Personal Finance
David Scranton: Hard to believe but the countdown is close to another brand new year and for most of us, that means New Year’s Resolutions and a rush to get things done before December 31st. And if you’re like most people some of those resolutions and last-minute chores are going to involve your finances and that’s great but it can be either a waste of time or even counterproductive if you’re not focusing on the right chores and the right resolutions. But don’t stress because we’re devoting today’s show to making sure that doesn’t happen. It’s time to tune out the hype and focus on the facts. Facts that matter to you, the Income generation.
Let’s get started. Get ready to separate reality from myth.
David Scranton: How does it affect the market? How does it affect the economy? Thanks to efficiencies and new technology, and a staff of veteran analysts and portfolio managers. Sound Income strategy strives to set new standards and bring institutional style investing to your portfolio.
Hello everyone and welcome to the Income Generation. I’m David Scranton your host. You know there are certain times of year when it’s a good idea to devote just a little bit of extra time and attention to your money and the end of the year is one of those. Just as you make a holiday shopping list every year, it’s also smart to make a year-end financial checklist. And this year you won’t even need to check it twice because on today’s show we’re going to give you some great ideas for what to put on that checklist. And if you’re thinking about resolutions to help improve your financial picture in the new year and beyond today’s show can help with that as well.
Joining me today is the man who’s helped more than a few people get their personal finances in order, Larry Winget, the host of A & E’s Big Spender. And a little later we’re going to welcome Jeff Small, author of the timely new book “Turning Financial Planning Right Side Up”. And in honor of our first full year and a half on the air, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the amazing people who have joined us here on The Income Generation to share their insights on how you can protect and grow your hard-earned money. Plus I will be sharing just a little bit of a sneak preview of my upcoming 2018 Market Forecast, which you definitely won’t want to miss.
First though let’s talk about why paying a little bit of extra attention to your money at year’s end is so incredibly important. You know for many of us the holiday season is a time to throw caution to the wind where our money is concerned. We knowingly overspend on gifts and parties and, you know hey, Christmas only comes once a year right, so why not? Well even as a Financial Adviser I get that. And even I can be guilty of getting caught up in the spirit of the season, just like everybody else.
So yes, I know the spirit of giving can get contagious, but I also know it is possible to feel less guilty about your seasonal spending spree if you take the time to make sure your overall financial picture is in good order, and in particular your Retirement Plan. Now that can be challenging during this busy time of year I know, but it is also important because there are certain key financial deadlines that fall on December 31st. If you can manage to beat them you are more likely to enjoy the holidays knowing that you are on track to meet your long-term financial goals, even if you do decide to overspend a little bit, on things such as perhaps, gifts for the grandchildren.
And the subject of deadlines brings us to the first item that should be on your Year In Financial Checklist which is taxes. One of the most common financial mistakes people make is waiting until February or March to meet with their CPA or Adviser to talk about taxes. The problem is that by that time, the deadline is past us. It’s too late to crack mistakes or take advantage of some tax savings opportunities because December 31st already went by. That’s what I call Reactive tax Planning.
Proactive Tax Planners on the other hand schedule a meeting with their tax preparer or CPA before the end of the year and they do it every single year, why, because tax laws change, guidelines change and they want to be able to do that planning when they can do something proactively to save taxes for that year.
Now this year, of course, big changes may be in store for tax laws and guidelines. The biggest in possibly thirty years. And as we tape this show approval of President Trump’s tax reform plan, its impact on 2017 taxes, are making the rounds on the hill and the final details to be decided around December 18th. The day or so after this show airs.
All the same, odds are extremely small that any moves you make to save money on your taxes before the end of the year are going to be undone by whatever happens on Capitol Hill. So if you haven’t scheduled that tax meeting with your Adviser yet, please, please, please try to squeeze it in before New Year’s Eve. Then congratulate yourself as you check it off your list.
The season of giving is actually a great time to give financially speaking that’s because the IRS deadline for making a charitable contribution that you can deduct from your taxes is also December 31st. That’s a good thing to keep in mind after you schedule your tax planning meeting especially if you have charitable organizations you feel strongly about. Rather than donating cash, for example, some people might donate highly appreciated securities. This can also help you avoid Capital Gains Tax on those securities as well as giving you a present income tax charitable deduction.
Now if you have plans to give a significant monetary gift to someone in your family, this is also a great time of year to work with your Adviser to set that up. For example, a 529 College Fund might make a great tax advantage Christmas gift for a grandchild. Beyond that, you might want ask your Adviser about the Qualified Charitable Distributions Law which allows you to transfer gifts of up to One Hundred Thousand Dollars directly to a qualified Charity from an IRA without counting towards your adjusted gross income. And in addition to the tax savings, this can count toward revenues to fully satisfy your required minimum distributions for that year in case you are over the age of seventy and a half. It’s a great option for many, many people and another good example of how giving can be personally rewarding and financially smart.
Now if you’ve never talked with your Adviser about Estate Planning, having that initial conversation toward the end of the year could also be a nice Christmas gift to yourself and to your loved ones. Even if you’re confident in your financial plan overall, it’s important to understand that it might still be vulnerable if you ignore this very important topic of Estate Planning.
Any number of factors, from lawsuits to tax penalties can jeopardize your assets if you haven’t taken the right steps to protect them legally. If you have a good Adviser, odds are that he can connect you with a qualified Estate Planning attorney to help you create a plan that fits with your financial situation and your legacy goals. If you caught our show all about Estate Planning earlier this year, you know there are huge benefits to having such a plan in place. Among them are avoiding unnecessary legal cost and taxation, protecting yourself against things like Medicaid spend down, and most importantly protecting your loved ones from legal headaches, arguments and having to make difficult emotional decisions at a very difficult time.
Now, if any of the checklist items I have mentioned so far seem daunting, keep in mind that your Adviser can help you understand exactly what you need to know to take action. The key is to have that meeting and that conversation and discuss these things that you think are most relevant and beneficial to you and to do it before December 31st if at all possible.
Now, as it turns out we’ve got a couple more checklist items to cover a little later in the show, but right now, I would like to welcome our first guest, acclaimed Author, Speaker, and Personal Finance Expert, Larry Winget.
Well, friend Larry Winget is an icon in the world of personal development, self-help and fiscal responsibility. His fame is the result of six national bestsellers and thousands of stage and television appearances. As the host of A&E’s Big Spender, Larry visited people in financial crisis and advised them on how to solve their problems and how to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again. We’re happy to have him back on our show again. Larry, welcome.
Larry Winget: Hey, thanks for having me I appreciate it.
David Scranton: I want to start by sharing a few of your book titles which make me laugh every time. The first is “Shut up, Stop Whining and get a Life”, the second “Your Kids Are Your Own Fault “, the third, “You are Broke Because You Want to Be” and last, but certainly not least, my favorite, “Grow a Pair”.
So I know that one of the things that you are a big believer in is the importance of personal accountability when it comes to your money. So what words of advice can you give to people who maybe haven’t had personal accountability up to this point, but now want to make that New Year’s resolution, they really want to take control of their finances?
Larry Winget: Well, first of all, resolutions don’t really come through, plans come through. So I would tell people if you want to be more accountable and responsible with your money get yourself a plan. I would say the number one thing you should do in terms of a plan for your money is to figure out where you stand. It’s remarkable to me how many people don’t have a clue where their money even goes. So sit down with a sheet of paper, get yourself a pen and write down how much money you have to work with, who you pay, when you pay them, how much is left over. You know, it’s really pretty simple. Figure out how much you earn and how much you’ve got to spend every month and hopefully, you’ll end with a positive number. So you don’t want to be a red number down there. So figure that out first, that’s the first place to start, and most people never do just that one basic thing.
David Scranton: Like you have some people now listening to the show saying, “Well I’m an income earner I save a lot of money, I earn a lot of income, so I don’t have to worry about budgeting, he’s talking about budgeting.” but yeah.
Larry Winget: Yeah, Yeah at first…
David Scranton: Isn’t it true that even high-income earners can benefit from budgeting, that there’s a lot of money going out the door they may not even know about.
Larry Winget: You know I love it when people say, “Well I’m a high-income earner I’m this and that and I don’t have to do that.” The reality is a new study research just proved sixty percent of Americans either spend all or more than they earn. So unless I’m only talking to the forty percent out there, which I don’t believe I am, I’m telling you six out of ten people listening to me right now spend all their money or more money than their earning. They’ve got to get control.
David Scranton: And you might get somebody who’s been watching our show right now whose combined income makes let’s say Three Hundred Thousand Dollars between two spouses and maybe they’re in their fifty’s and you know they’re maxing out their 401K, so they’re feeling like, “Wow, I’m saving a lot of money, I’m putting Twenty-something Thousand Dollars a year apiece in the 401K.” But still isn’t it true that a lot of times when they go through things with a fine tooth comb they might be able to find another Ten, Twenty maybe Thirty Thousand a year that could go to their balance sheet that could maybe help them retire earlier or do better things during retirement?
Larry Winget: Yeah, I contend that about every single person regardless of their level of income has about ten percent of waste in there. So when you actually sit down with pen and paper you can find a lot of waste. You know people have always started to think in terms of nice-to-haves and needs and wants and all that. I think you have to think about needs, wants and can’t live with-outs. And most of the things you want there’s ten percent in there that you’re currently spending money on that you could just do away with. Spend your money first on the things you can’t do without, then on your needs and then cut back ten percent, that’s not very much and there’s a lot of waste that goes on in every single person’s life regardless of how much money they earn or don’t earn that they can fix immediately.
David Scranton: You know when we come back from the break I want to talk about credit card debt and how much money could be going out the window there but in fifteen seconds or so in the segment tell us you know why is it you think that people get in so much trouble with credit cards?
Larry Winget: I think because we have a tendency to live by other people’s expectations and we want to keep up and we want to look good so we end up buying things that we don’t need and can’t afford to look good in front of people and we don’t even like.
David Scranton: Dreaded “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Larry Winget: Exactly
David Scranton: Wow you’re so right Larry. Larry, stay with us we’ll be right back. And for our viewers you stay with us also we have many more words of wisdom from Larry Winget.
We are back with Larry Winget, star of A&E’s the Big Spender and personal finance expert. Larry welcome back.
Larry Winget: You bet.
David Scranton: So, I have to tell you that incredible collection of cowboy boots sitting right behind you is that a want to have or is that a must have?
Larry Winget: Haha, that’s not fair. For me, those were need-to-haves. I got to tell you that’s so so much a part of my brand. I have over a hundred pairs behind me and I’ve got forty more pairs in my other closet, but I love my cowboy boots.
David Scranton: That’s what makes you such a more interesting guy than me. I’ve got a collection of boat shoes you know commonly known as docksiders, but the problem is they’re all brown, they all look the same so it’s kind of boring.
Larry Winget: Yes it is boring.
David Scranton: Yeah that’s right that it’s not as cool as what you have behind you there. So credit cards. You know, teach our viewers a little bit about, and I know they know this but still, I want to have it heard from you. What impact that having credit card debt for example really does to people’s ability to save and invest over the long run? People I think, think, “Oh I’m getting ten percent interest that’s not so bad.” But what’s the long-term impact of having that kind of debt?
Larry Winget: Well you know when you look at where we really stand in this country in terms of credit card debt. The average household has Fifteen and a Half Thousand Dollars in credit card debt and the average annual percentage rate is fifteen percent, that’s just on average. If you have a credit issue you’re paying much higher than that and chances are your average credit card indebtedness is higher than the Fifteen and a Half Thousand as well. And when you figure out if you’re making minimum payments you owe Ten Thousand Dollars you’re making minimum payments twenty-five years from now you still haven’t paid the principal off. You’re going to spend all that money just paying the interest. So it doesn’t make any sense long-term to have that kind of debt. People often ask me, ” I’d like to invest where should I invest,” and I always say, “I’m not an investment counselor, but I can tell you this but I can tell you this if you have a credit card pay it off that’s fifteen percent return and you’re not going to find that most of your investments. Pay off your credit card debt first.”
David Scranton: Okay Larry but as you implied at the beginning you said you know it’s not about New Year’s resolution, it’s about a plan, it’s about a strategy. So someone who is not self-disciplined like this, what’s a good plan for them to be able to get these credit cards paid off? How do you get people psychologically mentally to make that change and have that self-discipline?
Larry Winget: Well the first thing you do is you really do have to get out a sheet of paper and write down who you owe, how much you owe and when it’s due. Then you look at any excess money and everybody has excess money and if you don’t figure it out you can cut ten percent as we just talked about. And then start whittling down on those credit cards just as quickly as you possibly can. However, you cannot whittle down on your credit cards if you don’t stop charging on those credit cards. So put them away and hide them from yourself if you don’t have any discipline. The key is don’t keep adding to the debt only spend what you can afford to pay for and don’t go deeper in debt while you’re trying to pay it off. And so stop spending on your credit card, buy what you can afford to buy and whittle down with every extra dollar as much credit card debt as you possibly can.
David Scranton: And then let’s say I get that paid off. Tell our viewers in the final fifteen seconds or so… I know you’re not an investment counselor but now how do I adopt that self-discipline to start investing once I’ve paid off those credit cards?
Larry Winget: Well then you figure out where your level of risk is. If you’re very risk-averse don’t put much in something that’s going to possibly lose you some money. So find out what your level of risk is, how much you can afford to really invest. Meet with a good investment person, somebody who understands you and your long-term goals, not just your short-term goals but where you want to be in ten, fifteen twenty years. That’s very important. Think long-term.
David Scranton: Larry I love it. Great words of wisdom and we have to leave it there right now. But thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back. It’s been a pleasure, Larry.
Larry Winget: I appreciate you having me.
David Scranton: So what a year it’s been so far for the financial markets. The question becomes, ‘are more record market highs in store for the New Year or will reality finally crash the party on Wall Street?’ I will talk a lot more about that a little later as I share a sneak peek of the upcoming 2018 Market Forecasts show coming up in just two weeks. But for now, let’s focus on today, the present.
As you know the stock market has been on a fairly steady tier ever since President Trump’s election over a year ago but the question becomes based upon what? The answer as I’ve said many times on the show is based mainly on hope and optimism that President Trump will deliver on all of his economic promises. Now don’t get me wrong, as for now, yes the economy has shown some improvement already for a variety of reasons but it certainly hasn’t shown the kind of historic growth rate that you’d normally expect to be able to see record high stock market level. So the question becomes is it sustainable? All of which brings us to the next item on our year-end checklist which is to reassess your financial risk.
Now if this artificially overinflated market is as I believe basically a balloon in search of a pin to land on, then now might be an absolutely great time to make sure that your portfolio is not in danger of taking an enormous hit when this balloon eventually pops. At the same time, now might also be a perfect time to reduce your risk-based investments with the most basic investment logic and that is, ‘buy low and sell high.’
Let’s face it the markets are still at a record high right now and although they could climb even higher if President Trump’s tax plan goes through I believe there is also a good chance we could see that balloon pop certainly sometime in 2018 and watch the markets plunge into the third major correction of what I believe is our current the long-term secular bear market cycle, a correction on par with that from 2000 to 2002, and again the one in 2008. So reassessing your risk every year is important, why? Because carrying too much risk can be one of the surest ways to sabotage your long-term financial goals. Which brings us to our final checklist item which is to reexamine your goals.
As we’ve discussed many times on the show the best way to make sure that you’re on track to meet your retirement goals is to first be sure that you know exactly what your goals are, but it’s also very important to revisit them at the end of every year, because let’s face it, goals change, and sometimes they might need to be adjusted based upon new developments or circumstances in your life.
Moreover, your financial strategy may periodically need to be adjusted to make sure it still aligns with your personal goals and isn’t actually jeopardizing them which oftentimes can unknowingly happen. And as I’ve discussed on the show many many times in my experience, most people have what I call purpose based retirement goals meaning that they’re saving investing for a particular purpose for certain goals not just to accumulate the max amount of wealth possible. In fact in most cases that purpose is simply to have enough retirement income to be able to maintain their lifestyle, travel and enjoy their favorite pastimes without worrying about running out of income or suffering a major financial loss.
In fact, one of the main reasons I became a specialist in income based investing is that I discovered long ago that it was the best approach suited to helping people achieve those purpose based goals. That was truly nearly twenty years ago when I changed my business model from a stock market-based model to the income-based model, and it’s still true today. Now, speaking of specialist in income-based investing, I’d now like to welcome one of the best in the business Jeffrey Small from Arbor Financial in the Melbourne area here in Florida.
More and more Jeff Small is becoming a huge name in the financial services world. He lives right here in Florida and has over thirty years of experience as a financial advisor. Nationally, he is a highly sought-after speaker who can be seen and heard regularly on such top shows as Fox Business, Bloomberg Radio and of course the Income Generation. We’re Jeff’s taken part in some of our adviser round tables in the past. You might recognize him from that. So we’re glad to have him back as a featured guest to talk about his new book, “Turning Financial Planning Right Side Up”, which is one of the best single books that I’ve read on this subject of saving and investing in today’s risky environment. Jeff, welcome and congratulations.
Jeffrey Small: David it’s great to be here. Thank you for having me today.
David Scranton: So good to have you back, and so tell me you know, financial planning. You are implying it’s upside down. I’ve often thought it might be a little bit sideways but I’ve never thought of it as being upside down, so why is it upside down?
Jeffrey Small: Well it’s upside down for a number of reasons but the book really provides insight in education for investors that hey can determine how to best chart their costs and what risk they should have, and what the Goldilocks zone will be for the next five, ten or fifteen years that investing. Even with twenty to twenty-five percent upside to the market, there might be they still have to figure in what kind of risk exposure they have and the book shows them how to do that.
David Scranton: And that Goldilocks Zone, give us a twenty-second definition of what that is.
Jeffrey Small: Well the Goldilocks Zone is cash the cash bucket is too cold because it’s not earning to that much, the risk bucket is too high because it’s too hot and it’s very risky but in the middle are things that generate between four and seven percent in the area of fixed income on an annualized basis.
David Scranton: So let’s take just a moment we’ll be right back with a lot more from Jeff Small his new book “Turning Financial Planning Right Side Up”. Stay with us.
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David Scranton: We’re back with Jeff Small and we’re talking about his new book, Turning Financial Planning Right Side Up”. Now Jeff, of course, you just saw the advertisement for you know for your competition in books here, my book of course, and you know if I were just a late person I have to tell you there’s only one thing that might cause me to buy my book instead of yours. You know what that is?
Jeffrey Small: No, I don’t.
David Scranton: Well because you know, I kind of had a little smile on the cover of my book, you know it’s funny when I look at the front of your book here you’re so serious, that you look a little bit like a serial killer on the front of a book. Anybody ever told you that?
Jeffrey Small: No, everybody likes the cover, David. I just think you’re jealous because I’m better looking than you.
David Scranton: I guess the reality is that this is serious business and you want to send a message that you’re serious about this.
Jeffrey Small: That’s Right.
David Scranton: And good for you. So tell us what motivated you to write a book?
Jeffrey Small: Well the book really is a thirty-three-year brain dump of everything that I’ve learned the business that consumers need to know going forward. So in terms of advocating for yourself and educating yourself correctly, people make the biggest mistakes with their money, with lack of knowledge and this book will provide insight to prevent those mistakes and really it’s a must read from that perspective.
David Scranton: And one of the mistakes that you talk about in the book I know is you talk about taking too much risk. Even going as far at one point to say you know why you should take some money out of the stock market. Now you’re not going to get any argument from me as you will know but tell our viewers about that a little bit.
Jeffrey Small: Well the market’s about ninety percent of the all stocks the market right now are at their all-time highs or higher. So every time the stock market’s gotten this high there’s been a chance for a major correction at some point. Now there could be some more upside to the market nobody really knows but the book will give you the insight and teach you how to calculate the effect of risk and how to maintain a net rate of return of greater than five percent going forward. David we look at the market, the last seventeen years. The market earned before the Trump bump three point nine percent in the first sixteen years but the last seventeen that’s barely earned five so is the risk really worth the reward.
David Scranton: Right that’s five percent including dividends what the market’s earn really over the last eighteen years which isn’t very good in and you’re talking about earning four to seven percent in interest and dividends. You’re not talking about crossing your fingers and toes and hoping that something goes up in value, you’re talking about getting the burden hand. Correct?
Jeffrey Small: That’s Correct. We’re going into fixed income assets.
David Scranton: And that’s that Goldilocks Zone. Not too hot. I love that. It is so great, so perfect and not too hot, not too cold just right.
Jeffrey Small: Just right.
David Scranton: So okay, so I get that part of it, but if I’m thirty years old and I’m watching the show then the question becomes Okay what I can afford to take risk I’m thirty years old if my retirement money I’m not going to retire for thirty, forty years, does this apply to me?
Jeffrey Small: Well it really does because the market has put investors in a state of hypnosis with bullishness and so now we’re entering a degree of complacency and that’s where investors no matter what their age have the greatest risk and make the biggest mistakes. In other words, they get sloppy.
David Scranton: Yeah and the returns early on, often times have the biggest effect at how much money people can accumulate. In fact as you will know the most important years when it comes to investment returns are the earliest years to get a lot of momentum built with your investments and then the latest years right before you’re ready to retire so with that in mind, at what age would you say that virtually everyone watching the show starting at what age should go out right now and buy a copy of this book?
Jeffrey Small: Well the book is really designed for anybody, but specifically it should be for people fifty and over, and how to measure the efficiency of their money so they can understand the impact of risk because the deficit and we’re financial planning is backwards and not right side up is the industry and financial services doesn’t teach investors how to calculate their net rate of return going backwards historically, or forwards now how to maintain that. And the wealthiest people in the world from insurance companies to Warren Buffett utilize the strategies that we adopt in the book.
David Scranton: Yes, it’s interesting because you’re right there is that the few that really understand it and then there is the many who don’t understand it and, so your mission is to get people to understand the reality of how this is calculated and what they could do about it.
Jeffrey Small: Well there’s a void in financial planning, what we are trying to do is fill that void and show investors that there’s another way to accomplish their goals.
David Scranton: You know it’s funny because you and I have both written books and you know sometimes people see the end result and you think, “Well okay, he wrote a book he must like to write, he’s a good writer, It’s easy.” But you know there are times when writing a book where the publisher is pushing you at a deadline, and then in our industry, we have compliance departments too that that put pressure on us. The publisher wants a deadline, the compliance department wanted something rewritten and there are some of those points. Just like when you run a marathon they say you know you get to the twenty-mile mark and there’s a point between mile twenty and mile twenty-six where you’re asking, “why did I run this marathon in the first place?” And I know there is always point at the end of writing a book when you start to feel that way and I know you had one because you and I were on the phone one day and had that conversation and I understand the sentiment because I went through the same thing. So what kind of emotions did you go through? What made you stick with it when you were in the last six miles of the marathon and you wanted to do just give up and say forget about it?
Jeffrey Small: The core message to help people that show them a different way of investing to help them protect their money to provide them insight that they don’t get from the media or from Wall Street was the message.
David Scranton: And how else do you get the message out to people what else do you do to try to get people to understand? I know you’re always on FOX Business News sometimes on regular Fox News. The other night I’m sitting back watching T.V. and the next thing I know I see expert Jeffrey Small getting introduced and I you know I think I spilled my, my soda right on the sofa. I was like, “Wait a minute I know that guy.”
Jeffrey Small: Well I have gone global. I was on CNBC World Tuesday night.
David Scranton: Nice.
Jeffrey Small: I’m now global.
David Scranton: That’s great.
Jeffrey Small: Not just domestic but global.
David Scranton: I have to admit my first thought was I was kind of sad. I said, “you know, here’s a guy who’s on my show all the time and he’s cheating on me. How could he possibly do that?” But I can see why you’re in such high demand. So again let’s talk about the book, what are you hoping people get out of the book? I mean chances are they’re not going to read the book they’re going to understand some of them are not going to read the book and be able to go home and do everything themselves, but what are you really hoping that the messages that they get and how they solve issues if they haven’t?
Jeffrey Small: Well earlier in the show you mentioned all the various cycles the down cycles last year that we’ve had and I, you know watch my clients and people that I knew after became clients go through that. I don’t want folks to go through that again I want them to experience the fact that they can have growth without risk but they don’t know how because when folks come into our office David they have two types of money, money in cash or money and risk and growth and they don’t know about the middle.
David Scranton: Too hot and too cold
Jeffrey Small: Because the middle is so under-promoted. Nobody talks about it.
David Scranton: So as a kind of sort of a final thought, you know the markets right now so I think it surprised a lot of people I know I’m one of them and I know that you’re another. What do you think is going to happen in 2018 if you had to make your best guess what do you see happening? Is this momentum getting carried through the year or is it not? You know I’m asking you to go on a limb here since now you’ve gone worldwide I’m asking, go out on a limb and tell our income generation members what your thoughts are.
Jeffrey Small: Let me quantify that, there is a couple of different answers. If an investor has a Million and a Half Dollars or less in savings they should take the risk off the shelf they shouldn’t have any risk because they can’t really afford to recover. If you’ve got Three Million or more in your portfolio you can afford to take a punch in the nose but for next year specifically the risk to the market are not the interest rate movements but the fact that we could have an Exonian or constitutional event which would dampen consumer sentiment and our earnings would disappoint. Those are the two biggest risks right now.
David Scranton: Okay. Now, where did you get that Million and a Half from? Talk to me about that.
Jeffrey Small: Well, when we look at how much we have to save and how much we have to live off of for folks of a Million and a Half Dollars if they experience a forty to forty-five fifty percent correction that cuts their money supply in half. Some folks won’t live long enough to recapture that while they’re pulling money out so they really need to put risk on the shelf until their portfolio value gets to a certain level and it’s not me it’s the math that says that.
David Scranton: So I guess you’re thinking in some ways that Okay, if I got a million a half and I can get four to seven percent you know that’s Sixty to One Hundred Thousand Dollars a year I’m not going to run out of money, I’m going to be okay. That’s kind of the thought, so.
Jeffrey Small: That’s correct.
David Scranton: Right so finally, buying the book “Financial Planning Right Side Up”. I think everybody a part of the income generation age fifty and over should go out and buy it as soon as they can. Jeff, tell us how do they get it?
Jeffrey Small: Well the best place to go is to go to Amazon David. But we do have a website for the book called financialplanningrightsideup.com and it is available at Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Google Books you can pretty much buy it anywhere.
David Scranton: financialplanningrightsideup.com. Jeff thank you.
President Trump: One by one the factory shuttered and left our shores with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind but that is the past and now we’re looking only to the future.
David Scranton: If you’re a regular viewer of the Income Generation, well then just by looking at how I’m dressed today you will know for sure who our a special guest is. In fact, can I get the camera crew to just do a quick close-up on my tie here I’d like to show the tie, please? There you go. Perfect.
Male voice 6: One of the real scandals of the current tax code put aside G.D.P. and after-tax income and all that stuff, the real scandal is moral. The IRS estimates we spend six Billion hours a year filling out tax forms. Imagine if all those resources had gone to new products, new services, new cures for diseases. How much better off all of us would be?
David Scranton: You know exactly how much can he cut taxes and still maintain some semblance of a balanced budget?
Peter Morici: Well he can cut personal taxes modestly and still have some semblance of a balanced budget because he would then get some additional growth from people consuming more but we shouldn’t overestimate that. No amount of dynamic scoring is going to make a tax cut equal an unchanged budget deficit.
President Trump: A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are, but I am only against the fake news media or press.
Dan Gainor: There’s no allusion now for anybody who has got half a brain that the media are biased on pretty much every major issue of the day, and since he started his campaign, and now that he is President, they have been working aggressively and undoing absolutely everything he wants to do.
David Scranton: What’s up everyone? Well, of course, the answer is the stock market.
Jon Najarian: I think the regulation rollback and the likelihood that we’re going to see taxes decreased as well for individuals and corporates, I think those are pretty powerful drivers and the fact that we’ve got housing starts highest level since 2007 today, I think that also is a significant increase in optimism for the market.
David Scranton: The media doesn’t talk about bonds that much, the buyers don’t talk about bonds, Wall Street doesn’t talk about bonds. Why do you personally believe that is?
Joseph Hogue: Bonds aren’t sexy. They are there to save the investment, they’re the income investment and they don’t draw viewers. They don’t draw a lot of page views for the web, and those page views end up being advertising income. So most analysists, most programs focus on what draws the most viewers.
David Scranton: Right now let’s welcome back a man who’s been brutally honest about his own experience with financial loss, NBA superstar Kenny Anderson. One of your best attributes as a player to get that good, that early, had to be coachability. So why do you think it was that you weren’t as coachable when it came to things outside the sport such as managing your money?
Kenny Anderson: I think when you get a lot of money then you become powerful so some of your friends and some of the people that deal with you don’t know how to treat you. So they all want to be yes men so you could take care of them.
David Scranton: When I first launched this show, the Income Generation, I wanted it to be a different kind of show about investing, retirement planning and the financial markets. No blaring horns or ringing bells, no shouting, no hype, just good valuable information aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by today’s over age fifty investor. But to be fair, we want to give you good valuable information with a definite bias, that bias is if you are age fifty and over, apart of the income generation, then you need to focus on income to the exclusion of almost anything else.
Sure, if you want to invest your mad money in the markets and invest the for growth instead of income there are many ways to do that just look at the Bitcoin craze. Some call it Tool of mania. Some say it’s a new safe haven for wealthy investors instead of gold. Either way, it’s a gamble. A bet you don’t want to make with a majority of your retirement savings if you are at or near retirement.
So in conclusion, we are constantly amazed and grateful at the luminaries who want to come on to the income generation. Steve Forbes for example, who will be returning as our guest just next week. Peter Morici, Robert Shiller, and even our guest today, Larry Winget are all repeat guests to the Income Generation Show. So we begin to think that our audience might like to leave a question or two on the topics we’d like to discuss. We’ll make sure to pass any questions along to our guests and might even ask them to answer your questions on air.
You heard me talk a little bit earlier about the overinflated stock market being like a floating balloon in search of a pin. The question becomes, is it finally going to land on one of those pins in 2018, or might it go on floating for another twelve months based upon hype and hope? Well, if the balloon bursts and the market plunges into a major correction that many experts agree is overdue, history tells us that this could be a drop of at least forty percent. The question becomes, are you still at risk of getting caught in that downdraft? These are exactly some of the questions I’ll be exploring in detail on my special 2018 Market Forecast show coming up in exactly two weeks.
No one can foresee the future of course, but market forecasting is indeed essential for any financial adviser whose first priority is to help his clients protect their money. A good adviser ignores the hype and looks at the relevant details. Some of those details I’ll be looking at on my forecast show in the future. So stay with us, we’ll be right back.
Yes, the Federal Reserve, their short-sighted policies following the financial crisis helped create this artificially overinflated market in the first place. With a new chairman in place for the coming year, how might their actions or in-actions impact the economy of the stock market in 2018? Tax reform. The promise of President Trump’s tax plan has been a key market driver ever since the election. The question becomes, will it deliver economically, or as some critics claim, just drive up the deficit and make the rich richer?
President Trump. Love him or hate him, the constant turmoil surrounding his presidency simply cannot be ignored when looking at factors with the potential to impact the stability. Can you say tweet? Global factors, Korea, Russia, the Middle East, terrorism, hurricanes, wildfires, the list goes on and on and on, and major global events always have the potential for economic consequences. Sometimes major consequences so be sure to join me right back here in just a couple weeks when I’ll break down these details and a lot more as I help you prepare for the New Year with my special 2018 Market for Cash Show, and of course, next week with Steve Forbes and our tax plan. We’ll be right back.
Karina Brez: When it comes to investing, you always hear that past performance is no guarantee of future success. Yet many investors ignore that mantra and so often make three very common mistakes.
Monte Resnick: The first mistake is chasing returns. This is commonly referred to as rearview mirror investing, this is like driving down the highway only looking in your rearview mirror and we know how dangerous is that can be. The second mistake is trying to tie in the markets. There’s a baseball Hall of Fame, there’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the Market Timing Hall of Fame is an empty room. And the third mistake most common is chasing yield. This should be the most conservative aspect to your portfolio but when you chase yield, you tend to take on more risk than you bargained for.
Karina Brez: So don’t fall victim to those mistakes. Talk to a financial adviser and have a strategy so that when you find that next jump, make sure not to get in too late or exit too soon. I am Karina Brez.
Male voice 7: You’re watching Max 2 Money.
Karina Brez: It’s better to give than to receive so they say, but when it comes to your taxes, giving or gifting could save you money down the road.
Michael Daszkal: The benefits of annual gifting is you get some money out of your estate systematically every year. You can gift fourteen thousand dollars to a child or if you’re married you can give twenty thousand dollars per person, but more important than getting money out of your estate I think it’s important while you’re young and healthy to help your kids whether you can improve their lifestyle, help them with education, you can help them buy a new house, you can help them pay for health care, you can fund education for grand kids.
Karina Brez: Gifting to family members involves tough decisions about when, how, and in what form to gift. Before doing so talk with their attorney and your accountant. I am Karina Brez.
Male voice 8: Get more Money news at Newsmax.com
David Scranton: I would like to thank our guests for joining us today for another episode of the Income Generation. I would also like to thank you, our new and returning viewers For a good part of this past year I’ve talked a lot in interviews about the importance of adopting the right mindset for saving and investing, especially in today’s environment. By that, I mean an environment of uncertainty and one in which the responsibility of creating a secure retirement plan lies almost entirely on your shoulders, the individual, not your employer, and certainly not Uncle Sam, but you. All of the year in checklist items we discussed today are actions that reflect having the right mindset, a mindset right for today’s environment. A mindset right for your purpose based retirement goals. A mindset in which asset protection and retirement income are your top priorities. If you are fifty or over and you’re part of the income generation and you haven’t yet made the paradigm shift to adopt that mindset there’s another great resolution for you to take on for the year 2018.
Thanks for watching. If you’re close to retirement and really want to know how to protect and maximize your hard earned dollars it’s absolutely essential that you stay informed and up to date and right here is where you can do it on the Income Generation. I am David Scranton, and thanks again and we’ll see you next week.
If you’re not using someone who is well trained in fixed income and you were born before 1966, it may just be time for you to break up with that adviser and move on. I would suggest someone who will care for you through these important years of your life. If you need help finding someone, call or write us. I would also like to remind you of the special report entitled, ‘The Income Generation’. This available free to you, our loyal viewers, online. If you haven’t downloaded your report, pick it up after the show.
If you are near or in retirement, head over to theincomegeneration.com and download your special report written specifically for the needs of the income generation again those born before 1966. I am David Scranton and you’ve been watching the Income Generation. We will see you all next Sunday.
