PP Full Show 8.5.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

PP Full Show 8.5.mp3: 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 Prosperity Principles with your host, Ed Cruz. Each week, Ed and his company seek to educate Americans like you by providing real strategies for protecting and growing their hard earned money. Get it for a full hour of financial information and economic news affecting your bottom line. Ed wants you to reach the financial freedom you've worked so hard for. So now let's start the show. Here's Ed Kruse.

Edwin Cruz:
Welcome back to Another Week of Prosperity Principles. I'm Edwin Cruz, a safe money retirement specialist here in central Florida. And with me is my co-host, Matt McClure. Matt, how are you today?

Producer:
I am doing great. Ed, how are you? Nice weekend so far.

Edwin Cruz:
It's been it's been a pleasurable week so far. The rain has subsided some here and that always makes it a little better. But but I think that rain is coming back as I speak.

Producer:
Oh, goody. Well, you know what they say about Florida weather. If you don't like it, wait about 5 minutes and it'll change completely. So. So, there you go.

Edwin Cruz:
And it's so true. It's so true. And so we have another packed show here today. And and one thing, you know, I like to ask questions right when we meet with our clients and and we think about what what they're going through. And in today's day and age with with all the different variables in our economy, you know, I like to ask people if if they could convert part of their retirement assets to an area where they wouldn't have to worry so much about the market fluctuation. Is that something that they'd be interested in doing? And, you know, throughout my career, I've heard so many people talk about losing sleep, worrying about outliving their assets, and many other things that come to mind. And so that's before we get started, I just want to present that question out there to to all of our listeners.

Producer:
You know, whether it's a good economy, a bad economy, mediocre economy, very strange economy, like the one that we have right now, which is you can find good things and you can find bad things. It's always a great thing to keep an eye on your finances and and be prepared for, you know, the economy no matter what it's going to be. So, of course, prosperity principles as you said at is this show. I'm Matt McClure here alongside Edwin Cruz, our host, our expert here about all things finance and retirement retirement planning my prosperity team dot com is the website and you can also reach out for a free financial consultation. 3862285769. So of course you can book an appointment there Ed and any and all questions that folks have they can ask.

Edwin Cruz:
That's right. And, you know, if they're unhappy with the level of risk that they're taking and are unsure of what they what they can do, we do offer a book, the Annuities 360 book, and that will help them get a little more insight to how we help our clients reach that that financial prosperity and and help give them peace of mind.

Producer:
Yeah. And that's what everybody needs, especially these days when it comes to their finances. And you can also folks get a free copy of a book that we like to offer here on the show. It is called Annuity 360. It's by a good friend of ours, Ford Stokes, who really does know pretty much everything there is to know about annuities, about retirement planning and all of that. And if you'd like a free copy of it, you can reach out via any of those methods that I just mentioned as well. The website, again, my prosperity, time.com. You can reach out via the contact information that's there or 3862285769. Once again is the phone number. A lot of great info in that book there.

Edwin Cruz:
Ed Yeah. And you know, when, when we go over the ideas that we give and we speak about financial check ups and that's kind of the topic today, right? A financial checkup for a healthier retirement. You know, we want you to feel comfortable and everything that we do, the process that we go through and we we want you to ask the questions whether you think they're silly or not. We don't want you to feel that that there's not a question that you should be able to ask. So we want people to be completely immersed in what we're talking about so that they can feel confident and feel good about what it is that they're doing.

Producer:
Yeah, you don't know what you don't know. So ask questions and then you find out what you don't know. And then you do know what you used to not know. And that's probably very confusing sounding. So I will move on. But, but anyway, so speaking of this week, you know, it's, it's. An earnings season on Wall Street. They've had a lot of know some good quite a bit more bad I think, than they thought with, you know, some signs that consumer spending is down. Gas prices continue to come down. So that's at least some good news on the inflation side, because gas prices really drove a lot of the inflation that we've been seeing this past year. So at least there's a little bit of a silver lining on the economic cloud right now.

Edwin Cruz:
Yeah, you know, a little mixed bag on the earnings. As you said, prices of gasoline hover around here between, what, 365, 375. And but one thing that strikes me strange here and, you know, when we talk about inflation, we know that one of these drivers of inflation is all of this money that we're spending as a country. And I find it kind of ironic that our government wants to pass an Inflation and Reduction Act and spend another trillion plus dollars. You know, who knows where that's coming from? And and then to follow that up, we now they're in the talks of a proposed tax bill. So, you know, we have the pressures of inflation. We have the pressures of of our economy. And then now we may be talking about paying more in taxes because this money is going to come from somewhere, right, Matt?

Producer:
Well, it always has to. You know, it does have to come from somewhere. And, you know, it just depends on where it comes from. Is it going to come from you and me? Is it going to come from from businesses? And then they pass that down to you and me in different ways or, you know, where is it coming from is always the question. And it like you say, it does it does have to come from somewhere. Hopefully, it's hopefully it's not from my pocketbook, but I'm I'm betting we'll feel it somewhere.

Edwin Cruz:
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, as as we look deeper into what affects our markets, you know, there's going to be a jobs report coming out here soon. And, you know, the one thing that I will say about the jobs report and when they talk about our unemployment, you know, we're talking about three and a half, 4% unemployment, they say. But that doesn't take into account all the people that truly aren't working, the ones that are off those payroll rolls or however they say say those terms. But, you know, the the number of people that aren't working today, I believe I saw something about one in every four people aren't even working or it might be even higher than that. So, you know, unemployment in our country is truly much higher than than what the than what the talking heads are saying out there.

Producer:
Yeah. The you know, the number crunchers only crunched the numbers in one particular way. And so the number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate can be a little misleading at times. And that's true, I think, all the time. And in good times and in bad mean, there are always more people who are not who are not working than we're aware of just because of the way that the government counts those things.

Edwin Cruz:
Yeah, it's like accounting, right? Yeah. You can, you can fudge the numbers one way or the other and you know, you always hope that it's, that it's true accounting. But anyway. That's right. That's for a whole nother day.

Producer:
That's very true. I trust me, I've read enough earnings reports from different companies, you know, corporations and stuff like that. And the spin that they try to put on things about, oh, how great this was and how wonderful that was this quarter. But you know, then they bury deep within that, oh, earnings actually fell and everything was below expectations and all this stuff. But but it's all great. No worries. Nothing to see here, folks. That's it's a little bit accounting and a little bit PR in that manner anyway.

Edwin Cruz:
Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of all the negative, do we have something positive for the listeners today, financial quote of the week or. Oh, yeah, financial wisdom.

Producer:
Oh, yeah. Let's let's share a little wisdom in our financial quote of the week here. And the financial quote of the week actually sort of poses a bit of a question in the beginning here, because I, at least in my mind, made me think of this question is interest working for you or against you? Because it can do either or. And we'll talk more about that. But the actual quote is from Albert Einstein. I think he's a smart guy, or at least he was. And he says compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn't pays it.

Edwin Cruz:
And how true is that? Right. I mean, you could use and, you know, people will ask me, you know, is it smart to have a credit card? I say, if you can control your spending, sure, it's a great thing and it could be a very useful tool. For example, if you have a one and a half, 2% cash back card instead of paying interest, if you pay that off monthly, you're getting cash back. Right? And so why not take advantage of that? But for those that carry on those bills, then that compound interest is working against you. So yeah, we could look at this in multiple ways, but it's true. Compound interest can work for you or it can work against you.

Producer:
Yeah, it really is something to keep in mind, especially when it comes to, as you mentioned, things like like a credit card, you know, paying off those balances every month is really, really important if you're, you know, financially able to do that. If you're not financially able to do that, probably don't need to be having a credit card in the first place because it's just going to compound. It's just going to add up and really snowball and you'll be paying a lot more, you know, for that latte at the coffee shop down the street. If that money sits there, if that balance sits there on that card for months and months.

Edwin Cruz:
You know, I heard a financial talking head on TV one time talking about how, you know, if you have several credit cards, go out and get yourself a home equity line of credit. Don't tie it to your main mortgage paid off that way. But what he failed to say and what I would tell my clients is if you're going to do that as soon as you consolidate. Put up, put a pair of scissors to those credit cards. Don't hold on. Because what's going to happen, that that habit is going to come right back. Now you're going to have the home equity line of credit and now you're going to have additional revolving debt. And so especially once in your in retirement, you cannot afford to keep this debt. You need to streamline, you need to tighten up, and you need to know that you have a secure income that's covering all of those expenses.

Producer:
Yeah, that's great. Great advice there. You know, give the scissors a nice workout when it comes to those credit cards after you pay them off, especially if you've had trouble spending in the past. Well, you know, and that's a great Segway, I think, into just talking about really what what it's like when somebody reaches out to you for that advice because, you know, you're talking about, you know, what you tell people all the time and people who are wanting to plan for retirement, people who have that in mind and are, you know, really in search of answers in a very unsure economic situation and unstable economy right now. Talk about what it's like when they reach out to you via the website or the phone or anything like that.

Edwin Cruz:
Right. Well, of course, the series of questions that I will ask is to understand your current situation. And the one thing that I'll tell clients and and in asking all these questions and going forward, thinking about what retirement's going to look like, the one thing that people don't realize sometimes is, is that retirement is going to cost you more than you even planned. And so that's why it's so important to understand what you plan on doing in retirement. You know, what are your goals, what are your hobbies? Who are you with currently? What are they doing for you? Do you really understand what they're doing for you? You know, it's sad when I ask someone about fees and they have no clue. And when I go through it, it's shocking to them. Some of these fees are the way that they put them in these these documents. People don't don't truly understand it. Don't add it up. So the one thing that we want to do is organize a custom financial plan to fund your goals, your expenses, your hobbies. And through a combination of guaranteed income strategies, Social Security maximization and other ideas that we can implement, we can help make that that those retirement days a lot better for you.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And everyone's goal is to have the best retirement possible. Lord, Lord willing, we all make it to retirement and and the workplace doesn't kill us along the way, but that's the goal.

Edwin Cruz:
You know, one more thing, you know? We plan or we have planned in the past for for our lives to go all the way up to, let's say, 80 to 85. But we find that more and more people are living to the age of 90, 95, 100. And the old traditional methods of budgeting for that would leave you short. And so that's where you hear a lot of people saying, you know, I'm afraid of running out of of of retirement assets before I before I pass away. So, you know, we need to we need to implement these strategies like hybrid life insurance, long term care. No, no one sits there and thinks about how much they may end up spending in long term care. And we see how much health care costs rise consistently. So we need to have a plan, a budget just for health care and these things that will just arise as we live longer. So, you know, longevity, the longevity risk is a real problem and it's only getting bigger year after year.

Producer:
Yeah. And why do you think, Ed, that people need a more comprehensive retirement plan? I mean, somebody might come to you and say, oh, well, you know, I have a 401. K through my job. I think I'm fine. That that'll be that'll be enough for me. Why is it important, you think, to take a broader look, a more comprehensive look at your retirement?

Edwin Cruz:
Well, again. When people think about. What their returns are. The first thing I ask people, do you know what your returns have been on average over the last three, five, ten years? And I got to tell you, they have no clue. And so I tell them, well, if you don't have a guaranteed income plan and you don't know what your rate of return has been, how can you put together a comprehensive income plan? And so what we want to do is show them that regardless of what the market does, that we can that we can put together an income plan that's guaranteed for life. And once you have secured that, the rest is trivial, right? We don't we don't have to worry about if we're in a recession, in the market goes down 20%. We want to worry about what matters most to you. And that's having that secure monthly income that you never have to worry about outliving. And again, I just spoke about the longevity risk. Well, if you have a guaranteed income plan, you don't have to worry about the longevity risk. So. So that's one aspect of it. Know. And we find too many people still that have bonds in their portfolio. And again, there are better strategies to help boost your returns with a mixture of fixed indexed annuities and mutual funds and stocks. We find that people are just surprised. Or I should say it surprises me that so many people don't even have a legacy plan. When I sit there and I ask them, you know, who's your attorney for your for your trust or your will? Oh, we haven't taken care of that yet, you know, and I'll ask them why not? And then I'll make reference to some examples that happen that have happened in my own family because, you know, they say, Yeah, I'm going to take care of it.

Edwin Cruz:
Ed And they never do so. You know, there are there are so many examples that we can that we can set up there, you know, and we could give you all the advice in the world. But if you don't follow through, then it's not helpful for you, for your for your current situation. We also find that too many people have no true plan for for health care expenses. You know, we have private group plans that are out there. There are those. There are HMOs. So if you need guidance in that area, that's what we're here for. We're here to help you all the way through so that so that you don't have to worry about these things in retirement. And in our experience, many people haven't even thought about what they want to do every day when it's Saturday. Right. Every day. How are they going to pay for that? Once you're retired, you're almost forced into a lifetime of vacation. Right. But vacations are expensive. And so we need to find a way to take care of this this life long vacation ahead of you. So give us a call. 38622857, six, nine. And and we could put you on a better path to to that retirement.

Producer:
Yeah, a constant vacation. And but you got to pay for it. So there you go. You know, you're not you might not be sipping, you know, mai tais on the beach or anything every day. But, you know, you're going to you're going to have more time on your hands. But as you say, that vacation is expensive, especially when it is a permanent one in your life. Well, of course, folks, if you like, you know what you hear there, because AD obviously knows what what people have told him and through his years of experience in this area can give advice and solutions to all different kinds of retirement planning questions that you might have. And he could do that. A full retirement plan consultation is what he offers. And you can get that by going to my prosperity Time.com and using the contact information that's there on the website. It's my prosperity team dot com and the phone number is just mentioned 3862285769 and that full retirement plan consultation and 100% free of any charge and any obligation right now.

Edwin Cruz:
Absolutely. You know, when you work with us, the one thing that I've always said and I just reminded a police officer that just retired, you know, he asked me about my fees and I told them, I said, you know, if I thought a fee was going to help you in retirement, I would charge you a fee. But obviously, we know it's not. And, you know, when you think about that consultation fees of 2 to 3% and when you move your money over, there's there are additional fees that come attached and then annual fees. And, you know, I think that if you keep that 20 to 30% and grow your assets through compound interest, again, going back to that word compound, you know, you'll have approximately and it's been. Owning studies about 33% more in retirement. So I don't want this to cost you anything. I don't want to hit you with an advisor fee. I don't want to do any of those things. I want you to enjoy retirement. And by providing this at no cost, no obligation, I think is a smart way to do it.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. It's it's the best all around for for everyone involved. And then that way, you know, folks that you're getting information that that is in your interest. And that's what Ed likes to do, is work together with you to come up with that plan because it's not a one size fits all thing. I think we say this a lot in here on the show, but it bears repeating. It's not one size fits all. It's not like you can just go down to the corner store and buy a retirement plan and they have a retirement plan, A, B or C. Which one do you want? No, you can't do that. It's got to be customized for you and your particular situation.

Edwin Cruz:
Right? When we analyze your your financial situation, you know, we're looking at every different element. Everyone that you've come across, everyone that's given you whatever advice they've given you loosely at times. And so what I will say is some of you out there have annuities. Let us compare let us show you why we can enhance that. Some of you out there have bonds in your portfolio. Let us show you why you're overpaying for those. Some of you just have money in the bank because you trust that the bank down the street, that brick and mortar, the four walls, have all your money in that bank when they actually only have $0.10 on the dollar in that bank. There are different situations. There are different thoughts. Some people have very good products in their in their portfolio. And I don't want you to make any changes that you shouldn't make. But for those weak links that are inside of your portfolio, that's where we want to be helpful. Also, Medicare and Social. Social Security planning. We want to be able to to guide you. You know, if you have enough income, if you've already created a fairly decent plan, we help enhance it. And you have all the income you need. Should you take income, Social Security income at 62, should you wait till full retirement, which is no longer 65? It's more than the 66 and some months range. Or should you wait till till Social Security maxes out at 70? These are all things that we can help analyze. And and if you have longevity on your side, you know, why not take advantage of the highest income at the right time for all the right reasons? So, you know, we want to be there again to help you with with all sorts of planning, you know, Medicare solutions. Again, we have we have plenty of experience there. And and we have people that are qualified to help you with that. So whether it's something that I personally do or have ties with other very trustworthy individuals will make sure that you have the right plan that works for you.

Producer:
It's time for this week's Problem Solver.

Producer:
All right. I always say it, but it's definitely one of my favorite times of the show. It's time for The Problem Solver this week. And here's what happens, folks. I present a problem, as I so often do, and Ed solves my problem as he so often does, because that's the way he is and that's the way I am. So here we go, problem solver. Over the week, I'm going to present you with the problem, Ed, and you can you can solve it because. Because I know you can. I know you got the solution here. All right. So here's our problem. It's, you know, you know, a lot of people own variable annuities, but a lot of them don't really understand what's going on with them. Right. You know, their principal is really at risk in the stock market. They might not know that they're paying 3 to 6% in fees, as you said, might not know that either. They're they're paying, you know, income rider fees. They've just got to have their money paid back to them after that. So there's a lot that goes into a variable annuity that's sometimes you call them a scary double annuity that people don't really understand. So how can people better understand their annuities, particularly if they have a variable annuity? What should they do?

Edwin Cruz:
Well, the first thing that I do is I'm always asking for what documents they have on their variable annuity. I want to go over that very much line by line with them and show them everything that they're paying for these variable annuities, because sometimes people don't believe you until they actually see it from their own documents. And so the one thing that I will say to people is, after having gone over their variable annuities, you know, how would you like an annuity that works with the stock market? But you don't have to worry about the expense and mortality charges and all the other fees that are involved in a variable annuity. There are so many of them, but we believe your money should be working as hard for you as you've worked for it. Right. So a fixed indexed annuity can provide you with the with the safety, it can provide you with the growth. And and that's what we want. Of course, we speak about income all the time. But, you know, people still do want the safety and they still do want growth. And how do you put those two things together? Most people don't even know how that's possible. And at times they think that I'm that I'm just making up a solution for them when, in fact, this is this is a solution that's been around for at this point over 20 years.

Producer:
Yeah. Yeah. It's not something that's just just, you know, a fly by night operation here. This is something that has been around. And explain to folks a little bit, if you will, at about how a fixed indexed annuity works. And you've already explained the advantages of it there because your principle that you put in is protected. Your money will grow in a fixed indexed annuity. But if the market happened to go down over a particular period of time, that market or that principle is is safe. You're not going to come out with less money than you went in with.

Edwin Cruz:
Right. And that's called ratcheting in our industry. Right. So not only do we help you protect what you put in, but every time that there is growth in the in the in the marketplace, we we tend to tie that in into your principle as well. So now not only is your let's take an example of 100,000, you grew by 10%, you're at 110,000. The market goes down. We protect that 110. And you know, where else in the marketplace can you can you participate in the stock market and have and have that that growth protected for you? It's not available anywhere else. And where else can you deal with the in the stock market and know that if something happens to you that your assets are protected from probate? So there are there are some very unique qualities inside of fixed indexed annuities that you can't find anywhere else. You know that that issue of probate, that scares a lot of people. And why? Because they've been through it before when some other family member passed away and the estate ties up the assets. You really do want to prepare in all all ways and in a simple way of doing this is through a fixed indexed annuity, a fixed annuity. It'll help you avoid the probate. So those are those are other benefits of having a fixed indexed annuity.

Producer:
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people sort of see like Goldilocks and the three Bears kind of a situation when it comes to the different types of annuities. Right. They'll say, oh, there's a variable annuity is is too hot, right. It's it's like the porridge that was too hot in the in the Goldilocks story, you know, because your money is at risk in the market. A fixed annuity, maybe it could be right for for some people, the risk averse folks who don't want to risk their money and one of. Very safe way to invest it and prepare for retirement. But that could be too cold for others. But that fixed indexed annuity could be just right for somebody else, right?

Edwin Cruz:
Yeah. And I'll go back to the fixed annuity that you just mentioned. There are actually three year fixed annuities that are that are about three and a half, three and three and three quarter percent rate. That's pretty solid nowadays. And and we're seeing five year rates come in, what, four and a half, 4 to 5%. So we're seeing rates jump up quite high. But again, fixed indexed annuities, what are they all about? They're about smoothing out volatility and offering clients a reasonable rate of return combined with low or no fees. And they and a and a guaranteed income should you need that. So there's there's a lot that we can that we can address when we get together. But understanding these key points, I think, will help you make a better decision.

Producer:
Come on down as we test your financial knowledge in right or wrong?

Producer:
All right, folks, it's time to have a little bit of fun and learn something at the same time. We hope it's right or wrong, of course. And basically what happens is it's basically like true or false, right? I will make a statement and then Ed will tell us whether that statement is right or if it is wrong. I hope to improve my score from last week when I got all three of them wrong. So here we go. We'll find out how smart I am this week as we play right or wrong. Here's statement number one. It is a waste of time to have your financial accounts reviewed on an annual basis. Is that right or wrong?

Edwin Cruz:
I say that's wrong because whether you want to believe it or not, whoever you're talking to, they may not be giving you all the right information. And the one thing that I will tell people is that whenever I tell you something, I like to back it up with some type of factual read so that you know what's what's actually happening, what's not happening. But you want to inspect what you expect regarding your financial future. An annual checkup can prevent you from paying too much in taxes and fees before those expenses cause a lifestyle change down the road.

Producer:
Yeah, and that's something that I have now learned because I got that one wrong. So I'm not off to a great start trying to redeem myself from last week. Okay, maybe. Maybe I will do better with statement number two. Here we go. You should balance your investments across tax deferred taxable and tax free accounts. All three of those. Is that right or is that wrong?

Edwin Cruz:
That's right. You want to minimize the effect that taxes have on your retirement. Take advantage of the only two types of tax free investments. The IRS doesn't make a great partner in retirement. You know, that's not only true as a living benefit, but it's also true as a death benefit. So, you know, you don't you don't want the IRS involved in any way, shape or form, right? We don't we don't want them now, but we surely don't want them later. And your beneficiaries will greatly appreciate if you have tax free accounts rolling over to them at that time.

Producer:
Yeah, well, and you know, it's so funny and this this is just was an old whole life policy that I'm going to talk about. But my my dad passed away here about six, seven months ago. And when after he passed away, he did. He had a whole life policy, X amount of dollars in it, and they had borrowed some against it. So it wasn't quite as high as I thought it was going to be. But that's beside the point they had. They had a certain amount in the policy that was the death benefit. And I was helping my mom, you know, go through the process of getting the death benefit, death benefit sent to her. And so because she was the beneficiary, so I, I called them with her on the phone and she was like, yes, you know, he's passed away and all of this. And we went through a very easy process, actually, just talk to the folks on the phone, filled out a form, sent it back, and then literally within, I don't know, a week or two, maybe we just got a check for the full amount. And it was that, you know, so talk about like a tax free benefit. That's one that's one way. That's just one way that you can have a tax free benefit for your loved ones. And I tell you what, that's something that we were extremely, extremely grateful for in the days, weeks and months since he's passed. That's really helped my mom financially deal with the loss of my dad. So that's something I think that people need to keep in mind. And like we say all the time, there are so many other ways now to use life insurance, there are so many other ways to plan ahead and leave some tax free benefits to to your beneficiaries. But that's one way that my family has really benefited from a tax free benefit like that.

Edwin Cruz:
And, you know, talking about life insurance and tax free benefits, another thing that, you know, we kind of gloss over at times is that and I ran into this here recently where a an agent had done life insurance some time ago for a client of mine, and I would review it for them from time to time. But it gets kind of lost in the in the whole money talk sometimes, right? They just say, yeah, that's that's there. So when they pass away, you know, there's that benefit that goes over to the spouse. But I had a situation where the where the wife predeceased the husband by about three weeks. In that three weeks, I had mentioned to the children, hey, you know, there are beneficiaries that need to be taken care of here in case something happens to your dad. He's the one that really that we were expecting to to pass, but they kept hesitating. Well, what happened? Dad passed away. Mom was the listed beneficiary. They never put contingents on there. And that became part of the estate. Now it has to go through probate. So what I'm trying to say in all this is for our listeners out there, make sure that you constantly and keep current your beneficiaries on your life insurance policies and even your annuity policies. Make sure that these are products that are already protected from the from the probate issue. If they are properly set up and if you don't update these, it can become a nuisance later on. So with all that said, I just want to bring that up because it is it is easily missed time and time again.

Producer:
Yeah. No, it's important. Have your ducks in a row that way and, and just be prepared for whatever might happen. You know if there's a situation where one spouse, of course, one spouse is likely going to die before the other, so then you're going to want to have that backup plan in place with the beneficiary situation. All right. Well, I am I got one out of two so far. I'm batting 500 on the day. Let's see what I can do as we go into statement. Number three, in right or wrong, here we go. You can structure your retirement accounts to deliver tax free income during retirement. Let me say that again. You can structure your retirement accounts to deliver a tax free income during retirement. Is that right or wrong?

Edwin Cruz:
That's right. You know, you can you can do both Roth IRAs and and index universal life policies. Those two will provide you with with tax free funds. Right. Roth IRAs take tax free withdrawals with no required minimum distributions and indexed universal life policies, build up a cash value, and you can take tax free withdrawals from the accumulated cash value of the policy. So those are two ways that that you can help yourself in retirement and provide yourself tax free funds.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's great. Well, I'll say I did redeem myself in right or wrong this week. I got two out of the three. So I'm back to the I'm back to the Hall of Fame in right or wrong. So that's that's a good sign. Well, you know, I always love right or wrong because I always do learn something during this segment. We like to laugh and joke and have fun, but I always do learn something and I did today. And that's sort of the subject of a story that I want to share with our listeners here. Ed And it's a piece that I put together this week that focuses on financial education, and more and more states are requiring financial education before you can graduate high school. So I wanted to share that with our listeners and we can chat about it a little bit. On the other side here, this is a look at the states that are requiring financial education in high school and even sometimes in lower grades. Check it out. They say you don't know what you don't know, but a growing number of states are trying to fix that when it comes to finances. I'm Matt McClure with the Retirement Radio Network powered by Emera Life. In high school, students are often required to take advanced math courses like algebra and trigonometry. But for years, the basics of budgeting, bank accounts and savings have been neglected in the classroom. But that seems to be quickly changing. 21 states now require at least some form of financial education before students graduate high school. One of those states is Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak recently told CNBC.

Phil Murphy:
A great percentage. I think 50 some odd percent of Americans can't cover 1000 emergency costs if it comes up without borrowing the money. So it tells us that we need to invest more. We have invested $2.5 Million from the state into these programs and to make sure that it gets out, we address access and equity so that everybody gets this education. It's not just reserved for the upper class.

Producer:
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves also told CNBC he knows firsthand how valuable a financial education can be. He graduated with a degree in economics and worked in the financial arena before running for office, which.

Phil Murphy:
Is one of the reasons that I'm so passionate about trying to encourage my fellow Mississippians and really my fellow Americans to to to make sure that financial literacy is available to as many people as possible. Because I really do think it can help Americans have a better life.

Producer:
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy says programs there start as early as middle school.

Phil Murphy:
There's a temptation that comes with a lot of different things that you all, all of a sudden think you can afford and you don't realize the consequences on the back end, whether it's physical items, whether it's meme stocks or whatever it might be. And so getting kids at the earliest ages possible, we think, is critical.

Producer:
How well are the programs working? Well, it could be too early to tell. Money rates found mixed results in a recent survey, but its authors note that financial education itself is not a quick fix. So with more time, results could improve. So how educated are you when it comes to your personal finances and planning for retirement, and are you going to pass down that knowledge to future generations? Those are key questions to consider as our financial lives become more complicated with the retirement radio network powered by a married life. I'm Matt McClure. So what do you think at I mean really the the concept of financial education has been a little bit of a foreign one as far as we know is we're looking at like middle school, high school grades, but that's changing and I think for the better because as I mentioned in the piece, you know, I took some advanced math courses and things like algebra, trigonometry and geometry and all of this stuff, which is great and it's part of your core education. I didn't necessarily love it, but I never got any sort of like basic okay, here's how you you you balance your accounts, here's how you put money aside for a rainy day, here's how you come up with a budget, any of that, you know, that sort of basic financial education was just missing.

Edwin Cruz:
Right. And, you know, it's it's so long needed. How many times do you hear about all these kids that go to school? They come out, they have no real training. They they you hear this talk now about canceling student debt. You made poor decisions. Right. And and we're going to continue. Make some poor decisions. It's not to say it's going to correct everything. Right. Because at times we are risk takers, as they say. But, you know, slowly but surely, as you as you age and you grow a little wiser, I hope that that's the process that we stop being so providing ourselves so much risk and become more risk adverse. But financial education, there's no substitute for it. I believe that we wouldn't have the levels of student that we wouldn't have the levels of credit card debt. You wouldn't see these kids jumping into these $50,000 vehicles, not doing the math, not realizing that they're going to end up paying $75,000 for that vehicle. So a little financial education goes a long way. It's it's it's welcomed.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. Just understanding what you're paying and why and how much and for how long and all of that understanding the consequences of each financial decision that you make is so, so important. And as I say, I wish it is something that I had had in my school days as well. Of course, that goes back several years now, but I wish I had had it way back when.

Edwin Cruz:
Well, compound effect, as we say.

Producer:
That's right. That's right. You know what? It's very true. It's the compound effect of we're talking about compound interest. But this is like the compound effect of, okay, I don't necessarily understand what I'm getting myself into with this financial decision that I'm making. But, okay, I've already I've already made it all. Now, here's another financial decision that I don't quite know and don't quite understand what I'm making or what I'm doing. But okay, I've got to do that too, because I see this nice pretty car and I love it and I'm going to just buy it without really reading any of the fine print, understanding what the loan or the lease is. And so, yeah, it really is a compounding situation. If you make bad decision after bad decision, you can find yourself in a bad situation pretty quickly.

Edwin Cruz:
That's right. And, you know, you come to find out later on when you have to stretch those dollars, right. So if we just keep on making these bad decisions, again, the compound effect is going to be that you're going to be stuck in this whole pain, this interest, for not just ten years, 15 to 20 years. And that is going to drag away at your at your retirement plan. Right. Because the more interest you pay, the less the less assets you have to put away for for retirement. So, again, one one effect has a has a drag on another. So, yeah, clean it up.

Producer:
That's right. Clean clean up your act, folks. And you know, whether you are in a good financial situation and okay. Financial situation or a bad one, there is help out there for you. You know, we've talked about this before. If you're doing okay with your finances and your retirement planning and all that, that doesn't mean you can't do better. That doesn't mean that you can't improve upon things. I'm someone who thinks there's always room for improvement. And so that's why, you know, you're a you know, you're big on a financial checkup. And that's what we've been really focusing the show on today is a check up on your finances. So let our listeners know a little bit more about what happens specifically in a financial checkup if they were to to reach out and contact you for one.

Edwin Cruz:
Absolutely. When we again, when we sit down, we do want to know every aspect of what's going on. It's not to be nosy, but I can't help you if I don't know something's there to either hinder you or if there's something positive there for you, or if we really do need to tighten up and and make things happen for you. So, you know, when we when we review your IRAs, your 401. Ks, your 450 sevens, your pension plans, wherever you hold your assets, including cash, you know, we want we need to know the balances, not that we want to know, but we really do need to know. We want to know the rates of return. I want to know what type of fees you're paying, because I think it's my responsibility to a degree to keep fees and commissions from eating away at your hard earned money. You know, and I tell people know, people will ask me, well, how do you make your money? Well, I have these contracts with these companies so that I don't have to charge you. They'll end up paying me. You know, it's important to keep your money safe, but it's also important not to get not to have your money being dragged down and lost by by the fee structure and the charges that you might be involved in, even if it's just a small recurring fee, a half percent, 1%.

Edwin Cruz:
Add that up throughout the years, and that's a compounded interest to to that. And you'll realize that it's a bigger issue than what you really think. So for the audience out there, you know, you can answer this question, do you have an income gap or do you have have an income surplus? And so, you know, let us help you determine that if you're not sure how to how to come to that conclusion. You know, we can sit down. We can we can review. If you don't have the information there, we can we can show you how to to get that information that we need so that we can further address these issues. What percent of your income is going to be coming from Social Security? That's another good question. You know, you definitely want multiple sources of income, right? So again, let us show you how to create, let's say, another taxable income stream, a tax free income stream. Let us let us go through this. Understand what your what your tax exposure is in the future. Let's just take the time, because chances are nobody else has been willing to take that time with you.

Producer:
Yeah, that's right. And, you know, it's if you find yourself in a situation where you think, okay, I think I'm okay, but I have questions or I'm I know I'm not okay. As far as my retirement planning goes, that's where you can really step in and help people out a lot. Because you spoke about Social Security. It is a wonderful benefit. It is one of the most treasured things that as far as a benefit that the government has ever come up with in this country. But it also is not really enough for people to to live on. You can't just count on Social Security for your retirement. You know, it can help out a whole lot. But you're going to very, very likely need more than that when you when it comes to your retirement years.

Edwin Cruz:
And, you know, for people that are yet to to have retired or to take Social Security, the one thing that people say to me often enough is, well, you know, when I'm receiving this pension and I'm getting my required minimum distributions, but I thought when when I retired, that I didn't have to pay any more taxes and that couldn't be further from the truth. There are still taxes to pay. And the one area that people are really most shocked is when they have to pay taxes on their Social Security. So depending on the level of income that you're receiving, you have taxes to pay on your Social Security. In some cases, it's up to 50%, half of your Social Security that you have to pay taxes on. And in some cases, it could be up to 85% of your Social Security that's being taxed. So, again, understanding all of these issues is what we're all about. And so, again, give us that call. Let us put this book in your hands. Sit down with us for 30, 45 minutes, ask the questions, get the information, educate yourself. That's what this is all about. This is about educating the public. And when you sit down with us, educating you on your personal situation so that we can customize a plan for you.

Producer:
Absolutely. And that book that Ed just talked about, folks, is called Annuity 360. It's by Ford Stokes, who just about knows almost everything there is to know. Pretty much everything there is to know, I would say, about annuities. And if you have an annuity or if you're curious about what annuities are, this would be a very helpful resource for you to kind of make heads or tails because there are a lot of different options out there. And this book can really help sort of clear a lot of those cobwebs away when it comes to your understanding of annuities and you can get it absolutely free. Go to my prosperity team. That is my prosperity team. All one word dotcom. Or you can give a call to Edwin Cruz at 3862285769. And speaking of annuities, that, of course, you know, a part of this financial checkup that you'll do for folks includes looking at their annuities. And you've spoken about it a couple of times here. But, you know, taking a look at their annuities, taking a look at those fees. And then you also mentioned pensions a second ago, which I'm like it's like finding a unicorn these days. If someone's lucky enough to have a pension. Oh, boy, they are one of the few. It seems like these. These. Is.

Edwin Cruz:
It absolutely is. But, you know, they they actually still do exist, especially with government employees, airline employees. I just. Several months ago, got a got a phone call, got a referral from from a current client. And it was someone that that had left the airline industry. And she told me about her for one K and then she mentioned her pension and I said, you have a pension. Wow. You really you really don't hear that anymore. It's one out of every five, six people that you speak to that will mention a pension. So I was I was delighted to hear she had a pension. But, you know, the question she had for me was, I have this pension, and if something happens to me, the company gets to keep my pension. That's that's in writing. It does not I don't get to list a beneficiary. And, you know, that was shocking to me because in most cases you do get to list the beneficiary. But in this case, she had no choice. So obviously, we did the right thing here and she wanted to make sure that if something happened to her, that the that the assets would go to her family. So we were able to to secure her pension her for one k some additional savings. And and that's what we're all about. But yeah, I mean, you never know what you're going to run into. Right. There is there are odd plans out there for 57 403 B's.

Edwin Cruz:
So we could keep going down the list. There are all types of qualified assets out there, but we're we're we're we're keeping an eye on it. We're making sure that it's going to the right place if it's not working for you, and especially these 403 B's and 401. A's, what we generally see out there is that their their lifetime performance is two and a half, three and a half percent. I don't know that I've seen any of them ever above 5%. So, again, if you have one of these type of retirement accounts, we can take care of any of these types of retirement accounts. Stretch IRAs today, when when a parent is out there that passes away and is leaving this money to the kids, there are very few companies today that want to deal with that because of all the all the changes in the in the secure act. We could help you with that. I I spoke to someone about six months ago, maybe it was about four months ago where their current company would not would not handle that. And they were referred over to me. We took care of that stretch. Ira So there's a lot of unique situations out there when we talk about doing financial checkups, looking at pension plans and other types of qualified funds. There are many things that options that we can that we can show you. And so give us a call and we'll help you through it.

Producer:
Yeah, and that number once again, folks. 3862285769. It's this week in history. Well, a couple of things to take a look back on. And before we close out the show for this week, this week in history that happened on this date in history back in 1962, American singer, actress and model and legend. Now, Marilyn Monroe passed away at the age of 36. She was only 36 years old when she died. Her films and this is back back in the sixties, back in the early sixties, her films had already grossed $200 Million by the time of her death. I mean, talk about some success there. Gentlemen prefer blondes. You had some like it hot which actually made several years ago made AFI's list of the funniest movies of all time and was number one on that list is the funniest movie of all time. It also had Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis and a hilarious movie. But yes, he was just an absolute legend. And I when I saw the age of 36, I knew she was young, but I was like, my goodness, talk about so much more that that could have been done with with her life.

Edwin Cruz:
Wow. That's that's incredible. 200 million. I mean, who would have thought? Yeah, I'm a I'm a big sports guy, so this one's pretty fitting for me here. On this date. In 1956, a crowd of 57,000 people witnessed baseball pitcher Satchel Paige of Miami beat Columbus in an international league game played in the Orange Bowl. That was the largest crowd ever assembled for a minor league game. I mean, that is quite impressive. Wow.

Producer:
Yeah. I mean, like most minor league stadiums these days only hold, what, about ten, 12, maybe 15,000 at most. That's 57,000. That's that's pretty ridiculous.

Edwin Cruz:
You get that at a college college football games today.

Producer:
That's right. Yeah, absolutely. I know that, you know, I'm from Georgia, as you know, and Sanford Stadium. That's that's about it right there. Well well, Ed, just about time for us to wrap things up here for this week's show. It has come and gone quickly, but I wanted to remind the folks once again, my prosperity team, that is the website to reach out to. Ed, if you have any questions about anything that we've talked about today or anything else that's on your mind as far as finances, retirement planning and the like? 3862285769 is the phone number as well. Ed, thank you so much. Once again, it has been great and I look forward to doing it again next week. Sir.

Edwin Cruz:
We shall thank you.

Producer:
Thanks for listening to Prosperity Principles. You deserve to work with a financial and insurance expert who can offer strategies for protecting and growing your hard earned money to schedule your free no obligation consultation. Visit my Prosperity Team dot com or pick up the phone and call 3862285769. That's 3862285769.

Producer:
It's not affiliated with the United States government. Edwin Cruz does not offer tax, legal or investment advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended as investment advice, nor do they predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or a specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A married life assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or of the results obtained from the use of this information.

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