From Journalism To Retirement Insights With ThinkAdvisor’s John Manganaro

Ever felt that jolt of panic when you imagine your savings running out too soon? We brought in ThinkAdvisor’s John Manganaro to pull fear out of the shadows and replace it with a plan. John’s journey from late-night policy reporting to leading retirement coverage gives him a rare vantage point: he hears what top researchers discover, what advisors do on the ground, and where real people get blindsided—especially by avoidable taxes and timing mistakes.

We start with IRMAA, the Medicare surcharge that often arrives two years after a big income move. If you’ve ever taken a large IRA distribution at 63 and then wondered why your Medicare costs jumped at 65, this conversation breaks down the why and the how to fix it. From Roth conversions and bracket management to Social Security timing, we get specific on ways to reduce tax drag and steady your income. Then we turn to the data: two-thirds of Americans say they fear running out of money more than death. John explains why boomers are especially exposed—early 401(k)s without auto-escalation, heavy tax-deferred balances, and missed opportunities for Roth diversification.

Housing plays a starring role too. Real home prices surged in recent years, handing many retirees a powerful lever. But higher rates and the emotional weight of leaving a family home complicate decisions. We explore practical paths—downsizing, renting after selling, or right-sizing to boost cash flow—without ignoring the psychology that keeps people stuck. Finally, we tackle persistent myths. No, an 8% withdrawal rate isn’t a plan. And no, annuities aren’t one-size-fits-all or off-limits. Research from Michael Finke and David Blanchett shows how combining Social Security with a carefully chosen slice of annuitized income can create an income floor that frees you to spend confidently. That “license to spend” is about more than math—it’s about peace of mind.

If you want a retirement that feels calm, resilient, and guilt-free, this episode lays out the building blocks: secure income, tax-aware strategy, and the right housing choice at the right time. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge toward a smarter plan, and leave a review with your top retirement question—we’ll tackle it on a future show.

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

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Where's the market goes? Where's the market goes?

SPEAKER_02 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 retirements. 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.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Well, hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us again today for Safe Money Radio. You know, this show has been airing for more than 16 years now. We've had over 800 episodes and counting, and so today it's it's always fun when we have a guest on. And yesterday I had my good friend, I call her sister Heather Schreiber. We recorded a segment together that's going to air here in a couple of weeks. And now another good friend of mine and colleague, John Manganero. Thank you for joining us on the show today. And uh joining us from Pittsburgh, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Yeah, that that's right. Well, I'm actually in New York today. I I grew up in Pittsburgh, but I I moved here in about 2011 to start my journalism career. But I'm I'm still a Yinzer at heart. I was just in Pittsburgh for the for the holiday season, spent about two weeks there uh with the family. So yeah, really still connected to Pittsburgh, but coming coming to you from New York this time, Brad. But thank you for for inviting me to be on the podcast. I'm a a fan of the show. You know, congrats on 800 episodes. That's a huge achievement. Um I I do my own little podcast. We've done like 40 episodes, and that feels like a big lift. So to get past 800 episodes is something really special.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, it's it's something that just kind of becomes old hat once you've done it so much, and I'm on the radio five times a week, and the podcast is you know a separate thing that we're we always have going. So I'm always thinking I'm always recording something like we we were talking about before we went live this morning. So let's start there. Tell everyone, since it's your I mean, I know I've been on your podcast and we've done some interviews together, your first time on the show here, which I'm so grateful for. Tell everyone a little bit about your background, what brought you into this industry and what you do now, and then we'll jump over and talk about your podcast, some.

John’s Path From Politics To Finance

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Sure thing. Yeah, so um I'm a I'm a journalist by profession. I I had the good fortune to go to the University of Pittsburgh and and study journalism there. They have a really strong program, and including a student newspaper that um at the time that I was there, we were publishing the 100th edition of the student newspaper. So it was really cool to be connected to the the history of the university that way and really just fall in love with journalism. Uh originally I covered uh primarily politics and policy in in both Pennsylvania and in the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. But after a year or two of that, it it really started to burn me out. There were really late nights, you know, debates on the House floor would go until one, two, three in the morning, and you had to be ready to cover the vote as soon as it happened. And I really enjoyed it. It was a thrill, but I realized that it wasn't really, it wasn't for me, frankly. I wanted a little bit more work-life balance. And I just was looking around for other publications and happened to apply to one here in New York uh called Plan Advisor that was all about the world of 401k plans and struck me as something that might be interesting to do for six months or a year. I I really had no particular interest in financial services, but I really fell in love with the space. Um, you know, financial advisors are generally speaking very interesting, open-minded people who solve problems for their clients. They're they're constantly dealing with interesting challenges, you know, new ways of thinking, and I really just enjoyed getting to know the industry. And about four years ago, I switched to a different publication called ThinkAdvisor, similar name, not related. But uh this this publication, ThinkAdvisor, is a little more general. It it focuses more on the the entire world of wealth management, um, a little bit more of a focus on the the retail wealth management space as it's often referred to. And it's been a really, a really great change. You know, at Plan Advisor, I'd gotten into more editing and was doing less writing. Uh here at ThinkAdvisor, I I get to spend my days doing interviews, writing stories, doing podcasts. So it's it's a real I really enjoy it. I'm I'm fortunate to be one of those people that kind of wakes up every day and is kind of excited to to get to work. Um so that's sort of that's what I do in the day today. And I wouldn't have thought that financial services was was such a great fit for me, but here we are. I've been doing it for just shy of 15 years now.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

It's really fun. Well, it seems like every day, of course, I'm connected on LinkedIn, and it's really my only form of social media outside of uh work because everything I do is just constantly about the show and the practice and clients and all that. There's just not a lot of free time, but I'm always connected to LinkedIn and all of our podcasts, uh connections and friends and colleagues, and every day it seems like I'm seeing something that you've done, someone you've interviewed, something you produce, and I watch all of them, listen to them, subscribe, and so you share a lot of great information from I think the key forward-thinking people in our industry, and so I'm grateful for you and for what you do.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

So I appreciate that. Um I I'm lucky because the people in this industry are so so willing to share their expertise and information. There's there's no there's no gatekeeping, there's no like secret formulas that people try to keep to themselves. It's it's really an open interchange of of information, and and I think that's to the you know the positive benefit of the American public. It's we're as we'll get into when it comes to preparing for retirement, we're not totally on our own, but it's an individual responsibility here in the United States. And and it's a very positive thing that you know private industry has stood up and and really is is trying to deliver on that promise, right? Trying to deliver actionable intelligence about retirement planning. That the product set has really evolved. I I know you're very passionate about the world of annuities, and that's been amazing to see how the world of annuities has really kind of improved and and changed over the years. Um so yeah, I think it's a it's a positive thing that that our industry operates that way.

What ThinkAdvisor Covers And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Well, you know, we live in the information age, and uh, I heard years ago that that overnight information in general doubles every 24 hours, and I was like, how can that be possible? And then and you think about that just continuing and continuing. And now, of course, you know, I remember when there were no podcasts, there was no such thing, and now everyone has a podcast. Our local news channels have a podcast before their news starts. I mean, it's just everyone has a podcast. We're we live in the world of information, so I think that in today's world now, no one can really claim that they own the the market on information or that they own this, they've got this secret sauce of information that no one else knows. Information's out there. But and it's important to work with people who do know what they're doing instead of who are just trying to wing it. But it's great to know that there are people like you who are on the on the outside, like you're not working with clients and producing personal production as an advisor, but you're talking to advisors all over the country and you're seeing what they're doing and what's working and the challenges that they face and what's going on in different parts of the country, you know, all over the country, which is powerful to have that perspective. So I'm I'm grateful, which leads into you actually have your your podcast. So tell everyone about your Ask the Retirement Expert podcast.

The Podcast: Ask The Retirement Expert

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Yeah, yeah. It's um we just finished at the end of 2025 our third season of the podcast. Uh each season has about 12 to 15 episodes, so like I said, we're close to about 50. Uh, really, I just look at it as an opportunity to bring a bit of a personal touch to the coverage that I write for thinkadvisor.com. Uh, ThinkAdvisor is a straight-ahead news website, you know, that's it's we report the facts about what's going on in the advisor industry. Um, you know, my personal beat is retirement planning, but we have reporters that cover the markets. We have a reporter in Washington keeping her finger on the pulse of all the policy stuff going on. We have another reporter, she's based in Philadelphia, who really focuses on the stock market uh on the day-to-day basis. But as the retirement reporter, um, I was asked to start this podcast, and it's it's really been amazing. I've I've interviewed many of the folks that have been on your program, but also some some other folks. You know, I think probably the the coolest episode I got to do was with Raphael Bostik, who's the president of the Federal Reserve Bank down at Atlanta. I had a chance to meet with him in person, and I was almost starstruck, you know, at the time. This was in, I guess it was 20 early 2024. Uh it was before the the last presidential election, and and there was a decent chance that he was going to be the next Fed chair. And I was sitting there just thinking, wow, this is a really cool opportunity. Um, so I've just you know interview folks like that, um, kind of bringing a different lens on retirement. So, you know, talking to a Federal Reserve chair about what retirement means to him, what it means in his local community. I've interviewed a lot of academics, you know, Michael Finka, uh Jason Fickner, uh David Blanchette have all been on the podcast, um Jamie Hopkins, who I think you know. Um so it's really just a chance to get to know them and and get a little more personal, kind of learn their stories about why they got into this industry, hear about what their their passions are, and and so that's been it's been really great. I I always try to bring a bit of a personal touch to the podcast and and make it an engaging listen. Um but yeah, folks can folks can search it out on you know their preferred podcast platforms, but I think the best place to find it is just on the website because it's all nicely curated.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

So just think advisor website.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yep, yep, and you you'll see a section that says podcasts up at the top and you can find it there. And you know, what I um I'm always if if folks want to join the podcast or if they have a recommendation for for guests or even just recommendations for topics that I cover or things that I you know need to explore, uh my contact information is available on on every article I publish. You just hover over my name and you can send me an email directly from there. So, you know, I'm always open for feedback, whether it's about the podcast or or the the articles that we do.

How To Find The Show And Connect

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Fantastic. And I was able to be on last July, and so when they go look this up, they can listen to our podcast together that we did. And I was gonna ask you how people can find it. So that's great. We'll also have uh John's information on the uh on the link here at the beginning uh or the end of the show. So if you're watching with us today, we always encourage you to go to YouTube to watch this, but you can listen on Spotify or Apple. You also might be listening on the radio right now, so that's why we try to, all of our listeners, wherever you're at, however you choose to listen, we uh invite you to watch this if you want to or listen, download the podcast, it'd be great. So for those of you who are listening or watching right now, if you want more information, just call us anytime, 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Or the easiest way, just go to our website, Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us in the upper right hand corner. I'll reach out to you personally. If you want to request a free financial consultation or a copy of my book, or you want to ask how to get in touch with John, you just let me know. We will reach back out to you. So Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us. So, friends, if you're just now joining us, like I said, either from radio or listening to the podcast, maybe you're watching on YouTube. I think it's an exciting time to be alive and to be in this industry. You know, I'll share this uh and do a shout out to a couple of people who found me via YouTube yesterday. Someone had listened to a recent podcast that I'd done regarding IRMA, income-related monthly adjustment amounts. And they got, John, they got their first IRMA letter ever. And the irony is, um, this is funny, because I was talking to them and I said, Hey, I want to show you how good I am at what I do. And they laughed and his husband and mod said, Okay, and I said, When did you move to Florida from New York? And they was quiet, and they said, How do you know we're from New York? And I said, Well, it's pretty easy to know that you're from New York. And so, like, yeah, we had to get out of the cold and we wanted to move down south. But they found me through a podcast, through something about Irma, and then we got connected. And two years prior, they had sold uh or they had actually cashed in some of an IRA, and it was a taxable event, and they had no clue because no one had talked to them that at age 63 it was going to affect them at age 65 when they entered Medicare. They got their first letter, they're paying these surcharges, this stealth tax, and now they live down in Florida ready to retire and have fun, and they get this bad news and they're all bummed. And so I share that as a lead-in to say this. I know you talk to people all across the country. You've got your Ask the Retirement Expert podcast. People listen to you because your information are being connected to people everywhere. So as you talk to advisors all across the country and you do your research and your interviews, what are some of the biggest challenges that you see current retirees facing in today's world?

IRMAA Surprise And Medicare Timing

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Yeah, and I appreciate that story. Uh dear Aunt Irma, as she's called. You don't want to get that letter. Um and it is, it's amazing to me. Yeah, yeah. Um I'll I'll respond to your question in a moment, but it it's just so interesting to me people's lived experience when it comes to navigating the transition into retirement. There are so many little surprises and unexpected things that can come up. And, you know, presumably those folks are on track for a a comfortable retirement, it sounds like it. But you know, just getting that just getting that letter and that little sting of an unexpected tax really can take the wind out of your sales. So I would say, you know, advisors listening probably know this, but one of the best things they can provide for their clients is just that plan, that that guidance and understanding of what's coming. You know, you may pay some fees and taxes, but you're gonna be okay. You know, you may uh have to cut back a little bit in the future if there's a downturn, but you know, we're running the numbers and and you're comfortable. I I think that's just delivering that peace of mind is far more valuable than any specific little tiny piece of financial advice that's out there. Brad, I'm sure I'm sure you'd agree with that. You've probably seen that in practice. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Well, I know that you um kind of part of the same thing. Last year, which and it's weird to say last year when you're in the first week of the of the new year, but last year you wrote an article about going broke in retirement is a bigger fear than death. And when I see that, because I know the number one fear of everyone is running out of money in retirement, so we have this confirmed every day in our industry. But tell me about some of the stuff that you found out as you worked on that.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Yeah, yeah. So I I did prepare a few stats um to talk us through this because I I think it's a really interesting thing. So, you know, for example, it's 64% of those survey respondents said they're more worried about financial uh destitution in retirement than death. It's it's an amazing finding, two-thirds of people. Uh 62 62% say they're not saving as much for retirement as they would like. 54% saying inflation uh contributes to their fears of running out of money. Uh 63% say day-to-day expenses are interfering with their ability to save for retirement. 40% say credit card debt is interfering, 35% say housing debt is interfering with their ability to save for retirement. So unfortunately, Brad, it's a it's a a broad scope of challenges that people are facing. I do always wonder though, when I read those statistics, and I'm curious for your opinion on this, Brad, you know, serving clients and dealing with people. I sometimes I think folks use some of these surveys to sort of express themselves, express their fears, kind of vent a little bit. Because I I wonder when push comes to shove, do you think two-thirds of people really fear, you know, financial difficulties in retirement more than death? That's if so, that's that's pretty says something about the American psyche, I think. What would you say?

The Biggest Fears Retirees Face

SPEAKER_00 15:24

So I will say that in my uh my my psychology background, which I minored in that in college, and so I've always been fascinated with people and how they think and what they do. You know, there are nine distinct personalities, and about sixty percent of the nine personalities focus on the negative side of things in life. Sure. The glass glass is half empty, not half full. And so a lot, and everyone knows this, especially people that are uh, you know, I will say everything's a rich man's trick. Everything is geared toward marketing to try to listen in on your phone or to see what you're watching or what you're listening to, and they're gonna they're gonna target you with e you know with ads and all this sort of thing because they know what you're thinking about and what you're watching. And they know that 60% of people have this negative mindset of I'm gonna run out of money, I'm scared to death about it. What happens if you know taxes go up and they get hit with Irma and all these different things? And so I I think that that can kind of ag it on a little bit where people are struggling with that negativity, but this is what I've learned they are more worried about running out of money than death until they start having health issues, and then it switches, and then it's all focused on the health and that the side, the the money side kind of gets pushed aside, it's still very important because then it brings up that problem of how are we going to pay for all this. But yeah, it's it's fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

And your research, your numbers, yeah, and and I'm not sure if I said it. Those were from the Alliance Center for the future of Allianz Center for the future of retirement. They're they have a lot of great research. And I think, Brad, it's there's no way to get around it. It's a vulnerable time in life. I mean, our it the the science shows that cognitively we we decline somewhat, physically we decline. We will we, you know, as Americans, we pride ourselves on providing, on you know, being that individualistic producer of you know, a participant in the economy, and and we we derive a lot of self-satisfaction and self-worth out of that. And sadly, you know, that it's in our nature to not be able to do that forever. And and if you've spent all this time being a productive member of society, saving for retirement, creating this momentum for the future, just the idea of it kind of moving in the other direction is is psychologically distressing, and there's there's really no way to get around it. And and we've all seen in our own lives the vulnerability, you know, of our loved ones and and family members as they age, and it is a it is a scary, sobering thing. And I think it really part of what I'm passionate about and as a fairly young person's writing about retirement, I try to bring a positive, you know, spin on it, and and especially try to encourage folks to enjoy enjoy the early years of your retirement, right? Don't if you have the opportunity to retire and the financial picture makes sense, you know, go for it. Don't you shouldn't be. I think it was Christine Benz uh from Morningstar who told me one time something like you shouldn't be ashamed of spending in retirement. I uh and seeing your and seeing that that account balance go down. That's what that's what you saved for. It it's not meant to just sit there and and not be used. So just some.

Stats: Running Out Of Money Vs Death

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Well, that's that's fantastic information. And we'll probably talk more about that later in this show because I know that with uh with Dr. Michael Finca and Dr. David Blanchett, their license to spend, they say we really want to spend from our income. We struggle to spend from our savings, we don't want to touch it, even though we built it for the very purpose of spending it down, we just don't want to do it. Our generation anyway, so your Gen Xers and baby boomers don't really kind of struggle with that. But it it's fascinating you saying that. Um, you know, we just it's the first week of January as we record this. We just came off for off of the holidays. And the holidays is the time where it's happiness, but it's also a really sad time for a lot of people because they're reminded we don't have dad here with us this year. You know, we we lost a patriarch in our family, or grandma or grandpa, or any other family member, and that's where we realize that you know, we don't live forever. Life changes, and we have to go through these changes together, and it involves our finances and all these other aspects of life. So it is a very interesting time, and everyone is vulnerable in today's world. So hey, if you're listening right now, we're grateful that you're joining us. We're gonna have a lot more great segments with John on the show today. So just call us anytime, 866-780-7233, or the easiest way, just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, and I will personally get back in touch with you. We'll answer any retirement planning questions you have about the show or anything else that's going on. So Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us, we'll get back in touch with you. Okay, John, let's do this. Uh, to remind everyone who's just now joining us, you you work with ThinkAdvisor now, you work with with uh financial planners and retirees all across the country. It's what the the topics are. And you wrote something else recently I found fascinating. So if it takes us a couple of segments, that's great. I want to talk about the six signs that baby boomers are facing big retirement challenges. What did you find when you were doing your research for this?

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Yeah, yeah. It's uh unfortunately um it's it's a bit worrying the the research that's out there kind of showing that that baby boomers are on track for a relatively challenging challenging retirement. So I'll maybe step through the the six um, you know, starting with the first one that you know baby boomers are expected to face a fairly significant shortfall, especially compared to younger generations. So um, for example, uh the median Gen Z worker is projected to have an annual uh spending shortfall of about$3,000, representing 7% of overall spending needs. The median baby boomer in this research is projected to have an annual shortfall of$9,000 or 24% of their overall spending needs. It's it's doable to, you know, meet to to adjust spending by 20, 24%. That's not outside of the realm of possibility, but that isn't you know likely implying a a you know a change in your in your lifestyle, a a negative change in your standard of living. Um it's what's really interesting to me though, Brad, is that it's not a universal thing for baby boomers. There's there's some research out from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, I think it came out last year or perhaps the year before, that showed that there's a real stratification even within the baby boomer generation, and younger baby boomers um seem to be the least well off. So and it's a combination of you know just their lived economic experience. They were really hammered by by the dot-com bubble, but they were really hammered by the Great Depression just at important times in their careers, and they've really fallen behind other generations in terms of just the amount of wealth that they've been able to accumulate in in 401k plans. Um likewise, you know, baby boomers have not really benefited from the r the revolution in plan design, you know, 401k plan design that's really unfolded over the past you know 15 years or so. They have, you know, participated in 401k plans for the longest of any generation, which is a positive thing. But when baby boomers generally were first signed up into These plans, they weren't optimized by at all. You know, they were maybe they were op they were put in at a few percent. There was no automatic escalation. You know, their money was probably just put in a a stable value fund or some kind of bond fund. You know, there was target date funds didn't exist, you know, there was no proactive management of their investments. And and so even though they've had access to 401k plants for for decades, really, they were not optimized, and that's left, you know, baby boomers in a relatively weak position compared to, you know, even some of the younger generations, um, especially you know, for all the the challenges that the millennials and Gen Z have faced in terms of you know getting into the economy during the great in the wake of the great recessionary period, and and Gen Z and Gen Alpha have had to more grapple with the the COVID pandemic period disrupting their employment. They're they're being, you know, the vast majority of them are being put into 401k plans that are well designed. They're they're they're being set up for long-term success. The the key for those younger generations is really to stay committed. You know, they're they're being put into these plans. It's critical that they kind of kind of stay committed and you know, use the the what is it called, the eighth wonder of the world, uh the power of compounding over time to really kind of bootstrap themselves into into retirement security. So um that that's the sort of the first real challenge is is a simple short shortfall in planned income.

Spending Guilt And Enjoying Retirement

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Um well you just made me think of something, so I want to interrupt you for a minute because I thought, wow. Yeah, and it because just a couple of days ago, you know, I'm listening to this stuff and you you you forget how old you are when you're doing things, you know. Or else the gray, you know, came on uh when I was in my early 30s, my bald spot's been here for forever. But you forget how how old you are. You wake up one day, and as we were talking about before the show, I'm I'm four grandchildren into life now. But you go, okay, what generation of Miami? I can't, you know, the Gen Xers, the G the baby boomers, the Gen Zs, and I have to look up the chart. So I just went through all these different age ranges, and you made me think, yeah, for the baby boomers, there was no such thing as a Roth in the beginning. It was all tax-deferred retirement planning. What's a Roth? What's tax-free? So the majority of all of their wealth is tax-deferred, which creates another major problem down the road. And then when the Roth comes along, there still weren't Roth 401ks. You had the Roth IRA or the conversion opportunity. That didn't come around until 2010 when they lifted all these rules and anyone could convert. And so it's still a relatively new thing where they've got the tax-free option. And old timers don't like changing. So if we were started in the 401k, we're going to keep doing the 401k. Why would I want to change that? And so that that creates all kinds of issues down the road because it's massive tax issues coming for them down the road.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Yeah, yeah. And I think um, you know, I it's Ed Ed Slot, the you know, the IRA expert, he's I'm sure very well known amongst your readers. He's he's been ringing that, ringing that bell for years. That it, you know, if you are a person that has you know really accumulated a lot of tax-deferred wealth, the the potential power of Roth conversions is pretty hard to overstate. Um it's it's a very, a very important tool uh to consider. And and yeah, so you know, Brad, um uh I think a bit younger than you. I'm more of an elder, elder millennial young Gen Zier. Um and I've you know, for example, had the fortunate opportunity for to be to be able to contribute to a Roth 401k from the very beginning of my career. And and that's so it's you know, yeah, and even just getting a bit of education from the plan sponsor or the the plan advisor saying, Oh, by the way, you might want to can of course you want to consider investment diversification, but have you thought of tax diversification as well? And I'm firmly in the camp that believes that you know future tax rates are likelier to be higher than they are today. Um I think very fascinating history lesson for anybody on the on the call who maybe hasn't looked at this before. Go back and look at what the top tax rate was, say, in the wake of World War II or at different periods in our in our past. You'll be surprised to see you know ex how high taxes have been. Yeah, I think that it's hard for people to wrap their head around that today. We're you know, we I think I may be speaking out of turn, I think the top's tax rate, remind me, Brad's 35% right now. Um it's 37% 37%. Um 37.

Baby Boomers’ Six Warning Signs

SPEAKER_00 26:04

So it's a long way, you know, below 95. They're on sale. So for those of you that are watching right now, I'm gonna do a shout out to my good friend Ed Slot. So his books are all over everywhere. I was gonna say, um, they're looking for his the new green Bible. Um I'm sure it's up there somewhere. The retirement savings time bomb. Uh, and of course, he wrote the forward to my newest book. So Bulletproof, the Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan. Ed's a great friend. I've been in his organization for more than 15 years. He was on the 800th episode, and so I will say this because we're gonna talk about it throughout the show. We're gonna pound this drum. It's not what you make, it's how much you keep after paying your taxes that counts. And so if you're watching right now and you want information, and maybe John said some things where you're like, you know, I share this tax chart, John, with with everyone, and I always say, go to the year my father was born, 1944. And when they go to 1944 and they see 94%, their eyes get this big and they say, That can't be true. There's no way it was 94%. Yes, the highest federal uh tax bracket at one point was 94% during you know World War II. But we it but right now at 37, it the taxes are on sale. So there's a lot that goes into creating the right retirement income plan for you. It's gonna have a lot to do with taxes, safety, guaranteed lifetime income, also the flexibility of the market, the potential for higher returns. So this is what we do all day long. I'm a retirement income certified professional, and I was one of the first tax planning certified professionals in the country. John and I talked about that actually in one of his articles that he did last year. So call us anytime or just go to ozartsretetirement.com, click on the contact us button in the upper right hand corner. We will get back in touch with you and set up a free consultation for you. So, okay, John from Think ThinkAdvisor, thank you for joining us on the show today. Let's let's talk a little bit more about the um the six signs of baby boomers are facing some retirement challenges. I know we talked about a few in the last episode, but the last segment, the define contribution plans. I know one of the things that you mentioned here that made me think you said selling homes can help, but the current environment is challenging. And I think people have to stop and think about that because we go, you know, my realtor's been on the show with me, and she's been great for me. I'm gonna be on her podcast Monday, here in a few days, and she's gonna pick my brain on all things financial. But I like having people from all different walks of life and from the housing side and how it affects retirees, you know, 2025 was not like prior years. You know, but in prior years, you could just stick anything up for sale and you're gonna have five offers before the end of the day, and and five of them were gonna be above ask, and it was gonna be under contract in less than 24 hours and move on to the next one. You know, you you better have where you're moving to picked out before you list because you're gonna have to move. And then 2025 happened and crickets a little bit, and houses are sitting for four and five and six months. So uh in your research, how did that how did that uh the selling of a home and the current environment, how is that affecting Bambi Boomers?

Tax Diversification And Roth Strategy

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Yeah, I mean you you describe the dynamics really well. Um the the financial side is is more challenging now that interest rates are higher. And on the positive side, of course, the the just the the accumulation of value in the American housing market has been astounding over over the the over decades. It's uh of course there were really really difficult periods during the the Great Recession 2008-2009, and and people were overhoused and over over-leveraged, and it it was a disaster, as as people will well remember. But that fortunately, since that time, it's it's been the complete opposite story. Just the housing wealth has gone up and up and up. Um and and folks really are a lot of those baby boomers who we described earlier, who maybe are worried about their their future retirement income. A lot of them fortunately have a lot of housing wealth that they're sitting on that that you know theoretic theoretically can be tapped and and represent a very positive and and useful um you know retirement um asset. Uh, I have a stat here from the the Case Schiller US National Home Price Index, even adjusted for inflation, from just 2019 to 2024, home values in just those five years increased by 31% in in real terms. It's tremendous, that's tremendous wealth generation. And a lot of and if you think about you know where housing prices are, you know, where they were in 2019, growing 31% on top of that, it it's just a lot of wealth, as we've said. So but the flip side of that is to sell a house, you have to find somewhere else to live. And and you gotta go buy one. You gotta either have to buy one or a lot of what I've seen to be very powerful potentially as a as sort of an a pressure valve here is sell a highly appreciated home and then kind of take a step back and become a renter. You don't necessarily have to buy a new home. A home accruing home equity is a is a beautiful thing, but it's not the only if you know if you're participating in the markets, you know, you don't it's not the only you know um way to generate wealth over the long term. And I think a lot of baby boomers who have taken pride in home ownership over decades and decades or their use of this concept of accumulating equity in the home, viewing their house as an asset, that's a great thing, but it's not the only way. And so I think um being willing to maybe sell a highly appreciated house and then you know move into a condo or move into a you know a a facil um you know a place where older folks are are living, you know, there's a lot of opportunities there for sure. Um but it's not as you're saying in 2025 especially, it it it wasn't all that easy to sell a house. We'll we'll see what happens in in 2026. It it looks like the pressure's easing a little bit, rates are coming down. Um we'll have to see. But the flip side of that though, and Brad, feel free to weigh in here because I'm sure you've seen this. That's the money side of home ownership. Um, the the personal psychological side of selling a home is is very challenging. Um, I saw my my father went went through this um about seven or eight years ago at this point, selling the house where he raised uh, you know, lived with my mom for for decades, 30 plus years, where he raised myself and my brothers and sisters. And it was a real, even for all of us, it was an extremely emotional process of packing up that house. And and I'll tell you what, Brad, I to this day I still remember the feeling of actually leaving that place for the final time and knowing, okay, I will never come back to this home. It it's a real psychological barrier that keeps a lot of people from doing what on paper would be the no-brainer financial move. So it's as an advisor, you you have to deal with this stuff all the time, coaching people.

Housing Wealth, Rates, And Downsizing

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Well, I'll say, you know, our good friend Dr. Wade Powell, he's been on the show so much, as much as anybody. His research in what I call the retirement planning guide book, it's kind of the Bible for financial advisors, he talks about the non-financial aspect of retirement planning. And people are like, What what do you mean when you say the non-financial? Well, it's all the emotional things that you go through. It's all the things of the transition of full-time retirement, 40 to 50, 60 hours a week to none, or selling a home or a property, or losing a loved one and having to pack up all their things and to deal with all the emotional side of all the things that go with it. That's what leads to, which this is a big part of life right now, increased depression, medication, people that are going to see their psychiatrist and psychologists, they're dealing with struggle in life because of the non-financial side of things and retirement planning, and it's a real thing. So, you know, I I buy and sell a lot of farms and I get connected to them. I work on the land, most of them have a home on it. So I built family memories there. The kids have been there, the grandkids have been there. And when you sell one, like it's it's hard to walk off that property and go, wow, there's a lot of family legacy here, and I don't know that I want to do this just because of a financial move. But it's part of life. So no question. Hey, if you're listening right now, I I I'll say this, I said this with Heather yesterday. We have so much fun on the show, we get into what we're talking about, we're passionate about it. Time flies, and we've only got about 10 minutes left. So if you're listening, we're gonna have John, we're gonna beg him to come back on again. But let's take a quick break. If if you want to know more about what we do retirement planning wise, which includes all the different things we're talking about, just go to our website, ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button, or if you need a phone number, it's 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Someone's always standing by to answer the call, and I will personally get back in touch with you, and we can sit down and talk about whatever it is that you would like to talk about regarding your financial planning. Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us. Okay, as we kind of get near the end of the show, I want to kind of spend a little bit of time here on some of the things that you've done. I know you had on your uh your podcast, Ask the Retirement Expert, you had Dr. Michael Finca on, and I've been I've shared in a lot of things with him. I was in the RICP program at the American College and the TPCP, so he's been an instructor and he's been uh an advisor to me. He shared so much information. You talked about something up busting retirement myths when you had him on. Talk to us about some of these retirement myths and what you found from this research.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Yeah, yeah, and you know, shout out to Dr. Finka. He's an amazing guy, super generous with his expertise, and has he has a great sense of humor too, so it's always fun to get to speak with him and interview him. But yeah, what what we talked about is is one of his passion projects, sort of on the side of all the teaching and and research that he does, but it's really just um kind of looking across social media and and different different forms of media really uh and and sort of identifying these retirement myths that are really pushed by um some very big name you know folks who are out there. I don't think we we want to name and shame necessarily on the podcast today, but you know, for for example, you know, Dr. Finka wrote an article for us for ThinkAdvisor a year or two ago, kind of looking at this idea that, you know, oh, you can you can afford to spend 8% every year from your retirement portfolio, no problem, because over the long term, you know, stocks tend to return 12% and inflation tends to run below 4%. So voila, 8% spending is a perfect retirement plan. That's that's the sort of simplified information that is put out there on on social media by by so-called financial gurus that really doesn't hold water when you start to look at it. Yeah, yes, perhaps in a in a perfect scenario, a retiree might get lucky and be able to spend 8%, but that that's just an incredibly risky approach. Um on another another myth that he really gets into is is just this idea out there that and I know this will sort of raise your hackles, Brad, but that uh annuities are a scam, or that, you know, it I would uh there's a certain uh you know well-known financial guru who says something along the lines of like, you know, I would rather, I don't even know how he puts it, but I would do X, Y, and Z before I would sell an annuity to one of my clients. And and it's it's really just he's he's very and I agree with this. It's just you know, painting with such a broad brush when it comes to retirement planning does not make sense because it's such an individualistic thing. Everybody's financial situation is different, everybody's personal taste and desire for what retirement looks like will be different. So just to say, you know, at a blanket level that, oh no, annuities aren't good for anybody, that it's just kind of a ridiculous perspective, frankly. Or or to just say that every single person can afford to spend 8% and don't worry about the stock market, it's it's just it's frankly kind of dangerous information that's out there. I I will say to you know, to give some credit where credit's due, um, there are folks like perhaps uh Dave Ramsey of the world that I'm sure the listeners will know. They they are good at sort of providing a little bit of tough love if if what you need is to get your financial house in order, so to speak. If you're if you're living on a credit card and you're and you're really you know not in good financial shape and you need the basics hammered into you, and you know, there's some some good information out there, but when it comes to this nuanced area of retirement planning, it it you really have to work with professionals, you know, like like yourself, Brad. I'll give you a shout-out, who who have gone through the you know, the academic, you know, rigorous academic process of learning how to actually create tax-efficient retirement plans. It's it's not a simple thing, it it takes dedicated expertise. Um, I have the opportunity to interview a lot of tax experts. I I I do think about myself one day going through the either the TCPC or the Retirement Income Certified Professional Program. I think it would really help me as a as a reporter. You know, I've got decent math skills, but I I think it'd be fun to go back and and kind of go through an academic environment again. It's been been some time since I've done that.

The Emotional Side Of Selling A Home

SPEAKER_00 38:05

You would love it. Start with RICP and then move to TPCP. But I I love them both. They're both great and they build on each other. So, but no, I love it. Dave is great about helping people just very blatantly saying, stop spending so much money. You know, and that's one of the things I have to say when people come in and are like, hey, we're noticing that we kind of have a shortfall. Okay, well, let's let's go through your budget. Budgets are important. And so we start looking at it, and I'm like, why are we doing this over here? This is is this a need or a want? You know, sometimes we can kind of go overboard with things and we don't realize, yeah, I'm probably accumulating all these things that I don't really need, that, and I will say this to everyone, just to sh just so that everyone retiring or thinking about retiring knows right now, your kids don't want your home, they don't want your farm, they don't want your things. They're gonna sell them and they're gonna move on. They that's why life insurance is so important in the planning because they just want tax-free income. Leave that to them, it'll take care of they don't they don't want that tax-infested 401k that's gonna leave a massive um problem for them because when they take distributions, they're gonna learn the hard way. As a as a non-spousal beneficiary, that 40-50 percent of it's gonna go to Uncle Sam and to the state. Uh, that's not fun, and it's gonna create all kinds of other issues for them. So, yes, those kind of things are are important for our viewers to know and understand. Um let so let's let's do this. We're gonna have one more quick segment together. If you're watching right now, or if you're listening, we are grateful that you're with us. We again, John, tell everyone how they can find you on ThinkAdvisor, and they can also find your podcast there. Is that the easiest way?

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Yeah, yeah. Thinkadvisor.com, just as you would think. T-H-I-N-K-A-D-V-I-S-O-R, thinkadvisor.com, and there's a section at the top where you can find the podcast. But we have you know all different manner of newsletters. We send about seven or eight per week, uh different topics, including the the Tuesday retirement planning newsletter, which is was really my baby. Um but yeah, we we cover all things that are relevant for professional financial advisors. So I talk about retirement, but we're you know, by no means only a retirement uh publication. You can find really whatever information you're gonna need on the website.

Debunking Risky Retirement Myths

SPEAKER_00 40:08

And for all of you listening right now, I've been following ThinkAdvisor for years. I've been blessed to participate in writing some articles for them and to be interviewed for articles by them. But John's information, I follow it religiously. So make sure you go to ThinkAdvisor and and it is OR. I know a lot of people spell advisor ER, but it's ThinkAdvisorOr.com and go look up his information. So also go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button if you want more information about how we can help you as retirement income certified professionals, and then we're gonna wrap things up with one more short segment here. So, John, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. I know time flies, like we blink and time is gone. Um, but I wanted to I wanted to do this in this last episode. You know, there's this Mount Rushmore of financial planning gurus, I think. You you've got Dr. Michael Finca, Dr. Wade Phoe, Dr. David Blanchett, Dr. Jason Fickner. We we've all interviewed them. They've been on my show. I've participated in things with them, and I know I think you're going back to Horizons this year, is that correct? The Horizons conference? Okay, so you'll be there, I'll be there. I'm gonna be in interviewing a lot of them, and I'll see you there, so I'm excited about that. That's gonna be in May with the American College. But these gurus get together and they put out all this research. They write books and articles and they do podcasts, and so I know that Dr. Michael Finca and Dr. David Blanjett have done this license to spend work together, and they talk about how when you do certain things in your financial planning world, you have a license to go out and spend, and you don't have to worry about is it gonna fail? We don't have to worry about this fear like you found in your research where people fear running out of money more than they fear death. So, what is some of that research they've done about the license to spend that you've you found out about?

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Yeah, yeah, I would recommend folks definitely, you know, if you just search Finca and Blanchette license to spend, you'll find the actual the research report, very in-depth, very technical. But the to kind of just summarize it from a reporter's perspective, it it really I think they could they really hit the headline. It is a you know, by utilizing um a certain degree of annuitization in your in your plan, and by no means are we talking 100% annuitization, it might be 20%, 30%. Really, it's about creating an income floor that lets you feel comfortable spending from that income that you know is guaranteed that's going to last for the rest of your life. That just makes the rest of your financial picture, you know, so much more free in a sense. You can you can take a little bit of extra risk in the markets if you if you know that your basic needs are going to be met. You can perhaps take a little bit of money out and splurge on that vacation that you know you might want to take in your early 60s if if you know that in the future, if there's a market downturn, you're going to still have that income floor that's going to meet your basic needs of housing, of future medical expenses, and and whatever else you might consider to be, you know, necessary spending. So it's really about this idea of taking the the pressure off of the portfolio through annuitization in a way that lets you create a basic income floor. And if you I it's pretty amazing, Brad, we haven't really talked about Social Security yet during this podcast. It's a big passion of mine to follow the program and and to help people make better decisions about Social Security. But if you if you factor in the security that you get from Social Security on top of you know a potential annuitization that in their research they recommend kind of re it's a bit technical, but they recommend almost replacing your your bond holdings with annuitized basically annuities. Um and then if you if you have both of those things, the social security in place and and a solid amount of annuity income, you're really in a good position for retirement. You you can spend pretty freely, and you know, you you may in the future reach a point where your portfolio is low or depleted, but you you're not going to be in destitution. You're you're still gonna have that that decent you know retirement lifestyle. And in their research, what's amazing is that they show that these folks who who do this annuitization and Who spend more because of what they're able to do in the markets by taking a little bit of extra risk, they're not giving up a lot of you know future wealth. Or it's it's literally it's it sounds like a free lunch, it's not, but it's um because you you are you know you're giving up liquidity, you are you are you know you're compensating the insurance company for the services they're providing. So it's it's I don't want to make it sound like a free lunch, but it is an it's an ability to both create greater peace of mind and you know more spending throughout the retirement period, which is what we should all want, I would think. It's it seems like the approach that I'd like to take when I once I get there.

Annuities, Income Floors, And Nuance

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Well, that's why there's a big swan behind me. If you be anyone that comes to my office was a client of ours who actually was a professor at the American College, uh who sent me this gift. I didn't even know where it came from. It had New York on there, and I was like, Well, who's who has sent this to me? No note. But the swan, this beautiful picture is the image of sleeping well at night. You got this serene lake and the swan, it's a beautiful, calm, peaceful situation. And that's what we want in retirement. Not to be stressed, not to be worried, not to am I gonna have enough money next month? What if the market goes up? What if it goes down? It's that peacefulness. And ironically, before the show today, we were talking about social security planning and Jason Fickner, who was number two at Social Security in that administration for many years, was talking about the three-legged stool, pensions, social security planning, annuities, and also and because there's so few pensions in today's world, it's really social security, self-funded annuities, and then you've got your managed money side of things where if you have that blend, you've got a really solid stool there. And so I'll say this as we wrap up. You know, as as you know, John, and our listeners know, I I love annuities. I own eight of them. I I write a lot of them. I've structured, it's it's Wednesday of the first week of 2026. I've already written seven annuities for clients, over$2 million in rollovers, but we also, as our team, took on almost that much in manage money that's still in the market. That because everything doesn't need to be in one place. We also did social security planning. When do I time my strategy? We also did do I need long-term care? Should I own a life insurance policy? That's all part of the system. It's not one thing, it's a blending of many things that go into the income planning and the tax planning of creating the retirement plan that is going to give you that peacefulness. So people like you create the research. You you talk to the people who know that are experts in this, and we're grateful for you. So uh one more time, give people your contact information so they can find you and they can go find the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

Yeah, yeah. Well, first, thank you, Brad. This is a great conversation. I I always appreciate our discussions and always leave me with uh thoughts about interesting articles or or follow-ups. So I I do I really value the collaboration here. But if you're you know interested in in other content, um we do the on thinkadvisor.com. That's advisor with an o, thinkadvisor.com. You can find the Ask the Retirement Expert podcast. That's a podcast that I host. Um we're we're get gearing up for the fourth season here before too long. Um and then we we have newsletters and and just daily news coverage. So we're we're a lean but mean team of reporters on ThinkAdvisor, and and we cover retirement, the markets, um regulations, uh technology, the the business of wealth management is increasingly important and interesting with all the consolidation and um you know MA activity that's really redefining the advisor industry. We really try to cover it all. Um so we we try to be a one-stop shop for we know our advisors are are busy folks, so we try to make it as sort of relevant and timely and and efficient as possible to get you guys the news that you need. So that's our mission at Think Advisor. Um, really rowing the boat in the same direction as as you are, Brad, trying to get just useful information out there to the advisor public so that they can serve the you know the the hardworking folks uh that keep the American economy running.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Absolutely. That's why I've been doing this for 16 years, and people are like, Well, why do you keep doing the radio show? Kid, aren't there other ways? There's a lot of ways to get the information out. It's the podcast world now, but I love it that people know that I'm gonna be on because I have been. I don't change my show times. I'm on every single week, and every single day, John, someone calls that says, I've been listening to you for 10 years now, and I just had an event in my life that made me call. Whether it was retirement, lost a job, something happened with their health, a parent died, they inherited money, they they had an IRMA letter come in, whatever it is, we want them to be able to find us. So, John, thank you so much for joining us today. You can find John on thinkadvisor.com. Certainly you could go check out his podcast, ask the retirement expert. And we're here every single week. So just go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on contact us. We're happy to help you in any way with your retirement planning needs. Thanks, Brad. 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.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

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 safe. That's 866-780-7233.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Safe Money Baby Go!

SPEAKER_02 49:40

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.