Hosts: Denise Kovach, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
Yes indeed! This is On the Money, brought to you by Orlando’s oldest, and largest, independent firm of certified financial planning professionals, that being the Certified Financial Group in Altamonte Springs. And with us this morning we have two of the 12 certified financial planning pros. Say good morning to Denise Kovach!
Hello, Kurt, how you doing?
Hi Denise, I couldn’t be better, thank you!
Awesome!
And the Oracle of Orlando is back in the studio with us, Joe Bert, good morning, Joe!
Morning!
How are y’all?
Good! Good to be here. Thank you.
Joe, in case anybody may be new to this program, what do you take calls about?
Well, Denise and I are here to take any questions that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. As we say in our ads that we run here on WDBO, unfortunately our education system has failed all of us in teaching us how to save and invest for our financial future. Because there will come a point in time when that paycheck will stop, and what you’ll have is Social Security plus whatever you’ve been able to save and accumulate during your working lifetime. And so we go through life trying some of this and trying some of that, and kind of hope it all comes together, only to wake up one day and find we have a collection of financial accidents. So we’re kind of here as your body shop, how to repair those things which you may have done wrong, how we can fix it, and believe me Denise and I have heard virtually everything so there’s nothing that you can’t tell us that probably we haven’t heard. If we don’t have the answer, we can find out where the answer might lie and get back to you. But once again, feel free to call in —
Excuse me.
Just call in and we’ll be glad to take questions about your personal finances as they revolve around decisions that you might be making on stocks and bonds and mutual funds and your IRAs and 401(k)s and annuities and life insurance and reverse mortgages and all that and more, we are here! So pick up the phone and the good news for you, if you have any questions, you can dial in anonymously. You don’t even have to use your name. So if your name is Daphne, or Jack, or whatever it might be, just pick up the phone and dial, and that number is, 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. You can also send Joe and Denise a short text from your mobile device; that texting number is 21232. 21232. And if you’re so inclined and you want to put your voice on the program you can always use the open mike. You’ll find the open mike on the news 96 spot path <?>. Again, 844-220-0965. We’d love to hear from you. Some of the things we’re going to talk about this week is if do you want to roll over your traditional IRA into a 529 college plan, is that possible? And some things you should never keep in your wallet. But first, I want to bring up something that I heard about a couple of weeks ago and I think it’s pretty doggone cool. Orlando is fortunate enough to have the Certified Financial Group. What would you <Inaudible> certified as?
Well, we call it CEFEX, and what that means, Kurt, is, it’s the Center for Fiduciary Excellence, and they award its certification to firms that meet the highest standards of fiduciary excellence in their investment management, governance, and operational processes. And the certification is a formal, independent recognition demonstrating trustworthiness to the general investing public. And we are proud to have been added to the elite list of only 75 registered investment advisory firms in the country to receive this coveted certification. Fewer than 1% of the firms nationally have been recognized and we’re very proud to be among —
Hear hear! Hear hear!
Woo hoo!
<Inaudible>
Yes, by a certified advisory group.
We had a questionnaire we had to go through, about 150 pages of questions we had to answer.
It was a book.
They invested everything about our firm, from our computer systems to the firewalls we had, the security measures we provide. All of our planners were interviewed, documented, everything, so we’re very very proud of this certification. If you want more information about it you can go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com, and as this implies in, whether you picked up on it or not, when we worked as investment advisors and provide advice to our clients for a fee we’re not acting as brokers. And there is a distinction in the world today, the investment world, about how planners in our business work with clients. You can either work as a broker, or as a fiduciary, and when you work as a broker you’re really working on behalf of your firm. And there’s nothing wrong with that, and all you have to do is meet what’s called a suitability standard, which means you will do no harm to the client. Whereas, when you work as a fiduciary, means if you have to work in your client’s best interests, not in the best interests of your firm. So we work as fiduciaries with our clients as registered investment advisors and if you want more information on how we do it and what we do, go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com. Yes sir! We got a call here from Robert in Clairmont. Robert, are you there? Thanks for calling in.
Morning! Good morning, hi, how are you?
Great, how are you?
Good. I, like a lot of people I think, concerned about the way the market’s going to go when we get that big adjustment that’s going to come our way with 20 trillion of debt and everything else, so I’m 59, and so I’m looking toward retirement. I converted back, I guess, 2012, converted my IRAs and all to Roth, and so but I also converted those to a self-directed IRA. I’ve been the best thing at things like short-term construction, <Inaudible> doing very well at 12% and for six months within an option that extends an extra six months and other things, some things not as well, but looking for other ideas. I also invested just in a typical Wells Fargo bond that’s doing just so so but I did that just to counteract the market, because I think bonds are — the market kind of go in a reverse direction. I’m really looking for other suggestions of, well, where to save. One other thing my girlfriend she invested just recently in an account that I think it’s a six-year CD that it does tour the market but it wraps it up but it can’t go down, and I think it pays off 75% of what the actual market is doing. Are these things good? What should I be doing? I have probably 200,000 to 300,000 in retirement money, and —
Let’s go, let’s — First of all, let’s go to the CD that your girlfriend bought. She bought this through a bank, I presume?
I believe through her financial advisor, I’m not sure if that’s a banker or not.
There was an article, I’m trying to remember where I just read it; in fact, it was this week, where the rates of return on those are less at the end of the day, at least they’ve been proven less and <Inaudible> all the time these have been available to the public than what you can get in a standard CD, simply because of the fees and expenses that are tied into them up front. The up front commissions that have to be paid, and then they’re geared towards if the market goes up you only get a percentage of what the gain is, so you don’t get full percentage of it–
Right, 75% —
And then they complain with the return, so they had not been good investments although they’re sold by banks because people are disappointed with the low rates of return they can get in a standard bank instruments, so they said look, come over here, let me show you what we got over here, and they show ’em the shiny thing that sounds like, man, if the market goes up and I’ll be okay, market goes down and I don’t lose anything and I’m sure to get my money back. Recent study that I read says that you’d be better off just buying the CD.
Well, okay.
Denise, how do we help this gentleman here?
Well, you know, Robert, we’re truly about diversification and asset allocation and timing the market is something that I don’t think anybody can do, even if you have a PhD in economy. Okay, so what we need to do here is he’s 59 years young, and if you retire, let’s say, at age 65 what’s your life expectancy? Okay. You might live another 30 to 40 years thereafter, so it’s not the short-term we’re worried about. And market volatility is always going to be in place, so we don’t have to focus on that because it becomes an emotional thing that can really affect us, and make us do the wrong types of things at the wrong time. So where should you be? You know, maybe you should be in a little bit of everything, but a very well-rounded portfolio of mutual funds that is investing in stocks, large, small, mid, real estate, bonds, which are short-term on the fixed income side, and definitely stay on the short-term side, because when the Feds start to raise interest rates, guess what happens to the prices of bonds. As you know, they go down, so there’s certain short-term bonds that can be held and you’re going to need some quality bonds too and those are going to be more intermediate bonds, but you need to get together a portfolio of very very good mutual funds that can work for you in the good and the bad.
Robert, let me ask you a question. We’re kind of putting the cart before the horse here and might, like most people out there, we’re always looking for the investment that will get us the best rate of return with the least amount of risk. But based on — and you’ve been very candid and up front telling us what you and your girlfriend are doing in the investment world. Have you had — have you done it, or have you had a certified financial planner do it? Look at how much capital you’re going to need to sustain you for your lifetime. Getting it — giving consideration to taxes, inflation, and your own personal lifestyle, and by lifestyle I’m talking about not only what you spend today in gasoline, groceries, electricity, and dining out, but all the extra things we want to do in life, like taking vacations, what kind of cars you want to buy, maybe buying a vacation home somewhere, maybe paying for a wedding, and all that kind of stuff. That’s what Denise and I do day in and day out for our clients is first of all look at where you are today with your own personal situation and then determine how conservatively you can invest your money to minimize the risk and still have a high probability of not running out of money when you’re 90 years old? And this is what I’m trying to say in my opening. Unfortunately you do, and that’s what virtually everybody does in the country; we’re chasing returns because we want our money to grow, but sometimes we’re running down the road at 100 miles an hour where 50 miles an hour will get us there and we’re pretty sure we’re not going to have a wreck. So I would suggest — I would suggest that if you want to have some planning done, you sound like an astute gentleman, give our office a call, 407-869-9800, or go to our website, financialgroup.com. You can see this smiling picture there of Denise, give her a buzz, and come on in. We offer complimentary consultation; we’ll give you a cup of coffee, we’ll learn about you, you could learn about us, and at the end of that session we will tell you what it will cost us to do a detailed analysis for you so you know what you need to do and I’m sure you’re going to be surprised at how reasonable the fee is.
I’m driving, so could that be offline, information given sent to me? Additional information?
If you’ll hang on, we’ll have Kurt pick up the phone and we’ll get your information and we’ll text you our contact information. Robert, thank you —
One last thing–
Yeah, go ahead.
One last thing, you hear a lot about gold and silver. Could you comment on that? I can hang up at that point, but–
Sure, be glad to.
But the last thing I was–
Be glad to. The reason you hear a lot about gold and silver is because they can run all those ads and make all kinds of promises to you and they’re not regulated by anybody. But there is a place for gold and silver in a portfolio, but you don’t want to bet the farm, unless you’re what we call a prepper, which means that you think the world is going to come to an end and you’ve got your gun and dehydrated food and so on and so forth. Maybe you want to put 2% to 3% of your portfolio in gold and silver, but gold and silver is a speculative investment. What we’re after when we build portfolios is to hit consistent singles and doubles; we’re not trying to hit home runs, and strike out, to stick with the World Series analogy. By the way, go Indians!
Ha ha ha!
Right?
Thank you!
Thanks a lot!
Have a great day!
Okay.
Joe Bert and Denise Kovach are certified financial planning professionals with the Certified Financial Group in Altamont Springs, and that’s how easy it is! You can call and ask their advice right now. Let me give you the phone number. 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. You mentioned the telephone number over at the office, but there’s a real easy way to remember, you guys, on the website. financialgroup.com. How can you forget that?
Financialgroup.com. That’s it.
That simple!
Financialgroup.com, and you’ll find out everything, including some upcoming workshops that we’re going to tell you about. Also when we come back from Dave Wahl in the News Center we’re going to answer the question, can you roll over a traditional IRA into a 529 college plan? And Joe, did you have anything to say?
I did! We were talking about the fiduciary thing, we were talking about our website. There’s a cool video on our website which pops up there, it says Know the Difference or Learn the Difference, it runs about three minutes. But it really explains the difference between a broker and a fiduciary. So go to our website, financialgroup.com and watch that video that kind of pops up where it says Know the Difference.
Okay. Also, the number here in the studio, 844-220-0965. The Certified Financial Group, for over 25 plus years here? Anyone going on 30 years, on Orlando radio?
Yep!
Planning tomorrow.
Today!
This hour was paid for by the host and does not reflect the opinion of New 96.5. <Background Noise>
People would say it probably should. It’s an ASTX first Saturday morning on WDBO, my name is Fred, and this is On the Money, brought to you by the Certified Financial Group. And in the studio, Joe Bert, the Oracle of Orlando, along with the lovely Denise Kovach. Denise, it’s been a long time, it’s good to have you back on the program.
Good to be here, Kurt, thank you.
Okay, if you want to join us here, if you have some kind of financial question, say maybe your 401(k), an IRA, a rollover, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, long-term health care. The lines are open for you right now. It’s 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Joe, I think we have a text.
Yes. This says How can I start for retirement and how much money I need to start?
Well?
I believe he or she is asking how can they start saving for retirement and how much. Well, that depends, there’s a couple of different ways, one being a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA depending on income limitations if you are also eligible for a 401(k) and there’s also a 401(k), a company retirement plan or a 403(b). So the question is, it depends, but it’s best to start off at a traditional IRA, if you’re under, or 50 years old or older, you can contribute —
50 years old or younger.
No, it’s 50 or older.
Oh, you’re going to give it the maximum. Okay.
Yeah! Always start with the maximum.
Start the maximum! Attagirl!
I like that!
All right.
The more the better. Well, actually, let’s go with under 50. Ha ha ha.
Target’s really off.
You did. But that’s okay. $5,500 is the maximum, at least this year and it’s going to be the same for next year. You can also do more if you want, but it won’t be tax deductible, and I wouldn’t be putting tax deductible in with —
If you’re under 50, 5,500.
Right.
And if you’re over 50?
If you’re 50 or older you get to slam another $1,000 bill into that so that’s one now if you’ve got a company 401(k) or retirement plan that might be the better option because you can put way much more away.
And that’s the best way to save for retirement, when the first things we look at when the clients come to see us are you using the available plans to the maximum. And why is it good to save money in an IRA and a 401(k) versus trying to save it outside of a retirement plan?
Because you don’t get a 1099 at the end of the day. You don’t pay taxes. So it grows tax deferred until of course you withdraw it.
Got a call here from Debbie in Melbourne! Debbie, your question?
Um, hi. My question is — well, first of all, I’m 46, so I’m with a company where they do matching with the 401(k).
Okay.
And right now that’s really all I’m doing and I’m wondering at that decision.
Well, again, that goes back to what Joe was talking about earlier, is let’s not put the cart before the horse. You know, to determine if you’re doing enough, you need to really run the numbers to say okay, this is what I’m doing, this is what I’ve done, and this is what I need to be doing in order to retire at what, age 67, or whatever that might be. So at — without really getting into particulars, Debbie, as long — right now, if you’re matching or at least putting in as much as the company is matching because that’s free money, that’s a good thing. But at 46, you can put in $18,000. So as much of your discretionary income that you feel comfortable in doing, that’s where I would be looking to go.
Debbie, your target ought to be to max out the legal limits on your 401(k) or 403(b) or 457, whatever plan you may have available to you. You said you have a 401(k), is to put it in the $18,000. And if you were over the age of 50 you can put in a — what they call catch up, another 6,000 for a maximum of 24,000. If you can do that, if you can do that at your age, you will be far and ahead of most everybody else retiring at your age. And the challenge is to be able to do that, because we know life gets in the way, you know? Bills come up and — but you have to discipline yourself, you have to pay yourself first. You got to take it out of your paycheck and don’t spend it and put it in there and do it on a regular consistent systematic basis no matter what’s going on in the world, no matter what’s going on in the market. Unfortunately people try to be another Warren Buffett, jump in, jump out, make emotional decisions, and it doesn’t work. I had a client in the office this week, Denise, who attended the presentation that I did for one of the high schools and this was about 12 years ago. And she came in and she — I’d never met her before, and she came in and she said, I remember when you said the thing that I need to do is just put the money in the account, to every paycheck and never look at it. We picked out the investments or I think we chose a target date fund for her, and she said I did that and today I have over $150,000 in this account that I never thought I would have. And that, my friends, is the secret to retirement!
You know what, that brings me to–
We got to break, can I interrupt here?
Sure, sure.
I’m on a hard clock here, and I got to get to Dave Wahl at the News Center.
Good morning! It’s an ASTX first Saturday morning on WDBO and this is On the Money, brought to you by the Certified Financial Group. Don’t forget, coming up right after the news at the top of the hour, it’s Orlando’s longest-running home fix-up show, it’s called Florida Homes and Gardens. Be answering your home repair and home fix-up questions, coming up in the next hour. In the studio, we have Joe Bert, the Oracle of Orlando, and Joe, along with Denise Kovach, Joe, tell, everybody what you take calls about.
Once again, Denise and I are here to answer those questions that might be on Your mind regarding your personal finances. What you need to do now is to be able to look back five or ten years from now and say gee, I wish I would have known, or gee, I’m sorry I did. And it has to do about things you might be considering. Something about your IRA or 401(k), annuities or life insurance policies, or reverse mortgage, or real estate, mutual funds, whatever it might be. So the good news is that the lines are wide open. You can just right to the head of the line, because there is no line. All you have to do is pick up the phone and dial the number.
844-220-0965. Yeah, this is surprising. Lots of good chances to —
Everybody’s out there enjoying the beautiful weather.
Yes, they are.
Or they’re sleeping late. Sorry, Cubs fans. 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965, or text us at 21232. Here’s a question for you, Denise. Can I roll my traditional IRA into a 529 college plan?
Well actually, one of my clients actually asked me this a couple weeks ago. She’s in her early 40s, and my answer to her is not without paying taxes. Plus, because she’s not yet 59 and a half, there’s going to be an additional 10% penalty here. So my recommendation was if you need to do this, you can take withdrawals from your IRA to pay for higher education, whether it’s for your kids, yourself, or what have you. Now there’s not going to be the 10% penalty; there still will be taxes. Okay? But at the same time, I also suggested that instead of taking away from her retirement savings, okay, is perhaps take some discretionary income and start putting it into a 529 college plan, which in my opinion, makes a lot more sense than to take away from your tax deferred retirement account. How do you feel about that, Joe?
I like the 529 college plan. I also very much like now the Florida Prepaid plan. Incidentally, the enrollment is open this month and it runs through February, and for those of us that might not be familiar with the Florida Prepaid College Plan, it allows you to kind of mix and match what you want to pay for in the future, pay for today so you’re locked in a price for the future. And you can have two years of community college, four years at a four year university, you can buy room and board, you can buy virtually everything. And go online. Just type in Florida Prepaid College, it will come up, and it will tell you how much it will cost to do what you want to do. The good news is that the rates and the fees have come down dramatically in the last couple years than what they were. In fact, some people that had the older plans made a lot of money, got a refund. I strongly believe in that as kind of a foundation for college, because if your child doesn’t go to school in Florida, they can take the cost of that Florida education and take it to Duke or Notre Dame, or Harvard, wherever it is they want to go. I think it’s a good way to do it, lock it in as kind of guaranteed, and then on top of that, as you say, Denise, the 529 plan gives you flexibility for that other stuff. You don’t get a tax deduction for the money you put in the 529 plan; the benefit is —
Tax rate, as long as it’s used for higher education. So that’s cool. Very cool.
Alright, we’ve got a call from John in Rockledge. John, how are you? Thanks for calling in.
Good, how you doing?
Great. What’s up?
My question is my mortgage company contacted me to refinance my home, and they’re claiming that it’s no cost to me, and that my interest rate will go from 54.6 to 3.8. And the length of the loan will not increase. So my question is I think that they’re going to be rolling the closing cost into the interest rate and that’s how they’re paying for that. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not.
It’s not a bad idea to start to take advantage of today’s low interest rates. I would definitely give it consideration. What you may want to do — what, you’re currently in forced fixed <?>?
Yes.
You have a 30-year mortgage?
Yes.
Okay, and they’re offering you — how many years are you into the mortgage?
28 — or I have 28 years left.
Okay, so you’re basically starting from ground zero. Yeah, the rate that they’re offering doesn’t sound like that great a rate to be honest with you. There are better rates out there on a 30-year mortgage, and what I would do, of course put that in your hip pocket, but I’d shop it.
Mhm. I think that is the right idea.
Yes. Definitely shop it. But I think it’s a great idea — I mean, we’re going to look back 10 years from now and say man, we should have gotten all this cheap money that we could have. And this is true for all of our listeners out there. IF you’ve got a mortgage in the four pluses or four and a half or beyond that, definitely take a look at refinancing in this market, because we’re never going to see interest rates like this again.
Unless you’ve only got five years to go on your mortgage, then it might not make sense.
Yeah, that’s true.
And if you’re going to be moving out in a year or two or five or seven years —
— Thank you very much, excellent point, excellent point.
— then absolutely. But it depends on your situation, I agree totally. Good point, Jeff.
If I may make a suggestion. Listen today at 2:00 for an ask the expert show called Saving Thousands With Robert Palmer, and that’s all he does is mortgages and refinancing, and stuff like that. So give him a call today in the 2:00 hour. He’s the man. Alright, it’s 9:42 on WDBO, and in the studio, Dave Wall is in the news center keeping an eye on things, and in the studio, we’ve go Joe Bert and Denise Kovach certified financial group. If you’d like to join us, the telephone number is 844-220-0965. You can also text us from your mobile device. THat texting number is 21232. I’ve been waiting for this — some things that you should never keep in your wallet.
Well, there’s quite a few of them. And I’m going to begin with Social Security card. And it’s very important that you don’t carry that with you, unless you need it, but you have to have a reason to carry it. Because if a thief gets ahold of your Social Security number, he or she could buy a car, open a bank account.
When you think about it, you carry your driver’s license, which has all your personal information, where you live, your height, weight, birth date, all that stuff. All you need is a Social Security card to match up with it, and bingo, they’re in business.
And furthermore, you say that — what if you had your house key in your car and your driver’s license got stolen. They have your house key, now they have your address — I could go on and on and on. But beginning with your Social Security card, don’t carry it. Passport, leave it at home. Put it in your safe. And don’t carry too many credit cards, because if you lose your wallet, I mean it’s going to be a very big pain to cancel all these cards or whatever. Carry maybe one or two, put the other ones away, store them very safely, and leave your checkbook at home. Haven’t <?> heard that phrase before haven’t you?
Yep.
Leave your checkbook at home unless you know you’re going to need it. Maybe take a check with you, but don’t — you’ve got your routing number on there, got you account number on there, perhaps your address is written on there. Don’t do it. And don’t carry excess cash. That’s not necessary. Just carry enough money in your wallet that you’re willing to lose. And other things briefly include passwords. You don’t want to carry around your passwords, not even a USB flash drive. You might have some important information on that. Gift certificates; they’re very liquid. People can take them, and it’s like cash. Don’t do it. And what about a phone with no security?
Oh, that’s a no.
That is absolutely. So if you’ve got your phone, put a security code on it, and don’t carry jewelry with you. Don’t wear gaudy <?> —
Not flashy. I got you. For sure.
— Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I want to go back to Debbie.
— Alright, Debbie. Yes.
— She was talking. I think her name is Debbie. She called in about what she should be doing as far as investing in her 401(k) because —
Saving for retirement was a concern.
Yeah —
How do I get started.
Yeah. Well pretty much, and Joe and I had some ideas for her, but what I want to share is we have on our website, this week’s must read, something for her to read and for you guys too. When retirement savings goals seem hopelessly unrealistic. Debbie was 46 years old, and she perhaps has a mortgage, children, things that cost money. It’s like how do I pay for all this stuff when — and contribute to my 401(k) as well. So that’s a good read for those of you who are in this situation to go to our website at FinancialGroup.com and read our this week’s must read.
Great. Alright, we’ve got a call here from Don in St. Cloud. Hello Don, thanks for calling.
Yeah, so I’m considering selling my house, and I was wondering what the capital gains if I don’t invest in another house. I’ll probably have about 180,000, $200,000 in capital gains.
You have —
Is there a —
You’re thinking about the old law that changed several years ago, Don. The good news is if you’re single, you can have a gain of $250,000 and no taxes. If you’re married filing a joint return, you can have a $500,000 gain and no taxes.
Well, as long as Don is referring to his residence.
Yeah, your personal residence, I presume.
Yes it is. It’s my personal residence.
And he’s been there at least two years.
You’ve been there the last five years?
Been there yes, over 10 years.
There you go.
There you go, that’s your coverage. You have no taxes!
Okay.
That make your weekend Don?
Oh yeah guys, a big smile on my face.
There you go. Thanks for the call.
Alright, happy to do it.
Alright, we’ve got another call here. Jeremy in Wesley Chapel. Jeremy, thanks for calling. How can we help you?
Good morning. I’ve got a question in two parts, actually. Me and my wife have been looking to buy a house for several months, probably going on a year. We’re new in the area where we’re at now, but we’re kind of taking a break and a step back away from looking and buying houses. If we do that, we wait another six months, do you think that we’re going to miss the good interest rates, and do you think that the house is — the prices are going to go up? Are we going to miss out if we buy now, should we stay on it, or if we take that break?
I think the time to buy is now. I think there’s a high probability that interest rates will go up in the near future, so rates will go up, and housing demand is only going to continue to go up. So if you’ve got the wherewithal to do it, please do.
I agree with you. I mean, we don’t know what’s going to happen in six months; we know what’s happening right now. So like Jeff says, take advantage of the marketplace if that’s what you want to do, and find what you’re looking for. That answer your question?
It does.
Already Jeremy. And I love that area of town. I’m from Clearwater, born and raised from Clearwater, so not too far from Wesley Chapel.
I do. It’s one of Florida’s best kept secrets, man. Wesley Chapel down there.
Alright. Joe, what would you say to people that may be skittish? They say what happened the last time that the housing prices were run up way sky high, then all of a sudden the bottom fell out?
Well, we had a lot of speculation in the market then. I don’t think we have that today. People were able to buy a house by just fogging a mirror, and you have people who were trying to flip houses, make a quick profit, and then the bottom fell out and people lost their jobs, and people couldn’t rent houses, and —
— It was crazy.
— the whole thing fell collapsed. I don’t think we have that kind of situation today.
Not at all.
Coming up on news time with Dave Wall, I’m going to ask Jennifer to hang on. We’ll talk to you here next on WDBO. If you’d like to call and speak to Joe Bert or Denise Kovach, here’s the telephone number. 844-220-0965. And Denise, if somebody wanted to call you off the air and get some advice, or maybe one of those complimentary consultations, how do they do that?
Well, dial 407-869-9800, or 1-800-EXECUTE. That’s how you do it.
You rattled off those numbers really fast.
Should I say it again?
Yeah, please. And slow down.
407-869-9800, or 1-800-EXECUTE.
Execute, like you’re executing your financial plan. Alright.
Joe Bert and Denise Kovach of the Certified Financial Group in the studio just for you this weekend.
Ask the expert Saturday morning on WDBO. It’s so good to have you along with us on this beautiful morning. Coming up in about five minutes from now, we’ll get back to Dave Wall in the news center with a more in-depth look at what people are calling the ultimate October surprise. In the studio, Joe Bert and Denise Kovach from the Certified Financial Group, and you wanted to follow up —
Yeah, let’s circle back on an e-mail from Linda. Linda, thanks for e-mailing me, and you’re 100% right. I should have brought this up. We had a caller earlier that got the solicitation from his mortgage company that said they wanted to reduce his mortgage from 4.6 to 3 point something. And one of the options that you have, of course, is if you reduce that mortgage down to a lower interest rate and if you can keep paying at the same level that you’re paying, you’ll find it’s a win-win. You’ll be able to pay off your house a lot sooner. So I should have mentioned that. Linda, appreciate you bringing this to our attention and passing it on. We’ve got a call here from Jennifer.
Jennifer, are you there?
Yes, I am. Hi. Thank you for taking my call.
Thank you for calling.
Yeah, I have zero knowledge, and it’s sad that I’m 54 years old, have not had any education as far as looking forward to retirement or on how to do that.
Jennifer, don’t feel guilty about that. Because America has not gotten the education. Nobody has gotten the education. Frankly, that’s the problem we have in this country. We have generation upon generation of folks that don’t know. But I’m glad you called, so we’re here to answer your questions, and let me <Inaudible> —
— Yes, I’m actually scared to death about retirement, because — I mean, I have a government job.
Oh, good.
I have 7% going towards my TSP, but I only have $15,000 in savings in that, and I have no other retirement. I’ve always struggled as a single parent, too.
How old are you, Jennifer?
— I don’t have any extra a month. I’m 54.
54, okay. So you plan on working until full retirement age?
Yes. Okay, so for you that’s at least 12 years. Okay. Here’s what you need to do: the thing you need to do, Jennifer, is max out your contribution to your thrift savings plan, your TSP plan. That is the number one target that you ought to be striving for. Force yourself to do that. Take the money out of your paycheck and live on what’s left, and discipline yourself to maybe change your lifestyle. You’ve got 12 years; that’s a long time. And if you start right now doing it, I guarantee you you’ll look back in 12 years and this will be the best phone call you ever made.
I agree, and I just want to make sure —
— I thank you.
— Jennifer, that the $15,000 covers any emergency that might come up too, because emergency situations can blow up a retirement plan as well. So I absolutely agree with Joe. As far as saving for retirement, max out your TSP. Absolutely.
Okay, we’re just about plumb right out of time here, but I wanted to give Joe and Denise a chance to tell everybody how folks can get ahold of you here.
It’s very easy. Go to our website, financialgroup.com, and you can schedule an appointment or at least try to get a consult with us, or you can e-mail us, denise@financialgroup.com, Joe@financialgroup.com, or give us a call at 407-869-9800, or 1-800-EXECUTE.
Oh, real quick. A late minute text: I retired. Should I have life insurance to last after my retirement, and eventually death <Inaudible>
Everybody’s life insurance needs are different. We’d be glad to talk to you about that. What you don’t want to do is combine life insurance and investing.
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 subject 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 <Inaudible> in states where it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration requirements.