Episode Transcript
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.
[00:00:17] This paid program is brought to you by Danny Noles and the Noles Group. Understanding retirement. Understanding investments. Understanding your money. When you have it and when you don't. Welcome to understanding money with the Noles Group. They work hard each day to educate Americans like you on how to reach the financial freedom they worked so hard for by protecting and growing their hard earned money. And they can help you too. So now let's start the show. This is understanding money.
[00:00:58] Hello and welcome to another edition of Understanding Money with the Noles Group. Matt McClure here with you kind of keeping it between the lines, you know, pushing buttons and that kind of thing. But the guys who really know what in the world they're talking about are the wonderful guys from the Noles group starting, of course, with Danny Noles. Hey, Danny, how are you this week?
[00:01:16] Hey I'm good. Matt, how about you?
[00:01:17] I am doing very well, sir. I appreciate you and look forward to this next hour, because we got a lot of great stuff to talk about here. Uh, talking about planning your path and protecting your retirement, and why a properly balanced plan really is the key to a stress free future. We'll get to all that. Of course. We've got Parker Noles here with us as well. Hey, Parker. Good morning. Matt. How's it going?
[00:01:42] Oh, I'm, uh, I'm making it. We got a new guy on the, uh, on the radio this week. His name is Evan Griffith. Uh, he started. When did you start? July 1st. July 1st?
[00:01:51] Yeah, first to the quarter. Yeah.
[00:01:53] Uh, and what Evan does for us is he does, uh, sort of our client information management. He gets our client set up on our planning software. E-money, um, helps them with accessing all of their portals and things like that. Um, just kind of a general all around client information guy. Yeah. We got the opportunity to sit down last night, and I did with a client, and it was our first meeting together, and he ran out like a charm. And he owns the, uh, e-money platform. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
[00:02:24] That's right, that's right.
[00:02:25] Great choice for, uh, that guy right there.
[00:02:28] Well, awesome. Well, Evan, it sounds like they, uh, they're keeping you busy there, and now they've roped you into the radio, so. Hey, it's, uh. You're doing all right.
[00:02:37] Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I appreciate you having me.
[00:02:39] Yeah. No worries at all. Um, we we appreciate you being here and look forward to, uh, you sharing your insights with us as well over this next hour. And, of course, thank you to the listeners of the show. Uh, you know, without you, we wouldn't be here in the first place. So we really do appreciate you, uh, just listening and giving your feedback and of course, reaching out. Scheduling out 100% free complimentary consultation with the good folks at the Noles Group. You can do that today by going to the Noles group.com. That's n o the Noles group. Com or you can give them a call at 2056025652056025065 is that number? Once again, listeners can meet with them regarding their own financial situation with their family or their business. There is no obligation as well. Remember also listen wherever you subscribe to podcasts. You can you can do that. Um, you know, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, all the biggies there. Um, basically, wherever you get a podcast, you can find understanding Money with the Noles group. And you can also get the previous episodes online on the website. Um, and check things out all over the socials. Just search for the Noles group as well. All right, Danny, so let's I kind of teed you up a little bit here, but let's give the folks a good overview of what we're going to be talking about here on the show this week.
[00:03:59] Yeah, we got four topics this week that we're going to really hit on. Uh, do you have a real plan for retirement? We want to help you out, but the actual plan in writing. And guess who we do that with? Evan. Right.
[00:04:12] Absolutely.
[00:04:13] And, uh, the the benefit of a comprehensive financial plan. We explain why it's important to, uh, pay. Uh, plan to pay ahead. Um, and guess who we do that with. Parker. Evan. Evan. And do you have your financial planning force while working with a professional is the right decision and signs that you are a financial financial savvy. Uh, we'll review the fundamentals of a smart financial plan. And guess who manages that in our firm? I'm going to guess that it's Evan. Evan who manages that.
[00:04:46] I hope it's me.
[00:04:47] Matt, who manages that in our firm.
[00:04:49] I'm going to guess that I'm going to say Evan as well. I'll go three for three.
[00:04:53] Evan manages it and can't welcome him anymore.
[00:04:57] That's.
[00:04:57] That's right. No pressure, Evan, no pressure at all. All right, well, let's get some inspiration for our conversations to start off with here. And we'll do that with our quote of the week. And Parker has it for us.
[00:05:11] And now for some financial wisdom. It's time for the quote of the week.
[00:05:18] All right. Earl Nightingale says, as in all successful ventures, the foundation of a good retirement is planning. This reminds me of a lot. I think I've said this on on the show, um, before. But when my brothers and I were kids, Danny would always tell us failing to plan is planning to fail. Um, I think he's got maybe 5 or 6 quotes about planning and being prepared. I guess it's almost like he does it for a living, huh? Um, but, uh, yeah, I think that's a that's a really good quote. Um, we, we see a lot more success in our practice with clients who come to us with at least like the concepts of a plan. Um, but when you are reaching your 40s and your 50s and your, your retirement is kind of getting closer and closer. I mean, obviously that's an exciting time, but it can be a little nerve wracking if you've slacked a little bit on getting your plan together and getting prepared for a time when you're not going to have any more income coming in from work. Um, and our our entire overarching goal here is to take people who have little plans or no plans at all, um, and get them in a position where they can not only survive, but thrive in retirement.
[00:06:33] Yeah, it's a great thing to do. And it gives them not only, you know, a plan like just the actual physical thing, the written plan. Right? It gives them peace of mind as well, that sort of intangible thing that means so, so much because they know that, you know, in the future. No matter what happens, they've got their bases covered because the plan covers all of those bases. And, you know, it's got to be a real plan, right? You know, I mean, as we've been saying here, it can't just be sort of pie in the sky, sort of like idea of kind of a thing. Um, because, you know, financial planning from a professional goes beyond just having, like, you know, your 401 K or an IRA maybe, or something else like that. It's it's got to be a true and comprehensive plan, right?
[00:07:16] Yeah, absolutely. So some of the things that we look at when we're considering what makes a, you know, a true retirement plan is taking a look at your current income and your expenses and using those to project your future income needs and expenses in retirement. And it's really important that we consider things like inflation, taxes, uh, increases in health care costs, emergencies that are unforeseen. Kind of these non controllable variables that, you know, without proper planning can really wreck your retirement. Um, and having a plan in place makes a roadmap for achieving specific financial goals, you know, whether that's traveling. Like for example, my my grandfather and his retirement, he, he took, I believe it was close to 50 cruises, um, over the course of his retirement. You know, he was even looking at doing stuff like buying a condo in coastal Turkey. Um, just because he. He loved traveling so much. And he had built his plan around that, that, you know, he lived in a very modest home in Montgomery, Alabama. Um, but he geared his entire retirement towards being able to travel until he was physically not able to do so anymore. Um, if that's important to you, a plan can address that. If you have a bunch of grandchildren, a plan can help you address how to fund their education. You know, even if you want to do something like send them to, you know, private high school like plans are able to account for and address those kinds of concerns. Um, or if you're if your goals are as simple as leaving them, being a legacy, leaving an inheritance for your kids or grandkids or a charity, a properly built financial plan will not only ensure that you can put food on your table and keep a roof above your head during your retirement, as things like inflation and taxes and health care costs come up and have to be dealt with. But they can help you reach these overarching goals that are a little more abstract.
[00:09:18] Yeah. And that's the thing too, is it's so customizable, like it's we'll say it all the time. We'll say it again until until we're blue in the face. It's all about you and your goals and what you want to do. You know, it's it's not a one size fits all kind of a thing. And that's why, you know, working with professionals like the folks there at the Noles group, it's so important. Right. I mean, you know, call them two.
[00:09:37] Exactly.
[00:09:38] 205 602 5602 5065. It's as easy as that to set up that initial consultation, right? I mean, you just call 205 602 5065. You can also go online to the Noles Group. Com and it's really all about reaching your retirement goals. That really is what it boils down to. And um, you know, even coming up with a financial plan for somebody really does it seems to to be anyway, according to a study that we found here that those people who actually have a written financial plan just have healthy money habits overall, right?
[00:10:13] Absolutely. Absolutely. So I'm going to go over some stats that we've got here from Schwab. So according to Schwab, uh, 33% of people without financial planners have an emergency fund. You know, that that leaves 67% of people without financial planners who do not have an emergency fund. And that's one of the most important things of a financial plan. Um, is planning for the unknown. So, um, also 45% of the people without the planners are not aware of the fees and the investment costs that come along with their current situation as well. As, you know, they don't have a regularly balanced portfolio. 63% of them, uh, do not. Um, and then, you know, 29% don't carry a credit card balance. That's, that's a lot of people that, you know, are putting themselves in credit card debt. They may not be able to pay off.
[00:11:09] Yeah. And without without a plan in place, a structure and a framework. Um, you know, people left to their own devices really have a hard time building up an emergency fund, knowing what kind of fees and costs they're paying in their portfolios across the board, um, and even some, some pretty basic financial literacy stuff, like carrying a credit card balance and, and making their payments on time and not not being drowning in debt. Having an outside created financial plan can really help people, um, forestall, oh, Danny's Danny Warner things about this.
[00:11:47] One of the jobs that Evans is, is responsible for inside our planning process. We have about 100 different reports that we can develop. Number one, we can we can build a asset liability report for you that that gives you your overall assets and liability. We can manage these processes for you. But everything on the platform that Evan manages, it gives you a clear picture. It helps you transition your legacy, not your estate, but your legacy to the next generation into the next generation. So it's a very important role by managing these plans with these stats that Evan gave. And it's an important role that Evan plays within our firm.
[00:12:32] Yeah.
[00:12:32] And I'm not kidding about that.
[00:12:34] Yeah. No, not at all.
[00:12:36] Yeah. And, you know, really helping people improve their overall situation. It's it is so important. And, you know, I mean, there are a lot of benefits to this comprehensive financial plan, a lot of which we've we've just run through, but we've got six that we really want to highlight here. Six clear benefits of having a comprehensive financial plan. And Danny, number one to to lead us off in this part is um, really kind of you know, I feel like maybe one of the most important because, you know, I feel like a lot of people don't really know what their financial situation is unless it's all kind of written down.
[00:13:13] That's correct. And I just touched bases on this a lot of a little bit. Um, you've got to get your full financial picture. You know, a lot of people say, yeah, I know where I'm at. Um, no, you don't, you know, um, I had a guy called me yesterday said, look, got $400,000 in And I raise. I don't want to pay any more taxes. I want to defer my RMD. I said, well, we can do that. I gave him the opportunity. I said, you can do $210,000 in a quick one time deposit. And he said, well, I still need access to it. I said, well, you got access to it, but you don't have to take distributions of 85. He did not see his full financial picture. People don't understand. Hey, I need the 360 of a view of allowing me to understand everything. I need to prioritize my goal. What type of debt do I have? What do I need to repay? What am I saving? What am I investing? What's the value of my home? You've got to get your full financial picture. And again, I can't say this again. Part of our free service here at the Noles Group is to allow Evan to put everything on platform. Evan, this is a great introduction session for you because it's amazing that what we can do with that software, Evan, was point number two.
[00:14:28] Absolutely. So we really want to build confidence in your financial decisions with us and make sure that what we're doing here makes you feel secure and safe in your, your financial future. Um, so according to a 2021 Schwab survey, 65% of people with a financial plan feel confident in their plan. Um, compared to only 40% of the people without one.
[00:14:52] Yeah. And that that confidence that that Evan's talking about can give you the mental permission to be able to enjoy your spending without a whole ton of guilt. Um, if you sit down with a professional and we run you through our process and and, Matt, you said this earlier, but I want to stress this again. It's completely individualized. And Danny can attest to this. We don't have like a standard plan template. You know, we don't have some big word document that we fire up and fill in with your details or an Excel spreadsheet or anything like that. Every single client that walks through our door gets a new plan from scratch that is entirely tailored to them. Now, that's kind of the hard way of doing it. Um, it's very common in this industry to use, um, sort of boilerplate plans and customize them a bit. But we, we take a different approach. We truly make them from scratch. And these plans, when we sit down and we show someone, um, that their goals are achievable, that they have the assets to meet their needs. It gives them the confidence to be able to splurge a little and enjoy their retirement without feeling guilt or fear about whether or not they're going to be able to pay their property taxes and put food on their table and put gas in their car and pay for their doctor's visits. Um, a plan can really help put people's mind at ease, uh, Knowing that they're not going to be not going to jeopardize their future security.
[00:16:28] Going to the next point, we want to provide peace during, you know, market volatility. I'm sure you've heard everybody in this room say the market hates uncertainty at one point or another. Um, and that that's because it's absolutely 100% true. And having that financial plan, uh, can keep from, you know, causing panic within yourself, uh, because of market fluctuation and having that financial plan, uh, that accounts for the volatility can keep you focused on your long term goals, um, keeping you away from making irrational or rash decisions.
[00:17:02] Yeah. I think Danny can kind of speak to this a little bit. Uh, earlier this year, back in April, when we really saw the market up down, up, down, up, down, huge swings of 3 to 4% in a day, up or down. We were getting calls from, you know, 5 a.m. all the way to 10 p.m. every single day with people saying, I'm freaking out. Move me to cash, move me to cash. And a lot of what Danny's role was was to say, hey, get a grip. We've got a plan.
[00:17:29] Well, number one, I think you really got to look at this. The number one thing is people deal with volatility. From what? Emotion. Emotion. An emotional decision to them. Um, it's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Out the window goes out the window. When emotions, uh, becomes a play, you become irrational if you move everything like I tell everybody. If we look at everything from a mathematical structure, if you move everything to a mathematical equation, volatility then is reduced, right? It's reduced.
[00:18:04] Yeah. The impact of it is weighted instead.
[00:18:06] So what what did we do. Right. The opposite. We had hundreds of thousands of dollars of our clients in DCA dollar cost averaging strategies. And I told them I said we're going to accelerate this. We're moving the money out. And they go, oh, the markets down. I said, well, it's going to come back up. What happened yesterday Evan? All right.
[00:18:26] All time high. Yeah, right.
[00:18:28] Every week. All time high. All time high. Take advantage of dips in the market. Take the emotional stress out of it and manage it from a mathematical aspect. Right?
[00:18:41] Yeah. And a lot of, you know, a lot of our client. If I had a nickel for every time, uh, during, during that period, I heard you say, yeah, stuff's on sale right now. Yeah.
[00:18:50] Yeah. This the rollback sale at at, uh, Walmart. The little smiley face.
[00:18:54] Exactly, exactly.
[00:18:56] Um, so I guess that leads me into my point.
[00:19:00] Um, you have.
[00:19:01] To have an annual reality check. Where are we at? Where? Where are we sitting at? You know, um, we were on the call Evan and I were last night, and the people put their money in the in the investment, and and and and she's retiring on Friday. And what was her rates of return since I've been managing the account with over 16% return. Right. Yeah. And her answer was, man, I love that. You know, I said, how.
[00:19:26] Could you.
[00:19:27] Not pat your visor on the back? They only call us when the market's down. They never call us when the market.
[00:19:32] Exactly right. Exactly.
[00:19:33] At the end of the day, you have to have a reality check. Am I really at the place that I want to be right now? Yeah. You know. You know, I don't you know, I hear so many people say, I mean, the guy on the phone yesterday says, well, I'm in. I'm in a credit union. I'm making 3.3 on my CD, and it's making me money. And I'm like. And he said, I'm happy. I'm like, move it to our money market. It was going to increase. You buy a percent and I have and you'll still make money and I think you'll be more happy.
[00:20:07] Right? Exactly. More liquidity? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:20:10] People say, you know, money's not happiness. But I'm happy when I get the reality check. To me, I'm happy when I pay my bills. Aren't you Evan? Absolutely, yeah. Happy when I have assets. Right.
[00:20:21] And that's one thing that people who don't have a plan, and especially who don't have an adviser really miss out on is, is a third party who sees this all day, every day and does this professionally to check in with them. Um, you know, the the absolute bare minimum is once a year. Um, our preference at our firm for our clients, with the way that we run our practice is once a quarter. Um, to, to kind of check in, and it doesn't have to be a big production, you know, just 20 minutes, 15 minutes. And, hey, everything going okay? Here's how your accounts are doing. How are the bills looking? You know, how's the wife? How's the kids kind of thing? Um, but, uh, what what these checks do is they allow you to avoid major surprises. Um, so part part of what we do during our process is we kind of model, like, what if scenarios. Um, so if we've got a husband and a wife and we're replacing two incomes during retirement. We look at, well, what if one of these spouses gets a degenerative illness and has to go into nursing home care? Where's the money going to come from? Um, you know what? If, uh, you know what? If you need a new roof on your house and you don't want to use your homeowner's insurance, where's that 20 grand going to come from? You know, if you want to take a vacation, where's that money going to come from? We run all these what if scenarios, uh, to kind of stress test our plans. Um, and, uh, make sure that they can adapt to changing circumstances. That's, that's kind of the entire point. And it prevents our clients from being surprised. Um, you know, either in a good way or in a bad way. Um, you know, life has a way of throwing curveballs and having a rigorous plan with a a qualified advisor is one of the best ways to stop those curveballs from messing you up.
[00:22:11] Yeah.
[00:22:11] Mixing some metaphors today.
[00:22:13] Hey, I love it. We got some. We got some baseball. We got all kinds of things. But no, I mean, it's it really is true, though. I'm surprised this can be good. Surprises can definitely be bad. But at the same time, whatever happens, you want to be prepared. You want to make sure that you're financially prepared for the good, the bad, the ugly, all in between. And you know, if you need help in making sure that you are prepared for whatever comes your way. Uh, I would, you know, get in touch with the Noles group if I were you. Uh, that's exactly what I do. You know, if you could use some help, you know, kind of taking control of your hard earned savings, your hard earned investments, uh, you know, reach out, give them a call. That number is 205 602 5065 (205) 602-5065. And then you can go online as well to the newsgroup com. And Ollie's is how you spell nulls. That's the nulls group. And they can show you all the options and help you make better decisions that can really have a positive impact on your future.
[00:23:15] So it's like, you know, okay, we've talked about the importance of having that formal written plan, working with a financial pro. Um, but also it's the alternative is the DIY, right? Like, I love a good DIY project around the house. Um, you know, I've, I've painted rooms, I've painted cabinets, I've put down flooring. I've, I've done all of those kinds of things. You know, I don't know that I would want to necessarily go it alone without working with a financial pro though. Um, when I am doing, you know, my own financial planning for the future, it's like, you know, I could I'm sure I've put down flooring. I could not add a room on to the house. I could not put on a new roof. You know, those are the things that need to be left of the professionals. And it's kind of the same way with financial planning. This is the big stuff here. And talk for just for a minute here, Danny. About what? You know, the professional guidance really does add to the picture.
[00:24:14] Yeah, I hit on this while ago. There's three bullets I'm going to run through right quick. Number one, is your objective in sight? Um, like I said, finances can be emotional. Hey, do I need to be in the market? Do I need to be out of the market? For professional planners can provide you objectives, fact based advice, and especially help you when the market fluctuation or when you're faced with tough financial decisions. Hey, I'm about to buy a new house. I need to pull $300,000 out of my IRA. How much is that going to cost me? Well, it's going to cost you 120 or $90,000 to get that out on the US to buy a house. So why don't you look at finance and then pull the payment out of your.
[00:24:55] Irr.
[00:24:56] Ratio? I mean, just things like that that we're faced with every day. You got to tailor your strategies for unique goals. Like Parker said while ago, everybody's financial needs are different. And as that, professionals here, we we can customize the plan to cover your goals, from estate planning to minimizing tax to maximizing your retirement account. Another pitch to Evan. Evan has this. Once he gets you on the platform and gets all of your assets, all of your everything that you have from a asset based process on the platform, then we can start doing modeling of how we manage that. How do we transition that to the next generation or the the third generation? By generational skipping, we manage that. We can help you manage that. And some of the some of the plans that we have here on platform one of our clients. When I looked at his stuff, it's just unbelievably crazy, you know? Yeah. So, um, and I think that's important. Um, and again, we gotta you gotta make adjustments. There's a lot of changes. You know, hey, we've had a lot of clients over the last month. Uh, um, die. And then. Then how do we manage that with their spouse? How do we manage it with them? We always are focused on the if in life. What if this happens? What if that happens? But every every month there's a life changing event, whether it's medical, whether it's marriage, whether it's inheritance, or are you starting a new business, a good a good financial professional can help you adjust the plans and provide you strategies to cover those milestones. So when you're looking at focusing on that, that's what we need to manage. Rob Parker.
[00:26:45] Absolutely. Um, not being static is the absolute most important thing, um, about these plans. Uh, we would not be doing our job correctly at all if we set up a plan when you came for your initial Appointment, and you remained our client for 15 years. And that plan never changed. Um, you know that the entire purpose of one of these plans is to be able to adjust. I feel like I've said that 50 times today and 1000 times since we started this show this year. Um, but that really is the core of it. And that's where professional advice really stands out, is that, you know, we have hundreds of clients and we see all kinds of situations all day, every day. And we take that experience and we apply it to you. Um, so, you know, if you're going through a, a serious and unexpected life change, you know, it's it's brand new and it's serious for you. Um, but we've seen it before. We know a lot because we've seen a lot. Um, I don't I know I'm ripping off some, like, property and casualty insurance company. Uh, when I say that, I can't remember which one. Um, but I hope that they're. I hope that their, uh, trademark attorneys don't come after me for saying that on the radio.
[00:27:57] I think you changed it enough.
[00:27:58] Very good. Okay. Good, good. I'm looking at Evan like you went to law school. Uh, but, um. Yeah. Uh, having a plan that's adaptable and professionals who know how to adapt and how to tweak that plan for you. Um, is is really critical.
[00:28:15] It really is. And so, Evan, what's the long term payoff here? Because, I mean, over time, you know, if you if when you start working with a professional, you know, there's sort of that immediate payoff, you get the peace of mind, you know, what's going to, um, you know, you're going to be covered no matter what happens in the future. That kind of a thing. But like over time, I would imagine that that kind of snowballs in a very good way.
[00:28:37] Absolutely. Absolutely. So our, you know, our long term payoff here, we've been talking about financial health and well-being, um, for the past few minutes. But the way that translates, according to a 2023 study, um, 87% of clients working with a financial professional reported feeling financially secure, and that Increased their mental health and their family satisfaction. So, you know, your financial health and well-being translates over into so much more than that. We don't want you to have to be going through something hard and also worry about your financial well-being. You know, we don't want those to snowball into something bigger in a bad way. Um, but while some people view, uh, planning as an extra cost, uh, 88% of people, uh, said that they value the work that they receive from a financial professional, and it absolutely outweighs the expense.
[00:29:32] And that's tough to say that, you know, everything is always sunshine and rainbows. You know, um, Danny's been doing this for, what, 30, 33 years? Uh, since 92. Um, and and in, in, in his career and just, you know, I've, I've been in this industry for eight years. Um, not nearly as long, but, you know, it's not my first day, And there are definitely days where there are hard conversations and where, you know, we have to deliver rough news and where we get given rough news by our clients. Um, but we're the security comes from is, is knowing that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, that you're going to get good advice to help you weather it. Um, and it's really hard to replicate on your own the kind of guidance that you can get from a professional. Um, you know, for example, tax strategies, knowing how to structure your withdraws, you know, from what account, at what time, uh, what tax. Lots of things to sell. Um, you know, like I said, we do this all day, every day. Um, you know, we're not tax attorneys or accountants. Um, but but we know about that thing within our area, and we know how to work hand in glove with accountants, with tax attorneys, um, to put our clients in the best position.
[00:30:58] That's something that's really hard to replicate on your own DIY. Uh, you know, DIY is very difficult to use platforms like e-money. Um, that's a that's an institutional software. You can't just go get it on, on the internet and download the app. Uh, you've got to have an advisor who sets up the plan and who has someone like Evan, who takes all your assets from all the places and collates them and runs these reports to, to help execute the plan. Um, and a huge thing that's very difficult to manage on your own is risk tolerance. Uh, we have an exhaustive questionnaire and that that that will gauge your risk tolerance. And like Danny was saying, make it really more of a mathematical equation rather than an emotional equation. With an advisor, people can take on risk that they may not otherwise be able to on their own, because we kind of have the stomach to do things like, say, when the market is down five, 10%, hey, everything's on sale. If you've got cash, put it in because it's going to go up in the future. Um, and that's something that's really hard to do DIY.
[00:32:08] Yeah, it really is. Take those emotions off the table there and the professionals can do that for you. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's just just don't try to DIY, uh, things that are so, so important in your life. Go to the Noles group.com and you can set that appointment for the initial consultation. And olise is how you spell Noles. It's the Noles group.com. And um okay. Some stats to share with you here. Just to drive this point home some benefits of financial planning and working with a professional. Um, Danny, this is a really big one. Here is the first one in this list.
[00:32:44] Yeah. Trust in a pro. Almost all clients, Class, 98% of them trust in their financial planner to act in their best interests, especially when the planner holds a CFP designation. The biggest thing is trust is crucial in creating peace of mind during volatile, volatile markets. You know, things happen. You got to talk to your advisor. We make two promises here at the notes group. Number one, to create a personal relationship with, with with our clients. And secondly is to provide the best service that we could possibly provide. If we deliver those two and the rates of return will be there, I mean, the market will be there as long as you're in the market, as long as you're in a manageable portfolio and you reallocate that and rebalance it routinely, the the returns will be there. Communication and service will not always be there, you know?
[00:33:38] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:33:39] What do you think, Kevin?
[00:33:40] So I think another important thing to mention here is, you know, how a financial planner player can enhance the quality of life. We're not here just for the money. We are here to make your life easier and your retirement better. So, uh, 51% of those with the CFP, some mental health benefits. Um, and that translates right over to how planning fosters financial stability, emotional stability. And, you know, your overall satisfaction with your life and your retirement.
[00:34:13] Absolutely. And that stability is sort of undergirded by having financial confidence and resilience. 73% of people with financial planners feel resilient enough to handle unexpected costs. Um, this is especially vital for retirees, uh, especially when you're dealing with things like health care costs, which are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, increasing year over year, um, or unexpected home repairs. One of my best friends is actually literally today has an HVAC tech pricing out his his HD died. He's probably looking at between 12 and 15 grand. And he just lives in a, you know, an ordinary 1800 square foot house built in the 70s here in Birmingham. Um, so with these unexpected costs, having a plan that can address them really undergirds a sense of stability.
[00:35:05] Well, another item that we really need to look at is, uh, savings and debt reduction. Um, people come in here. We mean, a lot of people that have a lot of debt. Uh, we can we can do planning around debt reduction and really get that, uh, going for them. Savings. We can implement savings. If you're a first time, uh, investor or a a lifelong investor, we can really help you manage your savings. You just got to really focus on two things. Number one, have a written plan. That's the best position to start with for retirement and reduction of deaths. And then we'll guide you through the rest and we'll make it reviewable and manageable on a routine basis.
[00:35:47] I meet a lot of people, and when they hear, you know that I'm in the investment and retirement planning worlds, they ask, you know, what's what's the minimum for for people to invest, for people to plan for their future? Um, and I tell them straight up, I'm like, look, there is no minimum planning is planning. Um, it doesn't matter how much you start with. It just matters. You know where you want to be. And we can make that happen. So you know those with an income under 60,000 who have a planner still report improved family life, better social connections, greater job satisfaction, and just feel all around better about their financial situation than those who don't have a financial plan in place.
[00:36:33] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:36:35] Yeah. It's big. And, you know, I mean, a lot of people will think especially, you know, if they are not, um, you know, if they don't have millions of dollars, you know, in investments or in the bank or whatever, they'll think, oh, this just sounds to, you know, way either over my head or above my pay grade or whatever you want to say it. Um, but, yeah, I mean, no matter what your situation is, you deserve a plan. You deserve a retirement that you can, um, you know, live comfortably in and do the things that you want to do. That's just what you deserve on a basic human level. And so, yeah, even though it may feel complex or overwhelming or anything like that, you don't have to tackle it alone. Um, let the folks at the Noles group simplify it for you. Let them, uh, you know, do a lot of this, a lot of this grunt work and be there, you know, just hand in hand working with you. Uh, reach out today. The phone number is 205602 5065 (205) 602-5065. You can go online to the newsgroup. That's Noelle. That's how you spell nulls. The nulls group and set up the complementary meeting with them. You can learn more about how they can make planning feel manageable and rewarding for your future. Um, and here's another big sort of, um, thing. You know, you got to think about, uh, of course, you know, we've been sort of mentioning it on off and on here about the family dynamic, especially, uh, couples as, as you age. And one of the topics here that we're going to tackle quickly, uh, Parker, is, you know, what really happens to a widow or a widower? Um, if one of the spouses is the one who's kind of been self-managing everything, and then that spouse passes, um, it really can leave the surviving spouse with a lot of worry and potentially a world of hurt.
[00:38:33] Yeah, we see this all the time. Um, there are. There are two main things to touch on here. One is financial vulnerability. Uh, the surviving spouse can feel overwhelmed if they're left to manage their finances alone. You know, to just from the sheer volume of logistical stuff that has to happen if they haven't been doing it for years to say nothing of trying to do it while they're grieving their spouse. Um, not having a clear picture of financial accounts, investments, budgets, all that stuff can really lead people to make hasty decisions or mistakes or missteps and put themselves in a really rough position. And this really stems from what we see a lot, is a lack of transparency within a couple. Um, they should aim to discuss financial basics like all of their accounts, bank accounts, CDs, investments, all of it. Um, both people should have a good understanding of investment strategies and very importantly, where to locate important documents like wills and statements and stuff like that. Periodic reviews with your advisor perhaps can ensure that both people in a in a couple feel confident and well informed. Um, you know, we can't we can't forestall any difficulty when, when one spouse passes, but we can kind of make that transition smoother.
[00:39:54] Yeah. And that really is what it comes down to, is just making things easier no matter what the life circumstance is. And obviously, you know, the passing of a spouse, extremely difficult time. Um, but, you know, if you were in that situation, um, and, and that happens to you, boy, talk about taking a load off of your mind. Um, having, you know, a team of professionals to help you work through that. Um, and, and, you know, I mean, as you are, you know, in that, in that marital relationship or in a, in a couple relationship, um, and you're, you know, you're getting older. Um, as we all are. Um, Danny, we're going to start off here with with five planning tips for couples. Walk us through the first couple of these tips here.
[00:40:38] Yeah. Um, really, this is old school. My mother had this but creative financial binder. Um, this should include account numbers, passwords, key contacts, and a roadmap where assets are help. A professional can assist you in organizing these essentials. Uh, who would that professional be in that firm? Uh, Parker, that could help you? Yeah, that'd be Evan.
[00:41:03] That would be me.
[00:41:04] We can put everything on our e-money platform, centralize it, and you don't have to walk away with a binder. We had a client that came in, had 8 or 10 binders that we had to call through in a rolling cart, in a rolling cart that we had to get everything on the e-money plat.
[00:41:20] One of my favorite clients.
[00:41:22] The $11 million state. And we settled it in 45 minutes when he, uh, died and his Beneficiaries. There's 14 businesses in here. Um, next thing is, uh, schedule a financial review of the pro set a monthly or quarterly financial checkup in person. Um, where you both attend and stay informal. This also gives you a chance to ask questions and, uh, clarify information that's needed. This is the biggest thing. Uh, what we do is when we sit down with the client, we go ahead and book the next two, either monthly or quarterly, depending on how the client wants to review it. We set those up markers plus another couple of ones that we can look at.
[00:42:03] Yeah, we set up a financial date night. Uh, finances don't have to be super boring. They could be engaging. Um, so make finances less daunting by setting aside time, you know, every month, every couple of months for you to review your account savings goals and investments together in your own home with your spouse or partner in a relaxed setting. You know, order takeout and sit down at the kitchen table and go over everything and just kind of check in and see where you're at. Um, and while you're doing this kind of think of a plan B outline backup plans for income budgeting and investments. If one partner becomes unable to manage the finances.
[00:42:43] There's one more thing that we want to throw on that list. Uh, and we want to make sure that you keep a list of your key contacts in one place. Um, and, you know, we've been shouting out e-money a lot, but the the software really allows for us to plan for every aspect of the client's financial future. There's so many features in there that we're able to keep everything organized and in one place so that, God forbid, something happens. We can get in there and find your beneficiaries immediately. Um, any relatives that may be associated with the accounts? Um, and take care of everything. Um, so keeping a shared list of essential contacts including your financial professionals, insurance agents, bank representatives, um, and any other relatives that we may need to know about so that either spouse can quickly reach, uh, reach out when needed. Um, you know, the the vault within e-money, uh, also has a professional contacts, uh, folder.
[00:43:48] Yeah. We put it in your in your file, in your, your your CRM file, in our system.
[00:43:53] Absolutely. It's we we keep it all centralized.
[00:43:56] Exactly, exactly.
[00:43:58] Yeah. And that is key. You know, organization is key, as they say. So, you know, if it sounds like it could be a problem for you not having that communication, not having the organization that you need to have let the Noles group help. You can call them. You can visit the website again. It's the Noles group and Ollie's the Noles group. Com. Um, and they're here to to make sure that you and your spouse and or your partner and or your family. Feel secure. No matter what happens in the future. All right, so, um, we found this article that we wanted to talk about. It was from Yahoo Finance, and I thought this was kind of cool, actually, uh, to, to look at some signs here that you. Yes. You listening are more financially savvy than the average American. Um, I feel like it's almost like, uh, one of those, um, uh, what was the listicles or whatever online about, you know, top ten signs that you are, you know, the a great you would make a great partner or whatever, you know, that kind of thing. But it's signs now that, uh, fall in line with what we're talking about, that you are more financially savvy than the average American. Danny, what is number one?
[00:45:08] Number one is, uh, you seek out the highest AP and the best interest rates. It doesn't take much effort to find the best interest rates for various variable various products, like, a fire's money markets or CDs. It's just a simple internet search. But the biggest thing is you can pick up the phone and call our office, and we will deliver all the information and give you a better, um, return in the long term. Even so, a lot of us consumers settle for rates as low as 0.01% APY when they can secure a rate much higher than ours. Our basic institutional money market is paying for it right now.
[00:45:51] Market 4.37. As of yesterday, 4.37.
[00:45:56] And you're settling for a .01 percent.
[00:45:59] Exactly. And the second point here is if you take the time to plan and budget, that's an excellent sign. You're more financially savvy than the average American. Making a financial plan and establishing a monthly budget are probably the two most important traits or tactics of highly successful and savvy people. Your financial plan should encompass both long and short term goals, and include everything from leisure activities and vacations to investment goals and major purchases such as buying a new house, buy a new car, funding retirement for children or grandchildren. It should be all encompassing. Nothing should escape your plan. Um, and in contrast, your your budget should focus on your current living expenses and your day to day spending. That's kind of your on the ground where the rubber meets the road aspect of your plan. We encourage you to make a budget for every single dollar that goes in and out of of your accounts. Um, these two things combined together are really fundamental.
[00:47:07] Honestly, it really, ah, you know, tell your money what to do instead of telling you what to do. That is, uh, it's a great thing. And, um, you know, did you know that you can actually create a plan that will include, you know, that sort of budgeting feature in retirement by saying, okay, this I'm going to take care of my own income in retirement, create a personal pension, generate more predictable income in those years, and you can self-fund that pension to create consistent and often increasing monthly payments that you can't outlive. Reach out to the NOLs group. They'll help you with that. Get that set up. If that sounds something like it's interesting to you, you can give them a call. 205602 5065 or go online to the NOLs group.com. All right. Financially savvy people. Uh, what is number three here even on our list, if if people, you know, feel like this is them, they may be financially savvy.
[00:48:01] Right. So we want we want you to seek, uh, financial advice from the right people. Um, and if you're doing that, then you're probably more financially savvy than the average American. Um, nobody is born financially savvy. Nobody who becomes financially savvy has everything figured out. You can't know everything. It's impossible. You can't predict the market. Just, um, aiming for ways to learn more. Um, and, you know, that means seeking advice from people with expertise that you might not have. Um, so it's important to consult with, uh, fiduciary financial advisors who can recommend investments, plans, income strategies and things like that to help you reach your retirement goals and make sure you're taken care of.
[00:48:48] We're just going to let me sit there. Are you going to hand it out?
[00:48:51] Tell me about that.
[00:48:53] You know, first time radio. I'm I'm just doing this together.
[00:48:57] Doing this.
[00:48:57] Fast. Okay. So, hey, uh, the next point is really steering clear of unnecessary debt. One of the things financial savvy people have in common is they don't bury themselves in the mountains of debt. They can't afford to pay off. We have a lot of people come in here with just tons of debt. We had a client come in here with $200,000, and they were going to rent a house. Uh, that that was going to cost them 3000 a month and pay and use that money to pay down. And I said, what are you going to do when this money runs out for a home? And they said, we don't know. We'll figure it out. I said, why don't we figure it out today? Yeah. So instead of putting yourself in a situation, um, when you when you put yourself in mountains of debt, you're just in a cycle of paying the minimum each month off your debt, and you never, uh, cover that debt. There's a reason why the credit card companies put on this. If you pay the minimum payment, it will take you 33.9 years to pay this off. Right, exactly. You never pay at all. That is the whole point of minimum payment for you to never pay at.
[00:50:06] All for you to get stuck.
[00:50:07] In it. They don't make money off of the minimum payment. They make money off the interest rate so the savvy people steer, steer clear of that. We try to steer clear of that. Is that bad? No. If you have to expand your business, if you have to expand your house, if you have to do repairs, things like that, and you use smart debt. That's what I call smart debt. Then it's okay. But putting yourself in debt because you are trying to compete with your next door neighbor or whomever is wrong.
[00:50:38] It's wrong. Yeah. Like, you know, we're, uh, we're about to expand into a larger office, and we're going to have to use.
[00:50:43] Some smart.
[00:50:44] Debt, some smart debt to to pay for furniture in the office and stuff like that. Um, but, you know, once you're kind of getting into your plan, uh. The key is income. You know, I was sitting here trying to come up with a clever phrase for it. The key is income. Income streams.
[00:51:03] Um, you know, writing your own pension plan.
[00:51:05] Generating your own pension plan. Um, and that is kind of the heart of of our practice here is we look at what you've got, what you need, and we try to identify potential income streams, whether that is, you know, bonds, be they treasury bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, depending on your needs and, and your situation, whether that's something more guaranteed like a, like a variable or a fixed indexed annuity, whether that's a an alternative investment if you're a very sophisticated investor or even something like a, like a structured product market linked CD or principal protected note, there are dozens of different options for building up and diversifying income streams that are available when you work with a professional. A lot of the stuff can be DIY. You can buy bonds in an E-Trade account all day long if you want. Um, but where we step in is having the expertise to be able to select what is most appropriate and what is going to have the best tax treatment, the highest yields. Many, many different factors that that we consider as part of our plan.
[00:52:18] Right. And that, uh, and that last point right here goes kind of jumps back a little bit to debt. Um, and, you know, making smart decisions. Um, you know, you you don't want to waste money on impulse buys or luxuries. Um, that's another smart decision thing. Um, impulse purchasers can take can make a bigger dent in your monthly budget than you may realize. Um, and financially savvy people don't have the poor spending habits of an impulse shopper. So, you know, pay off your credit card every month, stick to your long term goals and make sure that you're prepared for your retirement.
[00:52:50] Yeah. Keep that, uh, spending in check. Uh, definitely is a is a good thing. You know, you don't have just because it's on sale. You don't have to buy it. And, uh, that's a good lesson to learn, I think, as early as humanly possible. Um, and the big thing too, to hear to, to mention is that if you are listening to the show, you can start working with the pros at the Noles Group today. Um, they, you know, will take a look at your financial goals or vision for retirement. Take a look at your current plan. Go through that with a fine tooth comb. Any assets that you may have. Walk you through their recommended plan and then answer any questions that you have about retirement, as many of them as you have as well. So just reach out. Get started on your own customized retirement plan today. Just go to the NOLs group. And this is how you spell NOLs the NOLs group. Com or call 205602 5065. 205602 5065. All right. Just a few more minutes left here in the show. And, um, you know, one of the things that that you all can help folks do is track down maybe those forgotten 401 K's that could be out there, like, you know, if you've changed jobs, uh, perhaps Then maybe there's an old 401 still floating around out there. And a new report here showing that the account fees in those forgotten 401 cars can really cost workers a lot in their retirement savings. Right.
[00:54:16] Absolutely. With more Americans job hopping after the great resignation during Covid, the risk of forgetting a 401 with a previous employer has shot up. A recent studies are showing that as of 2023, there are nearly 30,000,029.2 million left behind, 401 is holding about 1.5 trillion in assets, which is up 20% from two years earlier. Um, nearly half of employees leave money in their old plans during work transitions. Um, and identifying these is, uh, is something that is really core to our practice. Danny.
[00:54:58] Yeah. One of the things that you need to look at. For starters, is 41% of the workers are unaware that they have. That they are paying for lunch fees. Um, here's the thing. If you're participating in the 401, you're going to pay a fee. It is the employer or the plan. My ministry is going to pass on some of that fee cost to you. Um, and if you're doing a self-directed 401, it's even going to be more. Yeah, right. Because that's like a 401 K advisory account. And you got so at the end of the day, if you're paying those fees and you're not professionally managing it, why do that? If it's a forgotten 401 K or found money.
[00:55:40] Yeah. Found money.
[00:55:41] Bring it to us. Let us help you manage it. Let us reduce your fee calls, and then we'll help you grow it. And we really will manage you. Or manage a private pension plan for yourself. Or an income pension plan or whatever you want.
[00:55:57] Whatever you need.
[00:55:58] Yeah. What's next? Adam?
[00:56:00] Absolutely. What? What you just said. You know, what do we. What do you do with your old for one day? You know, let us let us take care of it. Um, when workers switch jobs. There's a possibility that they're able to move the funds to a new employer sponsored plan and roll their full old 401 funds into an IRA. Um, and a lot of people do that. So I think it's a it's a great option. We're absolutely able to help with that.
[00:56:26] Yeah I do. Maybe six rollovers a week.
[00:56:31] Yeah. Not for our not.
[00:56:32] A lot more for our clients. Uh, we just, uh, earlier this morning before we hopped on the show. Um, I was hunting down an old lost 401 for a client. Had about 75 grand in it. Um, they got a statement in the mail. Um, so, you know, if if that person can uncover 45 or, sorry, 75 grand. Just chilling from ten years ago, a job, uh, you know, What might you have?
[00:56:56] Yeah. I want a real quick market update if you got. We got one minute left. So let me give it real quick. If you noticed, last Friday we had some returns on the tariff. Uh, Trump started talking about tariffs with China with tariffs with Canada. Um he got that fixed. So I think things are really going to get focused on that. I think the tariff is really going to start to downplay the adjustments of the market. Uh, last week, um, the S&P index just fell 0.31% while the Nasdaq uh, was was flat. Uh, the Dow Rowe, uh, lost about 1.02%. Overall, I think the market is really strong. I think the market is really moving forward. And I think if you look at, uh, this week, the white House was going to announce the US raising tariffs on Canada, importing the 85% and was preparing some other tests that generated the market's decrease on Friday. 16 seconds left Matt. Go ahead and give us the spill.
[00:58:03] Well there we go. That's going to do it for this edition of Understanding Money with the Noles Group. Once again folks the Noles group.com is the website to reach out. And OAS is how you spell it. All right guys, thank you so much for everything you bring to the table. And we'll talk to you again next week.
[00:58:18] See you next week, Matt.
[00:58:20] Thanks, Matt.
[00:58:21] Thanks for listening to Understanding Money with the Noles group. Our goal is to give you the tools you need to retire with confidence for personalized guidance and achieving your retirement dreams. Schedule a no obligation consultation today. Go to the Noles group.com or call (205) 602-5065. That's the Noles group.com or call (205) 602-5065. We look forward to hearing from you. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Mosaic Wealth Incorporated member Finra, and Mosaic Wealth Incorporated is separately owned and other entities in all marketing names, products and services referenced here are independent of Mosaic Wealth Incorporated. Information obtained from third party websites or other resources is believed to be accurate at the time of recording. Neither the host nor Mosaic Wealth Incorporated can make any strict guarantees to its accuracy or completeness. The views presented in these resources do not necessarily represent the views of Mosaic Wealth, incorporated information provided for broad educational purposes only. Personal situations vary a great deal, so please consult with a qualified financial, legal or tax professional for specific advice tailored to you and your situation. Danny Noles is not a certified public accountant or tax attorney and is not qualified to give authoritative tax advice. Information presented is for educational purposes only, and you should not substitute the information presented. For advice from a qualified tax professional, please consult a qualified tax or legal professional for guidance on your own personal situation.
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