Coasting In Retirement with Josh Null

Michelle and I recently went on our delayed honeymoon, to a place that Michelle always wanted to visit: Costa Rica! So were going to begin the show by talking about our trip, then, because this is a show about enjoying your best life in retirement, we will pivot to travel tips and tricks for those of you looking forward to enjoying seeing new places when you have more time in retirement, especially around those of you that travel on a budget like Michelle and I do.

Alright, let's get to our main topic today. Jay and I are going to break down the science behind how life insurance, disability income and long term care insurance work, the differences between individual and group coverages, and probably most importantly, the steps you need to take to get these different types of coverages, if you are interested.

As of this recording, the stock market is on a tear, apparently reacting very positively to the election of Donald Trump for president, with indexes like the S&P 500 posting all times highs recently. For many investors, this recent market run-up has provided quite a bit of reassurance with their portfolios, but for some, there's a fear that they be missing out on these gains, some investors fear that the market is overvalued, some investors have fear of an ever-looming stock market correction, and finally, for some of you all, there's just a general fear of the stock market itself. All of these issues is what we are going to tackle today.

As many enter the retirement red zone, five years prior to your targeted retirement age, many have to consider if your employee benefits are enough. Some people may choose never to retire, but there is a moment in time where you do need to make some decisions specific to our world. You may have to make Social Security decisions, Medicare and health insurance decisions during your retirement years, or your quasi retirement years, and then some other decisions you need to make with respect to your group benefits that might be a part of your full time benefit package with your employer. On this episode Josh and Jay discuss how to manage your finances and particularly your employee benefits to see if they are enough to fit your retirement needs.

Our topic today is what most, if not all, insurance carriers that offer annuities view as their product of the day. Really, the product of the past 2 decades - that is, Fixed Index Annuities, or FIAs for short. Regular listeners will recognize that term and for today's show we are going to concentrate on the dominant player in the annuity space right now, and that is FIA's - by a mile.

So Jay and I thought we would test each other's insurance knowledge and hopefully shed some light on common questions, sometimes common misconceptions, about insurance. Specifically, life insurance, disability income insurance, and long term care insurance. We are also going to delve into the news of the week and our predictions for the future. We may even get into the effects of the election on financial investors.

Michelle and Josh are here today to discusses financial topics relevant to those of you in or near retirement living your best life along our part of the gulf coast.

Takeaways

• You may be unknowingly paying thousands of unnecessary fees in your investment accounts to these financial vampires
• There really is no need for the average retail investor to pay a commission anymore, there are simply too many low-cost and no commission options out there, especially with the rapidly growing ETF world
• Recent Harris Research poll that revealed that 71% of Americans have bought a lottery ticket and 24% of millennials said they've spoken to a fortune teller, but just 33% of Americans have spoken with a financial planner

Josh is here today to discusses how he started out and where he is now. Josh also discusses financial topics relevant to those of you in or near retirement living your best life along our part of the gulf coast.

• The market is holding steady, but the softing of some business in the job market is a little concerning, though the federal government is trying to create a soft landing
• The stock market is not a direct reflection of what is going on the economy
• Alabama could be a great place to retire

Michelle and Josh are here today to discuss financial topics relevant to those of you in or near retirement living your best life along our part of the gulf coast.

Takeaways

• We work with investors of all sizes – should you describe an investment asset level? If so look at your ADV, I think it's $100k but be sure to say that you work with all sizes and you bet on the person, not the account balance
• The advisor needs to be able to produce something in writing AND easily describe how it works
• Frequent disclosures, or complaints, that have a consistent theme, which FYI is usually around unsuitable investment recommendations or illiquid product sales

Josh is here today to discuss financial topics relevant to those of you in or near retirement living your best life along our part of the gulf coast with Jay Stubbs.

Takeaways

• Jay has the esteemed credentials of CLU, which stands for Chartered Life Underwriter, meaning that Jay has high level training in life insurance and how that ties into estate planning
• In the past when the estate planning exemption was $2 million, or $1 million, or heck, just $650k at the turn of this century
• Trillions of dollars in tax breaks enacted by former President Donald Trump are scheduled to expire after 2025 if congress does not take action