Stop Worrying You're Retired!

Financial planning as your roadmap through retirement

• George Fossing

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0:00 | 51:56

Here on Stop Worrying, You're Retired, 3 members of the Northstar Financial and Retirement Planning team, founder George Fossing, CFP Zach Jenkins, and CPA Travis Smith, break down the complexities of retirement such as deciphering Social Security and Medicare, building tax-efficient income strategies and planning for life's curveballs.


SPEAKER_00

You're retired from North Star Financial and Retirement Planning. Located right here in Greenville and Hendersonville. North Star founder and president George Fonsing. Certified financial planner, Zach Jenkins, and CPA Prefit Smith are all financial advisors and fiduciaries. They're just part of the North Star team helping you on your financial journey into and through retirement. In the North Star studio today, George Fonsing, founder of North Star Financial and Retirement Planning, and Zach Jenkins, certified financial planner. Good morning, guys.

SPEAKER_02

Well, good morning. Happy Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_00

Same to you and to all our listeners. We have a lot to cover today. We're going to start, guys, with the Medicare Trust Fund. Well, that just sounds like a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02

Well, stay tuned, folks. It's going to be an exciting program. But it's necessary. It is good to talk about. I think people need to be aware of what's going on.

SPEAKER_00

Right. I know it's not the most exciting subject, but there is a new estimate out from the Congressional Budget Office of when depletion might be for the Medicare Trust Fund, and that year is 2040. Now, you may have heard 2033, but that comes from the Medicare Trustees Report. So a little bit of a difference there.

SPEAKER_02

What trustee do you trust?

SPEAKER_00

What trust the government?

SPEAKER_01

I think that it it just kind of falls in line with any and everything else a lot of politicians have been involved in. You know, there's some kind of issue. I'm sure at some point it'll be um something to divide people with. One group uh be saying the others don't want to take care of seniors, and the others gonna be saying that's all they're trying to do. You know, to take care of you know a promise that well it's who they're in front of is what what they say.

SPEAKER_02

It's who they're in front of. They're talking to a group of seniors, let's say they'll they'll just doctor the whole thing towards what they want to hear, and then they go back to doing nothing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's true. The audience matters. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I get things have changed, you know, since the implementation of a lot of these plans, but it's not like the government was just made aware of you know the a cost of health care or that people are living longer or something like that yesterday.

SPEAKER_02

So I have something thought-provoking.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Where do you think we'd be if there was no social security? If it never happened.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

For most people, what do you where do you think? Most people that most of the US the primary source of income in retirement, right?

SPEAKER_00

I think a lot of retirees would be in big trouble.

SPEAKER_02

Well, they didn't have health care, no Medicare.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Where do you think people would be?

SPEAKER_00

Not with us.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you have to do is go back because it used to not be there. Used to not be in Medicare, they used to not be social security, right? And what people did is either you had a lot of money or you didn't and you just worked until you died. Right. Yeah. Right? Sometimes you just have to say, you know, we're fortunate where we are. You know, these were not popular things when they came about because of the cost, the expense. But overall, anybody who's let's say if you're listening and you're on Medicare, then you go to the doctors and you go to my you see the bills out there, and you go, Mike, thank God for Medicare.

SPEAKER_01

I think that you know if you're talking to someone that's 65 or 70 years old and they're healthy and they haven't had the experience of really using it a lot, then they're gonna probably feel differently than maybe someone who is their age that's not in good health, or maybe that's a a lot older that has been using it.

SPEAKER_02

Isn't that just what we talk about with insurance? We hate it when we're paying for it, right? I mean, you know, that's the whole thing with healthcare. You say you're paying these premiums. Mine's stupid right now. The good news is I'm not using it. Yes. I'm not sick. Okay, so you're paying these premiums and you're mumbling. We'd rather be what, really sick and saying, Thank god, yeah, at least I could be getting my money's worth. I don't think so. Yeah, I think the big thing here though, too, is planning for a potential reduction in uh Social Security benefits. It's just not sustainable.

SPEAKER_01

And uh what we're doing, it's just not. The man does not work. And you think they might eat at it from both ways, maybe tax shield or both the other things.

SPEAKER_02

That's gonna be the that's gonna be the easy one, is uh is the taxation, right? Again, the death by a thousand cuts is called taxation. They got you coming and going. It's funny how that works, isn't it folks? You're out there, you have your paycheck and you pay taxes coming in, right? You get paid, then you go out and buy something and you pay tax on something you purchased. So they've got you coming and going. It's like, right? You think about it, it's kind of crazy. You can go into that all day long. But the point is, I I think people need to be aware of is be cognizant, uh, you save more, be more personally responsible for your own needs in retirement.

SPEAKER_01

I think a lot of people that, and when I say a lot, I can think of probably 10 or 15 people in the last few years, they've said, I want to assume that social security won't be there for me. They didn't say Medicare specifically, but uh, you know, for the last however many years we've been talking about how social security is gonna run out. And for me, it and Medicare, it's kind of the same thing. It's money that's been taken out of your paycheck since you've been working. You know, you've been believing for 30 or 40 years of working and paying into it that it's gonna be there for you uh when you're ready to take it when it comes to retirement benefits or when it comes to needing the health insurance from Medicare. And you know, that they're talking about oh, it not being there, you know. So we've had people just say, hey, you know, if social security is there, then we're happy about that, and but I want to make a plan either that would represent a significant reduction in those benefits or just assume it not be there at all.

SPEAKER_04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02

You remember if you recall this, we were up in New York City last year, and uh we were up there on a business trip, and uh one of the the companies up there that was uh sponsored us, they had a PowerPoint presentation and uh use it for income planning. And in the contract, it has if there is a reduction in Social Security benefits, it will pick up the difference. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. This is being this is actually being addressed. People are saying, I'm afraid uh Social Security is going to start cutting back and that'll that'll really hurt. And this company's it's it's a very old company, highly rated company, and said we we put this into our planning contract, and basically you have a personal pension through this company, right? To take a certain amount of your IRA money, move it over to the contract, and it's used for future lifetime income. Basically, you're just building your own personal pension to subsidize social security. Right? What's the benefit of social security? It's money you can't outlive, right? It's gonna be there until the day you die. And well, this company comes in there and says, We're gonna do that, give you more income, give us some of your IRA, put it to work, and down the road you want to start taking income. You can. And if there is a reduction in Social Security, it will contractually pick up the difference. That's just amazing. I never thought I'd say that you know we talk about something like that even 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_01

We talk about education all the time. I mean, that right there is an institution, you know, somebody that wants to be in the space and has been in the space for a long time, they're listening to what retirees concerns are.

SPEAKER_02

Sure.

SPEAKER_01

Companies build products because of what?

SPEAKER_02

There's a need. People say, I think social security is gonna cut back down the road, and it scares me. Well, the company's gonna step in and pick up the difference, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01

We believe that social security would be there. They're just gonna evaluate maybe how those benefits are either paid to you. One easy fix would just be instead of only taxing 85% of it, just tax all of it for some people or most people.

SPEAKER_02

So give an illustration too, Cheryl, regarding taxes. Again, if this does happen, taxes are bad enough if they get worse, right? Uh illustration, we just had a uh single woman, 57 years of age, early retiree, she's lost her husband, and concerned about future income. And she's got good health and longevity in the family. And so we're taking a portion of her money and doing a Roth conversion with her IRA and putting that back in into a deferred income strategy. Where in 10 years, or it could be sooner, but just based on 10 years, it's gonna give her an additional fifteen hundred dollars a month, one hundred percent tax free. It's almost an extra twenty thousand dollars a year coming without having to report it to the the government. Isn't that great?

SPEAKER_04

It is.

SPEAKER_02

It gives an illustration, it's addressing potential issues down the road today, and you're rewarded by that. It's just really good options for people to investigate out there. Folks, if you're not aware, I've been in the business about thirty years. And the evolution of what we do, this retirement planning threshold in the investment world continually changes and upgrades, I believe. Superior products, superior opportunities to address the weakness of the government subsidizing the middle class. And I think this is where people need to be aware and investigate this and not just do what your neighbor did or what your parents did, but explore things that are out there. Do you agree with this too, Zach, that people aren't really aware what they should be aware of? Oh sure.

SPEAKER_01

Right? Yeah, yeah. Just like in anything, right? I mean, it's our job to make people aware in this arena of people's lives if uh they want our help, and just like it would be responsibility of your doctor to make you aware of things in your specific situation, right? Yeah. Concerns that you may have. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Zach, I have a question for you. How long have you worked with George?

SPEAKER_01

Um, since 2019.

SPEAKER_00

Has he always been a half-full guy? Because when I talk to you, George, you you're always looking on the bright side. Your glass is always half full. Full full.

SPEAKER_02

You know, that's a choice you have, you know. Smiling is easier than frowning. Yeah. We're realists too. When we build a model, Cheryl, it's it's all based on basically is it seaworthy? You got to put the stress test against it. And that gives people comfort. You do the pie in the sky stuff, that could blow up. Probably not. Sure.

SPEAKER_00

But you're always looking at what we can do to be positive.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and uh well, I think that you know, people that we work with, they come in and they have worked hard, they've saved diligently, they're smart people, right? And um we have what we need to work with to help them uh you know have that picture that they want, you know, in the role that we play. So of course we go into it with positive expectations, but we're not gonna you know tell them, oh, we're gonna get nine or ten percent every year.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's having realistic expectations and showing people, okay, based on what we know today, we're gonna be conservative with some of the variables that we use. But for most of our people, I mean, they're excited about their retirement. They should have positive feelings, you know, towards their retirement plan and the expectations they have of their experience. You know, our clients respect money.

SPEAKER_02

You know why? Because they work, they work for it. You can see some of these, you know, I was in Wilmington, North Carolina last week, and uh we have some money down there, and a lot of kids there go there, they trust funders, live on the beach, and they were given this money. Doesn't make them bad people, but there's no respect for what they uh inherited. Uh people that come in with us, you know, we've got Michelin people that have worked uh 35, 40 years with the company BMW, and countless other companies and medical professionals that work with us work very, very hard 50 hours a week plus in a stressful situation. And they retire and they've accumulated their retirement accounts. How much sweat equity is in that?

SPEAKER_01

It's huge. Makes me think of an appointment that we've got coming up this week. Husband and wife have been working with them a little over two years, just had our two-year anniversary together and talk about being excited. You know, they're big proponents of doing some Roth conversions, but to optimize their portfolio specifically for income. Jim Pritchard, I know we've had Jim on a few several times on the radio, he builds all of our portfolios. He's our portfolio manager. And um, you know, the job of one of their accounts was strictly to produce as much income as possible. So we built it to forgo a little bit of that growth uh if markets are doing well, to no matter what markets are doing, produce this predictable income. And anything over and beyond that that was going to be going to the conversions, all right, we're gonna pay taxes with and actually do a conversion, you know, with a part of it. Something you just said just made me think of, you know, maximizing your dollars that you've worked for, right? Because you did work for them. You want them to work as hard as they possibly can for you. And that conversation became one because everything that they're doing right now is focused on them being able to enjoy to the fullest that they can, right? Be comfortable with you know acceptable amount of risk, right? Because we don't want to take a lot of risk, for them to be able to just maximize from an income standpoint and have us just go have as much fun, do as much of the things as they want to do over the next five to ten years.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you were just talking about the portfolio that Jim put together, and it made me think about the puzzle pieces it takes to put together a solid retirement plan. And George, I'd like for you to talk for a second, if you would, about the complimentary retirement roadmap from North Star, because that's where the puzzle pieces really start to come together.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, it's a lot of fun too. So kind of give people an idea of how we work. Somebody wants to contact us, and hey, and again, I I really like this too because people are cautious, right? And no one likes to be sold.

SPEAKER_00

No, you're right.

SPEAKER_02

People love to buy, right? This is your choice, right? Yes. And coming in here and saying if it's a good fit or such and we're very proud of how we operate. We're a successful business, we're well established, we're mature. And yes, of course, we'd like new clients and fresh people coming to help out, but we don't give the hard sell. It's none of that stuff. It's basically let's have a good first conversation. Yeah, let's address your concerns, folks, out there. Hey, this is what's on my mind. I heard this. If you're conflicting reports or opinions of certain things, you get confused. And part of that is just simplifying that, bring breaking it down, coming in, having a conversation, and we gather some information from you.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Basically retirement dates and uh your assets and where it is and tax-deferred accounts or taxable accounts, etc. And complimentary, we'll build a uh mini retirement plan for you to see what it looks like. How can anybody give advice until you gather information? Right?

SPEAKER_00

It's really nothing. It's you can't.

SPEAKER_02

And that's where you're being sold. We have to take that time, and people aren't obligated to do anything for this. We're gonna go out there and build this. And if we see an opportunity, what are we gonna do to help? I come aware of this. Yeah, this is what we can do. This is the value proposition we have, and this is how we work. Now we've got the CPA on staff, we'll make sure everything's aligned accordingly to maximize your tax savings, et cetera, et cetera. Be sure if one of you get really sick, how's that gonna play out? Do you have proper coverage? Do you have enough money to last the rest of your life? Right? Are you invested properly with what your values and goals are, right? We can find this out, and they're your second meeting. We'll present this to you. And it takes usually about an hour, hour and a half, and that's a QA session.

SPEAKER_01

So one of the things you just said about someone getting sick, um, having a plan in place. I know that you've seen this in 30 years of being in the business, but people living longer, and so many people are coming in, say in their early 60s or mid-60s, they've retired and they have a parent or both parents still alive. And just two weeks ago, we had an appointment, a client we've been working with for four or five years. She has helped to take care of her mother. Well, she needed to reschedule her appointment because her mother unfortunately fell and got hurt. So we needed to reschedule. And I think during that week, amongst a couple other appointments, I had had people mention their parents, some with a mother alive in their mid-90s, some with a father alive in their late 80s. Yeah. And I mean, I I don't think you were seeing that 30 years ago. No. So that was a concern for in a recent meeting that I had when we were evaluating if uh the husband was going to uh take a lump sum pension benefit or if they were gonna take a joint payout on the pension. We had to really look at that. But we were able to address a concern that both of them had. They said, Hey, what if you know one of us lives into our 80s or 90s like our parents? Yeah, and we have a cost of care. You need care and you don't want that burden to be on the other one. Could you imagine a a 92-year-old providing care to a 95-year-old?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, you know, it just happened my dear Aunt Loretta, who Zach had the pleasure of getting to know, lives 300 miles away in Holden Beach, North Carolina. Uh, she passed away last week, Cheryl. And we were very, very close. Um, I'm sorry to hear that. She's 91, and her older sister is still around, and she's 96.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, she's just crazy. What a light. And I remember Aunt Loretta saying she, I just didn't think I'd be around this long. Who does? And uh I kinda just want to put a little icing on the this is just a beautiful way to just tell this though, too. Uh we knew she was not doing well. We were called to get out there, and uh we drove out and got there uh the granddaughter flew down from Maine to her husband, and she got in about noon, and we got there about 1220. She went to the hospital and she was in hospice, and uh she was still cognizant and it was just amazing. We're talking to her, she's trying to talk, we really could barely hear her, but she was saying some beautiful things. And then we were around and said we were all hungry, none of us had breakfast, so we're gonna go out and grab grab some lunch and come back. We were gone less than five minutes. The nurse's station called, she goes, You need to get back. She passed away less than four or five minutes after we left. She just wanted to say goodbye.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

You know, that's beautiful. That's just a beautiful thing. The nurse said she was comfortable, it was just the way it should go. But you know, I just wanted to share that because it's just we're all gonna fly away, and she did it with dignity and uh a lot of life lessons in there too, because of I didn't think I'd be around this long.

SPEAKER_01

I think that you know, if you were to ask some of our clients' parents that are still around, yeah, they'd say that. Yeah, but people that are preparing for retirement or are in retirement, they've experienced that now. I mean, you know, I'm fortunate to still have two of my grandparents around. And uh I would bet that if you asked one of them 20 years ago, well, if you asked them now, they would say, Yeah, I didn't think I'd still be here at 90 something. Um so lucky to still have them, but they probably wouldn't have thought that either. Well, I think that we both agree that that's one of the biggest things people have to take care of, having a plan for living longer than expected or having an unexpected health expense, or later in life having an expense associated with you know needing some care in the home, or if you got to go somewhere. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, it it doesn't always go at the same pace, but if you think about the advances in medical care just in the last 30, 40, 50 years, think about down the road another 30, 40, or 50 years. So it's possible we could be looking at living to 100 regularly.

SPEAKER_02

They can't get rid of male pattern boldness.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna be living in those uh tubes like on some of those movies or something that live forever.

SPEAKER_00

Uh maybe, maybe not. I don't know. But still, you know, we are living longer than we ever have before. And so planning ahead for that, for that eventuality, is just good sense, right? So if you'd like to talk with George and the team, you know, George, you mentioned um Jim Pritchard, Zach did just a second ago, member of the team, Dow Barton, too.

SPEAKER_02

You know, healthcare Medicare person. Right.

SPEAKER_00

We haven't had those guys on in a while.

SPEAKER_02

We need to do that because they're well's traveling the globe right now, so he's inaccessible.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, okay. Well, when he gets back, yes, because he has some great information, and both those guys do, as everyone on the team at North Star does. So if you would like to reach out to the team, it's 864-671-4717. George is the founder of North Star Financial and Retirement Planning. And again, Zach Jenkins is a certified financial planner. Of course, there's Travis Smith, CPA.

SPEAKER_02

He's got his master's in accounting as well, and he's also CFS, which is a certified financial specialist.

SPEAKER_00

I knew he had some advanced degrees there.

SPEAKER_02

He's a smart guy.

SPEAKER_00

He is. So if you'd like to reach out to the North Star team, here once again is the number you can call. It's 864-671-4717. Ask about the complimentary retirement roadmap. You can also reach out at Northstar65.com. You work with a team of financial professional. Maybe a little flashback, but we wouldn't have a team. Now that you're back and grabbed, you're retired. When it comes to deciding when to retire, that's a tough decision. It can be anyway. It's more than just a date on a calendar.

SPEAKER_01

I just talked about this with uh somebody the other day. They were like, hey, are you those guys from TV? And I'm like, yeah, you know, we you know, we do like a little you never know how to respond sometimes. Like, do they like us? Um but like, yeah, you know, that's done really well for us. It and radio have. And anyway, um I asked the gentleman if he worked down at Mass General Store because he had on a Mass General Store t-shirt, but he just had on the t-shirt. But a lot of people, they like to be doing something. And I know we've got a couple points here to hit some things that are interesting, but they want to be doing something. So it might be something that had nothing to do with what they did for 40 years, but they like being active, they like being productive, maybe they like earning you know, an income. Yeah, they don't need to earn income like they did as they were saving and then. I think some people they wind up getting into it and they where where there may have been a flaw in the plan is they didn't think about how they were going to fill their time. So it takes them a little time to to search and to find you know something. Because every day's Saturday. Day if you're not going to work.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_01

We talk about my favorite subject. What's that? Me.

SPEAKER_02

Just kidding. Reality though, Cheryl, it's uh you know, we're getting on turning 65 coming up here in uh June. And it's a good question. Somebody's thinking about coming on board, uh, working with us, and they're gonna ask the question, right? How much longer are you gonna be doing this? My answer is George will be here until he dies. Probably. And the point is this I enjoy it. It's really kind of neat, folks, kind of upbragging, but it's like we choose our clients the way they choose us. We're at a position where you know, likable, coachable, ethical are three things we look from for folks we're working with, right? Because this is a long-term relationship. This is not a uh transitionary type relationship. Here you buy this and see you later, right? This is something where you're gonna hold hands together through retirement and through the good and the bad, and the markets go down, somebody gets sick, kids need help. This is life, and we have to be on the same page and have the same uh morals and values. Going out there to if we make a mistake, we own it, right? That's what you do. That that's where you want to you want to be around people like that. You don't want to be sold. You're sitting here like, listen, explain why you're recommending this product to me to help with my retirement. We will do that and we will point out the small print. Are you okay with this? This is how this company makes money off of your money. Uh this is the stipulations included. Are you okay with this portion of your money? Why do we do that? You mean you have to run the risk of people like, oh, scaring them away. You have got to do this because if you run into that thing and somebody says, You never told me about this, that's awful. That is just awful. Then all the trust is gone.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know that everyone in the process is there because they're going to make money off of something, right? Because we all need to make a living.

SPEAKER_04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

And so that just goes without saying. But sometimes in that fine print, there are things that you need to know that without understanding what that's all about, you can find yourself in a situation you didn't expect.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I can share something with you too, because this is a good illustration. And again, this is not everybody, but I see this way too often. Become more familiar. So a lot of people come in, let's say, you're degree 59 and a half. 59 and a half, again, is the time when you can go ahead and move your 401k into an IRA with without any paying any penalties. You have access to do something else besides keep it your 401k with your company. You can still contribute and do the matches, but you can move a portion of that out and have it professionally managed. Prior to that, though, most people can't do that because of that 10% penalty. It just doesn't make sense. So what we see is somebody goes, they hear it on the radio or on TV, and you're under age 59 and a half, and you go and talk to these people, and they're gonna pitch you a life insurance policy, index universal life, let's say. And because you know why? Why? That's something they can make money off of.

SPEAKER_00

Ah.

SPEAKER_02

Right? Doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best thing for them.

SPEAKER_04

No.

SPEAKER_02

And I'll get sick and tired of seeing this. People come like, what do you think? Are they putting in twelve, fifteen thousand dollars a year for 10 years with the promise of paying out a million dollars in retirement, tax-free or whatever? And those illustrations are just plain old goofy. Not seeing it. Not seeing it at all. I've never seen how that works. We're gonna see how it works. And uh uh we run into too much. So this is something you need to be aware of. And this is a really good for me a red flag. Now I'm not here just destroying everybody that has one of these, but this is just something I see way too often, and it just smells of somebody selling a product to that person, as opposed to hey, you're in good shape right now. Uh let's revisit this in a year and a half, two years, one year fifty-nine and a half, right? Mm-hmm. You just had one. You had a call for four years ago.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he just uh turned 59 and a half.

SPEAKER_02

So he just turned 59 and he called us.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, called us back. That was like four years ago, wasn't it? Yeah. It was either 20, 20, or 21. Yeah. Something like that.

SPEAKER_00

How great does that make you feel that you were on that list to call as soon as he turned 59 and a half?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think he said he had been listening to us on the radio, or that's how I originally heard of us. So I guess they're still saying some good stuff.

SPEAKER_02

You know what? I gotta get this is kind of funny. If you're listening to us, I don't know if you see us on TV, but we're we do a couple of different little programs and such. And we were out for dinner with our friend uh Jim and Deb, and uh we're at DeMarco's um downtown, and uh they're real good friends of ours, and uh the waiter comes over. He's Jim and the waiter actually went to school together. He's an older gentleman, he's a really good guy, the the waiter, and uh he goes, Man, I know you're from somewhere. And I'm like, Well, did you work in another restaurant? You guys worked over here. He goes, No, that's not it. He comes back over. You're the guy on TV, right? I'm going, and I said, Yeah. He goes, Well, why do you tell me? I said, You know how dumb that would look? Hey, maybe you've seen me on TV.

SPEAKER_01

You should wear uh you know those pompous full you know how you have those products that are advertised on TV and you go in the store and it'd have the little uh it'd essay like on this little label down there as seen on TV. You should have a show. There used to be a store in the mall I seen on a TV store. Yeah, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, I haven't been to the mall since before COVID. Or a movie.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's too funny.

SPEAKER_00

You're not alone.

SPEAKER_02

But anyway, it's kind of cute.

SPEAKER_00

Are you that guy on TV? So we were talking about the decision to retire and some of the things that you maybe you should be considering before you just say, okay, 62, 65, 67, 70, whatever, you've picked a year, a day, a month, but are you really ready? And if you enjoy work, and that's what we were talking about, if work really stimulates you, if that's something you like, the social interaction, then maybe you'd work part-time. You don't retire completely. Or what about if you're not excited about anything specific in retirement?

SPEAKER_02

I think what you're saying, it's unclear. It's unclear, yes, exactly. What am I going to do with myself? Do I have enough money? What should I know about? You go to this retirement still like people retire once and then retire again. Oh, I know everything. You can go through this, and it's a little bit, you know, people get a little nervous with this because you're afraid of getting blindsided. That's why a lot of people listen to these programs. They want to learn. Right? We try to bring some some stories, some illustrations of what people have done right. And something sometimes people have said, hey George, I did this, and tell your clients not to do the same thing I did. You know, that's why we bring up some of these stories, like I just brought up with the insurance product. Just understand before you buy. And going through this awareness side of it, it's uh I call it doing the heavy lifting in the beginning when we work with new clients. Uh, we sp spend a considerable amount of time going over to check for understandings, which basically see how this works and how it would be of value to you. If it's not quite there, we're gonna go back over it. Why do we do that?

SPEAKER_00

Well, clarity is very important to understanding where you are and where you're going to be.

SPEAKER_02

I know this. When I've done that myself over the years, not quite sure, but I'll go ahead and do it anyway. It usually doesn't work out very well. It's not what I thought it was. And then you have feelings of uh remorse. Right? You don't want to do that, so we want to go over this. A lot of times we'll have a husband and wife in there, one might be the one who handles the finances, and the other one's just not their especially their cup of tea. But we have to make sure both individuals understand at least the concept of what this does. And that's why you do reviews, by the way. It's funny because people come in and you'll say uh come back a year later and go over something. Let's review what we did this for a year or two ago. And they go, Thank you, I forgot all about this thing, right? They might forget why they did. Exactly. And then you hear something out there and it runs contrary, it puts a little birdie in your head, and you're like, Oh, I hope that's not me. You know, we always want the relationship where if you're not sure or something keeps you up at night, you better call us. We'll see you the next day because we want to make sure you're sleeping better.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, isn't that the value, part of the value of working with a financial advisor, someone who's really truly a partner?

SPEAKER_02

Well, you know, the the market's just getting all nervous with the Iran stuff and uh this whole Middle East thing and the oil prices. I was driving, I couldn't believe it. It's coming back from Wilmington. I saw the diesel is over five dollars a gallon. Wow. Yeah. And I was like, ugh, that's a that's just shot. I don't have diesel in my car, but I just I saw five. I go, holy cow, that's just something else. You know, how's that gonna reflect on the trucking industry? Right, shipping. Just all it starts coming into play, and that's something we can depend on is is the unknown changes, right? Just knowing something's gonna change on are you ready for it.

SPEAKER_00

We can depend on things not being the same. Things will change.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

So be prepared for the unexpected. That's what I always say. Be prepared for what you don't know. And it doesn't really make sense at first, but then you think about it and it's like, yeah, you do kind of have to be prepared for a shifting landscape. Things are always moving around. And so if you are just getting started on your retirement planning, this could be a great time to call North Star financial and retirement planning and start putting together that complementary retirement roadmap. But if you've already retired, why not get a second opinion? Let's take a look at what you have going on. And I'm gonna say right at the top that if George and Zach and Travis and the rest of the team take a look at your plan and it's a good one and they think you're right on target, they're gonna tell you that, right, George?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

So if you'd like to get started, call us, 864-671-4717. 864-671-4717. That's for North Star Financial and Retirement Planning. You can also reach out at Northstar65. You know, Greenville is a great place to live and retire. The North Star team is here to help you make the most of your retirement savings and live the retirement life you've been waiting for right here in the up to date. Reach out to North Star Financial and Retirement Planning, 864-671-4717 or online at Northstar65.com. Now back to Stop Worrying, you're retired. Welcome to the weekend and stop worrying, you're retired. With the team from North Star Financial and Retirement Planning, there was a new national survey released. It was the Peter G. Peterson Foundation survey, and it found that 92% of registered voters say they're concerned that the national debt is fueling inflation and driving up their personal cost of living.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, we haven't had uh debt like this since uh World War II when we're paying for a world war. That's just what we were doing, manufacturing. Obviously, we have something going on in um Iran right now, but for the most part, it's just because of our spending habits. And that you got the credit card and you're at the mall and go go go at it. And uh that's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and then you'll regret it when you see how you know much interest you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02

Well, again, you know, some people can walk away from that. It is like okay, I'm just gonna file a bankruptcy. You can't do that as a government. Well, let's just eat it, and it just becomes you print more money, what happens with that? Leads to inflation, right? Right? The value of the dollar is less. Yeah. Things start going up, which which is what we're seeing.

SPEAKER_01

You get all this data, right? And of course, people out there want to know, hey, how does this affect me? You hear all these numbers thrown around, like we can comprehend, you know, what a trillion or thirty trillion dollars even is. You know, if you were to stack up one dollar bills, 30 trillion of them, how many times would you be able to go to the moon? You know, right? You're talking about uh, you know, a lot of money. But you know, one of the things that I caught last week that I thought was interesting is this is based on the end of 2025, but there's over $70 trillion in assets out there, non-financial corporate assets, right? So we're talking about you know, people, small businesses, stuff like that. Well, the debt, proportionately speaking, is actually less than it was pre-COVID. Yet our national debt is higher than it's ever been. But what I took away from that is just what we hear all the time about how people have to say, okay, well, how does this affect me and paying attention to your own personal economy, right? Because you ever heard that say in the rich get richer? Sure. Well, of all of those new assets that have been accumulated, how much of those assets are in the hands of, say, the top 1% or the top 3%? A lot of them. And that affects people more than just all these numbers being thrown around. It is, you know, this conversation about inflation and how would I combat that or address that in my household?

SPEAKER_02

Well, yeah, I think what you're looking at too, it's uh tying in with what Zach said. They call it the K-shaped economy.

SPEAKER_04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02

Just visualize the letter K. And basically it's showing where we're going economically. Economy's still strong. Unfortunately, it's carried by the top 10%. Yeah. It's not good, by the way. So one's going up, letter K, off the side of it, right? And then the other part, the bigger side of the going down, which is basically us, right? And uh it's not healthy at all.

SPEAKER_01

I guess another way to say that would be the asset increase that we see is in the hands of uh that upwards part, that shape of the K, and then the debt increase part, even though it's far less than a dollar amount, and proportionately speaking, the increase on that is in that bottom part of the K, right? So it's like the people that are spending the money, they're also not just carrying that load of fueling the economy, but they're also carrying the burden of paying the taxes, right? Income tax, sales tax, just all that kind of stuff. So it's it's a lot of moving parts out there.

SPEAKER_02

I do want to mention this as well, because solutions, right? We could talk about you know, just get get you depressed on a Saturday morning. We're just talking about this. But some options out there. Uh, we were at both at conferences. I I was out in Chicago for a couple of days last week attending a uh a forum. It was uh one of our portfolio managers, they manage about $300 billion. Uh company's been around since the 1860s, it's pretty well established. A lot of smart people in the room. And talk about gold. And we were talking about different asset classes, you know, real estate and gold and investments, of course, and bonds. And uh, you know, the cost of gold currently per ounce. I'm just it fluctuates, but you know, we're around 4,700 an ounce, right? And it's just skyrocketed. Why is that?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm gonna tell you that some people hear it's a great hedge for inflation, so it might create demand. That's the big one, right? The other would be maybe concerns about the economy. I mean, this kind of ties into inflation, but maybe concerns about the economy, they feel like it's a safe haven.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it is. Uh, and that's more geopolitical risk. So, you know, gold is more macroeconomics, which is it takes into account the bigger things, what with what's going on in the world right now. Like very broad, right? Very broad. Currency strength is a big one too, which ties in with inflation. These are the the big three uh when you're dealing with it. So that usually tells you is it a good time to buy? Now, folks already, I'm sure, own gold that are listening. Other people say, Should I buy more? Okay, we're not here to tell you, give you advice on that, but from a macro environment, the signs are there because there's a lot of inflation. There's currency strength is at risk, geopolitical risk is real. Another thing you might want to look into is the gold mining, not just physical gold. You own physical gold, and there's not paying any dividends or rights, really nothing to show for it besides hoping somebody's gonna pay more for it.

SPEAKER_00

But there's some comfort in knowing that you have something physical.

SPEAKER_02

Well, some people like that. Absolutely. You know, a lot of times you need to insure it, things like that. So it's kind of put its somewhat of a drag on there.

SPEAKER_00

Part of the issue here is when people become concerned about inflation and how long their money's going to last and will it be enough, is that they want to leave something behind. About eighty-four trillion dollars is expected to be passed along over the next few decades if we're able to keep numbers where they are right now.

SPEAKER_02

How come I don't see any of this?

SPEAKER_00

You don't see it? No. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01

I've got anything. You looking for your rich relative? Yeah. No phone calls, no emails. Not gonna happen. Disappointing.

SPEAKER_00

No, I haven't either. But apparently there is a lot of wealth out there, and they're passing it along, starting to the wealthiest families. So financial planning for those transferring wealth is part of the equation, and and you guys work with folks who are doing that, planning to pass wealth along.

SPEAKER_01

Right, correct.

SPEAKER_00

But what about those who are inheriting that wealth?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think that the word wealth or you know rich, that's all, you know, relative to the holder, right? It's all relative.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, there's some crazy statistic out there that by the second generation, right? So two generations after that wealth has been earned, that it's basically gone. There's something crazy statistically.

SPEAKER_00

That's fast.

SPEAKER_01

They say there's no shorter relationship than a fool and their money. Yeah, no shorter relationship than between a fool and his money. And how about what we're hearing from people? It's very rare, but sometimes people come to us and say, Hey, I have some concerns about, you know, maybe it's one of their children. All right, and this person might be 50 years old at that point. So we're talking to their parents, they could be in their 70s, but they have concerns about you know them inheriting money, or they have concerns about grandkids or something like that. Inheriting a lot of money. And first and foremost, I think that's important, you know, to address. There are people out there with these concerns. And the other is I think people have to say, Well, I didn't earn all this, it was given to me. I mean, what a gift, right? But maybe understanding where that came from.

SPEAKER_02

I think the importance of that too is parents who have the money. Like I said, you're looking at this, and I'll use an example, folks. Years and years ago, a gentleman came in well dressed, and you could see something's a little little wrong with him, maybe a little bit slower with the ability. Nice man, though, we're a real gentleman. But he came in with the trust, and he goes, I'm trying to access my money, can you take a look at this? And we'll found out his mother had passed away, his father, uh, who was last to pass, put a uh deferred annuity inside the trust, and uh, let's say it was for $250,000, and which is basically a pension. His dad made a pension for him, and at age 65, that pension was to start and to give him an income he could not outlive in a monthly check coming in. Pretty cool, huh? Yes. Because if he didn't do this, this is what the man was trying to accomplish. He wanted to access that money, he wanted to get his hands on that. Yeah. Right? And what happened to Zach? Good chance he would have spent somebody would have taken some somehow quickly it would have been it would have been gone. And this uh the dad was astute enough uh to go ahead and prepare for this. And my goodness, what a wonderful thing for dad to have the acumen to go ahead and do that.

SPEAKER_01

Financial education, and you wouldn't believe it. I mean, how many people out there who have worked really hard, they have accrued, you know, a bunch of assets, but they didn't teach their kids like some of these rules. That's like my biggest concern is like you see people who worked really hard and then they don't know, I guess, about those practices or what those rules are, and that's when you see you know it leave families.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's really good with wealth transfer to have a sit down. This is really where it's super important to talk to somebody professional, uh, legally and financially, to say this is probably what they're gonna be getting, and this is probably what we think is gonna happen. One of the biggest things you see, right, I over the years is somebody might get this inheritance, let's say they inherit the 401k or IRA from mom and dad, and they cash it out, and they take $300,000 and they cash it out all at once to pay off a home.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well that makes sense in a way.

SPEAKER_02

Whoop.

SPEAKER_00

In a way, I can understand the thinking.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. All at once.

SPEAKER_00

But $300,000.

SPEAKER_02

How much is that gonna go to the uh highest tax bracket, right? Yep. So maybe do it over five years, keep your tax bracket in line, yeah, as opposed to all at once. Do the math. A lot of times, too. You can accelerate the payments, have your money go to work for you, pay it off quicker, and guess what? Your house is paid off and you still have what you inherited.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

See, that's why you want to talk with a professional, someone who understands how much.

SPEAKER_02

And the good news is somebody has the right intent is to pay off their debt. Yeah, right? And that's great. We're all about that. But there's that way and there's the better way.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I guess another way to put that is if you needed $300,000 to pay off the mortgage, and you think, oh, it's just gonna cost me $300,000, mortgage gone, you might actually need to take out $360,000. So paying it off because you've got those taxes to pay, it's not a $300,000 mortgage, it's $360,000. $360,000 is a good way to look at it.

SPEAKER_02

We're all gonna fly away at some point, right? Think around it. Yeah, kids are gonna inherit stuff, can't help it. That's gonna be the way it works. Give it to charity, whatever. Also, if you have a son or daughter-in-law you don't really care for. Uh most seriously. Okay, it's not. I know, I know. We see it all the time. Yeah, and they say it's just I cringe thinking they're gonna get this money.

SPEAKER_03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. I mean, folks, I I have these conversations, uh, and it's uh real.

SPEAKER_00

That was a nervous laugh.

SPEAKER_02

As long as that is not said about me. Yeah, right. And again, they just see they're gonna take all this money and spend it on whatever. And uh, you know, it's say the daughter is sweet, she's caring, but she's kind of passive. Um, the son-in-law kind of runs the show, and once he gets his hands on this money, it's gonna be poof, you know, do what he wants to do with it. And it upsets people. That's where trusts come into play. Like the trust the bad guy. It dictates the the terms beyond your grave, and these come in handy. So people come in there and say, Hey, do I need a trust or not? Let's let's have the conversation and within five minutes we can identify if you're a candidate for a trust. Most cases you don't need it. Sometimes they're absolutely paramount you get one.

SPEAKER_00

Well, if someone would like to speak with you about any of this, about starting a retirement plan and making sure that they have something to leave behind and planning for that all along the way, you'd be happy to meet with them. You have a complimentary retirement roadmap. We can set that up if someone wants to give us a call right now.

SPEAKER_02

Oh absolutely. And it was funny, we had a um a woman calling uh last weekend and uh she did say you did say complimentary, right? Well we mean it folks. So uh it's just the opportunity to help and uh we'll take it from there.

SPEAKER_01

Does that does that mean that we just tell them good job if they're in a good shape? Hey, let me compliment you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I like that. So uh seriously, it's a uh taking the time and seeing if we can help people, that's great. And uh we'll show you what we do and how we can help. And if we bring value, great. It's up to you what you want to do next. At the very least, we tell people if you're in good shape or you know, whatever, just don't keep us a secret. Tell your friends and family. That's all we ask.

SPEAKER_00

Well, here's the number you can call to connect with the team, which does include George Fossing, of course, he's the founder, and Zach Jenkins is a certified financial planner. The number is 864-671-4717. Welcome to the weekend, and thank you for tuning in to stop worrying. You're retired. If you have questions about any of the topics on today's show, give us a call, 864-671-4717, or reach out at Northstar65.com. You know, a lot of people these days are asking AI, ChatGPT, I think, is one of the go-to's for advice or at least information. And recently, ChatGPT was asked, when should you file for Social Security to get the most money? Well, not surprisingly, the answer isn't definitive because there are many things you need to ask yourself.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I don't want ChatGPT to know what we would say when people say it to us because then Chat GPT would tell people.

SPEAKER_00

But they need to ask you, and because there are so many variables.

SPEAKER_01

I I think that some of the biggest variables are uh come to my mind. One would be, okay, well, how's your health? You know, what's longevity look like in your family? Are you married? You know, if you got a spouse, go ahead and do that.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'll challenge you on that too, because if you put that into Chat GPT, what do you think it would say? It would tell you what we're saying. You know, if I've got six months to live, should I take social security now or should I wait? Yeah, it's always gonna give you a few ideas and my challenge is I just want to be like that. Uh yeah, so I'm not being obnoxious, but basically you put that parameter in there. But the whole big thing I think that AI can't do is read the room, looking at the spouse and being nervous or or whatever, right, and seeing what's going on out there. A lot of times we can see that and they're concerned about the solvency of Social Security, right? Is it gonna be enough? What changes the government might make to it? True, right? A lot of different variables in there. I've said it for years. When to take social security is a very personal decision. We don't feel there's a right or wrong, what you feel is best. We're simply here to show you the math and maybe give you an example or two of what we've seen in the past. Uh to share, well, based on your situation, we've seen this and this is how it's played out. And again, we're not telling you what to do, but it's like a coach, if you do this, this is probably the outcome. But what once you're on the field, you do what you basically want to do. If you feel need to cut instead of something else, that's up to you. There's freedom in there. And I think social security, that's a big deal, isn't it, Zach? Zach's helped a lot of people answer that question, and there has been no regrets. Oh, sure. This one you did have was recent where somebody the the circumstances changed and they went back and stopped Social Security.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. We had planned out their retirement dates, husband and wife, within probably 30 days of each other, something like that. And because of the health care subsidies, the extended uh subsidies not being extended, it changed our income approach. So um they were gonna go ahead and activate Social Security for her, and uh she decided to unwind it, meaning that she filled out a form to say, okay, I applied for my social security to receive my benefit, um, but we needed to stay under a certain income threshold. So we decided we were gonna take distributions from somewhere else, and she undid the Social Security is what I'll say. That's what I'll call it. So filled out a form, paid back the one payment that she got from Social Security so that it won't be reported as income, and it's like it never happened. That was a surprise. So I've done it two times since then, George. I've helped someone unwind their social security. Interestingly enough, all three occasions have been due to reducing uh the amount of modified adjusted gross income they're gonna have this year to stay under a certain threshold so that they're not paying two thousand dollars a month for their health insurance. It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02

Real quick, one thing we've seen is people go to their neighbor and ask for advice. That's okay. Yeah, you can't get enough information, but be cautious. Yeah, we've seen over in the past could be completely different.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

They're objective. Oh, you don't want to wait, you need to get your hands on your money now, right? Is there validity to that? Sure. Sure. Okay. Does it make sense? Maybe not.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and the thing that I like to say is you know, numbers don't lie. Yeah, you plug it in there, you know, we've got sources of income, the amount of money someone says that they want to spend, we plug in their assets, and we tell people, hey, these are the variables we're using. We're gonna use higher than expected inflation, right? Let's inflate your expenses by 10 or 15%, right? Let's show you spending more money you think you're gonna spend. Let's use a lower than expected rate of return. Those are you know a few of the variables that we want to look at. And then we can plug in, build different scenarios of all right, well, what does it look like if you activate Social Security at 64 instead of waiting until 67? What's it look like if you wait to 70 instead of 64 or 67? Or what's it look like is 62? We can build all those scenarios out for someone and they can see how it would affect the trajectory.

SPEAKER_02

You know what I feel too? Sometimes Zach is what people hesitate to call an answer of an opinion or advice or the numbers because they're afraid we're gonna say it makes sense for you to wait till 70. And they don't want to. Don't be. Okay, we're not here to tell it, but we don't care.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we really don't. I've had somebody come in before and say, Yeah, I met with somebody else and uh before meeting with you guys, and they were just gung-ho about me waiting until 70. Well, why? Yeah, you know, there should be a good reason, like why would you do one thing over another, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

864-671-4717 is the number. You can also reach out at Northstar65.com. But if you have a sec right now to give us a call, we can go ahead and arrange that time for you to come in. Meet Daisy, George, Zach, and the entire team at North Star Financial and Retirement Planning. 864-671-4717. 864-671-4717 for North Star Financial and Retirement Planning.

SPEAKER_03

You'd think the people would have had enough a silly love song. Some people want to feel the way with silly love songs. And what's wrong with that? I like to know.

SPEAKER_00

Advisory services offered through Delta Investment Management LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed insurance and annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered through Delta Investment Management LLC.