PP FULL SHOW 7-22-22.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

PP FULL SHOW 7-22-22.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 Cruise:
Welcome to Prosperity Principles. Edwin Cruise, owner of Prosperity, Financial and Asset and Retirement Protection Company, located right here in central Florida. And today we're going to discuss who do you trust with your money? But before we go there, I want to welcome in my co host Matt McClure. Matt, how are you?

Producer:
Hey, I'm doing great at. How are you.

Edwin Cruise:
Doing? Great. I, you know, recovering from from a little illness here. So we're going to try to make the best out of it here today. But I really, really thank you for taking the time.

Producer:
Yeah, no worries. Thank you. And I'm sure all of our listeners are thanking you as well, because, you know, it's going to be a lot of great information and education for folks. And that's the really the goal here is to to educate people and give them information that they need to be able to make some, you know, sound decisions about their finances, about financial planning going forward. The show, of course, focus is prosperity principles. My Prosperity Team dot com is the website. And as we as we start off the show here today, of course, one of the biggest things that's on everybody's mind here lately has been inflation. And, you know, we're still feeling it. We're going to we're going to talk more about it as the as the show goes on. Luckily, though, over the past few weeks now, we've gotten at least just the tiniest bit of relief from the astronomically high gas prices that we were paying. They may only be in the stratosphere now instead of out in deep space somewhere. They're still way high, but they're been coming down. So at least there's that.

Edwin Cruise:
Yeah, they have. And here in central Florida, I would say that we're down, oh, every bit of $0.50 a gallon. And I'm sure that's very appreciated by by everyone that's out there trying to enjoy their summer. And, you know, when we think about what's affecting us here today, and we do bring up the fact that gas and inflation has been hurting us, but what else is affecting the markets this week? And it was an interesting read just a couple of days ago, I was looking in the mortgage demand. You know, with increasing rates come other issues and the demand for new mortgages have dropped to a 22 year low and again, high interest rates, inflation, it's just taken away the purchasing power and it's hammering Americans all across America. It's weighing in heavily on the housing market. And that's that's one area that we really don't want to see too much of a tumble, because we know what happened back in 2007, 2008, that when the housing market collapsed, it really caused a lot of pain for everyone. It's a lot of lost jobs. And who needs to lose their job right now when everything today is on average costing, I would say at least 10% more and up to 20% more.

Producer:
Yeah, it really is. And we've got some, you know, some stats and stuff that we'll share as as the show goes along about how much more you're paying for what. And, you know, it really is such a struggle for a lot of folks to just make ends meet right now. So, yeah, you don't want to be losing your job during this time and you want to feel safe and secure with your money. And you know, especially as you're talking about not only the money that you have right now and that that you are spending on a day to day basis, but that that you are saving or investing for the future, you want to make sure that that is safe and secure, too, because you need that that safety and security in your retirement years.

Edwin Cruise:
Yeah. You know, we sit there and talk about safety and security. And what's striking to me is that, you know, when you think about it, most people own homes and their values are, let's say, somewhere in the $300,000 range. And when we think about how we protect that right, we pay an annual premium on a on an on a monthly or quarterly or annual basis. We're constantly. To ensure our home. And when you think about it, statistics show that when there is a house fire, most house fires don't completely destroy your home. You know, in general, what you end up losing is 40 to 50% of your value of your home. But but we have insurance to protect us. Right. And so let me ask most of you a question. You know. If if your home is worth that much and you insure it. Most of our retirement plans are about that same amount, right? We have in general at least what our home is worth, 304 hundred and $500 million. But why is it that we don't insure our assets? We tend to insure one thing, but don't give value to to another part of our. To another part of our. Main accomplishments in life, and that is our home and our and our retirement. And for some reason, people just never take that into consideration. And but that's what we're here to talk about. And should you want to talk about how to protect your your retirement assets, give us a call. You know, you can reach us at 3862285769. And and we could talk about how to protect your retirement assets just as you protect your home.

Producer:
Absolutely. And of course, folks, the website again is My Prosperity Time.com. You can reach out that way as well. And as we go into sort of the meat of the show here, Ed, today, we always like to share a quote, a financial wisdom quote of the week. And this one comes from our our good friend, Warren Buffett. This this week, he's a guy who knows a little bit about finance, I would imagine. And our financial wisdom quote of the week this time around is the most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. And I love that.

Edwin Cruise:
Yeah. And you know, his other and I think a lot of people have probably heard this one in the past. You know, he says, I have two rules in investing. You know, the number one rule is never lose your money. And rule number two is never forget rule number one. So the Oracle of Omaha has it right. You know, you just don't want to dig that hole. You don't want to lose your money because trying to recoup it is troubling. And it may take you a long time.

Producer:
Yeah, that's right. And there are strategies in ways that you can go about doing that. That will, of course, be part of the discussion as well as we move along through the show. Right now, though, let's have a little fun with our listeners and kind of, you know, we talked about the show being about education and and really, you know, giving people great information. Let's sort of turn that on its head a little bit and test our knowledge as we go along to play a little bit of a game we like to do called right or wrong. And basically, folks, this is like operates just kind of like a true or false kind of a thing. But we say right or wrong because we like to be different and you can play along with us in your car or at home or wherever you happen to be. And what's going to happen is I will present a statement, right. And then Ed will tell us whether or not that statement is right or if it is wrong. Because, you know, Ed is the expert here and I'm just some schmuck. Here we go. Statement number one, we got three of them here. Statement number one, it could cost you as much as five and a half percent to buy a mutual fund from a stockbroker that works at a bank. Is that right or wrong, Ed?

Edwin Cruise:
I would say that's right. You shouldn't just walk into a bank with with X amount of dollars. Let's let's just say it's 30,000 to invest and leave with. Let's say if we do the math here, $28,300 or so, invest it into a mutual fund. I think you could do much better. In fact, we know you can. And one of the solutions that we present is that you can you can buy a fixed index annuity. And most of those include bonuses or a good number of them can offer you bonuses. And instead of walking out with with an investment worth just a little over 28,000, how would you like to walk out with with a $33,000 investment that's protected from any type of market losses and can generate a guaranteed income? And may I add to that, not only may we get you a bonus coming in, we could also provide you with an income account that could guarantee you a 7% return on an annual basis. So not only are we not risking or gambling or going into the unknown for our future, we can actually jump into a solution here that will give you more than you walked in with, and we'll we'll provide you with a guarantee going forward. So instead of wondering what your income is going to look like in the future, let's know what your income is going to look like in the future.

Producer:
Yeah, that's right. It doesn't have to be planning for retirement financially. It doesn't have to be like a trip to the casino, you know? In other words, it's right. You can you can have that guaranteed income and in everything be much better than it otherwise would be in your retirement years. All right. So number one, I got that one right. So yay, yay for me. I'm batting a thousand so far. Let's see how I do. As we continue on with number two, a variable annuity involves market risk and can lose account value. Is that right or is that wrong?

Edwin Cruise:
I would say that that is also correct. And I think that it creates a lot of confusion when when someone says to you or you go to them and say you're looking for something safe and and you say you were presented with. Solution. They say, oh, I could, I could offer you the same as well or something similar to that. And you know, they go in, they, they, they, they, they promise you they, they put riders on there. And, and, you know, what we're doing at that point is we're protecting a basically a death benefit. We're protecting our the principle we put into a death benefit. But should you lose because of these mutual funds that are tied to the to the variable annuities and you need it to withdraw that money, do you really think you're going to get 100,000 out? The answer is no. So absolutely variable annuities involve market risk.

Producer:
Yeah, 100%. That's why sometimes we call them variable annuities there. This one sort of falls right into the into line with that. With variable annuities still being the topic here. So I've got two out of two so far. Let's see how I do with number three. A variable annuity has 3 to 6% in product fees and is a mutual fund wrapped inside an annuity. Is that right or is that wrongheaded?

Edwin Cruise:
That's also correct. You know, we know that any time that you're involved in mutual funds, there's going to be there are going to be fees and there are better ways to participate in the market and and avoid those fees. Variable obviously means that there's a change in asset price. And so if you hold a variable annuity or some other annuity that that isn't meeting your expectations, I would say give us a call, let us do a full review. And and we could thoroughly go through this. And the consultation that that I offer is, is at no cost. So I think that'll be helpful to our listeners to understand that I'm not going to sit there and hit you with a with a chart for consultation. There is no obligation to move forward, but it is helpful for me to be able to gather all the information. It's helpful for you to see all the information as we compare them side by side. That way you can make an educated decision. You know, it's not it's not a wise plan to avoid receiving additional knowledge. You want to be able to look at what you have, where you mislead. Did you forget? Did your goals change? There's a lot of reasons for wanting wanting to do a comparison. And we're just we're just a tool to help you understand what you have. Maybe bring up things that weren't said to you or just remind you of of what the issues could be going forward.

Edwin Cruise:
So, you know, let us help analyze your financial situation. Let us help dissect that annuity. We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help you. We'll find out what fees you currently have, maybe what fees you might be able to reduce. And then we could compare with the products that we have. We have we have solutions that have no fees. We have some that have, let's say, a 1% fee. But the one thing I will say is that we can and I've never had an issue with this we can definitely reduce your fees when talking fixed indexed annuities versus variable annuities. And in addition to that, help guarantee that that income stream because, you know, in retirement, we're always looking forward to that Social Security check. What we should be worried about our retirement check as well. And, you know, and then we have helpful people that can that can guide us through Medicare. It's I have specialists that will help us do that in my circle so we can do that. So let's compare your current situation to see what's possible. If you work with us and if you haven't heard from your advisor lately, talk to us and get a second opinion again. There's nothing wrong with getting a second opinion.

Producer:
Yeah, it's kind of like going to the doctor, you know, and you may be doing you may be doing okay with your financial situation. You may be doing okay with your planning for the future. But just because you're doing okay doesn't mean you can't do better. And folks, if you would like to do better or explore that option, at least give add a call. It's 3862285769. And the website again my prosperity team dot com and that is also the place to go if you would like a copy of a free book that we have available. It's called Annuity 360 now. And tell them a little bit about the Annuity 360 book here, if you will. And we're going to play actually just a snippet of it, a few minutes of the book here in just a sec.

Edwin Cruise:
Right. I would say that the reason that you want a book like this, first of all, it's a simple to read book that's put out by our good friend Ford Stokes. And it's going to it's going to tell you all the important points about different types of annuities, different types of of of retirement plans. And the one big thing is they're not all created the same. So you want to know which ones to avoid, which ones to buy for a successful retirement.

Producer:
Absolutely. And this is it offers a lot of great insight here into what the options are and what is available out there. And right now, we're going to listen to a chapter of the book read by Ford Stokes himself, the author of Annuity 360. And this chapter is called Why Annuity and Life Insurance Companies Are Competing for Baby Boomer Dollars. Let's listen to that and we'll come back just on the other side.

Ford Stokes:
Chapter two Why Annuity and life insurance companies are competing for baby boomers dollars. Big idea annuities counter one of a retiree's biggest fears outliving their wealth. Annuities create lifetime income streams. There are 73.4 million baby boomers in the United States that are close to or are already in their retirement years. Baby boomers put between nine and 10% of their pay towards their retirement. Only 55% of boomers have any money saved for their retirement. More than four in ten boomers inaccurately believe that Medicare will cover long term health care costs. Baby boomers hold $2.6 trillion in buying power. They've had more time to build their wealth in comparison to other generations because some might still be in the workforce and making more money. Baby boomers control 50% of the nation's wealth, outspend younger generations and are more likely to spend their retirement savings on themselves rather than passing them down. Total US retirement assets are about $28 trillion. More than half of those assets were either defined contribution plans or individual retirement accounts. Some other facts about baby boomers and their spending habits. 69% of baby boomers either expect to or are already working past age 65 or don't plan to retire. Only 26% of baby boomers have a back up plan for retirement if they are forced into retirement sooner than expected. Baby boomers make up 46.8% of pet spending. Baby boomers are expected to spend 3.4% more on health related purchases than their parents did. Why are annuity companies targeting baby boomers? Boomers face many issues when planning for retirement.

Ford Stokes:
The three primary reasons are, number one, growing the money they have already saved. Number two, dealing with and preparing for unforeseen expenses, the largest of which are tied to health care and long term care. Number three, optimizing their financial plans when their exact lifespan is unknown. Annuities exist to help boomers with the last issue with an annuity. A retiree gives an insurance company a lump sum of money in exchange for an annual income that will last throughout their lifespan. Annuities have the potential to become useful tools in baby boomers portfolios when planning their retirement. They offer protection from market volatility while also eliminating the risk of outliving one's retirement savings, which are not guaranteed by portfolios that lean heavily on stocks and bonds. The demand for retirement income amongst baby boomers already exists, and annuities are the only products that can provide a hedge for a long life like longevity insurance reasons. Baby boomers should be interested in annuities. They are falling short of their retirement goals. Roughly 10,000 baby boomers retire every day, but a very small percentage of them believe they can retire and live comfortably throughout their golden years. Only 25% of baby boomers think they have enough money to retire comfortably. Many couples may be on the right track, but unforeseen circumstances such as health problems or staffing cuts might force them into retirement earlier than planned, leaving a much larger income gap. Baby boomers are looking for a reliable source of retirement income and annuity.

Ford Stokes:
Companies are beginning to tap into this market because they recognize the need. Not all annuities are created equal. There are two main types of annuities immediate and deferred. The right kind of annuity depends on your financial goals, your situations, and your needs. One thing that makes annuities so attractive is that there are so many options available. While it may seem overwhelming, a financial advisor can help you sort through all of your available options and make a smart choice for your money security for their income. Annuities can help build a secure retirement through different income strategies, while also alleviating any stress or fear they may have left over from the financial crisis of 2008 and the bear market. Annuities can play an important role in a plan, along with your Social Security, health care and other factors. Annuities can address issues such as maximizing your Social Security benefits, which help create an income that you can never outlive. How annuity and life insurance companies have responded to Baby Boomer needs interest in hybrid products. Baby boomers don't want to pay a fortune for something that offers them only a part of what they need. With less income to be counted in their retirement years, already paying for individual products to meet each of their needs can be too expensive. Life insurance companies heard these concerns and responded with new hybrid products. Many life insurance companies now offer some kind of long term care rider on their whole life or universal life products. Generally speaking, these riders provide coverage for long term care should you need it or you receive a death benefit if you don't.

Ford Stokes:
These combination products have grown from 6 million in 2008 to 2.6 billion with a B in 2013, and they are still growing need for guaranteed income. Baby boomers are also concerned with outliving their money. They want to enjoy their retirement, but they also don't want to run out of funds. The industry responded to these fears by offering a variety of products with guaranteed lifetime income. These products include variable and indexed annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders and immediate or deferred annuities. The annuity industry has been transformed by these new products, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers Employee Financial Wellness Survey. Since the economic downturn of 2008, 76% of retirees say that creating a guaranteed income is their top retirement planning priority. Annuity companies rose to the occasion to create products to meet the needs of baby boomers and provide them with a sense of security. The need for advisors. Annuity companies have created many products to meet the needs of their consumers. This is a good thing, but it can make for a tough decision on the part of the investor with so many options to sort through. Some pre-retirees and retirees can't sort through all the information. Many are afraid to make the wrong decision, which leads them to make no decision at all. A large part of the planning process involves an advisor educating their clients on all of their options so they can make the right decision.

Producer:
Your methods or many principles are few. Methods always change. Principles never do. You're listening to Prosperity Principles. Once again, here's Ed Kruse.

Producer:
This is Prosperity Principles. I'm Matt McClure here alongside the man of the hour himself, Ed Cruise. And you just heard a chapter of a book called Annuity 360 by our friend Ford Stokes Why Annuity and Life Insurance Companies Are Competing For Baby Boomer Dollars. And of course, you can get a copy of that book by calling 3862285769. You can also go online. My Prosperity Team, Time.com is the website and a lot of baby boomer dollars out there to be had, Ed.

Edwin Cruise:
That's right. You know, when you think about the the amount of people that are retiring today, I mean, we see it in Florida. That's a reason that that housing has gone up so much. And and there are shortages of building materials. It's just this this state right now can't keep up with the amount of traffic that's coming in.

Producer:
Yeah, absolutely. And Florida, obviously known as a place to retire and was just on a list of the top places to retire by Wallethub. But, you know, it's if you have a hard time, it's all supply and demand. If the supply is not there, you can't keep up with the demand. So, yeah, it's a difficult, difficult time. And that, of course, you know, presents a big problem for the state of Florida. And I am now segueing into a segment about problems. So, hey, that was nice and smooth, wasn't it? So actually this is this is probably I'm going to say it at my favorite part of the show, and it's only about 4 seconds long. It's the introduction to our next segment. I get excited about it. You'll hear why in just a second. As we hear the introduction right now.

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

Producer:
So there you go. And I told you it was big, it was dramatic. And it's the introduction to problem solver.

Edwin Cruise:
It's fun.

Producer:
Yeah, it it's fun. I'm kind of a nerd. So I get I get into it a little too much. So basically, folks, the problem solver segment here on the show is pretty simple concept. I will present a problem, as I usually do, and Ed will come up with a solution to that problem, or at least some potential solutions for you. This is one that actually is, as we said at the top of the show, on people's minds every single day. And so here is the problem that I would like for you to try and solve here for me. And how can I minimize the impact of inflation on my retirement?

Edwin Cruise:
Well, I would say, first of all, we can't time when the market is going up or down, but inflation is something that we can see happening. And the one thing you don't want to do now is is pull away. You definitely want to stay invested, I would say is one point and reducing systematic and unsystematic market risk that that is associated with investing in bonds. That's something that we can that we can help avoid. Again, the the the comparable or better than average replacement when it comes to bonds. It's been mentioned over and over we've said it on this show. Fixed indexed annuities have been have been proven to be a great solution against against bonds. So that would be another point that we can we can talk about. And just like I mentioned earlier, we have to start thinking income over assets. So if we start doing that, we will start thinking about how can I create that income stream and know that it's going to be there for me? And like I said earlier, we can provide you with income accounts that guarantee you 7% return on an annual basis. Therefore, you don't have to sit there and guess what's happening to my to my income when this when all this is happening, whether the market goes down, whether inflation takes over. Black Swan event, as I've mentioned on a previous show, we never know when these when these things are going to happen. We can't time them, but we can sometimes we can. Let's say, like I said, see inflation coming and and react. So let's have a plan that focuses on generating income that you're going to need to live on during retirement so that you can enjoy the life that you've worked hard to build.

Producer:
Yeah, that that sounds ideal, I'm sure, for anyone who is even thinking about their retirement years right now. And yeah, there is a solution out there, folks. If you're having a hard time trying to plan for your future and trying to figure out, okay, exactly where should I put my hard earned money? What should I do with this? You know, that I've accumulated or saved over the years. It's not growing necessarily in some savings account that's supposedly, you know, a high yield savings account or something like that. You're getting this minuscule return compared to what you could be getting. There's a solution out there for you. And, you know, potentially it can be found by giving Ed a call or going online. My Prosperity Team once again is that website. So, Ed, we've been talking a lot about inflation here and I wanted to play something for you that you might find just at least a little bit surprising. It's more fun than anything else because, you know, you got got to laugh to keep from crying sometimes. And inflation is something that makes people want to cry quite a bit. But the point of this next little piece that I'm going to be playing for you is that there are certain things that inflation is not really having a big impact on.

Producer:
And as a matter of fact, there are a few things that have actually gone down in price over the last couple of years. Let's listen to this. We'll come back on the other side. We'll chat about it quickly and then we'll talk a little bit more about something that you alluded to a moment ago, focusing more on income rather than on having some big lump sum, you know, sitting there in your retirement. So we'll talk about that on the other side of this. What inflation is not really impacting. It seems like prices are going up everywhere, but that's not 100% true. I'm Matt McClure with a retirement radio network powered by a micro life. We've all been feeling the pain of inflation, which is causing consumer prices to soar at levels not seen in more than 40 years. From the gas station to the grocery store, we're paying more for just about everything we buy. But not every product is causing our dollars to fly out of our pockets. Take Costco, for example. The big box membership chain's CEO had a one word answer recently during an interview with CNN. When asked if the company would raise the price of a signature food court staple. No. The hot dog and soda combo is staying where it's been for years. A dollar 50.

Edwin Cruise:
You know, we're a volume business. We're not a margin business, and we drive a.

Ford Stokes:
Lot of sales. That's all we know.

Producer:
That's what we do. Ceo Craig Jelinek also said something else is staying unchanged. Costco's membership fee, an increase from the current $60 one year membership or $120 for a premium membership is not on the table. So what about his overall feelings on the economy? You know.

Edwin Cruise:
Overall, I think the consumer is not.

Ford Stokes:
Doing bad, as you.

Edwin Cruise:
Can say. Unemployment is down significantly. If people want to work, they can work.

Ford Stokes:
So, you know, my view at the moment.

Edwin Cruise:
Things aren't.

Producer:
So bad. Costco is not the only place you can find some steady prices. According to the World Economic Forum, there are at least three things not affected or barely affected by inflation. They are public transit, which saw prices increase by just 1.9% year over year, at least as of May. Some vegetables like tomatoes and potatoes as well. They rose much less than meat, fish and poultry prices. And surprisingly, electronics. The price of a TV actually fell one and a half percent. Audio and video equipment fell by at least 3%, and the average price of a smartphone nosedived more than 13%. So will you spend your money on any of the categories where inflation is having the least impact? That's a key question to consider as overall prices continue to climb with the Retirement Radio Network powered by AmeriLife. I'm Matt McClure.

Producer:
High inflation. Got you down. This is your weekend. Pick me up. You're listening to Prosperity Principles.

Producer:
I'm Matt McClure here alongside Edwin Cruz. And that was a little bit of kind of some fun facts there, Ed, about what is and isn't being impacted by inflation. You know, tomatoes barely just a tiny bit more expensive than they were a year or so ago. And you've actually got some things, like some random electronic items that are actually quite a bit cheaper than they were before inflation started to really take off in the overall economy. So there are places that haven't been as impacted as others, but of course, overall, we're paying a lot more for almost everything.

Edwin Cruise:
Yeah, some. Sometimes you get shocked by what's not going up and what's going up. But this is one of those clear cases that you can never you can never guess what what's going to be impacted and what's not going to be impacted.

Producer:
That's right. We can't get out our crystal balls. I mean, we can't get out of crystal ball, but we don't you know, it wouldn't do us any good because we can't really see the future of what's going to happen. And that is sort of kind of the point of the show. And a large in a large part because, you know, you have to be prepared just about for anything. You know, you have to have a plan going forward. But there's a mistake, right, that people make that's pretty big when they are planning for retirement. And explain that to me. And what is the biggest mistake you think that people make when they're planning?

Edwin Cruise:
Oh, gosh, over the 24 years that I've been doing this, you know, people ask me, so what type of income do you think we can generate with this with this half a million? And the first thing that I like to ask them is what type of income are you expecting? So I would say that the biggest one of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that they have more save for retirement than they actually do when they start talking about, yeah, I'd like to have a 75,000, $100,000 income in retirement and we start equivocating that percentage wise. They quickly realize that it's it would take a whole lot more to get them that income that they're expecting. But sometimes we have to break it down and say, okay, well, you're going to receive X amount in in Social Security, your wife is going to receive X amount in Social Security. You know, pensions are are a dinosaur anymore. We still get them with the with the state employees and government employees. But for the general working man, we really don't see that. So, you know, we try to break every everything down and try to bring it to to to a point of reality, you know, what are you living on now? What are your current expenses? When we start breaking it all down, it's just it's just amazing how much people actually under save and and want that actually to overperform in ways of income. So we definitely have to to rectify that issue. People really need to understand and again, if you're dealing with securities, start thinking about that 4% rule. And we have plenty of economists saying that the 4% rule really is outdated and that number is just too high. And that's shocking in itself, especially when we think about how everything else just keeps going up in price.

Edwin Cruise:
But when we but when we think about the fixed solutions that we can talk about and that we offer, we don't have to worry about the 4% rule. In fact, we don't worry about the 5% rule because cost of living takes takes over. And the longer you live and and the more increases there are in our in our everyday living, we receive those, those cost of living increases that are that are equivalent. So, so that our dollar today pretty much is the same dollar ten years from now, 20 years from now. And that's important when we start thinking about, as I said before on a previous show here, our dollar today is not even equal to what it was two years ago. So that's scary in itself. And so, again, we have to start thinking about retirement in a way that's actually more than just building a pool of money. We have to start thinking about how it how it turns into income. And did you know that if that if you did a comparison using 100,000, half a million, $1,000,000 or whatever number you want to plug into this, a fixed indexed annuity would provide you with with approximately 2020 5%. More income than owning a security. So, again, this is where we need to put our focus. How do we how do we convert what we save and turn it into income? Do we really know what we need as far as a lump sum to convert into income? It's just people don't know, really. The right way to ask the question. It's not about how much you save in retirement, it's how you convert it into income.

Producer:
Yeah, and it's all personalized for each individual, right? There's no one size fits all sort of a solution. I think people like to think that, oh, if this worked out well for my neighbor or my friend or my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, whomever, oh, it's going to be a great solution for me. They were invested in X, Y, Z, or they have these mutual funds or they had this, that or the other. But that may not be the right solution for you. So it's all about communication with someone like yourself and who can really help give people solutions. And it's about learning. It's about the process of learning what those options are. And they're there because there are so many of them. You know, it's not it's not one size fits all at all.

Edwin Cruise:
Not at all. In fact, you know, when you think about timing, just just that one word timing in itself. Just because someone was successful, let's say, with with a particular stock going back five, ten, 20 years ago, it doesn't mean that it's going to be just as profitable going forward five, ten, 20 years from now. So that one word timing means a lot sequence of returns. Maybe maybe the stock has continued to stay steady, but that person retired and converted that into another source when he retired. But now here you are retiring a year later and the market's dropped 20, 30, 40%. That one word timing has a lot to do with this whole scenario, but there's a way to get rid of that. And and thinking about timing, we never want to get in the position to where we try to time this market on the lows, on the highs, when should I get in and when should I get out? That takes that's just too much work. So let's simplify that process.

Producer:
Right, exactly. And simplifying it means getting a good, solid plan in place for for yourself and for your future. And if you want to to plan for not only yourself, but for, say, your spouse and for your kids and for your other beneficiaries. That is something that you can do as well. So why would you say and we've covered it a little bit here, of course, but why would you say folks need a plan right now, no matter where they are in their life or in their, you know, perspective or distance from retirement? Why do they need to get a plan in place right now where they are?

Edwin Cruise:
Well, whatever you're going to do anything about planning, you want to plan your work and work your plan. Right. So do you want to launch quickly or exceed your goals that you may be able to start right now by yourself? But as things get complicated and if you want the best for yourself, you really can't do it by yourself. What happens when we're gone? Are we? Are we taking care of our spouses? Do you want her to be well taken care of after you're gone? You know, it's a it's a it's very important to give us a call and get started on a comprehensive plan for your family. It's not just for yourself, you know? Do you plan on leaving anything to your heirs? So there could be a multitude of things. You know, I have I have clients that have children that that are needy, needy children. And what I mean by that, disabled children. And so do we want to just make a plan for ourselves or we are we really want do we want to be inclusive with our with our spouse, with our children? Do we want to help our grandchildren? We know that women live longer than men. So in case you didn't know it, fellas, you're going to go first. So be ready for that in most cases. And it's true. When I when I work with with my clients, you know, I typically see that happen where where the men are gone.

Edwin Cruise:
And now the women are panicking, not knowing. Are they going to be able to afford that same lifestyle? And the ones that have planned properly with income, they don't have a worry. I tell them, Oh, no, all this is going to continue. It all goes over to you. We can continue this same plan, the same income. You're going to be just fine. The ones that go at it halfway, well, they got a little more concern. A little more concern, and there's a little extra planning that we have to do. Sometimes it could be the reduction of of their expenses by by having to sell their current property and going somewhere else. So, you know, again, there are many different circumstances, as you said, no to plans are going to be created equal. You know, not all clients allow you to to to plan fully for them. Some of them for some reason, I think they have a better solution than you. And sometimes you just have to unfortunately let it happen. Not that I want to, but, you know, I'm not there to twist anyone's arms. And so moving forward, we want to reduce the fees that you're paying as soon as possible so that your portfolio has more room to grow again, eliminate fees with an effective bond replacement strategy.

Edwin Cruise:
Of course, we know with inflation being at all time highs and you hear this and I just heard this last week where a client of mine said, you know, I was comfortable, but with everything going on, I may need to go back to work. And I'm talking about someone that's in their mid eighties. It's not the one thing that they should do. But again, they didn't plan appropriately. They didn't save enough. They didn't they didn't think income going back 20 years, 30 years. And so when you don't plan properly, these are the things that are going to pop up. You're you're going to sit there, you're going to think you might have to go back to work. You're thinking you're going to run out of money. And as we all know it, the biggest fear that people have is running out of money. And, you know, the unfortunate truth is that more than 90% of my listeners, in all honesty, have a plan for dying, even though they want a plan for living. And so, you know, what do I mean by that? A retirement plan for living instead of a plan for dying is, you know, many of you have retirement funds and viable products. In other words, products that are that are locked into market risk. And for many years, conventional wisdom in America has taught us that those saving for retirement need to just stock up a big pile of cash before they retire.

Edwin Cruise:
But there's nothing unwise about that idea by itself. But the problem is that if you're not thinking if you're not thinking income, you know, you're not you're not thinking what could go wrong down the line. So even though it sounds reasonable, build a build up a pile of money. And again, like most retirement advisors out there tell you, you know, just take out 4% per year and hopefully your withdrawals will be will be enough to to last a lifetime. The unfortunate part about this theory is that and like all theories, it's just based on assumptions. And if your financial advisor is planning your retirement based on this 4%. Theory, then they're assuming that the the rate of growth inflation as we have now and they couldn't see that one coming and fees, you know, all these things coupled. It's not going to it's not going to represent reality. And, you know, if you plan on drawing that 4% when your assets drop by 40%, do you plan on dropping your income to meet that that loss in the market at 4%? You know, many of you won't be able to afford to do that, especially during those tough times when you rather have planning based on guarantees than assumptions. You know, that's what we're here for.

Producer:
And it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier. People want that security. You know, they want those guarantees. And that's human nature, right? I mean, we don't we don't like uncertainty. We don't like the unknown. We fear the unknown. And so having something that is certain planned out for us or us being active in that plan really gives people a sense of security. And folks, if you would like to explore it again, my prosperity team is the website. That's my Prosperity Team. Com And the phone number is 3862285769 now. And you know, you touched on this just a moment ago, but I want to kind of expand on it a little bit about, you know, people's sort of, number one, fear being the themselves running out of money. And actually there was a survey that bears that out recently done by AIG, AIG life and retirement, and they asked people about planning for their retirement years. 59% of respondents said that they actually fear running out of money more than they fear death itself, which I thought that was pretty astonishing to me, that that many people, almost 60% of people said that they fear running out of money more than they fear death itself.

Edwin Cruise:
They try to counter that by thinking that the market is going to continuously return in 10 to 12%. And that's that's the myth. That's the that's I don't want to call it brainwashing, but that's that's the the thoughts that they're under is that the market is just always going to return them ten, 12, 15%. You don't know how many times out there I hear this over and over. But the nice part is that, you know, from time to time I receive testimonials from clients and you know, they call me especially now during during this time, they're constantly calling me, asking me, so how's my money? You know, what's my money doing? How much have I lost? I get all kinds of questions. And the nice part is that, you know, in the in the testimonials and the nice letters that I receive postcards when people are on vacation and I get all kinds of things. And, and so I wrote a couple of these down. And, and I think it's really nice when, when, when people send me these and I do ask for them once in a while, you know, how am I doing for you? Don't keep me a secret, you know, share me with your friends. But here's one that said, you know, I'm glad you came into my life. Now I don't have to worry anymore. I can sleep at night and don't have to follow the market every day. And that's the point here. You don't want to follow the market every day. You know, I unfortunately, I have to do that more often than than I want to. And these days where it's where it's just constantly in the red, it's not fun.

Edwin Cruise:
And so here's another one that says Prosperity Financial provides a guaranteed income for life. I think also at a good rate, which means a lot with all the downs and a few ups, I needed something that I could depend upon and we could keep going on and on. I'll just I'll read one more here. Here's one. It says, We knew we we needed some form of steady income that would last regardless of how long we live. Needless to say, we didn't feel confident in trusting the stock market or the real estate market, so we started investigating other avenues and by chance learned about a retirement product that promises income for life. We have started receiving payments and are very happy with our arrangement. Our national economy gets weaker, our national debt grows, and we feel good knowing that we will have some source of income. It will not have to depend on our son or state to provide for us. And how true is that? How many people do we meet out there that say, you know, I didn't do enough and but if something happens, you know, I guess I'll have to depend on on my kids to to take care of me. And and I don't want to go to a nursing home and. We hear all kinds of things later on in life. But the bottom line is I receive a lot of praise. It feels good. But, you know, I'm just how do you say I'm just a messenger in all this and I'm not the one creating this, but I can help create your plan and provide you with that peace of mind.

Producer:
Yeah. And once again, that is what it's all about, is having that peace of mind as you go into your retirement years. And, you know, there are a lot of different solutions to those fears and a lot of different ways that you can approach retirement. And like I said earlier, there are so many options out there. You just have to know that as the old saying goes, you don't know what you don't know. Right. So, you know, if you don't know if there's something that you don't know or that you don't know that you don't know, which is all of us you can give at a call. It's 3862285769. My Prosperity Team, Time.com, once again is the website and a lot of great info there. Of course, you can get the the book that we heard from just a little bit earlier, annuity 360, you can get a free copy of that by going to the website or calling the phone number. And also, folks, just a quick plug here. You can get this show as a podcast wherever you subscribe to podcasts. And I'm talking about the big ones like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the list goes on and on, all the biggies there. And you can subscribe to the show every time a new one comes out each week, you will get that notification on your smartphone and then you can give us a listen. And we would really appreciate that. We'd also appreciate you leaving us a rating and some great feedback there wherever you subscribe to podcasts as well. So just a few more minutes here, Ed, to share with our listeners today before we have to run by about 5 minutes or so. Here to go. What what else is there this weekend that you wanted to talk about and discuss with our listeners?

Edwin Cruise:
Well, I will say there was another great read that I had here from the Harvard Business Review. And you keep me on track here.

Producer:
Of course. Of course.

Edwin Cruise:
At time.

Producer:
I'll keep a tight leash.

Edwin Cruise:
You know, because you get you get a little a little kick out of reading these things. But it's it's good information. You know, it's titled The Crisis and Retirement Planning. And so I'm going to read off a little of this to you. And if I have more time, I'll carry on. But, you know, corporate America really started taking a notice of pensions in the wake of the dotcom crash in in 2000. Interest rates and stock prices both plummeted, which meant that the value of pension liabilities rose, while the value of the assets held to meet them fell. A number of major firms in weak industries, notably steel and airlines, went bankrupt in in large measure because of their inability to meet obligations under defined benefit pension plans. And and I have seen that with clients where where they were promised a certain number. And some of these clients are now going through restructuring of their of their pension plans. And that's always a sad thing to see when when they're on fixed incomes and they've planned their life around this and now they have to make adjustments. But this article goes on to say that more dangerous is the shift in focus away from retirement income to return on investment. And that's what we've been talking about here today.

Edwin Cruise:
You know who to trust with your money. The primary concern of the saver remains what it always has been. Will I have sufficient income in retirement to live comfortably? The risk and return variables that now drive investment decisions are not being measured in units that correspond to savers retirement goals and their likelihood of meeting them. Thus, it cannot be said that savers funds are being well managed. Investment value and asset volatility are simply the wrong measures. If your goal is to obtain a particular future income, the only way to avoid a catastrophe is a plan is a plan participants, professionals and regulators to shift the mindset and metrics from asset value to income. The risk should be defined from an income perspective and the risk free assets should be deferred inflation indexed annuities. And you really and all of us know people that are retired, that are struggling and but what are we doing to change that cycle? What are we doing to make sure that we have that retirement income? Who have we met with? What type of plan have they put in front of you? Is that a hypothetical plan? Is it a guaranteed plan? These are all. Things that we that we all need to explore and keep in mind.

Producer:
Yeah, 100% and that is the whole point of the show here is to really educate the listeners and give them some peace of mind about planning for retirement. And to let you all know out there in listener land that there is help that is available for your future, for your planning, for your future. This is going to be just about it for this week's show. This is Prosperity Principles. I am Matt McClure and I've been here alongside Edwin Cruz, the host of our show. Prosperity Principles comes to you each week. And my Prosperity Team dot com is the website, of course, the phone number. I'll share that with you once again. 38622857694. That free and obligation free as well consultation. Well, Ed, thanks so much for all of your insights this week. Really, really do appreciate it as always, sir. And I'm so glad to be able to join you. And I look forward to doing it again next time.

Edwin Cruise:
All right. Thank you, Matt. And thank you to all the listeners out there.

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 386 228 5769. That's 386 228 5769.

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. Fixed annuities, including multiyear guaranteed rate annuities, are not designed for short term investments and may be subject to restrictions, fees and surrender charges as described in the annuity contract. Guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of the issuer.

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