Hosts: Aaron Bert, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
Oh yes. Good morning. Central Florida’s oldest and largest independent firm of certified financial planning professionals is the Certified Financial Group in Altamont Springs, and they’re well represented this morning in the studio — On The Money with the Certified Financial Group, for like the last 25 years maybe.
At least.
25 years or so. Representatives of the Certified Financial Group have come in to answer your telephone calls, and of late, your texts, your questions and queries about what are you going to do to make your retirement a little bit more happy. In the studio this morning, we have two of the 12 certified financial planning professionals with the Certified Financial Group. We have the oracle of Orlando back in.
Good morning.
Joe Bert. How are you, sir.
Cold, but good.
Cold. If it gets below 60, it’s a little too chilly for me. Can I ask you a personal question.
You always do.
There’s that little car — you drive a BMW, like myself. Does that car run better when it’s like this.
You know what happens?
What?
Those tire sensors. You know when the tires are cold, it tells me I have a flat tire.
We’ll have to talk about that during the commercial. And Aaron Bert <?> is in the studio.
I’m here.
And how are you, sir.
I’m doing great, how are you.
Fine. How’s that lovely family of yours, and are you ready for Christmas?
I am ready for Christmas.
Are the kids all —
They’ve been ready for Christmas. Ready to go.
Ready for Santa <Inaudible> to come down the chimney.
They’re on break right now, so done with school for at least two weeks. They’re rearing and ready to go.
Well it’s so great to have you back in the studio. <Inaudible> tell everybody what they can call and ask you about.
Aaron and I are here to answer any questions that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. We talk about this stuff day in and day out with our clients for a fee, to answer questions that we kind of go through life and try to figure it out. We hope it all comes together. At that point in time when the paychecks stop and we know Social Security’s coming in but what else are we going to have coming in to pay the bills. We try to make decisions as we go through life about our IRAs, about 401(k)s, about what investments we should be making, what kind of insurance we should own, should we have a reverse mortgage, do we need life insurance, all of that stuff that we deal with day in and day out as financial planners. Aaron and I are here to take those questions that might be on your mind. Believe me there is no dumb question, because this is the stuff they don’t teach us in school. As we say in our commercials, we unfortunately have a situation in our country where we’ve raised generation upon generation of folks that are illiterate when it comes to our personal finances and we find out that we have a collection of financial accidents when we’re ready to retire and nothing’s working because we didn’t know what to do. We were getting advice from our stock broker, from our CPA, from our insurance guy, from our brother-in-law, from Money Magazine, trying some of this, trying some of that, didn’t work so we are here this morning to clear up the fog. If you have any questions regarding your personal finances or anything else you want to talk about we are here and the good news for you, there’s absolutely no one in line so pick up the phone and dial.
Oh yeah, that’s my queue. 844-220-0965. Or you can text us from your mobile device. The texting number is 21232. Or you even use the open mic feature if you want your voice to become part of the program. You’ll find the open mic on the News 96.5 app. Now I’ve got to ask you right from the get-go, Aaron — the Fed hiked the interest rate by what, a quarter point.
A quarter percentage point. So one quarter of 1% is what the Fed raised the <Inaudible> Fed rate that the bank pays to borrow money from each other. So they raised that by — it’s been at zero for — how long has it been at zero for — seven years. They haven’t raised rates in almost 10 years, and so this was the first rate raise in almost 10 years, like I said. So there was a lot of <Inaudible> about what that actually means, and they’ve been talking about doing this for well over a year now. So interest rates are an interesting thing, just because of how they impact the overall perception of what’s going on in the market. When the rates went up, interest rates are tied to bond prices, so when interest rates go up, there’s an inverse relationship there. When interest rates go up, the value of bonds typically go down. So the question was what’s going to happen with the market, what’s going to happen with the bond prices, and we’re really still waiting for all of that to shake out. After the decision was made, I took the markets have priced a lot of time in, because the stock market actually shot up after the interest rate raise. But then just recently the market obviously had a correction the last couple of — not a correction but a downturn in the last couple of days. Got several topics I want to talk about regarding interest rates and what their alternatives are in the bond market, how that may affect your fixed income portfolio. I know we’ve got some calls. I want to get to those while they’re on the line.
Let’s talk to Marie — oh I’m sorry Joe.
No, I’m just <Inaudible> this stuff.
Okay hi Marie.
Good morning Marie.
Good morning.
Thanks for calling, how can we help you.
Yeah, I had a question. I’m 27 years old and I have not started saving for retirement yet. What would you recommend as like a first thing to try.
Well the first question, Marie, are you employed. Do you have a job.
Yes, right now, but it’s not full-time because I’m currently pregnant and married and working until the baby’s born. Then after that I might go back to part-time work but I’m not sure if I’m going to go back right away.
So you have a couple of different options for saving for retirement for yourself. The first thing I would ask you is whether or not you have or your husband has life insurance that you need to have to protect yourself and your new children that’s coming out soon, so that —
He does. He has like — I think he has like over five different things going on. Like he has — he <Inaudible> life insurance because he’s a police officer and a <Inaudible> and then it takes care of anything that — like say burial as well if something happens up to a certain amount, and I’m the surviving benefactor and then it would be our child once they’re born.
Okay so a couple — financial planning 101 says you need to have life insurance in place to protect yourself if something were to happen to the main bread winner in the family. The second thing you need to have in place is make sure you have an emergency fund so if something were to happen to your husband and his job, that you’ve got three to six months worth of living expenses stocked away so that you can continue to pay the bills while you’re looking for new employment.
Okay.
Once those boxes are checked, then we turn to well how can we save money in the most tax efficient manner and then that’s where we go to saving either in a — what’s called an IRA, an individual retirement account, for yourself. Or your husband probably, if he works for municipality, has a retirement plan at work that he should be putting money into.
Yeah he has like two or three that he’s putting in towards.
He’s probably got a deferred comp plan and probably a 401(a) plan, and he probably has a pension as well. But he could be deferring some serious dollars into that personally, but for yourself, you can also be putting money into what’s called an individual retirement account for yourself.
Okay.
I applaud you for looking at that at 27. A lot of 27 year olds aren’t even thinking about saving for retirement, so that’s great —
Oh, I’ve been thinking about it since I was 18 it’s just I’ve had a hard time trying to get full-time work after college <?>.
I understand.
But yes, I am thinking about it. I’ve been listening to this show probably since I was a kid. My dad used to listen to it.
Really.
Then after he passed, I started listening to it more often.
WEll bless your heart, Marie. That’s really <Inaudible>. Listen, let me ask you this. What Aaron said is 100% correct, of course.
Thanks.
Here’s what you want to do, set yourself up an IRA — you get a tax deduction based — unless your husband has some other outside income, I know what the police officers make. Unfortunately they’re under paid.
Yeah, that’s true.
<Inaudible> so you can get a deduction for your IRA. If you’re looking for tax deductions at your age, you can put $5,500 into an IRA — tax deductible. You have to do it by the time you file your taxes, no extensions, April 15th. Put it into a mutual fund. Don’t pick individual stocks. At your particular age, we want to have a growth mutual fund. You can go online, set it up through any one of the number of firms that are out there. Go to Fidelity or go to Vanguard and go with an aggressive growth fund at your age. This is long-term money. This isn’t something that you know, you’re going to use in three years, five years. You’re 27 years old —
Right, oh I have one more question. I have two savings bonds. They’re AA’s and they’re from when I was like one and two that my great grandmother got me. When it does mature, which will be another 15 years for both I believe, what should I do with that. Throw into retirement? Like — because I don’t know what to do with it.
Let’s cross that bridge when we get there in 15 years. Hopefully <Inaudible>.
Okay.
But here’s the other thing too. That is kind of your emergency fund as well. So you’ve got that in the back of the drawer there, God forbid you need to get your hand on some money, that’s also available to you.
Okay.
So hang onto that as well. You can’t — that’s guaranteed money by the government. The interest rates are still better than you’d get in a bank, so don’t cash those out unless you really need to.
Okay. Alright, thank you.
Alright Marie, I appreciate your call and I appreciate your long time listening.
Yes absolutely. By the way, Joe. How many generations have you been serving.
You know it’s funny that you should bring that up. Now I think we’re on the fourth generation of client, which is the great grandchildren of some of my very first clients.
Wow.
For years, of course we had the original clients and we had their kids, and then the grandkids. Now I think we’ve got the one and two great grandchildren, which is —
<Inaudible> amazing.
Funny you should bring that up because I thought about that this week.
Again the number you can join is 844-220-0965. Or text us at 21232. Let’s talk to Ed. Good morning Ed.
Yes, good morning. Merry Christmas, happy holidays to all of you.
Thank you and thanks for calling. How can we help you.
Well I appreciate it. I think I’m on the back-end of the caller that just left, who was starting an IRA at the age of 27 or so. I’m at the age of 69.
Ed, before you go any further. Marie was 27, you’re now 69. Did you ever wonder where the last 42 years went and how fast they went.
Yes.
Isn’t it amazing.
Yes it is.
I mean for our young listeners that are out there, <Inaudible> that time goes so fast. You blink your eye and it’s over. So it’s not over for you, though, Ed. <Inaudible>.
<Inaudible> 45th college reunion, and gosh those guys look old.
I’ve been to that myself <Inaudible>.
Unbelievable. So anyway, here I am at 69 and I have IRAs with Vanguard. As I understand the law, and I hope you’ll clarify this for me and everybody who’s listening is at the age of 72, I have to take receipt of that so I can meet all the taxes that have been deferred on them, is that right.
No.
Aaron’s going to clear it up for you.
You actually have to start drawing from the account when you — so when’s your birthday, what month.
In May.
In May. So you will be 70 in May next year.
Well actually I’ll be 69 in May. I just wanted to come closer to <Inaudible> than I am.
<Inaudible> slow down. So you’ll be in 70 in May of 2017.
That’s it.
Which means you turn 70 and a half in 2017.
November.
Which means that you have the choice — which means in 2017 is the year that you need to start taking what’s called required minimum distributions. So that’s going to be based off of the value of your account as of December 31st, 2016. So it’s 3.65% of the value on December 31st of 2016 is the amount that you have to take out of your IRAs and start paying the taxes on that amount that you take out. That’ll be income added to your income tax return.
Right.
You don’t take it out in a lump sum unless you need the money. Vanguard will tell you every year how much you need to withdraw. The percentage increases every year. It’s based on the previous year’s balance on December 31st. If you don’t need the money, we generally recommend that you reinvest that so that you keep getting the growth for that. So that’s something that you want to consider as well.
Sure. Now the reinvestment. So I was under the impression that you needed to take it all out.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
This is well worth the price of a phone call, let me tell you. Super. So I start taking it off at that point at this particular interest rate, which is determined as of what the value of the IRAs are on the 31st of —
Next year.
The previous year.
Right there’s a <Inaudible> that tells you what the percentage is year to year.
Okay now.
Hang on, we want to take a break. Kurt’s raising his arms here. Hang on. We’ll catch you right on the other side of the break.
We’ve got to get to Dave Wall <Inaudible> <Lost Signal>.
<Inaudible> that’s Dean Martin there. This it On The Money with the Certified Financial Group. This is On The Money.
Little known Dean Martin fact. You know, he started out as a barber in <Inaudible> Ohio.
Is that right. Is that where he’s for our meeting. last week we were doing a little Frank Sinatra trivia on his 100th.
We’ve talked with Ed. You still with us, Ed.
<Lost Signal> used to be a barber as well. <Inaudible>.
Listen let me give you some — let me tell you how to calculate it if you want to figure out how much <Inaudible> now you can approximate. Assuming your account’s <Inaudible> go to our website, financialgroup.com. Go to financialgroup.com, click on learning center. It’s a tab up at the top, and then click on calculators. You’ll find the required minimum distribution calculator there. It’ll tell you how much you have to take out based on your age.
That’s super, great. I’ve got two more questions for you if you can allow it.
Sure, go ahead.
When I take those distributions, I’m probably going to reinvest it. Roth versus regular investment.
You can’t do it. You’re over 70 and a half. You have to have earned income.
Oh yeah, that’s right. Okay, so regular investments. Bingo. Okay. Here’s the last question. Let’s say that while I’m in my 70s and I’m taking these distributions and the big ranger called me home — big ranger in the sky calls me home — and there’s still money in these IRAs. Now it’s — my wife, of course, is the beneficiary. How does she — how does this affect her. Does she still get it at that particular rate, or does she have to <Inaudible> provision.
Actually she inherits it as if it were her own. So depending on the age differential, it’ll go into her account and she’ll take over ownership of the IRA just as if it was her IRA.
So there’s no mandatory requirement for her to take distributions until she reaches a certain age. Is that right.
Until she reaches 70 and a half, that’s correct.
Good. Okay.
That only applies to spouses. If the children inherit it, it’s a different deal. They don’t have to cash it out, but they have to do what’s called an inherited IRA. Then they would take it out of their life expectancy. This is really critical when IRAs are set up on beneficiary designations. You want to be careful if you name a trust because not all trusts are set up to accommodate IRAs being beneficiaries. What’ll happen is that the money will be forced out over a shorter period of time, and taxes will be due. So you want to deal with an attorney that’s knowledgeable about IRAs.
Super. All great advice. I’m sure you have other callers on the line. I appreciate it very much. Once again, merry Christmas, happy holidays to all of you fellows. You’ve been very helpful.
Thank you Ed. Thank you very much for the call.
Alright this it On The Money, brought to you by the Certified Financial Group. We have just about a minute before we’ve got to get back to Dave Walton <?> in the news center. We’ve got Michael on the line. Michael’s already retired, but his wife is fixing to retire and he wants to talk about her retirement. So Michael, in order to give you the exact fair amount of time, and all of the time you need, we’re going to hold you over until after the news. I hope that’s okay with you. If you’d like to join us, here’s the number to call: It’s 844-220-0965. Or text us at 21232. Joe, Aaron, we’re planning tomorrow, today.
Alright Joe, keep it down.
<Inaudible> what was that.
I have not a clue.
Joe, the oracle of Orlando, Burke, and Aaron Burke — the Burke brothers — are in the studio this morning to answer your telephone calls here On The Money with the Certified Financial Group. You can join us as well. Joe, Aaron, recap real quick. Tell everybody what you can take calls about.
We can take calls about anything that’s on your mind regarding your personal finances, and answer those questions that might be on your mind as you make decisions about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, IRAs, 401(k)s, <Inaudible> an I want to circle back to Edward, who was our last caller, who asked me a question — he’s got an RMD coming up in a year or so. He asked can I take my RMD and roll it into a Roth. The quick answer to that is no. However, Aaron reminded me of you can always put money into a Roth. It’s just that you’re taking RMDs, the rules are a little bit different. So let’s go back to the example that you gave me earlier.
Well you have to — you can do what’s called a Roth conversion, which — but you cannot roll your — do a Roth conversion with your RMD, so you have to overdraw your IRA, pay the taxes on that full amount and then you can take that excess above and beyond and roll that into a Roth via the Roth conversion process. So for example, if your RMD is $1,000, You could take $2,000 out of your IRA and put that excess $1,000 into a Roth via the conversion process.
You can’t put the whole 2,000, as in Edwin’s case, he wanted to take his RMD amount and roll it into a Roth. Can’t do that. So like you said, if your RMD is 1,000, you can take out anything over and above the 1,000 and roll it into the Roth and pay the taxes on it and that’s what the government wants you to do. While we’re on that I wanted to let our listeners know that as our regular listeners know, we have not been big fans of the Roth over the years for reasons that we’ve tried to explain on this program. I could you wrote an article for Kiplinger that just happened to be picked up on the Internet that you’re welcome to read in detail. It’s called Roth, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing. Google it. The article will come up and it’ll show you all of the reasons why we have not been big Roth advocates. Kiplinger contacted me last week, they said the article got over 80,000 hits. So we’ve touched a nerve out there.
Okay cool.
Yes, let’s talk to Mike here.
Thanks for hanging in there Michael.
Mike, you’re up next. You have the floor, sir.
Hi, yes. I have retired and am taking Social Security. My wife is still working and will reach retirement age next July.
Full retirement age or 62, like a <Inaudible>.
66.
Okay. Go ahead.
Yes. I thought that I had heard somewhere that she can start collecting on my Social Security starting in January with no penalty. Is that right or —
No, well let’s back up. How old are you.
I’ll be 66 in January. I took a little bit early retirement.
Okay so you are one of these people that are caught in this new law change that just happened, so thank you for calling. So basically you are still going to fall under the old rules, but you have a timeline in order to do so. You have up until May of next year to do what’s called a file and suspend, which will allow you to go into Social Security, start your Social Security benefit and then suspend your benefits — or actually you’re already claiming those, so this doesn’t apply to you.
<Inaudible> yes.
Yeah okay so you’re already claiming. So when your wife turns 66, she’s going to have the choice of doing what’s called the restricted application for spousal only benefit. She can still do that too because she’s older than 62 by the end of this year. So since you’re claiming — and you — when did you start, when you were 62? 64?
No, when I was 65.
You started at 65. So your wife at — when she turns 66, can go into Social Security and still do the restricted application for spousal benefit, which will allow her to take half of what you would have gotten had you waited until age 66.
Okay.
Then what happens with her benefit — and then that allows her own personal benefit to continue to grow at 8% per year until she reaches 70 and then she can go in and say I want my own benefit now. So her benefit will actually get 32% larger by her doing that.
Right, okay. But she has to wait until she’s 66 to start claiming on mine.
Yeah. In order for her to claim half of your benefit, she has to be full retirement age. So she has to actually be 66 in order to do that. You can do it like a month before hand, but a lot of people have been phased out by this. So the laws are changing as far as Social Security is concerned. So if you’re in that window — and this is for all of our other listeners that are listening — if you’re in that window where you are just turning 66 and your spouse is just turning 62, there’s still some strategies that are available to you but the window’s going to close in the middle of next year. Great time to do some planning.
As a reminder, Nancy Hecht and Denise Cobach have a Social Security boot camp that goes through all of these claiming strategies. Mark this on your calendar. It’s a Thursday evening at I-28 <?> from 6:00 to 7:30 at our offices in Altamont Springs. It’s absolutely free. You can get more information on our website, financialgroup.com — financialgroup.com. Click on workshops, and you can make a reservation right there online. It’ll answer all of those questions and more. So if we can get a more detail with you, be glad to bring your spouse and they’ll offer some refreshments and they’ll love to see you there.
Now Michael did you have any other questions regarding that.
No, that was it. Thank you.
We appreciate the call. Thank you very much.
Speaking of your colleague, Nancy Hecht, I just got an e-mail from her. She’s going to be here live next Saturday.
Yeah, why would she not be here.
Christmas.
Oh, because we’re doing the show live.
We’re doing the show live next week. Nancy, the author of A Man Is Not A Plan, which is so cool.
A man is not a plan.
I just found out I’m a real high commodity because I’m single.
You’re not a plan either.
I’m somebody else’s plan.
<Inaudible> I can tell you that.
Gary in Enterprise. Good morning Gary.
Good morning. One of your colleagues brought up about savings bonds and it kind of twigged me that I haven’t really thought about it, but I’m getting different ideas on it. What it is is January of 1969, when I turned 16, I made a resolution to buy a $500 bond every month. I have since then, and I’ve got $280,000 worth of bonds. I’m just wondering — I’ve been told that I need to cash them in. What it is, I’m leaving everything to my daughter. My wife passed away. I own — everything I own, I own outright. I won my house here in Florida. I own two houses in Europe. I’m being told that with the inheritance tax that I can’t leave my bonds to her, I have to cash them in. Can I leave my bonds to her.
You can. She’s going to have to pay taxes on them. You haven’t been paying the taxes and the interest every year. It’s been deferred right. You haven’t been getting any 1099. Listen, you’ve been buying them since 1969.
Yeah.
You’ve never cashed them in. They stopped paying interest in 1999.
Yeah, I know. I wasn’t really worried about interest or anything, I wanted —
But you’re losing money, my friend.
Yeah.
It’s like taking money and just burying it in the back yard for the last 20 years or 15 years.
But it’s there.
Well it’s there but still.
You can leave them to anybody. But the thing is that taxes will have to be paid and then whatever’s left is what they’re going to get. You’re saying you want to — you can’t pass the bonds onto her, is that what you mean.
Yeah, I’m just wondering. Somebody told me that because they’re in my name I couldn’t pass them on.
That’s correct. Yeah, and all of the taxes that go with it.
Alright. I get it. No big deal. Also, I know this sounds different, but I’ve also been buying gold since 1969. Now if I leave the raw gold to her, does she have to cash that in, or does she —
No. She will get what’s called a step-up in basis. So she will get the value of that gold upon your death. She could sell it tomorrow and pay absolutely no taxes.
Alright. Then —
Same thing with the houses. You didn’t put her name on any of the deeds, did you.
No.
Good, okay.
You know other thing you might want to consider too is starting to gift her money or gift her coins if it’s something you want to pass on. I don’t know what your overall estate tax situation is but you don’t want to have to be paying taxes or you don’t want your estate to have to be paying estate taxes when you pass on.
Well but you don’t want to lose the step-up in basis either.
Right.
You’re going to take over the basis.
Well it depends on what kind of gold it is too.
Yeah, so there’s some different strategies there in order to hopefully lessen your estate tax issue, if you even have one.
Yeah, how much do you have to leave before you pay estate taxes, $5,000,430. $430,000. $5,430,000.
I think I’m under that.
Well you have those houses in Europe, I don’t know Michael.
Yeah, what are the taxes like in Europe <Inaudible> —
Also depends on how much gold you’ve been stocking away for the last 40 years.
Don’t forget everything that you own, if you have life insurance, that the life insurance is in your name. If you’re the owner of the policy, that’s part of your taxable estate, even though you name a beneficiary. So if you have $1M policy with your daughter as the beneficiary, that $1M comes as part of your taxable estate, even though she’s going to get — you know, you’ve got to look at that kind of stuff.
So I’ve got 300 ounces of gold, so it’s close I think.
I’m going to have to go back and look at this, but yeah, I may have to — I didn’t think about gifting her stuff. I may have to start giving her stuff.
Well you want — remember whatever you give her, she’s going to take over that cost basis. So that you have something that you spent $10,000 for today is worth 100,000, she’s going to take it over at the $10,000 cost basis and be liable for the taxes of $90,000 when she ultimately sells it. However if she inherited it at $100,000, today’s value, and sold it the next day, she would pay no taxes. So you want to be <Inaudible> what you’re giving away.
So as long as she’s under the 5M, she’s pretty safe.
Well it’s the estate taxes, it’s your estate that will have to pay the taxes on the — over the 5M.
It also depends on when your wife passed away. If she’s passed away since the law change, then you may have a $10M exemption.
She just passed away seven months ago.
Sorry for your loss.
Then you should have the full $10M exemption for both you and your wife. So probably you’re not going to have that estate tax issue.
Oh —
Assuming that the estate was held jointly — done correctly.
Yeah, because in Europe, you — the estate taxes are pretty <Inaudible>.
So tell me where the houses are in Europe. I’m fascinated here. Where have you got these houses.
I’ve got one house just south of Barcelona. I’ve got one house in England.
Very good. Do you go there often, are they rented or what do you have going on.
The house in Spain, I’ve had a doctor in it for the last nine years. He keeps <Inaudible> to buy it off of me. My house in England, I have am — my niece lives in it.
Alright, Michael. Well thank you for the call and merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and your family.
Thank you.
You’re very welcome.
Michael has a problem there.
We’ll what are you going to do.
He’s got to sit down — no, seriously. He’s got an issue. He’s got to sit down with somebody like you.
Well he’s got perhaps an estate planning problem. But his houses overseas are going to be perhaps a mess when he passes on <Inaudible>.
I’m thinking he may want to consider selling that house if someone’s willing to buy it so you can clear that up for your daughter so that she doesn’t have to deal with it if something happens to you. That’s something you’ve got to work through.
That’s something that he did mention that I did want to hear about is the <Inaudible> tax law over in Europe.
<Inaudible> holy cow. Alright we’re coming up on news time. We do have a couple of text questions we can get to. We have a text question that was cut off. It was about a $30,000 debit college loan consolidated a couple of years ago. I’ve been teaching at a title one school for 11 years and I am looking — and then it cuts off. So if you’d like to call in with the rest of that, the number is 844-220-0965, or you can text us at 21232. Joe Burke, the oracle of Orlando, and Aaron Burke, are in the studio from the Certified Financial Group, central Florida’s oldest and largest independent firm of certified financial planning professionals is the Certified Financial Group <Lost Signal>.
40% of Americans said they are unsure if they’ll have enough money to last them through retirement. For nearly 40 years, certified financial planning professionals with the Certified Financial Group have been providing retirement planning and investment advice for a fee. Because they’re working on your behalf for a fee, they won’t try to sell you something. Get a complementary consultation by calling 407-869-9800, or 1-800-EXECUTE. Certified Financial Group. We’re planning tomorrow, today. Online at financialgroup.com. <Inaudible> for certified advisory <Inaudible> a registered investment advisor.
Joe Burke. You told me you played piano <Inaudible> —
<Inaudible> years ago. <Inaudible> and I sat down at the piano one evening and —
Tried.
Really, no kidding.
Nice guy.
He is a nice guy.
I met him and he signed an autograph for me. Actually he scribbled an autograph for me. Joe Burke, Aaron Burke in the studio from the Certified Financial Group. We’re running out of time here on the program, but I did want to make mention that you can get a hold of these gentleman for the next couple of weeks here — year end. How do folks reach you at the office.
The best way to contact us is through our website, financialgroup.com. You can learn all about it. You can make an appointment right through the website or you can call us directly at 407-869-9800 or 1-800-EXECUTE, as if you’re executing a legal document. I want to mention a couple of workshops we have coming up here. As I mentioned, Nancy Hecht and Denise Covach, on January 28th, at our office in Altamont Springs from 6:00 to 7:30 — that’s in the evening — we’ll be doing a Social Security boot camp, planning strategies. January the 9th, Saturday morning, at 11:00am, Gary Avely <?> will be doing a financial basic for life strategies for success. This is great, because it’s financial planning 101. Everything you wanted to know about what you need to know. So go to our website, financialgroup.com. Click on workshops, you can make a reservation right there and do it. There’s more after that. When you can retire and countdown to retirement. Those dates are <Inaudible> in the February time frame. So once again, go to our website, financialgroup.com. Make a reservation because they fill up fast. We hold this in our classroom — we call it our classroom, board room, ball room, whatever you want to call it. We have room for about 30 folks. A lot of space for people to move around. State of the art audio and visual equipment that’s used and they will provide refreshments, it is free. People ask why do you do this kind of stuff. We do it for really two reasons:
1. To give you some good information so you can make those intelligent decisions when the time comes.
2. To practically <?> introduce you to our firm.
What we do as fee-based financial planners. So whether you’re looking for financial planning now or sometime in the future, perhaps you’ll give us an opportunity to earn your business. We work for a fee. We are not commissioned brokers when we do financial planning. Our fees are — clients say that’s really reasonable and we walked away with a lot of good information and a <Inaudible> really saved me from making a lot of mistakes. So if you want to learn more about us go to our website that’s financialgroup.com.
Alright. Not a whole lot of time left in the program here. Do have one quick question here. What is the federal interest rate hike on <Inaudible> my fixed income investments.
Well the interest rate hike is going to have the biggest impact on government bonds that are long-term maturity. Actually any bonds that are long-term maturity, corporate or government. Really history shows us that shorter-term bonds — shorter maturity duration bonds do the best in times of rising interest rates, in addition to foreign bonds and emerging market debt as well as high yield and floating rate bonds. So when people talk fixed income, there are several different types of fixed income. So don’t be locked into just government bonds as your fixed income alternative. There are dozens and dozens of asset classes that comprise — that make up fixed income and there are ways to diversify your fixed income portfolios so that the interest rate hikes and the rising interest rates over the next several years doesn’t impact your bottom line as far as fixed income is concerned.
So alright gentlemen. I want to wish all of our listeners a very, very merry Christmas and may God bless you and your family in the coming year and we’ll see you on the other side of Christmas.
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