How To Keep The Governments Hands Off Your Retirement

A one-hour package turned into a 19-day odyssey across four states and seven planes—and it’s the perfect lens for understanding what happens when your retirement is ruled by someone else’s playbook. We take that vivid detour and map it onto 401(k)s, IRAs, TSPs, and 403(b)s, where the “silent partner” isn’t so silent: the government sets withdrawal ages, taxes your income, and tells your heirs how fast they must drain your accounts.

We dig into the shifting RMD ages—70½ to 72 to 73, with 75 on the horizon—and explain how forced withdrawals can push you into higher brackets while triggering Medicare IRMAA surcharges and Social Security taxation. You’ll hear why a single distribution can be the domino that topples your whole tax plan, and how even well-known financial voices misstate rules that change the math on your life savings. Then we go deeper on beneficiaries under the SECURE Acts: spouses, non-spouse heirs, and trusts all face different clocks and penalties, with the 10-year rule often colliding with peak earning years.

Most important, we outline practical moves to reclaim control: staged Roth conversions during low-income windows, qualified charitable distributions to satisfy RMDs without inflating MAGI, smarter income sequencing to avoid cliffs, and beneficiary updates that match today’s rules. The goal is not just market safety—it’s tax clarity, predictable income, and fewer bureaucratic surprises.

If you’re ready to stop playing by a rulebook that changes mid-game, tap play, subscribe, and share this with someone who needs a tax-savvy retirement plan. When you’re done listening, leave a review and tell us your top retirement tax question—we might answer it on a future show.

To learn more about Brad Pistole and the Ozark Retirement Group, please visit www.ozarksretirement.com 

Transcript

Welcome & Mission Of Safe Money Radio

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Welcome to State Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Brad is a retirement income and tax planning certified professional, primarily serving clients in the Midwest, but he's sought after nationally for his expertise in helping people secure their retirement. Mr. Pistol is a licensed life insurance professional in approximately 20 different states, and he specializes in working with people who are near retirement and those who have already retired with wealth management, income planning, and asset protection strategies using life, health, long-term care, and annuity insurance products. And now, here to talk with you about securing your retirement, it's your host, Brad Pistol.

The USPS Package Odyssey

From Inefficiency To National Debt Reality

Do You Want Uncle Sam’s Plan?

RMD Rules: Ages, Penalties, IRMA Surprises

Experts Get It Wrong: Why Details Matter

Beneficiaries, SECURE Acts & Complex Heir Rules

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Well, hello everyone. I hope you're having a fantastic day. Thank you so much for joining us on Safe Money Radio. I'm Brad Pistol, the CEO of the Ozarks Retirement Group, and I have been hosting Safe Money Radio for more than 15 years now. There's been more than 800 episodes, and so I don't know if you're listening in the car right now, driving somewhere, maybe you're listening to the podcast. Wherever you're listening, we just are grateful for you joining us today. If you didn't know there was a podcast, just go to YouTube, type in Brad Pistol, Safe Money Radio. There are literally hundreds of videos that you can watch with key retirement planning experts from all across the country. We have them as regular guests on the show. And it's just been so much fun over the years, almost two decades now, of hosting the show, one of the longest-running financial planning shows in the world. And so we're grateful for it. It's very rare to find a financial group that's been on the radio for almost 20 years. And so every single week, I pride myself on knowing that I'm going to put together the information in front of you that's going to help protect you. It's going to keep you safe and secure. It's going to keep you protected from market volatility and from things like 01 and 08, 2020, 2022, things that completely eroded and flipped upside down the retirement plans of innocent people who just worked hard and saved and retired at the wrong time and had an unprotected plan in place because they didn't know there were other options. And then they watched their retirement accounts just go backwards overnight. 10, 20, 30, up to 50% of their accounts. And we want to protect you from financial devastation like this. We don't want it to ever happen to you. And so a lot of times on this show, I share personal stories about what's happened to either myself or clients. You know, I'm licensed in 20 different states. I've helped thousands of people retire. And so today, to help you stay protected, I'm going to share with you a very painful personal story of my own. Something that happened to me during the holidays just a few weeks ago in 2025. A time that should be happy and joyous. But here's the problem. I had to participate in something with the federal government. And when you participate in something that is ran by the federal government, good luck. So ultimately on today's show, I'm going to be asking you the question: do you want your retirement money in the hands of the federal government? And I'm going to be asking you to think through things you've probably never thought through before regarding your retirement accounts and who your silent partner is in those accounts. So stay with us. It's going to be a jam-packed show. And let's get started with the not fun story from December of 2025. On December the 1st of 2025, I decided to mail a package only one hour away to a location in the same state. Now, our offices are in Ozark, Missouri, and I put a package in the U.S. Postal Service, first mistake, ran by the federal government, because the receiver of the package only has a P.O. box. They don't have a physical location. And I know a lot of you listening right now, again, whether it's on the radio or through the podcast, you might be in a similar situation where you don't want things coming to your physical mailbox or your location. Maybe you go pick up all of your mail at the P.O. box. And I needed to mail something to someone who only has a P.O. box. So I paid for several hundred dollars of items to be shipped for Christmas through the United States Postal Service because it was the only option I had. I paid more than$100 for this box to be shipped, even though it was only going one hour, because there was about 50 pounds of stuff in the box. And I paid for it to be shipped, guaranteed delivery in two to three days. And I want you to hear what happened. Because remember, the United States federal government's plan in working through the United States Postal Service took over. And I want you to see if you can make sense of what happened. Again, this package left Ozark, Missouri on December the first and was supposed to travel one hour to Joplin, Missouri, and should have been there later that day or the next day, but here's what happened. December the first, the item was picked up by the United States Postal Service in Ozark, Missouri at 5.08 PM. On December the 6th, the package arrived at the United States Postal Service Regional Facility in Oklahoma City at 6 56 P.M. December the 6th. Then on December the 7th, the update said it was in transit to the next facility at 115 A.M. It then arrived at the USPS Regional Facility in Kansas City, Kansas at the Distribution Center on December the 7th at 3 44 A.M. Then it arrived at the USPS Regional Facility in Wichita, Kansas at the Distribution Center the next day, December the 8th, at 727 a.m. Then it departed the USPS Regional Facility in Wichita, Kansas on December the 8th at 6 59 PM. It then arrived at the USPS Regional Facility in Kansas City, Missouri on December the 8th at 1111 P.M. It then departed the USPS Regional Facility in Kansas City, Missouri at their distribution center on December the 9th at 1234 AM. Are you catching a recurring theme here? Are you seeing all kinds of unnecessary activity with this package? Well, trust me, friends, it just gets better and better and better. Mailed on December the first, now on December the ninth, it arrives in St. Louis, Missouri at the Package Sorting Center at 616 AM. The next update is on December the 11th when it arrived at a USPS regional facility in Chicago, Illinois at 9 44 AM. Then it departed Chicago, Illinois on December the twelfth at 5 09 AM and arrived back in Kansas City, Kansas again at the distribution center on December the 12th at 1 37 PM. The next update was four days later on December the 16th, when it was in transit to the next facility. It arrived back in Kansas City, Missouri this time, again, on December the 17th at 1010 AM. Now, friends, during this process, I called no less than eight times because I went down to the local US Postal Service and they gave me a phone number to pass the buck and push me off to someone else. And I called the 1-800 number, who then sent me to another number, who then sent me to someone in in Ozark, who then sent me to someone in Joplin, who then sent me back to the main telephone number. Just a game, back and forth and back and forth, and back and forth. Friends, after talking to them several times, receiving two update phone calls from the Joplin facility who constantly said, Oh, there's no worry, it's always being scanned, it isn't lost, it will eventually get there. This package ended up traveling to multiple states, four different states, seven different locations, only to end up on December the eighteenth at a USPS regional facility back in Springfield, Missouri, where it then was placed on a truck and arrived at the post office in Joplin on December the 19th at 6 30 AM. Now, there are a lot of things I could tell you about this, but I want to tell you this. I want you to stay with us today because when we come back together, I'm going to talk to you about this 19-day process of this package moving through the hands of all these different employees that are paid by the United States federal government to move for one hour. One hour. You can also just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button in the upper right hand corner, and I will personally reach out to you and offer you a free financial consultation. Ozarksretirement.com click on contact us. 866-780-7233. There's always someone standing by to take your call. Friends on the show today, we're talking about whether or not you want your plan or the government's plan. And I started off with a USPS story about the lost package. I personally mailed a package on December the first, 2025, that left Ozark, Missouri and went to Oklahoma City, and then to Kansas City, Kansas, and then to Kansas City, Missouri, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, and then to Chicago, Illinois, and then back to Kansas City, Kansas, and then back to Kansas City, Missouri, and then back to Springfield, and then it ended up in Joplin 19 days later, three weeks later, eight phone calls later, lots of complaining later, lots of frustration later. And I paid more than$100 to have this box shipped, which could only go to a post office box. It's the only address they had. But here's the thing this is what happens when the federal government gets involved. Friends, the package only needed to travel one hour. Now here's something that you may not know. I didn't say on the first segment. Did you know that every time it left and went to a new location that it flew on seven different airplanes only to end up back in Springfield to be transported on a vehicle for a one-hour drive to Joplin, which should have happened on day one? It could have happened on the very first day. So now, do you understand why the federal government is responsible for our nation currently being more than thirty-eight point five trillion dollars in debt? Can you even fathom how many employees were paid to handle this package when it left Ozark and then went to a distribution center and then ended up on a plane being put on the plane and taken off the plane? Maybe, maybe it didn't. Maybe that's why it stayed on that plane and went to the next state, and then it went to the next state, and then the next state, but picked up and moved and scanned in every time it stopped at a location, scanned in, put back on. Oh, we don't need it here in Kansas. We send it to Missouri, from Missouri to St. Louis, from St. Louis to Illinois, from Illinois back to Kansas, from Kansas back to Missouri, from Missouri, uh Kansas City, Missouri back to Springfield and from Springfield on to Joplin. How efficient is that government plan? How many people got paid over 19 days to put their hands on that package? Can you even fathom how much thirty-eight point five trillion dollars of debt is? Let me try to explain this to you today. This is very, very important for you to understand. If you counted one dollar per second twenty-four hours a day, it would take you over thirty-one thousand five hundred years to count to one trillion. To count to thirty-eight point five trillion, it would take you over one point two million years. Friends, let's make this make sense in a way that you can understand it. If you currently earn forty thousand dollars a year, it would take you twenty-five million years to earn one trillion dollars. If you spent forty dollars a second every single second, it would take you seven hundred and ninety-two point five years just to spend one trillion dollars, much less thirty-eight point five trillion. If you spent one million dollars every single day since the day Jesus was born, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars. If you had a million dollars, you could buy a nice sports car. If you had a billion dollars, you could buy a small island. If you had a trillion dollars, you could buy nearly every major professional sports team in the entire world combined. Do you understand how much$38.5 trillion of debt is yet? Well, let me try another way. One million dollars. If you spent one dollar every second, you would run out of money in 11.5 days. Now let's compare a million to a billion. If you spent one dollar every second, it would take you 31.7 years to spend a billion dollars. Now let's compare a billion to a trillion. If you spent one dollar every single second, it would take you 31, and 700 years to spend a trillion dollars. Remember, it would only take eleven days to spend a million. Do you understand the mil the difference in a million and a trillion? So, friends, if you had thirty-eight point five trillion dollars, our current national debt, it would take approximately one point two two million years to spend this amount at one dollar per second. So hopefully now you have a clear understanding of just how much money thirty-eight point five trillion dollars is. So let me rock your world with this little fact. The United States currently spends close to three billion with a B dollars per day on just the interest on the national debt. And projections indicate that this will soon surpass$4 billion a day in interest. Friends, on the rest of the show today, I'm gonna be asking a question. Do you think you want your retirement money in the hands of the federal government that we just talked about? The entity that took 19 days to mail a package of mine from Ozark, Missouri to Joplin one hour away? They sent it to four different states and seven different locations. Do you want the entity that owes thirty eight point five trillion dollars in debt, growing by a trillion dollars every sixty days to be in control of your retirement accounts? If you've never thought about this, stay with us. My number is eight six six seven eight zero safe. That's eight six six seven eight zero seven two three three. Or go to Ozarksretirement.com. Click on the contact us button. I can assure you of this. We are retirement income certified professionals and tax planning certified professionals, and we understand exactly the boat you're in if you own retirement accounts that are jointly owned by Uncle Sam. We're going to be talking about this on the rest of the show today. 866-780-SAFE. Just call anytime and ask for a free financial consultation and review review of your plan. There is always someone standing by to take your call. Friends on the show earlier today, I told a story about a package of mine that left Ozark, Missouri. On December the first of 2025, it took 19 days for the federal government through the U.S. Postal Service to get that package appropriately delivered. I use the term appropriately loosely. It went to four different states, seven different locations, and took 19 days to end up at its location. And that begs the question, anytime the government gets involved, do you really want to be involved in something with them? Do you want your retirement money in the hands of the federal government? Do you want to live your retirement years playing by their rules? Do you want to pay the taxes and the fines that they say you will have to pay if you don't take distributions when and how they say you simply must take them? Do you want your heirs to continue having to play by the rules of the federal government after you pass away? You see, as all of you are aware, there are rules that come with accounts like 401Ks and IRAs and Roth IRAs and TSPs and 403Bs and 457 plans and accounts that are governed by ERISA. Now, friends, I can tell you this the list of rules is exhausting. I have very specialized training involving these accounts that dates all the way back to 2009 when I first met Ed Slod, America's IRA expert. These rules are always changing, and trust me on this, they trip up even the best so-called financial professionals. So, today let's talk about some of the rules that you're going to face if you own these types of accounts and continue funding them throughout your working years so that you can take distributions from them during your retirement years. And, you know, that's one of the biggest lies we're all sold when we're young and we start our first job or career. It's like you need to sign up for the Company 401k and take that free money, that company match. And no one talks to you about the rules and the regulations and all the things that I'm about to talk to you about. You just sign up blindly and you jump into it and you never think about it again unless you change jobs or retire. And then you're like, whoa, I had no idea all these rules came with this government-based plan. So let's talk about some of the rules. Here's some of the big ones. Age 59 and a half distributions. You see, with very few exceptions, distributions from a tax-deferred account before the age of 59 and a half will be taxable at ordinary income tax rates, and you will pay a 10% federal penalty on the distribution. Well, now wait a second, Brad. That's my money. That's my account. I'm the one who put the money in there. That's right. But it was a government-owned plan. He's the joint partner on the account. Some call him a silent partner, but trust me, he's not very silent. If you want to find out how silent he is, try to take a distribution before age 59 and a half. He will very loudly say, here's your 1099, you owe me X number of tax dollars based on this distribution because you took it before you were 59 and a half. Here's another rule. Do you want to take a distribution directly from your 401k because you need your own money? Did you know there is a mandatory 20% tax withholding rule if you take the money directly out of the 401k? That's right. So you're going to have to gross up the distribution that you need or increase the amount of the withdrawal because they will be taking 20% out for federal taxes no matter what tax brackets you fall into. It's a mandatory rule. Here's another one. How about required minimum distributions known as RMDs? You see, this is where Uncle Sam will force you to take distributions from your account, even if you don't need the money. And this will be a 100% taxable distribution. In some cases, this required amount can push you into the next tax bracket and it can cause you to exceed the IRMA limits. Now, what is IRMA? Well, it's the income-related monthly adjustment amount that is used to determine your annual Medicare premium amount. And if you exceed these income limitations, your premiums can increase by as much as$450 per month per person for both you and your spouse. And this can mean as much as$10,000 a year in additional premiums if you fall into the highest IRMA tier. Now, trust me, when you're 20 years old and starting your$401 or your IRA or your 403B, these are the furthest things from your mind. You're not thinking about ever having a need for an emergency withdrawal before 59 and a half or what's going to happen after you turn 65 and end up on Medicare, you don't know anything about Medicare premiums or IRMA or Social Security taxation or any of these other things. But friends, that's why I'm telling you right now, if you're a 20 or a 30 or a 40-year-old and you're trying to decide what is the best thing that I can do for my financial future, you need to ask yourself whether or not a joint account with Uncle Sam, like a 401k or IRA, is really the best thing for you. And I want you to stay with us. We're going to be talking about this more after this break. We're going to jump back into these RMDs, and I want to show you just how big of a deal this can be, how big of a problem it becomes, and how many so-called financial experts don't have a clue about the rules regarding these type of things on these type of accounts. Our number is 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Or just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button and ask for a free financial consultation. I will personally get back in touch with you and set up a time to meet with you. 866-780-7233. There's always someone standing by to take your call. Ironically, the TSP is not only for U.S. postal workers, but I have a lot of retired USPS people who are clients of mine. I've helped them roll over their TSP. And the show started today with the mess that is the United States Postal Service and how it took 19 days for a package to be delivered from Ozark, Missouri to Joplin one hour away. They picked up my package on December the first. It went to four different states, seven different stops, seven different planes, before it ended up back in Springfield and then on a vehicle over to Joplin. It is a total and complete joke because the institution is run by the federal government. So what about when you get involved with a retirement plan that's run by the federal government? When they work with Congress to set all the rules for distributions and taxes and RMDs and all these things. And so before the break, we were talking about the rule for age 59 and a half distributions. We were talking about the 20% mandatory withholding rule if you take a distribution directly from your 401k. And we started talking about RMDs, required minimum distributions. You see, required minimum distributions used to be fairly simple, but not anymore. These rules trip up financial professionals and CPAs all the time. And if you don't believe me, you need to do this. Just go to YouTube and type in the following. Now forgive me if this is a hero of yours, but type in Dave Ramsey, should I convert my retirement to Roth? Just do it. If you don't believe me, if you don't believe how difficult these rules are and how so-called financial professionals mess this stuff up all the time, go to YouTube, type in Dave Ramsey, should I convert my retirement to Roth? Here's what you will learn. You will personally hear Dave, the financial guru, the billionaire who's made his money off of people like you, who will tell the caller who called into his show during this video two different times. He will tell this person that they will have to start taking required minimum distributions at age 72 and a half. Friends, not once, but twice. He told the client, you will have to start taking required minimum distributions at age 72 and a half if you don't convert to a Roth. The client called in and said, Hey, I've been thinking about converting to a Roth. Do you think I should? And they asked how much liquid cash he had, and then they said, Well, if you don't, you're gonna have to take distributions at 72 and a half. Let me be very honest with you. Dave Ramsey is 1 million percent incorrect. He's dead wrong. There never has been and there never will be an age 72 and a half required minimum distribution rule. Now, there was an age 70 and a half rule for years and years and years, which he clearly confused this with. And here's why he got confused. Because Donald Trump then signed into law the Secure Act, and for one year and one year only, it changed the RMD rule from 70 and a half to 72. That's where he confused the 70 and a half and the 72 rule and told the client it's age 72 and a half, which is 100% incorrect. It only lasted for one year at age 72 because then Biden came in and said, you know what, we're gonna undo Secure Act and make it Secure Act 2.0, and now that Donald Trump age 72 RMD is gonna be an age 73 RMD. I don't like him or anything about him. I'm gonna undo everything he did, and so 72 is now 73. Why would you do that? To confuse the heck out of everybody, that's why. And so then it jumped from 72 to 73, where it currently stands at the time of this recording. But hey, just to make it even more fun, because the federal government, which is what this show is about, is so inept and so confusing and so messed up, they've already predetermined a date in the future when the RMD age will jump to age 75 for anyone born after January the first, nineteen sixty. So you think RMD rules are easy? They're very, very complicated. Some people fall under the old age 70 and a half rule. A class of people for one year fall under the age 72 rule when they were forced to start their RMDs at 72. Then one year later, it changed to age 73, which it currently stands at right now. Once you turn age 73, you must take required minimum distributions from the appropriate accounts, tax-deferred accounts. And then in the future, for anyone born after January 1st, 1960, they will have to start taking RMDs at age 75. But even Guru Dave Ramsey and all of his editors who clearly don't know this rule either, gave incorrect advice to their listeners and they didn't ever edit it out. Why? Because they aren't retirement income tax planning specialists. They're just TV and radio personalities. But they'll take your money and they'll become billionaires by giving you the wrong advice. Friends, do you see just how confusing Uncle Sam's rules can be? It gets way more confusing than this. We've seen married couples make major mistakes with their RMDs because they didn't realize the rules for distributions are based on the year each individual was born. You see, I've seen married couples with RMD ages of 70 and a half for one person and age 72 for the other. I've seen it at age 70 and a half for one person and age 73 for the other. And I have married couples right now who fall into the age 73 right now RMD rule, but their spouse falls under age 75 in the future because they were born after January the 1st, 1960. And guess what? If you don't take your RMD or you take the wrong amount, there can be a penalty of up to 25% for the amount of money that you were supposed to take. And the fund doesn't stop there. Did you know that your beneficiaries have to continue taking RMDs from your IRAs and 401ks after you pass? Oh, that's right. And did you know that there are three different types of categories that your beneficiaries fall into based on who they are, whether or not they're a spouse or a non-spouse, and how old they are? Friends, this stuff is so very, very confusing. But remember, if you signed on the dotted line and you opened a 401k or an IRA or a TSP or a 403B or a 457 plan or a SEP or a simple, you signed up for Uncle Sam's Plan. That's why the title of today's show is Do You Want Your Own Plan or Uncle Sam's Plan? I can almost guarantee you you don't want Uncle Sam's plan. Now, I realize that I can say this stuff and spew this stuff and regurgitate this stuff faster than a locomotive train. And your head might be spinning when I start going through RMDs and QCDs and all these things. But here's the thing someone has to know this stuff. And Dave Ramsey doesn't know it, but he will tell you when and how you're supposed to take it and be dead wrong about it. Are you confident in your financial professional and their training and the advice that you're getting regarding your retirement accounts and your tax planning and your required minimum distributions and all the rules that go with it? Well, if you're not sure yet from having listened so far into the show, stay with me because after this break, I'm gonna make your head spin with these rules. Our number is 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. We are retirement income certified professionals, and I'm a tax planning certified professional. I study this stuff all day long, every day, so that clients like you don't make mistakes in your retirement plan. Go to our website anytime, Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us in the upper right hand corner, and just request a free financial consultation. Okay, friends, today on the show we've been talking about do you want your own plan or the government plan? And before the break, we were talking about something known as RMDs, or as a lot of people say to me, they call in, they say, hey, I have to take my RDM this year. Oh, you mean your RMD? Yeah, whatever. The required minimum distribution. Believe it or not, whether or not you know this, if you save your money in a tax-deferred account like a 401k or a 403B or a TSP or an IRA, at some point in the future, based on your age, the age is currently 73. It has been age 70 and a half and age 72 in the past, but currently at age 73, and for anyone born after January 1st, 1960 or later, it's going to be age 75. You will have to start taking forced distributions from your account, which will be taxable, and it will increase your federal taxes, your state taxes. It could affect your Social Security distributions and the taxation there. Up to 85% of your benefit from Social Security can be taxed. It can create a problem called IRMA, income-related monthly adjustment amounts, the surcharge that dictates your Medicare premiums. It's based on what tier of income you fall into. That's based on your total Magi modified adjusted gross income. And your RMD can totally and completely push you over that cliff. If it goes over by one single dollar, you will be in the next IRMA bracket. And that can mean if you're married filing jointly, more than$10,000 per year and additional surcharges and premiums, money you will never get back. I call it the stealth tax. And so, friends, as I say, with RMDs, it doesn't stop there. The fun of all the rules that come with government-owned plans doesn't stop there. Did you know that your beneficiaries will have to continue taking RMDs from your IRAs and 401ks after you pass? There are three different types of categories that your beneficiaries will fall into based on who they are and how old they are. So get ready for your head to spin, listen closely. Here are the three categories. There are non-designated beneficiaries known as NDBs, there are non-eligible designated beneficiaries known as NEDBs, and there are eligible designated beneficiaries known as EDBs. Did you get all that? You see, each class of beneficiary has their own set of rules and regulations that they must follow to AT. And guess what happens if they don't follow these rules? You guessed it. Uncle Sam and the federal government will hit them with additional taxes and penalties. These different classes are determined by whether or not they are a spouse, a non spouse, or a nonperson, such as an estate or a charity or a trust or an entity. And trust me on this, these rules are extremely complicated. As a matter of fact, I hold in my hand a color-coded chart by my good friends from the Ed Slot company on IRA beneficiary designations. And this chart is just for those who are the IRA beneficiaries who inherited in 2019 or earlier, before Secure Act and Secure Act 2.0, back when the RMD age used to be 70 and a half, which then moved to 72, which then moved to 73, which will then move to 75. And there is all kinds of rules and confusion and distributions for what's known as RBDs for RMDs, that's required beginning dates for the required minimum distributions for those who died in 2019 or earlier. And it has all these rules for the spouse, the non-spouse, the non-person, the estate, the charity, the qualifying trust. And guess what? There are also then rules for people who were who died after this time and who inherited after 2019. So I'd just like to remind you this. Don't you just love it when the federal government gets involved? Just like what I shared about my package that I shipped through the United States Postal Service that took more than 20 days to send a package that only needed to be shipped to a location that was one hour away. But instead it went to five states, seven different locations. It's a complete mess. And it's very, very similar to what can happen when you start trying to take distributions from your retirement accounts that are jointly owned by Uncle Sam. When we come back together for one last segment, I'm going to share what I mean by jointly owned by Uncle Sam, because I think for so many of you listening right now, you just don't realize there is a joint owner of your account, and he might even be the primary beneficiary of your account, even though you don't see his name on your beneficiary forms. Friends, our number is 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. We are retirement income certified professionals. There's a reason why people have read my book all across the country. It is about tax planning and why the only thing that matters is how much you get to keep from these accounts that we're talking about on the show today once you start your distributions. Because remember, Uncle Sam, as the joint owner, is going to reach in and take out his fair share. If you want a free financial consultation to find out whether or not things are set up correctly for you in the most tax-efficient way, just go to Ozarksretirement.com and click on the contact us button. I will personally reach out to you. Friends, on the show today, I started with a story about mailing a package from Ozark, Missouri to Joplin, Missouri that only needed to travel one hour. Very simple process. Should have taken an hour. And I realize the package has to get sorted first and maybe it wouldn't leave to the next day. But by the very latest, it should have been in Joplin, one hour away the next day. It took nineteen days. It went to five different states. It flew on seven different airplanes. It went to Oklahoma City, to Kansas City, Kansas, to Kansas City, Missouri, to St. Louis, Missouri, to Chicago, Illinois, back to Kansas City, Kansas, to Kansas City, Missouri, down to Springfield, and then over to Joplin. That's what happens when the federal government, whose thirty eight point five trillion dollars in debt, gets involved. Do you realize that when you own a retirement account like a 401k or a 403B or a TSP or a 457 plan, that you own an account that is jointly owned by Uncle Sam and that is governed by the federal government and Congress? They will tell you when you can and cannot take distributions. And if you do, when they tell you not to, the penalties that will be involved and the taxes that will be involved. They will set the rules for what your spouse will have to do once they inherit this account from you. They will set the rules for what your children, and yes, I have four precious grandchildren. I love them, I would give my life for any of them. They will set the rules as to what my grandchildren will have to do, be forced to do with any tax-deferred account that's jointly owned by Uncle Sam. Do you like that? Friends, this is where the term rolling over in the grave comes from. It's when you've long since passed and you think your half a million dollar account that's yours is going to be split between, let's dare I say, one hundred thousand dollars apiece to your five beautiful grandchildren, and then you find out they didn't get one hundred thousand a piece. That was a tax-deferred account jointly owned by Uncle Sam. And based on when and how that precious grandchild reaches in and takes possession, if they say, Oh, grandpa left me a check, grandma left me a check, well, just write me a check. I'll take it right now. You might find out that even though those five grand grandchildren were named as your primary beneficiaries, Uncle Sam might get more than fifty percent, five oh percent of those accounts, depending on the state you live in, depending on their tax brackets. When you add it all up, all the taxes and penalties and fees, depending on how they take it out, 250 grand of that might go to Uncle Sam. And don't ever forget, that's based on today's tax rates, and we're$38.5 trillion in debt. If you missed the first part of the show, go back and re-listen to it. When I explain just how much a million is versus a billion versus a trillion, I think it's hard for you to fathom how much a trillion dollars is, and our national debt grows by a trillion dollars every sixty to seventy days right now. You can't fathom it. Do you want your retirement plan in the hands of the federal government? Do you think they're efficient? Do you think they have your best interest at heart? Do you think they're financial fiduciaries? Friends, I'm a certified financial fiduciary. I, by oath, must do what is in your best interest at all times. Do you think Uncle Sam does what's best for you at all times? Or do you think he is the number one focus? He's focused on himself and how much money he gets to take and steal from you every single day from your Social Security plan, the biggest farce in our nation's history, Social Security. Or your retirement accounts, or here's what he's counting on. The fact that you and your financial professional and your heirs don't know these rules. Because if they don't know, they're gonna find out the hard way. If you think your$5,000 IRA belongs to you and your children and your grandchildren, try to cash it out. Or just watch from the grave what happens when they try to cash it out. And when they're left with a small, tiny portion of that as real dollars in their own hands. Friends, that's why my good friend, America's IRA expert Ed Slott, wrote the forward to my book, Bulletproof. He said, Dr. Brad will show you how to take out the taxes from your retirement accounts. There's never been a better time to get rid of Uncle Sam than right now. You do not want him to be a joint owner and a joint partner in your retirement account. If you own an IRA, a 401k, a TSP, a 403B, a 457 plan, a simple IRA, a CEP IRA, the list goes on and on and on. If it is a tax-deferred ERISA plan, you need to talk to a tax planning certified professional so that you can understand what's going to happen with that account when you take distributions and when you pass it on to your heirs. Friends, you can call us anytime. 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Or better yet, just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button and request a free financial consultation. I will personally reach out to you and I will show you why I've been moving my money out of Uncle Sam's plans and into other accounts that he cannot touch, never will touch, and will have nothing to do with. I want what's best for me and my family, and I want that for you. I can show you how to do it. Call us anytime 866-780-7233 or go to Ozarksretirement.com. Friends, thanks for listening. We take this very seriously. We want to protect you and your family and your beneficiaries from Uncle Sam and from all the rules and the unnecessary taxes inflation. Remember, the number one thing that will separate you from the retirement of your dreams is Uncle Sam and taxes. We'll show you how to avoid this. Well, I'm about out of time, and I would like to thank you for listening to Safe Money Radio. If you're serious about your financial future, give me a call, and together, we'll get your retirement savings on the fast track to accumulation while reducing exposure to market losses. Thanks for listening, and until next time at the same time, I'm Brad Pistol, reminding you to stay safe so you can step into a secure future.

Who’s The Silent Partner In Your Accounts?

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You've been listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Find out how to contractually guarantee that your hard-earned money is safe while avoiding market loss so you can have the retirement that you deserve. Call Brad Pistol now for your complimentary safe money book and safe money information kit at 866-780. That's 866-780-7233. The preceding information does not represent tax, legal, or investment advice. Surrender charges apply to base contracts. Optional lifetime income benefit writers are used to calculate lifetime payments only and are not available for cash surrender or in a death benefit unless specified in the annuity contract. Fees may apply. Guarantees are based on the financial strength and claims paying ability of the insurance company. No information presented today should be acted upon without meeting with a qualified and licensed professional. Obviously, by calling us now, you are just taking the first step towards protecting your retirement. It's important that you read all insurance contract disclosures carefully before making a purchase decision. Rates and returns mentioned on this program are subject to change without notice.