Hosts: Judith Sanborn, CFP®, AIF® and Nancy Hecht, CFP®, AIF®
It is an Ask the Expert Saturday morning on WDBO. Good to have you along with us. My name is Kirk and this is On the Money, brought to you by Orlando’s oldest and largest —
Independent.
Independent firm.
Sorry.
You’re fine.
I was hanging by a note.
Planning professionals, that being the Certified Financial Group in Altamonte Springs. And with us this morning, we have two of the ten certified financial planning professionals with the Certified Financial Group. Say good morning to Judi Sanborn and Nancy Hecht. Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
So nice to see you both in the studio this morning.
Thank you.
And Judi, let me ask you, straight upfront, for anybody who may be new to the program: What are you here to take calls about?
We are here to take calls about all of your financial questions regarding your 401(k), mutual funds, stocks, bonds, life insurance, long-term care insurance.
Retirement planning, estate planning, any of the pocketbook questions that you might have that we could address for you.
Let me give you a telephone number and you can call right now because the lines are wide open. 844-220-965. 844-220-0965. You can also text us from your mobile device and that number is 212-32. 212-32. Or if you so desire and you’re so inclined, you could use the open mic feature. You’ll find that on the News 96.5 app. And your voice can become part of the program as well. Among some of the things we’re going to be talking about today, I’m happy to take a cut in pay, said no one but this guy.
Not many people would say that right.
Nancy. Smart ways to lower your required minimum distribution and good news for your rollover. The one thing that we’re not going to talk about today is any of this political crapola.
Correct.
Oh man, have you had it up to here?
I thought we weren’t talking about it.
Yeah.
Nancy just told me she turns off her TV.
That’s what I recommend to my clients. Turn off your TV and stop reading the newspaper.
Hey, do we have any workshops going on this weekend?
Absolutely.
No — this weekend?
Oh, this weekend. No. Sorry.
Sadly not this weekend. However, we will have — Denise and I will be hosting our Social Security boot camp on Thursday, October 20th. That’s from 6:00 to 7:30 in the evening. We’ll serve a light refreshment and give a lot of really good intense information about Social Security. And then on Tuesday, October 25th, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, Gary Abley will be hosting When Can You Retire, Know Your Numbers. And lastly, in November, on the 15th, also from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, hosted, again, by Gary Abley, Countdown to Retirement.
These workshops are so cool that you guys put on.
Yes, they are.
They’re purely educational, just like this morning.
Yeah.
It’s always just educational.
You’re not out to twist anybody’s arm and sell them anything at all.
No, no. The purpose is to give some good, solid, easy-to-understand information, have people come and see that we have an actual office and —
Introduce you to them.
Yes. Get an idea of who we are and how we think and answer some questions that are really important to a lot of people, and give you a little bit of food at the same time.
And, Nancy, of course you and your colleague Denise Kovatch are — when it comes to Social Security, you two are the gurus.
Some people say that.
They are. They’re our go-to people in the firm.
And we’ll talk a little bit later on in the program about your upcoming Social Security boot camp, okay?
Okay, sure. Yeah.
I neglected to mention that Nancy is also author of the Hecht Effect and A Man is Not A Plan. So if you’d like to talk to Nancy, or Judi, the number, again, 844-220-0965. And this is Tracy is Orlando. Good morning, Tracy.
Good morning. How are you guys doing?
We’re good.
Good, Tracy. What’s your question?
My question is I have a small college fund for my daughter. And last year, I pulled out $3,500 to help with some of her fees. Last night, I got a letter from the IRS that said I didn’t — I didn’t read the whole thing, but it looked like it said I owed $700 because they — if I have an early withdrawal, I have to pay taxes on that. I think they were thinking it was retirement money.
Right, right.
No, no, no. Do you have a 529 college savings plan?
Yes.
Okay, alright. So what I tell my clients, when it comes time to withdraw, you keep a receipt for every penny that you’re spending for the education. Because there is a potential that the IRS will come to you and say, was this money really used for their higher education. So you have to match up what you spent with the withdrawal and send it to the IRS to prove to them that yes, these were valid higher education expenses, and this is not a taxable withdrawal.
And your daughter is in college, is that correct?
Yes, that’s correct. Yes, she’s at UF. Go Gators.
Number 10 in the rankings.
Go Seminoles. Sorry, Tracy.
Yeah.
Better numbers in the rankings.
Thank you so much.
<Inaudible> Michigan <?>.
Okay, go blue.
Big time. But Tracy, I always tell my clients that because, with the IRS, my attitude is that you’re guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. And as long as you have documentation to show what you spent the money on, you attach it to the statement that they sent you requesting along with the withdrawal. Make copies of everything, send it certified mail, return receipt requested. And you should be fine.
Okay. I think she hung up.
Yeah.
Thank you for the call. And that opens up a phone line for you. Here’s the number again: 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. It’s 13 minutes after. Coming up in seven minutes, we’ll head on back to the News Center and Dave Wahl. He’s got the latest on the campaign trail. We’re not talking about it, but he can give us updates on it. Also, are we going to get some rain today? Is it raining now?
It’s not raining now.
No.
But that storm seems to be <Inaudible> —
It may not be right out here on the parkway, but —
As long as it rains after noon, I’m fine.
Well, Dave Wahl’s got an eye on everything and he’ll be joining us in less than seven minutes now. Again, Nancy Hecht and Judi Sanborn are both certified financial planning professionals with Certified Financial Group and available for your phone call at 844-220-0965. Let’s get right to this guy. I don’t know, maybe this guy found something new to smoke or what, but I’m happy to take a cut in pay.
Right.
Said nobody but this particular guy.
Well, what this is in reference to is pulling Social Security benefits at age 62, which I am not a fan of unless, of course, you absolutely need to take the money. But we were out to dinner. We were at a restaurant where the tables were really close. And the gentleman next to us was just going on and on and on about how sick he is of working and he’s going to be 62 next year and I’m just going to hang it up and I’m just going to take my Social Security. And I really wanted to turn around to the guy and say, you know that you are going to be relegating yourself to a permanent lifetime 25% cut in what you’re going to be getting in Social Security. And we’ve all met with people that are in situations, either due to job changes or downsizing or medical or family reasons that they have to leave the job force and take Social Security at 62. But just deciding voluntarily that you’re just fed up and you can’t make it to 65 or 66 when you can get your full benefit and take a permanent cut in pay is just unbelievable. I looked at my own. I pulled my own record yesterday, and the difference between 62 and, for me, it’s 66 and 10 months is $1,100 a month. Which is huge.
And the other aspect to that is if you are the higher earner and something were to happen to you, your surviving spouse gets your benefit if it’s higher than theirs. And so the longer you put off taking your Social Security benefit can be a benefit.
Well not even as a survivor benefit. If the spouse is — if half of mine is greater than my husband’s full, and I take that 25% cut, then he’s getting a permanent 25% cut also. So I went onto SSA.gov and I looked at my record, which I highly recommend that everybody do. And they had, originally, about a month ago, said, alright you can’t get any information from there unless you have a cell phone and we can send you a code. They already rescinded that. But there’s something new, I noticed, on the report. At the bottom of the report now, they list everything that you’ve paid into Social Security so far. So I’ve paid in $233,208 into Social Security. And I plan on working for 15 more years.
But you could live to be 100.
Yeah, I could. I know.
On a relative basis, <Inaudible> significant.
It’s a lot of money. But yeah, I mean —
Compounded annually. Let’s see, that adds up.
Yeah. I felt that I really, really wanted to talk to this guy and say, listen buddy, you’re making a big mistake. Find another job or career that you can be happy with for four more years. But please, don’t do this to yourself.
Good advice. Let’s talk to Alicia. Good morning Alicia.
Good morning.
Good morning, how are you?
I’m good, how are you all?
We’re doing great. What can we do for you?
Okay, so I’m 30 and I have three small children. So really I’m just asking for advice for later. Obviously, I’ll be working for the next 25, 30 years, and I have a 401(k) that I just recently set up a couple years ago with the job I have now. I also have a small part-time job that I only do once a week for benefits, some benefits <Inaudible> park <?>. So, honestly, I just want to know what you would say to yourself, when you’re first starting out with a small family, and what would be best for me and my kids to go to college, and for me and my husband to retire well off where we don’t have to worry about small paychecks?
Well, the first <Inaudible>. If you have to unequivocally make a choice between saving for your kids’ college or saving for your own retirement, your kids can always get loans and grants and scholarships for school. Ideally, you would be able to do both. If you can do as much as you possibly can for your own retirement and then a little bit in a 529 college savings or Florida prepaid for your kids, then that would be great. We want to be able to do everything we can for our kids. Some people say that we now do too much for our kids, but your retirement is really, really important.
A lot of good you’ll be doing for your husband if you and your husband are living down in a van by the river and your kids have a degree, right?
Right, exactly. That’s not very helpful. First of all, Alicia, I applaud you for thinking about this at age 30, so I really commend you for that. The other thing is you said you plan on working for another 25 or 30 years.
That’s only into your 50s.
And one of the things that I always tell my younger clients, because your life expectancy is so much greater for your generation, potentially to 100, your work life is probably going to be until 70. And I know, at 30 years old, 70 sounds old. But the other thing that I tell my younger clients is the closer you get to these ages that you used to think were old, they’re actually pretty young. So if you can kind of keep that timeframe in mind — and I don’t know what your particular career is right now, but your generation also has opportunities to have multiple careers. So you’re going to have a lot of opportunity to save for retirement. I think, as Nancy said, that should be your primary goal and primary focus. And then helping your children. That’s the best thing you could do for your children is take care of yourself in retirement so they don’t have to take care of you.
Right.
Absolutely. Here’s the number: 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Judi Sanborn is here along with Nancy Hecht. Both of these people are certified financial planning professionals with the Certified Financial Group. Call. Now’s your chance. I’ve got wide open lines. 844-220-0965. Or you can text 212-32. When we come back, can I ask you: Will Social Security be there?
It’s an Ask the Expert Saturday morning on WDBO. Just a few minutes from now, we’ll get back to the News Center with a more in-depth look at today’s top stores. Right now, On the Money with Nancy Hecht and Judi Sanborn from the Certified Financial Group. This is Julie in Orange County. Good morning, Julie.
Hi, Julie.
Yes, hi.
What can we do for you?
My very young 18-year-old son is getting ready to come into a settlement amount of money. It’s a small amount that he wants to play with, around $10,000 to $15,000. We’re not sure what to do with this, or what’s tax-sheltered and what can make money for him. Where should we put this money?
He wants to play with it? What does that mean?
He wants to be able to make money with it.
Age of majority in Florida is 21. So whatever type of investment account you open is going to have to be owned by you or your husband or grandparents with your son as the custodian. So from a taxing standpoint, anything that’s under $1,400 is going to be taxed at your son’s rate. Over $1,400, as far as earnings, is going to be taxed at whoever the owner’s rate is. Is this money that may be used for college in two years?
He may put some aside. I’m really not sure. He doesn’t know what to do with it.
I think the first thing for him to consider is the purpose of the money. Does he want to <Inaudible> — does he work?
He currently is working a part-time job, yeah.
So he could set up a Roth IRA, if some of the money he would want for retirement. That money, if he were to commit it to something like a Roth IRA, he can’t use until he’s 59 and a half. So that would be a very long-term type of investment. But as Nancy said, if he has some short-term goals for spending the money, then that’s going to — anything that he’s going to want to actually use the money for in two years or less, cannot be invested. That just has to be in savings. Anything that he’s willing to commit two years or more to, he can actually afford to invest. And what I tell my younger clients is look at where do you spend money? If they’re spending a lot of money with a sports company as far as shoes and shirts and stuff like that, it may be worth looking into getting a few shares of that or a mutual fund that invests in recreational kinds of activities. If there’s — if he spends a lot of money at the movie theatre or at Starbucks or something like that, it may be worth it to do a little bit of research and see about investing where he’s spending. But something that is going to be good, solid, blue-chip-y, consumer staple-ish would be a good place to put some dollars that are able to be invested. And, again, we’re talking longer-term. And the companies are going to be around for a long period of time.
We’re up against the clock here at 9:30. We’re going to take a break for Dave Wahl in the News Center. Anne in Seminole County wants to talk about a will and a quitclaim deed. And Lynette in Leesburg has some real estate. She wants to get your opinion on refinancing on that.
Okay.
And also, speaking of sudden wealth, when we come back from the news, you have a very young client who came into some sudden wealth, didn’t you?
I did.
Alright, can we talk about that?
We can talk a little bit about that.
And also, we’ll get to that question: Will Social Security be there when you retire? Nancy, you can answer that can’t you?
I can certainly give my opinion on it.
Right now, let’s get to Dave Wahl in the News —
Hey, Nancy, you want to dance?
Later.
How about you, Judi? Living la vida loca. It’s an Ask the Expert Saturday morning on WDBO, and this is On the Money brought to you by the Certified Financial Group in Altamonte Springs. In the studio, Judi Sanborn and Nancy Hecht from the Certified Financial Group. Both of these ladies are certified financial planning professionals and are here for you. And you can call right now, 844-220-0965. Nancy?
Yes.
What are you here to take calls about?
All of the pocketbook questions. Retirement planning questions, retirement planning, estate planning, taxes, long-term care, life insurance, 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, mutual funds, stocks and bonds. We’re here to take your calls.
And more. 844-220-0965, or text 212-32. Let’s get right back to the phones. Anne and Lynette have been holding. Anne in Seminole County. Good morning.
Good morning.
Hi, Anne, how are you?
I bet you Anne —
Hi, good morning.
Good morning. Thank you for holding.
I have a question regarding my will. My husband passed away recently and I want to make a completely new will. All my investments and banking accounts and so forth show the beneficiaries still — that part — everything was divided equally among the two children. A friend of mine told me that, for some reason or other, even if I put the house in the will, it sells, that I still need a quitclaim deed. Is that so? For the house or any property that I own.
One of the thing that you can do with a house, if you do not want to put it in joint name with your children, which we don’t recommend — there is something called a ladybird deed. And a ladybird deed acts as a beneficiary designation, if you will. So you can have that —
<Inaudible>.
Created and name your children. And as long as you’re living, you’re still 100% owner of the house and responsible for the house. And when you pass away, instead of the house having to go through probate and be distributed by virtue of your will, it would go directly to your children if that’s what you choose for it to —
Yeah.
Happen at that point.
<Inaudible>.
So, it’s not the quitclaim deed. It should be the ladybird deed.
That’s correct.
Alright. And why is that if you have — can you put the house in the will itself, or won’t that matter? Will it still have to be probated?
Well, you don’t put the house in the will. Your will, really, is designed just to distribute the assets that are only in your name.
Anything —
I’m sorry, a will says probate <Inaudible>. And you want to have as much pass outside of probate as is possible because probate in the state of Florida starts at 3%. So you want as little as possible to have to be probated.
Right. So by having all of my investments and banking accounts and so forth already in their names as beneficiaries, that will not have to be probated, is that right?
That is correct. And kudos to you, Anne, for doing that, especially the <Inaudible> accounts.
Okay, thank you so much. You’ve answered my question and I appreciate that.
Anne, can I ask you a personal question?
Yes.
How long were you married?
54 years.
What was your husband’s name?
Allen.
Well, Allen was a lucky guy. He sure was.
Alright, well thank you so much.
So sorry for your loss. Bye, bye now. 54 years. That’s a long, long time, huh? Let’s talk to Lynette. Good morning, Lynette.
Good morning.
Good morning, how are you?
I’m good, thank you for taking my call.
Sure.
Yes, yes. Me and my husband just really don’t know which way to go concerning our home. And we’re really trying to get out of some debt. We owe just as much as we did years ago. We’ve been in this house for at least 17 years, somewhere in there. <Inaudible> years ago as well. So we’re thinking about just selling the house and we just really don’t know which way to go.
Okay. So is your question that you are having some problems with debt and you want to be able to restructure it?
Well, yeah. We’re trying to get out of debt, which is — just really want to know which would be the wise <Inaudible>.
What I’m going to suggest to you, Lynette, is that you contact us on Monday and we can put you in touch with a professional that handles exactly the type of questions that you have, which is beyond the scope of Judi and I, and that’s why we have a network of professionals that we work with. So if you can call our office on Monday, 407-869-9800 and ask for either myself or Judi. We will put you in touch with a gentleman that we know should be able to give you some guidance.
And one more time on that number?
407-869-9800.
And you can also find out more on the web.
Yep. Financialgroup.com.
Financialgroup.com
Correct.
Thank you. That’s awful nice of you.
Thank you, Lynette. Well, you know —
Thanks, Lynette.
We don’t know everything.
We don’t?
And we have no problem admitting it.
That surprises me.
I have no problem admitting I don’t know everything.
Nancy, you’ve probably forgotten more than most people will ever know about debt.
Who knows? I can’t remember.
Larry in Orlando. Good morning, Larry.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my call.
Yeah, sure.
I’m 73 years old. I’ve been retired for six years collecting Social Security. And recently, I went back to work getting a well-paying job. And I guess I wanted to know, is there any way I can get the Social Security that I’m paying in, is there any way I can get more of that? I’m going to work for about two years. Is there any way I can go back and say, hey, give me all that Social Security?
Gosh, that would really be nice wouldn’t it? Larry, when did you start taking? Did you take it at full retirement age? Did you take at 70? When did you start taking Social Security?
Full retirement age.
I think if you end up paying in a little bit more, you may be able to get a small adjustment upwards.
And I think Social Security would do that automatically.
Yes, yes. And that would really be it. But yeah.
Okay, well, thank you then. I know what to look for and if I don’t see it from Social Security, I’ll give them a call. Thanks a lot.
Yeah, and good for you at 73. That’s wonderful.
Yeah, we were talking about age earlier.
Yeah, because you’re really — in my book, you’re not old until you hit 80, 90.
Not even then. 80 years —
90 would be like elderly. 80, you would be old.
My mom, when she was 90, was not elderly.
Really?
No, she wasn’t.
I have a friend who’s 80; this guy’s like 60.
Yeah.
Ed, you’re up next. Ed in Claremont.
Yes, I’m 70 years old and retired. I have all of my savings in an IRA. My question is, is it stuck in there? Because if I withdraw it to invest in any other instrument, I’m going to have to pay taxes on it.
The simple answer is yes. You’re taking required minimum distributions.
Yes.
So what you have to take out for required minimum distributions, you can invest elsewhere. But when you say invest in a different instrument, tell me what you mean.
Well, I mean it’s in an IRA account that’s not making very much percentage, so I’d like to — if it would be possible to put it in some other form that I could make more income, have a larger income stream —
Okay, Ed, IRA is the title that holds the account. There’s a lot of nice quality mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, various different things that are acceptable for IRA investments. Do you have it all in a savings account or a CD or money market or cash or something?
I have the majority of it in a CD and probably 75% of it in a CD, and 25% — it’s in a credit union.
Right, okay. So, yes, you can do what is called an IRA transfer to go from the CD or the cash equivalents that you’re in into an IRA with somebody —
Brokerage account, <Inaudible>.
Brokerage account, have somebody like us help you.
You can come to us.
And then get a nice portfolio of mutual funds that meet your risk tolerance and your desires, and of course, comply with the law because you have to take required minimum distributions. So you do not have to stay in the certificates of deposit. You can actually invest that money. And being 70, you’re looking at a potential 20 years or more for that money to work for you and that’s a long time.
Right, that’s why I’m concerned about it being stuck in an IRA that’s not paying very much.
Well, it’s stuck in —
Would your group be able to help me with some advice?
Most certainly we would, Ed. And our initial meeting is always complementary, so if you call the office on Monday and ask for Nancy, she can set up a meeting for you to come in. And that first meeting is just to get to know you and understand what it is you’re trying to accomplish.
Okay, I appreciate your help.
Sure thing.
Thank you.
Alrighty, let’s see if we can squeeze in Joseph before we go to Dave Wahl in the in the News Room. Joseph, go ahead, sir.
Good morning, thanks for taking my call. Don’t want to talk about taking Social Security already. I retired at 62 and I took Social Security. I’m 79 now. I’ve been drawing it for 17 years. And to delay taking Social Security, unless you really need the money, it’s far better to take it early and invest it, you get a far better return than to leave anything with them. I took — when I signed on in ’99, I got 2,000 a month, 24,000 a year. I have taken — I’ve received 400,000 from Social Security <Inaudible> and I invested in a mutual fund at 12% a year, annually compounded.
But wait a minute, hold on, there’s something wrong with this picture isn’t there?
No. No, the difference is that when Joseph started taking Social Security, economically, the world was extremely different.
Yes.
Interest rates were much higher. He’s gone through — from ’99 through now, there’s been a couple — there’s been three big negative years. But predominantly, it’s been a very good investment time. And economically, extremely different. I don’t know, Joseph, that people could duplicate your success, but I’m happy that it worked for you.
Okay, we’ve got — run up against the clock and we’ve got to head to Dave Wahl in the News Center.
9:55, Dave Wahl will be back with us in about five minutes with a more in-depth look at the news, traffic, and the weather, followed by Florida Homes and Gardens, a home <Inaudible> show, part of your Ask the Expert weekend on WDBO. Judi Sanborn and Nancy Hecht are in from the Certified Financial Group. Here’s a text for you guys: Because of the high cost of long-term care insurance, is there a point where one become self-insured?
Sure. We’ve looked at many different cases where if somebody has little or no assets, or somebody has a lot of assets — and a lot is a subjective word — then both of those people can easily self-fund.
Yeah, I think the question, perhaps he’s asking for some dollar amount. But I think that’s pretty individual, so I would encourage you to just visit with somebody about it and talk about what assets you have and make a decision with a financial professional as to whether you can —
I know from a cost standpoint, you’re looking for full nursing, about 8,500 a month plus incidentals.
Goodness gracious. I’m 54, have a 401(k) with my employer. It’s a 2020 plan. My question: Can I retire in the year 2020? At 54?
I don’t know.
I don’t know, that’s only four years away.
No, the 2020 plan is — that’s what we call a target investment and it’s a fund that every year they re-balance the mix between equities, which would be stock and income and any type of bond or cash type of investment, with the target of the person retiring at 2020 and being all in income and very little in equities. So I don’t know what’s <Inaudible>.
How old are you going to be in 2020? Oh, 54? I don’t know.
Yeah, you’re too young to retire. That’s my bottom line answer.
Is the ladybird deed the same as a life estate deed?
No, and that is a legal question, so if you are looking to do something, as I had suggested earlier in the program, it’s really important to get an attorney involved so you understand the difference.
Nancy, you have some good news for your rollovers.
Well, Judi has it. Judi found this information, so we will give credit to her. We have — people who take money out of their retirement accounts and you know you have a 60-day clock and it’s an actual calendar, 60 days, no questions asked, hard and fast. But now —
And the quick answer to this is the 60-day rollover rule is still in place, but you can request a waiver and the IRS will give you an extension because a lot of people, number one, don’t know about the 60-day rule. A lot of people who — the checks they get, they spend it, whatever happens that they don’t put it back into the IRA within that 60 days, it’s created a lot of problems for the IRS, and now they are going to let you self-certify that you deserve a waiver.
Which I think is fantastic.
Yeah, and there’s 11 circumstances that apply and we don’t have time to go into them. But perhaps the next time I’m on, we’ll go a little bit more in-depth about it.
And if you go to the web and you go to the website of the Certified Financial Group, you can find some smart ways to lower your required minimum distributions, as we mention earlier in the program. Nancy, how do folks get a hold of you and Judi at the Certified Financial Group?
Well, there’s two ways. First, you can go to our website, which is financialgroup.com, and you can request a complementary consultation with a couple simple clicks. Or you can call our office Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5:30, 407-869-9800.
Well thank you very much.
Yep. Thank you. I hope everybody has a great weekend.
Information presented on this program is believed to be factual and up-to-date. But we do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. Discussions and answers to questions do not involved 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.
Dictation made on 9/2/2016 9:26 AM EDT.
