Listener Questions Answered: Episode 1

Disclaimers And Welcome

Announcer: The financial huddle does not provide tax, legal, financial, or other professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with their own advisors in these areas. All right, everybody, huddle up. Play ball zone. This is the Financial Huddle. Ready?

Ryan Fleming: Well, welcome back to the Financial Huddle. Huddlers, wherever you may be, we just thank you so much for tuning back in. Whether you're listening or driving down the road, uh, let me just say hello, Brian Manier. Hey, how are you? Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Yeah. Mr. Ed B. Miller. Hello, hello. Hello, hello. Hello, there it is. Huddlers, you know, you know his intro by now. It's a great day to be a Huddler. It is a great day to be a Huddler. And that's perfect, Ed, because Huddlers, this dis this episode is decidingly about you.

Ryan Fleming: And for the first We heard you. Yeah, we we we hear you, we see you. Uh this will be.

Ed Beemiller: We barely see him, but well, you know.

Ryan Fleming: Sometimes we maybe we're dreaming about them. Yeah, we have to see them in the dreams. In all seriousness, guys, uh, this is our first time we've ever uh polled you and encouraged you to send in some questions.

How Listener Q and A Works

Ryan Fleming: And today we're gonna uh answer a couple of your questions. Now, obviously, we don't have time to answer all of them, but for those of you that participated, thank you so much. And uh what we decided to do today is to take one question each, uh briefly address that, and uh, you know, and then maybe we can keep this going in future episodes. So, Hudlers, I guess first and foremost, is uh uh if you like what you hear today, we would just encourage you to comment some more questions right in the comment box uh at the bottom of the episode so we can uh decipher some more in the future.

Ryan Fleming: Um that's that's definitely something that we want to get into a little bit more. It's not just listen to us talk, it's it's what's on your heart and mind.

Brian Minier: And I would say if you do ask those questions, try to make them specific. So sometimes we'll get them like, hey, we want to hear about long-term care. So if you have something specific about that, uh it'll make the episode better and we can do a better job.

Ed Beemiller: Don't necessarily just pick a topic. It'd be great to have you know a detailed edit. This is the point that I want to hear about.

Brian Minier: That's right. All right. Okay.

Can You Retire Early?

Brian Minier: So I have a question that uh somebody submitted in uh I'm gonna ask you because I have the same question that a lot of our clients ask. Oh man. Okay, can I retire early?

Ryan Fleming: That's the question. That's the question. Okay, Hudlers. Can I retire early? Well, oh my gosh. Um that's a that's a big boy. Hey, we want to know. That's a that's a big boy. And and Hudlers, I guess first and foremost, what I would say about this question is uh I would point you back to episode four. Um, episode four, we we discussed this a lot more in detail, and that's called can I retire? Um so again, go back, uh listen to that a little bit more in depth. But this idea of can I retire early, I I would say don't ask yourself about how much money you've accumulated.

Ryan Fleming: That that should not be the first question when you're deciphering this. I think you need to start with whether you've created enough sustainable income. That that's the most important. We need to know that. We need to know what is your desired lifestyle and and how will you handle healthcare? Is Social Security enough? If your pensions are enough, are you going to have income streams from various sources like rental properties or maybe an annuity that creates income? And if you don't have enough income, then you have the gap, and we need to figure out how to bridge that gap.

Ryan Fleming: So, you know, you hear these commercials a lot, like you know, what's your number? It's more about sustainable income. And as you think about retiring early, whether it's 55, 62, you know, it doesn't necessarily matter. It matters what is your desirable lifestyle, and and if all of those pieces can work together. Again, the healthcare, the sustainable income, what if the stock market's not doing well? Um, are you going to expose yourself to running out of money a lot sooner? Have you addressed that?

Ryan Fleming: Um, so it's not necessarily about waiting until 65 to where you get on Medicare or you qualify for Medicare. It's really about can you put all those financial pieces together, those risks, uh, and make sure that you have what we would call financial independence. And that's how you decipher or work with a professional to help you decipher can you retire at XYZ age.

Brian Minier: And I think it was on that episode that I said, I I can't build you a plan if you don't tell me what you want to live off of.

Ryan Fleming: Yeah, and and and I actually I I love this quote. And the quote is the goal isn't just to have enough money to retire, it's to have enough confidence in the plan that you can actually enjoy retirement once you get there. And that that word confidence, hudders, is in our mission statement, right? Well, we put confidence and certainty. Yeah, we we want to provide confidence and certainty during all stages of life. So again, huge question can I retire early? Super um dynamic, but also very uh personally based.

Ryan Fleming: There's a lot of a lot of moving pieces. You have to work with a financial professional to put that together. But again, refer back to episode four. So there's another question I want to throw out to everybody. And this was one that was submitted, right?

Should You Buy Long-Term Care?

Ryan Fleming: This is one that was submitted. And again, we appreciate you guys putting this in. Um, and this one is should I buy a long-term care policy? And Ed, I'm gonna put that over to you. Great question. Should I buy a long-term care policy? Should we do it, Ed?

Ed Beemiller: I want to know. Should I buy a new car? Should I buy a bigger house? I want to know. Yeah. This is uh once again, is when Ryan addressed the first question, is I would point out in reference our episode 22, which basically was long-term care reality check. And if you remember, we had Alicia Barnett from FIG Financial Independence Group on, who is she's really good. A long-term care specialist. And you know, it's a market that's that's changed dramatically. This is a question that we have and that we address with a lot of our clients nowadays because of the issue of the significant increasing cost of health care, the reality that you know one or the other spouse, you know, if we look at probability analysis, is is more uh highly probable to need some type of in-home, assisted living, long-term care, scale nursing.

Ed Beemiller: Yeah, it's a very high number. So the probability is pretty high. Well, does that mean I should then buy a policy? Well, it depends, right? And a lot of it depends on on cost and your your financial situation because these plans aren't necessarily cheap.

Ryan Fleming: No.

Ed Beemiller: And so And they've evolved. Right. They've evolved quite a bit where the previous the only thing that was really offered was a standard pay pay as you go, right? Which means, all right, I I I got this level of of benefit for a monthly benefit, I'm paying X month you know, dollars per month, and I just keep paying it. Whether I use it or not during my lifetime, I pay for it. So it's like term insurance, right? You you pay for that for a specific period of term. You rent it. Whereas in this case, the term is the end of your life.

Ed Beemiller: And if you don't use it, what do you get?

Brian Minier: Nothing.

Ed Beemiller: A big fat zero.

Ryan Fleming: Yeah.

Ed Beemiller: So goose egg. It it may a lot of people look at it and say, Well, gosh, you know, you can pretty much buy insurance to protect anything, right? You you buy auto insurance, homeowners insurance, disability insurance, all those things to mitigate a risk that's out there. Well, this is just another one of those risks. So the financial analysis you go through is okay, does it make sense for me to to buy that policy or not? And it's kind of like the previous question, you know, can I retire early? Well, each each individual situation is different.

Ryan Fleming: It it is. I mean, like, again, back to the retirement thing, whether it's 52 or 58. I mean, the earlier you retire, the more horsepower your assets have to have are going to run out, right? Or the sooner you may get sick, you know.

Ed Beemiller: Right. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of people, I hate to say it, you know, it's just the reality, self-insure, which just means they're whatever assets they have, that's what's going to be available if if they if they have that need. But it has evolved significantly where it's not just those traditional pay as you go. There's hybrid, which are are kind of a hybrid long-term care insurance or hybrid long-term care annuity type policies that act in both both capacities, and there is a value if you don't use it.

Ed Beemiller: And typically it's going to be the value of what you put in, you know, what you contributed in the form of a death benefit.

Ryan Fleming: There's a permanency to it.

Ed Beemiller: So it's not like, hey, if if I never use this, it's sunk costs. You know, it it actually is an asset. Now it's not going to like grow five, ten percent. It's it's pretty much you get back what you put in.

Ryan Fleming: And those seem to be more ad more widely accepted and sought after in today's culture.

Brian Minier: It's not just do I buy long-term care. If you're gonna buy long-term care, what type of long-term care? Because there's variations. There's even annuities that have different writers, different insurance policies that have different writers. And do you have existing? I mean, they can even use it.

Ryan Fleming: You can use an IRA to purchase that.

Ed Beemiller: Well, and that's what's unique. You can use, and this is relatively new, you can use a pre-tax IRA account to purchase one of these hybrid policies. I know. Yeah, I think which is very unique, you know, in that aspect. And then B, as you said, looking at, you know, there's more people that have a life insurance policy than a long-term care policy, right? And there and if you look at those life insurance policies, a lot of them have a long-term care facet, which is under the accelerated death benefit rider.

Ed Beemiller: That's a good point. Which really allows you access to a portion of the death benefit while you're still alive to pay for that assisted living or skilled nursing or whatever that may be. I often, when I'm having the conversation with a client, I kind of refer to it as like the AFLAC for long-term care. It's a supplement, it's better than nothing, but it's not as good as a standalone. It's not going to give you that, you know, 45, 55, 65, 7500 a month.

Ryan Fleming: Yeah. Remember what Alicia said. I loved it. She said, if you don't have a plan to pay for long-term care, your plan is your money. Your money.

Brian Minier: Right. Right. And it's situational because some people you just can't afford long-term care. And then there's other people, you have so much in assets, you don't need to have another expense to buy long-term care. When you got enough assets, you self-insure. Yeah. But I'll tell you, I have a family member that did have a long-term care policy, and we are grateful that she did because it is helping helping her out a ton during the phase of her life where she's in a facility.

Ed Beemiller: Yeah. And so the answer to that question is it's really individualized. You know, what episode did what episode was she on again? Episode 22. And it's something where, once again, you got to sit down and have a conversation and see what the options are, see what your finances are. And that's true of a lot of things, right? It's not just a simple, you know, yes, no. It lives in the gray.

Brian Minier: Not punning our question, but to give the the right advice, you have to know the specific situation.

Ryan Fleming: And again, and same thing to claw back to my question about retirement planning, so many. It just depends. Yeah. It just depends. Yep. So a lot of moving parts. Yep.

Ed Beemiller: Yeah. It's why we're here, right? It's why you're, you know, hopefully if you have an accountant or CPA, there's a lot of people that get involved, you know, when when you're looking at those type of topics and discussion. So another question from the one from the listeners. From Huddle Nation, man.

Will Social Security Still Exist?

Ed Beemiller: And this is one that you hear a lot about, whether it be social media or at you know some dinner party or sitting around a campfire. Everyone has their opinions on this one.

Ryan Fleming: When I saw this one, I was like, this has got to be one of the top top two asked.

Ed Beemiller: Will, you know, and especially within the conspiracy theorist. Uh you know, so the the the the far, you know, left, right, you know. Will Social Security be there for me? You know, and and then this is a question that the you know 50, late 50s, early 60s are asking, right? Those that aren't on Social Security are asking that. And I know, Brian, you do workshops and seminars on this topic. You you you know a lot about it. What's the answer? What's the answer? Just tell me.

Brian Minier: Let me look at my crystal ball.

Ed Beemiller: Let's get out of the magic eight ball. Come on, eight ball's a lot. That's probably a better better predictor. Magic eight ball says maybe. Maybe.

Brian Minier: Come on. That is a question uh when I'm teaching my classes. I'll ask, like, how many how many of you think it's going away? And then the question is, how many of you want to file early to slide under that tag until it blows up? We know there's a problem. If you look at your statements, what does it say in 2033 or 2034 and they change the it's gonna be about we're gonna be able to pay about three-fourths of what is promised in benefits. And why is that? Because the the rest that the FICA taxes aren't able to pay come out of the Social Security Trust Fund.

Brian Minier: The trust fund's gonna be exhausted. Exhausted in the next 10 years or so, right?

Ryan Fleming: And in others, that's because there's just way more people pulling out than we're putting in.

Brian Minier: In the in the stat that I always tell my classes, it's less than three people working for every person taking a benefit. So if you if you think about that, that's that's just not enough.

Ryan Fleming: And when it first originated, it was like uh 42 people putting in for every one that took out. Right. Right? Right that I teach that in my retirement class.

Brian Minier: So if you ask me that question, what I would say is is based on a lot of information that I read, a lot of videos from trusted sources that that I will watch, I don't think Social Security is gonna go away. I think it will change. Now, when it'll change, my prediction is just like Congress does anything, they'll wait till the 11th hour. So in 2032, when the trust fund is just about to be exhausted, they'll make a decision. I personally think for those folks that are getting ready to enter into that age where they can take their Social Security benefits, I don't think it'll change much.

Brian Minier: I think, you know, for for us, especially you and I, it'll look a little different. Uh maybe those benefits are gonna get delayed a little bit, maybe taxes change a little bit, maybe cost of living adjustments change. Um, I don't think it's gonna go away because remember, you do have those FICA taxes coming in, so they'll be able to pay something. It's just isn't gonna look exactly like it is right now.

Ed Beemiller: But as the elder statesman of the group, you think I'm gonna be okay?

Brian Minier: I'm gonna be all right. I think you're gonna be right. It's gonna be a close call. It's gonna be you, Ed. Who knows, man?

Ryan Fleming: So do I pick up burrito, tank of gas, and then poof, your social security is gone. Gone.

Brian Minier: Do I think it'll be there? I do think it'll be there. The question is, what will it look like? Yeah. And it's gonna have to change. Oh, it's got to. So I don't think there's any question of will it look a little bit different. I think what's the age and when are they gonna make that announcement and how is it gonna change? Is it age? Is it taxes? Is it cost of living adjustments? Um, do they lower benefits? It'll change. It will change.

Ed Beemiller: Do they bump up full retirement age, you know, for full benefits, which they're already doing?

Brian Minier: Well, not only the age, but then even how you pay into it, like when you when you hit a certain threshold, I think in 2026 it's a little over 180,000. Once you make over that, you don't pay any more into your FICA taxes for Social Security. So do they raise that? That's the debate that that happens all the time. And it's gonna be interesting. No politician wants to be on the watch when Social Security How do you tell a voting group of people that are bringing the majority of the tax revenue in something that we're gonna take away your benefits or we're gonna lower your benefit?

Brian Minier: So so it's an interesting question. I love that question. Um, I think it'll be there, I just think it'll look different.

Ryan Fleming: It'll be a it'll be a part of your retirement income and distribution plan.

Ed Beemiller: Stay tuned over the years for any adjustments once we that'll that'll be in episode 953. We'll talk about that. I told you it's gonna change.

Closing Thanks And More Questions

Ryan Fleming: And Hudlers, this is this is exactly what we're saying. Is like, so if there's something that we talked about today that sparked another question, a new question, or maybe a more of a specific question in and around one of these topics, please uh comment in the in the section below. Uh, you know, be brave, be bold, put those in there. We're gonna you know keep your you know name private and all that good stuff. But uh there's other people out there probably thinking what you're thinking. That's right.

Ryan Fleming: And so put that down. We'll do our best to address it. And uh and and really today we just thought we'd try a new episode, something a little bit different. Address three questions, uh things that are on your heart and mind, and we would like to love to continue it in the future. We'll do it periodically, we'll have these type of episodes. Throughout the year, we'll do something like that. And again, so we'll keep it short and sweet today, huddlers. No matter where you're at, one is just thank you for your trust into us.

Ryan Fleming: Thank you for tuning back in. I've had some people here over the uh past couple weeks, like in annual reviews, tell me that on Sunday mornings they they brew a fresh cup of coffee. And they listen to the huddle. And then uh I have a niece um about a month or two ago, um, her and her husband just had their first ever brand new baby boy. Um, he is he is amazing. Uh another huddler. Another, and and I walked over or I went over to the house and she's she said, Hey, welcome. And she says, uh, you're looking at your youngest huddler.

Ryan Fleming: And I said, What do you mean? She says, Every Sunday we sit on the couch, I feed him, and I listen to your podcast, and he listens too. So, again, no matter where you're at, thanks for tuning in, guys. Thanks for tuning in. We want to keep working hard to bring you uh information and up your financial literacy. So, so with that, Ed, Brian, thanks for your input, Huddlers. Thanks for stopping by, Hudlers. And stay classy, and keep it classy.