Speaker 2:
Saving for retirement is a great start, but it\’s what you do with this money that really matters. What\’s your strategy to reduce taxes, generate income in retirement, reduce your risk and get even more from Social Security? This is where you can count on straightforward and objective advice about how you can make your money go a lot further in retirement. Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show. Now, here are your hosts, David, Karen and Bret, along with Joe Krause.

Joe Krause:
It happens to millions of Americans every year they overlook or underestimate a major expense in retirement, and in many cases, it\’s too late to do anything about it. Now they\’re forced to make a tough decision, severely cut back on their lifestyle in retirement, or start looking for a job. Welcome in, everyone, to Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show, as we come to you on Talk Radio 1210, WPHT. David, I come right to you. We\’ve spent so many times, or so many shows, touching on the topics of today\’s conversation. Going to be a really, really good show.

David Bezar:
Yeah. I mean, according the Motley Fool, all it takes is one major life shattering event in retirement to actually drain your retirement budget. Your healthcare takes a turn for the worst, you have to pick up a big expense for a child or a parent, or higher than expected taxes. I mean, they\’re eating away at your IRA, your 401K. Whatever it is, any unexpected or overlooked expense at this stage of the game could really have grave financial consequences to your retirement.

David Bezar:
Coming up on today\’s show, six often overlooked expenses in retirement that could really decimate your savings, including why your taxes could be much higher in retirement than you think, what you should really budget for health care and long term care in retirement, plus, what Business Insider is calling one of the biggest threats to an investor\’s nest egg right now. Karen\’s going to get started with expense number one, which is an onslaught of unexpected taxes.

Karen Bezar:
Right. Again, one of the biggest expenses you\’ll face in retirement, believe it or not, will likely be your taxes. If you\’re not careful, taxes will definitely take a huge chunk out of your savings, and it\’s going to be taxes on IRA, 401K, things that you haven\’t paid income tax yet, and investments such as that. Also, your Social Security check benefits will be taxed and investment income. Even if you\’ve paid taxes on it, your investment income still gets taxed when you make gains.

Karen Bezar:
Remember, here\’s just a thought, if you need a million dollars in retirement to live off of, that means you need to save more money, if you haven\’t done any tax planning at this point, to prevent taxes. One of the fastest and safest ways that can help you grow your wealth right now, especially now with this crazy stock market, isn\’t what you think. It\’s actually by reducing your taxes. Again, most people remember, or, excuse me, they know how much they\’ve saved for retirement.

Karen Bezar:
If we sit down with someone, and they ask them that question, they have an idea of what they have saved for retirement, but then if we ask them what you\’re going to pay in taxes on that money, that\’s when they give us that look, like you do not have a clue. Just remember, Social Security check\’s taxed. Up to 85% of your Social Security check\’s taxed, pension taxed, everything like that. Bret, wouldn\’t you agree that\’s definitely something that surprises people when we chat with them?

Bret Elam:
Yeah, absolutely, Karen. We\’re used to seeing that deer in the headlight look, like, \”My gosh, I\’m going to be paying taxes on it all over again.\” Here\’s actually a recent article from the Barron\’s, and I just want to read this one. \”Remember that taxes matter a lot and we\’re going to talk about income. Not all income is equal. Where and how you hold your assets can mean the difference between being somewhat well off and obscenely rich.

Bret Elam:
Those with little or no wealth generate a lot of taxable income, while those who end up financially independent generate a large, unrealized,\” that means no taxes, \”unrealized gains in the form of real estate appreciation, your house goes up in value, unrealized capital gains, profits made through tax advantaged or tax free accounts again, with IRAs and 401Ks, but here\’s the problem. It\’s that darn IRS code again. Who can navigate it?\”

Bret Elam:
I don\’t know if anyone\’s ever gone to irs.gov. It\’s hard to navigate. It\’s couple inches thick. How do I navigate that maze of retirement taxes, again, 300 plus pages? If we don\’t navigate it right, you could have penalties in upwards of 50%, especially if you do not navigate your required minimum distributions. Then we start talking about the average person. Let\’s just say you\’ve saved a million dollars for retirement. All these little hidden taxes? That can be over $61,000. Again, another expense, it\’s that tax over that course of retirement. Let\’s talk about… David will tell us why it happens, year in and year out.

David Bezar:
Yeah, I mean, it\’s simple. Most Americans prepare and file their taxes every year with their accountant or CPA. When you do that, you\’re really just reporting history. I mean, if you want to save a lot of money in taxes in retirement, you need to look forward, not backwards. This is called tax planning, and this is how we help our clients keep their hard earned money in their pocket.

David Bezar:
According to Investopedia, right, this year in March, tax planning is the analysis of finances from a tax perspective, with the purpose of ensuring maximum tax efficiency. Considerations of tax planning include timing of income, size, timing of purchases, and planning for expenditures. I mean, tax planning strategies can include saving for retirement in an IRA, or engaging in, what they call, a tax gain lost harvesting strategy. Again, Joe, like you said, everybody, every show, right, we talk about tax prep versus tax plan.

Karen Bezar:
Exactly. A story that we tell ourselves, right, is conventional wisdom is save, save, save in tax deferred accounts because when you retire, taxes are going to be lower, but we find this to be wishful thinking at best, and your taxes could actually be higher when you retire. Bret, I know-

Bret Elam:
We see it all the time.

Karen Bezar:
… for example, you\’ve seen this.

Bret Elam:
Yeah. I mean, you get people retire, they have two pensions, two Social Security\’s. Now they have to take the required minimum distributions. It\’s \”Houston, we have a problem.\” Again, we see those taxes, and again, when we know what\’s going on in the economy, devastating effects of Social Security, Medicare. Again, Forbes, talking about taxes, doubling over the next 10 years, could be as high as 46%. Again, now with the devastation of Social Security and Medicare, and we\’re now $26 and a half trillion dollars in debt. What can we do?

David Bezar:
Yeah, I mean, typically, the challenge is that financial advisors, they focus on investment planning, and they fail to bring taxes, which is a critical aspect of retirement income planning. They don\’t take that into consideration. We\’ve seen people where, due to planning situations, they could literally save hundreds or thousands of dollars in retirement. I mean, that\’s a huge deal.

Karen Bezar:
Yeah. Do you have an IRA or a 401K? I know you want to think of this as being your money, but it really is a joint account between you and the IRS. Your retirement savings could end up being a fraction of what they are today, unless you take advantage of some defensive tax planning strategies right now. The good news is, there are ways you could dramatically reduce or eliminate the taxes on your retirement accounts. I want to show you what these are with a free customized retirement analysis. This free analysis will show you the defensive tax planning strategies that could help you save tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, with your IRA, 401k, pension and other deferred retirement accounts.

Karen Bezar:
Some advisors may charge thousands of dollars for a customized analysis like this, but today, we\’re going to cover 100% of the cost just for the listeners who call us today. If you\’ve saved at least $250,000, call to schedule this free analysis now at 215-987-2430. If you are serious about saving taxes with your IRA or 401K, don\’t wait call right now, because we only have a handful of slots for these appointments every week, and our calendars fill quickly. Learn how you could save a fortune in taxes with a free retirement tax analysis. Again, the number is 215-987-2430.

Joe Krause:
All right, great job and a good opening segment here on Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show, and it is so true about planning for taxes. That\’s something all of us need to get a handle on. As we get ready to go into our first commercial break, how much should you plan on spending on healthcare or long term care in retirement? I don\’t know if we\’ll ever know the answer. We have the latest projections. It\’s not pretty. We\’ll tell you what they are when we come back.

Joe Krause:
If you get hit with an unexpected expense when you\’re still working, chances are you\’ll recover. You\’re still getting a paycheck. Everything will be okay, but if you get blindsided with a big expense when you\’re retired, well, my friends that\’s a totally different story. It could force you back to work or put a serious dent in your lifestyle in retirement. Welcome back, everyone, to Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show. Thank you so much for tuning in as we broadcast to you on Talk Radio 1210, WPHT. Bret, all yours, sir.

Bret Elam:
Coming up in this segment, we\’re going to talk about how much you really need to budget for healthcare, and long term care and retirement, and the latest projections. They\’re not pretty. Again, why living longer is going to become an expensive habit. Kicking off with expense number two, it\’s a quick turn it back over to Karen, talking about healthcare and long term care.

Karen Bezar:
Right, expense number two. Excuse me, I had a frog in my throat. The skyrocketing cost of healthcare and long term care. This is a common concern we hear daily when people are approaching retirement or in retirement. It\’s a legitimate concern. Unexpected medical bills are a major concern. Prescription drugs are a major issue. They\’re very expensive, especially for chronically ill. Older people usually have greater healthcare needs and may require frequent treatment for a number of different health related issues. When you\’re looking at retirement and planning for retirement, what you really need to take into account is what healthcare is going to cost you.

Karen Bezar:
Sadly, if you\’re not taking that into account, it could definitely have dire consequences on your retirement nest egg. If you\’re a couple, it\’s something that you really have to plan for, because remember, there\’s two of you and chances are somebody\’s going to need some type of extended healthcare. There was actually a research done by Employee Benefit Research, and the institute analyzed how much out of pocket spending would add up to for healthcare costs in retirement, including spending on Medicare premiums and prescription drugs, right? We have to remember, you have healthcare premiums, you have your supplement, and then out of pocket costs.

Karen Bezar:
What they found for 2020 is a 65-year-old man would need at least $130,000 saved to have 90% chance of having enough money saved in retirement without eating into their other savings. A 65-year-old woman would need $146,000 put aside for medical expenses, and a senior couple would need $325,000 set aside so that they\’re not surprised by any unexpected costs. Then don\’t even get me started with long term healthcare. Right, Bret? That\’s definitely something that is an expense, and it\’s a concern for people if they can\’t afford it or don\’t have it.

Bret Elam:
Yeah, I mean, let\’s think about that. Think about the numbers that Karen just shared, along with the fact that people are living longer and longer. Think about this stat. If you have a couple aged 65, 50, there\’s a 50% chance that at least one will make it to the age of 92, and a 25% chance that one will make it to the age of 96. That\’s a long time. Think about these staggering numbers, the hundreds of thousands of numbers that Karen just shared, that 70% of people will need to go on claim at some point in time. Here\’s the solution that we hear people say all the time, \”I\’m just going to self-insure.\” Or you know what?

Bret Elam:
\”My house. I\’m going to use my house, inevitably, when I get to retirement. Just spend my assets. What? That\’s not going to happen to me,\” but let me tell you what\’s real life stories, is you get people having to go, think about this, 10 to $15,000 a month. Karen just shared some of those numbers. Again, $150,000 a year. Again, she talked about average numbers. We\’re talking about here in the greater Delaware Valley, things are expensive. Things are very expensive that are out there. Especially think about if you have come down with dementia, which is probably as bad as it gets going into a facility or having to have people come into a home, it could be three, seven, we\’ve even met people, 10 years.

Bret Elam:
I want you to think about that. Could that potentially happen to me? Am I just going to self-insure and wing it? Now, most people get… Let me tell you, when most people get serious about the topic is when you have a loved one that\’s gone through it for the first time, and you saw the devastating effect to the finances that occur. Now, here\’s the good news. There\’s some solutions out there that give people peace of mind, because people out there get agitated. They get aggravated with traditional long term care insurance, but there\’s alternatives out there. Let me share a real life example.

Bret Elam:
Let\’s think about it. Your retirement and you\’re 65 years old. You have some conservative, low interest bearing, we\’ll call it \’idle cash\’. Again, you\’re listening to the show right now saying, \”How come the interest rates on my savings accounts are so low?\” How can I best utilize these dollars? I\’m going to share… here\’s the example, $100,000, instead of being in the left pocket, we\’re going to put it into the right pocket. Here\’s what comes with it. Here\’s the very first thing, and again, remember, we\’re talking about long term care, healthcare. What happens? I lived too long and the longer I live, the more likely it\’s going to happen to me, all of a sudden, so here we go.

Bret Elam:
Here\’s the guarantees that come with that, 65-year-old, I\’m going to use a female in this example, $100,000. Here\’s your guarantee number one. If you change your mind at any point in time down the road, just say, \”I want to get my money back.\” You can get your money back anytime after five years, and you\’re going to get back $100,000, exactly what you put in. Now, here\’s number two, and why a lot of people don\’t like traditional long term care. What happens if I die in my sleep? Well, this takes away from that as well, because there\’s only two certainties in life, death and taxes.

Bret Elam:
When we talk about, we know someone is going to pass away, meaning that you\’re going to have a benefit from it at some point in time, whether I want to get my money back after five years, or if I die in my sleep, I get $144,000. What would you have to put your money into a savings account or a CD to turn $100,000 into $144,000? Now, here\’s the best one, because we love to say this word, \’tax free\’. That $144,000 is tax free. Now, okay, well, maybe I could do better than that. That\’s not necessarily a big deal, but why are we looking at a solution like this?

Bret Elam:
Again, I\’ve saved my money, I\’m self insured, but instead of keeping that money in a savings account, earning not a lot of interest, what you have the ability to do is take that $100,000 and turn it into a $432,000 long term care benefit. The word we like to use there is called leverage. It\’s all about, how can I take $1 and you turn it into $4.3 from a long term care perspective, it\’s a six year benefit of $6,000. Again, whether I want to get my money back into the future, whether I\’m going to pass away and I never used a benefit, or I have to go on claim, and here\’s what\’s great, not only going to a facility, like Karen was talking about how much those cost, but it could be I just want to be taken care of at home. You have the flexibility.

Bret Elam:
Then it also offers this difference, and if you have some familiarity with long term care, the difference between indemnity and reimbursement, policies like this, the solution that I\’m sharing with you, share something that\’s called indemnity, which means it has a lot more flexibility when we start talking about all those different puzzle pieces. Again, how can we put something in place that, for 70% of Americans, is going to cost us well over six figures of something we need to plan for. When we ask people time and time again, have you planned this for retirement? The answer is no, but again, just because we say no and we\’re going to self insure doesn\’t mean the problem necessarily goes away.

Bret Elam:
Now, I just said it. Interest rates, that idle cash, they\’re almost near all time lows. In fact, according to Barron\’s the Fed came out, they said, interest rates are going to be darn near zero through tax year 2022. This makes generating income virtually impossible from traditional sources like CDs and savings accounts. This forces many people to take on more risk by investing in the stock market. That can just be a downright dangerous game if you\’re nearing retirement. Now, the good news is, there are some surprisingly attractive options for generating income, that you may not even know that exist.

Bret Elam:
I want to share with you exactly what those options are with our retirement income analysis. The analysis doesn\’t cost you a dime and there\’s no obligation at all. If you\’re the person who wants to make your money work, but you can\’t afford to take the risk, this is absolutely right up your alley. Now, if you\’ve saved at least $250,000, call us at 215-987-2430. Our staff only sets aside a handful of slots for these appointments, and they fill up very quickly from the show. Don\’t wait. The number again is 215-987-2430. That\’s 215-987-2430.

David Bezar:
Joe, I know we\’ve been talking a lot about six things that are detrimental. But I just wanted to go off course, because I want to share with our folks that are listening, we\’ve got a very, very, very important webinar that we\’re going to be doing this coming Thursday. It\’s actually going to air at 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM.

Joe Krause:
Wow, great.

David Bezar:
Yeah. How much money you have saved in your IRA or 401K is important. I know you want to think about that money as yours, but it\’s really a joint account between you and the IRS. Your retirement savings could end up being a fraction of what you thought it was going to be. If you don\’t take some defensive tax strategies, it could really have a detrimental impact. Again, this webinar is going to be this coming Thursday, which I think is the-

Joe Krause:
16th.

David Bezar:
… 16th 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 7:00 PM. It\’s free. It\’s 20 minutes. We\’re going to get a lot of information out in 20 minutes.

David Bezar:
To register for that you go to and I want to make sure people know that you have to put the www in, so it\’s www.meetthrive.com, www.meetthrive.com. Remember, what you\’re going to get out of this seminar, it\’s not what you make, it\’s what you end up keeping. I\’d really encourage people to register for this free educational workshop.

Joe Krause:
It\’s 20 minutes. It\’s consolidated time that you\’re going to learn a lot in 20 minutes, good stuff, well said great job, great segment. Bret as we get to a commercial break here on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, there\’s a cost most of Americans fail to account for when they retire. According to Motley Fool, it could cost you 138 grand. We\’ll share what it is when we come back.

Joe Krause:
It happens to millions of Americans every year, they overlook or underestimate a major expense in retirement. Your health takes a turn for the worse, you\’ll have to pick up a big expense for a child or a parent, or higher than expected taxes are eating away your IRA and your 401K.

Joe Krause:
Whatever it is, there could be great financial consequences, if they\’re overlooked at this stage of the game. Welcome back, everyone to Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

David Bezar:
We\’ve been talking about the six most often overlooked expenses in retirement that could really decimate your savings. Coming up in this segment, I think it\’s going to be an important one. This is one that definitely gets overlooked. It\’s why the Motley Fool says investment fees and expenses could be costing the average investor retiree $138,000. If you don\’t have that accounted in the equation, that\’s going to have some impact. Expense number four, the overlooked investment fees, expenses and penalties that again, it\’s not a top a list. We want to bring this to people\’s attention.

Karen Bezar:
It\’s so important. Just like the question we ask, \”How much do you have saved for retirement?\” Another question is ask yourself, \”What fees am I paying?\” When I say that, why it\’s so important is the fees and expenses and penalties on your retirement accounts can be eating away at your growth. Why should you pay more for something that … and you\’re not getting the worth out of it. Again, there\’s hidden fees in there that sometimes people definitely aren\’t aware of, and again, it eats away at your returns. I think we see that a lot when we ask people, David, what you\’re getting for the fee that you\’re paying.

David Bezar:
Yeah, I mean fees reduce your investment returns. It makes it like Karen said, difficult to build up that nest egg retirement. First of all, it\’s got to be transparent number one. That\’s why working with a fiduciary is a critical decision. Because a fiduciary has an obligation, a legal obligation, to make sure that they\’re transparent, and the people that they work with understand what those fees actually are going to be. If your total 401K-

Karen Bezar:
K. I\’ll help you out there. K.

David Bezar:
… fees add up to 1% of your assets, you\’re giving away $10 for every thousand dollars you have in an account, so on a million dollar portfolio that adds up to $10,000 in fees in just one year. While you may be able to make some adjustments to reduce your costs like investing in index funds or other low fee investment, you always have to pay attention and you\’ll always end up paying something. Your exact costs will depend on your account balance and your plan fees also have a schedule to them. You can find that in your investment prospectus on your plan summary. You\’d be really surprised when you look at it sometimes, what they actually add up to.

David Bezar:
These unnecessary fees could take a huge chunk out of your retirement savings, so make sure know how those rules work and definitely have a strategy to avoid them. They also can bring in your investment accounts if you don\’t do things correctly, penalties can become an issue.

Bret Elam:
We\’ve talked about in the segment in this whole segment, we\’re talking about fees expenses and now penalties. Earlier we talked about what a required minimum distribution is RMD. But what are the consequences for not taking a required minimum distributions or making a mistake? Now ready for this, if you fail to take your required minimum distribution, or if you\’re making a mistake calculating ready, you face that stiff 50% penalty on the money you\’re supposed to withdraw and that could leave you in dire financial situation. Now you might be asking, \”Well, how do I navigate it all?\” It\’s tough. You just said the IRS book is thick, I get it.

Bret Elam:
You\’re not going to go out there and read it all it gets worse. Think about what I just said on the required minimum distribution. Think about if you have to take out $40,000, but let\’s say you only took out 20, it means there was 20,000 that you still had to take out, there\’s now a 50% penalty on the amount that you never pulled out. That\’s gigantic. Here\’s the next one. What happens and I want to read this one from Forbes, it goes right along with it, especially you remember Secure Act age 72. That\’s the age we start required minimum distributions. Forbes says, \”We need to plan ahead for when you want to take your RMDs.\”

Bret Elam:
This is especially true. We always see it in year number one, as additional paperwork we see a lot of times needs to be set up. Take inventory, and this is an important step, take inventory of your various retirement accounts. Are you ready for this? Consider consolidating them all into one, because if you have one retirement account, it\’s one calculation. If you have 10 retirement accounts, it\’s 10 calculations and it leaves you exposed more likely to make a mistake. There\’s one penalty. Here\’s the next penalty that most people are familiar with, is what happens if I pull money out of my retirement accounts before the age of 59 and a half, while we\’re looking at 10% early withdrawal penalty?

Bret Elam:
Again that penalty applies to taxable distributions for most tax advantaged retirement accounts, if monies were taken out before 59 and a half. The reason behind it, is they want to penalize you because they want to keep that money in those retirement plans. Here\’s another penalty. What happens if I end up putting too much money into my 401K or my IRA? Well, if you have an excess contribution, are ready for this one? You will owe a 6% penalty tax on the excess, ready for this, each year. I hope you catch it early. Each year it remains in the account because traditional IRAs, 401Ks, Roths, they all have restrictions to prevent you from over contributing.

Bret Elam:
They got limitations. Now you\’ve worked hard, you know you have to pay taxes on this money. You can\’t afford to pay the penalties with it. Again, you need to have that roadmap to make sure all those logistics are set up right to avoid all those fees, expenses, penalties. Again, going back to RMDs, IRAs and 401Ks, David said it just a moment ago, they make them complex. Do you have that 401K or IRA? Again, you may not realize it, but not only getting clobbered in fees and penalties and expenses, remember, you\’re also going to get clobbered in taxes. If you\’re getting clobbered by taxes, that means more money for Uncle Sam and less money for you to spend in retirement.

Bret Elam:
Again, this coming Thursday at 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM, again, this Thursday, July 16th at 10:00 AM, 7:00 PM … Pardon me, 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM we\’re hosting a 20 minute Webinar. Again, what you\’ll learn in just 20 minutes are the actionable strategies that could help you save that small fortune in your IRA, 401K pension and other tax deferred accounts. Now remember, it\’s important that we write down the right website to go to. It\’s www.meetthrive.com. Again, www.meetthrive, that\’s thrive T-H-R-I-V-E, meetthrive.com. Again, David just said it. Remember, it\’s not what you make, it\’s what you keep. Again for that free educational webinar this Thursday, go to www.meetthrive.com.

Joe Krause:
50% David is big number.

David Bezar:
Yeah.

Joe Krause:
50% of the mistake. Bret\’s example was a $10,000 penalty.

David Bezar:
Yeah, no question. It\’s an aha moment for when we cover those in the seminars that we\’re doing, we bring that number up, they\’re like, \”Wow,\” and people will hear that on this webinar. This 20 minute webinar is really going to be action packed. I think the deliverable and what people can take away from it will be very, very, very substantial. I like to ask you a question. Are you the type of person who takes action at time of crisis or uncertainty? Or are you more like the type of person who\’s likely to freeze in a panic? See, what I want people to understand is, there\’s going to be significant financial consequences as a result of this pandemic, especially for people who are within five years of retiring.

David Bezar:
That\’s why I like these webinars, these free analysis that we offer are going to really be critical. There\’s trillions of dollars in government stimulus, it\’s got to trigger higher taxes. You just got to understand that. You can\’t really refute it. If you listen to some of the new political ads, there\’s no doubt that taxes are going up. If you\’re the type of person who thinks that in a time of crisis or uncertainty, you shouldn\’t panic and you should take action, then here\’s what I\’m going to suggest for you. Let\’s have a conversation. Just to be sure that you\’ve got all the bases covered, better to have a conversation now than to wait or do nothing at all.

David Bezar:
Many issues can often be resolved in this simple phone call. What I love, is we\’ve had, as a result of this show, and as a result of offering these types of things, our phone has been ringing off the hook. Now that we\’re back to work to some degree of semblance, we\’re COVID-19 compliant. We take people\’s temperature. We\’ve got a health questionnaire. The rooms are disinfected. My brother owns a disinfecting company, so we get it at a discount. It\’s all really good situation. The phone rings off the hook. We spend 15 minutes. People ask us the questions. They say, \”Wow, that makes a lot of sense. I\’d love to come in.\” I really encourage you to have this conversation with us.

David Bezar:
If you\’ve got questions about your IRA, 401K pension, other tax deferred accounts, if you got questions about taxes, RMDs, Social Security, generating income, Medicare, whatever it is, call and leave us a message now and we\’ll get back to you within one business day. We\’ll schedule that discovery call and we\’ll go from there. The number to reach us is 215-987-2430. Again, that\’s 215-987-2430.

Joe Krause:
Man, David, I said to my college roommate the other day in a phone call, \”You have to call Thrive and at least have that conversation. I know you have your own financial advisor. Get the second opinion or at least understand the tax piece of it. It\’s so important.\”

David Bezar:
It\’s huge.

Joe Krause:
Absolutely. As we roll into our final break here on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, thank you so much for tuning in and listening in. Coming up in our last segment of the show, what Business Insider is calling one of the biggest threats to an investor\’s nest egg today. We\’ll answer the question after the break.

Joe Krause:
According to Motley Fool, all it takes is one major life shattering event in retirement to drain your budget. Your health takes a turn for the worst. You have to pick up a big expense for a child or even a parent, or higher than expected taxes are eating your IRA and your 401K alive. Suddenly you have to make serious adjustments to your lifestyle. Welcome back everyone to Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

David Bezar:
Coming up in this segment, why Business Insider is calling inflation one of the biggest threats to an investor\’s nest egg, plus the financial dangers that come with unexpected expenses.

Bret Elam:
Yeah, so you know, expense number five, retirement silent killer, inflation. Again, we said it, Business Insider it\’s a sneaky expense that hides behind the scenes and over long periods of time can be one of the biggest threats to an investor\’s nest egg, if not accounted for. Just this past decade, we\’ve lost 21% of our purchasing power. What\’s going to happen over the next 20 or 30 years? Fixed incomes is what gets crushed with inflation. Again, ignoring inflation could mean the difference between you enjoin everything you\’ve dreamed of in retirement, versus simply just getting by.

Karen Bezar:
Exactly and inflation, it should be an ongoing concern for anyone living on a fixed income, because even low rates of inflation can erode your retirement accounts. Just remember that, inflation goes up and it goes down. Remember when gas was $1 a gallon, what, a long time ago. Now it\’s 2.30. But you remember that time in between when we had the crazy rates in gas and it was over $4 a gallon. When you\’re on a fixed income, if you\’re on a pension, that pension doesn\’t have usually cost of living increase. It\’s really important to remember that. This is from the Economist, not just from me saying that COVID-19 could lead to the return of inflation eventually.

Bret Elam:
Karen just said it, it\’s the crisis with pensions right there. Again, people or you have a pension that\’s out there and you may be living 20, 30, 40 years, it\’s not going to go up. That\’s the silent killer. If I need $6,000 today, it\’s $12,000, 25 years down the road. Expense number five, inflation. Now expense number six emergencies and the unexpected life events. As we know, they call this life and what does life throw at us? Surprises. Things that don\’t go according to plan and the plans for your retirement should take into account, because life is going to happen and you should be prepared so you do not run that risk of financial surprises. Is it going to be a financial emergency? Is it going to be a family emergency from a healthcare perspective? Is it disability? This is a big one, care giving responsibilities.

Bret Elam:
That is a big … I want to read this right from the Business Insider. Ready for this? Caring for elderly parents have caught a few clients off guard. I want you to think about this. There is a knowledge gap between what the parents have and what the kids think the parents have. Often times, they have to dig into their pockets to make up the difference. What do you need to do? It\’s critical to have those conversations with your parents, so that you\’re not faced with those surprises, because it can completely put a dent in your retirement. You also have home repairs. What happens when I need a roof, the car breaks down?

Bret Elam:
There\’s so many different things that could happen. We just need to be prepared for it, because we promise it\’s going to inevitably come. Another issue that we\’re going to face …

David Bezar:
Yeah, let me just take you back in time. Let\’s go back to third week of March in 2020. Think about that for a second. Think about your emotions. Think about what was going on. What questions were you asking? A major stock market downturn could have grave consequences on your retirement. In particular, because of required minimum distributions. If you\’re being forced to withdraw money from your retirement accounts because of the requirement, especially when the market is down, you could be forced to sell at a loss, and this could really slash your savings. The other thing that\’s starting to happen is people … the stock market has rebounded really nicely, so people don\’t want to get burned a second time.

David Bezar:
CNBC actually said, \”There\’s a wave of selling estimated to be in the billions that\’s about to hit the stock market. As people start selling, the market comes down. You really got to get a great understanding of all the mechanics. The government stimulus programs have really helped to support the spending for lower income Americans, but the money could soon run out and then we\’ll see jobless claims go up, we\’re seeing bankruptcies happening. The market, that unexpected downturn can have a real effect.

Bret Elam:
Think about an example, let me give me an example of what David and I just spoke about. Let\’s talk about, you\’re all set to retire, you\’ve pinched, you\’ve saved that dollar. You\’re now ready to retire. You\’re healthy. Your kids are healthy. Your parents are healthy and then mom gets sick. You thought she had a million dollars. These are real life examples we hear every day, but guess what, there was a zero missing. Mom only had $100,000 because the conversation was never had. But you love mom. I\’m not putting her into facility. I\’m taking care of her. But now just what happened? Now that my retirement plans of travel, oh my gosh, now I have to dip into my pocket to help mom survive.

Bret Elam:
Again. It\’s just these are the examples that we see every day of the unknown, of what may be coming at the end of the day that we need to prepare for. Again, whether it\’s a roof, it may cost you 10, 20, $30,000. Is that planned for of inevitably what the unexpected is?

Joe Krause:
Bret, and I can tell you just real quick on that example, it\’s so real today. My sister-in-law now finds herself contributing to funding for a nurse at home, to take care of her mother-in-law, unexpectedly within the last two weeks, boom. That\’s a real life example.

David Bezar:
Yeah, I just … Yeah, and again, I just hope people understand this. Again, this is a time to take action. This is not a time to be passive or hoping that things go away. Just another real quick reminder that on Thursday the 16th, we\’ve got a, we call it a masterclass. If you go to www.meetthrive.com, register for that. I promise you, it\’s going to be worth it. It\’s 25, 30 minutes long. It\’s not going to take up a long time. We\’re not going to Zoom you to death, but the impact you\’re going to get is going to be absolutely awesome.

Bret Elam:
Yeah. Today we\’ve been talking about six often overlooked expenses in retirement that could decimate your savings. And you know what that biggest one is? That\’s what we\’re having that webinar on taxes. Now, if you\’ve been a good saver, unfortunately, our system punishes people like you and you are going to get clobbered by taxes when you\’re retired. Now, I\’m talking about taxes when you withdraw money from your IRA, 401K, taxes on your Social Security, investment income and more. The money in your IRA or 401K could be a fraction of what it is today, unless you take the steps to protect yourself right now.

Bret Elam:
The good news is that there are ways you could dramatically reduce or eliminate your taxes on your retirement accounts, and we want to show you with our free customized retirement tax analysis. The customized analysis shows you the defensive tax planning strategies that could save you 10s of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, you might expect to pay hundreds of dollars for this analysis, but we\’re going to cover 100% of the cost again, just for our listeners today. Now, if you\’ve saved over a quarter million dollars, call to schedule this free analysis right now, 215-987-2430.

Bret Elam:
Again, if you are serious about saving in taxes when you retire, don\’t wait call, right now, because again, we only have a handful of slots every week and our calendars fill up very quickly right after the show. Again, call us to get your free analysis, 215-987-2430. Again, that\’s 215-987-2430.

Joe Krause:
Well done, well said, great job today by everyone. If you get a chance, do try and attend the webinar coming up on the 16th of July which is Thursday. That\’s going to do it for Roadmap to Retirement, The Radio Show here on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. On behalf of David Bezar, Karen Bezar, Bret Elam and all of our listeners, I\’m Joe Krause. See you next time everybody.