Hosts: Aaron Bert, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
Well hello everybody and welcome to another edition of On the Money with the Certified Financial Group. We’ve got Joe and Aaron Bert here live in the studio taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Good morning, gentlemen.
Good morning.
It seems like a while since we’ve done this.
Been a couple of weeks.
We’ve got the hurricane and I’ve been cleaning up my house from Irma.
Yeah.
How did you guys do in the storm?
We’re here.
Yeah.
Alright.
No property damage.
<Inaudible> everybody else, a lot of inconvenience, but fortunately no life lost, no limbs lost — well, I shouldn’t say that. We lost a lot of limbs, but no human limbs.
<Inaudible> a lot of limbs. Tree limbs.
<Inaudible> tree limbs, and some aggravation but, —
Nothing like —
Perseverance and patience and a bunch of good people, we muddled through.
Alright.
Yeah, no. That’s good to hear. I don’t know how long you guys didn’t have power, but we were out here for a week at the radio station. I stayed here in the generator powered one studio and then I didn’t get power back until Friday night.
Hopefully — I know you guys didn’t have power at the office for —
I knew everything I ever wanted to know about generators. I became a generator expert. Thank heavens we had one, kept the critical systems up and running; phones and computer systems, and we were able to service our clients all week long. So, we’re glad that’s over.
Well, let’s get back to business here. What can the audience call you about today?
Once again, Aaron and I are here to take any questions that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. As we say, we go through life trying some of this, trying some of that, and wake up at age 55, look at Irma across the kitchen table —
Oh, Irma <Inaudible>
Just popped in my brain. Look at Irma across the kitchen table and say, well, honey, what are we going to do now? The paycheck is going to stop in a few years and what are we going to live on besides Social Security? And that’s what financial planning, retirement planning is all about. It’s what we do day in and day out for a fee at Certified Financial Group. We help people solve those dilemmas, those questions, how to prepare, and what you need to do so you don’t look back 5 or 10 years from now and say gee, I wish I’d have known, or man, I’m sorry I did that. So, we’re here to answer the questions that might be on your mind regarding any decisions you’re trying to make regarding your IRA, regarding your 401k, regarding mutual funds, regarding life insurance, and reverse mortgages, and annuities, and all that stuff and more. As we say on Monday through Friday we do it for a fee, but on Saturday morning we are absolutely free. So, if you have any questions about any of those topics or anything else I might have not mentioned, the good news for you is the lines are absolutely wide open. So, you can call in, pretend your Daphne, or Jack, or Loretta, or whatever you want to be —
Irma <Inaudible> Maria —
You can use your real name. Just pretend you’re somebody else. We’ll be glad to take your call and you can dial these numbers as well as text us. And those numbers are:
844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Text machine is also up and running as well, 21232. That’s 21232. Just keep it to about 160 characters, that’s all we can see on our screen here. Just wanted to make sure we get all the details. 21232. Alright, today’s topic, a guide to survivor the Equifax breach.
Yeah, I don’t know if — well, this is something I was — in the news recently, but unfortunately it hit right during the storm and a lot of people, especially here in Central Florida, may have missed the news <Inaudible> cross the wire about what happened with Equifax. Equifax is one of the three major credit reporting bureaus. So, when you go into Home Depot or go into your furniture store, or even just apply for a Mastercard online, they go and they check your credit. And they check it against the data that’s held either at Equifax, or TransUnion, or — I’m missing one. What’s the other one? <Inaudible> anyway, there’s three major ones. So, they check your data against what’s held at them. And those are the companies also that provide your credit score and your credit report. And so basically they have a lot of sensitive information about everybody for the most part. I mean, your Social Security number, your account numbers, your date of birth, everything basically financial about you. And unfortunately, their systems at Equifax specifically were compromised. I guess it started several months ago and the breach was just discovered, again, a couple weeks ago when the hurricane had been hitting. So, Equifax has set up a website where you can go online and check to see if your data has been compromised. But, there are some steps that you ought to be taking to secure your personal financial stuff and we can get to that through the show, but I guess we have a call right now, so.
It’s come to me. It’s Experian.
Experian, there you go. So, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. There you go.
Alright, so we’ll get some more information on that coming up. But, if you do want to join the phone lines, it’s 844-220-0965. And Michelle in Orlando —
<Inaudible> we do have this on our website, the information we’re going to be covering today. So, if for some reason you can’t hold on, you can go to our website, financialgroup.com under This Week’s Must Read. So.
Alright.
Right in the right hand column. Financialgroup.com, This Week’s Must Read, everything you need to know about the Equifax breach.
Perfect. Alright, Michelle in Orlando. Michelle, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Good morning, Michelle.
Morning.
Good morning.
How can we help you?
I have a 401k Roth and I wanted to know should I get an IRA as well.
You have a 401k Roth. Should you get an IRA as well? Well, that depends. That depends. You’re looking for a deductible IRA or a Roth IRA?
I’m not sure.
Okay.
I don’t know the difference.
Okay, first of all, are you with your — how much are you putting into your 401k Roth at work?
The maximum. I think it’s like 15%.
Okay, 15 — well, it’s not a percentage anymore. It’s now a dollar amount. So, if you’re under the age of 50 — if you’re under the age of 50, the maximum you can put in is 18,000. If you’re over 50, it’s 24,000. How old are you?
Yes.
You’re —
I’m 58 — I’ll be 54.
Are you putting —
So yeah, I’m putting the maximum —
Are you putting —
<Inaudible> you’re putting the 24,000 in. Now the next question is can you do a Roth on top of that? And that’s a function of your income.
Okay.
So take <Inaudible>
She’s doing a traditional —
She’s doing a Roth 401k.
Roth 401k.
Hold on.
The question is can she do a Roth on top of a —
Or a deductible.
Right.
Well, that really depends on your — are you married, Michelle?
No.
Okay.
Well, what is your income?
Over — about 180.
180, let’s see here.
Yeah, you are not going to be able to do —
Yes.
— a Roth IRA outside of your 401k. Now, what you can do if you really want to, do you have an IRA — any IRAs at all outside of —
No.
Okay, you have nothing. So, you can do what’s called a non-deductible IRA. So a non-deductible IRA is a traditional IRA that you put in — you can put in your $6,000 and basically you don’t get a tax deduction for that. But then after you put the money into the non-deductible IRA you can do what’s called a Roth conversion which is where you take that deductible IRA and — non-deductible IRA and convert it into a Roth. But you know, I would caution you. With that income level that you’re at with your plan at work, you ought to strongly consider doing the traditional 401k versus the Roth 401k at work just because of the tax deduction that you’re giving up.
Okay.
Why did you choose the Roth, Michelle? Can we ask?
I have no idea. I don’t know. I just picked one.
Okay, I mean as a single tax payer at that income level, you’re in the 28% tax bracket, so you’re giving up a significant tax break in order to be contributing into the Roth.
Especially at $24,000.
You’re giving up about 6,000 or 7,000 — you’re paying about $6,000 or $7,000 more a year in taxes than what you need to because you’re not using the deductible side of your 401k. So, as Aaron said, I would change your contributions going forward to a deductible 401k as opposed to the Roth to get that tax deduction.
<Inaudible>
Yeah.
Deductible 401k and then it’s going to be traditional. So, I’ll just call the employer and just switch it out.
Yes, tell them you want to put your money on a pre-tax basis because you’re giving up a substantial amount in tax deductions.
Perfect.
Okay.
I’ll do that on Monday. Thank you.
Oh good, you’re welcome, Michelle. Thank you for the call.
Okay. Thanks.
Mm-hmm.
Alright, if you want Michelle’s line, it’s 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965. Or you can text us, 21232. We were talking about the Equifax breach before we went to Maria. There was a caller that just called in there and asked who oversees Equifax and all these credit reporting companies?
Unfortunately, no one.
Yeah, they’re private companies.
Well, they’re public companies.
Public companies.
Publicly traded companies.
Not by the government.
But they’re not regulated and so we entrust them with all this data to do a good job and unfortunately they got hacked just like Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target, and — <Inaudible>
It seems like all of them have been <Inaudible>
This was even a little bit worse though because —
This is terrible.
Well, this was a little bit more personal.
Yeah, well they stole your credit card number, so you could basically just get a new account. But this is all of your stuff.
All of your personal stuff; your driver’s license information, where you were born, your birth date, where you live.
Well that’s all the stuff that Equifax holds. But I’m not sure they — and they haven’t come out and said that that’s all the information that they’ve taken, but that’s the potential there which is why it’s extremely important that people take some steps in order to protect themselves. Equifax has set up a website and I was just trying to look for it where you can go and look to see if you were affected. But I’ve actually heard some conflicting news about whether or not that it’s actually accurate. So, I would air on the side of caution and assume that you were included in this Equifax breach.
Yes.
So, take the appropriate steps in order to protect your financial data, personal financial stuff.
And once again, everything you need to know about this is on our website at financialgroup.com. Click on This Week’s Must Read and you’ll pull up the article and all the appropriate links to protect you on this because it is a — and the problem with this, Aaron, is that this — somebody has all this — assuming they have all this personal information on you; they know where you were born, they know your birth date, they know your driver’s license number, they know your credit history, where you bank, what you’re — they know everything about you. And this stuff could linger out there for years and then all of a sudden you get this inquiry that appears to be legitimate. You forgot about this Equifax breach in four, five years from now, and all of a sudden you’ve been sucked into some scam. Somebody planted some malware on your computer because you went online and answered some — what you thought were legitimate questions from what you thought was a legitimate website, and now you’re in a pickle.
Right.
So, the whole key is to be vigilant.
And unfortunately it just seems like data breaches are going to be a way of life for a long time.
Not only with our personal information but the government’s. This is what we’re dealing with. Between Russia, and China, and —
It’s cyber-warfare.
It’s all on the computer.
Yeah, cyber-warfare. Yup.
The problems of moving forward in a computerized nation.
844-220-0965 is the number to dial in. Spencer in Orlando. Spencer, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Good morning, Spencer.
Hey, how’s it going?
Okay, how can we help you?
I’ve got a question. What’s the big difference between the Roth and traditional. Like, TSP, 401k.
TSP, that’s the thrift savings plan.
Yeah.
401k can be pre-tax or after tax. A Roth is always put in with after tax money, but the money under current law comes out tax free. And that’s the big distinction. You get a tax deduction for your traditional TSP plan or a 401k plan. If you put the money on a pre-tax basis, you get an immediate tax deduction. With a Roth, you get no tax deduction today with the idea that the money will grow for you tax free and under current law it will come out tax free.
What do you mean by tax deduction?
Well, by tax deduction I mean let’s say you put in $1 and you’re in the 25% tax bracket. Okay, you put $1 in your 401k. It really only costs you $0.75 because you get an immediate 25% savings on that. If you put it in with after tax money, otherwise you put the $1 into a Roth whether it’s a Roth 401k or a Roth IRA, you have to gross $1.33 to end up with the $1 to put in the Roth. Take 25% off $1.33 and you end up with your dollar. So, if you’re in the reasonably high tax bracket, 25, 28, 39, you definitely want to get that tax deduction today. Our concern as a firm, my concern <Inaudible> and probably one of the lone wolves out there, lone people crying in the wind about the Roth and the chances are that they may change the law. I wrote an article several months ago for Kiplinger magazine, it’s still out there on the Internet. It’s called a Roth, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. Roth, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and it will tell you the cons of using a Roth IRA or a Roth 401k for certain people. But does that answer your question?
Yeah, so let’s say I put 20% and I do 13% for a traditional and 7% for the Roth. 31 and then you retire at 67. Is it smart to do the 7% for the Roth or should I ease up on that and put it more towards the traditional where —
It all depends on your personal tax bracket. Are you married?
No. Single.
Okay, what’s your income?
60,000.
So, you’re not in that highest tax bracket. You’re just bumping along here at about — you’re close to 25% tax bracket. You are in the 25% bracket. <Inaudible> regular deductions. You’re in the 25% tax bracket. I would go full hog on the deductible IRA — Roth, deductible 401k. That’s what I would do personally. I like the bird in the hand which is a guaranteed tax deduction today as opposed to a promise that they’re not going to change the tax law somewhere down the road and make my Roth what we call means-tested. You know what means-tested is, Spencer?
No.
Okay. Well, let me give you a little history. Back around 1984, everything up to that point; Social Security — with Social Security was totally tax free. People could get their Social Security check, they didn’t have to pay a penny tax on it. And then they made it what’s called means-tested, which says that if your income is over a certain threshold amount, the government considers you rich and you have to pay taxes on your Social Security up to 85% of your Social Security could be taxed. My concern is with the government’s insatiable need for tax revenue, somewhere down the road they’re going to see these billions of dollars that have never been taxed in Roth accounts and come up with the same bright scheme. You know all these people have all this money in there? They can afford to pay some taxes on it. So, you’re giving up a bird in the hand today, which is the tax deduction, for a promise that the tax laws won’t change. And I’ve been at this business long enough to know that any time congress is in session, your money is in jeopardy. Get the bird in the hand today if you’re in a high enough tax bracket and get that tax deduction. Go on the Internet, read my article; Roth, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and it will give you some insight as to why a Roth might not be all that it’s cracked up to be.
Give Spencer the website to do that.
Website — our website is financialgroup.com, but the article is just Google Roth, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing and the article should come up for you.
He is the oracle of Orlando, Joe Bert, along side Aaron Bert and we are taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. Spencer, thank you so much for the call. We do have to get the three big things you need to know, but right now we are planning tomorrow —
Today —
With the Certified Financial Group here on News 96.5 WDBO. Information presented on this program is believed to be factual and up to date, but we do not guaranteed its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. Discussions and answers to questions do not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice, but is limited to the dissemination of general information. A professional advisor should be consulted before implementing any of the options presented. Certified Advisory Corp is registered as an investment advisor with the SEC and only transacts business in states where it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration requirements. It is 9:28, toward minutes away from the latest news, weather, and traffic right here on News 96.5 WDBO. It is a short segment here with the certified financial planners at Certified Financial Group here at News 96.5 WDBO’s Ask the Expert weekend. Joe Bert, Aaron Bert here taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. Before we get to the latest news, weather, and traffic, let’s get to a text question.
Text question.
Alright, I make $100,000 a year, $600 a month into my 401k. Mortgage is at 4%. Should I put more into the mortgage and less into the 401k?
No.
No?
No.
That simple.
Yeah.
Why?
No? Okay.
Well, first of all, you get 100% tax deduction for the money that you’re putting into the 401k. He’s only putting in $7,200 a year depending on his age he can go up to 18,000 or 24,000. Get a clean 100% tax deduction. He’s got a 4% mortgage and if he’s able to itemize depending on his tax bracket, his effective rate on that is going to be 2.5%, maybe 3%. That’s cheap money. And your mortgage is a forced savings account and paying off the mortgage isn’t necessarily a good idea. Stock money away in the 401k and get that tax deduction <Inaudible>
That’s what I said.
Yeah, but you said no. I added some texture to it.
Yeah, he said why. That’s key.
Well, just like that. You send your text question in, you get an answer. 21232. Just keep it to about 160 characters. 21232. We have Stacy and Tony on the line. Hang on, they’ve got great questions. I want to make sure you’ve got lots of time to get them answered so we have to pause real quick to get the latest news, weather, and traffic from Dave Wall in the News 96.5 newsroom where we are planning tomorrow —
Today —
With the certified financial planner professionals at the Certified Financial Group, Joe and Aaron Bert here on News 96.5 WDBO. And welcome back, this is On the Money with the Certified Financial Group here on News 96.5 WDBO’s Ask the Expert weekend. We are taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965 with Joe Bert and Aaron Bert here live in the studio. Joe, for the people who just joined us during the latest news, weather, and traffic, what can they call you about?
Aaron and I are here to take the questions that you might have on your mind regarding your personal finances, things that might be bugging you about what’s in my IRA or my 401k, about my insurance, life insurance or reverse mortgages. I’m looking at an annuity, what should I consider there? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, long-term healthcare, IRAs, all that and more we are here to take those questions. And as I like to say, on Monday through Friday we do financial planning for a fee, but on Saturday morning we do it absolutely free. So, if you have any questions on any of those topics or anything else that I might not have mentioned, the good news for you, we sill have a couple of lines open and our text line is there as well. So, <Inaudible> those numbers are:
844-220-0965. That is the number to dial. So, Stacy and Tony are on the line. They’re going to get their question answered here in a minute. 844-220-0965. Wal have the text machine, 21232. Just keep it to about 150 characters. That’s all we can see on our screen here. We don’t want to get Here on our screen here, we don’t want to get important information left out, so 21232. And it’s not only here on the radio, you guys have workshops at the Certified Financial Group.
We do. Today, Gary Abely, CPA and CFP is holding a workshop on financial basics. This is the good the stuff that <Inaudible> they don’t teach you in school stuff you really need to know.
Yeah.
It is absolutely free, leave your checkbook at home, he’s not going to be trying to sell you some annuity or life insurance product or sell you anything. But he gives some very, very good information. It runs about an hour and a half, he’s going to serve some light refreshments and it’ll be held in our big classroom at our office in Altemont Springs, that’s 1111 Douglas Avenue just off of 434 in Altemont Springs. You can go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com, and find a map right there. He’s got about five or six <?> seats available to you that I guarantee if you show up you will definitely get a seat. So that’s once again, 11:00 this morning at our office in Altemont Springs, 1111 Douglas Avenue, get some good information from a certified financial planner professional and a CPA as well. Gary knows his stuff, and I encourage you to attend. Maybe I’ll see you there myself.
Yeah, alright. <Inaudible> enough to be here at 11:00 on my show. Alright, let’s get back to the phone lines here, talk to Stacy in Orlando. Stacy, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.
Hi Stacy.
<Inaudible>
How are you do doing, great. I’m calling on a follow-up question on that a lady had a few minutes ago about she made 180,000, had a $24,000 a year, put into a Roth?
Yep.
Okay, question on that whole scenario is in the amount of years she put in that Roth that she paid taxes into, and then she changes that back to a pre-tax deduction, when it comes down to retirement, how are they going to work that? Does she have any taxes at all with that?
<Inaudible> I’m glad you called because I think you’re a little bit confused there. We’re not saying that she converts her existing Roth —
Oh, okay.
<Inaudible> just keep the Roth portion as it is, all of that money she put in there, she doesn’t want to go out and do something different with it, keep it as a Roth. But going forward, she ought to be putting the $24,000 a year and getting a tax deduction going forward.
Oh, okay. So she keeps it existing <?> but <Inaudible>.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Okay.
I’m glad you called and verified that. That may have been a little bit confusing, but that’s exactly what I meant even though it may not have come out that way. So I really appreciate your call, Stacy.
Okay, no problem. Thanks about that <?>.
<Inaudible>.
Thanks Stacy for the phone call. If you want Stacy’s line, it’s 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Tony in Avido is up next. Tony, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Hey Tony.
Good morning gentlemen, how are you all?
Great, Tony what’s up?
I am turning 66 in a few years. My fiancee lives in Brazil, and we’ve been talking about when I retire me going there and <Inaudible> get married and live there together. My question is in regards about my retirement plan and my Social Security.
Okay.
If I have that money sent to Brazil, do I pay taxes on it in the US?
Yes.
Or would I pay taxes on it in Brazil as well?
You will pay taxes on it in the US. I cannot speak to what <Inaudible> be in Brazil.
It depends on whether the US has a tax treaty with Brazil, and I don’t know that off the top of my head. But yeah, most likely you will. It also depends on whether you’re going to — are you going to stay a citizen of the US, or your goal is to renounce your citizenship or —
No, I’m going to stay a citizen of the US.
Okay, then you have to come back every year as well, so there’s a lot different planning things that go into eventually wanting to retire overseas. We’re getting this question a lot actually, a lot more people are asking this of us. And there are some great resources online — have you done any research online?
Not yet.
Okay.
The place I would start since I saw your call, Carl kind of gave us the heads-up, I went and Googled retiring abroad. The State Department actually has a pretty extensive website talking about all of the things that you need to consider, and they offer resources from there as well. So go on Google, type in retiring abroad and the State Department website will actually come up. You can go in there and use their resources to get some more information.
And there’s another website, internationalliving.com, Tony. Internationalliving.com will give you some ideas as well.
Okay, so <Inaudible>
It can be done, but you got to keep your head up as to what the ramifications are tax-wise, and as Aaron said about coming back to the United States to maintain your citizenship, so on and so forth. But happy nuptials to you there in Brazil.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Alright, Tony <Inaudible> hold onto.
Alright Tony, thanks so much. If you want Tony’s line, it’s 844-220-0965. Carl in <Inaudible> is up next. Carl, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for having me.
Sure Carl, what’s up?
My question is really on — I’ve recently moved here from the UK and I’ve come across a hurdle <Inaudible> need to get good credit to buy a house. I have no credit at all and I was wondering if you had any tips to get a good credit rating as quickly as possible.
Ah yes, apply for a credit card and make those payments on a timely basis, that’s the first thing that the credit reporting companies look for is your payment history. So get them credit and pay it off on a regular, consistent basis. Don’t make minimum payments, just pay it off every month, and that will begin to establish credit for you.
Thank you. I heard a rumor that the more credit cards you have, the better or quicker your credit rating increases, is that true?
Well, they use an algorithm in terms of how much credit you have versus what your income is and how much available credit you have and how much you’re using. So I wouldn’t go crazy with it. I would get the two major credit cards, I would get an American Express card and a Visa card. And I would use those cards and make all of the payments every month, and keep your credit clean, and that’s the best way to go. That would get you started <Inaudible>. Okay, and welcome to the good ole’ USA.
Thank you.
No problem.
Alright Carl, thanks so much and yeah welcome to the United States. Let’s go to RJ in Port Orange. RJ, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Yes, good morning guys.
Good morning, how can we help you?
Due to <Inaudible> circumstances, I had to take Social Security early at the age of 62. Now with my business, I only make $8,000 a year. And according to my bookkeeper, I’m only allowed to put in my savings on earned income. I’ve already maxed out my Roth account, so is there any place else that I can take my Social Security money to make an investment?
Yes, but not tax deductible. The tax deductible side is only on <Inaudible> yeah, you can only put earned income into retirement accounts. Now with that <Inaudible> you can — extra money, you can certainly invest on the outside, put it in a mutual fund, and that will allow you to make outside investments, but you can’t put it in a retirement plan. Retirement plan is only — contributions only based on what your earned income is.
Right, okay, alright thank you very much.
You’re welcome.
Okay, appreciate the call.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Alright, just like that.
Alright RJ.
And the phone lines are open, 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965.
<Inaudible> there’s — we’ve had information on the EquiFax data breach once again on our website, that’s financialgroup.com, financialgroup.com. Click on this week’s most read, there’s a great link there and all of the other things there you need to know to hopefully prevent some terrible things happening to you regarding your personal information. Financialgroup.com, Gary Abely once again is having a workshop at our office this morning from 11:00 to about 12:30, going to serve some light refreshments. Everything that <Inaudible> would have talked to you in school about savings and investing and all of that stuff, good stuff. He has a couple of — <Inaudible> he has five or six <?> seat open. Guaranteed, you get a seat, it’s 1111 Douglas Avenue. Once again, information is on our website, financialgroup.com as well as the map. You can just drop in and I’m sure he’ll be glad to accommodate you.
Alright, just like that. Alright, now we’ve got our phone lines in, let’s get back to the text lines, here.
Let’s do it.
You want to get to this top one here: I want to invest 90% Apple stock and 10% in CDs, is that a well-diversified portfolio. And <Inaudible> by the giggles, that maybe not. The new phone is amazing, about $275,000. That’s what the text reads at 21232.
Well if that’s the only thing that you — that’s crazy.
That’s not diversified, I wouldn’t say.
No, no no. What you’re doing is you’re betting the ranch on one company. I mean, can you say Enron?
<Inaudible> Enron, I mean <Inaudible>. I mean yeah. Well, yeah.
But —
It’s extremely <Inaudible> type of approach.
Extremely aggressive. I mean Apple has done well, there’s no question about it — I mean there’s — who knows if it’s going to continue to do well. Any time you invest in any one company, I don’t care what the company is, it’s a high risk, high reward proposition. It’s like walking to the casino and you see black coming up consistently and so you decide to put all of your money on black only to have red come up on the next spin of the wheel. Do not do it. Unless you just want to take a — it’s a high risk, high reward proposition.
If you were the texter, what would you do?
<Inaudible> first of all, they’re going about it the wrong way. Let’s back up. Why in the world do we even invest money? Why do we do it? We do it to get our money to grow so somewhere down the road we’ll be able to draw from that as our source of income to supplement Social Security and whatever else we have. That’s why we do it. So what you want to do is to have a high probability of having the amount of money piled up somewhere down the road that you’re going to need. And what you want to do is look at how much — most people go into the investment world not having any clue as to what they’re doing. All they know is they want to make a lot of money. This is what this is indicative. I want to get the jackpot, I want to get the <Inaudible>
Don’t we all?
At least he’s got 10% in CDs.
Ah yeah, right, right. No.
<Inaudible>
CDs aren’t the greatest options these days either.
This is how we’re totally difference from virtually everybody else that’s out there that wants to sell you something or wants to invest your money. We look at it from a planning perspective first and foremost. How conservatively can you invest the money you have today, and the money that you’re going to be earning in the future and still have a high probability of not running out of money when you’re 95 years old. That’s what planning is all about. That’s why we charge as fee for what we do. We’re not trying to sell you something other than our services. And everybody wants the — these money magazines, it’s their brother-in-law, get tips on the internet, see Apple stock going up, they have no idea — you’ve got focus on number one, what’s you’re number one objective and that’s having a pile of money that you can draw from somewhere when the paycheck stops that’ll carry you through your lifetime. And how conservatively can you invest your money and still have a high probability of making it. And unfortunately, most people chase their tails, try some of this, try some of that, wake up when they’re 55 years old only to find they have <Inaudible> and a financial <Inaudible>. That’s why you want to talk to a certified financial planner professional. That’s what we do day in and day out at the Certified Financial Group. If you want more information, go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com. If I sound like I’m preaching I am because I see the impact that this has on people’s lives, and I can see the disasters that sometimes walk into our office simply because they’ve done what this individual wants to do. Bet the ranch, and it goes well for a while only to end up breaking the leg and starting all over.
Alright, that’s it.
<Inaudible> not going to <Inaudible> then I said it myself.
That’s it. Yeah he did. 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Kim in Port Orange is on the line, but Kim we are up against a break here so I want to ask you to hang on, we’ll get to you on the other side. If anybody wants to join her, 844-220-0965, or text 21232. Again, Gary Abely’s got a workshop today coming up at 11:00.
<Inaudible> he’ll cover some of this stuff in the workshops. <Inaudible> more of what I just said. Gary is great, is a great teacher. Show up, 1111 Douglas Avenue, go on our website financialgroup.com and you can get all of the information you want.
Financialgroup.com. Alright, just like that. We have been planning tomorrow —
Today.
With the certified financial planning professionals, the Certified Financial Group Joe and Aaron Bert here on News 965 WDBO. Time to get the three big things you need to know.
It is the final segment of On the Money with the Certified Financial Group here on News 965 WDBO, Joe and Aaron Bert on mic three and four ready to answer those questions here, so let’s get right back to the phone calls. Let’s talk to Kim in Port Orange. Kim, good morning. You’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Good morning, Kim.
Hi there. I am 2016 <?>, only make earned income from work of about $1,500. I made the mistake of putting 6,500 into an IRA, so through my tax lady I found out I was being fined by the IRS. It’s only in a 20% <?> paying CD that other $5,000. I’m 50 — turning 59 next month. I heard — I’ve understood possibly at 59, I can start taking that out because it’s just going to <Inaudible>. She said I’ll be fined every year, what are your thoughts on that?
Why don’t you just cash it out? Just take it out of there instead of subjecting yourself to the potential annual fine?
Will I be fined <Inaudible> 10% <Inaudible>?
No, no not —
If I take that at —
No, not on the over contribution, they’re not going to fine you. In fact, they’re going to fine you if you keep the over contribution in there.
Oh, okay. So I can go ahead and just cash that out today <Inaudible> today.
Sure, yes, yes. Yeah, clean that up. That’s where your problem is, is you over contributed to something you should not — your tax person should have told you that.
Yeah, well — okay, alright, thank you so much. I’ll cash it out.
You’re welcome Kim, you’re quite welcome.
Thank you, bye-bye.
Alright Kim, Port Orange, thank you so much. Just like that. So <Inaudible> you don’t get penalized for the overage.
No, no they want you to clean that up because — yeah, yeah. So just take out the overage and <Inaudible> should have <Inaudible>
Well thank you for cleaning that up oracle, I appreciate that. <Inaudible> Get back to the texts. Texts are right to the 21232. If I know I will inherit $100,000 this year, is there something I should do to prepare for this inheritance? My house is paid off and I’m maxing out — well, that’s where we cut it off there. It’s 160 characters, that’s why we <Inaudible> yeah.
Problem maxing out the 401k.
That’s it.
Let’s be sure we understand what maxing out is because people have a misconception about that.
Yeah, we hear that a lot actually. People come into our office asking about their 401k and we go how much you’re contributing? Oh, I’m maxing it out. Oh really? How much are you putting in? I’m putting in 5%. Well, 5% of their salary isn’t max — a lot of people think that maxing it out is just getting up to the maximum match <Inaudible>
Contributions dollars <Inaudible>
From their employer. So really maxing out means if you’re under the age 50, $18,000. If you’re over the age of 50, $24,000. That’s the true maxing out of your 401k plan. So if he is truly maxing out his 401k plan and his house is paid off or her home, we don’t know if this is a he or she. There’s a lot of different things that you could to prepare. First question I would have, are you married? If you’re married, is your spouse also maxing out their 401k if they have one if they’re working? Are you able to put more money into an IRA depending on your income? There’s — do you have any debt? The house is paid off, yeah. Do you have credit cards? What about car loans? A lot of people don’t include car loans as debt. So there’s different things that you can look at. This is a perfect example of someone needing to come in and do some planning. It depends on the age of the person. Are they 30 years old or are they 70 years old. There’s a lot of different factors that go into there. $100,000 is a lot of money to come into, and if you prepare yourself correctly and maybe do something planning, that’s what you really ought to do to prepare, do some planning. You can invest that money appropriately and that will greatly enhance your success for retirement when that time comes.
So when that money comes to you, it probably comes to you totally tax-free so you don’t have to worry about paying and estate taxes or inheritance taxes on it.
That’s good.
And Aaron mentioned the fact that if you’re married and your spouse has a 401k, you can’t take that $100,000 and dump it in that spouse’s 401k. But what you can do is have your spouse max out let’s say the $24,000. And instead of the $24,000 that your spouse will be bringing home over a period of four years, that’s 96,000 for four years, you tap into that $100,000 that you have sitting there in a savings account. And that gets — it makes that $100,000 then tax deductible. So it’s all planned. And that’s what we do day in and day out for our clients.
Alright. That’s about it. We’ve got about a minute left here. Do we have one more — real quick question, why is the 401k tax deductible?
That’s the law. The law says that you — it doesn’t include — show up in your taxable income. So basically you’re getting a clean tax deduction. So when you get your W-2, you have gross income, taxable income, the difference usually is your 401k.
You can take a tax deduction on your 1040 but it just shows up as less income on your W-2 there in essence, tax deductible.
Alright, well <Inaudible> about going to do it for today’s episode of On the Money. Just real quick, Gary Abely’s workshop.
<Inaudible> workshop at our office at 1111 Douglas Avenue, starts at 11:00. Go to our website, financialgroup.com. Click on workshops. Everything you want to know, and you can also get the information on the EquiFax breach. Financialgroup.com, this weeks must read.
Alright, that’s going to do it. Thank you so much for listening On the Money. Stay tuned for Florida Homes and Gardens right here on News 965 WDBO.
Dictation made on 9/28/2017 2:17 PM EDT.