2021 EP0130 Planning Matters Radio - THE PLAN

If you fail to plan, plan to fail. We want you to plan for success. Welcome to Planning Matters Radio.

Hello and welcome into the program. I am Peter Rishon. This is Planning Matters Radio Rich on Planning. Of course, you can find us online at richonplanning.com. It's actually my last name, Rishon, but it looks like Rich on Planning.

So visit richonplanning.com. A lot's gone on this week, this year already. It's a lot to live up to coming from last year into 2021.

But 2021 is doing its best to live up to 2020. And of course, the big news this past week with financial matters was what happened with GameStop and AMC Theatres and Motorola and Nokia and BlackBerry. It was interesting. The prices shot way, way up and it received a whole lot of news headlines, even was talked about in the halls of Congress. A lot of discussion both for and against what happened.

So in summary, here is what happened is that in this day and age, we have the ability to communicate much more broadly, much more efficiently, much more quickly than ever before. And so in these what are essentially chat room message boards, about two and a half million people, some with a good size amount to invest, got together and basically said, we're going to make a push, make purchases and drive certain stock prices in a certain direction. They evidently did not like some of the hedge fund managers placing bets against certain companies. That's sort of what is in the news is as what had prompted this.

But here's the thing. The big dogs with large amounts of money, with billions of dollars to invest, have always been able to generate enough momentum to move the markets and move prices. And so this brought that down to a level maybe not one of these individuals in these group chat rooms would have had that ability. But because they were able to communicate their intentions and then move in unison, it was able to create the kind of impact in supply and demand to swing the price of certain stocks. Two and a half million people were in this Wall Street bets chat room, essentially this Reddit thread and forum.

And when they said, hey, this is what we're going to do. It was public information. It was not insider trading. It was just the number of people that did it in unison that drove the prices. And then several of the brokerage firms and financial institutions and investing apps were sort of forced to take some action against it, even though some of the CEOs of these firms came out as a proponent for this move.

I particularly saw the Robin Hood CEO on television, on a YouTube video, on Yahoo News purporting that he supported the little man and their ability to do this and how within the Robin Hood platform it gave these people the ability to have some power in their investing. It's interesting and I am sure, I am certain there is going to be some regulation. But again, this is the type of thing that big investment firms, brokerage houses, hedge fund managers who are controlling hundreds of millions or billions of dollars and can direct that capital all at once have had the ability to do. It's just, in my opinion, sort of been democratized in some way with the ability for hundreds of thousands or millions of people to communicate these intentions and to push in unison either buying or selling. Again, I think that there is some regulation coming down the pipe and this is kind of uncharted territory.

But it's interesting to see that that ability exists and we'll see how it develops from there. So again, my name is Peter Rochon. This is Rich on Planning, Planning Matters Radio and we tend to take a more fundamental approach to investing. There's nothing wrong with maybe what happened there or some cryptocurrency or Bitcoin in your portfolio, but that's your play money. And over the course of this pandemic with COVID, an awful lot of people, a large number of people sitting at home have gotten into day trading. And because the market has agreed, because $6 trillion has been pumped into the market to stimulate the economy by the government, things have gone well for a lot of these day traders.

Some people made small fortunes during this time. However, riding a trend and knowing what we're doing can be confusingly two different things. And I just hope that people are maybe also sticking to some longer term fundamentals of investing and only doing this with the portion of their money that they understand is at high risk and that they are comfortable losing. And again, maybe not anything wrong with that, but we also need to have a very firm grasp on the foundation of our plan.

And so that's what we do at Rochon Planning. We have a more fundamental approach for our clients. We take a long term outlook to investing. We have proper diversification and allocation based on an individual's client risk tolerance. And we rebalance both systematically and strategically.

Tactically, we manage portfolios and then systematically we manage portfolios and rebalance on a regular, ongoing basis as well as conditions dictate. And that really is the formula for long term financial, let me put it this differently, long term investment success. Now, financial success is maybe a little different than investment success. The money is important, but ultimately it is a tool to support what is truly important to us.

The money is not the most important thing. We have got to set the money up in such a way that we are capable of having confidence in doing the things that are truly important to us. And therefore, true financial success comes from the planning process. Sitting down, having a plan in place, a snapshot of where you are today, written down goals for the future, and then clear instructions to follow on how you are going to achieve those goals.

And again, that's what we do at Rochon Planning. If you'd like any help in that process, if you'd like to look at your options, if you've got some money that's in the market that maybe you're not so comfortable with where the market is right now, it's a great time to look at that and consider that carefully. If you've got some goals that you're not sure your money is working hard enough to help you achieve, great time to look at that.

If you are concerned with taxes into the future, great time to begin planning for that. We can help you with that. I am a fiduciary advisor.

We take a fiduciary approach to the advice that we are giving to our clients. And if you would like to sit and have a conversation in person or virtually, we can have those conversations with you. No cost, no obligation.

Doesn't need to be anything more than a conversation. Give us a call at 919-300-5886. Again, 919-300-5886 is the number to call and we'd love to hear from you and talk with you. I'm going to be talking a little bit more today on the program about your plan. What we offer is what many want to have. It's also the missing key component, an actual plan in writing. It was said by Greg Reed, an author and motivational speaker, that a dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true. And the key steps are after the initial dream, right?

Everybody can have a dream. We don't know what they are sometimes. We can't control them and the likelihood of them coming true, we don't see it often. But what increases the probability of, we'll call it your dreams or your hopes or your aspiration, what determines whether you're on track to achieving those or whether you've already failed at them, is the steps that you take after the thought in your head of, I have this dream, I have this goal. Writing it down turns it into a goal. And we offer those follow up and follow through steps. Our plan is called the Optimized Retirement Plan. It's broken down into simple, easy to follow instructions to help you achieve your financial goals. And today and the rest of the program, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the Optimized Retirement Plan from Rashan Planning and how you can get that in your hands so you can make your retirement dreams or goals or aspirations come true. If you don't feel like that's possible, admitting defeat sometimes, in our financial life it's going to hurt. But I'm here to tell you that it is possible.

Don't turn the channel. Whether you feel like you're behind or you haven't done enough, you still need a plan. And that plan still can work to help you achieve your future goals. You just have to decide in your life what is realistic. You don't have anything to lose by having a plan though.

That's the bottom line. So again, today we're going to talk about what that plan consists of, why the Optimized Retirement Plan from Rashan Planning is different than anything that you can get out there anywhere else. It's a proprietary plan and how you can get that in your hands. So stay tuned. Lots of information coming your way.

But a special offer if you'd like that plan. Pick up the phone. Give us a call. 919-300-5886.

919-300-5886. So what does the plan consist of? Number one, a snapshot of your current situation. Maya Angelou said, if you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going. And so there's a couple places that I can give a pretty spot on analogy. One is I haven't been to a mall in a very long time, but when I used to go to malls, my goal was to get something specific and to get back out of the mall as quick as I could. So whenever I entered the mall, I would always look for that three sided stand that had the map of the mall on it.

And you want to find what store it is that you need to get to. But as importantly, maybe more importantly, is the red arrow that says you are here because knowing where you are allows you to map the course out to that mall or out to that store. And the same is true if you've ever been to an amusement park. You know, you can get that map and you see all the roller coasters and it's got the pictures of the fun stuff and the food and the games and where the rides and attractions are. But if you're looking just at that map that they hand you, it can be a little confusing. You have to get your bearings. Those maps were not as helpful because they did not have the red arrow saying you are here. So as Maya Angelou alluded to, if you don't know where you've come from, if you don't know where you are, you don't know where you're going.

And the most important part of reading any map, any instructions is starting that journey or that process is knowing where you are. If nothing else, this step alone is worth the investment of time that it takes to get an optimized retirement plan. The snapshot of your current situation, it's really only a very small part of it, but you get that reassurance. It may cause you to smile.

It may cause you some concern. But either way, you're more knowledgeable about and in control of your destiny. And that's about empowerment. That's about giving you the knowledge to act.

And the action does come later. But first, you've got to know where you are. The second part of the optimized retirement plan from Rashan Planning is goals. And another saying along the same lines from Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat, when you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. So if you don't have clearly defined goals, what does it matter what you do?

If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. We need to define. We need to understand. We need to have some expectation about where we're going to end up, where we want to be going. And there we can set the road. We can set the course.

We can map that out. And I think that that little quip from the Cheshire Cat, as he kind of muses about Alice's Disney dizzying trip through Wonderland is apropos. She didn't know where she wanted to get to. Sometimes getting somewhere in our financial lives feels as confusing as Wonderland must have felt to Alice. But we all want to get somewhere.

But where do we want to get to? Clear goals must be defined to make the process that is needed, to clarify and define that process. Lots of savers have goals.

Most of them have never spoken them aloud or quantified them. I want to save more money. Well, that's not it's a hope, but it's not truly a goal. This year, I would like to max out my 401K. This year, I would like to save 15 percent of my gross household income toward retirement. This year, I want to pay $5,000 extra on the principal of the house to pay it down. This year, I would like to get out of debt.

I would like to pay off $5,000 in student loans. We've got to quantify it. We've got to be specific. And we've got to write those goals down. Back to Greg Reed, you know, a dream written down with a date becomes a goal. Let's make goals. That's the second part of the plan. And it is a process, but it's one that we can walk through with you and talk to you about those goals and define them and then write them down, get them in writing in a true plan for you. Simple, easy to understand language. And then the next part is the recommendations. These are action items. This is a timeline for execution.

This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the work goes to achieve your financial goals. And again, if you'd like this optimized retirement plan, it doesn't cost you anything. The first part of this, getting that plan in your hands, that's a free service that we offer because we believe we should be helping anyone that wants to improve their financial situation.

Now, we don't have account minimums, but not everybody is a perfect fit to end up working with us, but everybody is a perfect fit to get a plan. A snapshot of where they are, a discussion of goals, and then some recommendations. That whole process might take maybe 25, 30 minutes. It may take much longer. It may take a couple different conversations that go about an hour, and it's kind of defining things.

It all depends, but we're here to help and assist you get that plan and get a feel for where you're at and what you need to be doing in order to achieve your goals. So, the third part. Again, recommendations. Have you ever wondered how every star in Hollywood seems to be able to transform their bodies miraculously? One movie, they might be sick and skinny. The next, they're buff and muscular. The next, they might be a little overweight. Well, they're working with personal trainers to help them make that happen, and the personal trainers understand the physics of the body, and they make recommendations for how they should eat and exercise, and then, maybe most importantly, they hold those folks accountable to follow through.

Every professional athlete still has a coach, still works with trainers, and the reason why is that's the accountability. That's the follow-through. That's how you get better. Doctors make recommendations every day for more routine or maybe sometimes even some more serious health matters. Recommendations, from a professional standpoint, are a step in the right direction.

This is how you know what you should be doing. In financial and retirement, planning matters are the same way. Planners and advisors make recommendations in much the same way. So with our plan, the optimized retirement plan from Rashan Planning, really, with your plan, your optimized retirement plan, these recommendations are written down for you in easy-to-understand language so you can put them into action.

There's simple steps. There's a timeline. What are some of the things that these recommendations may cover?

Well, priorities, action items, timeline, what's addressed is income, investments, taxes, healthcare, legacy. The result is that you're more accountable, you're more knowledgeable, and there is some accountability for follow-through to get results. Like I said, even professionals use a coach, and the reason why is the accountability factor. Plus, professionals know some tricks of the trade, so to speak.

Now, this isn't anything magical that isn't out there or available. If you know where to look or what to look for, but again, with the example of people getting in shape, the Hollywood stars that can change and mold their body, their personal trainers know the exercises to do. They know the specific machines that will help work a certain set of muscles.

They know a specific diet that will produce the results that are desired or needed for that next role. It's all about understanding the tools that are available to you and how to work them. I mean, even in times before, let's say, heavy machineries, cranes and bulldozers and engines, amazing structures were built by people that understood leverage and mechanical advantage and what certain tools could offer and how they can be utilized.

That's how these amazing structures that even today seem impossible were built and stood the test of time. It's because certain types of individuals, professionals, understand how to provide leverage and advantage. And in the financial world, leverage and advantage, those exist there too. As planners, a competent, qualified, experienced planner can understand the complex tools that can provide you a financial advantage and make your money work with leverage. How do we take this money that we don't want to lose and also make it grow?

Right? Well, that seems like two different goals. Most people would think, nope, I've got to choose between one or the other. I can either keep it safe, but there it's not going to grow. It's going to sit in the bank and gather dust. Or I can try to grow it, but it's not going to be safe.

I risk losing some of it. There is a middle ground. There are certain tools that can provide you, I'll say the best of both worlds, but you have to have reasonable expectations, right? It's not going to provide you 100% of the growth plus 100% of the safety. There's an allocation and a spectrum in between.

It's not all the way to one end of the pendulum and then all the way to the other. Professionals understand the tools that are available. And there's plenty of tools out there that provide a downside hedge. So long as the market doesn't fall more than a certain amount, your principal is protected. Plus you get a certain interest rate in the meantime.

And that interest rate can be pretty attractive compared to the 1% or less that's being offered in bank checking and savings accounts these days. And then there's options that say, hey, if you sacrifice your liquidity for a certain period of time, three years or five years, you recognize you're not going to need this money, we can get growth and have some safety. But there's always trade-offs. Every option has some pros and some cons. There are options that can provide for a death benefit if legacy is your concern.

Leaving behind something for your family. Tax-free, tax advantage. Oh, but also it can be multi-purposed that if you have big expenses that come up during your lifetime due to medical circumstances, it can be used for that as well at no additional cost, right? And that's what leverage is about. That's understanding the tools that are available. So in the financial world, perhaps talking to a professional who has access to the tools, who understands how to use the tools can give you more of the results that you're looking for.

And that's why at Rashan Planning we offer the optimized retirement plan with no cost, no obligation. So you can get a better handle for what some of those tools are. Now, do we just throw the tools out there? Oh, here are the tools for you. No, we've got to have an understanding of your goals and your specific situation.

And then we can find which tool is most appropriate for that. So again, if you'd like that plan, if you'd like to sit down and have a conversation, get that plan in your hands. No cost, no obligation. Give us a call. 919-300-5886, 919-300-5886. You can go online, richonplanning.com, richonplanning.com. You're welcome to email me, info at richonplanning.com. I'd love to hear from you. And in fact, if you go online, you give us a call, you email me from today's program, I'll send out a free copy of my book.

You can get a physical paperback book or I can send you the digital version, whichever way you would prefer, understanding your investment options. Now, the cover, the subtitle is the most, and originally it was important, but that got scratched through and over top of it said boring, the most boring book you'll read this year. This is not a page turner. All seriousness I tell people, it is the cure for insomnia. A little bit of a joke there when I say it, but I do seriously tell people that, and it probably is for folks.

Are you having trouble sleeping? You may just have your cure from requesting the book. But if you call, if you visit the website, if you email from today's show, not only can we talk about getting this optimized retirement plans in your hands, which I think the timing is now to do, the market's hovering at all-time highs, has been for quite some time. We've been able to say that for about six, seven years now. It's gone up, up, up, up, up. But the more it's gone up, probably the more risk you're taking in your portfolio and the more we're overdue for some type of correction. I think we're there.

Things are looking a little precarious. Now is the time to look at planning for that. Also, with taxes and the discussion about what's going to happen into the future with taxes, again, now is the time to do some serious, careful planning around that.

If you're earning money and putting it away for retirement right now, or if you've already got a dollar or more in tax-deferred retirement accounts, now is the time to look at tax planning. And the way that our tax system works, the more money you have, the more costly ignoring this issue will be for you. And it's more than just proportional, because we have a progressive tax system. So the more money you have, the more costly delaying and deferring taxes will be for you.

And so now is the time to look at that. There is an option for literally every person listening on how to manage and control taxes into the future and how to pay less. Now, it's not the same option for every person listening, but there is an option for every person listening on how to manage and pay less in taxes over your lifetime. It's not what you make, it's what you keep.

And taxes are the biggest thing standing in the middle. And I am a Dave Ramsey SmartVestor Pro. I love it when people say, I follow Dave, I am debt-free, I even paid off the mortgage on my house.

I say, that's fantastic. And then we take a look at their retirement accounts. And I say, I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, you're not as debt-free as you think.

And they say, what do you mean? We've paid off all our debts. No car payments, no credit card bills, even got the mortgage on our house. Yeah, but you've deferred and delayed paying the IRS. They view that as a debt. And if you don't believe me, if you wait long enough, they're going to begin collecting minimum payments, because that's money that you owe them.

And your bill, the longer it sits in your side of the ledger, the longer you delay paying that bill, the more you owe them. You think your goal with your account is growth? What would you like your money to do? Well, I'd like it to grow. That's what everybody says. The goal with your account is growth.

Guess what? The IRS wants your account to grow, too. Because then you pay more in taxes. And especially if taxes go up into the future, you will be paying significantly more. And if you have a larger balance, because of our progressive tax system, $50,000 in income isn't taxed like $100,000 in income, isn't taxed like $200,000, isn't taxed like a million dollars. The more money you have in that account, the larger your tax bill will be, and not just a proportional amount. A higher percentage will be collected and is due and owed to the IRS. So we need to do some careful tax planning for you. If that perked your ear, if that made you maybe think about, well, what is the option for me to control that tax liability and lower it? Then give us a call. That's what the optimized retirement plan is all about. 919-300-5886.

919-300-5886. I have sat down with people many, many times and literally projected out exactly what that tax bill would look like if they default to the IRS's plan, or we can put in your own scenarios. But we look at the account balance today, and the amount that they'll pay in taxes over the next 25 or 30 years is more than today's account balance. That's unnerving for a lot of folks. And if you're concerned that that might be the case for you, by the way, that's sort of given taxes as they stand today.

If taxes go up into the future, it could be even more. We need to look at that. Now is the time to do some careful planning, folks. And if you'd like an optimized retirement plan where we sit down and help you maximize your available sources of income, Social Security will run the tools and the calculators and the reports and the analysis for you. That's part of the plan.

If you'd like to look at that tax liability, understand if there are ways that you can pay less, strategies that you can implement to provide you leverage for your money, be efficient and pay less in taxes. Pick up the phone. Give us a call.

Say, I want that optimized retirement plan. 919-300-5886. 919-300-5886. I am Peter Rochon. This is Planning Matters Radio.

I look forward to talking with you soon. This has been Planning Matters Radio. The content of this radio show is provided for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation or recommendation of any investment strategy. You are encouraged to seek investment, tax or legal advice from an independent professional advisor. Any investments and or investment strategies mentioned involve risk, including the possible loss principle. Advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, a registered investment advisor. Produciary duty extends solely to investment advisory advice and does not extend to other activities such as insurance or broker dealer services. Advisory clients are charged a quarterly fee for assets under management while insurance products pay a commission which may result in a conflict of interest regarding compensation.