TRANSCRIPT FOR THE May 6, 2017 “ON THE MONEY” SHOW

Hosts: Roger Johnson, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®

” When to… when not to roll your 401(k) to an IRA ”

Welcome to another edition of On The Money. The Certified Financial Group here on News 96.5 WDBO. It’s experts weekend. We are here with Joe Bert and Roger Johnson from Certified Financial Group, taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. Gentlemen how are you today?

Real good, and we’re live.

We are live today.

We are live, yes on May 6. The revenge of the Sixth.

Yes.

Because May the 4th .

Yes.

I’m making cheesy Star Wars references.

Clearly, that’s been the theme of this radio station all week.

Not Memorex, it’s live.

It is live.

We are live here, taking your phone calls, and your texts at 21232. Just keep it to about 160 characters. Gentlemen, what’s on your mind this week?

Well Roger and I are here to talk about anything that’s on your mind regarding your personal finances. As we say, we do financial planning for a fee Monday through Friday, but on Saturday morning we do it for free. We’re going to throw open those questions that you might have about what you need to do now, so you don’t look back five or ten years from now and say, gee I wish I would have known. Or, gee, I’m sorry I did. You might be sitting across from the kitchen table this morning looking at Loretta and saying, Sweetie, you know we’re only about 10 years away from retirement and the kids are gone and we need to get our stuff together. As the paycheck is going to stop and how are we going to turn those 401(k)s and the IRAs and the savings we have into income, so we can enjoy what we call those golden years. Roger and I are here to take questions that you might have about your personal finances as it might relate to stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, long-term health care, IRAs, annuities, life insurance, reverse mortgages, all that and more. The good news for you is there’s absolutely nobody in line. All you have to do is pick up the phone and dial these magic numbers.

844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Or you text your question to 21232, that’s the text number. Just keep it to about 160 characters. That’s all we can see on our screen here in the studio. But, it’s up on the big board. I will read your questions to the panel and we’ll get the question answered here on the radio for you today. Hopefully, you’re driving around, enjoying the cooler weather.

Cooler is right.

This is probably one of the last weekends we have this.

Yeah.

We keep saying that.

cold weather.

This is it.

We got very, very lucky this time.

Again.

Sixth year in the row we’ve sponsored the Springs concert and we’ve got some great weather coming up tonight. Actually it may be cool. If you’re coming to it, maybe you might want to bring a jacket. Because once the sun goes down, and it’s kind of breezy, it’s going to be a little cool for you. So, if you’re coming to the concert tonight at the Springs, you might want to tie a jacket around.

Yep.

Yeah, I believe tickets are pretty much gone, right?

Yeah.

What does this hold, about 3,000 people?

Yep.

If fact, we’ll have more to Abba. We’ll have more people at the Springs tonight than goes to hear the Philharmonic. We’ll have more seating capacity at the Springs than at the .

Anyway, we’ve got more lawn than they have seats.

Yeah.

We have more grass, we have more grass.

Yep.

This will be a great night. We’re looking forward to seeing many of our clients and friends from years past there tonight. Get there early, and as Roger said, bring your blanket, because it may be a little chilly.

Yeah, dress accordingly.

Yep, no rain in the forecast. That’s a wonderful thing.

The no rain part.

Don’t want to get rained out.

Especially if it’s cool.

Rain cold.

You know what, the best way to get to that great event is to get your work finished. So let’s get straight to work this morning with our first caller.

Let’s do it.

Let’s go to Jamie in Deltona, is the first one up. If you want again, call us up 844-220-0965. Jamie go ahead, you’re on the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.

Good morning Jamie.

Hey guys.

Good morning, how can we help you?

Fast question. I’m sorry.

How can we help you?

Yes, I got a real pay raise this year and I notice a lot more going to taxes. Wondering if I contribute more to my 401(k) would that still have me take home so it shows less in my income and more will go in my 401(k)?

Yeah, well can you contribute more? If you can, yes, you’re going to reduce your tax burden this year and in subsequent years. All that money is tax deferred. How much are you putting in? How many dollars? How many dollars are you putting in?

4%.

Ok, how does that work out to you in dollars? Per your 401(k), or are you doing the math there? Or are you kind of in the back door on these things?

Okay. About $150 every two weeks.

Oh, you’ve got plenty of room. That’s $300 a month, that’s $3,600.

How old are you?

Jamie, how old are you?

Uh, 46.

Okay, you’re under 50, so you’re limited. But so, you’ve got a tremendous amount of capacity to increase your —

Yeah, put that, you can kind of make that — you got a raise, put it in your — share it mostly with your 401(k) — share it with yourself rather than buying more stuff.

Jamie, you can put in up to $18,000. So, if you really want to be serious about reducing your taxes and saving for retirement, slam as much as you can into that 401(k) my friend. Let’s talk about how you’ve got that allocated. Where are you investing your money?

Uh, what company or?

What types of investment are you using in there? Do you know? How did you select what you’re investing in?

You just go to their website and you select like 10 different things. You put a percentage of how much you want in there. I sort of went with what we do in the past and sort of divvied it up with the ones I thought were doing good.

Okay, let me tell you, Jamie, you’re making the mistake that virtually everybody makes when they invest in their 401(k).

Joe’s just asked you a leading question. That’s really —

Was that a mistake to do that?

No.

Yeah, that’s usually the way everybody does it.

No Jamie, I’m with you on that.

Here’s the problem Jamie. What’s doing well today is probably not going to do well tomorrow. What generally happens is that people get discouraged, then they sell out when it’s down. Then they buy what’s doing good at the moment, only to repeat the cycle. Here’s what you should do.

Okay.

In your plan you probably have what’s called a target-date fund, that’s years in some date in the future, like 2025, 2030, 2045, or something like that. Does that ring a bell?

Okay.

Okay, here’s what you need to do.

I’ll have to look at that.

Okay, let’s say you’re 45. You’ve got 20 years at least until your 65. So what you want to do is look at a fund that’s maybe 2035, 2040. Which is 20 years out. Put your money in there and don’t look at it for 20 years. Don’t try to figure out what’s doing good at the moment. What did it do last year. Don’t listen to people on CNBC. Throw all that stuff away. The way target-date funds work is they become more conservative as you approach that retirement date so you don’t wake up and find that you’re living with another recession.

Okay.

For folks that don’t have any professional guidance, that is the fail-safe way to invest in your 401(k).

Thank you, I appreciate that.

You’re welcome, Jamie. That’s what I want you to do. As Roger said, try to max up that 401(k). Get it up to $18,000 and you’ll be well on your way. Then when you reach 50 in a few years, you’ll be able to sock even more away. That’s another $6,000 you can put in you’re up to now. Now you’re talking about 24,000 when you’re over 50.

That should be your target.

Thanks for the call, Jamie. Appreciate it Jamie. Thanks so much for phone call. If you want Jamie’s line, it’s 844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Jamie’s I think like a lot of people. Doesn’t realize that the more you put in the 401(k).

Just brings down that taxable income. That’s what I used to do when I was a young man working for a company. I was not in the investment business. You looked at that chart. They hand it to you and it’s like a math problem. Oh, okay what do I pick? Oh, I’m going to pick the one that’s doing the best because that’s going to keep doing the best you think. Whether it happens or not. You’ve got to diversify.

Okay, Tim in Winter Park’s got a question for both of you guys. Tim go ahead you’re on with the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.

Good morning, Tim.

Yeah, thank you for taking my call. I’ve been in the process of — I started late in getting ready for retirement. I’m over 59 and I’ve been in the process of picking a financial advisor for the first time. I want to get a fiduciary. trying to give my experience of interviewing and seeing people, a lot of them aren’t really interested in you unless you have over 0.5B. Which I don’t have. But, just wanted to know what are — to try to find the financial advisor that’s interested and active and cares about your investment if you have less than 0.5B?

Let me tell you our philosophy. First of all, what you need to do before you talk about investing is you have to have some planning. It’s how we built this firm going back now almost 40 years. Unfortunately, what most people do, is they start making investments, they start chasing returns and looking for somebody that can manage their money without having any idea as to how conservatively they can invest their monies to reach their goals. The only way you’re going to know that with a high degree of confidence is to work with a certified financial planner who will charge you a fee for doing the work for you. Once you know that, once it’s laid out in front of you and you see where you are and what you need to do, then and only then, should you be talking about investing your money. No, you don’t need $500M. At least not to work with our firm. When we do financial planning we do it for some millenials that have personally no money to work with. What we’ve done is we’ve given them a roadmap. That’s what we do for planning.

Roger, why don’t you tell them a little bit about how the planning process works?

Well, we’re going to sit down with you and make sure you think of all the things that you need to think about. We’re going to collect data from you. You’re going to be thinking, get some homework, go home and figure out what you’re spending money on. We’ll get a real good plan of what’s going in and what’s coming out. We’re going to use software to help project this out, and try to get a feel for are you going to be running out of money by age 75, if you keep doing what you’re doing. Or, hey, are you on the right track. So you can make adjustments now so you’re not going to run into problems down the road.

We don’t pull any punches. We’ll tell you the good news as well as the bad. But, the most important thing is you still have time. The toughest cases that Roger and I work on are clients that have already retired. They made the irrevocable decision of leaving their job only to get five or six years into retirement and find the wheels are coming off. You want to do the planning up front. This way you can adjust and really know exactly where you are. We charge a fee for the services and the fees are relatively modest in terms of what you get. But, there’s no charge for the initial consultation. Right Roger?

That’s right. And Tim, you’re in great shape because you say you started late, but you’re still working I assume. So that’s going to be…

Yeah, I’ve got about — I’m thinking about retiring in five to seven years.

Yeah, there you go. So, maybe five is the answer or maybe seven is the answer. Maybe eight is going to have to be the answer. But you’d better find that out now.

Right.

Rather than eight years from now and go, gee I wish I had stayed that extra year.

The thing is that most people put their head on the pillow at night and they’re confused. They’re worried about this stuff. You’re working in a fog. What we do as planners is we clear up that fog. We show you what you need to do now, so as I say, you don’t look back 5 or 10 years and say, gee I wish I had known. That’s what distinguishes us from people that just want to sell you investments. You go to these seminars and they want to sell you a product that’s a solution to every problem you ever had for your retirement. It’s a laborious task for us to do this. It takes time. It takes time on your part. It takes dedication on your part in that we ask you to bring together a lot of stuff. But when that plan is done, it fits you like a well tailored suit of clothes.

You feel better.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean you get peace of mind.

I can see — you know, when people see this for the first time, I can just see the relief coming off of them. Now I understand. But, most people don’t want to take the time or the energy to do it. But we’re here for you. Just go to our website, financialgroup.com, that’s financialgroup.com. I’m glad you’re looking for a fiduciary. Because while you’re on our website, you can learn about how we become CEFEX certified. We’re one of the few companies in the country. There’s less than 1% of investment advisors in the country that are what are called CFx certified.

Go to our website and learn about that. That’s financialgroup.com.

All right Tim’s in Winter Park, thanks so much for the phone call today. If you want Tim’s line it’s 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Before we get to the three big things you need to know, let’s see if we can go to Jay in Palm Bay. Jay’s got a quick question for you guys. Jay, go ahead, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.

Good morning, Jay.

Hey, good morning.

How can we help you?

I wanted to ask a question then listen to the answer off the air.

Okay. What’s that?

Do you think it’s to do wiser to take money to pay down a mortgage or is it wiser to take the money that you would use to pay down the mortgage and invest it?

You talking about your 401(k)? Take money out of your 401(k) to pay down the mortgage? Or to take the money…

No.

Okay, go ahead.

I’ve got the 401(k) maxed out. I’ve got two Roths maxed out.

Okay, good.

I’ve still got a little bit of free money.

Alright.

Do you think it’s better to take that and pay down the mortgage or find other investments?

Okay. It depends on what, first of all what the interest rate is on your mortgage. Okay? How many more years do you have to go on the mortgage? If you’re in the later years of your mortgage, you’re primarily at principal, so you’re not saving much on interest. Or, be able to deduct the interest. Are you itemizing or taking a standard deduction? All those things come into play.

Then there’s one other last thing. It’s — it’s something I heard you say, too Rob, so it sounds like you’re married.

Yes.

It’s peace of mind. If you may shave down all these figures and finds it’s a few dollars better one way or the other to invest or pay off the mortgage. But, how does your wife, and how do you feel about having a paid off house, versus having additional investments on the side and still have a mortgage? If you feel like — I know you would like to have that thing just done. If the numbers are close, and especially if your wife — if your wife is happy about it, so talk to her about it and see if a paid off house really makes the best sense so you feel good about sleeping at night as you approach retirement.

There’s a psychological answer and a financial answer. Sometimes the two are incompatible. But, the other thing too, is if you pay down the mortgage, what I would want you to do is then force yourself then to take that mortgage payment and invest it. Because what happens is you end up with more cash flow with your checking account and you find a place to spend it. That’s where people oftentimes don’t get as much bang for the buck as you would in that kind of strategy.

It sounds like Jay’s doing his job there.

Yep.

We would mention to make sure you have an emergency fund. But, I know you have that Jay, is that correct?

Yeah. Yeah, there’s one.

So, other listeners, you want to make sure you have an emergency fund before you start paying off mortgages. Just in case an emergency comes up you have the cash on the sideline.

Another idea, once you have the house paid off, get a line of credit. Get a line of credit on the house. Put that checkbook, set it aside. Don’t ever use it, but heaven forbid, you ever need that emergency money, then you can write that check in a heartbeat.

There you go.

Alright, Jay.

Thanks Jay.

Thanks so much for the phone call. Great questions so far here in the first segment. Really good ones. Why don’t we continue at 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. We also have the text machine up and running as well, 21232. We are planning tomorrow — today, with Roger Johnson and Joe Bergman. Certified Financial Group, it’s time for the three big things you need to know.

This hour was paid for by the hosts and does not reflect the opinion of the New 96.5.

Ahhh the Springs concert is tonight, Joe. Can you believe that?

Tonight sure.

We were talking about it. That’s why we’re listing to ABBA.

ABBA, Dancing Queen.

We’re going to enjoy that under the stars over there. Where are we going to be? Where’s the location at?

It’s in the Springs Community in Longwood. Right there off of 434. It’s a beautiful setting. I hope to see you there. It’s going to be a sellout crowd of about 3,000 people. Get there early. Get your blanket out there.

.

Talk about the entrance. You come in behind the beach, not in the main entrance.

You cannot drive into the Springs community because they will not let you in. You have to get in behind 434 and you park across the street at the San Lander office building. There’s a sheriff there who will guide you in there and walk right across the street and we hope to see a lot our listeners there.

Please come up and say hello.

Well we are two minutes away from the latest news, weather, and traffic with Dave Wall with News 96 Live Newsroom. But, before we get to that, let’s see if we can’t answer Greg who just sent me a question. Greg, go ahead, you’re the Certified Financial Group.

Good morning, Greg.

Hey, Greg.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question.

Sure.

We just recently sold our house and we’re wanting to know where to invest to get the most out it. My wife is 70 and I’m 71. We’re wanting to increase our income so that we can afford to live in a retirement community. We have an annuity, long established, that’s guaranteeing never to go below 4%. Another one is guarantees to never go below 3%. We’re only allowed to put $30,000 a year into each of these. We’ve already done 30,000 into the 4% for this year. What should we do with the rest of better than $100,000 to get the most return?

Well, we like to think long-term. Right now, you’re thinking about immediately — do you need immediate income?

No, I do not.

Okay, so you don’t need immediately income.

Joe, let me ask a question. So, you sold a home and you’re going to move into a retirement community. Have you figured out what that expense will be? Are you going to buy? Are you going to rent? Have you saved enough off to the side from the sale of your house to pay for your room and board so to speak?

Yes, we are leasing in a retirement community. We have enough income to live here and we’re just wanting to hold this for the long-term stay in a nursing home some day.

Okay. Well, you have those annuities. What about asset , let’s talk about that.

Yeah, you might want to look into — you mentioned that if you’ve got money freed up like this that you have an income and all that sort —

Maybe we’ll cover this —

Right after the break?

Why don’t we come back from the break?

If you can hold on, Greg.

Greg, hang on the line. Roger is going to finish that when we come back. Then after Greg we have Luminal. So hang on the line everybody. We’re going to pause to get the latest news, weather, and traffic with Dave Wall right now on New 96.5, WDBO.

WDBO.

Hey, welcome back. This is On The Money with the Certified Financial Group here on News 96.5, WDBO. We are here with Joe Bert and Roger Johnson, taking your phone calls at Johnson taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Text machine is up and running as well, 21232 if you want to text in your question. Joe, for the audience that may have joined us during the latest news, weather and traffic, what can the audience call you about today?
Fburt

Once again, Roger and I are here to clear up anything that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. What you need to do now is to five or 10 years from now and say gee, I wish I had known, or gee I’m sorry I did that. what do for a fee Monday through Friday, we’ve got a Saturday here, we do it for free. So if you have any questions regarding your personal finances, as they may relate to decisions that you’re making about stocks and bonds and mutual funds and real estate and your 401ks and IRAs, long-term healthcare, reverse mortgages, annuities, life insurance, all of that and more, we are here and the good news for you, we have a couple of lines open. What are those numbers, Eric?

Very simple to dial. 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Now we were talking with Greg in Kissimmee, Greg, you still there?

Yes.

Alright, Roger I believe

Let’s recap the situation.

Yeah, tell us — yeah, recap for me because I had forgotten myself. Yeah that’s right.

annuities only 4% or only 3%.

Alright, he’s got some decisions to make. So you’re looking at deciding whether to put that money to work or save it for your long-term care worries. And you’re 70 now, you’re in good shape.

Yeah.

You may want to consider a — and this is something that is an asset and it helps you protect other assets is an asset care plan so that you can use the proceeds from this and — for long-term care for you and your spouse. And if you don’t use it or don’t use all of it, whatever is left we’ll pass onto your survivor spouse and then if there’s something left, pass it onto your beneficiaries, your kids. So that’s something to consider if you are — this money is just extra. I mean you can always fall back on Medicaid, but that would not be your choice. That would not be a first choice.

Do you have anything in your portfolio for growth? Right now, you’ve got the guarantees and the fixed annuities. And you don’t need to take the income, you said you really want the money to grow. Do you have any equities, any stock, mutual funds in your portfolio?

No.

Okay.

Yes, a minimal.

Okay. Based on what I hear you’re telling me, you’re going to move into this retirement community and you pretty much have your expenses covered, maybe with Social Security? Do you have a pension coming in at all?

Yes.

So you’ve got a pension. Alright, so it sounds to be . Cash flow sounds like you’re in pretty good shape but really what you’re worried about is the devastating impact of what happens to you when you need long-term care and your writing bills of $8,000 a month.

Yes.

Okay. Well the other thing that you may want to consider is converting some of those annuities into app that’s called asset care program. It allows you to avoid the taxation, you put it into another form of annuity. But what it does it gives you a multiple of what you put in there. So say you put $100,000 into the annuity, it’ll probably be multiple of that for long-term healthcare. So it’s a way to really get more mileage out of your dollars for long-term care. You don’t give up anything. So as Roger said, if you don’t use it, it passed down to your beneficiaries. It continues to grow tax-deferred, and like your existing annuities you can always cash it in if you need to. But it’s a way to get double bang for your buck. I would suggest you give Roger a call on Monday and he’d be glad to run some illustrations for you and show you how it works. But it’s a way to I think really achieve what you want to do. And the other thing I would look at is getting some growth on your dollars for those out years when you’re 85 and 90 because that 3% and 4% sounds like a good deal today. But on how large your capital base is, it might not be enough to get you through those later years.

Helps to offset inflation, yeah.

Yeah. The only other alternative right now that we have is putting some of it in CDs.

No, .

What’s the return on that Greg? About 1%, 1.25? Or .

Well particularly if don’t if you don’t need that kind of stuff, I mean get some growth on your dollars. You have time it sounds like. in anything. So I wouldn’t consider that. You’ve got enough guarantees and — how much do you have in the annuities, by the way?

200,000 or 300,000.

Yeah, yes yes.

So you know — it’s worth looking at it. Looking at the alternatives for that money because that — you’ve probably got some growth in it, you’ve got some capital gains or actually the ordinary income if you’d take it out. With the — as a non-qualified annuity that you have, those can be converted to another annuity, these asset care annuity types that then the money comes out and used for long-term care, you are not taxed on those gains. So it’s a great way to look at some non-qualified annuities with lots of gains and say you know gosh, you don’t want to pay the tax, you don’t want to have to pay the tax when you pass that on. If it’s used for long-term care, the government passed a law a few years ago that they can be used for long-term care and no taxes on that. So something to consider.

We’re under the impression that since we sold the house that we would not have to pay taxes on that, we’re exempt up to $250,000 .

Right. Well that’s on this new money that you’re talking about. I’m talking about the money that’s already in your annuities that 3% to 4% annuities. You’ve probably got some gains there that are not being taxed and they’re tax-deferred and they’ll have to be paid sometime or another. The alternative is that asset care plan for long-term care. So something to look into. You’ve got a lot of money that you’re sitting on there, it’s probably got at least $50,000 or $100,000 in gains, could be.

Yep.

Well Greg, thanks so much for the call. We appreciate you dialing us up this morning, Greg in Kissimmee. And then if you’d like to have his line, it’s 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965. Or you could text us your questions, 21232. Joe, I got a question for you. You said something before we went into the latest news, weather, and traffic, that you guys are CFEC certified. What is that?

It’s an organization, Center for Fiduciary Excellence, of 10 years ago they established this using international standards grade, qualify, and certify investment advisors. Now the ISO standards are internationally recognized standards that are using in industry to determine if whether or not an organization meets the highest standards of that particular industry. The Center for Fiduciary Excellence started just about 10 years ago and it was created to frankly look at the work that investment advisors do. We applied for certification last year and the process is we had to complete a 120 page questionnaire. We had to have an on-site exam, our employers were interviewed, our planners were interviewed. And they looked at everything, Kyle. Everything from our software systems to the firewalls that we had, the security that we have, how we deal with paperwork, how we treat our clients in terms of disclosure. In terms of being totally transparent in our fees. And it was a rigorous, rigorous examination and I’m proud to say that we got our certification last fall. And as I said, we’re less 1/10 of 1% of investment advisors in the country that have achieved the CFEC certifications. So we’re proud , and if you want more information about that, go to our website. that’s financialgroup.com, financialgroup.com and you can get more information. So that’s what we do, that’s how we do it. And we are — as fiduciaries, one of our early callers — remember Roger? Talked about the fiduciary becoming more and more of a buzzword in our profession.

Yeah, the Department of Labor rule has really brought that out. It’s not in effect yet, it may be before it goes into effect in some fashion. . But fiduciary is a big word that people really recognize and we’ve always been fiduciaries.

I want to make sure you guys got that . The thing is there’s people running around, saying they’re fiduciaries. We put it into writing with our clients that we sign on as fiduciaries. Talk is cheap, but you have to put it in writing. And we sign onto our clients and give that to them that we act as fiduciaries for our clients.

Alright, well let’s back to our phone line at 844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Steve in Orlando is dialing us up. Steve, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.

Good morning, Steve.

Morning, thank you.

Sure.

Yeah, I was just kind of curious. I’m looking to get out — five years, eight years away from retirement and I have a pile of cash in my IRA, a regular traditional. I still have a pile in my Roth IRA. I’ll max it out to 6,500 because I’m over 50. And I was looking about retirement, taking the money out of my standard retirement, the traditional there at the lowest tax rate, start working it out. Just — I quit at 62, and I start taking the money out. I guess I’m just looking at taking it out. I understand from 0 to 9,100 it’s taxed at 10% and from 91 to about 37,000 it’s taxed at 15%, and then from 37 to 87 it’s at 25. So I was looking between my Social Security and taking the money out of my standard IRA and essentially paying taxes on it and the 10% and the 15% tax bracket. And I understand that when you take money out of your Social Security, half of that is taxed.

Well, I mean your entire tax picture is taken into effect.

Okay.

Do you have other income that would also be

Yeah.

Okay, well I mean that

Well I have plenty of money in a regular account for retirement. I just want to make it up to 65 to get on Medicare, and then just start taking the money out of my regular — and of course I’ll take it out, reinvest 6,500 of it back into my Roth IRA to max it out and put in there. But I’m just looking at taking — the taxes out after 37, at the 15% tax bracket .

What you’re suggesting or what you want to do is convert in lower tax brackets your taxable IRAs and convert them into Roths, that’s what you’re

Correct.

There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing be because if you trip over that tax bracket then you’ll be taxed at a higher — there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The key is though you said you had it sitting in cash in your IRAs, is that where it’s invested?

No, no. Both of them are in the , the 401k at work and then I have the money taken out through another firm there for me Roth IRA.

Good. Well, I’m going to have to ask this. I mean you say you’re still working, right Steve?

Correct.

Alright, so with your earnings you’re up in a — something kind of tax bracket that’s not your minimum tax bracket.

You don’t have to do that now I don’t think, is that right?

No, no I’m just finish line.

Okay, so down the road when you are in a lower tax bracket is your strategy.

Correct.

Okay, good. Nothing wrong with it. But stay tuned because some major changes in tax laws today and all of these ideas that we have today may not be applicable retirement age. But it’s not a bad strategy. Yep.

Appreciate your call.

Alright Steve, thanks so much for you. It is 844-220-0965. If you would like to have his line, let’s go to Gina in Daytona. Gina, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group on WDBO.

Hello , how are you?

Alright, Gina. How can we help you?

When I — we only have two Roth IRAs. Ones like 10,008 , we did that sometime ago. We’re not going to anymore. And we only have CDs which they don’t give off anything. And I have an aside, like $20,000 and I want to invest — I want to start investing but I’m 57 and I don’t know where to start and is it safe for me where I go? I don’t have a plan.

Alright, all good questions. You’ve got money in a Roth that you’d really want to tag for growth, but you say it’s in a CD type of investment.

Well hang on Roger, because there’s a lot to that. And we’re coming up against the break.

We’ve got another break coming up.

So why don’t we hang out with Gina, hang on the line and Roger will answer your question on the other side. But if anybody wants to join Gina, it’s 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. Right now, we pause to get the three big things you need to know.

welcome back to On the Money for our final segment here on news 965 WDBO, it’s your last chance to get your question answered at 844-220-0965. And because of that we want to get right back to our phone lines. We were talking to Gina in Daytona before. Gina is now back on. Roger, you were talking to Gina, Gina we want to .

Right, Gina had some — she had two IRAs, about $10,000 each and I think you said they were invested in like a money market or a CD. And I think you also said you had some other money you were looking to invest, and you just don’t know where to turn, is that right?

Right.

Well, get a good certified financial planner, talk to several of them, get an idea — really you should have that plan, you’re 57 years old. You and your husband are relatively young but yet you can’t procrastinate this any longer. You really need to get a plan for retirement and these Roths and this money is going to be a part of it. So you can go — what’s our website?

.org.

CFP.org is a good way to look through Orlando and see a list of certified financial planners and give them a call. Give a couple of them a call that are local to you, feel free to give us a call at Certified Financial Group and talk to us. Come in for a consultation to a financial planner and get an idea of what you need to do with this money to best prepare for your retirement, because that’s what you’re trying to do. You’re just not sure where to turn.

Gina, there’s no question. You need to get some growth on those dollars and you’re not going to get it from CDs, so we need to get you growing and get you on a plan and get you systematically saving money because time is running out for you. all you have is Social Security, and that in it of itself is not a pretty picture.

So as Roger said, go to CFP.org, and you can find some CFPs in your area and sit down with him or her and they will design something that may work for you and your husband. Thanks for the call.

Alright, Gina thank you so much. If you want Gina’s line, it’s 844-220-0965. We have about two and a half minutes to go before the show is over. We like to plug to some workshops that you guys are going to come up here — or you guys have coming up here with the Certified Financial Group.

Yeah, we’ve got a couple of them coming up. We’ve got one in June. Gary Aigley is going to be doing a When Can You Retire, Know Your Numbers on Tuesday, June 6th at 6:00pm. So that’s a Tuesday during the week. Light refreshments will be served and you can register for that one. There’s also one coming up July 11th, that’s a Tuesday, July 11th. This is a good one. This is also done by Gary and it’s healthcare options in retirement. So a lot of good information about Medicare, Medicaid, preparing for the expenses that you’re going to face — Part A, Part B, all of this good stuff. Health prescriptions and Gary does have the answers on that. So feel free to register for either one of those, those are coming up. And we also have Social Security Bootcamp coming up July 20th. So feel free to go to our website, financialgroup.com, look at workshops and feel free to register for those.

And how do we get to the Certified Financial Group?

The best way is to go to financialgroup.com, look at the map, just south of .

But I want to visit you at your office .

You can do that. You can go to our website and find out how to get there . We’re just south of 434 on Douglas Avenue. Once again, all of these workshops are absolutely free, leave your checkbook at home. And people ask Joe, why do you this kind of thing? We do it for two reasons: Number one, to give you information that’ll keep you from being a financial casualty when you get in your retirement years. And secondly, frankly to introduce you to what we do as certified financial planners, for our clients this way. Whether you need financial planning now, sometime in the future, give us an opportunity to earn your business. So go to our website, financialgroup.com. You can make a reservation right there. We hope to see you.

Alright, that’s going to do it for this week’s edition of On the Money with the Certified Financial Group. We have planning tomorrow today. Here on WDBO, it’s time for the latest news, weather, and traffic, and then Florida Homes and Gardens.

Dictation made on 5/9/2017 2:08 PM EDT.

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