Speaker 1:
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 involve the rendering of personalized investment advice, but is limited to the dissemination of general information. A professional advisor should be consulted before implementing any of the options presented. Certified Advisory Corp is registered as an investment advisor with the SEC and only transacts business in states where it is properly registered, or is excluded, or exempted from registration requirements.
Speaker 2:
Stay tuned for On The Money, Central Florida’s most listened to financial call-in show, brought to you by Certified Financial Group in Altamonte Springs. It’s the only show hosted exclusively by Certified Financial Planner professionals. Monday through Friday, their CFPs provide financial planning and investment advice for a fee. But on Saturdays, the advice is absolutely free and has been for more than 30 years for their WDBO listeners. If you have a financial question you want answered by real fiduciaries, the lines are wide open. Call 844-580-WDBO. That’s 844-580-WDBO. And enjoy the show.
Josh McCarthy:
Good morning, and welcome to On the Money, right here on WDBO 107.3 FM, AM 580, and take WDBO on the go with you in the WDBO app. This is the chance for you to get your financial questions answered because we are so fortunate to be joined by a couple of certified financial planners with the Certified Financial Group. Joe Burt and Charles Curry standing by to answer your questions, drop a little bit of their knowledge, as they’ve done for the better part of 30 years, I think we have been saying.
Joe Bert:
More than 30 years, yes.
Josh McCarthy:
30 years. Yeah, over 30 years. So they’ve been providing a valuable service to the listeners of WDBO, so we want you to join the conversation, think of your questions, send them in if you like, via the free WDBO app in the open mic, or join in live. Call in now, 844-580-9326. That’s 844-580-WDBO. Joe, Charles, how are you guys doing today?
Joe Bert:
We are great. Good to be here with you, as always, Josh. As you said in the intro, Charles and I are here to take your calls this morning, things that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. This is not a one-hour infomercial. We are here to help you work through that mind fog that you might have, decisions that you’re trying to make, stuff that you have to figure out regarding your personal finances as you’re in your retirement years or approaching your retirement years. What you need to do now is to don’t look back five years from now and say, “Geez, I wish I’d known that,” or, “Gee, I’m sorry I did that.” So we are your financial body shop. We’re going to take out the Bondo this morning, patch you up, and get you on your way.
But once again, you can call us right now at these numbers. And before you do that, though, I want to talk about why we are here. Charles and I and the 14 other certified financial planners do financial planning and investment advice for a fee on Monday through Friday. We work with our clients as fiduciaries. But on Saturday morning, as I said, we are here absolutely free. So now, if you have any questions about anything that might be on your mind, the good news for you is the lines are absolutely wide open. You could be first in line, and we would love to talk to you. So pick up the phone, and dial these numbers.
Josh McCarthy:
(844) 580-9326. If you’re more of a letters kind of person, 844-580-WDBO. Or feel free to send in your open mic via the free WDBO app. We’ll play those back live on the air; we’ll get the questions answered live on the air. The topic of our show today, your 2023 year-end checklist.
Joe Bert:
There you go. It’s hard to believe halfway through the year already, Charles.
Charles Curry:
It is. It’s hard to believe that we’re halfway there. When I was working on this topic for today’s radio show, I was just thinking what would be something good to talk about? I know it’s a little early, in terms of we’re kind of past the halfway mark. Usually this is a discussion more at the end of the year, but I thought, like everything, we’re in the business of planning, and you really want to plan tomorrow today. And with that…
Joe Bert:
I’ve heard that before. It’s kind of catchy. Go ahead.
Charles Curry:
And the idea is we need to plan for the end of the year, and if you can start today, this is a good time to do it, especially in light of a market that we’ve had that’s been pretty strong up to this point. And it’s that time of year when it’s good to go in, take a look at your portfolio, especially if you’re doing this by yourself, and rebalance, and look at your winners and losers, and go through, and evaluate where your holdings are today, and is it still in aligned with your risk tolerance. And you want to go in, and if you’re going to start to rebalance, and take some losses, and take some gains, you want to make sure you don’t run a foul course of the wash sale rule, which is you want to make sure you’ve held that position for at least over…
Joe Bert:
30 days.
Charles Curry:
30 days plus one is what I recommend with folks. And of course, the other pieces too is you want to look at ways to optimize your income and expenses between now and the end of the year. Some of the different strategies there is looking over your retirement accounts. If you have enough income coming in, maybe increase what you’re contributing to your 401(k), your 457, or any other work retirement accounts, or your IRAs or Roths, and put money into those accounts. Those are always good things to do, but if this time of year, if you have kind a good financial position, maybe put more into those if you can, and allow those dollars just to continue to compound and build for you in the most tax efficient manner, when it comes to planning your financial future.
Joe Bert:
Well, you mentioned rebalancing a few times. For our listeners that may be relatively new to the program or may not be familiar with what that term is, why don’t we tell them what it is?
Charles Curry:
Yeah, in terms of rebalancing, the thought is as you look at your portfolio, and it has to do with your positions that have gone up in value, as well as your positions that have gone down. The idea there is that if you have certain positions that have gone up, they might have gone up in terms of your stock exposure, or equities is another term that folks will use, if that has grown substantially, you might have gone from being, let’s say, a moderate type of investor to now you’re aggressive because of your holdings have done so well that you have more now in the stock market than you do in fixed income or cash. And maybe you want to take some profits and bring that portfolio down to more of a moderate portfolio, in terms of how much risk you’re taking in the market today.
And that’s one of those sophisticated things when you work with a financial professional. They look at your portfolio, and they look at your risk tolerance and kind of your ability to withstand the different financial storms that come through the market from time to time. We live here in Florida, where we have hurricane season, which we’re in the middle of right now. Some years, it’s severe; some years, it’s mild. Last year, of course, we went through a bear market, and if your portfolio was overly aggressive, and you hadn’t rebalanced, you’ve really felt the highs and lows, almost like being on a roller coaster at Disney or Universal here.
Joe Bert:
Let’s unwrap this a little bit more. You had mentioned that rebalancing, and if you’re in a moderate portfolio, and a moderate portfolio, we would consider that 60%, give or take, a little bit to equities or to stocks, stock mutual funds, or ETFs, and 40% to fixed income, which would generally be classified as some form of bonds. And as you said, as the markets move, that gets out of whack. And what you’ll find is that maybe your stock portfolio, your equity portfolio is no longer 60/40. It could be 70/30, or 80/20, or 85/15, and all of a sudden, you’re feeling real good because that side of your portfolio is doing well. However, what happens?
Charles Curry:
Well the market is what happens. One of many different things can occur. You can have a global political issue, you can have some financial information, you can have something from the U.S. government that all of a sudden forces folks to kind of reevaluate and want to take profit in the markets. And when you see the different hedge funds, and mutual funds, and pensions starting to take profit, all of a sudden, all those nice gains you’ve built up for the year all of a sudden start to kind of wash away from your portfolio.
Joe Bert:
Right, and you look back and you say, “Gee, I wish I would have.” And if you’re doing it yourself, this is where you have to be alert on this. And it’s the most difficult thing to do when you see those nice gains you have because you think it’s going to continue in perpetuity. And this is where we take the emotion out of it, and we do the disciplined thing to do, and you want to sell high and buy low. Unfortunately, what happens is that those gains come, and then as you said, they disappear because you didn’t take advantage. Like in 2022, everybody was enjoying 2021, and then the ball falls out in 2022, and you looked back, said, “Geez, I wish I would have, could have, should have done it.” And that’s where you have to have a disciplined approach to investing.
If you are a moderate investor and your intention is to remain moderate, what you want to do is do the things that most everybody doesn’t do because of emotion. And that is at appropriate time, bring yourself into balance, sell off the winners, take the profits, and then reinvest in the losers because those are the ones that then turn around and then get you more profits. But most people don’t believe that, don’t understand it, and don’t want to do it simply because we let our emotions do it. And as a firm, we look at this on a regular basis, and for our clients, it’s something our planners go through on a regular basis to bring our clients into balancing. And then what you do, and then you want to offset with that some losses, so you’re not paying taxes, right?
Charles Curry:
Exactly. Yeah, the key is to manage your taxes and make sure that you don’t do something that overly increases your taxes. And that’s why you want to work with a professional that does this day in, day out and understands the different rules of the road when it comes to that. And the other piece too, when it comes to investing, sometimes it’s a little counterintuitive. We always like to buy things when they’re on sale, but when it comes to investing, a lot of folks that are doing it themselves want to put money into something that’s gone up tremendously in value and costs a lot more than what it did a month or two ago. And the same thing with something that’s down in value. They don’t want to buy it because it’s down. And by working with a professional, you can really work your way through the noise and get back to what’s important when it comes to investing in your long-term goals.
Joe Bert:
Yeah, it’s very easy to turn on the financial news or to read the newspaper, the Wall Street Journal or Barron’s, and see what’s doing well that gets the public, “Oh.” And then this is where you jump on, only to find out that you missed the boat because you should have done it six months ago.
Charles Curry:
Mm-hmm.
Joe Bert:
So this is the challenge of investing, and investing is a marathon. It’s not a sprint. It’s not get rich quick. It’s being diversified with quality, knowing what you want to do, and then doing the appropriate things as that portfolio unfolds and develops throughout your working lifetime.
And unfortunately, they don’t teach you this stuff in school. We go through life, as I’ve said time and time again, trying some of this, trying some of that, and find out that we haven’t done so well, and then maybe sometimes throw up our hands, and say, “This just doesn’t work. I’m going to put all my money in CDs,” only to find out that that minimal rate of return, which is taxable to you, is not going to get you to your retirement years or through your retirement years unless you’ve accumulated one heck of a lot of capital.
So the important thing is diversification with quality, and before you do that, though, is to have proper planning done because what you want to do is build that portfolio as conservatively as possible and still give you the highest probability of not running out of money when you’re 95 years old. And people are two extremes. They’re either too aggressive, trying to hit home runs, and make up for lost time, or they’re just enamored with what’s going on in the market, and plunk down money in the wrong places, or they’ve got burn, and they’re too conservative, and they’re never going to get from here with that. But they don’t realize that until 10 years down the road, and saying, “Geez, we’re just not accumulating enough money.”
So those are the things we look at as certified financial planners. This is why we are here this morning to take your calls and questions. And once again, the lines are absolutely wide open, so why don’t we throw those numbers out again, Josh?
Josh McCarthy:
The numbers are 844-580-9326. 844-580-WDBO. Or feel free to send in your open mic in the WDBO app. We had one come in earlier, but unfortunately, I could not make out what he was saying. All I could hear was, “Minimum requirement 100,000,” so I couldn’t get enough. So if you’re listening, feel free to send that one in again. Maybe you had some audio issues. Give us your best 15-second questions, and we’ll play it back for you on the air. You’re listening to On the Money, where we’re planning tomorrow…
Joe Bert:
Today.
Josh McCarthy:
…with the Certified Financial Group.
Welcome back to On the Money right here on WDBO 107.3 FM, AM 580, always streaming live. Take WDBO on the go with you inside that free WDBO app. If you also find yourself in that app, and you want to send in your questions for On the Money, this, of course, is a call-in show regarding you, regarding your finances, your financial future, your 401(k), Roth IRA, all of the above, how to plan for the end of this year, and how a plan for the end of your career. This is your time to hop in and join the conversation. Sitting here with Charles Curry and Joe Bert with the Certified Financial Group. The number to call is 844-580-9326. 844-580-WDBO. What do you say we hit one of these text questions, you guys?
Joe Bert:
Yeah, before you get into that, let me mention something, Josh. Over the past week or so, we’ve had several calls in the office about people have questions about the transition that’s going on now with the TD Ameritrade. All those accounts are moving over to Charles Schwab, and I’d say there’s some anxiety out there in people’s minds as, “What does it mean to me? How does it affect me? What’s going on? Anything I need to do?” For our listeners, we’re going to offer a free service. If you want any questions answered as to what that means and how we might help you make that transition, please give us a call. We’re here to help you. We’ll answer your questions absolutely free, and if you want a second opinion, or perhaps looking, if your advisor hasn’t walked you through this and prepared you for everything you need to do, perhaps you’ll give us an opportunity to become your advisor.
So if you want some more information, want some help on that, just go to our website. You can make an appointment right there through our website, financialgroup.com. That’s financialgroup.com. You can reach us at 407-869-9800. 407-869-9800. And right now, Rodney Ownby is taking calls in the office. If you want to talk to Rodney specifically, you can reach him right now. So we’re glad to help any people that have any concerns or issues about that transition. And we custody with Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments, so we’re very well-versed in what goes on out there, and we have a great staff here that could maybe answer questions for you. So we’re here to help you, and let’s hit that question.
Josh McCarthy:
Certainly. This one comes to us. “I am 58 years old and hate my job.” Again, this is the text we’re reading here. This is the text. I’m happy where I am. We all have those days, but…
Joe Bert:
And you’re not 58.
Josh McCarthy:
The texter asked, “I’m 58 years old and hate my job. I want to take my money out of my IRA to pay for a much-needed trip. Should I do this, or take it from someplace else?”
Joe Bert:
Oh, okay. Well, kind of a couple issues there. Number one, they hate their job, so they’re going to take the money and run, I guess, huh? Right, Charles? What do you think?
Charles Curry:
Yeah, it’s… Don’t take the money and run. Even if you hate your job, you want to make sure you have a backup plan, especially in light of the economy that we’re in today. Yeah, it brings up an important thing. Of course, we all need vacations. We all need to take time away to recharge our batteries when it comes to our work life. And with that, it’s really about making sound decisions of where to take the money from. And my concern about the text question is that person’s thinking about tapping into their IRA, and they’re under that threshold of 59-and-a-half. That’s an important number when folks are looking at taking money out of a retirement account, that if you take it before you turn 59-and-a-half, you pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty, which is kind of severe, especially if you need that vacation and need access to funds. There might be better places to take the money out from, like a checking or savings account, versus paying 10%…
Joe Bert:
Plus taxes.
Charles Curry:
Plus taxes, to get that money to take that vacation.
Joe Bert:
Yeah.
Charles Curry:
And that’s something we have, folks who kind of come in, and talk about wanting to retire early, and wanting to look at their different assets. And that’s an important thing to remember that if you retire before age 59-and-a-half, and all your assets are sitting in some type of retirement account or 401(k), you run that 10% early withdrawal penalty and also the taxes that come with it as you start pulling those assets out to live on.
Joe Bert:
Right. Well, that anxiety I can understand some folks have. And if you’re going to make that transition, you want to be sure you’re aware of what goes on when you retire early, particularly in the area of healthcare. You’ve got to look at what that cost is and what that means. If you retire at age 60, statistically, you’ve got at least 30 years we have to worry about for you, and you want to be sure that you are prepared. So that’s what we do as financial planners. Check us out on the website, financialgroup.com. That’s financialgroup.com.
Josh McCarthy:
Thank you so much. If you want to hop on the air, join the conversation, the number to call is 844-580-9326. 844-580-WDBO. Or send in your open mic in the free WDBO app. You are listening to On the Money, where we’re planning tomorrow…
Joe Bert:
Today.
Josh McCarthy:
…with the Certified Financial Group.
Speaker 2:
Welcome back to On the Money, Central Florida’s most listened-to financial call-in show, brought to you by Certified Financial Group in Altamonte Springs. It’s the only show hosted exclusively by certified financial planner professionals. Monday through Friday, their CFPs provide financial planning and investment advice for a fee. But on Saturdays, the advice is absolutely free and has been for more than 30 years for their WDBO listeners. If you have a financial question you want answered by real fiduciaries, the lines are wide open. Call 844-580-WDBO. That’s 844-580-WDBO. And enjoy the rest of the show.
Josh McCarthy:
Welcome back to On the Money right here on WDBO 107.3 FM, AM 580, always streaming live in the WDBO app. My name is Josh McCarthy. Joined in the studio today by the members of Certified Financial Group. We’ve got Joe Bert and Charles Curry answering the questions today. You guys have the questions. They, and their experience, and their team of experts have the answers. Hop on the phone right now, dial 844-580-9326. 844-580-WDBO. Or send in your open mic via the free WDBO app. But that’s not the only way the team of Certified Financial Group can help you out in your financial future. There’s some ways you can come and meet them face-to-face. Isn’t that right, guys?
Joe Bert:
You can do that. We’ve got a workshop coming up. Right, Charles? In fact, you’re doing it. Tell us about it, buddy.
Charles Curry:
That is correct. We have a workshop coming up here on Wednesday, September 6th. I think it’s an important one, especially for parents. The title of it is College Planning for High School Students, so what parents should know. And as a parent, we’re going to, of course, talk about a lot of different issues for folks, whether you have a newborn or a young child, what you should be doing in terms of saving, and the different vehicles you should be looking at to pay for college. We’ll also be talking for more freshmen in high school, kind of things you need to start doing and thinking about when it comes to looking at schools, the cost of college, and whether in-state versus out-of-state, the different ways that you can pay, and the different programs here in the state of Florida, where we’re talking about Bright Futures, prepaid, and such, as well as scholarships.
And then, of course, the other piece when you have a child that’s finally going off to college, what the things you need to do from estate planning and legal aspects, in terms of how to protect your child, and protect yourself. And the documents you need in your file, and heaven forbid, if something was to happen, for you to be able to step in, and make both financial and health decisions for your child. Because unfortunately, once they go off to college and they’re 18, they’re considered a legal adult and make their own decisions. And it’s amazing some of the things I’ve been brought privy to now as a parent with a child in college, of certain things that you just think would normally occur as a parent that you could make decisions, whether it’s around healthcare decisions, or even getting their grades. The schools won’t even share those with you. They feel that that’s the child’s rights, and you need to have the child basically give you rights to get their grades from college, as well as things around kind of financing and how you pay for it as well.
Joe Bert:
So you happen to have, right now, firsthand first-year experience, right?
Charles Curry:
That’s correct.
Joe Bert:
First one just sent off. This week, you had that opportunity with you and your wife…
Charles Curry:
Right.
Joe Bert:
…to drop your daughter off and go through the emotional side to it, which is always another element to that whole transition that you go through. So you have firsthand experience of all the things you just talked about, the financial, and the medical, and the emotional, and all those things. So you’re going to deliver firsthand experience. So that is… What’s the date, September the 6th?
Charles Curry:
Yep. Correct. It’s Wednesday, September 6th.
Joe Bert:
A Wednesday evening
Charles Curry:
We do it in the evening from 6:30 to 7:30 PM And of course, we could go over, depending on questions, but it’s going to be a presentation, and I think the Q&A will probably be the most beneficial, especially with my firsthand experience, and being able to share what I’ve learned along the process, and I’ve assessed. As planners, we feel like we know everything, but there’s always things that we’re continuing to learn that I’d be happy to share with our listeners and the folks that come to the workshop that will help put them on the right path, and how to address some of the things that will be surprises to them that I can share.
Joe Bert:
Yep, so we hold that in our state-of-the-art learning center here. We can easily accommodate 30 people comfortably, and we hope to see you there. Once again, it’s Wednesday evening, September the 6th. You need to go online to register. That’s financialgroup.com. Financialgroup.com. Click on Events; you can make your reservation right there, and we hope to see you on Wednesday evening, September the 6th. And let’s take that question we had there, Josh.
Josh McCarthy:
You’ve got it. If you want to get your question on the air, you can call 844-580-9326, or leave your open mic via the free WDBO app. Here is that open mic question.
Speaker 7:
After my dad died, we inherited his bank account through a POD beneficiary, point of death. My question is do we pay taxes on that? It was about $20,000.
Joe Bert:
That’s a great question. So I’m sorry for your loss. So you inherited money through a POD or a TOD, which means the money comes straight to you without going through probate. And the quick answer to that is, Charles?
Charles Curry:
Well, the quick answer, we probably need to explain what the acronym, in terms of what TOD and POD is…
Joe Bert:
Oh. Oh, thank you. You’re right.
Charles Curry:
…for those listeners that might not know that. TOD is basically transfer on death, and POD is payable on death. It’s a planning technique where you establish a beneficiary on a taxable account. In particular, we see it on both taxable brokerage accounts and also on bank accounts. It’s a good way, in terms of making sure that at your passing, those assets will go to your heirs and avoid probate and the costly process that’s involved.
And of course, if you have a retirement account, typically you have a beneficiary. Automatically, they ask you to set that up when you have a retirement account. And so when, as you said, Joe, of course, we are sorry for the listener’s loss. In regards to the tax situation, those assets basically transfer over tax-free to the person that inherits them in that process. And the thing, of course, we have folks come to us that have stock that their parents have held for years, and there’s this thing that’s with particular stock investments, mutual fund investments, ETFs, there’s this thing called a step-up in basis, which is important because at their passing, the stock, even if they’ve held it for 30 years, all of a sudden, now the new basis in that position is kind of dated death.
Joe Bert:
Yeah, that’s a great thing to take advantage of. Unfortunately, many people miss the opportunity. In fact, we see it a lot when people think, “Well, I’m going to avoid probate. I’m just going to sign my house over to my kids now, so I don’t have to worry about it when I’m gone.” And so what you’ve just done is you’ve just lost that step-up in basis, and you’ve created a tax problem. So don’t make those decisions rationally without talking to a professional, whether it’s your certified financial planner, or your CPA, or an attorney because you can, although it may seem simple on the surface, you think you’re outsmarting the system, you can, in fact, create yourself a problem.
Now, this money that you inherit, if it’s money, it’s cash, it’s whatever it is, you got it absolutely income tax-free, assuming that there was no estate taxes involved, you’re good to go. If you inherit an asset like real estate, or stock, or mutual funds, or something like that, yes, you get it the cost basis at the date of death. However, when you sell it in the future, you will then pay a tax, perhaps, on any gain from that point forward. So it’s not forever tax-free. You inherited at that value at that point, and then sometime in the future if you decide to sell it, when you decide to sell it, then you have to look at whether you’re not going to have a gain or a loss.
So appreciate the question, and that’s why we’re here. This is what we do day in and day out as certified financial planners, getting our clients to and through their retirement years. And I know we can help you. If you want more information about what we do, go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com. Or you can reach Rodney Ownby right now in our office at 407-869-9800. 407-869-9800. Or 1-800-EXECUTE, as if you’re executing a financial plan.
And you got anything else there, Josh, buddy?
Josh McCarthy:
I’ve got another text question for you, if you like.
Joe Bert:
Let’s do it.
Josh McCarthy:
All right, this person just had a baby, and they want to start saving for college. And what is the best way to start?
Joe Bert:
Oh, this ties into Charles’ workshop on September the 6th.
Josh McCarthy:
Right.
Joe Bert:
What do you tell them, Charles?
Charles Curry:
Yeah, we’ll go into a lot more depth than what we’ll just talk about here very briefly on the radio show. The main thing I would recommend with folks, if you had a baby, and you’re starting to think about planning for college, of course, take a look at a 529 plan. There’s so many advantages with that particular type of savings vehicle or investment vehicle where you can put money in, and it grows tax-free for college expenses. And it’s a tremendous type of thing that allows you to really maximize your investment dollars and get them really working and growing for you. And of course, you’re going to avoid paying taxes on that, if it’s used for educational expenses. It’s a great thing, and I think a lot of folks, what the first thing they think of is put money in a savings account, and unfortunately, with savings accounts today, especially at your large banks, they’re not paying much at all. And it’s going to be very difficult to really get those dollars growing for you to really pay for.
Joe Bert:
And it’s taxable.
Charles Curry:
Correct, and it’s taxable. And of course, the cost of college continues to go up exponentially, much faster than what you would earn on a very low-interest rate on your bank account.
And that’s, from the earlier caller about bank accounts that just inherited the assets, we’ve been talking to folks that have been coming in, kind of showing us, in part of the financial planning process, showing us their bank accounts and what they’re earning on interest. And they don’t realize if they go out and shop around a little bit, that they can actually get a higher rate of interest on their money and still have it safe and secure. But if they look outside of the large banks, they’re able to potentially double or triple the amount of interest that they’re earning.
Joe Bert:
Or you can get 4%-plus on a treasury bill guaranteed by the government. So once again, those are options. You know, when it comes to 529, because it grows tax-free, some people confuse it with some form of IRA, and you don’t get a tax deduction for the money that you put in. You don’t get a tax deduction, and the maximum amount that you could put in per individual per year is $17,000, unless you combine that, right? You can max up five years, $85,000.
Charles Curry:
Yeah, the $17,000 number, that comes from how much you can gift to any person tax-free in a given year. And so with that, in essence, you could have mom and dad, grandparents one and two, and grandparents three and four, all of them giving $17,000 each could all really…
Joe Bert:
Kind of get you started, wouldn’t it?
Charles Curry:
…front load that 529 plan real quickly and get those dollars working and compounding real early.
Joe Bert:
Right, and then you can set that up, and we’ve done it in the past where if they want to make gifts, and birthdays, or whatever the situation might be, you can add to that 529 plan. Although kids want the money in hand, you’re setting it aside for the future. 529 is a great plan. I also like the Florida prepaid plan.
Charles Curry:
That’s correct. The Florida prepaid plan is a great one because you’re in essence locking in today’s costs of college. And the thing we all have a hard time figuring out is what’s the cost of college going to be, say, for a newborn 18 years from now? It’s a lot higher than what most people would even guess it would be. And with the Florida prepaid, you’re in essence locking in the cost of what that college tuition would be, whether it’s two years of college or four years of college. And it’s tremendous that you can set a price, and there’s different ways to pay for it. You can either pay for a lump sum, you can finance it over a period of time, and they give you a lot of great options. And that’s one of the nice advantages of living here in the state of Florida, that you have that additional choice between the 529 plan or the prepaid plan.
Joe Bert:
And if the money is not used for the state of Florida, what happens?
Charles Curry:
Well, the state of Florida is that they actually will give you the money that you can utilize for out-of-state tuition. Of course, it’s worth whatever the cost of tuition is in the state of Florida today.
Joe Bert:
Right, so if the tuition was X in the state of Florida, when that child is ready, that X dollars can then be transferred to the University of Georgia, or Auburn, or Harvard, or wherever you may want to go. And then if it’s not used, then it can be passed on, right?
Charles Curry:
That’s correct. And that’s the thing that a lot of people worry with these type of savings vehicles, is, “What happens if my kid doesn’t go to college or goes to college out of state? What happens to those dollars? Do they go away? Do they get locked up into something?” And of course, there’s a lot of flexibility because they realized when they created these things that there’s family dynamics where you have children that might go right into the workforce right out of high school or ones that might go to different colleges out of state.
Joe Bert:
Sure. So you’re going to cover all this and more at your upcoming workshop, September the 6th. If you’d like to come on by, just go to our website, financialgroup.com. Financialgroup.com, and make your reservation right there, and hope to see you on Wednesday evening, September the 6th at 7:30.
Charles Curry:
6:30.
Joe Bert:
6:30. You’ll be done by 7:30. 6:30. I’m sorry.
Charles Curry:
It’s all right.
Joe Bert:
Thank you. Take it away, Josh.
Josh McCarthy:
You’ve got it. If you want to hop on the show, get one more question answered in our final segment here, 844-580-9326 is the number to call. 844-580-WDBO. Or if you want to get more personal with your questions, we do have Rodney Ownby standing by in the Certified Financial Group office. That number is 407-869-9800. 407-869-9800. You are listening to On the Money, where we’re planning tomorrow…
Joe Bert:
Today.
Josh McCarthy:
…with the Certified Financial Group.
Welcome back to On the Money right here on WDBO 107.3 FM, AM 580, always streaming live in your very own WDBO app. Take us with you on the go. Just stream us live in that WDBO app. Just about three minutes left of the show today. So if a question pops into your mind here, you can call 844-580-9326, or a more useful number that you might want to write down with your limited time here is 407-869-9800. That’s the office for Rodney Ownby standing by. And what might they ask Rodney Ownby here in these last couple seconds?
Joe Bert:
Well, they can ask anything they like. Rodney, in addition to being a certified financial planner, is also a CPA, so you’ve got double barrel action there. Rodney’s a great guy. He’d be glad to answer questions for you.
And Charles and I were talking off the air a little bit, and it appears that what’s going on out there is the customer service at, some of these major firms, mutual fund firms, or even the brokerage firms is getting worse and worse. You call, and you’re on hold for 15, 20 minutes, and it’s awful. So we have the ability, when you call here, you speak to a live person, there’s no answering machine. There’s no, “Hit one for English, two for Spanish.” We’re going to get you right to where you need to go, and we’ll answer your questions. And all the stuff that you’re dealing with, whether it’s Vanguard T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Schwab, TD, we deal with all those companies, and we can get the answers for you and minimize that aggravation.
And if you have a relationship with us, we know who you are, and we will be here a long time. We began this firm; the roots of this firm go back now over nearly 50 years, and we hope to be here for another 50. So if you have any questions, want to learn about Charles, and me, and the 14 other certified financial planners, go to our website, financialgroup.com.
And I want to throw a pitch out there for Score My Funds. One of those things came in during the break. Somebody’s using that. This is an opportunity for our listeners to get the investments that they have, whether it’s a mutual fund or an ETF, no stocks or bonds, but mutual funds and ETFs in your brokerage account, or 401(k), or IRA. We can tell you exactly how it is scored. It’s a system provided by the Center for Fiduciary Studies. You go to scoremyfunds.com. That’s scoremyfunds.com. You put in your tickers. If you don’t know the tickers, there’s a pull-down menu. Put in the fund name, and it will give you the ticker. And within 48 hours, we’ll give you a report. It’s what we provide for our clients, and we’ll show you exactly how your fund scores on 11 distinct criteria, from performance, to fees, to risk, all the things that are important when you consider an investment in a mutual fund or an ETF. So that’s scoremyfunds.com. Once again, on September the 6th, Charles, you’ve got that workshop, right, buddy?
Charles Curry:
On college planning.
Joe Bert:
College planning, yep.
Charles Curry:
That Wednesday.
Joe Bert:
Yep, it’s six o’clock?
Charles Curry:
30.
Joe Bert:
6:30.
Charles Curry:
6:30.
Joe Bert:
I’ll get it right yet.
Charles Curry:
All right.
Joe Bert:
And once again, Charles has firsthand experience of sending off his first daughter to college. This is a transition in your life, I would say.
Charles Curry:
That is correct.
Joe Bert:
Another chapter opens, and another chapter closes, and that’s what the life circle is all about, and he’ll give you some firsthand experience. So go to our website. That’s financialgroup.com. We’re glad you joined us today. It’s a pleasure to be with you. Enjoy the warm days here of summer, and let’s hope those hurricanes stay away from us.
Josh McCarthy:
Thank you so much. You’ve listened to On the Money. If you have one more question, Rodney Ownby’s standing by for a couple of minutes after the show. That number to the Certified Financial Group office is 407-869-9800. 407-869-9800. You’ve just listened to On the Money, where we’re planning tomorrow…
Joe Bert:
Today.
Josh McCarthy:
…with the Certified Financial Group.