Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Any examples used are for illustrative purposes only and do not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs and may not be suitable for all investors. It is not intended to predict the performance of any specific investment and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Welcome to Retirement your Way with Amerilife of Central Florida, the show that puts you in control of your financial future. Your hosts, Bradley and Madison Hardin, are a trusted husband and wife team dedicated to helping you design a retirement that fits your lifestyle, your goals, and your vision for the years ahead. From smart income strategies and Social Security planning to protecting your wealth and living life on your own terms, this is the place where financial clarity meets coastal confidence. Whether you're just entering the retirement red zone or already enjoying your golden years, Bradley and Madison are here to guide you every step of the way. This is retirement your way. Let's build the future you deserve.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Hello there, and welcome to a new edition of Retirement your way. I'm Matt McClure, here alongside Bradley Hardin with Amerilife of Central Florida. Hey there, Bradley. How's it going?
[00:01:21] Speaker C: I'm doing well, Matt. How are you doing?
[00:01:23] Speaker A: I am doing great. It is a beautiful day, and I'm ready to talk about some, well, maybe not so beautiful stuff, but how we can take some not so beautiful stuff and make it more beautiful for the people. We got a lot to talk about today as far as market volatility and how to, you know, plan for that and how to plan for income in retirement even when the market's volatile. It's such an important conversation.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: No, no, I agree. And especially when you're nearing retirement, one, two, even five, six years out, you want to make sure that you get ahead of that stuff and ahead of that planning and. And you don't want to show up to retirement with an empty bag. Right? Why would I go on a vacation with nothing in my suitcase? So, again, you know, it's important to plan ahead and get ready for that big day.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Open that suitcase. Nothing's in it. You're like, what do I do now?
Well, we're going to tell you because you won't have an empty suitcase by the time the show's over today.
But we want to say at the very beginning of things here, thank you so, so much for listening to the show. No matter whether you're listening coastal Florida, they're right around Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, New Smyrna beach, all through area, or if you're listening on the podcast, and you could literally be listening anywhere you get podcasts. I'm talking about all the apps and I'm talking about pretty much all the locations around the world. If you're able to download a podcast, you can listen to us, just search for retirement your way. Wherever you get your podcast, take us with you. We'd appreciate that you can also listen to previous episodes at plan retirement your way dot com. And if you go to Plan retirement your way dot com, you can request a free consultation. I will have more on that as the show goes on. But basically it's a deep dive into your current financial situation, showing you what you have and then a recommended plan for you so that you can see what you could have if you work with Bradley and his wife Madison there at Amerilife of Central Florida as well.
And don't hesitate to reach out. You can also do it not only via the website, you can do it via phone. If that is your preference. Just give us a call at 386-332-06406. That's 386-320-6406. And once again, the website is plan retirement your way.com. if you're not sure whether your retirement plan's built to weather all the market ups and downs, that is a reason for you to call so that they can take a look at it for you and with you and get you on a plan so you can have retirement your way. That's the name of the show, after all. I'm not just a creative name. It's, it's what, what they do around here.
Okay, so Bradley, let's, let's get a little rundown of what we're going to get to in the show here over this next half hour.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Sounds good, man. Thanks for kicking us off. And for those of you that are listening, that you know that 386-320-6406 number that's going to come right to me. You're not going to be calling a call center. You're not going to be getting, you know, you're not going to be put into an auto dialer, whatever you, you know, whatever. Again, that, that's going to come directly to me so that we can have that initial discussion and, and see how we can help. So again, Matt, you know, today's show we're going to be covering the challenge of retiring in a volatile market, as you mentioned, securing predictable income streams, touching on one of those things that have been very popular over the last decade or so is creating your own personal pension, positioning your portfolio for an election year. Volatility. And we may finish up there with, you know, avoiding emotional investing.
But as we always do on the show here, retirement your way. We want to give you a little bit of financial wisdom through the quote of the week. So if, Matt, if you'd like to share the quote of the week with us.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: And now for some financial wisdom, it's time for the quote of the week.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: And our quote comes this week from Frank Lane. Frank says if you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the, the storm. And very appropriate for this week. And something that, that I think you know about living in Florida, a lot of, you know, a lot of storms. If you don't wait, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. And that's very true in Florida, as I know. I spent a little over a year living there myself a few years back. And it's very, very true. So I think this is, this is a quote of the week that Floridians can really grab onto.
[00:05:41] Speaker C: Right. No, I agree. And you know, you could look outside and it'd be pitch black, gray, 10 miles up the road and then you turn around the other way. It's a beach day. So now kind of as we kick off the first topic and, and Matt, you had a good intro about, you know, planning in a volatile market.
So 2026 begins another year of elevated uncertainty, right? So we're all dealing with the tariff driven price pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, persistent inflation and key categories. And yes, there is a midterm election year which always adds another layer of emotional turbulence to the market.
But here's a critical point.
Volatility affects retirees differently than it affects younger investors. And that's simply because one, one of the things I always say is the amount of time, right. As a young investor, you have more time before you're going to retire. So there's more time to plan for that trip with that suitcase, as we mentioned in the beginning of the show.
Whereas as a retiree and you're, you're nearing that trip or you're nearing that retirement deadline, your bag should be packed, passports ready to go, and your plan should have already been executed.
So, you know, if you're still working and the market goes down, you buy more shares at a cheaper price.
And that's what people would say may be common is, oh, the, the, the shares are on sale right when the market goes down.
But in retirement, there's a good chance you're withdrawing from those accounts. So that means market downturns can do permanent damage if you don't have a reliable income strategy.
So the theory of pulling money out as the market goes down, that can be filtered through the sequence of returned risk.
And research from Morningstar shows it's one of the most important concepts in retirement planning.
And it's magnified by something else most people forget.
Retirees tend to underperform the market because of emotional decision making. What do you think about that, Matt?
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, if you are, and we'll likely get to talk a little bit more about this, I think, and expand on it a little bit later, but you'd look at the way that your emotions can affect what you do with your investments and that money that you've set aside that you hope to live on one day you just kind of get, can get in panic mode, especially if we have another, you know, say 2008 or 2000, what was it, 2001.com bubble burst and all that kind of stuff. Even around, you know, the market bounced back quickly. But even during the beginning of COVID we had a big decline in the market. And so, yeah, I mean, if you, a lot of times, if you are, let your emotions get involved, you tend to buy high and sell low, which is the exact opposite of what you want to do. So, so don't try to do that. Don't, don't try to time the market. What was the old quote? Don't. I think it was Warren Buffett. Don't.
It's not timing the market, but time in the market that really makes the big difference.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Right, Matt? And I couldn't agree more. And one of the other risks, if you will, in retirement is factoring in longevity.
So as a 65 year old couple, you guys face roughly a 50% chance of one of the spouses living past 90 according to the Society of Actuaries. And so you see the challenge in retirement, it's not necessarily how much your portfolio makes or returns or earns.
It's about how long your money will last.
And so through our planning and our strategies, our main goal is to make sure that you never outlive your money. And most importantly, you can never outlive your income streams because if you know that that check is going to be there every month, you know, you sleep a little easier, you plan those vacations a little bit more frequently, and, and things like that. So, you know, you, you want to enjoy this time in your life. So planning during a volatile market, tariffs, elect middle, you know, the midterms this year and all the things that are going on through the news cycle. We help our clients kind of feel better about their plan to make sure that they know it's going to last as long as they do.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah, and the headlines can really have people feeling uncertain about their retirement income. And if that's the case for you out there listening to the show, you don't have to guess your way through through volatility. You know, we'll give you that no cost retirement income analysis. It's going to show how much income you can count on, whether you're exposed to sequence of returns risk, what gaps exist in your plan, and how to generate predictable income in any market. You know, no matter what happens on Wall street, you know, taking care of Main street, taking care of your home, taking care of your family and loved ones and yourself is going to be the goal with that plan. So go to the website, once again, it's Plan retirement your way dot com. Plan retirement your way dot com or give them a call. 3863-2064-0638-6320-6406. And as Bradley was saying a few minutes ago, that just goes directly to him. You're not going to get some strange voice from, from beyond. You're going to get the voice that you hear on the radio that will come straight to his phone. So, yeah, that's a very, very important point to make here as we continue on. And as we continue, we're talking about that sort of first point that you, or that last point, rather I should say in what I was just talking about there, what you get when you reach out is that secure income stream, a reliable income stream in retirement. It's so important and that it really is kind of the foundation of your retirement plan or should be.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Everybody knows what a home is or how homes are built. They don't start with the roo and then build the walls and then pour the foundation. Right, guys. So you know that they poured the foundation first and then they work their way up. So that that's how I view retirement planning is let's get a strong, sturdy foundation. So that way our walls and our roof and our windows and everything in that house are secure.
So, you know, in retirement, predictable income equals a predictable lifestyle.
So the more of your essential expenses that are covered by reliable, guaranteed or highly stable income, the less vulnerable you are to market swings.
This is why researchers at the Stanford center of Longevity emphasize building a baseline of secure income.
So we're going to go through some key points that we like to talk about, and there's really just three of them. The first one being determine your essential versus discretionary expenses.
Now that may seem common to some people and may be unfamiliar territory for others. But the essential income would be your housing, your food, your utilities and your medication and maybe in your health care.
So those essential expenses should come from sources that you can count on, like Social Security pensions.
They are rare nowadays, but they are valuable annuities with lifetime income laddered bonds or CDs or some short term duration treasury income.
So again, we're looking to cover those essential expenses with reliable, predictable income.
Discretionary income like travel or hobbies can come from more flexible market based sources because in the name, as you heard, those are discretionary. You don't have to travel, you don't have to do your hobbies. Now again, I get it. Some of you may feel like, well no, I got to do my hobby, I got to get out of this house, I'm out of here, right? I spent 30 or 40 working years leaving this house. I can't sit here and watch time slip by.
I get that.
So you know, when we sit down, we try to factor in, okay, well how are we going to be able to do the traveling that we want to do? How are we going to factor in and pay for the hobbies that we want to do in addition to our essential income?
So key point number two is consider the three bucket income strategy.
So this can be one of the most effective tools retirees use to protect their income.
And it's broken up over three buckets, one being the short term, like cash CDs, money market stable value.
Those are designed to weather market storms.
You've got your midterm bucket, so not an midterm exam. Right? So I'm not talking about school here. Midterm bucket, those are going to be your conservative investments, fixed income, structured notes and different types of annuities that we add into the mix.
And then you've got your long term bucket. So the midterm bucket years range from four to ten.
The short term bucket would be years one to three.
And then your, your long term bucket years ten plus, those are going to be your growth assets, your equities, your alts, your inflation hedges.
So in general those are going to fight inflation over a 20 to 30 year retirement. And so it's important to be balanced between your short term midterm and long term buckets.
And lastly, key point number three, which is not that long would be predictability reduces emotional decision making. And Matt, we touched on that for a few moments at the head of the show is when your bills are covered with reliable income, you stop feeling like you must react to every market headline.
So that's how retirees stay confident, even when markets misbehave and touch on a little bit more of that later. And Matt, like you mentioned, you know, the emotional and the human nature of things is. Okay, well, when, when a stock or an equity is on the run and it's going up, that's when people, they want to buy, right? That's the buzz, that's the headline, oh, we got to buy this stock as it's going up.
And then when that stock or that equity or whatever starts to go down and decline and starts to bottom out, what do your emotional reaction is to sell.
So the idea is you're buying high, selling low, which as you mentioned and as we all, you know, know in the, the financial industry is you're supposed to buy low and sell high, not buy high and sell low. So again, having that predictability helps avoid those types of mistakes.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah, it really does. That's, that's the thing, you know, you've got, when you have some predictability, you take a lot of that stress and a lot of that just emotion period, off the table and then, then you can make better decisions. You know, you've got that foundation, you know, that's a strong foundation for you, that reliable income. And then everything else on top of that is the gravy or the, the cherry on top or whatever sort of food related metaphor you want to use.
But it's, but no, it's, it's good stuff and great, great, you know, reminders there to keep those emotions out of investing. And so just Visit the website planretirementyourway.com or give them a call at 386-3206-4006. It's 386-320-6406 and you can request a retirement income gap report that is free for listeners of the show. And they'll actually do a lot more than just take a look at that retirement income gap that you may have. They'll take a deep dive into your overall financial picture and get you on a path to having retirement your way.
All right, so you know, you mentioned in there one of the reliable sources of income being pensions and then also personal pensions. Let's take a look kind of at where things stand with pensions right now. You know, you sort of alluded to the fact that they used to be a lot more common than they are, but these days they've gotten very rare. It's like Oh, I just, you know, I just spotted a unicorn or a dodo or something, you know.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: Right. No, I get it. And, and that's a big thing that we, we talk about at our seminars, that we do in our meetings with clients is how little people are retiring with pension. So, you know, pensions, when you leave a job, you know, you may have some options, you may not have options, or you may have some. So one of those could be choosing to take the money as a lump sum now.
So that could be rolling it over, that could be taking it out and paying your taxes up front. The 20 mandatory withholding.
Another option is you could take the promise of regular payment in the future.
So that's that pension kind of turning into an annuity within the pension program. And that's really when we're doing annuity planning for clients. That's one of the main reasons people roll their funds into annuities is to create a guaranteed income stream.
Right. And a lot of times when we compare the annuity payout to the pension payout, we can beat it. So why wouldn't you roll that over and get a higher lifetime income as opposed to leaving it, you know, where it's at? Or you can do a combination of both. You can roll some of that pension out and create some cash, some liquid cash, and, and leave the rest and do do some pension income planning. So again, you may have some choices there.
Some facts, though, regarding the pension sector would be in the mid-1980s, around 60% of private sector workers in the United States had access to a pension plan through their employer.
So during this period and in decades before, pensions were a very common form of retirement benefit.
Because the way I see it is companies were creating these pensions as a way to attract employees.
And what's one of the largest payments of lifetime income in the United States?
Well, that's Social Security.
So Social Security is really just, if you break it down simply, it's just a big annuity that's paying you lifetime income. So I believe these companies were trying to replicate a second Social Security when they started creating pensions as a way to attract workers to their, to their company.
However, that tended, that tends to be very expensive for the employer. So that's a lot of promises, a lot of money going into that pension fund. And so what happened is by the year 2020, only about 16, that's 1 6% of private sector workers had access to a defined benefit pension plan.
Where now what we're seeing is most of those employers switched from the pension over to the savings plan.
So the savings plan could be 401k, 403b, 457. So, you know, think, think the Alphabet and your numbers there.
That's what's going on now in the marketplace. Because at the end of the day, that's just a lot cheaper for a company to fund 401ks because they're only funding a small percentage of that 401k.
The majority of the funding for that 401k comes right from your paycheck.
Now, it is a way for people to continue to save for retirement. So we love 401ks, but what do I do at the end of the road? I've got this suitcase of a 401K. We're going to keep bringing that up. I've got this suitcase that's packed full of 401k dollars.
What do I do? All I know and all I've known throughout my time funding it is I got to put money in and I can't touch it.
Well, now you can. Now it's time to get with us and figure out what can I do with that 401k to turn it into potentially a personal pension plan.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: I've seen a lot of spy movies in my day, and usually if get caught with a suitcase full of money, it's not a good thing for you.
But this is the case where, at least in our metaphor, it would be great to have that suitcase full of money. But again, you got to know what to do with it.
And I know that when folks work with you and with Madison there at Amerilife of Central Florida, it's one of the things that you do for folks every day is help them create that personal pension, like take that big bucket of money and actually turn it into income that they can live on. And, you know, that's really what you do when you help people with their plan and get them a retirement lifestyle that they deserve and one that they can live on their terms.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: You know, you may have heard the talking head say, oh, annuities are bad. This, that and the other. Well, you know, we're a couple of talking heads. I'd say annuities are fantastic. And the people that I deal with and work with, who have these contracts, who are collecting the income, they love it as well. So again, it just, just depends on your, you know, your exposure to the solution. So the, the question is, is, is it possible to create my own personal pension? So the answer is yes.
So you can establish your own pension through guaranteed lifetime income using a solution called a fixed Indexed annuity.
And so, you know, that concept may seem strange or unfamiliar, but the benefit is not. It's a way to convert some of your retirement savings into a dependable monthly paycheck.
So in the beginning of the show, we talked about making sure that your essentials are covered by dependable income streams.
So then if I come to the retirement trip with that suitcase and all I have is Social Security and my retirement savings, but there's no other stream of income. Well, we can create that.
And, and then the rest of the funds that don't go into those plans, well, that, that's discretionary. You know, you can be a little bit more risky with those funds. You know, have a little fun, do your investing, buy your equities. And, you know, you can get advice from us on how to build out that portfolio. But at the end of the day, the, the happiest retirees in our, in my practice are the ones that have their, their essential expenses covered by dependable income. It's as simple as that, Matt.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. I mean, that is, you know, you, you have so much to worry about in life and in planning for retirement and in getting through retirement and all of that. Like, why not take advantage of something that can give you a dependable income so that's one less thing that you have to worry about. And it's a big thing to worry about. So, you know, create that income stream. And Bradley and Madison with Amerilife in Central Florida, they can help you through that process. Give them a call, 386-320-6-406. That's 386-3206-406. Or go to plan retirement your way.com and you can meet with them and talk about that and so much more. Whatever questions you have about your retirement, they will happily answer it for you. All right, few minutes here left in the show, Bradley, but before we start wrapping things up, I wanted to get to, you know, people are like, didn't we just do this? But yes, it is an election year again, but this time it is a midterm election.
So what kind of things can election years sort of bring as far as volatility goes? Are we looking at maybe some more volatility this year at least, you know, if, if past is prologue, so to speak?
[00:25:33] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I agree, Matt. And in an election year, markets often experience sharper swings due to policy and uncertainty. And so as we look at the tariffs, the inflation, the market instability, you know, going to the tariffs, you know, when companies face a higher cost earning Projections weaken, markets react often quickly and emotionally and retirees must avoid reacting with them because the idea isn't necessarily that election years are going to be worse for the market. So, you know, when we look back at history, but volatility within that 12 month period tends to make people emotional, right? So we have some big ups, we have some big downs. So you can imagine that volatility, when we say volatility, you know, we're just simply speaking about the ups and downs of the market.
So the ups and the downs in an election year tend to be a little bit higher and deeper, not necessarily that it's worse.
And we want to try to avoid that emotional reaction where we're buying high, selling low because of a headline and we're getting, you know, know, nervous. And again, as we wrap up here, that that's the whole point, Matt, with sitting down with Madison and I, is that we're going to help remove some of that emotion and we're going to stick to the plan.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: A lot of stuff that you can do to sort of stave off that uncertainty ahead of time is by having that plan that you were just talking about, having it in place, having it be something that you know is going to be a solid plan no matter what the market does does. That is the whole point. It not only gives you peace of mind, it can give you that retirement that you can live your way, not somebody else's way, but yours. And that's what it's all about. So go to the website, folks, it's plan retirement your way.com. plan retirement your way.com or give them a call, 386-3206-406. It's 386-3206-406. And you know, they'll run your portfolio through 1,000 plus different market scenarios. So you could see are you protected, are you exposed, what's your situation and where could you go with a recommended plan by them? All right, well, Bradley, that's going to do it for this edition of the show. It has come and gone quickly as it usually does, but I thank you for all that you bring to the table each and every time we we meet together here, sir, and we'll do it again next time.
[00:27:56] Speaker C: Sounds good. Matt, appreciate your time today and for you listeners out there, look forward to meeting with you.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us for Retirement your Way with Amerilife of Central Florida. Our goal is to bring clarity and confidence to your retirement journey. Remember, Bradley and Madison Hardin are here to help you create a personalized plan for the future you deserve. If you'd like to schedule a no cost, no obligation consultation, give the team a call at 386-320-640 or visit planretirementyourway.com and don't forget to tune in next week, same time, same place, for more strategies, insights and support to help you live retirement your way. Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, llc, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Amerilife are separate companies but are affiliated through common ownership. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM but are offered in sold through individually licensed and appointed agents not affiliated with the United States Government. Bradley and Madison Hardin do not offer tax or legal advice. Consult with your tax advisor or attorney regarding specific situations. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. These opinions are not intended to predict future performance of any product. All information provided is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of any statement. This information is intended to be educational in nature and does not provide a guarantee or specific, specific result. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Amerilife assumes no responsibility or liability for the content of this message. The information contained herein is provided on an as is basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness, timeliness, or the results obtained from the use of this information.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Any comments regarding safe and secure investments and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not in any way refer to investment advisory products. Rates and guarantees provided by insurance products and annuities are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company. Not guaranteed guaranteed by any bank or the FDIC.
