Hosts: Roger Johnson, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
Hello everybody and welcome to another addition of On The Money here on News 96.5 WDBO. It’s ask the experts weekend. We’ve got the Oracle of Orlando from the Certified Financial Group. Along side, we’ve got Roger Johnson on mic number four today. We are taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. Again, the guys from Certified Financial Group are here. Joe, how are you today?
I’m doing great, Carl, how are you?
Good, good. Filling in for Kurt. He’s a little sick. Get well soon. I know he’s coming down <Inaudible> flu so hopefully <Inaudible>.
Glad you’re here.
Hey, it’s cold out there.
It is. It is.
I had to put on socks today.
So you don’t normally wear socks?
I do not, not normally.
Thanks for letting me know.
You’re in Florida.
Do you walk around the office in sandals?
Well, I go ahead and put them on in the office.
Okay, okay.
There’s a dress code that you have to abide by.
But the weekend, you’re <Inaudible>.
But the weekend, socks come off normally.
<Inaudible> for today.
Well, gentleman, what can the audience call you about today?
Well, Roger and I are here to clear up the mind fog that you might have regarding your personal finances. We go through life, trying some of this, trying some of that. Wake up one day where we’re 55 years old and find we’ve got a collection of financial accidents and we’re staring at retirement down the road. And recognize with that <?> Social Security plus whatever else we’ve been able to save and accumulate and invest in over our working lifetime, is how do we turn those assets we’ve accumulated into income to supplement Social Security. Because when you retire, that’s all you got coming in. Unfortunately, they don’t teach us about this stuff in school. We find that clients unfortunately go to these seminars, these workshops, these free lunches, free dinners and find maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. We’re here to talk about those questions that you might have. Sometimes they revolve around things that have to do with your stocks and maybe mutual funds, about your IRA, about a 401(k) decision you have to make, about real estate, life insurance, annuities, long-term healthcare, all that and more. Roger and I are going to take your calls. There’s nothing that is off the tables in terms if we don’t have the answer, we’ll figure out how to find the answer or we’ll have you call our office. You don’t even have to use your real name. You can call in and pretend your Jack, or Daphne, or Louise, or somebody.
When you call and I answer the phone and see who their name is, I’m not going to do a background check.
Of course.
If you want to be ABC, you’ll be ABC. It’s just like that.
<Inaudible> You got it. And the good news for you is the lines are absolutely wide open so you can be the person in line to call or you can text us at 21232. Give them those numbers Carl.
It’s 844-220-0965. As Joe said, the text machine is up and running as well, 21232. Please keep it to about 160 characters because that’s all the machine will display on the screen at a time. We don’t want your questions to get cut off or have to send multiple texts, so just something quick and it can fit in 160 characters. Give us a text, 21232. We can see it on the big monitor here on the studio. But, if you want to have a little more intuitive conversation, if it’s a follow-up questions, it’s 844-220-0965. Now, Joe, man, <?> I’m glad you’re here this week. I got a question for you. I saw the headlines, the Dow is above 20,000. Is that a good thing? Bad thing?
I think it’s a psychological number.
Psychological number?
Psychological. All those numbers. Psychological threshold that we’ve crossed. I think it gets people those instincts going. <Inaudible> maybe I need to do something now. <Inaudible> 19,000 or 18,000 but it’s never too late because investing is a long term lifetime proposition. Right, Roger?
That’s right. It wasn’t too long ago it was 19,000. We’ve seen a nice run-up. We’ve seen the market maybe get over extended a little bit but I think it’s in anticipation for future growth. As long as the earnings come along and catch up with these prices of the market, we’ll be okay. I mean, we may see a pullback. We always do every once and awhile, so you just right them out and stay the course. Keep invested and get a plan. That’s the big thing. If we don’t do planning early, your planning’s a fail.
<Inaudible> get it started. A year. Let’s roll the calendar back 12 months. The last year, the first five weeks of the year were the worst five weeks in history.
Terrible January.
Who would have thought we would have finished the way we did. We had Brexit going on. That was the big thing and then the election.
Yeah.
And then remember election night, the Futures dropped 800 points.
It was the end of the world for a few minutes.
The end of the world.
Then people realized. I think Big Money <?> realized oh, well, Trump might be a business man, might be good for the market. So let’s go ahead and buy in the market.
Here we are and there we go.
Alright, we’ve got some calls here. On line one —
We do? Let’s get straight to it. Go to Bill in Orlando. Bill you’re up first here on News 965 WDBO.
Hey Bill.
Yes, hello.
Good morning, thank you for calling. How can we help you?
My question is if my wife bankrupts:
1. Does it affect me?
2. Am I responsible for her credit card debt?
Okay well, first of all, we’re not attorneys but let me tell you what my understanding is. Is that as long as you have not signed on any of those documents on the credit cards or any of the loans that she has taken out, her personal bankruptcy does not affect you. If she’s gone out and unfortunately messed up her credit, it does not affect you and she will have difficultly applying for credit. If you’re going to buy a house somewhere down the road and she has to sign, that’s going to kind of mess things up for you. But in terms of your immediate situation, there is no liability on your part.
Alright, can I ask you one more quick question?
Go ahead, Bill.
If we divorce, the home we own, I bought, paid for, is that half hers or not.
Probably. How long were you married or how long are you married because you’re still married?
About eight years. Eight years. Eight years.
Alright. Yeah, more than likely she has rights to that. She’s contributed to that. It wasn’t a pre-marital asset that you designated with documents before you got married I assume, so there’s a shared value there that you’ll probably have to deal with. Again, we’re not attorneys. We’re not making a call here over the air on your particular case. But, typically that’s what we see.
Yup.
Thank you very much and you all stay warm.
Okay, alright, Bill, you too.
Alright. Thank you for the call.
Bill, thanks so much. If you want Bill’s line it’s 844-220-0965. Just like that. Dial us up. We get your question answered on the radio today. Tim in Orlando is up next. Tim, before you do it, I want to make sure the guys read the text question. The text machine is 21232. It is: Guys, I am 35 with no savings, a wife and two kids. We make about 80K a year. What would be the best way to save for retirement?
Well, that’s an easy one. I assume they’re both working and at least one of them will have a 401(k) at work. If you’re saving for retirement and you’re designating money to go for retirement, boy, the 401(k) is the place to be. Put that money in, get the company match, get the diversification, get the immediate tax break of the money going in so that you can reduce that taxable income from 80,000 to maybe 70,000, 65,000, who knows what you can do.
Yup.
But of course you’ve got other things and won’t want to save for college with your 401(k) because you don’t want to mix and match there. Keep those kids in line and carve up some money towards that.
But by far, in a way, the best way to save for your retirement, you use a retirement plan where you get a tax deduction going in. That saves you right off the top anywhere from 10% to nearly 40%. The money will grow without being taxed. If you leave your job, you can take the 401(k) with you if you don’t want to cash it in. But, you can roll it to another IRA or you can roll it to your new employer’s 401(k) and continue to compound.
And the company match.
Yeah, the good news for you is that you’re young. You’ve got 30 years there to get this money to grow. The longer journey <?> starts with the first step, get that money going. At your age, the maximum you can put in is $18,000. You ought to strive to at least put 10% to 15% of your gross income into those retirement plans.
10% to 15% of your gross income.
Start with 10 and try to work it up.
Alright, thank you so much texted. And again just like that, 160 characters, 21232. Back to a full <?> line here at 844-220-0965 talk to Tim in Orlando. Tim, you’re on with Joe and Roger.
Good morning, Tim. Thank you for calling. How can we help you?
Hi, Tim.
Morning. Hello, hi. I have a question about a variable annuity.
Okay.
It belonged to my mother who passed away about a year and a half ago. My question is how can I best cash it out without incurring any tax penalties. I know there will be taxes due. My age is 59 and I’m just wondering if I can roll it over into an IRA.
Is it an IRA now, Tim?
I know it’s a variable annuity. It was — when my mom passed away, she was passed retirement age. It was a retirement fund.
Oh, it was a retirement fund? Okay. That sounds like it’s an IRA.
Yeah, it could be an IRA variable annuity or it could be a non-IRA variable annuity. That will be the first thing you have to figure out.
<Inaudible> an IRA, I’m sorry.
Okay, alright. So you have an inherited IRA from your mom?
I’m the benefactor and just I haven’t transferred the money yet but I’m wondering before I do how <Inaudible> tax penalties.
How old are you, Tim?
59.
Okay, so you’re 59. You’re going to basically work with the variable annuity company at first and make sure you’re designated as the sole beneficiary. Then you will work with them to get the account in your name. At that point, you’ll start a withdrawal rate based on your life expectancy. You can stretch that out, stretch out the payments <Inaudible>.
They’re telling me that I need to take a lump sum, that that’s a requirement as the beneficiary. They say I only have one option, a lump sum.
That doesn’t sound like an IRA then. You want to be able to do what’s called a — you have to take a look at the statement. Look at the most recent statement that your mother would have received on that account. See if it says IRA or qualified on there anywhere.
It’ll be like right next to her name. IRA next to it or it won’t have IRA anywhere on this. Because the variable annuity is a form of a retirement plan or a retirement method. But, it may or not be treated tax-wise as an IRA. It may come from money that she had already paid taxes on, which would then not be an IRA variable annuity, or it may have come from an IRA that she had before that she had never paid taxes on those dollars and put it into a variable annuity. That’ll be the first thing we’ll have to figure out. That’ll help determine what kind of tax implications you have.
Go ahead.
It did require a required minimum distribution each year.
It did, you said?
It did.
Well, then that’s an IRA. That’s an IRA. There’s no question about that. Whoever you’re talking to — who are you talking to at the insurance company?
The agent. Each time I call, I get a different agent. Perhaps I should ask for someone in particular to give better advice there?
Well, I think maybe you’re hearing lump sum and that maybe he wants to roll the lump sum into a new annuity in your name. Semantics there. I’d want to talk with a — I would suggest you get an advisor to talk with.
Here’s what you do — let’s clear this up.
Yeah, go ahead.
Send Roger on Monday morning a copy of that statement. You can e-mail it to him. You can drop it off at our office so you can pick up the phone and we’ll get to the bottom of this because the tax treatment is totally different if it’s an IRA or not an IRA. That’s what we want to be sure. If it’s not an IRA, then you have up to five years to cash it out. They can’t force you to cash it out. When you cash it out, you’ll have to pay taxes on any profit within that variable annuity. We need to determine whether it’s qualified or non-qualified. Alright. How does he reach you, Roger?
Well, you can give me a call. You know our address is 1111 Douglas Avenue if you want to drop that off. We’re in Alphamonte Springs. But give us a call, 407-869-9800 and we’ll get that. You can e-mail it to me through roger@financialgroup.com. You could e-mail that to me.
Give us the number one more time, Roger.
Our office number is 407-869-9800.
Alright, thank you so much, Tim, for the call. We really do appreciate it. Off to a great start today. Kristen Jacob <Inaudible> on the line. You are up next but first we got to throw it to Dave Wald on the three big things you need to know.
This hour was paid for by the host and does not reflect the opinion of News 965.
Welcome back to On The Money here on News 965 WDBO. It’s ask the experts weekend. This is a show that the Certified Financial Group helps your through your retirement plan. We’ve got Roger Johnson and Joe Bird in the studio today, 844-220-0965. The text machine is up and running as well, 21232. We will get to Joe and Roger and comments in just a moment. Right now we want to get back to our busy telephone helping people out. Kristen in Orlando, you’re up first. Kristen, go ahead, you’re on with Joe and Roger.
Good morning, Kristen.
Hi, good morning.
Thank you for calling. How can we help you?
I have a quick question. I have a scenario <Inaudible> all the time by the way.
Good girl. Oh, perfect.
Your advice is always point on. I think I’m the younger generation that really needs good advice. Anyways, I am a business owner and I am currently in the process of getting numbers from an associate underway for her pet business. She’s been in business for about 17 years. It is a service industry <Inaudible>. My question is how much is the percentage of a book of business actually work nowadays. Since retail is such a very small percentage of the money that is coming in, how much do — what is the percentage I think projected on the offer I’m going to give her?
You’re looking for a multiple or some kind of formula that you could look at her books and determine what it’s worth. Is that what you’re trying to find out?
She gave me her number and it’s based on her pretty much running her business for the past 17 years. With services, there’s no guarantee that clients are going to continue to stay with you and continue to use the services you offer even if I continue doing exactly what she does.
How did she come up with a number?
She took her tax return. She showed me her tax returns the last three years. It’s teetering $400,000. She didn’t provide me with inventory list or anything like that. To me, her services, I’m just not sure how — to me, I would offer no more than $100,000 on a service industry, because her assets are even worth $100,000.
Oh okay. So in all of these business values — you’re looking for a business valuation. They’re all different. Every one of them is different, the bottom line of where you get to. But, you’re buying certain things. Maybe you’re buying goodwill from her existing clients, you’re buying — and you’ll assume you’re going to keep some of those and you’re going to also assume that you’re probably going to lose some of those. You may formulate it on previous numbers that you’ve done. Another way to value it is value it on collections going forward. What type of amount of money you get from her existing clients. It depends on how well you know her and all. Like I said, everything is different. If it’s a good friend or a relative, you may work out something like that. Joe, you have any thoughts?
Well, the way you want to structure it for yourself is you have this income coming in and there’s no guarantees of course that the industry will continue to be in demand. There’s no guarantee that her clients will stay with you and of course there’s no guarantees that people will like you as much as they like her <Inaudible>. There’s a risk involved. You may want to structure the payment that she will get a certain percentage of whatever you earn over a number of years. This way, you’re both kind of protected. And every industry, as Roger says, is different. Unfortunately, we can’t give you a multiple.
Alright, Kristen. Well, thank you so much for the call. We do appreciate it. It is time for latest news, weather, and traffic. If you want to give the phone lines a call here, we’d love to have you. Jacob, you’re up next followed by Janet. If you want to be behind them, it’s 844-220-0965. We have some text questions as well. We’ve got two of them. We’ll get to those on the other side. If you want to join those, it;s 21232. Right now, Dave Wald is going to give us the latest news, weather, and traffic on News 965 WDBO.
Welcome back to On The Money here on News 965 WDBO. This is the Certified Financial Group Roger Johnson, Joe Bird here in the studio to take your calls at 844-220-0965. I’m sorry guys, my voice is a little <Inaudible> because I was singing Billy Joel in the Amway center last night.
That must have <Inaudible>.
Oh, it was fantastic. Yes.
I hear he was in town, that’s cool.
I saw him actually in July back in Nasta Square Garden so we went to see him again. It was basically two different shows. He was doing some songs he did out there, he didn’t do here. There was a few songs he did here that we didn’t see out there.
Oh, the whole repertoire.
I picked a great day to go out and then her call in sick and me have to come in and <Inaudible>
We’re glad you’re here.
If I’m a little sore, sorry folks —
Nah, that’s okay, <Inaudible>.
I hate coughing in the mic, it’s terrible, should never do it, but I act like I’m a professional.
You’re human.
Jacob and Gene are going to be up next here, so going behind them it’s 844-220-0965. Texters, I see you, we will get to your question right after the callers. But before we begin, just want to do this quick note to our last caller.
Yeah, just a quick note to Kristin. We kind of had to shorten your call there, but you were calling about business valuation, buying a business from a friend of yours. You know, we suggest maybe you give us a call. We have a couple of names that do this kind of business valuation as a business. They’re professional and they look at all the, under the hood, and figure out what makes best sense for you and represent you in this situation. You know, you’re talking about a bit of money. So you might want to make sure you get a good person to value it for you.
Yeah, it has a lot of moving parts.
Absolutely.
Alright, Jacob in Orlando’s got a 401k question for you guys. Jacob, go ahead. Thanks for holding on. You’re on On The Money.
Alright, morning, thank you.
Good morning.
My question is, my employer offers the traditional 401k and Roth 401k. I’m just interested in where I should be putting my contributions.
Okay, so they have the traditional where you put the money in, you get an immediate tax deduction, and the Roth where you put the money in and you get no tax deduction with the idea that when you take it out, it’s going to be tax-free. Just want to be sure we understand the ground rules. Okay? The first question I would ask is, what’s your income? First, are you married?
Yeah, married, three kids, two dogs.
And what’s your combined incomes?
So, my base is 150 but with bonus and other contributions it’s more like 180.
That’s your income, how about your wife’s?
Currently zero.
Oh, I thought you were both working. Maybe I didn’t ask that. I said you’re married, but she’s not — okay.
And your age?
I’m 34.
34. Okay, you’re going to fall in about the 25% tax bracket. So let me explain the math to you here, my friend. If you put $1 into the pre-tax side of the 401k, it costs you $0.75. Alright? You put in a $1, you’re going to get say 25% on that dollar, so really only going to cost you $0.75 after taxes. In order to put $1 into the Roth side of the IRA because you get no tax deduction you actually have to gross $1.33. It would cost you $1.33 to end up with $1 in the Roth. Take 25% off $1.33 and you end up with $1. So, you’re giving up an immediate tax deduction in your tax bracket. The other thing is, and the other problem that I have, at least personally with the Roth is that there’s nothing that says that they’re not going to change the rules regarding the taxation of Roths. My fear is that you’re going to give up that tax deduction today with a promise that somewhere 25, 30 years down the road when it comes time to take that money out, that the tax laws wouldn’t change, I don’t think that’s a good bet. So if I were you in your tax bracket, I would definitely max out on the pre-tax contribution in the 401k.
Converting the hand <?>.
Yeah.
Do yourself a favor, go to Google. Google Roth, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. It’s an article that I wrote for Kiplinger some time ago. It’ll tell you all about what I just told you in far more detail.
Okay, great. Another quick follow-up question.
Sure.
So, the recommendation you guys always promote is 10% to 15%. Should I count my employer’s contribution in that guide of 10% to 15%?
<Inaudible> you can if you — you know, because it’s — you’re the judge of this. But no, I mean if you can get 10 in and they get even more, that’s a bonus. But, you know, yeah. I mean if you want to call it 10% and you’re putting in 6% and they’re putting in 4%, that’s 10. But try and —
Well, I’m planning to — I get — with their match —
Try to stretch and get 10.
Yeah. With their match right now I’m at like 15.5%.
Oh, well no, well you’re doing good.
Well, don’t cut back.
Yeah, don’t cut back. In fact, here’s the way you need to look at that 401k. You should strive to max out your legal contribution, which at your age is $18,000 a year. Which is just about 10% of your income if you’re 180. So, you’ve got the $18,000 going in. Keep an eye on any tax law changes, if that threshold goes up, be sure you’re always maxing out the legal contribution and I guarantee if you do that, when you reach retirement age, you’ll be ahead — you’ll be one of the once percenters out there. You’re going to be far away better than 99% of America who isn’t saving Jack nothing for their — for retirement.
You’ve got a great start, you’ve got a great family, so keep doing what you’re doing.
Alright Jacob, thank you so much for the call. We appreciate it. If you want Jacob’s life <?>, 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. We have a text machine up and running, as well, 21232. Let’s get to one of those, I know some of those texters have been waiting a while. Gentlemen, we’ve got a texter here. A wife, 150K, full-time student, wife’s work doesn’t offer a 401k but P-unit an employee stock purchase plan. This is good. Or how to say?
P-units. I’m not sure what P-units is.
P-units is what the texter has written in.
<Inaudible> P-units.
Yeah, that’s a good —
I don’t know.
Okay, Employee stock purchasing program.
Well they said they had that. But, okay.
So, he wants to know if buying company stock is a good idea.
Company stock purchase plan. Negative. What you don’t want to do is have a lot of your savings and investments tied up in their company stock. No more than 5%. You’re going to probably be able to buy that stock at a discount, which isn’t a bad idea. But, do that — if you don’t have a 401k, at least use an IRA and then you get a tax deduction, you get more diversification. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Your job and your portfolio could be overweighted in that one company. Your job obviously 100% relies on that one company being in business. Then if your portfolio is highly overweighted in that one company, then your portfolio is subject to problems if that company has a problem. Now you think, oh I work for the company and I’m going to be able to know ahead of time if there’s any problems. Well, tell that to the Endron <?> folks or the Kodak folks or the <Inaudible>.
Blockbuster Video.
Alright, we’ve got another texter in here. 21232. Withdrawing at age 50, have 200,000 on a 457 plan, 125,000 on a 401, and 120K on a Roth. Which account to withdraw from?
Um, the 457 has a little bit more flexibility in terms of taxation, so I’d probably look at that one first.
Alright, there you go. Just like that. Quick text question into 21232. Get back to our phone lines. Gene in Kissimmee. Gene, you’re on On The Money.
Good morning, thank you very much.
Thank you for the call. How can we help you?
I’d like some direction please. I have 100,000 plus sitting in a savings account. I’m 72 years old working part-time. I want to know where I can either get some income producing money or invested where it’s easily accessible. What kind of direction might you suggest?
What you want to do is turn that $100,000 that’s just languishing there in the savings account earning you nothing, you want to turn it into some form of income. You want it liquid in case you need to get to it, you can get to it. And you want it guaranteed.
Correct.
<Inaudible> That knock out word at the end was the tough one there because when you require a guarantee, the only guarantees we know of are the places you go to from the federal government, through banking, get CDs and that kind of thing.
Or insurance companies.
Then you’re guaranteed by an insurance company and that’s pretty darn safe, too. But you’re going to limit yourself to make 2%, 3%. Maybe interest rates go up, you find next year there’s going to be a higher interest rate you can get from a guaranteed product. But —
Well, scratch the guarantee.
Okay, thanks. Alright, appreciate that. Good. Now we’re talking. Now we can look at a gambit of things. We can look at a diversified portfolio of stocks and maybe some bonds. Depending on your situation, if you’re covered everywhere else and this 100,000 is not your only $100,000, but it’s the 100,000 we’re talking about amongst the portfolio $500,000 to $800,000, $900,000, we’d look at diversifying it. Maybe buying some dividend paying stocks, some bonds that are stable and will adjust well if we have rising interest rates. We’d want a little bit of several things, maybe a real estate stock in there that pays a nice dividend.
Yeah, I’m not that well funded, but I still have a 401k going at the company, but I do have some other money elsewhere. But I’m just looking to do something with the 100, which is not doing anything for me right now.
I hear you there. Are you needing to take that income out now or can you let this grow for a while?
Well, I’m 72.
Right, yeah. You’d like to spend it into <?> income. So, he’s looking to withdraw 4%, 5%, 6% from it and diversify a portfolio, set it up so that we expect to get that kind of a return. We’d look at your family situation to do some planning, but make sure that we could expect to get a good withdrawal rate up and above what you would get in a CD. However, it doesn’t have the G word with it. So that you have to take on a bit of risk to get a better return. It’s simple as that.
Okay. <Inaudible>
Give us a call if you’d like to talk further about it.
Gene, thank you so much for the call. We really do appreciate. If you want Gene’s life, 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. John in Altamon Springs has dialed.
John, you’re on On The Money.
Good morning John.
Hey John.
Hello John.
Are you there, John?
<Inaudible>
Hello?
Ah, hey!
How can we help you?
I want to ask a quick question. What’s a non-qualified?
What’s non-qualified?
Yes. What’s a non-qualified investment?
That means it’s not in a retirement plan. It’s not an IRA, it’s not a 401k, it’s not a 457, a 403b.
It’s anything but. Right, I mean you would say your savings account at the bank is a non-qualified account.
Or a mutual fund that’s not in a retirement account is non-qualified.
Yeah, a joint account with you and your spouse is a non-qualified.
That’s a big advantage, just the tax pieces.
Yeah, that’s all we look at is qualified means it has not been taxed yet like an IRA.
There you go. Good question. Good question.
<Inaudible> We throw that stuff around quick and I’m glad you asked. Thank you.
Alright John, thank you so much for the phone call. Just like that, if these guys have said something or —
Wai, wai, wai, wai, wait, what?
Text us for 21232 or 844-220-0965. Frank in the Villages. Frank, you’re on On The Money.
Frank in the Villages! Good morning Frank, how can we help you.
Good morning. I have a stock portfolio in my traditional <Lost Signal> I want to move some of that stock portfolio, X amount of shares, into my Roth. I’ve been told by my person that holds those in their account that I cannot move any traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for 2017 until <Lost Signal> minimum required distribution for 2017.
That’s correct. Yeah, you can’t use your RMD to move to a Roth. You have to take the RMD out, and then if you want to do a conversion after that, you can do it with an additional amount.
Oh.
That’s correct.
Thank you very much because I was on the Internet last night until 1:30 looking up, what is it, 509a, 509b reading everything and I really couldn’t find anything that said that. But, thanks, I do appreciate the help.
I appreciate your call.
Thank you.
Thanks, Frank.
Damn that Internet. You know, I just —
Is that still around?
That’s how you want — yeah.
Really?
Fake news.
That Internet thing.
Speaking of <Inaudible>
Dave Wahl’s here, going to give us three big things you need to know here in just a moment. But right now, I want to give out the phone number one more time to join us. It’s our last segment coming up. 844-220-0965. I would be remised if I didn’t ask the gentleman to give out the office number in case you just want to call on Monday <?>.
407-869-9800. You might want to also go to our website and that’s financialgroup.com. Cruise around, take a look, but we also have some upcoming workshops. We’ve got a workshop coming up. Gary Abley is going to be presenting life strategies for success on March 4th. That’s a Saturday from 11:00am to 1:00. Life strategies for success, get you on board with thinking about your retirement planning and planning for life’s financial events. Again, our phone number is 407-869-9800.
Alright, well get some more information on that just on the other side. But right now, we’ve got to throw it to Dave Wahl. He’s got pretty big things you need to know.
30 minutes away from 10:00 here at News 96 Life WDBO. But this is still On The Money. Roger Johnson, Joe Burton, Certified Financial Group are here to answer your questions free of charge here on the radio. 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. We’ve got a phone call and a text question. Gentlemen, let’s get right to it. Let’s go to Steve in Orlando. Steve, you’re on On The Money.
Morning, Steve. Thank you for calling. How can we help you?
Good morning. I’ve got 128, $100 iBonds. Should I cash them in and reinvest them or hold onto them?
You have 128 $100 iBonds.
Right. I want to cash them in and reinvest them or should I just hang onto them?
Well the question is — go ahead.
The oldest one is 18 years old. I had it —
You know, that’s a tough question to answer in your own personal situation because everybody is different. We know the iBonds are guaranteed, they’re inflation adjusted. The current interest rates on them aren’t too bad today, about 2.75%. It depends on whether or not you’re looking for growth and your tax situation. I can’t — it’s a hard one to tell you off the air, but we’d be glad to answer that question in more detail if you give our office a call.
Absolutely, we’ll get a number in just a moment. But we do have one quick text question here. That will be it for the day. Your thought is investing 50% indexed 50 bond, can I safely withdraw 4% each year? I’m not sure I read that right.
Yeah, it’s what we call <Inaudible> portfolio 50% I presume in the S&P 500 and 50% in some form of bond. That what basically a balanced portfolio, that’s the old 4% rule. The 4% rule isn’t guaranteed, but it’s a good rule of thumb that you can withdraw from that and never exhaust your funds. <Inaudible>
You’ve just got to keep managing it along the way, make sure you stay in a good stock and a good bonds along the way.
Now you could —
Not just set it and forget it.
Right, now you can get a better opportunity — or more chance of success if you have more diversification in the bonds side and in the stocks side. The 50/50 mix is good, but you want to — <Inaudible> large cap, small cap, mid cap —
Yeah, you thinks bonds are all one thing.
A vary <Inaudible> of bonds.
There’s more different kinds of bonds than there are stocks.
Alright gentlemen, there’s on minute left, 60 seconds. I think we’ve got all the texters here.
We want to talk about Gary’s workshop coming up March 4th at our office in Altamon Springs for Saturday morning, 11:00. It is absolutely free. Gary’s a CFP as well as a CPA. A lot of experience in retirement planning. We offer this in our classroom up in Altamon Springs. Go to our website, financialgroup.com. Click on workshops, you can make a reservation right there online. He’s not going to try to sell you something, but introduce you to our firm, what we do for a fee for our clients day in and day out. You’ll meet Gary and get your questions answered. We look forward to seeing you. March 4th at our office in Altamon Springs, 11:00am.
What’s the number to call y’all?
407-869-9800.
Website?
Financialgroup.com.
We’ll see you guys next week, 9:00 here on News 96 Live WDBO.
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