bowling:
So life insurance is a wonderful gift. People don't like to talk about it. They put it off. But look, the one thing that our fathers and grandfathers did, I give them credit for, a lot of them took life insurance very seriously, and they took the time and they believed in it and they invested in it. And, you know, I encourage people, I talk to all of the people I talk to about life insurance and how much they have, how much they need. Look, if you're a states of a certain size, maybe it only makes sense to have life insurance to help pay the taxes potentially that your loved ones might experience. So if you've got kids in a higher income bracket and they get an inheritance and you've taken out enough life insurance to help offset some of the taxes for them, that's wonderful planning, but most people don't think about that. So life insurance, you know, to sum it all up, I'm super glad we devote a whole month for it. It's very important. Nobody's ever told me a client has never said, I am sorry that I got that life insurance when their significant other passed away. They always are so grateful. They're sad for the loss and so am I. But we're thankful for the planning aspect of it because it made their life better. It made their situation better at the end by having that life insurance in place.

Producer:
Yeah. You know, my my family definitely can attest to that. When my dad passed a couple about a year and a half ago, a little over a year and a half ago now, and it really was it was a difficult time, but it was a time where we were very glad that he had taken the time and the initiative to plan to get that life insurance policy in place. And so we had money not only to meet the obligations of the funeral costs and all of that, but, you know, my my mom needed some some money to have some things done to the house that had been neglected because my dad had been in poor health for a few years and things like that. So, you know, it's just very, very helpful. It's a great gift that you can give your family that they can can reap the benefits of. Just about three minutes here before the break, Woody, But also and you mentioned you touched on this briefly there, but it's not just about the death benefit, though. It really can that universal life and indexed universal life, those are some kinds of policies there that can give living benefits as well to to you as the policy holder.

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, those universal life policies can be really, really strong. I don't want to say they're they're not effective because they can be very effective in the right scenario. And living benefits are very important as people look at planning towards retirement. You know, the pension that people used to have, they worked 30, 40 years for an employer, then they had that guaranteed monthly pension. It's not present anymore. In most cases. There are certain industries that still do it, but if it's less as a public employee, they're going to be offset by the pension that they get. So they're not going to be allowed to dip into the Social Security system very much at all because they're not paying into it. So they don't let them double dip. And that's unfortunate, but that's just the way it's set up and. So the living benefits can be very important, helping retirement, helping set up that pension so that your budget in retirement can be supplemented. It'll supplement your Social Security. And also we talk each week or many weeks, we talk of the offset based on a 401. K or an IRA rollover. And we talk about being able to set up a guaranteed monthly income flow to help people in retirement because you as the older you get, the more people want guarantees, guarantees peace of mind in a crazy world that's going around us having some financial guarantees and things that they can expect to show up in their account every month. That's what I help people do each week, and I enjoy the heck out of it.

Producer:
Yeah, and I can attest here, folks working with Mr. Woody Bowling, the Buckeye Advisor each and every week, he is great at what he does and knows the ins and outs of all of these different things. So if you have any questions, just do not hesitate to reach out. Give him a call at (937) 974-6201. That's 937974 6201. You can also go to the Buckeye advisor that is with an Or at the end by the way that's TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com. We'll stick around. We've got much more of this week's edition of the Buckeye Advisor Show here to go through as we'll talk maybe a little bit more about life insurance. We will, of course, have some more talk about sequence of returns, risk, how to protect yourself against it and much, much more, including the dad Joke of the Week when we return. Stick around.

Producer:
Miss. Part of today's show, the Buckeye advisor is available wherever you listen to podcasts and online at TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com. You're listening to the Buckeye advisor to schedule your free no obligation consultation with Woody. Visit TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com.

Producer:
Welcome back to the Buckeye advisor. I'm Matt McClure here alongside Woody Boling I'm just the co host and producer Woody Boling is the Buckeye advisor himself and you can give him a call at (937) 974-6201. That's (937) 974-6201. Or visit the website it is TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com.

Producer:
The marriage counselor loves them keeps him in business it's the dad joke of the week.

Producer:
Well I look forward to this each and every week. Woody and I go through a couple of different options in my head. Am I going to laugh? Am I going to roll my eyes? Am I going to do both? Okay, I guess it's time to find out now with the dad. Joke of the Week.

Woody Bowling:
Right on, Matt. Well, we are ready and I'm sure the listeners are ready too. Why couldn't the toilet paper cross the road?

Producer:
Oh, I'm afraid to ask, why couldn't the toilet paper cross the road?

Woody Bowling:
Because he got caught in a crack.

Producer:
Okay, that's actually pretty good.

Woody Bowling:
I think so, too.

Woody Bowling:
Sometimes we've got to go around the outer edges of being risky. But don't think that was too risky for our listeners who I think are all adults. That's right.

Producer:
That's right. I would say pretty safe with that one. And if there are any kids listening, don't repeat that joke to your parents. You might get in trouble.

Woody Bowling:
They probably think it's funnier than we do.

Producer:
Exactly. That's true. That's that's very, very true. Kids in their senses of humor today. But Woody wanted to wrap things up on our conversation about life insurance that we were having first half of the show. And folks, by the way, if you missed the first half of the show, go to the website. TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that's the Buckeye advisor with an Or at the end.com. You can listen to the playback of the show there You can do it on demand any time you want to have a listen to it and subscribe to the podcast as well. But we were talking about life insurance because this is Life Insurance Awareness Month. I just want to kind of wrap it up in a nice, neat little bow here for the listeners before we move on to other things. Mr..

Woody Bowling:
Bowling Yeah, I want to say a couple of things. Number one, if you don't feel like you have enough or if you're not sure how much you should have, call me, let me know, we'll run some numbers and we'll see how much you know, we can agree that it's proper for you because you don't want to leave your family hanging. I know people don't believe that it's going to happen to them, that they're going to pass away. But there are people that get in their cars one morning and they don't return that evening and they leave behind a family, loved ones, and they're in a financial bind because they didn't have enough or they didn't decide that let's let's get off the sidelines and get in the game. I would just encourage people look at life insurance as something that can help preserve a lifestyle. And in some cases it can really enhance a lifestyle. There's people that don't have a lot of savings, but if you're trying to replace income, don't put it off. Get the application. Check with me TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com with an O on the end of advisor. Let's talk about life insurance and your overall situation and you'll be I think people will be surprised how affordable it actually can be.

Producer:
Yeah that's very very true. I feel like, you know, a lot of times there are situations and I know for me it's a lot of the time you don't know what you don't know. So, hey, find out those things that you don't know. Folks explore all of your different options and you do have plenty of them. Just once again, go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com. Well, on last week's show, Woody, we were talking about a couple of different terms that a lot of people probably can find really confusing. And we're trying to sort of clear up those the muddy waters around those terms so that people can kind of see them more clearly. Right? So one of those was sequence of returns risk. Two things here. First, very quick reminder about what sequence of returns risk is. And then we're going to go into some ways that folks can protect themselves against sequence of returns risk. So so part A of that question here, Woody, what exactly is sequence of returns risk? Why do people need to be concerned about it?

Woody Bowling:
Yeah, it's.

Woody Bowling:
A very important part. Not talked about by advisors at all, probably of most of their clients. And the reason is, is because the brokers that are out there, they want the advisors, they want their money, all the client money in the market. That's not always the best idea, especially when you retire and you're ready to start taking monthly income off of those assets because the sequence of returns simply refers to the order in which you achieve those returns. So I can show you side by side a 20 year retirement and each portfolio averaged about a 7% return. The first portfolio experienced about a 20% drop over the first 2 or 3 years of retirement, wound up running out of money later on at age 85. Because the sequence of returns, the other portfolio made money. The stock market went up in the first 3 or 4 years of retirement while they were pulling beginning their withdrawals on a monthly basis. That person had plenty of money left over 20 years later. So it's all about the sequence of returns. And think about this in football, basketball and baseball, you have an offense and you have what else do you have? You have a defense. So in your own retirement planning and saving offensively, you know, you think of the stock market and you think of those type of investments that are that carry risk in the long term, they can perform. But think about those as being your offense, your turbocharger while you're working and your 401. K and you're contributing to it, you're growing it. And think of that turbo charge. You're getting interest on your interest.

Woody Bowling:
And even though you see those bad moments of a year or two where they're really dropping, that leaves a sour taste in people's mouth. But at that point, you have enough time to ride those out on defense when people retire. If you think about part of your portfolio and being defensive with it, we prefer fixed indexed annuities as the defensive part of my clients portfolios. And it's because there's a couple of different reasons, number one. People have historically believed that bonds the bond market could be the place. While we saw what happened to it in 2022. It was horrendous. The worst bond market ever. We're still in a high rate of inflation economy. We're still in a high interest rate economy and that's not going anywhere. So on the defensive side for our clients, we like to talk about, number one, we're good offensively with tactical money management through Brookstone, Capital Management. Very, very good strategic portfolios, some unbelievable strategies that help clients to make money in good markets and on the other side of their portfolio for a portion, we look at the defensive side to be zero risk to your principal, possibly get guaranteed income whenever you're ready to turn that on. And that is driven by you, the client. Woody Some people want to start it right when they set up the annuity. Other people want to start it five years from now, and that's okay because you're just going to get that roll up. I've got insurance companies that are offering 20% bonuses on the income side of an annuity. So and they'll also do an 8% roll up on that income account.

Woody Bowling:
And they have factors on the payouts for people that are so generous, it blows the old 4% model into the dust. So people don't know what they don't know. And a lot of advisors, most of them don't talk about those. Then you've got insurance agents and that's all they can do is a fixed indexed annuity and that's limiting them to a certain product and they don't get the whole picture. So as a hybrid advisor that can do investments and fixed indexed annuities, you're getting the best of both worlds. We're going to tie in all that knowledge. You're going to get offense with the money management side. You're going to get defense with the annuity potential good solid returns on your fixed indexed annuity when the market's doing well and your index is doing well, plus Medicare, health insurance, life insurance, all those things. And I can tell you, we're going to talk more about Medicare over the next couple of weeks as we get ready for the season in October 15th through December 7th. There are some unbelievable Medicare options coming out this year from companies that have already been in the market here in Ohio, but they just want to get a bigger market share. And guess who that's good for? That's good for the consumer. Competition is always good for the consumer. So the sequence of returns risk is a very important strategy. And I'm glad that we talk about it and people need to understand the importance of it, because if you're on the wrong side of that, it's not a happy ending.

Producer:
And we want a happy ending for everybody. And that is that's kind of the point of the show. You know, we we want to educate people and we want to really, you know, give everyone information to make their financial life better so that, you know, your retirement can be better than you had ever thought it might be able to be. That's that's the big goal here. And sequence of returns. Risk, as you said, would be so, so important to know about and so important to protect against. One of those things that you mentioned there kind of falls into one of these categories of things that we have on our list of ways to protect your retirement from sequence of returns risk that's guaranteed income. You can get that with something like an annuity, a fixed indexed annuity in particular as well. Diversification that also can can help you diversify your portfolio if you have a fixed indexed annuity or some other type of vehicle. But also, you know, defensive defensive stocks and other assets that are that weather financial storms better. Just make sure you have that good mix and you're not you don't have all your eggs in one basket because kind of like what we talked about last week with, you know, talking about some diversification stuff. If you were all invested in the dot coms before the.com bubble burst, then you were in a bad way.

Woody Bowling:
Well, the biggest example, the worst example probably in history of not being diversified is. The way Enron did their employees. And they were a. Rising like a phoenix from the ashes. That's how Enron was growing. A company based in Texas. What, 30, 40 years ago? Their employees, many of them were millionaires on paper because of their 401. K being given shares of the company. And as you just mentioned, when you're all in one spot with your money, even if it's only in the stock market, you got to be careful. Even if you're spread out in mutual funds. There's a lot of overlap in certain mutual funds. But these Enron people didn't know. They didn't think about diversification. They were celebrating at the water cooler and at card games and at lunch break about being millionaires on paper because of their shares of Enron. And unfortunately, Enron is one of the most famous examples of all time of a company self-destructing. And those employees, many of them, most of them walked away with very little, if anything. And it's a tragedy of epic proportions that we can look back and see. So when people retire, we don't want all your things in one package. We don't recommend it all being in one spot. We do like to spread out. The fixed indexed annuity provides that defensive portion, and it's all going to work together to provide a plan that's going to keep you solid through good markets and tough markets, because we do know the market will go through tough periods and I've been through a bunch of them. My clients have been through a bunch of them, and we're going to come out on the other side of the storm and we're going to be okay.

Producer:
That's absolutely right. And of course, you know, another thing that we had here on our list, a ways to protect your retirement from sequence of returns, risk having an emergency fund, 3 to 6 months of expenses set by for those emergency times when life does happen. And good point to to to point that out. And just in general, you know, folks, if you are tired of worrying about your future, if you're ready to work with somebody who sits on the same side of the table as you, I know a guy who can fill that seat and would gladly do so if you determine that it's best for you to to work together. It's a two way street in that way. Just go to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that is the Buckeye advisor with an or at the end.com or call Woody Boling. That's the guy I'm talking about and you can do that at 93797462019379746201. Well you know you spoke about you know turmoil in the market there Woody and one of those big times where we've seen a bunch of turmoil in the market was back in 2008, of course, when the housing bubble burst and we had the subprime mortgage crisis. And, you know, Lehman Brothers went under and and the rest, as they say, is history led to the Great Recession and all of that. Now it got one guy who predicted those things were successfully wagered against the US housing bubble back in 2008. Is a guy by the name of Michael Burry. He's a hedge fund manager and was the kind of the the focal point of the movie, The Big Short. The book, The Big Short as well. But see, now, here's the thing. This does not make me feel all that great because Michael Burry is doing something here that is sort of indicative of him feeling the same way about the stock market now as he did back then, potentially. Talk talk to us about what's going on here.

Woody Bowling:
Well, Mr. Burry, Buari is the proper spelling of his last name, if anyone wants to look him up. I watched the short The Big Short. I watched that film and I was my wife is actually formerly in the mortgage industry, subprime specifically, and so was I. I was a very successful long term employee and I was a regional vice president for one of the one of the top five largest subprime lenders in 2006 and seven when this all fell apart and we were one of the first ones to shut down. We were really the biggest the first one to close in. The 80 people that worked for him had to let them go home and tell them, Come back tomorrow and I'll let you know if we're still open. And it happened within a 24 hour period. So I watched that. I felt like I was reliving my life at that time. Not a good feeling.

Woody Bowling:
Very, very difficult time.

Woody Bowling:
And so then when I transitioned into the insurance and then the financial services industry, very difficult industry to get started, has a very high rate of turnover in both fields. Uh, I'm so happy that I did it though, because 15 years later, the first 4 or 5 years were very, very difficult. Not a lot of mentorship, but finally figured things out. And now this many years later, very proud to do what we do and to have a radio show, podcast and help all these clients that I help. So. That's all we want to do. But Mr. Murray's got a feeling. I don't know if I agree with him.

Woody Bowling:
The what is they say?

Woody Bowling:
What's the saying? A broken watch. Even a broken watch will be right twice a day. Right? Um, there are people that are. Renowned on Wall Street and around Wall Street for always predicting a bear market or this market or that market. So he got a lot of press. He got a lot of. Kudos, if you will, for his movie. And it did shine a light or a lot of lights on a very shady, seedy industry. And those mortgage backed securities that caused so many people to lose so much money in the market back then, it was an inflated market. It needed to happen. And now I don't know if I would argue that the market's inflated. Now. I think the market is going to be choppy. And in September, if you're listening today, September is typically the roughest market month of the calendar of the 12 month in the year. So be careful. I don't know if I agree with them. You know, there's other things you can do beside the stock market. And we take part of our client assets. For many of our clients, we put them in a fixed indexed annuity that follows an index that is typically related to the market. It could follow different types of things. It can follow the S&P 500. So right now, one of my fixed indexed annuities that I use a lot for clients, it's got a five year surrender charge period.

Woody Bowling:
That's it. It's got 10% free withdrawals after year one. So you can get to your money on a limited basis if you need it. If you die, the money's going to go straight to your beneficiaries without going through probate. Love that. We hate probate. It's lengthy and it's expensive. So this fixed indexed annuity for five years, I really like to refer to it as a CD on steroids. Guess what? Currently the fixed account will pay you 4.5% on your portion of your money that's in the fixed account. And on the other side, the other strategy that I like to use a lot, it follows the S&P 500. If the S&P 500, it's capped right now at 8.75% and it has no fees. So if your contract starts on October 1st, a year later, the S&P went up 10%. You get credit for 8.75 of it on that portion of your money that was in the S&P. It's a wonderful thing. If the S&P dips 15% or 20%, as Mr. Burry predicts, you lose nothing. Okay. You typically that's for part of your defensive strategy in your portfolio. So the percentage of the client that goes in that it's all going to be determined by our conversation what they're looking to accomplish in their comfort level with risk.

Woody Bowling:
It's been a rough year and a half plus in the market. We've had a good run this year, followed by a lot of a holding pattern and choppiness with different things. The Fed's now saying they're not done raising rates, many different things. We still have a lot of things going on in the world with Russia, China, Ukraine, all those different things that weigh on the market. You have big box retailers saying our earnings are down because of shrinkage. What's shrinkage? That's simply theft. These guys are letting people smash and grab their stores and encouraging people, their employees to do nothing. Many of them don't have security in the store, and it's impacting the stockholders, the shareholders of their stock. And it's difficult to see our world experiencing that. It's embarrassing to me as an American to say, hey. If you're a shareholder in Target, Walmart, some of these other big retailers and your shares are not doing as well, their profits not doing as well because they literally let people walk in the door, steal. And in certain states they can steal up to a certain dollar limit and not be prosecuted at all. Matt, I don't know about you, but that makes zero sense to me.

Producer:
It's like saying, you know, hanging a sign on the door saying, Hey, come steal our stuff, you know, and steal our shareholder profits at the same time. Yeah, it's a little bit a little bit worrisome, I'm sure, to a lot of people. But yeah, we've got just about 3.5 minutes here. Woody left in the show, but wanted to mention if you know any of the strategies or options that Woody has talked about so far in the show. Sound good to you? If you want to weather all the craziness of this world, you can get started on that journey by going to TheBuckeyeAdvisor.com that is the Buckeye advisor with an or.com. Or you can call Mr. Woody Boling at (937) 974-6201. It's this week in history. Some fun anniversaries and some somber occasions to remember here as we close out this week in history with as the last portion of the show. And the very first one is in pop culture on September 9th. Woody back in 1956, Elvis the man, the myth, the legend made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. And that was, oh, boy, 60 million viewers, 82.6% of TV viewers. At the time. It was the most watched broadcast of the 1950s. And it goes down in history, I think, as one of the biggest and still most watched to this day.

Woody Bowling:
Events has to be.

Woody Bowling:
And we think people like to watch the Super Bowl, right? Yeah. Elvis was the Super Bowl of TV in 1956. I don't know if the camera actually showed his lower body and his swiveling hips and all those motions, but I'm sure there were women passing out at home as they got to see and hear Elvis sing their favorite song.

Producer:
Absolutely right. Also, on September 9th, 1966, Adam Sandler, the comedian, actor, filmmaker was was born Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Mr. Deeds. Boy, some great, funny, funny movies. And then, of course, the very last one that we want to go through here, September 11th, 2001. I can't believe it's been this many years ago now, but it was the 911 terrorist attacks in New York, in Washington, DC, and in what ended up being a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, nearly 3000 people from 90 countries died. And just, you know, still to this day rocks the very foundation of our being here in this country. And we've never been the same since.

Woody Bowling:
We haven't. We're forever changed as a people. They're still friends and family of those people that died that day that are feeling those impacts every day they wake up that grandchildren that won't get to see their grandparents, parents that no longer see their kids.

Woody Bowling:
Very tragic.

Woody Bowling:
We want to give a big shout out to our country. The United States of America is the best place in the world to live. I wish and hope and pray that everybody would feel that way despite all the division and the differences of opinion were still the best place to be. And I can tell you, Matt, when we are united on issues, nobody is better, Nobody can beat us. And, you know, I pray that there's healing in America in many different ways as we think about nine over 11 and the results from that.

Woody Bowling:
Absolutely.

Producer:
You just you can't stop us. And that day really did prove it and the aftermath as well. Try as you might, you can't stop us. Well, Mr. Bowling, that is going to do it for this edition of the Buckeye Advisor. But thank you, sir, as always, for your insights and your your your tips and your advice and and just everything that you bring to the table each and every week. And we'll do it again next time.

Woody Bowling:
Well, thanks for joining us, Matt. I can't believe if you tell me we're out of time, but only I can see by the timer. It indicates you are speaking truth, young man. So thanks to everybody for listening. Join us on our YouTube channel. Join us on the radio or the podcast. Thanks for showing up and listening today, however you listened and we'll be back again next week and hope to see you then. God bless and have a fantastic week everyone.

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, 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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