Bob Carlson: The Good & The Bad About Social Security in 2022

July 26, 2022
59 min
Bob Carlson: The Good & The Bad About Social Security in 2022
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IN THIS EPISODE, THE ANNUITY MAN AND BOB CARLSON DISCUSS:
- Hedging for rising inflation rates
- Accessing institutional shares through 401k
- What are your digital assets?
- Watching out for blockchain technology

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The inflation rate that you experience is probably lower than what data that is shared suggests. However, don’t forget that inflation rates are still rising, showing signs that it won’t be transitory.
401k plans allow access to institutional shares, which have the lowest expenses. Doing a roll-over from a 401k to an IRA will give you access only to retail shares, which have the highest expenses.
- Digital assets are a much broader category than a lot of people realize. It’s a federal crime for others to access your digital assets. You have to specify and give people permission. List and organize all your digital assets.
- It would be wiser to be more interested in blockchain technology than just the cryptocurrency part. Watch out for how companies will utilize this technology and if its biggest problem will ever be resolved: its impact on the environment.

"This is how you decide how much you love your family: are you gonna take time to sit down and write this stuff down, or are you gonna leave them a big electronic mess that’s gonna take a lot of time and effort to resolve, and might not eventually be resolved." — Bob Carlson.

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FUN WITH ANNUITIES (r)

0:04
welcome to fun with annuities with your

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host me stan the annuity man america's

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let's have some fun with annuities and

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let's have that fun start right now

0:33
[Music]

0:39
welcome to fun with annuities i'm your

0:41
host stan the annuity man america's

0:43
annuity agent license in all 50 states

0:44
we have a repeat guest on by back by

0:47
popular demand i got

0:49
a bunch of emails recently like where's

0:51
bob what could bring bob back on and the

0:53
bob i'm talking about is bob carlson who

0:56
is uh just a superstar in our industry

0:58
i'll have all this stuff on our site

1:00
just like i did the last few times he's

1:02
been with us but

1:04
you know we have bob on when things are

1:06
a little bit chaotic

1:08
um first of all welcome back to fun with

1:10
annuities bob carlson how are you i'm

1:12
good glad to be here stan excellent

1:15
let's jump right in all right let's jump

1:17
right into social security and i get so

1:21
many questions bob about the financial

1:23
solvency and and you know all of that

1:25
stuff and i know that the latest

1:28
annual report from the trustees was

1:31
issued in june

1:33
forget what everyone else says i want to

1:36
hear what bob carlson says about that

1:38
because you read it from cover to cover

1:40
and

1:41
you can put it into english for the rest

1:43
of us out here so go

1:45
okay well the good news in the headlines

1:47
is that the

1:49
retirement trust fund is supposed to

1:50
last a year longer

1:52
in the 2021 report the trustees said it

1:55
would last only through the year 2033

1:59
and when the report came out in june of

2:01
this year they extended it a year to

2:03
2034.

2:05
so that that's the good news but you

2:08
know this is a forecast it's based on

2:10
assumptions

2:11
so you have to look at the assumptions

2:13
there are

2:14
a couple assumptions in there at least a

2:16
couple that are kind of questionable

2:19
one is inflation

2:21
uh you know the cola

2:23
for benefits in 2022 was i think 5.8

2:28
right and for some reason in this latest

2:30
report they estimated that the cola for

2:33
2023

2:36
be like three percent something like

2:38
that very low lower than today's

2:40
inflation rate lower than the 2022 cola

2:44
right and then they estimated it's gonna

2:46
quickly drop down to the mid twos and

2:49
and stay around two three two four

2:52
indefinitely

2:54
so

2:54
you know we already know the chief

2:56
actuary uh gave a press conference when

2:59
the report was issued and said he's

3:00
already thinking that the 2023 call is

3:03
going to be eight percent

3:04
about twice

3:06
uh what's forecast in the report

3:08
so we already know social security is

3:10
going to pay more in 2023 and benefits

3:13
than is in the report so that's going to

3:16
reduce the the life expectancy of the

3:18
retirement fund

3:20
another factor in there is uh the birth

3:23
rate as you probably know the birth rate

3:25
in the u.s has been declining for a long

3:28
time

3:29
and for some reason in the assumptions

3:31
last year and again this year they

3:33
assumed it's going to go up

3:35
and it's going to go up higher than the

3:37
current rate

3:40
and of course the way they've done it

3:41
they expect this to happen overnight so

3:44
it's not going to happen overnight and

3:47
you know the way the birth rate helps

3:49
the fund is it produces more future

3:51
workers who pay more taxes and make the

3:54
economy more productive

3:56
so we're not going to reach the birth

3:58
rate that's assumed in the the report

4:00
anytime soon

4:02
so those are just two factors in there

4:04
that make you question whether it's

4:06
really going to last through 2034 as

4:08
projected in this report

4:11
and why did they do that bob i mean why

4:13
would

4:14
they know that people like you are going

4:16
to read it

4:17
and my listeners are going to listen to

4:19
people like you

4:20
so why would they do that

4:23
it's kind of a mystery

4:25
if you ask them they'll say well our

4:27
forecasts are done over a 75-year

4:30
horizon

4:31
and we think this is reasonable

4:34
over a 75-year horizon

4:38
i think what probably actually happened

4:40
is you know they kind of sat down and

4:42
said well

4:44
we've got to end up with a certain

4:45
number in the end what do we have to do

4:47
to get to that number

4:49
but if you ask them they'll say over 75

4:52
years we think these are reasonable

4:54
assumptions that they'll be achieved

4:57
who we're talking to is bob carlson he's

4:59
the founder of retirement

5:01
watch dot com all one word we'll have

5:03
that link on our site if you don't have

5:05
it in your favorites it needs to be

5:07
immediately if you haven't subscribed

5:08
you need to do immediately

5:10
because he is a straight shooter with an

5:13
iq that's off the scale but he has the

5:15
talent to bring it down

5:17
so that you understand it bob

5:20
these inflation numbers um

5:23
i was listening to a peter schiff

5:24
podcast the other day and and some

5:26
people like him some people don't like

5:28
him you know me and you both know peter

5:30
from our days of speaking at money shows

5:32
and things like that

5:33
um he just thinks that the inflation

5:35
numbers are actually double what what's

5:38
being reported what's your take

5:41
on real inflation at this point yeah

5:44
there are several ways people measure it

5:46
uh one thing people like to point out is

5:49
back in

5:50
the 80s or the 90s

5:53
they changed how several things were

5:55
computed in the cpi uh particularly

5:57
housing

5:59
and some people have gone and recomputed

6:02
today's data using the old methodology

6:05
and say you know the cpi today would be

6:08
significantly higher

6:10
if we use that old measure instead of

6:12
the current measure and that people

6:14
brought the government changed that

6:17
measure primarily to reduce things like

6:19
the cola and social security and other

6:21
benefit programs and then there's other

6:23
measures

6:24
uh people will say well you know it's

6:26
based on a basket of goods and services

6:28
you buy a certain percentage of each

6:31
good and service and

6:33
you get the price increase of each of

6:34
those when you come up with the final

6:36
cpi so some people say

6:39
the cola the basket of goods and

6:40
services and real isn't really

6:42
reflective

6:44
of what a lot of people buy

6:46
particularly the elderly there's a

6:48
separate index they call experimental

6:52
for the elderly uh which spends more on

6:55
medicine and a few other things less on

6:57
education

6:59
and some other items and and that's

7:01
always come in higher

7:03
than the the regular cpi so certainly

7:05
people who are older

7:07
are facing a higher cpi than the one

7:09
that's published

7:11
so there are a lot of different people

7:12
who are you know tearing this data apart

7:15
and in forecasting are

7:18
basically saying

7:19
that the reported cpi you see in

7:22
newspapers each month or on the websites

7:24
you check

7:26
is really lower than what you're

7:27
probably experiencing

7:30
do you see um

7:33
do you see inflate do you see the fed

7:35
and what they're doing now is it do you

7:37
think it will affect inflation or did

7:39
they wait too long if bob

7:41
carlson was fed czar during these last

7:44
two years i'm assuming you have done

7:46
things differently a what would you have

7:48
done and b what they're doing now

7:50
what do you think is going to be the

7:52
result

7:54
right a couple years ago i was telling

7:56
my readers to buy inflation hedges that

7:59
inflation was going to go up because of

8:01
all this money that's being printed and

8:03
so forth

8:05
and so they obviously

8:07
the fed has its own economists who do

8:09
their own forecasts and

8:11
they have a history of missing all the

8:13
key turning points in the economy

8:15
letting inflation get too high and

8:18
overdoing the efforts to bring it down

8:20
and triggering a bigger recession than

8:22
they needed to right uh so

8:25
you kind of depend on that and back when

8:27
all the fed people were saying this is

8:29
transitory inflation uh i was among some

8:32
of those people who are saying this it's

8:34
not transitory there are certain things

8:36
baked in there and the fed's making it

8:38
worse by buying all this government debt

8:41
putting more money into the markets and

8:43
the economy and what the fed kind of

8:45
counted on

8:46
uh what's been happening for most of the

8:49
last 15 or 20 years is they do print a

8:52
lot of money and put it out there

8:54
but in the past it's basically gone into

8:57
the investment markets it's why stock

9:00
prices went up much faster

9:02
than economic growth

9:04
and

9:05
and i guess they were counting on that

9:07
happening again where they would you

9:09
know push up housing and stock prices

9:11
and some other assets but not

9:14
goods and services that people buy but

9:16
they were wrong this time and people

9:19
finally stopped putting that money into

9:21
investments

9:22
started putting it into goods and

9:24
services and pushed up the prices of

9:27
that you couple that with

9:29
the way supply chains shut down jinkovic

9:33
reduced the supply the labor supply

9:37
decrease so there's fewer people to hire

9:39
you have to pay higher wages so it just

9:41
started a big cycle

9:43
that's going to take really serious

9:45
efforts i think to break the cycle

9:47
they're going to have to really tighten

9:49
and do what economists call

9:51
demand destruction where they're going

9:53
to have to raise interest rates enough

9:55
and take enough money out of the economy

9:58
where people just stop buying so many

10:00
goods and services and that's going to

10:02
hurt a number of businesses where people

10:04
cut back

10:06
but eventually that's what's needed to

10:08
bring down this kind of inflation

10:11
do you believe that the fed

10:15
will act autonomously like they should

10:18
and like they were designed to do

10:20
and continue with the rate hikes that

10:22
they have announced

10:24
or do you think they'll be bullied

10:26
by the political party and

10:28
power you know and i'm not political

10:31
either way

10:32
um what's your prediction on how

10:34
chairman powell will be handling this

10:37
going forward

10:39
yes so far in his tenure he's been uh

10:43
very much in line with who's ever

10:45
running the government yes um

10:48
and you know if he needs to take a

10:51
strong action as i suspect to really

10:53
bring inflation down to their target

10:56
of two percent

10:57
i think he's going to give up part way

11:00
through

11:01
they're going to get to say four percent

11:03
give or take a percent and

11:06
joblessness is going to go up the

11:08
economy is going to be slowing down

11:10
and they're just going to announce that

11:11
they're going to accept a higher target

11:14
of inflation

11:16
stop tightening the money supply

11:17
somewhere in that three to five percent

11:19
inflation range

11:21
and start loosening it up to get people

11:23
back to work and and so now you're going

11:25
to have a new floor on inflation

11:28
and so it'll go up probably faster than

11:31
it did last time the way it's done

11:33
faster than it's done last 15 or 20

11:35
years

11:36
and so probably we're going to have some

11:38
level of higher inflation baked into the

11:40
economy

11:42
until they finally get to the point

11:44
where they're willing to accept the

11:46
amount of pain that's needed to

11:48
basically correct the errors they put in

11:50
place

11:51
bob you didn't mention mr putin good

11:53
friend of ours

11:55
from russia um because a lot of this

11:57
blame is uh politically is being placed

12:00
on him

12:02
who knows what what the war effort that

12:05
he's waging against ukraine is having

12:08
on a lot of things

12:10
but um

12:12
is that significant

12:14
it's a factor i wouldn't say it's

12:16
significant okay um the inflation was

12:20
rising

12:21
well before he announced plans to invade

12:24
uh it probably caused energy prices to

12:27
go up faster than they would have and

12:30
they've come down the last month or so

12:32
to be back

12:33
probably where they would have been

12:35
absent the invasion same with some of

12:37
the food and grain

12:40
commodities

12:41
that spiked earlier have come down some

12:44
recently or were still higher than they

12:45
were

12:47
so it's a factor some of that's

12:49
corrected but it's certainly not the

12:51
main factor because as i said inflation

12:54
was

12:55
rising pretty steadily before the the

12:58
war even happened

12:59
and there are a lot of things rising

13:02
in price that are just completely

13:04
independent particularly services in the

13:06
u.s

13:07
and that's a factor of a combination of

13:10
a shrinking labor force where businesses

13:12
can't hire

13:14
enough people so they have to keep

13:16
increasing wages to hire and retain

13:18
people

13:19
and also the high demand because so much

13:22
money was put out there

13:24
savings went up a lot

13:26
during the uh the covert pandemic with

13:29
all these stimulus programs

13:31
and also these wage increases the people

13:33
who are working and getting them they

13:35
have extra money to spend

13:37
so that's just pushing up the prices

13:40
do you think gas prices are kind of at a

13:42
new normal i mean i i just can't see

13:44
them going back down for a myriad of

13:46
reasons but hopefully i'm wrong

13:48
um

13:50
but for it just feels like we're we're

13:52
at a new normal with gas prices in that

13:54
three to five dollar range i guess

13:57
that's a big range but still

13:59
pretty darn expensive

14:01
yeah and one factor we haven't discussed

14:03
is uh the climate change policies and

14:06
these are global yeah and basically the

14:09
people supporting them want higher gas

14:11
prices because they want people to start

14:13
looking for

14:14
alternatives to gas and

14:17
related uh types of energy

14:20
so you know in addition to demand and

14:22
supply

14:23
uh we have these public policies around

14:25
the globe

14:26
that are determined to keep

14:28
those prices from going down

14:31
and a lot of those countries that have

14:33
been proactive with those policies

14:35
they're getting caught a little bit here

14:37
i believe germany would be a good

14:38
example of that

14:39
right um

14:40
so i think you know we have to tread

14:42
lightly yes we all want

14:44
you know a cleaner wonderful world

14:47
but i think reality gets in the way a

14:49
little bit but but with that being said

14:51
and not to get on political

14:53
um box here

14:55
but even if we are acting perfectly

14:58
environmentally we need china and india

15:00
and everyone else to act well as

15:02
um as

15:03
compatriots in the environmental

15:06
challenge or else it doesn't work at all

15:08
do you agree with that

15:10
right and that's been part of the

15:12
problem is the developed western nations

15:14
have been uh putting the policies in

15:17
place whereas the the other nations uh

15:20
are not willing to accept the

15:22
consequences of making those changes or

15:24
at least not on the same schedule that

15:27
developed nations are right and so

15:29
they're continuing to uh burn coal and

15:33
use other forms of uh of energy that are

15:36
considered to contribute to uh to global

15:39
warming and climate change so it's

15:41
it's a problem where the the west has

15:43
basically taken this burden on itself

15:46
and the others have not been willing to

15:47
cooperate

15:49
seems like that's uh kind of the way it

15:51
always is right

15:54
you sent me an email recently uh there

15:56
was a pew study and i kind of glanced at

15:58
it

15:59
it was about people

16:01
with their 401ks making mistakes

16:04
rolling it

16:06
to iras

16:08
after they leave their employer and i

16:10
wanted you to kind of go over the pros

16:12
and cons of

16:13
when a person is at that decision and

16:15
fork in the road of rolling their 401k

16:19
one of the reasons go to

16:20
retirementwatch.

16:22
sign up with for what bob

16:24
offers um these are the type of things

16:27
he addresses real world scenarios that

16:29
are solutions

16:31
that you can apply to your specific

16:33
situation can you talk about that in

16:36
detail

16:38
sure uh what the study did was it looked

16:41
at the consequences well first

16:44
the most common ira transaction is the

16:46
rollover

16:48
a lot of different rollovers one tax

16:50
expert went through the tax code and

16:52
said there's more than 30 different

16:53
kinds of rollovers

16:55
how many

16:56
more than 30.

16:58
why

16:59
there's there's a lot of things you

17:00
don't think of as rollovers that are

17:02
called rollovers for example when you

17:03
convert a traditional ira to a roth ira

17:06
in a tax code that's a rollover

17:09
but the most common rollover is when

17:11
someone leaves a job

17:14
they take their 401k account and have it

17:16
rolled over to either an ira or to their

17:19
new employer's 401k right

17:22
and uh so and i used to routinely say

17:24
well you should do that because most of

17:26
these 401k plans are inferior to iras

17:30
and what the pew study did is it looked

17:33
at uh stop for a second

17:35
stay hold up

17:37
when you say that

17:38
say

17:39
tell the people why you believe that is

17:41
it because the ira structure allows you

17:44
freedom of choice for investments as

17:46
opposed to the limitations within the

17:49
401k

17:50
well first that's what i used to say

17:53
it's not

17:54
always true now okay there were two

17:57
factors one is the investment

18:00
flexibility right and the other was

18:02
costs

18:03
gotcha um

18:05
ten or more years ago

18:07
most employers did not put a lot of

18:09
effort in their 401k plans it was just

18:12
something they felt they had to offer

18:14
and particularly the smaller mid-sized

18:16
businesses they'd go to a broker or an

18:18
insurance person and say set up a plan

18:20
for me and these plans would have a lot

18:22
of fees

18:23
and not great investment options

18:26
more recently a lot of the employers

18:29
particularly your larger employers but

18:30
also many mid-size and smaller ones i've

18:33
realized these are valuable benefits

18:35
yeah a lot of prospective employees will

18:38
look at the plan yeah before making a

18:41
decision whether or not to accept a job

18:43
offer

18:44
so you have good investment options in

18:47
many of these plans and low expenses

18:50
and that was what the pew study focused

18:52
on okay many of the 401k plans now offer

18:56
what they call the institutional shares

18:58
of mutual funds right explain that to

19:01
the people yeah

19:02
most mutual funds have what they call

19:04
different share classes

19:07
uh they all invest in the same fund they

19:09
have the same investments

19:11
but they have different

19:12
minimum investment amounts and in

19:15
particular they have different expenses

19:18
the institutional share classes have the

19:20
lowest expenses these are the

19:23
if a major pension fund or endowment

19:25
wants to invest in the fund they will

19:27
get the institutional shares

19:30
but typically you have to have a minimum

19:33
investment of a million dollars to get

19:35
into the institutional chair class

19:39
but many of the 401k plans are allowed

19:42
to

19:43
offer the institutional shares because

19:45
when you aggregate all their employees

19:47
together they're going to have a million

19:48
dollars or more in that fund

19:51
so they'll be allowed to have each of

19:53
the employees buy the institutional

19:54
shares even though they might only be

19:56
putting in 100 or so a month into a fund

20:01
now

20:02
if you roll over from your 401k to an

20:05
ira unless you have a really big 401k

20:08
you're not going to have access to the

20:10
institutional shares yep you're going to

20:12
have to buy the retail shares which have

20:15
the highest expenses

20:17
and the pew study

20:19
compared the cost difference over 25

20:22
years

20:23
between owning the institutional shares

20:25
and owning the retail shares

20:27
and it found out that many people if

20:29
they do a rollover are going to cost

20:31
themselves 20 000 or more i think it

20:34
looked at an average account balance of

20:36
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars

20:38
which is what people typically

20:40
accumulate in a 401k over a average

20:43
working career at an average salary

20:46
and so if you have an average 401k they

20:48
estimate it's going to cost you about 20

20:50
000

20:52
over your lifetime in your retirement

20:54
fund

20:55
to move from those institutional shares

20:57
to retail shares

20:59
so that's the that's the big issue when

21:01
you when you're leaving an employer

21:03
whether you're retiring or looking at a

21:05
new job you want to compare

21:07
the 401k

21:09
to your ira options or your new

21:11
employer's options because you have the

21:13
option to take that money roll it over

21:15
somewhere

21:16
tax free transaction

21:18
or

21:19
leave it in that 401k

21:22
and so you want to look at number one

21:24
investment options

21:25
does the current 401k have a

21:28
good diversified mix that's going to

21:30
have all these types of investments

21:32
you're going to want to invest in over

21:33
time

21:34
and number two is a low cost

21:37
you want to look first at the the shares

21:39
of the fund are you getting

21:40
institutional shares low cost shares

21:43
and then also look at any different

21:46
fees that are charged a lot of 401ks

21:48
charge you an annual

21:50
account maintenance fees

21:52
some will charge for different

21:54
transactions whereas an ira might not so

21:58
you want to look at all these factors

22:00
consider what you might do with that

22:01
money over time

22:03
and decide are you going to be better

22:05
off leaving that money in this 401 k or

22:07
rowing it over to an ira

22:10
sounds like also if you're a registered

22:13
investment advisor or master of the

22:15
universe what are you going to call it

22:16
it's also a fiduciary issue i'm assuming

22:19
correct

22:20
well this is the whole

22:22
whole another topic because

22:25
both both the sec and the department of

22:27
labor have been uh looking at rollovers

22:31
and rollover advisors for the last five

22:34
to ten years

22:35
they've issued different regulations the

22:38
obama administration issued a set of

22:40
regulations the trump administration

22:42
withdrew them and issued new ones

22:44
uh the biden people came in and issued

22:46
another set

22:48
uh but basically

22:50
advisors who advise on what to do with

22:53
your retirement account have a

22:56
new level of standards

22:58
that they have to comply with if they

23:00
want to give advice and not get in

23:02
trouble

23:03
and the larger firms have no trouble

23:05
with this but some of you your smaller

23:07
and medium-sized advisors have said i i

23:10
don't have the resources to generate all

23:13
this data that these regulations are

23:15
requiring so either of them

23:17
have just said i will not advise someone

23:20
on whether or not to do a roll over if

23:22
they do a row over

23:24
i'll be advising them and how to invest

23:26
and that sort of wow

23:27
whether or not to do the rollover i just

23:30
legally don't feel i can get involved

23:33
because you and i both know

23:34
rollovers is like chum in the water in

23:37
the financial business because it's

23:38
money in motion

23:40
as they say and um everyone's trying to

23:43
get in front of that from the standpoint

23:44
of managing it or whatever

23:47
but i think you're correct it doesn't

23:48
mean you have to move

23:50
the money

23:51
and from a competitive nature

23:54
these companies are making their plans a

23:56
lot more um

23:58
user friendly and you might want to stay

24:01
i i haven't really thought about that

24:03
until you sent me that that

24:05
email with the study i'm like well that

24:07
makes sense

24:09
um for them to try to keep it and try to

24:11
keep it in-house

24:13
and offer really good

24:16
choices and advisors got to be real

24:18
careful here they really do they get in

24:21
trouble really interesting how the

24:23
employees have changed over time as they

24:25
used to not pay any attention to it and

24:27
then someone pointed out to them in fact

24:29
they didn't want to deal with former

24:30
employees they were happy

24:32
to have the

24:33
former employees take the money away but

24:36
then it was pointed out if you keep that

24:38
money

24:39
you have a bigger plan you can drive

24:41
down costs correct and just make your

24:44
plan more attractive to employees

24:47
plus it's the right thing to do yeah

24:50
yeah throw everything away it is the

24:52
right thing to do let's pivot a little

24:54
bit i know that um

24:56
you have your red phone into dc and

24:59
you know the people in dc trust you and

25:02
what you write once again

25:03
retirementwatch.com

25:06
again retirementwatch.com all one word

25:09
we'll have that link on our site but

25:11
bob

25:12
has been doing this for a long long time

25:14
and i remember in the last

25:17
uh podcast we had it was eight or nine

25:19
months ago that me and you were together

25:21
we talked about the secure 2.0 act bob

25:24
and you said it's got

25:26
remember you'd say saying it's you know

25:27
it's got some potential

25:29
to be okay

25:31
but i don't think

25:33
i think it's become a little bit messy

25:36
between then and now

25:37
can you explain what's going on

25:40
in the mess that's incurred or occurred

25:44
since we've spoken

25:46
yeah it's it's been really interesting

25:48
that's uh as you recall the the original

25:50
secure act in 2019

25:53
uh passed the house in

25:55
may

25:56
with three or four dissenting votes and

25:58
then

25:59
was brought up in the senate late in the

26:01
year in december passed basically with

26:04
no dissenting votes in which the

26:06
president was signed

26:08
and i thought the same thing was going

26:09
to happen this time with secure act 2.0

26:13
i passed the house again in the spring

26:16
very few dissenting votes

26:19
but then it got to the senate and first

26:21
of all some outside people started to

26:23
complain they looked at number of

26:25
provisions in the in the bill and they

26:27
said you know

26:29
this all favors rich people you say it's

26:32
to help average people

26:35
save more for retirement but yeah

26:37
provisions we're looking at primarily

26:39
going to favor rich people and there's

26:41
just a little bit for

26:43
for average and poorer people surprise

26:45
surprise right bob i mean sometimes that

26:48
this kind of happens like that right

26:49
yeah when the financial service industry

26:51
is lobbying for something who do you

26:53
think they're going to lobby for

26:56
i agree

26:57
so they started to complain and also

26:59
there are some key senators who said

27:02
well you know last time

27:03
we just did what the house wanted just

27:05
to get something passed but this time

27:09
uh we have ideas

27:11
and they actually there was something

27:12
like a thousand different bills that had

27:14
put in to the senate the last two years

27:17
and they

27:18
they went through them all and picked

27:19
and chose you know which ones people

27:22
liked and so they've put together not

27:24
one but two

27:25
uh different bills in the senate okay

27:28
and those are still

27:30
not been voted on on the floor they're

27:32
hoping to do that perhaps this fall

27:35
uh but it's not clear

27:37
what'll make it into the final bill or

27:39
when it will be passed and then even

27:41
when that happens

27:43
it's going to differ from what passed

27:45
the house

27:46
and uh the house is going to decide are

27:49
we just going to accept the senate bill

27:52
or are we going to have to go to a

27:53
conference committee and trade back and

27:55
forth to get a final bill

27:58
uh so it's not going to roll through the

28:01
way secure act 1.0 did

28:04
there's still a lot of people supporting

28:07
it very little opposition to the idea

28:10
and most of the provisions in either

28:12
of these packages

28:15
but when it's going to get through and

28:16
what the final version is going to be is

28:19
it's very much up in the air

28:21
what's holding it up is it the volume of

28:23
changes is it

28:25
upcoming midterms or combination of

28:28
everything

28:29
but there's not a big difference between

28:31
all the versions going around but there

28:33
are differences

28:35
and you know each person

28:38
insists their version

28:40
is the best one of course

28:42
and

28:43
you know someone or

28:45
really there's so many different

28:46
provisions there's so many people

28:48
involved a bunch of people are gonna

28:49
have to say

28:51
all right we'll have yours and not mine

28:54
and so that's tough in dc bob yeah and

28:57
and so that's really what's going on is

28:59
just

29:00
really

29:01
disagreement about nuances for the most

29:03
part

29:04
i know ed slott has come out and if you

29:07
don't know who ed is he's a he's a

29:09
really smart dude just like bob and

29:12
focuses on

29:14
kind of the ira world wouldn't you say

29:16
that bob what it does

29:18
um and i don't think he's too thrilled

29:20
at all

29:22
about what's what's in there

29:24
yeah he's had uh criticisms of several

29:27
provisions and there's things he thinks

29:30
should be in there that are not there

29:33
um and

29:34
you know for the most part first of all

29:36
it's gonna complicate an already

29:38
complicated area of the tax code

29:41
and it's going to take people a while to

29:44
figure out what's going on and then the

29:46
irs and department of labor are going to

29:48
have to issue regulations so even though

29:51
a lot of these provisions are designed

29:53
to increase retirement savings

29:56
really no business is going to change

29:58
its retirement plan or its decision of

30:00
whether or not to offer a retirement

30:02
plan

30:03
until not only the law is passed but the

30:06
regulations are issued

30:08
so you're looking at a two to three year

30:12
time frame assuming the law passes this

30:15
year

30:16
before people really know what the rules

30:18
are going to be and what the benefits

30:20
and disadvantages are gonna be and the

30:22
problem with with all types of

30:24
legislation like this that comes out of

30:26
dc

30:27
is

30:28
there will be stories trickling out

30:30
about provisions that have yet to be

30:32
passed which then people call people

30:34
like me and you

30:35
and ask about taking advantage of it of

30:37
which i say it's not passed yet

30:39
so it creates a lot of confusion

30:42
um which is the reason i always say if

30:45
you're going to get those that type of

30:46
tax advice you need to be going to

30:48
retirementwatch.com reading that reading

30:50
bob stuff

30:52
working with your local cpn tax lawyer

30:54
because just because they're rumored to

30:56
pass it doesn't mean it's past which

30:58
means you shouldn't be planning around

31:00
something that's not passed

31:02
and i think that's the problem that's

31:04
what drives me crazy is

31:06
i really wish they wouldn't talk about

31:07
it until they just passed it but that's

31:09
not dc right and a lot of times once

31:11
it's passed uh

31:13
false stories go down about go out about

31:15
what's in there no doubt and and i'll

31:18
get contacted by people saying hey i

31:20
heard this passed how can i take

31:21
advantage of it

31:24
that's not in the law

31:27
yet maybe right

31:30
bob one of the things you specialize in

31:32
you and you you cover you socialize a

31:34
lot of things expert in a lot of areas

31:35
but one of the things i lean on you for

31:38
is just kind of looking at estate plans

31:40
estate planning

31:42
specifics one of the things that you and

31:46
i were recently talking about were

31:47
digital assets

31:50
first of all i want you to talk to the

31:51
people about what a digital asset is

31:54
they might not even know they have it

31:56
and then

31:57
how to include that digital asset

32:01
within their estate plan i know that um

32:04
i understand this pretty well because

32:06
i'm pretty well versed in intellectual

32:07
property

32:08
with a lot of the side things that i do

32:10
in my life other than being stan the

32:12
annuity man but

32:15
a lot of that does involve digital

32:16
assets can you cover that from an estate

32:18
planning standpoint because i think this

32:20
is fascinating blue water new ground for

32:23
people

32:23
to think about

32:25
yeah this is uh

32:27
really one of the

32:29
the leading edge issues in estate

32:31
planning

32:32
and even just 10 years ago

32:35
the law was way behind reality

32:38
and

32:39
only recently of the state started to

32:41
enact

32:42
provisions where you could actually

32:45
reasonably

32:47
provide for digital assets in your

32:49
estate plan

32:51
but now the key is you have to do that

32:54
digital assets are much broader category

32:57
than people realize

32:59
uh you know basically there's a federal

33:01
privacy law and a lot of state laws that

33:04
say you can't access someone else's

33:06
digital assets or accounts

33:09
uh it's a federal crime

33:12
and so you have to authorize people to

33:14
do that what are digital assets give the

33:16
people the 30 000 foot view of what

33:19
those are you start with your cell phone

33:22
your email accounts uh any websites or

33:25
social uh social sites where you have

33:28
accounts on them

33:29
uh those are the you know the first

33:32
layer of them not that you own the sites

33:34
that you have accounts at the sites

33:36
right right right

33:39
basically any kind of electronic either

33:41
website

33:43
or asset

33:45
that's password protected

33:47
by you

33:48
that's a digital asset so a footprint

33:50
whatever your footprint is digitally

33:53
right you need to think of you need to

33:55
think about protecting it right right

33:57
and that's the first layer of digital

33:59
assets another layer

34:01
are accounts

34:03
like your financial accounts

34:05
many people access them online

34:08
passwords and usernames

34:10
uh under the old law you know if you're

34:12
a state executive or even a family

34:14
member if they had your password and

34:16
they went to uh do a transaction in your

34:18
account as a federal crime

34:20
yeah

34:21
even if you told them and put in your

34:23
will you could do that

34:25
so that's another layers all your

34:26
financial accounts that have some kind

34:28
of online access that's protected

34:31
then also a lot of people you have your

34:34
automatic payments

34:35
whether it's drawn from your checking

34:37
account put on your credit card done

34:39
some other way wow that's a digital

34:42
asset someone has to be first of all

34:44
wants to know about it and then you have

34:46
to authorize them to shut it off

34:49
and so there's a wide range of these

34:50
assets you know it starts with your cell

34:53
phone because with many of these

34:54
accounts now they have the two-factor

34:56
authentication

34:58
so you not only have your password to

35:00
get on it online right and they send

35:02
another password to your phone they text

35:05
it to your phone and you've got to enter

35:06
that

35:07
so

35:08
people have to be able to access your

35:10
cell phone

35:11
and then actually access your other

35:13
accounts but how's that part of the

35:15
estate plan bob well you have to put in

35:18
your will or your living trust who can

35:21
access these assets holy mackerel that

35:25
so

35:27
there's an addendum to the estate plan

35:29
that you're saying that people need to

35:31
revisit that has these passwords

35:35
that's in the in the estate plan in the

35:38
trust that you give the authorization of

35:41
who to ask

35:42
ask like like an executor of a will or

35:45
executor of a trust it would be executor

35:48
of

35:49
digital assets

35:50
yeah the law that was passed by those

35:52
states recently

35:54
says that the executor automatically is

35:58
legally allowed to access certain types

36:00
of accounts

36:02
but it's a short list

36:05
but many of the other types of accounts

36:07
it's silent about so you have to

36:08
specifically authorize access to those

36:11
as well

36:13
and then so that's the easy part the

36:15
easy part is putting in your will or

36:17
trust language that says

36:19
my executor can access these assets or

36:22
you can make it broad and say can access

36:24
all my digital assets and accounts some

36:27
people don't want to do that they want

36:28
to separate it they want only a family

36:30
member

36:31
they trust to access their email

36:34
and then forward to the executor

36:36
anything financially related what if

36:38
they don't do that does does digital

36:40
assets go through probate

36:43
they don't particularly go through

36:45
probate because most of them aren't

36:47
really worth anything

36:49
but

36:50
you have to authorize someone to access

36:53
it if you don't then

36:56
basically someone has to contact the

36:58
provider

36:59
wow of that asset which is a mess they

37:02
will have their own rules and what some

37:04
people used to do before this new law

37:07
is they would have to hire techies

37:10
to break into the accounts

37:12
right

37:14
so that you know it's all messed so the

37:15
first rule is

37:17
put the language in your will or living

37:19
trust about who can access your digital

37:22
assets but that's only the first step

37:24
because the important step is

37:27
people have to know which digital assets

37:29
and accounts you have

37:32
you have to write down

37:34
your accounts

37:35
the access information

37:38
uh the automatic payments that's a big

37:40
issue because some of these automatic

37:42
payments they're annual they're not

37:43
monthly you can't just go through your

37:45
monthly checking account or credit card

37:48
bill and remember it you might forget

37:50
about the january so i need to i need to

37:53
stop for some because i need to have

37:54
people people need to take a breath

37:56
because

37:58
this is one that everybody listening is

38:01
going huh

38:02
and you're thinking about it just a

38:04
personal note i'm obsessive compulsive

38:07
so i do this immediately you know i have

38:10
a 20 to 25 page

38:13
um printed password thing that i put in

38:17
the safe and i update it and tear the

38:19
other one up and shred and put in the

38:20
safe

38:21
but i don't have the automatic payments

38:23
on there so i've got to do that

38:25
but i also haven't included that i've

38:28
done that from the standpoint of hey if

38:30
i die here's the password but i do think

38:32
it's important for

38:34
um people to have access you tell who

38:38
has access to it and then i own websites

38:40
and things like that and domain names

38:42
and all kinds of stuff

38:43
i think going forward i think people's

38:45
digital assets will be

38:47
more and more and you're not even

38:48
talking about non-fungible tokens and

38:50
all kinds of nonsense like that you're

38:52
talking about

38:53
day-to-day digital life that we all have

38:56
regardless of how non-techie or techie

38:58
you are right correct

39:02
yeah and uh wow

39:04
even people who

39:05
consider themselves non-techie

39:08
they have a lot more of these digital

39:10
assets than they realize

39:13
you know even non-technical people most

39:15
of them have cell phone they have some

39:16
automatic payments

39:19
social media to some extent email

39:21
account

39:23
so you know you really need to

39:25
to sit down and list these many people

39:28
you know they it's hard they don't have

39:30
an organized

39:32
list of of their

39:34
websites and passwords that you know

39:36
they can really access they count on

39:37
memorizing it uh maybe using the same

39:40
password for multiple which isn't a good

39:43
idea and memorizing is not a good idea

39:45
because there's been hundreds of

39:46
millions of dollars worth of bitcoin

39:48
going poof because people couldn't

39:49
remember remember their their pass code

39:52
i think that

39:54
the task of the day for the listeners

39:56
and viewers of this podcast is if you

39:59
have an estate planning lawyer if you

40:00
don't go get one but if you have one

40:03
lob that call and go hey i'd like to put

40:06
together a meeting because i was

40:07
listening to bob carlson from retirement

40:09
watch and he said

40:10
that we need to do an addendum to the

40:12
trust on the digital assets and just

40:14
shut up and see what they say yeah yeah

40:18
now most most of the estate planners are

40:20
well aware of this and uh really right

40:23
anxious to get people doing it uh but

40:26
the first step is you need an inventory

40:29
of what your digital assets are yes

40:32
all the access information so that

40:34
someone

40:35
basically you need to set it up so

40:36
someone off the street

40:38
can walk in and access these accounts if

40:41
they have your inventory

40:44
so that

40:45
you know it'll be easy to do they won't

40:47
have to hire some techie to do it for

40:49
them

40:50
and then you can go to the lawyer and

40:53
say i want my executor to have access to

40:55
all these or

40:57
you might say i want only my spouse to

41:00
be able to access these insurance record

41:02
access votes

41:04
that's personal decisions so people will

41:06
do it different ways a lot uh but the

41:08
first step there is make that inventory

41:11
and it might take you a while because

41:13
there are things out there you're

41:14
probably going to forget

41:16
and maybe an automatic payment's not

41:18
going to show up for a few months or

41:20
there's something a website perhaps you

41:23
only visit occasionally and you realize

41:26
yeah i've got that i've got to add to

41:28
the list

41:29
well i also think too not to get

41:31
morbidly

41:35
but

41:36
you know we're all looking at cognitive

41:38
decline eventually

41:40
and it's just another reminder of trying

41:42
to be proactive and getting in front of

41:44
that

41:45
that puck going down the ice and getting

41:48
all of this tied up in a nice bow the

41:50
lawyers are going to love it because

41:51
you're going to have to see them more

41:53
like every year just to make sure that

41:55
all the things are updated but

41:57
but that's a really neat way

42:00
to when you pass away that there's no

42:02
issues that you know you know where

42:04
everything is and from a peace of mind

42:06
standpoint looking at money and estate

42:08
planning

42:10
you know it makes sense i always tell

42:12
people that even when you retire with 10

42:14
000 baby members hitting age 65 every

42:16
single month

42:17
or every single day excuse me

42:20
part of your part-time job are these

42:22
types of items that bob just mentioned

42:25
you've got to get your arms around

42:27
so

42:28
that's phenomenal do you have any neat

42:30
stories about digital asset

42:33
stuff

42:34
that you've seen or

42:36
anecdotes that you've heard

42:38
uh

42:39
the main thing is before they put the

42:42
the recent law changes into effect was

42:45
that

42:47
two things would happen one is uh

42:50
the the executor would contact

42:53
you know someone like facebook or a

42:56
website and say hey my dad died

43:00
i need to shut down his page or i just

43:02
need access to his account and maybe say

43:05
you know sorry there's a federal law

43:07
that says only the owner of that account

43:09
can access it and we can't give you

43:12
anything

43:13
and then from there people would

43:16
basically try to hire techies to break

43:19
into the account or they'd you know

43:21
search through the house

43:23
looking for where the password was

43:25
written down

43:27
if they could find it um

43:30
you know so that this is a great favor

43:32
this is how you decide how much you love

43:34
your family is

43:35
are you are you going to take the time

43:37
to sit down

43:39
and write this stuff down

43:41
or are you going to leave them a big

43:42
electronic mess

43:44
that's going to take a lot of time and

43:46
effort to resolve and and might not

43:49
eventually be resolved there might be

43:50
missing assets

43:52
or you might have a lot of difficulty

43:54
shutting off some automatic payments

43:56
because no one's been authorized to do

43:58
it well the other thing too in the world

44:00
that we live in now it's hard to get

44:02
people on the phone can i get a

44:04
hallelujah on that

44:06
so to have the digital at access to the

44:09
accounts allows you to you know do what

44:12
you need to do without

44:13
trying to get somebody on the phone and

44:15
that somebody on the phone even if you

44:16
get them they might not be from here it

44:18
could be really hard

44:20
but i think that is um

44:22
that's one of the best pieces of

44:24
information that there might be people

44:26
listening to this or viewing this that

44:27
go oh i knew that stan come on where you

44:30
been

44:31
um

44:32
but i'm pretty techy

44:34
you know and i've got a you know my team

44:36
is pretty well teched

44:39
but

44:40
when you live in that world you don't

44:41
really think about it you know it's kind

44:43
of like the mechanic driving the car

44:45
that's beat up because they know that if

44:46
it breaks down they can just fix it

44:49
but you got to think about

44:51
if you're savvy technology-wise probably

44:53
your heirs are not or your spouse is not

44:56
or whoever's going to be executive if

44:57
not

44:58
bob would you see executor of the will

45:01
and executor of digital assets could

45:04
that be i mean

45:05
could could that be two different people

45:08
uh it could be uh

45:10
basically it's

45:12
it's wide open for you to do what's ever

45:14
comfortable for you

45:17
uh but keeping in mind of course that

45:20
you know the executor who's processing

45:22
most of the estate

45:25
uh there's probably digital assets he or

45:27
she needs access to or needs authority

45:30
over

45:31
in order to settle the estate but there

45:34
might be other things you have

45:37
you know some people for example are

45:38
running a website based on a hobby that

45:41
you have right perhaps the executor

45:44
doesn't need access to that you would

45:46
just want to give that to someone

45:48
who also has an interest in it might

45:50
want to continue it

45:52
some people they don't want to give

45:54
their executive access to their email

45:56
because there might be things in there

45:58
they they want only a spouse or

46:01
someone else to see and and they just

46:03
count on that person to follow any

46:05
financial really interesting good he has

46:07
to be racist

46:09
so it's it depends on how complicated

46:11
your life is

46:14
what kind of nefarious sites you go to

46:17
what type of logins you have i know it

46:19
might might under some things that you

46:21
don't want to unearth might make you

46:22
think

46:23
twice but uh

46:25
that's really interesting what else is

46:27
new out there by what i mean you get up

46:29
every day and you slay it you're

46:30
fantastic at what you do but

46:33
you know you've forgotten more than most

46:35
people ever know so what's new out there

46:37
that's that that kind of is getting your

46:39
attention or is there anything new

46:44
well you know

46:45
going with with the things you will you

46:47
talk about there's a lot of interest in

46:50
the various annuities uh

46:52
you used to be uh

46:54
you know people didn't have a lot of

46:56
interest in them the stocks were going

46:59
up 20 a year

47:01
uh but now you know with bonds going

47:03
down stocks going down

47:05
one thing i've told my readers

47:08
is basically any kind of bond or fixed

47:11
income investment you've had in your

47:13
portfolio you should get rid of it

47:15
because it's going down in value and you

47:16
should put the money

47:18
into some kind of annuity whether it's a

47:21
miga or just yeah well

47:23
yeah we don't mention we don't mention

47:25
companies obviously here but um

47:27
but the bond you know people just need

47:29
to understand what the bonds you know

47:30
interest rates you know go up and the

47:32
bond valuations go down that's just

47:33
basic stuff that you need to know and

47:35
people also need to know that bonds can

47:37
go down in value

47:39
and at the time of this type and current

47:40
interest rates do lean you toward migas

47:43
which are fixed rate annuities the

47:44
industry annuity the annuity industry's

47:47
version of the cd and we certainly have

47:48
that on my site at the annuityman.com i

47:50
don't want to go in some annuity rabbit

47:52
hole here but

47:54
um

47:55
there the rates are at a point where

47:57
it's starting starting to make sense

47:59
again bob and when when almost a decade

48:01
where

48:02
fixed rates weren't attractive but um

48:05
you know now now they're getting to the

48:07
point

48:08
where people can start

48:10
thinking about living off some of that

48:12
interest and not touching the principle

48:14
which is

48:15
which is really good um i'm not going to

48:18
make you predict interest rates here

48:20
but um

48:23
do you think do you think we're going to

48:25
keep going up over the next year like

48:27
they said or do you think my predictions

48:29
i think chairman powell has one or two

48:31
left bullets left in the gun and then

48:33
they're going to take the gun away

48:36
yeah most likely they're going to do one

48:38
or two more and then see what the

48:40
effects are yeah

48:42
but you know one thing i see a lot of

48:44
research on that surprises a lot of

48:46
people is you know your standard

48:47
investment portfolio is 60 stocks 40

48:51
bonds right

48:52
and you know that's said to be

48:54
diversified and when the stocks are

48:56
going down the bonds will be steady or

48:59
even go up plus they're generating

49:00
interest sure

49:02
and and that's been true for 20 or so

49:05
years when they've been what they call

49:06
uncorrelated they go in different

49:08
directions

49:09
uh but this year they've both been

49:12
highly correlated both stocks and bonds

49:15
are going down at the wrong time at the

49:16
same time

49:18
so people who were in these balanced

49:20
portfolios thinking they had some

49:22
protection from the bonds if the stocks

49:25
went down

49:26
they don't have that though

49:28
the bonds in many cases are down almost

49:31
as much as the stocks uh depending on

49:33
which you own of the two different asset

49:35
classes which particular

49:37
types of stocks and bonds uh but you

49:40
know this is uh people just kind of

49:43
thought stocks and bonds are

49:44
uncorrelated if i own some of each i'm

49:47
always protected but things change over

49:49
time and we're in a different

49:50
environment

49:52
with inflation going up and interest

49:54
rates going up both stocks and bonds are

49:56
going down at the same time and people

49:58
need to rethink

50:00
what is a diversified portfolio and

50:02
what's going to protect me

50:04
uh in tough times

50:07
yeah i i've taken a lot of heat i've had

50:10
on crypto because i've had some people

50:12
on and and we kind of poo pooed it at 60

50:15
000 we poo pooed it at 50 and we kind of

50:17
triple poopooed it at 40. and it's

50:19
probably going to go to a million and

50:20
i'm going to be wrong

50:23
but

50:24
um

50:25
what scares me about that or the people

50:26
that are buying it aren't sophisticated

50:28
and they don't know really know what

50:29
they're buying

50:30
any thoughts and insights on the whole

50:32
crypto situation here bob because you've

50:34
seen you're like me you've been around a

50:36
long time you've seen it all

50:40
yeah the uh

50:42
you know people say crypto like it's all

50:44
just one thing i know like annuities

50:47
right yeah right and it's a lot of

50:49
different things yeah even when you just

50:52
look at the

50:53
currencies there are a lot of different

50:54
ones with definitely different things

50:56
behind them 20 000

50:58
at that time of this typing 20 plus

51:00
thousand uh but you know the real thing

51:02
to keep in mind is it's not necessarily

51:05
a particular cryptocurrency but what's

51:08
making us go is the blockchain

51:11
technology correct that's behind it and

51:14
for the future

51:16
bitcoin and the other currencies they

51:19
might or might not last they might make

51:21
you some money but what you really need

51:24
to look at if you're interested in this

51:26
area

51:27
are how is the blockchain technology

51:30
being used

51:32
what are the different companies out

51:33
there that have some innovative ways to

51:36
profit from it to make it part of

51:37
people's everyday lives correct and look

51:40
at that

51:41
rather than what the headlines are about

51:44
how bitcoin and the others are doing i

51:47
agree

51:48
look at the companies how they're using

51:50
this technology is it going to work

51:52
going forward

51:54
probably one of the biggest issues

51:56
for blockchain technology is

52:00
it uses a lot of energy because it

52:02
involves a lot of people using computers

52:05
it it basically involves a bunch of

52:08
people checking on each other

52:10
online uh verifying their different

52:13
numbers

52:14
and that's been one of the criticisms

52:16
about it is that it uses a lot of energy

52:19
contributes to the climate change and

52:21
all that so it's going to be interesting

52:22
going forward

52:24
how is the legislation effect about

52:27
climate change and things going to

52:29
affect how people can use

52:32
blockchain technology

52:34
i agree with that i agree with that

52:36
totally and i know that the healthcare

52:38
sector the transportation sector you can

52:40
find companies that are utilizing the

52:42
blockchain technology from the

52:44
standpoint of tracking and etc etc my

52:47
conspiracy theory is

52:49
the the treasury will come out with

52:51
their own

52:52
form of cryptocurrency and then that's

52:53
how we'll be taxed real time on a daily

52:55
basis and there won't be any more april

52:58
15th i do know that

53:01
the annuity life insurance side is

53:04
looking at that from the standpoint of

53:06
trackability

53:07
um and just the the transparency

53:10
nature of the the blockchain technology

53:13
i think it's the future and i think

53:14
you're correct i think people are

53:16
getting

53:17
caught looking at crypto and bitcoin and

53:20
ethereum and all those names and you

53:22
just wait a minute stop it's kinda like

53:23
remember when the web came out web stuff

53:26
and there was myspace and aol.com those

53:29
people really aren't players anymore but

53:31
the web is

53:32
so you need to look at it similar bob

53:34
we're coming up on the kind of the end

53:36
of this thing as i always do and i'm

53:37
going to do this again with you

53:38
is our mic drop moment which i'm going

53:40
to ask you to say something

53:43
unbelievably poignant

53:46
and to the point where the people walk

53:48
away and go wow that that was fantastic

53:51
so no pressure at all of course

53:54
so with that being said

53:56
bob carlson mike drop moment go

54:00
well most of the things i discuss in

54:02
retirement watch and my other work it's

54:04
it's the finances of your retirement

54:06
and when most people think of retirement

54:08
they think their finances their

54:10
investments and so forth

54:12
but that's really one of the least

54:14
important factors in deciding whether or

54:17
not you have a successful retirement

54:20
because

54:21
you know how being financially secure

54:23
and independent that's fine that's kind

54:25
of the baseline thing but

54:28
after a point the money doesn't matter

54:30
and and

54:31
surveys of retirees show that that point

54:34
is lower than many people realize yeah

54:36
it is so what matters is whether you

54:38
have a satisfying retirement

54:41
and for that you look at non-financial

54:43
things and that's the most neglected

54:46
part of retirement planning as many

54:48
people focus on the financial part

54:51
and not the non-financial part which is

54:53
going to be the main factor you need

54:55
several things you need a purpose in

54:57
retirement it doesn't you know many

54:59
people their jobs it was their purpose

55:02
it's what they're tied up in

55:04
you need a new purpose and it doesn't

55:06
have to be one purpose it doesn't even

55:08
have to be big things yeah but things

55:10
like you know making taking care of your

55:12
yard having good relationships it's work

55:16
to have and establish and maintain good

55:18
relationships uh things like that so you

55:21
know many people think well i have this

55:23
long list of activities i'm going to do

55:25
in retirement

55:26
and that lasts for a while you have what

55:29
they call the retirement honeymoon it

55:31
might be a few months might be a few

55:32
years yep but after a while you've gone

55:35
through that list and you're in the

55:36
day-to-day routine that's right and

55:39
that's where many people kind of lose it

55:41
in retirement it's why if you uh if you

55:44
do a web search for things like

55:46
depression

55:47
substance abuse suicide among 65 and

55:50
older

55:52
for most of these you'll find that

55:53
they're more prevalent in 65 and older

55:56
and it's increasing

55:58
and it's because they go into retirement

56:00
without a plan

56:02
for the non-financial life

56:05
and they just get bored and depressed

56:07
and they fall into bad habits and things

56:10
of that nature

56:11
and what people who've studied this have

56:13
found is one of the critical things is

56:16
that you have a lot of social contacts

56:19
you should have three or more people

56:21
other than your spouse with whom you

56:23
have a close relationship

56:25
and you should on a regular basis

56:28
have contact uh in different social

56:30
groups whether it's going to church or

56:32
clubs or playing golf or tennis with

56:35
friends

56:36
uh you need to have these things on your

56:38
schedule so when you're approaching

56:40
retirement

56:42
you need to consider

56:44
what is my typical day going to be what

56:46
is my typical week going to be you know

56:48
when you're working

56:50
most of your time is determined for you

56:52
and it's scheduled

56:54
you stop working

56:55
you have all this time to fill it

56:57
commuting time the time at work

57:00
uh you know basically your weekdays were

57:03
filled or determined by work you have

57:05
your weekends

57:07
uh where you did a lot of things you

57:08
couldn't do during the week but

57:10
you retire and you have all this extra

57:13
time

57:14
and initially that's going to be really

57:16
great for you but eventually it's going

57:18
to be something where you have to work

57:20
to determine

57:21
what makes you happy what makes you

57:23
fulfilled what gives you a purpose in

57:26
retirement other than just being

57:28
financially secure

57:29
and that's bob carlson take take

57:31
inventory your finances and take

57:33
inventory of your life

57:35
definitely bob i appreciate you joining

57:37
us we'll definitely have you on once

57:39
again i want to thank everyone on all

57:41
the major podcast platforms to listening

57:43
to fun with annuities and the people

57:44
that are watching us on the fun with

57:46
annuities youtube channel i will see you

57:49
next week

57:54
thanks for listening to fun with

57:56
annuities please hit the subscribe

57:58
button and make sure to go to my site at

58:00
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58:03
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58:06
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58:08
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58:11
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58:13
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58:16
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58:18
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58:21
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58:23
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58:26
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58:28
specific situation it will be the best

58:31
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58:34
will ever get and that's one guarantee

58:36
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58:38
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58:40
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58:43
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58:44
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58:48
[Music]

58:59
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