Marcia Mantell: Cookin' Up Your Retirement Plan

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[Music]

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welcome to fun with annuities where

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every single week I welcome a celebrity

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guest expert that can help you maximize

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chapter 2 of your life listen learn

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laugh and love every minute of the most

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unique Financial podcast on the planet

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let's get to

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[Music]

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it welcome to fun with annuities I'm

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your host Stan the annuity man America's

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annuity agent licensed in all 50 states

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I am so happy that I have a repeat guest

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that has graced our presence once again

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repeat after me three words Marsha

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Marsha Marsha Marsha Manel I'll give all

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that uh all her stuff all her websites

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Etc that you can go to but she has a new

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book out that we're going to talk about

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but we set uh the retirement planning

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podcast world on fire with our last

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um interaction when we talked about

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retirement is like making lasagna and

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people love that and I love that because

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I love lasagna so I'm still I still have

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a standing offer when I'm in

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Massachusetts to have the marsham Manel

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re uh retirement lasagna an actual

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lasagna made for me and I am going to

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call in that chip down the road Marsh

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Manel thank you so much for joining us

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on fun with annuities well Stan thank

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you so much for inviting me back and I'm

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ready and waiting for your arrival here

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in lovely Southern Massachusetts so you

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come and see me we can have a little

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walk with the pilgrims while the lasagna

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is baking and then we'll you know have

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dinner just promise me that we're gonna

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use real cheese don't oh my gosh yes

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don't go crazy and and and be all trendy

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like my youngest daughter and you know

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Dad this kind of tastes like cheese no

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it doesn't no it doesn't it's it's not

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cheese when I say cheese I mean cheese

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you not that lowfat skin milk stuff just

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the real fullon cheese you like sausage

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too right did we talk about that last

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time absolutely no I went through the

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vegan I went to the vegan phase it was a

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horrible three years of my life that

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I'll never go back to but uh you know

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the older you get the more you realize

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that you know you got to live for the

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day and that's part of my retirement

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plan and and what I tell my clients all

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the time is two things number one

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there's no U-Hauls behind heres and if

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you see that send me a picture and

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number two fly first class or your kids

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will number two is a real deal okay

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because I have two daughters that is Dan

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and I have had that exact

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conversation about you know we have two

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daughters and it and it is because you

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know we're at that age now where we're

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thinking about distribution long-term

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distribution of assets and who are we

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GNA SP on that's right and

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H's very kind he's just a very sweet man

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he said well we do really need to leave

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a lot of money to the kids and their

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mother is uh no we don't we need to

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spend all that money on me the last

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check should bounce as I always tell

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people um in the life insurance will

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cover that when you pass away let's

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let's talk about your book when we got

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it in the at the office you sent it to

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us when I brought it home my wife grabs

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it wants to send it to mold's daughter

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which we're going to do but it is really

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cool talking about cooking it looks like

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a cookbook and the the title of it is

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cooking up your retirement plan there's

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so much to this that and and I W I can't

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I mean I could hold it up in front of

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the camera that does no one any good on

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the podcast but that would be like

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showing paintings to blind people but

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what I we are going to have that link on

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our on our site to Marsha's book but I

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would I would recommend you taking a

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look at it the one thing I know having

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written seven books on annuities is this

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writing books is very hard and it's time

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consuming and cumbersome and the detail

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is amazing but with your book

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Marsha I was blown away on the detail

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and the proactive thinking that you've

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done to try to make it simple for people

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with charts and easy to do fill in stuff

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I is that the way your brain

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works well first of all thank you for

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the very nice compliments about my

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cooking up book love it and yes it it is

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the way my brain works um I believe a

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few things Stan one is now and you also

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have to understand I live with an entire

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extended family of scientists like phds

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MDS these really brainy people okay and

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I love them all but I never understand

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them so My Philosophy has become if you

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can't explain to me just me on a single

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sheet of paper that you're writing and

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drawing with a crayon then you don't

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understand it so that you can teach it

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to someone who's not in your same you

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know sky plane um it's very very

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difficult for people who aren't in our

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industry who don't do this every day

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absolutely to grasp what we're

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saying and so if I couldn't explain it

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with fun worksheets and charts and just

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a way to get your brain to go oh that's

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what inflation

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does you know oh a four you know we talk

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about the 4 per rule whether you agree

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with it or not it's still a good marker

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and it's not 10% withdrawals so we talk

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about this 4% rule like everyone knows

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what it is and a it's not a rule it's a

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guideline and right B that means you

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could only take out 4% of whatever

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bucket of money you have but people

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don't make that connection because we

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all think in dollars so I put it in

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dollars I forget what the math works out

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do but if you have a million dollars you

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get $40,000 a year right that's it and

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it's the $40,000 that stops people in

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their tracks it's

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like I can't live on $40,000 right like

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well I know that but you didn't know

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that until today because you've never

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made the the kinds of conversions in the

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way we all think in the industry is just

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not how normal people think so the book

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was was

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because I I've worked with so many

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consumers when you when you see them you

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know up close in personal you see what

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they don't understand and it's

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everything don't understand anything

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about this Beast that we all talk about

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so casually you you know 30 years in

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retirement you know it'll be fun we'll

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play golf my followers know what I I

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always say if you can't explain it to a

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nine-year-old don't buy it no offense to

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nine-year-olds um and that really is

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really what it comes down to the the

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financial industry like all Industries

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has its own um language and the problem

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with most people in the industry is they

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speak in that language it's think about

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like going to a a a foreign country and

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you don't speak the language it's it's

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really hard you know people have to

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really break it down and that's what I

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love about this book one of the things

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just just starting with section one of

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the book I mean you asked great question

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which is just thinking about retirement

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and your your future as a retiree I

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think I think that's very important I

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call it chapter 2 is about you that's

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really what you're saying right it

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really is it's what what triggered this

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sort of um structure in chapter one for

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me on the retiree I have a a longtime

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colleague who not retired her company

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Let Her Go which very many Boomers you

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know millions of us are going to you

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know face that and she wasn't prepared

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to go even though she was of the right

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age group

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right she was planning to work several

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more years but you know there was the

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door and she's the one who said to me at

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one point I finally introduced myself as

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a retiree I was at a party this weekend

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and somebody asked what I did and I said

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oh you know I'm retired I'm now a

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retiree two years after the

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fact yeah so it's not a label that we

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all

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want and it's very hard to have that

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roll off your tongue when you're talking

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about yourself

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so that was sort of that was these these

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Snippets that I get when talking to real

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people the struggle they go through or

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gentleman who said it took him two years

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to get the hang of being

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retired put my days together because we

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just don't realize that what structure

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the benefits of structure do for us and

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we've been structured since we were in

8:54
kindergarten well and I think that's a

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very good point I I um retirement as a

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category and as a uh something we

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discuss is probably within the last 50

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years of of the world there was no

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retirement people worked and then they

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died and I do I do understand um why the

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a personalities that go hard all their

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lives and then they shut it down they

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either drink themselves to death or flip

9:18
channels to death or eat themselves to

9:19
death or you know just bore themselves

9:21
to death I do think there needs to be a

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structure and that is hard and you know

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part of chapter 2 as you point out so

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nicely in the book is you know you got

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kind of a part-time job looking at your

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money that's not a full-time job it's a

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part-time job if you're organized and

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that's what this book does but there is

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a struggle that that you're one of the

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few people to address which is not only

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the financial part of retirement but the

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emotional part of

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retirement very much so and again it's

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tied up with whatever routine you have

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whether

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you work in a for paid job or maybe

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you're an at home mom or you've become

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an at home Homemaker and an independent

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person you still have created the the

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structure to your day and these groups

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and in um in addition to this book I'd

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also updated my what's R what's the deal

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with retirement planning for women added

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a chapter you know a written chapter to

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go with this chapter too in this looking

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up book that goes into a little bit more

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elaborateness and it and it starts for

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me with when you think about your days

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you're constantly interrupted by other

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people at work whether you like them or

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not you know you have all these

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interruptions or you can get up and walk

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down the hall and chat with somebody and

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then it's time for lunch and we all go

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to lunch and for decades my days were

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structured around lunch and the group

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the team would come in in the morning

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like okay are we eating in the team room

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or are we going out today right and so

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it's this idea for me it's this humble

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cafeteria that started in first grade

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we've had since we were six years old 6

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to

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66 60 years of going somewhere for lunch

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and then all of a sudden the rug is

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pulled out from under

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you it's like well now who am I gonna

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have lunch with

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today and you have to step up and make

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the effort no one's going to swing by

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your house now from five blocks away to

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say hey your you want to go to lunch

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today Stan you want to go to lunch

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that's not how people operate so you

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have to take the lead well that's not

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natural for most people so it's going to

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be a real shocker or you or you don't

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know how to do it and you're right you

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sit on the couch and you flip channels

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and what a was yeah I think that people

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need to just plan for chapter 2 to be

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somewhat of an upheaval and a and a

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pivot I always say when you come to the

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fork on the road pick it up um you know

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this this is a great example we're

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talking to Marsha Mel she is one of my

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favorite guests of all time and her

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website is is Mel retirement Mel is m n

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TL retirement.com you can sign up for

12:11
newsletter she's got multiple books U

12:13
multiple she's she's she's out there

12:16
spreading truth with no agendas which is

12:19
very hard to find in the retirement

12:20
indust industry so we'll have that link

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again it's Manel retirement.com to L's

12:24
on Mel Marsha Three Square meals a day

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you know people when you hear three

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squares they think of people in

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prison um we're not uh we're not talking

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about prison or maybe we are with

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retirement prison depending on how you

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approach it but when you talk about

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three squares a day what are you talking

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about when it comes to

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retirement I'm I'm really talking about

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here of having to take that

12:52
initiative to figure out breakfast lunch

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and dinner and who you're going to talk

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to

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and chatting on text and Instagram or

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Facebook is not chatting that is using

13:08
your thumbs or typing not chatting and

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it's this idea that we tell people you

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know for decades oh my gosh you're going

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to retire one day you have to retire you

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have to be ready to retire right but we

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don't give them any structure no

13:22
framework and so we're sending them out

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there and one of the biggest ways and

13:27
the the I think the biggest BG

13:29
disruption for people is that their days

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are they're completely unglued now right

13:35
there's nothing that holds them together

13:38
but we still need to eat right so I used

13:40
those three squares I didn't think about

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the prison angle so thanks for putting

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that in my head now it's a retirement

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prison out there Mara it and you know

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hang out in your retirement communities

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like that's right pretty they're called

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gated communities some people call them

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exactly there you go so it's um it's

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something we have to in order I believe

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in order to be successful at these next

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30 years we have to take this initiative

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to understand it like fine you don't

14:10
need to eat breakfast with anybody maybe

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or maybe you go out once a week with

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your friends a certain group of friends

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your high school friends let's say or

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whatever structure it is that you're

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starting to put into place so that you

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have a few anchors in your

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week you know you open your planner your

14:29
calendar you look you know online and

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you have absolutely nothing on your days

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and I find that to be such a distressing

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thought after 40 years where your entire

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calendar was booked and not of your own

14:46
choosing necessarily you know these

14:49
meetings these commitments you know this

14:51
deadline and it is literally overnight

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it's like a light switch it

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stops and for me that's more dramatic

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than the paycheck stopping which it also

15:03
does but what will you do so I think

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anchoring things around food is a way

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most people can whether you're the Cook

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or the eater most people

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can go oh there's something to that

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there's a structure there's something

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familiar about that and oh yeah I I do

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have lunch at noon every day you know

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with the guys with the gals well where

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are the guys and gals well you know

15:30
they're still at work you're

15:33
not so that's the the I like I like the

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correlation of retirement and cooking

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because there's a structure to cooking

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even if you're cooking from scratch

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there's a structure but there's a

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structure to eating there's a structure

15:48
to getting together there's a there's a

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familiarity even the true misanthropes

15:52
like myself Marsha need interaction with

15:55
human beings however flawed we might

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think they are right

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exactly that's my Larry Davis yeah are

16:02
you gonna you know think about and

16:04
complain about if you haven't had some

16:05
kind of interaction with them right you

16:07
know yeah and I think that's that's this

16:11
the scary part about retirement and you

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we all read studies about one of the

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biggest problems when people do retire

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is

16:18
loneliness um and I think that I think

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as we all know and it's cliche to even

16:23
say it is retirement is more than just

16:25
money now you do address that very well

16:27
in the book and it's it's it's a process

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and it's a procedure but it's you know

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it's that part-time job that you do but

16:35
you got to figure out the other part of

16:37
that so the other thing I wanted to ask

16:39
that the 10 essential ingredients we

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talked about the three meals a day but

16:43
what are those ingredients go over some

16:45
of those that are key for people

16:49
to put in their brain put in their

16:52
structure put in their day put in their

16:54
week um and put in their

16:57
plan yeah these are these are kind of I

17:00
think a fun way to translate what we do

17:03
as an industry and what so many of us

17:06
know now you know like the back of our

17:08
hand but these are again not things that

17:10
regular people out there know or know

17:12
how to address so these ingredients are

17:15
um the the way you need to think about

17:17
both your time and your money so first

17:19
and foremost the odds you're going to

17:21
live a long time is real so many people

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tell me when I when I work with them or

17:27
just talk with them like yeah might make

17:29
it into my late 70s like oh have we

17:32
really not made any more progress on

17:35
longevity than that you know longevity

17:37
is the odds that you're going to outlive

17:39
the averages sure and a whole lot of us

17:42
are going to outlive the averages

17:44
there's no promise there's no guarantee

17:45
but if you're that person and half of

17:48
you will be you better have some money

17:51
to spend so trying to get people off the

17:54
7 I don't know why people want to die in

17:55
their 70s stand like you just finished

17:59
working you're still viable what's the

18:01
deal with 70s that's the rock and roll

18:04
attitude don't leave a legacy leave a

18:06
scar you know there you

18:08
go absolutely no I I don't know I think

18:12
people um they don't you know there's

18:15
three phases of retirement in my world

18:17
it's go go slow go and no go and so you

18:20
know everyone's good with the with the

18:22
go go and they know they get the slowo

18:24
but they don't plan for the nogo and you

18:27
kind of need to do that because most

18:29
likely with just medical breakthroughs

18:32
and just how we

18:33
live um you know we are going to live

18:36
longer even if you're not hitting on all

18:38
cylinders I always tell people that you

18:40
need to plan for all three phases there

18:42
will be a time if you live long enough

18:44
that you're not going to be hitting on

18:46
all cylinders and the only job that you

18:47
could actually get would be president um

18:50
so that's that would be there's the the

18:53
rim

18:54
shut regardless of party you

18:57
know you can't be PR you can't get any

19:00
other job but president but most of us

19:03
aren't going to run for president in our

19:05
late 70s and 80s at least I'm not I'm

19:08
I'm not either yeah but you're you're so

19:11
right on these slowo years um it's so

19:15
interesting so many people feel they've

19:18
planned for those years by having an

19:20
estate plan in place like right well I

19:22
have my will my will is updated well

19:24
that's nice but they they never plan for

19:27
the I I call them more the disabil

19:28
ability years and you might not be

19:30
actually disabled or have a disability

19:32
except that you can't move through the

19:36
day like when you were 60 correct you in

19:39
fact barely move through the day and you

19:42
pretty much you're homebound you have

19:44
assistance a lot of times and those are

19:46
not like that's not a week that can be

19:49
five 10 15 years for

19:52
people and so no you're not traveling

19:54
anymore you're not you know running

19:57
around with the grandkids but you're

19:59
still

20:00
alive and you're still going to spend

20:03
money be

20:05
different but you're going to be there

20:07
and in my case I mean it's so funny

20:10
sometimes people say well you know you

20:11
just say that like what do you really

20:13
know well what I know is my parents are

20:15
in their mid 80s both still going

20:17
they're in the slowo years so they had

20:19
their Goos now it's kind of a little bit

20:21
slower my dad needs to slow down a

20:23
little more my in-laws are 100 and

20:28
almost

20:29
100 and my mother-in-law will be 100 in

20:32
April and my father-in-law turned 100

20:34
last may let me tell you 100 is old age

20:41
and their lives are incredibly different

20:43
now than they were 10 years ago but

20:46
they're still relatively healthy their

20:48
bodies are healthy their minds you know

20:51
not as much um they need a lot of care

20:54
it's a big commitment it is very hard to

20:57
be old old

20:59
and yeah I just added a category we now

21:01
have go go slowo noo and Hell

21:08
noo that's what they are 95 and up is

21:11
Hell

21:12
noo no

21:15
go it's you know it's both of them and

21:18
they yeah so it's it's real and it won't

21:23
again no promises here but when it

21:26
happens to you when you're the one

21:28
living that long you do need to be

21:30
prepared fortunately for us they they

21:33
are prepared they had enough financial

21:35
assets they they planned well um not

21:39
everyone does well and that brings us

21:42
back to your book because I think that

21:43
there in the world of

21:46
do-it-yourselfers this is a

21:48
do-it-yourselfer okay the you could take

21:50
this book and walk around with it

21:52
everywhere you

21:54
go including the estate planning lawyer

21:57
so you know you got to have when you're

22:00
putting into place trust that's not do

22:02
it yourself for stuff unless you are a

22:04
lawyer but even then I you know most

22:06
lawyers hire lawyers but this book in

22:08
combination with with licensed

22:11
professional CPAs and estate planning

22:13
lawyers you literally can do it yourself

22:16
because the structure that Marsha

22:19
provides in the

22:20
book is there for you for all you do it

22:23
your suffers that don't want to pay any

22:24
fees and you think you can do it and you

22:26
probably can is was that kind of how is

22:29
was the emphasis of writing it as I as

22:32
I'm a writer like you is to get it out

22:34
of your system because you know it's

22:35
good material and you want people to

22:37
read it but I'm assuming your target

22:39
market is that do atyour suff or that

22:41
wants

22:42
to get their hands around the whole

22:45
thing right it's actually two twofold so

22:48
absolutely that my my initial thinking

22:50
here was this is for Baby Boomers and

22:52
gen xers good you know anyone 50 and

22:55
older who can sit down and start to map

22:58
out and see I I also believe if you

23:00
don't see it on paper you don't

23:03
fundamentally sort of have it in your

23:05
gut you have these ideas that wafted out

23:08
here in the clouds but until you do the

23:11
plan I I call it plan ABC um until you

23:14
look at your next 10 years so I'm 62 now

23:17
and oh my God St when you write 62 63 64

23:21
Etc and you get into your 70s by the end

23:25
of 10 years you sort of stop in your

23:27
tracks and go my God I'm going to be in

23:29
my 70s and it's not that far away so you

23:33
need to get this stuff written down

23:34
that's why for the do-it-yourselfers I

23:35
think it is that was the main focus but

23:39
then I also work a lot with financial

23:42
advisers and helping them with clients

23:44
who are moving into the retirement era

23:47
and for advisors if their clients come

23:51
prepared with this book it saves them

23:55
unbelievable amounts of time absolutely

23:58
so unfortunately advisors as you know

24:01
and you're not going to admit to it

24:02
because they are your client base

24:04
they're not that smart they're not that

24:06
smart um no I'm kidding no what most the

24:09
problem with advisers because I've been

24:11
doing this for three plus decades is

24:13
that most of them think that they are

24:15
Masters of the Universe and they can do

24:17
it and they don't need any this is a

24:19
literal book that if you're advisor and

24:23
you have you're in the financial

24:24
planning world you buy 200 copies and

24:26
give one to every single person and then

24:29
call them up and say hey how's that

24:31
going you going through the book because

24:33
yeah it would make their life easier um

24:36
and it would make the client's life

24:38
easier as well even if they decided to

24:40
move to another adviser they would still

24:42
stay on the plan of this book this what

24:46
I call the retirement cookbook which is

24:48
really what it is um it it really is and

24:52
you know you think about and and what

24:54
help me I I had this idea years ago

24:57
because I watched an awful lot of te

24:59
television and I love the Food Network

25:02
you know and you see these you know the

25:04
Pioneer Woman and um you know the guys

25:07
on the kitchen and Alex gorelli my

25:09
favorite Chef you know these people come

25:12
out and they make the most elaborate but

25:14
beautiful dishes right and it's all in

25:18
an order you know there's you have these

25:21
ingredients and you have uh you mix this

25:23
with that and you do this with that and

25:26
then you put it in the oven and there's

25:28
just such a logic to it and that's what

25:31
we weren't we didn't have I couldn't

25:32
find it anywhere in our industry this

25:35
overall logic there's no logic there's

25:39
prod you know what it replaces logic in

25:41
the retirement industry product yeah

25:44
product and product is not logic that's

25:47
right we we went and there's a need and

25:50
then here's a product we missed all the

25:51
stuff in the middle absolutely and

25:55
that's what I'm hoping the cookbook does

25:56
it fills in it does all the stuff in the

26:00
middle so it's like my my problem or my

26:02
opportunity is retirement I'm going to

26:03
retire there will be products I promise

26:06
you there will be products at the end of

26:08
this but we can't just shove the product

26:12
you know like the hammer on to the

26:13
people right so we've got to bring them

26:17
along and do it in an efficient way so

26:19
if you're an adviser this brings a lot

26:21
of efficiency to the process and if

26:23
you're uh do it yourself or here it is

26:27
I'm giving you the cookbook I love the

26:29
word efficiency and that does apply to

26:30
this book The but what applies to this

26:32
book more than anything which is one of

26:34
my favorite words is

26:35
Simplicity and I mean that's what it

26:38
really brings is it brings it down in

26:40
English I always you know when I do I've

26:42
done thousand and videos plus and we

26:44
keep doing them and and what people say

26:46
it's so simple when you explain it why

26:47
isn't it that simple and my my answer is

26:50
it is that simple I don't know why it's

26:52
people want to explain it but but it it

26:54
is simple retirement planning is simple

26:57
what is isn't simple as Retirement as a

27:00
category with your life but if you can

27:02
get the the money side the financial

27:04
side of your life in in order and simple

27:08
then you can focus on the other I think

27:10
that's what this book in my opinion

27:11
after flipping through it a few times

27:14
that's what and it it does and it's and

27:17
it's not you know it's not War and Peace

27:19
it's not 782 Pages it's a quick read

27:23
it's it's an afternoon and you could

27:24
keep you could keep going through it and

27:26
and mark up the book all day long

27:28
but you in section four though you threw

27:30
me with one of the one of the you know

27:32
it's you asked a question kind of like

27:35
you know analyzing the palm of your hand

27:37
and the question you asked was how much

27:40
will I spend each year in retirement you

27:43
know that's that's like saying how's a

27:45
rainbow made um that's that's tough

27:49
explain why you threw that out there as

27:51
the the proverbial 2x4 to the

27:54
forehead yeah um the key to financial

27:58
success in retirement in my humble

28:01
opinion is not what products you have or

28:04
how great your investment strategy is

28:06
it's knowing how freaking much you spend

28:09
it's really that basic isn't it it

28:11
really is and don't give me the fancy

28:14
words you know some people well what's

28:15
your annual

28:18
consumption I hate that I hate that word

28:21
it it's just you spend at the grocery

28:23
store how much does gas cost right this

28:26
is what real people know right and those

28:29
who have always had to live you know

28:31
pretty close to the paycheck you know

28:33
tight they get they understand spending

28:37
you know they they don't we don't need

28:38
fancy words you know yeah the next page

28:41
it's like well what are your essential

28:42
expenses versus your discretionary

28:44
expenses but um it's just do you have to

28:48
spend versus how much would you like to

28:50
spend and but it's all about the

28:53
spending what really throws people when

28:56
you sit down with with regular people

28:58
and you and I do these map out 30-year

29:00
cash flows MH there different buckets of

29:03
money different Investments or products

29:05
that you have turn on at different times

29:07
across a 30-year Continuum right true

29:10
and they deliver certain amounts of

29:14
money what throws people off

29:17
is that money is actually on the front

29:19
of the 1040

29:22
income and therefore you owe inome tax

29:25
on it so you might say I spend $60,000 a

29:31
year and your Investments and your

29:33
products deliver $60,000 a year well you

29:36
have a mismatch you don't have $60,000

29:40
of

29:41
spending because you need to pay the tax

29:44
first and that whole

29:46
concept is so hard for people to wrap

29:50
their heads

29:51
around and so that's why I focus first

29:54
on just spend just know how much you're

29:56
going to spend each year and it doesn't

29:58
have to be exact but it needs to be in

30:01
the ballpark you know you can't say oh I

30:03
spend let's see um $5,000 a month but

30:07
you really spend $10,000 a month like we

30:09
got to be closer than that and think

30:12
about the things that you've never had

30:15
to put on paper before you know with

30:17
this budgeting exercise you know you

30:19
think about budgets and spending like

30:21
okay groceries Health Care maybe bills

30:24
you know electric technology and so

30:26
forth but you don't think about

30:28
bringing your kids home for Christmas or

30:31
that you're hosting Thanksgiving you

30:33
know Thanksgiving can cost somebody a

30:34
thousand bucks right did you build that

30:36
in for November I can assure you you did

30:39
not so it's those kinds of things to

30:42
bring awareness bring

30:44
reality and you know back to Dan and me

30:49
I've done all the books since we were 21

30:52
years old and Van's idea of cash flow

30:55
and mine are very different my cash flow

30:57
is actual facts of how much we spend

31:00
every month Dan's is I can go to Home

31:03
Depot or Costco and buy anything I want

31:05
you know and and it's this disconnect

31:08
between us and we work at it and Dan's

31:11
always surprised like we can't spent

31:14
that much I know like I know well in

31:17
fact we did so no are we good with that

31:21
it's you know there is a there is

31:23
especially my my wife and and my she's

31:26
much more detailed than I I know that's

31:27
hard hard to believe but um but but it's

31:31
it it is true and you did Cover um you

31:35
know how to build a retirement paycheck

31:37
obviously annuities and Other Things

31:39
fall into that people can go to my site

31:41
at at an the annuity man.com and run

31:43
quotes till your heart's desire

31:46
247365 um but there are many things that

31:49
that can en Encompass that what I call

31:53
the income floor which is you know

31:55
you're combining the best inflation

31:57
annuity on the planet Social Security

31:59
with whatever else is going to come in

32:01
every single month um and I'm assuming

32:04
you're a proponent kind of like I am if

32:06
once you have your income floor in place

32:09
your blood pressure goes down right it

32:11
sure does it's so funny you say that so

32:14
the other night I woke up in the middle

32:16
of the night I don't know what I was

32:17
dreaming about or thinking about and all

32:19
of a sudden I said oh my God I don't

32:21
think we have enough money for

32:24
retirement it's like where where this

32:25
was like 2 in the morning probably 2:30

32:28
yes perfect yeah that's great it's like

32:30
where where did that come from we have

32:32
plenty of money we know it we have a

32:34
plan but I woke up with this kind of

32:37
like jolt like oh my God We're not gonna

32:38
have enough money for 30 years and I'm

32:40
dividing our portfolio by 30 going

32:43
that's not a and when I got up I walked

32:47
around the house for a few minutes it's

32:49
like oh you're such an idiot you forgot

32:51
about social security and your annuity

32:53
stream right right so you know I forgot

32:57
the floor this was above the floor this

32:59
is the you know the six floor of the of

33:01
the house so I had to laugh I don't know

33:03
what made me wake up with that thought

33:06
but I did and I think lots of people

33:10
must wake up in the middle of the night

33:12
with that thought oh my God I do not

33:13
gonna have enough and I don't want them

33:15
to be doing that Stan that that's not

33:18
how we want to spend our 60s and 70s and

33:20
80s no you know you know my my concern

33:24
with the country is when I read the

33:25
stats where 60% of adults have $400 in

33:28
their checking account yeah you know or

33:30
50% or 40 to 50% depending on what

33:33
article you read don't even have a

33:35
checking account they're doing their

33:36
banking at at large um gas stations

33:40
those big huge gas stations and payday

33:42
loans and things like that which for

33:44
people like us and people like that are

33:46
watching this on the fun with the nudies

33:47
YouTube channel and all the podcast

33:49
platforms you're going really is that

33:51
real that's real that's real and um you

33:56
know there's a part of me that when we

33:58
talk like this we're we're in a bubble

34:01
but we're we're in that bubble because

34:03
we're trying to address the people in

34:04
that bubble with us to do better in the

34:06
bubble but there's some things things

34:07
happening outside the bubble that are

34:11
pretty tough and um that concerned me as

34:14
just you know a citizen of the country

34:16
how are we going to get our arms around

34:18
that uh and I don't that's not an easy

34:21
fix but I throw that out because I want

34:23
people to know that you know Marsha and

34:25
I both came from no money and you know

34:28
we've scried and saved and here we are

34:30
but there's no arrogance to the

34:32
conversation of retirement planning we

34:35
are and the people listening and

34:37
watching this are fortunate to be

34:40
considering retirement planning and

34:41
reading Marsha's book so I want everyone

34:44
to go into this exercise and when you

34:47
buy our book you know be humble about it

34:50
and I think that the more successful

34:52
people I meet the more humble they seem

34:55
to be it's it's the the ones that aren't

34:58
are the ones that are faking it before

35:00
they're making it so I digress a little

35:03
bit because I just think that you know

35:06
we are talking to the 10% of the country

35:08
that can plan for retirement are

35:10
planning for retirement have worked hard

35:11
for it there wer nothing was given to

35:13
you nothing but it is a it is a head

35:16
scratcher also going into retirement of

35:18
how to also give money away which kind

35:22
of leads me into your last chapter which

35:23
I thought was a very interesting title

35:25
of of estate planning or family Legacy

35:29
planning I think you obviously you need

35:31
both but I think you can also throw into

35:33
that philanthropic planning as part of

35:35
the estate planning do you agree I

35:38
totally agree and that's where it

35:39
typically Falls you know which is why I

35:42
didn't call it out in exactly you know

35:45
category but um I'm you you went this

35:50
direction Stan because a number of years

35:53
ago I did a whole series of uh

35:55
presentations created presentations for

35:58
the low wage workers at certain

36:01
employers and I think even employers

36:03
don't quite have their hands around how

36:08
incredibly difficult it is to be a low

36:11
wage worker in America and but it is not

36:15
possible to make ends meet um and so

36:18
suggestions and how do you how you do

36:20
that delicately right you know um it is

36:24
very difficult to stand up in front of

36:27
people who don't have a bank account you

36:30
know that we just think is of course

36:31
everyone has a bank account no and

36:33
you're right the numbers are staggering

36:35
they're huge they're they're huge and it

36:37
really is the chasm between the halves

36:40
and the Have Nots has gotten wider and

36:42
wider and wider um which I'm going to

36:44
digress for a second and then get back

36:45
back to estate planning sure um you also

36:48
know I'm um somewhat of a have some

36:51
expertise in Social Security yes you do

36:54
and I am passionate about social

36:57
security and the importance it plays not

37:01
for the wealthy people like come on

37:03
people get over it it's nice that we're

37:05
all getting Social Security because we

37:07
have paid in so we should get our payout

37:10
but that's not who it was designed for

37:12
um it's designed to make sure that

37:14
especially women stay out of poverty but

37:19
just out of poverty when they're old and

37:22
retired and can no longer work and that

37:26
social safety is so critically important

37:29
to the

37:30
nation that we we're just I use the the

37:34
phrase

37:35
fearmongering that these headlines and

37:37
this baloney going on in Congress it's

37:40
just fearmongering that makes me so

37:43
angry right because we're scaring

37:46
regular people and people whose only

37:48
source of retirement income is going to

37:50
be is Social Security and so to say

37:53
we're going to raise the retirement age

37:57
that's just insane there's no way we can

38:00
raise the retirement age to 70 when the

38:03
people this program is meant to protect

38:06
actually all the people in the service

38:08
industry and the construction industry

38:10
and the heavy heavy lifting kinds of

38:12
businesses that run America they can't

38:16
work until 70 so it's an automatic

38:19
massive pay cut for them and I don't

38:23
believe the Congress will go there but

38:25
let's scare everybody in the meanwhile

38:27
well I always tell people if you know

38:29
the stat that six out of 10 adults have

38:32
their net worth in their front pocket um

38:36
that you'll you'll hesitate the next

38:38
time you want to flip somebody off as

38:39
you're driving down the road because

38:40
they might be in six of those 10 cars

38:43
and with nothing to lose so uh you know

38:46
the reason I bring this up is not

38:48
because I'm political either way in fact

38:50
I would encourage people as I go into

38:52
retirement to be less political and more

38:55
philanthropic just be less be less

38:57
emotionally political if you can in

38:59
retirement I think that should be part

39:01
of the cookbook as well you can be on

39:03
one side of the other but but take the

39:04
emotion out and be rational and be and

39:07
and understand how fortunate you are

39:08
that we're that we're talking about

39:10
retirement we're planning for retirement

39:12
part-time job that you're going to have

39:13
is managing the money that you've worked

39:15
so hard and they are not going to go

39:17
confiscate it so slow down um just just

39:21
be you know as I get older I know you're

39:23
saying to yourself Mar there's no way

39:25
he's old yes I am yeah

39:28
you look so young oh my gosh but anyway

39:32
um the older I get is the more kind of

39:35
grounded into the reality of seeing

39:38
things uh for 30 years and and actually

39:40
being a little bit spoiled of dealing

39:42
with what I call rich people for 30

39:44
years you know when you work with Dean

39:45
wter pay Weber Morgan Stanley UBS and

39:47
you're the annuity

39:49
man um you're dealing with people that

39:51
have money right I mean there's a lot of

39:55
people that call us that don't have a

39:57
ton of money and we have to tell them

40:00
that's you need to accumulate more and

40:02
I'm not sure it's possible for them to

40:03
accumulate more but annuities are not

40:05
the solution um them because of that so

40:09
a little bit off of my soap box but

40:11
let's go back to the to the the estate

40:14
planning family planning part of your

40:17
book yeah um this is I think so

40:21
important that I I very often get in a

40:25
room full you know 200 people are in a

40:26
room I talk about about Estate Planning

40:28
and you see people going I don't need an

40:29
estate plan and I might have shared this

40:31
with you before I let them know that if

40:34
you are breathing you need an estate

40:36
plan correct once you're not breathing

40:39
well you don't need one um but it's so

40:42
important because people think it's just

40:43
for the multi-millionaires with the

40:45
Mansion on the hill but estate plans do

40:48
everything they set in place for you

40:51
when you can't make your own decisions

40:54
all the things that you want the way you

40:55
want them so whether it's passing money

40:57
onto your children your grandchildren

40:59
Etc but it's this charitable piece

41:02
that's so fascinating and it can be any

41:05
charity that's important to you um I

41:08
happen to be I think you know we have

41:10
two cats we love our cats you know I

41:13
give money to the cat shelter where we

41:15
bought the cats now will I give more

41:17
when I'm dead I don't know I haven't

41:19
quite decided that yet but it's just

41:21
thinking it could be anything from your

41:23
animals to your University to your

41:25
church your synagogue your Temple yeah

41:28
mine is

41:29
hospice hospice what a fabulous people

41:32
are angels if you've ever had a loved

41:35
one in a hospice situation you realize

41:38
how much of a complete piece of crap you

41:41
are because there's such great people

41:45
they're so amazing oh my gosh so yeah

41:48
that's mine um but yeah I agree with

41:50
that and I think that retirement and I

41:53
like this part of your book you're

41:54
reminding people hey yeah we're going to

41:56
leave some to our family but you know

41:58
for a lot of us out there we're just

41:59
trying not to ruin

42:01
them you

42:03
know I launched you girls you're on your

42:06
own Do Your Own Thing Mama's done yeah I

42:09
always tell people my girls and I love

42:11
them to death but they're going to

42:12
helicopter into my funeral and drive off

42:14
in a Lamborghini and they'll be S for

42:16
the first 10 miles trust me but after

42:19
that they'll shift in gear and be like

42:21
man glad he left us all this money no

42:23
hopefully hopefully and I and I always

42:26
have I've done videos on this and

42:28
strategies called handcuff lovingly

42:30
handcuffing your beneficiaries what

42:32
you're talking about in this chapter is

42:34
lovingly handcuffing your beneficiaries

42:37
if that's what you choose to do or you

42:38
think that's important in other words

42:40
controlling it from the grave and also

42:42
controlling it as you're looking at your

42:44
grave

42:45
plot yeah yeah so first of all buy your

42:47
grave plot take care of make your own

42:49
I'm big on this create your own funeral

42:52
do not leave this to your children to do

42:54
for you correct that's just being

42:56
irresponsible like suck it up people

42:58
your own decisions pick your own plot

43:01
pay for it or like I did pick the earn

43:04
that solid gold marshia with the stany

43:07
man logo on it two of them so they can

43:10
split me and put them put me on their

43:12
shelf on each shelf on each shelf y I

43:16
mean you know it's the it's the last

43:18
it's the last part of marketing that

43:21
I'll be like did you really put your

43:23
logo on the earn yes I

43:25
did why not you know that's not a bad

43:29
idea Boomer retirement briefs I'm pretty

43:30
passionate about my blog too whatever

43:32
whatever gate I'm at at the end that'll

43:35
be the question did you really put your

43:37
logo yes I did yes I did it's right here

43:41
in writing in my estate plan it's a

43:42
Perpetual plan of marketing as I always

43:45
tell people Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean the

43:47
sausage guy he's been dead for 15 years

43:49
but he's still on the commercials well

43:52
he sure is and I have Jimmy Dean sausage

43:53
in my fridge right now it's called

43:55
artificial intelligence see that's the

43:57
scary part for a lot of people Marsha

43:59
I'm going to die and someone's going to

44:01
get on my videos and do Ai and just keep

44:03
putting videos out and people like I

44:04
thought he was dead no well we don't

44:08
really know Jimmy we don't know we don't

44:10
know we do know Jimmy Dean's dead but

44:12
the sausage is still good right it's

44:14
delicious yes I'm a big fan well it's

44:17
you know both the terrible giving

44:20
Which so an interesting little tidm

44:22
maybe with my with our two girls we

44:25
started years ago maybe seven or years

44:27
ago now at Christmas when both the kids

44:29
were home um we do family Finance fun

44:32
it's one of my more creative ways to

44:35
have a tea party and we talk about money

44:37
nice and one of the years like the top

44:40
so I come up with an agenda every

44:41
December and we talk about budgets we

44:44
talk about um how credit scores work and

44:47
why it's important to have a good credit

44:48
score so really Financial topics that

44:51
don't get talked about really and one

44:54
year it was about charitable giving and

44:56
so we come up as a family with where

45:00
should we be dirting some of our money

45:02
right because at that time they didn't

45:04
have any money to direct but they had

45:07
causes that were important to them we

45:09
said look some of this family money

45:10
because you're not going to get it in

45:11
the end now because we're going to give

45:13
it away where should it Go and it was

45:16
just a really interesting exercise to

45:19
you know hear what they had to say they

45:21
had never thought about it this way it's

45:23
like oh we could pick something that was

45:27
important to us and we could direct some

45:30
dollars that way so I think it's

45:32
important to get your children involved

45:34
let them involved early and then also

45:36
think about the gifting versus

45:38
inheriting you know people have

45:40
different philosophies on that um you

45:43
don't have to gift up to the limits you

45:46
know I think this year what the limit

45:47
$188,000 I think in 2024 you know so I

45:50
could gift to each of the girls $188,000

45:54
I'm not going to um Dan could also gift

45:57
$118,000 to each of the kids don't think

46:00
you have to go to the Limit it's just

46:02
the idea that you know maybe the kids

46:05
need or want they they both need new

46:08
cars maybe I could gift $5,000 to each

46:11
of them toward their car and you can put

46:14
informal strings on the money but

46:17
legally you can't technically you can't

46:20
but that would be the

46:21
intention you could and you know it

46:24
helps them in a time when they need some

46:26
help

46:27
and it doesn't have to wait until

46:29
they're 70 and we finally die so it's

46:32
just it's really important to talk about

46:34
these things between you and your spouse

46:36
or partner you know these people who are

46:38
important to you and get the kids

46:40
involved so yeah we have been my wife

46:43
and I the lovely Christine who has put

46:45
up with me for 36 years um you know we

46:48
are having those conversations of do we

46:50
leave the kids the money now or do you

46:53
know we wait until they die my opinion

46:56
on that May differ from other people but

46:58
for me I'm Gonna Leave it to them now um

47:03
because they might they they need it you

47:06
know we've all been there in our 20s and

47:07
30s we kind of needed it right so that

47:11
yes that's the real and especially today

47:14
things are harder today than they were

47:15
for us in our my 20s were not a picnic

47:18
and I know yours weren't either and we

47:20
were scrapping for every dollar we could

47:22
you know two nickel and like you put

47:24
them in each hand and I mean those were

47:27
tough tough

47:28
years why would I want my kids to go

47:31
through the same misery yeah now for all

47:34
you out there that are yelling at the

47:35
screen and and speakers going they got

47:37
to pull themselves up by the bootstraps

47:39
like I did Walk Up Walk up and down the

47:42
hill with no shoes no they don't okay

47:45
they do not and and so I I understand

47:49
where that middle class mentality little

47:51
middle class mentality comes from but I

47:53
encourage everyone listening to this is

47:55
to think through that you know give you

47:57
an example my mom 84 years old she's

47:59
probably going to outlive me walk seven

48:01
miles a day she's an absolute Southern

48:04
Spitfire when she passes away that money

48:07
she's going to leave my sister and

48:09
I I'll probably spend it I'll probably

48:12
spend it on guitars I don't care you

48:15
know it doesn't matter um so I think a

48:18
lot of the the the cooking your

48:20
retirement plan is realizing that you

48:24
can give some money away and and

48:25
realizing that money that you accumulate

48:28
you're probably not going to be able to

48:29
spend it that's hard for people I had a

48:32
person the other day Mara $9

48:36
million that's what they had and they

48:38
were worried about

48:40
inflation and I said uh excuse me

48:43
Fred yeah don't be arrogant okay you're

48:46
gonna be okay yeah so you know let's

48:50
let's all be rational and not be pushed

48:53
by the agendas on cable television both

48:56
sides on inflation and Fe like you said

48:59
earlier fear mongering yeah when you

49:01
have accumulated money and worked hard

49:03
and scrimped and saved and thank

49:05
goodness you did that for yourself

49:08
you're gonna be okay you're gonna be

49:11
okay keep it in perspective you know

49:14
this is where I think we have to I heard

49:16
a comment on the radio the other day

49:18
that you know the headlines maybe aren't

49:21
always complete which I thought was

49:23
really funny that stuck with me it's

49:25
like that's nicely call them you know

49:27
boldfaced lies but yes um they're not

49:31
complete a few things in America today

49:34
and probably in the world today you have

49:35
to read the entire article because often

49:38
the articles are extremely well written

49:41
and they completely debunk the headline

49:43
right people see the headline they get

49:45
Frozen there and they don't read so

49:48
first read the darn article and read

49:51
several on the same topic correct and

49:54
always put this in perspective in

49:56
historical perspective and I have a an

50:00
inflation chart that starts back um well

50:02
I have two one that starts in

50:05
19 1900 or 1912 when inflation first

50:09
started being tracked it is the my

50:10
favorite chart and it's all these little

50:12
teeny weeny lines you know they're high

50:14
and some years and they're low a couple

50:16
times there's deflation you know during

50:18
the Depression and such people look at

50:20
that and go oh that's what we've been

50:24
having for inflation and you look at

50:26
then you zoom in from 1982 to today the

50:28
last 40 years or so and it's all but a

50:31
straight line right till we had this

50:34
little covid mess right and she was like

50:36
people take a chill pill we were all the

50:39
Boomers we were all around you know when

50:41
gas toed a dollar a gallon you know that

50:44
was such an outrage right in the 1970s

50:48
right so there was a 10year period from

50:50
the mid 70s to the mid 80s when

50:53
inflation was rampant we all lived

50:56
through through that like do you really

50:58
not remember that and then it got down

51:01
to two and three and it bounces along

51:03
not too badly like had a 40-year amazing

51:08
run take it easy you do have money you

51:11
can still afford your eggs at the

51:13
grocery store we're

51:16
talking go ahead oh where I worry is the

51:20
people who can't afford the exit the

51:22
grocery store and that's again where

51:24
charitable giving I'm big on food

51:27
yeah so we we do a lot on the food side

51:29
of

51:30
Charity we're talking with marsham Manel

51:33
we got to wrap it up here pretty quick

51:35
because we we're you know we get going

51:37
we get going and we're gonna have our

51:39
new yeah we're gonna have her new book

51:41
the link to that so you can buy it it's

51:43
called cooking but cooking like they say

51:45
in the South cooking up your retirement

51:47
plan and I think what she's done so well

51:51
with this is she's really ripped out the

51:53
emotion of retirement plan into just

51:56
being prac iCal um and pragmatic about

51:58
it which you need to be you know I think

52:01
I think that uh I'd love to see the

52:03
emotional meter with the country go down

52:06
a bunch of notches um we need to all

52:08
kind of calm down and especially

52:10
everyone out here listening to this and

52:12
watching this on the podcast if you have

52:14
some money if you have some assets calm

52:15
down you're good you're blessed you know

52:17
youve you worked hard yet been G hadn't

52:19
been given to you um but you need to you

52:22
need to buy this type of book that that

52:25
Marsha has put out I haven't found

52:27
anything like it since since and I

52:29
believe me I read them all that it's

52:32
it's just written in English it's

52:33
written for all of us it's written for

52:34
everyone at the top and the bottom

52:36
whether you have 20 million or 200,000

52:38
it doesn't matter or 100,00 it doesn't

52:39
matter money the level money amount of

52:42
money doesn't matter the fact that you

52:43
got to start planning but uh what I'd

52:45
like for you to do Marsh is is as we

52:47
move out of this and I'll close it up I

52:49
always ask my guests to do a m drop

52:51
moment you know give hit us with the uh

52:54
the San of the day to where people hear

52:56
it and they just walk away go oh my gosh

52:58
that was good so here we go count you

53:00
down 5 4 3 2 1 my drop moment Mara

53:06
Manel I am grateful every year I get

53:09
older I find I am more and more grateful

53:13
and I think particularly the back half

53:15
of this conversation reminds me of that

53:18
also you know and how do I know I am

53:21
wealthy because I can go to the grocery

53:23
store and buy what I

53:25
want and I'm

53:28
grateful I like that that's a good way

53:30
to end it thanks everyone for joining us

53:32
on the fun with the nties YouTube

53:33
channel and all major podcast platforms

53:35
my name is sty nudy man you've been

53:37
listening to fun with the nudies with my

53:38
special guest Marsha mantel we'll see

53:41
you next

53:46
time